Do you recognize this sound? It’s the sound of change

Ahh the sound of change.  A similar clip was played by Graeme Codrington of tomorrowtoday.uk.com at the recent W.I.N. conference in Paris.  While he was playing the clip his 11 year old daughter walked into the room and asked what it was.

I can guarantee you that my 9 and 13 year old kids wouldn’t recognize the sound either.

And so it is with change.

What is known and normal to us in the field of training and development, especially when it comes to educational technology, can quickly become unknown and not normal.

While the known and the ‘normal’ bring ease and comfort, they certainly don’t bring innovation or welcome change.

As an example I’ll be diving into the opportunities that prezi.com presents, a tool which my good friend Tara Fenwick told me about.  It’s an astonishingly easy to use and engaging tool to create not only presentations but help you plan out your projects.

I welcome how Dyana Valentine handily uses adobe acrobat to record her sessions with clients.  Not only do you get her laser insight but you get the audio recording too. The video on her homepage is even more amazing when you know she did it in one take (and yes, she’s that exuberant and intriguing in person).

Danielle LaPorte is another great example.  She’s embedded some stunning videos in her Firestarter e-book.

I rarely do a workshop without using short video clips.  They’re lively, they’re engaging and they’re fun.  You can see my resources, including videos, on my delicious site.

Delicious is another handy educational technology, it’s a free social bookmarking site – where you can say good bye to not being able to find your favourite online resources because they’re all handily catalogued for you once you bookmark them.

All the technologies above are fairly easy to use but you first have to put out the welcome matt in your brain and create space to make it work.

And you?  What welcome matt are you putting out?  What new educational technology are you using?

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6 Responses to “Do you recognize this sound? It’s the sound of change”

  1. Linda Gabriel Says:
    October 22nd, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    Wow! That was kind of fun to listen to. Seems so long ago and far away… in that time before Facebook and Twitter. I’m not using anything so “new” but I am paying attention to formatting that is iPhone and iPad friendly. That means videos on youtube and not flashplayer dependent.

    I love what Danielle has done and am inspired by her example. I’m glad she chose not to go the old-fashioned publisher route. Yes, there are some folks who won’t be able to buy her “book” in a store, but the freedom she has to really communicate what she knows is too delicious to pass up.

    Thanks for an entertaining post that is a good illustration of what you are speaking of!

  2. Dyana Valentine Says:
    October 22nd, 2010 at 9:15 pm

    awesome post, Lee-Anne, you are such an awesome aggregationalist. The service I use to record client calls is Audio Acrobat: https://www.audioacrobat.com/

    I hadn’t heard of prezl–thanks!

  3. Lee-Anne Ragan Says:
    October 22nd, 2010 at 11:15 pm

    Hi Linda, yes indeed, seems ages ago and yet I can still remember sending my first (what I thought was miraculous at the time) fax. I think paying attention to formatting issues is very new. I’ve heard others say as well that it means staying away from flash.

    And yes, Danielle is one smart cookie. Not only does she have freedom to communicate but she gives us freedom of choice in how to hear and ‘consume’ her words. Thanks for your insightful comment Linda, always much appreciated.

  4. Lee-Anne Ragan Says:
    October 22nd, 2010 at 11:17 pm

    Thanks Dyana. Yummy- ‘aggregationalist’ – love the term! Stand by for more tales of Birmingham, Amsterdam and Paris – those blog posts seem to write themselves. And when I put the welcome matt out in my brain I will be trying audio acrobat, based on your great examples.

  5. Flora M Brown, Ph.D. Says:
    February 16th, 2011 at 8:27 am

    It’s amazing how quickly we forget what has gone before. With the spseed of change, it’s equally amazing how quickly we get accustomed to the new as if it had always been there.

    The only constant in techqnology is change.

    Thanks for sharing this.

  6. Lee-Anne Ragan Says:
    February 18th, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    Hi Flora- so happy to have your take on the post. I couldn’t agree more re ‘how quickly we get accustomed to the new as if it had always been there’. Your example using technology made me think of when I asked for a fax to be sent the first time. I asked for a copy to be made of the original document …. because I thought the original would somehow disappear into the ether. Wasn’t that how a fax worked? Somehow the machine would chew it up & spit it out the other end? Seems quaint and laughable now.

    Love the name of your blog (colouryourlifehappy.com/blog)- to me it means welcoming colour, creativity & play into your life via taking action yourself. Here’s to colouring!

    cheers
    Lee-Anne

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