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Barbara Lindsey

Openness as Catalyst for an Educational Reformation (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE - 0 views

www.educause.edu/...209246

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 03 Sep 10 - Cached
  • Education is sharing. Education is about being open.
    • Barbara Lindsey
      Barbara Lindsey on 03 Sep 10
       
      What do you think about this?
  • The Internet now makes it possible for digital expressions of knowledge to have the same magical, nonrivalrous quality as knowledge itself.
  • Information technology is sometimes turned against itself and is made to conceal, restrict, withhold, and delete. For example, a course management system like Blackboard theoretically has the potential to greatly improve educators' capacity to share. Instead, many CMSs take the approach of hiding educational materials behind passwords and regularly deleting all student-contributed course content at the end of the term. If Facebook worked like Blackboard, every fifteen weeks it would delete all your friends, delete all your photographs, and unsubscribe you from all your groups. The conceal-restrict-withhold-delete strategy is not a way to build a thriving community of learning.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Perhaps most important, what is our primary interest as educators: facilitating student learning or commercializing what we know? If our primary interest is facilitating student learning, then education is our field. If commercializing what we know is our primary interest, then we shouldn't be educators.
  • From my perspective, the only legitimate role for new media and technology in education is to increase our capacity to be generous with one another. Because the more open we are, the better education will be.
Barbara Lindsey

News: The Evidence on Online Education - Inside Higher Ed - 0 views

www.insidehighered.com/...online

research online learning meta-analysis usgov ed

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 30 Sep 10 - Cached
  • The study found that students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction. Further, those who took "blended" courses -- those that combine elements of online learning and face-to-face instruction -- appeared to do best of all. That finding could be significant as many colleges report that blended instruction is among the fastest-growing types of enrollment.
  • While the new study provides a strong endorsement of online learning, it also notes findings about the relative success (or lack thereof) of various teaching techniques used in online courses. The use of video or online quizzes -- frequently encouraged for online education -- "does not appear to enhance learning," the report says.
  • But noting the caveats in the report about factors other than medium of instruction, he said that "we should not take the report as saying it is simply better to move to online learning. These results demonstrate why more research is needed -- broadly based research that moves well beyond case studies conducted by distance education practitioners, research focused on student retention in online environments and especially research that looks behind the instructional medium to isolate the characteristics of instruction that produce positive results. Successful education has always been about engaging students whether it is in an online environment, face to face or in a blended setting. And fundamental to that is having faculty who are fully supported and engaged in that process as well."
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  • "Despite what appears to be strong support for online learning applications, the studies in this meta-analysis do not demonstrate that online learning is superior as a medium," the report says. "In many of the studies showing an advantage for online learning, the online and classroom conditions differed in terms of time spent, curriculum and pedagogy. It was the combination of elements in the treatment conditions (which was likely to have included additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration) that produced the observed learning advantages. At the same time, one should note that online learning is much more conducive to the expansion of learning time than is face-to-face instruction."
  • Using technology to give students "control of their interactions" has a positive effect on student learning, however. "Studies indicate that manipulations that trigger learner activity or learner reflection and self-monitoring of understanding are effective when students pursue online learning as individuals," the report says.Notably, the report attributes much of the success in learning online (blended or entirely) not to technology but to time. "Studies in which learners in the online condition spent more time on task than students in the face-to-face condition found a greater benefit for online learning," the report says.
Barbara Lindsey

YouTube - Sintel - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

opensource film video

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 05 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Barbara Lindsey on 05 Oct 10
     
    "Sintel" is an independently produced short film, initiated by the Blender Foundation as a means to further improve and validate the free/open source 3D creation suite Blender. With initial funding provided by 1000s of donations via the internet community, it has again proven to be a viable development model for both open 3D technology as for independent animation film. This 15 minute film has been realized in the studio of the Amsterdam Blender Institute, by an international team of artists and developers. In addition to that, several crucial technical and creative targets have been realized online, by developers and artists and teams all over the world.
Barbara Lindsey

for the love of learning: How not to use technology - 0 views

www.joebower.org/...how-not-to-use-technology.html

online privacy rights etiquette

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 09 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Barbara Lindsey on 09 Nov 10
     
    A good example of how NOT to engage in online discussions. This is followed by a tweet war between Joe Bower and RM Brynes. Ugly. 
Barbara Lindsey

Jeff Mao and Bob McIntire from the Maine Department of Education: Open Education and Po... - 0 views

creativecommons.org/...25399

oer main opened cc creativecommons

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 09 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • Barbara Lindsey on 09 Dec 10
     
    Recently, Maine has been engaged in some interesting and innovative projects around OER as a result of federal grant funds. For this installment of our series on open education and policy, we spoke with Jeff Mao and Bob McIntire from the Maine Department of Education. Jeff is Learning Technology Policy Director at MLTI, and Bob works for the Department's Adult & Community Education team.
Barbara Lindsey

TCC online conference ÿfc - 0 views

tcc.kcc.hawaii.edu/...welcome.html

conference online actionresearch

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 09 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • Barbara Lindsey on 09 Dec 10
     
    Emerging Technologies: Making it work. Theme for this year. An annual worldwide online conference for uni and college practictioners.
Barbara Lindsey

Toolbox or Trap? Course Management Systems and Pedagogy (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE... - 0 views

connect.educause.edu/...46576

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 24 Aug 08 - Cached
  • Campuses have adopted these programs on a wide scale, yet few studies have looked at how the design and use of a CMS affects pedagogy, and instructors rarely discuss how a CMS affects their teaching.
    • Barbara Lindsey
      Barbara Lindsey on 24 Aug 08
       
      Discuss in class.
  • Decisions about which learning software to use on campus are often made by campus technologists and administrators rather than faculty.
    • Barbara Lindsey
      Barbara Lindsey on 24 Aug 08
       
      Not surprisingly, this also is the case at UCONN.
  • The construction of the course syllabus, a natural beginning point for most instructors, is a good example of how the software imposes limitations. When they first enter a CMS, new instructors see the default buttons of the course menu, which are based on type rather than purpose: Announcements, Course Content, Discussion, even Syllabus.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • The default organization of the CMS forces them to think in terms of content types instead, breaking the natural structure of the semester.
  • In addition to a counterintuitive organizational scheme, integrated commercial systems have a built-in pedagogy, evident in the easiest-to-use, most accessible features. The focus on presentation (written documents to read), complemented by basic "discussion" input from students, is based on traditional lecture, review, and test pedagogy. This orientation is very different from the development of knowledge through a constructivist, learner-centered, or inquiry-based approach, which a number of faculty use successfully in the classroom.
  • But at the novice level, the system simply does not encourage such customization. To be able to modify the CMS to employ alternative teaching methods, instructors must have a well-developed sense of what is possible in the online environment before approaching the course design process—a perspective many do not have when they first start teaching online. When presented with a list of options, most people typically choose one option rather than question the list itself.
  • Most faculty do not use the web either extensively or intensively in their own work, and those who aren't "into technology" will quickly find themselves overwhelmed by a CMS.
  • Even after several years of working with a CMS, faculty requests for help tend to focus on what the technology can do rather than how their teaching and learning goals can be achieved.
    • Barbara Lindsey
      Barbara Lindsey on 24 Aug 08
       
      Important distinction.
  • An instructor seeking an easy way to post word-processed documents, enter grades, receive papers and assignments through a digital dropbox, and run a traditional threaded discussion board will tend to show great satisfaction with using a CMS.4 Those who tax the system more, and use the most complex features, show lower levels of satisfaction. In addition, after spending months creating material and quizzes in a proprietary system, faculty rightly panic at the idea of "moving everything" to another system. The big systems simply do not allow for easy export, and no one wants to do all that work over again. It is much easier to simply declare satisfaction with things the way they are.
  • There are, of course, alternatives to these hampering systems, and you don't have to be a programmer or Internet expert to use them.
  • Web 2.0 applications that encourage social construction of knowledge (Wikispaces, BubbleShare, Ning) are freely available and may provide more creative instructors with better options than any LMS currently available. Such programs make possible the creation of one's own mini-CMS, cobbled together out of programs that fit with the instructor's methodology. In these cases, pedagogy comes first—the tools can be used to build the courses we want to teach.
  • Barbara Lindsey on 24 Aug 08
     
    Discuss this in class
Barbara Lindsey

Pontydysgu - Bridge to Learning » Blog Archive » Learners can use technologie... - 0 views

www.pontydysgu.org/...he-problem-is-the-institutions

assessment charges facebook groups homework misconduct university

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 16 Mar 08 - Cached
  • “First-year student Chris Avenir is fighting charges of academic misconduct for helping run an online chemistry study group via Facebook last term, where 146 classmates swapped tips on homework questions that counted for 10 per cent of their mark.
  • using Facebook to talk about schoolwork, when actually it’s no different than any study group working together on homework in a library,” said Neale.
  • if I post a question about physics homework on my friend’s wall (a Facebook bulletin board) and ask if anyone has any ideas how to approach this – and my prof sees this, am I cheating?” said Neale, who has used Facebook study groups herself.”
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  • if this kind of help is cheating, then so is tutoring and all the mentoring programs the university runs and the discussions we do in tutorials.
  • every survey of employers suggests that the ability to work as part of a team is both one of the most sought after competencies and one which they feel is not being taught by the education system.
Barbara Lindsey

Web 2.0: What does it constitute? | 11 Feb 2008 | ComputerWeekly.com - 0 views

www.computerweekly.com/....0-what-does-it-constitute.htm

web2.0

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 11 Sep 08 - Cached
  • O'Reilly identified Google as "the standard bearer for Web 2.0", and pointed out the differences between it and predecessors such as Netscape, which tried to adapt for the web the business model established by Microsoft and other PC software suppliers.
  • Google "began its life as a native web application, never sold or packaged, but delivered as a service, with customers paying, directly or indirectly.
  • perpetual beta, as O'Reilly later dubbed it
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • Perhaps the most important breakthrough was Google's willingness to relinquish control of the user-end of the transaction, instead of trying to lock them in with proprietary technology and restrictive licensing
  • O'Reilly took a second Web 2.0 principle from Peer-to-Peer pioneer BitTorrent, which works by completely decentralising the delivery of files, with every client also functioning as a server. The more popular a file, is, the faster it can be served, since there are more users providing bandwidth and fragments of the file. Thus, "the service automatically gets better the more people use it".
  • Taking another model from open source, users are treated as "co-developers", actively encouraged to contribute, and monitored in real time to see what they are using, and how they are using it.
  • "Until Web 2.0 the learning curve to creating websites was quite high, complex, and a definite barrier to entry," says the third of our triumvirate of Tims, Tim Bray, director of Web Technologies at Sun Microsystems.
  • Web 2.0 takes some of its philosophical underpinning from James Surowiecki's book The Wisdom of Crowds, which asserts that the aggregated insights of large groups of diverse people can provide better answers and innovations than individual experts.
  • In practice, even fewer than 1% of people may be making a useful contribution - but these may be the most energetic and able members of a very large community. In 2006 1,000 people, just 0.003% of its users, contributed around two-thirds of Wikipedia's edits.
  • Ajax speeds up response times by enabling just part of a page to be updated, instead of downloading a whole new page. Nielsen's objections include that this breaks the "back" button - the ability to get back to where you've been, which Nielsen says is the second most used feature in Web navigation.
  • "Everybody who has a Web browser has got that platform," says Berners-Lee, in a podcast available on IBM's developerWorks site. "So the nice thing about it is when you do code up an Ajax implementation, other people can take it and play with it."
  • Web 2.0 is a step on the way to the Semantic Web, a long-standing W3C initiative to create a standards-based framework able to understand the links between data which is related in the real world, and follow that data wherever it resides, regardless of application and database boundaries.
  • The problem with Web 2.0, Pemberton says, is that it "partitions the web into a number of topical sub-webs, and locks you in, thereby reducing the value of the network as a whole."
  • How do you decide which social networking site to join? he asks. "Do you join several and repeat the work?" With the Semantic Web's Resource Description Framework (RDF), you won't need to sign up to separate networks, and can keep ownership of your data. "You could describe it as a CSS for meaning: it allows you to add a small layer of markup to your page that adds machine-readable semantics."
  • The problems with Web 2.0 lock-in which Pemberton describes, were illustrated when a prominent member of the active 1%, Robert Scoble, ran a routine called Plaxo to try to extract details of his 5,000 contacts from Facebook, in breach of the site's terms of use, and had his account disabled. Although he has apparently had his account reinstated, the furore has made the issue of Web 2.0 data ownership and portability fiercely topical.
  • when Google announced its OpenSocial set of APIs, which will enable developers to create portable applications and bridges between social networking websites, Facebook was not among those taking part. Four years after O'Reilly attempted to define Web 2.0, Google, it seems, remains the standard-bearer, while others are forgetting what it was supposed to be about.
Barbara Lindsey

Web 2.0 wanted by kids but not teachers | 5 Sep 2008 | ComputerWeekly.com - 0 views

www.computerweekly.com/...d-by-kids-but-not-teachers.htm

education students teachers web2.0

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 11 Sep 08 - Cached
  • Parents that understand technology see the value of Web 2.0 in the classroom, but teachers are less certain according to research.
  • Security and a lack of understanding are the major obstacles for teachers accepting Web 2.0, said the report.
  • In contrast two thirds of parents questioned said Web 2.0 is a positive addition to the classroom. And children themselves are already using the technologies.
Barbara Lindsey

Second Life: Do You Need One? (Part 4) : July 2007 : THE Journal - 0 views

www.thejournal.com/...20986_4

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 02 Dec 07 - Cached
    • Barbara Lindsey
      Barbara Lindsey on 02 Dec 07
       
      This is a fascinating insight that should be investigated further.
  • Digital learners then typically end up in extremely diverse networks, further expanding their cultural experience in the digital world.  Digital learners are also constantly faced with challenges to their established real world social norms and ask some very tough questions about those real world dividers.  Many traditional visitors remain in those topic-centered social groups, which typically consist of people of common interest and backgrounds, providing them less immersion into the diversity of the digital environment.
    • Barbara Lindsey
      Barbara Lindsey on 02 Dec 07
       
      This is a fascinating insight that should be investigated further.
  • Most traditional educator-visitors soon ask how they can find the space inworld to create a "classroom."  The result is typically a walled building, with ceilings, desks and chairs, and a lectern at the front next to a PowerPoint screen.  Digital visitors may also request space for a "classroom," but it is more likely to end up being a platform floating in the sky, with clouds instead of chairs, and digital media streamed onto the side of a giant bubble floating in the middle of the space.
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  • this point represents a key distinction between the traditional and digital person.  While the traditional educator approaches the virtual world to learn how it can be used in education, the digital educator approaches the environment asking how this experience can change the entire practice of teaching and learning.  One seeks to perhaps adapt their current practices to fit a new environment, while the other looks to completely transform what they do based upon the opportunity provided in the virtual world.
    • Barbara Lindsey
      Barbara Lindsey on 02 Dec 07
       
      Key distinction in most technology-enhanced learning environments.
    • Barbara Lindsey
      Barbara Lindsey on 02 Dec 07
       
      key distinction in much adaptation/adoption of technology-enhanced learning environments.
  • traditional educators seek a structure to their inworld activities, while digital learners self define a process to reach the outcome they have decided upon. 
  • digital gamers are familiar with self-investigation to determine what is needed to "win the mission" and seek only resources and support.
Barbara Lindsey

Half of U.S. Adults Use Social Media - 0 views

readwriteweb.com/...us_adults_use_social_media.php

access adults equity networking social us

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 09 Aug 08 - Cached
  • Half of U.S. adults use social media.
  • Combined
  • n the 18-34 year-old demographic
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • t's worth noting that in this particular study "social media" includes text messaging. Combined with blogging and social networking, these three technologies are used by 50% of U.S. adults for communication purposes.
  • 85% of rely on one of the three platforms to stay in touch with others.
  • Although these numbers look promising for our favorite genre, social media, they should probably be taken with a grain of salt. While we do believe that text messaging is an important method of communication, it doesn't quite fit with what the standard definition of social media is: blogging, social networking sites, and other web properties that engage collective groups of people to drive their content. We would like to see how the numbers really break down among the three "social media" activities they measured, but that data was not immediately available.
  • Side Note: Personally, I find the terminology "the great unwashed (masses)" a little demeaning. The fact is that those at the lower end of the technology-use spectrum don't use things like text messaging and the internet as much because they are usually economically disadvantaged - an unfortunate condition that has numerous causes including everything from poor educational resources to lack of job opportunities in their geographic region. Lumping this lower-income group into one "great unwashed" group was an unnecessarily cruel way to address those not participating in the social media revolution.
  • 1 out of 10 U.S. adults now publish blogs (up from 5% last year) 1 out of 5 18-34-year olds publish blogs (up from 10% last year) 22% of U.S. adults use IM (up from 9% last year) 21% of 18-34-year olds use IM (up from 14% last year)
  • I think now it's taking off because social networks are taking off...People may have been doing it before, but may not have realized it. Now they're recognizing it for what it is."
  • demographic
  • In exploratory qualitative research, we have undertaken indicates the consumer might take a broader view of what social media might mean. For example, it could be taken by consumers to mean any digital form of personal communication that helps enable peer collaboration and sharing. This softer, less-structured definition is possibly useful in determining possible future growth areas of personal social P2P media from a consumer-centric POV."
Barbara Lindsey

Podcast263: Technology Shopping Cart Podcast07 - iPhone Web Apps and Poll Eve... - 0 views

www.speedofcreativity.org/...le-devices-for-learning-series

mobiles apps fryer podcast

shared by Barbara Lindsey on 13 Feb 10 - Cached
    • Barbara Lindsey
      Barbara Lindsey on 13 Feb 10
       
      How many rss options can you find on this post?
  • Barbara Lindsey on 13 Feb 10
     
    Wes Fryer and Karen Montgomery podcast with links focused on mobile ed apps like poll everywhere. Part 2 of 3 part series
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