Ed Tech Blog
Have you been to a conference with an opening keynote that just didn’t seem relevant to the attendees, their jobs or the trends and topics that they wanted to learn about? Probably. That’s why I like to share when I attend a conference at which the keynote speaker is spot on- knowing his audience, tailoring his content and providing takeaways that make sense and are usable.
At the DET/CHE (directors of educational technology/ California higher ed) conference this year, Adam Finkelstein from McGill University took the stage on the first full day of sessions. He had a difficult task; he had to engage and education a room of about 170 attendees with clearly varied jobs. DET/CHE pulls in AV and IT department heads, instructional designers, directors of distance education programs, and even some tech-inspired faculty. They all want to learn about learning technologies, but will understand use the new concepts in diverse ways that fit their position. No matter what their focus was, he grabbed the attendees immediately by proposing that “Higher Ed is under siege. It is neither affordable nor is it a great value.” Yipes! That’s a pretty strong statement, considering just about everyone in the room makes a living at one of these higher ed institutions that, evidently, have little value.
He said that first we have to understand what isn’t true in order to design spaces that provide value, engagement and better outcomes. What is NOT true, according to Finkelstein:
- We only use 10% of our brains
- There are right brain and left brain people
- We remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, etc.
- We should match learning styles to teaching methods (oh, and there aren’t any “learning styles”)
- We are born multi-taskers
- There is an...
This was originally posted in the winter edition of SouthEast Education Network (SEEN) magazine:
I was fortunate enough to be able to discuss technology specific concerns for schools with multiple campuses with two experts. Jahn Westbrook, Technical Manager, Campus Media, Classroom Support Services from New York University (NYU) and Tim Cichos, Senior Audio Video Engineer from University of Notre Dame were kind enough to share some insight into the challenges and successes of managing technology and teams worldwide. In an effort to preserve the context and the authenticity of their responses, here are the Q&As from our session: http://www.seenmagazine.us/Articles/Article-Detail/ArticleId/5947/Going-Global
This information was provided by Jim Spencer and Nick Page from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame:
I mentioned that we’ve been playing with the 1 button studio concept a little bit, so I wanted to share our work with you:
The first one that we did was a rolling recording cart. The concept was to invest in one deluxe mobile system that can be used anywhere, instead of installing multiple smaller systems in some rooms and not others. It’s got a camera, a PZM whole room mic, a handheld/lav pair, and 8 wireless RevoLabs ‘pucks’ that we can throw around the room for full microphone coverage. The cart has an audio DSP to handle all of the mics, and it also has a video to USB bridge and a recording appliance. We can record, and/or connect to a classroom lectern via USB for a Zoom call. Since it’s a Rolling Recording cart that can Zoom too, we call it R2-Z2. Here’s what our rolling cart looks like: http://imgur.com/a/i6MRX (I’ll try to get nicer pictures that aren’t in a storage closet tomorrow, and I’ll add some captions to the album as well)
The other system that...
Read more: The One Button Studio: A Real-Life “Roll” Out at Notre Dame
Originally published in Private University Products and News (PUPN), November 2016.
Being smart and intentional when designing building infrastructure for power, AV and IT is necessary to keep up with the demand of today’s users. Whether in education, corporate, healthcare or government buildings (etc.), rooms must be outfitted to support growing technology requirements.
Increased resolution, accessible bandwidth and available charging are challenges for technology managers and space designers who are, with increasing frequency, working together to develop functional environments. Users’ expectations are typically defined by their experiences with their own consumer grade equipment like phones, home control, and plug and play systems. Simply put, they want easy to use technology for seamless meetings, classes, consultations and events. Compounding the stress on designers, installers and managers to “get it right” is the now common demand for flex-spaces; rooms that are effectively multi-purpose. Read more here
There has been an increase in dialogue about the “One Button Studio” solution that many schools are designing and installing for their faculty and students. A one button studio is a space designed with pre-set configurations for lighting, cameras and mics, customized capture software and control that allows a user to walk in, create good quality video, and leave with his/ her content typically on a user supplied flash drive. Originally designed at Penn State University, the One Button Studio is being realized at schools across the country for faculty who want to create content to flip classes, supplement classroom curriculum, or provide content for online courses. Students can also use the rooms to practice speaking, create presentations, conduct mock interviews and create videos for class projects. Easy interface in a pre-configured space, minimal training, user ownership and reduction of assistance from tech departments: sounds like a winning combination. Penn State University even illustrates the time savings for each recorded video using the One Button Studio:
PSU One Button Studio Making the room easy and intuitive for others to use, with minimal training and guidance, is one of the reasons the One Button Studio is becoming more popular,
Some background info: I see the phrase “disruptive technology” all over the place and it makes me cringe. It has become one of those trendy buzz-phrases; destined to rise to celebrity status and then phase out in a couple of years because it’s been overplayed. I’d like to think of myself as less trendy and more classic. You know, I stick to a timeless black dress rather than buy a frock in the color of the moment (which, as I have recently discovered, is this fall’s burgundy.) But as I started to outline this post, I disappointed myself with how many times “disruptive” came to mind. And then, I moved forward.
I am insanely lucky that I get to travel all over the country visiting campuses, discussing challenges and successes with AV and IT ed tech professionals. It gives me a unique opportunity to understand trends as they are happening…and the issues that inevitably arise when colleges and universities try to design technology trends into their specific and distinct environments (remember BYOD?). Imagine my surprise when one of the most disruptive of these trends isn’t technological at all.
According to Whatis.com disruptive technology is “one that displaces an established...