Chris Millet is managing the Podcast at Penn State project for us and is doing a great job! Last week he decided that he would create a new podcast show that would highlight new and interesting content going on in the Penn State on iTunes U space. So with that in mind he took a little time and cranked out the first of the weekly series. Now into its second week it seems Chris is getting the model down. If you are interested, go on and click the link. You will be taken into the open part of Penn State on iTunes U. Let me know what you think.
ETS
Studiocode
Another Hot Team result from the ETS team … this one is focused on Studiocode. SC is a software tool that enables an amazing set of video tagging and analysis features. No need for me to describe it all here when you can jump over to the ETS Blog and read about it for yourself. As always with a Hot Team, there is a white paper to download and enjoy.
Brian Smith at the TLT Innovators Speaker Series
I started asking faculty to present interesting things they are doing to integrate technology into their teaching after last April’s TLT Symposium. Yesterday the second presentation from the TLT Innovators Speaker Series took place on the University Park campus. The talk featured Brian Smith, Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology and Instructional Systems entitled “Live and Learn: Supporting Everyday Cognition with Computation.†Brian spends a great deal of time envisioning ways to effectively use the things we do when we are outside of formal learning spaces to create learning opportunities. Brian’s talk focused heavily on those informal learning spaces and ways he has found to tap into them.
Brian and I are good friends, although he may not talk with me after I made him bring his GameBike into the talk … actually he brought it on stage and we couldn’t get the PlayStation hooked to the screen in the Auditorium, but … at any rate the talk was great and the demo was very cool. You see Brian has done a bunch of research into how you can take the mundane of playing video games and turn it into a healthy activity … we showed that off by asking a member of the audience to play a game sitting in a comfy chair eating chips and then on the GameBike doing the same (without the chips). Very effective.
Brian followed Kyle Peck’s talk by doing something a little different — he focused a lot of energy on technology and how it is used to transform everyday opportunities for learning. I thought it was really well done. He even held court at Whiskers afterwards (picking up the bill) talking to us all about some really cool things. Engaging the community in these ways has been both very stressful and very worth while! I can’t thank Brian enough! Some pictures from the event. Here is the direct link to the podcast as an MP3.
Photo by Dave Stong.Â
SecondLife over a Mil
Things have heated up so quickly in the SecondLife space in the last year … it just sort of blows my mind given how hard we tried to make something go with them several years ago. I guess the problem was that when I say “trying to get something going,” we were playing the higher education handshake game. You know palm extended, facing up? But through it all Bart Pursel, my Lead for Learning Solutions when I was at the Solutions Institute kept saying there is something here. Most of us looked at him funny.
Well good old SL went over a Million users and they seem to be in the middle of so much interesting stuff. At ETS we have a team exploring it all … the New Media Center has a campus, other Universities are there, and I keep hearing about others building there as well. So, did we miss the boat or is it still at the port? Should we push to get something going that could be viewedd as interesting? Is it worth the effort and would it pay educational dividends? Thoughts?
Hot Teams March On: iWriter Review and White Paper
I have promoted the use of small teams to investigate technologies that impact teaching and learning since I arrived at Education Technology Services close to a year ago. We have done five such investigations in that time … each one has brought teams of designers, technologists, subject matter experts, and others together to do a quick hitting review and investigation of a specific technology. The latest Hot Team investigated a very interesting little piece of software by Talking Panda called iWriter. On the surface it allows you to create interactive games for the iPod … our team discovered you could do quite a bit more with it.
Our Hot Team found that iWriter has the potential to enhance the educational experience in a great number of disciplines, from foreign language instruction to science and technology. iWriter provides the opportunity for educators to quickly and intuitively create rich instructional media where utilizing a mobile platform like the iPod might be beneficial. In an age where such mobile devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the simplicity of iWriter and the iPod interface is a refreshing combination that can be applied to many situations.
Download the PDF of the white paper and let us know what you think. I also have a sample iWriter project created by a member of the iWriter Hot Team for download — I warn you that it is a little big (13 MB).
Is More Better?
I have been tossing around in my head some podcasting stuff the last week or so … People on campus keeping asking us to take part in our Fall podcasting pilot. I really like that podcasting has captured the imagination of our faculty and staff, but I am still feeling like there is so much more to all this. Administrators’ first question is always, “what classrooms can faculty podcast from?” The answer is obviously all of them — but the answer they are looking for is the number of classrooms we have rigged with wireless microphones, recording software, and easy capture from the podium — that number is much lower then all. You don’t need all that gear to podcast from a classroom — especially if you are doing something other than simply recording a lecture. The first question thoughtful instructional designers and technologists on campus ask is, “so what are the interesting things being done with podcasting?” That is the better question.
I have been shocked at the polar opposite approaches many faculty are taking with this opportunity … some faculty are just recording their lectures while others are doing stuff in between classes to create new learning opportunities. Guess what I think is the good stuff? As more faculty come on board it is our responsibility to pull out the novel and effective uses of the technology to share with them. Our pilot will yield some good stories (there are too many to share here in this post) for us to tell. To tell you the truth, at the start of the Spring semester I am hoping we are thinking beyond simply reporting the number of faculty in pilots, the number of classrooms wired up, and the number of lectures captured. I want to be talking about the impact, the students’ reactions, and stories of faculty doing things they hadn’t done in the past.
Kansas State recently decided they were going to launch the world’s largest podcasting initiative. They are claiming to podcast 6,000 lectures by converting older lecture recordings into enhanced podcasts … while it is ambitious, it seems to be an attempt to simply be number 1 through brute force. I think providing access to course lectures is a good thing, but getting everyone engaged may be a better approach. I have no idea if K State is doing that … the press release focuses on numbers and partnerships with corporations.
I am not saying we are doing it better at PSU … we will not have numbers like that for quite some time — even with a huge student and faculty population. We recently started a faculty podcasting user group and turned it over to faculty — sure we’ll be in the back of the room but it is up to them to organize agendas, invitations, and to make it happen. We see the faculty as the primary driver of adoption and diffusion of innovation in our environment so why not tap into their interest and energy? Sure, K State can say they are the biggest but I am taking a different view of this — let’s sit back, study it, and see what interesting opportunities emerge. One of my primary goals is to create partnerships that are meaningful for the long term — working with faculty to review what has been done and to dream up where we go from here is a first step towards a trusted relationship.
Sorry for the long and winding Sunday morning post — Max was up quite a bit last night and my mind is spinning. It clearly isn’t spinning perfectly as I am not sure this post hits a mark or is just a mess of rambling thoughts. At any rate, you might get the point and I’d like to know about your approaches.
Trying to Engage the Community – One Event at a Time
One of the things I have been trying to do is to find ways to get people together on a regular basis to talk. We’ve been trying new things to create opportunities to engage in open conversations. With that in mind, this week we held our first TLT Innovators Speaker Series talk featuring Dr. Kyle Peck. It was a great time and a great session. Kyle is one of Penn State’s most well respected and loved faculty members. He is the Director of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Lab, Associate Dean for Outreach and Technology, and Professor of Education within the College of Education here at Penn State. Having Kyle kick off the series was a no-brainer — he brings a real passion to teaching and learning that gets people excited. This is the first of three talks in this series this semester … here are some photos of the event.
Kyle was one of the first faculty members I met when I arrived at PSU as an instructional designer back in 1998. We spent some time talking and he ended up inviting me out to his houseto discuss one of newest adventures — the creation of a new breed of charter schools. He and I talked about starting a software company that would be connected to the school and produce innovative tools to enhance the teaching, learning, and assessment experiences of students and teachers. He started the school but we never did start the company. Good thing as we now have the opportunity to work together at the Unviersity shaping what goes on.
His talk was titled, “It’s What the Student Does that Counts: Rethinking the Roles of Students, Teachers, and Technologies.” He makes a case that it isn’t about the technology, but about knowing how to connect with students. I was so proud to see the turnout — both faculty and staff showed up to share the time with us. A bunch of us (including Kyle) even headed out for an adult beverage afterwards to continue the conversation.
Direct Link to MP3 | Direct Link to Penn State on iTunes U Podcast
TLT Innovator’s Speaker Series
One of the cool things about ETS is that we are responsible for the annual Symposium on Teaching and Learning with Technology. Last year you may recall we had a great time and tried all sorts of new things — blogging from the sessions, podcasting, Flickr photo posting, and more to try and enhance and grow our community. This year we are pushing even harder.
One of the things I was very interested in doing was seeing if we could create a series of talks leading up to the Symposium that would pull leaders from our campus out and have them give talks. I wanted it to be a first rate series … with a great room and great speakers so as to help inspire others. I think the Fall 2006 series fits that bill. We have Kyle Peck, Brian Smith, David Passmore, and Rose Baker all doing some very interesting things. The thing I like the best is that these talks all have a very student centric tone to them. It will be good. The room is a wonderful space in the union building and will add to the overall feel of each talk. Below is the announcement. If you happen to be in the area on the dates, please let me know and we’ll make sure you can attend … and yes, we’ll be delivering enhance podcasts of each talk.
Teaching and Learning with Technology is proud to announce the TLT Innovators Speaker Series. Beginning October 2006, this new series will feature Penn State faculty presenting perspectives and approaches for teaching with technology. These presentations, are designed to inspire faculty to develop their own ideas for enhancing their courses with technological components and will continue until the 2007 Symposium, to be held on April 14, 2007.
