Cole W. Camplese

Lesson Learned

Last week I wrote a mini post called "Gmail Fix" that just pointed to a way to use Gmail to send mail from a different SMTP server. To put it mildly, it has been a massive spam target. Every single day I get a dozen or so comments that ask for various ways to "fix" their gmail problems. Clearly the words "gmail" and "fix" cannot and should not be used in a post title.

Taking a Break

I've been quiet here for the last week trying to collect thoughts after writing so much last month. I think I'll be a little quiet for the next several days as well. I'm not giving up on writing, just need to find my voice again. Before I sign off to enjoy Spring Break, I wanted to mention something ... I dropped a friend of the family's son off at school today for them and walked him to his pre-K classroom. It is the same private school my daughter went to prior to moving on to first grade this year at the public school. As I was walking down the hall I saw the quilt her class made last year as a culminating project. I was stopped in my tracks -- I was just in awe of what it means.

It was filled with color, life, and inspiration. I recall hearing her talk about the quilt nearly every day last year and didn't quite understand why it was such a big deal. Even at her graduation when they showed it off it didn't quite hit me. Seeing this living example of my daughter's contribution to the intellectual, emotional, and perhaps spiritual embodiment of her school in the hall today made me both very sad and very happy. It is, in every single way, in stark contrast to the representation of her contribution in the public school system -- the "adequate sign." I can't tell you how it made me feel to know she made something tangible that the current students point to as a model for how they learn to contribute, share, and participate in the process of learning. Really an amazing thing to see.

And with that, I'll talk to you when the mood strikes!

The Plunge

Last night I attended my doctoral course in assessment here at Penn State. I was surprised that I was a bit anxious as I walked into the room. I guess it comes back to the fact that I was a student and not the teacher for the first time in quite some time. I've been teaching courses at Penn State off and on for the last eight years, so the notion of sitting on the other side of the equation left me feeling a bit vulnerable (I think that is what I was feeling). I've been quietly working on my doctorate for the last couple years -- slowly plodding along, but exclusively by doing independent studies, taking courses online, or by getting credit for teaching. This is the first time I have been a student in a real classroom in quite some time, so being a bit nervous was a natural feeling. I am lucky enough to be taking the course from my advisor and friend, Dr. Kyle Peck and his wife, Dr. Catherine Augustine. Both of them are easy going and very smart. They put us at ease -- all nine of us.

After I got into the flow I found class to be rather relaxing -- I was able to leave email and daily demands alone for a good three hours as we talked through some very basic concepts related to assessment. I think my positions at the Institution have afforded me unique views into the issues we'll explore so I felt as though I was at a bit of an advantage. I have either been a practicing instructional designer or leading instructional design teams for the last 12 years so that has also given me experience in the things we were talking about -- made me immediately ready to dive in. I think I will be able to add value to the class on a few levels and am looking forward to exploring it all as it progresses.

With that in mind, I am going to try something a little different as I move through this experience ... I am going to use this space and my PSU blog to attempt to open the course up to those not in the room through my thoughts. I am begining to wonder how I can use an open set of tools to invite others into my learning and see how it impacts my own thoughts and outcomes. I'll be writing weekly reflections, tagging content in delicious with insys522, making new YouTube videos asking questions from the course, creating podcasts, and more. These aren't assignments ... no one is directing me to do this.

My own personal reflection from the experience last night has pushed me to ask some new questions about teaching, learning, and community engagement. I am curious about what more I can learn by almost redesigning things as they happen to me ... sort of looking at design as a mind tool. Will I create deeper meaning for myself through this practice and will it have any sort of impact on people in and out of the course are two issues I am eager to explore? Those are just two of the questions I am considering as I walk into a fresh field of snow -- no footsteps to follow on this one for me. I'll do my best to be as transparent through the process and I welcome any and all comments, feedback, encouragement, or whatever else gets thrown my way. So, in a sense I am inviting you to engage in a semester long experiment with me to see what learning and sharing in the open can mean. I hate to say it, but even if you don't show up I will -- but I certainly hope you do! Anyone up to take the plunge with me?

FaceBook in Class

My good friend Brian Smith is going to try something a little different this semester -- coordinate his course via FaceBook instead of PSU's CMS, ANGEL. I am very interested in how this is going to shake down. Brian says he'll be posting his thoughts during the semester over at his site. This could be interesting.

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.

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.

Podcasting ... to Learn Podcasting

Today I had the pleasure of sitting down with a member of my staff at Penn State's Education Technology Services. I've been promoting podcasting on our campus for quite some time and people are catching on. We are putting together a University-wide podcasting solution as I type ... it addresses podium recording all the way to final distribution. It has been an interesting and fun project -- with lots of issues to navigate.

Tara is a member of the ETS Marketing Team focusing mostly on PSU Training Services (TS). Our TS group wants to start offering podcasting sessions as soon as this summer ... we've been talking about everything from how you do a podcast to how do you subscribe and so on. Tara took the time to sit down with me and learn a little about podcasting. We went through setup, recorded a podcast, edited it with GarageBand, and published it to the Podcasts at Penn State site -- all in about an hour and a half. All in all, it was fun and a nice break from all the stuff I am usually doing during the day.

Tara asked me a bunch of questions about teaching and learning with technology -- specifically blogs, wikis, podcasts, and more. Pretty standard stuff, but it was all about learning to podcast. Jump over and take listen if you are interested.

Blog Study ... Podcasting Some Ideas

Tonight Chris Millet and I sat down to talk about the blogging study he is conducting at the IST Solutions Institute here at Penn State. Chris and I headed down to the basement in our old studio to talk a bit about the study and to share some thoughts with the faculty participating ... this is a 50 minute, unedited discussion. We didn't have notes or any real notion of what we wanted to talk about other than how we've used blogs to power our classrooms. There are some interesting things. Enjoy it ... the podcast is around 45 MB. Thoughts?

Blog Study Thoughts

iTunes in Education

I am really starting to enjoy seeing things like this. Stanford has joined the party and started using iTunes for content distribution. It is a very cool project ... there are several of these out there. I spent an hour or so talking with some of the folks from U Mich during Educause -- specifically in one of the Apple Digital Campus Podcasts (Subscribe via iTunes) -- about how they are using it as well. What blows my mind is how this product (iTunes) wasn't really built for this, but over time Apple has really listened to its education customers and realized just how powerful the iTunes environment really is. I mean, if you get right down to it, eEducation is a whole hell of a lot like eBusiness -- transactional, relies on scalable infrastructure, and the notions of community. At any rate, these are good stories.

The New iPod ... Are We There Yet?

I haven't really been spending much time writing about stuff Apple releases ... tons of other people do that -- and do it much better than I. At any rate, I listened like everyone else to Steve telling us over and over again that we didn't want a video capable iPod ... then, he told us we did need one and gave us one -- all in the same day.

I have to say that now that I see it, I am impressed with it. You can go read all the tech specs yourself, but what is really important here is that opens another set of opportunities for teaching and learning. I have said it before that you cannot walk across campus and not see every other student with white ear buds. Granted these aren't yet video iPods, but it won't be long. When that starts to happen, I can go from podcaster to videocaster and actually show my students a thing or two. On the flip side, they can do the same. By using the class blog, RSS enclosures, a video assignment, and a subscription I can now auto receive their work, watch it while I walk (or eat lunch, or whatever), and use the rating system to grade it. I do like it.

I can see this having a potential impact on hybrid/blended class and pure distance education classes ... shipping assignments via a cross platform application like iTUnes (or a web site) and allowing students to download portable lessons on the fly. I don't know about you, but I have seen very slcik Keynote presentation that have been turned into killer voice-overed QuickTime files that do a great job of teaching. I know there are things like Breeze out there, but the ability to quickly produce a learning experience that is filled with video, audio, and stills is interesting. It is actually getting close to the enclosure bundle concept. At any rate, here is hoping there is some killer context for the next great thing. BTW, I need one.