Design. Learn. Solve.

My iPhone, Google Voice, & AT&T

Backstory

So, I am in the process of starting a new job, which is SUPER exciting. While we are an extremely tech savvy school, because our building is built to withstand five earthquakes simultaneously, only kind of joking, we do not get the best cell reception with AT&T. This is a problem as I have an iPhone. I love my phone, it allows me to not only use my phone but also check up on my Google Reader, check in, tweet, capture my thoughts/images in Evernote, and many of those things I will need for my job.

But

Because of the lack of reception in our building, I can’t use my wonderful device as a phone. This is a problem because I don’t want to sit in my office. I want to be roaming the school, interacting with students & teachers. In order to do that, I need to make sure I can access my work and mobile phone numbers all on one device: my iPhone.

The Answer

I am going with Google Voice* but want to keep my mobile number. This is important because I don’t want to inconvenience my friends and colleagues and have to switch my mobile number AGAIN. Google Voice will allow me to get reception on my mobile and work numbers on my iPhone via our WiFi network and the Talkatone app. This approach also allows me to use all of my mobile apps that, as I mentioned, are an important part of documenting my job.

The Problem

I wanted to have my mobile number completely connected to Google Voice. Unfortunately, AT&T doesn’t allow you to port your mobile number to Google Voice without incurring an early termination fee. When I suggested that I would not be canceling AT&T, just simply adding a new number to my line and would forward that to Google Voice, I was given a flat response of NO. Funnily enough, other services allow it.

The Solution

After being shot down by a few AT&T customer service reps on the phone, I met Irene Drake, a customer rep at the AT&T store on Union St. in San Francisco. Irene was EXTREMELY helpful and wanted to ensure that I found a way to make this work but ultimately, our initial solution was not as successful as we had hoped.

After sleeping on it, I came up with the following approach this morning:

At Work

1. Forward mobile number to Google Voice by dialing **61*xxx-xxx-xxxx# on your mobile phone (the x’s represent your GV #)


2. Forward work number to Google Voice by dialing **61*xxx-xxx-xxxx# on your work number (the x’s represent your GV #)


3. Download the Talkatone app to your iPhone


4. In Google Voice>Click Settings>Click Phones>Scroll to Forwarding Options>Click “ring my other phones before going to voicemail”


5. Turn on “Airplane Mode”


6. Turn on Wifi


7. Receive calls from work and personal numbers via Talkatone


8. Make calls via your Google Voice number using Talkatone

After Work

1. Turn off “Airplane Mode”


2. Turn off Wifi


3. Make and receive personal calls via AT&T


4. Work phone still goes to Google Voice (this way I can screen calls after work hours)

The Catch

There always is one, isn’t there?

When dialing out from work, I will have to use my Google Voice number**. I won’t be making a lot of personal calls at work, so I will associate my Google Voice number with work and keep my personal mobile number exactly that.

Conclusion

Yes, it requires some extra steps but since I am in a building with nearly no mobile reception, this will allow me to be away from my desk and working with faculty and students while also having access to my work and mobile numbers on my iPhone.

Also, when it comes to team based communication, since each member of our tech department has an iPhone, I think i’m going to have us use Kik for group messaging since we are located all over our campus. (More to come on that later in the year)

Again, I want to thank Irene Drake, as she was SUPER helpful in spending the time with me to ensure we could find a solution without having to pay the early termination fee. While we didn’t find a the right answer off the bat, she reminded me that there are a lot of good people at AT&T who do want the best for their customers.

Photo Credit: hname

*If you want to know about the advantages of using Google Voice, check out this post.
**Unless my job will let me port my number over.

Mobile Learning is coming but…

I saw a tweet that included the poster shown below. As I scanned the poster I was in agreement with the overarching thesis:

YES

mobile technologies are here.

YES

they are transforming how our students learn/interact/think.

YES

we must be aware of this and think about how we can best incorporate mobile technologies in to our teaching.

BUT

before we do, let us take a step back and think long and hard about the approach. Is the technology allowing the curriculum to be something much more transformative? Is archiving our notes or being able to record your voice going to transform how our students learn in a world that is changing before our eyes or is it simply creating a shinier tool for an outdated model of learning?

As you examine how technology can be incorporated into your school, make sure you think through these questions:

1. How is [fill in the blank] creating a more engaging and dynamic learning experience?
2. Will this empower students to be self-directed learners?
3. Is it allowing students to create their own knowledge?
4. How is this extending the classroom?
5. Is it helping students realize that learning is not about getting to the next step?

YES

there will be some technologies that simply improve how we operate and effectively transfer information.

BUT

if we are able to answer these questions knowing that we are using the available technologies to transform our learning environments, then we will be headed in the right direction.


Via: Voxy Blog

Photo Credit: Yagan Kiely

Collective Action

The video below is of Marshall Ganz, an community expert and a key player in developing the 2008 Obama campaign. In his talk, at the Berkman Center in 2008, he spoke about how to create collective action. While he may have been referring to the political world, the same principles apply now when we look at creating action in the world of education.

In particular, Ganz focuses on how to use organizing, collective action, and mobilization to initiate change. He mentions that change comes when individual preferences are turned into common focuses, which can lead to the capacity to act upon them. When we look at making changes in our schools, we must find a common thread among the teachers and administrators. This does not mean we must have mandates, rather it means we must find a common idea or belief and give individuals in this group the ability to take action as a group.

How do we make this happen?

Leadership

It is the “practices that enable others to achieve purpose in the face of uncertainty”. In other words, leadership is comprised of practices that enable groups to work effectively. This could mean creating teams, or Personal Learning Communities, that bridge departments to enable this to happen. These groups could be run by seasoned facilitators to ensure success. This role of facilitator would rotate after others were trained on how to run the groups.

Community

In addition to strong leadership, a community rises from a stable entity capable of exercising collective agency. If this is the case, teachers will feel empowered and not isolated; they will be willing to make a change.

Power

The power of a community rests in its ability to use resources (time, energy, materials) purposeful to take change. We must evaluate how we, as schools, use these recourses to create change.

Key Factors

Along with the previous three factors, Ganz mentions that the following are necessary conditions for effective collective action.

Shared values

Values are broader than interests and sources of motivation. Values are communicated emotionally. To achieve this we need narrative and empathy not just metrics and data.

Shared interests

To build this collective capacity, we must create relational interests (1 on 1 meetings are key for this to develop). Is there a basis for working together? Are we able to commit to one another?

Shared structure

We must have common purpose and shared norms. There must be trained leaders and structures for our initiatives to succeed. Structure leads to ability to create change.

Shared strategy

“Turn what you have into what you need to get what you want.” Adapt based upon real time information and needs. It is the purposeful and most creative part of organizing. Any strategy will shift but as long as the group buys into the common goal, it will happen.

Shared action

Resources are time, material items, and energy. The mobilization and deployment of resources are essential to make change. Resources can only be effective when “the outcomes are clear, … specific and…can be learned from”.

Finally

While technology can be at the center of making this all happen, Ganz reminds us about carpenters and tools. Investment in skilled carpenters allows the tools to be used in effectively. We must spend our time in developing the human capital in schools. We must understand the community and determine the human needs before we blindly invest our time or money in technology.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhCoz5hMhTI[/youtube]

Photo credit: mike.bendetti

Rives and the iPad

Rives is a man of many talents, he is a spoken word poet, emcee, pop-up book writer, and conversationalist. As one of the hosts of TEDxSMU this past October, he was given the chance to show off some of his skills and gave a powerful storytelling performance using an iPad.

His four minute “talk”, seen below, is an example of the potential of the iPad, or any tablet for that matter. Far too often we see computers as a means to check email, write papers, or watch videos. In an age of, as Clay Shirky puts it, “cognitive surplus”, we have the opportunity to use that technology and our time towards “doing something” and being “creative”, two things that we must ensure our students embrace. The tools at our disposal, including the iPad, are extremely powerful, so let’s make sure that our students are using the technology to do more than write five paragraph essays or create PowerPoints. Let’s make sure they truly create.

In the end, as Rives points out, no matter the medium, it is about telling a “story”. We need to let our students embrace the mediums that work for them (iPads/cellphones/whatever) and allow them to create stories that they care about. By giving them a voice, we will not only empower our students but allow them to develop their creative spirit all while maximizing that “cognitive surplus”.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNhdRvBfg7A&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

New rules

When I was growing up there were simple rules I was to follow.

1. Be a good person

2. Brush your teeth after you eat

3. Don’t hit your sister

In a world that has been forever altered by the age of the Interwebs, these rules are still very much relevant (especially the one about not hitting your sister) but there are some very important rules that we must also understand.

We are no longer dependent on media monopolies for our information and the ability to access information from a number of different sources has never been easier. In turn, we must learn a new set of rules when it comes to media.

On the website for his book, Mediactive, Dan Gilmor states these “principles”:

We are now not only consumers but creators of media. With this, comes responsibility. More often than not the information we receive is not exactly accurate.

So, as you go out and become a consumer or creator of media, which we all do in one way or another, be careful and follow Dan Gilmor’s rules:

For Media “Consumers”

Even those of us who are creating a variety of media are still–and always will be–more consumers than creators. For all of us in this category, the principles come mostly from common sense. They include skepticism, judgment, reporting, expanding one’s own vision and understanding how it all works. More specifically:

1. Be skeptical of absolutely everything.

2. Don’t be equally skeptical of everything.

3. Go outside your personal comfort zone.

4. Ask more questions.

5. Understand and learn media techniques.

For Media Creators

All of the principles for consumers are part of the toolkit of every responsible journalist or information provider. So are the following. The first four — thoroughness, accuracy, fairness and independence — are standard for journalists of all kinds, and are widely accepted inside of traditional news organizations. The fifth — transparency — is somewhat new and considerably more controversial, and even more critical in a distributed media age.

1. Do your homework, and then do some more.

2. Get it right, every time.

3. Be fair to everyone.

4. Think independently, especially of your own biases.

5. Practice and demand transparency.

Photo credit: Kevin Lim

Driven to Distraction?

Disrupting Education

Lately a lot of people have been talking about disrupting industries.  If we want to seriously consider how we can disrupt our current educational model, we need to listen.

We need to listen to the likes of Clay Christensen who wrote a book about it, MIT’s New Media Literacies has developed strategy guides to support it, David Wiley and the State of Utah who are opening up classes that will enable it, Mike Wesch who is using new media to reconsider how we address course content, and Bill Farren who is developing an online course around it.

In my last few posts I have been writing about changes that can be made to alter our educational landscape.  At the core of these changes is transitioning to a model based upon participatory learning:



This is an open classroom.  An open classroom is based upon the idea of participatory learning; connections between students and experts around the world as well as dynamic content, that is readily available to all, drives student inquiry.

Access

The power of this participation starts in the access to information.  With resources like iTunesU, Academic Earth, Courseware, Diigo, Google News, blogs via an RSS Reader, and Wikipedia, our students can find more information and sources on a topic than any teacher can provide in a lecture.  This access not only promotes inquiry, as students must find reliable sources and learn digital literacy skills, but it creates the potential to open a class to communities outside the four walls of a classroom.

Connection

We are social beings that want to learn.  When students can connect and participate with others while learning, they become intrinsically motivated.  If learning happens by students working together to draw conclusions or provide feedback, students interest increases.  With technologies like Ning, Skype, Wordpress, Twitter, YouTube, and Wikis, students are able to collaborate with their peers around the world, discuss issues with leading experts in order to develop their own ideas.  When learning can reach beyond the four walls of a classroom and there is meaning to the content as well as the personal connection to the outside world, a school can be transformed into a place where students want to learn.

Meaning

Today’s technology creates opportunities to bring the masses together while making an impact.  In a world where transformative technologies are at tips of our fingers, it is all the more important to make learning meaningful.   When a class can work with a village in Africa to learn how AIDS has been decimating the population, students do not want to simply write an essay about the disease, they want to do something about it.  Our students are constantly connected and we can use these technologies to help make a positive impact.  It is this potential, the ability to bring meaning into learning, that can truly disrupt our current model of education.  When the wold is faced with countless problems, it is the fact that our students can help make a difference that will make learning meaningful.

Getting There

The technology is there, the need is there, what lacks is an understanding from educators.  It is our job, as those who get these ideas, to forget about giving presentations on Twitter.  Rather, talk about making our classrooms meaningful and why our students should connect to the world.  If we want to disrupt education, we must explain why before how.  We must open their eyes to a new approach to teaching, helping them to see this transformation.  The next time you speak to a peer or present to a group, do not focus on the technology, spend your time talking about an issue important to you and how your students can use technology can make a difference.

Photo Credit: Courosa
Alec Courosa is also on Twitter: @courosa

Education 3.0

No matter matter how much money a school throws at technology, it is all for naught if the use and approach is outdated.  The folks over at Education Futures have been writing about this very thing in a series called Designing Education 3.0.  There they discuss:

• The Role of Schools in Education 3.0
  


• The Role of Technology in Education 3.0


• The Role of Teachers in Education 3.0

These posts hightlight the fact that as technology becomes more ubiquitous in schools, it is imperative that we address how that technology is used.  Far too many times I have seen SMARTBoards unused, teachers “using” technology by giving lectures with PowerPoint presentations, or my favorite, simply showing a YouTube clip with no follow up.

This Education 1.0 approach will not work.  Teachers complain about having to learn about new technologies and I don’t blame them.  Used in a Education 1.0 model, these technologies are just updated chalkboards, overhead projectors, and film clips.

Instead of wasting our time, money, and energy on simply introducing the latest technologies, we need to spend our professional development time helping teachers understand how and why we must move to a Education 3.0 model.  If we continue to teach using outdated models, not only will our students lose interest but they will be left behind.  The following chart from Education Futures outlines this idea:

As I have written before, time is precious.  There is never enough of it.  If we can spend that time helping teachers understand this shift and how they can use technology in order to support the idea of Education 3.0, not only will our teaching improve but our students will be more engaged.

Here is some evidence that supports what I have just mentioned.  Demetri Orlando published a great Digital 1:1 Laptop Classroom Rubric.  Take a look, this would be a useful tool in helping teachers begin to develop a more Education 3.0 classroom.

A Model For Learning

For the past several weeks I have been mulling over the idea of participation, transparency, and connectivism. All ideas that I believe are the corner stones to the next big shift in education. Several people have been influential in helping me reach this point. I have been reading work from the likes of Henry Jenkins from Project New Media Literacies, Mike Wesch from Kansas State, David Wiley from BYU, and George Siemens and Stephen Downes from Canada.

Today I went to a conference at MIT hosted by Project New Media Literacies. The focus of the conference was on participatory culture in education. As the day went on I began to piece together some things.

Our students participate. They want to be involved. They are connected, ALL the time. If we ignore that fact we will lose our students. Henry Jenkins alluded to this fact in his 2006 white paper on participatory culture. It is vitally important that our students create, circulate, connect, and collaborate. Research by Project New Media Literacies highlights this point. But not only will this participatory model be useful in engaging our students, it is an opportunity to teach ethical behavior when working with digital media.

If schools follow a participatory model, using open education resources to examine real issues through our curriculum, while using a framework that promotes collaboration and discussion, we can change the game.

The idea is based upon what I heard today and have read from Mike Wesch, Stephen Downes, David Wiley, as well as countless others.

This is what I have in mind for a grade 6 through 12 school:

The Framework

All course content is free using Open Education Reources (OER) available via online resources.  All disciplines would frame their course curriculum around the free materials. This would not only cut costs for a school but also lend itself to opening the class to the online community.

Individual courses, their syllabi and resources would be housed on a Course Management System (CMS) like Moodle, Wikispaces, or EduCommons. Having the platform online would allow the class to include participants from around the world.

All student work would be created and managed via a blog based e-portfolio. This system would be build off of Wordpress Mu. Every student would have a blog. This would be their home for all written work, digital media, and presentations. It is an opportunity to not only record a student’s work but have their voice be a part of a larger conversation. The work would be separated by tag and each class would have a site where the aggregated feeds for the class appropriate posts and comments as well as all relevant information would be posted.

Here is the Google Doc of the proposal I created.

The Participation

Create

If students create online content, whether written or media, that is a part of a larger conversation, the work takes on a new meaning. Students who can express their ideas and produce something concrete that they can publish, will be more more engaged.

Connect

If there is anything I have learned in the past few days, it is that to make a model like this work, it MUST connect to our students. There must be relevance and it must mean something. Whether it is a Biology class creating HIV/AIDS PSAs for a local AIDS center or working to develop tutorials on algorithms for a village school in Ghana, if curriculum can not only teach content but connect students to something bigger, it will make an impact.

Collaborate

At the heart of this model is collaboration. When the curriculum is designed to have students work with experts outside the classroom, community organizations, or other classes around the world, the learning becomes real. When a student’s blog entry on civil rights gets comments from a community leader who the class had been working with, the connections becomes real, the work meaningful. These collaborations can take place in many forms: Second Life, Skype, Elluminate, uStream, on a wiki, or Google Doc, or in real life. No matter the venue, what makes the work engaging and relevant is the collaborations and relationships that stem from creation of the content.

Circulate

The blog becomes a platform for the circulation of student created content. It a means to promote not only writing but all digital content created by a student would be available online. Here, the e-portfolio plays a role. Now all of the work that a student produces over four years is housed online on one site. The ability for a student to simply send a URL to a friend, family member, or potential college and show their work speaks to the true nature of the platform. Their works is now accessible to the world.

This model does not only support the ideas of transparency, participation, and connectivism, but it teaches another important lesson: digital citizenship. Using a platform like this, digital literacy and the ethical use of digital content becomes interwoven into each class. Students will become aware of fair use and copyright not because they read a case study but because all their work is online.

I borrowed a lot of ideas from people much smarter than me who have been proving this model in higher education but I believe this is an idea that could work in a grade 6-12 environment.

This is a very rough outline of what I am envisioning but to be true to the idea of participation, please leave your comments and criticisms. They will be extremely helpful as I improve this model.

Photo Credit: Today Is A Good Day

Solving The Time Issue

A few weeks ago I wrote about the issue of time and technology. I had referred to a speech given by Clay Shirky. His argument stated that we have always had the time to investigate technology but we used that time mindlessly watching sitcoms.

The other day I read a post by Antonio Viva titled, Who Has Time for Social Media? Mr. Viva states that for the vast majority of people

social media is either a term they don’t recognize or a fad they tried and just don’t seem to have the time for.

So this brings me to my question.

What will create the shift to where the majority of people see social media and technology not simply as another thing to do but rather as THE thing that brings their lives together?

The shift is beginning to happen, we see Oprah coming to Twitter. Yes, I am following her. The Boston Globe may close. These are both important indicators. They identify the fact that mainstream media is evolving. The ways we get our information is shifting in response. Despite this, many still fight the idea of technology as a “waste of time”.

For technology or social media to take hold, our communities must fully incorporate it. We work and live in communities. If we want to make that shift from seeing technology as just another responsibility, it must become our brand. It must be a ubiquitous part of our community.

When our communities develop strategies that incorporate technology seamlessly into our daily lives, we will find that elusive time that Mr. Viva was looking for.

This takes a very deliberate approach but with the right plan and support, that shift can happen.

Photo Credit: Matt Hamm