Currently sitting in on the “Ask The Experts- Tips, Techniques, and Creative Strategies for Teaching Online” panel at the 13th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning. Looks to be a very promising workshop- all the award winning educators from previous years will be sharing tips and advice.
Had a nice salad poolside after a morning of browsing the vendors. I decided during the vendor visit that I have some form of ADD- if someone can not tell me why I need their product/services in about 15-20 seconds, the sad fact of the matter is I probably don’t need their product. After that first 20 seconds, the next 20 seconds involve me exploring new and creative ways to end the conversation. Maybe it isn’t ADD and is just common sense.
And, I presume, at some level, I am always offended by people who need to hand me crap- pens, balls, thumbdrives, drink cards, etc., rather than just tell me what they do and why it is valuable. What a waste of resources.
*** Update ***
The first presentation is “Silk from a Sow’s Ear,” discussing the value of old asynchronous discussion threads as learning tools.
Turned out to be rather valuable- there are a few little changes thatg the presenter suggested that will ease the use of these boards and simplyh make sense.
*** Update #2 ***
Second panel: “The Orchestration of Faculty Excellence in Online Teaching.” Not sure about this one. “Excellence” is one of those words that, when used in an academic setting, know I am in for a load of bullshit. “Journey” is another one of those words.
*** Update #3 ***
The second panel was a total waste of time. Very nice woman, not sure exactly what she was doing presenting in this workshop. I actually walked out for coffee and a bathroom break, and as such, have no clue what the third presentation is, as it had already started prior to my return.
*** Update #4 ***
4th and final panel- “Building on what we know: using theory and research in learning to design online education.” This one has potential.
Michael D.
John: Let me know your impressions of the conference. I haven’t heard of it. I am always interested in online learning. Is that what you do for a living? We should talk. I have a lot of experience in this area.
MNPundit
You’re offended by swag.
What.
The.
Hell?!
John S.
Thanks for confirming a theory of mine.
I’m in advertising, and everytime my company presents at a tradeshow, we bring along a few giveaways.
My theory is that the only people that take the giveaways are people who don’t care what you have to sell – they just collect all the free shit everyone gives away because they are cheap assholes. The people that come to your booth to talk business hardly ever take the giveaways because they actually have more important things to do.
And yet, we still pass out the giveaways to all the freeloaders that are just there for the stress balls and pens because people expect that. It’s quite the conundrum.
jrg
Marketing Gurus have been pointing this out for years. How on earth someone can get a job selling something without being able to rattle off the widget/service’s most compelling features is beyond me.
If you cannot differentiate your solution in the span of a 10-storey elevator ride, you should not be trying to sell it.
MNPundit
Yeah I guess that’s me.
Dreggas
Dude one of the highlights of E3 the year I went (other than it was the year that Doom 3 was coming out and the fact that they had real life chicks in a mini wrestling ring re-enacting Rumble Roses) was the swag!
John S.
Stay the hell away from my booth, freeloader!
Jake
Ha! I knew it!
Tax Analyst
Our company has to do the Trade Show bit. Fortunately I’m not in Sales, and they know better than to have me at these things…if a potential customer asked about the software I’d automatically start discussing good points (quite a few) and then areas I think could or should be better. A couple years ago we had an Office discussion about “Promotional Items” for these affairs. We agreed they were crap and brought in Zero business, but we did them anyway…you’d be amazed how many people (the free-loaders) actively bitch about a booth that doesn’t give that shit away, so we do it to keep the negative noise with our name attached down, but in some cities we also do a little prize raffle – something like a modest “dinner-for-4” at a moderately-priced Italian place. Probably doesn’t bring in any new business either, but it’s a nice little touch and doesn’t cost much in relation to all the other Shows fees and expenses involved.
John Cole
Did I miss something? Were we trying to guess where I was?
RSA
This is something I tell my grad students when they go to a conference to give a talk (and thereby try to sell themselves). Have three separate spiels prepared, aside from the talk: a 30-second summary of your research, for those elevator situations, a two-minute expansion, in case someone says, “Go on,” and a five-minute expansion for someone who actually seems interested. Oh, and
Me: Thanks! (walk away)
srv
My cousin is taking a stats class that has materials completely online (but still have a class session). The presentation interface has the nice habit of not showing mathematical nomenclature correctly, or even completely.
Nothing like learning Neyman allocation and having an incomplete formula.
His mom is probably at that conference, since she teaches online out of St. Augustine.
Haltelcere
A previous company of mine ordered hundreds of keychain devices, with the company logo, designed to open the annoying plastic covering of CDs. Unfortunately the trade show was soon after 9-11, and everyone who grabbed our device got it confiscated at airport security (it contained a tiny razor blade) when they tried to fly home!
For another trade show, the shipper misplaced our booth equipment until the very last moment before the end of setup. But by the time the booth equipment was found we had improvised a Plan B (it isn’t good to have an open booth space at a major trade show) which entailed renting a margarita bar and creating a “Where in the world is our booth?” guessing game / lottery for an equipment giveaway (home AV stuff).
Anyway, people were not as quickly to flee our sales pitch when they had a drink in their hands, and everyone definitely remembered us the following year.
Mary
srv, encoding anything apart from the ASCII characters used in English, especially in Flash, can be unpredictably difficult. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done, of course, even if you have to use brute force.
John, what kind on online learning are you involved with? And do you know anyone who’s actually using an LMS that’s SCORM 2004 compliant? My major client has been promised that the company providing their LMS will upgrade from SCORM 1.2 “soon” — since 2005.
Justin
It didn’t take long after signing up as a Democrat, did it?
John Cole
We use Blackboard/vista v.4, and it is scorm compliant, but we don’t use SCORM because it is just insanely expensive.
Easier to develop our own materials.
DrDave
John:
I attend a CE conference at the Caribe every couple of years. Do what I do: Head up the block to Landry’s, park yourself at the bar for a cold one and an Oyster Po Boy, then go back and enjoy the pool!
BTW, you don’t have ADD. Attend enough vendor-laden programs and your brain learns really quickly how to discriminate between what you need/want to see and what you don’t. 20 sec. intervals sounds just about right.
Punchy
Wow…John…the evidence just keeps piling up:
Tossed?
They’re often there to smell and look good. Just enjoy the eye candy and pretend that you’re bagging that.
Jake
In the Airport thread, Tim F. mentioned how close people got to guessing when he was on vac., so I gave it a try. It wasn’t that hard ‘cos, no offense, but the idea of John Cole going to Disney World just for fun … it didn’t fit.
HyperIon
Wrt online instruction (aka Distance Learning because some folks want you to believe it’s about delivering education to area unserved by a university):
First, most university profs at teaching institutions hate it (at least the ones I have talked to). They rightly comprehend that fewer staff are needed to “serve” the students. The chemistry faculty is saved by the necessity for labs; but departments like English and, ahem, Mass Comm will likely shrink as this trend increases. As a former academic who thinks a lot of tenured profs are dead-weight, I don’t think this shrinkage is necessarily a bad thing.
Second, it relies heavily on lecture. Sure, you can provide an email address for questions but there is no classroom synergy. If one is motivated and has access to resources, one can learn. But the 18 to 20 year olds in my science classes were NOT motivated. I’m pretty sure that online instruction does not motivate. It’s too easy to remain passive. So I remain skeptical about the educational merit of distance learning.
Teaching is most effective in those happy circumstances where it is least needed.- Edward Gibbon
MNPundit
Perhaps I was already at your booth.
I always listen attentively as I slowly shove all the free stuff into my complementary convention/conference bag.
I’ve actually taken flatware and dishes as well…
Libby Spencer
I’m with you MNPundit. I love me some free schwag when it’s useful but it helps to be in the right profession. Best stuff comes from booze salesmen and pharma companies.
Face
If you’da stopped after “thumbdrives”, I’d agree with you.
Just think–merely 2 years ago, John would have demanded free bags of Cheetoes and trail samples of Spittle Remover.
Dreggas
Just so long as you aren’t one of those people who has the wife bring a purse with plastic bags in it to a buffet in order to keep making trips to snack on as “leftovers” like my grandparents…
F. Frederson
I took an online class and we had to do small-group (3-5) chat sessions of 50-60 minutes using AIM or somesuch, and then we turned in the transcript for part of our grades. It wasn’t a substitute for in-classroom discussion, but it was a little better than having students email in questions separately.
jrg
Insurance and Annuity wholesalers give away good free stuff, too. Any rich company who’s products are boring and/or addictive is likely to have good, free crap.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Seriously. He who bags the most swag wins.
tBone
What’s really funny is attending a tradeshow devoted to companies selling tradeshow swag. They have to bolt down anything they want to keep or attendees will pick their booth clean.
Sirkowski
Take all the free crap you can and send it to me!
MNPundit
No. I never take food. The only thing I put in my girlfriend’s purse are plates and silverware. Oh also candle holders.
John S.
LOL
I think you have been to my tradeshow booth.
Jake
And he who shags the most hags … never mind.
MNPundit
Probably wishes he had bagged more swag.