Wisconsin Union Blend

The Horizon Report “charts the landscape of emerging technologies for teaching, learning and creative expression and produces the NMC’s annual Horizon Report.” If you’d like to get involved in the process, add your exciting new instructional technology links to your del.icio.us account with the tag hz08.

Want to see what the Horizon Report community has been bookmarking lately? Just visit - http://del.icio.us/tag/hz08

Thanks to Cyprien P. Lomas for sharing this tag in the Social Software in Higher Education session.

Every session I’ve attended today has included the clicks, bings, boings, and ringtones of our mobile technology. We’re gonna be identifying devices in the same manner we identify birds from their calls.

Ahh…I believe I hear the melodious tones of a Samsung SGH-X497 now.

Oh wait. That’s me.

Joanna Robinson from the Great Northern Way Campus talked about the challenges of teaching in and constructing a new, physical complex for instruction in digital media while simultaneously building a virtual space for it in Second Life.

She did an admirable job especially for someone who is only 26 (I wish I had her confidence when I was that young) but I also wish she would have talked more about the pedagogy behind the participatory culture. I think people see the SL avatars, the slick marketing videos, and hear the funny stories about the “crazy” things that happen in virtual worlds and lose sight of the pedagogical value of these spaces and how that same value applies to our physical spaces.

My takeaway quote from her session: Build around your learning objectives.

Wendy Woodward, Director of Technology Support Services at NU, talked about their decision to use Google for student email and other collaborative tools. The ballroom was crowded and lots of people had questions about security, privacy, backup and other issues surrounding this partnership. What I liked most about her presentation was her remark that by putting student email with Google (something 90% of NU students were already doing), they were able to focus more of the NU IT staff’s attention on faculty and staff needs.

In my world, the more time and attention you can give those folks, the better!

I thought the keynote from Doris Kearns Goodwin was really nice. She had some slightly awkward tie-ins to technology, but I appreciated the effort. I liked the fact that she referred to us as “characters.” She’s a great storyteller of history and that’s all this character needed.

I was hoping some of you could fill in the gaps to my listening. Here’s my list of I heard her say are the characteristics of good leaders:

• They have the capacity for listening to and accepting differing points of view.
• They learn from their mistakes.
• They share credit for successes.
• The bear the blame.
• They keep control of their emotions
• They have resolve to see things through particularly in the face of frustration.
• They make time to relax and replenish energies.
• The manage by “walking around.” That is they interact with subordinates to get the day-t0-day perspectives of those that they lead.

What did I miss? Anybody wanna fill in the gaps?