this thing about technology...

Why am I constantly surprised about how many educators are NOT incorporating technology into teaching and educating? I just finished attending a three day conference in Denver as part of a national grant our community college. These are peer learning meetings where we share information with ten other colleges about what we are doing. I had suggested that instead of waiting for a twice a year meeting we might be able to use a wiki to share information. Nobody seemed to know what I was talking about. I was flabbergasted. Other college professionals wanted to get copies of my contextualized curriculum and powerpoints. Instead of emailing, I could easily post this information on a wiki. And vice versa. I could get up to date information from other colleagues instead of waiting six months.

Then the conference organizers struggled to use their powerpoint presentation. Well, I know that we all have trouble with equipment. At one time or another, we've all had this problem. And it is frustrating. But these are professionals (I thought). They need to have a back up plan when you are presenting at a national conference. Somehow we all got distracted and I couldn't tell you what her talk was all about.

I'm pushing forth a new plan of action for our new grant. Our community college will be targeting out of school youth (ages 16-20) to try to get them back in school (through Adult High School or GED) and then seamlessly transition them into community college. We need to show them the possibilities and benefits of post-secondary education. My strategy is to share information with the other colleges in the grant. I will personally set up a collaborative wiki and invite my North Carolina community colleagues to join me. We need to be proactive in collaboration instead of waiting around to see what others are doing. There is definitely a benefit when I can bounce off ideas on this wiki.

Stay tuned for Chapter Two of my "Wiki Goes National". I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop when some administrator who doesn't even know what a wiki is tells me that we can't do this free sharing of information because it is not "official".

Media Literacy, Gangs, andn Social Networks

This is a new article found through PBS and learning.now

It talks about how community technology centers are trying to combat gang recruitment of youth by offering computer lab time for at-risk kids. There have been reports that gangs are out there right now using social networks like MySpace to recruit middle-school age kids. But, in this article, the community technology centers (CTCs) are allowing kids to come in after school and hang out on the Internet in a safe way. It doesn't really explain how the CTC staff is policing these websites. But, they are trying to show these kids there is a "good" way to use the Internet and find positive things to do.

A very interesting take on social networking and gangs....

Let's Be Careful Out There

We don't want to be blogging too much.... here's an article from the New York Times about two recent bloggers who unexpectedly passed away. Is it too stressful???

A differing view of the use of technology today

This link to another blog takes a different view of all the technology that is available to our youth. As we have been exploring in our LIS class, not all technology is the absolute answer to teaching and engaging students. It's great to know what is out there and what's available, but we don't have to jump on the bandwagon every time the newest gadget rolls out.

Let's just keep it in perspective...

could it be more than your first life?

I've tried playing around with Second Life in my first life. I've heard lots of things about it -- good and bad -- and so it was time to see what's all the fuss about. I created my default avatar but soon discovered that she paled in comparison to all the other hotties on SL. What's an avatar to do? Now I have some cool clothes so that I fit in just perfectly. Luckily I had some friends along and they showed me how to teleport around SL so that I wasn't just swimming in the middle of the ocean.

What could we use SL for? SL is a place to meet up with friends or make new ones. Since being anti-social is high on my Myers-Briggs indicator, I decided that I had more fun hanging out with my good ol'friends (classmates). Much safer that way. We could talk (chat) and visit the Library of Congress. For some strange reason I found myself drawn to the solitary games that were available in the LOC. I wasn't too interested in talking to anyone. Hmmmm... maybe that's why I'm not so interested in this SL thing. I can play games elsewhere on the Internet.

Good things about SL -- this is a way to advertise and market your library. It would be easy to post things here and make them freely available (another portal to the library). Bad things --
there are some weird people out there, so everybody be careful!

Well, at least I gave it the old college try. I might not be heading back anytime soon, but if I'm out there and you are too, just look for me -- here's a clue to my name -- I'm a "flamboyant pianist" and a "basketball player from China".

Who else is using Second Life? In one week, it seemed like EVERYONE was on SL. Dwight Shrute from the Office was on his Second Second Life as himself -- very typical. He had fun just being himself. And on CSI:NY there was a murder of an avatar by a rabid fan of SL. She even had plastic surgery to look like her avatar!! And finally, at North Carolina State University, there was an open question posted on the university's discussion board -- would anyone be interested in meeting his or her advisor on Second Life for an advising session? The discussion showed that not too many students were interested and some of the students had no idea what SL was. It may be that SL is geared for an older crowd. Are we old?

This is deli.cio.us

I finally figured out what all the buzz was about. I've been reading about social bookmarking, but I was too embarrassed to ask someone what it's used for. I guess since I don't use my favorites toolbar anyway, I wasn't missing much.

But now, every day I get older, and I keep forgetting stuff. I see cool websites, cool things that I know I'll remember and then "poof" they're gone.

And then to make it worse, I get mixed up where I put my favorites. Is it on my laptop? Is it at work? Is it on my flashdrive? Can't be too sure.

So, now, my favorites are all in one place, and all I have to do is summon "delicious". I used my podcasting name to name my delicious account. Just look for Mel N. Koly and you'll see what I like to play around with.

Can't get enough of it!!

More more more about games. The more I read about it, the more excited I am about games and libraries. I've always loved games and I've always loved libraries, so it's a perfect match.

But do games belong in libraries? And is the library just a game? Well, here's some interesting discussion at the Games and Libraries Intersection from Jenny Levine, blogger at The Shifted Librarian. After reading some of this, you'll believe too! This is from her latest presentation:

Here's some characteristics of great gamers:
--willing to experiment and keep trying
--willing to seek expertise and ask for help
--willing to share expertise and help "noobs" (new players)
--desire to collaborate (team player)
--learn from their mistakes and adapt quickly
--thrive on fast decision making
--good at prioritizing
--willing to take risks
--focused on feedback and continuous improvement
--constantly seeking to be challenged
--proactive, not reactive
--don't want to be spoon fed, want to do their own research
--expect interaction, rewards, and multiple paths

Examples of Skills that Employers want in Higher Wage Workers
--adaptation to rapid change
--team building
--learning on the fly
--rapid information acquisition
--determining what needs to be done, allocating resources
--plan/develop/implement
--multiple task prioritization
--information synthesis

http://www.fas.org/gamesummit

Can you see the relationship? I just led my classroom in a group exercise called "Crossing the River". It is a logic test given to potential IT employees in Japan. The object is to follow the rules and get everybody to cross the river with the rule constraints. The employer is looking for potential employees who can complete this task in less than 15 minutes.

Click here if you want to try it: http://www.robmathiowetz.com/

It was an interesting class session. We used the computer overhead projector to view the screen on the whiteboard. I followed the commands and clicked on their choices. There were about a dozen people in class. They worked together, called out suggestions, pointed out wrong assumptions, and as a class, they were able to solve the problem! I was so proud of them!

I'm game for it, are you?

There are some smart people out there who are already figuring out ways to tie games in to educational learning and information literacy.

The blog by Paul Waelchi shows you some clever ways to use Fantasy Football Leagues and Final Fantasy, Halo 3, and Madden Football to meet all the information literacy objectives.

These people are way ahead of me!!

Check out his blog at www.researchquest.blogspot.com

I can't believe I did it!!

I have conquered my fear of the podcasting. Weren't there Pods in Wrinkle in Time??? They sound so familiar. So, for the only person who doesn't own an iPod, I'm doing pretty good with playing around with it. I can lightly scroll up and down and click on the menu. I still keep putting it up to my ear like a cell phone. What a dork! Or as my number one daughter tells me, "you are so lame". Speaking of LAME, now I know what it is. I also have the AUDACITY of HOPE, and I'm mixing soundtracks like a professional. Well, sort of. I'm sure I'm making it more difficult than it has to be.

Cool things I found -- podsafe audio network has lots of good music to use for the podcast. I really wanted to use some of my favorite music tunes, but, alas, I don't want to pay royalties for using it. I also found some cool audio sounds. People are so fascinating. Some people just love to go out and record sounds. Dripping water, rolling dice, the fast trains in France, a forest, whatever you want is out there. I'm really glad that the creative people of the world get to go out and do their thing and publish it for the world to see. What did they do before the Internet? They had to keep it all to themselves. They all look so happy and pleased that people are sharing in their interests and art.

My first podcast was way too long. I thought that I wouldn't be able to find enough to talk about, but for some reason, I had a lot to say. I've tried several different ways to record. I only had a cheap microphone headset, but Audacity seemed to like my voice. I finally got the file down to a manageable size. I want to use my podcasts on my Blackboard class that I am teaching, but I need to make the audio files less than 3mb. It seems like this translates to 3 minutes worth of podcasting.

My students took it out for a testdrive and the young ones really seemed to like it. They thought my scary voice was "way awesome". They really knew the material already, so they weren't interested in my topic. The older adults who were learning algebra for the first time were interested in hearing it. I don't think anyone will be downloading it and working out to it on their iPod. It's more like a computer listening thing.

I'm now in the mood for more, more, more. I do feel a little self-conscious sitting in my office with the door closed while I"m recording. I wonder what my office mates are thinking that I'm doing. I already have a reputation as an introvert, so this isn't helping my cause. But, I'll get over it. They don't even know what a podcast is anyway.

Algebra for Neophytes Trial

Try this out if you want to hear my trial run.

Wikis

I've always been able to fly under the radar, so I wonder how I would do in Survivor.... But I'm really talking about starting up a wiki for my department because I was tired of waiting around for a website to be built for the department. I knew that none of the big bosses would have any clue about the wikis, so I just decided to build one and invited everyone to join. Even though I invited everyone in the department to join, I also knew that only the tech savvy ones would dare to click on the link that would take them to the blog. And I'm glad that they did!

We use this wiki to share information among the different instructors at different locations. We teach at different times and we only get to see each other at professional development workshops three times a year. That's not enough time to share ideas and resources with my colleagues! The wiki allows us to have discussions --- why are students dropping out of our classes? what are some ideas for keeping them engaged? what's a great way to teach fractions? who is having problems with reading comprehension? The wiki also lets us post cool websites, personal teaching documents, and my favorite YouTube videos.

I'm still disappointed that only 4 or 5 instructors are actively using the wiki. I'm getting a little tired of talking to the same people. JK. I probably need to work on cleaning it up so it's a little more user friendly. I've learned a few new things in this cool class I'm taking, so now it's time to apply my new found knowledge.

I also like the idea of the wiki being used in lieu of a website. I'm so tired of having to get every flyer and piece of paper approved. So far, the approvers don't even know that instructors are using the world wide web to get out information. It is still unofficial, so it's all good.

I'm going to be starting a new wiki soon. I'm working out the details so that it will be PERFECT. If I build it, I hope they all come!

Medieval Helpdesk

I added one of my favorite YouTube videos to my Blackboard Basic Skills class. I asked the students to watch the video and then comment about it on Blackboard. I introduced the video by telling students that this was from Norway, and therefore was done in Norwegian, but it had English subtitles. I gave them an overview of the video and told them it was about learning a new technology. Since they were learning a new technology, Blackboard, I thought they would appreciate the connection to the video.

If you haven't seen the video, it is about a monk who is trying to learn the new technology of the day -- a book. He has only used scrolls in the past, and he has no idea how to open a book and read it. He's so frustrated that he "calls" the medieval helpdesk. The helpdesk technician comes in to show him this new technology.

I asked the students to think about new technology in their lives. What was it like to get a cordless phone, cell phone, HDTV, cable TV, remote car key, etc. How did they feel when they didn't know how to use it (but everyone else was using it). Were they first on the block to get the new gadget or did they resist until there were no more 8track players left to use?

Now that I have made this a long story.... I had my group of 15 students "playing" on Blackboard. They learned how to post a thread on the Discussion Board and then reply to another thread. Most of them could do this. Then I had them click on the link that took them to YouTube to view the Medieval Helpdesk. I start laughing and smiling every time I see the poor monk. There was silence in the computer lab as my students watched the video. Only 2 or 3 of them were chuckling and understanding what was going on. After the first student finished it, I asked him how he liked it. He looked quizzical. I asked him if he thought it was funny. He told me he didn't get it at all because it was in a foreign language. Could he not read the subtitles? Does he even know what subtitles are? And then I realized that hardly any of them understood the humor of this video. I was soooooooooooooo disappointed. What did I do wrong? I thought this was a subtle but funny way to show how to learn new technology. Was I ever wrong.

What did I do wrong? Why didn't they get it? What am I missing? Am I the missing link?

You can tell I'm new at this

I keep fooling around with the name, the layout, and I'm even having trouble where to find the "post a new post" button. So this is a good example of a new technology and the learning curve. I think most of us know the forgetting curve. If we don't use it within minutes of learning it, we will totally start forgetting all this stuff. I need to remind myself to use this every day. Or at least every other day. I need to practice what I preach.

So what do you think about technology training? Is it overrated? Would you rather just read a manual, or do you think it's worth finding an hour or two to really learn the technology? I wish I had more professional development time to learn and then actually PRACTICE using the technology. A quick one hour overview watching someone else show me how to use the new gadget is just too short. I don't think there's any easy answers on that one. There's never enough money, never enough time. Oh well.

Thinking about Designing a Course

I guess I didn't realize that there is a lot of thought that goes into the actual design of teaching a class. Sometimes I feel like I know the material, so I just need to share it with others! What could be easier than that? Then I get frustrated because I understand it BUT WHY AREN'T THEY GETTING IT !! After many years of not knowing that there are people who are paid to design classes and that, yes, there is actual thought that goes into designing a lesson plan, I finally jumped on the Instructional Design bandwagon.

It seems like there are people who really know their stuff (the SME) and then there's people who really know how to design a lesson plan. Somehow, we have to get the two together. I do consider myself a SME in some things. So, I have to work on the other side -- how to design a class so that the students are actually learning something.

I'm enjoying the process, but at times I get frustrated with the mumbo jumbo of the educational world. Sometimes it seems like I'm reading whole articles about Instructional Technology and Technology Integration and thinking that the article was a whole bunch of nothing. Sometimes it seems like they just need to state the obvious, like "keep it simple, give out small chunks of information as to not overwhelm the student". Well, duh. Who wouldn't do that? To tell you the truth, that's why I didn't go into teaching in the first place. It just seemed so basic and obvious on what to do.

So, what is a troutgal??

Many years ago, I lived in a small village located one hour northwest of Chicago. It was a great place to live. The name of the village is Trout Valley. It is in McHenry County. The people who live in this village are kinda snobbish and they don't want people to know it exists. There are never any houses with For Sale signs on them, because the village has outlawed any signs on the lawns.

Try to find out about this little village. The village residents don't want anyone to know about them. They try to keep it exclusive. I'm not sure why. It has its own Village President and Village Clerk. It is on the Fox River and has a marina, tennis courts, horseback riding trails, barns and stables, and a beautiful Art Deco swimming pool. Really cool place to raise a family, if you don't mind the snobby people.