Workforce Innovations Part II: @Ritimagingsci is creative & inspiring ;-)

SO... after all the hype, how did Workforce Innovations 2012 actually go? Well, I gave you a happy hint yesterday, but before the sunshine there was definitely some rain. (The kind of hint I was really looking for was a video of a bomb exploding and then a flower growing up from the ruins, but go figure, there aren't any videos like that already out there.)

Last year, my first group was small (< 1 dozen) and my second group was large (>2 dozen), and they were good and not-so-good, respectively. So, knowing that and seeing group numbers of 8 and 27, I was expecting something similar. Maybe it was the group, maybe it was the Twitter thing, but I was totally wrong!

My first group, as I knew to expect, was only 8 students - all boys, as it happened to turn out. And they. were. TIRED. Wow. I know it was early and all, but come on - doesn't your day normally start at 7:30? Shouldn't a field trip to a college campus on a school day be exciting enough to keep you awake? Apparently not. While these guys did have phones and they did have Twitter, that whole thing just fizzled. So, good thing I was prepared with my regular schtick. A couple of the students were getting into it, but overall the event felt very... awkward. I can think of a host of reasons why. I still wouldn't call it a failure, but it was not one of my finest activities. By the end of it, though, some of them were warming up to me and finally one kid posted something on our Twitter page. And through that, he won the distinction of "Best Tweet" for his group and took with him a coveted pair of CIS swag sunglasses. (I'm sure all 7 other kids were insanely jealous and regretful that they didn't show a little more enthusiasm! I mean, why wouldn't they be?)

So next comes the awkward 10 minutes when students from the other 5 activities that have Optics/Imaging as their second activity slowly converge here in CIS. I decided to take this time to start introducing the students who were there early to the whole Twitter concept - explaining that it was my first time ever trying it, that if it went well they would have been part of a groundbreaking experiment bound to change the way presentations are done, and - most importantly - how miserably it failed with the last group, and they had to prove that their second group was better. Ah, what greater fuel is there than a little friendly competition? Maybe it was that, maybe it was the greater number of students overall (29 this time), maybe it was the prizes I promised to the best tweets, maybe it was my own pure awesomeness - but this time, it totally worked! 

Yeah this seems cool!

While I still presented my usual "About Me" and the like, the kids were already getting into the whole Twitter thing. From time to time I would pause and read aloud some of the things they were tweeting, which were being projected on the side wall. Slowly, things were coming together and the audience was realizing in what ways they could make use of Twitter.

Tweeting a picture of Twitter... how meta.

I always start my explanation about what Imaging Science is by asking the audience what they THINK it is; this time around, I encouraged them to tweet their answers, and while I went on to explain it to also tweet where they see Imaging Science in their daily lives. I also challenged them to tweet their best definition of Imaging Science, and the best one would get a prize at the end. Again I interspersed my prepared parts of the presentation with the tweets and spontaneous questions and thoughts that would come up, which definitely affected how engaged the kids were and kept them on their toes.

Things really got good when we started using the thermal camera. Not only is this the most fun and interactive part of the whole thing anyways, but now more than just the one person in front of the camera at a time could have fun with it. Students were taking pictures of each other in front of the camera and posting them on Twitter, sometimes giving them captions. 

Oscar Herrera ‏ @oherrera53

@RITimagingsci #whysoserious? http://pic.twitter.com/hA5bupIh

amanda herko ‏ @amandaherko

In the end, the reaction from the students was that they thought Twitter was a great addition and it really upped the fun factor for them. Overall in my opinion, the whole Twitter experiment turned out great not only for the audience but also for us at CIS, since we now have a fun record of the presentation and what a great time the students had at it. Our Twitter page was given a relevancy it has not yet been able to attain, and it kept the audience more engaged - we were even able to continue interacting with them on Twitter after they had left. I think there is a lot of potential here to greatly improve the way presentations are done, especially with large groups.

Despite the rough start, I am convinced that using Twitter can be a very useful approach. There are a few things I could change though to make things run a little more smoothly. Foremost, there should be a moderator: in this situation a co-presenter; or in the classroom, a teaching assistant. This person can then read all of the incoming tweets and pick out the best ones to be read aloud. The main presenter can then defer to the moderator every couple of minutes to share the best tweets - important questions, interesting comments, etc. That way, the presentation as a whole isn't interrupted by having to wait for the main presenter to catch up with what's been happening on Twitter. Also, during the presentation the moderator can respond via Twitter in real-time with things that perhaps the main presenter did not get to, and/or can supplement the main presenter's answer/presentation with relevant links to more information. The other main thing I would change is I would encourage more use of hashtags - who knows, maybe we could make #imsci a trending topic (I'm trying to, at least).

Well I think this post is more than long enough... If you want to know more, use the Comments and ask away! Oh, and you can check out all of yesterday's tweets at https://twitter.com/#!/RITimagingsci/favorites. My favorites include "lesson of the day : Thermal Camera always wins!!", and, of course, "@RITimagingsci way better than hospitality #bethany<3" (it's real, go and see for yourself).

Workforce Innovations Part I: @RITimagingsci kids know best #teachers -__-

Today was the big day: Youth Workforce Innovations 2012! This event brings together around 100 high school sophomores (and some juniors) from several area districts to participate in a day long conference at RIT. The morning begins with a keynote speaker, and then the students break off and go to one of six workshops: alternative energy, biotechnology, hospitality, information technology, imaging/optics, or microelectronics. After an hour, the students then visit a second workshop for an hour, after which they go to lunch at Gracie's. This was the 6th year for this event, and my third year participating.

As I was teasing yesterday, I decided to do something a little different this year. Ready for the big reveal??? Drumroll, please... I decided to integrate Twitter. Ta-da! (Maybe this sounds a little underwhelming, but cut me some slack - it's tough to generate suspense in a blog post that you can read at your own leisure.) You are probably either thinking, "Big deal..." or wondering how or why I did this; bear with me, I'll explain:

Yesterday I mentioned a paper I wrote about electronic communication and its applications to imaging science outreach and education. Much of the research I did for this paper focused on the shift in science communication from a deficit-based model (talking TO an audience) to a dialogue-based model (talking WITH an audience). I won't go into too much detail (if you really want to know, I can give you my paper to read...) but from my research I developed a number of recommendations for CIS to implement electronic communication into its outreach efforts. One approach I mentioned was to integrate Twitter into classroom discussions and presentations to more actively engage an audience and put my money with my mouth is with regards to following a dialogue-based communication model. As I was developing this idea in my head, I tried to think realistically how this could be done and how such an activity would go... And from this (and a little encouragement from Joe), I got my motivation to give it a shot at Workforce Innovations.

After all, it was time to try something new. Workforce Innovations is a unique event for me in that it brings together all these students from different school districts - for example, let's say that Rush Henrietta sends 10 students to the conference. Those 10 students are then divided up amongst 6 workshops, so an RH student in my workshop may or may not have a classmate in the workshop with them; and if they do, who is to say that classmate is even a friend of theirs. So my audience is made up of students who may or may not even know someone else there, and if they do, they may or may not even like them. This poses some major difficulties when trying to run an interactive workshop, because not only am I a stranger to my audience but most of them are strangers to each other. It is very hard to motivate a high school student to want to participate under such circumstances (and let's face it, if you were in their situation, would you? I know if it were highschool-me, the answer would be, "No way!"). With something like Twitter, students can still interact from the comfort of their seats with their phone (as so many are accustomed to doing) and interact in new ways not already possible. For example, if someone wants to ask or answer a question and isn't comfortable speaking aloud - tweet it. Shyness aside, Twitter is where it's at right now. It's about time that a technology school implement the latest technology, amiright?

Even though I wasn't totally sure how Twitter could come into play or how useful it would be, it seemed like a no-lose situation to try it out: it could either be awesome and really take things to another level, or, I'd just do the regular schtick I have without it. So, why not?

That's enough about background/theory... Again, if you want more justification, I can give you my paper to read. In my next post, I'll talk about how it went today. (Here's a hint!)

"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative." -Woody Allen

So I know I've been quiet for a few days... Truth is, I have busy researching and writing a paper for an assignment. You might be thinking, "Hey, you shouldn't be doing that during work" but AU CONTRAIRE! This paper actually was written about my job (I planned it that way), researching and developing new and improved approaches to science outreach and recruitment (the official title of the paper was "An Exploration into STEM Communication Challenges and Opportunities in the Age of Electronic Communication - With Applications to Imaging Science Outreach and Education"). At any rate, one of the ideas I came up with as a part of this paper just seems SO GOOD that I'm actually going to try it - right away - tomorrow. I'm excited, can't you tell? But I'm also a little bit nervous.

I'm not going to give away any spoilers as to what my big new idea is (you'll find out soon enough, once I report back on how it goes tomorrow), but I can say it has the potential to either be really great or a super crash-and-burn failure. Either way, at least I will have tried something new. And tomorrow is the perfect venue - for it is Workforce Innovations 2012!

As you may recall, last year I had mixed feelings about how it went (I even titled my entry that day "You Win Some, You Lose Some"), and I was feeling a little down about the challenges posed by the way the event was organized. Well through challenge comes opportunity - and the types of challenges that come from an event like Workforce Innovations makes for a prime opportunity to try my new idea, which will hopefully help overcome some of the difficulties I had last year.

I know you're just dying to know what I have up my sleeve... Relax! You'll find out tomorrow. I'm pretty excited... fingers crossed it goes well!

It's a Major Award!

This is pretty much completely unrelated to my blog, but still a moment in time worth bragging about capturing...

I won it!

For a little context: when you send in your United Way pledge packet early, you get entered into a raffle. Five winners get picked, one each day, and they get their choice of prizes. There are only two prizes left by now, from which I'm choosing an HP Mobile Printer. Woooo!

This text will be replaced with pictures once I've picked up my MAJOR AWARD. No point in making a 2nd blog post about it just for pics...

Awesome! Thanks, RIT United Way Campaign!

Happy Spring AND Happy International Color Day!

It's today. And I made a flyer in celebration.

I can't take much credit, though - you can thank free desktop backgrounds available online... ;-)

According to the International Colour Association (AIC): An international day of colour and light has been considered as appropriate since colour is, thanks to sight, one of the most influential phenomena in people’s lives and also one of the channels that contributes most greatly to the perception of reality. All around the world we will create memorable colour activities during the same colourful day!

Why March 21st?
March 21st every year is the “equinox” – aequus (equal) and nox (night). Around the equinox, the night and day are approximately equally long, symbolically relating to the complementary nature of light and darkness, light and shadow expressed in all human cultures.

Activities and Events that could be unfolded on an International Colour Day:
• Arts exhibitions, architectural projects, design, decoration, fashion....
• Meetings, debates, scientific events.....
• Workshops on the use of colour and light for both adults and children.
• Contests on colour and light design.
• Decide on your identity colour, wear it and use it during the International Colour Day! - Well, hello there! Why wait until March 21st? I do this every day!
• Put it on your web sites!
• These are some examples....

We didn't go all out this year, but hopefully next year we will. For now we'll stick to handing out free colorful m&m's.

Step by step, day by day, a fresh start over, a different hand to play

I just got back from an event called the STEP/CSTEP Day of Service at Edison Tech High School (STEP stands for Science and Technology Entry Program, which is for high school students; add on a "C" and it's a program for college students). The purpose of the day was to expose students to a variety of STEM fields through demos and hands-on activities. Edison is split up into multiple schools, and my audience consisted of students from the Business and Imaging & Information Technology school. I had 35 minutes with each of 3 groups which varied in size from about 12-30 students (that's a rough estimate, I didn't actually count). First I told the students a little about myself and about Imaging Science, and then we got into demos with the thermal camera:

So... what temperature should an ice cube be???

This girl came into class complaining about feeling sick and having a fever. Here: scientific PROOF!

I usually post pictures of the garbage bag trick; this time, check out my glass trick...

SPOOKY HAND

I had a really positive time and was quite impressed with the students I interacted with today. There were a number of bright young minds that I hope will pursue an education and/or career in some STEM field (though let's be honest, really I hope to have piqued their interest specifically in Imaging Science!). There are many challenges for Rochester City School students, but there are also so so SO many opportunities for them, which I hope I helped open their eyes to today (like the Rochester City Scholars program which allows city high school students with an annual household income <$60k go to RIT tuition-free). I also strongly encouraged them all to continue with science and math courses throughout high school, because they are so important for getting into college. I hope that I helped these students feel motivated and inspired to work hard and be successful, because I got the impression from many of them that they have great potential.

HAPPY PI DAY! 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679

Today we held our first annual Magical Pi potluck in celebration of pi day (3.14 a.k.a. March 14) - and it was a huge success! We decided to take the party outside because it is a gorgeous day, and surprisingly enough we had more pie than we could all manage to eat. We had homemade pies from scratch and from mixes, and store bought pies - and all were really delicious. Key Lime got the Golden Spoon for being most popular (not really, I just made that up; but it was the first one finished and seemed to be all-around favorite). We all had such a great time, I hope and expect this will become an annual tradition (hence preemptively naming it the "1st annual").

We even had some physics students with empty stomachs pass through after their class got out, and one of them said, "I'm switching to Imaging Science so I can get free pie." So I'm going to go ahead and slap the "recruitment" tag on this here post. Win.

The Spread

The bakers with their bounty (and even more arrived later!)

Check out the rest of the pictures here!

***Spoiler Alert***

This blog is starting to become the place to find sneak peeks for all things CIS! For the past few days I have been hard at work assembling the next CIS Imaging Connection newsletter. At this point it is done, but I have some updating to do on my mailing list before I actually send it out; so I expect to actually send it tomorrow. But I've already uploaded it online, so you can get a preview right now before anyone else gets to see it! I know you're excited. CLICK HERE

Mmmm, pie...

One of our grad students had a great idea to celebrate Pi Day (March 14, aka 3.14) - And considering how important the "magical pi" constant is to Imaging Science, how could we say no?!

I'm drooling just thinking about it.

I've never baked a pie, but I feel tempted to try...

Intern Applications 2012: By the Numbers

Intern applications have been due and the initial in-processing is DONE! Here are some interesting facts and figures about this year's pool of applicants:

• 37% female / 63% male
• 16 different schools represented, 1 of which is in MA; 1 home school
• Brighton High School has the largest number of applicants
• Most frequent first choice laboratory: Visual Perception

And that's about all I am at liberty to share at this time. Next, it's time for the Selection Committee to start determining the group that will make the first cut and proceed to interviews - Good luck to all the applicants!

EXCLUSIVE Sneak Preview!

2011 was a very busy year, which means that there have been a number of us at CIS very busy putting together input for the CIS 2011 Annual Report. We are hoping to get the final touches completed sometime soon, and to that end I took a break from intern applications and created a cover image. 

This is technically only a draft, so there may be some slight changes; but you saw it here first!