This semester I have been doing a lot more administrative work for the EMAC degree. As the program is growing, both in terms of faculty and students we have to have more conversations about sequencing the courses, course content, and overall examining the pedagogical experience of our students. As one can imagine this rather easily leads to a discussion about how many students we can put in our classes, how we can cover more sections of the same class, faculty resources, etc. So partly because of this, and partly because of the recent discussion about MOOCs I started wondering, what is the ideal student to instructor ratio for a semester. What is the Dunbar number for teaching? The Dunbar number (rather famously used in internet and network studies) is the sorta of limit of the number of people one can maintain social ties with, the number of people your brain can hold and still remain close with. Often sociologist reference this number at 150 (and yes I am aware that this is a contested idea, but we can save that debate for another time). So you can have roughly 150 close ties with people but as you start to meet more people and develop more close ties some of those other 150 start to fade away. A human brain can only handle the cognitive load of maintaining tight social bonds with so many people. Its worth mentioning that there is probably variance within a population, some individuals having higher Dunbar numbers than others. And its probably also worth noting that one reason this comes up in social media research is because people often ask if social media can extend a Dunbar number, making it possible to maintain a higher cognitive social load. But this got me to wondering what is the Dunbar number for instruction. That is at any one time what is the number of students I can interact with, what is the cognitive limit of the number of students I can maintain and have a consistent interaction with. I think we can all agree that the fewer the students the more time I have to spend with each, and versa visa, the more students the less time I can spend with each. But I am hypothesizing about something slightly different here. What is the educational cognitive load? What is the Dunbar number for instruction? At what point do the edges start to fray and do I lose track of the students I am interacting with over the course of a semester? So here’s my guess, and this is just a starting point. I think my Dunbar number for instruction is about 45-60. That is over the course of a semester I can handle about 45-60 in classes and still interact with them, become invested in them, and try to treat each (as much as possible) as an individual who is having an educational experience in which I play a role. Keep that number under 60 and I pretty much "know" all of my students. If someone walks into my office and says "How is Steven doing this semester?" I know about his semester. How he is doing. How he is engaging the material, and probably some additional material about where he is at with in the program and what interests him. Keep that number under 60 and I think that is true of all of my students. But as that number rises over 60 I start to lose the ability to "keep all the students in my head." That is I start to lose track of some, they disappear, fade into the background. I can keep tabs on most but I end up focusing on the ones who need challenging, or the ones who are struggling, and some in the middle get lost under the weight of too many students. I think that this is somewhat independent of class size. That is I could handle one 50-60 person class, two 25-30 person classes, or three 15-20 (or heck even 5-6 classes of ten each). Yes ideally the smaller classes would be better, but I think if I were teaching just one large class I could use some of the non class time to spend extra time looking at student work, engaging with them outside of class etc. . . I also think this is somewhat independent of graduate students’ whose committees I am working on. I think that since I already have an established relation with them they are probably already in my real Dunbar number. Also I think the load is different depending on what types of students I have that semester. If I have a lot of first years that number trends down closer to 45, and if I have a chunk of students I have already had in prior classes I can push that number to the higher end. Note I am not directly talking about time commitments here. Obviously doing my own research, handling committee assignments, and a personal life all "cost" time, I am really just talking here about "cognitive load." What is the "cognitive load" of students I can handle in any given semester? Hypothesizing about this, I just put this question on Twitter last night, and really to my surprise most people agreed, placing their number at the 50 range. Sure this is a biased sample, and people are probably influenced by past teaching experiences. But its a rough guess and a good starting point for a conversation. Why This Matters There has been a great deal of discussion about MOOCs lately, expanding the number of students in a classroom, or in a related discussion classroom size, or faculty workload. If we distill down to the core what it is I do as an instructor/teacher I can only handle so many students doing that job. Sure I can lecture to hundreds if not thousands a week. Heck the tech would make it possible for me to lecture to millions (just record a lecture), but that really isn’t what I see as teaching, that’s just broadcasting content, the same as writing a book and letting someone read it. So, it seems to me that MOOCs or blended learning, or whatever, are precisely the wrong way to go. Increasing the cognitive load of teachers isn’t the answer. Our value add isn’t in broadcasting content, but rather in working closely with students. The institutions we work for have an interest in efficiency how can you maximize the number of students who learn with a given professor. But if there is a cognitive load max there is a point at which there are diminishing returns, where by adding in more students the institution is undermining the very value it seeks to add. And by big fear here, we end up creating a tiered education system whereby a certain class of people get the in classroom, close work with professors, and another get the discount $10,000 for four years model that doesn’t involve being closely valued and attended to by an instructor. Okay, so here is my question is there any research on this? What is the cognitive load max for you for a given semester? All else being equal what is your Dunbar number for instruction? Leave a comment, interested in hearing from folks.

I have accepted a job at Saint Joseph’s University, to be chair of a new department focusing on digital media. So in the fall I will be an Associate Professor and Chair of the Communications Department at Saint Joseph’s University. I am really excited about this job opportunity, as the "next thing I want to do." SJU is building a Communications major focused on digital media and social engagement. For me this hits the intersection of two of the things that I am professionally most interested in, coupled with the chance to help build and develop this program this job turns out to be an exciting next move. In many respects I just feel honored that the existing faculty at SJU thought I was the right person for the job. Although making a move to something new can be a bit intimidating, I am really excited to work in this program. When I was considering taking the job a few people I talked to thought I was crazy, asking why I would want the responsibilities of a chair, why I would want to leave a TT track job at a research institution (where I was just getting tenure) for a smaller institution. Maybe they are right, but I think there is a lot of upside to taking the job as a chair, especially at a liberal arts school that values teaching. More importantly though I really like helping to build things. And while I was weighing whether or not to take this job I looked at academics that I really admire, like Kathleen Fitzpatrick or Dan Cohen, folks who gave up secure tenure track jobs to pursue doing something new and I realized this wasn’t an opportunity I wanted to pass up (to be sure I am not giving up tenure this job comes with tenure). This is a chance to do something new, and focus down on what I really value about higher education: working with students, and empowering them to build a better world. And so as much as I appreciate the chances and opportunities I had here in EMAC, and as much as I will miss working with the students, in the fall I will be moving to Philly . . . P.S. That’s actually a photo of the building where my office will be (I think).

Adventures in GitHub This semester I am trying something new for teaching A while ago Brian Croxall suggested that what we need in higher educaiton is a Git Hub for syllabi. Or more precisely Brian was suggesting that we ought to alter the frame by which we think about creating, modifying, and sharing syllabi. In his piece for Profhacker Brian suggests that we should think of syllabi as itterative documents, which we borrow, and share with each other. The model for this is GitHub, the platform for sharing coding projects. When coders want to build on the code of other coders they do what is called "forking," basically taking the code from the original creator, and building on it for one’s own purpose (with a link to the original source). I am not going to recast the enitre frame here (although I think Brian’s argument is useful, a way to think about our practice of producing syllabi), instead I want to share how I am going to attempt to do this. I wanted to start producing syllabi in such a way that it was easy for others to see, to borrow, to reference, to iterate, borrow from others and publish in a range of formats (web, print, etc.). The idea here is to write and store the syllabus in such a way that makes it easy to use/reuse, push to various locations, and to "rip-mix-burn" with what others are doing. Rather than go into all the details about why I would want to do this (again see Brian’s post and the links he provides as a starting point) I want to walk thru how I am doing it. This is very much still a work in progress, so I have a lot yet to figure out. The Format: Writing in Separate Markdown Files I started by writing in Markdown. There are lots of reasons I am chosing to write in markdown rather than say a Micorsoft Word document, another word processor, or even in html. The most important of which though is its portability. It is relatively easy (more on this later) to write in Markdown format and then export it to one of the other formats I need (to say the web, or a word processing document). Also markdown has the advantage of having really simple syntax (just a few things to remember) and yet handling everything I need, bold, italics, headers, blockquotes, lists, and links. In fact I have started writing everything in markdown first, including this blog post and my current research articles. It had a really short learning curve, and after just a few days it feels totally natural. I like to write in a program that on the left is the writing format, and on the right is a live formated rendering of what I am typing. This really helped with learning to write in Markdown. I mostly write in a program called Retext but there are lot of options for writing in Markdown depending on what system you are using, and I suspect in the future I will just compose in a basic text editor (but for now the live preview is a nice crutch). For now I keep the schedule of readings in in one file, the course description (policies, textbooks, grading policy etc.), the course information (time, date, classroom, office hours) all in separate files. I actually think that in the future I might separate out the description into a few more files (making it easier for someone to just borrow or "fork" that part of the syllabus). I think the more discrete units that I break the syllabus into the easier it will be to source, modify and credit it. You can see all the files I currently have here. There are other things in that folder (.odt files and .pdfs I’ll get to those in a moment). So essentially to edit the syllabus I just edit the markdown files (the ones listed as .md). The Core: GitHub I am organizing this all through GitHub, or rather publicly sharing it all through GitHub. I actually write and edit the files on my computer and then "push" the changes to GitHub which is updated. This allows others to view, share, and modify portions or all of my syllabus rather easily. More importantly GitHub handles the tracking of this sharing and referencing (forking). So if someone wants to "fork" my syllabus all they have to do is joing GitHub, set up their own account and fork the syllabus. For those unfamiliar with Github you might want to check out The New Yorker Article. Simply put though GitHub is a place for sharing information, iterating that information, and tracking those iterations, whether they are yours or someone elses. Really the ideal platform for sharing syllabi and assignments. And since the files are published in markdown you can actually just read the text right there, no downloading and opening a file. One of the key features of a Git system is that it acts as version control, this way I can easily keep track of the changes I am making to the syllabus. Or, for that matter others can see the changes I have made to the syllabus over time. As the semester progresses I am going to add in an assignments folder where I plan to write up all the assignments as separate files. This will help me to iterate the assignments, to borrow my assignments from others, and to share them with anyone else. Publishing the Syllabus So I’ve started to think across all areas of my writing about separating the text from the particular venue. Just writing in close to plain text (hence the turn to markdown) then exporting the text to whatever format I want, applying the "styling" at the point of publishing not the point of composition. Right now I am using Pandoc to compile all the markdown files, and convert them to various formats (.odt, .docx, .html). In fact the .odt and .pdfs in the link above were produced this way. The "syllabi template" file just applies the styling so that when the markdown files are compiled into a document file it looks like a print syllabus. Doing it this way made it ridiculously easily to put my syllabus online as html but to also produce a print copy to hand out on the first day. The key is that I will only edit the markdown files and have the others be updated. Right now I have to manually update (i.e. tell Pandoc to do this) but in the future I want to get this step automated, so that I edit the markdown file and the website will automatically update, along with the "print" version. This Wasn’t Easy The problem with this is that it wasn’t easy. There was a lot of learning curve both with GitHub and converting files. I could justify this as both related to my field of study and I am interested in figuring this out (not the least of which because I am thinking about using this as a way to share research as well). But honestly this isn’t really a workable solution for most academics, especially the non tech savvy. Even with programs that make interacting with GitHub easy, or file conversion easy, this is still a bit labor intensive. I think now it actually saves me time as I can write the syllabus once and update it across venues easily. But I certainly haven’t reached the point where I am saving myself more time than it took to learn. But I do think both in terms of composition and in terms of sharing this is certainly a model for how we as academics can share our pedagogical resources. Which Brings Me To . . . I think what we need is a way to do this (outside of the CMS’s Universities use), but do it with relative ease. Something like GitHub for syllabi. Enter Coursefork. This seems to be the niche they are going for, easy to use uploading of teaching materials, with the ability to edit, share, and credit others work. I’m not associated with Coursefork, although I have been able to use the Alpha system and they seem to be headed in the right direction. I don’t know if they will succeed or not, but I will say that I hope that something like this does succeed, both in the practical sense (a platform like this would be useful) and a more abstract sense (the idea of forking and sharing syllabi). After spending sometime working like this I am convinced that forking and sharing syllabi is the way to go, we just need practical tools for it, along with the conceptual framework of "forking." Note: I want to give a lot of credit to Andy who not only already did this (so I modeled my workflow after his) but also had put his EMAC 2321 syllabus on GitHub which serves as the reference for the COM 200 syllabus I put up. Unfortunately in the learning I didn’t get the forking right and so my syllabus doesn’t show as a "fork" of his, something I need to figure out how to correct here.

Background Last semester I had the advantage of teaching in the new Communications and Digital Media classroom here at Saint Joe’s. It’s a fabulous space, that just on architecture and design changes the learning environment. (Key technology: moveable tables and chairs.) But the classroom was in part over designed, or at least in some areas, using high end software that was less than user friendly. Case in point: Tidebreak. The idea behind Tidebreak is that any computer in the room can share their files with any other computer in the room, large or small. And even more "snazy" the instructor can "copy" the screen of any computer in the room and display it at the front of the room. So when students are working on projects in groups it is easy to demonstrate one groups work for the whole class. (There are a lot of other features in Tidebreak but these are the major use scenarios.) The problem is the tech is clunky, not easy to set up, and even less easy to use. For me it often got in the way of accomplishing what I wanted, spending time figuring out how to use it, rather than having it fade into the background. Due to the expense of tidebreak, and its less than ease of use, we decided to not renew the license. But I still want a way to replicate some of the functionality in that classroom. Primarily I want a way to share large files easily between computers. Not just from instructor to students but also between students, a large shared drive in the classroom for students to deposit and retrieve files. A use Dropbox a great deal in the classroom to share small files with students, but this isn’t as effective if you need large files. For example if you are working on image or sound manipulation and want to share a bunch of files with students, size quickly becomes an issue. Also Dropbox still replicates the faculty centered knowledge model, distribution takes place from me to the other students. True students could also share files from their own Dropbox accounts, but that quickly gets cumbersome. The Solution Enter PirateBox and LibraryBox. (Click the links for more in depth descriptions.) I must admit I have a bias towards lower tech hardware solutions over higher tech software solutions. Not that this line is entirely clear, but I would rather control the hardware and have something in place than rent a software license to do something. Piratebox and LibraryBox are essentially local hardware solutions to filesharing. They each create their own independent local wireless networks for file sharing, think very local shared drive. That is, in each case you have to be physically close to the "box," and connected to it via wireless. Once connected you can download and share files. This type of setup allows you to upload files to the box (wirelessly) then all of the students can download them easily. Poof low-tech, cheap (more on this later), solution to file sharing. And since this is a lowtech solution I am not so concerned about it breaking (and more importantly not paying a yearly license fee). True I could go the shared drive route, have the University set up a shared drive on the network that students can access and share files. This would probably work for small files, although it would also carry the cost of central authority at the university level where you have to get permissions correctly enabled blah, blah, blah . . . So this summer I set up a PirateBox and a LibraryBox played with both with the intention to use at least one (maybe both) this coming summer. After installing both and playing around with them I think I am going to start though by using PirateBox, although LibraryBox is much easier to use. Why? PirateBox vs LibraryBox Both systems operate on essentially the same architecture. In fact LibraryBox is a fork of PirateBox by Jason Griffey. The crucial difference though is LibraryBox maintains central control, with the main administrator having the ability to control the files being shared. It works better as a system for one person to upload a bunch of files and allow an infinite number of local downloads. That is it isn’t really configured to allow multiple users to upload files (anonymously) and share them anonymously. This can be a good thing though, I imagine in many use cases someone would install a LibraryBox and want to make sure it is used as a local means to share only approved files. This indeed strikes me as the central motivation behind forking PirateBox. make a version for libraries that allow the local hosting and distribution of files, say in a Library, or more creatively perhaps as part of a digital installation like in a history exhibit or art installation, or again in a classroom or lab for sharing files with students. Without central control the library (or whomever is hosting) will run into the copyright problem (people uploading files which infringe on copyright) or egads . . .the porn problem. So from an institutional perspective this central control makes sense. And it should be noted that a serious advantage of LibraryBox is the installation. Although both PirateBox and LibraryBox are set up via the same methods I found LibraryBox markedly easier to install. Jason’s instructions are really thorough and he was really responsive to questions (nothing like customer service even though I ain’t paying for a thing). He even wrote up an extra FAQ after I asked him about PirateBox vs LibraryBox. The install was really clean, no errors, super simple. The only "difficult" part is just waiting for the install to take place (this step takes a bit, in my case 20 minutes). Indeed the only problem I had was in wiping the router and setting it back to factory default so I could try PirateBox (that was tricky, involved putting router in safe mode . . .lots of terminal work . . .blah, blah, not so easy, wouldn’t recommend). PirateBox on the other hand was a little trickier, for whatever reason the documentation was not as clear. Indeed at some point I couldn’t figure something out and looked back at the steps I followed to install LibraryBox to set it up. Eventually I got it working, and I don’t know if this is significant or not but it took more like 40 minutes to install, using the same hardware as I did for LibraryBox, twice as long (don’t know if that is significant or not). But still I am going to go with PirateBox. Why? Because at least for my use PirateBox embodies more of the hacker, decentralized ethos we are trying to convey to our students. I don’t want them to necessarily ask for permission from me to share and exchange files in the classroom. The anonymity and design features of PirateBox are closer to what I want my students to practice and think about. What I Used I used a TP-Link TL-MR3040 which cost me $35. You can actually do it for cheaper but the MR3040 is smaller and can run off a battery so it is far more portable. But if you don’t need portability you can do it for cheaper, just make sure you get one of the approved routers for the LibraryBox or for the PirateBox. The only other thing you need is a flash drive. I got a small 16GB one, but if you envision sharing really large files it might be worth going for one with more storage capacity. My next step is to design and print a case for it, to give it a cool look. And if you don’t want to build your own you could always just buy a LibraryBox, I don’t know if you can just buy a PirateBox. All in all for less than $50 you can create a robust local file sharing system either anonymous and centralized, or anonymous and decentralized. Check back in after the semester to see what how this went, and what my experience with it is.

So I have been thinking a great deal about pedagogy lately, partly because I made the move to a University that focuses on teaching, partly because I am now chair of the department, and partly because I felt that it was just time, that I had a way of doing things and hadn’t spent as much time thinking through whether or not that way of doing things was the most effective, or more to the point whether or not there was reason to change. My Old Laptop Policy I used to have a mostly laissez faire laptop policy. I was of the attitude that students could be responsible for legislating their own attention. I was also persuaded by the idea that in most parts of their lives post-college they would be free to have laptops, or even more generally computing devices, out and use them. Indeed even within academia at things like chairs or faculty senate meetings many people have computing devices out. At most points in your life no one tells you you cannot have your computing device, part of being a professional and an adult is figuring this out: when it is appropriate to use a computing device, when it isn’t, and when it is okay to be distracted and when it isn’t. And since I think about my job as broadly speaking an issue of helping young adults become the adults they want to be then it struck me as a bad idea to take control away from them, to actively police their attention rather than teach them how to marshal their own attention. I don’t teach because I want to police people, I do it because I want to help people learn, and at the core of my pedagogical belief is the idea that students learn best when they are in charge of their own learning. But lately But the last couple of years I have noticed a distinct difference between class discussions when students have devices out in class and ones in which they do not. A few days I begin experimenting with subtle ways to change the class dynamics. It started by creating an activity that required them to close their laptops to do something, write something down, talk to their neighbour etc, and then transitioned into a discussion. If students didn’t open their laptops the discussion went better, was more productive, more students participated, more engagement, more listening. Things would start to shift once students started re-activating their devices. And I have an attendance policy, students aren’t free to miss class, so maybe I needed a device one . . . Potential Policies I suppose their are a range of policies, from the let students do whatever they want as long as they aren’t disturbing their neighbour policy. To the shut off wifi in the room and not allow any devices to be out during class (I guess there is even the more extreme policy of seizing devices if you see them out . . .). No way I would want to go with an extreme solution, making the decisions for the students forcing them to "behave" just wasn’t going to work for me, whether thru technological means (locking the wifi out) or through dictator means (me setting an absolute policy and enforcing). But still . . . I kept coming back to wanting to build a better learning environment for my students. And as most of the research now suggests laptops in the classroom can be a serious impediment to learning. I appreciate the digital network, value it, see its potential for social good. But I also recognize that no technology is neutral and that any piece of technology brings with it affordances and limitations. And the limitations of the ubiquitous connection and plethora of screens and distractions kept coming back to me. I won’t spell out all of my reasons here or point to all the research. Mainly though because I don’t have to, because Clay Shirky pretty much wrote that post already, and I would pretty much agree with everything he wrote. But then again . . . But then again I really wasn’t ready to commit to a full on ban of laptops in the classroom. I considered Howard Rheingold’s policy of only allowing a certain number of students to have laptops open at a time, something he discusses in Net Smart. But I decided against it. Instead I did something else . . . What "we" did . . . The class itself is about digital media, and intro to digital media course. So there is an unusual opportunity in this course to make the issue of attention, distraction, and media not only a policy but a subject of discussion. This class has as one of the texts Rheingold’s Net Smart in which we read the section on attention very early on, as well as discuss some of Cathy Davidson’s work. I began that day by asking them to shut their laptops, turn off their devices as we discussed attention. What followed was a fruitful, and mature discussion about devices, how and why we use them, why they distract us, and what it does to the spaces we inhabit and socialize. And importantly I should say I tried to not make it about "us adults" vs "them kids" which I think is how the debate gets too often framed. I used examples from my own life our experiences where I have been totally guilty of not paying attention. So, at the end of class I decided, actually sort of more or less decided this on the spot (so this wasn’t totally well thought out) to then make the discussion about what the policy in class should be, make the question: how do we in class want to make sure we maximize attention while still respecting individual choice. Different students expressed different opinions, pretty much everything in Shirky’s piece came up (the issue of not only individual attention, but those around, the spiral effect of once a few check out lots do creating a downward spiral). Then I had them vote they got to choose between two policies. Individuals in class can freely choose, although thoughtfully so about their own device use in class. Devices in class are to be turned off, for everyone, unless directly being used for class. The vote was really close in the end something like 9 or 10 for choice #1 and 11 or 12 for choice #2. So in the end that’s the policy. No device use, except when directly related to the work going on in class. I should probably say that I am not totally comfortable with this, it seems still a bit like students are being forced to behave in a certain way. But I like it because the community chose to have it that way after a fruitful informed discussion. I think one of the things that makes me most uncomfortable though is how close the vote was. So I definitely plan on revisiting later in class, letting them discuss the policy again, and maybe we can even create a laptop zone in class, where students can use devices, but only if they sit in those seats restricting the distractions to one area, so those who know its a problem for them can avoid those seats, and also students would have to pre-decide (before class began), and admit that "hey I want to be able to check facebook," in effect uping the transaction cost, but still leaving it ultimately up to them. And all of this might totally fail, as often it does, but hey, then it will just be a reason to have another conversation and re-work things. (Side note to this whole thing, take it for what it is worth, small sample size and all, but the students who were most vocal about wanting to preserve the overall community of the classroom were all women, and the ones who were most vocal about the more liberal policy were all men . . .not sure if that’s significant.)

But not that kind of printer . . . . Background I am teaching a course on 3dprinting this semester (you can see the syllabus here if you are interested it is a mix between theory, history of information & communication, and praxis, printing stuff). It has been a difficult class to construct and think about, in large part because the desktop 3d printing market is so young and these things aren’t nearly as easy to use as computers or 2d printers. The Issue So one of the first "big" choices I faced in teaching a class about 3d printing was solving the hardware issue. Unlike say teaching a class that requires students to blog, I can’t expect them to have the hardware. Indeed, I am pretty much guaranteed that students will not have personal access to a printer so I needed to figure out a way to provide them. This creates a few issues. First, printers cost money. It would be nice to provide enough for each student to have one, but that isn’t probably economically feasible. Right now a printer cost anywhere between $300 and $3000 (okay they can actually cost a lot more than $3000 but for my purposes am playing in the $300 to $3k range). Second is ease of use. The easiest option is to go with Makerbot. It is really just plug and play. Makerbot comes with its own software and is really easy to use. Indeed its ease of use is probably what makes it so popular among educational institutions, especially the secondary ed market. But Makerbots are expensive $2,900 or so. It’s true you can purchase a Makerbot pull it out of the box, load software onto your computer and be printing in 10-15 minutes. And for the most part you can get fairly good quality prints out of the machine. But … Aside from cost there are two big issues here. First is that Makerbots are too easy. Too easy? Yes. Too easy. Part of what I want students to learn is the technology of these things, how they work, their ins and outs, to think about the way they work, along with how they work. By making the machine less easy, it seems less like "magic" and more like something students are capable of intervening in/modifying. Thinking with machines means understanding how to make interventions. The Makerbot’s principle advantage is the software, it is really easy to use, but that comes at a cost, not understanding how the software works. Which brings me to the second problem with going the popular Makerbot route: lock-in. If you learn to use a Makerbot, you get really good at learning to use a Makerbot, but that knowledge doesn’t so easily transfer to other systems. Aside from the deplorable path they are taking in terms of Intellectual Property it seems the Makerbot system is likely to be one of a 3d printing ecosystem that is convenient to use but in which you are locked in, unable to transfer out (similar to say the way iOS works). There are other options. If I wanted to go the expensive route and had all the money in the world, and wanted easy printing I would probably select Ultimakers. Cost and Learning. One of these, ready to use printers, cost in excess of $2000 though. True you can actually get a much cheaper one like the Davinci but they also require that you buy their plastic not just any plastic. Thus, you end up back at the 2d printer problem, where companies sell them at or below cost only to extract higher profits from buying the printer cartridges and ink. No thanks. So in the end I decided to purchasePrintrbots. They are inexpensive, work well, you can tinker with them, and since they are built on the reprap platform aren’t going to be restricted to one kind of plastic. We got a mix of the Plus models and the Simple models. I’ll report back later …

A great presentation on the importance of process from Fred Bentsen (APQC Education), Mark Gabehart (CTO, RoundRock ISD), and Frankie Jackson (CTO, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD). These are my notes from the presentation given at the Texas CTO Clinic 2015 in Austin, Texas.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Source: http://goo.gl/HdmXEkWhile I have audio for this presentation, Fred Bentsen said, "What happens here, stays here." So, no audio. Sigh.My NotesFred asked a few questions to start us off:Why do we use these cumbersome forms?Why do we have to have so many approvals for this?Why does only 1 person know how to do this job?Why do we do this like this?This presentation is about process and measurement.It's time for a new approach. We have to consider Inputs, Processes, and Outcomes. For example:Inputs include Money, Instructional, FacilitatorProcesses include Practices, Hiring/Training, Managing TechnologyOutputs include Test results, achievement gap, AYPYou can only change the outcome if you change the processes; you only change processes for whom the outcome is broken.You can't change outcomes without changing the processes that lead to those outcomes.Everything you do is a process...writing down that process is the first step to transformative change.We can ask questions like:What suggestions do you have to make process(es) more efficient?Why would a person in question want to change process?Processes over time end up with redundant items, while others require delegation.The processes that need to change are the ones leading to broken outcomes.Cypress-Fairbank ISD's story:The District needed improvement in various areas, such as Visioning, ALigning District Plan/CIP, Human Capital Assessment and Development, Energy Management, Conservation and Payroll process.Frankie shared a great slide showing Work History and characterized it as a "Performance Excellence Journey."When we started we didn't have a service level agreement.In discussing goals and evidence of completion, she developed several tiers of service.Tier 1 involved standard response time.Tier 2 involved when something didn't get taken care of within 1-9 days; this resulted in a consequence of an email to the team leader.Tier 3 involved 10-19 days with an email to the managerTier 4 involved 19 days or more without being dealt with. This resulted in the consequence of an email to the CTO and she had to come up with interventions and strategies for resolve this.It is difficult to document processes; until you write down the process, flow, designate responsibility and publish those, you won't be able to fix them. "Mapping the process."Round Rock ISD's Story:view sourceWhy APQC?Challenging economic times, looking at efficiencies, breaking down silos, seeking continuous improvement; linking initiatives, programs and projects; using process and performance management tools.APQC involves systematic thinking about processes. You define real problems and identify pain points that you are having as a district.Some of the challenges include not having a service desk, enrollment registration, online registration, transportation, personnel alignment.APQC suggests ways of moving from "As Is" to "To Be," or how to shift from current ineffective process to processes that will work in the future.This process involves crafting the following:Opportunity statement: This details the problem or current ineffective process.Goal: The solution or corrected process and the desired outcomeMeasures: How to assess successIn Scope: The work that it will take to achieve the goal that is expectedOut of Scope: The work or needs that will arise to achieve the goal that are unexpected or exceed budget.This process is known as DMAIC or Define--Measure--Analyze--Improve--ControlLessons Learned:Continuous improvement is good (growth mindset)Breaks down silosImproves efficienciesUsing APQC tools is good.Now, team members who have participated in the process are asking when others bring them problems, "Did you process map that problem?"Since technology touches all silos, it's important to break down dysfunctional silos.Without upper leadership support, nothing will happen.Model up.We work with people on a daily basis, so we don't want to make people mad at us. So, one approach is to bring someone in from the outside to ask tough questions and put into place an external process (APQC) to facilitate tough conversations [Miguel's note: this highlights the need for crucial conversations].On a related note, I loved this EdNET Insight article, a part of which is excerpted below: For too long, educators, foundations, and the state-federal governments have mistakenly focused only on the right-hand side of the diagram—Pathway 2: Performance Management—to get improvement. I call it the Achilles’ heel flaw of education. Education can never get improvement by an outcomes-only process. You cannot manage outcomes any more than you can manage a golf score to improve your golf game. Outcomes are determined by processes, and if you wish to improve, you must manage the processes that produce the outcomes.* Here’s a ten-step Quick Start Guide to begin:Get training and coaching in PPM.Appoint process improvement teams and process owners.Select three to five key processes.Map the current processes as is to reveal the flow and flaws.Train teams in process improvement and change management.Benchmark in your own district or with best practices districts.Collect and measure data; see gaps and waste in your performance.Do a root cause and process analysis.Draw a process map the way you think a process should be done.Create action plans and implement.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

This session, Salary Reboot: Rethinking Pay for K-12 Technology Jobs, was held at the Texas K-12 CTO Council meeting on June 18, 2015. It provided some eye-opening statistics about CTOs and job in the edtech field.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.About the FacilitatorsIt was facilitated by the following folks from TASB:Amy Campbell, Assistant Director, Data ServicesAnn Patton, Managing Compensation ConsultantLuz Cadena, Senior Compensation ConsultantTroy Bryants, Data Services ManagerTASB HR ServicesPhone: 800-580-7782Email: hrservices@tasb.orgListen to Audio for this presentation MyNotesDice Tech Salary Survey 2014 results | Get full textOut of a thousand school districts, 600 responded. A response rate of 60% statewide, surveying 125 jobs in the survey, 90% rate among districts with 3000+ enrollmentLook at market value, as well as non-school market. These give us a good picture of private sector and public sector. Staff can go work in other places.Private sector does not always pay better than education.Average US Tech Salary Change - 5 year trendin 2010, there were very low increases for technology positions.by 2012, they caught up.Texas salaries are a little late to the game. On average, salaries actually dropped from year to year due to the RIF process in 2011.Cumulatively, there's about a 13% increase nationwide, and only 9% in Texas.Texas Market ValuesComputer TechnicianNon school: $21.92 (San Antonio), $20.24(el Paso), $23.56 (Dallas/FtWorth), $23.90 (east Texas)Salary growth 1.5%, and over the last year, -1.1% decreaseEmployee ratio 2010-2015 has seen an increase of 5%Statewide median hourly rate is $19.77HelpDesk TechnicianNon School: $20.97/$19.04, $19.61/$27.17 (el paso)Relationship between district size and pay. Hourly rate for 10K-25K, $23.50 for hourly rateNetwork Technician: Private/School: $27.85/$21.89 (SA)Instructional Tech SPecialist10K-25K enrollment: $65,52744% employee ratio 2010-2015Statewide median salary: $59,923Network Admin$86K/$62K (SA)CTO$162K/$93K (SA)IT Employment TrendsMotivators: Percentage of employers who offer incentives. 2009:53%; 2014:66%Primary Motivator for 17% was increased compensation12% - more interesting or challenging assignments12% flexible work locations/telecommuting10% flexible work hours3% promotion or new titleChanging employers: of 37% of tech pros that anticipate changing employers in 2015:70% higher compensation44% better working conditions33% more responsibility18% shorter commute17% anticipate losing current positions13% relocation (unavoidable turnover)9% otherHot Tech Jobs in 2015-2016SecurityMobile Device ManagementNetworkStrategies for Hiring and Retaining Tech TalentMove quicklySeparate pay structurePay differently (pay tech people larger salary increases)Adjust pay (salaries are being looked at annually and revised, as many as 2x a year)Create career pathways (have like 3 levels of tech...need to provide value for this)Instructional Tech vs Traditional TechInstructional Tech to CTO Pathteacher/instructional tech specialist to Director then CTOTHe only way to earn more is to become a supervisorTraditional Tech to CTO PathComputer Tech to Network Admin to IT Supervisor to CTOLot more opportunity to earn in your careeryou can stay in a role that doesn't involve supervision until you are more experienced (older)Gender Pay EquityMedian SalariesMen: $91,951Women: $95,883CTO count by gender favors males in that role over femalesOnly 4.6 percent of women work in STEM careers, opposed to 10.3% for men in STEM careers.There are fewer female data points in the data.Men in technology hold far more technical positions (e.g. software engineering)Women hold project management, business analyst roles.CTO Median Salary by Gender and Enrollment Group: There is no statistical impact of gender on salary. No correlation was found in Texas.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Visit their Web SiteThis week, I had the opportunity to attend the 300 participant TxCTOClinic held in Austin, Texas. The mini-conference was replete with fantastic presentations relevant for Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), as well as chock full of information and data about technology management in schools.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Since I am on a crusade to share great information shared at these events, I was thrilled to find out that TxCTO folks are posting all their resources online. I was also able to attend quite a few sessions--and present one myself with colleagues at http://tinyurl.com/txcto15--and you can find a list of those below.Some of these sessions were 3 hours in length, so if you're wondering, why so few, well, wow, quite in-depth sessions. I'm also grateful to others for sharing their audio recordings.Roundup of TxCTO Blog Posts:Empowering Dynamic Data Strategies (Data warehouse/dashboard preso! Cost effective!)Salary Reboot*APQC Process ManagementCTO Boot Camp*IMA Legislative Update*Digital Citizenship and Cybersafety*Making Connections with Data and Resources**Audio recording included.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

This session, IMA Update, was held at the Texas K-12 CTO Council meeting on June 18, 2015. It provided some eye-opening statistics about CTOs and job in the edtech field.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Session was facilitated by Abel Villareal (Corpus Christi ISD) and Rosa Ojeda (Waller ISD)Listen to audio of this sessionMyNotes82nd Legislative SessionPrior to IMASB6 Changed Everything (this happened around 2011)IMAbased on 1/2 PSFInstructional Material Allotment (IMA)Allow flexibilityAllows district control over fundsAllows for district to pay for our instructional materialsIMA ProcurementIMA procures state adopted instructional materialsProclamationsDual CreditAdvanced Placement & IBOld Tech AllotmentContinuing contractsNon-state adopted materialTech hardware and curriculum softwareProfessional developmentInstructional materialShipping and handlingEffects of SB6We order instructional materials based on usage, available funds, IMA committee decidesIMA purchasesDistrict owns inventoryTEA holds districts accountableDo not have to pay TEAIMA is used to replace instructional materialsNo state max costPublishers prices increased 60%Proclamations went from 6 to 8 yearsScience and Social studies...contracts last 6-12 years.83rd LegislatureHB5 allowed a publisher delayed payment optionsTEA approves or denies, TEA pays the publishers after Sept 1stInstructional Materials disbursements have to be entered in EMATDistrict receives materials in the summerImpact of 84th LegislatureHB 1474 frontloading bill - approved by Governor Abbott100/0 split 7.7 million in 1st yearSB 31375% of projected IMA budgetfrontloadingDelayed adoptionJune 21st last day to vetoEMAT allocationDisbursements (off list items)Proclamation 2015Social Studies K-12: $2.9MMath 9-12: $761KFineArts: $1.1MScience AP: $94KCont. Adoptions: $1MAdvice:In your district, you need to look at utilization reports.In some districts, you have Curr director, superintendent, tech director. Run utilization reports, and see what was actually used. This constant monitoring is the only way to ensure the money gets recouped.IMA Funding Formula1/2 of the permanent school fund (SBOE authorized $1.05 billion)Based on 5.1 million studentstotal student enrollment500 million = 1 year of bienniumCalculate Entire biennium:$200 per student * student enrollmentNon-State adopted materialIMA ProcedureCampus needsIMA formsApprovalsPDMPrincipalDistrict level depts3 deadline dates:August 1October 15March 15More information was shared in this session but I did not record it. You can Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

This session, Cybersafety & Digital Citizenship in the Classroom, was held at the Texas K-12 CTO Council meeting on June 18, 2015. It provided some eye-opening statistics about CTOs and job in the edtech field.Listen to Audio of this presentation(...and this is the best way to listen, since my notes don't do the presentation justice).Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.About the FacilitatorsDavid McGeary (@dcmcgeary) and Lynnice Hockaday (@lhockaday5), Harris County Dept of Ed (HCDE)MyNotesDavid gave an introduction with some engaging examplesBenefits of Social MediaHelp teachers learn how to use social mediaEveryone has a voice....it gives quiet kids to engage and participate and be a part of the discussion.Collaboration and engagement outside the classroom...those kids outside the walls, learning how to interact with each other. Students are able to latch on and find out what's going outside of their own classroom.Real world experts...done in many ways such as Skype/Twitter. It takes time to make connections.Teacher-parent communication...constant, active involvement. If you want to make meaningful use of the online space, you've got to be an active contributor in the space. More often than not, teachers don't know how to behave. We have to discuss fluidity, maintain conversations in online space.Training teachers to be good conversationalists in online space so that's very important. Being just a role model online is important.Prepare for employment...% Change in Jobs requesting Social Media Skills from 2012-2013 (Source: Indeed.com)Instagram - 644%Vine - 154%Alternatives to these would be Snapchat and PeriscopeIn the classroom...what does social media look like in the classroom?Instagram - post a picture that becomes a writing prompt. It can be used to connect with parents, serving as a announcements. [Real life example that came to mind]Twitter - Teacher's 1st Amendment Rights...Justine Sacco's life change in one Tweet...#leydenpride exampleMyths: When it comes to Technology, Kids have all the answersI will know when I am infected.My Password is Secure (Worst Passwords of 2014)Internet predators are easy to spotTeachers may not share directory information:  this data may include the student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance.Web sites created for children are monitored and safe. (e.g. COPPA)Free Security Software is as good as paid. "An anti-virus tool does not protect you from everything. An anti-virus tool won't protect you from your stupidity."Malware comes from Email attachments.Incognito window doesn't record information about youPosting personal information is a bad thing?"...media is actually a triathlon, it's 3 different events. People like to consume, but they also like to produce, and they like to share." -Clay ShirkyEncourage kids to post so much positive things about themselves that it buries everything else online that might be bad.Encourage students to reflect their interests in a positive way online.Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Idea debunked...[read research]Remember the HumanBe mindful of your Digital FootprintHave a positive, constructive attitude towards what you post with others."It always is harder to be left behind than to be the one to go..." Brock Thoene, Shiloh AutumnLooking for partners as part of the Academy in pilot mode right now in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

This session, Making Connections with Data and Resources, was held at the Texas K-12 CTO Council meeting on June 17, 2015. It provided some eye-opening statistics about CTOs and job in the edtech field.Listen to Audio of this presentation(...and this is the best way to listen, since my notes don't do the presentation justice).Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.The facilitators for the session included Joseph Christoffersen, Jamey Hynds, and Darlene Rankin, all from Katy ISD.Session description: Directors from Katy ISD will present solutions that have been put in place to connect users with data and resources. You will learn about their solutions for the districts' dashboards, learning management system, and cloud-based portal. Attendees will see how these solutions in Katy ISD keep the staff, students, and community connected 24/7 to resources and information.Note: I have not had a chance to listen to the audio and develop notes for this presentation...yet.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Looking for a data warehouse and web-based dashboard that works on all platforms (e.g. iOS, etc.)? Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Thank you for visiting! Below, please find relevant material to a presentation--facilitated by Virgil Kirk, Traci Clarke, Gary Clarke, and Miguel Guhlin--at the CoSN Texas Chief Technology Officers' (CTO) presentation facilitated in Summer, 2015.Empowering Dynamic Data StrategiesIn this session, participants will explore a problem common to many public school districts—setting up a data repository and how to best analyze data. K12 Dynamics--a vendor partner--will also be present to share their web-based, mobile-friendly solution.Find more materials relevant online at http://tinyurl.com/txcto15As this ASCD Educational Leadership article by Doug Johnson points out:One fact is incontrovertible: School districts need access to a bewildering array of just-in-time data collection, analysis, and aggregation and disaggregation tools that intersect along a multitude of points (such as student demographics, teacher quality, end-of-course [data]).Source: Miguel Guhlin as cited in Navigating the Seas of ChangeResource LinksK-12 Dynamics: Overview | Learn More | Fact SheetVideo: Using Data to Improve Student Performance(Source: DataQualityCampaign.org)Session Facilitator Contact InformationMiguel Guhlin; Twitter: @mguhlinVirgil Kirk; Twitter: @virgilkirkGary and Traci Clarke; Twitter: @k12dynamicsData Warehouse Need and OverviewSchool districts have a clear and urgent need to institute a data warehouse that is easily accessible by district/campus level staff. The goals of establishing a data warehouse include the following:facilitate easy, safe and appropriate access to data campus and district staff need to accomplish essential job functions, andeliminate time staff currently wasted in data hunting-n-gathering, sifting and organizing that consumes more time than the data analysis component requires. Enable staff to have tiered levels of access to generate reports derived from data critical to their job functions via a web-based interface to a data warehouse of content. (refer to diagrams at end of document)The end result is a more informed leadership and decision-making in service of students and staff.Key ComponentsA data warehouse - This component serves as a district-controlled repository of all data--a local copy on District server(s) regardless of the source--on students, employees from a variety of data sources, including but not limited to, student assessments, student and parent lists, employee data from internal (e.g. Eduphoria, Special Education, Scholastic programs, Special Education) and external sources of data (e.g. STAAR, iStation, iTCCS, TxGradebook, eSPED). (View Page 2)A web dataportal - This component provides as a browser-based, easy to use interface to the data warehouse that enables campus and district staff to have point-n-click query-creation abilities to generate a variety of reports that juxtapose data from a variety of internal and external data sources. Find more materials relevant online at http://tinyurl.com/txcto15Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Games...those frivolous time-wasters that distract from REAL learning. When I reflect on my years in the classroom, "playing games" was something I never valued. I didn't value it because, in my experiences at home, game-playing has always been perceived as a waste of time. It's something you did when you didn't have anything important to do, or wanted to connect with your family.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.I have watched and been a part of the whole technology integration thing, and I fear that we are going to go the same path in efforts to improve teaching and learning through video games that we have with computers in general — by integrating video games into the classroom — rather than the other way around. Source: David WarlickSome early reflection probably would have revealed the startling opposition of those two ideas--surely, one was wrong. Was game-playing frivolous or a way to connect with your family? Since I grew up playing games of strategy with my parents, it was clear they valued gaming quite a bit as a way to develop my mind, and to bond. Later, I began playing games on my own, admittedly, first-person shooters, games of exploration...games that required me to do little thinking. However, my young son grew up watching me play, and his experience with games was markedly different. He began seeing games as puzzles to solve, a maze to master, a way to develop an answer to the game-designers questions.Gamification activities are social and require students to work together and think analytically and critically. Students must have opportunities to take data, information and analyze, synthesize and evaluate in a gamified environment. Source: Kim Caise, Kid Detectives Classroom Gamification Learning Activities: Mystery Adventure QuestsMy favorite game to see him play included Command and Conquer, a game that he clearly strategized in anticipation of. For him, gaming wasn't a waste of time, but a mind-strengthener, a way of thinking in ways he hadn't before. In fact, his interaction with strategy games reminded me of the way some played chess (a game I never liked because I didn't want to think strategy, or anticipate an opponent's moves in advance).Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now. Get your guide to gamification online!In Kim Caise's book, she explores gamification. She describes it as "a strategy to make life’s hard things fun." If classrooms are hard work and not fun, as David Warlick suggests in his quote at the top of this blog entry, then Kim's suggestion makes gamification a way to transform how we approach learning.Some ways to describe Kim's book:"Gamification enables technology-enhanced engagement that stimulates classroom creativity and collaboration that extends beyond it. The author makes a clear connection between gamification as the way to bridge content learned in school to real learning that endures in children's lives.""Forgetting how games build bonds that last in a fun, collaborative way, teachers today need to scaffold learning in ways to foster data gathering, analysis, evaluation and collaborative creation of ideas and knowledge. Kim Caise's book on gamification learning activities is a solid first step in shifting the conversation." "In this succinct, fun guide to blending real life with classroom content via gamification, Caise offers a way to restore learning as a fun activity in schools."Get your guide to gamification online!Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Wow, what a terrific keynote, One More Thing, by Adam Bellow at iPadpalooza 2015 this morning! Below are my hastily scribbled notes (I reached for my iPad instead of my Chromebook and regretted it instantly ). You will also find the audio recording I made of Adam's awesome remarks.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Listen to AudioMy apologies for my terrible notes. However, if you weren't there, then they're awesome, right? :-)Tweet: @adambellowMyNotesAdam started in 2006 with digital portfolios [wow, 2006. Is your district doing digital portfolios yet?]Adam contrasted his presentation philosophy with Guy Kawasaki's, who will be keynoting tomorrow. Guy's approach is 10 slides in 20 minutes, 30 seconds each or so. Adam's philosophy included "Say it all, you might be dead tomorrow."The best product...does everything that was said it would do.The iPad doesn't automatically change the classroom environment. Seems obvious but...lots of places don't get it.There is a disconnect between Apple's tagline and School's tagline, especially one partnered with Pearson.Apple: Think Different.Pearson: Think same.What's missing to make things happen in the classroom? Time.These devices shouldn't be just about digital replication of paper-n-pencil devices.Innovation does not equal iteration.Most failed edtech initiativs begin with lists of what you want to buy.It's not about which device to buy...rather, it's about the one you will use.Date the device, marry the abilities.Sometimes being early with hardware is painful.We are from their future (other people who aren't edtechies)...we know what is going to happen 5 years ahead of time.Why learn this?The "C" word = ConsumeConsumption vs CreationEating vs Cooking - We want our students moving from consuming to creating, "eating to cooking"Apple App Store has 1.3 million apps in it.PixelPress - make a game from a sketch (awesome)Emphasis on an hour of code...but it's really about hours of code.We must remember what it feels like to try something new.Fear of failure is one of the greatest barriers to successFailure is not a permanent condition. We need time to take a risk.Adam showed off a hand-sized $80, Amazon purchased drone [Parrot spider is the name of the drone] that he controlled using the Tickle app...Tickle also controls spherosThink about how much has changed around us since we were in school.Too often we tell people to stop when we should tell them to go forward.Overcome the fear of starting....Permission Slip: You have permission to take risks...embracing failure allows us to embrace curiosity.We have tech to enable learning without limits.All this technology is connecting us like never before.Adam counsels, "Use the tool that fits the use, and the user."How do you find a good app?Setup an App Review Committee that asks, "What are your top 2 apps?" at meetings and encourage everyone to share.If tools/apps aren't right for you, build better tools.Adam states that he is proud of the work he's done in building his own apps, but he is not unique.We need everyone to share their ideas to make the space better...it's not about the technology, it's about us.Shifting from control to empower.Not about the apps, but what you can create.Share your draft, work, passions...iStuff isn't magical...it's just stuff.The magic is, what you and your students create.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

This session is from iPadpalooza 2015, which took place in June, on the topic of Set the Stage: How to Turn your iPad or Smart Phone into an interactive Digital Creation and Presentation Tool with Jon Roepke (Director, Product Management, Belkin Education).Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Listen to Audio RecordingMyNotesIt all started in a 2-car garage in Southern California...30+ years ago and more than 2K products later.We are inspired by people who explore the power of technologyWe find gaps between what users want and can do with technologyBetween 1960 and 2015, not much has changed in the classroom environment.There are all sorts of accessibility issues with interactive whiteboards.iPads are interactive...not confined to a particular presentation system that is classroom bound. Keep your learning devices mobile.These devices are magical...super computers, not just game engines or single application engines.How do I get connected? How do you move from consumption to collaboration?Stage Pro app is available for FREE if you use this link today (June 23, 2015): http://goo.gl/pJL6eQBelkin products:Portable Tablet Stage ($99)Record Lessons, Tutorials and Demonstration - great for YouTube videographers!Capture information using your iPad, video/edit/upload on iPad, you save lots of steps!Film Your DIY, Maker and Craft Projectshttp://education.belkin.comEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

This session was shared at iPadpalooza 2015 by Dakota Gordon (Founder, Atlas Learning) on the topic of Man vs Machine: Why Teachers Are More Important than Ever. Listen to the presentation audio and the conversation afterwards...this is not just another vendor wrapping ideas around a product. It's a "start with why" type preso.Session Description: Don't be afraid - your job can't be replaced by technology. Teachers' responsibilities are evolving, not disappearing. Come see why it's so important for teachers to embrace technology, and what technology developers can do to make that happen. In addition to a stimulating conversation, there are some fascinating remarks--in the audio recording--made in the "after-session." Quite stimulating discussion.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Listen to audioTwitter: @dakotajgordonMyNotestwijector is a web-based service that came up for conversation before the presentation started.Dakota started a company named Atlas (more screens than any other)What I'm going to talk about is a bit of a hot topic...it's a debate whether teacher can be replaced with technology. Leave standards (TEKS/Common Core) at the door."Computers to replace teachers in classroom by 2016." -Tom McTague, Daily MailWill computers ever replace teachers? Justin ReichBetteridge's Law of Headlines - if a headline ends in a question mark, the answer is always NOWill computers ever replace teachers? NoFear-mongering: "They're coming for you."Technology has swept of other industries...can that happen to teaching?Teacher 2.0: Classrooms are going to be modified. Instead of teaching the way we do now, we will teach differently.Technology enables us to do things we weren't able to do before...why do we need to learn this?When students ask that question, they are usually right. [I think it's the process we go through when we learn rather than what we are learning-Miguel's NOte]It will become increasingly obvious why we're learning stuff in school.What it comes down to is a change...Algorithmic Style of Learning to Conceptual LearningConceptual Learning: Wolfram AlphaIf you can do it via WolfRamAlpha.com, why do I need to do it? ask studentsA good question to ask: When did you learn about pi? Who could derive constant pi for me?It's a complete shame...it's an important concept (pi) but only a few people can derive it without tech.How do educate a massive and diverse population? --> How do we do it well/Better?It doesn't change the root problem...algorithmic learning, which is focused on how. Not related to real things.So where does existing technology fall short?The answer is...let me give you some examples:MOOCS: Taking formulaic learning and apply it to the masses. Can't expect better results than what we're seeing in person now.Augmenting the real world: Take regular homework assignments, quizzes, notes and move them online. While it saves time, will it make learning that much better?Where these apps fall short, they don't think about how the classroom of the future could be different.Teach the Why...here's how:Explore and integrate the real world into your classroom.hated English...what if we challenged student in a different way? Instead of having them write an essay, or 6 word story (Check Ernest Hemingway's)Copyrighting is another example. HOw do we sell a product?Blog series about math...linear algebra.History is very important once you understand the why...Experiment with different teaching styles.PBL: Connections to real world, higher engagement, student inquiry, they understand why.Become the guide or curator: Instead of data transfer from teacher to student, you are the guide or curator...need someone to tell them this stuff exists.students should feel challenged--not stuck or frustrated.Create, don't re-create.Software developers:Stop developing software that encourages pre-built courses and content.Integrate all of the amazing sources of info that are out there.Think about the future classroom that devices can create--rather than the classroom of today, with devices.Teachers know all this exists...they can't share this with their students in a timely manner. This is a problem that software developers can help solve.What can these devices help us do differently in the classroom.Discussion questions:When you and your partner started Atlas Learning, what was the pure motivation to create this?Response: Two products, Apollo and Homeroom. I was an electrical engineer and it was the most boring experience in school. We hated lectures, having to sit through lectures. Watching them online wasn't much of an improvement. Apollo takes advantage of devices that enables conversations that couldn't happen before.It's not the information going from your brain to another, it's smoothing out the path so students can learn. Learning/teaching is relational. Teacher of the future has to work together, problem-solve together...do we want to teach kids to solve independently?Should we teach people to collaborate at a distance rather than just face to face?How do you feel about the why?Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

What a neat idea! At iPadPalooza 15, there is a string of mini-keynotes to kick off Day 2 of the conference.Listen to the Audio of MiniKeynotesAnnouncement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.Photo Credit: Meghan Zigmond (@zigzagstech)MyNotesFrom Left to Right: Jenny Magiera, George Couros, Todd NesloneyTodd Nesloney (@techninjatodd)Two most important words - You Matter! from Angela MaiersShared story of a 5th grader who received a "You Matter!" letter.The only reason I was able to find success this year was because you told me you believed in me before you met me. I'm a special education kid and people have an impression of me as soon as I meet them.Teachers and students taped notes on doors and themselves that captured the meaning of You Matter!George Couros (@gcouros)Baby is born and is able to cut his own umbilical cord because he's hooked into social media.Tweetping.net - quick way to view series.Ryan McHenry died of cancer "Ryan Goslin won't eat cereal"Jenny Magiera (@msmagiera)Excited about using iPads at first, but then wanted to bury them in the backyard and hope no one would know.How to keep kids from falling through the cracks? We don't want kids to fail in grades, life, socially? We are constantly the safety net.Let students fail so they can be supported growing as people.Felix Jacomino (@felixjacomino)What's the Fear (WTF)?Time, Online Ugliness are two reasonWhere are all the worms? Feel a little late to the party? Don't be.Tweech.me - there's an app for connecting folks to learn Twitter.Check out what's going on. Felix is playing a piano, singing a song, "Don't be afraid to try! Come on, let's get connected. Get on Twitter!" Great job!Michael Cohen - The Tech Rabbi (@techrabbi)My device is revolutionary because of what I do.My device is lightweight, mobile, capture the world around me, connect with others, starting conversations, sharing connectionsCommunicate, collaborate, think critically, connectOrganize thoughts, track my progress, connectorbe artistic, create animations or just keep a journalIt's what I build and what I create with, personalized, unique and expressiveWhat is my device? It's a #2 pencil or is it an iPad, iPhone.Technology is not just a device...it's a solution to a problem, obstacle that we face as lifelong learners.Speed, precision, impact that we make. Focus on those questions rather than the device, you start to think differently.Describing learning, reflecting, producing meaningful learning experiences.Focus on the Why, not the How (which is secondary). If we do that, we can make our devices unlimited.Overcome obstacles of time and difficulty.I anticipate the day when mentioning the iPad in connection with learning....Hack the ClassroomKevin Mitnick Story - Rapping Kevin Mitnick's storyInterested in hacking...Eric S Raymond's 9 lessons, Cathedral and the Bazaar:Too many ___work on projects they neither ____ nor ____. Every good piece of ____ starts by ______.Too many programmers work on projects they neither need or want. Every good piece of coding starts by scratching a personal itch.School is a dog with a scratch protector around its neck...prevents itch scratching.Michelle Cordy (@iPadwells)Check his blog onlineIt's human nature to condense and remember only one sentence (unless you blog)[Miguel Message: You were great, iPadwells even if you lost your slides!]Played the pianoJames RichardsonLeading transformational change2009: Buck Lodge was labelled as a failing school. We had to change and had to change quickly.Our classrooms were purveyors of knowledge and they poured into students' brains.In 2011: We received 1000 instructional devices--iPads.Life as we knew it had changed.Developed a differentiated PD plan for teachers in our buildingTeachers moved from sage on the stage to guide on the sideIt's all about the students.Amy Mayer (@friedtechnology)No child has ever been, or ever will be, deeply personally invested in a worksheet.Student interest increases as we give them more choices.Have some fun with sulfuric acid...give them choices and they'll just go with it and seeRemember when we used to think there would be flying cars? Music takes up no spaceIn 2015, your phone does everything you would have spent your entire paycheck on in 1999.People don't buy drills because they want drills, they buy drills because they want holes. We buy these devices because we want to improve education.Reshan Richards (@reshanrichards and @explaineverything)The process is the product.Knowing that...I'm in AUstinKnowing How...Learning that...Learning How...Assessing that...assessing howStarted a blog about iPad apps not designed for education but could be appropriated for educationIncredible opportunities into questions about assessment...we built something.With mobile devices, there are opportunities to consume and curate content, to build skilsl, to play game, generate metric information on progress...I am most interested in students creating representations of understanding...qualitative formative assessment.I believe there are 4 things that are possible on mobile devices:Making picturesTaking screenshotsFilming videosScreencastingI've realized...to make it in this edtech world, you need two things:An acronyman InfographicI'm going to piece these things together--QFAT, qualitative formative assessment toolkitDocument learning with mobile technology[Hilarious!! Thanks for Explain Everything!]Rafranz Davis (@rafranzdavis)Opening the doors of Diversity in EducationDiversity is...what it is, what it is not, and why it matters.There's something powerful about ideas and how they matterThe experts, the greatest in the field...what about the rest of us? Women, people of color, different backgrounds age?What does that matter and how does it impact schools?You cannot be what you cannot see.Diversity is not one-dimensionalStudents will be who they are allowed to see.Carl Hooker (@hookertech)We are facing a zombie apocalypseIt's more about the assessment apocalypseThis is where/when learning becomes "undead"Remember "This is a test, only a test"It's kinda scaryI heard about a kid who pulled out all of her hairStress defined: body's reaction to harmful situationsKids become testing zombiesTest Prep book...available for kindergartenLack of learning that's taking place...lack of brains.During regular movement, engaging learning...there is scientific research the brain activity goes down.My zombie child ate your honor student's brain#UnDeadLearningWhat I want you to do next year, form a small revolution on twitter and instagram. Snap the pencil in half and post the picture #undeadlearningDo this after schoolLeft to right (top): James Richardson, HacktheClassroom, Michael Cohen (@TechRabbi)Left to right (bottom): Felix Jacomino, Jenny Magiera, George CourosSee more pictures of this series of mini-keynotesNote: This blog entry was typed and produced using Android devices with GoogleApps. :-)Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Preso by Pam Anderson (@panders4) at iPadpalooza15. The focus on the session is on "playing." This is just a time to play.Listen to Audio (abbreviated since there was a lot of "play" time for people to explore)MyNotesiPDP Technology GroupMovely.comApps we discussed during AppyHoursQR CodesPadletSocratic AssessmentReading Magic 1-4 appsScience HouseDoceriBook Creator appWe have several class sets of iPadsStudents created ebooks by snapping pictures of their art work then adding audio to them.Wow, the power of children's voices is just incredible in these projects.Export as ePub, PDF, VideoPam is sharing an overview of Book Creator features on screen.Here are some of my (Miguel's) resources for Book Creator...iPadifying the Writing WorkshopExploring iPad WorkflowsEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

These are my notes from Rafranz Davis' session on Minecraft at iPadpalooza 15. I regret in spite of rushing across the campus, I missed the first few minutes of Rafranz' preso. That's sad because Dawn Drisdale (@mrsdris30) is leading the charge in a district I'm partial to as part of the STEAM initiative.Listen to Audio(short segment given that I arrived late to this session)MyNotesIf you give your students a performance to do, don't provide the options (a,b,c,d).Do performance assessments in Minecraft.Why Minecraft: enables students to be creative in ways they can't be in other ways.Why not Minecraft?Starting for after-school activityThe iPad app (Minecraft)Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

"I like gadgets," shared Mark Simmons at lunch time today. Gadgets, indeed. While the presenters at iPadpalooza are working hard to start with why rather than how or what, it was delightful to have a frank conversation about technology, about gadgets with Mark. His why for each was compelling, much like the reason why he came to work in education.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.I had no idea that he'd come to education from the business world. His motivation? "My dyslexic daughter needed services she wasn't getting in school," his face growing red, a topic he is clearly passionate about. "So, I decided to come into education, taking a pay-cut, to make change." And, make changes with a different perspective, he has indeed.Mark Simmons (@t3chl0gic), Sabine Pass ISDAs we munched on our respective BBQ sandwiches, I asked Mark about the presentation he had just finished up on regarding iPads and 3D Printing. "Yeah," he mused, "the kids use Tinker Play and 1-2-3D to design robots, then share the file via Google Drive.""How does that work in your school culture, Mark?" I asked."I pick up the files off GoogleDrive, and print their designs out. It takes 2-3 hours for their designs to print."Some of the resources that Mark mentioned related to iPads and 3D printing included the followingiPad appsTinkerPlay123D3D PrinterDremel 3D Printer (Mark recommends this one over the Makerbot 3D Printers)Students design their creations using the iPad apps above, then Mark prints them out.Our far-ranging conversation included using camera-enhanced drones like the Lily Flying Camera that follows you, or actually, the wrist-based tracking item. The Lily ranges in cost from $500 through $1,000, has a 20-minute flight time, and the tracking device is available with a waterproof wristband. The Lily Flying Camera has many possible uses, from having them used to follow football players, take aerial photographs and much more. Check out the incredible video below: I definitely want to check out these great gadgets that Mark has shared with me!Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

What a joy it is to run into old friends! As I walked the halls of Eanes ISD High School, I found myself drawn to a familiar voice coming from one of the classrooms at the end of the hall, beginning a stroll into the past that I had no idea would be taking place...not a bad metaphor for iPadpalooza, where unexpected learning opportunities abound.Announcement: Join #etdrive, a Texas wide conversation focused on 3 strands using "push to learn" technology, VoxerChats. Follow these two steps to begin your learning journey now.As I peered in the doorway, I did a double-take--Pamela Fite (@pfite), my old Assistant Superintendent from Mt. Pleasant ISD in East Texas. She had plucked me from my 3rd grade bilingual classroom and placed me in my first district instructional technology specialist position.Pam is short, fiery, spunky, and has served in a variety of roles in education. That said, I haven't seen her in over 20 years! Her presentation was focused on The Digital Text Tool Every Teacher Can Use. What fun to spend 5 minutes catching up on my way to another session.Ms. Fite works for Renaissance Learning, and she was quick to share RTI4Success.org with me as one of the resources I needed to investigate further.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Get Windows version for Free (limited time offer)How cool is that? If you've used Book Creator on an iPad, you'll probably find that Book Creator for Windows to be worth getting! It's free for a limited time:We are proud to introduce Book Creator for Windows, released on the Windows Store on 23 June. What’s more, we’re giving it away for free (limited period only!).The lowdownSame simple interface with a 'Windows-esque' designRead books made on iPad / Android, and vice versaBack up books to OneDrive and moreFree on the Windows Store now!With Book Creator for Windows you can:Create books on a Windows tablet, laptop or desktop with an easy-to-use interfaceEdit text and apply rich formatting with more than 40 fonts to choose fromAdd photos and video or record audioUtilise the drawing tool for illustrations and annotationsRead books with the in-app readerDraft books in the ePub format to publish work on Apple’s iBooks Store or the Google Play StoreSend books by email or upload to OneDrive for quick and easy sharing Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Be sure to check out the web site...and follow @art_cathyhunt on Twitter!Find resources onlineEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure