INTRO
My Bebop2 drone by Parrot met its end a couple of Sunday's ago when it decided to “fly away” into a pecan grove somewhere between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.
A LOVE AFFAIR
I loved that drone. It was the replacement for the fifth one I bought. I got each one at Best Buy because of their liberal return policy. The drone is a dream to fly. It gives my view a little more reach.
OUTRO
I love it so much I got another one. I can't wait to fly again.
PROLOGUE
Eight six seven five three oh nine.
CALL LETTERS AND OTHER SIGNS
At 20 working in Los Angeles KFI AM was my radio station. Dick Whittington, Lohman and Barkley and other radio personalities helped make the long commutes bearable. At least it they did until that jackknifed taco sauce tanker truck accident on the Santa Monica freeway that hot June afternoon got me to enlist in the US Navy. But that's a story for another time.
KHJ, KTTV, KTLA and KCOP were the TV stations I watched growing up. They introduced me to The Million Dollar Movie where I saw Godzilla for the first time, Gigantor, Seymore and his cheesy sci-if movies and Felix the Cat.
More recently the stand-out call sign is ds106 and the daily create TDC hashtag. For some months in 2011-2012 ds106 and TDC helped connect me with my creative side. I was working at the FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center) in New Mexico in those days.
Anyway, each TDC gave me a creative challenge to complete. I started most days with one. It helped ease me into my days designing learning experiences. It helped me find my groove.
EPILOGUE
A little while ago I was pleased to notice a retweet that mentioned a draw a horse TDC.
So I accepted the challenge and it's like I'm home again.
INTRO
EdCampAzusa was marvelous. But it was only the beginning.
GETTING THERE AND BACK (OR THE JOURNEY IS THE FORWARD)
This past Saturday found me in Azusa, California. I was there to participate in EdCampAzusa, a gathering of educators for a day of unstructured, I like to say organic, professional dvelopment/personal learning (PD/PL).
I wanted to come away with more perspectives on how educators view and experience professional development: how it occurs, what questions are asked, how answers are processed. I wasn’t disappointed.
There were two EdCamps on my radar last weekend: EdCampAzusa and EdCamPalooza. Both were some distance from my home. The latter was more than twice as far away. I would have gone to it still, but the threat of bad weather made the decision for me. In both instances I would be going somewhere I hadn’t been before. The process I depend on to get to new places is Waze. Waze is an iPad app. I enter the address of where I’m going and it gives me turn-by-turn directions. If only learning were that simple.
When I leave an EdCamp it’s usually with more questions than answers. That’s where reflection, connections and Twitter chats with my PLN and serendipity come into play. Yesterday morning I had a conversation on Twitter with John R. Walkup (@jwalkup).
Fuzzy thoughts coalesced into understanding when I read that.
OUTRO
It’s challenging (and fun) applying what I learn with and from teachers into my instructional design craft. It can take some time, sometimes a long time, before the pegs fit. Light bulbs glow brightest when I hear something in a meeting and something clicks. I suggest it, sometimes withouth considering the organization’s culture, and then conversations begin. I love that part. It’s amazing when a half-baked idea leads to a chance to prototype. The resultant mess, an incredibly organic thing, completes the journey. It’s marvelous to be a part of.
INTRO
Why should kids have all the fun when they learn?
ROLE/ROLL
I’ve got a granddaughter. She’ll be two years old next month. That kid learns so much so fast. She’s fearless about it, too. She knows what she's about and rolls with it.
Watching her the other day gave me an idea. How does a two year old learn compared to an adult? So I came up with this table based on information contained in the websites referenced below; I probably got the citation form wrong but it’s been a while.
Role/Roll Your Own PD (Professional Development)
References
Child Development Tracker, PBS Approaches to Learning, Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/two/approachestolearning.html August 23, 2015
US Department of Education, Adult Learning Theories, Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2yoAdults August 23, 2015
YOUR OWN PD
Who designs your PD learning experiences? If your answer wasn’t yourself I suggest you take a step back and rethink it. Who knows your interests better than you? Who knows where you want to go and what you want to do in and with your life? I suggest you take some time, as much as you need, to come up with some questions that may shed some light on where you might go for answers.
I'm going to be presenting this at a conference in October. I'll share more about it later.
OUTRO
This entry’s a work-in-progress. I wanted, no needed, to get this thought down for later. I didn’t want this one to be, like too many others, an idea that flitted in for a moment and then was gone forever.
PROLOGUE
The space between my ears, that gray matter frontier, is in tumult.
ZOMBIE
I was a last minute registrant to the CUE (Computer Using Educators) annual conference in Palm Springs, California. Today is day one of three. I had planned each session meticulously, mapping out the shortest path between one session’s venue and the next. Happily, it turned out not to be.
The first session on my list of must-attend was @am_estrella’s Remixing the Do Now and Exit Slip in a 1:1 Classroom. A few weeks ago I’d learned what an Exit Slip assignment was by reading a tweet by @sciencepenguin. The session had an activity where we had to create a short story based on a couple of pictures; we were encouraged to craft a story and share it with the person nearest us.
SPOCKALYPSE
I’m a fan of Star Trek. During its original run I didn’t watch it much. In 1966 we were a one-TV family. If papa didn’t like it we didn’t watch it. He was a big cowboy movie fan and except for that one episode set at the OK Corral none of the Enterprise crew wore stetsons.
Anyway, I liked Spock. I iked his curiosity. I was saddened when Leonard Nimoy passed. I got to thinking about Spock during the CUE 15 Common Core Performance Tasks… and Zombies session. I learned a bit about engagement during the session. More importantly, was what I didn’t learn. Here are a few words that aroused my interest and that I have to figure out:
EPILOGUE
Okay, maybe I misheard the first one. But wow that zombie engagement model. I have to figure out what that is. I’m in the right place for it. There are 5600 educators attending CUE 15 right along with me.
PROLOGUE
Growing up I had an aunt and uncle who insisted on gifting clothing on the holidays and anniversaries one associates with presents. Sadly, said presents were invariably colorful and scratchy. It was rare, unless my mom intervened, that I'd wear them. You see, I'm more an earthy natural fabric sort of chap.
UGLY
I finally made it to a Monday Digital Storytellers Gangplank meetup. I knew I as going to like it as soon as I got to the meeting room in back.
How did I know I'd like it? Because, like me, the space was unfinished, a work-in-progress. You see, the ceiling was missing. I could smell wood sap. The fluorescent lights without reflectors or diffusers seemed harsh.
In the room were a number of people from diverse backgrounds. There was a published author a couple seats friends me. To his right were a recently unemployed woman, a stand-up comedian, and several men deeply interested in writing screenplays and treatments.
I contributed an idea or two. Mostly I sat in a corner and listened.
I had my first AHA about 20 minutes in. Talking about story flow templates someone mentioned their writing process: Brainstorming, Drafting, Crafting. I know this as the design thinking process: Define, Ideate, Prototype. Okay, so the group put brainstorming before defining: no big deal. Continuing to listen closely to someone describing a story idea I prototyped (crafted) an idea using Plotagon on my iPad.
EPILOGUE
Best of all: The group is having a bootcamp Sunday. I really don't know what to expect but with their motivation to try stuff out and share and my curiosity just try to keep me away. I'll tweet the cool parts.
Oh yeah: I didn't realize it til the meeting was well underway that I was in what @TechNinjaTodd in his #EduLS challenge calls a Learning Mission.
PROLOGUE
“Every picture tells a story, don't it?” — Rod Stewart
MRPtA
My mLearnCon proposal was accepted by the eLearning Guild: Yea! So now the work begins.
DRAFT 00
I had thought to do my talk on a case study but during a chat on Twitter someone suggested a different spin.
So that's where I'm at now, ideating how it might work. Good things happen, I've found, when you throw ideas out there.
PROLOGUE
“If you want a different outcome than you're used to you should try something different.” — seen on Twitter
UNORDINARY
Inspiration, motivation, a kick in the seat of the pants: Take your pick or add your own. Navasota (Texas) Intermediate principal/lead learner @techninjatodd has a way of making things happen. Hearing that he was doing another Educators Learning Series I couldn't help but sign on. His first challenge is about goals for the new year.
He suggests we identify #onelittleword that expresses what we will try to do this year. Mine is #unordinary.
Adopt an unordinary approach for your PD
PROLOGUE
“For everything there is a season..” — Eccliastes 3:1
SOW
Here's an idea that I think will lead to fruition. Explaining the instructional design process to others can be challenging at times. Visuals can help make selling ideas and strategies easier.
Freytag's Pyramid offers a way to diagram stories. Modified just a little bit I think it offers instructional designers an appealing easy to understand way of presenting spaced learning strategies to customers.
I tried it out in a meeting last night. It seemed to take. The conversation afterwards moved towards “What ifs” from “And then”. Good thing?
PROLOGUE
What’s the key to Kaizen? A: No door to put it in.
Engagement problems? Lose the door.
KAIZEN
My 2015 goal is to be un-ordinary. I have to change how I share: more effort on relationships, inviting tinkering to make ideas tangible.
I spent most of the ’80s and ’90s working with companies like Intel and Motorola. Each had their own version of Kaizen, a continuous improvement methodology. It has to involve everyone in an organization to have a chance at success now and in the future.
Intel did it right, at least in part, because there were so few office doors. It’s open-door culture was vital. Dave Marsing, then Intel’s New Mexico site director taught my Intel Culture class. Andy Grove, then CEO, taught my wife’s class. Who taught yours?
EPILOGUE
Having engagement problems across an organization? Bridge the chasm by opening doors.
Puzzling Mix 