Pay it forward - professionally

Miguel Guhlin at Around the Corner has said some very nice things about my writing's impact on his career. I am far too modest to reprint any here, but not so modest I won't link to the blog entry. In fact, he cites me as one of his "Amazing People." I am indeed, as Ian Jukes would say, a legend in my own mind. I am truly humbled that anyone as thoughtful and articulate as Miguel would say such things. Usually he just teases my about my advancing age.

But here's the way Miguel and anyone else who finds any value in my work can repay me - pay it forward - professionally. Encourage, help, support, identify, mentor, and praise new (not necessarily young) leaders and innovators in education.

That's it.  

 As a way of saying thank you, I had Miguel's oil portrait commissioned.

Handouts anyone?

Truthfully, I throw every handout they give me--what's the point? If you were listening, and the presenter was interesting, it's just a waste of paper...

was the comment left to my blog post about designing presentation slides a couple days ago. I am not so sure I agree with the comment, but conference presentation handouts are something worth taking a hard look at given the ease with which information can be placed online and readily updated.

I am pretty sure I once created a handout for a day-long workshop that must have run better than 40 pages. Supporting the northern Minnesota paper-mills, ya know. One of the primary purposes of a good presentation or workshop is to stir sufficient interest that the participants are motivated to pursue additional information about the topic after the workshop is over. So my handouts usually contained:

• a rough summary of the content of the presentation
• "activity" sheets for participants to complete during the session
• articles and other information for people to read after the conference
• a bibliography of additional resources

But I was too often disheartened to see lots of handouts winding up in the trash - right outside the session room door. Obviously these people did not know that all my writing as been approved by the FDA as a non-addictive sleep aid and those handouts might well have come in handy if they ever suffered a bout of insomnia.

Let me say that simple printouts of the PPT slides are the worst! Either the PPT is too wordy or the handouts are worthless.  Mary, who also left a comment, suggests typing the narrative in the notes field and then printing both slides and notes for handouts. I guess that's better than just the slides, but it still wouldn't be my choice.

Here is my plan: 

A move from everything in print, to a single page where a many-paged handout can be found, to a single page with activities and a link to a wiki that contains links to many individual sources that can be easily updated. These sources can be read online or individually printed and used as relevant. Am I green or what? (And I acknowledge that many presenters already do some version of this, I'm sure. And my conversion from handouts to wiki-based resources is just beginning.)

At the last two workshops where I presented, I estimate that 50-75% of participants had laptops and were connecting wirelessly. How long before we can dispense with paper completely and perhaps just print web/wiki links in the conference program?

As a conference attendee, do you still value paper handouts? What content makes them valuable? Or should they be regarded as a modern day buggy-whip? 

Is there no small degree of irony in creating paper handouts for sessions about Web 2.0? 

Is there a lesson to be learned here about "handouts" in K-12 classrooms? 

 

 

Or as Dean suggests in the comment below, one could always do a bookmark. Good for keeping mice out of the barn, too,

 

A sentimental nod to print

The print edition of Slovenly Peter my grandmother read to my siblings and me that still bears the crayon imprint of my little brother - along side its replacement?

Call me a sentimental slob, but I woke up this morning feeling sorta mournful. My Kindle arrived via UPS yesterday afternoon and I spent some time playing/learning/reading the device last evening. I am planning to take it and NO print books to ALA and NECC. The acid test.

It is eminently, uh, pragmatic.

I've been an advocate for silicon replacing cellulose since 1995. E-books hold tremendous potential for education - helping (and de-stigmatizing) struggling readers, reducing backpack weight, and even lowering textbook costs. Yet now that this practical device is actually here, I have to admit there are some important things I will miss about paper books:

• How will you start a conversation with the person next to you on an airplane if you don't have the safe opening of "How's that book you're reading?"
• How will you learn about the people who have invited you over if you can't peruse their bookshelves? (A LibraryThing account or Facebook book list just aren't the same.)
• How will you impart memories of love and excitement about books in toddlers who are learning to associate reading with physical closeness, bright pictures and personal attention?
• How likely are children to collect "e-books" that, like in my brother's case above, they make their own?

OK, I am sure when the horseless carriage replaced the horsed carriage, many shed a tear or two over the sweet smell of hay and manure. But the Kindle really does feel like the end of print books - objects that have been near and dear to my heart since I was read the horrible Slovenly Peter on my grandmother's lap.

Is this just sentimentality or will there be real loss as reading moves from cellulose to silicon?

Note to Amazon: Make the click wheel click quieter. It drives my wife nuts!