Week 9: The Happy Secret to Better Work

Do you work to be happy or are you happy to work? Are you a glass-half full sort of a person, or are you frequently looking for the tap, worried the half that's left is disappearing too quickly? According to studies led by Shawn Achor, your optimism levels, your social support structure and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of a threat, are three times as likely as your I.Q. to predict your job success. Achor, a former distinguished educator at Harvard University, and now CEO of Good Think, Inc.,  researches positive outliers, or in other words, studies Positive Psychology.

Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living. It is a call for psychological science and practice to be as concerned with strength as with weakness; as interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst; and as concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling as with healing pathology. [published in Psychology Today: "What Is Positive Psychology, and What Is It Not?" May 16, 2008 by Christopher Peterson, Ph.D.]

Transcript can be read HERE.

I found this quote in the video to be particularly thought provoking as I thought about my interactions with our own students on campus:

"And what I found in my research and my teaching is that these students, no matter how happy they were with their original success of getting into the school, two weeks later their brains were focused, not on the privilege of being there, nor on their philosophy or their physics. Their brain was focused on the competition, the workload, the hassles, the stresses, the complaints."

Achor suggests ways to 'retrain' our brains to focus on the positive. Do you believe this is possible? Do you practice any positive psychology, yourself? In our data-driven world, where students are worried about transcripts, GPAs and what's on the next test, how do we encourage a positive approach? How do you do so in your own life?

Challenge: as suggested by Achor in this talk, recount something positive that has happened to you in the past 24 hours. Share in comments if you'd like, or just jot it down on a piece of paper on your desk. Put it where you'll see it for the next few days (Achor says this allows us to relive the positive moment).

Read more: Harvard Business Review: Positive Intelligence, published in January-February 2012.

Week 8: Random Tools You Can Use

For the post-holiday weekend I'm presenting some basic tips & tools, revisited. I've mentioned some of these tools in a previous Lunch & Learn. Their simplicity is worth repeating.

Tools:

Print Friendly: do you find yourself printing webpages for your files (analog files) or to pass along to an analog reader or for some other paper-based purpose? Or, do you wish you could just save a webpage to come back and read later? PrintFriendly is a website that will create a print friendly version of almost any website. Just copy and paste the link from your desired website into the PrintFriendly site. You can have the PDF mailed to you, download it immediately or sent it right to the printer. No login required.

Unfriendly file types. Have you ever received a document attachment that you couldn't open because you didn't have the right application? Zamzar is a file conversion site. You upload the file you want to convert (100MB limit), select the file type you want to end up with, enter your email address and click 'convert.' You'll get an email when the conversion is completed, with a link to the file for downloading.

Pump up the volume. Have you ever wished you could listen to a web-based story instead of read it? Perhaps you're also cleaning out your office, shredding old student exams or perhaps getting a pedicure? SoundGecko converts web based content into audio-based stories. A paid version allows you to convert PDF content to audio, too.

Share files? Look to the Google! Google Drive that is. You may already know you have Google Drive, but have you really used it? Google Drive operates like your f:drive, except it's available everywhere you can get to the internet. The next time you need to give someone a file, don't email the attachment. Instead it, share it via Google Drive. Upload to your own Drive, then share with your mate. You'll both maintain access to the file "in the cloud." If the file needs to be edited, you can either convert a Word document to a Google document, or just create one from scratch. Both you and your collaborator can edit without losing track of who is making changes. Bonus: did you know you can connect a file from your Google Drive to your Moodle site? When you are adding files to a Moodle course, check out the options OTHER than upload on the add file page. One of the options on the left-hand side is "Google Doc"

What's your favorite tech tool?

Week 7: What's the password?

When is the last time you've really thought about your passwords? And just for a moment, stop and consider how many "places" you frequent that have a password: your Coe network account, my.coe.edu,  and your CoeMail account, for beginners.  Your bank, Netflix, your mobile phone provider, your online bookmarking site, and your Skype account if you Skype. If you've got credit cards, you'll probably be asked for your password if you call in to inquire about a claim.

How safe is your password? Do you have a schedule for changing your passwords? Have you thought about WHO thinks so much about passwords?

Lorrie Faith Cranor is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and she's been thinking about passwords a lot.  In this TEDtalk, she shares the interesting results of studying thousands of passwords.

[or read the transcript]

If you're still using "welcome" or "12345678" as your password, perhaps this is inspiration to make a change.  SplashData, a security app producer based in Los Gatos, California, publishes a yearly list of the top 25 worst passwords. Is yours on the latest list?

1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. 123456789
7. 111111
8. 1234567
9. iloveyou
10. adobe123
11. 123123
12. admin
13. 1234567890
14. letmein
15. photoshop
16. 1234
17. monkey
18. shadow
19. sunshine
20. 12345
21. password1
22. princess
23. azerty
24. trustno1
25. 000000

So, how do you create a stellar password? Doug Aamoth, is a tech writer for the Times, and shares his best advice for passwords HERE.

Do you have a method or recipe for creating your passwords? Are you guilty of recycling your passwords? What's your best advice for remembering your passwords and/or creating a strong password?

Week 6: Video Killed the Radio Star

There had to be a first: 33 years ago this summer, MTV (Music Television) launched their broadcast with the Buggle's "Video Killed The Radio Star."

Watch the video on YouTube by clicking HERE.  And note, when you open the video in YouTube, you'll more than likely get a quick advertisement attached to the beginning of the video. You'll have the option to skip the ad after a few seconds. That was enough time for me to find out the first two times I pulled up the video the ads were selling female personal hygiene products and make up. You'll also see links to other similar videos; gems by Tommy Tutone (anybody remember who you'll get if you call 867-5309?) and Men Without Hats (where are their hats?)

Now, watch the video HERE. For this link I'm using a free online service called SafeShare.TV.  This service offers you a way to watch and share YouTube videos with advertisement and other external content removed. By copying and pasting the YouTube link into SafeShare. TV you'll get a URL to a page with just the video; no other advertisements and no similar suggested videos queuing up. You can even customize the name and background colors.  

Benefits: create SafeShare links for short video clips you might show in class or in a meeting. You can post the links to your Moodle page, PowerPoint, or create a Google Doc to hold your links. Or email the links to your group prior to meeting. No more awkwardness when a questionable ad pops up or unusual video links show up at the end of your video.

Note: occasionally a video on YouTube is set for "no embedding." When this happens you won't be able to use a service like SafeShare.

Other Video Tools You Might Find Helpful

 Zaption: is a tool for creating video-based quizzes or embedding extra content within videos. You can sign in with your Google account credentials or create your own user account. Free services allow you to add text, images, drawings, multiple choice/check box questions and open ended questions to the video.

While you're not capturing any user credentials (unless your first embedded questions is "Name"), you will see data on how viewers answered questions and distribution of answers, how much time they spent in the video, dates of viewing and more.

Video can be embedded from YouTube, Vimeo, NatGeo, TED, Discovery, NASA, edutopia, VSauce, CrashCourse, SciShow, CGP Gallery or you can upload your own videos.


Edited videos are referred to as "Tours" - here's a sample I created: Zombie Training.
Or view the Zaption Gallery for more examples, then try your own!

If you like the Common Craft style videos (I use them frequently - see Zombie Training above - and they are usually titled "In Plain English"), check out Wideo.  This is for you if you want to try your hand at the entire video creation; you can copy another Wideo from the gallery (if the creator has set it up for copying) or you can start from scratch. This is a fun tool, you'll feel like a movie producer! It's helpful to work through some of the tutorials before diving into Wideo. Warning: Wideo can be time consuming!

Lastly; I have a new tool in my office called a "Swivl". If you've ever considered recording yourself teaching for the purpose of improving your teaching methods, or perhaps capturing a portion of your class for student review or flipping, the Swivl would be a great asset. It holds an iPad, which is the recoding device. The Swivl uses follow-technology to track you (you'd be wearing a small dongle so the Swivel can find you) while you teach and move throughout the room. Drop me an email if you'd like to check it out.
 
 

Week 5: Wear Robots/Where are the Robots?

This week we have two readings concerning future technologies: wearable technology and robots.

In "So, Where are My Robots?", an article written for the professional trade journal IEEE Spectrum (published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), Erico Guizzo examines where personal robot technology currently is and speculates on where it is going.  Funding, open sources software platforms, altruistic purposes and common applications are all areas Guizzo explores.

While perhaps a few of us may have a personal robot in the form of a Roomba,  more of us might possess or be more familiar with "wearable technology".  Wearable technology is commonly defined as clothing and accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies. You've heard of Google Glasses, for instance?

Another wearable technology gaining popularity today is the activity tracking device (FitBit, Jawbone, Nike+ FuelBand). These devices track things like activity levels, movement, heart rate, sleep quality, and more. And, your watches are getting smarter all the time.

Lest you think wearable technology is something new, this article on Mashable, "The History of Wearable Tech; from Casino to Consumer" will take you all the way back to 1961.

So, where do you think wearable technology and personal robotics will take us? Do you have a wearable device? Do you want one? In what ways will these technologies help us? In what ways might they hinder?

 

Week 4: More MOOCs?

As a community of professionals in higher education, here are a few terms you may have heard during the past year: MOOC, flipped classrooms, gamification, blended/hybrid courses and active learning. You'll hear all these terms again, and more in Anant Agerwal's talk "Why MOOCs Still Matter".



If you participated in a previous version of 13 Things, you may recognize Anant Agerwal; we learned about his "Circuits & Electronics" course at MIT that had 155, 000 participants! Agerwal now leads edX , a nonprofit online learning venture of MIT and Harvard.

In this talk, Agerwal highlights what he sees when he re-imagines education: what do you see? Do you agree with the shifting dynamics of our learners? Is a blend of online and in class learning an ideal possibility? Does blended learning have a place in the small, liberal arts college?  When you imagine Coe in ten years or twenty years, do we look any different than we do today?

Week 3: Personal Digital Archiving

As a digital immigrant (a person born before the widespread use of digital technologies) my amateur photography habits fall into two distinct categories: BD and AD. Before Digital and After Digital.

Before Digital: I bought spools of 35MM film for my consumer-grade point and shoot film camera, taking careful aim and shooting no more than one or two pictures of each action or element I wanted to capture. I would then take my roll of 24 soon-to-be-pictures to the nearest developing center, and pay around ten dollars to have the film developed. I'd receive one (or two if it was a free doubles day!) copies of each photograph in a neat little envelope, with negatives tucked neatly inside their own sleeve. If I was lucky, about half the photos would be decent. Sometimes I'd tuck the good photos into photo albums or I'd stick the photo envelope into a box made just for the purposes of storing the photo envelopes. I'd occasionally mail (via US Postal Service) photos to friends and family.

After Digital: My initial investments are up front; in a digital camera or phone or tablet or almost any digital device that includes a camera. No longer do I pay for actual film and I rarely pay to have photos developed. I take 10-15 shots of everything, knowing I should get at least one decent smile from my kids out of the 15 attempts. My photos are no longer in a box or a magnetic page photo album (did anybody else hate those magnetic cellophane pages?), but they are on Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, Picasa/Google+ albums, on CDs in the bottom onf my desk drawer, and in my iPhotos application or the Nikon Digital Keeper that came with my camera. Frequently, I email or text photos to friends and family.

In both BD and AD times I've enjoyed looking through hard-copy photo albums or boxes and through digital photo albums. My kids don't seem to differentiate much between the two; a few weeks ago 5-year-old Cam asked if we could look at some pictures of him when he was little. I started to pull out his baby photo album (it was a between stage for me) and he said "no, on the computer" as if I'd made a silly mistake like looking for the milk in the cupboard instead of the fridge.

Our third thing is an article originally published last summer on NPR's All Tech Considered.
In The Digital Age, The Family Photo Album Fades Away by Heidi Glen addresses the generational preferences for the 'final' edition of your photos, but also encourages us to think like an archivist when it comes to our digital photography collections.

What do you do with your photographs? Are you archiving your life in photos? Have you determined a way to ensure the great images you're capturing today will be around for a lot of tomorrows? Share your thoughts on this article and your ideas and tips for preserving photos in the comments.