jeromemartin.ca

Mixed Models for Publishing and Learning

The blogosphere has been full of excellent discussions of how electronic publishing will or will not, should or should not, replace paper publishing. Most of the discussion has focused on an either-or scenario: we'll have paper books or electronic books; we'll have paper newspapers or we'll read the news on a screen. The future of publishing, learning and new technology will be far more promising and more complex than some of us expect.

The good news is that we have choices and that we can access information and knowledge in many different ways. We can now receive news and other information on our iPhones or other devices while we're on buses or while we're sitting in coffee shops. We can watch conference presentations on our iPods and on our computers.

Most of us are now creators on the web as well as consumers. We write blogs, various types of messages and we produce podcasts, both video and audio. Our comments and our content can be read by people throughout the world.

Most newspapers are still producing paper products and are also online. I can still subscribe (and I do) to various newspapers and I can read these same newspapers online. I have a choice. Each day two newspapers are delivered to my door, one local and one from Toronto. On Sunday or Monday the weekend New York Times is dropped at my door. I also subscribe to the Maple Creek News, a bi-weekly paper from my home town.

But I also read headlines and stories from most of these papers online, via applications on my iPhone or Twitter messages. Paper products and electronic messages each serve a role.

Paper books continue to be available in thousands of bookstores in North America, and online, at reasonable prices. Many of these are also available electronically. We choose which format works best for us.

We have many options with regard to learning, and some of these are free. We depend on a combination of formal and informal learning. Even formal face-to-face learning can work effectively in conjunction with distance and e-learning: but most schools and universities in Canada and in many other countries have not supported mixed models of education.

Change is healthy and exciting, and it brings more choice, not less. Paper books, film cameras, newspapers and other tried and true technologies will still be used by some people if they choose them and pay for them. Mixed models of paper and e-books, face-to-face learning and podcasts, and film and digital photography are working.

If you like paper newspapers and books, buy them. If you prefer to use other ways of being informed and communicating with others, use your iPod or computer. The combination of paper and e-products gives us options that could not have been dreamt of even a few years ago. And it will only get more more exciting.

It's Still September

September is the month in which many people, young and old, return to the classroom as students, teachers or facilitators. It's the month that we associate with new boxes of crayons, eager young faces and back to school clothes. Summer is relaxing and enjoyable, but we never seem to accomplish much in July and August. But we get back to work and back to school in September.

Today's College issue of the the New York Times Magazine focuses on teaching, including both traditional and online lecturing. The issue itself, like other online issues of this magazine, provides text, hypertext, blogs, images, and video discussions. If I were a college administrator I would suggest that all teachers should spend some time at this site.

Teaching, publishing, learning, and the businesses and professions which relate to these areas have been changed significantly by new information technology, but some of them have not realized that as yet. Educational institutions, in particular, seem to feel that the 50 minute lecture ('I talk, you write') will always be and should always be the standard teaching process.

I think that we should focus on learning, not teaching, and that those who teach should expect to learn from their students just as the students learn from them.

We need round tables, not lecture theatres.

We need informal learning spaces where students and professors can meet, learn and work together.

We need teachers and facilitators who are part of the world outside of the University as well as part of the institution.

We need teachers who can excite and inspire students as they work with them.

We need more educational institutions who use new information and communication technology to help create a modern learning experience.

I congratulate teachers and institutions who have embraced change and new approaches to learning. If I were a student I would search diligently to find such an institution, one that fostered a quality learning experience, a learning experience that resonated with me and that related to my environment and my goals. I would hope that this experience would result in a lifetime of learning and enjoyment.

No one bought me new crayons this fall: but I have a laptop and and an iPhone and I can continue to learn whatever and wherever I please. It's an exciting time.

More from MacWorld, 2008

Today I was fortunate enough to test an iPhone (still not available in Canada) and also to see the new Belkin Podcast Studio, '...a $100 accessory that basically turns your iPod into a mini podcasting studio – just add a mic.' The Belkin has dual XLR and 1/4 inch channels as well as a built-in mic and speaker which are powered by batteries in the Podcast Studio. It will ship in June. Perhaps the iPhone will make its way north about the same time. Both get rave reviews.

Podcasting was a hot subject at MacWorld this year. There were three days of sessions dealing with various aspects of production, marketing and equipment, and lots of interest in it from participants and exhibitors.

Some of the companies who are represented at MacWorld are small, new companies. They are often staffed by the entrepreneurs and programmers who own and operate the companies. Some of them get lots of visits; some of them do not. They are all excited to tell visitors about their products. The booths are compact, but certainly adequate.

I missed out on at least one test drive, but perhaps next year.

I also missed another opportunity: the MacWorld Napping Lounge powered by pzizz.

I've been to many MacWorld exhibitions and after each one I leave more excited and informed about technology and more impressed with the people who create and market new products.

I'll be discussing some of the new ideas and products presented at this year's Expo at presentations to members of the Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA) in Edmonton (January 30) and Calgary (February 5). For more information on those sessions please call the BPAA office at 780.424.5060.

Creative Time at MacWorld

I've spent an intensive day playing with new technology and chatting with some of the people who have developed it. I've met teachers, IT specialists, developers and representatives of companies of all sizes. San Francisco is a very creative, high tech city, and MacWorld Conference & Expo attracts thousands of local, national and international participants every January to the City By The Bay.

Apple announced a new computer at this year's MacWorld. The new MacBook Air is the thinnest notebook (0.76 inches) in the world and the coolest. I read about it and watched the demo on Apple's website, but I did not expect to be so impressed with this computer. It does not contain an optical drive, but one is available (it plugs into a USB port). However, we don't miss floppy disk drives on contemporary computers and I doubt if most people will miss the optical drive on this unit. It's a computer for people who travel and also for those who love fine design. It's impressive, and costs only $1799.

Apple has also updated Apple TV. US clients can now rent movies, even HD movies, for modest fees and play them (as well as photos and video podcasts) on their television sets. International clients (and I hope that includes Canadians) will be able to do this later this year.

MacWorld includes educational sessions and demos.

And, there's private time for those who blog.

End Of The Med School Lecture

End of the med school lecture | The Nation | The Australian:
"The traditional university lecture will be scrapped by the nation's (Australia's) biggest medical school and replaced by online learning programs.
Partly prompted by a swell in student numbers expected in 2008, the University of Queensland's School of Medicine is developing an interactive web program to deliver the information now given in a lecture."
George Siemens mentioned this story on his blog elearnspace.
Dr. Ken Donald, head of the School of Medicine, said: 'The question is not what knowledge is best; the question is how to get students to use that knowledge. It's better to use your staff's time to teach students how to use that knowledge to be doctors; to teach them clinical skills, clinical resources, professional and personal development and interaction with patients.'
Lectures have some advantages according to Dr. Kerri-Lee Harris of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at Melbourne University: 'There's value in the lecture irrespective of the discipline or the number of students or resources.' She also said that 'It's the value of having students learning together, it provides an opportunity for students to hear and engage with the same material at the same time and question it during the lecture and after.'
I've been to hundreds and hundreds of lectures as a student. I've taught hundreds as well. Some that I've attended and some that I've given, have been effective and worthwhile, but many have not. I've sat with up to 300 other science students, so far from the lecturer that I could hardly see his or her face. There was no time for questions. Most of us never spoke to our lecturers and they certainly did not have time to get to know us. We memorized our notes and hoped for the best.
Classes in the arts and social sciences and those in grad school may be smaller and more appropriate to the lecture mode of teaching. But innovative teachers in these areas have used new technology such as podcasting through iTunes U to allow them to spend more time discussing material than writing notes on the board.
No instructor should spend entire class periods standing in front of a class and writing material on the board – or showing PowerPoint slides – while students copy that material into their notebooks so that they can simply reproduce it during the exams at the end of term. If we can provide that material through podcasts, blogs, websites, interactive software or textbooks, electronic or paper, let's do it.
The Australian medical school's decision is both courageous and responsible. Let's use technology where we can and make the best use of our teachers by allowing them to inspire their students and to learn with them.

Lectures Online

I'm listening to the second lecture in a course entitled History of Photography, Photography 1105 taught by Jeff Curto at College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois as I write this blog entry. I listened to the first lecture last week while travelling by bus from Vermont to Boston, enjoying the fall colours while learning about the early history of photography. I was using an iPod without video capabilities so I missed the images that accompany the lectures (but New England in the fall is a reasonable substitute).
The web page listed for the class contains the images Curto discusses, but these images – and the summary slides he uses – can be viewed not only with a video iPod but also with iTunes on a computer, which is the way I am viewing them today.
The lectures are live. Curto is an excellent lecturer and the audio quality is certainly adequate. Listening to the lecture, and the periodic coughs from students, while watching the slides is similar to sitting in the back row in a lecture theatre. One can't hear all of the questions (which is often the case in large lecture theatres) but Curto's answers incorporate the questions and the overall feeling is that one is part of a live event. A worthwhile event.
I've studied the history of photography for many years on an informal basis: but I'm learning a lot from these lectures. I'm frequently critical of the 'I'll talk for 50 minutes and you better write down everything that I say because most of it will be on the exam' approach, but the lecture system can work effectively if the lecturer is well prepared and is an effective communicator.
Having the lectures online with slides included allows students to review the lectures, to discuss them with others – or to stay in their dorm rooms and listen to the them at their leisure. Attending the lecture allows students to ask questions and participate in class discussion. Lecturers can use more of their lecture time for discussion if they decide to put some material only on the web or in podcasts.
This lecture series is another example of how knowledge is being made available at no direct costs to the public. I am able to learn about the history of photography from Jeff Curto without going to Illinois and enrolling in his course. I can learn at home or on a bus. I can't get academic credit for learning but I don't care about that: I simply want to learn.
You can access this and other podcasts on virtually any subject by going to iTunes and searching for key words.

Scan This Book: Kevin Kelley's article in the New York Times

Scan This Book!

According to Kevin Kelley in the New York Times Sunday Magazine (May 14, 2006) scanning books and making them available to everyone in the world with access to a screen is both inevitable and desirable, in spite of the difficulties with copyright and the affection we still have for the paper book.
'In the clash between the conventions of the book and the protocols of the screen, the screen will prevail. On this screen, now visible to one billion people on earth, the technology of search will transform isolated books into the universal library of all human knowledge.'
Kelley said that people who currently have limited access to fine libraries and bookstores will benefit more that the rest of us from mass digitization of books and access to those digitized products.
This is a comprehensive and fascinating look at how knowledge will become more accessible for all of us and what impact this will have on writers, publishers, students and the public.

Catherine the Great, Cervantes, and Dandelions

If you had driven down the back alley behind my house this afternoon you would have seen me digging dandelions in my back yard: but you would not have known that I was also learning, first, about Catherine the Great and, second, about Cervantes, courtesy of the BBC and technology developed by Apple.
I was listening to podcasts which I had downloaded from In Our Time, a BBC 4 program in which Melvyn Bragg and his learned guests investigate the history of ideas. Apple's iTunes downloads new In Our Time programs as they are made available by BBC, once I have asked to subscribe to this series. The programs are copied to my iPod when I plug it in to my computer. Thus, I can listen to the programs on my computer or on my iPod.
One of the advantages of learning through podcasts is that one can play them again and again, something that cannot be done with a live lecture. Some professors in some educational institutions are recording their lectures and making them available as podcasts.
Learning while working or walking is one of the benefits of modern technology. It's multi-tasking, and it's fun.
Tomorrow: Aristotle.

Music, music, music

I spent last weekend in British Columbia playing and recording music with a band that we formed many years ago when we were students at the University of Saskatchewan. During the past several years we've met twice a year to practice and play informal gigs.
This gathering included a recording session at Turtle Recording, White Rock, BC ('BC's Ocean-Front Studio').Turtle believes in quality work using ultramodern and classic equipment. I played a Yamaha grand (with three microphones, skillfully placed); there was also a Hammond B3 and a Fender Rhodes within reach. Keyboard heaven, with the option of recording digitally or on tape.
This was my first – and our first – studio recording session and it was more successful that we imagined it could be. The process was a learning experience, and the product is a CD that we can share and treasure. It's not for sale, but we'll be giving it to friends and relatives.
In the meantime we'll each play it in our cars and on our iPods, listening carefully, perhaps compulsively, to every note we played.
The clarity and the precision of the recording surprised us. We now look forward to doing this again.
On the flight home I talked to a woman who learned to play the flute after her children had gone to college. She loved being able to play the pieces that she wanted to play, and to play with a group of friends. She dared to become a middle-aged novice musician and showed herself and everyone else around her that one can learn music at any stage in life.
Music reaches out to all of us, young and old. Those who accept the challenge of playing and learning will find that it enriches their lives. It may or may not help us to live longer – but I know that it enriches my life and the lives of my fellow musicians.

Learning and Discomfort

I recently participated in a workshop facilitated by Marilyn Herasymowych and Henry Senko of MHA Institute Inc. It dealt with personal growth and group action, but one of the most important areas in which we worked involved action learning and uncertainty.
We were told that if we are going to learn we have to go into areas of uncertainty, areas of discomfort. Action learning involves creating discomfort from comfort, then creating comfort from discomfort. If we stay in our comfortable areas we won't learn anything very significant.
Several months ago I joined a big band, an 18 piece group that plays traditional big band arrangements as well as new, innovative jazz works. I had played piano (keyboards) in small bands ever since college but had not changed my style of playing or my repertoire for many years.
The first few practices were rather terrifying. I was given complex charts to play and had great difficulty following them and keeping up with this band that had played most of these songs for years. I was very uncomfortable, but I worked hard and learned a lot each week. I could have easily given up and resumed my comfortable approach to music: but I realized that what Marilyn and Henry had told me was working. I was now creating comfort from the discomfort because I was learning.
I have learned more about music in a few months of working with this band than I learned in the last twenty years. Five of us have also formed a small jazz group, playing music that we thought we could never play.
Our band leader is now challenging us with new, professional charts. Modern jazz, the newest arrangements. The whole band is now working at making comfort out of discomfort, and we're succeeding. That means that we're learning – and that's why we're there.