tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16682051145133918312024-03-13T22:57:54.531-07:00Shift to the FutureThe future is an interesting place to go. Readers of this blog will primarily find articles considering how technology and education may increasingly cause and experience disruption as the future unfolds.Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.comBlogger197125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-25375279401608568602019-12-07T18:25:00.001-08:002019-12-07T18:25:42.888-08:00The Machines are Learning<p><font size="2">Imagine for a moment if you could see the billions upon billions of data points flowing throughout our world. As our society has embraced more digital ways of being, we generate vast amounts of data. Each one of us, as we engage with digital tools, lay down trails of data that say something about events, places, and who we are. <font size="2">Within the mysterious realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI) lies the magic of Machine Learning of ML, a science of data and algorithms that act on it.</font></font></p><p><font size="2"><font size="2">Riders of buses in the Greater Vancouver area were frustrated that Google Maps, and other apps relying on Translink’s online data feed, predicted earlier arrival and departures by over 5-minutes the majority of the time. They were often standing in the rain or dark longer than they would like waiting for a bus that from their perspective was late. By partnering with Microsoft, Translink was able to bring together numerous historical and real time data feeds including traffic and weather data, and develop a machine learning algorithm to improve predictions by 75%. Annually Translink experienced 252 million bus trips over 200 routes with 1500 buses. There new AI made 20000 predictions per day. This is the power of cloud computing scale machine learning delivering goodness to people.</font></font></p><p><font size="2">In the Seattle area, there are numerous traffickers in the sex slave business. Victims are lured into slavery by being told no one cares and there is no hope. <a href="https://www.seattleagainstslavery.org/technology/" target="_blank">Seattle Against Slavery</a> built Freedom Signal Victim Outreach and Buyer Deterrence, an <a href="https://customers.microsoft.com/en-ca/story/724194-seattle-against-slavery-nonprofit-azure" target="_blank">AI solution in Microsoft’s Azure cloud</a>. This system indexes online ads, reviews pictures, lifts phone #s, victim age, and other information enabling advocates to send text messages of hope and help to hundreds of potential victims, letting them know there is a way out. Law enforcement use Intercept ChatBots to post decoy trafficking ads online and wait for buyers to respond. The bots, built with Language Understanding, a component of Azure Cognitive Services, converse with prospective sex slave buyers, probing their intentions and ultimately disrupting upwards of 10000 searches per day to buy sex with children!</font></p><p><font size="2">It is now possible to gain reasonably accurate understanding of how people feel about a brand, an event, a person, etc. <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/sentiment-analysis-concept-analysis-and-applications-6c94d6f58c17" target="_blank">This example</a> demonstrates how a sentiment analysis tool, another machine learning example, scours Facebook and Twitter posts about Uber and presents evidence of how people feel about Uber from a price, safety, service, and other factors. This is a valuable tool for a brand. This would be a valuable tool for teachers to use in analyzing student work or employers to analyze how their employees feel about their workplace, etc. But, this could potentially be weaponized by political campaigns and used to inject material into the social media stream to influence and change people’s sentiments towards a party or candidate. With Microsoft into the Sentiment Analysis game as a cloud service (<a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/text-analytics/how-tos/text-analytics-how-to-sentiment-analysis" target="_blank">here</a>), w<font size="2">e will see an developers use sentiment analysis to create interesting apps in the future. Bots may become indistinguishable from humans – this could certainly become problematic as well as provide useful services. </font></font></p><p><font size="2"><font size="2">I hope the future uses of machine learning systems tend to be more for good than bad!</font></font></p><div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:40c92025-6e71-4a72-a8c5-79ce00ec9b52" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/machine+Learning" rel="tag">machine Learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/artifical+intelligence" rel="tag">artifical intelligence</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/sentiment+analysis" rel="tag">sentiment analysis</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/bots" rel="tag">bots</a></div>Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-61809354941783959142019-11-17T16:02:00.001-08:002019-11-17T16:02:56.533-08:00It is becoming rather cloudy out there<p><font size="2">I remember in the early 1980's working as a programmer for a Fisheries & Oceans research station writing code on VAX 11780 mini-computers and being amazed that people could use my programs on their terminals anywhere in the building and get this, at the same time! Those were the days where we would plan and prepare for a couple of months prior to executing a Fortran compiler upgrade. New VMS operating system upgrades might occur every couple years. We’re talking slooow innovation cycles.</font></p><p><font size="2">Fast forward to 2019 and it’s a whole different world. I was watching a <a href="https://myignite.techcommunity.microsoft.com/sessions/82986?source=sessions" target="_blank">recorded session</a> recently about Microsoft’s Azure Cognitive services. I’ll share one example. Let’s say someone, maybe your boss who has privileged access to important systems, accidentally deletes a core database containing 100’s of thousands of invoice records and it turns out the backup has never worked. Seriously, this happens. Fortunately, there was a practice of saving PDF copies of invoices in a folder, with a subfolder for each year. Perfect, now you can hand enter all the data for the past 15 years and that might take you the rest of your working days! There has to be a better way. Enter Cognitive Services. With this collection of cloud based machine learning (ML) tools, you can create a workflow that reads the PDF files, determines from the text, tables, etc. the data structure, create the database, and read the 100’s of thousands of invoices extracting their data and storing it in the newly auto-constructed database in an hour perhaps! This is amazing. And, every month it just gets smarter.</font></p><p><font size="2">As we store more and more of our documents, emails, calendars, tasks, and other data in the cloud, in this case Microsoft’s, more capabilities are possible by mining the connections and relationships of people to content and to each other. For instance, <font size="2">Microsoft’s Cortana now has the ability, using cloud artificial intelligence (AI) services, to schedule and coordinate meetings for you, with others. We all know how challenging this is when we do it ourselves or we ask our assistants to do it for us. Cortana, not us nor our assistants need to spend our time in this way. Cortana communicates with your colleagues to negotiate optimal meeting times. You will be presented with the best outcome when Cortana finishes the task.</font></font></p><p><font size="2">Back to my earlier comment about the slow pace of change. When you adopt a platform in 2019 such as <font size="2">Microsoft Office 365 which provides online Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, among other tools, stuff just automatically updates and improves every month. <font size="2"><font size="2">O356 also learns what you work on, who you share and communicate with, building a rich graph of interactions. You spend less time looking for content and people and more time just getting the work done and communicating. The cloud is working tirelessly on your behalf.</font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="2">These are obviously just a few of the many examples I could share. I could write about car share services, Tesla car updating, maps, social media, and the list goes on.</font></p><p><font size="2">I remember a school superintendent in the early 1990s talking about the importance of becoming a life long learner because things were continuously changing. I don’t think even he could have anticipated the cloud computing phenomenon we are now experiencing.</font></p><p><font size="2">Maybe you have a cloud computing story you could share in a comment.</font></p><div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:2faad03d-6191-4b65-911b-69f174c6f1e3" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Microsoft" rel="tag">Microsoft</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Azure" rel="tag">Azure</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Cognitive" rel="tag">Cognitive</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Machine+Learning" rel="tag">Machine Learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/AI" rel="tag">AI</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Cloud+Computing" rel="tag">Cloud Computing</a></div>Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-64377684616350934902019-11-09T18:30:00.001-08:002019-11-09T18:30:34.298-08:00Technology and Ethical Dilemmas<p><font size="2">My new iPhone and Surface laptop both provide a facial recognition (let’s call this FACE) method of identifying myself for access (logon). I use Keeper, a password and other confidential information manager and it too leverages FACE. When I need to log into an app or website, I am offered Keeper as a source for the username and password and when I choose that, Keeper uses my face to login and look up the app or website, and offer the credentials to fill in. Super convenient! </font></p><p><font size="2">FACE is or will be used to customize customer experiences. For example, you walk into your home, it welcomes you by name, adjusts the heat and lights, and perhaps it pushes your favourite digital pictures and art to the wall frames, and selects your favourite streaming station to pipe through the house A/V system. Or, you walk into a mall, and the screens, which are everywhere by now, start presenting ads to you based on your social media behaviors and past shopping activities. FACE is being used to find suspicious people and criminals through sophisticated search algorithms that mine video captured by the millions of surveillance cameras installed in cities around the world. </font></p><p><font size="2">I do pause and wonder about these developments. <font size="2">Who is looking out for our privacy needs? Government and corporate control and invasive activity has never been easier. Also, do we really want to be targeted in public spaces with advertising? Do we really want our house to know us and customize our experiences based on past patterns? Sounds robotic and predictable.</font></font></p><p><font size="2">Another technological wizardry I rely on every day is location information. My wife and I were recently enjoying the sunshine on Oahu. We wanted to find certain types of restaurants. I enter Italian Restaurants and Google Maps kindly presents the options in either distance or stars order for us to browse, read the reviews, and make our choice. Once we chose a venue, tap the walk icon for directions, we then set out to the restaurant. We also used Maps to find jungle hiking trails and more remote beaches. We could read others comments about their experiences there and obtain driving directions. </font></p><p><font size="2">I love that photos on my phone encode the location. It’s cool to browse my photos by starting with a world map and seeing clusters of photos on the various continents I’ve visited and being able to drill in and see the exact place a picture was taken, 8 years ago. I use Strava to track my mountain bike rides. It collects location, speed, elevation, and if I had a wearable device, it would include performance data such as heart rate. Location on phones your kids carry with them can be fed to a family portal so parents have comfort knowing where their kids are. An Alzheimer patience can be equipped with a location tracking device so that loved ones that wander off can be found. So much magic.</font></p><p><font size="2">Technological wizardry brings about amazing new capabilities at a faster and faster pace.</font></p><p><font size="2">However… there are significant dilemmas attached to these capabilities, the dark side to progress so to speak.</font></p><p><font size="2">With FACE, their are potential privacy violations. If a database in which data representing your face is stored, becomes hacked and the data stolen, you have a huge unresolvable problem. If your password or credit card are stolen, you can change your password and cancel your card. You cannot get a new face! Wherever your face is used for identity, the thieves can now use your face data to be you. Face data in the hands of a corrupt government or corporation could be used to control every thing you do. With millions of cameras already in force, the ability for this to happen is a reality already. As more commerce and interactions are tied to FACE, the more control points there are.</font></p><p><font size="2">Location tracking has privacy violation implications as well, I suppose more from a creepiness perspective if you’ve gone nowhere inappropriate but if you are visiting places you wouldn’t want others to know about and that information escapes your control, well… it could be bad for you. Again, a corrupt government or corporation could use this data to track you down or to control services you can access. For instance your health or insurance benefits may be tied to how often you travel to certain places or the routes you take to get there. </font></p><p><font size="2">A possible solution to all of this may be new security methods, perhaps built on the blockchain where each individual completely controls access to their information. I know that policing organizations in the interest of “security” don’t like the idea of individuals ability to hide their activities completely but we need to ask ourselves what the balance of security vs privacy and personal safety should be. </font></p><p><font size="2">I’m not claiming to have answers but just thought it useful to think out loud a bit about these rapidly developing and adopting technologies.</font></p><div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:6ef6f38d-4932-424f-8731-07c590c96349" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/%22facial+recognition%22" rel="tag">"facial recognition"</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/%22location+tracking%22" rel="tag">"location tracking"</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/%22Google+Maps%22" rel="tag">"Google Maps"</a></div>Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-15139877803945615522019-10-24T11:01:00.001-07:002019-10-24T11:01:57.396-07:00The Network Effect<p><font size="2">I have always been a highly social person, an extravert I suppose. Those personality ass<div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:b243c9b2-6b2e-44ca-b0cf-c329efa7d3c4" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/relationships" rel="tag">relationships</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/opportunities" rel="tag">opportunities</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/connected" rel="tag">connected</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/friends" rel="tag">friends</a></div>essments always put me into that sort of category. I’m a Yellow-Red for instance. </font></p><p><font size="2">I’ve made it a priority to reach out internally and externally to people like me and different from me, within the public and private sectors, to build relationships, share ideas, dream, lament, argue or debate, etc. I knew I was pretty well connected but this recent transition period, sabbatical of sorts, has really highlighted how my network really works.</font></p><p><font size="2">So many people reached out through LinkedIn, Twitter, and email asking to get together for coffee, lunch, and to see how I was doing. They shared such positive and affirming comments with me which really helped with getting through this period and to help me figure out what’s next. </font></p><p><font size="2">I had well connected friends reaching inside the organizations they work for to see what opportunities there might be that are a good fit for me. They introduced me to other people who may be able to help. Everyone was so generous with their time and energy (and money, thanks for all the free coffees and lunches – my turn now!). You know who you are – thank you so much for being in my court!</font></p><p><font size="2">I will highlight one friend in particular who is very well connected. He said that if I wanted to go solo as a consultant he would help me write a business plan and get started – he introduced me to LEAN Canvas. If I was interested in a role with a particular company, he would get me an introduction to the right people. He also said that he would reach inside his company to his leadership team to brainstorm an opportunity they might create for me. You know who you are – thank you so much!</font></p><p><font size="2"><font size="2">I now have a most exciting role with Softlanding as their Virtual CIO (vCIO) and <font size="2">I really must thank Mat and Shaun from Softlanding for reaching out and believing in me. I look forward to working with you and the team on exciting initiatives.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="2">Thank you to my LinkedIn network friends and colleagues for your kind, reassuring, and affirming comments in response to me announcing my new role. I really appreciate you.</font></p><p><font size="2">If you are reading this and have not yet made it a priority to build a meaningful network, I encourage you to start today. It just may change your life’s trajectory!</font></p>Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-92194595420927753792019-10-15T14:23:00.001-07:002019-10-15T14:25:45.575-07:00Time to Shift Learning<p><font size="1"><div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:77ECF5F8-D252-44F5-B4EB-D463C5396A79:66960975-4bf9-48a0-bb12-cf411215e78b" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; display: inline;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Learning" rel="tag">Learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Lean" rel="tag">Lean</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/LinkedIn+Learning" rel="tag">LinkedIn Learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Six+Sigma" rel="tag">Six Sigma</a></div></font><p><font size="1">I received an email recently from LinkedIn Learning offering me a free course on creating infographics using PowerPoint. So, I decided to give it a go. I surprised myself by learning new techniques for working with icons, shapes, graphics files, layouts, charts, among others, in <font size="1">PowerPoint. Did you know that you can merge shapes using union, combine, fragment, intersect, subtract to create new or modified shapes. One example was to use a lightening bolt shape to ‘cut’ (subtract) from a few letters in the word (a shape) “MIGRAINE”. It emphasized the pain this represents. Cool hey.</font></font><p><font size="1"><font size="1"><font size="1">Since I currently have flexible time available to me, I allowed this free course to prompt me to sign up for 1-month of free LinkedIn Learning! I have wanted to learn Lean and Six Sigma processes for some time so I dove into these topics first. I was granted my Lean Foundations certificate today. I will be going deeper into some aspects of this as my interests lead me.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="1"><font size="1">I’m reading a book, recommended by my friend Steven titled <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factfulness:_Ten_Reasons_We%27re_Wrong_About_the_World_%E2%80%93_and_Why_Things_Are_Better_Than_You_Think" target="_blank"><strong>Factfulness</strong></a><strong>: Ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and why things are better than you think</strong>. We are bombarded through the news media, social media, and by friends and family about how bad things are in our world. According to the authors, most people around the world (they have lots of evidence) are less capable than a chimpanzee of choosing correct answers about world trends and statistics! We learn and accept incorrect information and perceptions about reality, all the time. I would like to be more knowledgeable and able to speak more intelligently about reality, especially in these “troubling” times. This requires ongoing learning.</font></font></p><p><font size="1"><font size="1">It’s interesting how when I start to learn in one domain, I get pulled into other seemingly unrelated domains. For example, I started reading a book on Six Sigma (public library e-book), then added Factfulness (Kindle), then Blockchain (public library e-book), and finally a collection of books on <a href="https://www.lean.org/" target="_blank">Lean</a> related practices (Kindle). I’m also learning about <a href="https://leanstack.com/leancanvas" target="_blank">Lean Canvas</a> as a way to write business plans – this through blog posts and articles, also free. I’m now switching amongst these topics depending on what I want to progress with next. It still amazes me that these books are obtained digitally and instantly. This in itself would not have been possible without Lean practices being applied to reengineer the supply chain!</font></font></p><p><font size="1">Learning is essentially free, other than us investing our time. YouTube videos of how to assemble, repair, accomplish, ____ (fill in the blank) are free. Information is often free as are training courses. Even if you choose to pay for learning materials, as I did for a couple of books, they are substantially less costly when obtained digitally. Digital continues to change the game for learning and so many other aspects of our lives!</font></p><p><font size="1">I don’t know exactly where my learning journey will take me but my goal is to gain new and useful knowledge that I can apply both professionally and personally. I am putting into practice a Lean principle or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen" target="_blank">Kaizen</a> specifically, to continuously improve myself.</font></p>Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-16303746685798206382019-10-08T14:41:00.000-07:002019-10-08T14:42:45.208-07:00Delightful Technology<p><font size="2">A friend of mine introduced me to the idea of delighting users of technology. I don’t know about you but that is not always my experience when using a website, app, or some tech hardware.</font></p><p><font size="2">I bought an iPhone XR recently and I surprised myself. I thought I would not care much about the facial ID feature – I was wrong. It is a delightful experience. Your messages are secure until you look at them. You need to enter a password into a website, no problem, allow your face to grant access to your favourite password vault to send the password. Similarly I now use Apple Pay with my VISA to tap and pay – again my face authorizes the transaction.</font></p><p><font size="2">Full disclosure, I’m a Microsoft fan. Their CEO, Satya Nadella, has led a transformation and my opinion is that the result is a company that creates delightful software. It may not start out that way but their change cadence, driven by agile and cloud computing, continuously (monthly) just makes software and experiences better.</font></p><p><font size="2">I was recently leading a digital transformation initiative and we adopted Microsoft Teams to support digital workplaces. While we were piloting and then implementing Teams for various groups, committees, working groups, matrix groups, the stuff that frustrated people about the tool, regularly was addressed and missing features added. It’s the first time I’ve led something like this where the end result was unknown but definitely better, delightful.</font></p><p><font size="2">Companies and governments are onto this. I was speaking with the CIO for Public Services and Procurement Canada recently and she talked about the transformation work for Canadian government. It was a little shocking to learn that I, as a citizen, can not visit a government website, change my address or other profile details, and expect the change to find its way through all government agencies. I would have to contact all the agencies which have my information and have it changed for each. Okay, this is not delightful, but it will one day be possible to accomplish through a single contact.</font></p><p><font size="2">Delightful experiences with technology are becoming a differentiator for companies and public sector entities. I think those that get it and do it, will win!</font></p>Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-88427667409535402892016-10-29T17:40:00.000-07:002016-10-29T17:40:07.519-07:00Play the Disruption GameDo you ever go down memory lane and think about all the things that were normal then that are very different now or gone completely? I find myself reflecting on the past while I consider the present and how different the future will be. We live in truly interesting times don't we.<br />
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I haven't been writing in this space much in the past few years. I kind-of lost interest in writing about what I've been up to, what I've been thinking, or what I've been speculating about. However, I was watching an interesting clip from <a href="http://www.docjamesw.com/" target="_blank">Doc James Whittaker</a> <span class="TweetAuthor-screenName Identity-screenName" data-scribe="element:screen_name" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #8899a6; font-family: Helvetica, Roboto, "Segoe UI", Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; outline: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; white-space: nowrap;" title="@docjamesw"><a aria-label="James Whittaker (screen name: docjamesw)" class="TweetAuthor-link Identity u-linkBlend" data-scribe="element:user_link" href="https://twitter.com/docjamesw" style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Roboto, "Segoe UI", Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; white-space: nowrap;">@docjamesw</a></span> recently where he talked about the past, present, and future and it inspired me to write again. I don't know that this will become a habit again but there is this post at least.<br />
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<a href="https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/AAEAAQAAAAAAAARbAAAAJDBhNTg4OWVhLTdlZTctNDg3OC1iOWMzLWI3ODlkODExOGFkZA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/AAEAAQAAAAAAAARbAAAAJDBhNTg4OWVhLTdlZTctNDg3OC1iOWMzLWI3ODlkODExOGFkZA.jpg" width="320" /></a>James mentioned playing the disruption game. This game involves taking an industry and thinking about how it could be disrupted in the future by technological advancements. As you know, technology is probably the most disruptive phenomenon weaving through history. In our life time it has been the digital form that has relentlessly disrupted everything we know. A quick side story... my wife and I just underwent a little kitchen reno replacing counters, sink, faucet, and installing back splash. When the contractor came to estimate the back splash he asked if we wanted<br />
to cover over the jack for the phone. Even though we had switched from 'home phone' to iPhone a few years ago, it did cause us to pause before answering. We knew we would never use it again but when we sell would the new owners care? We decided 'tough luck' for them :-) and had the back splash cover over the jack. This is just a small example of disruption of the traditional phone business.<br />
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It was only a few years ago that I <a href="http://www.shift2future.com/2013/04/imagine-car.html" target="_blank">wrote about autonomous cars</a>, back when there wasn't a lot of buzz about this. Fast forward to today, and many people are writing about, speaking about, and speculating about the future of this disruption. I read recently that Tesla is installing in all future models all the hardware and sensors necessary for fully autonomous driving. Over time, their software will be updated and delivered wirelessly to gradually transform their cars from human driven, machine assisted to machine driven, human assisted to machine driven and likely human hands-off. I mention this idea to friends, colleagues, and family and most are not comfortable with the idea and say they will never let a machine drive. I say that will be a gift and make our roads far more safer and driving, er, transporting, more productive with our time.<br />
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So, imagine with me the future where cars drive themselves and humans are mere passengers. I get up, get ready, have breakfast, brush my teeth, grab my lunch and coffee and head out the door. I get into my car, and sit down for a relaxing drive into the office. My car detects that I'm ready to go and quietly starts off (it's all electric by the way). It auto connects with my smart device (aka phone), looks into my calendar and sees that I am indeed headed to work. It calculates the optimal route given current weather conditions, traffic patterns, and known accidents. The car can see all routes simultaneously to my office in Vancouver including every vehicle on the road, how fast they are traveling, what road work is going on, etc. It has 360 degree visibility all the time. <br />
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I arrive at my office and my car parks in one of the spots and 'reaches out' it's plug to a charging station. I head into the office. 30 minutes later, my car 'wakes up', unplugs, and heads out of the garage. Where is it going you might ask? Well, my car is registered into the VanCity Car Share Coop and someone asked for a car with the # of seats mine has available and my car was the nearest one available. Off it went... my car picked up and delivered passengers throughout the morning parking itself on side streets here and there when it wasn't needed. Knowning from my calendar that I have a 1:15 appointment at a school, it arrives back at the office out front, messages me 5 minutes before arriving, and waits for me to get there. I get in and it takes me to my appointment. It sees that I plan to be there an hour so makes itself available for callouts in the area within a 10km radius. And so the typical work day goes - I make money from owning a car rather than just spending money and leaving it idle 90% of the time!<br />
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<a href="http://img11.deviantart.net/b41f/i/2007/161/d/f/sport_coupe_concept_by_morfiuss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img11.deviantart.net/b41f/i/2007/161/d/f/sport_coupe_concept_by_morfiuss.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></a>With autonomous driving vehicles, many things will be disrupted. There will be far fewer (if any) accidents which will lead to very low cost insurance or will there be none and a small residual is built into the price of the car and the rental callout fees? Fault of course will be the car manufacturer, not the owner. Fault is an interesting problem here. If a human is driving and a dilemma occurs say where two small children run out in front of you and on the right is a cliff and the left is a crowd of 12 people, what decision will the human make? Will they stay the course and kill the two children, swerve left into the crowd perhaps killing and injury many, or sacrifice themselves off the cliff? What would an autonomous car decide? Great question... it's dilemmas like this that need accepted solutions before the autonomous car will be accepted.<br />
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So, less accidents will mean less health care for accident victims. This will lead to fewer clinics, fewer hospital beds, fewer nurses, doctors, and other health care workers. Fewer painkillers will be needed. People might drink more alcohol after work because they don't have to drive. There will be no taxi drivers, Uber drivers, bus drivers, truck drivers. Car ownership in cities will likely be non-existent. Why own if you have on demand access? There will be fewer fuel stations. With fewer car owners there will be fewer parking lots, spots, and garages. Fewer meter maids, fewer traffic cops, fewer court cases and thus fewer lawyers and judges. There will be fewer car washes, tire shops, automotive repair garages, and fewer dealerships. <br />
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I wonder if there will be dealerships? People that do buy will likely do this online. I bought my last two vehicles by picking models, colors, and options online and emailing back and forth with a salesperson. Why not do it all online. Perhaps test drives will be done with Oculus Rift, HoloLens, or some other virtual or augmented reality experience. This will lead to fewer sales people, business managers, etc. Someone will still need to repair and service the cars, at least until robots are capable.<br />
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You get the point... one quite miraculous change... the autonomous driving car, will disrupt many associated, loosely or otherwise, businesses and occupations. I wonder what new jobs might be created as a result. You watch, I bet some version of this story will play out over the next 10-20 years. 20 years from now someone will read this blog post and think 'wow, that was prophetic!' :-)Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-80402117916213936302016-02-08T11:22:00.000-08:002016-02-08T11:24:01.331-08:00People Process Technology, The Triple PlayI often think about how to create an environment where the velocity can increase for how things get done. I used to think technology was the main answer, just put in new tools, expect people to use them, and more stuff will get done. I learned that adding technology on its own will often cause velocity to slow. Most people need help seeing their way through the learning curve new technology brings. So if adding technology isn't the answer, I thought 'what about better processes'. If we could just design better ways of working, we will get more stuff done. Well, this outcome really depends on who the people are and what their mindset is. If people are not engaged in their work, see it as 'just a job', are not connected to the organization mission, great process won't really make a difference either. Okay, so that just leaves the third element, people.<br />
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Over my career, I have learned a lot about myself and about the diversity of people and how they think. I used to get frustrated when I would eloquently communicate direction to my team and some would be enthused, some ambivalent, and others resistant. I would think to myself 'what is wrong with these people, don't they get it?'. Well, I've learned that as a leader or communicator, it is my job to figure out and understand people and how to tailor my messaging to better fit each type of person. In some cases this will require 1:1 communication fit for a person. <br />
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I <a href="http://www.shift2future.com/2015/10/people-are-different.html" target="_blank">wrote previously</a> about how I was working to better understand my team and help them understand each other. In December last year my whole team and I responded to a profile survey created to produce a personal profile report on each of us. It was very interesting to see how everyone was reacting to their reports. Some would say how it described them to the letter, others argued that it was no where near accurate - ah but they asked their spouses or kids and they confirmed it. In early January we had a facilitator come in and take us through the material to help us understand how it works and how we can use it for more effective communication and relationships. We will bring her back for three more sessions over the next year to help us learn how to read people and tailor our ways of working with each other to a better result. My goal in this is for people to appreciate and leverage their differences for better communication.<br />
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Knowing your people, investing in and supporting them, spending time with them, coaching and mentoring them, are all important steps. With a large team it may be difficult to get to know everyone personally but by mentoring your direct reports to know their direct reports and so on, you can get a pretty good picture of your overall team. From that you / your leadership team can design teams with optimal balance to set them up for better success. You can use your limited resources wisely and support people where they need it most. Essentially, by knowing your people better, you can be more strategic in how you help them grow and thus get more stuff done.<br />
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It's not all just about people however. Your people may be your greatest asset but you can amplify their success with great process and fit for purpose technology (tools). You can design processes that accommodate different working, thinking, and communicating styles. When you add technology to their toolkit, make sure to invest in training them how to use it effectively. Our front line support technicians were given Mac computers and expected to just learn them to they can support their customers. You can probably guess how well that worked for most. Not everyone has a natural tendency to self-learn. Once we started training them properly on the tools AND the technical processes, their ability to get stuff done and support their customers with their new tools was improved dramatically. The other interesting fact is that when you provide good tools and design and teach good processes, your people feel more confident and capable and they, wait for it... get more stuff done. They also feel better about themselves which can improve team work, morale, etc. and help people, get more stuff done. A positive feedback loop emerges.<br />
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None of these ideas are rocket science but sometimes we just need to be reminded that the three components of people, process, and technology are together a winning formula and separately you need to invest strategically for an optimal outcome.<br />
<br />Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-9455358300668274792015-10-17T17:00:00.001-07:002015-10-17T17:00:56.697-07:00People are DifferentAs I've taken on leadership roles in different organizations I've learned a lot about people. When I was younger and much less wiser, I used to get frustrated when people wouldn't respond positively to the direction or support I was so cleverly providing. Some of my team members would respond very <br />
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well, others so-so, and then another group that didn't get it or passively resisted. Little did I understand at the time that 'people are different'. Fast forward to my wiser self (from many schools of hard knocks along the way), and I believe I get it now. I appreciate the differences I see in my team members. People complement each other's performance with their differences when they understand each other better.<br />
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This year I am focusing on helping my team do some self-discovery. I started with a simple activity at our last all team meeting in September. The activity was drawn from Bruce Wellman's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Groups-Work-Strategies-Structures-Professional/dp/0966502272" target="_blank">Groups at Work</a> on page 42 - it is called Compass Points (also see <a href="http://www.nsrfharmony.org/system/files/protocols/north_south_1.pdf" target="_blank">this resource</a>) and is a great way for people to quickly recognize and appreciate their diverse personal working styles. It is designed to help people understand their own preferred way of thinking and working and appreciate people (their team mates) that are different from themselves. The activity was a hit and the team members got right into it. The way it works is like this:<br />
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<li>put up chart paper on the wall in four corners of a large room (2 or more sheets depending on the size of your team and how they cluster into the four choices)</li>
<li>provide color markers</li>
<li>describe the four working and thinking styles which are</li>
<ul>
<li>North: Just get it done</li>
<li>West: Pay attention to detail</li>
<li>South: Caring about people's feelings</li>
<li>East: Think about the big picture</li>
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<li>write the label of the working style on the top of the chart paper</li>
<li>ask your team members to contemplate which style they identify with the most and ask them to go to that corner</li>
<li>ask them to discuss these questions among their group members and to respond with 3 or four adjectives for each question using the chart paper</li>
<ul>
<li>What are the strengths of your working style?</li>
<li>What are the limitations of your working style?</li>
<li>What style do you find the most difficult to work with and why?</li>
<li>List examples that people from the other styles need to know about you so you can work well / successfully together?</li>
<li>Bonus question: What do you appreciate about the other styles?</li>
</ul>
<li>when they are done, ask them to nominate a spokesperson and then go around the room and ask the groups to report out on their discovery</li>
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<a href="https://pixabay.com/get/2651c36768f90b36c082/1445126007/compass-rose-33585_1280.png?direct" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://pixabay.com/get/2651c36768f90b36c082/1445126007/compass-rose-33585_1280.png?direct" width="200" /></a>My team clustered heavily on the 'Pay attention to detail' style, next the 'Just get it done', then 'Big picture', and finally 'Caring about people's feelings'. This is probably not that surprising for a group of IT professionals. I then asked them 'where do you think I would best fit?'. First I said how about the 'Caring about people's feelings' and only a few hands went up - I said I was surprised and asked if anyone had a Kleenex :-) Then I asked about the other styles and when I reached the 'Big picture' style, nearly all hands went up. For me this was quite revealing as that is how I view myself as well so in a sense, my authenticity is showing through to my team which is a good thing. I was actually surprised more didn't see me as caring about people's feelings because I do but it's probably how I come across - calm, listening, and advising, not emotional.</div>
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People have talked about this off and on after the meeting. When in business meetings, often people will pipe up and say 'it's because I'm a get it done person, or I'm a detailed person', etc. It's interesting to see them using the language of the working styles activity and seemingly appreciating their differences - this is a great outcome.</div>
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I introduced my team to the next initiative along this line. I am going to have them go through the Insight and DISC profiling system. We will use the <a href="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/91905/file-49613378-pdf/docs/doe_john_discandpme.pdf?t=1431009143907" target="_blank">Excel Group</a> and a principal from a local school district that is certified in the technique to facilitate the process and follow up workshops. Each individual will receive a personal report (<a href="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/91905/file-49613378-pdf/docs/doe_john_discandpme.pdf?t=1431009143907" target="_blank">example</a>) after completing a confidential questionnaire online that is designed to capture personality traits sufficient to robo-produce a report about them.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GmY-Y-ms5AM/ViLgRKt7sJI/AAAAAAAACkI/iIRc7TwcVIw/s1600/DISC%2Bwheel.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GmY-Y-ms5AM/ViLgRKt7sJI/AAAAAAAACkI/iIRc7TwcVIw/s200/DISC%2Bwheel.png" width="199" /></a>I completed this back in 2010 in a different role and organization. My report begins with "Brian displays a high energy factor and is optimistic about the results he can achieve. The word can't is not in his vocabulary". Sure sounds like me... There are other attributes and traits that the report claims about me, mostly true at the time, that I can see have dramatically been adapted over the past 5 years and more significantly with my newest role as CIO. My DISC profile from 2010 is shown here. When I undertake this again this year, I expect my adapted (the star) to move more to the 'promoter and relater area' given how I believe I had adapted. A key insight from this process is that people have a natural profile and an adapted one that is based on their role and context. This means we are quite elastic and capable of changing our default selves to better fit our circumstances - this is good news for many I'm sure.</div>
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We will receive an integrated Insights Wheel indicating where each individual lands on a spectrum in terms of their natural and adapted communications style. This will give my team and myself great insight into people's communication styles and together as we learn more about this through workshops, we can improve our communication skills with one another and with our clients and other colleagues.</div>
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As leaders one of our number one responsibilities is to invest in our people. By growing our people we multiply our capacity, happiness levels, quality, and productivity. If you think to yourself, 'I don't have time for this', you are wrong. We need to remove impediments for our teams so that they can flourish in your organization. That is a gift we can give them and our organizations! </div>
Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-1833396944414734302015-09-07T14:47:00.002-07:002015-09-07T14:47:21.988-07:00There is no "i" in TeamI believe in teaching people to 'fish' rather than 'fishing' for them. In practice I have found this philosophy when working with my staff and 'clients' to be a powerful way to grow people and their capacity. It takes time and patience and you have to hold yourself back from just doing 'it' your self.<br />
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Some years ago, my wife Shelley decided to create an online business where she needed to learn a ton about a variety of technologies, in a hurry. She would call me with lots of questions and although I think it frustrated her at the time, I would respond with questions, not answers. I would ask her what she thinks she should do and in a round about way, help her get to the answer or possible answers. It didn't take long for her to stop calling... :-) I often do the same with my staff and the clients I support. It would be so much easier just to answer the specific question or do it for them but then they would be dependent on me which does nothing to grow their expertise and skills.<br />
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I have found that the same mindset is helpful when thinking about how to organize my team members to perform at higher levels. Individuals working on their own can only do so much. They only have the expertise, skills, and knowledge that they have acquired and each individual is at a different level of capacity. But, together they are far better, far better. Teams are proven powerhouse structures, if they are setup well. For teams to work effectively, there needs to be a <b>high degree of trust </b>between the members, they need to care about each others work, and ideally they care about each other as people. When team members go through adverse situations together, their bonds grow even further and as individuals they become stronger and more capable.<br />
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I watched a great movie the other night: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393162/" target="_blank">Coach Carter</a>. In the movie, a past basketball star and successful businessman who attended a low performing high school many years earlier chooses to take on the job of coaching the schools basketball team at his old school. The team had a history of low performance, the players were generally low performers academically, undisciplined, and from troubled families. The coach helped them turn things around in all these areas and the players developed trust and a genuine care for one another. In one scene, one of the players, who had been kicked off the team, wanted back on. The coach assigned him 1000 push-ups and 1500 suicides and one week to complete them. When Friday came along, he hadn't finished yet - his team mates one by one said they would complete some push-ups and suicides to help him complete on time. They choose to 'suffer' for one of their own. That's a power stage in team development.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SAdddSASBVc/Ve4FxFI8yAI/AAAAAAAACjk/YI8o94vB1CA/s1600/2015%2BJune%2Bclaymation%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SAdddSASBVc/Ve4FxFI8yAI/AAAAAAAACjk/YI8o94vB1CA/s200/2015%2BJune%2Bclaymation%2B2.jpg" width="200" /></a>For our last team meeting of the school year in June, I designed an activity for my teams to experience. I often like to include an experience for my team that involves using technology that they deploy for students in our schools. The activity was digital story telling using claymation and stop motion. I had them organized into their usual work teams (about 50 people) of 4 or 5 and they had to brainstorm together and write a script for their story about a real customer or technical service event or situation. The next step was to use colored clay to create their 'movie' characters and scene props. Then they had to learn (none had ever used this tool) how to use <a href="http://boinx.com/istopmotion/ipad/" target="_blank">iStopMotion</a> on iPads. They had stands to mount the iPads to keep them steady while 'filming'. They would then 'act out' their script using their clay characters and props, capturing each movement (like animation) using the app. After they were happy with their capture, they had to add voice overs to their characters. The culminating moment was when each team in turn air-played their movies to the big screen for all to see. I had budgeted about 75 minutes for this but eventually skipped the rest of the agenda to allow them the couple of hours they needed. I have never seen adults working so well in teams and being so engaged. There was laughter, fun, serious design work, deep thinking, and emergent leadership within the teams. A few of my staff afterwards said, "you had us doing a team building activity didn't you". Well, they had me :-)<br />
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I have worked hard the past few years to add and build capacity in my team and to empower people to make decisions. You are never quite sure if you are making progress, but this summer I saw the evidence. I took a sizable amount of time off this summer for vacation and my team members worked through numerous significant projects and operational improvement work with vary little oversight from me. I am proud of my team members and impressed with their accomplishments. Secondly, one of our IT architects said to me when I returned that he and another architect were talking about why they work here. They agreed it wasn't because the money is good (it truly is not - this needs to be fixed) but because they have the freedom to architect and invent our future and to make things better for so many. Both of these evidences are powerful ahas for me. <br />
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One more sports example... I like to watch professional golf and am so impressed with Jordan Spieth, a young 22 year old who has taken the golf world by storm this year winning two majors and coming in fourth in one and second in the last one after which he was declared the best in the world. Whenever he is interviewed, he most often uses "we" when talking about his past, current, and future performance. The "we" includes his caddie. He recognizes that it takes a team effort to perform well. Not all golfers appear to think this way. This should bring to mind all those people in our lives, work and personal, that are part of our team and our success. Be humble and realize who has helped you become successful. As individuals none of us can go very far on our own!<br />
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Not to paint a perfect picture... we have some work teams that are not working as well as they could. I own responsibility for this and plan to invest energy in helping them improve. As a formal leader, I see my role as figuring out (observe, ask questions, listen) what my team members need and finding ways to get it for them, to remove obstacles where possible, and to invest in their direct leaders so that they are successful in supporting their team members. I have work to do there as well. It is definitely a work in progress but I am pleased with where we have arrived and look forward to helping my team members become even more successful and happy in the work they do for our students, teachers, and staff!Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-77772938796084162822015-05-16T19:32:00.001-07:002015-05-16T19:48:34.360-07:00The Chicken or the Egg, Which Comes First<p>Something has been on my mind as of late and I feel compelled to write about it.  I am grappling with why technology is so often pushed to the background into a supporting role.  I know, I’m biased right, I’m a technology advocate.  It’s true but that is not why I believe technology should always be first when considering an activity, a way of working, a way of learning, and a way of teaching others.</p> <p>Way back in 1985, my wife and I got married.  We planned a honey moon trip to California.  We bought some paper maps and had access to, yes, an atlas!  We figured out our general plan then as proud BCAA members, asked for driving maps to be produced.  We studied and followed those maps carefully all the way down and back over the next couple of weeks.  Now fast forward to 2015, we are planning a trip to Spain.  <a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kyFz4gJzaAM/VVgBdAwHa9I/AAAAAAAACgY/SltuJhYUIJQ/s1600-h/iStock_000019171659XSmall%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000019171659XSmall" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000019171659XSmall" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s7wrjUCRXCs/VVgBdlvP3DI/AAAAAAAACgg/wwK25cVbmCg/iStock_000019171659XSmall_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="224" align="left" height="153" /></a>Should we use the same approach with the same tools (technology) to plan a trip?  No of course not.  We are using Google Maps and other Internet resources to plan things out, much faster, in a far more informed manner.  The other day while using Google Earth I ‘visited’ Ronda in the south of Spain from where we will be starting a week long bike trip through the country side, village to village.  I was exploring the city and surrounding landscape, viewing crowd sourced photos, and ‘walking’ the streets, etc.  If I had used the traditional tools, this would be impossible to accomplish and experience.</p> <p>When people set out to build houses 80 years ago, they had basic technology consisting of hand saws, hammers, nails, and wood.  It was a very manually intensive task and they had access to very little options in terms of materials.  Fast forward to 2015 and the saws are electric, come in many shapes and sizes, nails are ‘pounded in’ with nail guns, wood is screwed down with cordless battery screw drivers, and because of technology driven ways of using, creating, and manufacturing materials, they had amazing diverse materials available to them.  Go through the list of trades, business workers, medical practitioners, and other occupations and you see technology at the forefront in every case in a modern society.  Work practices and procedures are designed and planned with technology at the core – the technology is primary and the methods are wholly dependent.  And, what they are able to accomplish, would be impossible without the technology.</p> <p>I remember (vaguely…) my high school years (1980-81) and how all knowledge and information was obtained from encyclopaedias, books, and our teachers.  We learned what we were told.  There were no other options or sources available to us.  We wrote papers, did worksheets, solved problems (on paper), all to satisfy our teachers and to get good marks on our report cards.  Fast forward to 2015 and classrooms are starting to operate differently for sure.  Teachers are adopting newer technologies, albeit slowly.  In most cases I encounter, the new technologies are still quite optional, are afterthoughts, are add-ons, are reserved for special projects, etc.  I don’t recall from 1981 that our books, encyclopaedias, and our teachers were optional, afterthoughts, add-ons, or reserved for special projects.  So why are new technologies treated so differently?  I think things are backwards…</p> <p>I still see tweets, blog posts, and hear people say that pedagogy is first and foremost important and technology should be considered for ways it can support the pedagogy.  Pedagogy is really just a tool, a technology itself, used to teach and to cause learning to take place.  But how one teaches today should be fully <a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XqzjkaNQayM/VVgBeqN3a-I/AAAAAAAACgo/rwe5WKti_TM/s1600-h/iStock_000012750151Medium%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img title="if not now, when - question" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="if not now, when - question" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VCK62P_Qel8/VVgBfJZTnKI/AAAAAAAACgs/4xadG2qyktM/iStock_000012750151Medium_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="191" align="right" height="240" /></a>dependent on the technologies available.  Why are so many schools still hanging on to the use of textbooks when not one of their students will ever use a physical book again as a reference or tool for learning once they leave school?  Why would a lesson be designed based on the absence of information technology and then add in that technology to enhance the lesson?  Doesn’t it make more sense to design lessons based on all the technologies at ones disposal, to the point where the lesson could not exist or be used without the technology? </p> <p>It is true that technologies fail, let us down, and can be difficult to learn to use.  But this is changing rapidly.  I think the time is now to start with technology first and <a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kGjd59z5sIQ/VVgBf1o4H1I/AAAAAAAACg4/WVhZShDH7Mw/s1600-h/change-20272_1920%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="change-20272_1920" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="change-20272_1920" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O1hTTGH2nw8/VVgBgcCa0gI/AAAAAAAACg8/njVPG7clYvM/change-20272_1920_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="254" align="left" height="157" /></a>consider everything we do from there.  Technologies bring game changer opportunities, better ways of doing, and open doors that were never before imagined.  In our work and in our learning, we need to maximize the use of the tools (technologies) available and keep our eye out for new ones, all the time.  The alternative is to wake up one day and discover that what we knew and held on to as our ways of doing have become rather obsolete. </p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:e260b2f2-8771-40cb-9ca5-e85de3f85234" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/change" rel="tag">change</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/design" rel="tag">design</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/disruption" rel="tag">disruption</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/education" rel="tag">education</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/knowledge" rel="tag">knowledge</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Spain" rel="tag">Spain</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/travel" rel="tag">travel</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tools" rel="tag">tools</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/pedagogy" rel="tag">pedagogy</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-165271362910818102015-02-01T13:06:00.001-08:002015-02-01T14:17:33.498-08:00Is it really cheating?<p>When I was a young student we had to do our school work mostly independently.  It kind-of matched to the workplace where people mostly contributed individually.  I remember in university one of my computer science professors would say “I don’t care how you get the assignments done but I will get you on <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-bvyxa6Ii-9s/VM6l8RpbqmI/AAAAAAAACe4/l3Iy2V7L114/s1600-h/iStock_000010871981Medium%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="teamwork concept on blackboard" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="teamwork concept on blackboard" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2CohD98sBB8/VM6l8zhzJAI/AAAAAAAACe8/yVuzOuYmOt0/iStock_000010871981Medium_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="169" align="left" height="231" /></a>the test”.  His point was that if you don’t do or understand the work that you turn in you will not be able to pass the final which was worth 50% of the grade.  I think things have changed where we value collaboration, reuse, and innovation more than just following the rules, doing it yourself, or doing it ‘my way’.  I certainly value a balance of this from those that are part of my team.  But, what do students in our schools today experience?  </p> <p>I was speaking with some teachers the other day and the English department head asked about using a tool <a href="http://turnitin.com/" target="_blank">Turnitin</a>.  This tool ensures that “[s]tudent work is instantly checked for potential plagiarism using pattern recognition algorithms.  An Originality Report is generated in a matter of seconds.”  It will also provide “rich feedback” on assignments that students hand in.  She is struggling with assigning homework to her students that involves writing as she is concerned about how easy it is to use work from the Internet as their own.  I responded that Turnitin is a powerful tool but asked whether it is mostly a band aide to a problem and perhaps there are ways to think differently about cheating?  It comes down to a question of what is important for students to learn which relates to what is assessed.  There are provincial curricular requirements and exams for English so the test is certainly something that teachers are faced with preparing students to do well on.</p> <p>This may shock you but the world actually values cheating.  Innovation is all about using the work of others as input into generating incremental or revolutionarily new ideas.  One could argue that there are rarely original ideas anymore, rather just mash ups of existing ideas, to create something newer.  What if English students were allowed ‘to cheat’ on essay writing?  What if they were assessed on the process they used to source materials perhaps with a requirement to incorporate a diverse set of sources.  They could be expected to integrate diverse material into a finished document.  Perhaps some of their sources had to come from building connections to original authors through social media.  They would work in a small team where each person is expected to write <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-2K1QzA--wmk/VM6l9Yy794I/AAAAAAAACfE/zOBbnKz0LUo/s1600-h/iStock_000008393347XSmall%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000008393347XSmall" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 0px 2px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000008393347XSmall" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-jfu19wOzdSY/VM6l97ujdJI/AAAAAAAACfI/8pBVzV7W1yc/iStock_000008393347XSmall_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="right" height="192" /></a>(assemble) their essay from a different perspective (time, historical figure, take a side, etc.) to ensure effort from all.  The students could learn about efficiency through reusing work and applying it to a specific context.  Perhaps students would have to demonstrate their understanding of what they produced through 1-1 meetings with their teacher and a public presentation to the class.  We expect employees in modern work places to not reinvent the wheel unless that is the only option.  We want employees to leverage others work, with appropriate credit where due of course and with understanding of the outcome.</p> <p>What does it mean to ‘learn English’?  There are the words and their meaning, grammar and other technicalities.  There is the skill of conveying ideas in writing, making it interesting, bringing something to life through words, building characters, writing for an audience and purpose, etc.  Why not leverage an app to learn words, grammar, form, sentence structure, etc. and free the teacher to facilitate projects involving <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-PucCOFtdBsE/VM6l-sidZVI/AAAAAAAACfY/1lzt8e3zPTU/s1600-h/flickr%252520-%252520langwitches%252520-%252520information%252520fluency%252520-%2525205603842003%25255B11%25255D.jpg"><img title="flickr - langwitches - information fluency - 5603842003" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 1px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="flickr - langwitches - information fluency - 5603842003" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-_pLR7oEvaHs/VM6l-0UuZII/AAAAAAAACfg/bGUgg1Ilsuw/flickr%252520-%252520langwitches%252520-%252520information%252520fluency%252520-%2525205603842003_thumb%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="left" height="184" /></a>research and summary, audiences, writing with persuasion, writing short (or long) novels, etc.  Design learning that involves group and individual work, original thought, and public speaking.  Teach kids to communicate in various mediums that are formal and informal, verbal and written, audio and visual, video, blogging, tweets, etc.  Allow students some freedom to choose their final media which might be written text, a video production, or creation of their story or essay in an environment like Mind Craft.  I know that these are all ways that many teachers already incorporate but perhaps it could become more pervasive?</p> <p>My wife and I are planning a trip to Spain for 2016 and are actively learning Spanish.  We are not taking a class but rather are using an app, <a href="https://www.duolingo.com/" target="_blank">Duolingo</a>.  We set our own daily targets and the Duolingo digital coach will gently remind us to put in the learning time.  As it teaches us to translate Spanish to English, English to Spanish, speak it, choose the right words, it builds our vocabulary, grammar skills, and it keeps score and tracks areas of weakness to reteach.  I also use Google “spanish to english” to translate words and phrases or grammatical constructs I’ve forgotten.  Perhaps this is cheating but if it helps me to learn Spanish easier, why not?  The goal is to acquire enough Spanish this way to be able to converse, read, and write it somewhat effortlessly.  That’s the desired outcome.  With all the technology available to students and teachers today shouldn’t learning a language and all that entails be quite different, perhaps easier and more tailored to student needs, than it has been for the past decades?  Perhaps what was once cheating could be referred to as resourcefulness.  Share your perspective and ideas here on ‘cheating’ and I’ll pass them along to others as the opportunity arises.</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:48ba1871-5f45-4503-807a-d9675ab356e4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/K12" rel="tag">K12</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Travel" rel="tag">Travel</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/education" rel="tag">education</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/innovation" rel="tag">innovation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/learning" rel="tag">learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/values" rel="tag">values</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/English" rel="tag">English</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/language" rel="tag">language</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/cheating" rel="tag">cheating</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Duolingo" rel="tag">Duolingo</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Turnitin" rel="tag">Turnitin</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-58565708257738571022015-01-02T14:43:00.001-08:002015-01-02T16:21:54.232-08:00Be Strategic<p>It is so easy to be busy in our jobs.  You know, doing email, returning phone calls, and having meetings.  Some days on my commute home I wonder what happened during the day.  Busy does not equate to progress and most definitely isn’t strategic.  What does it mean to ‘be strategic’?  Why is this important to making positive progress?  Is strategic planning still a relevant business function in this ever fast changing world?</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-nXS4J_XQoO4/VKc2D42mDUI/AAAAAAAACd8/ZGkCpZuHnrc/s1600-h/IMG_0673%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="IMG_0673" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="IMG_0673" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-MR9aEaE8puE/VKc2EUvni1I/AAAAAAAACeA/HIympeGNeGA/IMG_0673_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="180" align="left" height="243" /></a>My wife and I visited Greece this past year and saw amazing examples of architecture and focused energy in creating complex structures and infrastructure.  When you think of the resources they had at their disposal, it seems impossible that they could have done the things they did 1000’s of years ago.  Take the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isthmus_of_Corinth" target="_blank">Isthmian Canal</a> for example. It was created to replace the more difficult method of rolling ships across land on logs.  But, it took incredible focus and resources to complete.  It was a very strategic goal designed to make far faster and easier passage from one part of Greece to another.  Without intense focus, they would have never accomplished their goal.</p> <blockquote> <p>“Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources)” - <a title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy</a> (Jan. 2, 2015).</p> </blockquote> <p>Leaders need to regularly assess the current state of their organization to determine what needs to be changed so as to make improvements or create game changers. To be strategic, they will be concerned with setting goals to focus effort and resources on specific actions designed to make the changes deemed necessary.  It would seem then that a plan would be important for documenting and tracking the assessment, the desired changes, and the specific goals and actions.</p> <p>I have seen (and participated in creating) some poor examples of ‘strategic plans’.  You know the type, loaded with paragraphs of descriptive text, diagrams, and quotes, and an excessive number of goals and objections that tend to dilute rather than focus efforts.  As well, I’ve rarely seen a strategic plan be used to regularly guide an organizations actions.  Its completion (the writing) often serves as a proud culminating moment and then it is dusted annually for key people to write about their progress towards achieving the goals.</p> <p>One of the realities that I think leads to loaded (unruly) strategic plans is how much consultation is needed to create them.  The (lengthy) consultation process often results in a lot of advocating by interested parties to have specific goals included and where there are many stakeholders involved, the plan can become unruly.  Also, ownership and accountability for specific goals is not always assigned.  It is important to identify who is expected to achieve each goal and what happens if they failed to do so in the expected timeline.  Regular review of and reporting on of progress is important to keep people focused on what’s been deemed strategic.</p> <p>In my wor<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-XPG9cDkXxlI/VKc2EyKE_HI/AAAAAAAACeM/e8eYvQOapb4/s1600-h/iStock_000019296536XSmall%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000019296536XSmall" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 0px 2px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000019296536XSmall" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ge-smJCtufM/VKc2FUMu-iI/AAAAAAAACeQ/K4T7qTEqyA8/iStock_000019296536XSmall_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="242" align="right" height="161" /></a>k of late advancing the use of technology I have not pursued the creation of formal strategic plans.  Rather, I’ve found strategic IT roadmaps to be helpful.  A roadmap is guide based on a few key strategic themes.  It is designed for the same purpose of a strategic plan but is far more focused on critical specific needs.  The roadmap is used to generate specific initiatives to make specific progress, reduce risks, or solve problems.  A strategic IT roadmap could be the outcome of a lite weight strategic planning process that involves stakeholders in understanding the context, identifying areas of need, and setting direction.  A roadmap would forecast and translate this direction into actionable initiatives.  Stakeholders could also be helpful in fleshing out details, addressing obstacles, and reviewing progress.</p> <p>For example, An organization that has fallen behind in their effective use of technology might have two foundational strategic themes such as Infrastructure (sub-themes: network, security, servers, storage) and Access Equity (sub-themes: devices for people to access online services and tools, and access to adequate support).  Within each theme/sub-theme, specific initiatives (connected to supporting the organizations evolving priorities) would be designed, proposed, prioritized, and funded.  A rolling five year forecast of budget needs would be developed for each theme to inform the organization of the commitments necessary to advance and maintain the roadmap.  The roadmap serves as a tool to signal the direction and magnitude of strategic investments.  It is a ‘living document’ in that for each budget cycle it is revised and updated so as to keep it adaptable to <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-AzZwLFifu34/VKc2HzTvLKI/AAAAAAAACec/Pf3PC3Y4wBs/s1600-h/iStock_000008217437XSmall%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000008217437XSmall" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000008217437XSmall" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-sVIUBatFQ6g/VKc2INPmzlI/AAAAAAAACeg/zAE6bzVUGZE/iStock_000008217437XSmall_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="139" align="left" height="141" /></a>shifting organization and environmental priorities.  Once sufficient progress is made on foundational themes, additional strategic themes could be pursued and road mapped to rely on earlier themes.  Think of it as building a house on a solid foundation.  Sometimes though, organizational pressures require inclusion of progressive themes before foundational themes are adequately actualized.  Such is life in complex organizations.</p> <p>Being strategic is important, a plan is helpful, but make it meaningful and consider using roadmaps as a tool to focus and actualize the work.  <strong>If you aim at everything you will hit nothing in particular!</strong></p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:909bbfbe-b933-4ecc-a086-1819757d5572" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IT" rel="tag">IT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/governance" rel="tag">governance</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/leadership" rel="tag">leadership</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/strategic" rel="tag">strategic</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/planning" rel="tag">planning</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-54466577417679312472014-11-11T11:15:00.001-08:002014-11-11T12:30:14.414-08:00Just Google It!<p>The other day I was cutting the lawn and my mower cut out.  The previous time I cut the lawn, it cut out about 6 times ‘for no reason’.  This time, it would not start again.  I asked one of my sons about it – he is a 3rd year automotive apprentice – and he said he’d check it out.  He took a look, tried a few things then disappeared.  <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-30MG0s45Ldk/VGJxx1ItI6I/AAAAAAAACdE/C09QnhbIy1w/s1600-h/iStock_000005910645Large%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img title="Questions signpost in the sky" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Questions signpost in the sky" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Im4Dr9-U4C8/VGJxyv_YQ1I/AAAAAAAACdI/L9Ixgg2DDuk/iStock_000005910645Large_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="left" height="164" /></a>About 10 minutes later, I hear the mower start up.  I asked him what he did and he said he ‘Googled It’.  He found an article or video that matched the symptoms of our mowers problem and tried the suggested solution.  It worked!  The gas tank cap wasn’t letting air in so he loosened it off a bit so it could breath then duct taped it for now, so it would work.</p> <p>We have been interviewing people for some new technical support jobs we created.  One of the questions we ask candidates is to describe how they keep their knowledge and skills current or in other words, how do they learn in this fast paced world of technology.  More often than not, the top answer involves reading web content such as online articles and magazines, usually driven by the need to search out ideas and answers.  Fewer are those that say they have <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-mB7K-WXL3kQ/VGJxzHmsLwI/AAAAAAAACdQ/tfk9RGjyC1E/s1600-h/iStock_000012942957XSmall%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img title="downlaod the e-book" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="downlaod the e-book" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-dzjfiAScVWI/VGJxzXzRy6I/AAAAAAAACdY/fKV2Tdx3lrc/iStock_000012942957XSmall_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" align="right" height="162" /></a>recently taken a course at a higher education institution, studied to obtain a current certification, or read a book.  It seems that knowledge is becoming more just-in-time and even transient to some degree.  Having been a traditional learner who actually still values classroom or at least course based learning, reading books, and attending conferences, I find myself thinking that the ‘school of Internet’ is a bit lazy.  I think I might be wrong about that though.  Some of the interview candidates shared stories from their work experience of tackling complex projects or problems that they had not previously faced, and learning how to do the work, by ‘researching’ online.  I’m not sure that a traditional course would help with real-time work like this.</p> <p>It is true that you can find out how to do something, almost anything, by searching online.  I had to unclog one of our bathtubs last summer and the drain stopper was atypical.  I could not figure out how to remove it.  I watched numerous do-it-yourself (DIY) videos on how to unclog a bathtub but none matched the type of drain stopper I was dealing with.  Finally, I stumbled upon a video posted by someone who had the exact same stopper – he said he spent a lot of time, like me, looking for the right video but could not find it.  So, when he figured out how to remove the stopper, he felt compelled to post a video showing the steps so others would have an easier time of it (like me).  Isn’t it amazing that people take time to record sophisticated projects and problem solving with no expectation of anything in return?</p> <p>There is so much information and knowledge moving online, actually all of it is!  The value of a traditional classroom based education is in question.  By that I mean using the traditional broadcast technology where a person lectures or imparts information and knowledge to others and they are assessed on how well they can recall it later.  The value of a face to face learning experience should probably be more focused on relationships, communication (written, verbal, electronic), collaboration, developing initiative, learning how to think critically, problem solve, undertake research, and learning how to learn.  All content is electronic and perhaps soon all online and free so what is needed is careful guidance, facilitation, mentoring, and coaching to help learners (young and older) access relevant content while they develop important competencies such as those listed earlier.  It is less about what you know (sorry Jeopardy) and more about knowing how to know, relate, care, give, support, think, express, etc. and finding and connecting relevant content as needed.</p> <p>The power of Internet search grows with every individual search.  “Google now processes over 40,000 search queries every second on average (<a href="http://www.internetlivestats.com/one-second/#google-band">visualize them here</a>), which translates to over <strong>3.5 billion searches per day</strong> and <strong>1.2 trillion searches per year</strong> worldwide” (Nov 11, 2014 <a title="http://www.internetlivestats.com/google-search-statistics/" href="http://www.internetlivestats.com/google-search-statistics/">http://www.internetlivestats.com/google-search-statistics/</a>).  Beyond search are sophisticated analytics and predictions tools like IBM’s Watson which “has ingested more than 600,000-plus pieces of medical evidence, and two million pages of text from 42 medical journals and clinical trials in the area of oncology research. Watson has the power to sift through 1.5 million patient records representing decades of cancer treatment history, such as medical records and patient outcomes, and provide to physicians evidence-based treatment options all in a matter of seconds” (Feb 8, 2013 <a title="http://www.mskcc.org/pressroom/press/ibm-watson-hard-work-new-breakthroughs-transform-quality-care-patients" href="http://www.mskcc.org/pressroom/press/ibm-watson-hard-work-new-breakthroughs-transform-quality-care-patients">http://www.mskcc.org/pressroom/press/ibm-watson-hard-work-new-breakthroughs-transform-quality-care-patients</a>).  Watson is becoming the most capable cancer diagnostic ‘doctor’ on the planet.</p> <p>In this years municipal election there is a candidate, who will remain unnamed here, running for the school board where I live who believes “students need to put down their iPads and smart phones, and learn the way that their parents’ generation did.  We need to get <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2LK2YlRonII/VGJx0PByaXI/AAAAAAAACdk/z5eQICBQbRA/s1600-h/iStock_000022796717Small%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000022796717Small" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000022796717Small" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-g7OgVgW218A/VGJx012ZKsI/AAAAAAAACds/7OxIWdDSp_0/iStock_000022796717Small_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="left" height="164" /></a>back to basics – reading, writing and ‘rithmatic, and learning how to communicate with each other”.  I think she is missing the reality of our age – it is nothing like the previous generation and learning the ‘old’ way will not serve students or adults well.  Sure, there is a lot of off task use of digital devices but that is more of a growing pain in a system that takes an inordinate amount of time to shift gears.  We need to embrace the future while retaining the important aspects of the past!</p> <p>I am increasingly appreciative of the power of “Just Google it!”, how about you?</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:a732c334-1146-496d-978a-0df078da0973" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/21stcentury" rel="tag">21stcentury</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/learning" rel="tag">learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/research" rel="tag">research</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/school" rel="tag">school</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/%22IBM+Watons%22" rel="tag">"IBM Watons"</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Google" rel="tag">Google</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/search" rel="tag">search</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-65480600491393819952014-08-31T12:32:00.001-07:002014-08-31T13:31:31.662-07:00The Paradox of Technology<p>I suspect that we all know of people who long for the simpler days of old.  Perhaps you are old enough to remember when a family had one telephone available to them, it was plugged into the wall, had a long curly cord, and you might have used it once or twice a day.  Now we have a phone, actually a super computer, in our pockets with us 24x7 and we interact with others possibly 100’s, for some maybe 1000’s, of times a day.  We try to keep up with the flows of our Facebook <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-U-2YLgPNgpU/VAOGE5-TB_I/AAAAAAAACcA/DBR0kzrfBgw/s1600-h/flickr%252520-%252520langwitches%252520-%252520Learning%252520then%252520and%252520Now%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img title="flickr - langwitches - Learning then and Now" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="flickr - langwitches - Learning then and Now" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/--OZRMrBl1Mk/VAOGF5_bNSI/AAAAAAAACcE/9LYpYuKC1UM/flickr%252520-%252520langwitches%252520-%252520Learning%252520then%252520and%252520Now_thumb%25255B12%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="249" align="left" height="146" /></a>community, Twitter streams, Text messages, phone calls, Face Times, email messages, SnapChats, Pins, Skypes, etc.  It is overwhelming isn’t it.  Oh for the good ol’ days of the one phone, you know the one where you ‘dialed’ the number and hated numbers with “0” in them.  You know, when you had to wait when the party line was on a call.  </p> <p>That may be a simplistic example but with all our technological advancements there are benefits and consequences.  For those of us on this planet who have been fortunate to enjoy these advancements, I believe overall, our lives are better off.  Technology has not overwhelmed us or made live unbearable as some might have us believe.  Rather, we have overwhelmed us by allowing our technology to control us when it should be the other way around.  Why do some of us like to blame the accessibility technology creates for us, as the reason we are stressed out?  Technology is meant to make life simpler, reduce our workloads, make it easier to communicate, make us more efficient, give us time back, create new opportunities, etc.  If so, what are we doing wrong ‘cause that’s not what a lot of people seem to experience.  </p> <p>Think about how much time we spend hunting and gathering relative to our ancestors or to those in poorer countries without the benefits of technology.  Think about how much leisure time you have.  Sure you might think you have very little but that may be just how you allocate your time to your kids, spouse, or how you let your work consume you.  Maybe you are addicted to Facebook or other online <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ZFRdYaughTw/VAOGG9R93wI/AAAAAAAACcQ/NspjTew_dWE/s1600-h/20140730_165352917_iOS%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="20140730_165352917_iOS" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 0px 2px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="20140730_165352917_iOS" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9jn6bgDADCY/VAOGHcfRuII/AAAAAAAACcU/5cGtfSLy0jo/20140730_165352917_iOS_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" align="right" height="180" /></a>spaces.  Technology certainly plays a role in enabling us to do more, communicate more, and consume more (information) but it is really our choice in how balanced or imbalanced we become with our technology use.  Get outdoors and use your tech to capture and share the beauty of our environment!</p> <p>This summer I decided to take a Facebook holiday for 3 weeks.  I didn’t check my feeds, ‘like’ any posts, or share the wonderful things I was up to.  I was kind-of getting tired of feeling the need to stay tuned into the lives of those I’ve friended.  It was great to take a break.  I often do the same with Twitter, email, and other communication tools.  What I can’t see myself giving up though are all the other tools that help me find places, discover recipes, read or listen to books, listen to music, write out my thoughts and notes, arrange events, research and plan trips, track budgets and expenditures, pay bills, etc.  I remember when Shelley and I first got married.  I got the job of dealing with the finances… I used a paper log to track our bills, their amount, due date, etc. and would refer to it so I knew when to write the cheques and get them into envelopes with stamps and off to the mailbox.  I reconciled our cheque book using a hand calculator and piece of paper.  I used to have to deposit our pay-cheques by driving to the bank and waiting in a line.  It was painful and tedious.  Now almost all of our bills are automatically paid, pay-cheques are deposited automatically, other bills are paid online on a specified date via the bank website.  Recently I have been able to deposit cheques via my phone by taking a picture – it goes into our account immediately.  I use a spreadsheet to track our budget and expenses and to reconcile our cheque book and it takes minutes to do.  This is way better than the pre-technology era.</p> <p>I was mountain biking yesterday with a friend and we got to talking about buying bike parts.  I’ve always bought at local shops but he got me thinking about how much markup there is and how much I could save buying online.  I said I needed a new front bike tire soon and he said lets combine an order – we’ll get free shipping to Canada from the UK for an order over $99.  I asked him what sites he uses and later he texted me the web addresses when I plugged into my computer browser to search out the tires (tyres in the UK) I wanted.  I found them, emailed him the link and he put in the order.  The tire cost nearly 1/3 what I paid in a local shop!  How simple is that and how cool to save that much on the cost?  I like shopping local, to support the local economy, but when prices are marked up that much, using technology saves me money and time.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-JGGtqpegN98/VAOGIACNEWI/AAAAAAAACcc/Gfyd34vC6lY/s1600-h/iStock_000008477174XSmall%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="Play Blocks With Letters" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Play Blocks With Letters" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-fjIsQOes_6o/VAOGIcuShvI/AAAAAAAACck/DE4EuhuyKxQ/iStock_000008477174XSmall_thumb%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="64" align="left" height="240" /></a>So what’s my point you ask.  I think the advancement of technology has created huge opportunities and benefits but also has caused great difficulties for some people to manage their lives.  It makes it hard to be and feel balanced.  Technology is agnostic, it is neither good nor evil so let’s not blame the technology, rather let’s be more thoughtful about how we take charge of our time, our behaviors, and priorities.  Use technology to its fullest to make your life better.  Let’s teach and help each other maximize our use of our technology while maximizing the quality of our lives.  Learn to be the boss of your tech and leverage its power for the better! <font size="1">[image: © iStockPhoto #000008477174]</font></p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:d8934290-a688-4bf0-a057-d038d9c5eae7" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/adoption" rel="tag">adoption</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/empower" rel="tag">empower</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/values" rel="tag">values</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/balance" rel="tag">balance</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-37869362399473347332014-08-02T13:21:00.003-07:002014-08-02T14:28:57.577-07:00Should It Be Created?<p>I recently watched the movie Transcendence (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7af3imL5t54" target="_blank">see trailer</a>).  Having read Ray Kurzweil’s <a href="http://www.singularity.com/" target="_blank">The Singularity is Near</a> a few years ago, I thought it would be cool to see a movie roughly based on similar <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-lBzbIvmiFUk/U91YA09A68I/AAAAAAAACbI/I_YRAhMoUj0/s1600-h/www-bigdata-madesimple-com%252520eyeball%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="Stream of digital data and eye" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Stream of digital data and eye" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Y76myktaw4A/U91YBqammlI/AAAAAAAACbQ/qUCL1b6nYuE/www-bigdata-madesimple-com%252520eyeball_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="left" height="184" /></a>ideas.  Note… I found the book to be interesting but disturbing, likewise the movie.  There is an internal drive within some people to pursue inventions for the sake of the science.  Unfortunately, there are consequences to new inventions that go along with the perceived benefits.  As new seemingly miraculous inventions are conceived, we should be more vigilante about asking “why”.  Why should we even try to upload a human brain or any brain, into a machine?  Why should we try to ‘live eternally’ within a machine as a digital existence?  There are scientists like Ray Kurzweil who believe it is possible and that the capability should be invented.  But should it?  </p> <p>Okay, back to earth… I personally don’t believe it is possible to transcend our human existence into a digital one nor do I think that it would ever be an appropriate outcome if it were possible.  But what about some of the more recent creations or ones in the works?  I continue to be amazed at the game changer our SmartPhones have become.  The other day I went on a hike with my (adult) kids up the Lions near Vancouver, BC.  I used the Strava app on my iPhone to record the hike (<a href="http://www.strava.com/activities/173220284" target="_blank">see Strava hike</a>) <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9AT7LAzQKgk/U91YDsqG1qI/AAAAAAAACbY/LFX5KoRCOro/s1600-h/20140730_185433558_iOS%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="20140730_185433558_iOS" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 0px 2px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="20140730_185433558_iOS" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-wR_0NHS8dxs/U91YECOGz1I/AAAAAAAACbc/Ku4HqRl3GzU/20140730_185433558_iOS_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="260" align="right" height="200" /></a>which I uploaded to my Strava network and to Facebook once we were done.  I took ample photos with the phone’s camera which I uploaded to share on Facebook, creating conversations and giving people I’m connected to a glimpse into our day in the mountains.  If an emergency occurred, I could call for help.  Just a short 10 years ago, none of this was possible out in the deep woods.  I would have had a flip phone that might have a cell signal, a handheld (large) GPS tracker, a bulky camera, and sharing any of this information would not be quick and nor easy.  The SmartPhone is a great invention for sure.  But, there are all sorts of ‘evil’ uses for predators, criminal activities, remote detonators, etc.  We have learned to accept these consequences along with the benefits.  But did we consider the consequences before the SmartPhone was invented and ‘allowed’ on the market?</p> <p>What about the current hype around quad copters?  These are pretty cool tools and useful for surveillance, surveying, and playing pranks I’m sure.  <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/171879-amazon-unveils-30-minute-prime-air-quadcopter-delivery-service-but-its-completely-impractical" target="_blank">Amazon is pursing the use of these tools</a> for same day delivery of online orders in some cities.  I’ve read about these being flown into fireworks displays creating safety concerns for people below and near airports causing concern for airport traffic, etc.  These tools could be used for inappropriate video and picture recording and privacy violations.  What consideration was given to the dangerous and inappropriate uses before these were invented and made available to the public?</p> <p>There is an explosion of innovation in the medical uses of technology.  It probably won’t be long before prosthetic limbs are indistinguishable from the original.  Innovative ways of delivering drug therapy to target cells is emerging.  One day there may be nanobots available, small ‘machines’ designed to seek out say cancer cells and repair them, or perhaps designed to improve our memory, eye sight, hearing, muscle strength, intelligence…  Would this be bad?  I for one would welcome anything that improves my memory and intelligence!  But, what are the consequences?  Should this be invented?</p> <p>Hopefully young people flowing through our education system are being exposed to ethical learning scenarios and dilemmas.  Future <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-7iNFtYcpq4g/U91YFELohxI/AAAAAAAACbo/9uZ7np7TqiI/s1600-h/iStock_000023020317Medium%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000023020317Medium" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000023020317Medium" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-tXc6azKNOK0/U91YF6-tdUI/AAAAAAAACbs/xX37_O5yxs8/iStock_000023020317Medium_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="left" height="164" /></a>scientists are in our grade one classes today and they need to learn to question innovations and inventions and learn to have the wisdom and strength to know when to appose them versus pursue them.  With how fast things are changing through new inventions being created, this should be a growing area of importance and concern where we are learning to ask ‘Should it be created?’.</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:a3c4ca19-5c8e-4f69-b81b-da7afa031d41" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/design" rel="tag">design</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/education" rel="tag">education</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/future" rel="tag">future</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/innovation" rel="tag">innovation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/invention" rel="tag">invention</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/research" rel="tag">research</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/ethics" rel="tag">ethics</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Transcendence" rel="tag">Transcendence</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Singularity" rel="tag">Singularity</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/%22Ray+Kurzweil%22" rel="tag">"Ray Kurzweil"</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-65628024974074663542014-04-06T09:01:00.002-07:002014-04-06T09:47:19.638-07:00Reading With the Machine<p>It is an interesting debate.  Especially when it is with a librarian who is passionate about books, the conventional paper-based type.  I’ve listened to (and read about, on a machine) the arguments for paper-based books, the cognitive advantages, the feel, the humanity of it.  <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-s1mnH8VgtLg/U0GECHidYsI/AAAAAAAACaQ/MfSNfbzVSHk/s1600-h/iStock_000002916162Large%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="Education Series (sky high books)" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Education Series (sky high books)" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JguBb7vm6nk/U0GEC4O_lMI/AAAAAAAACaY/48XOyQx2yKg/iStock_000002916162Large_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="178" align="left" height="268" /></a>I think this is a case of hanging onto a long tradition and it repeats itself over and over through history.  Even when the Gutenberg press was invented, the religious leaders of the day tried to paint it as a tool of the devil.  I suspect that was to protect the vocation of the tireless monks copying texts and to protect the political leaders power and control over the spread of knowledge.  Or, how about when the oral tradition was shifting to a written one, albeit using stone tablets.  There were fears that peoples ability to remember would be lost.  With any change in tools, there is a sense of loss and a sense of wonder and gain.  Reading is one of those practices that is under siege from the perspective of the old ways are being significantly challenged.  I wrote a few years back about the <a href="http://www.shift2future.com/2011/06/future-of-books.html" target="_blank">Future of Books</a>.</p> <p>I was in an elementary school last week and the vice principal, who teaches 0.7 of which a good chunk is library, took me into the library for the ‘reading block’.  All students in all classes were involved in some form of reading activity at the same time and it occurs every day.  In the library she had kids (grade 2’s in this case) grab laptops (works on Windows, Mac, iPad, iPod, etc.) from a cart, sit around round tables, put on head phones and use a reading program called <a href="http://www.raz-kids.com/" target="_blank">Raz-Kids</a>. They logged in using the class ID, found their profile (a folder) to get to their selection of books and progress information.  They have access to hundreds of books that are age / grade relevant.  Each student chooses which book they wish to read or picks up where they left off.  They also use this tool from home.  </p> <p>With Raz-Kids, the learning work flow is something like this:</p> <ul> <li>choose book</li> <li>listen to an engaging human voice read it while it high lights the words, presents photos, drawings, and background sounds and music to support the storyline</li> <li>once they are confident they can read it, they will read aloud to the machine, there is a record button to record them</li> <li>once they are confident in their understanding of the content, they take an online comprehension quiz – the machine will redirect them back to parts of the book for sections they do not pass the threshold on</li> <li>once the machine ‘feels’ (the teacher is involved too) the student is ready to level up, it presents more advanced books to choose from</li> </ul> <p>The teacher has access to all the students reading information such as which books they have completed, how they scored on comprehension, and to their recorded self-reading.  Think about the efficiency alone in this approach.  The teacher would never have enough time to observe, listen, assess in the way the machine does.  The machine is making possible the impossible in supporting and evaluating these kids.</p> <p>Importantly, the kids’ parents can access the same information.  <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-7cRRVOLusQw/U0GEDhH_V3I/AAAAAAAACag/ed4EN8ZcYqo/s1600-h/iStock_000008573353Small%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000008573353Small" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 0px 2px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000008573353Small" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-i_g_nLowIkQ/U0GEEFiaX8I/AAAAAAAACak/F6Do2NNVPnY/iStock_000008573353Small_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="242" align="right" height="162" /></a>Parents are encouraged to read along with their kids, to listen to their kids read with the program, etc.  Now, the extra amazing part of this is the school and community population is 75% ELL (English Language Learners)!  What a fantastic way for the kids AND their parents/grandparents (many multigenerational families living together) to learn English together.  </p> <p>So what might the future of reading with machines look like.  What if the machine analyzed facial expression, eye movement, pace, etc. and connected that to the point in the book the reader was at.  It could correlate content type, word complexity, background sounds <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-XLKTUVoBWa0/U0GEE7pmNGI/AAAAAAAACaw/xBMFu6-RlVg/s1600-h/iStock_000010007327Large%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000010007327Large" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000010007327Large" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-JmSTjobpR_0/U0GEFSO4qpI/AAAAAAAACa0/mC-T2DbPox4/iStock_000010007327Large_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" align="left" height="240" /></a>and music, machine reader voice tone, gender, etc. to how the human reader reacts.  When the human reads out loud, it could correlate their pronunciation, pace, flow, etc. to the content.  The machine could pop up meanings of words, offer to explain context, etc. when it ‘notices’ the reader struggling.  Perhaps the machine could offer a rich 3D immersive experience of the content to the reader.  The reader would put on some 3D immersive equipment and ‘enter in’ to the book to experience it with all their senses.  The machine would learn their readers preferences, nuances, ‘intelligence’, etc. and tailor assistive materials and experiences to the reader to maximize enjoyment AND comprehension.  </p> <p>You might be thinking, ‘you are crazy Brian’.  If you are, you are falling into the trap on using the past and the present to predict the future.  Let your imagination run out on an exponential change scale and what I am describing is most certainly possible, probably within 10 years.  Through the massively parallel connections between human brains through the Internet and the mass collaboration on ideas, research, and inventions, new technologies are arising faster and faster every year – exponentially faster that is.  So, I get that we like our own traditions and experiences, i.e., ‘the book’, but we will need to get over it and take advantage of the new possibilities.  We are holding back the potential of people when we limit their access to new technologies.  I’m not naïve in thinking all technological progress is good and healthy, but I do believe we should leverage the good aspects where possible.</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:cfb1f249-6991-45ab-82d2-793ead827cd0" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/books" rel="tag">books</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/k12" rel="tag">k12</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/education" rel="tag">education</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/future" rel="tag">future</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/immersive" rel="tag">immersive</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/personalized+learning" rel="tag">personalized learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/student" rel="tag">student</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Raz-Kids" rel="tag">Raz-Kids</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/reading" rel="tag">reading</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-84457140768162968062014-03-09T08:50:00.000-07:002014-03-09T10:16:42.986-07:00The Rise of the Digital Silhouette<p>How much do you think about the traces of you, that you leave behind as you engage more and more with technology?  There has been a not so subtle intrusion into what used to be our private lives where a lot of what we do and say is now recorded.  Notice how <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rKY9gqoi3Ww/Uxyh7DD0TrI/AAAAAAAACZU/pzAhV-pDYcY/s1600-h/www-bigdata-madesimple-com%252520eyeball%25255B13%25255D.jpg"><img title="Stream of digital data and eye" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Stream of digital data and eye" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9_4u0ldsMIU/Uxyh7z0OK0I/AAAAAAAACZc/vVD3H7c3nqA/www-bigdata-madesimple-com%252520eyeball_thumb%25255B10%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" align="left" height="184" /></a>apps on our smartphones want access to our photos, contacts, and location.  Sure you can deny such access but then the value of the apps diminishes significantly, often to zero.  Do you remember which apps you have given the go ahead to track your movements, your buying habits, your interactions with others, etc.?  We use our digital tools in very trusting ways not really thinking about what the companies behind them might do with all that data about us.  Google <a href="http://i2.wp.com/mediam1.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/how-google-makes-its-money_5214a03fbeb5b.jpg" target="_blank">makes something like 97%</a> ($32M) of their revenue from advertising – actually from us.  Our use of their tools generates tremendously valuable data about human behavior including purchasing habits.  They really should be paying us for our use of their tools!  Google probably knows more about people, in recent years individuals like you and I, than any other company.  Perhaps more than the government.  Now with their push into wearable technology like Google Glasses and then other companies like <a href="http://www.fitbit.com/" target="_blank">FitBit</a>, people are beginning to give over an enormous amount of data about themselves including every interaction with every person, all their location information, video recordings, phone calls, text messages, photos, heart rate, sleep patterns, and who knows what else.  Where does this lead us to?</p> <p>Switching gears for a moment…  there are some significant benefits to education systems in the ‘<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things" target="_blank">Internet of things</a>’ movement.  Imagine that students, wearing various data logging technologies, including Google Glasses, interacting with each other, with ‘text books’, human teachers, each other, and other learning resources, along with a host of educational apps, are continuously digitally documented.  Imagine that there are ‘intelligent’ algorithms (think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer)" target="_blank">IBM’s Watson</a> but even more advanced) that look for patterns, provide real-time recommendations and coaching that adjust the student’s personalized learning plan, directly interacting with and advising the students like a personal learning coach.  Imagine that when a report card is due, the student’s ‘digital learning guide’ automatically produces a summative report card complete with a ‘live’ info graphic on the student’s learning and generates it directly in the student’s online learning portfolio and sends an alert to the parents.  The parents can interact with the repo<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Qd0MrloyxPM/Uxyh8vK9A1I/AAAAAAAACZk/a9xS6GoDIHY/s1600-h/iStock_000022796717Small%25255B12%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000022796717Small" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 1px 2px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000022796717Small" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-LLkGm2Nuq5E/Uxyh9SbKABI/AAAAAAAACZs/eTZdPMI--OY/iStock_000022796717Small_thumb%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="242" align="right" height="162" /></a>rt card in many dimensions with their smartphone or on a traditional web browser.  They can see point data including pictures, video clips, audio reflections by the student, opinions from their digital guide, and commentary and feedback from their human ‘teachers’ (learning facilitators).  Actually, this access to learning activity and progress would be available in real-time as well – the summative report would simply be a culminating event or check-point along the way.  Such is the potential future of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifelog" target="_blank">life logging</a> and ‘big data’ analytics when fully integrated and immersed into the learning and teaching process.  You may think ‘this is crazy and impossible’. I say, think again.  I believe that this type of future is not far off.  Machine learning is growing in sophistication and usefulness, exponentially.  Researchers are learning that us humans are far more predictable and pattern driven than previously thought.  Machines are very good at pattern recognition and are rapidly getting better at decision making.  Our machines will one day ‘know us’, perhaps better than we do…</p> <p>So, whether we like it or not, we are being cloaked in digital information.  Rather, for those of us that regularly use mobile and other technology, our lives are beginning to generate digital information in droves.  I don’t think this is all bad – there are some very good outcomes possible.  Some of the health applications are encouraging.  A significant problem in getting an accurate and timely diagnoses from our doctors is a lack of useful information.  With real-time massive volumes of physical and psychological data and health <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-NLlgnT_fh_A/Uxyh9yzBzdI/AAAAAAAACZ0/rPqJVOV7oCc/s1600-h/img-wonderhoto-com%252520algorithm%25255B13%25255D.jpg"><img title="img-wonderhoto-com algorithm" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="img-wonderhoto-com algorithm" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-DOR-57fVbxE/Uxyh-ak9CZI/AAAAAAAACZ4/S0MsZX59jJY/img-wonderhoto-com%252520algorithm_thumb%25255B11%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="180" align="left" height="244" /></a>intelligent machine algorithms, knowledge of our health will be orders of magnitude better.  With real-time data on individual student learners and machine algorithms, the dream of truly personalized learning and teaching may actually be possible.  In this future, human teachers will not be concerned with collecting assessment data and making judgments on individual learners.  Rather they would help kids connect with their passions, provide human wisdom to their learning, facilitate human interactions in classrooms (I believe in continued use of classrooms with face to face learning interactions regardless of the technology that is developed), and teachers could be that empathic listener and advisor that kids need as they deal with emotions, wonders, problems, worries, and dreams.</p> <p>Like anything, history teaches us that most technologies have a dark and bright side to them.  If we attempt to resist the technological data capture and analytical tools, others may use them for darker purposes.  As we engage with these tools, understand them, shape them, and voice our opinions on their uses, we can do our part to ensure positive helpful humanized digital silhouettes are the result.  Be aware about what the tools you use, do.  What traces of a digital self are you creating by using them?  How are the companies behind the tools likely to use your digital data for their gain?  Get ready for a very interesting ride into the future…</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:f733bc44-3251-4bdf-9d71-9237ba886961" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/K12" rel="tag">K12</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/algorithm" rel="tag">algorithm</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/automation" rel="tag">automation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/digital" rel="tag">digital</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/education" rel="tag">education</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/future" rel="tag">future</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/learning" rel="tag">learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/speculation" rel="tag">speculation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM" rel="tag">IBM</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Watson" rel="tag">Watson</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Big+Data" rel="tag">Big Data</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-69371376934795309672014-02-23T15:07:00.002-08:002014-02-23T16:12:32.326-08:00Transformative Change<p>Many of us resist change.  We like our comfort zone.  However we are changing constantly as that is just part of living.  One of my co-speakers at the symposium <em>Moving Educational Technology from Enhancement to Transformation</em> held yesterday said that as soon as we speak, we change.  How true.  Change is inevitable so why do so many of us try to resist it?<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bkuhn/transformative-change-sfu-symposium" target="_blank"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px auto 1px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-nvhLU21L9r0/UwqOWqIS3LI/AAAAAAAACYU/-N0AEO8nx20/image5.png?imgmax=800" width="412" height="322" /></a>At the symposium I spoke about <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bkuhn/transformative-change-sfu-symposium" target="_blank">Transformative Change</a>.  We crowd sourced ideas from the participants on what they can stop, continue, and start doing to <b>increase success in shifting to majority adoption of innovations in their classroom, school, or district.  Y</b>ou can view the audience contribution <a href="http://goo.gl/qu47pF" target="_blank">here</a> along with my co-speakers audience feedback on <a href="http://goo.gl/Fj2VNM" target="_blank">What Transformation</a> and <a href="http://goo.gl/Xy25E3" target="_blank">Ecologies of Learning</a>.</p> <p>Organizations and individuals have a choice to embrace change, grow, and become more than they are today.  Alternatively, they can fear and resist change and ultimately become less useful and potentially irrelevant.  Embracing change can be invigorating.  I get that it can also overwhelm us.  Part of the problem is we often think we are changing something but rather we add on something new to what we are already doing.  We need to decide what to stop doing when we embrace something new or we may just overwhelm and frustrate ourselves and others.</p> <p>Some significant requirements for successful change are preparedness, capacity, and competence.  If those who we expect to change are not given time and resources to become competent and confident with the new, they will be more inclined to fear the change and resist.  However I believe individuals need to ‘own’ responsibility for their own development and adoption of change.  As well, if change is pronounced from on high and done ‘to’ people, resistance is more likely.  We change agents need to involve people in the changes we want to foster in our organizations.  I believe in leveraging a broad range of ideas and input – we change agents don’t have all the answers and ideas but with others we can assemble the best of the best that are available.  We are in fact all in this together!</p> <p>Another thing I have learned in leading change initiatives is that you have to pressure for and support the change long enough to break free of <a href="http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/innovation-vs-circulasticity" target="_blank">the elasticity of change</a>.  If not, people tend to revert back to their comfort zone, to the familiar, rather than persist through the difficulty of change.  Be careful though, change can exhaust people.  Be sure not to aim to change too much or too fast.  People can only handle so much.  Build people’s confidence, help them feel ‘big’ relative to the change.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-daeZPGzM3YE/UwqOXjjcjFI/AAAAAAAACYc/HUtzD3QfNPY/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-o32IFU2mc2c/UwqOYK41jEI/AAAAAAAACYk/Mn1UYx50CHk/image_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="402" height="314" /></a></p> <p>Generally, any population of people will distribute relative to their ‘innovativeness’ as indicated in the diagram above.  Everett Rogers has written five editions of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations" target="_blank">The Diffusion of Innovation</a> which started with farmers and has now been applied to information and communications technology.  From his work we learn that we need to foster change initiatives differently with different types of people.  Ultimately, it’s the connections and trust relationships that exist or can be formed within the population (a school, district, etc.) that will help a change diffuse through the rest of the population.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-TWEmsGEZdL4/UwqOYxOQKtI/AAAAAAAACYs/rYKNzU9KdXc/s1600-h/image%25255B9%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 4px 2px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-o402rPB9ZKY/UwqOZlz_4wI/AAAAAAAACYw/qfdqsrpEXmI/image_thumb%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="278" align="left" height="214" /></a></p> <p>For change to begin and take hold, you need someone to start acting differently, using the new technology, etc.  These people, the Early Adopters, are the missionaries, the opinion leaders, and they are very important to getting other segments of the population to adopt the change.  They begin the momentum of change and help it diffuse through.</p> <p>A key element of any successful innovation or change is a compelling <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Rx_YyfGaJmE/UwqOaNrvjyI/AAAAAAAACY8/xjMcyAVHcLo/s1600-h/image%25255B15%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 2px 3px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vfx4Jdiah_U/UwqObBOafiI/AAAAAAAACZE/bFTV7WgoPu0/image_thumb%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="242" align="right" height="182" /></a>vision.  I like Simon Sinek’s model where he says you have to <a href="https://www.startwithwhy.com/default.aspx" target="_blank">Start with Why</a>.  The more you can inspire people to want the change you are advocating for, the easier it is to get them on board and supporting it.  Simon uses the example of Apple marketing.  Apple has convinced people to join a cause, one where they are changing the status quo.  They don’t just sell products, they sell a whole new experience, often one no one even thought of before.  People buy why they do things, not what they do.  The same goes for your change effort.</p> <p>Change is hard for most of us but not impossible.  Reach the hearts AND minds of people, build trust relationships, help people become ‘big’ relative to a change, and articulate and clarify the steps to adopt a change and you are more likely to successfully diffuse it through the population.</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:fce92ccc-0374-4fa0-8993-43c9e51a26ae" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/advice" rel="tag">advice</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/change" rel="tag">change</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/education" rel="tag">education</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/framework" rel="tag">framework</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/innovation" rel="tag">innovation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/leadership" rel="tag">leadership</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/presentation" rel="tag">presentation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Simon+Sinek" rel="tag">Simon Sinek</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Switch" rel="tag">Switch</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Diffusion+of+Innovation" rel="tag">Diffusion of Innovation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Start+with+Why" rel="tag">Start with Why</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-31810262365759210352014-01-19T09:52:00.001-08:002014-01-19T11:03:45.652-08:00Excited but Worried<p>This morning after breakfast, my wife and I were sitting chatting in our family room enjoying a French dark roast cup of amazing coffee when my iPhone, sitting on the coffee table, lights up.  It signaled that a new email had arrived.  This reminded me of how amazing our technology has become and how we essentially take it for granted.  How did the email get to my iPhone?  Really.  Can you explain it in full detail?  We can talk about how it came from the ‘cloud’ or a <a href="http://nowthatiseasy.com/15-amazing-mind-blowing-facts/" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; display: inline" src="http://nowthatiseasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/word_amazing.jpg" width="249" align="left" height="116" /></a>server at my work.  But how did it find my iPhone?  It had to find my my city, street, and house.  We use Shaw for wireless and Internet, so somehow (I know, IP routing, electrical signals, etc., but) it got from my worksite to Shaw then through kilometers of cables, dozens of complex machines, and eventually to our house.  It then ‘jumped’ into the air and enveloped the room.  Somehow the iPhone ‘sucked’ the email bits from the radio waves (how did it know to do this?) out of the air and converted it into an English readable message of text, pictures, and other materials.  But, even here if we dive deep into the iPhone guts, it’s a complete mystery to most humans.  Seriously, isn’t this stuff mind boggling amazing?  And this, just for a ‘simple’ email.</p> <p>After reading the latest edition of <a href="http://www.wfs.org/futurist/january-february-2014-vol-48-no-1" target="_blank">THE FUTURIST</a>, I became quite worried about where technological developments are taking us.  I’ve written and speculated a lot here about the future, some optimistically and other times not so much.  When I read about the trajectory of biometric research (p. 45 THE FUTURIST Jan-Feb 2014):</p> <ul> <li>body-odor research (US Homeland Security) to track odor changes to support lie detection </li> <li>3D imaging (Japan) to capture gait, walking style, and barefoot print analysis – to recognize a person (90-99% accurate) </li> <li>Palm vein patter recognition (already used in some US schools) scanned wirelessly </li> <li>Human posterior pattern recognition developed for antitheft systems in the seats of cars (Japan) – 98% accurate</li> </ul> <p>Add to this the explosion of unmanned and increasingly autonomous / intelligent drone mini-aircraft, millions of surveillance cameras, and we see how technology increasing supports a “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four)" target="_blank">Big Brother</a>” surveillance society.  This should worry us.</p> <p>Some people might refer to technology as good or bad when in fact it is a tool that can be used for good or bad.  It’s human behavior we need to worry about.  It’s similar to discussions in schools and Districts about Internet use or Digital Citizenship – it’s not about a good or bad tool, it’s about educating people about using good behavior with the tools.</p> <p>I do tend to lean toward the excited side when considering uses for and the future of technology – I see potential.  However, I do read a lot more now about how in our lifetime increasing numbers of scientists and futurists are predicting questionable advancements in technology.  People write about the advancement of human-machine interfaces to replace missing body parts or <a href="http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/nanorobot.htm" target="_blank">nano-scale machines</a> (nano-bots) that will replace antibiotics and other drugs – machines that will swim within our bloodstream seeking out bad cells and repairing them onsite.  This sounds great but where does it stop.  Perhaps nano-bots or body part replacements will be used to enhance human capabilities.  The Internet has become a global memory extension for all who connect…  Maybe as some predict, we will <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2_Parrot_AR.Drone_2.0_in_flight.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; margin: 2px 0px 0px 2px; display: inline" alt="File:2 Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 in flight.jpg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/2_Parrot_AR.Drone_2.0_in_flight.jpg/800px-2_Parrot_AR.Drone_2.0_in_flight.jpg" width="249" align="right" height="120" /></a>choose to download our brains into machines that live forever (I don’t buy this future).  This could make steroid use in sports look like child’s play.  Due to the cost, one could imagine an elite society of wealthy individuals having exclusive access to these ‘miracle’ devices to enhance themselves.  Or think about <a href="http://rt.com/usa/drones-own-decisions-soon-156/" target="_blank">autonomous drone</a> use and the war machine.  We already have quite the capacity to kill one another, do we really need to be moving towards a ‘<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminator" target="_blank">Terminator</a>’ dystopia where robots are self organizing entities?</p> <p>I think in schools and District we need to be teaching, learning, and talking a whole lot more about what is happening with technology, way beyond the basic use of iPads, laptops, and SMART Boards.  There needs to be more ethical conversations about technological advancement.  We still debate the value and purpose of technology in schools when it is rapidly enveloping our lives.  Shouldn’t conversations about potential futures and how we want to relate to our technology, start young, in our families, churches, and in our schools?  Or do we trust these conversations and the resulting trajectory to the computer scientists, engineers, war machine generals, and government officials to figure out on our behalf.  I’m not so sure the latter are always acting in the interest of the people they are supposed to serve.</p> <p>Back to being excited about technology and the future.  I actually do think we have a lot to be excited about in how technology is advancing – it truly is miraculous.  But we need to balance this with thoughtfulness about consequences to environment, people, peace, fairness, freedom, equity, and power balances.</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:902e4fe7-c7d9-4ae3-bc16-3ddc2cd62482" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/21stcentury" rel="tag">21stcentury</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/automation" rel="tag">automation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/disruption" rel="tag">disruption</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/future" rel="tag">future</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/machines" rel="tag">machines</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/drones" rel="tag">drones</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/iPhone" rel="tag">iPhone</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/amazing" rel="tag">amazing</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/%22Big+Brother%22" rel="tag">"Big Brother"</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/surveillance" rel="tag">surveillance</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Terminator" rel="tag">Terminator</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-34476469050385881262014-01-05T10:20:00.000-08:002014-01-05T11:08:42.060-08:00Focus<p>A recent post, <a href="http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/the-secret-to-focusing-on-what-matters/" target="_blank">The Secret to Focusing on What Matters</a> by <a href="http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Dan Rockwell</a> talks about choosing One Word to focus your attention.  His statement that “[i]nsignificant leaders focus on trivialities” struck home with me.  I find myself so scattered most of the time trying to <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-034CXL4yUOU/UsmtqmaqyWI/AAAAAAAACXc/TxwPSvMASWQ/s1600-h/iStock_000008217437XSmall%25255B12%25255D.jpg"><img title="iStock_000008217437XSmall" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="iStock_000008217437XSmall" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-CtLQ0VBKzdA/Usmtrc5ArHI/AAAAAAAACXg/5eUfvVeL-m4/iStock_000008217437XSmall_thumb%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="144" align="left" height="159" /></a>take on too much too fast for too many people, often things that really aren’t that important in the big picture.  I know that I need to pick a few priorities and do them well.  In practice that seems to be more ideal than real.  In my work, and I see it for so many of my colleagues and staff, there are simply too many seemingly important things to do.  It is a real challenge to step back and decide what not to do.  So often we, myself included, just work harder and forget to work smarter.  Back to Dan Rockwell’s post… If I were to choose ‘one word’, I think it would be ‘focus’.  I’m not saying I’m willing to commit to this yet (procrastinating), but I’m thinking about it.</p> <p>I need to ask myself, if ‘focus’ is to be my ‘one word’, how might my priorities line up to be in the coming years?  I will need to use focus as a lens to judge my use of time.  I don’t know about you but it is often very difficult to not follow and read the articles behind great links shared by colleagues and others on Twitter.  I do budget some time early in the morning to read and reflect on ‘what’s new’.  I expect myself to be well informed on a broad array of topics so this is important.  But sometimes 90 minutes can slip by and I’ve consumed interesting information but not contributed to my real work.  I need to become relentless about focusing my energy on what’s important and not just interesting.</p> <p>I am trying to focus my purpose and priorities as outlined in this image…</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-5aB4J9KFXwU/Usmtr3lG13I/AAAAAAAACXs/_FDBtME23VY/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-PpBqeS4c5lE/UsmtslCearI/AAAAAAAACX0/ZpNHI1MCxWQ/image_thumb%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="416" height="319" /></a></p> <p>But, the world does not stand still, especially with respect to technology.  So much about the world of technology is going through accelerating change, the ‘what’ items here will need constant refinement and some will go while new ones will come even before some get started.  It’s a crazy world!</p> <p>But, there are other significant priorities I am focused on that are not directly stated here.  I value relationships with my ‘clients’ and thus invest a significant portion of my time visiting with, listening to, and sharing with school and district staffs.  Equally or perhaps more importantly, I invest significant time listening to my staff, considering how and where to develop my staff, to prepare them for an unpredictable future fraught with changes to their work, and to better align them to the shifting needs of our business.  This strategic workforce design and planning effort is definitely in my top priorities for 2014.  I also value the ‘partners’ from industry we rely on for hardware, software, and services and thus invest time with <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-PVWi-K-2Dhw/UsmttDDfC8I/AAAAAAAACX8/YiFbJSYHm4Q/s1600-h/iStock_000004301781XSmall%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img title="Learn & Lead" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 0px 2px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Learn & Lead" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ToQQ5PZ8cXk/Usmtt78r9lI/AAAAAAAACYE/qaTNEE1aPAg/iStock_000004301781XSmall_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="242" align="right" height="161" /></a>them accordingly.  These client, staff, and partner investments are essential to moving us forward together in the most effective manner.  This is hard and time consuming work.  As Dan Rockwell says “[t]he things you focus on express the importance of your leadership”.  I may be a ‘technology leader’ in title, but to be successful and relevant, I’m a people and relationship leader in practice.</p> <p>My overarching goal, my focus, my “why”, is to ‘transform learning and work through technology’.  Some have asked ‘to what end?’ and that’s a great question.  Embedded in the statement is the assumption that technology will transform learning and work <em>for the better</em>.  I and those I work with will need to work hard to resist the allure of technology for technology’s sake.  I want to leave the places I work at, significantly better off, than when I arrived. </p> <p>Focus…  I don’t know yet how well I will do to reduce the numerous distractions in my work life and focus on what really matters, but this is what I aim to do in 2014 and beyond.  </p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:64bf7450-5484-4064-a934-1acde8987367" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Leadership+Freak" rel="tag">Leadership Freak</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Dan+Rockwell" rel="tag">Dan Rockwell</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/leadership" rel="tag">leadership</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/learning" rel="tag">learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/management" rel="tag">management</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/planning" rel="tag">planning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/professional" rel="tag">professional</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/staffdevelopment" rel="tag">staffdevelopment</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/value" rel="tag">value</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/focus" rel="tag">focus</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/goals" rel="tag">goals</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-14345234264913574522013-12-14T10:21:00.001-08:002013-12-14T11:54:26.511-08:00A Transformation Agenda<p>The more I read about history, the more in awe I become of the numbers and types of transformational changes that have occurred.  I read (audio book) Niall Ferguson’s <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Civilization-West-Rest-Niall-Ferguson/dp/0143122061" target="_blank">Civilization: The West and the <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-qs_ZNmUdoUU/Uqy3ZVGcccI/AAAAAAAACWo/OGGBBGmnST0/s1600-h/Europe%2525202012%252520079%25255B13%25255D.jpg"><img title="Europe 2012 079" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 1px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Europe 2012 079" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-8fgQiaJiWlk/Uqy3aFYMMDI/AAAAAAAACWs/1-qlxqACNwg/Europe%2525202012%252520079_thumb%25255B10%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="275" height="216" /></a>Rest</a> this past year.  Empires as we know, rise and fall but their stories are impressive.  A rise and a fall are both transformational events.  We humans experience transformational events personally and on larger scales, all the time.  Being born is a pretty transformational event don’t you think.  Something seems to happen to many of us along the way through life to reduce our tolerance of transformation,</p> <h3>“a change or alteration, especially a radical one” (<a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/transformation" target="_blank">free dictionary, Dec. 14, 2014</a>). </h3> <p>We become comfortable with the status quo and resistant to change.  Ruben Puentedura’s in his discussion of the <a href="http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2013/10/02/UnderstandingSAMR.pdf">SAMR model</a> describes stages of change as Enhancement: Substitution to Augmentation and Transformation: Modification to Redefinition.  His context is change driven by technology, the realm I spend most of my time in.  However, I think the model can apply to and guide thinking about change in general.  <a href="http://twitter.com/jordantinney" target="_blank">Jordan Tinney</a>, soon to be Superintendent for Surrey Schools <a href="http://www.jordantinney.org/we-want-transformation-not-augmentation/" target="_blank">writes about this here</a> in a recent post.</p> <p>I recently read (audio book) <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Onward-Starbucks-Fought-without-Losing-ebook/dp/B004OEIQEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387046062&sr=8-1&keywords=howard+schultz+onward" target="_blank">Onward</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Schultz" target="_blank">Howard Schultz</a> CEO for Starbucks Coffee Company (good <a href="http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2011/03/20/book-review-onward-by-howard-schultz-scheduled-release-date-march-29-2011/" target="_blank">book review here</a>).  Those that know me personally will not be surprised I read this given my affinity to Starbuck coffee…  But seriously, what a great story of survival and change for an amazing and very large company.  You should read the book.  Howard had to fairly quickly ‘right the ship’ call Starbucks as it was veering of course by the year 2006 and then the global financial meltdown hit.  He developed a very focused approach to reinventing Starbucks, he called the ‘plan’ his Transformational Agenda (I hope he doesn’t mind me titling my blog the same).  He <a href="http://www.starbucks.ca/onward"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 2px 2px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GZEX5QtEbuw/Uqy3a0bwTcI/AAAAAAAACW4/YpZCN8GnZ0Y/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="164" height="244" /></a>shares a story of a global leadership conference held in New Orleans and the 1000s of Starbucks partners investing collectively many 1000s of hours in cleaning up, painting, planting trees, etc. all paid for by Starbucks and partner volunteer hours.  He talks about personal visits to Kenya to meet with small farm coffee growers to learn about their needs and to help them be the best they can be at producing quality coffee.  He and other partners began supplying some cows to families in response to their needs.  The cows are now reproducing and expanding their reach to meet the needs of other village families.  Remarkably, Starbucks is the only company (to my knowledge) that provides dental and medical benefits to all their employees (including part timers).</p> <p>A key piece to the Starbucks story is how important it is to invest in your people (he calls them ‘partners’), to be relentlessly focused on your customers wants and needs, and to strive for specific experiences and quality.  I think we can learn a lot from Howard as we lead and implement change in our own roles and organizations.  A key part of my role as CIO is to choose and advocate for the ‘right’ technologies to ‘transform our learning and work’.  This is no easy <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-YsTZp-2vOtM/Uqy3bu3lvMI/AAAAAAAACXA/lUhPnrSFujw/s1600-h/iStock_000005910645Large%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="Questions signpost in the sky" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 1px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Questions signpost in the sky" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-kj9nuAlKJio/Uqy3cOkimHI/AAAAAAAACXE/mHuKeVb8938/iStock_000005910645Large_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="164" /></a>feat.  I recall a meeting early in my current role with a key stakeholder where they suggested that a way to do this is to ‘win the hearts and minds of teachers’.  I agree and this will be key to our ‘transformational agenda’.  It is important to be clear about why your organization exists, how you will support transformation, and what you will do to accomplish this.  I’ve previously written some brief thoughts on this <a href="http://www.shift2future.com/2013/09/why.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p>Those of you serving as leaders of IT organizations must read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Age-The-Charles-Araujo/dp/1849283753" target="_blank">The Quantum Age of IT</a>.  This is what Toronto School Board CTO <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-singh/23/31/167" target="_blank">Peter Singh</a> said to me last month – I read the book.  Our IT organizations will either be transformed <em>by us</em> or <em>for us</em>.  IT as we’ve grown to know and love, is changing rapidly.  The author starts out early by saying “IT as we know it is dead” (Kindle Location 221).  “This is not your normal, run-of-the-mill change. This is big. This is game-changing. This is not a flavor of the month.” (Locations 250-251)</p> <p>Essentially, our business is being disrupted, as we know it, into oblivion faster than most of us would like to admit.  My first post to this blog (4 years ago), <a href="http://www.shift2future.com/2009/12/disruption-is-coming.html" target="_blank">Disruption is Coming</a> and a month later, the <a href="http://www.shift2future.com/2010/01/future-of-it-services-part-1.html" target="_blank">Future of IT Services – Part 1</a> and <a href="http://www.shift2future.com/2010/01/future-of-it-services-part-2.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a> talk about this coming disruption.  Full disclosure, although I’m an avid reader and writer about the future and technology, this topic, the radical transformation and disruption of <em>my work</em> is disconcerting.  On the other hand, this is a good thing.  As a change and transformation leader where I’m asking others to get ready for their work, as they know it, to be completely changed, I can honestly say I’m speaking to myself too.  These changes are unavoidable, inevitable, and coming fast.  Many of us in IT, teachers, business leaders, other professions are not paying close enough attention to how the world around us is changing.  We think ‘it won’t happen to us’ or ‘we are safe’.  These are dangerous thoughts.  I think we all need our own personal ‘Transformation Agendas’ and those of us in leadership roles, aught to have clear Transformation Agendas for our organizations as well.  We are negligent if we don’t prepare ourselves, our people, and our organizations.</p> <p>My Transformation Agenda is to (why) ‘transform learning and work through technology’ by (how) providing a robust sustainable infrastructure, enabling equitable access for all stakeholders, creating and assembling powerful (digital) learning and work spaces, and advocating for and supporting ongoing professional learning.  Within these four ‘strategic pillars’ are various specific initiatives, the what’s that put the agenda into action.</p> <p>We live in unsettling but exciting times. Often I wonder if I can ‘hang in there’ and be the leader I need to be as the changes in our world speed up.  But, I quickly get over those thoughts and press ahead into the uncertain future.  It is what I do!</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:94b41008-5332-466a-b9b3-4fc2e363c33f" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IT" rel="tag">IT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/advice" rel="tag">advice</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/change" rel="tag">change</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/disruption" rel="tag">disruption</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/education" rel="tag">education</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/future" rel="tag">future</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/leadership" rel="tag">leadership</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/transformation" rel="tag">transformation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Starbucks" rel="tag">Starbucks</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/%22Howard+Schultz%22" rel="tag">"Howard Schultz"</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/%22Quantum+Age+of+IT%22" rel="tag">"Quantum Age of IT"</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Civilization" rel="tag">Civilization</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/history" rel="tag">history</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-16468855711960545312013-11-23T10:10:00.002-08:002013-11-23T11:31:55.236-08:00Telepresence will change learning, work, and life<p>The first time I experienced any form of telepresence was probably 10 years ago at a Cisco Systems office.  They produced a hi-tech corporate teleconferencing room that was and is fairly expensive but <a href="http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps12453/prod_view_selector.html" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; display: inline" alt="Large Photo" align="left" src="http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/ps7060/ps8329/ps12453/tx9000_series_large.jpg" width="249" height="159" /></a>unique in how it makes the room participants feel connected to one another.  It worked by connecting like rooms together.  For example I was in a teleroom in Vancouver connected to identically equipped and designed rooms in various US cities and we were able to see each other and our voices were heard in relation to where we sat.  The cameras would auto focus on the speaker.  Participants could present from any of the rooms to all participants.  That was than but the world has changed, dramatically.</p> <p>Do you remember when Sheldon on the TV show Big Bang Theory confined himself to his room and would only ‘come out’ as a telepresence robot?  Well, I was at a conference this past week in Montreal, an historic city in Quebec eastern Canada and at one of the evening networking events, a colleague from a local Vancouver software company was telling me about a telepresence robot they bought for a couple of thousand dollars.  I didn’t  believe him at first but then he said “let’s install the app (<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/double/id589230178" target="_blank">Double</a>) on your phone and I’ll show you”.  So, we downloaded the app, he logged into it, and we were connected from Montreal to the robot in his office in Vancouver.  The robot from Double Robotics is a Segway with a ‘neck’ that can go up or down, and an iPad for a ‘head’.  </p> <div id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:779f53f3-1e36-473f-bab9-d44cc869ed9e" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px"><div><!-- This version of the embed code is no longer supported. Learn more: https://vimeo.com/s/tnm --> <object width="402" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=47000322&force_embed=1&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=47000322&force_embed=1&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="402" height="225"></embed></object> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/47000322">Double by Double Robotics - Pre-order Now</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user12830746">Double Robotics</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p></div><div style="width:402px;clear:both;font-size:.8em">Telepresence Robot</div></div> <p>He ‘walked’ it around the office introducing me to a couple of his staff who were working late.  The robot’s head showed what’s on my iPhone’s front facing camera, ie my face.  I could see what the robot ‘sees’, displayed on my iPhone’s screen.  We pushed a button to ‘see’ the ‘feet’ of the robot – the iPad ‘head’ uses the rear facing camera off a mirror to ‘see’ down at the foot of the robot.  This way you can remotely see what obstacles there might be in the way.  They use this telepresence robot to support their employees that work from home a few days a week.  They have an understanding that whoever uses the robot last has to put it back where it belongs, near the wall charger.  Kind-of like kids having to put their toys away.</p> <p>I wonder how a tool like this might support learning.  Perhaps schools will one day have a few of these telepresence robots available for kids to use when they are at home sick, in the hospital, or traveling with their families.  They could be assigned a robot and use it to attend classes, learn with fellow students, participate on the debate club, attend an assembly, and hang-out with their friends.  The remote students could present via their robot’s ‘faces’, sharing what they’ve learned.  They could even present a learning app on their ‘face’ for other students to interact with and contribute to.  Perhaps there will be classroom spaces in schools dedicated to distance learners, each one who is associated to a telepresence robot.  Imagine this classroom for a moment with 25 robots interacting, all controlled by students from a distance.  It’s an interesting possibility.  Perhaps this approach mixed with digital immersive learning environments will begin to support very flexible versions of ‘school’.</p> <p>Coincidentally in my inbox this morning I found a TED Talk video where a gentleman presented via his surrogate telepresence robot.  This man is confined to a bed as a mute paraplegic due to a stroke-like illness that struck him when he was 40.  You have to watch this to truly understand the game-changing possibilities of this technology in supporting disabled persons.  He also learned to control quad-copters and flies them around his house and yard looking at the garden, checking the roof solar panels, etc.  He even controls coptors in a lab 3000 miles away from his home, where he works with researchers to further this important work.  The world is ‘small’ via the Internet.  Check out the video below.</p> <div id="scid:53357c8b-5919-4e32-8c25-305d27c17a37:4a2df3d2-6e12-4c36-8693-7408290e6b83" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 5px"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aCIukWXmlV4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></div> <p>I’ve written often about the exponential disruptive changes that technology is driving in our world.  The Internet has done more than any other technology to speed up change by connecting human beings to all other human beings where their ideas mix, mate, and mutate.  We were asked by a keynote speaker this week what we felt would enable students to learn at the pace of change.  I was surprised by the lack of comments by those attending, about technology’s role in<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-HkHTnxtINHw/UpECpg4l2iI/AAAAAAAACWQ/q4sBRXOMrNc/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-kyL408OG5EE/UpECqbp9lFI/AAAAAAAACWY/AnFAVl1ruy8/image_thumb.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="70" /></a> this.  I tweeted about the importance of global connections.  I later referenced Steven Johnson’s book ‘Where Good Ideas Come From’ <a href="http://t.co/6Y94U47Fdt">ow.ly/27OBDP</a>.  He delves into great detail about how connections, whether intentional or serendipitous, generate the most and therefore the best ideas.  Ideas drive change.  If ideas and their humans never meet and mix, they will not generate the important changes they relate to.  I believe that students must learn to connect digitally and globally to learn at the pace of change.  I believe that we do a disservice to their learning and potential when we downplay, diminish, and underfund their digital connection to others around the world as part of their learning.</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:b4a92f5d-bf3c-43ef-9898-b80cd7f7b252" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/21stcentury" rel="tag">21stcentury</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/augmented+reality" rel="tag">augmented reality</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/disruption" rel="tag">disruption</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/future" rel="tag">future</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/immersive" rel="tag">immersive</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/machines" rel="tag">machines</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/virtual+reality" rel="tag">virtual reality</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Steven+Johnson" rel="tag">Steven Johnson</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/ideas" rel="tag">ideas</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/robots" rel="tag">robots</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/telepresence" rel="tag">telepresence</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-1628144263761591412013-11-11T11:17:00.001-08:002013-11-11T11:48:35.017-08:00Social Media and You<p>I’ve noticed that some people are abandoning Facebook or Twitter, or at a minimum, removing the apps from their smartphones.  A colleague of mine was finding it difficult to focus in the present when with real people while his smartphone buzzed with new Facebook and Twitter posts commanding his attention.  My eldest son disabled his <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Vy6H7EBqvz4/UoE0hgbHWPI/AAAAAAAACVk/ULt8xzwhDKM/s1600-h/iStock_000023346718Large%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img title="Social media concept" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Social media concept" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-DvUS7hdozzc/UoE0if5Mu2I/AAAAAAAACVo/F02Ja8JnwuQ/iStock_000023346718Large_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="164" /></a>Facebook account – he found that he was wasting too much time there, not getting to important things.  We were chatting as a family recently about how ‘friends’ build up in Facebook and talked about deleting all those who aren’t really friends (or family) – I did and so did my second son – it reduced the noise level.  Add to the mix Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, LinkedIn, About.Me, Flickr, Diigo, Yelp, Skype, Strava Cycle, Prezi, Instagram, and it does tend to become overwhelming doesn’t it.  </p> <p>However, I think social media tools are super useful for sharing, learning, and staying in touch, but users of these must learn to self-regulate their use.  They must make good choices about what content they will engage with and contribute.  These tools are not going away any time soon and they can be leveraged for good use.  I like Facebook for keeping informed and in-touch about distant family members and friends.  Many of them I see rarely so this is a great way to stay connected in some way.  Twitter for me is my learning and professional network.  I enjoy posting thoughts and quotes from books or articles I read and from learning events I attend.  Other tools serve specific purposes for me in sharing my learning, knowledge, and ideas.  It’s fun to engage intellectually with others around ideas.  </p> <p>It must be overwhelming for parents of pre-teens and teens faced with the deluge of the digital realm.  My kids are in their 20’s now so the options and usability of social media was limited when they were young.  They did get caught up in the Facebook craze and didn’t always use it digital footprint appropriate ways.  I remember once, my youngest son unfriended me when we had an argument in the real world.  I worry about parents who avoid using social media tools.  It would be unwise for their kids to be in these tools without their parents knowledge and guidance.  A parent wouldn’t give their 16 year old the keys to their car and let them drive away without teaching them to drive.  Why do parents so often do the equivalent in the social media world?  I believe every parent should be on Facebook, Twitter, and the other tools becoming familiar with their purpose and uses both for good and for bad.  They need to have critical conversations with their kids about these tools, about what can go wrong, why they need a positive digital footprint, what a digital footprint is (mine shown below), that the Internet is written in pen, not pencil, etc.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-a3FfZdi6zW4/UoE0jjq3_uI/AAAAAAAACV0/FFvljzlw2cA/s1600-h/Digital%252520Footprint%252520-%252520BK%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="Digital Footprint - BK" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px auto 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Digital Footprint - BK" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3-L8dcWQl1g/UoE0kCxmPhI/AAAAAAAACV8/G-RPHir_RMI/Digital%252520Footprint%252520-%252520BK_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="321" /></a></p> <p>I recently gave a social media presentation to a group of parents at the church I attend.  I was disappointed with the turnout given the relevance of the topic.  Either all the parents know everything they need to about social media, or they didn’t think it worth their time to learn.  I hope it’s the former and not the latter.  </p> <iframe style="margin-bottom: 5px; border-top: #ccc 1px solid; border-right: #ccc 1px solid; border-bottom: #ccc 0px solid; border-left: #ccc 1px solid" height="356" marginheight="0" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/28126967?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="427" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom: 5px"><strong><a title="Social media explained for parents" href="https://www.slideshare.net/bkuhn/social-media-explained-for-parents" target="_blank">Social media explained for parents</a> </strong>from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bkuhn" target="_blank">Brian Kuhn</a></strong> </div> <p>Our schools are increasingly faced with more tech savvy kids armed with powerful digital mobile devices.  Besides their homes, kids aught to learn practical, safe, appropriate skills and behaviors at school for navigating the social media world successfully and developing positive digital footprints.  Embrace the new, learn its power, apply it for good!</p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:5d59c1f9-45db-4a2b-af9f-dc5f2c2e925b" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/family" rel="tag">family</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/responsibility" rel="tag">responsibility</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/safety" rel="tag">safety</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/social" rel="tag">social</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/parents" rel="tag">parents</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/digital" rel="tag">digital</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/social+media" rel="tag">social media</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Facebook" rel="tag">Facebook</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Twitter" rel="tag">Twitter</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/digital+footprint" rel="tag">digital footprint</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1668205114513391831.post-53619610393098584652013-11-02T12:59:00.002-07:002013-11-02T14:27:19.978-07:00Competence in the Disruptive Age<p>Once upon a time, people who could learn to read, write, and calculate were deemed competent to participate in the democracy, work in a factory, and live the good life.  Don’t you just long for the simplicity of that era?  Some days, I think I do.  Our fast paced world <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-oyoTlI4gE2c/UnVuK4kqocI/AAAAAAAACU4/Vw-Pk4Un35M/s1600-h/2013-11-02T13-59-37_0%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="2013-11-02T13-59-37_0" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 2px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="2013-11-02T13-59-37_0" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-_TsGpHfW6a0/UnVuLQLxxUI/AAAAAAAACU8/l-YLd6l81Cs/2013-11-02T13-59-37_0_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" height="184" /></a>where “<em>[c]hange is accelerating, to the point where it will soon be nearly continuous</em>” (<a href="http://www.rushkoff.com/present-shock/">Present Shock</a>: When Everything Happens Now) is not simple, and old competencies are the very basic minimum requirements to prepare a person to fully participate.  Our world has changed dramatically since the days when learning was simple and slow.</p> <h3><b>Competence</b> (or <b>competency</b>) is the ability of an individual to do a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment">job</a> properly. A competency is a set of defined behaviors that provide a structured guide enabling the identification, evaluation and development of the behaviors in individual employees.</h3> <p>A key responsibility I have in my role as CIO is to develop and lead an IT group.  Overall, I am impressed with my current group and their abilities but I need to consider how to prepare them for the future and enable them to progress to meet new requirements.  We need highly competent people so that the services we provide to schools and our business are of high quality and provided in a timely manner.  Traditionally (and currently) IT people are judged based on what certifications, diplomas, or degrees they have along with some number of years of “relevant” experience.  I think the pace of change we face now is rendering this method of qualifying people, basic.  Being certified in some specialized technology might tell us what someone is capable of at that point in time with a specific technology.  However, it doesn’t indicate their orientation and attitudes to learning and their ability to “learn, unlearn, relearn” (Alvin Toffler) which is essential when the technology IT people work with is invented, purchased, installed, configured, maintained, and replaced on an ever shorter time span.  Having a degree or diploma tells us that a person should be able to learn, possibly work with others, and that they can think.  This is a good start but no longer enough, in my opinion.</p> <p>As the technology in schools we call “computers” begins to disappear and solid state self-healing, self-diagnosing, mobile devices take over, the traditional work of installing and maintaining computers will all but disappear.  Installing software has shifted from a complicated problem fraught task to one where you queue up remote push methods and software simply appears on devices (even computers) based on a stated schedule.  Software (app) installation is also now substantially a pull model where the users of the device can select items to download and they do and are available to use almost instantaneously.  It gets a little more complicated for large organizations with volume purchasing, managing application sprawl, etc. but the technicalities are simplifying rapidly.  In a BYOT context, what’s there for an organized IT group to do in providing software and support beyond the ‘back-end’?  I think IT people will need be more empathic, more able to help clients use technology effectively, give advice, design and recommend methods <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-rpyoWA1TSEQ/UnVuM9ZuEqI/AAAAAAAACVI/w0DJNtS_Nu8/s1600-h/2013-11-02T13-59-37_6%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="2013-11-02T13-59-37_6" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 2px 0px 0px 2px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="2013-11-02T13-59-37_6" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Hn-eSxSY18s/UnVuNXCg8eI/AAAAAAAACVM/b9lHLrpgDZI/2013-11-02T13-59-37_6_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="242" height="182" /></a>and solutions, etc.  They will need to be more learned in the domain of knowledge their clients have – in our case, teaching and learning practices.  They will do less traditional technical work and more analyze and guide type work.  IT people in the field will need to be authentically interested in how they are able to help people, to make them feel, as they assist them with technology.</p> <p>Our IT staff who manage the sophisticated ‘back-end’ systems such as server farms, enterprise storage, backup/restore systems, network switches, network optimization, firewalls, wireless networks, web platforms, workflow engines, design, architecture, project management, etc., are finding the pace of change to be very challenging.  Their skillsets and competencies are quite different from those working in the field supporting end devices.  A certification today and some experience might not be a good measurement of competence when filling these roles.  Deep knowledge, relevant experience, and an orientation to detective work, problem solving, creative thinking, solution finding, design, and development, will all be important attributes to have and seek.  Additionally, pressure will continue to mount to move some of this workload into ‘the cloud’.  Our current privacy law makes this difficult in public education but I believe this is temporary.  In the future, we will have to be very strategic with what we run in-house vs leverage in the cloud.</p> <p>Assuming we have a clear sense of the roles and positions we need to meet the needs of our ‘business’ and a clear understanding of the competencies we need, then we need a transparent way to assess people for these.  We need to be clear about what a person needs to do and know to demonstrate the competencies required for a particular role.  What training should the organization provide and what professional learning should individuals be expected to invest in personally?  I think there’s got to be a balance here.  Essentially we need people to have an orientation toward being agile learners, people who strive to learn quickly, invest in learning continuously, and be able to change focus when needs change.  We need our IT people to understand deeply how to leverage networks, whether these are small work teams, cross functional teams, or the Internet community at large.  Working in isolation as IT people often prefer, won’t cut it in this new disruptive fast paced extreme learning world we now live in.</p> <p>I think it will be important for IT organizations to develop a strategic staffing plan and career framework.  The University of British Columbia (UBC) IT group has done a great job on creating a <a href="http://www.careerframework.ubc.ca/resources/career-framework-program/">career framework program</a> for their organization.  You should check it out.  From their site,</p> <blockquote> <p>The Career Framework provides Managers, Directors and HR Representatives with a one stop shop to making the recruiting, hiring and career development processes easy and efficient.</p> </blockquote> <p>We live in unprecedented times and they are ever rapidly changing.  We should never get comfortable with what we know, what we are skilled at, our attitudes, and behaviors.  We should continuously self-evaluate and adapt to the changing world around us.  We risk obsolescence if we accept status quo.  Learn fast, learn always, learn fearlessly. </p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:bd31585c-2383-4682-b37e-2579f0f5d626" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/21stcentury" rel="tag">21stcentury</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IT" rel="tag">IT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/education" rel="tag">education</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/future" rel="tag">future</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/framework" rel="tag">framework</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/learning" rel="tag">learning</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/staffdevelopment" rel="tag">staffdevelopment</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/career" rel="tag">career</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/strategic" rel="tag">strategic</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/change" rel="tag">change</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/UBC" rel="tag">UBC</a></div> Brian Kuhnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12565982072371979984noreply@blogger.com0