Tech 4 Autism. com

3.1 - Why collaborate?

(pssst.. because there's a problem that only YOU can solve)

Why collaboration is ideally suited to addressing educational issues that have defied traditional approaches

What can collaboration hope to accomplish?

It can help you to become a smarter consumer of technology by:

Explaining what video modeling is and what it can accomplish
Explaining how to use the technology effectively
Helping you decide when to purchase and when to make your own
Identifying companies and their products
Directing you to resources that provide the training you need
Offering a library of clips
Providing Best Practice guidelines for planning, execution and assessment
Suggesting guidelines for starting up, training and support
Suggestions for integrating the technology into daily classroom activities
Providing a platform to support continuing needs of parents and schools
Providing a platform for information sharing and collaborations

Et. al.

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But... isn't this information already available on the Internet?
A lot already is. So... where is it?

Online research can be frustrating and time-consuming.

I found different types of information in:

Each site I found provided me with a different piece of the puzzle.
But, why should everybody have to repeat my hard work?

Wouldn't it make more sense to establish a Clearing House for all this information? A shopping mall where visitors could link to all the information and services they wanted?

Imagine the joy of a frustrated visitor upon arriving at a site like this......

Please use the handy Directory below to start your search

ENJOY YOUR STAY

Hey! Don't get upset with me. This is only a mock-up.

If you want to have something like this for real.... you'll have to join me and do some work

What are the advantages of a clearing house for VM information?

SEARCH
- Aggregates resources
- Simplifies search efforts
- Enables customizable search

UTILITY
- Promotes synergy among resource sites
- Identifies missing service and information resources
- Enables data mining
- Standardizes practices
- Establishes a social platform for mutual support and sharing

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What will visitors find in the clearing house?

Research and journals
Links to competent analysis of technology, in layman's terms.

Answers to basic questions, such as:

What is video-based instruction?
What does a VM clip tool look like?
What have we learned from research?
What can you reasonably expect video modeling will accomplish?

Best practices and advice:

When should I use a commercial product?

Why would I want to make my own video clip

What about cost and staff development?

How can this technology be integrated with instruction?

Who is best suited to train parents? School staff?

How do parents and schools establish a productive collaboration?

Mutual Support platforms:

Connect with members who have used VBI
Find a Mentor
Get feedback on your efforts
Establish a protocol to communicate with researchers

Support New Research:

Help define promising avenues for research
A formal network of to test and evaluate new, technology-based approaches to education

Suggested READ FURTHER: An Introduction To Video Modeling II

OminIntelligencer.com

What are some of the stumbling blocks we face in assembling a collaboration?

1: Competing with all the other voices competing for attention

VBI is only one of many technologies

Few people know about it.

Plus, it sounds complicated

There are only a few sites offering instruction tips and practical advice.

Most sites focus on other Spectrum issues

Educators have little time to spend researching it.

Researchers are far too busy to speak directly to the lay public

Parents have little say in the technology decision-making process

School administrators receive no guidance on the topic.

Solution: Promote visibility to attract like-minded people into a critical mass

2: Aggregating all the information essential to making the site productive

There are only a few sources of practical information

These sources are basically isolated from each other

Solution: Promote the connection of sites by demonstrating the value and synergy created

3: There is no other group for this issue

Video modeling receives only minimal attention elsewhere.

While we represent many social and professional networks, we are a minority interest group on each.

Solution: Outline a social network for purposes
If you build it, they will come

4: Sharing information

Currently there is no other forum expressly for this purpose.

Solution: Establish a forum to share information on this topic

Who will build this clearinghouse? You will !!

James Surowiecki in his book

"The Wisdom Of Crowds "s observed

“The Crowd collectively is smarter than any of its individuals

... even the smartest.

While there will always be someone smarter than the crowd in any given run, those individuals will vary from run to run, not able to consistently repeat their success.” Together, we are smarter than any one person. See the Wikipedia for a discussion of cognitive intelligence

“In order to harness this collective knowledge, three conditions must obtain:

There must be a means of aggregating the results

Individual decisions must be made independently

The decisions must be unbiased, uninfluenced by an outside bias pushing the crowd in one direction.”

A collaboration of autism stakeholders would establish a platform for individuals and stakeholder groups to share their concerns, identify the resources we all need and then work to support everyone's efforts.

Can we do it gang?

We have no choice

The use of commercial VBI will grow exponentially over the next few years
regardless of whether you understand it or not

To shape the future of education, you've got to be a part of the process now.

" If you build it, they will come"

Where's Mickey Rooney when you need him?

Judge Hardy approved of a rowdy, impromptu "show" organized by his son

because it raised money for the local school
He would have approved of a grass-roots effort to help education

Stop being a silent partner

Enter the "Age of the Talkies"!

CLICK ON THE POSTER

Don't make this mistake...

In September 1926, Jack Warner, head of Warner Bros., said that talking pictures would never be viable

"They fail to take into account the international language of the silent pictures, and the unconscious share of each onlooker in creating the play, the action, the plot, and the imagined dialogue for himself."

Much to his company's benefit, he would be proven very wrong.

From 1927 to 1929
Warners' profits surged from $2 million to $14 million
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_film

Stop sitting back. Join the collaboration.

It's showtime!

V isit Project Headquarters

FOR FUTHER READING
Omni Intelligencer interview

This site is a work in progress

Thanks to everybody for their patience during these months

as I worked to get this project going.

So... as former Mayor Ed Koch used to say .....

"So how'm I doin'?"

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3.1 - Why collaborate?

Research and journals

This site is a work in progress