Silence is the heart of an introvert.The muse;The canvas for noise.  TDC Silence Is

As I was racking my brain to write something about creative thinking and 'new' literacies, I stumbled across this video:Present Tense, a film created by three teenagers from Zanzibar, is a plea for help. In Zanzibar, students are first taught in the na...

   PBS put together a website, Roadtrip Nation designed to help young adults in career decisions. The site offers videos of interviews with a wide variety of professionals. All of the clips employ similar elements, therefore my critique ...

Pick an opening line June 24, 2015 Choose one of these 20 great opening line types and write you own great opening line.Foreboding     His tracks, staggered and bloody, lured them into the woods with the promise of...

     New 'ethos' stuff, new technology stuff , 'new' literacies and creative thinking - What do they mean? How do they relate? Why are we redefining literacy? I have grappled with these questions (and others) for three weeks. My fru...

How I will look in 2050...A fine demonstration of my 3rd grade drawing skills!TDC 1257You in the year 2050 June 18, 2015 Draw a self portrait of what you think you will look like in the year 2050. Upload your drawing as a photo t...

         I am freakishly analytical. Everything must be broken down, questioned, figured out. I often keep this to myself. Since, let's face it, it can be an annoying part of my personality. This week, however, I...

     I love the simplicity of a single image story. If done right, it evokes all the feeling , atmosphere and wonder of a larger production. This week I chose two images from the 2015 National Geographic Traveler photo contest.&nbsp...

     If a tree falls in the forest and no human is nearby, does it make a sound? This thought experiment has been debated from a purely technical viewpoint (vibrations require eardrums to create sound) and philosophically (sound is ...

TDC See Beyond the BuildingsIt's not a good photoshop job, but I did learn to use the warp tool.ToolsiphotoPhotoshopLumix digital camera

          Every so often itunes surprises me with a forgotten song of my past. Such was the case this week. A song from the indie rock group Concrete Blonde struck my eardrums and threw me back to my college radi...

     DS106 - located somewhere over the rainbow. A place that challenges everything I know about school. The tornado of logistics at the start of the week left me dizzy and fretful. However, once the dust settled I began to explore....

         Creative thinking is all about perspective. Seeing things or processes not how they are but how they could be. Perspective twists, turns and manipulates the mundane. Transforming it into something extrao...

     Digital storytelling can be as simple as a single image with text or voice narrative. It can be as complex as a full-length movie. The key to storytelling success lies in the structure of all the elements. Without organization,...

Sending flowers to my fellow Colorado DS106ers. We may be drowning in the endless deluge but, oh my, the lovely flowers.Assignment: Send Flowers to DS106 People Who or why is up to you! To one person or to many up to you too! Remember, tell us who they...

      In 1978 Lawrence Grobel interviewed the newly famous Dolly Parton. A beloved American icon, she is renowned for her sweet honesty, outlandish personal presentation, and her simple roots. Dolly Parton on Getting Dirty is a...

FALLING OUT OF LITERACY:A 21st Century ParadoxRemember when being literate was as simple as reading and writing? When you got "hooked on phonics" and demonstrating understanding only required a pen and paper? Or, better yet, remember when once you were...

CRUISING (TDC Shape Picture) This took a bit of time to figure out how to get the image from Adobe Draw on my ipad to flikr and beyond! At any rate, I don't draw but I thought I would step out of my comfort zone. Fun!

You’ve seen the Star Wars scene. Luke Skywalker chasing after storm troopers in his X-Wing fighter. Blasting them into bright, star-like bits that whiz past his ship in the aftermath of the enemy’s demise. That’s what details look like to me. Bright bits of “no-matter” that I should pay attention to, but can’t quite home in on. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the importance of details. I am just a big-picture kind of gal. I see and understand the world in its unabridged form. From there, I deconstuct at leisure. My uncut approach is at times problematic. It’s a problem when writing code, with data-entry and, well, with project management. When I consider all the little pieces that go into a project, my eyes glaze over, and I drift off to a more pleasant, intact place. Fortunately, the world consists of those who love details. Such fine individuals created Basecamp.

Basecamp is a project management tool for the detail-challenged.The creators organized the information with an inverted pyramid in mind. Each project begins in all its big-picture glory.  The opening page greets the project manager with a clean, easy-to-scan screen. Only the most important elements are visible: recent discussions between members, to-do list, files list, and text documents list. The developers even included a Latest Project Updates link. This allows the PM to scroll through just the current happenings (slick!). From the main page, the administrator may dive down, layer by layer, to the grittiest little spec of a specific.

I love Basecamp. Project management intimidates me because I know I miss details. And, let’s face it, the devil truly is in the details. Basecamp de-clutters those pesky particulars. It tames them. Making them manageable for the aggregate-leaning mind.

• ← coffeeanDesign
• Ed Tech By An “Educational Evangelist” →

Preface   

    I hate math. I am the antithesis of a “math” person. I don’t get it. Here is a tale of overcoming great odds, of enlightenment, of redemption. This is my story.
   

Act One

    Years ago I accepted a sales position with Key Curriculum Press (Key) a publisher of high school math and science programs. The position required me to discuss the qualities of our products with teachers of math and to engage in the formal presentation of our products to teachers of math. Obviously, I was desperate for a job. Once I realized what I’d committed myself to, fear consumed me.
    The company embraced a “reform” approach to mathematics instruction. The approach focused on teaching abstract mathematical concepts by way of hands-on experiences that tapped into the learner’s prior understanding of basic math. Skills practice (solving equations etc.) then supported the conceptual learning. Math taught in context.

Act Two

    Sales meetings are a necessary evil that all sales reps must endure. My awakening occurred at the first of these gatherings that I attended. One of our consultants (a former teacher of math) led us through a lesson from the Algebra book. The lesson covered the concept of linear equations. A linear equation is essentially (ahem) a pattern of numbers that increases or decreases by the same amount every step of the way.
During the lesson, we experienced this by reconstructing the pattern on a graphing calculator. It was tedious. 
     Afterwards, our fair leader introduced the algebraic representation that condensed the pattern into one easy equation (i.e a linear equation). “Wait!” I exclaimed. “This makes sense to me!” After years of living in the darkness, could it really be so simple? The clouds parted, and the sun shone upon my face. I heard the faint singing of angels in the distance. It was a glorious “a-ha” moment. I felt smart.

THE END

Skype Qik 

Breathing life into a discussion thread

                                                                                               
 






What it is. The technology group Skype Technologies presents Skype Qik (pronounced “quick”). As the spelling of the name suggest, this is hip. An instant video messaging tool designed to change the way we think about instant messaging. Adding the all-to-popular video element, Skype taps into the heart of Generation Z’s communication desires. The designers based the app on major industry movements such as mobility, a surge in communications and a trending of asynchronous discussions. By incorporating the spur-of-the-moment element of instant messaging and the intimacy of face-time calling, Skype paved the way to online discussion thread bliss (and they didn’t even know it).

What it does. Qik offers a simple functionality: video messaging for groups of people. The app is free, very easy to use and supports multiple platforms (Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone). A simple swipe of the home button and the user is ready to record a video message. Once recording, a tap of the camera-rotate icon changes the camera view from front to back allowing a seamless transition from action to running commentary.
One of the great features of the phone is the grouping tool. Qik pulls the list from your contacts then you select the members of your discussion pool. Once selected, the groups can be labeled and saved for future conversations.

In the spirit of modern mobile communication, the designers included a Qik Fliks feature. These mini-clips are five-second videos the user generates and saves for instant responses (what Skype calls “a more personal smiley”). Up to twelve Qik Fliks can be saved for the user’s video emoticon reportoire.

 



 The possibilities. I foresee the end of the humdrum discussion thread. Or so I hope. Currently, the weak point of online instruction lies in the use of text-based discussions. This format tends to be tedious, time-consuming and lifeless. Part of this is possibly due to the user group since many learning management systems do provide an audio or video option. Qik, however, ups the bar with mobility. No longer tied to a desktop or laptop, students engage in live-action discussions. For example, an instructor begins a mathematics conversation on rotation to which one student responds with a video of his brother doing a backflip (cool!) at the BMX track. The video demonstrates the topic in action and the student’s comprehension of the concept. A far more captivating expression of understanding than a text-based response.

Let me sum up. Skype Qik, I want to say, embodies the future of the eLearning discussion thread. But, in reality, we’re just playing catch-up. The endless, interactive, and engaging possibilities of Web 2.0 is situated at our fingertips. Yet, text-based discussion threads are still the norm in online education. Skype Qik pulls us smack into Generation Z. It’s mobile, instant, easy and, of course, video-based. This is a tool I highly recommend for kick-starting the online discussion thread.

"THE MOOCS ARE A COMIN'!"The frantic call of believers and non-believers alike. Are MOOCs here to stay? Probably. Are they taking over higher education? Doubt it. Are they changing how we look at education? Absolutely.At first glance, the current debat...

FRESH FRUIT (from old trees)A wonderful article by David Lochtie about creativity work with elders found on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141006135247-185045818-the-fountain-of-age-creativity-work-with-elders (Links to an exte...

FRESH FRUIT My hot topic right now is creative thinking. I found these photos on pinterest. I love the perspectives and how they create atmosphere and feeling that might not appear with a typical view.  It's a wonderful demonstration of th...

Why Can't Johnny Read Build Medical Devices from Legos?      Education is killing creativity. So say some of the thought leaders in education. As schools' budgets shrink the first classes cut are the "non-essentials"- drama, art, mu...

 Oh The Humanity!     Humanizing the virtual classroom poses the single greatest challenge of online course developers and teachers. Course content presents itself beautifully and dynamically through videos and state-of-the-art...