Group items tagged

A few days ago, I went to an excellent workshop sponsored by the Center for Career Connections at Bellevue College about using LinkedIn. This Web 2.0 networking application has now become the most important online tool for presenting your professional profile and work experience to the public. One of the speakers, Web tools guru Miles Austin, said that if you don't have a developed presence online, you don't exist as far as potential employers are concerned. According to a recent survey, 78% of all job recruiters use LinkedIn as their primary application for finding new employees. The link above provides some useful background information about LinkedIn, based on the workshop. It also reinforced in my mind the importance of developing strong network contacts and carefully building an online persona. If you have an account on LinkedIn or create a new one - please add me to your network!

This was interesting, as I personally thought it was too inclusive - anyone can post and your network was too broad to be meaningful. But obviously this type of "advetisement" does make a difference in employment.

LinkedIn is very different from other social networks. I'm extremely careful about my connections there. I only connect with people I know in person, people I've collaborated with online for a while, or people who already have a good reputation. I don't even connect with all my family members there, only the ones with careers related to mine.

"For years, in our schools, teachers have told students that school is preparation for real life - a statement that divorced the meaning of school from the lives kids led in that moment. With the research, creation and networking tools at our disposal, we have the ability to help students see that the lives they lead now have meaning and value, and that school can be a vital and vibrant part of that meaning. We can help students to see the powerful humanity that exists both within them and all around them. And technology can be an essential piece of how we teach and learn about that. "

Joy, good point. The internet allows for international connectivedness that wasn't possible before.

I think we will be hearing more about this in 1-3 years Ann.

"It's often said that services like Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter - you name it - are not the product, you are. Each and every bit of information you share and action you take is used to create a profile of user behavior, which is used then to either advertise directly to you or to people on a whole. But how can we ride the fine line? How can we have great, world-changing services at a price (read: free) everyone can afford without completely selling out the end user?"

I think it's going to have to be redefined. But I also think we're in the process of defining new commodities. We need to decide what we value.

I think this issue of privacy and use of personal information by online service companies is a very big deal. I'm also beginning to make use of some of these cloud-based applications (especially from Google) as part of my standard approach to teaching hybrid classes. Up until this past year, I've relied on the tried and true Vista/Blackboard to manage student projects and interactions, but I've found it to be sort of a dinosaur compared to the speed and ease of use of other Web2.0 apps. But if I'm working outside of Vista/Blackboard, I need to be especially careful of privacy policies and procedures of the companies behind these online apps. In the 'Sharing and Privacy' article, Mike Melanson makes some interesting points. He says: "...the companies themselves - the Googles and Facebooks and Twitters of the world - realize that correctly handling these issues of privacy are center to their continued success." and... ""All things equal, the company that's going to want to win in the next couple years will have the best privacy model." When I was doing my own investigation into this issue last winter, I asked myself, "What are the most conservative and and security conscious organizations using for social networking tools?" So I went up to the US Army website to find out. Certainly they have a heightened need to be careful what companies they choose for their social networking tools. I posted the results of this online research on my Web2.0 Chronicle blog. The results aren't surprising... Google, Facebook, Twiter, Wordpress, Flickr... among others. I see no need to rush into this area, and am willing to wait until the dust settles and user results come back from dependable sources. Jennifer's recommendation of Diigo is a good example of this. For myself, I've already left a significant "digital footprint" over the past 15 years - which is now out

I just discovered this. It might be an interesting community to join. "Welcome to the reborn home of the former DigitalDivide@ listserv - the new Digital Inclusion Network. Join over 350 members from dozens of countries exchanging knowledge on digital inclusion and strategies to close the many digital divides. This network is hosted as part of E-Democracy.org's Ford Foundation-funded "Participation 3.0" and will be used to gather input for our Inclusive Social Media initiative. This is a hybrid e-mail list and web forum with access via Facebook and Twitter. "

Since Minnesota is my home state, I decided to join this community. http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/joyannlajeret

An interesting, direct way to build political and social awareness through the internet. We really are a global community. Also, it allows - as Joy points out - to remain close to our roots, if we want.

Jennifer's email to us was a catalyst for this post to inquire about your digital prescence experience. I, like Jennifer, have aliases that I use on social networks. It is a challenge, though, to manage multiple presences and even when I do, often have a feeling of unease about the information. For example, in this course a suggestion was for us to update our profile. Although I don't feel secrative that I am taking a course at Bellevue College, the email/signature I use for this course is also the one I use for some other professional endeavors (such a technology consulting). I is not something that is a "need to know" by everyone. I chose, in this situation, not to update my general profile. When we are conscious of what/how we are posting and putting up, is one thing. Often though, I get on a mailing list, that I have no idea how I was included, as I probably forgot to check a "do not include me" box on something I have bought on line. This article was particularly interesting to me, as it talks about a survey that 23% of children get a digital presence even before they are born - having a lasting imprint.

Good article to bring things into perspective about 'online presence.' I found a similar article that compared statistics relating to age and online presence. 92% of children by age 2 have online presence thanks to parents and grandparents. As Jennifer mentioned in her discussion of facebook -- maybe we don't want the world to see what we did in our high school days...we were 15/16. Can we separate a personal online presence from a business profile...

I do separate my profiles by having different email aliases. There is overhead in having multiple ones, however, so not ideal.

There is a website that shows about the eLearning network in Washington state! :)

The trend for businesses to go online with learning seems to have really taken hold. I know University of Washington also uses an on-line training system, both for optional and mandatory training.

Interesting. I don't remember ever seeing that before. I'll have to check it out some more.

"The Age of Connection now takes its place alongside these earlier epochs in humanity's story.  We are being retribalized, in the midst of rising urbanization.  The dynamic individuality of the city confronts the static conformity of the tribe.  This basic tension forms the fuel of 21st century culture, and will continue to generate both heat and light for at least the next generation.  Human behavior, human beliefs and human relations are all reorganizing themselves around connectivity.  It is here, therefore, that we must begin our analysis of the toolkit."  I haven't had time to read the entire piece, but I can see it makes some important points about human society and connectivity. It's pretty deep, so I want to read it when I've got time to let it sink in.

I too am a fan of McLuan's - presentation becomes part of the content being communicated. I thought this article gave a good description of the impact of the "toolkit" - hyper-everything, but didn't clearly see the point the author was trying to make.

http://www.economist.com/node/18114327 - yet another interesting article in the Economist about how technology is making us one world. In this case, it is how technology will be used to by us individually to define manufacturing and how things are made. " Three-dimensional printing makes it as cheap to create single items as it is to produce thousands and thus undermines economies of scale. It may have as profound an impact on the world as the coming of the factory did."

Precisely how we communicate in these moments of historic crisis and transformation is important. The medium that carries the message shapes and defines as well as the message itself. The instantaneous nature of how social media communicate self-broadcast ideas, unlimited by publication deadlines and broadcast news slots, explains in part the speed at which these revolutions have unravelled, their almost viral spread across a region. It explains, too, the often loose and non-hierarchical organisation of the protest movements unconsciously modelled on the networks of the web.

This is an overview of a guideline for how learning occurs and how as teachers we can focus our lessons to this guideline. It is relevant in on-line education, as the on-line environment allows us to have different modes to provide information to our students. We can utilize everything from video to chat rooms.

Ann, do you have any tools or taxonomies that have helped you develop those questioning skills? And have you got any experience using the SOLO taxonomy?

I have not had experience with SOLO - Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes - but from the bit of investigation I have done, it is similiar to Bloom's in that it is based upon the notion that a studen'ts ability to grasp more abstract concepts, is based on more fundamental understandings and that you need to make sure you are not too advanced for where the student is. It reminds me of Piaget's concept that you can only learn something that is slightly more advanced than where you are (my paraphrase). As for my experience with help in developing questioning skills, which I feel is an excellent example of elearning, is that my company had us first take an interactive tutorial on Bloom's taxonomy. The "final" was taking a math problem and providing questions for each level of the taxonomy. We posted this on a dedicated discussion, with the teacher providing her response for everyone to see and learn from. We have since started another topic where teacher can post specific questions they are using and have tried and this will eventually be collected into a reference document. For example, one idea that was shared was that you after you have tested your student on a fundamental, you can ask them to give you a problem. My experience is that I often get back something I didn't expect. Like if adding decimels, they will return with a problem that might be in the millionths rather than the tenths. What I found most useful was not these specifics or having a question for each level, as much as the consciousness raising it did for me to think more creatively in helping the students. I have found that an elearning platform is very helpful in this regard. For example, they might take a lesson on adding or subtracting fractions and another on adding or subtracting decimels. I will then give them a problem in adding both - example - 1/2 + .25 = . By having an interactive whiteboard I can see how they convert the fraction to a decimal to add them and offer guidan

"The 21st century is a world in constant change. In A New Culture of Learning, Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown pursue an understanding of how the forces of change, and emerging waves of interest associated with these forces, inspire and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic."

Mary Ann - do try to view the video interviews of Seely Brown & Thomas- very eloquent and thought provoking! The underlying message of this book has truly captured my imagination. Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing this. Some of my biases and hesitations about educators "competing" w/internet, social media learning are being challenged (I love this!) I'm beginning to understand the potential if you view knowledge the way JS Brown does - "information in flux." For educators, its about recognizing our change in role, how we frame or present information, and most important, how we allow our students to "play" with new information and the dispositions for learning we foster. Brown states, " . . . the role of educators needs to shift away from being expert in a particular area of knowledge, to becoming expert in the ability to create and shape new learning environments." For those of us who work with educators in K-12, this will be harder to articulate and sell, but I am excited by the thought. I totally agree with JS Brown, this is a major issue and calling for public ed. especially in the 21st Century. Jennifer, what is the best way for us to purchase this publication? On-line? Amazon? and do we get a student discount?

Helen, I hadn't thought that far ahead! I'll see if the bookstore can order things at a discount. I usually put things on reserve at my local library. If they don't have them, there's a form to order them. When I buy books, I always end up giving them away.

Check out some of the videos here about how your social networking affects your job prospects.

I'll attach the file to the email I send today.

Thanks Jen.

Thanks for sharing this!

I liked that the platform is integrated in social networks that many students would be using. Also, Ruby on Rails - the underlying technology indicated in the article - is very powerful, but it is an open source product and would want to be sure about technology support works. That being said, this highlighted to me how complex and difficult chosing a LMS is.

They release the code open source, but this is a hosted, supported product with fees for service. I'm definitely going to spend more time checking it out.

Hmmmm. . . .I'm digesting this one to determine its relevance to instructional design for elementary and middle school students. More later.

(Oops! Please disregard my accidental "bookmarking." I have been having problems with my Diigo site not listing the "comment" button. I was fooling around with it this morning.) Thanks, Jennifer for finding this wonderfully concise blog on the role of ID's in training and education. I have been volunteering to design a training product simply to learn more tech skills and have been thinking about ID work. Although I can easily make the distinction between a "training course" and an on-line course, there remain some fundamental considerations for how instructors "deliver" information and "design" learning activities which influence both professions. When blogger, Syreya Dutta, states " . . . the fact is that the way people are learning today has changed phenomenally due to the increased access to social media tools and advanced mobile devices. Twitter, blogs, wikis, and discussions have become the new age learning methods." So my question - "If social media networks enable better knowledge feedbacks, do educators have to be active users of each and how many should be incorporated into the learning activities of the courses they design ?"

This is related to some of our inquiry last week about open courses. ELI is an important conference. I hope you get a chance to check out some of the free sessions online. "Educating in the Open: Philosophies, Innovations, and Stories February 14-16, 2011 * Washington, D.C. or Online Free Conference Streaming SessionsJoin us for the ELI 2011 Annual Meeting "Educating in the Open: Philosophies, Innovations, and Stories," where we as a community will explore the theme of openness in Washington, D.C., February 14-16. If you can't attend in person, participate online. We'll explore the many meanings of "openness": open textbooks, open curriculum, open research, and open resources, as well as openness to new ideas. Today's technologies have transformed the way we interact and engage with the world around us. New devices, services, and effective practices have increased access to information while new policies and philosophies that explore openness have accelerated that change. The growth of social networks and virtual communities has transformed the learning environment into an interactive place to share and build content and community using collaborative systems. * What are the opportunities and the challenges associated with educating in the open? * How might our learners benefit from becoming producers and consumers in this environment? * How can we, as a community of teaching and learning professionals, collaborate more openly? * What evidence do we have that the trend toward openness is having the impact we hope for? Through a highly interactive and engaging program, we'll also examine the value of cross-campus collaboration in the creation of new learning environments and explore strategies to develop campus environments built on engagement, collaboration, authenticity, and co-creation."

As part of the lesson 8 readings (Boettcher, Page 146), there is a description of the characteristics of quality on discussion postings. This outline is helpful and an extremely important element of eLearning course design that I had not previously thought about so succiently. Analogously, the link above - lists the guidelines - one should consider for good job postings. I think the underlying messge is to post a depth of detail (like salary range) which with all the information we have to consider is probably quite helpful.

animoto.com is a tool that allows one to take pictures and create a slide show, adding text and music. It is a free tool, however, for a modest amount you can have additional features that allow you to do professional editting. I chose this activity as a way to connect with everyone and can really match faces with names. If you do see any mistakes, please let me know and I can easily update the slide show. I feel it goes to the discussion about creating community and having a presence that is more dimensional than just our names in a list. One could request and easily add other photos or snips.

Ann: I agree with Joy...cool tool. What a nice way to introduce the class.

My thought exactly Ann!

"Charting the Course of Teaching and Learning in a Networked World" I don't know anything about this community, but I saw it today and thought it might be interesting. Tonight they have a session - "John Seely Brown on The New Culture of Learning."

Being a guy, I was somewhat taken aback by the startling new statistics presented at a recent TED TALK by Hanna Rosin regarding the world-wide decline in male accomplishments/status relative to women. Rosen makes the point that the Marlboro Man and alpha male top-down manager, are going the way of the DoDo bird and dinosaur. Her point is that women are better at collaboration and consensual communication - which are skills well suited to our social networks and information-based economy. For example, how come I'm the only guy taking this class on how to build collaborative online learning environments - where are my male compadres?

Here's a blog post related to that video. http://www.21stcenturycollaborative.com/2011/02/genderdiversity/

Yup, she was right on. Until these concepts change...women stay inferior and get beaten...down, too.

This is worth checking out if you're teaching K-12. Actually, it's pretty interesting for higher ed, as well, but designed for K-12. I was around when they originally started building it, and it's been fun to watch it evolve. Good people on this project!