The Ed non-Tech (EnT) Podcast

Here it is again! We’re burning up the interwebs! We’re burning up the time! Please check the medias below for all the whizzing and banging we’re capable of within the rule of law!

Video for all your #ednontech purposes! & Then some!

Smoke from your ears will signify success! #ednontech

Though it’s been just a week since recording, I’m feeling remarkably separate from this topic!

So, in terms of what’s been whizzing! and banging! in my current milieu, I’m feeling extremely hopeful around my recent forays into Substack!

The 506 Report is going to be lit, but if it were merely a blogging platform I’d have little else to say! In fact, I’m saying that with fewer than five days on the platform, I’d be 100% fine stepping away from Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn!

There are lots of reasons for this, but the biggest is that as the newsletter is the basis for the wider format, it favors long-form writing, while also providing a feed-like scroll wherein following, liking, and retweeting of “notes” can happen easily… it has a social media ecosystem which is focussed on readers and readership, while also maintaining robust video and audio posting tools. In fact, many of the notes which are cropping up in my feed are to the effect of saying permanently goodbye to Instagram, Facebook, and/or the-platform-that-shall-not-be-named!

I can see it! So… if I disappear from all things Meta one of these months… you will know that I’m easily found!

Further to all this, I’ve started some early, but to my mind highly lit, experiments in using generative AI voice clones for the more efficient rendering of poetry and other writing from text-to-voice, then overlaid with (or is that grafted upon?) openly-licensed rhythm, melody, and visual elements… to effectively create a kind of trap music with corresponding bespoke video content!

Phew! Call the firefolk to put out that hot mess!

This is all to say that we’ll have more tangible and developed (and tangibly developed) examples and experiments to speak to when next we are out in these parts!

Thanks as ever to Doug for being such a great pal and partner on these here e-adventures!

Whizbang (noun)

A type of firework that made a whiz before exploding.

A small artillery shell.

Someone or something that holds an explosive amount of success, skill or effectiveness.

There are two major issues:

Gilbert, W. (1996, September). Supporting 50 classrooms full of whiz-bang technology. In Proceedings of the 24th annual ACM SIGUCCS conference on User services (pp. 65-66). Chicago

The projector, the operating system, and the educational software affect effective use of large-screen systems for whole-class instruction. Even when all of these factors are aligned, instructional benefits can only be realized when teaching methods are designed to take advantage of the new capabilities. 

Aspects of teaching that have been affected in classrooms observed include:

Planning and Preparation

Lesson Organization and Sequencing

Teacher Actions 

Bull, G., & Garofalo, J. (2006). The 20-Foot View. Learning & Leading with Technology, 33(5), 36-37. Chicago

Two computer-based technologies are becoming increasingly prevalent in the delivery of on-campus instruction: 

(1) online course management systems and specialized collaborative environments that permit electronic communication of classroom instruction materials to students, among students and between student and instructor; and (2) wireless network systems that allow faculty and students with mobile computers to communicate with their campus networks.

—

Teaching in the wireless classroom

Myers, S. C., & Talley, D. A. (2007). Looking beyond the Whiz-bang technology: using mobile learning technology tools to improve Economic instruction. Available at SSRN 957058. Chicago

The key is decisions, not just technology. 

—

But whiz-bang capabilities don’t create real value unless an organization incorporates these new techniques into its day-to-day operations. 

Mankins, M. C., & Sherer, L. (2015). Creating value through advanced analytics. Bain & Co., Feb, 11.

Whiz bang

How did I get so old using nostalgic phrases?

Whiz bang impact

You said you’re tired of this goddamn town.
You said you’re gonna burn it all down.
Drive your car to the end of the bridge.
Sit and watch the smoke rise. #ednontech

For our first episode of 2025, we’ve opened up our various variousnesses (sic) ahead of the winter semester proper to consider where we’ve been and where we hope to be in the early days of the new year!

Y’all don’t need a weatherfolk to know which way the wind blows! #ednontech

If it’s between your ears, feel free to share! #ednontech

Here I sit, in the waning days of 2024… very nearly down to the waning hours, if you want to know!

I’ve made a commitment to myself to be better at wellness… and particularly to my future self!

As we’ve gotten three episodes out in the past few days, I feel like I am finally getting ahead of something for a change! If I’m looking back at my 2024 personally and professionally I’m seeing a person in constant motion, having very little chance in the moment to process the significant changes… the severe motions afoot!

We’re talking hotel rooms, multiple cities, job interviews, cross-country travel, and some major peaks and valleys in key relationships and roles and you know, existentially!

Phew, I’m saying!

Doug let me know when we recorded the last episode yesterday that this would be a flotsam and/or jetsam and/or lagan and/or ballast… leaning into our digital clutter, perchance?

I think I’m going to keep beating this Microsoft 365 subscription thing for awhile. Ostensibly, all the apps that I’m using have their equivalents outside a subscription model. You’d think perhaps I’d get enough of these at work!

I’m here to tell you that this personal instance of 365 is showing me on my desktop in clear visuals how much time I have, and what I can achieve both in the work hours and outside out. My work 365 is, from a usage standpoint, a sub-instance within my larger personal education infrastructure (PEI). My educational practice is focused at my job, but also transcends those boundaries.

My PEI consists of the 365 instance; it also includes the WordPress sites for this podcast and other media efforts; and what elements of Google I’ve found preferable to any alternatives; notably YouTube and Drive! It would also include my social media presences which include Instagram and Facebook, with content from those being shared by default to a Threads profile. Perhaps ironically, the platform where I have the most “clout”… i.e., LinkedIn, another Microsoft product, is the one I engage with the least frequently!

All of this is meant to be used more mindfully and intentionally than I’ve done in the past. Much of that comes from new habits of mind and life and movement. The more time I spend away from my kids, the better an example I want to be for them… so that in the limited times we get to see each other, and when they are away from me for months at a time, that I can be a reasonable, kind, low-key kind of person. That’s what I’m aspiring for! At the end of the day, being a Dad is the most important aspect of who I am. So I’m trying to use that as my guiding principle… to wit, does any given behavior align with that goal? Does the same behavior move my ability to be an outstanding father forward? Those are the two questions I’ve been asking myself in just about any situation I’ve encountered lately. It’s a positive way of deciding what’s important, I think!

Thanks to Doug for being such an amazing creative partner in this endeavor! Thanks to anybody who checks these notes, the video, the audio, or any other aspect of this show for any reason whatsoever! We are grateful in all ways for your interest in our #ednontech!

Derelict – goods sank to the bottom and abandoned

Lagan – goods sank to the bottom and tethered by a marker to be potentially recovered

Jetsam – goods jettisoned and abandoned

Flotsam – goods floating on the surface and may be reclaimed

… demonstrate that campuses lack a robust Celebration, Appreciation, and Recognition (CAR).

There is a vast body of research that demonstrates that CAR improves motivation, morale, and performance within organizations.

Kezar, A., & Elrod, S. (2020). Taken for granted: Improving the culture of celebration, appreciation, and recognition in higher education. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 52(5), 29-36.

Planning provides a thoughtful blueprint to guide our instruction. However, remember the learning environment is dynamic and ever-changing. 

Rice, A. H., & Mars, M. (2023). Planning for Effective Instruction. The Art and Science of Teaching Agriculture: Four Keys to Dynamic Learning. https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/teachagriculture/chapter/planning-for-effective-instruction/

“zelfsturing” has been the subject of much discussion. It is defined as the ability in self-management that students will need in the future and is a characteristic of learning processes in which students have a relatively large input and responsibility.

Voskamp, A., Kuiper, E., & Volman, M. (2022). Teaching practices for self-directed and self-regulated learning: Case studies in Dutch innovative secondary schools. Educational Studies, 48(6), 772-789.

** This is one of my favourite articles I have presented in the run of this podcast. **

… conclude that the human factor is often considered as the most influential factor on the chances of failure or success.

Educational innovations, such as implementing a new pedagogic method such as problem-based learning, are sometimes the result of an intuitive and hasty decision to change. And without a proper investigation of aspects as problems the innovation is supposed to solve, needs of the future users, willingness of different participants to cooperate and success and fail factors of this particular project, the success of the innovation is at stake. 

Kirschner, P. A., Hendricks, M., Paas, F., Wopereis, I., & Cordewener, B. (2004). Determinants for Failure and Success of Innovation Projects: The Road to Sustainable Educational Innovation. Association for Educational Communications and Technology.

Pressey’s Teaching Machine – originally only offered multiple choice questions

There are more people in the world than ever before, and a far greater part of them want an education. The demand cannot be met simply by building more schools and training more teachers. Education must become more efficient. … In any other field a demand for increased production would have led at once to the invention of labor-saving capital equipment. 

in the 192O’s, when Sidney L. Pressey designed several machines for the automatic testing of intelligence and information. … Pressey’s machines succumbed in part to cultural inertia; the world of education was not ready for them. 

Skinner, B. F. (1958). Teaching Machines: From the experimental study of learning come devices which arrange optimal conditions for self-instruction. Science, 128(3330), 969-977.

Lagan

What Derelict, Lagan, Jetsam, & Flotsam would the audience like us to address in more detail in a future podcast?

I’ve got that dataset.

&

Tirades, I thought I was done with them.

The party raged for seven days until it was complete
Bottles buried in the snow lay hidden until spring
Monuments abandoned #ednontech

We managed to squeak in another episode before December 31, 2024! This one is all about a subject near and dear to my heart… and my LinkedIn profile!… namely, the somewhat nebulous art of instructional design!

The non-flora and non-fauna abounds! #ednontech

The very last audio we’re prepared to commit to in 2024! #ednontech

We’re just about there! We’re more than a week out from the winter solstice! According to science, from hereon out the days are getting longer until June!

I nearly named this episode Map of the City as a nod to that fantastic song off the inimitable Royal Trux record… maybe their best, for my money… Thank You!

Instructional design… or what I now recognize as instructional design… saved me during my first six months of teaching English in South Korea! Applying a somewhat constructivist approach through the design and delivery of educational media for use in face-to-face, small seminar style delivery… all of which I lacked the terminology to describe as such at the time… circa 2006-07… gave me the sense of self-efficacy that I needed to better carry out other functions of my role. Having those activities physically started in the form of worksheets and the like was a serious step into intentional, mindful approaches that I have since tried to develop and hone in that setting and in others ever since! These efforts culminated in an ID-focussed M.Ed 2008-10… and have, for better or worse, informed my overall approach as an educator in the various roles and contracts and other initiatives I’ve been involved in since the early/mid ’10’s!

As the beginning of the new semester gets closer with each day, I’m looking at ID as my first line of planning! When I say there were lessons learned about engagement, evaluation, project management, and classroom delivery… you know I mean a lot of all of those!

And so, I’m finding a paid subscription to a personal instance of Microsoft 365, with particular use for Word, One Drive, and Outlook… ESPECIALLY Outlook… is helpful! I’m bricking in my classes and office time and prep time… but, more importantly, I’m bricking in my wellness time with specific activities associated with each block… for example, Cinema Saturdays!

As I move further into my two-year contract as an English instructor here in Fort Mac, I’m hopeful these investments in personal education infrastructure (PEI) will help me best contribute to this role to the full extent of my abilities within a bounded time-set! That is, Outlook to the rescue! It’s a matter of wanting to keep this job as long as I can to be sure, but it’s also about making the wisest use of what remaining time I have! Forty-six is still laughably early in middle age! But malaise can be real! Genetics and circumstances can work against you in an eye-blink!

Wellness is my watchword going into 2025. Without it, what does any one of us have? And how can we be of any good to anyone else whatsoever, never mind ourselves!

2024 going out like it came in! Nose down, eyes forward… both with this here #ednontech and in other areas! Here’s hoping what’s ahead is rad for you and yours!

Despite these indications of vitality and growth, an undertone of criticism depicts instructional systems design as:

Anglin, G. J. (1995). Instructional technology. Past, present, and future, 15.
Chicago

… highlights two practices that have, over the years, formed the core of the field. These two practices are 

(a) the use of media for instructional purposes and 

(b) the use of systematic instructional design procedures (often simply called instructional design)

Reiser, R. A. (2001). A history of instructional design and technology: Part II: A history of instructional design. Educational technology research and development, 49(2), 57-67. Chicago

At the master’s level, the emphasis should shift from training students to be users of instructional technology to preparing them to manage, supervise, and inspire those who use instructional technology…” 

A doctoral student in instructional design should be able to identify, modify, and develop an instructional design theory. 

Irlbeck, S. A. (2011). Essay: Educating for an instructional design and technology future. The Journal of Applied Instructional Design, 1(2), 19-24.

… students might graduate with a degree in the field when they have actually learned and done very little concerning the actual practice of instructional design—or evaluation, or research. 

West, R. E., Thomas, R. A., Bodily, R., Wright, C., & Borup, J. (2017). An analysis of instructional design and technology departments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 65, 869-888.

… one of the themes running through the history of the field is that new technologies tend to crop up in the wake of new scientific advancements. For example, 

Molenda, M. H. (2022). History and development of instructional design and technology. In Handbook of open, distance and digital education (pp. 1-18). Singapore: Springer Singapore.

ID

How can instructional design get past the nebulous soft boundaries that are too often imposed on ID practitioners?

I recognize that, I do not recognize that, this will help to address gaps in my knowledge.

There’s a riot in my house
Chaos is blossoming
Run and hide, little mouse
Go on and get yourself together #ednontech

Another we sure did a ways back! A two-parter on innovation… as it turns out, we find this to be a muchly-abused word! I’m almost positive that is so!

Coming at you asynchronously from the other side of the Supercollider #ednontech

We can’t live under… for too much longer! Or can we? Tune in to find out! #ednontech

OK, so I’ll add a bit more here!

This episode and the previous were recorded at the same time!

It was from within personal circumstances that have subsequently changed, and in the midst of a college semester that is now more than a week over!

As such, I’ll say that to my past self: Past Self, for all the strain you may be experiencing or feeling… in a few weeks, it’s all gonna be fine! More than fine, honestly!

You’re going to have a low-key, dry holiday in Fort Mac! You’re going to miss your kids! You’re going to send many esoteric Instagram DM’s, many to individuals and/or entities you’ve only ever known through social media apps and, in some cases, the Righteous Power of Punk RockTM !

And… as to the newly refurbished only slightly worn and torn personal education infrastructure (aka PEI)? I have two words that are going to revolutionize the way you look at your personal time to professional time ratio (PT/PT-RTM):

Microsoft. Outlook.

Except for personal usage!

Your mind is blown, right? I can tell, sitting here in my apartment in Fort McMurray, northern Alberta, Canada… that your mind is blown!

More on this radical experiment in the next post!

Too often the assumption is made that student-teachers and teachers need to know how to use computer technology without first asking why they need to know and importantly, what they need to know…

Wild, M. (1996). Technology refusal: Rationalising the failure of student and beginning teachers to use computers. British Journal of Educational Technology, 27(2), 134-143. Chicago

Education is the area of enterprise that suffers the most from the baby and bath-water syndrome.  (adapted from John Dewey, 1920) 

Electronic (E) Learning (L), Management (M), Needs (N) 

E before the L/M/N: 

Technology is the answer; what is the question? 

N Before E/L/M: 

Is your project really necessary? 

M Before E/L/N:  

It’s not what you do, but the way you do it—that’s what gets results. 

L Before M, N, or E: 

Students + Teachers + Materials = Knowledge Sharing and Skills Mastery

Romiszowski, A. J. (2004). How’s the e-learning baby? Factors leading to success or failure of an educational technology innovation. Educational technology, 44(1), 5-27.

Long before the Covid-19 pandemic, critical researchers have noted the discrepancy between promises and improvements brought by education technology.

The catchphrase and an utopia has been over decades, if not for centuries, that technology will somehow ‘disrupt’ or revolutionize education.
Teräs, M., Suoranta, J., Teräs, H., & Curcher, M. (2020). Post-Covid-19 education and education technology ‘solutionism’: A seller’s market. Postdigital Science and Education, 2(3), 863-878. Chicago

Ultimately, how teachers respond to externally generated content and how teacher beliefs and practices influence technology integration in the classroom will determine the extent to which the cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes expected from ICT-led initiatives are realized.

Chand, V. S., Deshmukh, K. S., & Shukla, A. (2020). Why does technology integration fail? Teacher beliefs and content developer assumptions in an Indian initiative. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68(5), 2753-2774.

… we contend that an overly-narrow framing of digital technology is a crucial element in the persistent failure of the majority of these Ed-Tech initiatives.

… our own approach toward education and Ed-Tech initiatives is rooted in the conviction that one of the greatest responsibilities of today’s society is to educate people at the height of our time. This implies a keen critical awareness of the positive and negative legacy of the past, to understand and participate actively and responsibly in the present, and to be able to improve it in order to build a better future.

Sancho-Gil, J. M., Rivera-Vargas, P., & Miño-Puigcercós, R. (2020). Moving beyond the predictable failure of Ed-Tech initiatives. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(1), 61-75.

Discontinuance

What is a measurement for success in ed tech innovations?

Innovation failure

&

Pretty much everything I’ve got goes back to Dewey!

We can’t live under
For too much longer
We can’t live under
Supercollider once again #ednontech