Posts Tagged ‘presentation’
I am scheduling this entry to coincide with the end of my talk in the Philippines this morning.
My Google Slides deck is available online.
First, some background.
I was approached to deliver this talk two weeks ago. By the time the contract document was finalised, I had just six days to prepare the slide deck.
This was a very short runway because I normally work with partners who contact me three to six months, or even a year, in advance. I can recall only one other similar late request. In both these cases, I either knew someone well or had worked with the organiser before.
I wrote earlier that I prefer the “stewing” method of preparation. This gives me time and space to make changes based on more current information I find. I agreed to help even though this was an “instant noodle” request only because I had delivered similar talks before.
Despite the short runway, I decided to challenge myself by using my own visual design approach, refreshing old content, and incorporating new information. This meant very quick and intense work, but very little rehearsal.
As with all talks, I struggled during preparation to decide how much content to include. I decided to remove three of four broad topics, but left the content in the slide deck just in case they came up during the Q&A.
Now, a bit of history. This is the fourth year in a row that I have been invited by a group in the Philippines.
- 2013: Keynote for Philippine eLearning Society
- 2014: Plenary for Policy Governance and Capacity Building Conference
- 2015: Keynote for De La Salle University
- 2016: GenYo Innovation Summit by DIWA, Philippines (partner of Marshall Cavendish, Singapore)
None of these visits were by my design. They were a result of doing good work, making connections, and maintaining a constant online presence.
Finally, a strategy. I share as openly as I can. If there is a contract, I ask that the resources I prepare be shared under a Creative Commons license. I stipulate this in every proposal document I prepare.
This practice does at least two important things. It keeps my resources searchable and accessible online, and it encourages my partners to rethink their closed practices. It is my small way of promoting open-minded and open-practised changes in educational technology.
Later today I will conduct a presentation on educational crowdsourcing.
I was invited by a university to contribute to a seminar where one of the themes was to push the practice of collaboration.
I have opted to focus on how faculty might do this by positioning students as content creators and teachers. It is one of my teaching philosophies that students learn best when they take these roles.
During my presentation, I back up this stance by citing the theory and/or research behind such practice. I also share my own experiences doing these when I was a university academic.
Update: My Google Slides are at http://bit.ly/iits-praxis.
A meaningful birthday present
Posted January 22, 2015
on:I am a year older today.
It was one of the few birthdays I marked without loved ones beside me. I am away in London to deliver a short talk at Bett 2015 tomorrow.
Before I left, my wife bought me a pair of Bose QC25 noise-cancelling headphones as an early birthday present. It was so early that I received it at Christmas last year!
The headphones have already helped me immensely.
They shut noise out so that I could think while I was out and about. They dampened the sound of a funeral downstairs while I was drafting this entry in advance of my trip.
They neutralized the ambient sounds on my flight to London so that I could create a cocoon of comfort.
The silence gave me pause for thought. Did I have to shut the sounds of the analogue world so that I could create content for the digital one? Was I favouring one world for the other?
Perhaps. When I need laser-like focus, I do what I can to provide an environment in which to concentrate. But when I meet people in person, I provide that same focus too, sans headphones.
I am planning to meet and will have already met folks here in the UK. The appointments were made because I have a social media presence and because they know me from what I create online. So there is no false dichotomy of digital versus analogue; one process leads to the other.
Reach to teach
Posted May 28, 2014
on:This is my concluding slide in a plenary talk I am giving for the Policy, Governance and Capacity Building teachers’ conference in the Philippines. By the time you read this, I will be enroute to Manila. After a good night’s rest, I present tomorrow afternoon before flying back later that evening.
My concluding message to the Filipino teachers is that they must understand their students, learn from them, and even be like them before they can begin to teach them.
I still think that talks are necessary evils. They may be good at creating awareness and inspiring people, but they are not good at ensuring meaningful learning or sustained action. Talks are like hit-and-runs in that sense.
What matters is the aftercare. Often the ones hit are left to their own devices. Sometimes they are given some form of support or guidance. Rarely is this support or guidance sustained.
It is not enough to reach out to people for change. They may find your message inspiring and buy in. Ideally they take ownership of the change processes.
But I have found that if you are not there over a sustained period, the change efforts peter out. You must also be there to nurture and teach. That is what I am basing my consulting services on once I leave NIE.