I’m fortunate to be teaching Computer Science at Mount Marty College because it went wireless in 2002 due to the vision of Dr. Mike Kahlke who served as Dean of Academic Affairs. It wasn’t an easy sell to the faculty who were largely cyberphobic then but he persisted. My life is so much easier because he persisted until the “laptop initiative” was in place.

Kahlke’s vision was to put a laptop computer into the hands of every student and faculty member. This meant the Computer Science department could phase out its use of labs. The students carry their lab equipment with them. They are free to work when they want without regard to lab hours. We still update computers on a regular cycle but I don’t need to justify a budget request to do it because its included in the regular students fees.

The second part of Kahlke’s vision was to create an environment where students could connect to the campus network and Internet anywhere on campus without needing to tether their computers to an ethernet drop. Wireless ethernet frees computing from spatial limitations. I can move a class out into the fresh air on a beautiful day without feeling guilty or losing access to the net!

Its not enough to have computers. You have to know what to do with them.

Classrooms needed to evolve to take advantage of ubiquitous computing power. We started a multi-year project to update classrooms along the lines of the “smart classroom” concept. These rooms feature overhead projection systems to display computer output, sound systems, VHS and DVD players.

The next stage is to create a virtual learning environment of the World Wide Web. We began with Blackboard course management software. Unfortunately the faculty were left to their own devices after a half-day training session on Blackboard. Our Teaching and Learning with Technology Committee offered classes but attendance was dismal. Use of the new classroom technology waxed and waned over the past 6 years but momentum grew with every cycle and avid users emerged over time. The new Web 2.0/3.0 applications such as Google docs creates greater potential to more fully realize Dr. Kahlke’s vision.

Mount Marty is ahead of most colleges in this area but there is still plenty to do. A group of early adopters must find and test new web-based technologies to see how well they impact teaching and learning. Then the solutions identified must be evangelized to the faculty. The school can transform education and prepare millennial students for a digital world with just a little more effort.

I am a Star Trek junkie like so many people of my generation. This is not a bad thing though as the series provides some remarkable role models. Captain James T. Kirk and Lean Luc Picard offer great examples of leadership. No one better exemplifies living logically than Spock. My favorite Star Trek character though is Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. It is he who served me well as a role model in my personal journey through engineering leadership. Any success I may have had is due to the wonderful people who worked on my teams and this role model. I had the distinct pleasure of telling James Doohan how important his character was to my own career once.

My favorite Star Trek scene is from the feature film The Search for Spock. Scotty is on the bridge as the Enterprise NC-1701 is stolen. The Excelsior tries to pursue her but fails to engage transwarp speed. Scotty proudly remarks “the more they overtake the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the drain.” This is so true.

Listen to David Pogue as he talks about the current state of computer technology and the need for simplicity in design.

Why is it so many new products fail to satisfy the needs of their users? Engineers talk to other engineers too much and to real people far too infrequently. Its easy to get out of touch. The real joy of the work is in seeing the joy your work brings to your customers but who takes time and care to notice? Darn few!

Apple Corporation has had wild successes doing just what the competition didn’t anticipate. When competitors notice Apple’s success they move to emulate it but Apple has moved onto the next innovation by then. They can’t keep up. Apple’s secret is a witch’s brew of imagination and observation. They watch real people doing what comes naturally to them. Voodoo has brought us wildly colored computers because someone noticed people decorating their computers to distinguish them from every other computer in their environments. Black magic brought the iPod because Apple engineers noticed so many people were jogging with a walkman strapped to them. Again and again Apple innovates while the pack emulates.

That’s not the only secret of Apple’s success. The other is keeping design simple. David Pogue gave some excellent examples of that in his talk.

And like Spock says -

Do “live long and prosper.”

If you enjoy classic films this site is for you!

Movies Found Online (www.moviesfoundonline.com) offers an array of programming including classic film and documentaries. They also feature public domain programs. I enjoyed watching the 1922 version of Nosferatu. This is a film I’ve always been curious about but still hadn’t seen. Now I have and it didn’t cost me a cent. It was odd watching a silent film though.

Some other titles I plan to check out include The Great Train Robbery, The Lost World, and Bluebeard. I also want to explored their 9/11 and Iraq documentaries. Looks like I’ll be spending a lot of time online this weekend!

This site doesn’t provide for expanding the video to full screen, at least Nosferatu didn’t show that option. But it may be the best collection of classic films online.

We have every right to expect much from the Discovery Channel. They’ve brought high quality educational programming into our living rooms for years. We consider them a leader in educational programming. To be honest its the reason I wouldn’t settle for the basic cable television package. So I was shocked when I took a look at their web programming and found it to be too little and too inflexible.

The first step to viewing nirvana is to surf to discovery.com. You’ll see the “Video” option among the drop down navigation menus. You will be presented with a menu of about 19 choices. “Watch Full Episodes” is at the top of the list which will take you to a page where you can download a viewer. There are installation instructions for the the PC and Mac. I noticed them after clicking to install on my Mac but everything worked flawlessly. You’ll also see about 4 shows listed at the far right of the page. BIG DEAL!

You’ll also have problems resizing the player window and maintaining access to its controls. They want to hide and the size of web page elements are awkwardly absolute.

I don’t like the proprietary player. It works fine but so do all the others installed on my computer. Why should I have a player taking up precious hard disk space just to watch the Discovery Channel? The biggest disappointment is the player’s total lack of sharing and embedding capacities. This means you will not be able to include a link to the program in your web course. BOO! HISS! We can only hope the advertisers can force Discovery to expand its reach and their effectiveness by adding these important extensions.

The 4 full episodes I could view were Meerkat Manor, Project Earth, Smash Lab, and Flip that House. The only one that interested me was Project Earth. It only had 2 episodes available Wrapping Greenland and Engineering the Future. I enjoyed it but it left me wanting more.

It was hard to believe this organization had done such a poor job so I decided to have a look at shows listed outside of the full episodes. “Perhaps the folks at the Discovery Channel just didn’t understand the all of the shows should be listed under full episodes?”, I pondered.

I clicked on Deadliest Catch and caught a Swiffer advertisement followed by less than 2 minutes of the program. This was followed by another Swiffer ad followed by a 2:30 segment. It became obvious this cycle would continue until we ran out of segments. To add insult to injury the video was made available through a first-generation video player.

The Discovery Channel doesn’t understand to use the web yet. Its too bad because they have some of the best footage in the industry just waiting to be made available to web viewers and online learners.

I am troubled by the resurgence of a fundamentalist attack upon the grand theory of evolution. My school is a Catholic institution within the Bible Belt of the great American mid-west. Religion is integral part of our general education core but so is Science. There are many of us in the academy who do not see a natural conflict between the teachings of faith and Charles Darwin. Who can say with certainty evolution is not part of God’s plan?

Consider this film. It is the story of the Scopes Trial. It reveals the debate as one based upon the dark emotions of man rather than reason. Who knows the mind of God? Remember the Greeks considered pride the most serious of sins. Are we not guilty of hubris when we condemn something we don’t understand?

Personally I do not believe man will ever evolve to the point where he will understand the true nature of God to such an extent that he can become judge and jury over His thoughts and deeds. I do believe we have minds with which to question and learn. Failing to do so is not only a waste of intelligence but a sin against the nature of man. To ban the teaching of evolution is just such a sin.

Educators do not seek to tell the clergy what to preach in their churches. What right do the religious possess to influence the work done inside the classroom? Let’s not limit the thoughts of our children. Rather let’s have faith in their ability to think critically and recognize truth.

I received the following message from my brother in response to sharing the film’s link. “Do you really believe in evolution ? It is greatly overrated. Impossible to prove. Requires great faith to accept. I doubt that it even qualifies as a theory.” This is from a learned surgeon who I have respected since childhood. Yet his words hit me like a slap on the face. How could a man of medicine and science be so unaware of the great advances in computational biology and genomics which reveal close relationships between the various species?

That’s the problem with evolution. Its so slow!

Last week I talked about the free web casting being done at hulu.com. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to check that out. I’m very impressed they have all of the Highlander episodes. I’ve been trying to collect those on dvd but now I can watch them for free.

There’s more than one sheriff in town! Fancast is also providing on demand web broadcasting of television programs and feature films. Fancast programming is also funded by advertising so its free to us. The programming is a little different than hulu giving us more selections in viewing. I was so enthralled with the Jericho series I watched the whole thing. I also enjoyed watching the remake of the Planet of the Apes.

Unfortunately I did not see an option for getting the embed code to include programming on a web page but if you know HTML you can cut and paste the link into you page as a hyperlink.

Check this one out this weekend!

Spam is a curse to anyone online. One way to manage it is by using filters to move suspected spam into your trash without bothering you with it. You can also use filters to organize incoming messages. Its really a great tool but its under-used. It too bad too because it could make working with email easier and quicker.

Click here to learn about Gmail filters.

Try using filters on your email.

CBS News now publishes their reports and editorials online.

I think its the most user-friendly news site on the net today. Videos are categorized and easy to access. The player well designed and facilitates sharing. There is currently an error in their embedding code which renders that functin useless but I’m sure they will have it resolved shortly. The video is crisp and can be resized to fill the screen with a single mouse click. The sound is clear and the volume is easily adjustable. I found the default volume setting plenty loud enough. The offerings are complete from the evening news to 60 Minutes. There are even reports made especially for the web!

CBS is paying its way on the web though advertising. Each report begins with an advertisement. I watched a 44 minute episode of a 48 Hours and saw 6 advertisements. That’s far fewer than you’d see on broadcast television and a small price to pay for quality information.

Video on the World Wide Web is approaching a critical mass where paying for cable broadcasting will become unpopular. Why view your programming on the networks schedule when you can pick and choose your programming at will and for free?

This is an important new tool for educators. We can show relevant reports in the classroom and embed them into our web courses. These reports can help learners ground new information presented in our classes because they are timely and reflect the world we live in.

“Adults are ready to learn those things they need to know in order to cope effectively with life situations.”

This assumption begs us to turn an examining eye toward curriculum. Are we teaching the skills needed in today’s world? Consider this Associated Press report from August 1.

Things aren’t so good for the economy now. We’ve lost 463,000 jobs so far this year! The unemployment rate is at 5.7% and rising, 20.3% for teens, and that doesn’t represent the entire out-of-workforce. It hasn’t always been so. I’ve been involved in higher education since 1984 and enjoyed 100% placement of my computer science graduates every year until 2005. As a hiring manager at Zenith Data Systems and Gateway 2000 I couldn’t find enough qualified talent. What happened?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting the educational system is responsible for our current economic situation. Rather I’m suggesting we can be part of the solution. How’s that?

I teach at a small Catholic liberal arts college so what I’m about to suggest is not going to make me popular on my campus. We need to focus on career skills. The truth is its easier to enjoy the arts when you are warm, fed, and safe. I believe our greatest responsibility then is to give students employable skills and a lifelong hunger for learning.

The good sisters at Sacred Heart Monestary must have known that when the created Mount Marty College. Although we are a liberal arts college our strengths are our fine Nursing and Education programs both of which are occupational programs. We also offer occupational programs in Graphic Arts, Computer Science, and more. This cohabitation of occupational and arts programs are not a dichotomy. Rather they are like two sides of a coin. You need both sides.

Good writing is just as important to a computer programmer as a foundation in programming logic. A graphic artist needs to know about balance and composition so they can apply them to photo editing. A math teacher must be able to speak well. Our nurses must be able to understand a patient’s need for care. And we all need to be good citizens. These are just a few of the necessary contributions from the liberal arts side of the equation. But we fine tune the curriculum to take advantage of those teachable moments when liberal arts can enhance occupational education.

Occupational educators need to have real world experience. Too many of us have never worked in our field but are rather a product of academic inbreeding. Our ivory towers honor works which are unproductive in our fields and do not recognize true contributions to our disciplines. For instance, we hire new faculty in Computer Science because they published in scholarly journals but never stop to consider they ought to have been coding applications instead. We honor unpaid presentations to closed-minded conference attendees while ignoring the fact that talented individuals are too busy earning $150+ an hour addressing the needs of open-minded business executives and helping to build their strategic plans for the future. This is the kind of information you will never see published in a “scholarly” journal until long after it has lost all of its strategic value. First-hand experience is as essential to the occupational educator as the air we breathe and our hiring practices must begin to honor it.

Occupational educators must be current in their field and there is no better way than continuous practice. We need to keep involved by working as well as teaching. Working in the field needs to be recognized as a valid form of academic research. We must also bring our new knowledge back into the classroom in order to make our students more competitive on the job market.

We must keep an eye on the future as well. What new career paths are emerging? What will people in those careers need to know? How can we best teach them? These are the questions we must constantly ask to avoid obsolescence.

Our task then is to keep occupational programs current and forward looking, create the occupational programs needed in the near future, and give our students employable skills in every area.

Let’s get to work!