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Perception vs Reality

Dr. Amy Adcock routed this video around and I'll just post it here without commentary (it could spoil it if I say more) ... take a peek at the video and let me know the outcome in the comments section.

eeePC: First Blog Post

I've had my new eeePC 701 for about 24 hours now and I have hardly put it down. I was on the Internet within 45 seconds of taking it out of the box. It will surely never be my main laptop replacement (screen size, keyboard size), but I haven't found much this little guy can't handle. It is a great little road warrior (and it fits inside my tote bag)!

Sorry for the reposts and RSS spam!

Some weasel hacked my site today, so after I restored my database I had to go in and clean up a few posts from earlier this year. Sorry for the RSS spam!

AERA: Recap ... sort of ...

I attended AERA this week in my adopted "hometown" of NYC. I assumed that I would have things to post about and links to share, but I it really isn't that kind of a conference. Given the 500 page fine print book of presentations, my goal was to see a handful of specific presenters ... current teachers, former teachers, friends, researchers I know about, etc. To that end, I was able to see and meet briefly with Drs. Amy Adcock, Anne Leftwich, Curt Bonk, and Terry Anderson. In the process of hearing their talks, I also got to hear from a slew of other presenters during their sessions. Unfortunately, the conversations were too brief, but that is usually the way with this type of thing. At the end of the day, I picked up on a several new concepts to chew on, but I'm happy to be back at my laptop to rejoin my "real" learning network ;)

p.s. I missed running into Chris Craft who tweeted that he was at the conference ... too many people, too many venues, too little time ...

This Round: INTJ Baby!

I've taken various versions of the Myers-Briggs test in the past and I tend to vary within the N / S category. I would guess that my
responses vary based on my current situation when I take the test - what project I am working on, recent social situations, whether I'm in a new job /
familiar job, etc. About a year ago, I was ISTJ
... today I was I(44) N(38) T(62) J(78). When I read the INTJ and ISTJ descriptions,
I can see myself as both. I think the relatively low preference score
in the N vs S category reflects the fact that my responses in this
category are so influenced by my current situation and projects.

TV: WGBH Educational Initiative

I attended the State University of New York (SUNY) distance learning summit this week and Christian Wise, a Senior Designer at WGBH in Boston, gave an overview of teachersdomain.org, WGBH's online digital library of multimedia resources for educators. The distribution format they are using signals how and where they will deliver their educational content in the future. Based on my take, original TV broadcast materials will be re-purposed and bundled with instructional materials and offered as educational resources to individuals and institutions. Funded through the WGBH Educational Foundation, the teachersdomain.org website will be the place where the broadcast materials will be housed and distributed, but through educational partnerships, such as SUNY or PBS Teacherline - see http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/ - "for-credit" courses will be available to learners.

If you are interested, his presentation was streamed and recorded via ustream.tv - From the presentation overview:

"Teachers’ Domain offers more than 1,000 high quality online multimedia resources to enhance students’ learning experiences in Engineering, Physical, Life, Earth and Space Sciences. The collections feature high-quality video, audio, interactives, images, and documents from public television sources such as Nova, American Experience, Frontline, Zoom, and many other programs and partners. Explanatory background articles are provided for each resource, as well as correlations to national and state education standards. SUNY has participated in the initiative to adapt Teachers’ Domain to a higher education audience. SUNY online instructional designers were invited to review and provide feedback on the Teachers’ Domain site, and I will be showing the initial results of our collaboration in the form of schematic diagrams, wireframe sketches, and design mockups. Additional feedback will be solicited to make sure that we’re on the right track."

Grant Writing: 0 for 1

Well, the grant proposal I wrote for EdTechTalk.com in the HASTAC / MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition wasn't accepted. No big surprise given that we had a 1.68% chance (17 awards given to 1,010 applicants). However, like all sore losers I am more than a bit let down, especially as I review the bios of some of the winners in our category. I believed that the Digital Media and Learning Competition's Knowledge Networking award category was there to throw a bone ($30,000 to $70,000) to grassroots upstarts like EdTechTalk.com who were outside the realm of big U.S. institutions. As the award description notes:

"Knowledge-networking is 'do-it-yourself' field building, collectively matchmaking across communities of those who have and those who seek information, so that each can teach and learn from each other ... Knowledge-Networking Awards will go to proven communicators. Applicants will already be networking with others and are dedicated to digital learning through blogs, social networking, social bookmarking, podcasting, world-building environments, or other online communities."


Gosh ... I actually think I might "borrow" that in the future to help describe EdTechTalk. Anyway ... we were up for $30,000 to pay for our annual server costs and web site maintenance ... a lot of money to us, but maybe not much in the greater edugrant world. Therefore, I just assumed (you know what happens when you ass-u-me) that funding at that level wouldn't entice "the big guns". Further, I really did believe from the award description that the spirit of the competition was to recognize the little guy out there trying crazy and new things with digital media to support teaching and learning. Unfortunately, I was naive and wrong to think that EdTechTalk's application (for an organically grown and thriving online community engaging in the latest media and technology to support learning) would hit the grant's bulls-eye.

On second thought ... I guess it did hit the mark, but where we differ from several of the winners is (a) we actually EXIST and (b) we aren't affiliated with a major U.S. University. One winner with a proof of concept that looks especially intriguing is from Howard Rheingold from Standford University who won $61,000 to support his vision for "an online community for teachers and students to collaborate and contribute ideas for teaching and learning." That is a fantastic vision of what could be possible! What looks even more impressive is the concept for his prospective web site which includes .jpg mockups of a chat room, discussion forums, and social bookmarks to help facilitate the online community. Wow ... toss in some audio ... heck, maybe even live interactive webcasts and he would really have a blockbuster proof of concept!

[Update: Even though I am disappointed, I should get beyond snarky comments and point out that some VERY interesting projects were selected. To that end, check out YouthActionNet.]

Comments

Mon, 03/03/2008 - 11:49am — Kevin Prentiss (not verified)

Merry Band of Didn't Win Eithers

Jen - I'm very glad the competition, and trackbacks, and references, and some weird search engine I've never heard of linked from my HASTAC blog post led me to you. : ) Way more interested in your work than I can fit in a blog comment. I'll track down an email for you . . . If one is not posted could you email me and say hello?
Sun, 02/24/2008 - 10:46pm — Alex Ragone (not verified)

Thanks....

Jen, Thanks for all of your work on this proposal. You are right about the winners, but I'm sure there are others who are interested in something that's actually working out there. Let's keep our head's up and keep on trucking! Cheers, - Alex

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