Rockin’ with Rocketbook

I’ve just started using a Rocketbook Everlast Mini, Rocketbook Beacons, and the required iOS app. I’m not into product reviews, but wanted to make a post because I can already see how these products will definitely be part of my work productivity, especially the Beacons.

Rocketbook Everlast Mini with a black cover, a Pilot Frixion pen, and a folded microfiber wipeI chose the Mini mostly for personal use and used my own money to buy one. I didn’t want to spend a lot and thought the smaller form factor would be fine and perhaps suit my needs even better. So far, I’m happy.

Mini Pros

  • ∞ use? seems durable, but there appears to be minor etching on the page surface, not sure that will make a difference
  • encourages creativity: when the ink is your only consumable, I feel much more free to write down any little thought or sketch
  • cleans easily with only water: it’s not really a pain to have to wipe down each page, it’s actually cathartic in a weird way
  • back to analog! I’m always typing on a keyboard it seems and it’s nice to get back to pen on “paper”
  • there are other pen types in the Frixion line of pens, not just limited to the “ball point pen” experience of the pen that came with the Mini

Mini Cons

  • “odd” writing feel, no pencil-like experience
  • ink drying is longer than expected: they claim you need up to 15 seconds, but I’ve noticed it can take up to over a minute depending upon how much ink you’re using – when I’m sketching, I’m using much more ink than when I’m writing
  • no edge bleeds: it makes scanning more difficult
  • weather sensitive? not sure, but it doesn’t take much moisture to smudge the ink; scan your work often if you don’t want to lose your work

The Rocketbook Beacons are an interesting idea. Basically, these four stickers allow you to capture or broadcast any whiteboard space. Of course your need a smartphone running their app, but the app seems to work very well and is easy to use. I used to use my whiteboard all the time to brainstorm ideas or processes, but capturing them was always an issue. I used to use an app called CamScan, but saw an article saying I should avoid that app. Anyhow, Beacons definitely inspire me to pick up the whiteboard markers again!

Rocketbook App

  • Nice design
  • Free Rocketbook pages which you can print out, a feature that puzzles me since the whole mission of Rocketbook is to reduce the amount of paper we use
  • Flexible Destinations feature, but I don’t have access to store things in my various O365 Teams, I have to upload it to my OneDrive folder and then move it to a team location
  • Share with anyone is possible, but you have to make an extra click to access the “Share” option
  • Auto-rotation often does not rotate pages correctly – I thought it just used the QR code to determine orientation, but that is not the case; you can use the app to rotate the pages, but the QR code remains on the scan
  • No way to combine separate files into a single file without the use of 3rd party software

Calibration of Evaluations and Norms

The College just hosted a conversation about what performance evaluations might look like in the future. I for one am glad we had this conversation because it really does benefit everyone. If we’re all exceptional, then no one is exceptional. I believe that some people do have banner years and they should be rewarded for that extra effort. Everyone I know works hard and getting a “successful” rating is perfectly fine with me.

I had some concerns that this calibration effort might be out-of-step with what is being done elsewhere at the University, but frankly, I’m not part of the University-wide HR team and it’s beyond my purview. I’ve chosen to work here and can only hope that my hard work is recognized as being “successful.”

Rita had a good point about some folks would appreciate a little more structure, but I’m glad the College isn’t coming out of the gate with that structure – even though I’m one of those that would do better with it. One of the truths of the matter is that we’re not all apples. It’ll be difficult for the supervisors to work through the calibration meetings, but I appreciate their effort. We have very different responsibilities and they are not all easily comparable and therefore the language to describe achievement will not always be “from the same dictionary.” I like that those involved understand that there may be more art-than-science in the process and I’m confident from what I heard today that they will take the time to attempt to calibrate evaluations across the College.

It was a great show of leadership from the Dean down to the supervisors. I’m looking forward for the upcoming review process.

SmartBuilder Authoring Tool

My department, OIDI, recently purchased a license for SmartBuilder and we began learning to use the tool for future projects.Melissa Hicks mentioned that she was talking with Mark Heckel about the tool. I just caught up with him on the…

My department, OIDI, recently purchased a license for SmartBuilder and we began learning to use the tool for future projects.

Melissa Hicks mentioned that she was talking with Mark Heckel about the tool. I just caught up with him on the phone and he shared some very useful insights…

Accessibility

  • content is only accessible is if it is being run Windows 8 on a Windows XP machine (?) using Window Eyes (a screen reader); user has to manually turn on CC and if this is done the audio is turned off
  • when asked if SmartBuilder will be upgraded to be more accessible, their (Nab’s) reply was that it is a possibility for the future (one to two years potentially if ever)

Interface/Features

  • A number of the commands are not very intuitive (publishing courses for example)
  • The layers feature and working with multiple displays is clunky
  • Lacks the ability to create back-end database integration that is relatively easy to do with HTML5
  • YouTube content doesn’t import [well] into SmartBuilder

Propriety

  • HTML5 developers are far more common than those with expertise in SmartBuilder here at Penn State; Bill Rose comments that there is a new LinkedIn presence/community growing

Publishing

  • entirely Flash – this impacts the accessibility of the published content and playback, or rather lack there of, on iOS devices; also Tim Plummer confirmed that “Adobe is shelving Flash” – so why would we build new content in a technology that is being phased out by the originators of Flash?
  • defaults to save on their servers – there was concern over where the content would reside
  • fixed resolution – a specific resolution or size of the project has to be established and the content is fixed at that size as opposed to being flexible for viewing across a range of devices; content that is larger than the specified resolution results in scroll bars that have proven to be problem when they nest within one another; this contrasts with the fluidity of developing in HTML5

Update 2/14/13 – A formal response from Leif Cederblom of SmartBuilder

Hi Kent,

My name is Leif.  I’m the Director of User Experience at Suddenly Smart.  I’m writing because I saw a post you had made a few months back regarding why you thought SmartBuilder was not a good choice for developers there at Penn State.

I agree with your points regarding our current Accessibility situation.  Flash has been a bear to deal with, and even despite our best efforts, Flash has made it nearly impossible.  Unfortunately, Adobe has not been a great development platform for a number of reasons, and this is a prime example.

Your points about HTML 5 are also valid, but (and here’s the main reason for asking your further reflection…) we are releasing an HTML 5 conversion utility for SmartBuilder next month.  This conversion utility is part of the core code of our next version of SmartBuilder.  (It’s really not an if ever thing… this is something we’re furiously working toward.)

In the meantime, this HTML 5 conversion utility will also put us a step closer to having a better solution for accessibility.

Regarding one of your other criticisms that our displays are cludgy, well… I partially agree with you there, but also would point out that their functionality has enabled some advanced capabilities that are very valuable for building more robust content — in particular regarding the Flow Chart.

You mentioned that we lack the ability to do back-end database integration, but that is not in fact true.  SmartBuilder has a Server Communication object built-in that does just that.  (To be fair, this feature is more about data reporting, than reading in large amounts of content.)

YouTube content can be played through our iFrame object, which is pretty easy to use.  (It’s true that you do need to publish your content to view the final result when using the iFrame though.)

The publish process is done a bit differently from other tools because it is a server-based product, not a desktop product.  It needs to be published and downloaded in two distinct steps.

As for your content residing on our server, that is a choice that Penn State made.  You could install SmartBuilder on an internal server there (and actually empower as many authors as you wanted for a very reasonable price.)

I realize that for relatively static content, HTML 5 does have some benefits.  However, the reason behind SmartBuilder, and why it continues to be a popular tool in the market-place is because it allows people to go beyond building static content, and get into building more interactive exercises.  While HTML 5 does have these capabilities, as our content converter will show, most other tools still focus on very topical levels of interactivity.

I’m making the assumption that others listen to your advice, so  I am hoping to change your mind about SmartBuilder, and encourage you to give it a second chance.  While it may be more tool than necessary for just getting content online, it is a unique tool in allowing instructors to build more meaningful practice exercises.  SmartBuilder can still build content that no other authoring platform can.  It also would allow your organization to re-use, share and collaborate on content in a way that only a content management system can.

Seeing as that you don’t have a community account of SmartBuilder, I’m not even sure if you’ve seen it personally first-hand, so if you’d like a personal tour of the software, I would be happy to take the time to assist with that.  Between our innovative approach to accomplishing more advanced tasks, and our unlimited live support policy for clients, I think you would find it to be very well-supported, and actually quite a fun tool to work with.  (It really takes off the design blinders and let’s you build pretty much whatever you want.)


Thanks for your time Kent.

I look forward to being a resource.

Cheers,

Leif (11/29/12)

Roundtable Understanding the Law – Online Higher Education and Accessibility

Today’s webinar was a one in two part series on accessibility and focused primarily on legal aspects to online education and compliance.Both the National Federation of the Blind and the lawyer responsible for much of the successful litigation against institutions,…

Today’s webinar was a one in two part series on accessibility and focused primarily on legal aspects to online education and compliance.

Both the National Federation of the Blind and the lawyer responsible for much of the successful litigation against institutions, Goldstein, said very plainly that if you call the NFB for help, they will not go after you. They are understanding of and pleased with institutions that recognize they are not where they need to be and reach out to the NFB for guidance with accessibility compliance. Too bad Penn State didn’t get that message before we were sued. They also acknowledged that they do not have the resources to sue everyone, but hope that a few lawsuits will make 100 other take notice.

There were three examples of good practice given during the Q&A:

  1. Cal State
  2. Ohio State and
  3. Blackboard

Interestingly, the speaker didn’t have any examples of online-only institutions. Another speaker didn’t have any examples, but did mention that some vendors like Google are trying.

Penn State World Campus was mentioned in a good light. It was used as an example that we understand that we need to take action and that we were perceived as very active towards accessibility compliance.

Apparently, the University of Phoenix uses a “homegrown” LMS and is unique because of its resources. For example, they buy licenses of JAWS for new students and work with those students to ensure that it works with their systems.

I thought it was interesting that Kelly Hermann was beyond an understanding tone. Compliance is not an option. She does work to help faculty become aware of shortcomings through hands-on development, however the circumstances are that they either make the content fully compliant or they take it down.

It was also interesting that the one deaf panel member used a translator rather than using the captions and typing directly into the webinar chat.

TestOut LabSim 4.0

Brenda and I attended the LabSim 4.0 webinar “Navigating LabSim 4.0” yesterday and I captured a few notes from the session. Testout will be posting a link to the recording in a few days at: http://www.testout.com/home/educator-resources/instructor-tools/webinars.What are we looking to…

Brenda and I attended the LabSim 4.0 webinar “Navigating LabSim 4.0” yesterday and I captured a few notes from the session. Testout will be posting a link to the recording in a few days at: http://www.testout.com/home/educator-resources/instructor-tools/webinars.

What are we looking to get from this product/service?

  • the ability to cherry pick activities within a course
  • reporting on performance within those activities
  • a means to manage multiple classes and account holders
  • ability to create new accounts
  • single-sign on access for our students
  • IT support for the product?
  • a licensing agreement?

Potential next steps

  1. contact one of their sales reps
  2. provide access to courses for faculty to return a list of possibilities for use with a PSU course (work with Brenda on this?)
  3. share our needs assessment with TestOut (Craig Russon?)
  4. discuss potential services

Talking about ePortfolios

Notes from Clay Shirky’s TED talkWhat is an/my online identity?before: “pick [content] then publish” -> now: “publish then [others] pick [what they want from your content”example: gnarlykitty is a blogger in Thailand who covered the coup; she made the case…

Notes from Clay Shirky’s TED talk

  • What is an/my online identity?
  • before: “pick [content] then publish” -> now: “publish then [others] pick [what they want from your content”
  • example: gnarlykitty is a blogger in Thailand who covered the coup; she made the case that bloggers are independent, influential, and cannot be coerced
  • is reverse chronological ordering/tagging limiting?
  • portfolios are about crafting the presentation
  • what does it mean to have a personal archive?
  • ideas -> solutions, we need lots of ideas, even if they are half baked and even wrong
Notes from ePorfolio Pilot wrap-up
  • collect, reflect, select, and present
  • what takes the whole picture? context!
  • about your audience: be selfish, it’s ok, but is it really for me, my team?
  • audience will be asking, what’s the info i need?
  • we’re talking about thought put into action
  • check out chris long’s blog post on curating activities
  • save your stuff in a place that cares about you and won’t go away
  • artifacts: publications, presentations, categories, content

ePortfolio Meeting

ePortfolio isn’t necessarily for anyone elsecreate a narrativeconsider who our potential audience is – SRDP process, our reports2/month at a minimum = 24 for a year2 distinct phases of developing an ePortfolioCollect & ReflectSelect & Presentthis project is about the…

ePortfolio isn’t necessarily for anyone else
create a narrative
consider who our potential audience is – SRDP process, our reports

2/month at a minimum = 24 for a year

2 distinct phases of developing an ePortfolio
Collect & Reflect
Select & Present

this project is about the artifacts and the blogging is the narrative that wraps those artifacts

artifact = your published articles and presentations
Louise is using an “Artifact” cateogry to indicate the presence of an artifact

Kent – try a VT post
Patty – are people checking other people’s blogs? RSS readers

Mike – when you finish a post end with a well-written prompt to your audience

Use TrackBack’s by grabbing the tbURL from another blog into your “Outbound TrackBack URLs” field on the edit page.

Madison ’10: Casual Games

What is a casual game? marketed toward a mass market, found on Kongregate, Yahoo! Games, mobile phones; played in short bursts… etc. see hand outs – goal accessible by as many people as possibleMy Questions? Why do people develop free,…

What is a casual game? marketed toward a mass market, found on Kongregate, Yahoo! Games, mobile phones; played in short bursts… etc. see hand outs – goal accessible by as many people as possible

My Questions
? Why do people develop free, casual games? Marketing? Establishing yourself (to the community)? Loss-leader for future paid games?
? So, what’s the cost of developing these games? $, time, resources, etc.

Some of these projects started as items for courses and then spun off into a casual game

Win-win: sponsor pays developers (link and branding gets added to the game), public gets to play games, website then sells advertising on their websites

In higher ed we can exploit this to advertise vocations, programs, etc. – interesting business model, see “Gridlock Buster”

What’s the process of gamifying a simulation model – adds objectives, goals, rewards, progress through levels that get more difficult (each level adds a new chunk of information), add a narrative and characters, break down information into digestible chunks

Develop with the least number of interface controls, don’t make people start over – allow them to pickup where they last left off

Mochi – online scores, tracking, marketing, reporting

The mechanics of the game (the verb) is supposed to be the educational value… Gridlock Buster is about understanding patterns

Any good game teaches you something… it might not be practical, but you will learn something

The focus is on 2D for cost purposes

Games can be engaging with out being fun… think movies

When developing, begin with the variables that comprise the system you’re trying to get your learners to engage

How do you get started? Find the model, research on the internet

? What does it take to develop a gaming engine?
? How do you scope a game? Game Calculator

Madison ’10: Voicethread (VT) Pre-Conference Workshop

Raw Dump:Presenter Introduction: John Orlando (Norwich University, Vermont) began using VT to solve a problem: he had to cancel a f2f, RI course and decided to use VT to supplant a lecture and create a lecture.John is showing us the…

Raw Dump:

Presenter Introduction: John Orlando (Norwich University, Vermont) began using VT to solve a problem: he had to cancel a f2f, RI course and decided to use VT to supplant a lecture and create a lecture.

John is showing us the interface of VT. He’s using the “Roadrunner” VT example to demonstrate commenting.

LeeAnn: also consider debate, the public arena inspires the students to elevate their performance for a wider audience. Use VT to go deeper into f2f interactions.

My questions:
? Is it possible to export a VT for mobile/off-line viewing? yes, use “Export” but there is a fee for each export!! 🙁
? OAL time display?
? Are there email notifications if someone comments on your VT or a VT you’ve commented on?
? Since VT is Flash-based, can you upload interactive Flash models?
? Do you use a rubric to assess the student’s comments? the same rubrics you’d use in a discussion board?

John: wonderful way to learn, use photos and add your own voice to narrate the story; public vs. private… there are concerns and make your own decisions; FERPA allows us to assign public

Discussion: no ability to Close Captioning capabilities (synchronous captioning)

John: works well within ANGEL and Moodle, opens within the CMS to give the impression that everything is integrated

Discussion: Wacom tablets might be a good option for lots of pen annotations

Example: interactive art (photography) exhibit-Chernobyl

Discussion: code used to “embed” a VT into a website

<frameset rows="100%,*" border="0">
<frame src="http://voicethread.com/share/657268/" frameborder="0" />
<frame frameborder="0" noresize />
</frameset>

Discussion:
? Problems uploading PPT’s? Export slides as pictures.

John: he’s seeing more interaction than he’s gotten in a f2f course; possibility to cluster and reorder comments? hmm…

Example: students like to use VT over traditional discussions and offer more information through non-verbal cues, makes them feel more like they are in a classroom, a greater sense of instructor presence “Voicethreads for Teaching and Learning”

How many comments? “unlimited” but we don’t

Discussion: download VT’s are possible as static movies; there are multiple VT accounts possible – waah, i’ve reached my three free VT limit

LeeAnn: anchor your VT’s in a central question or prompt

John: use Copy to create a Master so that you can reuse it without comments, think future sections of the class

Tip: Use “My Identities” to add additional people to one account!

Evolution 2.0 Training

Converting a Course to 2.0So, if I don’t use PACTS, what does this mean to me?What are first confirmations?How do I access PACTS?Which courses are in PACTS and which ones aren’t? How does ISIS compare?What does a permissions error look…

Converting a Course to 2.0

  • So, if I don’t use PACTS, what does this mean to me?
    • What are first confirmations?
    • How do I access PACTS?
    • Which courses are in PACTS and which ones aren’t? How does ISIS compare?
  • What does a permissions error look like from Evo 1.0? How are these errors in/significant for this new system?
  • Can any of my courses go to “Rollover”?