EduTECH 2016 - Day 1 and a Decade of Reflection

EduTECH 2016 has been my first general educational technology conference in over a decade.

My first reaction was that not much has changed - these were the same or at least similar messages to those I heard 10 or more years ago. 

Greenfield's presentation was sensational although also a little sensationalist when it came to online games and social media. Since 2005 I've used Blogger, Flickr, Twitter and Facebook and never posted about cats or lattes :-) And my experience of students and online games has little in common with Greenfield's notions - even if they are peer reviewed.

Vamvakitis from Google presented on engaging VR tours in education and showed pictures of students high on Greenfield's dopamine :-)

The Google presentation reminded me of tools I was using with students 10 years ago. 

In later sessions I heard again about the need for 'problem solving' skills - problem prevention is also important. It was good to hear one speaker mention wicked problems - we need more of this. 

Then as the day unfolded I began to understand why this #EduTECHAU is different - at least for me.

• The delegates aren't just the early adopters - and they aren't mostly IT teachers.
• The examples are not just what a teacher is doing but what whole schools, regions and even state systems are doing.
• The 'congresses' are diverse - teachers, administrators, school business managers, librarians, IT managers, higher education, vocational education...

As I attended sessions across these groups I realised EduTECH 2016 provides an opportunity to view similar issues through different lenses. To discuss different approaches to common challenges. To meet the next ten years of rapid advances.

I think we need more of this kind of networking - or congress.

I'm looking forward to day 2.

Next Gen Government - Day 2 Takeaways

A small edit to the Waterforms International Water Vortex while waiting for departure at Canberra Airport. Somehow it feels appropriate for this post... See quote at the end.

These are some random thoughts I'm taking away from the second day of sessions at #NexGenGov in Canberra. These mostly relate to our current Department issues/projects rather than a comprehensive report on what was said - or who said it.

Innovate on service delivery not technology. 

Focus on customer events, circumstances, their journey...

Identify services with the highest impact. 

For many external clients (and even staff) your website 'landing page' is the Google search results page. 

The Department has Google+ pages for all schools and this has been very effective.

How might we influence/customise Google search results for the Department's main public online web and other online spaces? How could we use Google Ads and APIs?

Does current navigation make sense to the user when they drop deep within our website/CMS from an external search engine?

Need for a rethink...

The 'Internet of Your Things' offer opportunities to rethink aspects of service delivery.

Microsoft view.

Young people (including young adults) do not generally go to a government website for help.

How do we reach out to this group? Go to the platforms and places used by your intended audience.

Social media? Which platforms are being used by your intended audience? What value can you bring?

Gamification? Mobile Apps?  See Party for Your Rights.

The notion of a 'one stop shop' may become the 'one stop pop-up shop'.

Proactive Organisation - provides a product or service when it is needed rather then after it has been requested... 

Innovation SPRINT - 10 days - Discover, Define, Develop Ideas, Deliver Alpha.

Trans-departmental teams, design thinking, blue-sky thinking by 'digital natives'.

Leave space in thinking, processes and solutions/products for innovation.

Drive rapid iteration.

Overcome the fear of failure - "fail fast, fail cheaply".

3 steps to making 'good mistakes'

1. making mistakes after due care and attention

2. acknowledging mistakes

3. not repeating mistakes

Common current drivers are fear and hope - fear of disruption/disconnection/disengagement - hope for transformation.

Launch Alpha to selected audiences - even public- and then move to 'perpetual beta' or launch Beta and then move to ongoing interative development.

Gartner predicts 75% of digital organisations will 'build' not 'buy' by 2020.

See the US Digital Services Playbook - "Today, too many of our digital services projects do not work well, are delivered late, or are over budget. To increase the success rate of these projects, the U.S. Government needs a new approach. We created a playbook of 13 key “plays”...  "

Social Media

Think about archiving social media - have information management policy/procedures for social media. Think about minimum meta tags for social media.

See Tasmanian Government Information Strategy Unit and  guidelines.

See national Digital Continuity 2020 Policy and actions/dates.

Open Source, Open Data, Open Culture, Open Government

Open source is about much more than software. 

Tasmania has a new Open Data Policy. 

In what ways are we benefitting from and contributing to the staten national and globalopen agenda?

During 2016 the Department will be seeping its adoption of Creative Commons Licensing. How might this facilitate a more open culture and enable changes in service delivery?

AI, natural language and the user interface

How far away is a Siri/Cortana user interface for organisations?

"What can I help you with?"

Digital Identity and Authentication

Biometrics is delivering higher confidence authentication

eg RealMe photo/video, Australian Tax Office voice

One identity and login for multiple government services...

Watch MyGov, MyTax, My Health Record over the next few months and years...

Google ID, Apple ID, Facebook Connect... are already international IDs and logins.

Blocks to innovation and faster development.

A focus on fully tested perfect solutions delivered years into the future.

A focus on how to monetise assets rather than what we can do that's best for citizens/clients.

Being risk averse about privacy and security issues rather than using 'Privacy by Design' principles, getting it right, and then moving on. 

"Silicon Valley is a state of mind not a place."

“If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” ― Jack Welch

NextGen Government 2016 – My Day 1 Highlights

I’m attending the NextGen Government 2016 sessions at a time when our state Education Department is taking a step back and reviewing online services before moving forward.

This review is shaping up to be a little different from those in the past for a number of reasons:

1. There is general acceptance that a review is necessary
2. There is an enthusiasm for participating in the review
3. There is some appetite to do things differently
4. The review is a collaborative project involving IT services, marketing, communications and digital media, and an external consultant.

Within this local context my takeaways from day 1 of #nexgengov were as follows.

• User expectations have changed – largely driven by the commercial sector.
• Users want online services to be simple, accessible on mobiles and satisfying.
• Use client language  - not the language of compliance.
• 55% of users can’t find what they are looking for.
• Users want search to work, easy navigation and click-to-chat.
• Most users enter websites deeply via Google – not via your front page.

• Technology disruption is now largely seen as a positive thing – this is a big change and an opportunity to create the future.
• Move focus from procurement to servicing user needs. User-centred design.
• Spend twice as long talking to users as other activities when preparing business case.
• Start by telling the user story – then expand the story and join the dots. Explain the level of pain.
• What is it really like as a user? Follow the human experience. Get on the ground and see how things work.

• Agile. Agile. Agile. Smaller projects with rapid iterative development. Larger projects should not take such a long time to get to launch – if they do you are too late because things have moved on.
• Public access and testing of Alpha, ongoing Beta iterative update.
• Iterative design and iterative development is an explosive combination.
• Culture. Culture. Culture. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Eliminate blame culture.
• Service to others is a key driver for staff.
• Keep good people by doing interesting work, creating things that make a practical difference.
• Collaborate. Collaborate. Collaborate. Collaboration is about giving up something to make someone else successful. Consider In-sourcing AND Out-sourcing.
• Talk about values, needs, courage to take risks.
• Openness, honesty, transparency generates trust and respect.

• Benchmark what happens now.
• Think through intended and unintended consequences.
• Create once publish everywhere.
• Citizen design – get users involved in design.
• Gov 3.0 – customisable services
• AI and data layers
• If your data isn’t being openly shared you are missing out on opportunities - and soon the future of online services
• Innovate. Innovate. Innovate.

While much of this isn't new to our organisation I'm not sure it's deeply understood.

Much of what was discussed today fits within a simple 4 quadrant model from Integral Theory from a few yeas ago. The key message is that the left hand side cannot be ignored.

Image: Dr Sue Stack

Looking forward to day 2...

Not another website

The next evolution of the Department's public website is being considered. But much has changed, and significantly changed, over the three years since the last build.

 

The content management platform is now complemented by a range of online services that make up the Department's managed online presence and identity. Social media has grown nearly 1,000%. Mobile access now dominates public access. Global cloud services provide new agility.

 

 

My hope is that this next evolution will not result in another website.

We need to integrate these complementary services so that the user experiences a seamless Department presence and identity that delivers useful information and services.

We need to maximise the benefits that participative media brings to communication and community.

While there will undoubtedly be some traditional web pages I'm interested in exploring what a vibrant online presence and identity might look like, feel like and be like.


Have we challenged our assumptions and asked the necessary questions?

How do we strategically plan an agile sustainable system that is useful and engaging?

 

Some drivers of this strategic planning may be...

• Learners first - the Department's core business is learning. Learning services for anyone, anywhere, anytime.
• Users first - the Department's Strategic Plan focuses on meeting client needs and expectations, saving users time
• Mobile first - mobile access now dominates public access to online information and services. Many users have mobile-only Internet access.
• Google search first - most users try Google search first to locate Department information, locations and services (Google Services)
• 90% of users access 10% of content - the majority of users access a small proportion of the Department's content
• Social media - access to department's social media channels has increased nearly 1,000% over the last two and a half years (Social media services)
• Effective searching - users expect to quickly find the most relevant search results
• Story telling - the power of stories, narration and video
• Compliance - there are new higher standards for web accessibility and design, Creative Commons and open data

 

Recent developments in technology offer new possibilities...

• HTML5 - offers responsiveness across most devices
• Tags - increase search usefulness
• News feeds - choose your own device and reader
• Interactive video - choose your own learning adventure
• User customisation - saved settings for different audiences and interests
• Mobile apps - add your own content
• GPS - location aware features
• NBN - Tasmania is becoming well connected
• Augmented reality - access layered information, Web 3.0 - an intelligent web of things

This is a wicked problem  :-)

Tools for spontaneous video capture

Video capture of celebratory or learning events is increasing with greater access to mobile devices.

These are some tips I've picked up.

Lavalier wearable microphone

Mobile phones and tablets

Audio: Mobiles generally have good microphones for close recordings. A lapel mic can give high quality audio if required.

Tripod: Keeping the mobile phone still improves video quality and reduces the file size. Tablets can often be stood up using their covers, books or nearby walls. A number of small cheap tripods are available including the one below on the left that can grip a wide range of objects.

Readily available tripods for phones





Compressor

File size: Mobiles and tablets often record in HD (1080) which can lead to very large file sizes. 10 minutes of video can be over 1GB which can quickly fill mobile storage and take a long time to transfer to other devices.

Audio quality is often more important than video quality - depending on the purpose and audience for the video. A number of apps are available to dramatically reduce the video file size on the mobile device - for example Compressor for iPhone/iPad (free).

Audio recording: Mobiles will generally allow recording with a built in app but better quality audio and transfer options are available with apps such as Voice record Pro (free).

Voice Record Pro allows easy wireless transfer to a range of popular cloud storage services.

Sharing video: For mobiles with a wireless connection (3G/4G can be expensive) it is possible to save and share video to online services such as YouTube or Vimeo.

Gmail accounts come with YouTube video storage. YouTube Capture (free) is an app that allows simple video editing and upload to YouTube. Videos can be uploaded as 'unlisted' so only those to whom the link is seen can view the video. Videos can also be set to 'private'.

Vimeo also has an app to upload videos.

Laptops and desktops

Videos can be recorded using webcams. Video and audio quality can be a challenge - good microphones are important. Videos can also be recorded directly to YouTube using My Webcam or to Vimeo. 

Powered microphones: A powered microphone is usually required for recording in larger spaces. Powered microphones can be mounted onto video cameras or be a stand-alone device that records audio onto an SD card.

The Zoom Handy Recorder is a stand-alone powered microphone (plug in or battery) that captures quality audio over larger distances.

Educators and photographers loving their work

Clint and Bethanie capture 2015 RBF Award Finalist Hannah Keir.

It's been a real pleasure interviewing RBF Award Finalists in schools across Tasmania this week. Seeing the passion and commitment of teachers, support staff, school business managers, principals and volunteers is inspiring and uplifting.

Not only award finalists but many others we met also clearly love their work, their students, and helping students learn and grow. We saw many examples of positive and respectful staff-student relationships such as students hi-fiving a principal on her rounds, year 10 students supporting their nervous teacher during a video interview and students bringing gifts for busy teachers.

Photographers Clint and Bethanie also love their work. They quickly relax nervous subjects in front of the lenses and are not phased by the unexpected during interviews or when visiting classrooms.

2015 RBF Award Finalist Sarah Baker

Schools are full of inspirational stories and it's been great to hear just a few that we can take to a wider audience over the next couple of months.


Photos used with permission.

Where to from here? A wicked problem

A great deal has changed in the ICT space for our schools over the last two years - the rise of social and mobile media, the use of cloud services for the effective and efficient delivery of agile infrastructure, and the interest and influence of large national and multinational companies - to name a few.

At the same time there's been a more gradual but just as profound change in society and culture as a result of the pervasive and often invisible ICTs. The trends and expectations I see in my role can be summarised as follows.

New approaches are required. This challenge has the characteristics of a ‘wicked problem’.

It is a moving target and is socially complex. It involves changing values and new behaviours.

It challenges current boundaries and policies, questions assumptions, and there may be no single ‘solution’.

 

To understand wicked problems I like the analogy of playing a ball game.

You are focussed on the ball and reaching the goals...
You build personal and team skills and become strategic.

Then the goals move - but you are not distracted and remain focussed on the ball...

You sense the ground shaking under your feet - but you skilfully adapt and approach the goals.

You kick a brilliant goal and raise your arms! But all is quiet...

As you look around you notice that half the players have gone...
The stadiums are largely empty.

The crowd are watching a new game being played on a different field some distance away.


The use and support of digital media for education is a wicked problem.

Photo: Creative Commons - Wikimedia