Laptops out at airport security? What if you forget to put that laptop back in the bag? I know, you would never do such a thing. Nor would I, except that I did. Ran the Athens Marathon, was doing the airport security routine. Asked the guard if I should take my laptop out. Guard said yes. Retrieved all other items, zipped up my bag and was on my way–without my laptop. It was only after I arrived home that it was missing. The good news is that the airport security folks turned over my laptop to the Hellenic Police and its on its way back home. I remembered a simple trick that would have saved me a whole lot of trouble and cash. Put a contact number on your lock screen. It takes only a few minutes. A good Samaritan could call, send a text, or email while you’re still sitting in the Lounge.
Normally, your MacOS lock screen looks something like this:
Sorry, we have no idea how to return this laptop to someone.
Instead, your laptop could look like this:
Contact information right on the home screen. I know, you could also do something like put a label on the outside of the laptop, but that would be too easy.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Download Cocktail. This nifty little program allows you to tweak many settings on your Mac. We’re going to use it for one thing: adding your contact information to your lock screen.
3. Launch Cocktail. Select Login tab. Enter your contact details. Press apply.
That’s it. You’ll have your mobile and email on your home screen.
For extra credit, you should be sure to enable find my Mac, for iCloud–that will help you find all of your iOS devices. I’ve recently started tinkering with Prey which is like Lojack for laptops…it helps you track things down in the event your device falls into less scrupulous hands.
In addition to my day job of helping run online learning programs at NYU-SCPS, I also am an adjunct faculty member in our division of Leadership and Human Capital Management. All of our courses use case studies to teach students how to analyze business problems. Though I've been a victim of the case study method in graduate school, I have not taught business school case studies until about a year ago. I have used mini-cases, and lots of scenarios, but the teaching the multi-layered case study still new to me.
Still, I start with the notion that teaching that puts students at the center of learning is an idea I always strive to put into practice in my classes. The Participant Centered Learning, Art and Craft of Discussion Leadership session allowed me to see how the experts conduct the in class session and prepare for it. In the spirit of PCL, we also got to try it out.
My takeaways:
Preparing the process of how the discussion will unfold is as important as preparing the content. Generally, when preparing my classes, I spend more time thinking about the process than the actual content. Our instructors view content and process as individual blades on a pair of scissors, both essential to cutting.
The technology was almost invisible, and instructors were adept at using it to aid our discussion. "When used correctly, the "boards" (in this case, the most beautiful black boards I've ever seen) become like an extra instructor in the class. In a future post, I'm going to write about how we might achieve a similar effect in an online class
Students bring gifts to class, but you have to be prepared to accept them. A gift could come in the form of a question, or a mis-understanding, or an argument. It's the instructors role to decide whether or not to accept the gift, and then direct the discussion.
Stick to getting through 1 big idea in an hour, but break the discussion down into smaller "blocks." Different instructors will spend different amounts of time on different parts of a case.
Assess class participation *immediately* after class. At HBS, every case based class typically has 100 students. Still, instructors assign a grade, and usually a code to what a student's contribution was during a particular class.
End class with a question about the discussion so that the conversation continues after class.
Powered chalk boards and museum quality art on the walls aside, the part of which I am most envious? That each class has 8 to 10 sections per semester, with a section leader for each. Those instructors work together to craft the discussion questions and develop a teaching plan, and then debrief to see how it worked. That approach of co-design and development seems like a great way to develop novel approaches to a case.
I would highly recommend these workshops for anyone teaching case studies.
Though innovation was the theme of this year's Educon conference in Philly, for me the conference is about inspiration. Educon is a conference hosted at the Science Leadership Academy , produced for educators by educators–ranging from primary school teachers to university faculty. I sought and gained new perspectives on teaching and learning in today's hyper-connected, always-on, digital world. Why should higher education folks be interested in K-12? As Jeffery McClurken explained in his Educon summary on the Chronicle, our educational missions overlap.
The axioms of this student-centered conference provide the intellectual framework for the recap of the free flowing conversations that follow:
Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members
Our schools must be about co-creating – together with our students – the 21st Century Citizen
Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around
Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate
Learning can – and must – be networked
As the Director of Distance Learning at NYU, I'm always interesting in new experiments in online learning. I've watched with great interest about the experiments at Stanford and MIT. Though I'd read about these courses I hadn't spoken to anyone who had taken one–until Friday, when I ran into Jeff Elkner, a colleague from past Educons past . His take? He learned quite a bit from the course–the materials were of a high quality, but the format may be too self directed to be useful for everyone. Chris Walsh, the Director of Innovation for the non-profit New Tech Network , peppered Julie Cunningham, Chris Fancher, and I with questions–from what a second dream career might be, to how to invent the ideal, free-to-student school. These interactions reminded me about why I come to Educon–though the sessions are amazing, the conversations between the sessions are just as inspiring and informative.
Jonathan D. Becker , Meredith Stewart , and Bud Hunt asked us what teacher research is. Every session had it's own content, but also modeled different instructional approaches. This session had a guest co-presenter, bud the teacher, joining us from Colorado. At approximately 50 participants, when we all went to collaboratively edit a google doc, we managed to break it–but that spirit of experimentation, collaboration and a willingness to fail and learn is a model in itself.
I have had the privilege of helping co-design the online section of a Critical Thinking and Writing Course for NYU AD's Summer Academy The lead instructor, Lisa Springer and I led a conversation about the approaches we are using to teach these students online. Will Richardson joined the conversation and asked provoking questions about our approach. He wondered if the learning experience would be more compelling if the students wrote in public. Other participants suggested letting students pick their own texts. We're thinking on how we might introduce these ideas. Paul Alison offered that our students would find an audience for their writing on YouthVoices. The perception was universal that there's an audience for what our kids have to say.
Kristen Swanson, a newly minted PhD from Widener, lead a 5 minute presentation how to make better online courses –she echoed the kinds of themes that we stress in our faculty development program–an instructor being present, offering lots of feedback, and seeking out course guests. Though I've come across Carol Dweck's research on mindset, Liz Davis' 5 minute presentation made me want to revisit it.
Were you at Educon? What conversation most inspired you? Have you made any changes to your teaching practice as a result? I tinkered with providing video feedback in discussion forums instead of text to reinforce my presence in the classroom.
I'm grateful for an inspiring, idea filled weekend.
Intellagirl kicked off the conference by reminding us that pedagogy comes first, technology second, and gave us a framework for assessing technologies for use in education. She urged us to tinker with new tools and understand what the creators of those tools had in mind from a design perspective and then see how those goals map to our own educational objectives.Smith-Robbins Dissertation Defense Slides
Thinking of Teaching Online? Another Take. I wanted to hear how other folks are talking to new faculty about teaching online, so I attended Suzanne McCotter's Beginning Pedagogy for Teaching Online. McCotter is the Associate Professor, Counseling and Educational Leadership at Montclair State University. She said that students are ready to learn online teaching, and know how to interact. I think a more accurate statement might be that some students are ready to learn online, but in general, I'm skeptical that generation is really an issue. Mark Bullen sums this up well here: Still, the idea that online teachers need to foster a sense of safety and community resonated. I liked how she puts students in her asynchronous class in small discussion groups and then appoints a leader and someone to summarize the discussion for the larger class. I am thinking I may give this approach a try for the research process and methodology course I'm teaching this summer.
Mobile Transforms Teaching? I was somewhat fearful of attending Apple's sponsored presentation on Mobile Pedagogy in today's classroom by Jon Landis, but it turned out to be one of the day's most interesting sessions. He notes that mobile devices with high speed connections will soon outnumber desktop devices and that approximately 63 percent of college students have smart phones. He chafes at the notion that smart phones aren't allowed in K-12 environments and are merely tolerated in higher education. He then goes onto argue that technology is changing, or should change how we teach. He contends current educational models, whether in k-12 or higher ed, are predicated on information scarcity. Information is not scarce, it's abundant and therefore the educators role changes from being an information expert to a concept shepherd. (This idea echoed Intellagirl's idea that as educators we model the practices of master learners.) His pitch goes something like this:
Content should be consumed by students outside of class. Classes should be experiential. When more materials are available to students and classes focus on doing and discussing instead of content dissemination that attendance goes up.
He closed by making an ethical case for introducing innovations in education. Landis slipped a disc 20 years ago. A surgeon repaired it but it required a 3 inch incision and a 3 day stay in the hospital. Some 10 years later (facts are placeholders to retell the anecdote), same surgery, 1 day in the hospital and a 1 inch incision. A friend had the same surgery (coincidentally, so did I) just this year. 1/2 inch incision and it did not require an overnight stay. The same doctor performed all three surgeries. If that doctor used the same tools or techniques, he would be sued for malpractice. Why are educators allowed to use the same methods? He argued that it's unethical to stick with the same methods. He urged participants to pick a single thing in their teaching that's not working and see if there's a way it could be improved.
Let's Augment Reality
NYU's Craig Kapp presented on augmented reality. He demonstrated how symbols could be embedded in textbooks to augment and update them. If that sounds abstract, imagine a children's book where holding the pages up could produce a 3d image on screen that kids could then interact with through the computer's web cam. Zooburst is an augmented reality authoring environment that lets people create their and share their own books. He also demonstrated how to use QR codes to conduct real time simple surveys in class. When you see a QR code, you see a link to the virtual world. In sum, we're carrying around tremendous computing power that gives us new ways of seeing, connecting and learning. More about Craig's work on his blog.
This year's presenters were invited. The call for presentations is scheduled for September of 2011. I'd like us to be there to talk about online learning.
Friday's Times reports on a study from Science, their headline, "To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test." http://tinyurl.com/4fq9xo2 The study, originally published in Science, http://tinyurl.com/4hmno3j, compares testing to concept mapping and other study methods. Researchers found that students who took a test, did better at retrieving information than students who created visual maps of what they learned. How did the study measure what students remembered? By having students complete short answer tests and later, create concept maps from memory. Undoubtedly, tests can help us remember material. A more important question is, will tests help apply knowledge in context and to real-world experiences? I fear that these results will be grist for those that are vested in using test scores as proof of student achievement. I appreciate the challenge of measuring student progress. Somehow, you need to assess student performance. To me, the test is often just a measure of how students did on that test and not a demonstration of mastery or how that knowledge could be applied.
Soon, Watson, an IBM Supercomputer, http://tinyurl.com/6dpgpz9 will face off against the best human Jeopardy contestants. You can bet that these contestants practice by playing the game, by testing their knowledge over and over as does Watson. They will undoubtedly have mastered a range of content to be successful in their quest. There's speculation about who will win. I hate making predictions, but my hunch is that Watson will give the humans a run for the money, and like the Chess super-computer, Deep Blue, http://tinyurl.com/9jo4r eventually win. To me, a victory like this is not a triumph of machine over man–but a celebration of our humanity. Those engineers at IBM programmed Watson to learn and compete. That kind of accomplishment is a real demonstration of mastery. The tests, like Jeopardy, are games. They can be interesting, and do show some mastery of a subject, but the real measure of success is what can be done with what we learn. So I say, let's have students writing computer programs, or explanations of experiments as alternatives to tests.
I am still coming to grips with losing my grandmother. In celebration of her life, I offer three stories.
1) The scene: a grand house on Second Avenue in Spring Lake New Jersey, around 10 am. We are getting ready to go to 11 o'clock mass at Saint Catherine's. My sister, Teresa and I are hungry. The rule is, no food before Sunday Mass. The kitchen is not quiet though. The pot of red sauce has been simmering since before I got up. "There he is! Good morning, little Ted," she says, "meatball?" She spoons out a couple meatballs, some sauce, along with a generous piece of white italian bread." I am a happy, no longer hungry kid.
2) The scene: a new house, now on South Boulevard, still in Spring Lake. I had returned home from my Peace Corps service and was living with Nanny while I commuted to a job in New York City. Nanny, now in her eighties, wakes up before me every morning to give me a ride to the station. It's a Friday evening, and I'm on the way out to meet some friends. She's sitting in her chair, working a crossword. I tell her I'll be home later. "Be good," she says, and with a wink, "and if you can't be good, be careful." I give her a kiss on the cheek, and head out.
3) The scene: The Geraldine L. Thompson nursing home, Allenwood, NJ. May 2010. I did not know this would be my last visit. Nanny is in the so called, "day room," seated at a table, picking over her lunch. "The food's not so good here," she said. And then she gave me the scoop on everyone in the room. "See him? He works here. 55. Not married. Friendly, but talks too much. That woman over there? I don't know why, but she hates me. You should see how she looks at me. This poor woman," she gestures at the woman seated next to me, "her daughter comes in and leaves in three minutes. That's not right." The doctor comes by and checks her blood's oxygen level. "He's ok," she says to me as though he's not there.
"How you feeling Annie?" he asks.
"Allright, alright but I'd rather be home," she said.
And I am hoping that she is–reunited with her husband, and all the friends and family she survived. Nanny, rest in peace. We love you. We miss you. We will never forget you.
May is bike month in New York City. Though I commute every fair weather day with my trusty Brompton SL-2 with a serious assist from New Jersey Transit, I have been wanting to ride all the way from home to work since moving out here just over four years ago. With the help of John Feinberg’s excellent cue sheet, my GPS-enabled smartphone and some tired legs, I made it from Glen Ridge to Cooper Square in about two hours and forty five minutes. (This sounds more like a marathon personal record dream time to me, than a bike ride, but I digress.)
The route primarily traverses residential, industrial areas and the occasional patch of nature. Highlights include the now-defunct New York and Greenwood Lake Short Rail, and the New Jersey Naval Museum, which is home to the USS Ling, a World War II Submarine. I was surprised to see a loon diving for food in Leonia, and to learn that the south side of the GWB is closed to pedestrian traffic. The north side is open, but involves what seemed like an interminable number of stairs after the 2 mile climb through Fort Lee. I don’t think I was ever so happy to see the Hudson. I thought of hopping on the subway at 181 Street, but savored the decline all the way down the West Side, which was all dressed up for Fleet Week.
For those contemplating the trip from Glen Ridge, here’s a link to the modified cue sheet.
We've had our iPad since the harried UPS Delivery person brought it on last Saturday. Here are my impressions after spending a week with the device.
It is a joy to read on, from how crisp and beautiful the type looks on screen to the brightness of the display. I've been reading eBooks from Amazon, and Apple, and articles from the New York Times, NPR and USA Today. These applications bring back the joy of flipping through pages and stumbling upon articles that I might have passed over but are worth my attention. Reading feels familiar and effortless. Yet, the iPad is much more than an eBook reader.
Like its iPhone cousin, the device is a shape shifter–perhaps you remember the wonder twins, Zan and Jayna, These DC Comic Superheros took on other forms when they touched their hands together–and assumed different shapes and properties. The iPad, like it's predecessor, the iPhone, when connected to the iTunes store, takes on different forms. It's a book; no it's a video from Netflix, no; it's my music collection; wait; it's a collection of scholarly papers; hold it, now it's my kid's coloring book. Perhaps this is the real genius of the device and the business model. Not only has Steve Jobs sold me this device capable of assuming so many shapes, but he's sold me a store of stores that I can access at anytime, from almost anywhere. And that's what I have been doing, shopping. After the iPad arrived, I found myself filling it up–with free books from Apple's new book store, syncing the Kindle eBooks that I had already purchased from Amazon, the National Geographic world atlas, the star gazing map that superimposes star charts in the night sky. It feels a little bit like surfing the internet for the first time. I'm giddy at the knowledge buffet that has been put before me and that is so easy to transport. So it's great for shopping and and consuming content, but how would the iPad fare as a primary computing device?
Last week provided me with a test scenario: WiFi enabled jury duty waiting rooms. I left the laptop at home and took my iPad. I was able to respond to email, use the web-browser to check on course Web sites–the kind of tasks that I generally have to do on a laptop or desktop because of page loading times and the amount of screen real estate required. I find typing on the touch screen a bit awkward. The two thumbs method doesn't work; the iPad is just too big in portrait mode. I had better luck when I laid it on my lap and reverted to two handed typing, but I make many mistakes. Many applications have been redesigned to take advantage of the extra screen real estate. Those that present content, such as NYTimes Editor's Picks, and the ABC Video application really shine, though designers are still making sense of how to navigate–it's not always clear when a swipe or a tap will do. NYTimes Editor's Pick application is something of a rebuke for the "Most Emailed" feature. I miss those stories on my iPad, but I guess I'm back to reading the version that everyone's reading–at least for now.
In spite of the wealth of new things that I have, I'm wishing for a way to cleanly annotate PDF documents. I've found an application called "Papers," that excels at organizing scholarly articles (I'm reading more these days as part of graduate studies in NYU Steinhardt's Education, Communication and Technology program) but it doesn't allow me to highlight or make notes in-line–at least not yet. Still, I am able to make page level notes and add bookmarks. I have access to many articles as opposed to a few, but my interaction has changed. I miss my notes in the margins.
I have found that the iPad can be helpful in meetings because it's easy to look something up and pass along. I found myself using it in an information architecture meeting to refer to how existing pages are designed. A laptop would have been intrusive, but the iPad felt like just the right way to be able to take a look at a page and then share it with the person sitting next to me. I expect that we'll be seeing more of these in meetings for agendas, and supporting materials. Again, I want to be able to annotate–not just read. When we ordered the iPad I joked that it was my daughter's first computer. It's interesting to think that she may grow up without having to use a keyboard, where machine interaction is based on touch and gesture. The real challenge will be in making sure that we do more than distract and amuse ourselves. The iPad opens up new avenues for imagination, creation and sharing. It's up to us to avail ourselves of those opportunities.
Educon 2.2 is something of an un-conference. Instead of presentations, facilitators lead conversations. The conference is hosted at the Science Leadership Academy,
a public charter school in Philadelphia, led by Chris Lehmann. Over
500 educators from primary and secondary schools, a handful of school
administrators and higher education professionals attended. Largely,
this group self-selects. Many pay their own way, all give up a weekend
to be there. It's one of the best educational gatherings that I've had
a chance to participate in.
My head is still spinning, but
I'm going to highlight three areas: 1) the overall participatory
environment at SLA and the conference 2) Jeff Han on Multi-touch
interaction experiments and finally, 3) a conversation that I
facilitated about online teaching and learning.
1) Students
managed all of the logistics from tech support, to checking bags to
helping people find sessions. They also joined sessions and shared
their experiences. That students were central to the conference
permeated all of the sessions and made the experience authentic in a
way that few conferences are. Chris Lehmann spoke about how he and his
colleagues create this community on a session he facilitated about
leadership. I'm a bit in awe of Chris–it's great to hear about it AND
see it in action at SLA.
2) Jeff Han presented Pixel Perfect, a spin off of his "multi-touch interaction research."
More on Jeff and his work here: http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/index.html
Jeff was eager to hear from us about how we could imagine the data
visualization tool used in education. It's worth looking at the videos
of Jeff showing how the touch screen works–but it feels like something
out of a movie, where instead of interacting through a keyboard we
manipulate data with our hands. At a glance, one might think, oh, it's
an interactive whiteboard–but it's much, much more than that. Many
people can be on the board at the same time, it's as sensitive as an
iPad's touch screen and it's wicked fast. Jeff argues that we have
plenty of processing power, but that we're not making enough advances
from the interface side. He also envisions a day when the technology
is as cheap and ubiquitous as wall paper. From an educational use
perspective, we imagined ideas for collaborative writing projects,
virtual dissections and geographic analysis, but somehow I wished that
we picked a few specific curricular contexts and started with
educational goals. Nevertheless, it was an amazing conversation.
I
would like to thank all of my peers at Educon for making it such a
wonderful event, to Chris Lehmann, and the teachers, students and
parents at SLA and of course, Kristen Sosulski and the NYU-SCPS for
giving me something to talk about.
