Overall, the upgrade from Macintosh OS 10.5 to 10.6 was not a remarkable experience, though here and there I am encountering little things that impress me. My favorite so far is that the Image Capture application now allows you to manage what happens automatically on your computer as you plug in the various digital cameras, video cameras, scanners, ipods, cell phones, etc. This has been a huge pet peeve of mine for ages, I’m thrilled to have simple management of this brought into the operating system where it belongs!
Posted in Graphic, My Thoughts, Tips & Tutorials.
By cpultz
– October 13, 2009
…you have a choice of managing through information, or through people, or through action. You’re going to manage through all of them, but understand the difference and understand the choices.
- Dr. Henry Mintzberg,
via What Managers Really Do in Businesses and Other Organizations – WSJ.com.
I really like what Dr. Mintzberg has to say in this interview about the work of managers within organizations. Though they may not perceive themselves in the same way, I’ve always thought of students as the workers in the “learning factory” and teachers as their managers. What Dr. Mintzberg says here can be easily applied to the classroom (or to parenting). It makes me want to read his new book!
Posted in My Thoughts, Quotes.
By cpultz
– September 3, 2009
Have you ever “attended” a webinar? (Link goes to a definition.) I have. Over the past few years I’ve sat in on a dozen or so. I feel the same way about webinars that I do about guacamole. It seems like a great idea on paper, but it is rare that I try it and like it.
Not that I couldn’t like guacamole, or webinars. It’s just that individual preparations disagree with me. The amount of one ingredient or another used by the cook (cilantro, lime, sour cream), or the lack of other ingredients (proper slides, not sure of the objective, no interest shown by the leader) usually seem to miss the mark with me.
It occurs to me that in every webinar I’ve attended there have been some key failures. Technical glitches are obvious and should be expected. More importantly, it seems that the leaders just did not prepare for the webinar in the same way that a classroom teacher would prepare for a lesson. There was not a clarity of objective, no attempt to engage the participants, no checking for understanding beyond a muttered “ok?” on the part of the leader.
It may be that these folks simply weren’t Educators. In fact, I know this is true of most of them. Like most technologies, businesses are way out in front of us in the education world, so most of the ones I have sat through are initiated by a vendor or a governmental agency. This does not excuse the lack of preparation, but it might explain it to a degree.
Earlier today a colleague (Corey Dahl at ESU #8) shared a link to a web page that should be required reading to anyone leading a webinar. It lays out 15 Tips for Webinars: How to Add Impact When You Present Online. What I noticed right away is that these tips are important for engaging an audience whether or not you are in the same room with them. Try these in your classroom and you’ll find success, just as you would if your “classroom” was distributed across 4 states and 2 time zones via webinar.
And hopefully whomever leads the next webinar I attend will see this and do one or two of the ideas presented. But I’m not holding my breath!
Posted in My Thoughts, Tips & Tutorials.
By cpultz
– September 1, 2009
It is easy to fall in love with technology. It is equally easy to fear it.
…
Technology does not determine practice. How people embrace technology has less to do with the technology itself than with the social setting in which they are embedded.
…
People’s practices are also shaped by those around them. There are cluster effects to socio-technical engagement. In other words, people do what their friends do.
- Danah Boyd, via apophenia: some thoughts on technophilia.
I read this article more than a week ago and a few of the quotes from it (above) keep coming back to mind. I think there is a lot to be said for the act of creating a comfortable computing environment. I don’t mean cushy chairs and good air conditioning. I mean a supportive, positive space to try, and fail, surrounded by friends. That alone is more likely to promote the use of any technology than good hardware, software, or the cool factor.
Posted in My Thoughts, Quotes.
By cpultz
– September 1, 2009
Lee and Sachi Lefever at Common Craft are real innovators and leaders in the “Explainer” school that has been emerging in the past 2-3 years. They do a great job taking the technical and making it feel obvious. This is probably one of the most under-appreciated talents in an organization today.
Lee suggests the following:
The next time a novice asks you about technology, here are questions I want you to ask yourself:
- How can I explain this without talking about technology?
- Can I use a real-world example to explain this instead of the actual technology?
- What is this person likely to understand that I can use as a comparison?
via ‘Stop Talking About Technology’ @ Common Craft
Posted in Quotes.
By cpultz
– August 5, 2009
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