cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog
The radio studio was in my hotel room in Washington DC on Tuesday– in town for the EDUCAUSE ELI conference, Jim Groom, Martha Burtis, and I (plus friend and guest Steve G) did what we could to keep ds106 radio on schedule — even pushing the radio concept farther with a call in show, or “Bitch n Design”
The topic will be “Bitch about ds106″³ and it is where I take live callers””and tweeters””concerns, ideas, and general impressions about ds106 thus far. I’ll ask you to consider what’s working, what’s not, what do you like, what should we kill, keep, etc. It’s no holds barred radio. I have done this every semester so far at about week 6, and doing it via the radio station is not only expedient, but could be very fun. I expect you all to play along.
And play we did.
We ran up to my room to use the wired connection about 15 minutes before start, and darned of the technology did not behave. Even with Jim praying for it:
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog
Despite my Nicecasting confidence, the application mixer refused to grab sound from Skype as a source- (it would try and fail). Maybe it was an issue with the new version if Skype? Or maybe it was a conflict of using the laptop mic as the input source for Nicecast and Skype needing it too.
Lacking time to troubleshoot, we punted. I gave the wire to Jim’s computer, so he could be the Nicecasting station, flipped on my MIfi so my laptop could be used to do Skype… and it worked well (despite my fumbling with the new Skype interface- apologies if we did not get to you).
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog
It was fascinating to hear the students honestly call out Jim for the short notice time on announcements and the over use of 80s music (okay, none of them did that)… but what other class has a freaking call-in show? One where the students get to give such direct feedback?
It was like smooth music to see how both Jim and Martha listend and openly addressed the student needs. The real joy was hearing the honest opinions of the students, many of whom are in different places of their ds107-ness.
There is a lot fo energy for this class, and I am addicted to it.
What I like about ds106 is how everybody can wang chung all night long…i just can’t get enough..it takes my breath away and i cannot fight the power of ds106 love.
Thanks for these photos and this post. It’s great to see the experience from the other side, especially having participated in this event remotely.
This particular teaching event struck me as very honest, if not brave. In my experience, many in higher ed pay lip service to “student centered learning.” Jim and Martha seemed to me to walk the talk.
As an added bonus, you’ve provided photos of Jim’s head from different angles – raw material for mashup. Thanks.
How did you find the energy to write this, I got home. Played with the computer for an hour, and fell asleep from 4 yesterday afternoon until now! Thanks for framing the event, and the audio of the shenanigans is here:
http://ds106.us/wp-content/audio/ds106_bitch_n_design-2-15-11.mp3
You are going to run this course again, right? I know a few of us here in ed tech land that would LOVE to crash the course right now, but didn’t want to make the organized chaos you have going on anymore chaotic 🙂
Plus, I STILL can’t get the radio stream to work, perhaps a Ustream channel in the future? Then we can see your pretty faces too 🙂
Ben, Ben, Ben…. there is no room for restraint in ds106- this is not for grandpappy’s “open” course. Bring the chaos!
There are some folks dabbling with a video show at http:/ds106.tv — but really, we dont need TV. I understand the interest, but it is a different experience, on its own neither better or worse, just different.
The radio is beautiful because it is showing ty power of what can be done with mere audio and what it can do to the human mind.
You could do a ustream channel with the video turned off 😛
If I have time I’ll crash, but often times when I crash something it’s either completely awkward, or a disaster…here’s to hoping I can achieve both 🙂
What is on Jim Groom’s ears. Those look like some kind of brace or some orthopedic devise extension? Is he ok? I he exploring direct data input? Please let me know. I admire him and worried that he is not well.