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Ann, the information contained in this article (digital presence sometimes even before birth) was a bit shocking. The lasting imprint you refer to is definitely a reason to instruct our children/grandchildren/students to carefully consider what they want broadcast to the world before they publish it! Thank you for this reference.

Articles like this are designed to be shocking. My children have had a digital footprint before they were born. They also both have their own domain names. But my grandparents and great grandparents also have digital footprints after they've passed on! In my opinion, it won't be long before there is so much content online, that the information about individuals will be of little interest to any of the people we currently worry are concerned about it. More importantly, I hope it brings awareness of what it means to be human. We all make mistakes. Most people aren't 100% good or bad. I would prefer more people to put more stuff online so it becomes irrelevant. The way I see it, only those with privilege and access even have the choice about what to put online. If we put too much value on it, the only people who will benefit are the people with privilege, access, and either the foresight to keep their online presence squeaky clean, or the money to clean it up afterward.

I used to think that my name was off the beaten path enough that there wasn't anyone else with the name Bruce Wolcott - but I was mistaken, and was glad that I laid claim to brucewolcott.com. Over the past few years, I've slowly been working to build an online presence. A few years ago, the my top reference on the Web was at ratemyprofessor.com , which I've found in the past to have favorable reviews, but also some student reviews I felt were retribution for getting poor grades. I wanted to build a presence that I thought was fair, represented my true interests, and a way to quickly let people know about my background. After developing my website and blog, it turns out that Google has put the information I'm most interested in having out there, at the top of the list. I see this as a long term project, and something that I will be building consistently and gradually over time. After Jennifer's comments regarding Facebook, I'm having second thoughts about what kind of presence to be projecting there.

I was thinking of the direct experience with the first grandchild in the family. Her facebook is limited to family (I have an alias email for this) and friends, but you never know when something is really forwarded. She recently had a some minor illness - ear ache, slight temperature. This has now been posted on facebook. We often think of medical things as private and yet this was easily shared as a way for us to know what was happening.

Ann, the medical thing is a good point. I had a Twitter conversation with Howard Rheingold the other day, about the kinds of things we put online. He felt he didn't put too much personal stuff. I thought it was pretty personal that he had a cancer blog and a separate Twitter account for his butt :) He explained a little about why he did that. Read from the bottom to the top. https://skitch.com/injenuity/rmqq1/twitter-your-favorites

Howard's cancer post exemplifies the uneasiness I feel. Having a blog for an illness is a wonderful way to stay connected, get advise, not feel isolated, etc. However, when we do that we are thinking of family, friends, and a community we want to connect to, but we have no control of where this information goes and what the consequences of that might be as happened in this case. We all know now that Howard had cancer. I have personal reaction to this information - what type of cancer, reminds me of personal experiences, current friends, the medical system, etc.

One thing to think about is the reality of community to an individual. An outside observer might analyze and decide there is no real community. But if a participant perceives it as community, do they then reap the benefits of community? Could there be health benefits in believing there are people who support you and are there to listen?

I agree that there is a benefit to on-line blogs and support groups. The question for me is how do I get that benefit from the people I am targetting it to? So, for instance, I have used online support groups for a medical challenge I went through. It was helpful and beneficial to both them and me. However, that is different from having a digital footprint of the interaction. Maybe an employer or someone who would use the information judgementally, for example. So to Howard's example, did he realize that people that only tangentially are even aware of him, now know something intimate about his life. He probably doesn't care on one level, but it is the "unconsciousness" of this footprint that I think about.

I think he cares and just wanted to have control of it himself, rather than let other people decide what's out there about him. The optimist in me hopes what will happen is we'll start to discover we have more in common with people that we ever thought possible. I blogged through the loss of my baby, and that's online forever. Years after the fact, at least 4 men in my online professional network have told me how much they appreciated being able to see that, because they went through the same thing, but didn't feel dads had the right to that kind of grief. It's very rewarding to go a thousand miles away to a conference and get the biggest hugs in the world, simply for being open about a personal experience. I drop off line all the time. I delete accounts. I stop blogging. Every time I do it, people contact me to tell me how much they miss my interaction, and how they've been touched by my sharing. When I feel like I'm not making a difference, people always tell me I don't know that, because it's not something I can see. A lot of times I've written blog posts that go against the wisdom of my colleagues, yet I receive many private messages from people thanking me for saying the things they've been afraid to say. I think it's all a matter of choice, and I want to encourage people to stand up for their right to change their minds. People thought I was nuts deleting my facebook account, but I've never regretted it. I do say, though, that when people tell me I never know who I might be helping, I have to consider whether I have a moral obligation or not, to continue to share. I certainly won't be bullied into it with that argument, but I do believe it's an important consideration.

Based on this Boston Globe book review, I think the slant that Turkle misses is that maybe the internet is redefining, rather than limiting, human development. She uses an example of people instant texting things such as funerals, disallowing deep human, emotional discourse to illustrate how the internet is "not better", but limiting. But maybe this is a reflection of a society where families are often split for a variety of reasons - divorce, geography - and the internet is allowing a connection, rather than isolation. The internet doesn't prevent a deeper discussion.

Ann, from a sociological perspective, I believe the way we handle death and grieving is one of the most important trends to observe with this new media. Death is something we will always have to modify our perception to accommodate, and I think we're only at the beginning of a real cultural shift, and even an assimilation of cultures around how we make meaning around these issues. I'm going to add the Stefana Broadbent TED Talk to our shared bookmarks here. I think you'd like it.

I think Sherry Turkle has voiced some of my concerns. I am not convinced that with the internet tools of social media the millennials and others are sharing deeper learning environments and relationships online. I think we need to reexamine these hypothesis as time goes by and they continue to develop.

Joy, you might like You Are Not a Gadget, by Jaron Lanier http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-Gadget-Manifesto/dp/0307269647 It's his personal observation of where things might be headed. Much of it resonated with me, though I do understand it's only one point of view.

The observation how death and grieving is handled evolves and is reflective of society is an interesting observation. One internet tool I have noticed is that an on-line capability is often provided for death announcements. For several people close to me and a couple of celebrities that resonated with me, I would read or contribute to some of these postings and had a broader and more connected sense of the person. I didn't feel so isolated in my grief.

I read an excerpt of the book and will try to find it in the library or buy it used! I really like what he is writing, Jen.

Since the Web is still less than 20 years old, I think the jury is still out regarding the darker isolating potential of online social behavior. Ann mentions online tools that announce death notices that allow people to publicly tell their stories and express grief over someone who recently died. I had a recent experience with an online service called CaringBridge that is used as a public communications forum for people who are experiencing life threatening illnesses or accidents. It gives well wishers an opportunity to express their support and lets family members communicate the ongoing status of the person who is sick. It provides a kind of forum for sympathetic and loving communications that has never existed before. My recent experience involves a friend I knew in high school who is battling brain cancer, and the debilitating chemo and radiation treatments. CaringBridge lets me join with a large group of other people to send messages of support to him. Recently, with difficulty, he has been able to begin writing posts to CaringBridge describing his day-to-day experiences and progress. Rather than being an alienating or "alone together" experience, I think it has a genuine positive effect on everyone involved, and is a powerful reminder of our own humanity and vulnerability.

I enjoyed your presentation Bruce. Looks complicated!

Bruce, your work is amazing! Story Boards have long been a feature of teaching in the elementary and middle school grades with students creating original work or using the format for a book report, but to see this technique translated into an online format is thrilling. I can just imagine how much more engaged my former students would have been had I known how to use the digital tools you showcased. Will your course be offered during Spring Quarter? Please let me know.

P.S. to your post to me regarding my blog entry for Module 5--You referenced what I wrote about eLearning trends--that post was for my EDUC250 class. Did you have a chance to see the pictures I posted and read the entry for this week's module that referenced one of the activities on our class portfolio activities spreadsheet? What I spoke about is a very RUDIMENTARY story board (I realized this after viewing your post). Thanks, Bruce for YOUR "luminous presence" in EDUC251!!

This recording is an excellent example of what I'm looking for in your final project (only about half as long). I hope everyone gets a chance to view it. It's a great way to give a tour through a course and explain how to address the best practices. Great work! Would you be interested in taking over one of our office hours sessions to teach people how you used these tools?

Your question - How do you represent ideas with images? - is a very powerful one. We are bambarded with images all day. I often think of these images as trying to sell me something - such as a commerical to buy something - or sometimes a quick reference to information - such as a symbol for a restroom. I realize now that technology has allowed for the production of images to be so accessible that they are now a part of our normal dialog. It is easy to make a video or take a picture. On Facebook, we see this all the time; people adding content to their story with images.

Just looked at your portfolio which is a learning course in itself! You've done a great job of summarizing what we've been working on. Our portfolios are a perfect place to store this. You've inspired me to take a few steps back before I move forward with Module #4. Thanks, Bruce.

Ann and Helen, Thanks much for your feedback on the website. It's much appreciated!

Bruce...I have a question. I wrote a story blog this week. Can you tell me if your course would help me create a video presentation of this blog? http://joystechtool.blogspot.com/ I don't have your email, except maybe the one you have at BC. I would have to take it as a senior. Which means space available. Can this be done?

Joy, Just to let you know... the visual storytelling class won't be offered again until Fall 2011. It sounds like your story would make an interesting educational online comic or presentation - explaining the idea of backwards design. One approach, is that you could use a virtual world environment like Second Life or BlueMars to engage virtual characters/actors, and set your camera positions to tell your visual narrative. You could synchronize narration and other audio, and then post it to the Web via YouTube, Google Presentations, or some other presentation application like SlideRocket. Just a thought...

Thanks Bruce. Fall would be perfect! That is if I could get in the class. I suspect it is very popular on campus. I would like to use second life; but have not tried. Is it free. My understanding is it is very expensive. While I would like a video of the story to put with the blog, it can be done at a later date. What I do not know how to do is synchronize the narration and other audio. My husband uses camcording to capture band performances. Could you maybe email me on this issue? jal8008cel@comcast.net. Unless I am taking advantage of your knowledge here. Please?

Thank you, Bruce, for sharing the objectives of your Course. It sounds so intriguing that I would love to be a part of it! Perhaps that will become a reality for me as time passes.

Joy, I could probably begin to answer your question here, and then if you have more questions we can connect via my other email address: bcweb20class@gmail.com. Probably the best online multimedia delivery application that I know of is SLIDEROCKET. I've been using it in my courses for about a year. You can upload Powerpoint slides, incorporate video directly from YouTube (or uploaded video), images, graphics, text, and integrate these all with a sound track. Everything is built online, and the interface works well. The catch is this - after the 30 day trial period, it costs $12 per month. I taught a very challenging online course this summer, and I didn't mind paying that fee because of the excellent results I got. SlideRocket saved the day by pulling me out of a jam. It also now integrates well with Google applications. Another (this one is free) cloud-based multimedia authoring application is EMPRESSR . Here's a quote from the website: Empressr is the first free online storytelling tool that allows you to create, manage and share rich media presentations online. Earlier in the quarter, Jennifer recommended another audio editing tool called AUDACITY , which is really terrific! It's simple to use and produces good results. I actually prefer Audacity for audio editing over some other commercial products that have a lot more bells and whistles. I hope that helps!

Here's my post for mapping an evidence for understanding to specific learning objectives.

Bruce, I especially liked the "evidence" requiring students to create their own business card. Each item you posted was very concrete and would definitely indicate understanding on the part of students.

I second that business card lesson. It will prepare them for job hunting in the future. I think creating ePortfolios are another good practice.

Another interesting read. I quite understand the need and growing need for the workforce to understand social medias and other forms of Web 2.0 tools and be able to use them well. Reading more about millennials, it is becoming more and more apparent they need to have strong " crap detectors," the ability to think critically and analyze huge volumes of information on the net, just to name a few.

I think this is one of the better collections of 21st century skills. I'm mostly concerned about the ones that don't involve technology. Like many of you, I worry about a future where people don't have basic problem-solving and communication skills. As far as technology skills are concerned, I'd like to see kids learn programming, with a focus on humanity, rather than commerce. I'm surprised how many teachers adopt "free" tools for young students, without having them explore the terms of service, and learn how their data and content will be used, sold, etc..

Thanks for this, Mary Ann. As much as I value the technology and what it can offer and do, the interpersonal and social skills seem more and more critical now. Seeing kids standing next to each other texting, or texting rather than calling or meeting makes me wonder if they will develop those skills to the level they are required now.

Mary Ann, thanks for posting this article on the 21st Century classroom! Just based on some of observations of current trends and ideas, here are some of my ideas regarding this. To me it seems likely that whatever happens to the classroom in the 21st Century - ideally it will have some of the following features : 1) Instructors who have good live people connections, knowledge of Web resources and tools, and the ability to quickly readjust curriculum on the fly. They will be able to access the very best resources at hand to engage students (live presenters, online resources, web tools, etc.) 2) Teaching and learning will take the form of ad-hoc groups organizing around various kinds of problem solving or common interest explorations. 3) While traditional degrees probably won't go away soon, much of our ongoing lifetime learning will take place in courses like this one - or the MOMA online art series. We will obtain numerous certificates and engage in a variety of online cohorts/communities of shared interests. 3) Communications will become increasingly global and courses will not be necessarily bound to individual institutions. We will draw from a growing/maturing resource base of online lectures, virtual worlds interactions, simulations-based learning experiences, and multimedia databases. 4) The teaching technologies that we'll be using will have the functionality and freeform interactivity as videogames. Consider the Kinect, for example, which allows for full body and voice interaction with other people as well as maturing forms of artificial intelligence, as seen in this extraordinary TED talk with game developer Peter Molyneux. 5) Finally, I don't believe education will be transacted completely online, or that physical locations where actual human beings gather together will go awa

I found those examples interesting and am reserving judgement and evaluation until I learn more about assessment.

Ann, Many thanks for this assessment form!

Great example of a very thorough assessment! It is also of interest that your supervisor logs in on a regular basis to assess your instruction--quite a good strategy to ensure exceptional delivery by the school's online teachers. Thanks for sharing this form, Ann!

Wow! The background of this course and what you taught is fascinating. I'll limit my comments to a few points, but definitely look forward to an interactive, in-person session. 1. Video Logistics. You sounded poised on the video, as opposed to me, where I felt self-conscious knowing I was being recorded. I was also interested in how clearly you transition from one screen to the next - I used multiple windows, but it felt you had a different technique. 2. Course logistics. As for the course, one thing was interesting is how - like Jennifer - you posted a new lesson each week. Our prior class in this series we were provided everything at the beginning. I like the pacing, however, for the most part, as it keeps you focused. As for feedback, which you indicated you would do more explicitly, my guess is that your weekly audio sessions where you went into the studio, provided feedback as part of the process of teaching the lesson. 3. Content. Very interesting. Thanks for including the second video which provided texture on what you were teaching. The metaphor of the Christmas tree, with students putting "decorations" on the wiki was a good one.

I agree with Ann...what a great resource for the rest of the class. Putting the presentation together, I can tell you followed all the best practices of this tool...very polished. Showing how elements of your online material relates to the best practices was thoughtful and student centered.

Ann and Susan, Many thanks for your comments! One of the great benefits of this class and the Conrad/Boettcher textbook is getting a solid framework for understanding how to build and run an online class. Up until now, my learning process for creating online classes has been 1) suggestions/advice from colleagues 2) experimentation (flying by the seat of my pants!) 3) feedback from students 4) online resources. I really enjoy the dense concentration of information provided in the class and our ongoing conversation. The University of Tasmania class gave me the opportunity to pull out all the stops, and integrate everything I'd learned up until that point. Thankfully I made it through that stretch of white water, with an approach that seemed to work pretty well for that teaching situation. The final project exercise gave me a chance to identify key areas of every course that need to be attended to.

Aside from the logistics, how did you get involved in doing this and how did the lab get started to begin with? It sounds fascinating for the locations to be so far away. Its a wonderful example of elearning in the "one" world concept we are developing into.

Ann, Tom Furness started up the Human Interface Technology Lab (HitLab) at the University of Washington around 1988 - he's been called the "godfather of virtual reality". At the HitLab, he was on the forefront of virtual reality technologies, working on immersive displays for medicine, engineering, architecture, education, etc. Before then, his background was in designing virtual cockpit simulations for pilots of high performance military jets. They needed to augment the pilot's cognitive field, in order to manage the complexity of 50 onboard computers, while flying the plane at supersonic speeds. He decided that he wanted to apply this technology to civilian, rather than military uses, which is how he ended up at the UW. About five years ago, New Zealand and Australia decided to set up their own HitLabs because of their remote locations. They see virtual world technologies as way to develop an exportable information-based industry for real-world applications. Video games and interactive simulations are currently leading the way in terms of artificial intelligence, information design, and sustained attention (entertainment) experiences. I've been teaching a class in game theory and interactive entertainment for the past five years at BC, which is how I got involved with this University of Tasmania course. You might be interested to know that one of the offshoots of the HitLab work in Seattle is the retinal scanner, which is pointing the way to portable immersive multisensory experiences. Microvision of Redmond is working on these wearable computing devices which may provide a new alternative to desktop/laptop/smartphone devices. And I agree, Ann - culturally and socially, the world is shrinking exponentially because of the Internet.

A small world. I was in technology development and management prior to a career transition to teaching. My first job out of college was working on out-the-window portion of cockpit simulators. I was the program manager for the B-52 simulator program at Singer-Link. We called the people that did the actual design of the scenes via computer softwre illustrators, which when I first heard the title always thought of someone drawing pictures on the code, rather than comments. Anyway, I checked out Tom's page, very interesting. Thanks.

Thank you for sharing this. Our interrogation of "presence" has been interesting this week. I've been looking forward to seeing each of you make decisions about personal online presence.

Susan, In your second article on your blog you describe a PLE or 'personal learning environment' by saying: "The purpose of a PLE is to gather and process information, act on the learning that takes place, then showcase the results of what was learned to include how one arrived at those results." I'm curious to know how you set up a PLE, and maybe 1 or 2 examples if you could direct me there. Is this related to Microsoft's OneNote , or Evernote, which lets you copy, scan, and store web-based information? Also, could you explain how you have found this to be useful for you or your classes? Thanks!

Bruce: The blog is my ePortfolio. You can use different tools to establish your personal learning environment...I began with a blog. There is a nice example of a PLE by a 7th grader who used a different tool to showcase her science project. I think you will find it an excellent example of how web 2.0 tool are being used at the grade school level. Here's the link...it's a youtube video narrated by the student. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEls3tq5wIY Susan

Thanks, Susan For some reason, I thought a personal learning environment was a fish of a different color. I get the concept now, thanks to Wendy, the 7th grader who I found using your YouTube link. The personal learning environment can be a blog, a wiki, or note gathering app, that allows you to quickly organize, filter, and access the online information that makes up your personal knowledge universe. She was using a tool named SYMBALOO, which I'm definitely going to try out - as well as some other useful apps - Evernote for note-talking and Glogster, for building a collage of related information. I really liked Wendy's tutorial on the PLE - it covered a lot of information in a short span of time, while effectively communicating her ideas visually.

Here's a screencast I made about my PLE when I did a guest week in EDUC250 last quarter https://www.screencast.com/users/ccchit/folders/EDUC%20250/media/f974b78d-3c78-4a44-b231-b758bb54cdbd

Thanks, Jennifer This was very helpful. Also your strong endorsement of Twitter as a way to quickly connect with communities of common interest is giving me more motivation to become more engaged with that world. I've been a slow adopter of Twitter - but this week's events in Egypt organized by a younger generation on Facebook and Twitter are a strong testament to the transforming power of these media.

I've made the understandings entry to my blog.

This is my first Camtasia project. I realize that there is room for improvement. As I use it more, I'm sure I will begin to develop better skills. I can see where this is a good application for getting information up in an online course.

So glad you posted this! I'm in the middle of a similar process, and I appreciated seeing how you're comparing products.

Thanks for your comparison of Moodle, Joomla, and Blackboard. I was quite surprised to find out that Moodle leads the pack - since I assumed that Blackboard/Vista would have the majority following. It's been around since the mid-1990's. Great comparison chart, and use of Camtasia!

After looking at Joy's post about Canvas, I need to review this and compare to these three vendors. Will, then, have to update the comparison chart to include Canvas.

Here's the link to my ePortfolio with this module's assignment

Susan, I *really like* this list of reasons why stories work well for teaching that you posted on your blog. I've been teaching class sections on storytelling, and this gives me some well considered principles for how stories can be "put to work" for real world applications in education and information design. 1. A learning event is an unfolding story 2. People craft a story to make sense of what they are learning 3. Stories are at the intersection of people's synthesis of learning 4. Stories are tools for thinking 5. You can move through complex information more efficiently through story devices than through standard forms of discourse One of my favorite destinations for interactive stories is the Second Story website. It's jammed packed with terrific examples of interactive storytelling - on all sorts of interesting topics.

Thanks for your attention on storytelling! It's something that is applicable for so many different learning situations, and works particularly well online.

While the most story telling I have done is one blog post and a short story about "I love my new Grandma" which I posted in this site...I want to do more and will hopefully b eable to get to this later. Nothing sticks like a good story!

Bruce: Thanks for the link on more interactive storytelling. I think this will help me to develop using case studies as learning activities for our courses.

Susan, your activity on identifying sepsis in pediatric patients was clear, concise, and easy to navigate. I liked the fact that we were directed to a wiki page with the "case" facts presented in story form with a very clear picture of the "rash". if I were a trainee in your course, I would be excited by this lesson and the follow-up survey you posted.

Thanks for your comments Mary Ann. This is the first time I've used these tools for a case study...I'm hoping the wiki will allow the students to discuss the case and also allow them to pose thoughtful 'what-ifs'.

The thought the story telling definition you found to be a good guideline. Cases are great. One activity I might add would be What can you do to stop it? I know the student at this point is learning, but gives them a focus to think about their involvement.

In learning the Camtasia application, I found many good tips...I share them in my portfolio posting this week.

I left a comment on your blog. I had to carefully think about what you had stated and found myself differing slightly with what you suggested. I suppose that attests to our differences. Nevertheless I appreciated the blog post Susan.

Here's the link to my blog where my final project is located.

Good choice. Some things I'd like to point out about this: 1. When you view a forum, check to make sure there are plenty of posts, so you know it's active. 2. Also check to see how recent the posts are. There are a lot of really old forums still up online, but no longer active. 3. Some communities will provide membership numbers, and that can help you get some idea of the size of the group. This isn't always true, but can be helpful when you see something really small.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gYhiSs1Ys7993MD9VnKg-c-Jv75gosaQm8mnlQ4J1ko/edit?hl=en - I started a collaborative document on guidelines and considerations in selecting and participating in online communities. I hadn't thought about applying standards, but its a good idea. It helps reason out what one would want and need. As for this forum - www.colonclub.com, it is a very active one and considered one of the mainstays in colon cancer support. I'm not sure the about the size and how relevant that is in this situation, but there are definitely enough participants to provide diversity.

I added some background to your document and passed the link on to others to see if we can get more opinions on what is important in searching for community.

I think this post is a necessary read when setting up rubics.

I have copied this link in my files, but I also cringe sometimes about overly detailed rubrics. On this site, I noticed on the example of "Student-led Online Discussion Participation," the rubric addressed how many times a student contributed and nothing about the quality or originality of their responses (although I guess originality is REALLY hard to measure).

Hi Joy (and fellow classmates) - we were out-of-town for a week. Internet was available, but for a price $.75 per minute. I had planned on using some of our vacation time to work on this course without the hassle of juggling work commitments. At a price per minute, this idea didn't pan out. To get caught up, I checked out our Diigo communications and visited your blog. I like the way you insert YouTube videos to add dimension to your ideas! The two I looked at addressed the LMS system - Canvas. I was particularly fascinated with the young techy who ended his presentation, asking his audience about how they might define the role for SOCIAL MEDIA in both course structure and as a learning tool. Interesting how our course materials (and we) have also been pondering this same issue! Thanks for finding and sharing a very relevant presentation. I also enjoyed your thoughts as well.

Today our senior population is aging at a rapid rate. Is it possible we, as a society, are sending them to an early end of life dead line because of our attitudes and out moded beliefs regarding aging in America? Can we not help keep their minds alive and well by changing some of our society's institutions...of higher education?

Joy, I just finished reading your blog posts and viewing the videos. I agree with Bruce. . . they are quite sobering. I am angered that there is so much age discrimination out there, excited that Japan has such a unique way of addressing the needs of its aging population, and frustrated that a college degree does not necessarily translate into a job. My own daughter is in that position--she has a teaching degree earned two years ago and no prospects of a job anytime soon. Her income is earned through subbing in the Sultan School District and managing a horse stable. All of this translates into 7 days of work per week, a very minimal income and burnout. She is 37 years old (not quite a senior, but in line with the unemployed GWU grads shown in the video you posted). Your passion definitely comes through in all of the blog postings, Joy. What you say about assessment aligns with my beliefs as well. I have never been a proponent of grades--to me, they are just part of a hoop that must be jumped through in order to achieve a goal. With that in mind, I was overJOYed when authentic assessment came onto the education scene as it offered a way to monitor and guide students in their learning, not just give them a letter or number that was supposed to signify that they had "learned" the course content. In my experience, most students who memorize course content for tests within a given course, will not retain it once the tests have been taken. There is simply too much competition for good grades at all levels of education and not enough desire for a true understanding of ideas and concepts.

The idea that information which used to be one-way (published by someone for everyone else) is now interactive (instant publishing and response via the internet) is a good articulation of the catalyst that is and will continue to change how we learn and how our learning institutions will change. However, what caught my attention in the video was that analysis of links and connections - that basically search engines/Google migrated from analyzing the content of the material to analyzing the number of accesses to the information. What came to mind was the discussions on critical thinking and how analyzing the access and not the content takes us away from critical thinking. It substitutes popularity (how often do we google something and then go to the first few links listed?)

Ann, that's a great observation. If you apply that to developing your online presence, what does it say about how we value popularity? How do we feel when our own material online doesn't sort to the top? What do employers think when they can't find our work? Are we okay with that?