Learning is Change

This video demonstrates the one of the most fundamental ways I look to connect educators: Online Roundtable Discussions. This project has allowed me to facilitate conversations with hundreds of educators throughout 2014, and has sparked even greater numbers of conversations after each one. The video shows just a few of the people that have taken part in Project Roundtable (http://34.136.86.195.nip.io/learningremodeled/portfolio-item/roundtable/). I also bookended the video with excerpts from my #2minPD on Blended Learning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W5qSO6ompw).

I believe deeply in the power of connection, and of making connections for others. If we can bring people together with a common purpose, we allow authentic learning to be at the forefront of our professional practice. It is with this belief in mind that I created and continue to engage in Online Roundtable Discussions.

Thank you to all connected educators around the world. I learn from and with you. Ever Day.

Alright, this was way easier than I thought it was going to be. You do have to copy and paste a couple of commands into your Terminal and turn on Developer mode in your Chrome extensions, but that is really all that there is to it. I’m just writing this out in case you are looking to do this and play around, but here is what Angry Birds Star Wars looks like on my Mac:

1. Install Homebrew (follow the first instruction on this page… that’s it.): Homebrew — The missing package manager for OS X
   

   Homebrew installs the stuff you need that Apple didn’t.

2. Install NPM and Node.js (follow the first instruction on this page… that’s it.): Setting up Node.js and npm on Mac OSX | Shape Shed
   

   Setting up Node.js and npm on Mac OSX

3. Install ChromeOS-APK (follow the download and install instructions on this page): chromeos-apk/README.md at master · vladikoff/chromeos-apk
   

   npm install chromeos-apk -g

4. Download and install the right version of the ARChron extension (follow the instructions on this page): chromeos-apk/archon.md at master · vladikoff/chromeos-apk
   

   ARChon runtime lets you run unlimited number of Android APKs created with chromeos-apk on Chrome OS and across any desktop platform that supports Chrome.

If you are the type of person who is really looking to test out a lot of Android Apps but doesn’t know which ones will work with this method, here is a quick spreadsheet of nearly all of them that have been tried. Please note: this spreadsheet contains links to download APK files as well. If you haven’t paid for the APK through the Google Play store, please don’t download the APK for use on your Mac.

There is a lot of juice in transformational change. Everyone is looking for it, coveting it above all other types of change.

But, I wonder if there needs to be a defense of incremental change. I wonder if we need to think about how “better” is something really amazing.

The reason why this came up for me this morning is that yesterday I updated to iOS 8 on my iPhone.wow there is nothing radically different or transformational within the operating system, everything works better. Even the fact that I am able to dictate this entire blog post without stopping the dictation after every paragraph is something that I have been wanting to do for years.

Better is amazing in this regard.

Because these changes are not transformational, I don’t have to learn a whole new paradigm of workflows or management for my ideas. Rather, all I have to do is embrace the subtle differences that make every interaction more amazing.

This makes me wonder where we might find better in our own lives. When can we champion incremental change something worth pursuing.when can we make it a ration a priority instead of innovation.

Now, I don’t mean that innovation in and of itself is bad. Instead, I’m talking about how people use innovation and transformational change as a way to obfuscate the fact that they don’t truly understand what has come before.

It is in this understanding that we truly can step up on the shoulders of giants rather than knocking them out at the kneesevery time we have a new idea.

But, what do you think? When is incremental change and advocating for “better” the best strategy for championing great work?

This is the All-Day Roundtable to support any and all teachers that are looking to use Webcams, microphones, Swivls, iPads, Chromebooks and any other device that helps teachers to collaborate with one another throughout this school year.

Please come and ask/answer questions. Please come and share your own educational excitement.