Join Me for Make It Visual with Free Web 2.0 Tools

Today's web 2.0 landscape has altered the terrain of information.  Now visual content -- cool, slick, inviting graphics that are sometimes even interactive -- abound.  Some educators have already begun experimenting with the easy-to-use visual tools and others aren't even aware of them yet nor realize how easy they are to use!  Here's your chance to jump in!

In this free @One Desktop Seminar, I will demonstrate a few web-based, visual tools that you can use to create promotional flyers, stunning banners for your online class or introduce new class topics in a fun, dynamic way.

Join me for a FREE 60-minute online @One Desktop Seminar:

Make it Visual with Free Web 2.0 Tools

Wed, 9/22
12noon PST

Click here to register.

Social Media Encourages Revisiting Your Own Work

For seven year, I taught art appreciation at a community college.  As I gained more and more teaching experience, I began to identify certain concepts that could be taught more effectively.  Each year, I would experiment with new ways of teaching one or two of these concepts and frequently these experiments involved digital technologies.

One of those concepts was the theory of simultaneous contrast, an important step in understanding how colors affect other colors and a thread in a student's mastery of visual analysis skills.  I had been taught this theory by a professor who literally held up two pieces of colored cardboard side by side, alternating one and leaving the other piece the same.  I remember him saying, "Do you see it? Do you see it?"  And I left the class thinking, "Nope."  There are always attempts in books to show this theory with two squares, placed side by side with a smaller square in the center of each.  The center square is the exact same color and the surrounding color varies in each. Like this example:

One day I created a Keynote presentation with a series of 'big squares' that surrounded 'smaller square' like this one above.  I flipped through about ten slides that were each connected with a cross-fade transition.  My students were enthralled and I thought, "Yes! I've got it!"

Then, on a whim, I decided to export it to a .mov file and upload it to YouTube.  I honestly completely forgot about this video until today when I received an email notifying me that someone had commented on it.  This email notification served, for me, as a realization of how social media, like YouTube, can often encourage us to revisit our own work which is an important step in reflecting on our own learning growth as individuals and educators.  I share the video here in hopes that other may find it useful in their own teaching or learning.

Click play and keep your eyes on the center square. The color of the center square does not change -- it only appears to change because of the affect of the shifts in the color of its viewing context.

Thoughts on My First Office Hours Event

Today I held my first live, online 'office hours,' hosted by Catherine Shinners, the community manager of GETideas.org.  I've been invited by GETideas to write a monthly blog post related to practical strategies for educational innovations through technology, particular pertaining to higher education. 

As I noted in an earlier post here, this month's blog topic was "Why Social Networking Matters to College Leaders."  The office hours event was attended by about 15 people, which I thought was great considering this is "back to school" week for many colleges and universities across the nation.  Here's a recap of some of the highlights from our conversation.

Corey Gin, from CSU East Bay, shared how his university is actively engaging Twitter to communicate important campus announcements and events to students and we reflected on how the university's recent adoption of Google apps is encouraging a recognition of the validity and relevance of web 2.0 tools across their campus culture. 

We also talked about the important and timely topic of negotiating the fine line of privacy in our social networks.  One can argue that privacy doesn't exist in a social network but doesn't this conversation change when professors are befriended by students or former students?  How do we, as educators, respond to these friend requests on Facebook?  How do we each move forward with establishing our own 'rules' in this area?  What are others doing in these situations?

Amy Moore, of Florida State College at Jacksonville, shared that her institution is collaboratively developing a set of guidelines to assist faculty with negotiating their presence on social networking sites.  And Kerry Mix of San Jacinto College indicated that a 'social media users committee' has been established at his college and the group is also working towards writing policy around topic, as well. 

Bethany Bovard, of the Sloan Consortium and New Mexico State University shared a great tip!  She and many of her NMSU colleagues have integrated Yammer into their campus dialogue.  Yammer (a site that is new to me -- thanks, Bethany!) is "like Twitter" but creates "private social networks for your company."  Those who converse in a Yammer network are conversing only with their professional co-workers.  And it's free (grin).  I'd love to hear more about this from Bethany and I already a slew of ideas I want to try out with Yammer.

Jeanne Guerin, of Sierra College, who is a former colleague of mine shared the innovative concept her college has developed in recent years which leverages Elluminate (rebranded "CCC Confer" at California Community Colleges) to create live online sessions between students and the writing center staff (called SCOWC, the Sierra College Online Writing Center).  The sessions foster live interaction with online students to foster improvements in the students' writing.  I love this story, as it showcases a very innovative use of a web conferencing system to directly support students who are not on campus but, beyond that, the project would not have been possible without a grant from the CCC Chancellor's office that makes the use of CCC Confer free to all California community college employees (and students).  Despite the success of the project, however, it remains on thin ice due to the budgetary constraints of her underfunded college. 

Together we posed the question -- don't budget allocations always come down to local priorities?  Are innovations valued as priorities in higher education?  Certainly the answer to that will vary but it's such an important question to keep at the surface as we take our steps into the second decade of the 21st century and continue to see our world transform.

Thanks to those who attended and participated in our conversation. If you missed the event and would like to listen in anyway, stay tune -- I will share the link to the archive when it becomes available.

My next GETInsight blog post will go live on September 13th.  The topic is "Online Learning in the Social Web" (very near and dear to my heart).  I hope you will consider joining us on Tuesday, September 21st at 9am for the office hours event for this topic.  We'd love to have you be part of the conversation!  Bring your ideas and questions to share!

Cheers!




 

First Day of School

My boys started school this week.  On the first day, I spent a few moments in my son's third grade classroom with him, hoping to engage him in a conversation about his new "learning space."  My son was born in 2002.  He loves selecting his favorite songs on iTunes and listening to them on his shiny green (his favorite color) iPod Nano.  His Nano fits in the tiniest of pockets.  It includes his favorite songs, a few movies I've added for him, video games and a video camera that he uses to capture silly moments or his latest bicycle trick. 

As we stood there in his classroom, I looked around at the perfectly aligned desks and colorful posters on the wall.  I asked him, "What's your favorite part about your new classroom?"  He paused and thought for a moment.  Then he proceeded to walk to the front of the room and place both of his arms around the big, gray, rickety overhead projector -- "This.  This, Mommy, is my favorite thing."

It was not a cool, new doc camera.  It is a basic, old overhead projector -- complete with a transparency lying on its surface and dry erase markers nearby.  My son knows that I too had overhead projectors in MY classrooms when I was his age.  He didn't have to say one more word to me to convey his message.

Teacher, professor, grad student, principal, instructional designer, dean, president, instructional assistant, librarian, chancellor -- it doesn't matter what your title is.  We are all educators.  Our end goal is to educate.  A 21st century education demands 21st century tools to engage 21st century learners.

Why Social Networking Matters to College Leaders: Let's Talk!

Join me on Tuesday, August 24 for an free, live online discussion Office Hours event on GETideas.org, an open, online community for education leaders to discuss opportunities for innovation and transformation in education.   My live Office Hours is part of the GETinsight program on GETideas.org, a blog and live Office Hours program to discuss practical strategies for education innovation.

Once a month,  I will be available for conversation and discussion on my GETinsight blog post, and this month will be talking with you about “Why Social Networking Matters to College Leaders” and can help address college retention and enhance student engagement.    

The Office Hours are August 24 at 9 a.m. PST/12:00 p.m. EST and 5:00 p.m. GMT…Register today!

Why Social Networking Matters to College Leaders

GETinsight Blog Post, August 2010

I'm excited to share a new project I've jumped into.  For the last year or so I've been devouring the great resources shared at GETideas.org -- an online community, sponsored by Cisco Systems, for educational leaders to join the dialogue about how and why to leverage technology to transform education.  Beginning this week, I will be sharing a monthly post on the GETinsight blog.  I'm hoping to create some intriguing conversations relevant to a higher education audience.  Please join in and share a comment on the post, Why Social Networking Matters to College Leaders.

Then, if you'd like to join in on a live conversation with me, attend next week's online Office Hours on Thursday, August 19th Tuesday, August 24th at 9am PST. Details to follow!

Medieval Madness: When Will We Change?

I just read a great post by Professor Eckelmann at Community College Teaching -- a Love Story, that shares this quote by Jerry Della Femina:

The 22-year old is like an old man next to the 18-year old, who is really far out ... It's the kids who are really revolutionizing the advertising business today. The kids are pushing ahead, mainly because the communicate to consumers like we've never communicated before." (Della Femina, 2010, p.108)

As Eckelmann notes, it doesn't sound like such a striking quote -- until we realize he wrote it in 1969.

I too stumbled upon an article recently that I almost snubbed and didn't read because I saw the date and thought it would be irrelevant to my needs. The article was written by Lloyd Pulliam in 1963 and it's titled, "The Lecture -- Are We Reviving Discredited Teaching Methods?" (The Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 44, No. 8. May, 1963, pp. 382-385)  His perspective is especially stunning, as I read it today, in 2010, as we watch the pieces of our world be transformed from the inside out by the internet.

His thesis?  That lecture is a method of learning that made sense at one time, and that time was the Middle Ages.  It made sense then because there was a scarcity of written books to share with "learners" so the "expert" scholar, or professor, would share information verbally and the students would digest it.  As books became more available after the invention of the printing press, the germanic tradition of the lecture in universities had taken hold and continue to spread throughout Europe and the early blossoming of higher education in America.

Funny, isn't it?  Pulliam identified the lecture as a "discredited teaching method" in the 1960s.  Consider the head spinning rate of information production today -- my own blog and tweets serving as perfect examples -- and the fact that this perpetuating flow of content is now available through laptops and smartphones in the pocket of a growing percentage of the world.  Yet we're still educating our college students through a medieval teaching method that "makes sense" in an information-scarce society.

When will we all see that it's time to change the way we teach our students and put them in the seat of a learning process that is founded in inquiry, rather than rote memorization and regurgitation of facts?  The ability of our country to "play" at a global level in the future depends on this moment.  Are you in?

America Lacks an "Education Culture"

I just read a great article titled "The Real Challenge for Higher Education" by Garrison Walters that thoughtfully considers why America, once the most educated nation on earth, now ranks 11th in overall education levels when we focus on our younger student higher ed demographics (the article notes that the US is still second when focusing on our population overall).

While typically the reasons for the declining college graduation rates are excavated from the inner workings of institutions (professor motivation, learning methods, assessment, administration) and within our governmental structures (particularly funding), Garrison takes a different look at the problem and reveals a very important discussion. According to his argument, Americans lack a "pervasive education culture" which lays a context for an overall undervaluing of the linkage between economic and personal success and the attainment of a college degree. While I certainly don't want to suggest that we should, in any way, lose or focus on the dialogue around institutional and governmental reform around higher education, I think he has a worthy argument here that is relevant to every single one of us.

Try his experiment yourself. Ask a young college student why s/he is enrolled. How many respond, "I'm here because my parents made me enroll," or "I enrolled because my girlfriend did." I recall hearing some of those viewpoints while teaching at a community college ... but is that a new phenomenon? That's difficult to say.

Now spend some time thinking about how the social context in which a young person is raised informs his/her values. That thought really concerns me when I reflect on Garrison's argument. I have done some writing and presenting on generational differences in recent years and this has caused me to think about my own upbringing and how the events around me informed my viewpoints and overall values. My father, first of all, was the first of his family of 15 children to leave his hometown and travel across the country from New Jersey to the golden state of California to attain a college education. His gateway? Porterville Community College -- where college was free and open to all. That story, I believe, ingrained the importance of college inside me from an early age. I attended public K-12 schools and remember hearing some dialogue between my parents about budget cuts. My elementary school was closed and torn down to build great big houses. But, overall, I don't remember feeling affected by budget cuts until college when I had to battle to get a seat in classes. And then I'd often struggle understand what the point of each lecture was. I always gravitated towards the visual discipline of art and art history and I often think this is partially due to the challenges I felt trying to learn in a fully auditory lecture environment. I found my passion in life through college, particularly graduate school which provided me with my first opportunity to step in front of students. I'll never forget the fire that I felt inside of me that day.

Now as I watch my two young boys grow up in public schools in California, I often think about how the context of their educational experiences is informing their values of education. We talk frequently about college and ponder the opportunity of exploring their dreams in life. I don't focus a lot on the notion of "college = more money" which is the measurement too frequently used to define the value of a college degree. I want them to be motivated by their passion to learn and explore, rather than achieve a good income. That's part of our problem, as a country, I believe.

The other concern I have is more real to young students, as the effects are seen around them on a daily basis and they feel them more deeply. My boys' classroom teacher-to-student ratio has increased in the last year from 1:22 to 1:30, as a result of budget cuts. And they're in elementary school. This ratio is in place in kindergarten too. The classrooms are tight, hot, and kids are virtually on top of each other. Teachers spend more time than ever on discipline and class management and less time on learning; although they're held to meeting the exact same standards. A friend who teaches described her experience as "like playing 'Whack a Mole.'" How does that demonstrate and foster a value for learning in our young students?

This year my kids lost their computer lab assistant, library aid, and they're having an extra week of instruction cut out of the school year to avoid teacher layoffs.  Each family has been asked to contribute hundreds of dollars to help the school respond to the deficit.  Now I ask, "What kind of messages are these actions sending to our youngsters about our nation's value of education?" Clearly, children don't understand the big picture of how budgetary systems work. They see what's happening at their school and they these changes to one simple message: "school is not important."

Another huge contribution to youngster's valuing of education is media, also cited by Garrison. Any child who watches television today is exposed to a nauseating extreme to "the dream of being a celebrity." Disney Channel is an extreme example and one that parents still, too frequently, fall back on as "safe" due to the mythical idealism that Baby Boomers and Gen Xers associate with Disney.  The Disney Channel offering youngsters the "choice" to watch Hannah Montana live the "Best of Both Worlds" (a story about a teenage girl living on the beach in Malibu who dawns a blonde wig and night and lives a secret life as a rock star), The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (rich kids who used to live in a hotel and now live on a cruise ship), Sunny With a Chance (teenage girl who has left her family for a the chance of her life to star in a tv show in Hollywood, featuring comical scenes of classroom learning "between takes" when she can fit it in), and iCarly (a teenager with her own webcast and national following).  And let us not ignore the lack of diversity in the lead characters and perpetuation of gender stereotypes that are fostered through the viewing of these shows.

  

 These media fiascos cultivate dreams and values within our children. They teach our children that "success" is tied to fame, rather than learning and exploring the vast possibilities that await them in a college education. And these media messages carry directly over to overly commercialized music, as well. The Pussycat Dolls' (whose recent tour was titled "Doll Domination) "When I grow up" rants:

When I grow up
I wanna be famous
I wanna be a star
I wanna be in movies
When I grow up
I wanna see the world
Drive nice cars
I wanna have groupies
When I grow up
Be on TV
People know me
Be on magazines
When I grow up
Fresh and clean
Number one chick when I step out on the scene

And don't even get me started on their "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" which, by the way, is featured on a recent Kids Bop album sung by young girls and has also been played at my childrens' school during recess (I know this because my seven year old came home singing the lyrics).  Is this our vision of role models for young girls?  Is this our vision for how we want women to be valued?  Today the majority of the college population is female (many of whom struggle with body image issues and eating disorders -- hmmm, wonder why).  What's on the horizon for our next generation?

As you read the words on this screen, begin to shape an awareness of the role you play in fostering an education culture; you need to voice support for higher education across the board and effectively navigate our youth away from countless hours watching these media "heroes" while teaching them to actively deconstruct the messages they convey at the same time (an outcome of integrating "visual literacy" as a core 21st century skill).

We all need to crystal clear that America's success in this global, information society is contingent upon an educated population of individuals of different genders, races, and ethnicities who can think critically, offer innovative solutions to complex problems, present ideas orally and in writing, collaborate in diverse groups and demonstrate a sensitivity of cultural differences. This is fundamental to the success, both personal and economic, of our children as they emerge into adults, as well as our country. As Garrison notes,

"[F]ew among our political leaders appear to be thinking about education as a K to graduate system, and far too few appreciate the changing levels of knowledge needed to function effectively in today’s society. Once, Americans thought everyone should have around a fourth grade education, then the line gradually moved up to the eighth grade and finally to the end of high school. But the line of minimum necessity has long since crossed into higher education; now, if all you have is a high school diploma, you’re a knowledge economy dropout."

Honestly, to me, it seems that contributing to an adjustment of our culture's values of education is the one thread in this complexly interwoven ball of tangled hair that we all can directly affect starting right now.

Sloan-C Effective Practice Award Recipient for VoiceThread in Online Learning!

I'm excited and honored to share that my use of VoiceThread in Online Learning to enhance community, increase social presence and improve visual learning is the recipient of a 2010 Sloan-C Effective Practices Award!


The Sloan Consortium is an institutional and professional leadership organization dedicated to integrating online education into the mainstream of higher education, helping institutions and individual educators improve the quality, scale, and breadth of education. 


The Sloan-C Effective Practices are submitted year-round by online educators and institutional teams and are viewable by the public.


Thank you, Sloan-C, for recognizing my contributions to the development of quality online teaching and learning.  I look forward to receiving the award at the ET4Online Conference in San Jose, when VoiceThread will also receive the MERLOT Classics Award.  Steve Muth, co-founder of VoiceThread, has asked me to accept the VoiceThread award on his behalf and we will be co-presenting to the conference attendees on Friday, July 23rd in a featured presentation.  Looking forward to all of it! 


The following VoiceThread showcases the overall practice.  Feel free to comment on any slide.  Please be aware that comment moderation is turned "on" so your comment will not appear immediately.


A full-size view of the same VoiceThread is available here.

Navigating Generational Diversity in Higher Ed

I just participated in the Educause Live webinar, "What Do Newer Generation Faculty Want from IT Services?" and have some reflections to share.

First, I participated through using Adobe Connect Pro Mobile, a free app for iPhone.  The experience was excellent.  Rather than sitting at my desk, listening, I was able to go for a walk and get some exercise at the same time which I really enjoyed. 

The hour long event involved an insightful and very relevant discussion between Bruce Maas, CIO and Michael Zimmer, Assistant Professor, both of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  I was most impressed by the importance placed upon the effective development of "dialogue" between IT and campus stakeholders about the social media and instructional technology tools faculty are using/want to use.

Zimmer, self-identified as a lat Gen Xer, considers himself an early adopter of technology and spoke candidly about his use of the campus supported LMS, Desire 2 Learn, as well as external sites (like Tumblr) which facilitate a more seamless sharing of content with his students. Maas shared his thoughts about the challenges involved with staying in dialogue with faculty to keep a finger on the pulse of the technologies they are interested in seeing supported with the campus services.  The two of them also posed some very provocative questions that I thought were really important points.  For example, is it important, in this day and age, to provide campus supported alternatives to the tools faculty are using?  How do we select which tools to support and, then, does it become a requirement or an option for faculty to use them?

This conversation has left me wondering about how characteristic this close collaborative relationship is of campuses across the nation.  Is there a disparity between institutional type?  That is, do community colleges have as much IT support and dialogue with faculty as at 4-year universities?  Does it come down to the robust staffing levels which are, in generally, limited by campus budgets (as well as hiring priorities)?

The single most important takeaway I have right now is how refreshing it is to see "generational diversity" be considered in such an authentic and professional manner.  Too frequently I hear comments that suggest college faculty are not interested in integrating technology into learning.  This discussion focused on an observed interconnectedness between "newer" generation faculty and the student population.  In the conversation, it was noted that younger faculty are more in tune with the engagement and learning benefits of integrating emerging forms of technology into a class experience than their Baby Boomer colleagues.  Y

Year over year, the proportion of Gen Y and Gen X to Baby Boomer faculty will continue to shift.  How are campuses preparing for this shift? Is it a priority at your institution?  If not, should it be?