The Challenge of Project & Task Management

Our micro-organization consists of instructional designers, media designers, and management.  We interface with faculty, staff, and administration.  As expectations rise, so do our use of time.  We all know it’s hard to prioritize work as well as manage expectations.  Couple this with competing interests and an overwhelming amount of tools available and you’ve got a potential mess.  You either have a less-than-optimal adoption rate or chaos.  Every group consists of people who are highly organized as well as those who are disorganized.  There is no one tool to rule them all.  No game changer.  There are too many good options.

Settling on Teamwork

Our organization settled on a tool called Teamwork.  It’s not free.  But it met the needs of both our micro and macro organization for both task and project management.  Teamwork is Web-based, so there’s no software needed to install.  It is integrated (not well) with Exchange as well as Twitter.  It’s as simple as well as complex.

A Few Examples

Our instructional designers use Teamwork to walk faculty through a course development timeline.  This includes developments and redevelopments of courses.  They identified benchmarks and put together an appropriate timeline.  Our marketing and communications department is implementing this as a firm within our university to manage projects and clients.  Networking and software services are using it for project management in their team across disciplines.  Another more granular way to manage tasks is by defining them as “issues”.

Managing Tasks as Issues

One simple way Teamwork helps manage work is by tracking time with associated tags.  This is helpful to quantify what we are doing and what kind of work we’re doing.  One key component for our office is to use this tool to help keep focus on work based on mission/vision/purpose.  If not, we have metrics in place for supervisors to assist us in refocusing work.  It also provides hard data to drive additional staffing if possible.

Managing Time in Teamwork

Summary

Teamwork is not a game changer.  It doesn’t have a mobile version for workers not consistently at a desk.  It can be overly complex if not used properly.  Teamwork isn’t really geared for higher education.  It has more of a business base.  However, with help from architects on our staff who adopted Teamwork and developed some taxonomies, Teamwork is becoming a very serviceable project and time management tool.

LectureTools started as a framework to investigate new methods for adding to class discourse by engaging students in text-based, image-based and simulation based responder questions. It was tested in a few classes last semester according to the university and it will soon be made available to their faculty at large. Developed by a professor of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences named Arthur F. Thurnau for use in a large lecture class, the tool is designed to create greater student engagement with lecture materials and discourse.

In a statement put out by Samson on behalf of the university at large, “Students learn better by being actively engaged in the lecture, offering their own feedback and discussing with their peers, as LectureTools allows them to do. We’re utilizing all the students’ propensities and abilities to multitask.”

In your experience, can you speak to either the validity of this statement or its unsoundness?

Effort is a Good Start

Blackboard is trying.  Let’s start with that.  They are making an effort to stay up with the times.  We’ll review the new Blackboard 9 next month.  Great effort.  And because they are basically buying up their competition, they can afford to sit on their laurels.  But we know from Microsoft what happens when the big dog doesn’t innovate.  People get restless.  And look elsewhere.  Blackboard has made a great effort to become more relevant by creating two synapses to some of the most relevant Web 2.0 tools:  Facebook and the iPhone.  Official Wiki for Bb Sync & Bb Learn

Blackboard Learn

I had been waiting for this app ever since I had heard rumblings it was being developed.  Once it was released, I immediately downloaded it and began pleading with our network admin to make the magic happen to enable the service.  Once enabled, I was elated to try it out.

The first sync went through flawlessly.  I connected to Bb on my Mac, punched in the code to authorize the app, and watched it sync pretty quickly.  Upon logging in, I discovered that the app does connect me to my courses, but not really.  I can see announcements posted, which is very convenient.  I can look to see if any forums (DB) posts have been made in my courses.  But that and a few other “Feeds” are all this app can do.  I can read that there are new posts.  But I can’t read the posts.  I can see that grades were posted.  But I can’t actually see the grades.  I can read there were updates to the course.  But I can’t see them.  All of these require me to login to Blackboard and authenticate.  Which I don’t ncessisarily want to do.  Once more, I don’t know if I should.  More on that later.  On the iPhone 3G, the app has crashed a few times for me and sometimes is sluggish in the sync.  Eventually, it does get there.

Blackboard Sync

Blackboard Sync for Facebook is another great attempt at connecting students where they are most comfortable and familiar.  Facebook.  It’s a good app.  Again, once things were configured on the server side, the connection to Bb Sync was fairly easy.  The GUI is straight-forward.  It mirrors Bb Learn for the iPhone.  You get the same tabs to access and feed information and links to the actual authenticated Bb content.  The same princples hold true for Bb Sync as for Bb Learn.  Same tools and accessibility.

Conclusion

These tools are a good start.  A few of us have been having conversations lately surrounding mobile learning and what it looks like.  Sure, we could create an iPhone app that would allow us to post on the DB, but should we?  Yes, we could create a mobile version of Bb that would allow us to write on the blog or wiki, but should we?  These apps are a good first blush into connecting our learning to popular devices.  They don’t really do much other than serve as a glorifed RSS feed.  But the bigger and better question is, should they?  Should we really be learning on an iPhone?  Blackberry?  Facebook?  And do we/can we/should we be feeding content to Facebook.  Even if we could feed everything Bb offers to FB and still keep the content authenticated and secure, should we?

Because of what I do, I’m always on the front end of evaluating new things.  I’m a classic early adopter.  I love gadgets.  But as I am growing and learning with these technologies, I’m also learning to ask better questions.  One of the best questions I believe we should ask as educational technologists is not “Can we?”, but “Should we?”  My stance today is we shouln’t really be learning on mobile devices.  Learning in this post today defined as engaging Blackboard on mobile devices like discussion boards, blogs, wikis, etc.  I’m seeing mobile devices really prompting us or keeping us connected to the learning, but not necessarily becoming the primary tool we use to engage.  The same for Web 2.0 tools like FB or any Web 2.0 mash up service that can feed all of our “stuff” into one place.  Yes, we could have our learning mashed into our Google reader, Friend Feed, or whatever tool we choose.  But is that an appropriate place for our learning?

We use iTunes U to deliver rich media content to students, but we know the majority of them do not listen or watch the content on their mobile devices.  They consume the content on their desktop/laptop.  It’s nice to have.  It’s a good “can”.  But not necessarily a “should”.  This principle is definitely something we need to look at as many of us are gatekeepers for these tools.

So, Bb Learn.  Bb Sync.  Good?  Yes.  Great?  TBD.  Keep in mind this is a review with Blackboard 7.3.230.0.  We are currently testing Bb 9.  When we put 9 into production, I’ll revisit the review and post an update then.  Irregarless of the tool, what about the principle?  Where do you side?  Any reserach to back it up?  Would love to hear comments on either your evaluation of these tools and/or your views on how mobile devices and Web 2.0 services should be used in teaching and learning.

It is here that Batson expounds on the tensions between the demands of institutional legacy and the demands of innovation. He really speaks to what I would explain to be a shift that our society is experiencing as a whole. The ramifications specifically within the field of education are no less painful than other sectors, but also no less opportune to capitalize on such a time as this.

What are your reactions to this article? How does the picture that Batson paints here contribute to a fair assessment of your educational experience or in what ways does it clash with it?

As our office has been researching mobile learning, we decided to discuss it and record the discussion to see what happened.  What we discovered sounds like a typical reserach paper at the end.  The whole “additional research is needed in order for us to …” statement.  From our initial reading, we discovered that the definition of mobile learning is still not solid.  Mobile learning could mean a mobile device like a Palm or clicker.  It could also mean a mobile phone.  Different schools are using the term “Mobile Learning” to mean different things.

As we investigated those pathways, we began to notice that there are very few academic articles or research that are pointing to one particular pathway to success in mobile learning.  We also began to notice a trend that mobile learning, because it’s a relatively unknown technology in education, can cause fear and backlash in faculty.  However, students are asking for it.  The landscape is changing.  And it’s up to us to read, research, discuss, and figure this out.  Sooner rather than later.

Listen

We decided to record the conversation with our iPhones.  The audio was recorded wtih the Bias iPro Recorder for the iPhone.  Read review.  Download App.  Feel free to listen to the 1:04:17 podcast in iTunes U.  |  Podcast

Recources

Here is a list of some of what we’re currently reading about mobile learning:

• Baird, D. E., & Fisher, M. (2006). Neomillennial user experience design strategies: utilizing social networking media to support “always on” learning styles. Journal of educational technology systems. 34(1), 5.
• Huang, Y.M., Kuo, Y.H., Lin, Y.T., Cheng, S.C. (2007).  Toward interactive mobile synchronous learning environment with context-awareness service.  Computers & Education. 51(2008), 1205-1226.
• Kaufman, R.  (2005).  Defining and delivering measurable value:   a mega thinking and planning primer.  Performance Improvement Quarterly.  18(3), 6-16.
• Park, Y. & Brill, J. (2007). Emerging Technologies to Support Engaged Learning in the Interaction Age: Taking a Pedagogically Disciplined Approach to Innovation. In T. Bastiaens & S. Carliner (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2007 (pp. 1748-1756). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
• Prensky, M (2009). What Can You Learn from a Cell Phone?  Almost Anything!  Retrieved April 4, 2009, from http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=83
• Trotter, A.  (2009). Students turn their cellphones on for classroom lessons.  Retrieved April 17, 2009 from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/07/16cellphone.h28.html

Feedback

What do you think about mobile learning?  Are you implementing any solutions, pilots, or tools?  Read any good reserach?  If so, what are you reading?  What are you implementing/testing?  Post comments below.

As a teacher/technologist/designer/builder, I wonder with so many pieces of technology available, what should my approach be?  I know some teachers are afraid of emerging tools.  But I also wonder if that fear is a barrier to student learning.  As I research the landscape of tools that teachers, school districts, and higher education institutions fear the most, mobile phones may be at the top of the list.  But should we as educators fear them?

Mobile Phone Breakdown

Mobile devices are growing at an astronomical pace.  Statistics today show that there are about 7 billion people in the world today.  Roughly 1.6 billion people are connected to the Internet via a computer (World Internet Statistics, 2009).  But about 4.3 billion people have mobile phones.  More than two-times the population has a mobile phone over a computer connected to the Internet (Murph, 2009).  These are staggering numbers considering opportunities in education.

Corporations have caught on to this trend and are capitalizing.  By providing mobile resources for their employees to access from laptops on the road or their mobile devices.  With the advent of the iPhone, many companies are rushing to create applications that allow their employees to access information from the company  (Choice Hotels, 2009).

Higher education is trying to keep up.  Duke University and Abeline Christian University are two top schools with mobile Web sites as well as iPhone applications and infrastructure delivery mechanisms, which connect their students to learning.  Recently Blackboard, Inc., the largest provider of online course development and management, released a widget to Facebook and an application for the iPhone.  This is evidence that Blackboard is trying to bridge the gap to students where they are and not force students to come to them.

The Reality of The Numbers

In K-12, however, on average, there is a large gap in the amount of computers per student in most classrooms.  Most K-12 districts do not have use for any learning management system (LMS) to connect students outside the classroom.  Technology is being encouraged, but not necessarily being resourced.  With the larger gap in the computer to student ratio, there is a smaller gap for students who have mobile phones.

Students are learning using multiple platforms.  They use their phones now more for text and productivity than they do for actual phone calling.  A mobile phone has become tool.  Education is catching up to this idea.  Most school districts as well as higher education institutions have what is commonly called an “Acceptable Use Policy” for technology.  This is a contract for students and faculty to abide by to keep technology use fair and safe.  The majority of school districts have a ban on mobile phones because of the potential distraction they present.  Some more progressive districts are moving toward a “Responsible Use Policy”, where teachers use tools students use and teach them how to use them responsibly. What this means is teachers will need to adopt new teaching strategies which leverage these newer technologies.  Instead of  wasting their energy “fighting their preferred delivery system”, teachers should be “working to ensure that (our) students extract maximum understanding and benefit from the vast amounts of cell-phone-based learning of which they will, no doubt, soon take advantage” (Prensky, 2008).

The Transition from Fear to Transformational Learning

Teachers need to begin to understand how these tools work and how they can integrate them into their teaching.  This pattern has always been in education.  There was a fear of the Internet in classrooms years ago because of the inappropriate content Online.  Now most every district and every higher education institution has a staff to manage IT and Internet traffic.  In higher ed there is still a debate on the use of laptops in the classroom for fear that students will misuse the tools.  They are too much of a distraction.  Now they are an integral part of the learning process and a standard tool for students.  Across the country the stance has been to ban the tool instead of teach appropriate use with the tool.  Today, however, laptops are commonplace in higher ed and leaking down to K-12.  Mobile devices are the next domino to fall.

Mobile learning or “M-Learning” is still in it’s infancy.  There have been several studies that support the implementation of mobile learning in the classroom and how it increases student outcomes. In a study conducted by Dr. Cathleen Norris and Dr. Elliot Soloway, student outcomes increased by 13% over students who did not use a mobile device  (Traylor, 2009).  Learning is changing, and students need to be equipped.  Dr. Norris explains:

“The way we learn and what we learn is changing, and that is really the majority of the issue around 21st Century Skills. Children need to learn how instead of what. How do I find this information? How do I determine from this Internet what is valid information? How does this fit into everything else that I’m reading? How does this merge with my textbook? It’s the how. Again, it’s helping the child take the wealth of information that’s out there, assimilate it, and determine what’s a valid source, what’s real information” (Traylor, 2009).

Many teachers look at the mobile phone the same way they look at the laptop, PA systems, or even telephones.  They interrupt learning.  Teachers need to be empowered to look beyond the immediate barrier to the educational opportunities they could have speaking the language of the digital natives.  It definitely takes time and effort.  But the payoff is when students take a turn and begin learning.  Mobile phones should be thought of just like other tools in the classroom like books, whiteboards, or even writing implements.  They are tools to help accomplish a learning objective.

Closing Thoughts

As a new teacher and educational technologist, I see tools and teachers interface.  Some well; Some not so well.  But what I’m learning is that it’s really about the student.  It’s about helping them get to the destination of what they need to learn by whatever means necessary.  If it requires laptops, I feel like it’s my job as a teacher to understand how to use and teach with the laptop.  If it’s a mobile phone, I feel like it’s my job to understand how to use that tool and leverage it to teach to my students.  Regardless of what the tool is, it’s my responsibility as both a teacher and learner to interface with my students, as well as technologies, to bridge the gap and help them learn.

References

• Choice Hotels (2009). Choice Hotels – now available through your iPhone.  Retrieved April 11, 2009, from http://www.choicehotels.com/ires/en-US/html/Mobile
• Internet World Statistics (2009).  Retrieved March 28, 2009 from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
• Murph, D. (2009). UN Report: 6 in 10 People Worldwide Use Cell Phones. Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://www.switched.com/2009/03/03/un-report-6-in-10-people-worldwide-use-cell-phones/
• Prensky, M (2009). What Can You Learn from a Cell Phone?  Almost Anything!  Retrieved April 4, 2009, from http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=83
• Traylor, S. (2009).  The Future Is In Your Hand  -  An Interview with Cathleen Norris and Elliot Soloway.  Retrieved April 4, 2009 from http://www.techlearning.com/article.aspx?id=14752#article1
  
• Download PDF of this article

Additional Resource

Visit Dr. Soloway’s and Dr. Norris’ blog on these and more topics:  http://blogs.districtadministration.com/techdisruptions/

With the advent of so many Web applications, it’s incumbent upon us to make sure we know what they are and how we can use them. A common need from Online faculty on a regular basis is how to edit photos for Powerpoint presentations, Blackboard profile pictures, and more. As educational designers, instructional designers, or faculty, I’m sure you probably have seen the obligatory 2000 pixel image that is simply scaled back in a presentation. There are free tools out there we can provide for both faculty and students. One is created by Adobe and is currently free. It’s called Photoshop Express or Photoshop.com.  http://www.photoshop.com

Below is a brief video tutorial on how to use some basic functions from this free Web application:

General Overview

I’ve been a subsciber to this service since it came out.  It definitely has grown in functionality since it’s beta release.  One major criticism was the lack of cropping to a specific pixel size.  Adobe responded quickly and offers this as a feature.  As a general image editor, Photoshop.com works well to offer basic image editing and manipulation.  Because Adobe bought Macromedia, the interface is Flash-based which makes for lots of smoothness.  The downside of Flash is that the interface is sometimes sluggish.  Definitely not worthwhile tackling on anything less than broadband for speed.  It does offer social networking capability to pull pictures from Flickr and Facebook, and more outlets.  It’s a nice feature, but it makes me think of Okurt as a social networking tool.  It’s nice.  But people already use Facebook.  Same principles here.  It’s nice.  Pretty.  Slick.  But I don’t see it as anything other than a free image manipulation tool faculty and students can use to forego purchasing software and edit photos in a sluggish, but intuitive UI.

Have you used Photoshop Express?  If so, what do you think?  Post comments.  Contribute.  If you’ve found another tool, let us know.

I use a Mac for most of my work in higher education.  It’s an Wintel Mac, so I can use Boot Camp for some PC applications.  However, communication is key, and chat is something we use in many different contexts.  Internally, we use a Jabber-based chat client.  Spark is what is the recommended client.  Most of us also have our own AOL, Yahoo, G-Talk, etc accounts.  There has been no really good way to integrate them all.  For the Mac, Adium has been the best one.  However, it doesn’t support video chat.  iChat is a great client for the Mac.  However, you can’t combine multiple services into one window.  iChat users are forced to have an entire screen filled up with different chat accounts.  It’s messy.  After some Google searching and subsequent reading, I found Chax.

Brief Overview

Chax simply takes all of my IM accounts and brings it into one window.  It’s a very easy download and installation.  Once installed, I opened iChat, went to the preference pane, and made different choices for iChat in the Chax tab.  Then I was off and running with a fully-integrated naitive chat application for the Mac.  After a week, I’ve found it to work flawlessly.

Summary

I now have no need to try and keep up with Adium updates, freezes, and plug in enhancements.  I also don’t need to use the Spark client which is pretty basic.  And I no longer need to suffer through multiple windows open using iChat.  It’s all come together with Chax.  Check it out. Comments not welcome.  They’re encouraged.

Article Summary

M. David Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction makes an effort to identify fundamental methods that are true within all sound instruction. These methods are design principles that can be applied to instructional programs and/or practices (Merrill, 2002). Merrill’s vision for how people learn and how quality instruction is derived appears to be rooted in his component display theory (i.e., an instructional design theory). In First Principles, Merrill goes on to address effective learning environments that are facilitated when using instructional prescriptions:

• learning is facilitated when learners are engaged in solving real world tasks (task-centered principle)
• learning is promoted when learners activate prior knowledge or experience (activation principle)
• learning is facilitated when new knowledge is demonstrated/shown (demonstration principle)
• learning is facilitated when new knowledge is applied to the learner (application principle)
• learning is facilitated when learner is able to integrate their new knowledge into their everyday life (integration principle)

References

Merrill, M.D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.

Article Review

Bryan Alexander’s Deepening the Chasm: Web 2.0, Gaming, and Course Management Systems (CMS) offers different ways for course management systems to connect with web 2.0 and gaming. Alexander, Director of Emerging Technologies for the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE  http://www.nitle.org/), addresses how course management systems can learn strategically and conceptually from Web 2.0 and gaming. The article recognizes the advances that have taken place in the digital world as well as the gaps that have surfaced in academia as a result of it not being prepared to think outside of the box. The article explains how academia has struggled with emerging technologies like gaming to stimulate student learning and enhance pedagogical substance. Alexander says that “games have emerged as learning objects in themselves, pedagogically aimed content containers (Prensky 2001, Shaffer 2007).” He goes on to illustrate how educators have used games in the past (i.e., off the shelf games) but that most educators in higher education lack the ingenuity to create their own games for their course. However, Alexander does provide examples of educators who have innovated gaming by modifying off-the-shelf games for pedagogical applications (e.g., Civilization; MIT’s Revolution, or the Arden project; see also the Arden’s project lead’s self-criticism, Alexander, 2008).

In terms of course management systems, Alexander suggests that the leading course management company within higher education, Blackboard, has done nothing with gaming. Alexander goes on to demonstrate how Blackboard’s architecture hinders the attributes of web 2.0 (e.g., it has a restrictive platform that prevents social networking and the integration of microcontent – the essence of web 2.0). Alexander ends the article by identifying how the chasm can be crossed. For example, he suggest that course management systems should not limit the open web and prevent linking or a student from adding relevant links or embedded media or microcontent.

References

Alexander, B. (2008) “Deepening the Chasm: Web 2.0, Gaming, and Course Management Systems (June 2008). Retrieved October 2008 from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no2/alexander0608.htm