Modeling co-learning and other conference take-aways

At a conference in Pennsylvania this past week, I got the chance to meet ed tech leader Kristin Hokanson of ConnectedClassroom fame. She tweeted my keynote and workshops and helped me out a lot as I bumbled through my Second Life presentation/demo. I e-mailed Kirstin a note of appreciation for the kindness she showed during my visit, joking that I need to be more careful about what I say during my talks knowing (because of Twitter) that people are actually listening. And this was her reply:

I had to chuckle at your comment about being " more careful about what (you) say if (you) know people are listening" ...while I sometimes think that myself, I realize that the message that we are sharing is SO very important we NEED to keep sharing, and tweeting and RE-tweeting and hope that folks DO listen and that we can make a difference in helping kids to become more information literate. I live with those digital natives, I want them to be prepared for their future. I want public school to prepare them for life in the 21st century! AND I think teachers, administrators, and educational leaders who model co-learning is exactly what our kids need!

OK, so how do we clone Kristin - or at least her passion?

One of the biggest delights of doing workshops/presentations about SecondLife and Web2.0 tools is that I always seem to learn new stuff as the presenter. I commented a while ago about the increasing range of skills and knowledge one encounters in Web 2.0 workshops. And I realize that I've come to actually depend on the greater expertise on those attending to make the workshop richer for everyone, just feeling a little guilty about it.

Now I find that I am modeling being a co-learner. I like that.

In PA, I also got to hear Alan November give a keynote. He, along with Jamie McKenzie, was a primary influence on my thinking about educational technology when I was a little director growing up on the prairie. One of the suggestions that he made that I particularly liked was that teachers stop answering questions in class, and instead turn this task over to the students themselves. Talk about everyday practice in information literacy!

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On Friday, a number of students and teachers presented on what they had learned as a part of a year long information/technology literacy program called MILI sponsored by MetroNet. One high school girl's comments about how GoogleDocs "organized her life" and made working with her teacher and classmates more effective made me think we need to get rolling with Google Apps for Education in our district. I believe it WILL help kids. End of story.

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Here's good question that came up during one of my workshops...

One of the reasons often give for teachers not being more willing to infuse technology into their classrooms is that they are intimidated because the students are more proficient in its use. Yet we have many educators who expect their students to be better at what they teach than they will ever be, including music teachers and atheletic coaches.

Why do some teachers delight in students who lap them in knowledge and ability and others seem to fear it?

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Happy Monday. Getting excited to be going to NECC!

Ban the lectern

Bore: one who has the power of speech but not the capacity for conversation. Benjamin Disraeli

Computerized slideshows have been much maligned of late. No more bullet points. Death by PowerPoint. PowerPointlessness. You've heard them all. And probably seen more than a few examples of poor slide show use.

But let me tell you, the only thing worse than a bad speech with PowerPoint is a bad speech without it. Not long ago I listened to a very smart man with very good ideas give a very poor keynote. He started off by bragging of his "lack of slides," but then went on to read (yes, read) his talk directly from the text he assured us would be online verbatim in a few days. Uniformly formal, ceaselessly forceful, and demeaningly parental, this audience member left feeling unconnected, unmoved, and feeling like a kid who was read the riot act by the principal for about an hour. When the speaker later asked me what I thought of his talk, I tactfully replied, "It was challenging." I didn't elaborate that the challenging part was staying for all of it.

I wonder if the speaker might have been more natural and made a better connection had he not been provided a lectern on which to prop his notes. Just might a major cause of bad "speeches" be the lectern itself - that large slab of wood originally designed to protect speakers' vital organs from sharp objects thrown by displeased listeners? (I just made that up.)

While I always request a wireless lapel microphone so I can wander a bit when speech - ifying, there are time when the only voice amplification is hardwired right to the lecture and one is pretty much forced to stay behind it in one place. And as much as I try to overcome it, this restraint changes my message:

• I am more formal.
• I am more likely to "read" the slides on my laptop sitting right in front of me.
• There is less give and take between the audience and me.
• There is a physical barrier creating a "me, the expert" and "you, the receiver" rather than an open space that says "let's form a partnership though which we can solve some mutual problems."

OK, it is somewhat comforting to know that when using a lectern the second "Is my fly zipped?" check is not necessary and that most lecterns are slimming. But let's expand our suggestions for the improvement of public speaking beyond "ban the bullet points." Whether the message is read from paper on a lectern or digits in a PowerPoint screen, it's all poor communication.

Handouts for sessions that don't need'm

Printed on card stock, four per page. Whadda ya think? Satisfy those who both like and hate handouts?

Conference season is on us me. Inquiring minds need to know.