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.

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.

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.