Cole W. Camplese

The Hot Team ... LionShare Style

When I came down from the IST Solutions Institute late last year I was interested in creating opportunities to explore technology as it relates to teaching and learning that could be connected with tangible outcomes. One thing I have been working towards is a systematic process that charges a small group with looking at a specific technology to help inform our internal teams as they work with members of our audiences to apply new solutions in and out of our classrooms. The notion of the Hot Team was one that came out of some thinking spurred by the Art of Innovation book put together by the folks at Ideo. The Hot Team concept is actually quite simple -- ask people to explore/play/investigate something specific and write up the findings as a white paper.

A while back we did a Hot Team that looked at Pachyderm as an authoring environment, but have had a little trouble getting another one going. Two weeks ago we decided to put a team together to investigate LionShare. LionShare is an open source peer-to-peer tool developed here within Teaching and Learning with Technology at Penn State under the leadership of Mike Halm. It is a very interesting piece of technology that does so much more than help you securely exchange files. This is P2P in a whole new light. Mike and his team are close to releasing LionShare widely here on campus and we wanted to understand it better to help drive adoption for teaching, learning, and research purposes. The Hot Team will be finished up by June 15th and we'll be sure to share the findings. How do you encourage/support/promote the notion of investigating and reporting on new uses of technology for teaching and learning purposes?

Podcasting Scenarios

As we are moving closer and closer to full blown podcasting service here at PSU, I have been working up some scenarios to help us talk to faculty and students about podcasting.  What I am interested in doing is getting people turned on to podcasting by creating contextual references to podcasting opportunities.  While I think it will be helpful, what I am hoping for are some novel uses of podcasting to turn people on.  So far all I really have are fairly common examples to share:

• Podium Podcasting: Providing the right tools for faculty right from the podium in a technology-supported classroom.  In our environment this means having the right tools in place in all podiums -- software, wireless microphones, support, and easy content storage/distribution.  Actually this sounds difficult, but given the way Penn State manages classrooms it can be straightforward.


• Faculty Podcasting: I'd really like to provide faculty with the ability to check out a physical kit to support their out of classroom podcasting efforts.  What I'd like even more is to provide them with a bundle from our Computer Store to purchase the right stuff to do it on their own.  We have a Faculty Multimedia Center here in ETS that can provide the hands-on training, so this is a good option as well.  Honestly, I like this model of podcasting much more than podium podcasting.


• Activity Podcasting: This is what I am calling the opportunities where students get in the mix.  We have a group here in ETS that runs Studio 204, a student studio where they can go and get help with audio and video development.  More interestingly is the option of faculty coming in and working with the instructional design staff on pedagogical innovations in this space.

All of these are built more around a consulting model -- one where faculty want to learn and do things themselves ... that is also a much more scalable approach to this challenge.  Are there other scenarios that might interest faculty?  Some that impacts their research?  Outreach activities?  There has to be more.

Please won ' t you be ...

Growing up in Wonder View right across the Susquehanna river from Bloomsburg, PA we didn't have cable TV ... we got the standard package of over the air staples -- ABC, CBS, NBC, and my favorite, PBS. Back in the 70's TV was a little different than it is today. There wasn't time shifting, NFL Sunday Tickets, high definition channels, or anything like that ... it was simple and it actually had some serious educational value. Everyday my parents would drop me off at an older couple's home while they went to work at Bloomsburg University. In the evenings I would come home and play down in the lower level of our bi-level all the while watching and listening to Sesame Street, the Electric Company, and Zoom ... but the real highlight of the day was always Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Usually it would be on during dinnertime and my Mom would come down and shovel the food into my mouth as I watched him take me through a wonderful half hour of learning. Wonderful memories that were brought back to me by watching this clip from a 1969 Congressional Hearing on the original funding for public broadcasting. If you were ever a child, or have one this is a must watch. The world needs more neighborhoods run by Mr. Rogers.

When is a Blog not a Blog?

I was having a conversation with a colleague of mine last night about the PSU Blog project and we started to consider a strange concept -- not branding it a blog service at all. I have recently been talking to people about the notion that more and more students are showing up on campus with personal blogs and are not making the jump out of that space and into University-provided environments. It got us thinking about what a blog really is under the surface ... a personal content management system.

Fast forward to this morning and I had the opportunity to sit down with Glenn Johnson from the Dutton eEducation Institute to talk about ePortfolios with a group from Elmira College. Glenn is Penn State's project manager for our ePortfolio project. You can see some of his work by visiting the Institute's ePortfolio research site. Glenn showed us some of his data (1, 2) that showed how students are actually beginning to use the 1 GB of space the Univeristy allots us for academic work.

Why do I bring this up? In my mind the power behind common blogging tools can/should/will empower students to store and manage their portfolios. Should they have to care about html and web design? I guess if they want to, but in my mind once you get over the html stuff a personal content management system (like WordPress or MT) is the key to tracking and exposing their intellectual development. All of my notebooks from undergrad were lost in a flooded garage ... all my work from grad school is locked in Zip disks labeled "stuff" ... how do I take a look back? I have been blogging for several years now and have the unique ability to look back and see where I have been to help inform where I am going. I wish I had access to my thinking from 10-15 years ago.

So, when is a blog not a blog? When you brand it as a personal content management system. Think of the power then ... you want to blog, publish, take notes, turn in papers, or do anything in an e-model? The personal content managent system can do it and it can do it so it is stored, managed, searchable, accessible, and easy. There is more to come in this space as I explore what it would mean to pitch this idea this way ... anyone have thoughts?

Subscribe to Comments

I know, I know ... its so 2003, but I added a subscribe to comments feature.  If you can call clicking "Activate" in the plugin admin panel.  At any rate, it should make it easier to stay up to date on comments.

Finally, A Surprise From Apple

Man, that felt good! You know, going to the Apple site and seeing something that wasn't on every single rumor site around. The new Nike plus iPod hookup is interesting on a lot of levels. Obviously Nike working to extend the overall functionality of the iPod with their little iPod Sport Kit is interesting unto itself ... these things empower you to actually use your (1) sneakers to record your work-out progress that then (2) auto syncs to your iPod to (3)your computer to the (4) Internet and merge your data with (5) everyone else's. Man, other than the sneakers, it sounds a lot like a system I'd like to investigate in the education space.

If Nike can build something, probably with some help from Apple, that can interact at that level with an iPod Nano we can certainly do something. That's we -- the education technology community. Imagine how we can use the iPod to collect all sorts of data. With a custom dongle (or whatever that thing is connected to the bottom) and some data transfer the iPod could be used for a lot more. It shows everyone that the iPod is a very powerful, capable, and ubiquitous device that can act as a data collection bridge.

Its a bridge because with the right software it can be used to sync all sorts of interesting classroom interactions. We used to look at Palm Pilots this way ... a small classroom data collection device that was easy to use. We grew very tired of it -- and we never saw commercial innovation like the iPod plus Nike deal on the Palm. Will this signal a real move towards the recognition of the iPod Platform? We've seen lots of interesting things in the iPod space, but this seems to be a move that could convince people that the iPod is actually a computer with its own UI, expandability, and OS. It might be time to investigate the developer opportunities around the iPod. Just a thought ...

I Thought There Would Be More ...

Hmm ... maybe it is true. Maybe only 2-3 people actually show up here. Maybe it is a tired question ... I don't know. I thought I'd get more response to the question about blogging at a big University. I thought more edu-bloggers would have something novel to say to help move the thinking forward. Chris dropped the social notion on me, but I am looking for more insight before the next big PSU Blogger meeting. Any help?

Rip, Mix, Burn Classroom Podcasting ...

I had posted last week about the idea of students taking ownership of the podcasting process in the classroom based on an article I came across.  I had mentioned it was an intersting twist of fate that they would be the ones not only recording, but editing, posting, and distributing the lectures that way.  This morning I awoke to find a very interesting comment from James pushing the notion that it may be the natural evolution of the whole concept.  His comments really got me thinking differently about how to provide the right types of lecture based podcasts in my class (and beyond).

I think what James said pushes us to look at the classroom experience in a new light ... most of us talk about creating a "student-centric" opportunity, but in most cases it ends up being a lot of push to them ... with a significant amount of pull thrown in, but not a true two way street.  James wewnt on to say, "I actually think the idea of students editing portions of a lecture may be something that is ultimately encouraged especially if the student does this appropriately (audio citation?) as a way to further develop the ideas that are brought to life in the class."  So I think I may have come across a wonderful new approach to try out in class ... encourage students to produce versions of my lectures as they see fit.  What would be so wrong with them taking the basic lecture recording, editing out the nonsense, maybe adding in supplemental material, and cutting in their reactions?  If I can figurre out how to do it right, it would be an amazing learning opportunity.

New Theme ... for now

As I continue my march towards a new WordPress experience you'll have to excuse the changes around here. I am testing out the WordPress Widgets plugin and all its associated goodness. In that activity I stumbled across a three column K2 theme ... for now I am digging it, what do you think?

Taking Another Look at WP ...

No, I haven't switched ... yet ... I have been playing around with some of my plugins and features the last day or two here at my blog ... really just becasue I have been watching D'Arcy make the big switch. It is interesting to watch his move and see what he has been using to make his blogging experiences so good (other than his killer content). Today I started using the photo-album plugin to give me a Flickr post space in my WP write panel. Works nicely. Just to test it out, I clicked on a thumbnail of the picture below in the Write section and it autoinserted it ... it is a picture of my little lady in the shadows ...

Either way, things will be a little crazy around here for a couple of days as I work up a new design with some new features.