Steve Jobs on PowerPoint

Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen has some nice reflection on Steve Jobs' thoughts on PowerPoint. Jobs is quoted in his new biography:

People would confront a problem by creating a presentation. I wanted them to engage, to hash things out at the table, rather than show a bunch of slides. People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint.

Reynolds points out that "slides and other forms of projected visualization—no matter how "cool" they may be—are not appropriate for every context."

Jobs preferred a whiteboard to facilitate the exchange of ideas, the hashing out of details, for in-the-moment collaboration. I'd like to point out that whiteboards, and even their predecessors blackboards and chalkboards, are (or were) technological advancements in the classroom. So, in the spirit of recognizing our current use of and comfort with technology in the classroom, let's take a look at where technology is moving. If we take the design principle and intended usage of various boards, be they white, black, or brown, and look at what's out there in the electronic realm, we find a number of options.

So-called "smartbaords" may be the first thing that comes to mind. These electronic whiteboards allow an instructor to use different colored markers and an eraser along with familiar computer tools such as cut, copy, paste, and the ever-helpful undo. They can also easily record an image of the screen at any time, play videos, display slideware, and project a computer screen for computer training. It's no wonder these tools have gained in popularity and usage, especially in primary schools.

With the advent of tablet computing and even smaller mobile devices and smart phones, we have the potential to take the classroom of yesterday, with students taking notes on pads of paper, and the classroom of yesteryear, with students practicing on their own personal slate boards, and mashing them up with the power of the Internet. Imagine allowing students to submit brainstorming ideas to a projected screen--whether smartboard or simply a projected computer screen--directly from their personal devices to the instructor's canvas. The iBrainstorm app allows you to do this.

If you'd prefer to maintain more control over the board, there are apps like AirSketch that allow you to draw on your iPad and have it mirrored on the projection screen. This allows you to use the board while roaming the classroom, and you can hand the iPad to a student for them to contribute directly to the ideas being documented. This app also allows you to annotate other documents on the iPad while projected for the benefit of the whole class.

These are just a few ideas for keeping the conversation and collaboration flowing in the classroom, rather than just projecting slideware to augment a lecture. For smaller classes where discussion is paramount, these technological advances add an element of excitement and engagement, perhaps even empowerment, that's not otherwise there.

(Steve Jobs' innovative iPad has been a leader and standard in the field of tablet computing, so, naturally, there are more apps developed for the iOS platform. Thus my examples are all for the iPad. However, Android tablets are quickly gaining in popularity. If iBrainstorm and AirSketch aren't currently available in the Android Market, odds are that they will be coming soon or that something similar will show up there.)

Technology in classrooms large and small

I was asked the question a while back as to whether the technology used in a classroom would change depending on the size of the class.  There's certainly a difference in how you teach and what you can do whether the class is small or large. And, of course, you'd need more equipment (more clickers or more tablets, for example) in a larger class.

The nature of the course is a primary factor. The faculty member who asked this was in Psychology, and he taught a PSYC 101 course that enrolled around 30 students. This course was taught primarily as lectures with some use of PowerPoint to augment the lesson. Because many facts and foundational information were conveyed and expected to be learned there wasn't much opportunity for the kind of discussion that could take place in smaller, higher level courses.

So my first line of thought was about making that "sage on the stage" type of pedagogy more engaging. Certainly PowerPoint or Prezi can be used to their fullest, making presentations lively and captivating...

Yet now I'm thinking technology can be used to make discussion in a large class more feasible than it would be without. How about using an online discussion forum or blog to solicit comments and conversation before (or after) the class? Definitely clickers would be a good way to verify that the students have read and understand the material as you start (but that doesn't foster collaborative learning.)

What it boils down to is that, regardless of the class size, technology can be used to effectively foster collaborative learning between classes. Studies have shown that such cooperative learning methods are the most effective. There are a wealth of online resources for this, including Blackboard, BishopApps, and wikis. And as more and more students have smart phones, they can be engaged as well...

Food for thought and further conversation

Will the Digital Revolution finally transform higher education? That's a topic of much speculation and enthusiastic debate. Adrian Sannier, in the latest Educause Review, asks "If not now, when?"

I like how he describes the industry of education improving faster and more dramatically than individual people are capable of, instead of individual teachers improving over the course of their careers at human scale. That's exciting, especially given that we're a part of making it happen.

His discussion of education moving beyond the LMS was especially pertinent, as OWU has just begun (and I will be coordinating) a discussion on that very matter.  And rather than starting with the question of what's better and cheaper than Blackboard, we started (as Instructional Technologists are prone to do) by backing up and asking what educational objectives we are trying to enhance with technology. Taking this approach allows us to then ask whether another LMS--which some see as a behemoth of an ERP that strives to be all things to all users--or a best-of-class approach--utilizing different systems for different tasks--would be better for us.

We're just wrapping up a multi-year ERP migration where we moved from a monolithic Jenzabar system to five new systems for different departments. Doing something different (than Blackboard) for edtech would fit right in with OWU 2.0.

...but we'll have to see how the conversation proceeds...

Overdue

I received a courtesy notice from the library the other day, letting me know I had some outstanding items on loan. I appreciate the reminders. I think we all could do with courteous reminders when things are due, such as reminders to blog. Yeah, updating this is also overdue.

I have some advance news of a development that will free me up to devote more of my time to educational technology. We will soon finally be able to hire someone for the position of Help Desk Coordinator that I vacated about a year ago. Watch for news about that posting.

Something else that goes lacking for a while and feels overdue is technology improvements. Users complain, request, and suggest product enhancements and new features. Tech producers try to accomodate and, hopefully, satisfy and perhaps even wow customers. Organizations such as Google and Mozilla like to rapidly release updates, while other companies prefer to release updates at a slower pace. Then clients have to evaluate whether to embrace the new version. Caution is warranted when an enterprise depends on the use of a system. As good carpenter's say, "Measure twice; cut once." In IT that might translate to "Test as much as you can before implementation." And so it goes...

. . .

I'll leave you with an image of my Halloween pumpkin, in honor of a pioneer who passed away recently...

The whirlwind begins to subside

The first week of classes is over. Whew! There is a lot of excitement in Information Services.

We've hired a talented group of student workers who show a lot of promise, several of whom are freshmen or sophomores we hope to retain for a few years. Of course, this means I have to switch into management mode after doing everything myself through the summer. This then leads to me having more time to work with faculty, and assistance in large projects, such as managing the classroom equipment inventory.

We are currently testing a WordPress server and plan to have it ready for production next week. There are plans to use this for communication/collaboration within the Course Connections and to market the new curricular initiatives. Certainly WordPress will find other uses in classes and on campus.

Thanks to a significant bequest to the Economics Department, several of the classrooms in the Corns Building are getting upgraded audio-visual equipment, including flat panel LED screens in two of the seminar rooms. The large multipurpose room will be getting an additional projector facing the east wall, and the computer lab will finally be getting a ceiling-mounted projector. The installation work begins Monday.

Besides the usual technical training workshops for faculty and staff, there will be several Blackboard workshops offered, some informal lunch & learn conversations, and I will be available to observe teachers in their classes to make suggestions and recommendations for their using technology more effectively and/or efficiently.

Along with all that there is the usual excitement of the start of a new academic year, the expectations and interests of a new incoming class, and the hopes and interests of the new faculty. And on that note, let me share this year's Beloit Mindset List that describes the worldview of the incoming class: http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2015/

Cheers!

Summer swiftly coming to a close

It was just the other day a colleague asked me, "Can you believe it's August already?" Classes start in less than three weeks, athletes start showing up on campus next week, and everything ramps up quickly. The fine person who has been helping on our help desk at this busy time of year is back in the chair, freeing me up to do more Instructional Technology (such as write a blog post.)

Over the summer I've read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the selected reading for OWU's first year seminar. My, that was a good choice! Appropriately named by more than 60 critics as one of the best books of 2010, it chronicles the story of this journalist striving to uncover the history of the famous HeLa cells, and document the story of the woman they came from and her family. I had never heard of HeLa cells before, but the story pulled me right in and held my attention. It will provide ample food for thought and fodder for discussion on a range of topics, including medical ethics, racism, economic justice, and journalism. I look forward to joining a section of UC 160 and discussing this book as a launchpad into a broader discussion of college life and expectations.

(Image of stained HeLa cells courtesy GE Healthcare (by way of Henrietta Lacks) via CC)

Colored HeLa cells 

Since finishing The Immortal Life, I've started reading Jaron Lanier's You Are Not a Gadget, and gotten through the first couple chapters. This one is different than Skloot's in that it's a manifesto rather than a narrative, it's more technical and philosophical. It's also hitting very close to home because, like Lanier, I am also a technologist. I am familiar with his terms and his topics, and am increasingly appreciating what he's trying to do: promote more human-centered, or humanistic, technology. It's interesting to hear criticism that the Web 2.0 is dehumanizing from someone within the IT field. I look forward to reading the rest of what he has to say, and applying some of his suggestions in my own work as an Educational Technologist. (Education comes first, so technology serves the people doing the teaching & learning...)

In other news, OWU Blackboard installation will be upgraded to SP6 before classes start, I will be making appointment slots available where faculty can sign up for consultations online, and I will be offering more informal lunch & learn conversations this fall. There are more initiatives in the works that will be announced later.

More ed tech

Summer is the time in academia (at least in IT) to catch up on back burner projects and drafted blog post ideas. This was one such draft...

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Students want more ed tech (bottom right of front page) in the April eCampus News cites a survey that suggests technology is key for students with hectic schedules. And there's a widening gap between student and faculty technology preferences.

It was in response to stories like this, and my well-received involvement in the Teaching Circles this spring, that I offered informal lunch & learn conversations during the summer session. Some of these were less sparsely attended than others, and there was enough interest for me to commit to doing something similar in the fall.

One of the earlier sessions discussed the question of embracing instructional technology. I presented a scale created by Marc Prensky in his book Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning. A group of folks over at OSU's Digital Union had read and discussed the book and shared their thoughts on their blog. They also kindly shared Prensky's scale. Like the OSU faculty, OWU faculty were hesitant to embrace Level 5 as the ultimate goal.

As one Professor of Education put it, if technology doesn't accomplish something that you can't do without it, it shouldn't be used. This became a good rule of thumb and a great segue into learning outcomes and their relation to technology.

The survey story above, however, speaks to student's use of technology to do things like study at their own time and pace. Just as ed tech can assist instructors in managing the administrative tasks of teaching a class and assessing learning, it can also help students manage multiple assignments, due dates, and projects for multiple classes. We need to try to see things from their point of view too, and putting more content and guidance online helps.

"81 percent of college students use computers, social networking, and other tools to study" a similar CDW-G study finds. Ken Baldauf at Florida State University says, "They're used to being connected to each other online all the time. Students live online; our classes need to live there as well," even for a residential campus.

I look forward to continuing this important conversation in the fall.