Resonance in the Echo Chamber my Final thoughts on NECC '09

On of the very legitimate and accurate criticisms of developing online communities is that rather than being global and diverse they actually become rather homogenous. NECC emphasized that for me. This phenomenon is know as the Echo Chamber effect. We tend to connect with people online who echo our own perceptions and beliefs, we tend to seek validation. I prefer the term resonance and you will see why in a bit.

Resonance occurs when any object is vibrated at a frequency that matches the properties of that object. It is this trait that allows us to resonate water molecules with microwaves and to break wine glasses with sound. A dramatic example of resonance occurs when you put salt, rice, sugar or sand over a speaker:


Resonance allows for natural grouping. NECC is a conference full of other teachers who also are adopters of technology. Very validating! And very valuable!!! We need the validation and to find better ways of doing what we are doing!

The reason I prefer the term resonance is because I also am a firm proponent of dissonance. Cognitive dissonance must happen for people to feel compelled to understand. We want so badly to make learning comfortable, relaxed and warm that we fail to realize that unless we are confronted with the very real possibility that we are wrong we don't bother to consider new information. If you notice in the video the rice goes through stages. Periods where the whole is thrown into chaos. We need this. The pattterns can't emerge if the pattern is left undisturbed.

I loved this conference because it resonated with me. I also need some dissonance. Something to shake me up to make me reconsider. Something that will allow new patterns to develop.

Thanks NECC 09

Final Day of NECC 2009

This was an eventful final day at NECC for me. I attended some good sessions, including one by Dr. Lynell Burmark, author of Visual Literacy: Learn to See, See to Learn. Some of her work is included in UEN's course Effective Teaching with Visual Media. She talked about the importance of engaging our students' senses to make learning more powerful.

The highlight of the final day of the conference for me, though, was meeting some of my technology heroes: Jeff Vance, Jason Darby, and DT Holder of Clickteam. Clickteam is the company that developed and sells Multimedia Fusion and The Games Factory, which are two of the most revolutionary multimedia software products that (almost) no one has heard of. Jeff is the CEO of Clickteam USA. Multimedia Fusion and The Games Factory are programs that simplify the process of creating computer games (or other software applications) from the ground up. They make it possible to build your own complete computer game in as little as a couple of hours.

NECC 2009 has been a great conference and a wonderful experience.

Place Puzzles

At the TTIX conference a few weeks ago I learned about http://www.wherigo.com/ which allows you to go beyond simple Geo-Caching to creating tours with questions, quizzes and interactions. The comparison was made to the old Zork Games. I didn't really learn anything after the Zork reference because I spent the rest of the session googling for Zork so I could play it. My favorite Infocom game was actually WishBringer

Well, I did glean one fantastic element from both the session at TTIX and this session at NECC. Information has a place. All events occur both in place and time. We can use the connection between those three things to heighten learning. If learning is connected either to a real or a virtualized (ie: GoogleMaps, or Bing Maps) location it is more likely to be retained.

Bernie Dodge's session was worthwhile and valuable.

http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2009/program/search_results_details.php?sessionid=43728863&selection_id=48078760&rownumber=5&max=22&gopage=

Connecting Globally

One of the biggest ideas Ive encountered at NECC this year is the need to connect our students to the global community. Whether it was Malcolm Gladwell discussing the work ethic of the average Asian student, a debate about the need to close building and open open web 2.0 sites, or Alan November's thoughts on the decline of the American school system due to closing our minds and our borders - we need to think about ways in which we can learn about education around the world and follow others' lead in strengthening our curriculum.

So, what does this mean? Will all teachers Skype with colleagues from across the ocean? Will we share research with one another using Google Docs? Will we be sharing all student projects on YouTube? I know that these things are all possible, but how practical are they? Can I reasonably expect a teacher from Utah making connections with a teacher in Japan? Not sure.

I think the larger issue for Utah teachers is just opening themselves up to the idea of living in a Global Community. Whether we are in Kanab or Provo, we all exist as part of the WWW. How can we at UEN help facilitate understanding the global stage and the Utah teacher's place on that stage? I may not have the answer yet, but I know this is one of the questions I'll be working on when I get back to Utah.

Tweet Up Meet Up

I hope that those of you who read this find it funnier to read than it was to live.

I got invited to the NECC Tweet Up Meet Up! How exciting! I can get to know people face to face that I currently only know online. This will be great!

I am here with a bunch of colleagues and friends and their wives. My wife couldn't make it because she is actually in a class right now. They are not twitterers (or my personal preference Twitiots) Well, we went to dinner at Matchbox, which was exceptional and reasonably priced. The 6 of us enjoyed our meal and then procedeed to vacillate over what to do next. Most folks wanted to take a bus tour of DC. I suddenly found myself wondering about whether I was going to go to the Tweet up. But my morals prevailed. I want to practice what I preach. The relationships we forge online are as real and genuine as face to face relationships. I could only find out by actually going to this tweet up!

So, being a complete stranger to DC and befuddled by the remarkable lack of large mountains to act as landmarks (Why can't everywhere be like Utah with large mountains to delineate North and South) Well, I knew I was close and on the right street but being a technophile I decided I had better put the address into my GPS. Well let me say, you know how when you are going the wrong direction down a street and you notice the distance to destination is increasing and then the lady says "Please make a u-turn now" it takes longer for that to work when you are walking so....after 15 minutes walking the wrong direction and then turning around and walking back to two doors down from Matchbox. I finally arrived at The Rocket Bar.



View Tweet Up in a larger map

Jared and I have had a regular argument about what happened next. He has argued that relationships thrive best in the environment the first took root in. Online friends work best as online friends and f2f friends work as f2f friends and never the twain shall intermingle in regular life. I say that the online relationships we cultivate are as real, rich, and meaningful as the f2f.

Not so sure, about that now :-( I went to the tweet up, I don't drink, not beer, wine, coffee, teguila, heck I don't even drink caffeinated soda pop (very often) So being in a bar was a little uncomfortable for me and I didn't recognize anyone. And no one said Hi and I found myself feeling like I was back in Junior High at a school dance. It was a very weird experience altogether.

It did turn out better later. I ended up meeting @kellyhines, @edu4u and bumping into @shareski all face to face. On another note, I now have @garystager following me. It may just be our mutual distaste for SmartBoards, but I think we are going to get along. The actual TweetUp didn't work out so well for me, but I actually think it had to do with me. I was so far out of my comfort zone being at a strange bar in a strange city that going the extra step of talking to a complete stranger was just more dissonance than this little guy could handle (ok, little is clearly a relative term I am really only little compared to the Right Whale model in the @nmnh)

Really, this first try at a TweetUp was a success in the sense that I did something new, I tried. It didn't work out the way I expected it, but I will be joining another one when it comes around!

Luncheon with Alan November

Today Alan November spoke at a luncheon we attended. Mr. November is the author of Empowering Students with Technology as well as a new book called Web Literacy for Educators. His talk was about the challenge facing educators today, and the disconnect between what is important and useful for our children and what they are taught in school. One example he gave for this was Barack Obama's Internet campaign for president, which included the use of many Web 2.0 tools and other communication modes that are blocked at many schools. Alan said that this is the first presidential campaign in which the tools that the president used to win the election could not be learned in the school system. (I'm not convinced that candidate Obama's web presence was really what made the difference in the campaign, but it certainly helped.)

Mr. November spoke about the high percentage of new college graduates who return home to live with their parents. He said that this generation of students is being labeled the "Dumbest Generation." He said that part of the problem is that our students don't have an awareness of what their peers in other countries are learning and doing at school. He said from day one he would say to students, Okay, let's find out what students in Taiwan are learning about history. He also said that the debate about 1 to 1 computer access and other movements are misguided, because they are about the quantity of technology. Instead we should focus on teaching our students to communicate and work hard while using technology if it would be appropriate to do so. Instead of focusing on what technology equipment teachers and students need, we should focus on what information we need.

Bricks and Mortar: Standing on the common ground.

The panel discussion today was about the statement

Resolved: Bricks and mortar schools are detrimental to the future of education.

In my mind two people dominated the discussion: Cheryl Lemke (@LemkeC) and Gary Stager (@garystager) What Cheryl said resonated with what actually happened. No matter how different the sides are there is always common ground. Cheryl Lemke and Gary Stager were standing firmly on that common ground. From my perspective anyway they both seemed to be clamoring for improving schools and not abandoning them. Gary Stager pointed out that bad teaching is bad teaching whether it happens face to face or in a distance learning environment. Cheryl was lauding the importance of keeping the school as a center of learning for the community. This idea of improving our local communities by strenghtening the local ties and by connecting to diverse learning opportunities is a powerful one. The student rebuttal had one of the best lines of the day. In fact 2 of them. "I get excited not just about what I am going to learn but about who I am going to learn it with" and "My school connects me to my local community"

The question Jared and I discussed was "What does this mean for adult learners" What is the role of face to face socialization for adults who have learned the socialization skills and need skill training? I go back to my old argument. We learn from people we know care about us. All learning is emotianal We need the care and concern of people to carry out the fundamental purpose of education which is to change, specifically to improve.