Here at the Conference on College Composition and Communication I’ve been talking to various publishing companies and the publishers are beginning to rethink their text book and learning management system models. I’ve used different text books for both high school and college over the last decade and come to realize a few things. Some of which I envision has come from my discussion with others, but the first thing we need to do is stop thinking in terms of pages and chapters. Books… (erg, I don’t think we can even call it that anymore. What do we call it? Modules? Ok, modules for now…) modules now need to be not only more organic but also more parsable. For example, I’ve never used an entire researcher/textbook/guide for any class I have taught. The current researcher I use, The Wadsworth Guide to Research by Miller-Cochran and Rodrigo, includes sections on APA or CSE but I don’t teach those styles (now I realize if the student owns the entire researcher and eventually takes a social science course, then that chapter on APA is really important to them). I am required to “use” a reader in my AP courses albeit do you think we use the entire thing? Straight through? No.

For years there’s been discussion of an la carte model for television so why not for modules, too. The argument is always money. We sell what they do need with what they do not need.

I’ve talked to two different publisher’s sales people in the last 24 hours about tagging. Why can’t we move to an electronic model where the instructor chooses which modules they will use in their classes? The whole (paper) book version will be an optional purchase for the student while the electronic modules will be available via laptop, ereader, etc… Rather than simply a taxonomical index, the student will use a tagging system (folksonomy) that includes a predictive text and suggestions to other sections or modules. (This could include suggesting modules the students probably really need, rather than where the end up.)

The next most important notion in terms of tags is self-tagging, or the ability for the student user to be able to add their own tags. I’ve seen this in Google where they let users play “games” by tagging images, which they then include for all users. By making that a game, it encourages people to add to the collective intelligence of the product. Now, if we can do this through publishers with the self-tagging system and then also include those tags back in the main server (student and faculty users can them moderate the tags for nefarious additions, much like Wikipedia does) then the publishers module databases become more robust without anymore money spent by the publishers.

Some publishers will tell you that they like the idea of self-tagging but only through a collection of module elements in a “personal student notebook space”. But doesn’t this defeat the purpose? The users can (and will), much like Wikipedia, manage the folksonomy themselves. My colleague calls this new module based system “project” rather than “book”. We first need to remove the idea of starting with the book and then parsing it out. We need to think away from the formalized, traditional book. We need to think of the module system of a system, but we also need to continue the discussions we’ve started with the publishing reps to help them envision this new learning paradigm.

Consider the information in the video above. What is the purpose behind the video? If we define the video in terms of the rhetorical situation, there’s certain analysis that is evident albeit if I then explain to you that it’s an advertisement for a paper book, how does that change your consideration for the above video?

Comments?

In 2005 my daughter, Claire, was born and I videotaped my parents meeting her at the airport for the first time. I exported that video to an external hard drive that proceeded to crash and burn. I lost the video. I lost everything. You cannot replicate that sort of thing. I needed the cloud. I recently talked to a photographer friend who suggested that Flickr is my cloud repository for photos, but I need something for all sorts of files. I checked out DropBox, but didn’t like the pay scale. I considered Mozy or something like that, but still, not what I needed.

And then today. Tonight, I saw the follow Tweet. “Google Lets Users Store More Files Online – NYTimes.com http://bit.ly/6isWSp” from Traci Gardner . I immediately clicked on it and was thrilled. The title reads “Google Lets Users Store More Files Online”. Google’s mythological GDrive that’s been floating around the ‘nets since 2006 is coming true. For free, 1g has been added to your Google account now to upload any type of file with a maximum of 250mb per file (sorry videographers). This storage, your Picasa storage, and Gmail storage will equal close to 10G for free. You want more? I know I do! It’s $0.25 a gig annually. That means for $40 a year I can back up my entire hard drive, and for me that rocks!

It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty damn cool. You access everything through Google Docs, which for me is just ok. I’d like to see a file structure similar to a gui in Windows or OSX, but that’s because that’s the design with which we’re all familiar. I’d like to be able to set some files (or even folders) to nonsearchable (i.e. I know they are there, but they don’t show up in my everyday file searches… like archives that I need to keep. For example, grade sheets I will never need unless a student contests something).

DropBox seems to be a biggie right now, and wouldn’t it be cool for the Google API to offer something similar between GDocs and your desktop (I can see the arguments against this right now with the cloud, netbooks, tablet PCs, mobiles, etc… why bother with files locally?) My thought here is I want to sync my new GDisk directly to external hard drives (yes, I keep THREE now as backups). Talk about redundantly important. I don’t think we need (internal) computer hard drives that match or are larger than our personal cloud storage or external hard drive backups, but why can’t the netbook/laptop/tablet act as a funnel between the cloud and external backup drives? I bet they can! (Disclaimer: I am not a coder, but I bet one can comment below and tell me if: 1) this is a pipe dream or 2) this is already being done (provide me a link!)

A few other notes I saw when researching the GDisk include a YouTube sync that includes, for example, a button “Do you like this video? Save it to your GDisk now!” Google doesn’t necessarily need to make another copy of the file, but it can give you, the user, access to that same file. The same with uploading music. If the song already exists, give us access to that file rather than wasting some of our storage space by uploading another copy of that file? One user on the Google blog even mentioned, and I paraphrase, “If I upload my whole iTunes library, then I’ll have my personal streaming music anywhere I have internet!”.

And I leave you with “I want my GDisk!” (sung in Sting’s Voice from 1981.)

Your thoughts? Leave a comment!

Suddenly it was November and I was home with my kid. It was a Saturday afternoon and the tweet feed exploded. Suddenly all my friends were talking about this phenomenal conference in Phoenix, and I was jealous. Why wasn’t I there? By dinner time I was itching to get out of the house, and people began to converge on Chino Bandido’s in Chandler. I told the wife to watch the kid, I was going out. I got there, checked in on Brightkite (as I do anytime I go anywhere) and waited for my few friends to show up. Suddenly my phone began to beep. Other people were checking in. People came into the restaurant in droves. They looked like me. Acted like me. I didn’t know them.

Suddenly what I thought was a small geek community in Phoenix was much much larger. I also realized that this PodCampAZ thing was for real, and I was missing it.

By Sunday morning I was at PodCampAZ, in my new, cool t-shirt and ready to rock ‘n roll. I spent a great day with all of these people, and quickly registered for PodCampAZ 2009. Next up was the call for presenters. What did I want to say? I had to say something? Why just sit there and not share? Something. Anything.
I found new ways this year to contact parents and communicate through the high school community as a teacher who is obsessed with technology, but as a parent I knew too few teachers thought like I did. Therefore, my market was both. Here’s Devon the teacher. Here’s Devon the parent. Which are you? Come find out. My proposal was accepted and I even get to present on my birthday! Woohoo! I am ok with that, since I’ve done it before in a former life.

So here are the basics for the conference, and I hope you can join us. It’s free. The only pre-req is to have fun, and if you have something to say, well then say it. I will see you there. Come say hello.

PodCampAZ is at the University of Advancing Technology on Baseline Road (just past Fry’s Electronics for all of us geeks out there). It’s next week November 14 & 15 (wow, I will be 35. Odd.) Some of the people will include YOU (yeah, you). … and New media innovators, enthusiasts, participants, and newbies who are interested the role of the internet in interactive communication. It really is two crazy cool days of learning, sharing, and people meeting. And Phoenix metro is gorgeous in November. An the coolest part is, it’s free!!! Totally free. But you could buy a t-shirt and support @podcampaz for years to come.

So here’s the skinny from my buddies around the valley who wrote the media kit for this event:

It’s that time of year again – PodCamp AZ is coming to the University of Advancing Technology November 14th and 15th! PodCampAZ is a FREE networking media unconference, dedicated to blogging, video blogging, podcasting, social networking, and all other relevant media. At the heart of the unconference is the opportunity to have a conversation at large with those innovators which have created a successful blend of relevant media and put it to work for them. Speakers will address emerging trends and best practices on everything from print and radio to mobile, interactive web, and in real life information exchange. During PodCamp sessions, attendees are free to drop in, listen and learn about what is relevant to their needs, and if they choose to, move on to other sessions. You can also become an interactive part of the experience by sharing your knowledge as a speaker or stimulating ideas and asking questions as an active attendee.

If you are an established or aspiring blogger, podcaster, video blogger, or social media advocote and want to meet hundreds of people with the same interests, head over to podcampaz.org to get more information about this exciting event. And above all else, register to attend PodCamp AZ!

Other Links and Topics
If you want to go beyond the basic information, there are several areas that we currently focused on developing. We’d love you forever if you picked one or two to highlight in your article/cast to help us spread the word.

• Sponsorship – We are actively seeking sponsors for everything from rooms to metals to after-parties. Find information about sponsor levels and contact Paul Valach sponsors@podcampaz.org.
• Speakers – We have an awesome speaker lineup already, and are still taking submissions, but only through Saturday. The schedule gets published Monday! If you have questions, contact Sheila Dee and Lawrence Riddick at greenroom@podcampaz.org.
• PodCast AZ – Every year we have live podcasting throughout the entire session. Contact Dani Cutler and Dan and CJ Feierabend at onair@podcampaz.org to get on the airwaves.
• Volunteers – We’ll need a small army of people to help on event days. We might even have some cool swag for you, like a t-shirt and other unidentified stuff. If you want to march in our army, contact Crystal O’Hara at volunteer@podcampaz.org.
• Tees – We have 600 t-shirts to give to registered attendees, and over 500 people are already registered. If you want in on the goodness, get registered.
• This year, there will also be a monitored Help Desk area to handle your issues as they arise.

Registration
Registration is open. Please make sure you link to the registration page. The event is free to attend, but not free to put together, so we have a pre-registration and donation option.

Graphics
For all your official PCAZ 2009 graphics desires, see our digital swag.

And one two last things…

1. We’ve created an awesome overlay for your Twitter avatar. Add it, or we’ll sic Chuck’s Chihuahua on you!
2. We’ve got Facebook flair to flair your profile and send to friends. (Include images on blog post.)

   http://apps.facebook.com/getflair/viewflair.php?id=11386354&ts=profmain
   http://apps.facebook.com/getflair/viewflair.php?id=11385790&ts=profmain

   http://apps.facebook.com/getflair/viewflair.php?id=11386354&ts=profmain

So will I see you there????

In the late fall semester of 2008 we encouraged the students to move towards an online official lexicon of PJ’s first two Softwire books and his online video game. I was able to procure an advanced copy of the third book at NCTE in November and used it to bribe the students into working faster and more efficiently. By Christmas they had a large chunk of text in the wiki, edited and put together. Two students stood out beyond the others as the shining stars for this project.

Jim’s goal was to present the wiki as a “premier” by the end of the spring semester at ASU. That was tonight. Tonight Jim invited Kerri Mathew, me, PJ, several of my students, Book Babe, media, professors and others to join him in discussing a summer project PJ and his good friend Nathan Fillion of Firefly/Serenity fame are producing, briefly introducing book #4 of The Softwire Series, and then a conglomerate of social media meets literature project of PJ’s.

I spoke at length in this showcase about the wiki, collective intelligence, social media in traditional pedagogical settings, and what the kids accomplished. Two of the students discussed some as well about their role in everything and how they put it all together. PJ explained what he wanted us to still accomplish, and then Jim presented me with consent forms from the publishers who want to publish the lexicon text in the back of the third book’s paperback form. The student and I are very excited about this, and I’ve discussed briefly with Jim how he can showcase some of this at AETA this fall at ASU and my plans to begin to write up and publish my side of this experience.

After a photo shoot and interviews with press and the media manage at ASU’s decision theatre, I headed home. Now the wiki isn’t public yet, but we will be discussing that move shortly between me, PJ and Jim. As for now, I am waiting to get my hands on the manuscript for book #4 this summer.

Did Google Doc fail today, or did a link path break?

Now, I think I have a solution. Too many people don’t realize that there are so many EASY ways to get to certain Google places. Want mail? Try google.com/mail. Want calendar? Try google.com/calendar. Want scholar? Try google.com/scholar. Want voice? Try google.com/voice. Want docs? Try… you betcha… google.com/docs. Now when I try this, I am in like slim. The file is up on my machine in nanoseconds. Kiddies are going to gmail, click on email that notifies them that I shared something with them (cause, they won’t look if I don’t tell them it’s there!), and then the path is messed up. Bummer. So yes, something is messed up today, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a very little error for such a ginormous company that does a pretty good job of running the world.

My response is 1) you shoulda not procrastinated. Your procrastination does not constitute a problem in my life. 2) there are 90 kids in my AP and several sections of Crabtree’s. I bet one of the over achievers downloaded the file weeks ago. This is what Google Groups is for (and I bet you know the URL for that one). Ask away. 3) be creative and try to figure it out. And by the way, in case it does work, here’s the BHS direct URL to the assignment.

Update two hours later…: Here’s an update after two hours of talking to students, colleagues, and researching online (just what I want to do on a Sunday!). The problem is NOT Google. It IS Microsoft. No one who has been using Firefox has any problem whatsoever. Every single person using IE cannot get to Google Docs. Microsoft sucks. Not Google.

So your solution is: Install a real browser like Firefox and proceed.

I use a free Web 2.0 app called Brightkite, which is essentially a website where you log your location. Yes, you tell the Internet where you are. Many people think this is creepy, and, yes, I have annoyed my followers when tweeting that I am here or there or home (to the point where Alan once tweeted back that he was in an airport, on the north side of the terminal, three seats from an 80yr old with blue hair… or something like that), but I like checking in. As with all good Web 2.0 apps, there’s a social side. So I checked in at bowling last week, and when using BrightKite if you and someone else check in at the same place, you can private message each other, send photos, etc… Well, a message popped up and said “Are you Devon from McClintock from like 6 years ago? It’s me XXX. I haven’t talked to you in ages!” Well, turns out a former colleague and I were in the same bowling alley and reconnected after all of this time. It’s not that I didn’t want him to find me (damn, just Google “Devon Christopher Adams” and read the pages), so it was cool to reconnect.

Then today something really made me excited. Recently I’ve been learning how cool Flickr is to search for images on ANYTHING you want! Anything. (Disclaimer: Some content is NOT PG, but you get a very large warning message first.) Donna and I have been talking about camping this weekend with Claire and Dante, the dog. I’d run Flickr image searches on several campgrounds that sound promising, and I like to use Flickr to do this because the community are people like me who take “real” photos rather than some boring picture taken by a Park Ranger who doesn’t care that I want to see shots of the fire ring, the shade trees, the ground consistency, etc… So, I’d been looking for stuff on Burnt Corral Campground along Apache Lake but nothing has ever come up, so I’ve been hesitant. Finally, today I search again. Now mind you, it’s March 18, 2009. Suddenly, in Flickr, “Burnt Corral” popped up with a note from “Hartono D” that said he and friends took their kids camping there the week or March 17, 2009. This means, they were in the VERY campsite YESTERDAY where I want to go! Claire, Donna and I immediately flipped through his photos and agreed that we are eager to give it a shot.

Without BrightKite, I wouldn’t've hooked up with Ty. Without Flickr (and all of us using it!) I may not have settled on going to this camp ground.

The future of education in technology is a virtual, non-corporeal space outside the walls of the traditional classroom. An organic, paperless global space of bits and bytes far from limited walls, limited censors, limited minds, limited cultures where the censor of knowledge doesn’t exist. Knowledge can’t be chunked into school periods from discipline to discipline. Learning has to be organic, asynchronous and synchronous simultaneously. Students should take classes based on needs and interests rather than someone dictating their learning based on what they need in order to get a piece of paper. Locale is no longer important. You could be in the same class when ANYONE demographically. ANYONE, and you would not know them physically. That doesn’t matter now. Avatars represent people however they want to be represented. Individuals CHOOSE who and what they are. They CHOOSE how they learn, what they learn. Learning now needs to be equally accessible and cross-disciplinary with the knowledge of experts who team teach what they know. Educators need to be moderators, facilitators who are flexible within their specific tool sets, and understand that we, as educators, are learners, too. We learn from our students as much as they learn from us.

Teachers are limited by (some) administrators who have been ingrained with the sorts of curriculum coming out of the late 80s, and IT departments who fear their jobs and the security of what we want them to do (Note: If you’re in IT and reading this blog, you’re obviously not that kind of IT person.) In our districts we need continuity and access. When I was in Tempe Union High School District I was given a laptop and administrator access to that computer. When I came to work I plugged it into the network and that was that. In my current district I have no legal access to mostly anything, although when I got this job we technically weren’t even allowed to use USB drives in the computers. No matter how innovative my district is, they limit us and our students. We need more access and trust. We’re not going to break anything. Teachers need symposiums on a yearly basis, where faculty can showcase their technology uses from their classes. Administrators, district and officials need to attend. Learn from Teacher 2.0 and give us flexibility and freedom to create the ideal classroom 2.0 for our 2.0 students. And what is this concept of Student 2.0 or Classroom 2.0?

Well, first of all let me be clear that we cannot have a 2.0 classroom run by 1.0 teachers. I am Teacher 2.0. If you’re here you are, too. Or at least, if you’ve read this far, you at least care enough to maybe want to be. One of the biggest concepts to review is HOW students are taught. We can no longer allow teaching in get in the way of learning. Our schools need to foster the culture that matches the tech innovations of the 21st century, and stop the teacher-centered dichotomy of the last century. School 2.0 infuses the learner-centered concept and every level, and these students are real people with minds learning and teaching teachers –not just statistics, numbers, and state funding. We need to change every thing.

Teacher 2.0 needs to move beyond Classroom 1.0, and I realize that this concept of Classroom 2.0 is relatively ambiguous (but aren’t all concepts at first?) We need MEANING in learning. If the curriculum isn’t meaningful, then forget it. We can’t teach to a set of “standards” from those who don’t know. My colleague’s on a review board of the AZ Language Arts standards, and I trust her, but she’s one person. And she’s not Teacher 2.0. Maybe don’t look for experienced teachers (those who’ve been in education for years). Pick up some people who think outside the traditional brick and mortar segmented cubicled classrooms of compartmentalized education.

Teacher 2.0 needs to rethink what it means to teach. Classroom 1.0 does not teach our students. Classroom 2.0 is learner-centered learning, and, frankly, our schools aren’t. We, Teacher 2.0, cannot adopt the awful practices of Classroom 1.0. We cannot adapt Classroom 1.0. We must begin fresh. No longer can the curriculum dictate the learning. Student 2.0 needs to negotiate their learning, while their 2.0 teacher should be facilitator. Teachers are NOT the keeper of the knowledge, and we as Teacher 2.0 need to know that learning is everywhere –not just online or offline. Everywhere. Effective learning is satisfactory and Student 2.0 is excited over the meaning of knowledge and the expertise of gaining new skill sets. Teacher 2.0 understands the concept of collaborative learning and collective intelligence instead of Classroom 1.0’s emphasis on standardized individual testing.

In Classroom 2.0 students are excited about making meaning from new learning and negotiating a community of learners. Student 2.0 learns to learn rather than being dictated that the textbook learning is holy writ. They negotiate their learning as equals with Teacher 2.0, who does not set fixed curriculum finalized by arbitrary testing. They negotiate the subjects, their education, their scholarship. Without meaning and with forced unexplaination by Teacher 1.0, Student 2.0 festers in their rowed seats.

The 21st century skills initiative calls for the preparation of Student 2.0 for the global economy. Synchronous and asynchronous relationships need to occur between the global 2.0 student whose Teacher 2.0 teaches them to navigate and evaluate the petabytes of information available to them worldwide. We need to prepare them to contribute to the global collective intelligence through an evaluation and contribution to multi-modal multi-media video, audio, textual, and image information which they then consume, rework, and regurgitate for another skill sets consumption. Student 2.0 needs to be innovative global thinkers who are provided with opportunities to tackle and challenge their world communities.

From my syntactical structure above my flip-flop of responsibility is purposeful because Classroom 2.0 is not a traditional space where we, as teachers, enter our classrooms in the summer to prepare OUR classroom. Friends, this is NOT OUR CLASSROOM. The classroom does not belong to the teacher. The classroom space belongs to all of us. You AND your students. They are Student 2.0. They NEED Classroom 2.0. Are you Teacher 1.0 or are YOU Teacher 2.0?

Some of the thoughts above were adapted, in part, from Albert Ip (2006) and Liz B. Davis (2008).