Easing Journey Prep: Packing Lists and Convention Hubs – Teaching in Higher Ed

About a month in the past, I traveled to Claremont, California for a convention at Harvey Mudd College: (Re)Imagining Liberal Arts and STEM Education in the Age of Generative AI. I heard about it from Josh Brake, a former visitor on Teaching in Higher Ed. I shared extra concerning the convention itself in a submit about what we should always find out about AI, in addition to a second one about discovering worth and which means in a world of AI. For this one, I’ll follow how I ready.

Cleaning up my packing checklist

I’ve used the Drafts app as my packing guidelines for an extended whereas, and each Dave and I’ve really helpful it earlier than. Over time mine had collected duplicates, and my classes had gotten messy. So I requested Claude Cowork to do a fast run-through: reorganize issues extra granularly, discover duplicates, and recommend something helpful I used to be lacking.

It did not blow me away, but it surely caught a few duplicates and advised some first help fundamentals, like band-aids and antiseptic wipes, that weren’t a foul thought. My checklist is a variation of 1 Dave created and has used for years. What I like about it’s that, alongside the anticipated classes (clothes, toiletries, well being and medicines, electronics and charging), he features a part for “on person.”

The sections that maintain me from forgetting

The “on person” part holds the issues which might be straightforward to neglect on the way in which out the door, the type that may make or break a visit: iPhone, Apple Watch, glasses (studying glasses, since I’m not going anyplace with out the pair on my face), purse with pockets, backpack. I might hardly ever neglect any of them, however I like marking them off as a substitute of trusting that I’ll keep in mind.

More lately I added a second heading, “travel day items,” for issues I am unable to pack the evening earlier than, like snacks that want to remain chilly till morning. Small tweaks, however they’ve made a distinction (particularly in my stress ranges).

My favourite new trick: Toggle Shopping Mode

Here’s the half I obtained such a kick out of studying from Dave. Beyond tapping gadgets on and off, Drafts has fast actions in a menu within the higher proper. I’ve lengthy used one known as Checklist Unchecker to reset the entire checklist so I can reuse it for the subsequent journey.

The new one Dave instructed me about solves a well-recognized annoyance: you are mid-pack, your cellphone goes to sleep, and it’s a must to get again into wherever that checklist lives. The Toggle Shopping Mode motion fixes that. Think of checking off a grocery checklist, then pausing to check two merchandise, and your display screen goes darkish. Instead, procuring mode creates a stay exercise, so the guidelines stays proper there within the Dynamic Island, that little black area on the high of the cellphone.

The entire time I packed, the Drafts indicator sat there, straightforward to return to. I left mid-day for this journey, so the checklist stayed stay for hours. It even adopted me onto CarPlay once I went strolling with my good friend Jeff, which I discovered significantly amusing. Talk about being reminded that I nonetheless wanted to pack that day!

Dave instructed me about this Toggle Shopping Mode characteristic a very long time in the past and I did not get it till I skilled it. If you already use Drafts, go set up Toggle Shopping Mode, after which by no means look again.

Building a convention hub in Obsidian

The different factor I did concerned Claude Cowork and Obsidian, my most important note-taking app for underneath a 12 months now. It’s a plain textual content system, so the information stay domestically on my laptop, although I pay for the cheap sync so I can attain them on different gadgets.

This convention had me like a child in a sweet retailer, and I needed to squeeze each little bit of studying out of it. The planning crew curated a stupendous vary of views on AI, with keynotes, lightning talks, and longer breakout periods, and I used to be overwhelmed making an attempt to determine the place to spend my time. I’d additionally signed up for a digital facilitation workshop with a session that conflicted with one right here. My thoughts was alive with chance and, candidly, a little bit of decision-making fatigue.

So I pasted the schedule into Claude Cowork, together with a transcript of me speaking via the battle and my considering on the alternatives. For studying alternatives like this, I’ve been constructing what I name hubs in Obsidian: a linked desk of contents that lets me transfer between associated notes the way in which you’d navigate Wikipedia (hyper linked).

Before lengthy, Claude had co-created a hub with key particulars on the high (occasion, host, location, dates, web site, schedule, major contact, tags) and an outline of what the convention would discover. From there it linked to every little thing else I wanted:

• My private schedule, as soon as I’d settled it with Claude’s assist
• The full convention schedule, plus day one and day two
• People to attempt to join with
• The organizing committee
• The recordings and supplies
• The scheduling battle I wanted to resolve
• My journey and lodging data, which I maintain in Tripsy, together with parking, campus and venue logistics, and the associated duties

It seems to be like rather a lot, but it surely was actually simply taking every little thing the planners supplied and putting it someplace straightforward to make use of. Because it is plain textual content and synced, I’d nonetheless have all of it on any machine even with out web.

For the day one notice, Claude turned my schedule right into a easy desk, straightforward to print if I had needed a tough copy, with the time, session, location, and the half that makes it work: a hyperlink to a notes file for every session. Tapping a hyperlink opened a devoted notice, just like the keynote “What should we know about AI?”, with the summary, a couple of issues to pay attention for, room to take notes, and a spot on the backside for key takeaways, quotes, questions raised, and follow-ups.

Freeing up my thoughts

These two modifications, Toggle Shopping Mode and the Obsidian hub, liberate my thoughts for the creativity and studying a visit is absolutely for, and lower the friction of remembering to pack or establishing notes from scratch. David Allen is legendary for saying, many instances:

Your thoughts is for having concepts, not holding them.

I take into consideration that always. Even although it is taken me some time to sit down down and write this (the convention was a month in the past), I’m nonetheless turning over how a lot I discovered. I stay up for proceed to increase my studying via experimentation and future conversations for the podcast and am grateful to the convention planning crew for such an enriching expertise. That, plus to Dave, for frequently educating me issues in life…

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