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Yesterday, I took Transpo (the public transportation system in South Bend) to University Park Mall to get my hair cut.

The trip took 2 hours and 45 minutes. Here’s the breakdown:

• 8:45-8:50 – Home to the IU South Bend bus stop (a 3-block walk)
• 8:50-9:00 – Wait at the IU South Bend bus stop (bus was 5 min. late)
• 9:00-9:10 – Bus ride to South Street Station
• 9:10-9:20 – Wait at South Street Station*
• 9:20-9:50 – Bus ride from South Street to UP Mall via Notre Dame
• 9:50-10:00 – Wait for Master Cuts to open
• 10:00-10:20 – Haircut at Master Cuts (always a great cut, Jen!)
• 10:20-10:50 – Wait for bus at UP Mall (The #7 leaves the mall at :17 and :47 of each hour . . . couldn’t get a haircut and back to the stop in just 17 minutes.)
• 10:50-11:15 – Bus ride from UP Mall to South Street Station via Notre Dame
• 11:15-11:20 – Wait at South Street Station for the #9
• 11:20-11:30 – Bus ride from South Street Station to IU South Bend bus stop.

I’m not complaining about the time factor: I had the time to make the trip and I did some work proofreading some handouts on the bus (and listened to tunes on my iPod). But what struck me was that had I chosen to drive my own car, the trip would have taken under an hour!

So my post today isn’t about the lack of public transit, but my thoughts about those who absolutely must use public transit and how time in their lives is different than time in my life. If public transportation is the only means by which some people can navigate the city, how difficult it must be to coordinate with the bus schedules.

That I can choose to take the bus and that I have the time to do so, I am grateful. That I have a great bicycle and can choose to ride rather than walk or bus it, I’m also grateful (though in South Bend, there are places, many places, where bicyclists aren’t welcome). That I have a car and can afford the costs of keeping it and driving it, yeah, grateful too.

But yesterday’s experience also taught me that those might just be luxuries in our lives, and we should be thankful.

*What’s up with Transpo’s South Street Station?!?!? Posted all over the place are signs indicating there is to be no smoking on Transpo property. But while waiting for my busses yesterday I had to move twice to get away from someone smoking. People get off the bus with cigarette in mouth and as soon as foot hits concrete, they light up!  Come on Transpo! Enforce your rules! I deserve clean air!

I was moved to tears.  Literally. 

It generally doesn’t take much to raise a lump in my throat.  You know the feeling: that hard-to-swallow-pain-tears-welling-in-your-eyes feeling you get when something touches you deep inside.  Well, this video did just that.

Free Hugs on YouTube

Enjoy.

 

OK, AECT is in its final day (for me).  There are still some post-conference workshops set for tomorrow, but I’ll be heading home.

A colleague of mine from Oklahoma State University, Dr. John Curry, blogged on his site about being “a member of the club” and how much he enjoys the social aspects of the conference.  I, too, am delighted to be in that club as well.  Though we get together just once a year, the relationships and professional connections we make here turn into real-world research projects and help us become contributing members to the field of instructional/educational technology.

We are a diverse group!  We range from uber-geeks whose role is deep behind the scenes making sure that the hardware and network operations function flawlessly on a day-to-day basis to researchers who ask questions about what we do and (maybe more importantly) why we do what we do to those like me: faculty member who use technology and encourage others to use technology wisely and in ways that make sense.

Another AECT annual conference is “under our belts” and I’m taking away a number of great ideas, a renewed excitement about what I do, and sense of “being in the club.”

 

Those of you who know me know I love Chipotle!  And now, with one open in Mishawaka, a Chipotle burrito is just a few minutes away.

If you haven’t had one, get out there and get one!  It’s on Main St. right near The Home Depot.

Check ‘em out online: www.chipotle.com

I’m listening to John Couch, VP for Education at Apple Computing. Apple is a tremendous friend of education and I’m always amazed at their willingness to work with educators on advancing student learning. Couch talks heavily about a “digital” student who creates and distributes digiital content. But my experience doesn’t support his assertions.

I might agree that students are wired. In my classes of undergraduates, the moment I announce a break for 10 or 15 minutes, a large number of my students immediately turn their attention to FaceBook. There, they post photos of and commentary on their lives. These digital life portfolios are updated constantly; it is fast becoming the communication medium of choice for students.

What is bothersome, though, is how unable students are to transfer their knowledge of FaceBook (or MySpace or Friendster or other social networking software) to what we faculty believe are the common tasks for completing work in an educational technology course.

IU South Bend is a LiveText school. All students subscribe and are taught basic LiveText skils in the foundational technology course. Yet students struggle mightily with simple skills such as attaching a file to LiveText document.

Students can easily create slide shows of digital photographs from FaceBook . . . but to create a PowerPoint slide show is stretching their skills.

Students “blog” their life activities on FaceBook, but reflection on academic work beyond a single sentence such as “this activity was fun” is beyond them.

Why are our future teachers so digitally skillful outside the classroom, but so digitally timid inside the classroom? What can we as faculty do to better engage students in their digital environment while maintaining our desire to align to standards, evaluate dispositions, and produce teachers who are skills, knowledgeable, and professional?

trackstar.4teachers.org

TrackStar is a great tool for leading students to the exact spot on the web you want them to be . . . no more hunting and clicking and off-task behavior.

So, what’s up with drivers in South Bend, IN???

Here’s the scoop:

• in South Bend, 35 MPH means it’s OK to drive 45;
• in South Bend, even though the traffic lane is marked for 1 lane, if 2 cars fit so be it;
• in South Bend, S-T-O-P means slow just a bit, then cruise through the intersection
• in South Bend, bicycles and their riders are road hazards meant to be ridiculed and threatened;
• in South Bend, yellow lights and red lights only apply the driver behind, but not me.

Never before have I lived in a place where traffic laws and regulations are routinely ignored by both civilians and police officers alike.

What’ll it take to wake people up and drive safely???

Today is the first day of the 2006 edition of the annual meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technologies. This is an organization devoted to the advancement of research and utilization of educational technology and an organization in which I participate as an active member.

This year, I am presenting a 1/2 day workshop with Dr. Susan Stansberry, my dissertation advisor from Oklahoma State University, a roundtable with Dr. John Curry, also from Oklahoma State University, and presenting a concurrent session developed by Ms. Sydney Bontrager, IU South Bend; Ms. Joanna Azar, South Bend Community School Corporation; and me. Syd and Joanna aren’t able to be here in Dallas, but are participating in the presentation via video.

It’s always a joy to come to AECT and connect with colleagues from across the country and around the world. AECT is truly an international conference with representatives from a variety of countries outside the US.

In addition, I always learn something new to bring back to my daily work. In this particular case, I’ve just learned how to set up and deploy a blog on my website (www.spitzertech.com) and am writing here for the first time.

AECT! Always a great experience.