The TWAIN blog

I spent this afternoon talking to one of our vendors. It was such a rich conversation full of idea sharing and talking about change. This guy has been tasked by his bosses to find new ways to do old business. Sound familiar? He asked me if I had any books or magazine recommendations about change and innovation.

I shooed away the idea of books and magazines. I pointed him toward the “Did You Know?” video and Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk about killing creativity. When I mentioned this TED Talks, my vendor showed extreme interest and said “that sounds exactly like what we need”. Killed creativity? Is there nothing more sad?

It was an interesting conversation because I showed him how we, as educational leaders, are using business management resources in our field. But then I showed how we use Educational Technology resources and applied them to his field. I think I made him proud when I referred to him as “the Fox Mulder” of his company. He is the one tasked with finding ways to innovate his resources. He is the one to develop vision for his company. He is the one management has designated to be “out in left field”. When he was describing this to me, he showed visible frustration with this new responsibility. I think I pepped him up when I referenced X-Files and then told him what an honor that he had. He is a change-agent and what a great responsibility that is to have bestowed on anybody!

We discussed Second Life because he thought this may be a way to virtualize meeting places. But I think we were both turned off to it when we discussed how people invest so much time and energy into building these virtual worlds but turning them into a replica of their current world. It isn’t worth the time to make a virtual meeting if it is a copy of the current meeting room.

I showed him a few online tools to improve what he does now: Prezi, Buzzdash for the website, online whiteboards, Adobe Connect, and the Jing Project. I referenced a few of the books out there about change and innovation. We talked about the business plan of the company and how they want to do so much but companies like Google offer same services for free. We discussed trends and where the market for his company is heading. He showed me ideas for what they want to provide and they are really great ideas: out of the box ideas for this type of company to provide.

During this he kept saying that our minds were so similar but he lost the time to explore like he used to. He remembers being so ahead and into what was going on in the world of technology but he lost that edge. He lost the time to be innovative. He got too busy. But now, he has some reference points to start with. Nothing too crazy – just ways to present information differently. It’s a start. It’s a leap. It’s a push back to the edge.

I think by the end of it we discovered that we found new ways he could do new business. Just presenting information in a different way is a step in the right direction. I may send him a copy of Presentation Zen because that book is sweeping my principals here now. It is changing their ideas of sharing information. It isn’t just about Powerpoint either. It is the concept of how we share information that is vital now in the 21st century.

It was good sharing this information outside my field too. It’s good to know that the way I am thinking, the resources I use, and the things I read are innovative even outside education. There is some pride in knowing that something I read two years ago is innovative in an innovative market like the one my vendor is in. I shared about these books and the ideas of the authors to the amazement of the vendor. I think he was shocked that I would read something outside of education or have time to read at all.

I write all this as a post to remind myself about not losing focus. Don’t lose that edge. Don’t lose the horizon of innovation. Don’t get wrapped up in the day by day. Keep moving forward. Keep pushing and learning. Question. And if you do lose focus, start small. Change how you present information. Take something you have done before and change how you would sell it. This step in changing how you present takes you closer to that edge.

Be the Fox Mulder of your school, workplace, or department and be proud of your title. It is tremendous responsibility and what a blessing that someone wants you to be that visioneer!

So tonight we had a board meeting and my thoughts wandered a bit. I was thinking about Google Voice and how to apply it for use in schools but I wonder how possible these ideas seem. Where else to post ideas and (hopefully) get feedback than this blog??

1. Meetings – A presentation tonight on Special Education referred to how the ARD meetings can be audio recorded and then give the participants a tape copy of the meeting. Now this is a district that serves a community that may not have Internet or even computer access in the home. So I can see why tape would be a necessary requirement. But what if Google Voice could record and transcribe the message of the meeting? Do you need audio of the entire meeting or could a summary at the end be the recorded message? I mean, how many people actually listen to the entire taped archive of the meeting? Is this something to listen to in my car while driving?

What if at the end of the ARD process meeting, the summary and major points were dictated via Google Voice. GV then transcribes the message and mails it. I know the tech isn’t there yet for perfect transcription but it’s pretty good. Especially if the voice sending the message is clear and speaking slowly as such a summary could be. A meeting itself may have too many voices going on at once and that could cause problems.

Apply this to any meeting and you can have a transcribed summary in your inbox before you get back to your desk?!

Actually, if you have an iPhone with 3.0 installed and VoiceRecorder, you can record the entire conversation and email it as an attachment. It might be too big of a file so I don’t see the point of archiving an entire conversation. But again, summarize and points of agreement by all in the group could be a good start. How about recording board meetings? I wish it could transcribe all that!

Perhaps in the future (and I know this is in development), the system will achieve voice recognition and tagging capability so that archived sound bytes are searchable….

Yep…it’s coming!

2. Security and Crisis Management – If I programmed a GV account to be the one number to contact all principals, security, and maintenance folk who needed to be in the loop should a crisis occur; then the system should contact all these people via email, text, and/or phone to any of their phones we have in the system. One call. One number. One message. Information sent instantly to all stakeholders who need it and sent to all their message systems at the same time. Seems like something to consider, right?

3. Work Orders – Our technology office could have the one number be our WO contact system for requests. I wonder if I could create GV account and then embed the phone badge on our website. If anyone is experiencing a technology emergency, they can call the one number and leave a message which is transcribed to all of our accounts at the same time. If anyone is in the local area, they can take care of the request. The system then archives all the requests as messages so we can still track them as work orders. Do you think this would work (or should)?

So…whaddya think? Possible? Impossible? Too much of a stretch? Too late for me to be up???

I should be sleeping or at least reading my nightstand book to get me into sleep mode. I have a workout method of getting up at 4:45 and to the gym by 5:00am.

But…I can’t stop working in Google Voice.

I love it.

And I don’t want to waste time talking about its features. There’s a video for that on Google’s page.

I do want to talk about use of this tool in our schools. I kind of posted a brief note on Twitter as I was reverse-engineering one problem and trying to fill the holes using Voice. The problem is district communications in emergencies. How can you contact all the major stake-holders as quickly and easily as possible?

You can Twitter or Plurk, I guess.
You can pay a yearly subscription to an SMS product that will do this via text message, email, and voice.

But can you setup Google Voice to serve as the one number to call?

Anyone else using GV yet? I would be interested to see if you have an idea for its use in your district?

I am considering adding the number to my signature in the district email. Let all staff have a number that can reach me?? That’s crazy and foolish!!

Not really. I don’t have to answer it and the messages are relayed via email. It is simply another method of receiving text messages.

Will it interfere with my time at home? Only if I don’t take advantage of the features that allow me to restrict times when the phone will ring vs. times the message goes directly to text.

And not only does it record voice messages but I can also record an entire conversation….which is converted to text and archived!

Makes me wonder with Google Chat and Google Voice (and soon to be Wave and other nice things); why I should be investigating Unified Voice Message systems and IP phones. We aren’t getting them for every classroom due to cost. But….with these types of tools, do IP phones and those systems start to become irrelevant?

Just thoughts. Anyone have ideas or comments?

I say at least get on Google Voice. It is a neat tool for personal use but I really wonder if it can be used for professional resources as well.

I am attempting something different with our Staff Acceptable Use Policy this year. I actually changed the AUP to include items that weren’t in the last version. By doing this, I added 3 pages to the old one which increased the print load. And that is rough when you are trying to go paperless. Printing for all staff would be 8 pages multiplied by the near 700 staff. We all know that only one page is important – the signature page. Most people don’t keep that AUP after they sign it so it is a complete waste of a resource our campuses need: Paper.

Yesterday, I converted the 8 page document into a Google Presentation and have it linked off our KISD Instructional Technology website: http://www.kerrvilleisd.net/pages/Instructional_Technology – Scroll down to Staff Acceptable Use Policy to see version links.

I kept the Paper Version that includes the paper document and the signature page. But I then used Google Forms to create a place for staff to create a “digital PIN” that combines birth year and social security numbers (not in sequence) to create the number. This number will serve as the digital signature by the staff for the AUP.

Instructions on the site are clear: You can use the paper version or the digital version but you must complete one signature form to show that the policy was read. The policy will remain on the website for the duration of the school year so that it can be referred to as needed.

I also changed the “Confirmation” page when users hit Submit on the Digital Version that thanks them because “You personally have saved 8 pages of paper by filling out this digital signature page”. I think it is valuable to let people know that by using digital forms they are saving resources. It also includes information to direct staff to the Instructional Technology website where our summer training materials are located if they missed.

All this being said, I hope it works! I would hate to get a message from someone later that by doing it this way, I violated some TEA regulation or something. I wonder if others are doing something similar?? They probably are with their Moodles, Adobe Connects, or something out there that takes time or money. We have Adobe Connect but I am using it for some other projects but I really want to model technology resources that teachers can use in their classrooms with little to no additional support.

The method I used was completely free if anyone out there wants to try it in their own district. You can convert your paper document to PDF using either Adobe Acrobat Pro (costs money) or Cute PDF (free version online). The Google Presentation and Form were done for free using Google Documents. And technically, you can even embed the survey into an email you send to staff if you needed that function.

If you check it out, let me know what you think and if you have something similar for your staff.

Google and Microsoft are facing off for your consumer….$s? Nope. Not your cash but your cache. The time spent looking at web pages includes the barrage of embedded advertising you may or may not be aware of. Time spent on web pages means revenue for the companies hosting those links and sites.

But in order to compete with Google, Microsoft has to drop their prices. CNN Money reported today that Microsoft will soon announce that the web version of Office 2010 will be free. This is a direct assault on Google who last week announced that they are going to release a web OS that will be free to compete with other OS’s (SP?) on the market.

Google and Microsoft are tearing it up at each other right now which means some really interesting things for those of us in education who need to provide ways to get students using technology at a small price.

So…let’s do some simple math (because I am a simpleton when it comes to Math).

1 Netbook with a Web-based OS + Web 2.0 Tools + Online Office Suite = Rich, collaborative working tools for the cost of the hardware. A Netbook costs in a range from $100 to about $450 without the cost of the operating system.

Microsoft’s licensing for Windows XP is currently running near $100 per machine because they are pushing Vista on us all. Google releases a FREE Web Operating System which will be available in August.

Throw in some neat Web 2.0 Tools that include document, spreadsheet, presentation tools along with photo, audio, and video editors also available online for free.

Or, get access to Microsoft Office 2010 online (document, spreadsheet, and presentation tools) and throw in the other Web 2.0 tools as well.

And you get a fast track to 1:1 computing for your schools. Prices are dropping on the hardware and the giants of industry are competing by literally throwing their purses to the ground.

But what about network infrastructure? With all this need for Web OS, Web 2.0, and all resources online – how do we get high speed Internet. This is the boom to end the war between all these companies. How will the world access high speed Internet? Will it be owned by the government? Will we be taxed?

Aren’t you glad I have talked about this before? See my previous blog post from Feb 5, 2009 about how Google has been working with Motorola and Microsoft (huh?) to use the old American Broadcast System (pre-digital cable) to funnel GB-TB data lines through our existing cable systems. This old system is owned by the people and for use for the people – you and I. The “white spaces” is the old analog system which is not encumbered with broadcast television frequency and allows for some interesting testing right now to push high speed wireless broadband to any home running that old analog line.

I know. This seems ridiculous right? A little too much of a reach? Kind of like my post from September 8, 2008 about Google releasing a new browser called “Chrome” and how I predicted that they would not make an operating system – but a browser operating system??

What’s next? What’s the next prediction?
Riddle me this – I have to open a spreadsheet program now to access a database. I have to open a separate document program to create a document. I have to open another program for photos and a presentation program to work on a that system.

But what if there was only one program that not only had all these programs running simultaneously but allowed collaboration, sharing, and kept a history for the entire project? What if I didn’t need an office suite but a one-stop shop that let me do everything I needed in one window (whether I used Firefox, IE, Safari, Android, Chrome, etc.) and from whatever web device I had?

I believe this is the next WAVE. How long until Microsoft/Apple starts their own? And will they name it something similar to Wave like Tsunami? Current? Tide?

Google has developed the idea of Wave but they haven’t combined all these elements into the one system yet. I think that may be Wave 2.0 or Apple’s Me 2.0 or Windows 7.5…

Whatever the case will be, it looks like the math problem is more simplified if this is the next evolution:

Netbook/Phone + Web (Wave) = Collaboration All-in-one access point

Is this crystal ball prediction correct? We will have to wait and see….

See previews of Microsoft Office 2010 on my summer tech training site (at the bottom of the page).