WebedtecH

Wes Fryer over at MSC ran into a problem presenting at COSN:

Apologies for Ustream non-event today » Moving at the Speed of Creativity

My apologies that my scheduled session broadcasts over Ustream did not happen today at COSN. The sessions were held in the basement of the Hyatt hotel, where unfortunately there was not any cell phone data network coverage or service. Wired Internet connections were provided at sessions, but apparently the network at the hotel is configured to block ports used by Ustream for broadcasts. We never could get a computer to actually “connect” to a Ustream channel room for a broadcast.

We did, however, record both sessions with audio, and Steve Hargadon recorded my session on copyright with video as well. It was great to finally meet Steve in person My session on Cell Phones for Learning was well attended but fast: Just a 15 minute demo session. That was probably the fastest conference presentation I’ve shared to date

My son helped me with some audio recording, and he recorded the session “Unleashing the Transformational Power of One-to-One Computing in K-12? with permission from the panelists to share it later as a podcast.

While I do feel bad that Wes ran into this problem (and for those of us who present frequently it is always a lurking danger) there is a silver lining to the happening.

Wes’ son got an “authentic experience” in troubleshooting an unpredictable situation, adapting, and coming up with a solution.  This is the part we seldom proclaim as the victory in educational technology.  Normally it would be touted that he was able to practice audio recording.  While nice, that’s just the smallest thing of value in the instance.  Bring the young man to me in several years for an interview being able to demonstrate the problem solving skills he showed then and I’ll show you someone who will be employed…regardless of the state of technology.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Creativity, Personal Growth, Presenting, education, examples, schools, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.