The Path is Too Deep

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

2011-05-03T21:45:00.002-03:00

Anyone who's followed my blog for any length of time knows that I have a sizeable commute into work each day. I live on Highway 215, a winding stretch of road that, for those familiar to Nova Scotia, runs essentially from Brooklyn (near Windsor) and ultimately terminates near Truro, snaking its way along the Minas Basin shoreline on its journey. A beautiful drive when the weather is good, a tricky one in the depths of winter.

In order for me to get to my job at the Nova Scotia Community College on Leeds Street in Halifax, I need to drive from my home about 25 minutes to the "St. Croix" exit of Highway 101 (Exit 4), then straight into and through Burnside, across the MacKay bridge, and a short hop up from the Windsor Street exchange to North End Halifax. I've tried various routes in and out of the city, and this one works best for me.

Many, many people ask why I commute so far each day. There are many reasons: I love my career, the company I work for and the people I work with. I love where my home is...we are surrounded by several acres of pristine woodland, the property backs onto the beach, and it's quiet. I love to drive...I don't find, after several years, the drive monotonous...mostly because I discovered some time ago the wonder that is the audio book. My primary reason, though, is for my wife and my girls...it's a safe, sleepy rural area of Nova Scotia. The schools are small, we know a lot of people here, and we have roots. In short: we're comfortable.

But this blog isn't about my good fortune...regardless of how I have settled into contentment as to my job, home, and commute, the price of gas is rising to unheard of levels, and if the speculators are to be believed, it's not come close to its peak yet. I, like so many others, am feeling the "pinch at the pumps". A few months ago, I became determined to do something about it.

As is my nature, I researched my options: smaller car (not much of an option, as I am a large man, and comfort for the daily commute is essential), specialized gas systems, electric power...the list goes on. Every solution cost money to implement...defeating the gains I was trying to make. No, whatever solution I was going to come up with, it needed to use my current car.

A few websites, television documentaries, and books later, and the answer was clear: keep the car well maintained...oil changes, tires, and so on...a necessity for a commuter anyway, and the clincher: slow down, and drive sensibly.

I could have as much advice as I wished for, but I needed some hard evidence...something to prove that it was actually working. Thanks to the digital systems in my car, I have a fuel economy indicator: for the longest time, it read "8.6 L/100 km". Let me break down the math:

My drive is 156.8 kilometres, round trip, every day, barring any detours or extra stops...door-to-door, as it were.

At 8.6 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres of travel, it takes me 13.48 litres to make the trip each day. At 136.9 cents per litre at the pump (the price as of this writing), it cost me $18.46 each day in fuel.

For a couple of months, I've made a couple of simple changes: I've worked diligently to ensure my decelerations and accelerations are smooth and slow...no rapid take-offs or hard stops. I've made sure I knew what conditions lay before me so I could anticipate how to calmly and evenly navigate through traffic. Above all (and the thing I credit with the greatest change), I reduced my speed on the 101 highway from 110 kilometres per hour to 100 km/hr.

The proof is in the results: after over a month of sensible and careful driving, my fuel economy has dropped to 7.2 L/100 km. That's 11.28 litres per day, and at 136.9, my daily cost of gas is $15.46...exactly $3.00 cheaper.

While that might not seem much on the surface, let me extrapolate some approximations for you...this won't hurt a bit:

$3.00 per day
=$15.00 per (five day) workweek
=$66.00 per month (assuming 22 workdays)
=$780.00 per year (assuming 260 workdays)

Many things are not taken into account...extra trips on the weekend; not all weekdays are workdays; I often travel to other locations in the province...but, the overall outcome is clear to me: if an individual has a reasonable amount of highway driving during a daily commute, driving just a bit slower and safer can save money.

And isn't that something we could all stand to do these days?

Touch Me: The Rise of the Tablet

2011-04-20T22:36:00.002-03:00

As I pointed out in my other blog, I'm not going to go on about my hiatus from blogging...a break was needed and taken; my apologies to any who've been waiting. I feel that I'm edging into a writing phase, so I expect to be here more often.

So much to talk about (doubtless another reason for my return), but I'll start with something that's been on my mind a lot lately: tablet computing.

As a full disclaimer, I have a 64 GB iPad 2, following my first iPad, a 16 GB version my wife is now using; her iPod Touch is now residing in my car, providing audio book listening pleasure on my daily commute. I have returned to using a 17" MacBook Pro as my work laptop. Despite appearances, I don't consider myself an Apple fan boy. I like their stuff, make no mistake. The design is excellent, as is the quality, and I like their operating systems...but I don't worship at the feet of Jobs. The other computers in my home and most of the systems I interact with at work are Windows-based, and I still have a BlackBerry smart phone.

What I want to write about isn't a brand. For one moment, strip the labels off of your devices...that's it...all of them. Cell phones, laptops, home computers, portable and home gaming systems, everything. Put down that Brand Loyalty® Kool-Aid, just for a bit.

Awesome. Now: is your technology doing what you need it to? Could it be doing more, better? Does it need to be doing less than it is (how many times have you asked yourself that question)? How effective is it as a tool, resource, or source of entertainment for you?

Tablet computing is one of the areas I've been conducting some applied research in for a while. I've become convinced that I can replace my desktop and laptop computers with a tablet...we've reached the point where technology has caught up with our use-ology. I'm largely paper-free now, and most of my files exist in the "cloud" (I'll get to that bit of overused terminology in another blog post soon). I can consume and create media on a single, portable, and powerful device.

Are you still looking at the pile of labels on the floor?

Here's the thing: if you're considering purchasing a tablet, your device has to work for you...decide on the power, features, and form factor you want. Research the honest reviews. Talk to your open-minded friends. Handle the devices, in store or otherwise. If in doubt, wait...there will always be another new model around the corner.

Once you've decided to made a commitment (even not to commit), try to keep an open mind about the products. If anything has been found to be true about technology companies, it's that none of them are perfect. Apple, Samsung, Research in Motion, Google, Microsoft, Motorola, Sony, Nintendo...all of them have made product mistakes, and all of them have come out with some really cool products and ideas. I doubt that the one "ideal system" will ever surface...every time someone invents a great mousetrap, someone else comes up with a better mouse. It's been that way for a while.

And isn't it fantastic? That means that true innovation is still out there! Our inventions have always been limited to two things: our resources, and our imagination. Given the first, the second can rise to unprecedented achievement. It gives me great encouragement that I'm surprised nearly weekly with the Next Big Thing.

In regards to tablets, I've come to what I think are a few (obvious) givens:

Cell phone/smart phone technology has been proven, as has wireless networking
Capacitive touch screen technology has revolutionized the user interface in as great a manner as the computer mouse did in the 1970's
There exists a space for a device somewhere between the laptop/net book and the smart phone
Current devices are already excellent at being consumption devices, but still need to work toward being better creation devices
It is becoming increasingly possible for us to move into a truly paperless society

Beyond this, we still have some discoveries to make about the way we "touch the machine" (literally and figuratively); we're just at the beginning of another massive culture change.

Whatever the origin of the proverb, it appears that we are going to be living in interesting times...

Scavenging for Learning

2010-07-22T08:54:00.000-03:00

“We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.” - Lloyd Alexander (children’s author, including the Black Cauldron)

Portfolio Learning is an ideology. It is a way of reflecting on your life, skills, strengths, and personality in such a way that you can form a construct of who you are. You do this in order to give others an idea of what makes you an individual. It can be purely representative, or used as a tool to enhance progression in your career. It is a never-ending, lifelong process.

Anyone can begin or maintain a portfolio at any point in their lives. A person can begin by thinking about all the things that have made them who they are, and collecting them in some way.

The new model of Portfolio Learning at the Nova Scotia Community College has adopted a contructivist methodology.

"Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own “rules” and “mental models,” which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences."

Source: http://www.funderstanding.com/content/constructivism

The NSCC's Mission Statement and Values can be found at http://www.nscc.ca/About_NSCC/Mission_Vision_And_Values.asp. Portfolio Learning connects to all of these principles in that a learning community who understand themselves more fully and can likewise demonstrate that understanding enhance the economy and quality of life throughout the province. Each of the values of the Nova Scotia Community College represent the portfolio of the College itself; it is a reflection of the inner self of the organization, and provides a direction for future growth.

In my opinion, a portfolio doesn’t need to belong to only a person…an organization can also consider its own skills, knowledge, and experience. An example of how that takes place at the Nova Scotia Community College is during our Faculty and Staff training – CCEDP (Community College Education Diploma Program). Employees new and old come together to share, learn, debate, and network in several courses, most often through the summer months. In doing so, the portfolio of the College itself grows and changes (and is frequently revised).

It’s easy to say that Facebook or other social networking sites are an example of an online portfolio (for each individual), but how many have thought in how it demonstrates who you are by the spaces between the sites? How we interact with others, the commentary they make of us, and the ebb and flow of our social network speaks volumes about our own portfolio learning.

If you're interested in learning more about portfolio, here are some resources for three different learning types:

For those who like to read: A paper on “Portfolio as a Learning Tool”: http://www.annals.edu.sg/pdf/34VolNo8200509/V34N8p511.pdf
For those who like to watch: Ben Cotton’s Learning Lunch on e-Portfolio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbDuWrSxtu0
For those who like to interact: An example of capturing the thoughts of others – We Feel Fine: http://www.wefeelfine.org/mission.html# (click ‘Open Applet’)

Of Products and Processes

2010-04-02T07:17:00.002-03:00

A recent conversation with a colleague re-ignited a passionate educational debate on the need for brand-specific training, particularly when it comes to computer software. I'm going to do my best to avoid naming names, but certain software companies seem to revel in the notion that they are the only "game in town", so I'll make no promises...

The idea is transferable, so I'll start with the example that sparked the conversation. Our College has several programs that utilize, in one form or other, graphic design software. The industry, we're told, uses a particular, and very expensive suite of software. This software has frequent, whole-product updates every couple of years. The site licensing for the product (even for a publicly-funded educational institution) is outrageously expensive, and even the maintenence fee, allowing us the bi-yearly upgrades runs into a quarter million dollars every four years or so.

To make matters worse, any conversation about negotiating the price down to a more reasonable level is met with a corporate arrogance I've seldom come across: "We have the product you have to use, because it is the standard, so you'll pay what we want, and like it".

I get the corporate machine. All businesses are out to make money. Any organization capable of cornering the market has enormous leverage, and would have no reason to divert themselves from pressing the monopoly for a sense of altruism (in which, apparently, there is little money to be made). I'm past the point of trying to convince them that providing the software for education at a resonable cost means more students get to use the product, and will then tend to gravitate towards it when they get into industry (Look ma! Low cost generational advertising!) What I am concerned with, however, is education...do the learners need to use the product, or learn the process?

Let me use a direct comparison: one of the earlier tasks a student of graphic design would learn to do with this product is to apply a filter to an already-existing image. For example, a Gaussian Blur is used to reduce "image noise". The expensive software is certainly capable of doing it...among thousands of other effects and manipulations in its repertoire. When I look around the software world, though, I've come across another program suite that is equally capable. This application is an open-source product, meaning that it costs nothing, and is regularly updated by a community of users. Funny enough, when I look at its feature set, it is capable of doing everything the commercial product is. Apparently, someone else thought the pricing was getting out of hand.

Here's the crux of my debate: is the understanding of what a filter is, what effect it has, when it would be used, and how it is applied to an image not about learning a process? Does the student of graphic design need to know how to do it in Product X, or do they simply need to know how to do it? Isn't the skill more valuable if it's transferable, particularly if a piece of software they are going to be using will change several times over the course of their career anyway?

"I Want It All, I Want It Now, But Don't Want to Earn It"...The Cry of the Under-Entitled

2010-03-27T18:22:00.000-03:00

I wonder about the solution to problems alot.

I think about things, how to make them better. In my secondment as a Project Manager, I do that very thing every day. Call it "project-based troubleshooting". Often, though, I begin to wonder if some of the problems don't need solutions. I look (or try to look) at where they come from, the issues they are causing, and wonder if a solution is really necessary...or does the establishment need to change?

What I'm wondering about now is Entitlement. Truthfully, I've been wondering about it for over nine years: this August marks my tenth year as a professional educator.

My perception, and that of my colleagues, is that our learners are demonstrating an increasing sense of entitlement. Each academic year, the new crop of learners seems to expect more than the year before them. Let me be clear: I'm not criticizing their capability...these are smart, fresh, young minds who can complete most any task set in front of them. They can be engaged...they've demonstrated interest in my own classes, witnessed first-hand by yours truly. They can be energetic...I've seen them engage in animated discussions with their peers about a topic of interest to them.

Where the issue begins is when they are being tasked with something they percieve as tedious or challenging, or, heaven forbid, they are criticized, particularly when they don't receive the mark they think they deserve.

Let me give you an extreme case: imagine your typical College student, starting their first year. For the purposes of gender neutrality, let's call him/her Sam. Sam comes to the orientation programs, dutifully collects all of the information pamphlets and attends the overwhelming number of sessions designed to safely bring them from their secondary school background to the new world of post-secondary education. Sam hears the proverb again and again: "those who don't try, don't succeed".

Sam gets a schedule of classes, a locker, a parking pass, and an armful of books (or, hopefully, a laptop/tablet and an ebook collection...more on this soon). They are all ready to begin, and attend classes in earnest, engaging themselves in their preliminary studies.

And then, they disappear.

Weeks drag on, without reply to email, or perhaps a string of (possibly legitimate) excuses. Finally, the end of the semester arrives. Without fail, in the last two weeks or so, Sam returns. The inevitable, "Can I have an appointment to see you?" (if that courtesy is extended) is followed by "I know I've missed a lot of time. What can I do to pass your course?". Attempting to maintain some sense of composure, as this is the tenth learner to ask the question within the past few days, the reply comes: "I'm sorry, you've missed too many assignments/tests/projects. There is no way to pass the course."

And then it happens...the look. The look that says "I don't think I understand. I'm here. You're supposed to make this all better. I've done nothing, but I want you to overlook that, and give me a passing mark."

Is there truly a precedent for this? A lot of my contemporaries believe that this is a social issue that comes from years of parents and elementary school sport coaches who rewarded everything their children did. I recall being on a soccer team in my formative years. I remember both victory and defeat. When we played a competition game, usually travelling to another school district, there were two outcomes: winning or losing. The winning team would be treated to a round of ice cream at the nearest fast food outlet or farmers market, and the losing team would enjoy a quiet van ride home, heads hung in defeat.

Now, both teams get ice cream (thanks for trying!) and at the regional tournament, everyone gets a medal. Make sure no one's trophy is larger than anyone elses...wouldn't want to cause any developmental scarring. You won! Award! You played! Award! You came (most of the time)! Award! You put no effort in, barely attended all year, and have learned nothing about the sport, teamwork, or fun! Award!!

Others think that this phenomenon isn't the result of Helicopter Parents and thier ilk, but rather from a culture where everything is accessible, instantly and conveniently. Technology is allowing us to not have to try to remember anything anymore. I've got more posts coming up on this, but have a look at Clive Thompson's blog on the same in the meantime: The Fate of Human Memory.

What do you think?

This seems to be a problem in search of a solution. Is it, or does it represent a change in culture? What does it mean for the future if it is a paradigm shift?

You're (Such) a Tool

2010-02-07T11:48:00.000-04:00

My little personal experiment has come to its conclusion. Unannounced, I’ve stayed away from the blogosphere for a year, and let life pass by, thinking of thoughts I’d like to share. I’ve stayed connected with my online community through Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. My hypothesis was that I would have a great deal more material for my blog if I were to step away for a while. In retrospect, it seems obvious what the conclusion would be, but I wanted to see it though to the end.

I give you: my return to the blogosphere (cue Also sprach Zarathustra). I doubt I’m wiser, more mature, or that I’ve learned very much…but, I have lots of things to ponder. So, rather than making this a post announcing that I’m back and letting another couple of weeks or months go by, let me dive right in!

In the past year, I’ve gone through a career transition, if only for a short time. In June of 2009, I took a secondment from my role as a Faculty member at the Nova Scotia Community College to work for two years as a Project Coordinator for the School of Applied Arts & New Media (at the NSCC). That transition deserves its own post, so I’ll leave it for another time. What makes it relevant to this post is in the fact that I’ve had a lot of time in the past year to think about tools…particularly those that involve (and hopefully enhance) learning.

The cultural shift is obvious enough, and I’ve commented on it here before: the boom in mobile technologies has not ended: our personal devices have brought our networks closer to us. As a personal example, I have both a BlackBerry and an iPod Touch (oh, we’ll get to the iPad, Apple…just you wait), my wife has a BlackBerry, and both of my daughters have cell phones (one of which is a QWERTY-keyboard text phone), and one of them has an HP net book. We all know how to SMS text, Instant Message, and tweet like the best of them, and consequently, we’re never out of touch with each other. I hardly think we’re unique in this…most of the families I speak with are similarly equipped. So, the technology has inundated our lives…fair enough.

I have a contention, and it’s one that I’ve spoken about in a couple of guest lectures I’ve been asked to give: the lowly pencil is a piece of technology. It allows thoughts to be easily conveyed onto a medium, such as paper. From the purest perspective, it functions no differently than the laptop I’m using to write this blog. I think, I type, and the thoughts take some physical (or digital) form. Our “pencils” have gotten more sophisticated, gained new features, and allow us to store and convey our ideas more efficiently, but ultimately, they are just the evolution of a tool…one that’s core function hasn’t changed.

A concern I have, in this consumer-driven society, is that we’re focusing more on the tools themselves, rather than how they are used. Have we perfected the concepts of conveying ideas to a degree where all that matters now is finding more and better ways of entering and transmitting them? I have my doubts.

Our education system is dealing with this issue firsthand: the digital native learners have grown up steeped in the technology, and it’s part of their lives…perhaps that defines “digital native”. Their social network is no further away than their device, and they can text, blog, tweet, Facebook (yes, the verb), take photos and videos, surf the web, read e-books, listen to music, and experience digital media with ease. The upgrading of devices and mobile networks will make this process easier and more accessible as time goes on. Many educational institutions (including mine) are looking at how they can use these already existing tools to bring the learning to the learner, in the world they live in.

Imagine, if you will, that all “textbooks” are digital, and loaded on the learners devices at the beginning of the year. Written tests could be taken right from the device. Teachers could be connected to their students at any time, and conduct lessons digitally. Chat programs could be used for in-class discussions, and group work could be conducted in virtual worlds.

Now, stop imagining. This is all happening, all over the world, right now. The tools are available, and they work. The rabbit-hole is a distant memory, and there’s no turning back now, Alice.

If we were having a conversation about this five centuries ago, I might express my concern about all of these new-fangled “pencils”…look at the students carrying them around: they can write down their own thoughts, and read things that just anyone has written! They can share their paper in their own social groups, and sometimes they think that’s more important than the information I’m giving them in class! The pencil-makers are making new and better kinds, and it seems like every week, one of my learners has a pencil that will do something new…and then, everyone has to have it! Why, just the other day, one of my learners corrected information I had provided in my lecture with something they had read on the World Wide Wallpaper!

Historical, world-changing ideas have come from ideas that have taken physical form. Are we moving into the digital world with the wisdom to use our “pencils”...our tools...in a way that will help new ideas make a difference?

We Feel Fine

2009-02-13T07:12:00.003-04:00

Anyone who knows me at all knows my obsession over TED and the TEDTalks. Some of the most brilliant, creative, and insightful people in the world coming together to share themselves? Caught on video and posted on the web? Available as iTunes movies (or audio)? And free?

Yes, I'll have some more, please!

I was looking through the Talks in the Storytelling Theme this morning (for a class on Interactive Listening), and came across something so profound, it took me aback. I still haven't fully absorbed it yet.

Imagine for one second how amazing it would be to have access to a web application that captures the emotions of the Internet.

Then, imagine the amazement of realizing it already exists.

I won't say any more, but if this makes you gape in awe as if you've seen the northern lights for the first time, go right now to Jonathan Harris' TEDTalk, and then to We Feel Fine to actually use his application.

Let me know what you think, if you ever stop using it...

Never Board

2009-02-06T16:32:00.003-04:00

I was doing a bit of introductory WebBoard posting for an online course I'm participating in this morning, and had a second look at a reply I wrote. I kind of liked the sound of it, and thought I'd repeat it here. Let's toss this one under "blog-board" mashup:

The Original Post:

You may find that sharing your own ideas and opinions on WebBoard encourages others to do the same.

What to post

Take a few moments to share some of your own experiences learning or teaching with technology. Practice being short and succinct. Write as if you’re talking to people in your living room.

If you’ve never learned or taught with technology, that’s ok. That’s what this course is about.

My Reply:

Let me just throw "short and succinct" out the window right now, because I'm not "short and succinct" in real life...

I'm always looking for and trying to use the "bleeding edge" when it comes to technology and learning, primarily from my own interest, but also because I'm looking for that "perfect" technology that will allow me to achieve my goal of making online learning a seamless experience...one that carries the same passion and engagement that one can find in face-to-face settings.

I use my online presence (Facebook, two blogs, four wikis, two webboards, three instant messaging clients, Twitter, NetVibes/RSS feeds, video logs, and five e-mail accounts) to stay connected with everyone and everything in my world...and I have all of these pushed to my Blackberry. I like to think that I live in the electronic ocean I've put myself in.

My learners never have to look far to know what's going on with me (professionally or personally), ask me a question, or learn with me. I know a lot of faculty and staff who have an issue with being this connected, but it's my opinion that being a teacher isn't a job...it's a lifestyle, and not one that ends when I "leave" the Campus. The brick-and-mortar boundaries of the building are not walls for me...they are just a location, among many, that I might occupy.

Mobility Convergence

2009-01-15T19:43:00.003-04:00

Aside from being a test of Mail-to-Blogger, this also happens to be my first post from my new Blackberry Curve.

I've been playing around with the idea of mobile convergence for a while, particularly when it comes to education. I've got visions of faculty-made e-textbooks, vblogs of lectures, and assignments completed via SMS text messages.

I can perceive of smart devices like the Blackberry, the iPhone, and the Android becoming the sole educational technology for learners, replacing books, paper assignments, and even newer classroom devices like 'clickers'.

I'm beginning a personal exploration into how all this untethered technology might bring our brains a bit closer together, and now that I'm this much closer to my blog (and Twitter, and Facebook, and...), I can put mine online even faster.

To All the Politically Correct Out There: Merry Christmas!

2008-12-07T10:46:00.003-04:00

One of my learners recently sent me a message via Facebook, wishing me well over the upcoming holidays...a lovely sentiment I deeply appreciate. One thing he wrote bothered me, though: "Happy Holidays...I'd wish you a Merry Christmas, but I'm not sure if that's the case". Once again, our societal need to walk on "politically correct" eggshells around each other mars one person's ability to express caring towards another.

I've had enough.

Don't get me wrong...as an educator, it's nearly my job requirement to be sensitive to others' behavioral, cultural and spiritual traditions. I understand this from the point of being an open-minded mentor whose entire existence revolves around enabling the success of others...of finding the best in them, no matter where they come from, or how...and showing them that they can attain the positive change they're striving for. Every once in a while, I even drag someone, 'kicking and screaming' toward their own success, all because I care about them.

Political Correctness can only go so far, though, before I start losing my own identity.

I celebrate Christmas with my family and friends, steeped in our traditions from years gone by...a mixture of my Danish heritage, a large dose of the Nova Scotian upbringing of my wife, a sprinkle of secular observance, and more than a pinch of commercialism. And when the time comes, I say 'Merry Christmas'.

If I say this to you, I'm not implying that I want you to practice what I practice, and follow my traditions. If you are Jewish, I'm not being disrespectful of your Hanukkah celebrations, any more than I am of those celebrating Kwanzaa, or even those who choose not to celebrate the season at all.

What I am saying is: "I wish you a Merry Christmas, because that's what I'm celebrating...I hope you enjoy this time of year in whatever way makes you happy", and I hope you return the sentiment in whatever way is special to you..."Happy Hanukkah", "Happy Kwanzaa", "God Bless", and "Happy Holidays" will all do, thank you very much.

If I say this to you, it's because I care about you. Isn't showing that to others the whole point of being human?

Mac Attack

2008-03-28T20:18:00.003-03:00

The notion that computer systems have emotions (at least for now) is the realm of science-fiction. No matter how much we want to believe that they possess a sentience whose sole purpose it is to entertain, inform, and infuriate us, they are simply a very complex group of systems, designed and manufactured by humans for humans.

That being the case, someone programmed my faithful, four-year old Dell laptop to commit virtual seppuku when it heard the words: "Your new laptops are going to be Macs". More accurately, it's 120 GB hard drive decided to fail. It's passing was heralded by a nearly inaudible:

whzzzzzz......clunk......whzzzzzz.....clunk......

I was fortunate enough (after a bit of work) to recover nearly all the data off the drive. Perhaps I could have rescued the drive itself...ran SpinRite or another utility on it, but my faith is shaken, and I'm too much of an "old hardware guy" to believe that it will ever be the same again.

So, I move on, without so much as a look back. It's not even getting my forwarding address.

I've been using an iBook G4 for several months now, loaded to the brim with Mac OS X 10.4, iLife, iWork, Office '08 for Mac, several browsers (try before you buy, as they say), and any other tidbits I've come across. I have to say I'm impressed. Apple's design standards are legendary, and after throwing a few of my old habits out the Window, I found myself getting very comfortable with a machine (or brand) that I once dismissed as a fascination of the "granola-eating artsy sect", never something to be used in a serious business environment.

Well, for those of you I've scorned (and you know who you are): I was wrong...or rather, have become wrong in the last few years.

So now I wait for my new laptop: a brand-new, top-of-the-line 17" Intel MacBook Pro, with 4 GB of RAM and 250 GB Hard Drive. I'm going to be running a dual-boot Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and Windows Vista configuration, loaded for bear with every application we can muster. I'll no doubt be having the time of my life, being both creative and productive.

I might even pick myself up a bag of granola.

Hurry Up and Weight

2008-03-03T18:56:00.004-04:00

The fact that I'm a large man should come as no surprise to any of my family, friends, colleagues, students, or the fine folks working in the International Space Station, who can spot me from orbit on a clear day. At last weighing, I'm 389 pounds.

Read that figure again and let it sink in...I did.

What might surprise people is that until very recently, I've had absolutely no problem with my weight. I know a lot of people say that, to hide their insecurities, but in my case, it simply wasn't an important enough part of my life to make any difference. Those folks who know me know about my positive attitude, outgoing personality, and sense of humor, and I can say right now that at no time did I lock myself away and cry quietly into a tub of Häagen-Dazs.

So why the change, and why now? The answer, simply enough: I'm tired of it. I weary of the extra pounds I'm carrying arround, and as I grow older, I'm realizing that my body isn't going to support it for much longer. Oh, there's all the other (very good) reasons as well: wanting to be around long enough to see my girls grow up, the obvious impact it's having on my heart, the rising cost of food, etc. But ultimately, I've decided I've had enough, and it's time for a change...and that, any more than quitting smoking, is a decision I believe needs to come from within one's self.

So, the journey begins in earnest. Like so many others in my life, I need to tackle this one well-informed, taking what time I need to in order to make it right for me. Many times, I've tried to go on diets, make a change in my lifestyle, and failed, and that's not a road I want to (or can) keep travelling.

I'll keep posting my progress here, as a self-regulating mechanism to prompt me into moving forward with my goal.

Please alert the Nova Scotia fast food industry: the free ride just ended.

Dusting Off My Blog

2008-02-29T14:53:00.002-04:00

Three months.

I'd like to say I have dozens of reasons why it's taken this long to get back to my 'blog, but I only have one: life got in the way (as it often does). Today, I was taking a peek through the blog of a good friend and colleague of mine, and must admit I began suffering from blog-envy. So, after a quick post there, I decided to come back and get things rolling again.

I've got lots to blog about: my new commitment to losing weight (what better way to guilt yourself into action than to publicly display your shortcomings?), my upcoming professional development (sit down first; OK...I'm going to actually put an investment into learning Programming - and for a die hard Systems guy, that's a bit of a jump!), my project to uncover new personal learning environments, and many others. Oh, and I have a Mac now (you were still sitting down, right?).

So, fresh changes are on the horizon...stay tuned...

Turning Right

2007-11-07T13:25:00.001-04:00

Anyone who has known me for long knows about my passion for the topic of creativity, and its role in our education system. One very important video from the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference from 2006 encapsulates this ideal: Do Schools Kill Creativity? from renowned creativity expert, Sir Ken Robinson. I think anyone with an interest in education owes it to themselves to sit down for 20 minutes and watch this. I found it transformational, both in my role as an educator and as someone who has dealt with being a right-brained individual with ADHD in a left-brained, logical world.

I have very little to add to Robinson's statements...I watch it weekly to remind myself why I choose to work in education, and what it means to be a creative lifelong learner. What I will do is echo what I think is one of his key points: in order to move into the future, and meet the many challenges facing humanity, we need to cultivate our natural creativity, and that of our youth and future generations to come.

In my own field of Information Technology, many of the tools we use today were invented by individuals who refused to listen when told something was impossible. A worldwide communication network? Pure folly. 3D graphics? A pipe dream. Portable computers? Legendary...the list goes on, and is hardly limited to technology. Advances in nearly every field have resulted from an idea, brought to reality by a group of individuals who had unwavering faith and the determination to see a dream become real.

I think about the necessity for creativity quite a bit as an educator, and I support Robinson's notion that, as a whole, the traditional model of education has squandered the talents of naturally creative learners. Science and literacy have often been ranked higher than the arts. All of these subjects are important, and should be equally supported if we have any hope of gathering the collective skills needed to make positive change in the world.

This brings me back to my previous post on Information Overload and the recent tendency to repurpose (or outright copy) knowledge that already exists on the Internet. It's too easy, and the debate exists as to whether it's truly wrong to do so if the information is correct...and here I'm making the assumption that the skill of distinguishing between right and wrong - in cases where there is such a thing - has been cultivated.

Does this philosophy leave room for creativity? Can we access information created by others as necessary, gathering it when needed, and still create original works ourselves? I'd like to think so, as all artists (as anyone who thinks of themselves as creative truly is) inspire themselves from the works of others...

Let me know what you...um...think?

Information Overload

2007-11-06T07:01:00.001-04:00

Studies have shown the amount of information in the world (particularly as a result of the Internet) is growing at an astounding rate. The amount of data stored and moved across the web has risen to the level where in 2006 alone, we are transmitting 3 million times the information in all books every written.

The information is at our fingertips, and we no longer suffer having to wait to find out "who the actress was in that movie","the best techniques for putting a veranda together", or "treatment options for a garden gnome infestation". This knowledge is readily accessible, largely free, and essentially the sum of all of our thought and emotion - or at least what we've been inclined to post online.

The information comes to us in the form of casually-browsed web sites, e-mail, text messages, Instant Messaging (IM), Facebook wall posts, Blogs, Wikis, Twitter notifications, Real Simple Syndication feeds...the list goes on, and keeps expanding.

As an educator, the ability for my learners to call on this virtually limitless supply of information is a powerful tool. Research can be conducted with a well-written search parameter and a few mouse clicks; learners can be put in contact with myself and other learners regardless of geographical boundaries; connected through social networks, the community of learners gains the ability to become more personalized; wikis and other collaborative web appliances enable discussion and debate to be cataloged, edited, and referenced as my learners make their way through their studies.

At this point, my thoughts shift to the very nature of the modern learner...traditionally, students were asked to ingest large volumes of institution-chosen material or listen to lengthy dissertations from an endless parade of subject matter experts. They were expected to memorize this pile of academia and subsequently "prove" their expertise by regurgitating it into a stream of papers, ultimately very similar in conclusion and compared against a sometimes arbitrary marking scale.

Shift to the modern educational environment, and the flow of information mentioned above: research in traditional libraries is replaced with Internet searching; lectures on relevant topics can be watched or listened to in Podcasts, sometimes from the originator of the topic at hand; demonstrations of experimentation can be viewed on YouTube, or conducted in a virtual environment; project teams can meet in an online world like Second Life, and consult with real experts in a subject - all in a level of convenience previously thought impossible.

So the debate is: what is the nature of learning? If the information has already been thought of by someone else, the modern student posits, why reinvent the wheel? If one can learn from the experiences of others, why spend the time pretending to memorize it? Indeed, producing a paper on a subject in the information age often amounts to repurposing information by selecting an appropriate section of online text, copy-and-pasting it into a document, and (usually) quoting the source.

Not surprisingly, the traditionalists challenge this as pure academic heresy...how can producing someone else's work prove the retention of knowledge? The supporters retort: but there it is...isn't that the information you wanted? Should I have just provided the hyperlink, to save paper? And both sides of the argument stare blankly at the other, as if viewing an alien life-form for the first time.

So what is the skill set of the Digital Native - this new Knowledge Worker? Being able to call upon the limited stores of the human mind pale in comparison to that of millions of minds digitally etched into the Internet. Vast academic libraries can now be carried on a smartphone (and accessed in a fraction of the time). Is the ability to find the correct information and differentiate between truth and fiction not more important than memorization? Is the skill in using the tools of the digital age more important than proper grammar? Is doing more important than knowing?

Skirting the outside edge of this debate is the nature of copyright and intellectual property. The knowledge of an individual or group has been seen as having the near-sacred right to protection...you thought of it, so it's yours, to keep, share, publish and profit from as you saw fit. With the advent of the world wide web, these rules have descended into the gray area of uncertainty. Does digital media negate the protection of intellectual property...indeed, is the knowledge shared on the Internet property at all, or rather a growing volume of the collective knowledge of mankind, freely accessible by all? After all, many of the tools we create in the IT industry are fashioned for that exact purpose!

I'm going to leave you to ponder and comment on this while I update my Facebook profile read a few RSS feeds. If you need me, check my Twitter post...

A Shared Imagination

2007-11-05T07:24:00.001-04:00

I'm a gamer. There, I've said it.

Not an unusual admission, considering my field, I suppose. Information Technology lends itself to people who enjoy using computers for leisurely pursuits in addition to the more practical endeavors for which they were intended, but my love of games runs deep, and I've been thinking about them quite a bit lately.

Games, for me, at least, have always provided a distraction from daily life...a way of socializing, or finding solitude, in some cases, all in the name of having fun. Card games, board games, computer games...all of them intrigued me from a young age, and I never really "grew out of them" as I became an adult. The pursuit of fun has kept me young in spirit, and is something that allows me to gain perspective when I need to take a mental break. Call it a new age form of meditation.

All of the usual childhood games came and went until I turned nine, and I was introduced to something called Dungeons & Dragons. I've long since given up trying to defend what has become a lifelong passion, but for the initiated, I'd like to explain what it is, and why it made so much of a difference for me.

First of all, what D&D is not: it isn't a computer game. Oh, computerized versions of it have been made, in great abundance...strategy, action, and adventure games abound that carry it's brand or likeness, but the true game itself is not played on a computer.

It's also not some anti-religious pastime, engaged in by a secret society who draw windows and light candles while engaging in all manner of debased frivolity. It's association with the fantasy setting ends the same place the Lord of the Rings or Star Wars saga does: in entertainment.

Now, what it is: Dungeons & Dragons is one of a category of games called roleplaying. Players of the game come together in small groups of anywhere from two to eight people, face-to-face, and adopt the role of characters who go on imaginary adventures, under the direction of one player who takes the role of a referee, explaining what the characters see, who they meet, and so on. In the Dungeons & Dragons game, that referee is given the austere title of the Dungeon Master, or DM.

The game itself, arranged by the careful planning of the DM, takes place entirely in the imagination of the players. The events that take place are described by the DM, and they react to them as they think their characters would. To extend the example, if you can imagine a situation where you could interact with Lord of the Rings, taking the role of Frodo, Aragorn, Legolas, or even Gollum, and actually deciding what to do at any given point, you begin to get the idea.

The richness of the setting is provided by the DM, who has at his or her disposal a battery of rules, supplements, and fiction created by many designers from hundreds of companies. The characters are defined by the players on sheets that keep track of their statistics, abilities and belongings, and those characters through many heroic adventures, become more powerful, and grow into legendary heroes through the rules provided by the game, and the choices made by the players.

To make the game less arbitrary, many rules exist for performing tasks...there are rules to determine what to do if a players decides to have their character jump across a gaping chasm, or dodge the attack of a villain, for instance. All of these come down to some degree of simple mathematics, and luck is represented in the form of numbers generated by polyhedral dice...depending on the game, ones that have 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20, or even more sides.

Dungeons & Dragons is only one of many, many roleplaying games...it generally involves the high fantasy setting of knights, castles, dragons, and wizards. There are games in the genres of science-fiction, super heroes, modern-day espionage, and horror, to name just a few. There are games that involve more storytelling, and other that are rule heavy, and use miniatures to represent the character's positions on an oversized map.

There's much more I can say about the game itself, and I may in future blog posts, but what I want to comment on is what I have gained in the twenty-six years I've invested in the hobby. My skill in writing, mathematics, and performing arts have all benefited immensely. I've learned about sociology, law, history, and science. I've used journalism, map-making, problem-solving, and debating on a regular basis. It has expanded my imagination, provided me with a very close social network, and given me a safe outlet for my youthful enthusiasm. Finally, not unlike a good book or movie, it has allowed me a few brief moments to escape into a shared imagination, and truly have fun.

Not too bad for a game, huh?

I like it, I'm proud of it as a hobby, and I still play twice a week with my friends - all successful, intellectual, professional adults. I like to think of it a the perfect game: it challenges you, it never ends, and you can make it exactly what you want. As I consider the nature of interactivity and collaboration in the world of Information Technology, and the movement to recognize the changing nature of today's learner, it often strikes me that my lifelong pastime may hold some of the answers we're seeking.

Let me go grab my dice...

Peeriority Complex

2007-10-29T08:16:00.001-03:00

As a faculty member at the Nova Scotia Community College, I have the chance to work with some of the best and brightest minds in the post-secondary education industry in the province. The College is based on the idea of bringing together a community of learners supporting a community of learners, and that premise forms a powerful and effective learning environment.

I've had an opportunity to see that dynamic at work this week. A group of colleagues, myself included, traveled to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to give a workshop on the topic of Engaging the Digital Learner. I've got so much to say on the subject, I'll concentrate on the workshop, and leave the rest of my rambling for future blog posts. Suffice it to say that our learners are changing, following the rise of the Information Era, and we as an organization need to keep up in order to meet them where they are.

In this case, the workshop was presented to a group of new faculty members at the College. Our professional development with the NSCC begins in the waning weeks of the summer with a one-week series of sessions called "New Faculty Orientation", where these new hires are brought together and introduced to the College as an organization, while being sufficiently armed with tips and techniques to take into their first foray in the classroom. It begins a two-year program called the Community College Education Diploma program, undertaken by all new faculty and professional support staff. No other organization I'm aware of in North America invests as much time and resources in their employees, and the skills and collaboration the experience produces makes the NSCC a one-of-a-kind organization.

The Engaging the Digital Learner workshop took place during the second session of New Faculty Orientation, nearly two months after the start of the academic year. The participants have a chance to share their experiences in the classroom, tell the group at large about how they handled the sometime turbulent first few weeks, and allow for a social reconnection.

I slight aside for my colleagues: to say that I'm truly blessed to work with some of the greatest people in the industry is a clear and gross understatement. I've had my life enriched by knowing and working with these fine people, and they are the reason why I am with the Nova Scotia Community College. The group of people who put together the workshop - Carolyn Campbell, Ian MacLeod, Chris Campbell, Lorraine Mockford, and Rita Stevens - are truly great people. They have a common goal of elevating the standard of post-secondary education in Nova Scotia, and do so in fine style. I have what you might call a superiority complex when it comes to working with my peers, and the empowerment they give me is immeasurable. I suppose you could say I have a Peeriority Complex.

Engaging the Digital Learner had one simple premise: to provide proof of concept that our faculty and staff need more exposure to the new technology our learners are already engaged with. We provided hands-on sessions on blogging, podcasting, wikis, Second Life, and Facebook. These are innovations that have one thing in common: they are excellent mediums for educational collaboration. They also have a clearly definable answer when the inevitable question of "how can I use this?" is asked. We know how, because we've done it, and it works. Our learners have already harnessed their power, often before arriving at the College, and know the social connectivity they provide. That connectivity rises to a whole new level when these applications are used to engage learning - they become transformational tools.

The session was a success, and we've provided a few examples of some tools our new faculty can add to their "classroom toolkits". Looking towards the future, we want to be able provide a week-long session on "Information Teachnology" to all of our colleagues, and are working with the Organizational Learning division of the NSCC to accomplish just that.

As my blog expands, I'll expound on the virtues of this teachnology, and its capabilities as a learning tool as we move forward in the new millennium.

The Path is Too Deep

2007-10-18T14:04:00.001-03:00

Perspective is a fascinating thing. When I began my first foray into the blogosphere, I did so with the intention of choosing a starting point (in my case, Microsoft TechEd 2007), and then expanding the subject matter of my posts, carefully and poignantly, until I had constructed some online literary masterpiece to which all would come and stare in awe.

Apparently, I over-estimated myself.

On some manner of self-reflection, I've realized (again) that my mind is not so structured...rather, thoughts come to me quickly and in great number, and leave with just the same ferocity. It's become painfully clear that any blog I maintain with any regularity will have to be one where I can simply offload my brain's ramblings as the mood strikes me. I also realized that I needed the tools to capture those thoughts, both online and off. Thusly armed (and better informed), I give you: my personal blog. I promise nothing, other than random bits of unfiltered Chris.

So, where to start?

The title of my blog refers to a seldom seen Microsoft file transfer error displayed when trying to delete or move a file or folder whose total path exceeds a number buried in the MAX_PATH constraint of the sysutilh.inc file in Windows. Essentially, the combination of all the folders and the file name is too long.

The error was pointed out to me by my good friend, colleague, and supervisor at the Nova Scotia Community College, Ian MacLeod (catch his fantastic blog here). What struck me about the error wasn't its rarity, or the painful demonstration of the file system detritus Ian apparently has on his external hard drive. What I did think about was the increasingly vast quantities of information we are exposed to in our daily lives, and the philosophy behind receiving, organizing, and storing it...not necessarily in that order...and we have the task of actually thinking and forming opinions about it all! Indeed, the path is too deep.

Like the journey down any other path, however, it begins with one step, and each person walks it in their own shoes.

Here's my first step...let's see how far the rabbit hole goes...