Hello everyone from Nev-A-da Digital Government Summit! Just making sure I pronounced that correctly.
Thank you for coming to the “Collateral Change” keynote presentation this morning. I really enjoyed sharing with you, and meeting everyone who stopped by afterwards to talk about how you’re balancing technology in your life. As promised, here is a link to all of the slides you saw in PDF Format. Collateral Change at Nevada DGS 2019
Finally – check out the results from the last question of my survey. In reflection, is a smartphone really that important? Best of luck finding balance in this age of rapid change, disruption, and an all new “attention economy.”
Using the “Rich Text Editor” in Canvas can be a little squirrelly, mostly because you’re adjusting HTML Code without using code. So if you find yourself trying to get pictures you have put into a table to all look the same size, try this little trick using the “Embed Image” button after you’ve already inserted a picture.
My first thought upon reading was “oh shit, I do that.” I totally tech shame those who are texting and hiking or stopping to check their phone every mile or two on a mountain bike ride. And if you’ve seen my presentation you’ve heard me talk about the Finnish phenomenon of “Metsänpeitto” which is certainly vulnerable to invasive tech events like emails, Slack messages, and Asana or Basecamp assignment notifications.
But then again, if you’ve seen my presentation, you’ve also heard me say “if your smart phone is the best camera you own, take it with you on your nature adventures, and put it in Airplane Mode so you won’t be interrupted by the outside world.”
My message is balance, and specifically how to RESTORE that balance. Run the experiment in the wilderness with your device just like you do at home and at work. Don’t let it become a barrier, use it as a bridge. Use your smart phone as a GPS device, a beacon, an emergency responder, or a digital camera. Just don’t let it use you. Don’t let it interrupt your needs and attention. Take time to zone out and think about nothing, worry about nothing, or stop worrying.
I agree with the author, Marissa Stephenson, that technology can be an outdoor enhancer and you don’t always need nature to get away. More importantly, I agree that we shame others for doing the things we know we do too much ourselves. Think about that the next time you point out someone texting and driving.
And finally – some proof. I took this selfie on a trail, while hiking, with my phone.
No shame.
Thank you to everyone who attended and participated in the “Collateral Change” presentation this afternoon. It was a pleasure to meet and talk with many of you afterwards and hear about your experiences balancing technology in your lives both at home and at work. Congratulations to all of you on the great work you do to keep Massachusetts safe and secure for everyone.
And some food for thought… here are the results for the final survey question:
This means 73% of us at the Digital Government Summit would have felt a sense of panic if we had forgotten our device this morning. That’s a lot of power we give these little devices. Take a break. Turn off your phone later today or tomorrow at the event and see what happens. The first few minutes might seem a little painful, but after a bit of time you’ll start to see what you’re missing in the world around you.
Thanks again for the opportunity to visit! And as always, Go Ravens 🙂
Getting people to stop driving while digitally distracted requires more than building awareness, it requires behavior change. When we hear about people who text and drive we direct that fault on those around us.
“I don’t do that, it’s someone else. And if I do text and drive, it’s okay because I’m an excellent multitasker.”
No you’re not.
This recent campaign from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the Massachusetts State Police and Department of Transportation does an excellent job of encouraging drivers – “don’t be that guy”.
Thank you to Reilly Mortimer of eRepublic and the Illinois Digital Government Summit Advisory Board for having me today as a guest speaker at your event. Kiitos! It was a pleasure to visit Springfield for the first time. Now I can’t wait to go grab a slice of Gabatoni’s Pizza.
It was an honor to meet Illinois Secretary of Innovation and Technology / State CIO Ron Guerrier. And also quite intimidating to present after hearing from Governor Pritzker.
Everyone in Illinois is lucky to have forward thinking, well balanced tech minded people leading the state into the future.
Until next time, don’t forget to keep your eye out for Mikael Hakkarainen to start getting some time at center. Go Blackhawks!
It’s always a pleasure to travel down to St. George in the fall to spend a day with Librarians and Media Specialists from all over Utah who attend the SUMS Conference. Thank you Chris Haught of SEDC for putting together a fantastic event and inviting us from UEN to come down and present.
If you’d like to access the Apple Keynote presentation that I shared in the first session covering the Mixed Reality Tools for Education, here is a PDF version – Mixed Reality Course SUMS 2019
And for all of the Genius Hour presentation materials shared in session 2, they are all shared in a Google Folder linked here.
Also, if you’d like to take the online course “Sparking Curiosity with Genius Hour” taught by Chris, register online at the UEN PD Catalog Site
Thank you “Michiganders” for a chance to return and visit the Mitten State! It was nice to meet and talk with many of you about the way Information Technology is supporting the residents of Michigan. Thank you for your time and attention, and as promised, here is a PDF File of all the slides you saw this morning in the Collateral Change presentation.
And a brief take-away thought for you if you’re one of the 70% of us in the room that would feel “Oh No!” or “Crisis” if we forgot our phone today…
That little device doesn’t deserve that much power over your mental well being. As you put in to place new ways to restore balance to your digital life, don’t forget to replace the tech time you take away with new quality time activities. Spend time connecting with your loved ones in person. Explore your community. Meet new people. Learn new things. There will be a very short sense of loss when you set down and power off the constantly connected technology (dopamine), but it will quickly be replaced with a sense of satisfaction and purpose that will not wear off anytime soon (serotonin).
Or has it just begun? This has been tough. An academic challenge that compares easily to the Masters of Education Portfolio I prepared and presented back in 2002. A professional challenge that required collaboration, criticism, feedback, and advice from several of my colleagues. And a personal challenge that at times had me questioning my decision to work in education. Seriously. Waiting for my portfolio rubric to come back had me on the spiritual ropes fighting demons of self doubt and dragons of insecurity.
But I did it.
This picture of the ISTE Certificate carries a lot of weight, because I weigh close to 200 lbs, and my coworkers, wife, and even my kids helped carry me through this process.
Jared Fawson and Rob Bentley, teammates from the UEN Professional Development department helped me go through the artifacts I submitted and proofread my rationales. My wife Michelle, an Ed Tech Coach at Park City High School, was kind enough to watch my videos and keep me from quitting. My daughter Laila, a freshman at the University of Utah, held the phone and helped record my video introduction (which you can watch below). My daughter Kate, who just turned one, put up with me incessantly checking my email to see if my portfolio had been returned even when she was sitting in a dirty diaper. Thank you everyone for your help and patience with this process.
And finally, a piece of advice for anyone considering going through the ISTE Certification process. Don’t do it for the paper.
The two day in-person course is fantastic content and a very worth-while experience. You’ll get to dive into the ISTE Standards for Students and Educators. The online portion is also full of excellent material that is timely, research based, and innovative.
The final portion of the certification, creating the portfolio, is a massive challenge. It requires you to collect artifacts that show proficiency in 25 of the ISTE Standards for Educators. This requires examining your accomplishments, adjusting your current practices, and planning new activities and lessons designed specifically around these standards. Once that is all complete you submit an “alignment map” for review and wait up to 10 business days for the reviewers to complete the rubric and either award you the certificate, or send you a rejection email with an opportunity to try again with a revision due date six months down the road.
So when I say “don’t do it for the paper,” I mean you should do it for the road. Once you get the paper you’re not finished. ISTE Certification is a ticket to continue along the endless journey of becoming a better educator. Being a good educator is a tough job because there is no finish line, no commission check or major promotion to a position that pays millions, just the daily challenge to keep doing better.
So what do you think I could do better? I’d like to know. To see my entire ISTE Portfolio, click HERE. And check out my short video intro below to get a general idea of the project.
Nearpod is an excellent tool for creating engaging lesson that combine content knowledge with student activities and formative assessment tools. But it’s not the best tool for building lessons… until now!
As of this summer you’ll find a new button on your Nearpod Homepage that says “Create your own: Lesson in Google Slides”, check it out!
This is great. So great. Because now you don’t have to worry about copying or importing content from Google Slides into Nearpod and ending up with an image that you can’t edit. Now you can build right in Google Slides and add Nearpod interactive features as you go with the Nearpod Add-on.
Learn more by adding a copy of my Nearpod Transform SLC Google Slide Deck embedded below.
It was an honor to meet Illinois Secretary of Innovation and Technology / State CIO Ron Guerrier. And also quite intimidating to present after hearing from Governor Pritzker.
It’s always a pleasure to travel down to St. George in the fall to spend a day with Librarians and Media Specialists from all over Utah who attend the 
EdTecHakk 