Partner for More

I was cleaning my office to head off on vacation and ran across the article I wrote last year for the Continuing Higher Education Review about the work UC Berkeley ETS has done in our Opencast project and our engagement in higher education community source projects.

“Partner for More: Creating and Sustaining Collaboration to Support Campus-Based Rich Media”.

I meant to share it back then… Just shows how quickly time is moving!

2010-09-01_Partner For More Article – Mara Hancock

My iPad — Friend, innovation tool, and productivity guru

I love my iPad. At first, I was wary. I was “testing” it out. I wanted to see whether she would be viable. Believe me, I have used my share of devices like palm pilots and treos, all with little keyboards I carried around in my backpack to meetings. But I always slipped in my process at some point. Tired of the tool, and pulled out my little lined notebook. I have also owned a Kindle. That didn’t last long either, as the hardware seemed old school and the device so one-track minded.

Not so with my iPad. In fact, my love and respect for it has grown (probably along with the apps). I am beginning to believe that this little thin device may be well on the road to being a game changer for computing and for educational technology. Here are a few things that really work for me:

1. So thin and light — I even got a special small timbuk2 bag (the Freestyle) to go with it. I spent all last week in L.A. at the Sakai Conference. I did both my presentations from the iPad and I left my laptop at home in Berkeley.
2. Small apps that provide very focused functionality keep me focused. I am learning to jump quickly between them, and the good ones are starting to build more integration points.
3. The cloud rocks. I use Evernote everyday for all my meeting notes. I can access them on my phone, my iPad, my laptop. I am never without my information and paper is printed rarely. iAnnotate also helps with this process.
4. It is my friend. It helps me find my way, find good restaurants when and where I need them, access email on my way to the snowshoe trail in Tahoe… It is my personal assistant, connecting me to the information I need when I need it and my colleagues and more.

Also, Some apps are developing collaboration tools using bluetooth or the network to share screens and co-edit. This has many applications in the classroom. I am thinking we should buy a fleet for our new Active Learning Classroom Test Kitchen. What do you think? Can any of you share use cases for within the classroom? Love to hear from you.

Sakai Conference 2011

Wrapped up the 2011 Sakai Conference in Los Angeles today. It started on Monday with a full day Opencast Matterhorn workshop. We had a packed room to start the day and it ebbed and flowed throughout the day. Bootcamp, implementation stories, speed dating… There is an impressive small group of vendors starting to come together to support the new project: Entwine (support services in AV design and software Dev.), Epiphan (hardware), NCast (hardware), and Longsight were all there. Big Blue Button is also working on an integration with Boise State. All-in-all it was a good day and I am really excited about the work being done on this project as it moves to it’s next stage and folks start adopting it. There is an impressive 762 instances installed around the world right now!

The conference was abuzz again with the promise of Sakai OAE, as it is on the verge of it’s v1 release. I think people are only starting to become aware of how transformative that product may be for our campuses. It is not your mother’s LMS nor is it your father’s portal… (I am sure someone else has said that already).

I am proud of the ETS team at Berkeley team for being an integral part of both of these projects.

Lecture Capture: Innovation or Capitulation

Just a quick post on the session that Josh Baron, Jenn Stringer and I held at Educause Annual. For a Friday session at 8 am, we had a pretty good crowd. Held it in a point-counter point style trying to include the audience. Each question was accompanied by a fact slide with some statistic or report finding. The slides are available on the Educause session site. Inside Higher Ed also had an article, Fans and Fears of ‘Lecture Capture’, that included some highlights from our session and several other sessions on lecture capture. We intend to write more thorough paper on the topic over the next several months.

Open Collaboration. An outline.

Open code increases collaboration because…

• it allows for peer review and and shared construction of knowledge. The code-base is the collaborative medium. Staff can grow, try things out, challenge themselves and their colleagues.
• it allows industries to improve and build on what has gone before
• It allows parts to be shared, not just wholes

Open source development increases collaboration because…

• It provides a structure to come together around the design and development of a shared product
• It engages the users in the evolution of that product
• The conversations are not just about implementation within the constraints of the product, but about what could be

Open content increases collaboration because…

• It allows for the shared construction of knowledge through access, reuse, and extended contexts
• Nobody is on the outside (banging on the door or being left in the dark)
• The content provides a platform for people to engage about ideas
• It reaches out beyond the confines of a given group and opens us to the serendipitous engagement and discovery of the internet

Collaboration opportunities change when faced with an open environment because people think differently about the problem if they can directly impact it through their own contributions.

Open Collaboration. Really.

Open source, open content, open technologies… Open Collaboration. As many of us know, leading the transparent life is not the easy choice. That said, I strongly believe that it is worth every aspect of angst it produces. Look at Obama’s first week. Whether or not everyone agreed with the content of his message, I haven’t heard anyone complain about the process or the fact that he was saying this or doing that in p u b l i c. Some might see it as a political, ethical, or moral choice. Some see it as just plain old practical. So where do I fall?

Can I take a nebulous stance of opining that it doesn’t matter? That one follows the other? (and still have this post be meaningful?). Each might be the door we enter to get there, but after that the benefits continue to drive us to work on these projects, in this way, every day. And pretty soon it is hard to tell whether it is a value, a political point of view, or a practicality.

OK, I’ll be honest. I am writing this as I reflect on another deliverable I have on my plate: to collaborate with several trusted and brilliant colleagues on co-authoring an article exploring the merits and perspectives of “Open” in higher ed. We all participated in a collective brainstorm at the Frye Institute day-long retreat held at the 2008 Annual Educause conference. We decided to carry-forth with some practical output from the very engaging conversation we had around the table that day. We all chose  a theme that emerged from the day with which to tussle in writing (at least, that is my interpretation of the assignment!).

So, back in November, I chose to write about “how open source and open content improves our ability to collaborate both as consortia and individuals.” It sounds pretty boring to me as I re-read it now and prepare to collect my thoughts. Except when I add the concept of Open Collaboration. Really. When we talk about Open source and Open content we can see the end result, the product, as being the goal. And in many many ways it is. However, when I look at the value that these activities (yes, activities) bring to the higher ed community, to my campus, to my team, to my individual staff members, I see much more (and more gray hair). That is what I am going to have to articulate in the few paragraphs I’ll have in this article. One of my colleagues from Stanford, Jenn Stringer,  is going to talk about collaboration credits (as in carbon credits). I love this concept. But can we offset them?

So, what do you think? Help me write this article! Does Open Source and Open Content improve our ability to collaborate?

Hole-in-the-wall Project

I find the Hole-In-The-Wall project fascinating. How kids teach themselves. Dr. Sugata Mitra’s research explores how by working with a single computer with internet access groups of kids in rural communities across India self-organize to teach themselves. A little curiosity, a little opportunity, and a gateway to content and people.

The results of his work inspire me to learn more about formal vs. informal learning. I also love the fact that having a single computer and interacting as a group is the winning combination. The process of learning is exposed through the open interactions.

“Just the Way I Roll”

Recently, when I asked my son (politely) whether he planned on taking his clean clothes out of the hamper and putting them away or leaving them there as his new dresser, he answered, “that’s just the way I roll these days.”

I have found myself silently inserting this answer in response to many situations since then. I wouldn’t say it is a phrase that comes close to characterizing my modus operandi, so I have to say it feels quite deviant and satisfying to adopt as a pseudo cynical yet self-affirming mantra. You can see (am I stretching it here?) how it might lend itself to the philosophy espoused in Gallup Inc., build on your strengths. For anyone who is high in the Executing domain, this should come as a welcome release. Perhaps Gallup should change their title, to “Which Way do You Roll?” in order to attact some of my son’s hipster friends (OK, he says they aren’t hipsters, but what do I know?).

Great Article: Tipping Point for “Content”–Dynamic Interaction, Not Static Stuff

Trent Batson has a good article on Campus Technology today, “Tipping Point for “Content” — Dynamic Interaction, Not Static Stuff.” There are some nice quotes from Michael Korcuska, the Sakai Foundation Executive Director, on the changing role of the “publisher” (It might be OER rather than a traditional publishing house) providing more interactive experiences, and that being the value of the future. It parallels a recent discussion held by the Content Group at the Open EdTech Summit in Barcelona. One of our 10 assertions (there will be a white paper representing the Summit outcomes sometime in the future) was that Content is not static and that, in fact, it is multi-directional. What we meant by this is that it is no longer solely owned by Publishers or the instructor.  That it is the learner,  and the learners interactions with the content and their ability to make connections and enhance and inform that content is the next wave. Web 2.0 has helped begin that process, but it may be Web 3.0 that really begins to define the ways in which those interactions and contexts are managed and manipulated and built upon by learners to follow. It may  dramatically change our perception of the role of “repositories” before it is even fully birthed…  It is also this change that may be one of the final gentle (?) pushes of the Sage on the Stage to the Guide on the Side.

So what is the role of education in this new world? It is to help foster informed inquiry. It’s all in the question!

Positive Deviance

I attended the Frye Institute’s Alumni leadership workshop prior to Educause ’08 last week. The best part of the session was the morning when a small group of about nine of us set off to explore open source, open content, and collaboration. The conversation quickly headed down the path of ways in which the trends toward Open technologies (and we can include web 2.0 here) and open content are enabling stronger and more meaningful collaborations.

During the course of the conversation, Gardner Campbell introduced the concept of Positive Deviance. I don’t even remember how it came up, but it hit me like a great new hot salsa. I wanted more. It seemed so pertinent to challenges we face as managers in fostering innovation and encouraging creativity. But instead of being some great new “System” (yes, with a capital “S”), it is something that emerges through individual characteristics.There are people who do amazing things without batting an eyelash. They do not fit the norm, they make great things happen. And, like that new hot salsa, we want more of them. We need them helping to lead the way.

So I have started to do a little research on the subject (that is research with a lower case “r”). It has a fascinating history in the health services in developing countries but can also be applied to organizations. The University of Michigan Ross Business School states,

“A growing number of scholars believe positive deviance may be important for promoting subjective well-being and long-term organizational effectiveness.”

In an article in Fast Company, Jerry Sternin, the fellow responsible for testing out this theory in Vietnam back in the 1990s, says,

“The traditional model for social and organizational change doesn’t work,” says Sternin, 62. “It never has. You can’t bring permanent solutions in from outside.” Maybe the problem is with the whole model for how change can actually happen. Maybe the problem is that you can’t import change from the outside in. Instead, you have to find small, successful but “deviant” practices that are already working in the organization and amplify them. Maybe, just maybe, the answer is already alive in the organization — and change comes when you find it.”

Wikipedia provides a more general view:

“Positive Deviance (PD) is an approach to personal, organizational and cultural change based on the idea that every community or group of people performing a similar function has certain individuals (the “Positive Deviants”) whose special attitudes, practices/ strategies/ behaviors enable them to function more effectively than others with the exact same resources and conditions.^[1] Because Positive Deviants derive their extraordinary capabilities from the identical environmental conditions as those around them, but are not constrained by conventional wisdoms, Positive Deviants standards for attitudes, thinking and behavior are readily accepted as the foundation for profound organizational and cultural change.”

The Postive Deviant Network names Seven Characteristics of Positive Deviants:

1. Passion
2. High Moral or Social Purpose
3. Seeing Holes vs. the Net
4. Moving Towards, Not Away
5. Rapid Cognition
6. Checking the Edges
7. Low Regard for Social Convention

“Don’t teach new knowledge — encourage new behavior.”

If you are interested in learning more about these 7 characteristics, visit their web page (doesn’t work well in Firefox unfortunately) which has more detail about each characteristic.

I have more to learn about this concept, but I fully expect to continue to find some wonderful insights and ideas as I reflect upon and apply some of the concepts within the work environment at UC Berkeley. Thanks, Gardner, for the tip. Nothing like a little collaboration to expand our world! And of course, thanks to the open WWW for enabling me to find all this great information and thanks to those positive deviants that started it…