“I know from my own education that if I hadn’t encountered two or three individuals that spent extra time with me, I’m sure I would have been in jail.” – Steve Jobs

“I’m a very big believer in equal opportunity as opposed to equal outcome. Equal opportunity to me, more than anything, means a great education. Maybe even more important than a great family life. We could make sure that every young child in this country got a great education. We fall far short of that.” – Steve Jobs

“It gave a tremendous level of self-confidence, that through exploration and learning one could understand seemingly very complex things in one’s environment.” – Steve Jobs

“School was pretty hard for me at the beginning.” – Steve Jobs

“[In school] I encountered authority of a different kind than I had ever encountered before, and I did not like it. And they really almost got me. They came close to really beating any curiosity out of me.” – Steve Jobs

“[My teacher] basically bribed me back into learning with candy and money and what was really remarkable was before very long I had such a respect for her that it sort of re-ignited my desire to learn.” – Steve Jobs

“I’d like the people teaching my kids to be good enough that they could get a job at the company I work for, making a hundred thousand dollars a year. Why should they work at a school for thirty-five to forty thousand dollars if they could get a job here at a hundred thousand dollars a year?” – Steve Jobs

“The unions are the worst thing that ever happened to education because it’s not a meritocracy. It turns into a bureaucracy, which is exactly what has happened. The teachers can’t teach and administrators run the place and nobody can be fired. It’s terrible.” – Steve Jobs

“The most important thing is a person. A person who incites your curiosity and feeds your curiosity; and machines cannot do that in the same way that people can.” – Steve Jobs

“…if you ask who are the customers of education, the customers of education are the society at large, the employers who hire people, things like that. But ultimately I think the customers are the parents. Not even the students but the parents. The problem that we have in this country is that the customers went away. The customers stopped paying attention to their schools, for the most part.” – Steve Jobs

“Each year has been so robust with problems and successes and learning experiences and human experiences that a year is a lifetime at Apple. So this has been ten lifetimes.” – Steve Jobs

“I dropped out of Reed College [Portland, Oregon] after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?” – Steve Jobs

“I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.” – Steve Jobs

“The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.” – Steve Jobs

“Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later.” – Steve Jobs

Harvard Business Review writers Linda Hill & Kent Lineback recently wrote an article titled “The Three Networks You Need.” Here’s a quick overview of each network:

- Your Operational Network – People you lean on to complete your day-to-day work within your job role.

- Your Developmental Network – People you lean on for emotional support.

- Your Strategic Network – People who work on the outskirts of your profession who dabble in the worlds that surround your own.

The article argues that operational and developmental networks happen naturally, but strategic networks don’t but are equally as important because…

“the forces that drive change in your field will probably come from outside your current world.”

Education is known for its walled gardens, but with shifting times and increasing external pressures, the need for Educators to build up their strategic network is extremely important so they can better be prepared for the outside forces that are driving change in their field. This theme has been echoed at Student Affairs conferences I attend:

We agree H.Ed. fails to use outside expertise. I’d argue further: H.Ed. doesn’t repect or value outside expertise. Thoughts? #heresy #sachat

March 29, 2011 11:40 am via UberSocialReplyRetweetFavorite

@MelRoc7

Melissa Rocco

It’s an honor to have so many Educators include me in their strategic network and respect my opinion and thoughts even though I don’t work day-to-day at an institution. Instead, my time is spent working on identity development, technology, social media, and online engagement with hundreds of institutions and businesses. My view, and world, are different but often very relevant to the shift happening in Education. Some value my view, others refuse to listen.

I consider many within the #SAchat community to be a part of my strategic network because they DO work day-to-day at an institution. I lean on many educators almost daily for advice and suggestions. Some of my best ideas come from people who are totally outside the work I do.

What about you? If you were to map out your strategic network, what people from what worlds would you want to include?

(Before reading this post, if you want to know more about why I went to this conference and who sent me there, check out my previous SXSW post.  If you want to know more about SXSW’s history, read this.)

There is nothing I can write that will ever describe what I experienced at South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) in Austin, TX last week. Many of you have tweeted, emailed, etc. and asked what the experience was like so I hope this helps paint a clear picture of my time in south.

Build Up / Arrival to Austin
Leading up to last weekend, I spent some time reading the blogosphere for advice and an overall sense on what to expect.  This was the first time I would be at a conference outside of Higher Education and I was traveling by myself as well.  To help quell some nerves, I attended a “Boston in Austin” meetup to get to know some of the people who were headed down and to get their sense of what SXSW was all about. Everyone there was so gracious and nice, it gave me a glimpse of what was to come.

Arriving in Austin was a breeze. I was a little concerned because when your event has over 20,000 delegates, you might expect some hiccups, but not at SXSW! I got to my hotel, checked-in there, and was able to register at the Austin Convention Center and get my coveted SXSW badge without any problems.  Now, as many of you who have been to Higher Education conferences know, you typically will take your badge off at the end of the day before going out, but not there! At SXSW, it is common to wear your badge EVERYWHERE at night since it gets you into many of the bars, restaurants, and clubs hosting SXSW related events.  I put the badge on and began my SXSW adventure.

Unbelievable Networking Opportunities
I realized quickly why people paid the money to be here every year: power networking.  Deep down, I just couldn’t believe that everyone was going to be as nice to me as the folks in Boston were… but they were. Every single person I met was unbelievably nice, willing to chat, help, and be a connector.  It made perfect sense… you just never knew who you were talking to so you always had to have your best foot forward.  Everyone I talked to had an interest in Higher Education and were willing to listen, lend ideas, and connect me with those that could help and amplify our stories.  Where else could I have had one on one conversations with Meredith Artley, Managing Editor of CNN.com; Baratunde Thurston, Director of Digital at TheOnion.com; Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable.com; and Sean Ammirati, Chief Operating Officer of Read Write Web?  Oh, and for fun, I got to hang out with Romany Malco, and be in the same spaces with other stars like Rainn Wilson, Dane Cook, and Conan O’Brian just to name a few!

I also connected with some fantastic folks who work in Higher Education at an “EDU” meetup, at educational sessions, and at night while out and about.  Key folks I met were Cynde Fleagle from Penn State University; Sue Beckingham from the UK ; Ellie Lovell from University of Warwick, UK; Lori Packer from the University of Rochester; and John Hill and Leigh Graves Wolf from Michigan State University.  All were extremely insightful and gave me key insights that will help move some of my technology ideas forward in Student Affairs.

Of course, getting the Student Affairs community together at SXSW was amazing.  Meeting folks in person for the first time like Marlena Ballard, Pete Pereira, Lynne Ellison, Laura Lambeth, Laura Pasquini, Julie Larsen, and Brad Popiolek was not only fantastic, but also would have made Tom Krieglstein and Debra Sanborn proud knowing what they created in the Student Affairs Collaborative still growing strong at events outside of higher education!

Finally, spending some serious time with Rey Junco and Liz Gross was a major highlight. We shared perspectives on many things in Higher Education, technology, etc. I was inspired to hear about Liz’s research interests and know she has a great mentor in Rey as she goes through her doctoral journey.  It was a real treat to see Rey impress A LOT of people while he presented his research and findings. His work is instrumental in my work as a Higher Education administrator and practitioner.  As we continue to see shifts in communication with our students at the University level, we all need to be tuned in to Rey’s work.  If you haven’t read his stuff yet, you really should.

Educational Sessions
Here are a list of sessions that I was present at or listened-in on/followed up with the speakers on (with a future post dedicated to what I got out of each of these sessions)

- “No Child Left Behind – Mobile Tech Meets Education” – #MobNCLI
- “The Potential For Augmented Reality for Education” - #EduAR
- “Offline America, Why We Have A Digital Divide” – #digdiv
- “Demystifying Online Privacy and Empowering the Digital Self” – #digitalself
- “Using Twitter to Improve Student Engagement” – #twesearch
- “Tech Power to the People: Digital Community Engagement”
-  “Keynote: Seth Priebatsch” – #gamelayer
- “Measuring Social Media – Let’s Get Serious” – #smAroi
- “The Science of Influence” – (Ogilvy Note)
- “The Art of Enchantment” – #enchantment
-  ”Method Tweeting (for Non-Profits and other Players)” – #methodtweet
-  ”Online Reputation, in and around Contexts” – #repinctx

Finally, one of the coolest things I saw as part of the educational process was the staff from Ogilvy and other conference attendees who createed beautiful “notes”, by way of creative images, of many of the talks given.  Here is just one amazing example from the sesson: “Tweeting on Weekends: Are we becoming socially anti-social?” – #overtweeting:

Imagine having some of our association talks presented to us in this timeless format?  Unbelievably stunning, creative and thought-provoking, even if you weren’t in the session.  To view more of these amazing images, visit http://ogilvynotes.com/ and prepare to be astonished.  The RSA Organization in the UK does this also and has some YouTube clips out there as well.

Services To Know About (again, with a future post going through in more detail what I think about all of these!)
Leximancer - (Mentioned during Rey Junco’s talk, it is a tweet content analyzer!)
Radian 6, ViralHeat, Swix (Paid Social Media Analytics Services)
SlideRocket (Awesome presentation software. Closest thing to Keynote that I’ve seen online!)
TechSmith Corporation (makers of Jing and Camtasia) (Fantastic screen capture software)
Min.us (A sharing aggregator that I really liked and will start using)
Animoto (While I’ve been using them for a while, they are a great/easy way to make short films using current photos and video clips!)

Gadgets
If you are into gadgets like me, the only things that caught my eye were the iPad 2 and the Asus EEE Slate. If you already have the iPad, I don’t think it is worth upgrading, unless you have a need for video chatting regularly.  Yes, its thinner, slightly faster, and extremely light, however, it is not yet worth upgrading.  If you don’t have an iPad yet, and want one for casual productivity, then go for it

As for the Asus EEE Slate, take a look at my quick video review:

Wrap Up
Overall, it was one of the best professional / personal development opportunities I have had in recent memory.  It is a no-brainer why due to my passion and interest in technology and since Higher Education conferences aren’t known for their innovative education in this area, I was able to go to a place where I was not the one teaching, but learning.  In hindsight, the best thing I did was travel by myself to experience as much as I could, but still have familiar faces like Rey and Liz to share in the experience with me.  The pictures, videos, and tweets just don’t do it justice!

If you have the same passion and interest in technology that I have, I invite you to join me next year (assuming that it isn’t the same time as the ACUI 2012 Conference in Boston) at SXSW Interactive 2012!

You have to see it to believe it

What questions do you have about my South by Southwest Interactive experiences? If you went to SXSW this year, was your experience as good as mine?

Bill Gates and I don’t often disagree. However, at the recent Techonomy conference, Bill was predicting the future of higher education. I took umbrage with some of his comments. Per his usual rhetoric, Bill positioned technology as the panacea for the future of higher education.

Here are some of Bill’s comments:

“The self-motivated [college] learner will be on the web and there will be far less place-based things.”
“College, except for the parties…. needs to be less place-based.”
“Place-based activity in that ‘college thing’ will be 5 times less important than it is today.”
“The room for innovation, thank God for charters, there’s no room for innovation in the standard system.”

Bill’s commentary at the conference was picked up by TechCrunch and posted as “Bill Gates: In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web.”

The post quickly spread like a wildfire throughout Twitter:

The interesting thing is that the quote that’s being passed around on Twitter as originating from Bill Gates seems to have been actually just the post title from TechCrunch. I wasn’t able to find video or text where Bill Gates actually said what is being attributed to him by a lot of folks on Twitter.

The disturbing aspects of Bill’s quotes from the video are that he seems to have a negative attitude toward the physical spaces of higher education. Bill constructs his arguments around cost and access, but fails to adequately critique his own points. “Self-motivated learners” generally do not include students from traditionally marginalized groups. Bill Gates went to an exclusive preparatory high school and attended Harvard College. His is not a story of overcoming obstacles. Access issues are pervasive in higher education. Socioeconomic status catapulted Gates to where he is today. His arguments around access fail to include awareness of the digital divide in terms of both class and disability. Simply offering more web-based opportunities for learning will not improve access issues. And don’t get me started about the bit about “parties” being the only rationale for “place-based” institutions.

Bill’s rhetoric is consistently anti-student-involvement. Gates approaches his arguments from the position that every student is coming out of an innovative charter school and where self-motivated learners roam the higher education sphere. What Bill is forgetting is that involvement is crucial to student success. Can a student be successful when there primary involvement opportunities take place via the web — absolutely. However, most of our students benefit tremendously from their involvement and interactions within the brick and mortar activities of their educational institution.

Student involvement theory is a foundational element for student affairs professionals. Research has shown that increased involvement leads to higher amounts of persistence and greater academic success.

According to Alexander Astin (1984) [pdf]:

[S]tudent involvement refers to the amount of physical and psycho- logical energy that the student devotes to the academic experience. Thus, a highly involved student is one who, for example, devotes considerable energy to studying, spends much time on campus, participates actively in student organizations, and interacts frequently with faculty members and other students.

Astin (1984) concluded that “the greater the student’s involvement in college, the greater will be the amount of student learning and personal development.”

I wish that Bill Gates would offer a blended approach. Why can’t we have both? Amazing opportunities can be created to support students in both the virtual and physical spheres.

References
Astin, A. (1984). Student involvement: a developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Personnel, 25(4), 297-308.

Although I am not a new professional, I am the newest member of the staff of my current office (about 14 months on the job). I blurted out a statement in a meeting the other day that was truly off the cuff.  But, it has since been swirling in my mind.

A portion of our staff were interacting with our Student Ambassadors, and we were giving them our bios and info about what we do in the office. I went through my normal intro of education and professional background. I outlined my primary responsibility of internships. I noted a secondary item of social media utilization. Then, out of nowhere, my mouth says, “as the new guy, I also take it upon myself to be entirely willing to fail. So, I’m the one doing these new events that go down in a blaze of glory.”

I’m not sure why I chose to say that. Partially it was a self-deprecating moment, as I am wont to do. Partially it was meant as a lighthearted moment. But, there was a kernel of truth in there.

Although I don’t mean to imply I’m never disappointed when things don’t work out, I do find it exhilarating to try new things. And with that must come the occasional failure.

Case in point, last fall my office held a “Career Week” of events. Having interacted with the RoadTrip Nation folks via Twitter, I thought inviting them to campus for a screening would be a great end to that week.  I convinced my colleagues. We rolled out the red carpet, did a bunch of marketing and booked a 300 seat auditorium in the Union.

One student showed up.

That’s right, one.

Now I was entirely embarrassed that it occurred, and I found myself compelled to repeatedly apologize to the RTN folks, who (to their credit) didn’t seem phased at all. But, in truth, I’m still very glad we tried it.  Although it didn’t even come close to being a “success,” I am still driven to try new things and experiment and give my best shot to things that aren’t guaranteed to succeed.

I’m fortunate to have a supervisor and director who were also happy with the experimentation and not disappointed with the response (or if they were, they hid it very well), and that’s part of how I know I’m in the right place. I’m glad I work with people who encourage new attempts and activities.

Will we repeat the same event in the same way? Of course not. But, we attempted, we failed, we learned, we grew. And isn’t that what education is really all about?  It’s been attributed to many over the years.  But, it deserved repeat here:  If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.