Thanks 830

Again with the Prezi... I introduced this application to my Frosh students and it went better than expected (you never know if the site will be blocked, or the site will block multiple registration attempts from the same IP address).

We finished PowerPoint, as usual, then moved onto the Google Docs Presentation application, somewhat unusual. The students did NOT like Google's app (mostly because it isn't as "pretty" as PowerPoint). We jumped into Prezi yesterday and they really took off with it. I was surprised how many didn't produce a strictly linear presentation. Some were using the "invisible" frames to zoom in (or out) of elements embedded within other elements. I was really pleased with the creativity some showed.

Of course, some projects were utter disasters. That's what happens when you introduce 9th graders to the basic skills, then let them "explore". When you have a group of 36 people some will really explore and run with a project, others will just sit there because the lack of structure just doesn't work for them. It's important to mix it up for everyone!

Next year: Blogs. We're going to do blogs. I didn't like the blog concept and haven't been able to see much value, but if students are reflecting on their LEARNING, it can be a really powerful tool. A blog can be especially helpful for students who are trying to wrap up a portfolio at the end of their high school career. It's really satisfying to look back at a time before we acquired all these skills we take for granted! We're doing it!

Session Reflection

OK, as "tweeted" during the session, I totally missed Ian's presentation after he started the presentation with some Twitter instructions. That happens to me all the time! One thing I am learning in these Instructional Technologies classes is to be very, very careful with "The Hook". Education professionals are constantly searching for that hook that will get their students interested and focused on the task at hand. But it's been my experience that the hook can be extremely distracting for certain learners. I'm one of those learners! That "Voki" thing that everyone is throwing into their projects now... whenever I see it I tune out of the project and go play with Voki!

The other day another student prefaced a presentation with a demo of Spokeo. I spent the entire presentation looking myself and others up on Spokeo. The irony is, the actual presentation had nothing to do with Spokeo.... the presenter just thought it would be something interesting for us to see.

Anyway... I have to lookup Ian's presentation because what I glanced at was informative, and the actual design of his presentation materials looked GREAT!

#itec562010

iPad: First Impressions

So, I obsessed, I got one. I've spent two days with it, and here's a mini-review:

Getting Started:
First of all, Apple sucks. They make great hardware, incredible hardware, mind-bending how much better it is than anything else hardware. Other than that, they suck. The first thing you'll find with your new iPad is that you'd better have a computer with iTunes handy, or else your shiny new device will be good for only two things: Functioning as a mirror, and skipping over a lake or other large body of water (it's flat on the top, round on the bottom). Yup, this affordable little device aimed at making your grandparent's web-surfing so much easier requires a "real" computer just to get started.

A Button:
Once you get the thing going, you'll notice there's really only one physical button, located at the bottom of the screen. This is the "home" button. There is no physical "back" button, "menu" button, or "search" button. That's all taken care of in the software, with buttons often placed at the TOP of the screen. Trying to get a little work done on the iPad requires quite a bit of (unnecessary) arm reaches. Top, bottom, top, bottom, bottom, top... I can cancel my gym membership now.

Music and More:
The iPad ships with iTunes, but, it ain't the same iTunes that runs on a real computer. iTunes on the iPad doesn't seem to actually play any of your downloaded music or video. Find a song, elect to download, and..... wait for..... I don't know... it ain't going to play for you. To do that, you have to close out the iTunes window (with the physical home button), locate and open the iPod application, then search for your music. Unless you're looking to play a video, in which case you open the iVid.... wait, no, it's just called Videos. For reasons unknown, they neglected to preface that one with an "i". Back forth, back forth. This is simple?

Applications:
The App Store is big! Real big! People must really like these Apple products because developers sure are working hard to create content for them. Working with the App Store is a little like the iTunes situation, with a few differences. If you choose to download an application, the system closes you out of the store, swings you over to one of several "home screens" and displays a nice progress bar as you watch your application download. But it doesn't actually start the application for you, you gotta do that manually, if you want. And if you want to download multiple applications, you gotta find the particular "home screen" with the application icon and restart it. Over and over for each app you want to download. Blech.

Web Browsing:
There is no Flash player. Enough said? Not really... some videos will show up on some web sites, which is fine. However, Flash does more, MUCH more, than just serve as a video player. Thanks, "the Steve". Furthermore, popup windows are totally whacked, and you shouldn't attempt to do more on Facebook than you do with your handset.

iBooks:
This, finally, is the reason I broke down and purchased the iPad. I have not yet been disappointed. I like to read. It's fun and relaxing! I own a Sony 505 reader and I have a few quick complaints: The contrast is terrible and page turns are maddeningly slow. The iPad kills the eInk readers on those two fronts, plus it offers quick searching and dictionary capabilities that simply can't be touched. I totally fell for the iBook app, and, following a few tangents, started researching the ePub format. I decided for the 816 class I would do my final "Professional Development" project on creating your own electronic book in the ePub format. Perhaps I was reaching (OK, I was reaching) but I have to demonstrate my completed ePub book on a shiny new device, don't I? Speaking of which, I need to get started on that project.

Creating:

I'll tell you right now I'm typing on a laptop... no way I'd attempt this on the iPad. Granted, I am missing a few fingers and one of my favorites is damaged to the point where I have very little dexterity, but still, how is a person supposed to type on an iPad?

Conclusion:
I can't wait for an Android tablet to hit the scene.

Week12 Reflection

We got to re-define our definition(s) of web 2.0 and I have to say we were generally pleased with the work we did at the start of the semester. One major thing we wanted to do was point all of the elements in a specific direction. At first I thought everything should be under a massive, all encompassing "knowledge" unbrella, but I didn't think that metaphor really fit. Ultimately, we created a knowledge star at the center of our universe and pointed everything toward it. That's what it's all about: knowledge. Actually, it's about information, but we couldn't erase.
Kyle gave an informal talk on his experiences with the iPad, and I'm still not convinced I need to buy one. Why no Flash player? Why?
Eilleen gave a fascinating presentation on the Mechanical Turk. She used PowerPoint and apologized profusely for doing so, but I don't see why. PPT has a place in this web 2.0 world if that's what works for you!
Posted as an email composed on the Motorola Droid.

Session 9

I was once again blown away by the caliber of speakers we're treated to in this class. This time it was Eugene Lee, CEO of Socialtext. I assume I wasn't the only one blown away because after Mr. Lee's presentation he opened up the floor to questions and we all just sat there dumbfounded..... My jaw was still on the floor as I thought: Am I really experiencing this?

Many things resonated with me. First of all, I really like what he said about "Executive Trading Cards" with the Facebook paradigm. As one of many teachers with a Facebook profile at my work site, I often find myself in these discussions: Should you, or should you NOT, "friend" your students? I'm against friending students for various reasons, but one thing that really does concern me is the Executive Trading Card game. I often get friend requests from students that are not genuine, if you know what I mean. These people are just collecting friends for the sake of it. More important, though, is the game that gets played once I accept a single friend request.... then I have to accept them ALL, or start playing favorites. It's just a line that shouldn't be crossed in a student/mentor relationship. Students can subscribe to my Twitter feed, they can email me anytime they like, but I don't want to get into that friendship playing card game. Too much politics, too little time to navigate it. For the same reason, I have never tried to friend the admins at my school site. Although I do have a good relationship with a few folks, I don't think it would be fair to them or the rest of the staff to go the Facebook route.

The next thing that resonated with me: I am smart and hard-working, so I sometimes get to thinking I should be making much more money than I do. I have really expensive taste in furniture! But when I meet a person like Mr. Lee, I have to admit I don't want to work that hard! It's obvious he loves it, and I love my job, but he really LIVES it 24/7. That's part of the reason I asked him about the possible conflicts when there's no separation between work and personal life in the Twittersphere. I believe I asked if he and his workers have separate Twitter accounts for work and play. Apparently, there is no need for Mr. Lee to have a separate Twitter account because his work at Socialtext is his life. He made it clear what his morning coffee and news revolves around: work. Wow. Now that I think about it, I am somewhat the same way. My reading revolves around work, pretty much everything I do revolves around work. Hmmm. Perhaps Mr. Lee and I aren't so different after all... except he was wearing a really beautiful watch and I sport my The Pirates of Silicon Valley Casio:

Just kidding, I love my Casio!

Next up... using Twitter and other tech to collaborate and find what you're looking for as opposed to sending out the dreaded SPAM-like email to everyone in the organization. This is such a great idea and I sure wish my work-site adopted this paradigm. I could see it saving so much time and effort.

Finally: Wikis in the workplace. This is another great idea my tech department really needs to pursue. I spent hours trying to get my Android phone properly linked with my work Novell Groupwise account, because I couldn't find any of the correct SMTP settings (if they even exist). I know many other people in our organization have gone through the same slog, but I couldn't find the answer on our tech answers web site. Pretty much the only thing I found was a two-page .pdf on recommended file naming conventions (I am not making that up). I tried to make my own tutorial but abandoned it when problems arose with Groupwise again. My final solution: Forward everything to my GMAIL account.

To sum up... special thanks to Ethan for bringing in another amazing guest speaker, and special thanks to our speaker, Mr. Eugene Lee.

SVG Backgrounds

My forays into the world of HTML5 have me fooling around with SVGs (Scalable Vector Graphics). It seems you can place a vector image in a web page background and get it to scale with the view port. I actually spent way too much time getting the image prepped. I couldn't figure out why the example I downloaded would scale, but the SVGs I created failed. Apparently Scalable Vector Graphics don't scale by default. The answer was in the SVG itself, and after comparing a few versions in Notepad I found the changes I needed to make. First, I took out the height and width attributes, then added the following:

viewBox="0 0 744 476"
(744 and 476 refers to the width and height of the image I'm using).

After all that I still had some problems:

1. I have trouble thinking of an actual application where I would want to use this technique
2. Myweb host is having some sort of problem with .svg files (probably the same problem they had with .docx and the other "new" Office file extensions).
3. Unsurprisingly, SVG backgrounds are not supported in IE8 on Win 7.

OK, I got the problem sorted out with my host (MIME type stuff) and have put up two links:

First, the Tanzanian flag with variable aspect ratio
Second, the Monte Carlo GP Circuit with aspect ratio locked
preserveAspectRatio="none"

So... here's a video of Chrome displaying the Tanzanian background, just in case you're running a browser that's not ready for this high tech stuff:



post script: This is the first time I ever uploaded a video to YouTube!

Final Project Idea

HTML5 has been popping up all over the place, now that I have my eyes on the lookout. As a Flash designer/instructor I've been particularly intrigued by the brewing battle between HTML5 and Flash. Some very large players are staking alliances, and I think it's important for me to follow this closely. I love new tech, and the idea of picking up an iPad on release day has crossed my mind, but the real killer for me is the lack of Flash support. Steve Jobs and Co are really out to kill this tech. Why? I aim to find out!

In the other camp, Google has suggested Flash will be so integral to their Chromium OS the player will be built right into the system (no plug-ins required).

I'm going to research this and report out.

Entering the Interaction Age

Milne's "Entering the Interaction Age..." requires more than one reading. It seems to jump all over the place, or maybe it's just me after four cups of coffee for breakfast!

My first tangent took me to Steam Cafe because I thought it would be a fun idea to have something like the SMS display system Milne describes. I've really wanted to find a hardware project I can build with some interested students... perhaps something Arduino-based. Of course, I have absolutely no extra time right now (unless LEGOS are involved) but if I point a competent student in the right direction, she can do all the work. Anyway, I was hoping to find plans for this system on the web site, but I started to get too deep and made myself return to the task at hand: Milne's article.

Next tangent had me thinking about how sending a single email interferes with the "rapid-fire discussion with colleagues" described on page 18. I've been sitting in way too many meetings lately (by the way, I could never survive as an administrator, I hate committees) and this old "interface mechanism" really got me thinking. How many times has the recorder missed important discussions or interaction because she was busy formatting the document?

Final thought... even though Milne claims costs for things like LCD displays are dropping precipitously, I can only think one thing when reading the final few pages of his vision for future learning environments: expensive! It's not just the upfront hardware costs we need to be concerned with, it is the installation, configuration, upkeep and replacement costs that blow these visions out of the water for the time foreseeable future. I'm sorry to sound jaded, but I have worked in a fairly affluent school district for the past ten years and you would not believe the lack of basic tech support I've encountered. I really don't see these systems implemented in anything less than very well-funded, forward thinking, private institutions.

Week 7 Reflection

We got to complete our "Meaning" presentation during the week 7 session. I really wanted to do the 20-10 exercise with the class just for fun! I have to admit I do this exercise all the time because I tend to fantasize about winning the lottery (even though I rarely ever PLAY the lottery). It's a great way to evaluate what you're doing with your life. I mean, if you suddenly won 20 million dollars, would you quit your job immediately? I recall having a real epiphany a few years ago while dreaming of all the great things I would do with my (then) girlfriend if I suddenly came into a tremendous amount of money. Instead of imagining how I could pay her off and get rid of her so I could live the life I really wanted to be living, I realized I WAS living the life I wanted to be living. Is that confusing? Anyway, she later became my wife and although we still don't have that 20 million, we're pretty happy.


The class also wrapped up three more "Expert Presentations": Remote Meetings, EFF, and Screen Casting. For me, the most interesting was Screen Casting. I've been after a copy of Adobe Captivate for years, and it was cool to find a cheap alternative in iShowU. What is the deal with the rise in Adobe product prices, anyway? They priced me out of the equation and back into KeyGen searches.


The class finished with a rather confusing explanation of the final project. I was wrestling with the lousy old Apple machine in the back of the classroom and wasn't paying that much attention. I thought we were going to get into a Freidman-esque article we've been after for a week, but we ran out of time while some students debated what the final project should look like. It was a real trial-by-fire for poor Ethan, and I felt so sorry for him! I guess the long and short is Ethan wanted to create an open-ended opportunity for people to explore their passions, but his students demanded more structure. You can please some of the people some of the time, but..... well, whatever. I just need to buy a laptop I can actually carry to class.

Got 'em

Thanks to Sridevi Lakshmanan for posting Elaine Wheery's UI and UX design tips:

1. Present a Single unified voice: (examples- Skype, Apple)
2. Delight users. (I liked her use of the harpsichord vs. cupcake analogy, and the "Totally Cupcake!" expression)
3. Pay attention to how users arrive at a destination
4. Similar things that perform similar actions are grouped together; conversely, different things are separated
5. Maintain consistent metaphors
6. Clear call of action; reduce number of decisions
7. Layout emphasizes hierarchy

Elaine Wheery of Meebo

Wow, we really had an expert presentation for session 6! Our guest speaker was Elaine Wheery of Meebo fame, and she did an amazing job. I really wish I would have copied down her UI (user interface) and UE (user experience) design tips, but I was too focused on her crash course in music history:

1. Medieval - Primarily choral
2. Renaissance - An explosion of musical instrument invention 
3. Baroque - Extreme ornamentation with the democratization of musical instruments
4. Classical - Haydn begins to codify structure and strip out gratuitous ornamentation
5. Romance - Increased ornamentation with classical structures in mind

Ms. Wheery compared the "internet revolution" to the evolution of classical music, and postulated the internet is currently in the "Baroque" period. I'd like to think we are rather in the late Baroque period. Consider the fall of MySpace (outrageous design mashups) and the rise of Facebook (a much "cleaner" interface). 

Obviously, the democratization of design is not necessarily a great thing. 

Additionally, I'd like to see this metaphor extended to other disciplines. Did anyone else in class consider the evolution of typographic design? Watch the movie Helvetica and try to map out a similar wave of evolution. Was Wim Crouwel the Haydn of the 20th century?

Anyway, those design tips I mentioned at the start of the post... can any of my classmates provide those for me?

Pink: Meaning

OK, I gotta tell you, I enjoyed this section of the text. The general point is that to truly be happy, human beings need not "pursue" happiness (sounds kinda funny, doesn't it.... like, stalking or hunting happiness) but rather seek "meaning" in their lives. The example in the text depicts a Dr. in a Nazi concentration camp who is able to discover meaning, and develops the concept into a psychology text.

The reader is warned not to settle for the slow, Monday through Friday death one endures in a unsatisfying job. Rather, we should seek a meaningful career (since many of us spend the majority of our waking lives at work)

Even though I'm not a very touchy-feely kinda guy, the following resonated with me:

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.

Meaning on Prezi

Week 5 Reflection

OK, I got my presentation out of the way and am happy for that. I picked a bad time because I was supposed to be preparing for the CPA conference, but, oh well!

We had another action-packed session, for which I am grateful. Time just flies by every Thursday. Some classes just draaaaaaaaaaag, but not 830.

We tackled the first half of the textbook and I guess I mostly want to talk about the E-Reader. I bought a Sony 505 nearly two years ago and it was kinda cool during my eight week trip through China. Travelling with books can be a tremendous hassle. I've used it since, mostly to read the free classics, but I bought our textbook in E-Pub format which is a first for me. One major limitation: the pagination is way different than what everyone with a physical copy experiences. OK, not exactly a huge deal, but somewhat annoying when the instructor asks us to read through page 86. The real hassle was the inability to make notes! What was I thinking? Plus the reader on my Android device can't yet deal with DRM content. I rather expected to flip through the text on my mobile... should have thought on that one a bit more before making my purchase.

Thanks to Elizabeth and Dru for being brave enough to try a Wave demo in our classroom. I really want to collaborate with an adult colleague on a Wave, and now that's exactly what Tim, Ian, and are going to try for our project due next week. Hooray for us!

My First Prezi

Well, as you can see below, I'm a Prezi user! That's a brand-new skill for me. In fact, I had never even heard of Prezi prior to the 18 February ITEC 830 class session. I was bowled over by how quick some of my classmates were able create a visually exciting presentation. And hey: finally a reason to step away from PowerPoint! At first I thought it some sort of "Mac" thing as just about everyone in this department seems to be running an Apple system. But when I noticed those things were somehow updating in near real-time on the blogs, without the need to upload, I did some further investigation. Sure enough, this is web-based creating at the top of the heap. The Prezi people have done a really good job. This application most certainly won't take the place of PPT for many people, but I can see a place for it in my repertoire. Thanks, classmates. Now, should I introduce my high school students to Prezi?

Stupid HTML 5 Tricks

Well, lookie here! No sooner did I start researching HTML 5 that I got totally distracted and started playing around with tags. Actually, this particular diddy is also a valid HTML 4.01 tag...

I'm using the <bdo dir = "rtl"> tag to achieve this (probably useless) right-to-left text effect.

The Economist: Special Report on Social Networking

First and foremost, I was stunned to discover 70% of Facebook users are based outside the United States. I've been living in my own little bubble, haven't I?

I have to admit: I took a short break from the article to sign up for Facebook Connect, and after the better part of four hours, I'm still running in circles. As far as I can determine there are Groups, Pages, and Applications. Facebook Connect is the application part of it. That's what I don't want. I want a place for my current and former students to Connect and possibly collaborate, but I don't need the API for that. I can't be bothered with a FBML test console. I'm not building apps!

Soooooo, I created a Group. Groups are great! As an admin I get to approve members, filter wall posts and other user-generated content, and message all members. However, I simply cannot find the one little thing I want: A badge to put on my web site which A)Invites people to join the group and B)Displays thumbnails of other members.

Basically, I want the badge that's available with Connect. Lo and behold, the same thing is available with Pages!

Sooooo, I created a Page. The Page schema seems to be really wide open. For instance, anyone can "become a fan." But I don't want fans: I want a Group, with members.... and a badge on my web site.

So I have a Connect App, A Group, and a Page. The Connect is going just as soon as I finish typing this post. I'm going to kick around the Page and the Group just a bit more before I quit this thing. Hey Facebook, it should be much easier than this.

Update: What's the point, anyway? Facebook is, and will be for the distant future, completely and utterly inaccessible from our school site. Why am I bothering with this? I'm just gonna throw up a Google Friend Connect option, since all my students are on Gmail anyway.

Missed My First Day

Well, I have one of those flu's where I'm super hot and freezing cold at the same time. Dislike. Things started to get a little rough during the second half of my Wednesday class. I still HAD to go to work on Thursday because I just got new freshman students, eight computers are down, and I couldn't fathom hurling a substitute teacher into that situation.

I figured I'd just roll with it and attend class that night, but I could barely keep it on the road trying to get there. I guess it was really windy, too. Anyway, there you have it: My first missed class. Someone will help me catch up, I'm sure.

Classwork... Our First Poster.

This is a group project with Sri Lakshmanan and Azadeh that sought to answer: What is Web 2.0?

At the end of the course we'll revisit question and see how our ideas have progressed.

Learning how to embed a YouTube video

ITEC 830 Day One

Things are moving fast in ITEC 830 after a standard introduction session! Glad to have an instructor who is excited about the content and eager to get us into the action. Rather than staring at the clock just dying to get out of class, time has rather flown by and I'm way interested in getting this blog post done, updating myITEC profile, joining the 830 group, and trying to get some of these folks to collaborate with me on Google Wave (Hey everyone, I'm at jamesbriano@googlewave.com if you already have Wave and want to add me as a contact).

I suppose I'm gonna need to check out the other Blogger templates, too.