Posted on

Design, presentations, and the power of the network

Dread! It all started with dread.

The last week or so, my classes have been covering material that I made PowerPoint slideshows for several years ago. While at the time, I put in lots of images and even embedded some video, I found myself dreading to give those presentations to my classes. I started pondering whether there wasn't a better way to utilize slideshows than what I was doing. I became discontent with my presentations

As if the heavens could hear me, wisdom rained down upon me.

Wisdom Bit #1: This fall, I happened upon Lawrence Lessig's talk on copyright at the TED conference. While the subject matter was interesting, I was enthralled (& engaged) by his simple use of visuals and high-contrast text. It made me want to go design my own presentation right then and there (it was a pretty busy time for me, so I didn't). As I became discontent with my presentations, my thoughts went back to his presentation.

Wisdom Bit #2: On a tip from Wes Fryer on his blog, I've subscribed to the Practical Principals podcast. In the first installment I was able to catch, Scott Elias discussed a presentation he gave on how to give engaging presentations. In the show notes, a link was provided to his presentation. I checked that out, and liked what I saw. The wheels were turning...

Wisdom Bit #3: Wes Fryer wrote a post discussing digital storytelling and dual-coding theory. Essentially, dual-coding theory states that when a speaker reads information off of a slide, very often the audience can become overwhelmed because there are two images to pay attention to (the speaker and the projected text). I found this very interesting, as I had previously been under the assumption that reading and projecting the text was helpful to students, as it provided both a visual and auditory pathway for the information. It's funny what information we believe that isn't really true.

Wisdom Bit #4: Clay Burell shared a presentation he gave and also wrote a bit on good design in presentations to boot. I especially liked his tip to include a "narrative thread" in presentations. It provides a something for people to grab onto, and combined with slides with relevant images (and very little text), people have to listen to hear the story.

Wisdom Bit #5: At the end of Clay's post, he provided a link to Dan Meyer's blog post on how to present. He pretty much reiterated what I had already heard and read from Scott, Wes, and Clay; but it was an excellently written post with great examples. I think what I took away most from this post was his statement: "If I can look at your slidedeck and determine the full content of your presentation, it's carrying too much information."

Direction! Finally, I had direction.

I think what struck me most about this process went far beyond my integration of a new and improved method. The online network that provided the wisdom is the big story here. Though no one whose wisdom was included in this post put their content online with the specific thought of helping me escape the doldrums of antiquated presentations, the simple task of accessing distant knowledge is pretty amazing in itself. The sources of my wisdom were located in California, Oklahoma, Colorado, Missouri, Korea, and California again. It was totally asynchronous, and exactly what I needed. I don't have a well-developed edtech network yet, but just because I can't tweet a question and get back 50 responses yet doesn't mean I can't take advantage of the network.

Yay, Network! Thanks, network. You're the best!

Stay tuned. I'll post my old presentation compared to the new one.

Photo credits: Medo/Fear by xaimex, BLESSINGS FROM THE SKY by dharmesh, Map and Compass by Inky Bob, and Be Positive by José Miguel Serrano

Posted on

What is "Sustainably Digital?"

It took me awhile to come up with the title for this blog. I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go with the title. I had a vision for what I wanted the blog to be- reflections and thoughts on my attempts to integrate technology into my classroom- but I wasn't sure what title best captured that sense. I wanted it to be something catchy and clever, and ultimately I'm not sure I succeeded in being either. Perhaps you'll think the title more clever once you understand where I was coming from.

The idea behind "digital" in the title is pretty straightforward. This blog's focus is my integration of technology into the classroom, and digital describes the way computers store and transmit information. Since computers are digital devices the term digital seemed to be a good fit (though interestingly enough, smoke signals and the abacus are also digital systems)

The notion of sustainability is borrowed from my experience and interest with environmental science. In that realm, sustainability is the idea of being able to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future. It's a way of thinking about development, natural resources, and consumption that shifts the focus from only worrying about what we're doing today to concern about future generations as well.

In the context of this blog, the idea of sustainability refers to integrating technology into the classroom in a feasible manner. I'd like to avoid hypothetical situations and focus on methods that I could actually carry out. I'm not interested in technology integration that would take expansive amounts of time, huge budgets, or that have unrealistic expectations of the teacher or student.

Technology is here to stay. Teachers need to start utilizing the tools available through the internet and computer usage. Districts and administrators need to start allocating budgets with that future in mind.

Here's a couple posts that I've seen recently that resonate with some of the ideas I've expressed above:

  • I Can't Make Educational History- But We Can (from Beyond-School) : The class described might be a little beyond my technological means (it's a 1:1 school), but I'm constantly impressed with the things Clay Burell is attempting with his students. My hope is that efforts like his will show the power of full, fearless integration. We need more positive examples like this to convince the naysayers.
Posted on

The New Endeavor

This all started after deciding to not make any New Year's Resolutions. I don't like resolutions. They're over-used and under-achieved. If I want to change something, I tell myself to simply make the change- not publicly resolve to do something then later feel guilty for not doing it.

However, I often find myself spending time during my time off during the holidays reflecting on my life. During the active school year I often feel so busy planning, preparing, grading, etc. that I don't feel I get a chance to sit back and reflect. Over break I had the time, and during this time I had a epiphany.

The revelation follows: I regularly have used an RSS aggregator (originally Brief in FireFox, but now Google Reader) to keep up with my favorite environmental & educational blogs and websites. In small times during classes, my planning period, or before and after school, I often browse through 100 or so articles & postings. I don't necessarily read them all, but I greatly enjoy reading some of the articles and bookmark those that I found interesting or intriguing. In doing this I ran across Michael Wesch's "Information R/evolution (video embedded below)" I realized that I have been consuming massive quantities of online information without giving much back. Sure, I have a blog that my family and maybe a couple friends look at, but I haven't been creating, critiquing, organizing, or understanding. I had only improved slightly upon reading a newspaper. I had failed to realize that I could also be writing the newspaper! Thus the resolution (shudder) was made to actively comment on articles. Thus I came to the conclusion that it was time to really analyze what people were saying online and then let them know my analysis. Thus, this new "space" became inevitable.

If you're caught in the slog of school life & getting bogged down trying to integrate technology into your classroom, check out Michael Wesch's videos on YouTube. They get my heart pumping.

As promised, Information R/evolution: