Well, the last day of the conference was the least productive. During the last session of the day (about e-portfolios)the presenter actually stood up and said, "I wasn't expecting this many people. Who are are the IT folks? This presentation is for faculty explaining the very basics of e-portfolios." She then paused as if asking some of us to leave. It was pretty bad.
Other then a couple bad presentations it was a great conference. In this last post I thought I'd share a list of interesting and useful websites that I discovered while at this conference:
http://blabberize.com You have to see this to believe it! Upload a photo and audio and then you can have your picture's "mouth" move to your audio. It is hilarious.
http://toondoo.com Using templates and flash objects, easily great online comic-strip like objects. Here is an example http://www.toondoo.com/cartoon/289696
http://bubbleshare.com A nice looking photo sharing website.
http://wiziq.com Free (for up to 10 people at a time) virtual classroom. Why spend thousands of dollars for Connect, Echo360, Illuminate, etc. when this tool is free!)
http://dimdim.com Free web meeting where you can share your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam with absolutely no download required for attendees.
http://.www.acroflip.com Create 3D virtual page turning flash brochures and catalogues instantly, online - FREE!
http://flock.com A browser for people who like to social network.
http://www.wayfaring.com/ Create personalized maps that you can share with friends, or collaborate with others.
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ A fantastic way to manage your to-do lists online. It works with google, twitter, outlook, iPhone/iPod Touch, etc.
http://www.commoncraft.com -Great explanation videos about many different web 2.0 technologies
http://readthewords.com Application that will read the text of a web page, see an example of it here: http://thinkingmachine.pbwiki.com
http://voicethread.com Collaborate online with a contributing to a discussion using almost any media (cell phone, text, video, mic, etc.)
http://jumpspot.com This site keeps track of all of your bookmarks / favorites on the web so you can get to them on any computer at any time. It gives you a way to organize your favorite web sites into easy to use categories such as shopping, travel, or email. This way you can group the sites together that you use most often.
http://polleverywhere.com Vote with your phone or web, great for live classroom polls. No need to buy clickers anymore!
http://zohopolls.com Another free polling site.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o (a vision of students today)
Monday, June 23, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
EduComm Conference day 2
Today was another good day at the conference, but there weren't as many interesting sessions today. The one that I was really excited for ended up being a bit of a bore. I did discover a whole bunch of great web 2.0 sites and got some great ideas about how to use them. I'm on my way to a comedy club tonight so I don't think I'll have time to write as detailed a post for today.
For my wife (and anybody who wants to be jealous of my accommodations) here is a short video I made of my hotel room I'm staying at. I thought it was a mistake when I walked in the room. I don't think I paid for this nice of a room, but hey I'll take it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pW184N9rIno
For my wife (and anybody who wants to be jealous of my accommodations) here is a short video I made of my hotel room I'm staying at. I thought it was a mistake when I walked in the room. I don't think I paid for this nice of a room, but hey I'll take it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pW184N9rIno
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
EduComm Conference Notes
Here are my notes and thoughts from the first day of the EduComm 2008 conference in Las Vegas:
Arrival: June 17th, 2008
I arrived at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada for the Educomm Conference and was amazed by the service and lavishness of the hotel. It is quite nice. I’ve taken some video and photos so I can remember (and show off) how nice it is. Needless to say I was not expecting such comfortable surroundings for the amount that is being paid. I think Trump is trying to get people to say nice things about the hotel by upgrading their room. Well it worked.
June 18th, 2008: Day One
Today was a great day. There were several very valuable things that I learned.
Key note speaker: David Pogue
David Pogue works for the NYTimes and writes their technology reviews. He has also authored several “Dummies” books and also has a video podcast where he reviews technology gadgets. He is a former drama guy so everything he does is a performance. He obviously puts a lot of thought and effort into making technology information fun and easy for the regular guy to understand.
His presentation was fairly interesting- he spoke about web 2.0- mostly blogs and podcasts. I was a little frustrated because the conference usually supplies a nice little notebook and pen, but not this year. So, my notes are mostly in my mind. He ended his presentation with a couple spoof-songs, such as “I bought an iPod” (to the tune of “I did it my way”), and “Imagine there’s no podcasts” (yup, you guessed it, “Imagine all the people”-Jon Lennon should roll over in his grave). Actually these songs are pretty funny, but they have already made it on the Youtube circuit so I was already familiar with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vniMR6Ez9cE –Ipod song.
So, I really like David Pogue because he was the keynote speaker last year and I thought he was funny. This year, he delivered pretty much the exact same thing. Yes, he was funny, but I didn’t learn very much this time around. I commented to a co-worker “that speech was so two years ago”. He did mention a couple of websites I haven’t heard of before:
•http://propser.com -get and receive loans as an alternative to high interest rate credit cards.
•http://goloco.com -Find people to do the jobs you don't want to (or find odd jobs you can do to earn some extra money).
•http://kiva.com -lend money to those in developing countries to help them get out of poverty.
•http://whoissick.com -put your symptoms in and find out how many people in your area are sick like you.
1st session: Podcasting-
Next up was a session about podcasting which I was anxious to see so I could get some magical way to podcast without any thought. So, there was some good news and some bad news. First the bad: no matter what it is either easy and expensive or it is cheap and difficult (but not impossible). The good news is that I am not alone, this was a jam packed session, and everybody was dealing with the same kind of issues. I also found out about a great web site that is free and is such an amazing idea. It is a podcast driven by cell phones. It is at http://gabcast.com . After you set up an account you will be given a phone number. When you call in and leave a message, it goes directly to a podcast. You can also give the number to other participants (like students) and they can add their voice to the podcast. This idea floored me. Oh, and by the way it is FREE! Of course you have to sign up for a new channel every time your podcast is almost to its maximum allowed size (before you start getting charged).
The presentation had quite a few good websites and links. A funny one was a David Letterman video here: http://sleepy.gcsu.edu/iPod/Letterman/
The presentation can be found here: http://ids.truman.edu/presentations/educomm2008
Booths and vendors:
I wandered around the EduComm booths and the InfoComm booths next to see what kind of new products are out there. There were a couple that I found interesting:
http://getchunkit.com This is such a cool idea. It will allow you to take your search results from Google, craigslist, ebay, whatever and then you run a search on those results and it finds the text on all of the pages and puts it in a side navigation pane (you still see the original site you were on in the main frame) where you can better see what the search results are. I think this tool is pretty neat, but it needs to partner with a tool like stumbleupon.com to really become amazing. Plus, I’m getting tired of all of these programs that keep on adding new toolbars to my browser.
Echo360 (formerly Apreso). This company has spent a fortune getting a huge room set up with an island vacation theme (they are calling it the aptly named “Echo-oasis”). First off, I have not been very impressed with Apreso in the past, basically it was a Microsoft based classroom capture software. There were some major drawbacks to it (besides price)- for example it was very proprietary- and required a Microsoft OS, a server, and hardware for the classroom. Plus, there was no ability to edit the capture. Well, they fixed all of these things with their latest version. I think they are a legitimate option for doing classroom capture. It also has an automated podcasting tool which I was pretty impressed with. My main problem with it is that I think most classes aren’t worth capturing. Seriously, it could be an amazing lecture and it gets captured in an amazing way, but students aren’t going to watch it because it is boring to stare at your computer for 1-2 hours. I see the value as a review tool, but not something to rely on. I guess it kind of comes back to the idea that I don’t like lecture classes. If you just lecture, then sure, record it (in your office) and then suddenly you have lots of time where you can re-enforce learning during class time.
Last Session of the Day:
I went to a session by Mississippi state about Digital Asset Management. I was fascinated by what they have done. They have created software that will allow faculty to automatically podcast their entire course with virtually no effort (put microphone on- that’s all!). They realized that what they did with podcasts would actually be a valuable tool for other types of documents. So, they created a content management system that interacts with their course management system and ther student information system. The key to their success was some superstar programmer who has written this program for them. Too bad Westminster doesn’t have the man power to create something like this from scratch. However, I think that there are open source products and even affordable Microsoft (SharePoint) products that can accomplish the same tasks, but much more. The only thing you give up is the nifty podcasting application, and easy integration with the student information system.
Lastly:
I met with Chris (my fellow PBBA techy) after a session that he attended on Second Life and we had one of the most passionate, interesting conversations about the direction of educational technology I have ever had. We talked about the need for students to be involved in the development of the content of their learning. Specifically we think that the wiki tool that we are developing for the PBBA program at Westminster needs to be made available to students to edit. Currently, to keep faculty happy we have been saying that students will not have ability to edit our wiki. This is like a “I’m the teacher and I know more than the students”. The truth is, that having a PHD or a teaching license does not make you smarter than a collective group of learners. There are so many benefits by allowing students equal opportunity to contribute to as the teacher. The teacher than takes on a mentor or coach role rather than the expert role. Perhaps the best idea we had was the idea of giving students access to the pbba wiki for life, that way when they contribute something they are contributing to something that is going to be around for a long time, and how great would that be if they came back later as a professional and contributed to the knowledge of the wiki so new students get the benefit of their experience. Another nice side benefit is that alumni will be attached to the school for a longer period of time. What if every time they have a business problem, they consult the wiki? Or, what if every time they come up with an innovative solution to a problem, they share that with all the other PBBA wiki alumni? Ok, this list is getting long, but one last benefit. By encouraging student participation you are teaching students how to learn and teach themselves- a skill that will help them their entire life. Plus, the students will retain and apply the material better if they have spent the time sorting through search data and analyzing the validity of the material.
Arrival: June 17th, 2008
I arrived at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada for the Educomm Conference and was amazed by the service and lavishness of the hotel. It is quite nice. I’ve taken some video and photos so I can remember (and show off) how nice it is. Needless to say I was not expecting such comfortable surroundings for the amount that is being paid. I think Trump is trying to get people to say nice things about the hotel by upgrading their room. Well it worked.
June 18th, 2008: Day One
Today was a great day. There were several very valuable things that I learned.
Key note speaker: David Pogue
David Pogue works for the NYTimes and writes their technology reviews. He has also authored several “Dummies” books and also has a video podcast where he reviews technology gadgets. He is a former drama guy so everything he does is a performance. He obviously puts a lot of thought and effort into making technology information fun and easy for the regular guy to understand.
His presentation was fairly interesting- he spoke about web 2.0- mostly blogs and podcasts. I was a little frustrated because the conference usually supplies a nice little notebook and pen, but not this year. So, my notes are mostly in my mind. He ended his presentation with a couple spoof-songs, such as “I bought an iPod” (to the tune of “I did it my way”), and “Imagine there’s no podcasts” (yup, you guessed it, “Imagine all the people”-Jon Lennon should roll over in his grave). Actually these songs are pretty funny, but they have already made it on the Youtube circuit so I was already familiar with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vniMR6Ez9cE –Ipod song.
So, I really like David Pogue because he was the keynote speaker last year and I thought he was funny. This year, he delivered pretty much the exact same thing. Yes, he was funny, but I didn’t learn very much this time around. I commented to a co-worker “that speech was so two years ago”. He did mention a couple of websites I haven’t heard of before:
•http://propser.com -get and receive loans as an alternative to high interest rate credit cards.
•http://goloco.com -Find people to do the jobs you don't want to (or find odd jobs you can do to earn some extra money).
•http://kiva.com -lend money to those in developing countries to help them get out of poverty.
•http://whoissick.com -put your symptoms in and find out how many people in your area are sick like you.
1st session: Podcasting-
Next up was a session about podcasting which I was anxious to see so I could get some magical way to podcast without any thought. So, there was some good news and some bad news. First the bad: no matter what it is either easy and expensive or it is cheap and difficult (but not impossible). The good news is that I am not alone, this was a jam packed session, and everybody was dealing with the same kind of issues. I also found out about a great web site that is free and is such an amazing idea. It is a podcast driven by cell phones. It is at http://gabcast.com . After you set up an account you will be given a phone number. When you call in and leave a message, it goes directly to a podcast. You can also give the number to other participants (like students) and they can add their voice to the podcast. This idea floored me. Oh, and by the way it is FREE! Of course you have to sign up for a new channel every time your podcast is almost to its maximum allowed size (before you start getting charged).
The presentation had quite a few good websites and links. A funny one was a David Letterman video here: http://sleepy.gcsu.edu/iPod/Letterman/
The presentation can be found here: http://ids.truman.edu/presentations/educomm2008
Booths and vendors:
I wandered around the EduComm booths and the InfoComm booths next to see what kind of new products are out there. There were a couple that I found interesting:
http://getchunkit.com This is such a cool idea. It will allow you to take your search results from Google, craigslist, ebay, whatever and then you run a search on those results and it finds the text on all of the pages and puts it in a side navigation pane (you still see the original site you were on in the main frame) where you can better see what the search results are. I think this tool is pretty neat, but it needs to partner with a tool like stumbleupon.com to really become amazing. Plus, I’m getting tired of all of these programs that keep on adding new toolbars to my browser.
Echo360 (formerly Apreso). This company has spent a fortune getting a huge room set up with an island vacation theme (they are calling it the aptly named “Echo-oasis”). First off, I have not been very impressed with Apreso in the past, basically it was a Microsoft based classroom capture software. There were some major drawbacks to it (besides price)- for example it was very proprietary- and required a Microsoft OS, a server, and hardware for the classroom. Plus, there was no ability to edit the capture. Well, they fixed all of these things with their latest version. I think they are a legitimate option for doing classroom capture. It also has an automated podcasting tool which I was pretty impressed with. My main problem with it is that I think most classes aren’t worth capturing. Seriously, it could be an amazing lecture and it gets captured in an amazing way, but students aren’t going to watch it because it is boring to stare at your computer for 1-2 hours. I see the value as a review tool, but not something to rely on. I guess it kind of comes back to the idea that I don’t like lecture classes. If you just lecture, then sure, record it (in your office) and then suddenly you have lots of time where you can re-enforce learning during class time.
Last Session of the Day:
I went to a session by Mississippi state about Digital Asset Management. I was fascinated by what they have done. They have created software that will allow faculty to automatically podcast their entire course with virtually no effort (put microphone on- that’s all!). They realized that what they did with podcasts would actually be a valuable tool for other types of documents. So, they created a content management system that interacts with their course management system and ther student information system. The key to their success was some superstar programmer who has written this program for them. Too bad Westminster doesn’t have the man power to create something like this from scratch. However, I think that there are open source products and even affordable Microsoft (SharePoint) products that can accomplish the same tasks, but much more. The only thing you give up is the nifty podcasting application, and easy integration with the student information system.
Lastly:
I met with Chris (my fellow PBBA techy) after a session that he attended on Second Life and we had one of the most passionate, interesting conversations about the direction of educational technology I have ever had. We talked about the need for students to be involved in the development of the content of their learning. Specifically we think that the wiki tool that we are developing for the PBBA program at Westminster needs to be made available to students to edit. Currently, to keep faculty happy we have been saying that students will not have ability to edit our wiki. This is like a “I’m the teacher and I know more than the students”. The truth is, that having a PHD or a teaching license does not make you smarter than a collective group of learners. There are so many benefits by allowing students equal opportunity to contribute to as the teacher. The teacher than takes on a mentor or coach role rather than the expert role. Perhaps the best idea we had was the idea of giving students access to the pbba wiki for life, that way when they contribute something they are contributing to something that is going to be around for a long time, and how great would that be if they came back later as a professional and contributed to the knowledge of the wiki so new students get the benefit of their experience. Another nice side benefit is that alumni will be attached to the school for a longer period of time. What if every time they have a business problem, they consult the wiki? Or, what if every time they come up with an innovative solution to a problem, they share that with all the other PBBA wiki alumni? Ok, this list is getting long, but one last benefit. By encouraging student participation you are teaching students how to learn and teach themselves- a skill that will help them their entire life. Plus, the students will retain and apply the material better if they have spent the time sorting through search data and analyzing the validity of the material.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
I need a Second Life because my life is so great.
For those who don't know what Second Life is, it is an online community that tries very hard to imitate real life by using virtual reality. Here is a video from one of my favorite shows The Office:
Second Life has become very popular in the last few years. It has also become a trendy tool to use in higher education. I have spent many hours in second life and have even attended a workshop about S.L. in education. I don't claim to be an expert on it by any means, but I have used it just enough to have some opinions. Every so often I'll have a professor come up to me and ask me "Should I be using Second Life?" Well, I don't have a great answer, but I believe that it is a tool with tremendous potential, but I don't think most faculty and teachers are ready for it. Second life has potential to someday change the way online education works, but it requires some effort. The next generation of teachers is likely to be equipped to take advantage of it.
People take on a different personality online then they do in real life- obviously the anonymity of being online makes peoples inhibitions disappear. The question is: is this a good thing or a bad thing? It can be great for the shy individual who can overcome their fears. It can be bad because people can spend so much time in the virtual world that the skills needed in the real world aren't developed.
I've been considering holding a virtual class this summer in Second Life. What do you think, is this a good idea? If you are one of my students, would you like to do this?
Second Life has become very popular in the last few years. It has also become a trendy tool to use in higher education. I have spent many hours in second life and have even attended a workshop about S.L. in education. I don't claim to be an expert on it by any means, but I have used it just enough to have some opinions. Every so often I'll have a professor come up to me and ask me "Should I be using Second Life?" Well, I don't have a great answer, but I believe that it is a tool with tremendous potential, but I don't think most faculty and teachers are ready for it. Second life has potential to someday change the way online education works, but it requires some effort. The next generation of teachers is likely to be equipped to take advantage of it.
People take on a different personality online then they do in real life- obviously the anonymity of being online makes peoples inhibitions disappear. The question is: is this a good thing or a bad thing? It can be great for the shy individual who can overcome their fears. It can be bad because people can spend so much time in the virtual world that the skills needed in the real world aren't developed.
I've been considering holding a virtual class this summer in Second Life. What do you think, is this a good idea? If you are one of my students, would you like to do this?
Friday, May 30, 2008
MED 308: Class 2
The second class went really well- for those that were there.
There are seven people in the class and 4 people showed up for class. By the end of class there were only 3. So, you might be thinking that class was a complete waste. Wrong! We talked about a lot of great things, and were able to get through some really important demonstrations.
To accommodate all of those that were gone (and to learn how to do a couple things) I tried to capture the class in two different formats: Adobe Connect, and just plain audio. Here is what I learned:
Adobe Connect: For those of you who don't know Adobe Connect is a web application that allows various forms of media to be streamed over the internet in virtual rooms or "meetings" as they call it. These meetings will allow for a video feed, audio feed, desktop sharing, document sharing, presentation sharing (it does a great job with PowerPoint files because it converts it to a flash format). It also has a built in chat tool, notes, polls, and it makes the most tasty salsa you have ever had. I have been trying to convince colleagues at various institutions to use Connect but without a lot of success. I love Connect, BUT . . . something always goes wrong. I don't know that I have ever recorded a meeting and though "that went off just the way it was suppose to". Wednesday night’s class was just the same. There were two important parts that didn't work. Neither of which were Connects fault. The web cam I used to get a video stream never worked. Second, the microphone that I used didn't pick up the audio from the class. I can deal with the web cam not working- I don't find web cam streams of classes to be all that useful, but I can't deal without the audio working. The thing that is frustrating is the microphone I used is a special array microphone that is designed for picking up audio in a classroom for Connect. It cost like $350! I'm not sure what went wrong, all I know at this point is that the Connect recording has very little audio. Lessons learned: get a better camera and don't try to set it up 30 minutes before class, don't rely on microphones that seem to good to be true.
Regular audio recording: Along with the array microphone I also used a cheap wireless lapel microphone from RadioShack. It cost about $50. I wore it the entire class. I had it plugged into my laptop which had Audacity running on it. It worked great! Well, it worked great at recording what I had to say. It didn’t do so well at recording when the learners were saying- and so much of class is the discussions and comments that are made. I was however able to use audacity to amplify the parts when the students spoke- so the mp3 that I made is a little more useable. Only problem was the amount of time it takes to select all of the quiet parts and amplify them- so I only did it on the second half of class. Lessons learned: if you are going to record audio a cheap lapel mic is better than a do-everything microphone, but still not good enough. I suppose the lapel mic would be great if this was a lecture class. It is difficult to lecture to 3 learners. The best way to do this is to probably increase the complexity- which doesn’t work for most educators. In a perfect scenario I would use two or three microphones, mix the signals from each of them and then output them.
At the beginning of class, the learners (I've been trying to say learner rather than student lately) asked me about what I thought was not going well with the class. I told them, with some discussion, that the class was going well and they were doing a great job of picking up on things early- I have been pleasantly surprised by that. My only two problems are: I wish the learners would take more ownership of the class wiki, and I’m concerned I have too many redundant assignment/activities. Right there we decided to put an end to one of the assignments: the personal blog. The purpose of the personal blog was to learn about various blogging tools and to help the students get in the habit of blogging. Both of these goals have been or will be met if we end that assignment right now (requiring 1-2 posts rather than 5). I’m not sure if changing the amount of work required is a great idea. I guess I’m concerned about losing credibility. However, I think back on some of my professors and I wish they had the humility to say “I think this is going in the wrong direction . . . I want to fix it by . . .”. So, I have tried to keep that attitude in my teaching.
Last part I promise. I have created an mp3 of the class. So, did I “podcast”? I do not believe that a podcast is just a recording of a class. A podcast is when multiple audio recordings (or video if it is a video podcast) are put into an RSS feed so that the listener can use an aggregator (such as iTunes) to allow for easy updates- so new sessions are automatically loaded onto an iPod (or similar device). I have asked the class to record some audio this week. This is not making a podcast, just record an mp3- which is the first part of creating a podcast. Hope that is clear.
There are seven people in the class and 4 people showed up for class. By the end of class there were only 3. So, you might be thinking that class was a complete waste. Wrong! We talked about a lot of great things, and were able to get through some really important demonstrations.
To accommodate all of those that were gone (and to learn how to do a couple things) I tried to capture the class in two different formats: Adobe Connect, and just plain audio. Here is what I learned:
Adobe Connect: For those of you who don't know Adobe Connect is a web application that allows various forms of media to be streamed over the internet in virtual rooms or "meetings" as they call it. These meetings will allow for a video feed, audio feed, desktop sharing, document sharing, presentation sharing (it does a great job with PowerPoint files because it converts it to a flash format). It also has a built in chat tool, notes, polls, and it makes the most tasty salsa you have ever had. I have been trying to convince colleagues at various institutions to use Connect but without a lot of success. I love Connect, BUT . . . something always goes wrong. I don't know that I have ever recorded a meeting and though "that went off just the way it was suppose to". Wednesday night’s class was just the same. There were two important parts that didn't work. Neither of which were Connects fault. The web cam I used to get a video stream never worked. Second, the microphone that I used didn't pick up the audio from the class. I can deal with the web cam not working- I don't find web cam streams of classes to be all that useful, but I can't deal without the audio working. The thing that is frustrating is the microphone I used is a special array microphone that is designed for picking up audio in a classroom for Connect. It cost like $350! I'm not sure what went wrong, all I know at this point is that the Connect recording has very little audio. Lessons learned: get a better camera and don't try to set it up 30 minutes before class, don't rely on microphones that seem to good to be true.
Regular audio recording: Along with the array microphone I also used a cheap wireless lapel microphone from RadioShack. It cost about $50. I wore it the entire class. I had it plugged into my laptop which had Audacity running on it. It worked great! Well, it worked great at recording what I had to say. It didn’t do so well at recording when the learners were saying- and so much of class is the discussions and comments that are made. I was however able to use audacity to amplify the parts when the students spoke- so the mp3 that I made is a little more useable. Only problem was the amount of time it takes to select all of the quiet parts and amplify them- so I only did it on the second half of class. Lessons learned: if you are going to record audio a cheap lapel mic is better than a do-everything microphone, but still not good enough. I suppose the lapel mic would be great if this was a lecture class. It is difficult to lecture to 3 learners. The best way to do this is to probably increase the complexity- which doesn’t work for most educators. In a perfect scenario I would use two or three microphones, mix the signals from each of them and then output them.
At the beginning of class, the learners (I've been trying to say learner rather than student lately) asked me about what I thought was not going well with the class. I told them, with some discussion, that the class was going well and they were doing a great job of picking up on things early- I have been pleasantly surprised by that. My only two problems are: I wish the learners would take more ownership of the class wiki, and I’m concerned I have too many redundant assignment/activities. Right there we decided to put an end to one of the assignments: the personal blog. The purpose of the personal blog was to learn about various blogging tools and to help the students get in the habit of blogging. Both of these goals have been or will be met if we end that assignment right now (requiring 1-2 posts rather than 5). I’m not sure if changing the amount of work required is a great idea. I guess I’m concerned about losing credibility. However, I think back on some of my professors and I wish they had the humility to say “I think this is going in the wrong direction . . . I want to fix it by . . .”. So, I have tried to keep that attitude in my teaching.
Last part I promise. I have created an mp3 of the class. So, did I “podcast”? I do not believe that a podcast is just a recording of a class. A podcast is when multiple audio recordings (or video if it is a video podcast) are put into an RSS feed so that the listener can use an aggregator (such as iTunes) to allow for easy updates- so new sessions are automatically loaded onto an iPod (or similar device). I have asked the class to record some audio this week. This is not making a podcast, just record an mp3- which is the first part of creating a podcast. Hope that is clear.
Friday, May 16, 2008
1st class taught for MED 608G
On Wednesday evening I taught the first of five classes for the MED608G course. There are seven students signed up for the class. They are all very bright and capable. It is always interesting to me getting to know students. I think that is what I miss most about teaching is the interaction with students and having the sense of helping somebody real learn something.
So much of my job lately has been about developing material for students who I might not ever meet or get to know. There is something satisfying about knowing students and seeing how the principles that are being taught can affect and help these students.
The class was not without a little tension. There are a couple students who are very assertive about their learning. In other words- they spoke up about halfway through the class and gave me feedback about the structure of the class and expressed some of their fears and concerns about a class like this. I actually am really grateful for comments like this.
The last year I have read a collection of books by Patrick Lencioni about leadership. One of my favorite books is one called "Death By Meeting" and another one called "The Five Dysfuctions of a Team". These books are written as fables. They have given me so much perspective on how people work together. One of the key principles in both of these books is that conflict or tension is a good thing. Simply put, when people have the opportunity to express their thoughts openly then it allows them to buy in better in the long run.
In "Death By Meeting" the principle of healthy conflict is brought up as a principle of a good meeting. I think the same principle applies to teaching adults. People become engaged in learning and in class when there is constructive contention. An example the book uses is that most people can sit through a movie for 2-3 hours. However, that same person if asked to sit still for 2-3 hours for a meeting or a class- it is torturous. The reason is because the movie has conflict which draws people in. So, if you can incorporate this principle into a class, the class is more productive because students are more engaged.
So, that was a long way of saying I am excited to teach this class because there are students who are not afraid to speak up and voice their opinions.
I'm also excited about this class because of a new approach to learning. All of our course materials is being developed in our course wiki. I anticipate the students contributing and helping to build the structure (and success) of this course.
If any of my students have made it through reading this entire post, please leave a comment and feel free to express your thoughts on our class up to this point.
So much of my job lately has been about developing material for students who I might not ever meet or get to know. There is something satisfying about knowing students and seeing how the principles that are being taught can affect and help these students.
The class was not without a little tension. There are a couple students who are very assertive about their learning. In other words- they spoke up about halfway through the class and gave me feedback about the structure of the class and expressed some of their fears and concerns about a class like this. I actually am really grateful for comments like this.
The last year I have read a collection of books by Patrick Lencioni about leadership. One of my favorite books is one called "Death By Meeting" and another one called "The Five Dysfuctions of a Team". These books are written as fables. They have given me so much perspective on how people work together. One of the key principles in both of these books is that conflict or tension is a good thing. Simply put, when people have the opportunity to express their thoughts openly then it allows them to buy in better in the long run.
In "Death By Meeting" the principle of healthy conflict is brought up as a principle of a good meeting. I think the same principle applies to teaching adults. People become engaged in learning and in class when there is constructive contention. An example the book uses is that most people can sit through a movie for 2-3 hours. However, that same person if asked to sit still for 2-3 hours for a meeting or a class- it is torturous. The reason is because the movie has conflict which draws people in. So, if you can incorporate this principle into a class, the class is more productive because students are more engaged.
So, that was a long way of saying I am excited to teach this class because there are students who are not afraid to speak up and voice their opinions.
I'm also excited about this class because of a new approach to learning. All of our course materials is being developed in our course wiki. I anticipate the students contributing and helping to build the structure (and success) of this course.
If any of my students have made it through reading this entire post, please leave a comment and feel free to express your thoughts on our class up to this point.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Grand Princess Riviera 10 Year Anniversary
My wife (Terrie) and I just returned from Mexico. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary and had a wonderful time. We have never done a vacation like this. Even though we have been married for ten years, we have always had an excuse to not go on a vacation. It is nice to finally be able to do something like this. After 10 years it is nice to not be in a "starving student" financial situation.
Welcome to my blog
Hi. My name is Ben. I work at Westminster College in Salt Lake City as the Technology Architect for the Professional Bachelor of Business Administration Program (PBBA). I am also an Adjunct Professor for the School of Education where I teach classes on technology use in education.
This is going to be my professional personal blog. Entries on this site will be about my personal and professional life which often seem to get entertwined. If you would like to see a blog about my family that my wife maintains you can see it at: http://neiswender.blogspot.com.
Currently I am preparing to teach a course for the summer of 2008 called "Computer Based Instruction". I have decided to teach this class with a slightly different slant then what I think was originally intended for this class. I have decided to focus on the key advances in online learning that have changed the way we learn. Specifically the class will be focusing on wikis, blogs and podcasts as well as a host of other technologies.
This is going to be my professional personal blog. Entries on this site will be about my personal and professional life which often seem to get entertwined. If you would like to see a blog about my family that my wife maintains you can see it at: http://neiswender.blogspot.com.
Currently I am preparing to teach a course for the summer of 2008 called "Computer Based Instruction". I have decided to teach this class with a slightly different slant then what I think was originally intended for this class. I have decided to focus on the key advances in online learning that have changed the way we learn. Specifically the class will be focusing on wikis, blogs and podcasts as well as a host of other technologies.
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