Tech lessons from Tokyo

Heading home from Tokyo this morning. It's been a pretty amazing week. While did a lot of touristy things I'll document in another post, I had three experiences with technology that made me think. Ouch.

Vending machines here are ubiquitous and wonderfully easy to use since any currency under the value of Y10,000 ($10) is a coin. I loved that coffee was readily available, but I was surprised when I found this can of was served hot instead of cold. How nice and how practical. Such a simple twist to the very old technology of the vending machine. Made me wonder how many old devices could surprise us with new uses if we just thought a little differently about them?

I've never seen a more connected city. My guess is 90% of the people I saw on the streets and subways were plugged into some device - 100% of those under age 30 - with many using two devices simultaneously. For a society that is reserved anyway, I never saw anyone strike up a conversation with a fellow passenger. Well, except for me when I sometimes in panic mode asked for directions. I've never felt so keenly the fear that technology is isolating rather than socializing.

These are the controls for my "Tokyo toilet." The icons are fairly self-descriptive. While I am sure my 7-year old grandson would find great fun with such a contraption, I don't know how many would sell in the US. My guess is that two things may explain why they are so popular here. (I did not see a toilet that did not offer these features.) First, culture. The Japanese value cleanliness and personal hygiene and have for centuries. But they also face a challenge: the lack of physical space. This is a small country geographically but has a very large population which results extremely small rooms that make the most of any space. Even vertically - many door frames are only 6 feet high and I have the bumps on my head to prove it.

To me this is an interesting way to look at any technology implementation. First look at the culture of your school and then examine its challenges. Any technology that does not consider both is doomed to failure.

BFTP: Humility builders

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post April 28, 2008. The garage door I write about below was replaced (by a professional) less than a year after I installed this one.

Here is the new garage door I installed this weekend on the "shed." Don't look too hard or too close. It's on. It goes up and it goes down. It looks much better than the one I removed. My skinned knuckles are healing nicely. The project didn't require a trip into town for more parts. Nobody called the police on account of bad language. Still this sort of project is definitely a challenge for me.

I woke up this morning wondering who got the "handy" genes in our family. My dad was very mechanical and my mom was a house painter, furniture restorer, and the like.  My brother and sister must have lucked out. I know I didn't inherit one lick of ability in this area. Any project like installing a garage door, repairing a faucet, or putting together a toy raises my humility quotient by at least 100%. 

Which is a good thing.

I find that I get into the most trouble, act the most stupid, and embarrass myself the most when I am thinking too highly of myself. Getting knocked down a notch or two usually makes me a nicer person. At least for a while.  I know this.

Here are a few other humility builders (oxymoron?)

1. Full length mirrors (see below)
2. Stupid typographical errors or just plain awkward writing in work you've made public.
3. Chewing somebody out, then getting all the facts, then apologizing.
4. Reading others' writing that is more profound, beautiful and thoughtful than you ever hope to create.
5. Watching yourself on videotape.
6. Having an article rejected by a publisher. Or two. Or three.
7. Being taken to task for something you've said by someone you respect.
8. Getting a pointy-haired boss cartoon taped to your door.
9. The amount of my royalty checks.
10. The look on my network manager's face when I ask him the meaning of an acronym.

There are plenty of others but these come to mind.

Why is it so difficult to be grateful for the things that do us so much good? Like getting taken down a notch or two

The lost souls of technology training

As I was walking down a hallway at one of our elementary buildings yesterday afternoon, I bumped into a lady I did not recognize. She introduced herself as Laurie, a reading paraprofessional, and I replied I was the technology director.

"Oh good," she said, "I have tech problem you might be able to help me with." (I shuddered since my department worries when I try to fix hardware.) She held out an iPad with a program running on it.

"How do I get this off my screen?"

"Just push the big button on the bottom," I sagely suggested.

"I tried, but screen stays the same but I just get a row of icons on the bottom."

She was double clicking the button, of course, instead just hitting it once. Quick lesson - click just once. Problem solved. (Boy, was I proud of myself!)

Just the day before my tech integration specialists were talking about how with a big influx of iPads into our schools next year (I estimate 900), that paras in special ed, Title 1, and other areas will need to know how to operate these devices. Given our already full plate of training needs for teachers on the horizon, I sort of shrugged the comment off.

Until I met Laurie.

Paras fall into the category I call the lost souls of technology training - those folks who need basic tech skills, but don't get much attention from our department. We do a pretty good job with kids, teachers, and even the teachable administrators, but some groups have just been left to wander in technology limbo.

I started to notice this a couple years ago when GoogleApps become the preferred method of communication by most of our teaching staff and building secretaries struggled with Docs, the calendar, and such. We started adding GoogleApps training at the regular secretarial meeting where it had usually been student information and finance systems uses that were taught. 

Then we added special training sessions for district secretaries - those who serve HR, the superintendent, the business manager, the sped director, etc.  We found out that about three quarters of our cooks did not know how to use e-mail when the HR department tried to contact them that way. Our custodial and maintenance staff is expected to read and respond to e-mail requests for work. Really, who doesn't need at least some familiarity with the basic communication systems in your schools? The crossing guards?

Are there pockets of lost souls who need some tech help in your district? If so, how are you releasing them from their digital purgatory?