Free Course Content

Friday morning, I attended the Colorado TELECOOP conference at Arapahoe Community College. The first session I went to was about open course content, specifically that provided at HippoCampus. It looks like a great resource for some subject areas, like math, science, history, government, and religion. Unfortunately, I don't usually teach those subjects. It would be much more helpful if it had content for literature and humanities courses. (I guess I'm going to have to do some research to find such resources for the classes I do teach.)

The presenter also mentioned the NROC Network, which "is a community of educators, adminstrators, technologies, and designers working together to develop high-quality, online content and instruction."

100,000 Ning Social Networks

According to a post on the Ning blog dated September 23, "There are now 100,000 social networks on Ning. 70,000 of these networks have been created in the past seven months alone."

In a post yesterday, Gina Bianchini explained the differences between a Ning social network and a Facebook group. I joined Facebook a few weeks ago, and I'm not really impressed with it--especially when compared to Ning. In fact, I've only logged in two or three times since I joined.

The first thing I noticed is that when I receive a message in Facebook, the e-mail notification I receive doesn't include the message. I have to log in to actually read it. Also, my profile is the same no matter what group I join. In Ning, the creator of the network can change what profile information is requested for that particular network. Also, in Ning, people can't see what other social networks I belong to. In Facebook, apparently, every time I join a new group, my "friends" are notified--at least I'm informed when they do it.

SL-NET's First Professional Development Session

On Friday, SL-NET held its first professional development activity. Shaun and the other committee members did a great job pulling it together. CDB Barkley and Max Chatnoir talked about what educators are currently doing in Secondlife. At one point, we had about 35 "people" present.

There are more pictures available at the SL-NET website.

Also posted at 4R x T.

Blog vs. Wiki

Since last January, I've been using a blog for my classes at Red Rocks Community College. I post what we've done in class, so the students don't have to try to get in touch with me if they miss class or forget. I also have links for each class.

It finally occurred to me this week that a wiki might suit my needs better, so I've started one at PBwiki, though I don't have anything in it yet.

I guess it seemed logical to use a blog because I was making regular chronological posts about the classes. However, the students aren't commenting on the posts--at least no one has to date--so I don't really need that feature. Another problem with the blog is that during times when I'm not teaching a particular I can't save the related links in the sidebar except by leaving that element on the page. In the wiki, I can just hide (or not link to) a page I don't need during a semester, but the content is still there. With the wiki, I can also embed a widget from Box.net for the folder with the files for the class rather than just linking to the page.

Also posted at 4R x T.

Too Little Too Late for Wikipedia

I just read in a post on the Socialtext blog about an article in the Telegraph, which states that Wikipedia "is to stop people from editing entries after a series of questionable updates cast a shadow over its accuracy and reliability." Does anyone really believe that Wikipedia has ever been accurate and reliable? This is certainly a case of too little too late. I won't let my students cite an article from Wikipedia in any papers they submit. I know of some faculty members who require their students to use Wikipedia but only to demonstrate how inaccuate and unreliable it is.

Citizendium, an encyclopedia project that aims "at credibility and quality, not just quantity," and Scholarpedia, a "free peer reviewed encyclopedia written by scholars from all around the world" are already traveling on the path that Wikipedia seems to want to take.

Also posted at 4R x T.

Innovation Adoption

Sue Waters' latest post, This Is CRAP!!!, was the first reference I remember seeing to Rogers' "Innovation Adoption Curve." Obviously it takes some people longer than it does others to accept something new. Rogers divided people into five categories from the most to the least eager to adopt an innovation:

1. innovators (2.5 %)
2. early adopters (13.5 %)
3. early majority (34 %)
4. late majority (34 %)
5. laggards (16 %)

Sue has a couple of great graphics in her post.

In a class of 18 students, which is the number I have in my hybrid technical writing class at Red Rocks this fall, that would break down to (rounding, of course, even the .2 student in the innovator category)

1. 1 innovator
2. 2 early adopters
3. 6 early majority
4. 6 late majority
5. 3 laggards

It will be interesting to see how accurate this is.

Blogging and Ning

In response to questions from Kirsten Morton, who is a classmate of mine at CU-Denver, Tony Karrer, eLearning Technology, wrote about blogging as part of a classroom experience. I commented on his blog to point him to Brent's blog so he could see that there were more students in the class than the four linked in Kirsten's blog.

From his blog, Sue Waters, Mobile Technology in TAFE, found mine and read my most recent post about Ning. From reading Sue's blog, I discovered that she has a Ning social network for people interested in eTools and Tips for Educators. According to the site,

This group has been set up for the Video in e-learning session for e-Tools and Tips September series of How To Session for 2007 E-learning Networks Community Forum.

Initially we'll be discussing video good practices however we plan to keep this site going and expand it to include other cool tools for e-learning for education and training.

On her blog, Sue also refers to a 31 Day Blog Project that she participated in. (A scaled-down version of this could work for a class where students are required to blog.) One participant in the project started a Ning social network for members of the group.

My del.icio.us Tags

I just discovered how to show the tags for my del.icio.us bookmarks on this blog. Now, if I could just figure out how to center the lines, so it looks more like my label cloud for the blog.

Technology on Campus

Through a post on a blog I regularly read, I learned about Campus Technology magazine, which "is the only monthly publication focusing exclusively on the use of technology across all areas of higher education." Naturally, I subscribed to its RSS feed.

One two-part article featured on the main page caught my attention. It's titled "Teaching with Technology: Facilitating the Process." Part 1 is about "Strategies for Adopting Instructional Technology." The authors, Ric Keaster, Leroy Metza, and Angela Hillegass, start by pointing out that P-12 teachers must learn to use technology in order to incorporate it into their classrooms. "Likewise, instructors in colleges of education cannot teach prospective teachers to use technology unless the faculty, themselves, use technology in the college of education classrooms as a part of their instruction. There is something about 'modeling' that goes a long way in education, regardless of the level of education under consideration."

(This certainly sounds familiar given what we're doing in IT 6750.)

Obviously, as the authors point out, this will involve "two primary areas of new knowledge where faculty members need professional development: online instruction and face to face instruction." The article "deals with . . . the need to provide faculty not only with the technological tools for enhancing instruction, but also with the knowledge of how to best use these materials to maximize the time faculty spend with students in physical college and university classrooms." It then examines how this was accomplished in the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences at Western Kentucky University.

The process included the following steps:

1. Creating an atmosphere and culture for change
2. Developing and communicating the vision
3. Planning and providing resources
4. Providing training and development
5. Monitoring and checking progress
6. Continuing to give assistance

Steps 4 through 6 were presented in the Part 2 of the article: "The Means to Bring about Change."

More on Ning

As I mentioned before, I'm using a Ning social network for my hybrid technical writing class at Red Rocks. Each week the students have to do an online assignment, most of which will be in site, where they can post in forums or on their own blogs.

Their first assignment was to join the site, post an introduction, and respond two at least two other people's instroductions.

In class yesterday, we talked about tools for technical writing, primarily rhetoric and technology. Here is their second assignment, to be done this week:

On the web, find a free or trial version of a software program or web-based service that may be used for creating documents, communicating, and/or collaborating (as discussed in Chapter 3 of the textbook). Test the program or service. On your "My Page" create a blog entry in which you tell where you found it (be sure to include a working link to the website), explain what it does, and discuss its strengths and weaknesses. Use the name of the program or service as the title of your blog post.

I've also joined another Ning social network. This one is called College 2.0, and it's for people in higher ed who are interested in online education and Web 2.0.

Also posted at 4R x T.

Virtual Communities

Just lately I've run across references to virtual communities and communities of practice (CoPs). In a post (June 10, 2006) on the The Learning Circuits Blog, Dave Lee presented his 4L Model for the "types of roles in an online community," which includes the following four roles:

1. Linking (explorers)
2. Lurking (occasional participants)
3. Learning (regular contributors)
4. Leading (committed, consistent contributors)

Derek Wenmoth, in his blog, on November 10, 2006, posted a diagram and explanation of the phases "many participants in the online environment move through . . . as they gain understanding and confidence":

1. Consumer (not-yet-visible but active participants who "read and explor the posts of others")
2. Commentor (now-visible participants who post comments in response to other people's posts)
3. Contributor (active participants "who have started their own blogs or . . . initiate new threads on discussion forums")
4. Commentator (leader who takes a broader view)

The parallels between the two schemes are obvious.

Here are some links for further reading on the subject: "The Art of Building Virtual Communities," "Cliff Figallo and the Evolution of Virtual Community," "Building Virtual Communities."

Training in Second Life

In an article published in the August issue of T + D magazine by the American Society of Training & Development (ASTD) and online at Learning Circuits, Anders Gronstedt discussed the use of Second Life (SL) in corporate training. After briefly covering what SL is and how to communicate there, Gronstedt explains how tools in SL "can be used by training professionals to illustrate technical concepts in powerful new ways."

He quotes Chuck Hamilton from IBM, who said: "One of the advantages of Second Life is that you can manipulate the sense of scale and perspective. . . . You can crawl around a big oil rig or fly around a network diagram."

Gronstedt also points out one of the problems with training in SL: "Second Life is creating more virtual classrooms. Unfortunately, most e-learning still looks like a classroom lecture. It takes time for a new medium to develop its own character and unique vernacular."

However, as he points out, there "are signs that some learning organizations are pushing the envelope. IBM has balloons flying in the air that you can enter to explore 360-degree images—a virtual reality within the virtual reality."

Some of the barriers to extensive use of SL in corporate training are

1. consumer focus
2. firewall and security issues
3. system requirements
4. people's time commitment

Gronstedt concludes, "Virtual worlds provide learning organizations with a powerful, unique ability to engage and empower employees in ways that accommodate their digital and mobile lifestyles, adapt to their individual learning needs, and encourage collaboration."

I agree.

This Is SOOOO Cool!

TouchGraph Google Browser (also available for Amazon.com and Facebook) shows connections between websites listed in Google's database. You can graph connections based on URLs or keywords. Here's part of the graph I got when I put in "instructional technology" with the quotation marks. I focused on the section with CU-Denver because that's where I'm taking an instructional technology class.



I read about it on TechCrunch.

Read/Write Web Poll on Top Web Technology

Richard MacManus at Read/Write Web has a poll up today asking with of the following technologies readers "think will have the most impact over the next 10 years":

1. Ajax / browser-based apps
2. Artificial Intelligence
3. Attention data
4. Gaming
5. Mobile
6. Online Video / Internet TV
7. Rich Internet Apps
8. Search
9. Semantic Web / structured data
10. Virtual Worlds
11. Web services / APIs
12. Other

As I commented in response to his post: "I voted for 'Virtual Worlds,' but I think the real answer will be a 'mashup' of several of the web technologies. As an educator, I think being able to access web-based applications and search functions from within a virtual world will have a huge impact on education."

Sad but True

According to an article linked at Ray Schroeder's Educational Technology News blog, "University students may be encouraged to be critical but they don't seem to question Google's ranking system, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication."

This is disheartening but hardly surprising considering that people are using the word google as a verb to mean "using a search engine to search the web." I cringe every time I hear someone use it that way.

As I understand it, Google ranks results based on popularity: how many people click on the link and how many other pages link to it. Popularity does not equal relevance.

Top 100 Tools for Learning?

The Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies has prepared a list of the "Top 100 Tools for Learning" based on responses from 109 "learning professionals." I ran across the list while I was searching for references to AECT and Second Life together and got a hit that took me to the Centre's page for Second Life. I was excited until I looked at it more carefully.

It's hard to take the list seriously when Tool #4 with 37 mentions is Google's search engine. The next "search engine" listed is Dogpile (#98), which is a metasearch engine or metacrawler not a regular search engine, anyway.

Ask.com and Exalead are much better search engines than Google, but I always advise my students to use metacrawlers (like Dogpile, Kartoo, Clusty, and Ixquick) or directories instead. They get much more relevant results that way.

Article on Work-Embedded E-Learning

I finally got around to reading the July/August issue of Intercom, which is published by the Society for Technical Communication. In an article titled "Work-embedded E-Learning: Wherever You Are, Whenever You Need It," Harry Calhoun, Kristine Berry, and Christopher Dawson discuss what work-embedded e-learning is, how it's different from "help screens and other forms of user assistance," how it's accessed, how satisfied users are with it, what its benefits are, and what some best practices for creating it are.

The article is available through EBSCO's Business Source Premier database, which can be accessed through the Auraria Library and a lot of others.