College Students build mobile prototypes in four days

This week I was fortunate to be involved in a local mobile application development contest, sponsored by the Technology / Engineering Facuality at Conestoga College.  Under the careful direction of Ignac Kolenko, Chair, School of Eng and IT; “Ig” challenged his students to create and design working prototype in 4 days. A $10.00 gift certificate to a local coffee shop and Pizza served as inspiration to the teams (33 student’s) working day and night to produce some outstanding prototypes. 

RIM (Playbooks) and Communitech (resources, facilities and food) served as the primary sponsors for the inaugural event. Several volunteers at the College also chipped in over the 4 day reading break to ensure students had access to labs and resources.

The students were split into two groups: 

Group #1 - Blackberry/Playbook

RIM provided (and a few new Playbooks) links to HTML5 development on Blackberry/Playbook devices: 

Lessons from Thomas Edison and mLearning

Last week we discussed Failure and the 5 Big Questions for mLearning. This week I’ll focus on lessons learned from failure. It is through our own experience and how embrace change can have the courage to innovate.

To truly appreciate innovation; we need to study Thomas Edison, a master of transforming ideas into modern day marvels. Contrary to popular belief, he didn’t invent the light bulb, but rather improved upon an idea. Mr. Edison was methodical and persistent in his approach to get it right – but the key to his success was his ability to adjust and be nimble. In his seven steps of development he carefully documented his findings. (from inventors.about)

1. the parallel circuit
2. a durable light bulb
3. an improved dynamo
4. the underground conductor network
5. the devices for maintaining constant voltage
6. safety fuses and insulating materials
7. light sockets with on-off switches.

As an eternal optimist, here are a few quotes that capture the spirit of Edison's lessons learned......

Failure and 5 Big Questions For mLearning

Last week we discussed the call for innovation and the opportunity to create, collaborate and build technology that matters. Like most great ideas we also need to study FAILURE first.

An optimist will tell you failure is simply many tiny adjustments to success. A pessimist will tell you why they don’t like your idea and may elect to give you many reasons why your approach is flawed.

 ….taken from Wikipedia – defining Failure

Thomas J. Watson is attributed with saying "If you want to succeed, double your failure rate". Wired Magazine editor Kevin Kelly likewise explains that a great deal can be learned from things going unexpectedly, and that part of science's success comes from keeping blunders "small, manageable, constant, and trackable". He uses the example of engineers and programmers who push systems to their limits, breaking them to learn about them. Kelly also warns against creating a culture (e.g. school system) that punishes failure harshly, because this inhibits a creative process, and risks teaching people not to communicate important failures with others.

For me, FAILURE is not even trying, giving up, passing the buck, not taking the road less travelled and not engaging in the risk = the missed opportunity.

Keith Richards and mLearning (Part 4/4 on Innovation and collaboration)

This week we wrap up our four part series on innovation. Wikipedia defines Innovation as: a creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of a new idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself.

In my Innovation for Dummies post, we discussed the power of music as a creative art form how it can transform both the listener and the musician playing the song.

In the case of Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones legendary guitarist) it is his ability to pull off several iconic classic rock guitar riffs with style and ease. When asked how he remembers all the chord progressions from The Stones vast catalog ….he responds “I don’t get caught up in memorizing songs – it is more of a feel – I let my fingers do the walking – I just trust my instincts and try to never play the same song exactly the same….that would be awfully dreadful.”

Innovations for mLearning: Hammer vs. Lego (part 3 of 4)

Guest post by: David Kruis

Shawn asked me to guest post this week, and as Director of Mobile Strategy at Desire2Learn, he suggested I explore some of the innovations in the mobile industry as they apply to education.  Of course it’s hard to not to immediately think about recent announcements by Apple and how they are entering the school textbook market by using iBooks, iPad apps, and desktop tools to help streamline the creation and delivery of textbooks.  While Apple is not the first ‘etextbook’ solution on the market (Kno.com, Inkling.com, CourseSmart.com, etc), they certainly generate plenty of marketplace buzz, and know how to bring technology to the masses. 

Willy Wonka an Original Innovator?

In last week’spost, we talked about who inspires you to reach for the stars, encourages you to challenge conventional thinking and pushes you to attempting something daring?

Recently, I’ve introduced my six year old to the 1971 classic movie, Charlie and the Chocolate  Factory.  (From Wikipedia..)The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. The factory is full of strange and fantastical rooms, including a chocolate-mixing room that looks like a huge garden, where everything is made of candy and there is a chocolate lake in the middle, a research and development room with dozens of complex machines designing new forms of candy, a nut-sorting room with an army of trained squirrels that sort the good nuts from the bad, and a TV studio-like room with a giant "Wonkavision" camera, which can teleport giant bars of chocolate into people's homes through their television. The factory is staffed by small, pygmy-like men called Oompa-Loompas.

Innovation for Dummies?

Over the past weeks I’ve been eagerly anticipating the post-holiday season to indulge in “new music” releases.  As an amateur musician, I appreciate when an artist provides an alternative version of their song. A quick search on YouTube and presto I have an acoustic version of a favorite song that I can enjoy on my iPhone or Blackberry. (we're Bilingual in Canada)  Nothing compares to the capturing the raw essence of a live acoustic performance.  It is honest, organic and innovative (unique from the original)

Speaking of live performances, have you ever been to a concert that was lame? Did they just mail it in? Was it a recycle of their old hits? With all respect to Sammy Hagar the 2004 w/ Van Halen tour was dismal.  Blame it on poor health, band tension, greedy ticket sales or pitching recycled hits – still lame from the seventh row. However, I am awaiting the new album on Feb 7^th – A Different Kind of Truth =-)