Monthly Archives: December 2010

Dec 15 2010

links for 2010-12-14

By dougpete • Posted in Uncategorized
1
Dec 14 2010

Plan B

One of my favourite television shows of all time was “The Practice“.  It was a show about lawyers and one of their strategies was “Plan B” which would be used in certain occasions as part of the defense strategy.  It made for great drama and I remember the phrase “We’ll Plan B them” just as if I’d watched the show last night.  I’ve adopted the term myself and use it to represent alternative plans.

If you know me, you know that I’m a big Minnesota Vikings fan.  I’m not a Favre-come-lately.  In fact, my first purple football jersey was purple and featured the 44 of Chuck Foreman.  That bring backs great memories of Fran Tarkenton and Bud Grant.  Last night, the Minnesota Vikings had to kick in their own “Plan B”.  With the winter weather, we’ve all seen the collapse of the roof of the Metrodome, the playing home of the Vikings.

So, what was their “Plan B”?  They hopped onto an airplane and played their game instead at Ford Field in Detroit, the home of the Detroit Lions.  As we now know, this strategy was not friendly and they lost badly.

Last week, the Western Regional Computer Advisory Committee hosted its annual Symposium for technology leaders in the South Western corner of Ontario.  We hold it in the heart of Ontario’s snowbelt where it’s not uncommon for huge storms to pick up the moisture from a yet to be frozen Lake Huron and dump it on places like Grand Bend, Strathroy, and London!  It has never happened but what would happen if a keynote speaker that we invite from warmer places was unable to attend?  Well, we have our own “Plan B”, a closely guarded secret that would implemented if necessary.

In both of these cases, “Plan B” would be less effective than the original.

In the use of technology in schools, I can’t help but wonder if we aren’t stuck in a perpetual “Plan B”.  My Faculty of Education students recently came back from their placements and expressed their frustrations with their teaching environments.  At the Faculty, we work with dual boot iMacs with the Mac OS on one side and Windows 7 on the other.  On each partition, we have access to the entire suite of OESS licensed titles.  Everything that’s available is installed and functional.  The machines are also equipped with an area that allows us to install things on the fly, if necessary.  A good example of this would be Microsoft’s Small Basic which wasn’t available in time to ask the technical to have available for us.  But, we needed it for a recent practice lesson and so the student teacher mounted a sharepoint on the instructor’s computer and we all accessed the installer from there and were up and running in seconds.  There’s a “Plan B” that worked.

Is that the norm or the exception in a typical K-12 classroom?  Hardly.  The reality is that you need to plan at least a year in advance for the use of technology and then hope that all is good to go when you need it.  If it’s not, do you have the ability to put a “Plan B” in motion?  If not, why not?

Typically, the answer lies in the way that technology is managed in schools.  Rather than having realistic support levels, we generally have enough support to just get by.  In my previous post “Time to Consider 2.0“, I made reference to a posting that helped you discover if your technical support was 1.0.  I just received a rash of emails from folks who wanted to try this or that and were unable.  Like my faculty students, they had planned their lesson at home or read about it and wanted to try it in their classroom and were unable.  So, what’s their “Plan B”?

Maybe it’s time that we revisit the original plan.  Plan A?  As long as we continue to purchase industry equipment equipped with full-featured operating systems designed for every conceivable option, we’re going to be locked into this perpetual loop of doing things.  Is it realistic to use a computer and network so bloated and locked down that even the process of booting requires alternate entertainment?  I’m really intrigued with the instant boot and full access to technology that iPad and now the Google CR-48 provides.  Somewhere along the line, we’ve had to modify expectations about what computer technology can do for the classroom.  I can’t help but think that we need to be rethinking and regearing to reflect a more usable and reliable experience.  I’m really enjoying reading of the successes that people are having with iPod and iPad pilot programs.  The CR-48 is too new to have reports but it may well be a viable solution that gets students up and running and on task.

Imagine a educational technology world where “Plan B” isn’t necessary!

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Dec 14 2010

links for 2010-12-13

By dougpete • Posted in Uncategorized
1
Dec 13 2010

Another Unique Way to Publish

Microsoft’s Fuse Lab has made available an interesting web application called “Montage“.  I’m playing around with it at this point, trying to find solid examples of where I’d seriously use it.  For the time being, it is a really unique way to publish information.

Is it a tribute to the fact that web users need to have information constant and fluid that drives the design?  I could certainly see it as a way to show off collections of photos.  But, I put it to a further test.

Use of Montage is pretty simple.  Give it a concept and let it pull the resources that it finds from the web and place it into a montage.  Graphics and stories flip in and out as Montage tries to give you the big picture.  The content is hot linked back to its original source so that you can check it out.

So, what’s in the news?  How about a search for “Metrodome”.  That seems appropriate for this Minnesota Vikings fan.  Here’s a snapshot of some of what is returned.

Now, this is just a screenshot of the information displayed at a point in time.  To view the active montage, please click here.  Since the stories are pulled from seemingly random sources, choose your search terms wisely if you’re displaying them in public!

Layouts are initially prepared at random and you have the opportunity to shuffle them until you find one that attracts your attention.  But, if that doesn’t work, each of the widgets can be customized.

Split the widget, delete it, change the animation type or even edit it to find more content for that part of the montage.  In true Microsoft format, once you find something you like, you can pin it in place.

This is a cute little way to read and/or display your content.  I’d suggest giving it a try.  Head over to its home and type something that’s headlining the news and see what’s generated for you at random.  That’s a great first start but then start to dig into the flexibility that you have in customizing the display and you may well be hooked.

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Dec 13 2010

links for 2010-12-12

By dougpete • Posted in Uncategorized
0
Dec 12 2010

Making a Difference and Blogging Anniversaries #RCAC2010

Yesterday, I asked the question, “Will #RCAC2010 Make a Difference?“  It was a serious question.  I know myself that I’ve attended a large number of professional development activities and some are engaging and made me change my practice and others were, well, real clock watchers.

Three years ago, a colleague and friend attended the Western Regional Computer Advisory Committee’s annual Symposium.  One of the keynote speakers at the time was Will Richardson who made the case for leveraging the Read/Write Web with a focus on education.  It was a motivating talk and a call to action for those who listened.  One of the things that Will spoke about with passion was the notion of blogging.  At the time, and since, blogging has been proclaimed loudly and wildly as one of the next publishing platforms for student engagement in the reading, writing, responding process. It’s also a sore point for me as well.  I’ve heard so many people talk about the power of blogging and how you should be doing it.  My litmus test has always been to ask to check out their blog.  “Well, er, ummm, I don’t really have one…”  Let’s flush your credibility then.  Whatever happened to the old “Walk the walk and talk the talk” stuff?

Back to my colleague and friend.  I’m not sure how or why he ended up going to Symposium.  He’s not a computer type.  In fact, he was an English teacher and a literacy coach.  I may have mentioned something about blogging to the right person at work and that put the ball rolling.  The details don’t matter but the fact is that Paul showed up and heard the message.  He heard about the power of blogging so well that I distinctly remember having a followup conversation with him where he posed the question about how to blog consistently on a theme.  Now, nobody will ever mistake me for an English teacher but my advice was to not necessarily focus on a particular topic or theme.  You don’t have a specific brand or you don’t work for a company – just write about what interests you in the moment.  Some will be hits and some will be misses but you’re not making this a job, rather it’s for the enjoyment of self-publishing.

Well, three years later, as a result of the Symposium, his blog is about to hit its own personal three year anniversary.  I smile when I think of how the blog is categorized in Alltop.  He’s in the category of “Good“.  In another life, I would scoff at that as a category but I can’t think of a better way to describe this offering.

His blog “Quoteflections – a regular eclectic mind fix” is a regular read for me.  In fact, I have made it one of my personal reads on my custom Alltop page.  I find reading this blog so interesting because you never know what’s inspired Paul’s writing on any particular day.  His insights and often personal photography are the sorts of inspirational things that just trigger my interest.  The biggest thing is that Paul is a reliable daily blogger.  Unlike other blogs, you don’t have to wonder if this will be the day that he finally gets around to writing something.  He will.  He’s so devoted that, even when he’s on holidays, he has a stock of posts queued for automated publication.  How’s that for dedication?

All of this happened because of a message that he heard at the Symposium.  He could have come for the food and to kick back and listen for the day.  The message that he heard, on the the other hand, made a difference for him.

Now, it may presumptuous to assume that everyone is going to become a world-class blogger like Paul.  But, I’d like to think that there was inspiration at some level for those who attended.

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Dec 12 2010

links for 2010-12-11

By dougpete • Posted in Uncategorized
0
Dec 11 2010

Will #RCAC2010 Make a Difference?

It’s the Saturday following the Western Regional Computer Advisory Committee’s Symposium 2010.  Over 400 people jammed the meeting rooms at the Lamplighter Inn.  Many more followed the hashtag #RCAC2010 online as the event unfolded.  Many others may have stumbled on the stream by accident or go looking for the comments this weekend.  For the day, the stream was very active during Symposium and was seen to be trending on Twitter.

We engaged some of the brightest minds in education that we could.  In this case, we had a pair of notable global keynote speaker/authors and many progressive educators from the Western Ontario region sharing their visions and best practices.  As one of the members of the organizing committee, I’ve always wondered about the impact that attendance at any of these sessions  might have had.  Every attempt has been made to make the day conducive for focussed learning.  Yes, there is technology theme to the day but the use of technology is minimalized so that the day is all about ideas and hopefully some thoughtful planning for the future.

To that end, I ask…

  • What will you do to manage the explosion of information and the advancement of technological innovation that Moore’s Law describes?
  • Do you have a plan for technology being a fluency in your school or is the computer lab an event that everyone books to do computer stuff that may not be related to anything else that’s happening in the day?
  • Will you advocate or plan for increasing the use of portable technology at the point of instruction?  Can your students use their own devices?  What is a computer anyway by today’s standards?
  • Are you going to take some time to explore the titles that OSAPAC licenses to see if there’s a fit to your curriculum?  Will you lobby your system to get things installed correctly and made available in a timely manner?
  • Are you ready to really leverage the Read/Write web and harvest the potential?  Does your class or school have a Facebook or other social media presence?  How does your class network and interface with the world outside your classroom walls?
  • If you’re a principal, are you ready to break down the isolation that can be your school to network and grow professionally with others in your position worldwide?
  • How will your students deal with the concept of Infowhelm?  Is an “I’m feeling lucky” search going to suffice?  Or, will you turn instead to the rich resources that Knowledge Ontario is amassing to make the online experience the best learning experience that it can be?
  • Is a pen just a pen?  Are you ready to embrace and advocate for new technologies that free students from the drudgery of making yet another note and, instead, turning the process into one of deeper understanding with a more level playing field for all?
  • What sorts of Habitudes do you and your students need to be successful a year, 5 years, 10 years from now?  Have you assembled your dream team yet?  How can you make sure that genius is never educationally beat out of your students?
  • Do you use technology for technology’s sake?  Or, are you leveraging it with curriculum expectations for a richer experience?
  • Can you justify exposing the contemporary digital mind to an educational career devoted to the analogue learnings of the past?
  • Can you step back and make the connections so that students become the lead learners in their own right?  When was the last time that you partnered with others who are ready to share what they know and you don’t but wish you did?  Can secondary school real life experience model citizenship for younger students?
  • Are you able to put aside pre-conceived notions about what a piece of software was and look at what’s new and available right now?
  • Is your interactive whiteboard a 21st Century Drive-in Movie theatre or is it a tool for engagement like no other?  Can it be a literacy tool or just an expensive place to display movies?
  • Are you prepared to access the wisdom of a province and rich resources that can help you stop reinventing the wheel when dealing with new topics.  Can you accept that great resources don’t always come printed on the pages of a textbook or teacher’s manual?

Probably the biggest question would be – is #RCAC2010 a hashtag for December 9?  Or is it the catalyst for a continued, professional discussion?   I blogged recently, Are You Passionate for Professional Learning? Instead of a day that’s done, can this be a launching pad for things that are new and exciting?  If you’re not connected now, will this be your personal tipping point?  Can you tip your school?  If you are connected, are you ready to really make this discussion a part of your professional arsenal?

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Dec 11 2010

links for 2010-12-10

By dougpete • Posted in Uncategorized
1