Next best thing to being there

The image above is a screen shot from a session I did for a Pennsylvania school district over my lunchtime today, using Elluminate, a popular web collaboration tool. With a microphone/headset, a video cam, and my PowerBook, I was able to present to a group of K-12 teachers, share a slide show, do some real-time Q&A, and monitor comments via chat. Sort of fun. Got a very nice round of applause at the end. A polite group, I expect.

I hope the means of delivery was as much a "lesson" for these educators as much as anything I had to say. Teaching and learning is possible from distances with few equipment requirements. I didn't have the hassle of travel and the school didn't have the expense of my travel. OK, I still think F2F is a more rewarding experience, but this wasn't so bad.

The online presentation format has been picking up for me over the past year or so. I've worked with college classrooms, educational service districts, private companies and now school districts using Elluminate, GoToMeeting and WebEx (if I remember the names correctly). And Second Life as I mentioned recently.

I still feel like a rookie as an online presenter. A person learns a few things after having given hundreds of F2F presentations and workshops. This feels new and not all my tricks can be ported to this new medium.

I guess it keeps the brain cell stimulated. 

Speaking as an avatar

 

Giving a presentation in Second Life last night felt like one of those "going to the pole by dog sled" events. It was possible to do, but felt like had one waited a couple years, the dog sled would have been replaced by a snowmobile.

 

The organizers and I decided that I give the talk via text rather than voice. I practiced with a tool called SpeakEasy that I had carefully loaded with my remarks ahead of time which would with a simple click add them to the chat/IM window one at a time.  I practiced with it. It worked earlier in the day. (It even working this morning after the fact.) It just decided not to work at the time of presentation. Mild panic.

Thankfully, I had also recorded all my comments in the notes field of my slides so I launched good old PowerPoint and just copy and pasted the comments through the talk. I was using my 12" laptop so the screen was crowed. It worked, but it wasn't very smooth and I didn't get to use all the cool gestures with which I had hoped to impress people. (You should have seen my hula.)

I also couldn't figure out a really good "camera" angle from which I could see both the audience and the screen (so I could make sure the right slide was showing.) My eye contact was pretty bad, I'm afraid.

 

I also have always had a tough time with chat/IM discussions when about 10 lines of conversation - questions, comments and challenges - all hit one at once. Anybody have tips on dealing with this?

 

I know - excuses, excuses.

But I would do it again and the bumps will be worked out, making this a good medium in which to present.  I really appreciate the patience of those attending! Thanks, as well, for the help and encouragement of the participants, the ISTE staffers, and Lisa Perez and KJ Hax! You were all great.

 

And I now have a new nursing home story... "Yeah, way, way back in 2008 I gave a talk in an early MUVE called Second Life. Look it up in your history book. This was before the days of true virtual reality when we had to use keyboards and mice and text." You get the drift.
 

The other impression that last night's talk on Intellectual Freedom in a Filtered World left me with was that I am a lone voice in the wilderness on this issue. Is anyone else in education speaking out and writing against overfiltering (not just complaining about their own district's filtering use)? Are teacher and administrator (and library for that matter) preservice college programs teaching newbie educators the concepts and principles of Intellectual Freedom and asking them to read things like the Freedom to Read statement? (Links to other IF resources are in the wiki for this presentation.) Why not?

 

Access to good resources is essential for an educational program that stresses information problem-solving, constructivist learning strategies and higher order thinking skills. Why are more progressive educators not speaking out about the need for a renewed commitment to Intellectual Freedom in schools?

 

Those conservative parents all gotcha cowed? 

 

 

The photos in this entry come from Kevin Jarrett's Fickr collection found here. Thanks, Kevin. I've never looked so blue! He also wrote a kind entry about the presentation on his Story of My Second Life blog.

Lisa Perez blog entry about the presentation is here. And another one about the discussion on the following Thursday. 

Lecture or conversation

The following is a (slightly expanded) response I left on Will Richardson's blog entry "Thinking Disruptively About Conference Presentations." In his wonderfully angst-ridden style, Will reveals:

"...I find myself more and more questioning the “get up in the front of the room and impart knowledge” model that is so thick with irony in the context of this conversation that it just doesn’t feel quite right anymore." 

and goes on to write about doing sessions that are guided conversations instead. Hmmmm, let's think about this.

Hi Will,

My sense here is that you've fallen into an "or" approach to conference sessions. Great conference presenters - at least those I gain the most from - provide both expert content and facilitate conversations and/or application. In fact, I would guess most people are unhappy with a purely process approach (Why did I pay my money if I don't get good dope from an expert?) OR pure lecture (Why is this boring person just talking at me?)

I am also going to offer up a small defense of traditional conference sessions (which I posted a few days ago on my blog):

Sit and Git, Spray and Pray (or whatever the clever derogatory appellation du jour for short sessions offered during professional development days or conferences) - such learning opportunities ought not to be simply dismissed as ineffective and drop kicked from the educational ball field. Like classroom lectures, good short sessions can be effective in meeting specific purposes. Those include:

1. Introducing participants to a new concept, theory or practice with the expectation of self-directed follow-up. (What is meant by authentic assessment?)
2. Teaching specific, useful skills, especially if practiced within the time allotted. (How to design a good rubric.)
3. Bending a mindset or encouraging an action. (Assessments can be used not just for ranking students, but to actually improve the learning process.) Think of the great speakers on TED.

Concrete, even discrete, learning opportunities have a place in professional development, provided they are part of a larger profession growth plan.

Quite honestly, Will, were I to hire you to come speak at my conference or in my district, I'd want more than just a conversation. I'd want some expertise, some attention-grabbing, mind altering lecture, AND some constructivist-type activities. I want it all and that would be why you'd be gettin' the big bucks!

Oh, I thought the Edubloggers thing at NECC was a blast, but I enjoyed because of the social aspects and not because I took away much that was useful.

All the best,

Doug

Will, I appreciate the impetus for thinking a bit about this. I suspect I sound a bit defensive because on the lecture-conversation continuum, I definitely drift toward the lecture end. (One is never bored when one is doing the talking.) With speaking engagements at seven conferences coming up in the next month and a half, it's an opportune time for reflection. I just wish I had your gravitas so I could be angst-ridden instead of simply confused.