Today I tried something relatively new.  I spent a little time teaching my son how to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking.  I got the idea a few days ago when he was putting together a report on volcanoes for his fourth grade class.  I worked with him to help him write the paper.  I showed him how to organize his notes and then set up the sections that he would write.  His mother identified the topics for the sections and then he sat down read the notes and wrote out each of the sections by hand.

After that, I took his handwritten notes that I had encouraged him to write as fast as possible and disregard any mistakes, and I read those aloud using Dragon NaturallySpeaking to convert his writing into typed text.  That took me about two minutes as he had written out about five pages where the paperwork with about one paragraph per page.

Now he had made a number of mistakes in his own grammar and spelling and punctuation because I encouraged him to go faster just get the “ideas out of his head” just as my 12th grade creative writing teacher had taught me years ago when I was learning to compose on a novel new device known as the computer.

So back then I was thinking I should have him use Dragon NaturallySpeaking instead of me speaking this into the computer.  Unfortunately at the time, we had a rapidly approaching deadline for the project that he was working on in school as he had to also create a working volcano.  This was one of those projects where everyone in the class, possibly everyone in fourth grade had to create a model working volcano along with write up a report about volcanoes.  In fact, on the day of the report, I took him to school and helped him carry his volcano and report in the school.  There was a long line or parade of parents helping their kids carry their volcanoes to school that day.  Long story short about that when my son had one of the best looking volcanoes, but his volcano failed to fire because we’d used much baking soda, or was it baking powder I don’t remember now as my wife was responsible for the logistics of the explosion.

That all happened last week, and today my son said, “Hey dad, can I learn how to talk to your computer today?” after he finished up his homework.

Honestly I had too much work to do, but the day had been a pitiful wash anyway and this seemed like a great time to sit down with him and get him set up on Dragon NaturallySpeaking.  Now I’m going to go into the details of this experience in a future article, but I did learn one thing right off the bat that could be important for someone that’s installing Dragon NaturallySpeaking on a brand-new computer.  My son wasn’t using the program on my own computer or have the software installed, I only have the one license.  My son doesn’t have a lot of e-mail on my computer nor does he have a lot of documents.  This is important to understand because Dragon NaturallySpeaking actually trains itself to adapt to your writing style by reviewing your e-mail and all the documents on your computer. 

Since my son didn’t have any e-mail on my computer and he didn’t have any documents on my computer, at least no documents that could be discerned from my own documents, we couldn’t use this part of the program and set up Dragon NaturallySpeaking and to tune it to his writing style.  Now I don’t know how big of a difference this would make, so in my little experiment, I had him take the initial training is required which took about 10 minutes.  I then recorded him saying several sentences and watching how accurate or inaccurate Dragon NaturallySpeaking responded.  My son at nine years old was a little uncomfortable just saying some sentences off the cuff and continuously and so this in part played into the inaccuracy of the transcription, but part of it was also the fact that dragon just hadn’t had a chance to adapt itself to the way he speaks and writes. 

So I then had him read through another training session, because Dragon provides many training sessions that you can use if you want to.  You don’t have to use these extra training sessions as the program will learn as you use it in everyday work, but for my son it seemed practical to go ahead and try it some more plus it never hurts for him to get more practice reading.  There were not too many reading samples that were suited towards a nine-year-old, but there was an excerpt from Alice in Wonderland which is maybe a year or two over his reading level.  So he started reading Alice in Wonderland and as I watched him read it, I started to realize that Dragon NaturallySpeaking and voice recognition in general could be an excellent tool to help evaluate and monitor just how well students read.  The program in its test mode knows exactly which word should be said and has a range of how the words should be pronounced.  It doesn’t proceed until the person gets the word right or until the computer learns what the person is trying to say.  This is a lot like what a teacher has to do when they’re working with students to help them learn how to read.

As I was watching my son, I could just picture a whole classroom of students sitting down and reading to their computers.  Each student progressing at their own pace, and getting slight corrections from the computer as they went and possibly little help from their teacher from time to time when they ran into strange words or names like “Dinah” a name mentioned in Alice in Wonderland that stumped my son for quite a while.

So anyway I’m going to do a lot more with this I think in the future with both my son as well as my other daughters as they get to the age where they can read off of the computer.  I have a feeling that this could end up being a very good investment for my children both in learning how to read as well as how to compose and put words together verbally. 

After coming home from the holidays a couple months ago my mother wanted to set up something akin to like life insurance fund for my kids and it didn’t seem like a bad idea, but as I look at things now I suspected that same money might be better spent on something like this.  Don’t get me wrong Dragon NaturallySpeaking as a reading tool isn’t quite ready for prime time, but I think there could be some value in maybe picking up another license for my kids to share on their computer, instead of putting that money towards life insurance rates.

I have been using MindManager mindmapping software for several years now.  I am a trainer and love the program.  I do believe that it makes me more effective, more efficient and helps me keep information together in a way that might even make me smarter.

Those are all very useful traits to cultivate in yourself and for students, especially college students and high school students that is even more important.  This world is not getting any less crowded and students today have a great deal more competition than I had just a couple decades back.

That said buying MindManager as a student is a relatively inexpensive affair as Mindjet, the makers of MindManger offer some great educational discounts through partners such as Campus Tech.

Campus Tech Rates with the Educational Discount on MindManager Product Line

$150 is a great price for this software!  The rates for Mac users is very cheap as well.

Now there is one very cool thing about doing research with MindManager in a mindmap form.

It is very easy to recycle and reuse later.  I could definitely see a teenager and especially a college student keeping notes in MindManager and using those notes very effectively as they go to work as an intern or kick off their career. 

Imagine having a large chunk of your college education immediately at your finger tips!  Now, I do understand, one of the reasons for going to college and getting a degree is not only to learn a discipline, but to learn how to learn that discipline and stay on top of a changing landscape.

MIT provides a unique open source resource. Access to course material online for anyone. You can find recommended reading, assignments, syllabi and much more on many many topics.

The site is setup to help educators, students and self learners around the world. The site is available at MITOPENCourseware.

Now these courses at first glance do not entirely appear to be tailored for the web. This isn’t an automated class, but more like the type of materials you might find if you were signed up to audit a course for no credit.

You would still need to buy the text books or check them out from your local University library. But after that you are free to go it alone. Sit home, drinking a bottle of water exercising and learning quantum physics sitting on a leather couch from Bush furniture.

I have taken a number of online courses and programs throughout the years and think I will look into this program and its value for a true outsider.

Capella University has been one of our sponsors for quite some time. They offer online degree and educational programs and in general I believe this education model is the way of the future.

They recently provided a new press release about one of their faculty members that recently published a new book.

Sara Orem, PHd, co-authored a book with Jacqueline Binkert, PhD, and Ann Clancy also a PhD. The new book buy this collective of PhD’s is titled Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change.

The general concept behind the book is that organizations can do very well when they motivate people by appealing to their ideals. That would probably be a no-brainer for anyone that is a fan of John F Kennedy’s Moon speech, but it is a good reminder and provides a look at how other organizations can apply those lessons to achieve results that are also out of this world.

This (or “the following”) blog post was (or “is”) based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Video games have come a long way since pong hit arcades and Atari game systems about three decades ago.  These days highly developed games are utilized by the military, corporations, even unfortunately by terrorists to train and teach people complex skills and thought processes. 

Educational institutions lag behind other industries in the adoption and deployment of video gaming technology.  Instead schools are teaching kids how to memorize and perform repetitive processes for standardized tests required by the no child left behind initiative.  That initiative had good intentions.  However, it is now being utilized to insure that all children are held back in their development of complex problem solving skills.  It prepares children for the types of jobs that were available in the early 1950’s but not the jobs of today and tomorrow.

Recently a science professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, David Williamson, evangelized the need for schools to use games to prepare kids for the workplace of tomorrow.  Already today many jobs require workers to juggle technology, flipping from screen to screen system to system, sending and receiving hundreds of emails, researching information online and transacting with people virtually, on the phone and in person.

Schools today don’t provide practical experience with that type of rapid paced work in multiple environments and at speeds that are astronomical compared to the era of Rosie the Riveter.  My Great Grandmother worked in a bomb testing manufacturing plant during world war II.  Its not likely that my children will work in a manufacturing plant, but it would not surprise me at all if they were working in a virtual environment when they graduate from school.

Put a kid in a first person shooter game online where they are working with a team of other people to take down a Star Wars command post and things actually seem much more modern and realistic.  Players have to toggle between multiple systems, pay attention to a rapidly changing landscape and fluid situations.  They have to rapidly improve their skills, strategies and methods while adapting to changes that are happening and produced by other players, not to mention the virtual communication that is occurring.

See the complexity of this World of Warcraft Screenshot

The same can be said for many different types of games that encourage critical thinking, and fast paced action.  Players might have to switch from a system to drive a vehicle, fly a plane, choose between weapons, or chat with 10 other players at the same time.  Plus, the experience of dealing with the technology interfaces whether those are through a PC, or Wii or Xbox or Playstation, the networks involved and more put kids in a position where they have to keep their real technology running to continue to play.  That is very similar to what it takes for today’s mobile employee to keep their own systems and operations running, all so that they can be online where they can get the job done.

Maven Mapper’s is continually on the hunt for better knowledge management theories and applications in education. After all how are you to manage knowledge if you do not obtain good information or learn a fundamental as it is.

The problem is that many people contextualize facts, events and information not for what the facts are but combined with their contextual view of the facts that may or may not be correct.

We have found a new sponsor in Landmark Education, and they offers a means to help people learn how to separate their contextual perspective from what actually happened. They provide seminars and courses to help people learn their learning process not in a conceptual way but in a practical and useful way that a student or attendee can take immediately out of the course and begin to apply.

They offer landmark courses to help individuals, companies, departments, schools, students and more how to apply this knowledge and start generating immediate benefits. landmark provides an excellent flash video that walks through these concepts.

Landmark Education is owened by Landmark Education Business Development (lebd) and they put on many international forums through their landmark forum platform.

I have a personal belief that to truly understand what you might get out of a course you have to see a good syllabus. The absense of a good syllabus is an indicator that you might not find what you are looking for, but the presence of a good syllabus is almost always an indicator that you will get something useful from your education.

I have briefly mapped out the full syllabus with my own subjective perspective, but would encourage you to see the full syllabus yourself.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Evening session (3 hours)