Ewan McIntosh | Digital Media & Education

BLC08: Thinking Out Of The x(Box) update

On Monday I helped kick off the Pre-Conference workshops at Alan November's Building Learning Communities week in Boston, with a four-hour workshop on using video games, text-based games, alternate reality games and consoles as a stimulus for creative writing, art, design and the sciences. The updated notes from Thinking Out Of The x(Box) are now available.

I was ably assisted from 6000 miles away by a Skyping Tom Barrett, who shared his experiences having just come off a four week Myst writing project. His use of one-to-one laptops and Google Docs to coordinate collaboration was interesting, especially since the group back in Boston shared my initial view that 30 laptops in a classroom would have killed the energy visible in Tim Rylands' class. The jury's out (permanently perhaps), and Tom's Google Doc work shows that great things are possible either way.

The updated notes for the session (minus the ARG stuff - that deserves a post on its own, to come soon) are available now, including some of the amazing Guitar Hero work done by Ollie and colleagues at MGS and the Nintendogs project that covered a term last year in Aberdeenshire. Enjoy and, if you decide to set out on an adventure with games in your classroom, please do tell me about it here.

(Not) coping with cognitive overload

In Greenville last week Chris Craft led one of the best presentations I've ever been in on (it was about how to present effectively, so had an interest in being top of the game). His work on cognitive load theory is, this week at NECC, striking a chord with me. There's. Too. Much. Noise.

I mean noise in the physical sense and in this metaphorical one. At EduBloggerCon conversations were cut down in their prime as people moved on to other, in my case, less engaging ones. In the Bloggers' Café conversations are fantastic but interrupted with urgent meetings or "you gotta see this"s or just someone having loud fun two feet away.

My cognitive load is constantly tipping over into extraneous. Let Chris's talk explain:

Intrinsic load is the natural load required to complete a task. It can be easy sometimes (driving from home to school) or heavy on others (being an air traffic controller), but we can be trained to cope with it.

The Germane level of load is the optimum level we can cope with, where we maximise the load we are under. In lessons and projects we can feel that Germane load as 'flow', where everything's going in our favour, and then...

Extraneous load comes along, where we all go wrong, especially when we are communicating information in, say, a presentation. It's when, mid flow, the grass starts getting cut outside. Or when someone has to leave a meeting early.

Overload occurs here. The person who missed the earlier part of the meeting, or left early, or the sensation that someone is talking at you when you're in deep conversation with another person opposite, or the kid who doesn't understand where you're at, who isn't with you because they didn't understand the initial point of the project...

When they reach that breaking point they default, they default to the only reaction that's available. They default to an old familiar way, an automatic behaviour, a kind of behaviour where we immediately kick ourselves and ask: "Why on earth did I say that? Where on earth did that come from?"

This is what has been happening to me for the past two days. I've become someone I hate: snarky, off-task, unproductive, unthinking. I've started caring about whether people are streaming video around me where I never did before (I can't have a chat in confidence without 40 people in cyberspace listening in - just happened). Worst of all, I'm finding that without my usual 'white space' or 'beta time' to think, I have nothing to say to people. I have no ideas for the article on the state of social media in education that was due on Friday, that I want to get finished for tomorrow.

I feel like the glass that's got water gushing into it from the tap - despite all that water this particular glass  is always going to be half empty when the tap eventually turns off. Most of the input will have fallen off down the drain.

So what is an unconference?

After earlier snarks, maybe I should explain. It's watching this, this and this, experiencing this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this. It's not having someone cut your conversation short because another session is about to start.

Edubloggercon's not an unconference: here's why

Me, taking the 'mic' out of a conference-y intervention from Pearson at the unconference. Urgh. Pic: Will.

Within five minutes of arriving at Edubloggercon I've heard nothing innovative, I've had an advertisement from Pearson (surely the anti-Christ of unconferencing) who are here to make recordings of these incredibly innovative teachers for their own R&D. I'm just hoping that someone got a whole wad of cash from them to do that.

I've always been narked by the affirmation that Edubloggercon was the first unconference of its kind, when clearly we've been doing them since 2005 in Scotland. But it's not even that. I've shared what makes an unconference great before, but here are the cardinal rules that I think we're missing in San Antonio today:

• Voting on sessions
  The physical space should try to respect the online space: there are no limits on time or space, so just hold all of the sessions, let people choose.
• There is no time limit
  Sessions which are strung out to an hour where 7 minutes would have done, or which last an hour when three would have been better... that's a conference. Unconferences should know no limits.
• Advertising
  No-one gets to advertise, even if they did give you a load of cash. They don't even have the right to present unless it's about stuff going on in classrooms here and now.
• Rows
  We don't do rows. Round tables, no tables. People need to circulate easily, which precludes rows and trying to hop over Sheryl Nussaum-Beach's flowing robes ;-)
• Free beer
  Pearson should've paid for that. Well, we should have started off with some muffins and coffee, paid for by them.
• Get it started without anything conference-y.
  Within no more than five minutes we should be hearing from someone's innovation. The people need to speak. Don't make us wait 43 minutes to go through admin.

Get yourself 2 2gether

If I weren't 7,000 miles away I'd be in London on July 2-3 for 2gether08, and recommend that you get yourself there asap if you can to take part in the social innovation conference of the year.

2gether is a unique new festival ideas, popular technologies and social progress, with the inaugural Festival taking place in Shoreditch in East London. There's a superb lineup of talks and panel discussions, with an opportunity to participate in ideas pitching, and a chance to experience some great film and music.

The main sponsor is Channel 4 and the RSA are partnering in its development alongside Unltd, Involve and creative networking champs Chinwag. 2gether will to bring together creatives, technologists and champions of change to focus on how we can all innovate to promote social progress, well being and sustainability.

It's not a freebee, for once, but the lineup makes the ticket more than worthwhile. You can see what you're missing, too, if you're not feeling so flush this summer.

McKerouac - A Month Stateside

It takes about two days, really, to get door-to-door from Edinburgh to anywhere in the States, so one might as well make as much of an invitation Stateside as one can.

Thanks to an initial generous invite to keynote Alan November's Boston-based Building Learning Communities (now sold out and with a long waiting list) later in July, and a tentative word-of-mouth twit/blog/email digital breadcrumb trail, I've been able to set up a month of events, conferences and research in the USA, with the total cost the Scottish taxpayer amounting to no more than about four nights in a hotel. A fair return on investment, I hope, from the following activities:

June 25th: Greenville, South Carolina
Contact me: Drury Inn Suites
I'll be keynoting the Upstate Technology Conference on some of the Participation Culture work I've been doing, and providing a few workshops on gaming, pro podcasting and exploiting digital images for learning. I'm really looking forward to meeting an increasing number of SC educators who have come out of the Twitter woodwork and blogosphere these past few months to virtually greet me. I'll also be thrilled to kick off one of about three rencontres this month with David Jakes, who I've not yet had the pleasure of hearing doing his thing.

June 27th: Arrival in San Antonio, Texas
June 28th: EdubloggerCon, San Antonio, Texas
Contact me: Hilton Palacio del Rio
Two things. First of all, I'm wondering with my 'spare' night in San Antonio whether Mr McLeod is anywhere nearby - or would like to be - for a reenactment of our Malt and Hops sesh last February. Secondly, I'm hoping to share some impromptu thoughts and, above all, I want to really get to the bottom of where US education is at in 2008. With every blog post from the States, I have to say, the virtual heads hang a little lower, a little more frustrated with a perceived lack of interest, progress or time and money to do things right. This is not the case in some other countries I've been fortunate to visit recently, including India, Slovenia, New Zealand or Holland; I'd love to understand why the States seem to be at a crunch point, see whether, in fact, they are, and, importantly, what might be done to reverse that. This group of educators is probably the best placed to look reflectively on a touchy issue. Hopefully some of them won't mind giving their rundown to camera.

June 29th-July 2nd: NECC, San Antonio, Texas
Contact me: San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk
I've ended up swinging a mini panel gig at this, thanks to the generosity of Uncles Will and Jakes. It's on the potential of video streaming for learning, for professional development, for, I dare say, entertainment.
For this week I'll be blogging primarily over at Connected Live, and hopefully updating with some video. LTS colleague Andy Pendry, currently working as the Technology Adviser for Glow, Scotland's national intranet, somehow managed to wangle a ticket and will be there, too, along with some BBC Scotland colleagues. I'll attempt to record a few wags of chin with them.

July 3rd-6th: Burbank, California
Contact me: Safari Inn, Burbank
The foothills of LA will be my home for a few nights as I finish off an eight-part video podcast production for learners of Spanish back in Europe. It's going to be launched on the MFLE later this summer, providing something a bit more attractive to an audience of teens back home, showing what Mexicana teens in the San Fernando Valley get up to, the strains they have with the older generations and the pressures they face in their day-to-day life in this huge City of Angels.
The (young) production company, Alas Media, is one that was a twinkle in our eye last summer as I canoed with Marco Torres' proteges Rosa and Miguel, trying to convince them that starting their own company would be a lot more exciting at their age than following the more traditional routes university was leading them down. Hopefully, what's turned out this past year has confirmed that for them. I'm just looking forward to spending July 4th eating Mexican, if I can find a home that'll take me in :-)

July 6th-July 10th: New York City, New York
Mrs Edublogger and Mc Mini will be joining me in New York for some (required) holiday vacation. Any ideas what we should see and do? So much to choose from, and we don't want to shatter ourselves. In fact, is it possible just to chill in the Big Apple?

July 10th-July 22nd: Boston, Mass.
Contact me (from July 14): Newton Marriott
Heading back up to Boston for more hols, with a few days near Harvard Yard before taking the T-line to Newton for the Building Learning Communities conference that kicked this itinerary off in the first place.
I'll be running a pre-conference workshop which still has a few places left if you're quick: come and enjoy taking some time in what gaming culture can bring to learning in the classroom and at home.

Come the opening day of the conference proper, I'll be a tad nervy as I deliver my keynote, It's Not All Native Wit, trying to get to the bottom of what makes some education systems 'good' and others less good. The title comes from the slight annoyance I've had over the years when demo-ing ideas for the classroom: "It's alright for him, he's young/a guy/a geek/got more time than I do/hasn't got kids of his own/can't sleep at all (delete as applicable)". For me, it's nothing to do with possessing some kind of pedagogical super powers or working a longer day than anyone else. I haven't and I don't. This talk will hopefully get to the bottom of what can make teachers even more remarkable beings than they currently are. I don't know what the reaction will be to a talk based on an annoyance, but this, after all, is where most innovation comes from: a problem or challenge that needs a quick, cheap long-lasting solution. I'm hoping this won't be any different. I'll let you know in a month...

Other sessions include more digital image work, a keynote follow-up and an appraisal of the trials and tribulations of this past year, trying to get more Local Authorities to follow East Lothian's example, and empower their staff (or make the staff feel empowered) to get online and share.

If you're around in any of these locations over the next month, do get in touch. I can't guarantee to be able to have a beer with everyone, though I don't mind trying. Above all, if you have places I need to eat, local foods and drinks I need to sample, or locations I have to visit, leave them in the comments here.

Pics: Greenville hills  |  San Antonio Riverwalk  |  Burbank LA  |  New York  |  Boston

Technology, design and the net: seeking inspirational stories from around Scotland

I've been given one hour each day at the Scottish Learning Festival (tag: SLF2008) to host some of the most inspiring stories from the past year that showcase an emphasis on technology and/or design. I'll be working the floor as usual to pull in as big a crowd as possible to hear your story, and chat with you afterwards about how they might replicate some of those ideas, too. The challenge: where are you?

• Some of the ideas that have already been put forward involve mashing up technologies such as GPS, mobile telephones, Google Earth, Twitter.
• I'd love to hear more stories about mobile devices being put to good use;
• Is anyone introducing programme to students in novel ways (with Robosapiens or Scratch, for example), anyone using robots, Beebots or Lego's Robotechnology?
• I'd also be really keen to hear from schools that are going green in curious ways.
• Are you a technology and design group who've been creating interesting structures in their workshops.

Ideally, I want the area to be packed with flip chart poster explanations of projects, prototypes, half-finished wonders, interesting concepts mapped out, but which might never make it off the drawing board.

The emphasis is not on being web-based - far from it. I'd love to have an hour where those listening can feel and touch technology in action, so any ideas that are out of the metaphorical box would be most welcome. Leave a comment here or get in touch via email if you have a suggestion, and we can worry later about practicalities of getting you or your materials to Glasgow in September. Please also forward the blog post address to any of your colleagues, staff mailing lists or interest groups.

Pic: I think my pencil's drifted

Scottish Learning Festival 2008 - free booking open

If you like what you hear on this blog, you'll probably be in learning heaven at the Scottish Learning Festival, a free two-day event hosted by us, Learning and Teaching Scotland, at Glasgow's monumental SECC at the end of September. From today, you can book your free place (thanks to them) and choose your seminars.

I'll be offering two seminars, one on each day, and would love to see you there. The first is looking at digital images and computer games as a source of inspiration and motivation for creative writing and speaking, a stimulus for international projects, such as eTwinning or UKIERI programmes. The second is designed to give all teachers, from newbies to information-overloaded net aficionados, mechanisms to develop effective personal professional development networks.

There are tonnes of other seminars on every aspect of education, from gaming to formative assessment, Web 2.0 to curriculum 101. I'll also be hosting some inspiring stories in the Discovery Hour in the main exhibition hall, lunchtimes each day. Don't forget your free invite to the most compelling CPD of the year, at TeachMeet08 @ SLF. Start booking your seminars up by adding them to your basket on the SLF2008 site.

Brain Gym: Was I being flippant, Part II

Last year in my keynote at ULearn07 in Auckland I criticised Brain Gym based on some small-scale research findings of a colleague, and a fair amount of reading into a technique which seemed to have no research base to back it up. All of this was started with an initial awareness of its problems from Digital Katie and David Colarusso. They were trying to find out how many public bucks had been spent on the 'boosting brain  power' programme in schools which seemed to have no reasoning behind its miracle claims.

It's a post from Quality Improvement Officer Gordon McKinlay which highlights this latest research which, pretty categorically, debunks the Brain Gym myth. One worth sharing with staff, no matter how much they protect the apparent wonder effects of the programme. See Jeremy Paxman and colleagues take it to bits in this Newsnight excerpt:

RebootX - too late in June for me :-(

  Who's in charge? 
  Originally uploaded by Edublogger

I was gutted to receive an email from Thomas Madsen-Mygdal this morning which lets us know that RebootX will be held on June 26-27 in Copenhagen, and not in early June as had been previously suggested.

I'm gutted on so many levels not to be able to make it this year, having agreed a fairly hectic summer schedule in the States. However, I'm hoping that one or two colleagues from LTS will head along to one of the best (the best?) events that I've had the privilege of attending and speaking at. Why's it so good? Because, for me, it's the perfect unconference conference.