CC blog

November 2009 books

Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil by Peter Maass
http://bit.ly/50xZFh

This is not a typical "end of oil and the economic apocalypse is coming" type book.  Yes, Maass believes that we will see the end of the oil age in our lifetimes, but he sees this development has mostly a good thing.  Maass develops a compelling case for the "resource curse" by detailing the oppression, corruption, and stagnation present in oil rich countries.  From Nigeria to Saudia Arabia, Russia to Venezuala, countries most blessed with large oil deposits are cursed by high unemployment, structural inequality, violence, and unsustainable development.  American oil companies, U.S. consumers, and the U.S. government has been complicit in all the evils done in the name of petroleum extraction.  I wonder if a more balanced and nuanced story could be told about the impact of oil on our world?  I wondered how much oil has supported "good" economic growth as well as "bad" consumption.  But overall Maass' indictment of oil, oil industries, and oil regimes provides a compelling set of reasons (as if we needed any more reasons) to reduce our dependency on oil through incentives (taxes), conservation, and research. 

Grade: A-

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
http://bit.ly/7N1Xpx

No points for originality, but reliably smart and entertaining.  I'm a sucker for academic theory and academic research packaged into narratives for the non-specialilst.  Economists and evolutionary psychologists seem to take up the most room on the bookshelf (and have sort of merged with behavioral economists), although primatologists and sociologists may be poised to make a run.  Does Levitt have any book length ideas inside of his head?  Dubner is a good writer and journalist, I wonder if their partnership has run its course.  Don't get me wrong.  I super-recommend SuperFreakonomics.  Read, enjoy, and bow down to the wisdom of incentives, the wisdom of the economist.

Grade:  B+

The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army by Greg Jaffe and David Cloud
http://bit.ly/6kUaX2

I first blogged about this book at my ed. tech blog:  http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology_and_learning/learning_from_the_military  Briefly, I think it is important to understand the military because the armed forces provide a case study in institutional change.  The Generals profiled in this book had to overturn an entrenched military culture (overwhelming force etc.) with a new model (population protection) in order to have a chance to prevail in Iraq.  In education we need to replace a model of knowledge scarcity with that of knowledge abundance.  And as this book makes clear, we are not as smart, hard-working or disciplined as our nation's top military commanders. 

Grade:  B+

Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz
http://bit.ly/8Lm4Ph

Don't read this book unless you live with a dog.  If a dog is part of your family, then I recommend that you read it together.  Understanding your dog from her perspective will make you both happier.  And when you read the book please do not take it out of the library, but spring for the audio, digital or dead tree version.  We want the author to get the money, as she deserves some tangible rewards for being brave enough to break convention and make the study of the house dog a legitimate field of scientific inquiry.  The best parts of the book debunk the myths of dog training (the Dog Whisperer does not come off very well) by diving into the biology and evolutionary history of our canine companions.  For instance, wolves (who share a common ancestor with dogs) do not live in hierarchical but familial packs.  And if you want to understand your dog, you have to get on your hands and knees and smell the world. 

Grade:  B

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins
http://bit.ly/6ODNku

I think the world of 1960 will be as far away to my daughter's experience as 1560 is for me.  It is hard to believe how far we have come in terms of equality and attitude about gender in the past 50 years.  Perhaps the most important social change in my Mom's lifetime.  We are all the beneficiary of the hard work done by the heroines of the women's movement.  I am grateful that my girls will have choices not limited by their gender.  There is not much new or groundbreaking in this book, but the story is both important and well-told.

Grade:  B

Goodbye and Hello...

Hi,

If you have not arrived here from a link in a recent email list post, the impetus for this blog entry is that I have left my position at Dartmouth College effective November 22, 2009 to become a member of the Product Management team at Blackboard, Inc. as their Technical Product Manager. In this role I will be responsible for product management around developer infrastructure and APIs, System Administration features, standards implementation, and the technology stack. 

Over the past twelve and a half years at Dartmouth I have had the privilege to work with many talented and forward thinking individuals. During that time I grew as a developer and system administrator. I also realized in myself a passion for pragmatic and deliberate application of technology in education. For those opportunities I am eternally grateful.

So what does the future hold for me at Blackboard? Can anyone predict the future with certainty? No. What I do know for certain is that while working for Blackboard, just as when I was working for Dartmouth, I will be working with the same great folks from .EDU and Blackboard whom I have met during 12+ years of meetings, conferences, phone calls, and emails. Nice.

As the Technical Product Manager I will be the champion for our community of Blackboard developers within Blackboard Product Development by actively engaging and building relationships with the Blackboard developer community through client visits, user group meetings, and conferences. I'll oversee and execute programs designed to engage Blackboard developers throughout all aspects of the development life-cycle to ensure our new product releases meet or exceed client expectations (BTW: suggestions welcome!).

Why Blackboard?

Over the past couple years I have watched Blackboard as an organization, through changes in the product and involvement on standards committees, deepen its commitment to openness and standards. To me this shows that Blackboard is responding to the challenges of making the Learn platform better for the developer community. Additionally, it has become apparent to me over the last several months that Blackboard is keen to improve the quality and transparency of communication with this important audience. Finally, it is my (and Blackboard's) hope that through my experience and direct involvement with the product, and developer and administrator communities, I can help channel the needs and priorities of the technical community to enable the best possible product that meets the needs of the community.

 

But How?

Well... having never previously worked in the corporate world I am certain I will have some adjustments to make. But the following pretty much sketches out my philosophy:

I am a fan of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. Considering their ideals and what they accomplished with their relatively humble beginnings in Dave's garage on Addison Avenue in Palo Alto California, it is hard to not be impressed. One of my take-aways from their early startup story is the list of rules (according to legend) that they had posted in that garage:

Rules of the Garage 

Believe you can change the world.

Work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, work whenever.

Know when to work alone and when to work together.

Share tools, ideas. Trust your colleagues.

No Politics. No bureaucracy. (These are ridiculous in a garage).

The customer defines a job well done.

Radical ideas are not bad ideas.

Invent different ways of working.

Make a contribution every day. If it doesn’t contribute, it doesn’t leave the garage.

Believe that together we can do anything.

Invent.

Powerful stuff.

When one considers these “rules” it becomes apparent that they may be applied to many things: Hardware startups, software development, and even life. But, it is their application to our efforts in creating innovative solutions for educational technology that I feel they carry immediate significance. For it is when we as a community pull together in conversation and collaboration as colleagues sharing a vision for the betterment of educational technology that these rules carry more meaning than just words on a page; they serve as goals and guide posts.

There is currently a great deal of conversation taking place in the educational technology space which places our community in conflict. I believe firmly that while perhaps uncomfortable as these discussions may be at times, we are better for them as a community and therein lay solution and opportunity for improving the use of technology in education. I believe this because I believe in the 'rules' and because I believe we share a common bond. Specifically that the bounds of teaching and learning can be expanded with technology; that prudent and deliberate use of technology can enable the art of education and that we all share a passion for this art.

I am thrilled to say that I will be able to continue to play a small role in this community, for these are exciting times of change in education and the future hints at being even more exciting.

So, I extend a hearty “Thank You!” from me in my new role at Blackboard to everyone who participates in improving educational technology, and especially to all who participate in the “Garage”.

Cheers,

-m

October 2009 books

October is the month where Amazon finally linked its Audible subsidiary to its main Amazon book search.  In theory this should make finding Audible books much easier, as the Audible site continues to be as atrocious (slow, poorly organized, anti-intuitive) as the Amazon site is wonderful.  But....the linking is unreliable.....inexplicably sometimes Audible editions don't show up.  Still - a step in the right direction.  Oh Amazon....are you too distracted by e-readers to give proper attention to Audible?

Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters by Scott Rosenberg

Will change how you think about the Internet, blogs, and what it means to be a writer.  Sure, the history of blogging is interesting - and Rosenberg narrates this story beautifully.  But the true value of the book lie in the authors arguments about the significance of blogging.  This is the book that convinced me that the best thing we can do in higher education and learning technology is to get every student their own public blog.  This is a book that helped me understand the beauty of a world where the pleasures of publishing are open to all of us.  The power to self-publish, to blog, will over time be seen as important as the printing press and the mass spread of literacy.

Grade:  A

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell

A pleasure from start to finish.  Why:  A) Gladwell reads his essays, and Gladwell reads just about as well as he writes.  B) If you love Gladwell books: Outliers, Blink, Tipping Point (as I do) then you will love this book as well.   C) If you gave up your New Yorker subscription (or are just hopelessly behind) here is your chance to read Gladwell's favorite essays from the magazine.  D) Gladwell basically invented (at least in my lifetime) the popularizing of social science research.  As such, the world is a much better place.

Grade:  A-

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

Russo is back to form.  Funny and smart book about long marriages, aging parents, academia, real estate, and the Cape.  What else is there?

Grade:  A-

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost

The narrator, Simon Vance http://bit.ly/3scvfd, moves this book from mildly diverting to something closer to wonderful.  The story of the slacker boyfriend accompanying accomplished partner to remote Pacific Island is a classic of the literary form.  Probably a big hit among the development economist set.  Think I'll have to read the rest of the Troost/Vance oeuvre.

Grade:  B+

True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society by Farhad Manjoo

Got this on a $4.95 Audible sale....happy I did.  Probably would not have read otherwise because of the lack of buzz.   Manjoo's big story that the diffusion of media and the disruption of the Web has eroded the enforced moderation of the Cronkite / NYT dominated mediascape will not come as a new story to anyone half-way paying attention.  But he tells the story well, supports his arguments with evidence, and writes well enough to keep the reader (listener) engaged. 

Grade:  B

Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler

Would have been much better if the author had not read his own book.  Author read books seldom work (unless you are Malcolm Gladwell) -  reading for audio is as much of an art as writing the book.  The book?  I recommend Connected even though it is not a great book.  The essential truth of the power of networks, and the science done by the authors to tease out their salience, are both sound and ground-breaking.  Methodologically strong and epistemologically important.  We need to think about our worlds from the perspective of networks.  Connected proves that not every good academic can write a popular book based on their work.  Can't blame them for trying.  Advice...buy in paper....skim through...and share the ideas.

Grade: B-

So you want to take some notes?

I recently purchased a 4GB iPulse made by Livescribe.

Wow. This has got to be the most awesome device to hit the streets in recent years. (and no I have no financial interests in Livescribe)

In a nutshell the iPulse records audio while you are taking notes (more on this in a moment) and time sequences your notes and drawings to the audio. You can also just record the presentation, and later play it back and take notes. (The 4GB purports to be able to store upwards of 400 hours of audio and notes at low quality audio settings).

Notes are stored as a form of digital ink - want to know what was being said when you wrote "Read Emerson's Nature" or sketched a cell? Simply tap your note and the audio jumps to that portion of the recording. How sweet is that? You can even add more notes while re-listening to the audio!

I think this is significant edutech for many reasons. One outstanding reason is that you can record content and actually focus on what is being presented instead of trying to capture every single statement - you only need to write notes on your immediate thought process and later revisit (as many times as you want) to further elaborate on your notes. The notes and audio are savable as flash based content for visual review at your computer - though you can get quite a bit done not using your computer, just interacting with your notebook and the pen itself. Another reason is that you do not need to take your laptop to class to take notes - take your notebook and pen - that is it. If you want you can later convert the digital ink text to e-text via a third party application for use in your favorite text editor. (I have not yet tried to export sketches out as images yet.)

Livescribe even provides a software development kit for those of us who like to get down with writing code. The pen has a built in microphone, but also uses a special set of earbuds which contain microphones enabling the capture of audio in "3D".

So far I can identify only two downsides to this product - it requires a special paper to get the deed done and is bound to a single computer so you cannot use it (or at least this is not obvious) on say an office and home computer - it works a bit like the iPod in this regard.

While you can upload your flash notes to a private space on their server, convert pages of notes to PDF, and export audio to aac, mp4, or wav files for review on capable mobile devices. lt would be wicked swell if it supported syncing chunks of audio/notes to mobile devices such as android-based phones or the iPhone - eliminating the need for a laptop. This could mean all you would need for study would be your phone, iPulse notepad, and the iPulse. Archiving to your laptop when necessary.

It would also be swell if, while reviewing/working with notes on the Desktop if it could interact more with software on the computer - click a URL? Open a Browser. Click a formula? Open MatLab. etc. etc.

In the future we will travel light, miss nothing, get good work done well - nice.

Oh wait - the future is now.

Cheers,

-m

Verizon Android...

I am not a fanboy of the iPhone for many reasons (see this from my UI hero Bruce Tognazzini for a few: http://www.asktog.com/columns/080Springboard.html ) and I have a love-hate affair with my G1 (great apps and platform vs somewhat spotty t-mobile service, slow dialing, and somewhat weak battery performance).

Bearing this in mind I am following the hyped up DROID offering from Verizon - I am hoping that failure to meet the hype (as is often the case) will not result in folks shying away from the android platform. This is the nice thing about how T-mobile handled the G1 release - not much hype so the phone sells to interested parties on it's own merits (and acceptable defects). Anyway, as I /still/ have not canceled my verizon account for my blackberry, I am looking forward to seeing the new offering from Verizon (http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Verizon-Wireless-Hypes-Motorola-Droid-Phone-As-Everything-Apple-IPhone-Isnt-331506/). Maybe a phone upgrade is in my future.

EduTech content? Yet, another (widely available) platform for the development of mobile apps and distribution of 'want-it-now' content.

Desire2Learn reports more success in legal battles with Blackboard

Here's an extract of Desire2Learn's patent blog: (http://www.desire2learn.com/PatentInfo/)

"Court of Appeals Denies Blackboard's Rehearing & En Banc Petitions    Oct 15, 2009 3:22 PM

We received news this morning that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Blackboard's combined Petition - one for a Rehearing and one for a Rehearing en banc. ...There's no opinion - just a listing on the Federal Circuit's website. ...We expect that the Court will be issuing its mandate in the near future.

The effect? All positive for Desire2Learn:

   1. We expect that Judge Clark will dissolve the injunction (he's already suspended it)
   2. We'll be receiving repayment of the judgment we paid to Blackboard - plus interest - plus costs associated with the action
   3. We're delighted to put this chapter behind us, once and for all!"

Will our Blackboard fees be going up even more?

"No kindergarten classrooms!"

Last week I worked with Ellen Marie Murphy of Plymouth State and Andrew Milne of Tidebreak on a NERCOMP SIG with the title "Classroom of the Future."  For the first couple of hours, Andrew and I presented -- ho hum -- but then we gave them glue sticks, scissors, foam paper, and other materials, and had them develop classroom designs in groups of 5-6. 

It amazed me how successful this cut-and-paste activity was.  Everyone was very into it, energetically gluing, cutting, debating, etc.  For the last 45 minutes they reported out on their projects.  All were received and delivered with enthusiasm.  It's clear that the folks who work on classrooms at all these institutions care about their work and are thinking a lot about the challenges in classroom design. They brought their energy with them.

What is a bit ironic about this is that at our recent ELI focus session on collaboration, Jenn Stringer at Stanford reported on story at Stanford.  Jenn does classroom support at the Stanford Med School and they are in the process of building new learning spaces.  When Jenn proposed a design for a room supporting highly interactive engagements, one prof objected, saying "no kindergarten classrooms!"  Ironically, turns out that for these SIG attendees, the kindergarten aspect of the day was the more rewarding.

My slides are on Slideshare. Pix from the session below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blackboard Building Block for NBC News Archives on Demand

This press release describes a Bb building block to access NBC News Archives on Demand, with historical and current photos, videos, etc.  Could be useful for instructors and for those student video projects.

The NBC service has a fee, although the building block is free, and "... some limited uses of NBC News Archives on Demand are free, including searching and browsing, creating playlists and mashups, viewing short previews of footage, and embedding multimedia in Blackboard courses."

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/10/08/nbc-blackboard-bring-free-multimedia-resources-to-lms.aspx

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blackboard-adds-multimedia-content-from-nbc-news-to-the-blackboard-learn-platform-63751562.html

September 2009 books

We're starting to have more opportunities to talk to each other about what we are reading.  The Library has organized a great "What Are You Reading" lunchtime series (thanks Laura!).  More of us are posting quick reviews on the Visual Bookshelf app on Facebook.  

Wouldn't it be great if the LIbrary Web pages had a social element...a place where we could post  and search for reviews from local people.  Sort of like what Amazon does...but totally local.  I care a great deal about what the people I work with are reading and what they think about their books.   How could we make this happen?

Okay...the books:

Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible by David Plotz

The perfect book if you are:  a) Biblically illiterate, b) want to know more about the roots of your religion, and c) are too lazy to actually read the Bible.  Since I hit on all three of these criteria I definitely quality - I'm thinking of buying copies for my whole family.  We could discuss Plotz's book at Passover.  Actually, I'm more convinced then ever that I need to sit down with the Bible as a route into my heritage.  I got so much out of Good Book because I know so little about the Good Book.  Stunningly little.  Plotz is funny, smart, irreverent, generous, and argumentative.....all the things that my people pride ourselves on.   This book came out of "Blogging the Bible on Slate" - perhaps one of the few instances of any redeeming qualities for blogging.

Grade:  B+ 

An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage 

Nothing beats books that tell the history of the world through something we can get our minds around.  I love books that take narrow subjects to tell huge stories.  Standage is a master of this craft.  If you love reading about food and love big history then this book is a 5 start treat.  

Grade:  A-

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis

When I need to get away from learning technology I retreat to the 18th century.  Ben Franklin is my usual companion....but I'm down with the whole band of brothers.  Reading about our revolution and our revolutionaries reminds me that our country has faced much longer odds and much bigger challenges in our past.  Reforming health care and education may be tough, but nobody is going to get hanged by the British if we fail.  My time with Thomas Jefferson mostly came in relation to Ben Franklin's years in France or familiar stories about the writing of the Declaration of Independence.    Ellis' book is great because he does not try to be exhaustive (an impossibility) but focuses on the character and times of Jefferson.  

Grade:  B+

The Scarecrow and The Brass Verdict  by Michael Connelly

Connelly is among my top 5 favorite crime and police procedural writers.  Both prolific and entertaining, Connelly's books are always strongly plotted with good detail and appealing characters.  Beach books you can read all year round.

Grade:  B+

iTablet iPad - regardless of what you call it the rumors are flying

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/backstage/comments/ten-new-details-on-the-apple-tablet/
and
http://www.itworld.com/personal-tech/79347/itablet-who-intended-market

An eleven inch diag. tablet (think netbook size) based on the iPhone/iTouch platform...hmmm not exactly what I was hoping for, but I would probably get one post release rush.

-m

Wordle for President Kim's Inauguration Speech

Since I was reading through the speech anyway, I decided to feed it to http://wordle.net to see how it looks. Now, I'm sharing it. Certainly, "Dartmouth" comes out on top, but it is reassuring to see a few other terms rising above as well, such as "education", "experience", "learning", "people", and "passion."

the sort of assignment (I think) we want our students to create

What impresses me is that this has been viewed 541,000 times.  Our students could do work every bit as good as this.....I'm not saying this should be the only type of work they do - but certainly this should be part of the work that they do.

talking to faculty about talking to students about learning technology

Malcolm Brown's article Learning and Technology — “In That Order”  should be mandatory reading for us in the Ed. Tech tribe.

We all have stories we tell about how this or that tool can aid in teaching or learning.   Among these stories should be an emphasis on "going meta" - or "going to the balcony" and explaining to students what the learning goals were each time a new technology or tool is used.  

 

Malcolm's article has been ringing in my ears this week as I talk to faculty about Blackboard tools.  I've made it a point to spend more time engaging faculty in how they will talk about the tools with their students.

    

Getting students engaged in the "why's" of course design / development / delivery is probably a good idea on all fronts.  This may take some time from the curriculum, but will play dividends in the depth of learning.

ALI 2009

Just finished up my second DCAL Active Learning Institute (ALI 2009) http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dcal/workshops/ALI.html

One of the things we learn at ALI is that we don't learn something unless we do something - the speaker or the writer or the teacher is the learner.

Another thing we learn is that memories, concepts and facts are not pulled from our brains like a computer from a hard drive, but are reconstructed at each use as an archeologist reconstructs artifacts from a dig.

So in order to consolidate my thinking and insure that my future self will have an accurate record of present day recollections I thought I'd write up this blog.

Main Thoughts:

1)  It was a relief to be able to enjoy ALI has a cross between an Institute developer / facilitator and participant.  My actual presentation duties were light, 30 minutes with Anthony on using the Blackboard blog for in-class active learning exercises.  This gave me the luxury of listening a great deal and talking less (a skill I'm working to improve).  So much of my job feels like a push against a status quo.  At ALI it felt really good to let some other folks do most of the pushing, allowing me to learn about how they try to bring about change and learn some new things along the way.

2) Ironically the parts of ALI that stick with me most are the least active parts of the learning.  We had amazing talks by Chris Jernstedt on the brain and learn, Josh Compton on effective presentation styles, and Malcolm Brown on the same topic.  These talks did incorporate some active elements as they had lots of give-and-take with our ALI group, but they were still basically lectures.  My background over the past years has been so much based on online learning that I tend to discount the power of quality teaching presentations.  This was a good counter-balancing experience.

3) ALI holds two powerful core messages for me.  Both of these messages were articulated by Karen Gocsik, and I am grateful to her for all she has taught in the short time I've known Karen.  Lesson 1 is that active learning requires active engagement.  No surprise here.  Karen and Tom are masters at modeling these techniques.  Lesson 2 is that for our classes to be built around active learning it is necessary for us to give up some control and to re-evalute our idea as the expert and master of our discipline.  We need to consciously make space where the students can create, learn from each other, teach us, control what they learn and how they learn, and claim their own authority and autonomy in our classes.  

4)  My final thought is a reflection on how fortunate I feel to work at Dartmouth with such passionate, smart, caring, motivated and engaged colleagues. 

we need our own song

August 2009 books

Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why it Matters for Global Capitalism by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Schiller

Apparently influential in the Obama administration.  Good to see the basics of behavioral economics being applied to a macro-economic book.  Helped me get a better sense of why I paid too much for my house, why some folks are still poor, why jobs seem harder to come by, and why the folks making economic policy often seem like dumb apes.  Well written and informative.  Makes a good argument for the benefits and limits of capitalism and the necessity of regulation to protect our investments and jobs.

Grade:  A-

The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't--and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger by Daniel Gardner

Put this book on the syllabus of our reading on why we screw up basic decisions, make poor judgements, fail to predict the future, and are afraid of all the wrong things.  Should be read by journalists everywhere who write about disease and violence, and us folks who read and watch these stories.  A good cognitive and theoretical summary of the academic literature on risk and behavioral economics.  Written with style and humor.

Grade:  A-

Butchers Hill: A Tess Monaghan Novel by Laura Lippman 

The 3rd, and best so far, Tess Monaghan Baltimore murder mystery.  I'm reading these in order, having bought the lot used on Amazon.  Lippman is getting a little darker, and Tess continues to intrigue with her weird mix of bravery and poor decision making.  Baltimore is really a great character in these books....made me want to visit the Charm City.  

Grade: B+

Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World by Tyler Cowen

Not as good as "Discover Your Inner Economist" -but worth a read.  Sort of feels like an extended blog post - but nothing really wrong with that as Cowen as some interesting things to say.  The core of the book is an argument as to why folks on the autistic spectrum are our new profits, or at least reasons why their cognitive styles are well suited to our information economy and why their brains and behaviors should be honored and understood.  Cowen is in love with information, with lists, and with the Web tools that let us play in this information.  

Grade:  B

Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter (P.S.) by Steve Dublanica

From the blog http://waiterrant.net/ - an insiders tour of the life and culture of a waiter at a high-end restaurant.  Dublanica has some tales to tell and some advice to give.  He is not nearly a good a writer as Bourdain (the book owes much to Kitchen Confidential), but the book is enjoyable and mildly informative.  Mostly I'm amazed at the level of substance abuse (and just pure abuse) that are part of a food servers life.   It does make sense, as waiters work crazy hours, work around alcohol, and are paid in cash.  Waiters generally live in the moment, are working towards something else (acting, writing, blogging), and are under-appreciated and under-paid.  I'll never tip pre-tax again.

Grade:  B

Moscow Rules (Gabriel Allon) by Daniel Silva

The Gabriel Allon books that come before were:  The Kill Artist, The English Assassin, The Confessor, A Death in Vienna,  Prince of Fire,  The Messenger, and the The Secret Servant.  I recommend reading them in order.  Allon is a Mossad assassin, art restorer and learning technologist (okay, I made up one of these things).  Great characters.  Moral clarity.  Some good action.  Topical plots.  Always well researched, with an eye for getting the details right.  Not very humorous.  I'll keep reading.

Grade:  B+

Fearless Fourteen (Stephanie Plum, No. 14) by Janet Evanovich

Mind candy.  They all blend together in a hazy goop of New Jersey crime, big hair, fugitives, and exploding cars.  This is what I imagine my life would have been like if my Dad would have stayed in Linden.  

Grade:  B 

google docs new site for college students

Google launched a new site today to help college students figure out the best ways to use Google Docs.

As with many folks I often wonder why Google doesn't take the next steps and put out a cloud based CMS?

Some of the suggestions on the site make a good deal of sense:

These include:

• "Brainstorm notes for group projects - With a record of everyone's thoughts in one place, no good idea gets left behind."
• "Need surveys for classes? - Send out a form to your email lists and get an organized spreadsheet of responses instantly."
• "Use forms for your student group or dorm - Collect RSVPs, organize your budget, or take collaborative meeting minutes."

How wonderful it would be if these tasks could be seamlessly embedded into the course design and learning experience.

prediction about slideshare and google

Slideshare just announced the ability to import Google Docs directly into their service.

I tried it out and it works pretty nicely.

My prediction for the day is that Google will purchase Slideshare.

The two sites are a natural fit.  The Google Presentation tool in Google docs never really took off.   The tool is okay, but what is lacking is a community around the the presentations.

Slideshare has a vibrant community.  It has established itself as the destination for presentations.   A Google Slideshare makes sense, as the service could take advantage of Google's technical expertise and scale.

The big thing that is missing from either Slideshare or Google Presentations is the easy ability to do voice-over presentations.  This capability should be fairly easy to implement, particularly given Google's experience with YouTube in allows webcam/audio capture and upload in the browser.  A dead simple voice-over recording and sharing tool for online presentations would dramatically expand the utility of the service.  

Easily allowing the presentations to be published on Google Slideshare or YouTube would provide a superb platform for sharing the material.

what I learned from being off-the-grid

Just got back from a week off-the-grid at the wonderful AMC Echo Lake family camp in Acadia National Park. 

A full week of hiking, swimming, biking, reading, eating, relaxing and conversation sans any news, technology, email or communication.  Within the space of a week the families staying at AMC's Echo Lake created a supportive and intimate community.  Where else within a span of a couple of days could you have folks who were previously strangers watching your kids at the waterfront while you snoozed on the dock?

What did I learn about learning technology in this week-off-the-grid?

I learned that:

A)  People are really interested in innovations in teaching and learning in the higher-ed-world.

B)  That folks have an intuitive grasp of the power of technology to catalyze change and to facilitate authentic learning.

Part of the bonding experience at Echo Lake is telling out stories.  Turns out that folks beyond higher ed. have fascinating jobs and amazing backgrounds.  No job seems to be very much like it was 15, 10 or even 5 years ago.  Everyone is constantly re-inventing themselves and expressing their creativity through work.

The story I would tell about my job is that what we are about is using working with faculty to have big classes feel and act like small classes, and it is the pairing of technology and learning theory that allows us to accomplish this goal.  Universally everyone I spoke with believed that we needed to move beyond a straight lecture, information scarcity model of teaching and learning - and towards something more like a seminar or a studio where students create.  The older folks at Echo Lake were just as excited about how technology could change higher education as the high students I chatted with.  Everyone wanted to know more, and everyone had stories and ideas about how college teaching could be improved.

So I learned this week that we do have a story to tell.  And if we think about how we tell our stories, and do so in simple and accessible ways, that we can get people excited about the work we do. 

How do you tell our story?

Video in your next issue of...

When you get your next magazine, in paper, it may contain video.

This another entry in your notes on mobility.