I am a big fan of tablets, but not of the iPad for a couple of reasons – first of all, I am a PC user (always have been) and have not been part of the Apple family and so I find the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac family to be very foreign and I am […]
Continue reading I am a big fan of tablets, but not of th… Posted in: Uncategorized
bcourey
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bcourey
Living in the Cloud
I am taking my 7th MET course currently and plan to complete the program by August 2012 (fingers crossed).  I have enjoyed the cloud applications despite the concerns about privacy and security.  I worry about their use for students, especially younger students, but personally I don’t  post anything that I consider private or threatening to […]
Continue reading Living in the Cloud Posted in: Week 08: Files in the Cloud-
bcourey
One thing I forgot to add: Just a few years ago, I heard Will Richardson speak for the first time at a technology conference and he stated that if someone threw his laptop over a bridge, he would not be the slightest bit concerned because everything he created was in the cloud. That changed my thinking forever!
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Deb Giesbrecht
Interesting thought….if we are not concerned about privacy we are concerned about someone stealing/or loosing our laptops! I think he makes a valid point that all information he currently has is stored else where – hence a much lesser fear of loosing information.
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mcquaid
Brenda, I think you illustrate one of the biggest cons and one of the biggest pros of cloud computing: the security of not losing your files to a local disaster (fire, flood, toddler, etc.), but the anxiety of not having your files on your own machine. It’s a rather abstract thought, isn’t it? We can’t touch our files, either way, but, for some reason, we feel that they’re more in our possession when they’re just on a device or two at home or work, and somehow safer.
You mention your apprehension in using cloud-based programs with younger students. What are your specific, key concerns for them?
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bcourey
First the concern is about personal information that might be posted (eg Addresses, full name, phone number) when students haven’t had enough training about the dangers. Secondly, are they more vulnerable to predators if they are in the cloud as opposed to a closed server system? I do know that in our board, we are not allowed to use cloud applications if any information is confidential – the term “Homeland Security” aka US servers is bantered about our office regularly!
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mcquaid
Perhaps part of the problem with cloud computing is not so much that people are using it, but how they have to use it (forced to give personal info – a phone number, for example), or how they use it (Internet savvy / skills & “online smarts”). If developers could address this more, maybe it would be safer to work in the cloud, and people would also have fewer anxieties about it.
As a side note, any time someone mentions “Homeland Security”, I always think of this:
http://2media.nowpublic.net/images//21/08/2108e4e5c1b27b7f04d26b49e35e697d.jpg -
Jim
Here are a few other privacy related articles that talk about the implications to Canadians (or anyone really) of the Patriot Act in the USA:
and
http://www.tonybates.ca/2010/03/05/can-web-2-0-tools-be-legally-used-for-education-in-canada/
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jarvise
OK – this calls for a video clip:
http://youtu.be/Guwvwp0uSU8 (from the movie Zoolander)I’m using most of the same applications as Brenda (although still a facebook holdout – but have started on google+). I have also been using google docs exclusively for all of my word processing for the past couple of years. I don’t save anything on my computer anymore. My husband has recently become obsessed with icloud, and buys online comics from comixology. He has expressed concern that when you buy comics there, they are cloud stored, so he is worried that if they go out of business he wouldn’t have them anymore. I’m just glad he’s not piling up books anymore. I love the cloud. I trust the cloud. I encourage students to use the cloud. I am a cloud advocate.
Emily
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jenaca
Brenda, thanks for that information on Will Richardson, it’s amazing to think how much information we actually have in the “cloud”
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Deb Kim
Brenda,
Google Doc was great help when we did our group assignment, wasn’t it? 🙂
I haven’t used Evernote and DropBox, but it seems like they are becoming more widely used these days. I’ve seen my students using the DropBox to save their work as they tend to lose track of their work whenever they save it in the school server. For my students, these cloud apps are usually for personal use (as far as I’m concerned) so privacy and security are not huge issues that occur to me (though I’m a little worried). The apps also allow us to select whether we want to make our work public or private, so we can decide if we want to share our items and it assuages our concerns regarding security and privacy.Deb
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bcourey
Emerging Technology in Photography!
Saw this on Facebook today…very cool idea Panoramic Ball Camera
Continue reading Emerging Technology in Photography! Posted in: Blog Café-
mcquaid
That’s cool! A couple of minor things to work out (making it mountable and seams in images), but really cool nonetheless.
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bcourey
I have 2 very conflicting genres of reading materials in general – my preferred reading is fiction, although I have read my share of biographies and self-help books too – but I belong to 2 different book clubs and so my exposure to great fiction is a cherished distraction from work. Â But finding time to […]
Continue reading I have 2 very conflicting genres of read… Posted in: Week 06: eBooks -
bcourey
e-Books and Poolside!
I have had a Sony e-reader for 3 years now and I had quite a difficult decision to make when I purchased it – but the touch screen won me over (of course, others have that feature now!) Â I didn’t want a glare on the screen, I wanted to be able to copy and paste […]
Continue reading e-Books and Poolside! Posted in: Week 06: eBooks-
jenaca
Hey Brenda,
My story is quite similar to yours. I recently bought a Kobo, which was definitely a big step for me because I love real books-holding the book, turning the pages, the smell….I ended up buying a Kobo because I’m living over in Europe and it can be very expensive bringing books over for the weight and is especially difficult to find books that I am interested in reading. Needless to say, It is one of the best investments I have ever made! I use it all the time and bring it with me everywhere! I love how it is small it is and how I am able to access my email on it- I have not yet tried to ePub as I was told I have to be in Canada to do so. Hopefully I can try that soon:)
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Keisha Edwards-Hamilton
Brenda and Jenaca,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Your views are similar since you both wanted to take books with you to different parts of the worlds and the ebook saved you by providing a light weight option to store all of those books. This is an outstanding benefit of ebooks. They take up less space. You practically don’t need any space to store them. You don’t need a library or a room for them. You can store hundreds and thousands of ebooks in your computer and hence you can take them anywhere in the world with you.
Keisha
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Deb Kim
Brenda,
I absolutely agree with you that paper books take up so much space, especially when you want to carry them around. That’s why eBook works better. It should cost less eventually compared to buying books. We can also borrow books from library, but how many people would have time to go to the library to check out and return books? If you consider gas for driving to and from the library, it’d cost about the same as purchasing a eBook reader in the end.
I use my iPhone to read books and watch movies. It took a bit of time to get my eyes adjusted to the tiny screen, but I love it now since I’m used to the small screen and fonts. However, older people like my mom and dad didn’t like the experience watching movies or reading books on the iPhone because they couldn’t really read small fonts.
I recently canceled the order of a laptop that I purchased, so I want to buy an eBook reader instead. iPad may be a good idea too.
Any suggestions?Deb
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bcourey
Ventures in Education…why they fail?
I realize that this has nothing to do with the Emerging Markets Analysis conversations going on right now (or maybe it really does) but I do know that we are all digging into our Assignment # 1. Â I ran into this blog post through Twitter, from a colleague that I highly respect, and it is […]
Continue reading Ventures in Education…why they fail? Posted in: Blog Café-
Karen Jones
Wow! Excellent article, Brenda.
I think it is an interesting jumping off point from which to consider Assignment 3, and one that makes you question your own assumptions and motivations regarding educational ventures. It also strikes at the heart of why it is taking so long to change the traditional industrial approach to education, even in the face of a multitude of technological opportunities.
Like it! Thanks so much for sharing.
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jarvise
Hi Brenda,
That was great! I started reading it and thought “oh no, this looks long” but soon enough, I moved from skimming to reading. He makes some good points I never considered.
I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot (and discussing it with all my educator friends, whether they like it or not). I have been reaching a few conclusions. One is the fact that a lot of people who are buying for education (district or board level) are doing so on someone’s advice. Education seems to be an area where a couple of good anecdotal reports, backed by a pretty good product and some cash means an investment. A lot of times, the people making the buying decisions aren’t business people. They are education people. How do you get your product positioned to get considered? How do you create good buzz among educators with purchasing power? Maybe this author is right, and this is a market to avoid.
I came away from this article with another piece of concluding evidence. Targeting to a market that has students who are generally “screwed” (in his words) is a way to go. Being in an Aboriginal education situation, I have seen large expenditures be made on new programs or ideas, many of which do not last more than a few years. The risk I see with focusing on populations that are seeking a big change (this author points out the poor; I’ll extend that here to Aboriginal ed) is that if a positive change does not become evident in 3-4 years, often times they will move on to the next target. I’m not sure how that plays out for the entrepreneur, but major educational gains in such a short period seems unlikely.
Assignment 3 considerations are starting to wake me up at night, and my poor husband gets the glazed-over look when I start trying to engage him in the discussion.
Thanks for providing another ear…
Emily
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bcourey
Happy to be an ear Emily! Working in our central office, and watching some of the decision making about technology is a real eye-opener. Our IT department is part of a department called Corporate Services – headed by the business Superintendent. Most times, the purchases of hardware and software is done without a single consultation of the curriculum departments…it is based on costs and sales pitches with the focus on value for the dollar, not value for the learning. It amazes me! Another example of screwing those that need the most help is the Bring Your Own Device model – one that we are about to step into…how do we ensure equity for those who don’t have devices? I am having trouble getting the conversation on the table.
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David Vogt
I hadn’t seen this, Brenda – thanks!
I find most of what he says completely valid, but not necessarily relevant to all ventures. It’s worth reading this blog posting together with this weekend’s New York Times article on educational software that doesn’t deliver on its promises.
The point is, like almost every market, you can target people who are screwed and make money by screwing them even more (promise lots, but deliver little). The $100 laptop fad to poor countries was a great (incredibly expensive) example.
There are other ways of doing business, and our lamented friend Steve Jobs is one example there.
David
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jarvise
Hi David,
Great article as well. This supports my anecdotal evidence that educators buying learning technologies often do so based on anecdotal evidence. I wonder if this means that in order to effectively market to this, one should use word of mouth type of marketing. If people are not really evaluating something (scientifically speaking) before a purchase, then a key strategy might be to use social networking avenues for marketing. This feels like word of mouth. Alternately, positioning yourself and your product where there are lots of educators with buying power (conventions?).
Emily
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bcourey
Thanks for the article David! I will be showing that one at my office! Another example of how we can take pitches at face value, even though we all know that data can be skewed to say anything we need it to say – we often don’t take the time to investigate more thoroughly.
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bcourey
My flashback
As I am reading other posts, I am recalling long-forgotten games, not necessarily for me…my experience with games consists of Space Invaders (yes, that old) and Pong…but I do recall buying “educational” games for my kids, although the quality was definitely not that experienced today. Â I remember Mario Brothers – and yes, my kids learning […]
Continue reading My flashback Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning-
ifeoma
You are quite right about how reading other posts help you remember so many other games. Your post just reminded me of using Mavis beacon to learn touch typing. What made interesting for me was the way the practice tests were designed like games. I must say that it was an added incentive for me to learn touch typing.
I guess your adult sons have a good point abut the adrenaline rush and losing oneself for some time. I sure saw that more in my male colleagues at work and this makes me wonder if males are more inclined to play these computer games than females. i must say that I was surprised to see that the percentage of male and female gamers was quite close. -
Everton Walker
Males are designed for games it seems. On a regular basis on campus males can be identified lost in games when they should be in class. It was just the other day a first grader asked if he could see my cell. I showed him and in a few seconds he was in the game menu searching for a game to play. I was amazed at the ease at which he manipulated the games as I was clueless to them.
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Kristopher
Hi Everton,
My 3 year old nephew grabs an iPad and is navigating his way through folders to find the games that he likes best with ease. He is actually pretty good at it and even gets the concept of Tetris and how to stack the blocks so that it lasts. He has also gotten quite good at getting to youtube and using the recently played videos to find all of the Elmo and Old McDonald videos he can find… it’s amazing.
Kristopher
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Everton Walker
Kris,
They are really tech-savvy. This is just their thing. It amazes me at the rate they are able to master these games and problem-solve. Educators should take cues from these exploits and set up similar activities that will challenge our boys as they are usually the ones falling back in the classes.
Everton
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bcourey
Grockit is the brainchild of two founders, Farbood Nivi and Michael Buffington in 2007. Farbood is a former Teacher of the Year for the Princeton Review and was the academic director at Kaplan. He names his “teachers” as Peter Senge, Peter Drucker, Steve Jobs, Ray Kurzweil, Stephen Covey and Seth Godin (to name just a […]
Continue reading Grockit Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp-
Karen Jones
Hi Brenda,
What are the tests that Grockit is targeting? Are they for higher learning: LSAT’s, MCAT’s etc. or the British system of O-levels? I also wonder what, if anything, links the venture capitalist donors (Atlas, Benchmark, Integral): is their focus on education or are they just looking for returns on their investment?
Interesting company,
Thanks!
KJ-
bcourey
Grockit is primarily in the higher learning market…they started with the LSATs, GMATs…and then branched out to a wider audience by adding Grade 7-12 online learning experiences – full courses, but no mention of what state curriculum they use.
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Everton Walker
I like the idea but there are some clarifications to be made. I think it’s more of an investment that is being propelled by an educational catalyst.
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verenanz
Hi Brenda!
Thanks for the summary….www.knewton.com might be their competitor? I’m a little confused if they just offer test prep and tutoring…or new approaches to learning with the “gaming” piece? I will check the website, but is it based on “tutoring” or is there new “online course” material?What the founders both seem to lack, and I don;t know about all their advisors….but the founders lack teaching experience – or at least it was not mentioned…. I don’t know about you…but I learned how to teach – when I actually went into the classroom (face to face and online). There is a lot to be said for learning by doing. They are definitely learning about a business…..
I agree with Karen, it sounds more like a business looking for returns on their investment? Before I say too much…I need to check out their website…you have intrigued me….
Verena:)
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bcourey
actually the founder Farbood Nivi won a Teacher of the Year award, so I assume he was an educator of some expertise. I don’t see any teaching experience with his co-founder though, however, he may be the business expert of the pair?
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bcourey
WeBook Pitch
The WeBook pitch begins with the claim to be the “next generation publisher” which caught my attention immediately in my interest in anything new and innovative. Her foot was definitely in my door and I opened it! The presenter took a secondary position in the screen (standing off to the side) in order to allow the predominant […]
Continue reading WeBook Pitch Posted in: Week 03: Analyst Bootcamp-
Deb Giesbrecht
I saw this pitch as well on youtube. Great concise evaluation of their pitch. It is a great idea and concept as the book market is a competitive niche that not everyone can gain access to. You are right that she appear to be confident and covered all the basic requirements in under 60 seconds – made you want to look into it more.
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andrea
I agree with your evaluation! I was really impressed with the presenter’s speaking style – her confidence, clarity, and directness.
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jenaca
Hey group member:)
I also saw this pitch on youtube, you did a wonderful job of analyzing it! I also enjoyed her comparison approach and thought it was a great way to draw her audience in even more!!-
bcourey
thanks group member!
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Julie S
I too liked the presentation style because it captured my attention but I wasn’t sold on the content after reviewing at it a second time.
If this pitch was targeted to the writer then I would give it higher marks than if it was targeted to the venture capitalist. The financial return she states is for authors and contributors but doesn’t speak to the value for the investor e.g. what does the investor get out of it. The pitch described ‘the what’ and ‘the how’ but didn’t clearly state the pain points in the existing market that justifies why this venture is needed. She states that WeBooks is open where the publishing industry is closed but that seems too vague. She also didn’t mention anything that gives me reason to trust in their core team e.g. is there anyone involved that is a publishing industry guru? Or how about an eCommerce guru? She also throws out a $50 billion dollar number but this is a red herring because their market would likely be a small subset of this. I’m guessing that the $50 billion industry is not just book publishing. I think that this pitch would be better received by the person wanting to publish a book than by a venturist because it tells me what I want to hear as a writer e.g. easy access, high profit potential, but doesn’t do the same for the venturist.
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bcourey
I have to agree that the pitch did feel more directed to authors than to a venture capitalist…was that her intent? To build the community of authors to the point where she can then pitch for investors showing the number of authors that have come on board?
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David William Price
Wannabe writers struggle for a good reason… there is a huge amount of competition and readers have a huge amount of choice. We naturally go with what we already know (known authors, known series) or what is popular (bestseller lists, books made into movies) or what is recommended by friends.
50/50 profit share likely means 50% of $0. Profits are only what’s left after expenses are paid.
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ifeoma
Hi David,
That’s quite interesting. You have actually presented some of the thoughts I had but I must say I like how you put it. I was really taken in by the pitch at once but a closer look threw up questions. I too thought about the quality of writers, editors and reviewers they have, I had actually asked if they were all aspiring or renown.
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bcourey
Top Ten IT Issues
I chose to focus on the IT issues as I am in part of the decision making team (the academic side) that works with the IT department (sometimes effectively, sometimes not) and so I wanted to explore what the survey participants felt were the barriers to good tech implementation. I found this article so useful […]
Continue reading Top Ten IT Issues Posted in: Week 02: The Edtech Marketplace-
Angela Novoa
Hi Brenda,
About the critical questions to consider that are offered in this report, I think this is very useful. Currently I am working on coordinating a graduate program about new technologies for researchers and educators of Social Studies and Humanities. One of the issues that we are facing is that me and the instructors of the courses had agreed in the needed technologies to run this program, but we did not discuss this issue with other faculty members that are involved in the program (they did not show interest on knowing about it before). The thing is that we are about to start the program and there is one faculty member that does not agree with one of the technologies that we are going to use. If we had discussed about this before, and analyze the opportunities that we had based on reports like this, it would be very useful. I will definitely take a look to it and propose to use it as an option for future programs.
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bcourey
It sounds like a common problem – including all stakeholders in major decisions about a technology decision – one that I experience regularly in my board. I will much more vocal in insisting that I have a voice in some of these key decisions and I will make sure that others are included in my own projects thanks to this article.
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Doug Smith
Even if the IT Funding was not voted the most important, its importance cannot be understated. I can only imagine the juggling act that CIOs deal with when allocating resources to big ticket items such as ERP and security. This report really opened my eyes to another dimension that I hadn’t given much thought about in terms of education.
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David William Price
“after reading each one, and seeing how much cooperation and coordination there needs to be in making the various decisions about learning technologies, perhaps his lack of success was not all his fault!”
I highly recommend reading the short book “The five dysfunctions of a team” by Patrick Lencioni. I am recognizing more and more the importance of “preparing the garden” before you start planting seeds. This is an issue we are also currently discussing in our Advanced Human Performance Technology class: the differing value systems of each group that must work together to accomplish a task. Without taking concerted efforts to develop team trust, openness to conflict and debate, commitment to a fully debated but final decision, holding each other accountable for meeting specific commitments and focusing on the success of the team as a whole (rather than just the tech department for instance or worse, just individual career success), there is never any true teamwork. Instead you just have a bunch of people whose work causes necessary interactions and unfortunate stress: no synergies, no serendipity, no common understanding at all.
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bcourey
that sounds like a book I need to find. True teamwork can be a difficult ideal to achieve, yet what organization can really succeed without it? The differing value systems is something I deal with every day…business groups worried only about the balanced budgets, IT worried about a well-oiled tech machine, and the academics worried about best delivery of learning..not well suited for collaborative discussion when the values are so divergent!
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Deb Giesbrecht 4:30 pm on October 31, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your post Brenda. There seems to be very little ground regarding Apple products – you either really really like them, or your not a fan. I personally have an ipod and 2 pcs (just received my first laptop this weekend). I really like my ipod for games, but do my ‘business’ on my PCs.
It is funny that you should mention that your Board is turning towards an ‘Bring you Own Device’ policy. Where I work is leaning towards that as well, and a new policy is being drafted as we speak. That will mean quite a varied array of devices that may require some accommodation on our end. I have seen a small number of tablets at work (or tablet like devices) which employees really seem to like. In regards to Flash – it really is a limitation in regards to being able to exploit the full potential of multimedia usage. One of the many legacies of Steve Jobs.
So in the classroom, multimedia presentations/learning/usages may be certainly restricted related to this potential issue seen in the iPad. The other issues is how do you meld all these tablets and devices in a class of students who may or may not have access versus those that do.
Angela Novoa 12:24 pm on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Brenda, thanks for sharing your experience. Indeed, the lack of Flash reader is one of the major issues to consider when deciding between iPads and other tablets, as many web 2.0 tools are based on Flash. However, apps developers are working to overcome this problem. For example, Prezi (www.prezi.com) has just launched a version for iPads. Glogster (http://edu.glogster.com) is working on this too.
I am glad to hear that your school board is turning towards the policy of “bring your own device”. As Deb mentioned this will mean that we should need some accommodations.
Angela.
Doug Smith 5:38 pm on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
A bit OT, but I bought a Playbook to use on the go. I’ve done a lot of reading for MET courses on public transit! Portability is a big issue for me and the Playbook fits in my pocket when I have big pockets 😉
I also use the Playbook in class for taking pictures or video recordings of group work, which I then project on the LCD Projector.
jarvise 11:53 am on November 2, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think we’ll see a move away from being a PC vs Mac (or vice versa) system in schools. Especially as kids start bringing in more and more of their own stuff. It seems that as we move into m-learning, it is inevitable that there will be all different kinds of devices in our everyday interactions. I think we’ll get used to it. It just means that when designing learning activities for our students, we’ll have to always be considering this.
Our schools used to be totally PC, then went totally Mac, and in the last 5 years have gone somewhere in between. The art and media studies teachers have lots of macs available, most others have PCs, but now we’re starting to see some ipads too.
Emily
Emily