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Bruce Wolcott

FINAL PROJECT Fundamentals of Interactive Entertainment REVIEW - 12 views

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    In the Summer of 2010, I taught an online class called the Fundamentals of Interactive Entertainment for the University of Tasmania, via the Human Interface Technology Lab under the sponsorship of Dr. Thomas Furness of the University of Washington. This course provides an overview of interactive media - video games and real-time interactive simulations. It includes information concerning the history, theory, technology, design, and social impact of these emerging communications media. The course consists of thirteen modules, and in the Summer of 2010, was made up of two weekly events: 1) A lab session which met every Tuesday to provide discussions, team planning meetings, and hands-exercises and 2) a live classroom session which was videocast directly from Seattle to a University of Tasmania classroom in Launceston, Australia. I posted more information regarding this project on my Web2.0 Chronicle blog. PLEASE NOTE: This narrated screencast runs two minutes past the 5 minute recommendation given by Jennifer.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    Bruce, applying the Boettcher/Conrad 10 Best Practices to a course you have already taught, was brilliant! It is always a source of learning when we can go back and critique our own work, finding needed areas of improvement or simply discovering how "right on" we were from the get-go! I enjoyed seeing this piece of your creativity!
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    I found your presentation very smooth and professional.
Mary Ann Simpson

Five Basic Types of Questions - 10 views

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    Teaching on-line or in a classroom requires the ability to ask good questions. I found this article to be useful--I hope you will too.
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    Interesting article. Rather similiar to the way lawyers are educated to question people in a court room, wth the exception of questioning to inspire well thought out answers of an academic nature.
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    I always like these condensed lists of pointers for making life easier: One of the biggest challenges for me is coming up with a decent topic of conversation for online discussions - which is usually posed as a single question or series of related questions. This list is very useful for thinking about types of questions to ask.
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    This is a great starting point for thinking about online discussions. It's not easy coming up with the right questions to stimulate discussion. Sometimes I tell myself that if there's a "right" answer to the question, it probably won't work for a discussion.
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    I loved this site! The home page is very concise, informative with good examples. And, "yes" we should do some additional sharing, research and practice regarding what types (structure) of questions illict good, reflective responses (let you know the learner has synthesized course material). In clicking around to other links on this site, I noticed Leslie Owen referred to educator/author H. Lynn Erickson as a man. Not that it's a big deal, but, HL Erickson is a woman and is a curriculum consultant who lives locally. Seems like we all struggle with this aspect of teaching - good questions for discussion. Perhaps we could come up with a simple exercise where we post questions we might use which address our course readings? What ya think?? Thank you Mary Ann for this great teaching resource.
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    Helen, I like your idea of creating some questions around our course readings that we could post and discuss. I also think some of the questions on the new collaborative doc Jennifer just posted would be excellent discussion points. There is so much to think about in that one!
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    I'm not opposed to a final project that involves students re-developing this course. It could even be a group project. (But I'd probably want to write about you and brag about you all to my friends!)
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    I posted Bloom's Taxonomy, which is a guideline for how people learn and how education should be targetted to that model. It is similiar to the types of questioning one does to reflect where we are in the learning process. I think the same is true of our course. We all seem to have through experience and past coursework some basic knowledge of on-line teaching and learning. My preference, I think, would be to have answers/discussion to some of the questions that are coming up, not just a list.
Jennifer Dalby

Presentation Zen - 8 views

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    This is my favorite site to learn about powerful presentation techniques.
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    Not only is this a good site to teach more about the art of presentation, but Mogi, the presenter is an amazing man! I was in love with his slides that spoke about the need to keep "the sense of wonder" alive and that "curiosity" is what has brought us to this point. These are the very same words that I always used with my science students in middle school and college! I even had them in my syllabus! I've always held that we all come into this world as scientists because we all share the one common characteristic that all practicing scientists have: CURIOSITY. Kids were pretty amazed that they were already scientists before they even embarked on the great science learning adventure! Rachel Carson, the famous environmental scientist of the '60's wrote a book titled, "The Sense of Wonder" in which she expounded on the idea that every child needs at least one person (adult) to nourish and share his/her innate sense of wonder in order to keep it alive. I resonated with this man and now plan to read/see more of his stuff! Moreover, the new learning module in my ED250 class is a collaborative presentation of a topic using Google Presenter. I think the Presentation Zen site I just looked at may have some implications for that assignment! Thanks once again, Jennifer! I find myself thoroughly enchanted!
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    The concept of maintaining curiosity as the catalyst for true education and joy in life resonates. The challenge for me is the line between enterntainment and education. One of the comments to this article restated the debate is education to train one for a profession or to be educated and think. Why can't it be both?
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    I believe it can be both, Ann! Sometimes the "Experts R Us" and not those folks out there engaging in philosophical debates!
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    Ann and Mary Ann, I think you've touched on one of the challenges we find so frequently in discussing these things. It's not black and white. There isn't necessarily a right or a wrong. It's like potato salad. (Holy cow! I just made that up.) How many recipes are there for potato salad? People will argue about what it "should" have in it, but what really matters is the experience. And the experience isn't just in the taste. There's context around making it. There's a different context around the environment where we eat it, and our emotional state. We're not just training someone for a profession or to be educated and think. And even if those are our goals, where is the agency? What is the student's responsibility for learning? These are all complex issues, and I'm glad to see you all opening your minds and expressing both your gut reactions, and your own values. (Please forgive me for the potato salad. I maybe leaned to far on the entertainment side this time...)
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    The potato salad metaphor is a good one. In reading the post, it got my attention in a way that dry message might not. There is so much information (noise) out there, that it is important, maybe even mandatory, that information has something to catch us. What is a challenge for me as an educator, also with limited time, is the how much effort I put in to this "rising above the noise".
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    Great now I am hungry for potato salad!! Actually, a little humor now and then would be nice! Even songs need a hook and that is what I hear you saying Ann. I argee with that concept. Set up a "hook!"
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    I like the idea proposed by the potato salad metaphor. However, I may not forgive you Jen...LOL! I still want it! I like mine bland, no vinegar!
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    I want it too, and the more you keep saying it, the more I want it! I want mine with bacon and spicy mustard! You may just have to take a diet break, while we develop a collaborative potato salad recipe. P.S. Will you hate me if I post the site I used when I learned to make croissants from scratch?
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    Wonderful! Now I want potato salad and croissants! Okay I am open to recipes. Now I hope this does not get us off our intellectual track of study. Slogging through recipes might side track the ladies in the group: and reduce me to a helpless food addicted, potato salad craving croissant vixen. ::::sigh::::I am suffering from brain overload!
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    My philosophy is that I'm happier when I'm chubby and doing things I want, then (than?) I would be if I were torturing myself and trying to resist temptation. It's a balance thing. Do I beat myself up more for breaking a goal, or for having to haul my bigger clothes out of the basement. (Just did that.) This isn't an intellectual track of study. It's play. People learn by playing. In fact, I'm going to inject some more fun in this course. (If I ever catch up on the grading.)
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    Looks like a good site to go back to for good techniques for our presentations.
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    I think it is than...
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    I'm a little slow on the uptake, but the potato salad discussion was great!! I like bacon and sour cream in mine--but on the serious side--life, education, teaching, learning, ad infinitum, are rarely black and white; you are so correct, Jennifer, in the longer comment you addressed to Ann and me about the challenge centering around these things not having to be one way or the other because there are so many other factors involved.
ann stephens

eTeacher Assessment Example - 5 views

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    This week the focus is on assessment and evidence of understanding. The emphasis is, of course, on how we assess our students. However, eteachers can be more easily observed, so I thought the community might find it interesting as to how I, as an eteacher, am assessed. (The students do an automated self-paced lesson and then take a practice quiz. If they have questions during the lesson or in order to go the next one, we interact. Based on the quiz and other questions/discussions we have, I pass them to the next lesson. I have up to 4 students in one session.) Once a month, my supervisor listens to one of the recorded sessions and writes up an assessment. What I find interesting that is unique to elearning, is that my use of the technology environment goes into my assessment. I need to be logged in on time, I need to effectively switch among my students, etc. Also, if an area is weak, a request by my supervisor to re-take an automated class I have taken before - such as effective questioning - might be assigned.
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    I found those examples interesting and am reserving judgement and evaluation until I learn more about assessment.
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    Ann, Many thanks for this assessment form!
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    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!
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    The online environment provides for easy capture of the session. The requirement for teaching include having a degree and a background check, but not a teaching certificate. I feel the monitoring is an extra check and balance on both how we are teaching and our online presence. We go through training and have guidelines on what we can and cannot discuss with the students - such as sharing emails, contacts outside of class, etc. Recently this has come into focus, as the regular school teachers at the school I am tutoring with (we are a scheduled once a week class during the school year) encouraged the students to ask where we live, etc., to feel more connected. On our teacher platform, the teachers and our supervisor were able to post and share with each other on how they were and should be handling this. It is a balance - just as in a regular classroom - to be connected, yet have privacy. I do not find what information I should and should share or ask to be a problem for me, but the time focus is. The students are used to texting all the time and feel comofrtable with using the time that way. I have now developed my own transitions - from the explicit: "we've chatted enough for right now, please go on with your lesson" to a softer transition by using the information in our dialog to set-up a problem: You got so much snow! So if you had eight snowballs and split them evenly....".
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    This is fascinating! I've honestly never seen an instrument for a supervisor to evaluate an online teaching session. (Or maybe I just don't remember.) For distance education at BC, instructors/divisions can opt in to the online student evaluations. I don't know if Norma signed up to have this course included in the evals. If so, you may have received access to that today. As far as I know, that's the primary way teachers are evaluated here. It compares to how they are evaluated in f2f classes. For me, I like to get constant feedback from students, and that's why you see me poking around a lot, sending lots of email, and including self-checks. It's always an awful feeling to get to the end of a course and discover you could have made changes early on that would have made a big difference in learning. (But I always expect to discover some of that at the end, as well!) Thanks for sharing this!
Susan Kolwitz

Evidence of Understandings - 32 views

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    I started this over the summer while taking the first course for this certificate. Please feel free to follow my postings on blogger as we continue in this course.
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    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.
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    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!
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    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
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    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.
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    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
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    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.
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    I've made the understandings entry to my blog.
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    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.
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    So glad you posted this! I'm in the middle of a similar process, and I appreciated seeing how you're comparing products.
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    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!
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    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.
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    Here's the link to my ePortfolio with this module's assignment
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    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.
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    Thanks for your attention on storytelling! It's something that is applicable for so many different learning situations, and works particularly well online.
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    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!
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    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.
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    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.
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    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'.
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    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.
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    In learning the Camtasia application, I found many good tips...I share them in my portfolio posting this week.
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    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.
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    Here's the link to my blog where my final project is located.
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    My end of class reflection is located on my blog.
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    Thought I had posted this...to keep my blog in order, I post dated this to 2/28/11.
Jennifer Dalby

Instructure Canvas (LMS) - 2 views

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    I'm currently searching for an LMS solution for our project, and this is one I am exploring. You can check it out for free on this page.
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    I have registered for this LMS. I can't wait to start exploring it!
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    I quickly zipped up the files in our blackboard course and imported them here http://canvas.instructure.com/courses/27317
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    I signed up for the free look! Initially exploring the blank pages, I think it looks really clean and useable. When I become an online instructor, I think I would like to use this platform (if it is available where I'm employed, that is!).
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    I just looked at our blackboard course in Canvas--it's really nifty!
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    I uploaded a file in Instructive Canvas. It looks fairly wasy to use. I still prefer Wikispaces and Elluminate. The tech support in Canvas...seems to be excellent. However, I am going to need to put an actual course in the system and see how it goes. I really didn't see a place for discussions like there is in Blackboard and Diigo...altho it does link to google and Diigo.
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    Mary Ann and I are running close to each other...I just saw the mods in Balckboard listed in Canvas. There were a few missing and I was wondering how many mods it will hold Jennifer? Also, I did see a discussion area but I don't know if you uploaded it to canvas or if it belongs to canvas.
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    I think I hid some of the stuff in the site I set up, since I don't know how the program folks will feel about it being public. If you set up your own account, you can get a better idea of all the features.
Joy LaJeret

Five Tips for Wrapping Up a Course - 4 views

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    Joy, Thanks for posting these wrap up suggestions. Shooting a closing video like the last link you posted is nice way to have students leave with a sense of closure, and feeling that they've just completed a worthy goal.
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    Love these suggestions! Thanks for sharing this.
Jennifer Dalby

Digital Storytelling Online Open Course - 0 views

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    This is an open online course about Digital Storytelling, that begins January 10. Feel free to sign up!
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    I wish I had more time in the day for the Digital Storytelling class... it looks like a great use of online apps.
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    I'm bumping this up. The course has been in session for over a month now, and there is some amazing stuff happening. It's an open online course, and students helped come up with the weekly assignments. Anyone could design an assignment and submit it at http://ds106.us/assignments/submit/ Then each week students share their work with the class. There are also daily photo shoots, and they've even created a pirate radio station where anyone can submit songs and create playlists. There are officially enrolled students, and others participating just for the experience. You can view participants at http://ds106.us/members/ Participants add their blog feeds to the course, and the posts are automatically added to the site. The wiki at http://ds106.us/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page includes the official course details, like syllabus and calendar. The creative work that is coming out of this, is simply stunning.
Joy LaJeret

Final Portfoilo #10 Blog Post Relecting on Learning - 16 views

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    Joy, Your posts are quite sobering, regarding your own experiences working towards completing your university education. I strongly agree with the following quote in your post: "In sum, it is time for educators to make college and higher learning relevant to their students. It is not about us, it is about them. We are the facilitators of their learning. We must prepare them for the world they will find themselves in when they leave the protected walls of our colleges and universities" I found the recent events in Cairo to be fascinating, where large numbers of people suddenly rose up against an authoritarian and out-of-touch government. This largely peaceful uprising was fueled by the same Web2.0 technologies that are underpinning this class. It's possible that many traditional schools will soon find themselves in a similar situation to the Egyptian government, where students pass them by in favor of lower cost and more relevant educational experiences - many of them available online. Bill Gates recently came under fire for making the statement that valid online college degrees may soon be available for $2000. He may have said this to exaggerate a point, but the evidence of a growing number of online low cost educational resources can't be ignored. One of them is the Khan Academy - run by an MIT graduate who has created a large free archive of mathematics courses that are used by students all over the world - many who claim they are better than their university courses. Colleges and universities ignore this development at their own peril. It's not clear yet how we'll make this transition to relevancy for students, but the next decade will be very interesting...
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    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.
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    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?
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    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.
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    Thanks you for your comments Mary Ann...the bottom line reads, we may be killing off our aged population by sentencing them to give up and give in to old out-moded concepts!
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    Joy: I've been following your blog postings for some time now and have been meaning to let you know I always learn and find your postings valuable. Keep the information coming our way.
Bruce Wolcott

Bruce's information website - 3 views

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    I just wanted to get this link up before we moved too far away from our Module 3 "presence" section. I'll be updating this very soon.
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    Bruce, your website is marvelous--a very professional presence indeed! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The black background you chose for the profile page highlighted by the white and soft blue is exceptional. It adds "class" to your text. I will check in again to see what is new!
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    I agree with Mary Ann; it is very impresive. An Interesting read.
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    Mary and Joy, Many thanks for your comments. One of my current concerns about the site is being too wordy - an occupational hazard for instructors. Whitney Keyes has taught a web marketing course at Bellevue College. I think her Whitney Keyes website is just great - no excess words - just the facts, ma'am. Much of her content is hidden beneath the lean surface layer for those who want to find it.
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    Whitney's got a nice site. That's just a wordpress theme. You could easily set up a site like that. I use wordpress on all my self-hosted sites. http://injenuity.com/ http://www.jentropy.com/ http://www.snohostories.com/ It's very easy to set up and maintain, and there are a ton of free themes.
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    I agree with Jennifer that Whitney does have an impressive site and I appreciate her input (link) about how to create one. I need to get on that myself in my "spare time" as my online presence or portfolio is pretty much limited to a very primitive blog. This is all new stuff for me, yet very exciting as I move forward with what I hope will become a new career.
Mary Ann Simpson

#portfolio7-WELCOME TO THE GALAPAGOS! - 11 views

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    I can't wait to see what you come up with for this. Actually, I wish we had time for all of us to create a full course. There are such interesting topics coming up!
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    I am interested in taking a independent study to write a whole course. I hope Jen or someone like her takes on the challenge!
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    Mary Ann, On your blog, you say: "Often, students don't live in proximity to the best teachers for their subject matter interests as in the case of language study--a school may offer only German and Spanish whereas the student might wish to become proficient in Swahili." I think that is possibly one of the great major benefits that will emerge from Web-based classes - that us in-the-trenches teachers may be able to bring some of the best knowledge experts in the world into our classes. One example of that happened just this past Thursday, when Jennifer had Howard Rheingold - the long term media commentator luminary stop by for a visit. I couldn't believe my eyeballs when I saw his name show up in Elluminate! I was even able to have short video conversation with him.
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    I loved seeing the photos. Thanks for sharing!
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    I found it very interesting and loved the pics, too. What a wonderful world we have. How sad we are destroying something so wonderful!
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    This lesson activity is the opener for my Course Framework, designed for middle school students. There is a link to a short video I made with Animoto that is posted as a "tour" for the research teams. Please note that if this was a real course, I would make a long video complete with narration and music containing most of the 500 pictures I took during my own trip to the Galapagos in 2004. Comments for improvement are very welcome.
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    I liked that blog. I would take that class...if I was that age or any for that matter.
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    I liked the term "research team" - says it all about collaboration!
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    Mary Ann, You really have a lot of great visual material to pull from to create your science safari of the Galapagos. Have you thought about incorporating any satellite and other ground level images of these islands from Google Earth?
ann stephens

You Digital Presence - 9 views

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

What Constitutes an Open-Book Exam in the Digital Age? - 6 views

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    Jenkins is an important player in this online learning stuff. This piece brings up some important considerations. We will be talking about assessment next week, but I wanted to toss this to you now, to get your gears spinning.
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    I cannot understand why he is so worried about open book testing of indivduals; rather than thinking about how to set up a test that would allow all contributors to weigh in and answer. What is the point of the process of collabrative learning then? Or am I just naive?
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    One response to this article was the practical - give the questions before the exam and the students can do whatever they want prior to the test, but when the test is actually given, make it closed book. This emphasizes information retnetion more than information retreival, which seems to be his concern. That being said - whether a test or not - his points are interesting and requires a great deal of thinking through. Allowing collaboration, for example as Joy profers, during a short course time brings up the issue of bandwidth and accessibility, so a teacher needs to spend time on logistics.
Jennifer Dalby

Recording from Office Hours Thursday 2/10/11 - 1 views

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    This is the recording from the office hours session on Thursday. Bruce was the only student from our class who showed up. The session was very informal and fun, with lots of drop-in guests along the way. Howard Rheingold showed up to see how we use Elluminate for office hours, so we gave him a tour through it. Dean Shareski joined us and helped share how he uses Elluminate with his students. We had a student from another course show up and share how she uses Twitter, and then ask some questions about google docs.
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    Unfortunately, I had to go to Renton on Friday...so I was busy creating a legal document ( during that time) for a situation with the state, I have found myself in! I started to watch this and will continue sometime this week.
hyerin suk

#portfolio 9 - 6 views

shared by hyerin suk on 12 Feb 11 - No Cached
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    I am not quite sure I know what a PDP is, but assume it is a portable device. I appreciated your sharing that as I hadn't thought about how eLearning is not just over the internet, but can include auxiullary technology. In a previous post, the thought of delivery of course material over other devices - such as an iPod - was brought up, but hadn't thought about how students also use these tools in a way that I, as a teacher, don't structure. This brings up for me, how, if anything, I want to do as a student. If, for example, everyone has an iPod, might I suggest they could enter their assignment either by blog or iPod? I realize in a course technology is an overhead, but it reminds me of the possibilities and that we are at the beginning of a teaching evolution.
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    I made a sample lecture material for my badminton class with powerpoint.
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    Hyerin, I just viewed your final project, finding it filled with many good things teachers do to engage and nurture their students. I liked the buttons at the top of the home page which directed students to the various pieces of the course on badminton. As a student, I would find it easy to navigate your course and have fun learning about this sport! Keep up the good work!
Joy LaJeret

Video on wrapping up a course - 1 views

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    I loved this video as a way to wrap up a course!!
Helen Maynard

Students Slog through College, Don't Gain in Critical Skills - 4 views

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    In today's Seattle Times, A3 section - interesting article which followed over 2,000 US students from 2005 to 2009. 45% made no significant improvements in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during first 2 years of study. After completing 4 years, 36 % showed no significant gains in "higher order" thinking skills. Article also states some contributing factors, many students work part-time, however, most students only spent 1/5 time on their studies and 51% on socializing & extra-curricular. I have a strong hunch the internet is a big contributor to the socializing factor. When I read such statistics, it makes me ponder if on-line learning can truly change this social/educational trend. I am enjoying many readings on the diigo, both from Jennifer and others, however, I'm not sure I would design an on-line class which designated a considerable amt. of time to short readings and discussions. Your thoughts on this?
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    . . . and Jennifer, this isn't criticism of our course structure. I think I understand your reasoning for being introduced to diigo and using this "application" (is that the right word?) to respond to and communicate with our fellow students. I'm simply thinking about what kinds of course activities and applications really challenge students to read, research, analyze and CREATE some original thinking and student work products which can help change these types of findings, especially in higher-ed.
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    Someone observed once that when television first started, the people writing for tv came from a "reading book" age and we had shows like Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, etc. - shows with real stories. Now, although there are some of these, much of our tv is "reality" tv - where the focus is quick stories with emotions and that writers now grew-up watching television for entertainment. So, my connection here, is that perhaps education might need to de-emphasize some on-line usage tools and emphasize others, to balance students so they do get the critical thinking skills. I know with my math tutoring, that when the audio is not operational and they have to use a chat box, they learn more spelling and English. I purposely "chat" in full sentences and will often provide feedback on their chats. Hear and here, for example, is often incorrectly used.
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    Helen, it's important that you're recognizing that one tool or method won't work for all situations. For an online class, it's hard to predict what your students will do. There's a certain amount of control we have over design, but once things get rolling, there's a lot of improvisation. I didn't figure on Diigo playing such a prominent role so early on, but since several students felt comfortable writing here, I latched onto it for early community-building. We will definitely be creating more as we move forward. If we had a larger class, we'd do smaller group projects, as well. One of the big challenges in online teaching is the fact that so many of us are used to being motivated by grades. We've grown up in systems where we perform and receive a reward. Unless a student finds something to spark their interest and desire to learn, we risk a teaching and learning environment where learners only do the bare minimum. I think the short readings and conversation help learners discover what's in it for them. And, honestly, sometimes there might not be anything in it for them. I try to find something for everyone, but in a society that values certification/degree more than the learning experience, many students are forced to take classes that just don't interest them.
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    It would seem to me, given my comments on Bloom's Taxonomy, that creative and critical thinking can be stifled by Universites and colleges. If this is happening, maybe they need to re-assess the whole concept of teaching and learning. I think that process has begun in the US. Had my professors been able to guide my learning, as we are beginning to learn in our reading materials, I may have finished that Ph.d and written the theory I began to write or not. Who knows. It is a question yet to be examined.
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    I read this article too, Helen. It is indeed interesting to contemplate the reasons for very little forward progress in students' critical thinking skills, but you may be on to something with on-line socializing as a possible contributing factor. Since the wave of education today and into the future is focused on a combination of hybrid and on-line learning, I think it's very important that we as educators take the lead in changing our coursework to emphasize more critical and creative thinking as well as problem solving. After all, these are some of the 21st Century Learning skills that CAN be applied to digital technology and teaching. As for a series of short readings as proposed by Jennifer, I would be inclined to take part and enjoy discussions centered around them. Does anyone else have an opinion about this? Jennifer, I agree with your point that not all tools and ways of teaching things fit each learner in a given community, but considering learning styles and differentiated instruction, instructors (on-line) can create a community that is dynamic and viable. Have you ever thought of offering a "CHOICE of activities" focusing on different learning styles, all of which would meet a particular learning objective? Students could engage according to their own interests and preferred learning modes.
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    Mary Ann, all the portfolio activities will be your choice. You can get an idea of it if you skip ahead and skim the content for next week. I do as for a "cognitive presence" post, but you can use whatever medium you like. Next week we've got a collaborative document where we'll be adding potential activities. As far as learning styles are concerned, I'm not a big fan of how that theory is promoted and distorted. I'll share some resources about it, and you can tell me what you think.
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    I wanted to further Mary Ann's comment about this study making a case for the importance of elearning as tool for delivery of education. I understand elearning is in the early stages, but the internet lends itself to the written word and certainly has the flexibility to be molded to learning needs.
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    Helen: Very interesting article with compelling statistics. Statistics don't always tell us the true story, however. I say this after reading in our textbook about 'understanding' and 'misunderstanding' and learning how to determine how to express content so the student understands. Now, on the other hand, I agree that students spend more time with extra-curricular activities rather than their studies.
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    I too found the article interesting - thanks! I do wonder about the types of classes students completed especially in their first two years. The might be a marked difference in skills acquisition if students were completing many required large class survey classes to meet initial requirements vs. small, more focused classes in their areas of interest.
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    I am still trying to get the picture of "slogging" through studies! Is that what I am doing when reading all this material in Diigo? I don't think so.
Jennifer Dalby

Stephen Downes: The Role of the Educator - 5 views

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    I started a thread in the student discussion area, but realize that this might be a more appropriate place to post. I agree with Downes that the on-line environment broadens the view of what a learner is, but it also brings up the issue of standardization and safety. Students working with a teacher on polar bears collaboratively is engaging and exciting, but how does this fit into education standards, for example.
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    Ann, your comment reminded me of this list of cognitive biases. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases Your point is so relevant. I always worry when I see teachers teaching kids the easy way to search and find things right away. It's scary to think how much we're capable of filtering out of our lives.
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    Jennifer, this goes to your point made in the other article you pointed us to - Crap Detection by Reingold. When you are learning something, your maturity level on the subject is minimal, so filtering what you are learning is difficult and we have a tendency once we have some information to not go further. When I teach, I am not only trying to impart information, but the analytical process for learning and absorbing the information.
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    I definitely meant to put that comment on the other article :)
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    All this accessibility to information is one of the greatest strength and weaknesses of online technology. You really can explore and be motivated by all the information available, but it can be overwhleming at times. There is a term "data mining" that refers to finding the information you need - mining through all that is available. If I think of the metaphor as someone looking for gold, you can often find "fool's gold", yet the difference here is how do you know what you have is real?
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    I think part of the challenge is in overcoming ego, or our desire to confirm our own beliefs and stay in our comfort zones. Maybe we need to give students assignments to write about something completely off the wall, but find the sources to back it up. Then they can see how easy it is to confirm just about anything. I'll add some more resources on media literacy and see what everyone thinks.
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    I think confirming beliefs is wrong. If you start with a hypothsis and do not know what the answer will turn out to be, you can set aside your biases and research for an answer. Stats give you a way of looking at data. They are testable at the ratio level and the big T for truth never happens. Only the small t for the strength of the correlation between cause and effect.
Susan Kolwitz

Metaphors for online teaching - 20 views

Bruce: Nice...very informative. I'm with you on why I'm taking these courses -- find out ways to engage the student in this stormy eLearning environment. I also, enjoyed the water metaphors. It's s...

Joy LaJeret

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity - 1 views

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    This is one of Wesch's more popular presentations. Definitely worth a look!
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    I enjoyed Michael Wesch's comparison of Orwell's 1984 versus Huxley's Brave New World. He referenced Neil Postman who said that "Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth ..." Based on the audience's response and Wesch's to his own comments, I had the impression that he believes we're out of the woods regarding these scenarios; that the Web has given us all a voice to talk back to Big Brother, and keep him under a watchful eye. As an example, Weschl points to YouTube as a growing population of contributing users - many of whom address each other as part of a larger community. I think the jury is out for both the Orwell and Huxley scenarios - since our private lives are increasingly more transparent, and the lures of interactive electronic entertainment and other distractions are becoming more compelling.
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    I am not certain "1984" isn't happening with the ability to spy in chat rooms and all online applications by the government. Also, think about the video cameras for controlling traffic at stop lights! Ouch! Anyway, we seldom hear about what Homeland Security is up to. That worries me. Abuse happens and has happened in the past...Watergate, etc...just read WIKI Leaks ( I have not) to get a feeling for what government does behind the scenes, not to even mention torture. The problem with security clearances and top secret info is it usually keeps info from citizens, our enemies already know what we're up to!
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    I think a lot of times people are afraid of internet technologies, because they see the data they leave behind. Most people don't think twice about the data they leave every place else. (Grocery club cards, credit and debit cards, library cards.) The Numerati, by Steven Baker, is an interesting book about how our data are tracked and used.
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    I think credit cards have chips to track your purchases and maybe even your what-a-bouts! Not to mention my Safeway, Albertson's and etc...discount cards. I will have to locate that book on break.
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