Using Wikipedia in the Classroom

When I was student teaching, I can remember one of my student teaching cooperating teachers telling me about what a problem Wikipedia was with her students. She said all of them were using it and she was going to make a rule that it could not be used at all. When I asked her why, she told me because it wasn't accurate and that "most" of the information was wrong.

For a long time, I used this same mentality with my students as well. When I saw Wikipedia as a resource on a paper, I'd take points off. Now that I teach online, I see even more cases of students using Wikipedia. So, I decided to do a bit of research on the site myself to see if it was valid or not.

I've since realized that Wikipedia can be an extremely useful research tool for students. I advise them to use Wikipedia as a starting place for their papers- to use it to find additional sites or other points to research on a topic. I also found a very interesting way to use Wikipedia in the classroom that I thought I'd share with everyone. Many teachers have started using Wikipedia as a learning tool. They have their students research articles to find out if they are valid. Another teacher, who commented on this blog , had her students research their town history to add information to their Wikipedia article.

In fact, Wikipedia itself appears to be getting in on the trend of using their site in the classroom. The Wikipedia Signpost (which is a "community-written and community-edited newspaper, covering events and stories related to Wikipedia") has a great article about classroom ideas. You can read the article here. Enjoy!

School shooting in Finland

Finland is a small and safe nordic country. It has a reputation of dynamic business opportunities with low crime rate and only minor drug use. The social welfare system and society are designed to quarantee everyone equal opportunities in terms of education, employment, health care and retirement. Also the direct democracy offers people a chance to participate in decision making. All and all the country is a wonderful place to live.
This is true especially for me. As I have been away for a long time the image of my home country as described before has been tattooed in my mind.

However, the image of a Nordic haven has shattered in the light of recent events. There was a school shooting in a high school of a small rural town in the beginning of this week. A young 22-yeard old male student shot 11 people , shot himself and died in a hospital a few hour later.

The whole county is in shock. There has not been a single school shooting in the history until a year ago when a similar tragic even took place last year. The severity of the situation might not feel as terrifying for most people, as such acts of violence unfortunately happen all the time around the world.

However for me as a Finnish citizen this is a terrible thing to witness. The thought on my mind shared with the 5,2 million other citizens is; How has our society changed in a direction where young people are depressed and expresses their desperation in such horrifying way.
Both the Finland shootings followed the same pattern as the unfortunate shooting at Virginia Tech. a few years back. Both murders in Finland included violent YouTube videos prior to the shootings and a quiet and introverted young man, who had no criminal record, no previous violent activities or drug use and no diagnosed depression or mental disorders.

I have a really difficult time understanding what brings young people to the state, where they feel as though suicide and hurting others is the only way out. My common sense tells me that a person who has healthy and meaningful human relationships, interpersonal communication and feels and receives empathy does not act in this way.

Isolation from the world that happens around you is a scary thought. I realize that this is can not be the sole reason for the violent acts of the few, but I have a reason to believe that lack of real human interaction (which has been the case in all of the cases I have mentioned)drives people to desperate spheres. As people are consumed more and more by the virtual worlds, simulation games and web communities, a certain ability to feel human connections and develop real relationships where people care for one another and develop emotions disappears.

I notice myself that I spend a great amount of time on my laptop and in the internet. I do mostly education related things, keep up with innovations in the field, read world news and interact with my friends on social networking sites. Sometimes in the evening I sadly notice that I have spent more time of the day on my computer than interacting with my significant other who lives with me or any of my other friends.

For myself I am not worried about the use of the computer, as for me it is not aproblem to shut it off. In fact usually look forward to being able to walk away from it to enjoy my real life. However, I can only imagine what the empty black screen of a shut down computer must feel like for a person, who lives most of their days in the surreal world created by web applications, online videos, movies and games all accompanied with the quiet humming of the computer. As the computer shuts down, their world disapprears and leaves them in a vast emptiness.

I know this is not the cause of the problem, but as the internet and its many uses take over a great chunk of our time,we sometimes forget what is actually important. Turn the damn computer off, and go enjoy the world and life that happens around you, right now.

The End of IP Addresses?

As the majority of our discussions on this blog relate to the Internet, it seemed necessary to discuss the issue of vanishing IPs. According to Vint Cerf, a main developer in creating the Internet, the Internet protocol addresses (IPs) days are numbered.

In 1977, Vint Cerf and his colleagues created the web using the IPv4 system. The IPv4 system uses 32 binary numbers that create a unique number which allows Internet devices to communicate with each other. However, the fast expansion of devices and an increase in Internet consumption has decreased the current amount of IP addresses. Current figures that the Internet will run out of IP addresses in 2010. Cerf recommends that current Internet users should transfer to a new system, the IPv6 system which uses 128 binary numbers. Here is the full article.

Need Your Help!

I am currently preparing a presentation on Digital Media ethics. I have been researching this topic and there is, of course, an abundance of websites and wikis devoted to this topic. What I want to provide at the conclusion of the presentation are copyright-friendly resources. So far I have included the following:

Creative Commons
Wikimedia
Soungle
Flickr (Creative Commons)

If you know of any other royalty-free or copyright-free resources for image, videos, audio files, please leave a comment and let me know...and thanks a bunch!

Wordle!

This site seems to be creating quite a 'buzz' amongst technology coaches. One can enter ANY text - could be the contents of an email, could be text copied and pasted directly from a website - something of personal interest or something content-specific. Hence, the educational application. There is one drawback, Wordle is not intended as an educational site specifically and its content is NOT monitored in anyway for appropriateness to an educational setting.
It is, however, very cool - here is a sample of a word cloud created in Wordle. The creator must have been comparing presidential candidates McCain and David Letterman ;-)
What I suggest you do for fun, if you want to check out Wordle is click on the link in this blog to your latest entry and simply copy the URL. Wordle will pull the text and 'word cloud' it for you - you can then change font styles, background colors, etc. Here's what the create screen will look like if you decide to do that:

Virtual Worlds

I have been doing a lot of research for my Centra presentation, The Dangers of Virtual Worlds, and I found a few things that really surprised me. I had no idea there were so many real dangers in a make-believe world. I won't go into detail because you'll have to hear it again in November, but I wanted to give you all some links that I found really interesting/disturbing regarding the virtual world, Second Life. It was really hard to create my presentation because I don't exactly agree with the view in which I had to write. I really think virtual worlds are what you make of them and if you have half a brain I think most people can avoid dangerous situations. I found a story online about a woman who was raped in Second Life and tried to sue Linden Labs for allowing something like this to happen. Couldn't she just log off? I think that's taking it a little too far. I mean, I don't really understand what exactly happened to the woman's avatar, but she was in no physical danger herself so how could she be emotionally scarred? It may be that she was a rape victim in real life, but like I said before..why not walk away from the computer? The research for this project was a great experience and I learned some things that really opened my eyes to the dangers of virtual reality. Check out the videos I found, you might be surprised.

Virtual Relationships
Virtual Child Predators
Children & Second Life

Move over low quality Video on the web. Hello........

Now you can upload and watch videos in high quality Standard and High definition on the web. This is not the you tube quality we are all accustomed to. There a few e learning related videos up there now. So get out the camera or your favorite screen capture program and add the content. And while you are there, sign-up and rate the other videos. http://www.vimeo.com/


The Sound of Wood from Anthony Edels on Vimeo.

Easy file sharing

When people are into online collaborations, discussions where they have to share huge files online , for example .swf,.pptx, mpg. Blackboard is a great LMS tool to share files but it fails sometimes when uploading huge files. I felt a better approach to this would be to upload the file to Rapidshare.
Method here is quiet simple type in rapidshare.com in the web address and enter that will open the Rapidshare website. Browse and upload the file, once the file gets uploaded it generates the upload link,
Enter the Name of the sender and the first recipient you can add up to 2 recipients add a short text message as to what file you are sending click send and you are done. You can send the generated link to as many users you wish to. Also you can encrypt your file if you have security concerns.
Rapidshare has free and premium zone, with pretty affordable rates. What I like more about rapidshare is reliability. One thing to note here this site may not open at your work place as companies or businesses are afraid about their employees to trade out their company secrets.
This was quiet a handy application to use during my Advanced ID project
Sites similar to rapidshare
http://megaupload.com
http://www.badongo.com/
http://www.filefactory.com/
http://www.megashares.com/
http://www.zshare.net/
http://www.rapidupload.com/
http://www.sendspace.com/

Aloha from my Wiki Field Trip

Just a short message to the class from Hawaii. As you can see I'm researching Wikis and how all this got started :) All kidding aside, my message this week is that we should have fun at what we do and build. Learning can be fun and in the virtual world environment it should be our goal to keep it fun for the learners (which will keep thier interest). Depending on the learning objectives, on line courses can be fun and interesting. Use of pictures, activities and interactive fun can keep the learners attention. Mahalo (Thank you)

Waikoloa Beach

Honolulu Airport

Bb World '08 - Part Two

I wanted to continue with some more of my thoughts about BbWorld '08. Throughout all four of the tracks, there was one key message. It is amazing how so many individuals with different experiences and backgrounds can submit presentations which all seemingly meet the theme!

Ideas into Action

"Ideas into Action", the conference byline, was a key idea throughout all of the individual presentations. Much of the BbWorld '08 left the attendee with a feeling of "Okay, I have all of these Web 2.0 tools - now what?!?" As an example, here are some of the sample presentation titles:

• Web 2.0: Learn. Connect. Share
• The Online Walking Tutorial: Using Google Maps in a Geo-Notepadding Assessment Tool
• Wikis and Blogs Demystified: A "Non-techie" Approach to Collaborative Thinking Tools
• Active Learning Using Technology
  
  

And these are just samples from the first half of day one! So how do we put our ideas into action? It turns out that almost all presenters simply felt that usage of the tools as a fundamental part of your course design, rather than a flashy addon, as well as instructor use and buy-in, is all that is required to engage your users.

SCUMMVM

I remember the sad, sad day I found out I couldn't play Monkey Island 1 on my new computer. I didn't know what to do with myself, I felt like I had lost a close loved one forever... That is until I found the open source program known as SCUMMVM. After a download and an install and a few short steps I was now able to play all my old LucasArts favorites on my computer again, and best of all they had a Mac build so once I upgraded computers again and changed to Mac I still had access to all my beloved games.

Now in case you're wondering "What is SCUMMVM?" I'll start by telling you what it stands for, and that is "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine". I bet you are still confused, but that's ok. SCUMM was the utility used to create the LucasArts adventure game known as Maniac Mansion and was later used for amazing LucasArts games like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and the Monkey Island Series. Since SCUMM was created in 1987, it eventually became obsolete and no longer ran on any newer computers or OS's. So along came the SCUMMVM open source program, which is where the 'VM' or Virtual Machine part comes in. A Virtual Machine is basically what it name says, it creates a virtual platform on a computer for certain programs to run in, this one specifically for old LucasArts games.

So if you are in the same boat I was in, check out www.scummvm.org! And you too can get back to all those awesome games!

Computers for Babies?

Yes! Computers for babies. Babysmash is a computer program that locks the keys that would get you out of the program (escape, windows, etc.). Instead, the baby can push any or all of the keys on the keyboard and different shapes, letters and numbers come up and greet the baby! They advertise as "baby-proof." A baby that's on a computer, now that's what I call being in the technology-forward crowd!


http://www.hanselman.com/babysmash/













I was also searching for a refresher on how to work with graphs in Excel and I came across this great website. MIstupid.com has a lot of different things to do, but the video tutorials are very good. I know that the majority of training on Excel, Word, and PowerPoint comes from hard work, asking a lot of questions in my School District, or referring to the PDFs on our website. Although these are provided, I find that it was much easier to see someone do it. This could be a great website to share with your school. Nice resource!
http://mistupid.com/tutorials/index.htm

Second Life Brain Control?

I have heard of second life before this class, but after talking about it my curiosity got to me and I looked around on some of my favorite gadget blogs. This comes from a gizmodo article last year and I thought it may be of some interest to the group. This looks like a basic brain control device made by a university in Japan. It allows the use to just think of walking and translates it to keyboard strokes to move a second life avatar.

IT at Sea

IT at Sea: Google to launch a computer navy

I found the title of this website to be very interesting. I am not a big science related person but the fact the Google wants to use wave energy to power and cool multilple data centers adript at sea amazed me. My first thought, with this being hurricane season, what happens in stormy weather. Will power cease to the data centers aboard these ships if the power is knocked out?

Then as I read on in the article, others have the same concern. Plus, they bring up the fact that these ships floating at sea are open to attack by others. There are reports of "Pirates" attacking ships in other areas. I guess this could happen. If I were a science / diehard technology buff I guess I would check into this much further. I will be concerned if this turns out to be the way of the future.

Curiously enough, there is a Blog related to this debate at the bottom of the website.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/09/18/computer.navy/index.html

Great Site - Classroom 2.0!

I found a great website for those people who are interested in breaking out of the boundaries of a classroom and collaborating with other teachers, students, administration, and integration technologists in transforming education. It is a supportative, social community with suggestions, experiences, and stories on how they use or want to use technology in their classrooms. There are wikis, blogs, online meetings, many different groups (ArtTeach, MAC Classroom 2.0, Distance Collaborations, High School Math Teachers, Implementing Instructional Technologies Innovations, Second Life, etc) that you can join, and a ton of other extremely interesting videos, photos, and chats to join and see. Check it out…you won’t be disappointed! http://www.classroom20.com/

eLearning for Life and Death Decisions

This post is just anecdotal, based on recent experience with a new job. When Dr. Kapp guest spoke during a class I had (can't remember which class now), he described scenarios where Second Life would be ideal: train firefighters to make decisions or learn a language by having to order food in that language in a virtual restaurant.

I thought a while about the firefighter example- what a great way to establish a foundation for concepts and decision making, before implementing the expensive and potentially dangerous simulation where a firefighter uses real equipment, or reacts to real problems.

Currently, the company I work for is developing a trade show exhibit to teach anesthesiologists more about a product that monitors the level of anesthesia in a patient. Effective anesthesia has multiple components: muscle paralysis, loss of memory, loss of consciousness, and no pain, among others. There have been instances where people have recalled the surgery, which is a problem. Imagine being aware of what's happening to you during surgery, but unable to speak or react, because muscle paralysis precludes you from speaking or moving!

The trade show simulation being developed has potential to be a regular training tool, and not simply an advertising tool, should the client choose to go that route. The learner gets to sit in the chair of the anesthesiologist, where he/she is introduced to a scenario that includes patient details. The anesthesiologist then takes over monitoring the anesthesia level, and is presented with a dilemma somewhere along the path, which he/she may ignore or respond to. Upon completion of the simulation, the learner gets feedback based on decisions and actions taken.

The best part about the whole simulation is, it combines eLearning with "real world" actions. Anesthesiologist actions on syringes and vaporizers are fed into software which then calibrates the user interface accordingly. The user interface can provide feedback and learning scenarios. A great example of using an eLearning approach when you want somebody to have familiarity with concepts and decisions before going into an event live.

Windows' Redemption?

Neowin.net forum

The above link revealed some interesting info on the next release of Windows (Windows Se7en). The forum contained a post from someone who allegedly had a beta release of Se7en installed on 2 machines.

I wanted to mention this since I am viewing the upcoming release as a make-or-break for me. If the new release offers the same "upgrade benefits" that Vista offered, I will be forking over the extra $$$ for a Mac. Se7en seems to be promising after reading this post, as well as some other unofficial posts and videos floating around the web (Se7en Preview video). Se7en is said to be released around first-quarter of 2010. Microsoft has some catching up to do in order to keep more customers from abandoning ship. . . and swimming to Apple.

Financial Learning through Web 2.0

Okay this weeks blog entry was found by my wife while doing her marketing research for work. The site is exploringetfs.com. Created by Barclays Global Investors. I can see why the site has won awards for their innovative use of technology and reaching the general public about complex financial information. The topic is on Exchange Traded Funds(ETFs).

That aside, why I thought it was interesting to place on our blog was because of it's use of Web and Learning 2.0 technologies. To begin with, the site has the narrator step in and say hello. Then you are offered choices of what they call Tracks to pick from depending on your interest and perhaps knowledge. If you don't have enough time and want a quick two mintue tour you can also do this with the options to save the 2 minute video tour to your iPod, IMac, or PC. What I think the site also does well is as follows in no particular order.

• Good use of visuals to go with the narration.
• Each subtopic is short and moves quickly.
• Good interactivity to keep the learner engaged.
• Good use of tone and inflection by the narrator.
• Good use of music (relaxing and does not take you away from the topic focus).
• Excellent use of additional information material.
• Excellent use of site mapping (visually appealing for each topic/subtopic).

So go take a tour and learn something new today and let me know your thougts. I would be interested to here those who disagree with my evaluation of the site.

NOTE:The image above is a SnagIt of the homepage from http://exploringetfs.com/ retrieved on 9/22/08 at 22:15 EST. The blog posting on this topic is strictly for educational purposes and is the opinon of the author. Any comments posted to this topic are the written opinons of the posters and not necessarily the view of the author of this said topic titled Financial Learning through Web 2.0.

Classroom 2.0

We have Web 2.0, but what about Classroom 2.0?

Classroom 2.0 is a wikispace that educators and anyone else interested in learning more about web 2.0, collaborative and transformative technology tools. I thought the space created a nice network for sharing and learning new technology tools. It was really neat to see how they created a Classroom 2.0 experience by allowing people to offer online “classroom” sessions about various topics. These “class” sessions use Elluminate to create the learning environment. Coming up today, September 22:
“Successful and unsuccessful managers are often distinguished by their ability to motivate others. In this session, Bhushan Bhatia, an expert management trainer tells you how you can motivate others. He will touch on the topics: what are soft skills, concept of motivation, types of motivation, various theories of motivation and how to motivate people to make things happen.”

Visit the schedule page to learn about offerings in the future, or to join the network and offer your own “class” session.

Facebook for the CIA and FBI

A new social networking website, known as A-Space, was released on September 22, 2008 for the use of the CIA and FBI. A-Space will be used to share information as well as opinions of those issues between intelligence personnel with proper security clearance.

The goal of the A-Space is to protect the United States by assessing all the information available to the spy agencies.

The information on A-Space is highly classified and will not be available to the public. This will allow analysts to share data that they have never been able to share before.

So, now when the boss tells them to start using Facebook at work don’t get worried they are slacking off…they are social networking in the secret world of spying!!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/09/05/facebook.spies/index.html

--Lynn

True E-Learning?

Inspired by the YouTube video shared by Chris, I recalled something that I had seen a while back that is less e-learning overall and more technology, how we interact with it and how it interacts with us. These last two elements fascinate me.

The title is "The Machine is Us/using Us."



So I take away from this that true e-learning is learning that is done not by us, but by the "E" that we use... :)

Joking aside, while this video is not specifically directed at e-learning (it was produced by an ethnographer), it nevertheless is a great tie-in with Chris' offering if viewed in the light of our evolving interactivity with e-resources. If (maybe a big if) there are fundamental changes in how we interact as a society, this most certainly warrants a look at how this affects learning.

By the way, 4 1/2 minutes seems to be a pretty common time for these YouTube instructional/inspirational vids. Perhaps that has something to do with our class discussion on attention spans...

A Brave New World Video

I'm sort of a "motivational video junkie" and have come across another one that I really like. Although, I already submitted a different post this week, I wanted to share this video; it seems so relevant to Instructional Technology.

Ways to Use a Wiki

We have been developing our wikis in this class, and for some, it is a new experience while, for others, it is not. I fall somewhere in the middle. Wikis and Blogs are not new to me and I visit many of them for ideas or inspiration. I have not, however, contributed to as many as I visit as a "spectator."

Just this week, however, I discovered a practical application for using a wiki in my classroom. Basically, instead of having my Digital Media Class teams keep a noteboook of their ideas and plans for their daily morning broadcast, I provided a wiki space (within Bb) for them to use for planning. The advantage is that each group can visit eachother's pages on the wiki and leave comments or suggestions on the ideas posted. They can also share helpful links.

One of the blogs I do read frequently is "Moving at the Speed of Creativity," written by Wesley Fryer and, in a timely fashion, he posted a list this week of "Ways to Use a Wiki." In his blog post, he included the list below:

1. Connect with parents through publishing student work
2. Homework groups with kids (ask questions)
3. Share lesson plans with other teachers and links
4. In lieu of a faculty meeting
5. Write a new school song collaboratively, brainstorm ideas
6. Put websites for articles students need to read, and then discuss it together online
7. Post homework assignments and makeup work for absent students
8. Schedules and calendars
9. Collaborative projects with other classrooms in the US or outside
10. Book reviews!
11. Science journaling
12. Study guides for the test
13. Science fair presentations
14. Collaboration to plan fundraisers or other activities
15. Diary of a science experiment
16. Literature response podcasting or video publishing
17. Book talks
18. Literature circle
19. RSS feeds for kid friendly publishing (let parents subscribe to updates)
20. Posting projects

How eLearning Works: Some tips

After reading/listening the death by powerpoint blog for the second time, I am looking out for whether all these guidelines for designing eLearning courses make sense. On How Stuff Works, http://communication.howstuffworks.com/elearning9.htm, there are 13 tips of which some form a wonderful model. For example, the interaction tip states, " Remember to involve the student through the use of interactive elements, but make sure the action builds the message rather than detracts from it." Others do not seem relevant in all settings, such as keeping text to no more than six lines per screen. This specifically reminded me of the Powerpoint slides with no more than seven words per line. Remember, these are just guidelines. Design your course so that it is effective. Don't put pictures in just to have pictures. Make the graphics meaningful and useful. If six lines per screen works, great. If not, eight lines won't make your course a failure. The How Stuff Works link also offers other comments on the psychology of learning, interactive and motivating e-learning, benefits, and planning. Some of the benefits are those that we had thought of on the first day of class.
Check it out.

Creative Training Delivery by Paul Harris

in the latest issue of T and D magazine from ASTD, Paul Harris highlights five "terrific training ideas" to make your delivery towards a business audience a little bit more creative:

1. "Laughing and learning" - Many business people are left brained, while most improvisational comedians use both sides of their brain. By learning how to use the whole brain (or at least tap into the right side occasionally), we can create more engaging ways to present information and break out of the PowerPoint mold. (Here at CramerSweeney, we are fortunate to have the resources of our own internal creative staff of art directors and multimedia/graphic designers!) Training is greatly improved by inserting some fun into it and emphasizing facts/information in creative ways - all with the goal of encouraging greater learning retention. (Take a look at a fun quiz that we created for our own website: Go to http://www.cramersweeney.com/, then click on the Smart Marketing IQ box in the lower left corner.)

In this article, Harris mentions that improv-based training helps businesses enhance how "people adapt to changing environments, process information, work in teams, and collaborate across functional and geographic boundaries...The methods address an ever-evolving range of client situations and needs." Improv games teach workers more flexible responses to situations.

2. "Hit me with knowledge" - Harvard law professor Charles R. Nesson says, "Poker is a great game for learning how to size up things for yourself, get intorisk management, and channel aggression. A student who can hold his own at a poker table, I have no worries about when they enter the real world."

My 14-year-old son loves poker. I suppose I should be encouraging him to play more often - and let him teach me Texas Hold 'Em! Nesson has even formed the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS) among some Ivy Leagues, to promote poker as a learning tool. He also belives that poker skills can really help high school kids with math. Poker teaches you numeracy, probability, risk assessment, and subtleties vs. complexities.

3. "No, you first" - How can we increase socially responsible behavior on our roads? London and other Western European cities tried something new on their roadways. They removed traffic lights and signs so that no one would have right of way. You would expect chaos to ensue. Lo and behold, by making sure no one had the right of way, accidents dropped 44%! Drivers and pedestrians suddenly began relying on eye contact with each other rather than signs. Imagine roads with no signs telling traffic to stop, yield, or merge, and no lines on the roads to guide traffic - these are called "naked roads." These naked roads actually dramatically improved harmony on the roadway. Now everyone looks out for each other!

4. "Point-of-need learning" - Knowledge (more than training) is increasingly becoming the answer to what workers really need on the job. Learning content providers will need to become capability providers. Instead of providing customers with proprietary content/training, companies will be teaching skill transfer capability - as 80% of learning happens on the job, not in the classroom. It's all about bringing training to people's workspaces.

5. "A virtual community blossoms" - As I have written in previous blogs and Harris reports in T&D, virtual 3D worlds "have emerged as a bona fide educational tool." Organizations have begun using Second Life (a popular virtual environment) as a "place of engagement" - for employees and instructors to interact in formal or informal settings, and public or private spaces; role play; access resources; and engage in collaborative learning.

Star Trek Classroom

A group of "techperts" (experts) at Durham University have designed the first interactive classroom desks. The multi-touch desks are very similar to giant Apple iPhones and allow interaction among students. "The team has linked up with manufacturers to design software, and desks that recognize multiple touches on the desktop, using vision systems that can see infrared light.
SynergyNet will integrate ICT into the fabric of the classroom. The new desk with a 'multi-touch' surface will be the central component; the desks will be networked and linked to a main smartboard offering new opportunities for teaching and collaboration."

The group recognized that this product could help collaborative group work improve its outcomes and also engage hard to reach learners. Watch the demo - I enjoyed the dominoes!

http://smart.dur.ac.uk/index.php?n=Main.MultitouchPage

Quotes on e-learning and education

This week I wanted to post something entertaining that we all could enjoy reading. With this thought in mind I searched the internet for funny or ironical quotes on learning and e-learning specifically.

Here are the some of the jewels of my search :)

Quotes on e-learning:

“Education is the only business still debating the usefulness of technology…." (Rod Paige)

"Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who
manage what they do not understand. (Unknown)"

"The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change. (Carl Rogers)"

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. (A. Toffler)"

"I am always doing what I cannot do, in order to learn how to do it (Pablo Picasso)"

"Educations purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. (Malcom Forbes)"

"Anyone who stops learning is old whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning is young. (Henry Ford)"

"The next big killer application for the Internet is going to be education. Education over the Internet is going to be so big; it is going to make e-mail look like a rounding error. (J. Chambers)"

"The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage. (P. Senge)"

Quotes on education in general:

"Is it easier to motivate a skilled person than to train a motivated person? (N. Dempster)"

"Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. (W. Churchill)"

“Education: Being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't. It's knowing where to go to find out what you need to know; and it's knowing how to use the information once you get it. (William Feather) “

“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself. (Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian physicist and astronomer) “

Education is...

“One of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get. (William Lowe Bryan) “

“Hanging around until you've caught on. Robert Frost “

“Education is what remains when we have forgotten all that we have been taught. (George Savile, English statesman and author (1633-1695)) “

“Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance. (Will Durant (1885-1981) )”

“Education … has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. (G. M. Trevelyan (1876-1962) British historian)”

“A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education he may steal the whole railroad. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American president)”

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. (Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer.)”

Hopefully some of you found these quotes amysing and/or relevant!

links to the sites:
http://www.e-learning.nl/subpage.aspx?l1=4&l2=40
http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/eduquote.htm

DropBox and 're-inventing the wheel'

I recently received a link to a blog posting about a new service called DropBox - but before I elaborate or provide the link to that blog, I'd like to say that that is exactly what I'm doing. Giving you a link to that blog, instead of re-inventing a blog entry. I often tell the teachers with whom I work that there is no need for them to feel overwhelmed by re-inventing the wheel in terms of lesson plans that involve technology. There is so much 'out there' that people are publishing for the purpose of sharing (not for stealing!) - the blog entry to which you'll be linking is just one example. There are videos, resources, lesson plans, ideas, etc. etc. etc. to be shared (and credited) all day long!
So, DropBox - here's why you WANT to check out the links at the end of this entry, talk about re-inventing the wheel; this is a GREAT idea. DropBox is FREE (at least a certain amount of storage space is free) web-based storage space for any and all kinds of files. Save things there as back-up just as you would on a regular hard drive, BUT access them from anywhere. Your files are even associated directly with a URL so that you could share them if you wanted to do so. My one biggest concern is whether or not you are sacrificing intellectual rights to those files. I don't think so, but it was unclear even in the FAQ section. Of course, security in general would be an issue, but for less than confidential work, what a cool service!

Check out the blog! (credit to CFF at Moshannon Valley School District)
Check out DropBox!

Microsoft AutoCollage

Microsoft Research has released a new Photo Collage software, named AutoCollage. The program automatically makes collages with selected pictures.

Microsoft pulled in research from various Microsoft teams including the Cambridge Incubation group. Major features include face detection, object selection and blending technologies.

The program costs $19.95 and can be installed on up to 5 machines. A 30-day trial is available.

Links: Microsoft AutoCollage
AutoCollage Demo Video
Microsoft Research Paper

Does Apple know best?

My thought is a big fat "no."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GqC-qe9GM8

The above link gives users a taste of the real capabilities of the iPod touch or iPhone. It is possible to put open-source fimware on your device using a number of sites that are available on the fabulous WWW. When Apple introduces a powerful device like the touch or iPhone, there will always be people in the Web community looking to improve these products for the USER. Just to list some features that can be made available via unlocking: enable Flash capabilities for the Web(rather than simply HTML), install applications that are not limited to the iTunes store (3rd-party applications), customize the look of menus and displays. . . and much, much more.

In my opinion, Apple makes amazing products but places too many limitations on how they let you use the product you purchased. When the teenage "hacker" found a way to allow the iPhone to be used on different carriers, it hit the media with a vengeance. The main reason was because AT&T no longer had sole rights to the iPhone. Apple combated this by sending an update that "bricked" the phone. Even though it was not illegal to unlock the iPhone, Apple had every right to counteract.

There is a reason why T-Mobile is introducing the Android OS on phones for their network (See Adam's previous post on Android). T-Mobile seems to have a better understanding that consumers not only want to get what they pay for, but also be unrestricted when using the purchased product.

How the Internet Keeps Me From Getting Cable (TV)

For quite a while now I've been using the completely legal video streaming site known as Hulu.

Hulu is completely free, and even has new television shows!

www.hulu.com

This site has let me stay up to date on some of my favorite tv shows like The Office, The Simpsons, and Family Guy. All the worries I had about needing to get cable tv again faded away after finding this site. The only small downfall I have found is that there are still commercials, although there is only one commercial per break and sometimes you are given the option to watch your show or movie commercial free just by watching a movie preview first. I like using that time to go get a soda or popcorn, so in the end it's all win-win for me. No bills to pay, less commercials, and on demand. 

There are other streaming sites like this one out there on the web, most of them are even put up by the television networks themselves. 

Timelines and Comic Strips

I was searching for some more resources for the professional development days that I am planning for on October 13 and 14 and I came across some more interesting and useful tools that I just NEED to share with you.





TIMELINES

xTimelines is a software that allows you to create a timeline online. You do not need to download the software because everything is online. The timelines can have pictures and hyperlinks in addition to the normal text of other timeline software. You can create a text for the date and when you click on it, you can add additional information on a supplementary page, including hyperlinks to other outside source. So, students can do extra research on their own. This is the BETA version, so they still have some kinks to work out, but it is FREE. Best of all, it is a Web 2.0 tool, so students can work on the same timeline collaboratively and print it out if they want! The picture to the right is one of the example timelines provided for you on the website about Women in Medicine.
http://www.xtimeline.com/index.aspx










REAL LIFE COMIC STRIPS


I happened to stumble over this looking for some photo publishing software. Bubblr is a software that can be used with Flickr to create comic strips. You can either search for a photo using tags or the user name from Flickr on this website and then add a talking "bubble" to it. With the ability to use pictures, students can really express their creative side when taking pictures too. I have seen teachers use similar software for comic strips for projects that involve creating storyboards or telling a story.

http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/

Death by Powerpoint

I've been working diligently (as I'm sure everyone else is as well!) to get my PPT presentation finished by the 25th. Since I don't want to bore everyone with my "exciting" thoughts on learning management terminology, I did some searching on effective online presentations. I thought I had a good idea of what made an effective presentation, but I found some very interesting tips and tricks that I'll be using when I lead my Centra session. I came across the following slideshow on the Business Exchange website. It explains some tips for making effective presentations and preventing the dreaded "Death by PowerPoint".

Death by PowerPoint

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: powerpoint ppt)

Games to Introduce Concepts

When I worked for a pharmaceutical company, part of the orientation included a game to introduce us to the overall concepts of manufacturing. The group was divided into teams, and each team had to don safety glasses, protective covering, and establish a clean work surface (a plastic tarp). Play-doh in a few different colors was given out, and each team had a limited amount of time to create an amalgamated compound, then "manufacture" the product. Cards would be given to each team- site inspections, delays or mistakes that put people behind, or good manufacturing processes that resulted in more efficiency.

When time was up, our product was measured, quantified and counted- play-doh "pills" that had the active compound sandwiched in a capsule of sorts. The team with the most pills and the least wasted compound won the game (my team won, in case you were wondering- we could cookie cut play-doh with seriously minimal waste and our work area was enviously clean).

Tuesday, in Instructional Game Design, we played "Diner Dash," to explore the concepts of the game in terms of what sort of system it was, and its formal, experiential and cultural factors. All of us have eaten in restaurants, and some of us have worked in them, and we were impressed with how simple rules, simple graphics, and user interaction gave a good feel for multi-tasking, and organizing task sequence in order to gain rewards. The game is simple, and fairly easy to learn, but despite its simplicity, it does a good job of illustrating a facet of the complicated and hectic food service industry.

I think a lot of people hesitate to implement games, because if it's a "game," it's not "work," or not "learning." Hence the terms "serious games" and "instructional games," which make them sound weightier and more legitimate. However, both these games were engaging, and did a really good job of introducing a concept. Plus, game playing might be the only time that learners are laughing, collaborating, and enjoying the content- it certainly made for a good class discussion on Tuesday night.

I'm curious what sort of eLearning games others have found that engaged the audience and provoked collaboration and discussion.

Eploring the World (of Warcraft)

First, apolologies for the South Park reference in the title.

Following the hyperlink I included will land you at a brief news story on the Chronicle of Higher Education website concerning a grant in the amount of $100,000 awarded to a prof. at the University of California at Irvine in order to study users of the online game World of Warcraft.

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3320&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

While this may or may not fascinate you, please read on to where us academics decide that we must comment on said article. Predictably, there are many people who are willing to view this as beneficial, and many who see this as a complete waste. I'll hold my own opinions in check for the moment, but if the comments begin here, I will most certainly weigh in with my own...

Though the grant is primarily written with ethnographic study and social interaction study in mind, in the context of Online Education, this also lands solidly in a discussion of virtual environments. And by the way, ethnographic and social interaction studies are important in education, too.

So I didn't do a great job of holding my opinions in check. Oops.

And Now for your Game Show Host...

Okay, I know the title is a little corny but I think after you visit this elearning game site you'll see why I chose the title. I was looking for what to post for this week. Then I did a google search on fun with elearning and came across the Game Show Presenter.

It was neat to see there are some packages out there, especially if you don't have enough time to develop something from scratch and want to include a game. Go ahead click the image to go to a demo version of the elearning game Game Show Presenter and try some of their games.

What's also cool is they have a link there to see the data that's captured for you if you owned the application. You can scroll down and you'll see I took the same quizes twice (okay I knew the answer from getting them wrong the first time but I couldn't let my name not have a perfect score - grinning).

I'll give Kudos to the first 5 comments posted who can:

1. find and tell me the name I used
2. the six (3 quizes taken twice) quizes I took
3. my scores for each quiz(1st and 2nd scores for each quiz).

Anyone up for the challenge?

Well I hope you have as much fun as I did. I'm going back to play the other demos! ENJOY!

If you want more about the product click the link in the first paragraph to go to the company website.

PADLA Meeting

I recently attended the Pennsylvania Distance Learning Association meeting at Drexel University as the topic resounded with what we have been doing in class "Distance/e-learning Challenges". The program was well run and comprised of 4 people coming to the group with their challenges with e-learning. This was relatively ironic as we had just (in our first class) discussed the to 10 challenges of on line learning, and our class had eloquently described challenges that 3 weeks later were being discussed by industry and educational professionals. It's always good to see what we are learning has direct and immediate application to our lives! Anyway, I'm convinced that the more we share during classes and can learn from each other, the greater this experience will be. This case based learning was truly enjoyable and I found myself talking about Wiki's and Blogs as though I was an expert (which you all know I'm not, just fully embrace the technology and know I have a ton to learn). My background in simulated learning using cognitive recall models and cyclical learning in a virtual role-play environment had allowed me to offer some valuable solutions to the folks, however there is still much to learn.

Wiki Adoption

Wikis are gaining acceptance as a viable collaboration and knowledge sharing tool in corporate America. In order for a Wiki to continue to be a viable tool it must be seen as relevant, up to date and have buy-in from the users/contributors of the Wiki. With this in mind, I started looking for resources on how to get my users to start using Wikis. I stumbled across an excellent resource of tools and techniques to use in the development of a corporate wiki for our training department.

This site points out that there is no one right way to develop a wiki and describes patterns and what can be done to ensure your wiki is successful. This site breaks patterns into four categories: People Patterns, Anti-people patterns, Adoption patterns and Adoption Anti-patterns. http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/wikipatterns/Wikipatterns What I really like about this site is it's a wiki, it offers ideas, obstacles and solutions for the development and adoption of Wikis. Check it out.

Anytime Collaboration and Online Conferencing

eLearning may require the ability to collaborate and conference with others around the world at one given time. Centra and Elluminate are two programs that I have had to use to accomplish such a task. These resources are fine when the events are organized by an organization willing to pay for resources. However, my curiosity set me on a search for additional FREE tools that may serve the same purpose. Check out of a few of the findings:
Vyew (http://vyew.com/site/)
Yugma (http://www.yugma.com/)
Yuuguu (http://www.yuuguu.com) - This is free in some cases.
http://www.unyte.net/(http://www.unyte.net/)

Mash-up Makers Move...

Interesting Article on CNN.com
Interestingly enough while reading CNN News today on my lunch break I found a good article. The article 'Mash-up Makers Move into the Mainstream' talks about Web 2.0. I discovered that mash-ups date back to the 1960's. That was surprise. I don't want to repeat the entire article so be sure to visit this site and also some of the related links that talk about gaming, the future year 2020 and digital super-artists. These links may help some of us with our projects.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/09/15/mashup.internet/index.html

Twitter....LMAO!

I read the Common Craft blog religiously and today Lee posted a link to his friends' blogs where I found this. I am still laughing at this video. It really gets you thinking about how things like MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter can take over your life. I think we all need to pull the plug once in a while!

E-Learning alphabet A-Z

Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. has put together 26 brief video introductions to some of the issues you are likely to encounter in your e-learning experience. She starts with the letter A and goes all the way to Z.

Dr Nash has a background in interdisciplinary, she has been involved in eLearning and technology-enhanced training and education since the early 1990’s. She has published many books and has many online resources; these videos are only one resource she has.

In these videos she covers everything from online courses to gaming.

All videos can be downloaded to your iPod or PSP. You also have the option to listen to the podcast instead of watching the videos.

This all can be viewed at http://mlearners.com/

Here is an example of the letter I. Dr Nash has chosen Institution for I. She talks about traditional classes vs. distance learning. I am sorry I wasn't able to get a better picture but you can view this at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=498642980929266102&hl=en

You can read more about Dr Nash by visiting: http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/
--Lynn

eLearning on the School Bus!

I read a fascinating article in US News and World Report about children that live in a rural town outside of Little Rock, AK, going to school on a school bus that has internet access. The students have a 90 minute ride to school and it was the brainchild of a Vanderbilt University professor to have a class on the bus after seeing the children bored to tears on the long commute. Professor Billy Hudson felt that these children that lived in rural communities would have a better chance at college by having internet access to advanced courses. After seeing the success of the mobile class, he applied for federal grants to expand the program into rural Tennessee.

The children study math and science and are thrilled about their new learning method. The bus looks like every other bus in the school fleet except that it has a cellular router and a rooftop antenna on the bus. The kids love that they have their own professors and they have to take a test at the end of every lesson. And it makes their commute not only quick but productive as well! Amazing! Truly, learning on the go! Here's the article, if you're interested. http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/e-learning/2008/01/10/this-bus-is-plugged-in.html

Thinking for Design: Types of Learning

A corporate employee attending an event for online training will absorb information much differently than a high school student logging on for an extra-credit french lesson. Here are 7 learning ideas to include in your predesign thinking to help reach your target audience:

1. Holistic: People will learn by presenting the whole picture of information prior to the details.

2. Sequential: Describes the logical presentation of information and follows a very strict sequence of instructions to achieve an outcome.

3. Mind Maps: (flowchart) Concept maps offer a method to represent information visually.

4. Multimedia: the learning environment is integration of text, graphics, animation, sound and video.

5. Problem Based Learning: PBL is any learning environment in which the problem drives the learning. The students are given a problem before learning any knowledge. Then the students will discover that they need to learn some new knowledge before they can solve the problem.

6. Inquiry Based Learning: is an active learning approach focusing on questioning, critical thinking, and problem solving. It’s associated with the idea "involve me and I understand."

7. Gaming: for adventure learner, taking risk, like to try things out, and for visual and global learners the information will be presented as a game.

source: http://www.lsum.net/DAGEEZ2.pdf

10 tips to make E-Learning solutions work

Here is an extract from "http://www.learningcircuits.org/2002/may2002/elearn.html" for 10 tips for designing a good e-learning course which is both informative and engaging to the learner. However I feel that it’s all the designer needs, there are always a few exceptions depending on the situation, course and learner age group.

Tip 1: Focus on creating a job-focused curriculum

Tip2: Create an interactive lesson

Tip3: Offer additional support

Tip4: Prepare learners

Tip5: Prepare managers

Tip6: Support learners

Tip7: Monitor and report the results

Tip8: Evaluate learning

Tip9: Enhance the course

Tip10: Identify future training needs

Content provided here is for educational and researches purposes.
Source: http://www.learningcircuits.org

Magnificent Moodle!

One of the biggest rising starts in the LMS industry over the last few years has been Moodle. It's quite, frankly, a progression has has startled many in the e-learning industry.

Moodle, which is in fact an acronym, albiet a coll sounding one, stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. It is a free e-learning Course Management System (CMS), or Learning Management Systems (LMS), or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Probably the most impressive thing that stands otu to me about Moodle is the fact that the user base is up to 38,896 registered sites with 16,927,590 users and 1,713,438 courses. All of this has predominantly happened since the release of Moodle 1.6 in 2006.

Moodle does a lot of the same things that Blackboard does, with the difference being that Moodle is an open source software. Open Source software, for those tech illiterates, is basically free software that can be roundly distributed without any restrictions on access or licensing. With this comes positives and negatives. The positive is that software is free of charge and can be altered, prodded, and used for trial runs by companies and organizations that want to use no resources. the downsize is that most open source software provides no support, help, or guarantees that everything will work.


In a way, Moodle has re-designed the Open source market, especially for content management for three reasons.


1)It's very effective and very functional for those who use it: Moodle provides nearly the same service package as systems like blackboard, but with none of the costs. It can operate on just about every operating system, and it's highly accessible.


2) Ease of Use: this might be the most influential factor in the popularity of Moodle. It is remarkably simple and non-complex, so it caters to even the least software savvy of individual. Plus, contributions by all are relatively easy to make and can be made by multiple parties.


3) Partnering: this may be a trend that all of e-learning is headed for. Moodle has partner companies who give a share of revenue from Moodle projects back into the software's development. In this fashion Moodle can position itself competitively in the market for LMS software all while being accessible to anyone. It's a win win for both moodle and it's consumers.

Moodle is casing a lot of WEB CT and Blackboard clients to re-think their approaches to LMS solutions.

This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education outlines some of why Moodle is such a breakaway hit.

Moodle leaves choice of features up to faculty, students


Moving to Moodle: Reflections Two Years Later

E-learning in the media

I am a huge fan of the show "Sunday Morning" with Charles Osgood, and today's show helped me write this week's blog. The cover story discussed how parents are increasingly homeschooling their children for multiple reasons, but the one thing they featured was The Calvert School. Based out of Baltimore, the school began years ago as a home schooling source for parents during a huge flu epidemic. The school delivers a box of supplies for both parents and children to aid in the enourmous task of home instruction. Today, they still provide the same services - only they have thwarted their company into the 21st centrury by providing e-learning programs through their website.

You can enroll into their live, online classes (middle school students) for a couple thousand dollars (this is what the show said and I didn't find the actual cost - so I'm taking the media's word for it). The Calvert School also offers Instructional presentations and sets up learning situations. Check this demo out on Geothermal Energy - it was amazing. (It was a demo video so please click on the hot link)

http://www.calvertonline.org/ClassServerResources/Engage/Geothermal1/engage.html

It combines a lecture on the subject, plus the current energy crisis and how to testify against congress armed with the information you just learned. What a great e-learning supplement to home schooling!

Contingency Plans

After reading the design for the virtual classroom chapter in William Horton’s eLearning by Design, something in particular stuck with me. “The best way to prevent problems is to anticipate them.” This is not only true of eLearning, but as this is a type of teaching and learning that may be new to some of us, it is exceptionally important. I believe it is hard enough trying to create an engaging online meeting without worrying about all the potential downfalls when you have that meeting. Though, why spend the time in creating something great if it is going to fail when it is implemented? You might as well take the extra step and create a problem-solution list for technology failures, lack of student involvement, personal emergencies, and so on. This idea truly has me thinking about how useful a classroom management course could have been before I stepped into a classroom. Now I have created a mental list of potential problems and solutions about some common student misbehavior as well as problems with students understanding certain concepts. Human behavior is unpredictable, so prepare for as much as you can; it makes life easier. What are some situations in which you obtained benefits from anticipating problems?

Usability Testing...

After reading an article about Usability testing, I found that many organizations fail to add Usability testing to their criteria of good elearning. The article explains that poor elearning applications are just that because companies forget to do this important test. I believe Usability can ultimately be the answer to the question of whether elearning is good or not. If organizations are experiencing high drop out rates in their elearning classes, the article explains that it might be due to the lack of usability testing. It is the user/learner that validates the elearning and if you do not get their input when developing that elearning, you miss out on information that could potentially determine the success of the training even before it is release.

http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/jan2005/miller.htm


Definition of usability: Usability has been defined by some as the extent to which an application is learnable and allows users to accomplish specified goals efficiently, effectively, and with a high degree of satisfaction. An additional component that should be added to this definition is usefulness; that is, a highly usable application will not be embraced by users if it fails to contain content that is relevant and meaningful to them.
Importance of usability
The field of usability engineering gained great prominence during the growth of the Internet, primarily as it pertained to the e-commerce industry. Countless online retailers quickly learned that one of the paths toward viability and increased sales was developing e-commerce Web sites that were highly usable. One of the most publicized lessons learned was the failure of Boo.com in May of 2000.
Boo.com was an upscale clothing e-retailer that prided itself on an elaborate and visually appealing Web site. The problem was that shoppers experienced great difficulty navigating through the site, locating items of interest, and finalizing purchases. Boo.com finally ceased operations, but only after having spent upwards of US$120 million in a mere six months.
Even though Boo.com wasn’t an e-learning site, much may be learned from its example. Intricate design and robust functionality will fail if visitors are unable to use the application to accomplish their objectives. Further, one cannot expect learners to visit the application time and time again simply to learn the interface. It must be understandable to them at the onset, if they are to access and absorb the content. Given the considerable dollars that are spent on e-learning applications it’s prudent to determine the extent to which they are indeed usable.
So, why do so many e-learning applications fail to stress the importance of or put into practice? It’s likely that the decision makers have a poor understanding of usability, are unaware of its importance, or do not consider it worthy of time and effort. Indeed, it would appear that far more energy is focused on the technology involved in developing instructional content rather than ensuring that users will be able to use the technology effectively.