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Time and Persistence

Picture of {{w|Malcolm Gladwell}}. Full set fr...Image via Wikipedia

Malcolm Gladwell, author of such books as The Tipping Point, Blink, and, most recently, Outliers, gave the keynote speech at the opening of NECC (National Education Computing Conference). I always enjoy these speakers because they don't tout the latest tools we all hear so much about already.

Instead, Gladwell, like others before him, focused on what makes learners successful, and his examples tend to be unexpected (eg., Fleetwood Mac, Mozart, and various chessmasters), and his solutions, counter-intuitive. Gladwell simply emphasizes the importance of 2 factors: time and persistence. According to his research, it takes approximately 10 years of working 4 hours a day in order to master cognitively complex skills.

Perhaps Gladwell's ideas could be critiqued on the basis of the "hindsight bias". After all, what of all the people who put their time in, without giving up, and never became successful? And what defines success in his examples? Wealth? Fame? High test scores? Regardless, his explanation of the math score differences between Asian and Western students seems to be compelling in terms of how these young people attribute their respective outcomes (Asian > Western).

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Bring back the MixTape!

Recently, it seems that quite a few teachers want to have their students use popular music for class assignments. In the past, students would create a "mixtape" on an analog cassette (back in the day) or, more recently, they would burn a CD of songs, which would leave the teacher with a stack of media that might never be used again. What a waste.

More recently, the challenge that teachers and tech staff encounter is that either students want to take tracks from their iPods or CDs and put them on the Web. Obviously, this is fraught with all kinds of technological and copyright-related issues. Well, here's a possible solution, as described in depth by Wired magazine.

MixTape.me is a website that acts like an online version of iTunes, without the need to purchase anything. Students (and teachers) can search for many popular songs and then create their own playlist(s) to share with others. Below is an example, which I was able to create and embed in this blog in under 5 minutes. Think then of the possibilities: students could create a custom playlist and then add their own comments, as well as pictures to the "jukebox". HINT: just double-click on a song title to play the music!



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PowerPoint KILLS — The Presentation

For those of you who attended my talk on designing more effective PowerPoint presentations, here is a copy of the slides, recently featured on the homepage of SlideShare.net:

"You are a Presentation SuperStar on SlideShare!

Your presentation is currently being featured on the SlideShare homepage by our editorial team.

We thank you for this terrific presentation, that has been chosen from amongst the thousands that are uploaded to SlideShare everday."
Power Point Kills
View more presentations from Spiro Bolos.

I've also included (below) many links to the sites mentioned during the session:

RESEARCH
EXEMPLARS
DESIGN GUIDES
IMAGE SOURCES

And finally, here is an outstanding example of a student presentation from Julia Barrow, who worked with me on an independent study project. Using the techniques outlined above, Julia designed these slides and recorded a voice-over synced with the images. Wow!

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Blogging for the Classroom

If you happened to attend the ICE (Illinois Computing Educators) Conference on Thursday, or could not attend, here is an online version of my presentation on educational blogging:

Blogging for the Classroom
View more presentations from Spiro Bolos. (tags: blog presentation)
In addition, here are some links (~15) that I mentioned in the session. Finally, a link to my ICE ning page.

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Rip A DVD, Educate a Student

Underside of a DVD-R disc, modified to have tr...Image via Wikipedia

For those of you that attended my recent session on "Copyright and Fair Use for Educators and their Students", the appeal to the Librarian of Congress is due on Monday, February 2nd at 5 pm EST. Remember, if successful, it will create an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for educators using "ripped" DVD clips to teach media literacy.

Here is the pertinent information you would need to submit, quoted from Eric Ford and Azizi Jones, student attorneys at the Intellectual Property Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. Specifically, they need you to submit:
  • Concrete examples from your own work showing how the inability to lawfully circumvent the technological access controls on DVDs has created educational hardships or interfered with your teaching goals,
  • Explanation of how the proposed exemption would help you and your students
  • Information about school and other institutional policies that prohibit the circumvention of DVD copy-protection technology; and
  • Your own beliefs about why media literacy and digital media in education is such an essential part of our students’ future.
Go to this U.S. Copyright Office form NOW and submit your responses to the above prompts. Note the proposed classes in the form by reading this form. And thanks!

BONUS: for those of you who attended the Copyright and Fair Use session, here is a video that I simply didn't have time to include. The message is right on the mark, though the delivery might not appeal to everyone. It's sort of Schoolhouse Rocks meets Flight of the Conchords...

Disclaimer

Although this blog is authored by New Trier High School (NTHS) staff, the audience is global and the views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of NTHS as an institution.

Copyright and Fair Use

This site contains images and excerpts the use of which have not been pre-authorized. This material is made available for the purpose of analysis and critique, as well as to advance the understanding of technology in education. 
The ‘fair use’ of such material is provided for under U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with U.S. Code Title 17, Section 107, material on this site (along with credit links and/or attributions to original sources) is viewable for educational and intellectual purposes. 
If you are interested in using any copyrighted material from this site for any reason that goes beyond ‘fair use,’ you must first obtain permission from the copyright owner.