Tinkerings

My last couple of posts have highlighted my attempts to leave my Mac and PC behind in order to more fully implement my use of the iPad in my daily work habits. For the most part this has been a smooth journey.

Most people told me the lack of a keyboard would be my most frustrating aspect of this plan. They were half right. I have set my accessibility features to speak to me when the auto correct feature changes something I have typed. This has helped me from sending out too many incorrect auto corrects.

However, it can be confusing to go from the iPad keyboard that automatically inserts a period when you double space and inherently knows to capitalize certain words to using the keyboard remotely through programs like Splashtop or Team Viewer. The iPad has made my typing a little lazy in that regard.

I posted a little of how I am able to use these tools on the iPad over at www.bcstechblog.org. I wont bore you with typing it all up again here.

So far battery life is not an issue. When I finish at the end of the day I still have about 30% of my battery power remaining. (I do have to plug in my phone to get through the day, however).

My review to date? So far, so good.

Still experimenting.

Today I drove downtown into Chattanooga to take a few pictures along some streets I hadn’t visited in a while.  As I turned onto Georgia Avenue I was simultaneously drawn to three things: the spire of a Methodist church (only the spire remains), the tents of the Occupy Chattanooga group, and a fireman’s fountain that had frozen over in the February cold.

I thought about walking through the Occupy tents and taking some snapshots, but decided to just take a couple of pictures from the perimeter.  I didn’t want them to think I was spying or intruding, and even though I would like to take more street photography, I figured they had probably been photographed enough.

As I stood on the steps of the courthouse taking the shot seen in this post, I was approached by a tall, lean, bald-headed man who asked me what I thought about the Occupy Movement.  He wanted to know if I thought they had a right to be here. I had seen him standing next to a tent making a sandwich, so I knew he was part of the small group encamped on the grass.  My response was non-committal.  “I really don’t have a viewpoint about camping out here,” I said.

He told me that he thought they had probably stayed too long.  They represent the 99%, so 99 days would have been a good symbolic gesture.  They had overstayed that by about 4 days he figured.  I just nodded.  I wasn’t really sure what was expected of me.

He then told me if I really wanted to know what they were about, I should follow him to the large blue tent at the end of the right-hand row.  I was a little worried about that plan, but I tagged along.

Inside was interesting.  There were newspaper clippings taped along the inside walls.  A couple of tables were covered with some of their protest signs.  He picked on up that had “We Are the 99%” emblazoned on one side and a poem on the back.  He read the poem to me from beginning to end.  It was intriguing, but I didn’t really see the connection to the Occupiers.

He picked up another sign.  It had something on one side about the protest movement, but I don’t remember what it said.  I was sort of hedging my body around to go back out the flap of the tent.  The back of that sign had a cartoon of Ol’ Smokey, the Tennessee Vols mascot.  He was wearing a Tennessee sweatshirt with a big, bold “T” on it.  He said, “Some people look at this and see a T.  We see an emblem of the cross that represents the crucifixion of all Native Americans who lived on these lands.  Jesus was one man crucified on a cross.  We’ve crucified thousands.”

My mouth went a little dry I think.

He picked up another sign.  I wasn’t paying attention.  The back of it was brown.  “Do you know what you get when you combine all the colors of people on the earth?” I stared blankly. “Brown,” he said.  Uh-huh I thought to myself.

“The Jews were supposed to return to their homeland a long time before they did.  But they refused to go.  God used Hitler to sort of ‘spank’ them.  They started heading home after that for sure!”

Wait… What?!?

About this time “Bill” came into the tent.  Bill was a tall, thin, bearded, unkempt person with some missing teeth.  I smiled, shook his hand, and took the opportunity to walk back out into the daylight where I could be seen by passersby.

Bill began to wave his hand over the ten or twelve tents along both sides of the sidewalk.  “I took a broom and swept the place up.  We’re trying to get a truck in to get the trash out of here.  We’re gonna bring in some hay and grass seed to try to fix where our tents have killed things.  We’re having a hard time keeping the homeless people out of here and messing stuff up….”

OK, wait, I thought.  Homeless people are the epitome of those whom the Occupy Movement are supposed to be advocating for.  They are truly in need.  And you want to keep them out of your area?  Isn’t that the same thinking you are against when the city government wants to keep you off the courthouse lawn?

About that time an old van drove up and swung into the curb honking its horn.  The first guy asked me what I do for sustenance.  I told him I was a school teacher.  “Do you know Dr. Denning?” he asked?  I knew of him I said.  “Dr. Denning is a close, personal friend of mine.  We’re tight.”

The van honked again, impatiently.  “Fresh bread!” the drive yelled.

As they turned to look, I went quickly back to my car.  Sometimes up close and personal isn’t the best view.

Well, yesterday wasnt a total bomb, but it did have its glitches as I try to untangle myself from cords and weight and…stuff…to work solely by carrying my iPad with me at work.

The first issue came up when I got to work and realized that Splashtop wasnt going to connect to my Mac at home due to the port it uses to get out into cyberspace is blocked by our firewall at school. I knew this, but forgot it in my giddiness to get this project underway. As a result, I had to take a few minutes to stop at my house and open up Team Viewer (the free version).

Splashtop looks and feels like the iPad no matter what device to which you connect. Team Viewer works like a PC. You have to drag the mouse pointer where you want it and then click the screen. But anything that works is better than nothing that works, so it is a small price to pay.

I did a training with some people at the Special Education office on Discovery Assessment report features. Not only was that incredibly easy to do on the iPad, but at least half of those in the room were on theirs as well.

It wasnt until I mentioned using Splashtop and trying to log into my PC at another school location that I remembered the GMail login doesnt work within the same network. You have to have the IP address of the machine you want to use. Then IT Department was nice enough to set the PC up on a static IP address (meaning it will never change), but I had forgotten to add it to my list of machines. That small glitch took about 30 seconds to fix.

Today, I will be working part of the day at one of my schools and attempting to create a PowerPoint style tutorial by controlling my PC across town. I have an idea of how to make that smooth. I will have to let you know how it turns out.

As a side note, I did have to go home and get my Mac after work in order to do a Cover-It-Live blog of our local school board meeting.

Note to self: some days you just need to suck it up and carry the backpack.

Today begins a brief (or lengthy) experiment in the limits and boundaries of technology as a productivity and a healthy living tool.

For the past year and a half I have served as a technology coach at four secondary schools. For most of that time, I had no office. No landing place. I carried my backpack with my Mac, my iPad, cables, headphones, webcams, flipcams, and more every where I went. Everywhere. Every day.

Most of the time it wasnt a problem. But after a while that backpack can cause shoulder, neck, and back problems. Visits to the chiropractor are not considered workmanship comp in this situation, by the way. LOL

Yesterday, the IT Department set up a desktop PC for my use at out new IT Annex building. I spent the day getting programs loaded and files transferred. This morning I booted up my MacBook Pro and left it on the coffee table at home.

Freedom! (maybe)

Im typing this post on my iPad while enjoying my first cup of Starbucks this morning. The WordPress app is handy, but it wont let me upload pictures. I will take some time and work around that. Ive taken a picture with my iPhone and emailed it to myself. I can log into my Mac later and upload the picture. Cumbersome, but it works.

Using a combination of Splashtop, Dropbox, and other assorted apps, I will attempt to get through my day without having to carry dead weight slung over my shoulder.

I will keep you updated.

(Note: Picture was updated from the PC at work).

First update. Splashtop will not reach my computer at home from work. Firewall issues. Understandable, but frustrating. Will be firing up the old Team Viewer app in a bit. Let the tweaks begin!

Sitting in Scott Holcomb’s FETC session on using video tutorials for professional development for teachers (great session by the way!), the inevitable question was asked.  I was holding my breath hoping it wouldn’t happen, but Scott handled it with grace.

The session was about the efficacy of using video as a means for professional development with staff, especially in a system as large as Memphis City Schools.  Face-to-face training is great, but it is hugely limiting when you can only reach 5, 10, or even 50 people at one sitting.  By creating video tutorials (flipping professional development), teachers can log in at their convenience from any Internet-connected device and receive the information as many times as they need.

And so, the question…

When we do in-house training, we know the teachers are there.  We have them sign-in (and sometimes sign-out) as a way to verify their attendance.  But, online, they could start the video in the living room and then go to the kitchen to fix dinner.  (You know the question, don’t you….)  How do we really know they watched the video?

Now, I have to admit, I had a totally different answer in mind than Scott’s brilliance.  I would have answered with another question.  OK, so you know they were in attendance at the face-to-face training, but how do you know they were really, truly present?

Scott went an entirely different direction.  He talked about a paradigm shift in the way we view these things.  It is a paradigm shift from “training” to true “professional development.”

We offer training on a variety of subjects at our schools, and we require attendance in order to demonstrate both accountability and in order to only have to do the training once.  It is a fairly good model for principals and district administrators.  We can have a county-wide training and cover all 800 or so teachers in one, well-planned, thought-provoking hour, or half-day.  We have a box we can check off that says, “Been there.  Done that.”

But Scott wasn’t talking about video tutorials online for training.  He was talking about using them for professional development.  Professional development doesn’t come from the top down.  It comes from within.

Did you catch that?  It comes from within.

As a teacher, I am supposed to know what I don’t know.  Teaching is a never-ending quest of learning.  We use professional development for ourselves to make us better teachers.  Better learners.  Better team-mates.  Better advocates.  And, in general, just… better.

There is a place for training.  Hey! Its my job!  I provide “training” for teachers on how to use Web 2.0 tools, district-purchased software, and, of course, iPads.

But, it seems to me, there is a much larger arena for professional development.

Thank you, Scott, for helping me draw a line between the two on my to-do list.