ED-MEDIA 2010 Final Call for Presentations: April 12
June 29 - July 3, 2010 * Toronto, Canada Proposals Due: April 12, 2010 aace.org/conf/edmedia
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Day One Done
Well, that takes care of day one! What did you learn? What resonated with you? Please share thoughts in the comments section below.I thoroughly enjoyed the opening day of the conference! An interesting mix of theory, practice, and visions for the future of education were delivered from "the podium". I was able to attend all of the invited sessions (with the exception of Erik Duval et al.). Nancy White (me, we and networks), Tony Hirst (messing with data), and Alex Wright (the internet that wasn't) delivered terrific presentations.
Equally interesting was the conversations that occurred on twitter (captured on TwapperKeeper). Discussions on Ning were somewhat limited (okay, fine, less than limited: two people posted). The AACE session discussions were more active.
A bit of self-critique on the event:
1. I think the two separate discussion areas are confusing (Ning and AACE). When content and discussion are open, the use of tags can help individuals to pull important elements together (for example, subscribing to "edmedia" on Google Alerts would provide updates on new blog posts). When information is behind password wall, aggregation is not possible. People have to log in to each service to see what has changed. Some services - such as Ning - provide email notifications of new comments, but even this only provides limited value. In a perfect world, information that I desire should be accessible in a format that I choose.
2. The setup of the main conference room is not ideal. Physical design generates affordances. The row on row layout does not permit the informal socialization that is valuable at conference venues. People have to shuffle out of the room in order to interact in small groups. Round tables are great for generating conversation. Most conferences take the row on row approach because it saves space. But, I still like to whine about the oppressive impact on interaction of this layout.
3. We need more laptops, more commentary! Conferences are only partially about what is shared from the podium (or front of the room). Peripheral conversations can provide serendipitous connections with research from other fields.
Interview: Richard Schwier
Last week, I conducted a short interview with Dr. Richard Schwier from University of Saskatchewan. The recording is now available (the first several minutes have a bit of an echo...but things clear up). Rick has contributed significantly to the educational technology field through his research, publications, and conference presentations. For a short overview of his work and future activities, have a listen!In Honolulu
Over the next few days, the Sheraton Waikiki will be bustling with ED-MEDIA presenters and participants. Pre-conference workshops beging tomorrow (Monday) and the main conference itself starts on Tuesday.This is my first visit to Hawaii - a breathtaking experience! Beautiful oceanic views, lovely beaches, friendly people, and great food provide an ideal setting for ED-MEDIA (and, as a side note, I managed to get a pleasant sunburn after only 60 minutes at the pool...guess it's all part of the experience, right?).
As will be presented in the opening welcome to the conference, we've made some progress in increasing conference interactivity this year through the use of emerging technologies. For example:
We are using Twitter to encourage idea sharing and opportunities for attendees to connect with others. Please use the #edmedia tag in your conference-related posts. If you upload images to Flickr, please tag them with "edmedia" so we can find them 
.
A ning site has been setup to support conference conversations. Please feel free to join. We would like to see ED-MEDIA as a resource that is available to attendees year-round, rather than only during the annual conference.
If you're reading this, then you are obviously aware of the ED-MEDIA blog. Updates, reactions, and comments will be posted here through out the conference.
Numerous networking opportunities have been set up through out the conference through luncheons, informal conversations, and conference activities. More information is available on the conference social events page.
In the spirit of emerging technologies, what conference organizers do/plan is only a starting point. What do you want to do? What do you feel the conference needs? A conference is a forum for interaction. As ED-MEDIA evolves, we will be looking to you as attendees to suggest and initiate changes.
Looking forward to a wonderful conference! (and, if you spend time by the pool, don't forget sun block ).
Nancy White Interview
Nancy White is an invited speaker at ED-MEDIA 2009 (now only a few weeks away!). After a bit of a challenge trying to synchronize our schedules for an interview, she kindly agreed to respond to a few questions in advance of the conference...GS: You've been actively involved in facilitation, communities, networks, and, more recently visual thinking. Could you provide a bit of background on how your thinking in these areas has developed over the last decade?
NW: The flippant answer is "the older I get, the more I realize I don't know and the hungrier I am to explore." But on a more serious note, I've reached a point where some of the disparate threads of my working life seem to be weaving back together around the themes of learning, collaboration and communication. The reweaving is getting myself to a point where I can both see the diversity in a situation, and better discern how to productively act/design/participate. I think what I contribute now is the perspective of diverse experience and perhaps finally getting better at asking questions than simply answering them. I love to be useful, but there is a trap in always answering.
This is where my fascination with the "Me, we and everyone" topic emerges along with my interest in group processes. We are offered so many choices these days, that it is a survival skill to be able to sit back, observe, reflect, DISCERN possible courses of action, and then act. Few things are black and white, but if everything is a shade of gray, we can become paralyzed and not able to act. Effectiveness comes through looking for patterns and outliers (sources of innovation) and using those to design.
The increased role of graphics and visual thinking has been a lens to help me - crudely put - shut up and listen better. When I move out of my dominant oral mode to listen and reflect what I hear through graphic recording, I listen in a new way. I am not processing my next response - I'm REALLY listening. It probably should not have taken me 51 years to figure this out, but it has been enormously liberating and I feel like my personal learning curve just took a huge leap forward. The other side benefits of the visual practice include the fact that visuals seem to be more negotiable than text or words, creating more openings for meaningful conversation and interaction. Plus, helping other people do their own graphic work has given me joy beyond words.
GS: You are co-author of an upcoming book (with Etienne Wenger and John D. Smith) titled Digital Habitats: stewarding technology for communities. How did this collaboration come about?
NW: I've known Etienne and John since 1998 when we were all involved in an online community called the "Knowledge Ecology University." Etienne was leading a workshop on communities of practice (CoP), John was taking the workshop and I was co-facilitating a workshop on online facilitation with Michele Paradise. We started sharing practices across the workshops. John eventually went on to co-facilitate with Etienne so we became our own little ongoing CoP. After Etienne got tired of being bombarded with requests to update his report to the US Federal CIOs on software platforms for CoPs, he decided he wanted some companions for the rewrite. Once we started working on revising the "report" it became pretty clear that no longer could you create any sort of software review that had a decent shelf life, so we refocused on the practice of stewarding that technology. Through a lot of resistance (most of it mine) it became a book. But it took nearly 5 years. We wrote mostly at a distance, iteratively and with critical feedback from our peers. What started out as "review" became our own self-motivated research. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun and I learned SO MUCH that has deeply informed both my practice as a consultant and as a member of many CoPs.
GS: Could you provide an overview of the key message in the book?
NW: In today's world, technology has fundamentally changed what it means to "be together" transforming how we work and learn together in communities and networks. The useful, practical application of those technologies asks us to pay attention to the interaction between communities and their technologies, to choose, install, configure and steward useful practices of those technologies with both enough knowledge of the tech (not necessarily a geek) and enough knowledge of the community. IT support is not sufficient. Nor do we need to rely on formal IT systems in all cases. We have a lot more freedom, but we need to attend to the practice so we make the most of technology and in the end, focus on the domain of the community, not futzing with the latest tool! You can read more about it here http://technologyforcommunities.com/.
GS: We are excited to have you as an invited speaker for ED-MEDIA 2009. I know you are a frequent traveler and conference presenter. For those attending your session at ED-MEDIA, what can they expect in terms of the method and content of your presentation.
NW: Method: Hm, well, if you ask me today, the answer may be one thing. Come the conference, it may have shifted. In my heart of hearts I'd love it if you, George, and I sat up there and you asked me questions, facilitated questions from the group and we had a conversation. I can talk for hours, but the magic happens when what we are saying relates to people's real work and lives. What I have to say is not really that earth-shaking. What meaning we could make of it in the service of learning could be.
Fears: I'll admit too, that sometimes I worry about "presenting" at a more academic gathering, as I'm not an academic and I tend to work on an "intuition then figure it out" basis. By the time I figure something out and it has been grounded with research and all that good stuff, I'm already interested in something else I'm discovering. Those emergent are the things I like to talk about with others. So while I can put on a good "dog and pony" show about the things I know well, I love presenting about the things I'm learning. That feels a bit risky. Luckily I like to take learning risks.
Content: What I want to talk about is how we pay attention to our options across the continuum of individual learning (Me), bounded group learning (We) and the network (everyone). Our institutions tend to push us into me and we - but there is a power in the network. That comes with a cost to our personal and institutional comfort zones as well. My line of inquiry is to ask, how do I discern where to aim along that continuum for deep, meaningful learning. How do I weave the strands of network learning while in a constrained group setting so learning lives on past a course or training? What are the technological and practice implications?
Tech: I have been playing with Prezi as a presentation alternative to PowerPoint. I have toyed with the idea of no technology, just a bunch of white paper on the wall and my pens. I've done that once for a keynote. It was both scary and really liberating.
Dream: Most of all, I wish I had ESP so I could know y'all in advance and craft whatever we do to meet your needs. What do you want me to do? Leave a comment! ! I'm always ready to improvise up to the last minute. If you give me a little slack, I'm willing to go to the mat for you!
Presenting For Impact
A few weeks ago, I delivered a presentation for presenters new to ED-MEDIA. The session - titled Presenting for Impact - provided rich (and humbling) irony as many things went wrong. At least I now have a new story to share on the joys of conference presentations.Dave Monsour - Director of New Media at AACE - has done his best to make a recording of the presentation more "listenable".
I've taken the original slides are created a short Articulate presentation. It is available here.
Alan Levine – Invited Speaker
Alan Levine (who barks wisdom at cogdogblog) has been actively involved in media, web, and instructional design for well over a decade. Alan is the Vice President Community and CTO at New Media Consortium.He is also a speaker at ED-MEDIA 09. His awareness of trends, use of social media for story telling, and his extensive background in the educational technology field will make for an engaging presentation. Don't miss it!
I had the opportunity to catch up with him for a short interview. We covered a variety of topics, including development of the Horizon Report, his upcoming ED-MEDIA talk, virtual worlds, and upcoming trends.
Presenting for Impact
For all the effort conferences spend on peer review and ensuring quality (novel) research is presented, too little attention is paid to the actual presentation. At several conferences during the last 18 months, I've noticed organizers are turning their attention to this challenge. Some conferences have gone so far as to make "presentation coaches" available to presenters. Good ideas can be overlooked through poor presentation skills. Developing a strong, clear presentation is as important as conducting quality research and writing clear papers. AACE is pleased to announce a short session for presenters to ED-MEDIA '09: Presenting for Impact. Additional information - including topics covered - are available on the site. The session is available without fee. If you have suggestions or resources to share on the topic of planning and conducting presentations, please let me know!Getting ready for ED-MEDIA 2009
Surprisingly, we are only six weeks away from ED-MEDIA 2009!Over the next month or so, this blog will be more active. We'll provide you with interviews, commentary, help resources, and even a bit of professional development (more on that soon).
Conferences are changing. Earlier this year, AACE hosted Spaces of Interaction, an online event exploring how to improve traditional conferences. Recordings from presentations and the ning discussions can still be accessed. As a result of the event, we've gleaned many insights into what can be done to improve conferences. You will see a few changes as we get ready for ED-MEDIA '09: increased use of social media, remote presentations, participant-organized events, etc.
We want the event to be more participative and more engaging, while still meeting the high academic standards ED-MEDIA has exhibited in its past. It can be difficult to strike a balance between emergence and tradition, between novel and established, between innovation and existing systems.
It's a balance that will only be achieved through your input. During the conference this year, we ask you to Twitter, blog, tag, and offer suggestions. Even as the event approaches, please comment on what would make the event more valuable for you this year...and next.