Latest / Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast / Conversations from ISTE Live with Carl Hooker

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Conversations from ISTE Live with Carl Hooker · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey, welcome to the integrate this ed tech podcast.
• 0:02
  I'm Jeremy Micla and you will see I'm joined
• 0:05
  by Our guest actually a repeat guest now on the
• 0:09
  podcast Carl Hooker author podcaster former bar
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  owner Conference crawler conference caller. You
• 0:17
  know what the conference crawler Carl. It's easy
• 0:20
  to say It's hard to say tongue -twister kind
• 0:22
  of a thing. What's that about? So for those of
• 0:25
  you that know the show the book series dungeon
• 0:27
  crawler Carl I'll just say this, the characters
• 0:32
  named Carl are not usually displayed very well.
• 0:34
  If you go back in the history of time, Caddyshack,
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  there's Carl Spangler, and then you think of
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  Slingblade, Carl, I mean, the best Carl is honestly
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  the up dude, the guy in that movie Up, the old
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  guy, but he like kidnapped a Boy Scout. So anyway,
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  so I was like, okay, is this a book series? I
• 0:49
  gotta get into it. And so I just fell in love.
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  I'm listening to the audiobook series, but it
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  is incredible. And it's funny walking around
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  the show. It's like a weird cult thing, because
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  people are walking around going, oh my god, I
• 0:58
  know what book are you on? I'm on book five.
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  But anyway, so it's a fun, very post -apocalyptic
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  series, but not really educational. And it's
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  really appropriate, because we are at a conference
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  right now. We're at the ISTE conference here.
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  So Carl, and I know I've seen you here at this
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  conference several different times. Do you know
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  what number ISTE conference is this for you?
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  I want to say it's at least the... 12th I didn't
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  for the longest time. I only went on odd years,
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  which I know is kind of odd. Yeah But because
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  I was like if you go every year, I feel like
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  you get burned out on it a little bit But I've
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  actually now I'm like I'm five in a row. I was
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  gonna take this year off to be candid But I had
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  some things gonna fall in place. I was like,
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  you know, I'll be in the area anyway So I ended
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  up coming in for a couple of days and then next
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  year it's at Boston, which is exciting So that
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  one but yeah, this is yeah the first time I went
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  it was called neck and he's yeah Remember? Well,
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  I wasn't there then but I heard it and, you know,
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  we had Greg Bagby talked about that too as well.
• 1:54
  Yeah. Chad knew Greg. He's a great Uber driver.
• 1:56
  I give him five stars every time. Oh, really?
• 1:58
  He's not really an Uber driver, but he's picked
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  me up like four times at the airport for some
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  random reason. And so I always joke that he's
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  my Uber driver. He's not. He's amazing, but yeah.
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  Well, what do you think makes ISTE such a great
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  conference to either present at or to attend?
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  I think for me, it's the same thing that makes
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  any conference great, and that is the connections
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  that are made. I mean, the content's good. But
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  the problem is with something to the size and
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  grandeur is you'll run into some sessions, you're
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  like, maybe this isn't for me. So I always tell
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  people to vote with their feet. If you're there
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  for five minutes, not picking up on it, step
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  out, go do something else. The presenters won't
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  get offended. But then if you're in the middle
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  and you're having a great conversation in a hallway
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  with somebody, don't feel like you need to just
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  cut it off to go run into a session about 50
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  AI tools or whatever. Stay and have the conversation,
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  because I think here, what a think tank of people.
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  I mean, you guys, everybody that's here. I'm
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  always learning stuff. It's always in the side
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  conversations and, you know, unfortunately, I
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  don't get to go to sessions enough. But for me,
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  it's like the sessions are nice, you know, and
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  they're kind of the appetizer. But to me, the
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  meat is is the meeting. Right. Right. Yeah. Right.
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  Are there certain people that you look forward
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  to connecting with when you're here every year?
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  Yeah, there's like there's a crew that it sounds
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  corny, but they're kind of like a family, if
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  that makes sense. Like, you know, these jobs
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  are sort of isolating when you're a tech director
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  or whatever. And so being able to find certain
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  people like Adam Bellow, who I've known forever,
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  he keynoted ISTE. 2013 we just saw a video of
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  that just recently because he had Google Glasses.
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  Do you remember when Google Glasses were a thing?
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  And now it's, what is it, all the Ray -Ban meta
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  things are everywhere. Anyway, it's funny. I
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  was like, you were just 13 years ahead of your
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  time, you know? Dr. Adam File, who I do a podcast
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  with, I just saw him a minute ago. It's funny,
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  because I'm pretty good at faces, but I have
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  name blindness. So I always tell people, like,
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  don't be offended. I'm like, hey, how's it going?
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  David. OK, good. Jeremy. OK, I remember Jeremy.
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  And they make those names a little bit bigger
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  sometimes. I know. I feel bad. That's why I just
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  put Carl really big on the shirt, and people
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  won't be able to pick it up. But yeah, so those
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  connections. I mean, to me, it's just that. And
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  then again. It's funny because it's been a year
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  since you've seen a lot of these people, but
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  because we say connected online, you're like,
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  oh, how was that trip you went on last week?
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  I was in Vegas two weeks ago playing the World
• 4:00
  Series of Poker. People were asking me about
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  that. And I'm like, don't, it didn't end well.
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  So don't bring that up in the interview. Sorry,
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  I brought it up, but no. Sweet that done. But
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  not everyone that attends has been here several
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  different times, obviously. And if you're a first.
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  time attendee to this conference or any other
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  large conference, what would you recommend for
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  that first time attendee to get the most out
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  of the experience? I think definitely set a bit
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  of an agenda. Keep it like a skeleton. Don't
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  be rigid about it. But find two or three sessions
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  that just speak to you and scroll a little bit.
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  Because as I looked this morning for my session,
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  the first seven sessions, it's all alphabetized.
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  So you can imagine what the first seven sessions
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  said, AI in this, AI in this. I was like, scroll
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  a little bit. little ways until you find a session
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  that really speaks to you or is aligned with
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  what you're working on or looking for. So definitely
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  make a plan for two or three sessions. Don't
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  overdo it. I feel like after seven sessions,
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  your brain is just, it's done. Take breaks, take
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  time for yourself, but then also when you go
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  to the expo hall too, yes, there's the big amazing
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  booth. Go to the fringes, because there's some
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  really cool little startup companies that are
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  starting out there that maybe didn't have enough
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  money to pay for the 30 by 30 booth. I just saw
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  some really neat products in there, just some
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  cool stuff that's happening with just AR, VR
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  still. stuff like that so I always tell people
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  like definitely make time to go to the expert
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  hall but you have to kind of organize your day
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  and then at the end of it I always say at the
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  end of every day take a minute to just kind of
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  reflect. write it down or in your head say, okay,
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  a couple things I picked up today that I want
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  to use in my classroom or in my school. That
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  reflection part of it immediately if you don't
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  do that, you know, a couple weeks later, two
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  months later, it's yeah. What happened? Yeah,
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  for sure. So definitely I have to write it down.
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  But a lot of people do it in their head. I have
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  to write it down. Yeah. And about those small
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  companies, too. In fact, we went to an event
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  last night that was at an establishment here
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  in town. But it was a former bar owner, did he
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  mention? Yeah. Hmm. You know, how did that work
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  out? But that's what they did. They had it was
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  an arcade. they called it, and there was a lot
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  of different smaller ed tech companies that were
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  there, you know, just getting their footing ground,
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  and it was really neat. I saw this one that had
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  this laser engraver that was there that... You
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  design it on the computer and then it just creates
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  it right there for you on the spot So I actually
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  had him made a couple things for my kids like
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  keychains and things like I've been wanting to
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  get a tattoo I wonder if I could just stick my
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  arm in it. Yeah, just burn it right into it.
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  I didn't crawl or Carl Yeah, yeah, it's funny
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  because I used to do laser etching But it was
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  that those giant machines are so expensive and
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  you had to vent it was there venting Yeah, this
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  thing was only about as large as say like a basketball.
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  Okay? And it had a little venting system that
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  was attached to it, but but just It smells like
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  burning wire. No, it didn't smell like that at
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  all. It was really kind of neat. I'll have to
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  check them out. Are they a sponsor of this podcast?
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  No. Not yet. Not yet. We didn't mention their
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  name. Yeah, that's true. Sessions, though. You've
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  got several things that you're here doing these
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  next few days here. Can you kind of highlight
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  some of the things that you're going on or that
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  you have going on? For me, my big focus is obviously
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  AI is a big thing. So what I'm trying to do is
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  kind of lean. go a little bit against the stream
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  in some of it. So I'm really doing a lot of human
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  design, design thinking. And AI of course plays
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  a role in it, but I don't want to lead with that.
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  So the one I just did this morning, which was
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  in one of the big rooms up here, it was called
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  mind versus machine. And essentially it's, you're
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  going to compete against AI in some cases, but
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  you're also going to collaborate with it in others.
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  So like one example was like, all right, create
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  a, work with a partner and just come up with
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  a hook, like a question that's going to get kids
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  thinking differently. It didn't be about anything.
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  What would happen if the earth ran out of oxygen?
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  You know, just stuff like that, right? Well,
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  we'd all be dead in two minutes. And then have
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  AI come up with a list of questions and then
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  look at the two and say like, okay, add a little
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  flair. Is there one that's pretty decent you
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  could do a little spin on? So again, kind of
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  modeling that idea of what AI can do and the
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  human part of it. So really leading with creativity,
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  innovation, iteration, and then connection, which
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  again, is what I talked about earlier. That's
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  a big part of this conference, but having that
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  human connection. One other one I do is fun is
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  a brainstorm challenge where I'll say like today's
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  was. What are some ways that humans de -stress
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  list? You have one minute, you're gonna partner
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  go, and you just come up with as many as you
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  can, and I challenge them. I said, no, before
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  I do this, I'm gonna ask AI to come up with stuff
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  that you think AI won't come up with. So think
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  creatively. And there was some stuff I can't
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  put on air, because humans do some crazy things
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  to de -stress. I think one guy said something
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  about, if you're in Denver, go to this. I was
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  like, no, we're gonna go there. We're in Florida,
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  we can't say that here. But yeah, it was interesting.
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  And then, of course, you show AI and then do
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  the compare contrast. So a little one minute,
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  two minute activities like that, especially for
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  students, shows them the limitations of it. Because
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  it's very bland geographically. It kind of hits
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  the center of everything. It's like, oh, here
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  are all the things you can do. But there's no
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  cultural representation in its answers. So I
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  did one that was things you'd see at a barbecue
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  cookout. And there's a group of people from South
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  Texas in it. And they were like, oh, mariachis
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  and fajitas. But the AI just listed, oh, you
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  got to have a grill. And you got to have propane.
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  Very much down the road. It's good to show them
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  that contrast. So most of my sessions focus on
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  the humanistic side of things. I try to empower
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  that as much as I can. So I think that's really
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  kind of unique in the fact that here are all
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  these things that you can be using technology
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  to help, you know, challenge your thinking, improve
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  your thinking, but yet we're also hearing backlash
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  against screen times at the same time. So do
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  you see those as being juxtaposed? So yesterday
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  I was on a panel and that was the final, the
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  audience question that was the crowdsource at
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  the end was like, what are your thoughts basically
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  on that? And it's interesting because, you know,
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  there's a small school district called LA USD.
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  Came out with their little screen time thing
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  and everyone's like, we should look at what LA
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  did. And I was like, well, have you been familiar
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  with what LA's done the last few decades? I don't
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  know that I would follow what they do. Sorry
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  if you're from LA USD and listening to this.
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  Because they've made some mistakes too, but I
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  think the idea, their premises, you know, we're
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  going to quantify this and say it's this many
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  minutes, this many hours, still missing the boat
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  because it's not about the time, it's about how
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  it's being used. And so one of the things I said
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  in the panel yesterday is we have to kind of
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  reframe some of the questions of like, is AI
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  good or bad? Are screens good or bad? Instead,
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  make it a little more broad or more nuanced,
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  like what technology helps you learn? And when
• 9:56
  does it distract you from learning? Let's have
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  that discussion. But unfortunately, it's like
• 10:00
  on or off ban, not balance. Black or white, either
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  or. The last 10 years as a society, we've become
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  so dichotomous. In one session I was in, a couple
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  of days ago I did a workshop with about 100 educators
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  all day. And at one point, there was a little
• 10:14
  bit of a difference of opinion, and people got
• 10:17
  kind of quiet. And I was like, listen, guys,
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  if we can't argue and have good discourse as
• 10:20
  educators, we're never going to move forward.
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  And everyone kind of just took a breath and said,
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  you're right. I was like, let's recognize each
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  other's viewpoints and then talk and challenge
• 10:27
  each other a little bit. That's how we get better.
• 10:29
  Perfect. One final one, you're walking through
• 10:31
  the expo area. What kind of swag are you looking
• 10:33
  to pick up and bring home? Well, over here I
• 10:37
  have a box that I saw someone walking by. So
• 10:40
  for those of you who don't know, Orlando in July
• 10:42
  is oppressively hot. If you can't tell from Jeremy's
• 10:47
  shorts and t -shirts, I'm sitting here wearing
• 10:49
  this. So this lady was walking by and she had
• 10:51
  a fan that was a USB powered fan that was hanging
• 10:53
  on her lanyard. And I was like, where's that?
• 10:54
  She's like, oh, if you go play Jenga. And I guess
• 10:57
  if you pull a block that has a number on it.
• 10:59
  So I was like, oh, please, I got it. So I have
• 11:01
  a little fan there. There's just always like
• 11:04
  there's lots of cool things. I had some 3D glasses
• 11:07
  from the folks at Merge who are still doing a
• 11:08
  lot of great stuff. And I talked to them for
• 11:10
  a while. I'm kind of, I have this weird thing
• 11:14
  that I do. I like to try to find free coffee
• 11:15
  wherever I go, so. I found there's a place doing
• 11:19
  lattes and you just stand in line and they give
• 11:20
  you a little latte and you listen to their spiel
• 11:22
  for a minute, but I'm like, I love that idea
• 11:23
  like bringing the experiences to the presenters
• 11:25
  and to the attendees too. I don't know if they'll
• 11:28
  do it here, but I know like at TCA and other
• 11:29
  conferences around three o 'clock, you might
• 11:31
  see some. Coffee and cookies come out. Happy
• 11:33
  hour. Maybe some beverages and stuff like that
• 11:36
  too. And I was like, I mean. The Declaration
• 11:39
  of Independence was written at a pub, so I mean,
• 11:41
  sure, things can happen. Again, former bar owner.
• 11:45
  Yes, yeah. Well, Carl, it's been great to catch
• 11:48
  up with you here at the conference again, but
• 11:51
  can you just give us a little shout out about,
• 11:53
  you know, how people can find your stuff and
• 11:56
  or any updates that you have that you think are
• 11:59
  worth sharing, too? Yeah, absolutely. Well, CarlHooker
• 12:01
  .com is my website. Almost all my books are on
• 12:03
  there. I just published the 10th book. a few
• 12:06
  months ago called Zen Gauge, which was a response
• 12:08
  to The Anxious Generation, a book by Jonathan
• 12:11
  Haidt that's kind of been weaponized as a scrim
• 12:13
  time battle, so I'm doing my response book to
• 12:15
  it. I said yesterday to an audience, I was like,
• 12:18
  I've written 10 books, nine of them I wanted
• 12:20
  to write, this one I felt like I needed to write,
• 12:22
  because I was so upset with the story that's
• 12:24
  being presented out there about technology in
• 12:26
  general. Not to defend it, because there's some
• 12:27
  bad technology too. So that's kind of been my
• 12:30
  mission lately, so a lot of my talks have been
• 12:31
  around that. and AI folds into all of that too,
• 12:35
  just with everything else. So yeah, so check
• 12:36
  that out. I'm speaking at lots of conferences
• 12:38
  all over the country over the next, I go to TTC,
• 12:42
  which is in Tennessee, Nice Gate in New York,
• 12:43
  Acton in Maine, Mass Q this year is the first
• 12:45
  time I've ever been, Gillette Stadium, I wonder
• 12:47
  if they'll let me wear my Eagles gear there,
• 12:49
  but go birds, we'll figure it out. But yeah,
• 12:52
  thank you guys for having me too, appreciate
• 12:53
  it. Yeah, yeah, really appreciate it. Awesome,
• 12:55
  thanks Jeremy. Thanks.