Neuf in 60 seconds or less...

Here is the first introductory assignment we were to get together... the media story about ourselves from the session with Julia Poole and Garage Band. I did it the next day but haven't done much with it except post it to my website. Here's a link...

Who am I as a Learner Lesson... in Keynote

Not sure if I can get a Keynote presentation onto this blog... seems to having trouble uploading it. Will keep trying... if you have any insight please let me know. Cheers.

<div style="width:425px;text-align:left" id="__ss_1102890"><a style="font:14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:12px 0 3px 0;text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/neuf/learner-keynote?type=powerpoint" title="Learner Keynote">Learner Keynote</a><object style="margin:0px" width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=enfplearner-090304195631-phpapp02&stripped_title=learner-keynote" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=enfplearner-090304195631-phpapp02&stripped_title=learner-keynote" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="font-size:11px;font-family:tahoma,arial;height:26px;padding-top:2px;">View more <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/neuf">neuf</a>. (tags: <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://slideshare.net/tag/myers-briggs">myers-briggs</a> <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://slideshare.net/tag/personality">personality</a>)</div></div>

Once Upon A Time...

Stories, telling stories, hearing stories, creating stories...? Great! I love this stuff; I am good at this stuff. I have always been the storyteller in friend circles, I have a Major in English Literature because I love stories, I teach every single day with stories. But wait, their is rules to this stuff, like not to have too many rules, but enough rules. There are good ways to utilize stories and ineffective ways to give "slide shows of vacations". Today, Keynote speaker Dr. Jason Ohler shared his own story, of being a learner, an instructor, and the power of story telling. He was full of wonderful ideas and slides of structures, but what resonates with me (always in these sorts of things) is his story, and his deep personal belief in the power of others stories. It makes me want to help others share their stories more effectively and in new and exciting ways. It also makes me wonder how I can share my story in these new technological ways.

So... here I go... Step One.

Literacy.... consuming and producing the media forms of today, whatever they are. They need to be able to write whatever they read.

This statement, subconsciously, was my biggest motivating factor for taking this program. I can no longer write what I read. My news, relationships, and relationship with information in the world has changed significantly, thanks to the internet and my iPhone. So my huge need to communicate with others and the world (ENFP) drove me to engage in technology despite my best reservations.

There were so many great technical ideas about writing and the steps to writing, and I have included a few key notes I took from the presentation below, but as i do, I tend to take in a wholistic impression of the address, because that is how I make it mine. For me, the most important part of today's learning was to recognize that he is a story teller... and the focus of his presentation was how to tell a story... the technology was a tool. This idea is coming around again and again these last few months... I like that.

OTHER THOUGHTS FROM HIS PRESENTATION WORTH CONSIDERING

Digital Literacy Guidelines

1) Shift from text-centrism to new media collage

2) Value writing more than ever.

3) Adopt art as 4th "R"

4) Follow DAOW of literacy (Digital, Art, Oral, Written)

5) Attitude is the aptitude

6) Practice private and social literacy

7) Develop literacy about digital tools

8) Fluency, not just literacy

9) Harness bot report and story... embrace story.

Stories need to have transformation... somebody needs to change.

Good problems allow for transformation... the story of the process of learning naturally creates these problems and solutions.

A story will lack good production... often a good production lacks a good story.

Use story maps... not story boards

Be a door opener...

Can't comment on all of them but my favorite point he made was story first, technology second.

My Little Red Bike

I was sitting here tonight, flipping through my now very full list of "delicious" bookmarks, and occasionally leaving to refinish my bookcase and throw some dinner together for my wife, when something very strange happened. Before I was cognitively engaged in the magnitude of the event I found myself surfing 6 tabs, and 4 applications all at once. I downloaded google talk videos and had a video chat with a good friend of mine across town (getting a tour of his new house), and then I downloaded Skype and had a video chat with my mom in West Bank (and gave her a tour of my new baby's room). I added several links and videos to my new school wiki, and read a few more links on Chris Kennedy's presentation wiki. I uploaded video from my Kodak Zi6, sent a few files to my mobile me account in the sky, and checked up on my own web page. Then I replied to emails, from all four of my accounts (and the five or six more that get forwarded to those accounts) and now I am writing a new entry in my blog while watching Peter Mansbridge. What happened to me?

I liken this experience to learning to ride a bike. When at a young age we climb aboard a tricycle and push ourselves around with our feet (using an email account). Then we see a few older kids on two wheelers and figure we could give that a go, with training wheels (surfing the web, checking out web pages and word documents). Then, on a day we are feeling particularly brave we decide it is time to take the little wheels off and test out our balance and extend the scope of our available world. At first, we ask for Dad to hang on to the back of the seat, and run beside us shouting encouraging words. But then, sometimes when we don't expect it, our support lets go and we're rushing down the sidewalk, feet turning madly, hands gripping tightly, and eyes open wide and unblinking. It is an exhilarating feeling, and many of us go through a mulitude of emotions, from a new sense of power and accomplishment, to an awe filled realization of the new possibilities. We are reminded of a favourite childhood story and wonder anew about the places we'll go.

Right now, I am in that euphoric state, soaking it all in, and wondering where I will decide to go. But as with my first vehicle to freedom, there are bound to be bumps in the road. In fact, more than bumps; big, hard, concrete curbs that stop your front tire dead, and send you flying (magnificently at first, then not so much) until you come crashing down in a heap of rash, dirt, blood and tears. When this happens I will feel deflated, grumpy, and ready to go back to the little wheels, and I will need to remind myself what I did, even as a four year old. I will pick myself up, wipe the stinging from my eyes and my knees, and get back on my bike, because I know that there is a big, wide, wonderful world just waiting for me to come barreling in to say hello, and I want to see their faces when I do.

Can you imagine how it will feel to drive a car?