HP Large Printer ....

I was so mad with this printer. Personally I hate waisting papers. But I had to waist them due to the ignorance about accurate functions. This made me almost crazy this Wednesday.

Here is the story. We had a client (Nancy Bradley). She wanted to print out 6 potsers that have different sizes (unit: inch) : 60X12, 15X26,20X38, 42X91.5, and 16X8.5.  According to Brian, the paper we have is 36 (width) and unlimitted (height). So, except one poster, we should be able to print out these posters, but we were not able to figure out how to set up the page settings. First, I asked Brian to figure it out. I guess he was tryintg several ways (e.g., using Publisher software, finding options, etc.) but finally nothing was fruitful, so he said he will go to Butch Hilton to ask. I thought it was good idea; however, we had to finish up this job at least by 2 or 3pm. (Nancy wanted to get it done soon because the event with the posters is at 4pm and she needs to laminate them before the time). Thus, I struggled with it and waisted papers...I was also trying to use Adobe Illustrator to set up the page settings without losing the resolution. But it was vain. Finally, I printed them out by changing the setup options of printer constantly. Nacy liked the outputs.  After that, I became happy. But before that, I was so bad; when Lan came to me and asked going somewhere together I said no. Diana came to me and suggested eating her cakes. I did not go to Diana's birthday celebration. I did not want to pay my attention to any others things than printing. Sorry!!

In reflecting my actions and behaviors, I think I am kind of workaholic (This is not good!! It is a disease!). Also, I tend to struggle with something by myself. In thinking Brian's action, it seems he is wise in terms of the way to solve the problem...I mean ... for the similar struggles, while he went out to get help from experts, I liked digging into and styaing there until it is done. We were diffierent. This made me think about myself. I may need to be wiser in the next time. I realized I did not need to rush like that.

In addition, for the next test of printing posters, Diana and I have prepared a poster to put somewhere in the lab. The poster is what we presented at IVLA 2008. Topic is "design implcations for mobile learing". It was concurrent session but I thought it would be good to reproduce the contents as a poster type so that other people can get some info about mobile learning.

Thus, yesterday, with the help of Brain, (after Butch Hilton came to the lab), I tried to print out the poster, but.. for some reasons, the ouput is incomplete. There were some blank parts. This made me crazy again !!!
Anyway... I gave up this in this moment. You know.. I did not need to rush.

A rule regarding PC laptops for checking out

This is one thing that I have considred this week....
I shared this with Dr. Falls and other GAs via e-mail.... but I am coping here with the summary and my reflection.

In comparing with last year, the current GAs and I in this semester are so lucky!! Because we have replaed old computers with new laptops (eventhough these are 9) and computers for instructor station and hallway we do not have much troubles with computers. I remember, in my first year of lab manager, even though I did not have much knowledge and skill about computer trouble shooting, I had to fix computers almost every day by dealing with error messages, changing the setting or options, figuring out the system conflicts, etc.

Moreover, we have maintained the computers pretty well in using duplicator and perfect image. We did system update once in this semester. Usually we did this job more than twice in a semester even though we dedicated first three days and last three days of semester. I think deleting Steady State was really really good idea!!!

Anyway, now I am happy with current computers. Above all I like that we have 9 blue laptops. :-)
Maybe this might be same to other GAs and other users.  I am feeling the number of checking-out PC laptops is increasing....
However, as the blue laptops are getting popular, we started to install several special software in the new laptops.

1) Currently #1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 laptops have Spore & Spore GA game. Dr. Evans and Spore Camp team have researved them during Tuesday 10:30 - 1:30 pm. So we should not give them to other students during this time.

2) Laptops with yellow sticker have Skype. Sometimes, SOE people check out the computers with Skype for their meetings. Thus, we will keep this; or we may consider installing Skype in all computers next time.

3) #1 and #8 latpops have HP color printing driver for the large printer. Brain istalled but.... I wish we install the driver in one of gray laptops instead of new blue laptops. Anyway, we will delete the driver on #1 and 8, install it on one of gray laptops.

Here are the points that we need to consider and set up as a rule:

1) We should not install software on the laptops unless it is work related and we should not allowed users to install any software without our permission.
2) If we need to install software or driver for lab, use the olde laptops (gray ones, not blue ones)
3) Regarding installation for some special software, (a) discuss with Dr. Falls whether or not it is okay, (b) put a label on the latpops, and (c) share with other GAs.
3) We need to be aware of the softwares that we have installed in each laptop or computer. For example, all laptops have Dreamweaver. Please refer to the document (software list on the laptops, hallway computers, instructor station, and production lab computers ) available in NAS.  Also, we need to keep updating the document.
4) We will maintain the computers in semester base by duplicating the perfect image. This means every latpops may have saame programs and functions. But if we install something for special use, we need a record so that we can install them later after duplication.


In addition, Lan and I was trying to figure out... why the blue laptops sometimes get lost the wireless signal...
Lan found the problem. Here is the tip:
There is a little button to detect wireless connection on the right side. When we check out and in laptops, the button tends to be moved by accident. So, if the latops sometims cannot detect wireless connection and people may claim the internet does not workm, we need to check the button on the right side....


Hmmm I feel I wrote a long description for very small things.... But just hoping this is useful info and meaningful job...

System for online request form....(checking out equipment)

It's been around one and half years since I have worked for the job: helping checkout equipment to students or faculty who want to use it for attending conference, research project, class assignment ect. outside lab and more than one night.

There has been some progreses. An example is the online requiest form, available at the etlab web site.
Once people fill out the form, I get the notificatino by e-mail. This system had two problems :
(1) I have to send a confirmation note to users by e-mail; (2) Users (respondents or applicants) do not get the information that they have filled out in the form.

Thus, if they do not write when they will pick it up and return in their calendar, they tend to forget the dates because the system do not send a confirmation e-mail to them. Because the online request form is "survey" purpose, not for this kind of requesting "equipment check-out" or communicating with me.

So, what am I doing for this problem?   I provide a confirmation e-mail with a standardnized format like this:

Through this confirmation note, they have when they need to pick up and return the item.
Actually, Dr. Sanders and another student requested this kind of confirmation. 

Also, I made a short instruction for those who do not know how to request the item for checking out.
Here it is:

I plan to print out seveal sheets for this instruction, and give to people whenever they ask the procedure of checking out the equipment.

Software installation in blue laptops

Dr. Evans has asked to install the Spore (Galactic Adventures) software on 8 blue laptops. So, today I asked Andy to install it there.
But according to him, the CD does not allow installing further after the fifth installation. Anyway thanks to him, this job is completed. I e-mailed to Dr. Evans. He responded he has another copy so that we can install it on three more computers......... So... we will do this tomorrow..


Here is the history of this job.
It goes back to last last week tuesday during the Spring break.
He wantted to come to the lab and test the installation. Since I was in the lab, Dr. Falls and I said okay. But insteading coming here, he asked whether or not the laptops, either PC or Mac, meet these requirements:
http://www.spore.com/what/specs_spore

I checked the requirments of lab laptops.
The below is my investigation...
1)Dell Latitude E6500 (blue laptops)
a.Window XP
b.Intel(R) Core™2 Duo P9700@2.80GHz
c.2.98GB of RAM
d.Video Card with support of Pixel Shader 2.0: ??
e.Free space: 204GB (out of 232GB)
f.Video card: nVidia Quadro FX 380 M, FX 770M, NVS 160M

2)Dell Latitude D610 (grey laptops)
a.Window XP
b.Intel(R) Pentium(R)M Processor 1.86GHz
c.099GB of RAM
d.Video Card: ??
e.Free space: 18.95 GB (out of 37.2GB)
f.Chipset: Mobile Intel(R) 915GB / PM/ GMS / 910 GML

3)MacBook
a.OS 10.4.11
b.Process 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2Duo
c.Memory: 1GB 667 MHz
d.Graphic: Intel GMA 950
e.Space: 12.15GB available (out of 55.57GB)

In looking them, it seems only blue laptops meet the requirement. So... Dr. Evans asked install the softare on 8 blue laptops.

He gave me the CD last Saturday. After installing the CD, we need to install the expansion pack from digital download... He will show us how... maybe tomorrow....

GSA symposium presentation

Today, I made a powerpoitn file to be used for GSA symposium presentation on Wednesday 12:15 to 12:30pm: ten minute presentation and 2 minutes for Q&A. This is too short!!!!

So.. this is my plan...
1)#1-5, Introduction: Yeonjeong in 2 minutes
2)# 6 slide is a transition.
3)# 7 Knowledge and Skill : Xin in 1.5 minutes
4)# 8 Services and Functions: Lan in 1.5 minutes
5)#9 Instructional Approaches: Elza in 1.5 minutes
6)#10 Communication: Brian in 1.5 minutes
7)#11 An example, EXPO: David (with his video production) : 1.5 minutes
8)#12 Closing: If Dr. Falls is fine with this…. : 1.5 minutes
9)Q&A: 1minute

I know... it must be very hard that everyone present in 12 minutes.
But... I want to have everyone the opportunity to present.

For making a presentation and organizing the contents, Lan did a great job. We have discussed the questions to collect the data. She prepared the questions and asked every one to fill out.
She asked me about whether it should be anonymous last week. But, I thought this cannot be anonymous because we are so small. I thought we all are presenters (authors) and participation (in terms of data collection.) I filled out this survey as well. We all filled out this. So, I don’t think this needs to be anonymous. I was kind of hesitating what I have to do in this regard... but decided to share everything to every one.


Anyway, Lan organized the responses from all of us and put in a word document and draft of ppt file. I revised it today in spending my whole afternoon and had a little time to discuss with Elza and Brian. Also I asked David put his video. I want to see his video but have not seen it. But hopefuly it is good. I asekd every presenter feel free to edit their 1.5 minutes presentation.

I felt sorry to Andy becuase I did not include his presentation. But his input is still in the presentaion. Maybe we can stand together in next time, maybe for AECT?

Okay!! So it seems everything will be fine.... I will finalize the ppt material tomorrow night and have a rehearsal on Wednesday morning.

checking out equipment...

I have been working for those who want to check out lab equipment (e.g., projectors, netbooks, video cameras, digital still cameras, audio recorders, etc.) more than one night and use of outside the lab.

During last week and this week, several students are checking out the audio recorders for their qualitiative research projects. Although I just need to give the items and record them in the equipment checkout sheet on my board and this is not a difficult job at all, I had to be aware of several things when I do this job:
1) checking and responding to thier e-mail reservations
2) arranging the time to pick up and return
3) being in the lab or asking someone at front desk to give the items to users
4) checking whether the itmes are returning in time

This job make me really think about the importance of keeping the lab policy. In this regard, I have learned many things from Dr. Falls who has been dealing with people who break the rule and defined the rule for managing all the stuff.

Most of students and faculy follow the rule well. But... from time to time.. some tend to return it late. Currently, one student checked out the audio recorder and suppose to return last week. Maybe I have to apply our lab poplicy for her: no privilige to check out any items for this semester. I e-mailed her to return it as soon as possible...
Now all audio recorders are checked out... Hopefully she returns it soon.

In addition, we have an online request form to reserve the items.http://www.etlab.soe.vt.edu/checkout_equipments.html. I hope many people know this and make a reservation a couple of days in advance.

Excuse me...

I think I need to be more get used to writing here. I have been lazy to update something here. I will update something that I did last week soon....

Appreciation and Reflection from the AECT proposal writing

The proposal might be the first writing output that ETLab GAs prepare together and submitted to the conference. I do really appreicate:
1) Brian and I had a constructive discussion about this proposal
2) Andy, Xin, Brian, and Elza provodied a nice note to improve the proposal
3) Dr. Falls supported and encouraged to submit the proposal, and helped to improve the quality of the paper through correcting many grammar errors and akward expressions from me,
4) Xin provided the draft of short description and suggested some changes in a timly manner
5) All of GAs liked to work for the proposal and supported.

I really enjoyed working together and learned many things. We ran out of time and I was not able to incorporate important additions from the other GAs due to the shortage of time and energy. But, in the future, I will plan somthing and make actions ealier so that everyone can be fully involved in group works.

As next steps, we will collect data and write a paper for journal publication. It is going to be very fun!!!!!

AECT Prorposal (Final version)

Title: Use of cyber technologies in an off-line based educational technology lab environment: The community of practice experiences of graduate assistants

Short description:
The educational technology lab is a community where graduate assistants in instructional design and technology program provide technical supports to the faculty and students in the school of education. Although they are working at the different schedules, they learn and research for the shared goals by using various asynchronous cyber technologies within the wide range from e-mail, to e-learning tools, to e-portfolio, and to e-journaling. This presentation will provide successful stories and live reflections from the lab assistants.

Abstract:
Introduction
The Educational Technology Lab (ETLab) is a place where students and faculty in the school of education of a land grant university, come to use technology tool, attend class, and complete individual and group assignments, and produce multimedia works. Graduate Assistants (GAs) in the lab play an important role to fulfill the technical needs of instructors and students, develop instructions and manuals, and solve the practical problems that occur in the lab. In short, the ETLab is an off-line based working environment.

However, we argue that this lab is not only a physical space, like other “labs” or “centers” in a university, but also a community where people who have common research interests and goals learn and research together and build their design and development skills. As a result, lab GAs are not only working as an employee but also learning, discovering and researching for the specific topics to meet the various needs addressed by current and potential lab users including other graduate students, instructors, and pre-service teachers. In addition, although the lab is off-line based, GAs use cyber technologies because their working time is asynchronous across time and their job require effective communication and collaboration.

Therefore, we regard what lab GAs have experienced in the lab as a community of practice and perceive the ETlab as a learning, teaching, and discovering space using various cyber technologies. In this presentation, we will discuss two points: (1) how ETLab GAs changed the daily routine of their work to dynamic and exiting learning experiences by applying diverse strategies to facilitate the engagement process in the community of practice; and (2) how ETLab GAs use cyber technologies to enhance the practical and hands-on working environment. We will provide successful practices that GAs have experienced and share their reflections about the lab experiences of each GA and the use of communication technologies by using qualitative research methods.

ETLab GAs’ experiences of community of practice
According to the Lave and Wenger (1991), community of practice is everywhere; everyone experiences it although the practices vary; learning involves gradual engagement and participation in the community of practice. The critical concept of community of practice is based on the historical and traditional apprenticeship. As Walker (2008) mentioned, a graduate program is fundamentally based on the apprenticeship with close interaction between novice researchers and a professional researcher (e.g., professor, supervisor, instructor, senior students etc.). The mastery of knowledge and skill in the specific discipline is formed through an engagement process in which new comers are involved in legitimate peripheral participation and then move toward full participation in the specific community of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991).

In applying such a perspective of anthropology, GAs in the ETlab have demonstrated an exemplar case. That is, they performed the common and daily jobs and at the same time they gained the knowledge and skills (e.g., instructional design, communication and collaboration skills, etc.) through the specific tasks which are related to real world problems. Finally, throughout the whole semester, novice assistants perceived and experienced significant improvement in their technological skills and became experts in specific areas. Interestingly, regardless of whether or not they recognized the concept of community of practice, the strategies that were utilized in order to facilitate each GA’s engagement process and working performance were very effective. Examples included the use of instructional scaffolding from easy/simple to challenging/complex tasks, solving real problems in the lab, using a variety of existing resources including manuals, instructions, and equipment, getting the assistance of more experienced peers, and diverse communication ways.

The use of cyber technologies: an evolutionary process from e-mail to e-learning tools, to e-portfolio, and to e-journaling
Working in the ETLab includes a variety of tasks ranging from visible to invisible tasks, from simple and well structured to complex and ill-structured tasks, and from individual to collaborative tasks. Above all, each GA has a different work schedule that is arranged from morning to night in order to assist students and instructors who are in the classrooms and production labs. This makes it very difficult for face to face collaboration between co-workers. Consequently, asynchronous communication tools are pivotal for effective communication. A variety of asynchronous cyber technologies have been utilized for several different purposes. However, interestingly, the use of technologies in the lab shows an evolution by adopting the advanced technologies.

Conventional asynchronous tools such as e-mail and a web calendar were the initial and still essential technologies. These tools supported effective communication and coordination among many tasks. However, the limitation of these technologies in terms of social networking and knowledge sharing required the movement to the next steps. For example, the use of Scholar (an e-learning system) was introduced to help GAs share their learning and discovering through the discussion boards and wikis, etc. The GAs have also developed, in Scholar, their own e-portfolio as a way to present their lab working outputs such as instructions or lab manuals. However, the e-learning tool and e-portfolio mainly supported GAs’ individual tasks and jobs.

The most current attempt, in the use of cyber technologies, is e-journaling with the use of blogs. These technologies will give lab GAs the opportunity to use cyber technologies to collaborate and self reflect on weekly projects. Each GA is responsible for creating weekly blog entry. The blog technology allows students to create video, text, and pictures within their blogs. This versatility in presentation allows for student creativity in dissemination of their weekly information. Once the weekly blog post has been created, each co-worker is responsible for evaluating the quality of the weekly work. All lab GA’s are responsible for providing a critique of the material that includes: weakness, strengths and suggestions for improvement.

Closing: Achievement, contributions and future directions
As an achievement of lab GAs’ practices in the ETlab, GAs prepared an Educational Technology Lab EXPO to demonstrate their design and development outputs. The topics covered effective applications of SmartBoard, Camatasia, GPS, Video tools and ePortfolio for engaging intentional learning and assessment. The EXPO became a platform to share the thoughts where audiences benefit from new ideas and examples from the use of technology mentioned above, as well as GAs get feedbacks to refine their products.

This presentation will be useful for those who are in the same or similar situations like working in a lab based and/or offline based environment but require frequent online communication and effective management of human resources. Specifically many IDT students and practitioners who work in the educational technology lab can benefit by reviewing the successful cases (e.g., ETLab EXPO, e-portfolio, blog, etc.) and the live reflections from the graduate assistant’s experiences. This presentation will close with the discussion of the effectiveness of the instructional approaches and cyber communication technologies that were utilized in this case and the promises for future application.

Keyword: Community of Practice, Performance Support

Welcom to Yeonjeong's blog

This blog will be used for writing my daily work in Educational Technology (ET) lab.
I will write any kinds of daily expereinces as I work here... Also, I will try to write some ideas that related to lab work here.