EdVentures in Technology
teaching, learning and change
Archive for November, 2006
November 27, 2006 at 10:37 pm · Filed under Higher Education, Learning Theory, TechTalk, Web 2.0
What would happen if we took everything we thought we knew about the virtual learning environment and threw it out the window? What would it look like if we treated the learning environment as if it belonged to the learner? What could learning look like if it weren’t treated as an administrative function? These were the questions I asked my colleague Casey Bisson as we travelled to and from a NERCOMP Social Software SIG.
This first post will set the stage for this re-visioning.
At Plymouth State University, we use SCT’s Luminis product as our campus portal. We are very proud of our true single sign-on methodologies as pretty much everything a student needs is tied to their portal account: email, calendar, groups, news, their e-coursework (via WebCT), library resources, the Student Information System (SIS), even their 200+ MB of network storage is web accessible. It is one of the most robust environments I have used when it comes to student services.
Yet there exists a disconnect. The portal does not speak the language of our students. It is based on technologies at least 5 years old and is not as interactive or responsive as the web tools available today. In Web 2.0 terms, it is more like Web 1.5 - more pull than push, more consumptive than contributive. In short, it is perceived to be an administrative tool rather than a learning resource. A necessary evil for doing the business of higher education.
And then there is our Learning Management System - WebCT (now Blackboard). Everything about the LMS screams academic administration tool. It provides all the requisite tools: syllabus tool, communications tools, assessment tools and learning content tools. But even with Blackboard’s burgeoning attempts at learner-centricity in the journaling, web link and media library contributions, peer review and blog tools available in their latest Application Pack, it is still a tool for teaching rather than learning. If you’ll pardon the melodrama, it lacks soul.
In part 2, we’ll throw out our current set-up and start from scratch.
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November 21, 2006 at 2:37 pm · Filed under Higher Education, TechTalk, ce5290
I may be teaching a grad course on the art and science of managing technology in school environments. My colleague Royce uses the 4th edition of Managing Information Technology by E. Wainright Martin et al from Prentice Hall Business Publishing which Amazon has for a reasonable price. The most current 5th edition however is running for an ungodly $150.80 for the hardcover!
Another text I’ve come across which hits the highlights of technology management in K-12 is Thane B. Terrill’s Technology on a Shoestring, a copy of which is available through our Lamson Library. While not an in-depth tome, it nonetheless covers the spectrum of what any tech coordinator is likely to face on a daily basis.
Chapters include:
- What is a network?
- Network architectures
- Operating systems
- Network Design Attack Plan
- Special Operations
- Network Infrastructure: Tying It All Together
- Dealing with Vendors
- Multi-Function vs. Single-Function Servers
- Security Overview
- Viruses and Spyware
- Lurking Dangers
- Hoaxes and Spam
- Firewalls
- Backup Strategies
- When Things Go Wrong
- Email and IM
- Disk Imaging
- Recovering from a Disaster
- Websites
- Blogs and Wikis
- Fixing Problems
- Remote Connections
- Foundations of the Internet
- Working with People
- Maintaining Your Own Sanity
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November 21, 2006 at 1:02 pm · Filed under Random Thoughts
Well, it’s been just over a year since I started this blog and I just hit my hundredth post!
So post 101 is to just to say happy birthday to my blog (and to another Scorpio, me!), to cheer its best day to date of 527 hits on 11/16 and to raise a virtual toast to another year of learning, creating and growing.
Cheers!
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November 21, 2006 at 12:39 pm · Filed under Higher Education, Learning Theory
The USNH e-Portfolio summit went off nicely last Friday. We had 63 registrants and Plymouth State fielded eleven attendees. The crowd was quite diverse and represented the mix administrative, technical and pedagogical crowds we hoped to attract. Faculty represented 25% of our attendance which was wonderful considering that these are the folks we need to have at the table.
Dr. Barrett’s presentation was well delivered and, I believe, well received based on conversations I held with a number of participants. She will be sending copies of her presentation as well as an audio version recorded on her iPod! This is great for me as I often get so embroiled in thought in these types of presentations that I tend to miss pieces. With her permission, I will link to them here when they become available.
Our panel presentation went very well (or so I am told - I was too busy focusing on what I was going to try to say!) and showed the varying degrees to which our four campuses are currently pursuing and/or utilizing electronic portfolios.
The post-luch round table discussions focused on two areas:
- A review of thoughts and impressions of electronic portfolios in general, and
- How can the representative institutions work together on the pending e-Portfolio initiative coming out of the USNH Long-Range Technology Plan (LRTP)?
It will be interesting to see where this opening dialogue takes us and how the faculty and administration at our own institutions respond.
technorati tags:eportfolio, electronic, portfolio, helen, barrett, usnh, college, university, summit, psu, plymouth, state, nh
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November 20, 2006 at 3:49 pm · Filed under Higher Education, Random Thoughts
Have you ever had an encounter where you knew instinctively that you life was about to change in a very exciting way although you couldn’t exactly say why or how? I had one of those moments yesterday when I had the distinct pleasure of meeting one of the most dynamic and passionate individuals I have perhaps ever met, Beena Raza.
Beena, and her sister Dr. Baela Raza Jamil, are the driving force behind Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), the “Centre for Education and Consciousness” public trust in Pakistan and are heavily involved in the South Asian Forum for Education Development (SAFED). ITA has been our partner group in organizing and facilitating our grant-based program, the Pakistani Teachers Training Summer Institute. This grant funded program began in 2004 and has run every summer since with approximately 20-25 participants each year.
My meeting with Beena was facilitated by our new Pakistani Institute coordinator, Blake Allen. It was originally intended to be a simple one hour meeting to discuss technology and online learning opportunities. It evolved into a three hour brainstorming and incubation session in which the three of us spoke of everything from the nature of work within ITA’s adopted schools to Beena’s outreach efforts with the Rag Picker culture. I am amazed by her passion and commitment to her work, to her fellow Pakistanis, particularly when she mentioned so casually that some of her work had led to death threats if she returned, and yet return she did. Her persistence and commitment are inspiring!
Eventually our conversation began to center on collaborative and communicative technologies for Pakistani educators and we spoke of the informal “Google Office,” blogs, Skype, portals, connectivity issues and the $100 laptop initiative out of MIT. We spoke of the importance of follow-up contact with Institute participants and how we might develop a mechanism to enable post-institute connections and continued sharing and development of ideas which support the educational system. We began to envision a distance learning initiative which would provide ongoing support and training for our institute alums. It was incredible, the amount of energy in the room.
Our discussion culminated in an informal invitation for me to travel to Pakistan to work with and share collaborative technology ideas with educators there. I was, and still am, humbled by the thought but I believe that the opportunity to share my thoughts and expertise with Pakistani educators would pale in comparison to what I would learn from the experience.
Thank you Beena.
To be continued…
[tags]pakistan, pakistani, institute, ITA, SAFED, PSU, plymouth, state, university, beena, raza[/tags]
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November 20, 2006 at 1:02 pm · Filed under Higher Education
Our newly formed Office of Teaching and Learning Technologies has been struggling with how we can provide education and training opportunities on campus given the low turnout at our traditional seminar based presentations.
From Paul Baker at Education PR comes this post on efforts underway at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Seems that they are using video news releases, promo videos and are disseminating training using digital storytelling.
Communicating with video at UW-Madison « EducationPR
[tags]higher ed, higher, education, video, new media, training, teaching, learning, technology[/tags]
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November 16, 2006 at 3:47 pm · Filed under Higher Education, Random Thoughts
Ok, so this really is shameless self-promotion but an incredible opportunity nonetheless!
As part of the USNH e-Portfolio Summit, our convening committee invited Dr. Helen Barrett to give the keynote address. Since she is in town this evening, the opportunity arose to invite her to dinner. From my perspective, the opportunity to share a meal with someone of Dr. Barrett’s stature is rare and so I am really looking forward to this evening.
I’ve had the opportunity to hear Dr. Barrett at the 2006 WebCT IMPACT Conference in Chicago this past July where she spoke about her current focus, digital storytelling. While the focus of the USNH summit is much more basic, more along the lines of an introduction to the world of electronic portfolios, I’ve not had the opportunity to hear Dr. Barrett speak at this level. So while it may be old hat, it will be new to me and I look forward to hearing her thoughts. But that’s tomorrow, and who knows what this evening’s conversation will bring. Although after having read and enjoyed her whitepaper on Authentic Assessment, at least I have a few things to take somewhat intelligently on.
[tags]eportfolio, barrett, portfolio, electronic, usnh, summit, digital, storytelling
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November 14, 2006 at 1:45 pm · Filed under Higher Education, TechTalk, Web 2.0
Thoughts from the presentation.
From Maureen’s handout, which included an article from Learning & Leading with Technology which is available to ISTE members here:
(In) A Constructivist Learning Environment:
- Knowledge is constructed, not just reproduced.
- Previous knowledge is valued.
- There are relationships to the real world.
- Multiple viewpoints are represented.
- Collaboration and social interaction are encouraged.
I love the following quote as I’ve used another from Marvin Bartel in the past:
“I kill creativity when I demonstrate instead of having students practice. ”
- Marvin Bartel
Webquests - Bernie Dodge - Change a fact finding question into a compelling, intriguing challenge. A good question involves:
- Going beyond fact finding,
- Analysis, evaluation, discussion and debate
- Demonstration of new knowledge
Guidelines for group interaction
- Rubrics: individual and/or group; project and process
- Reflections of members of the group; journals
- Evaluation of work; group or individual assessment
[tags]sstl2006, electronic, constructivism, yoder, iste, creativity, webquest, dodge, rubric, reflection{/tags]
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November 14, 2006 at 11:58 am · Filed under Higher Education, TechTalk, Web 2.0
Notes from this session:
What does social software mean to our students?
Eric Gordon mentions a sense of possession, that they are creating a space that is inherently their own, and that often they enter physical classrooms with that same expectation. He also states that their expectations of our curriculum entail a a desire for personal relevance, “What does this mean to me?”
He cites the allure of access (to content) without liability, referencing the example of Napster’s quote: “Own Nothing; Have Everything.” Is this the equivalent of leasing content?
Gordon also mentions the common desire for instant access which I equate to the stereotypical males desire for immediate gratification. If it’s out there, why should I need to wait to access it in a physical realm?
Lastly, a snippet from a Roger Waters Radio K.A.O.S. tune, Home, “Everybody wants somehwer they call home” - virtual personal spaces such as mySpace, Facebook, blogs, even Second Life (which is the focus of the next session) are important because they allow us to extend our xxx to the physical.
How do students perceive and use social software environments?
Often used as a Personal Management system via the implementation of RSS, blogs, mySpace, etc. the value to the learner is in the aggregation, xxx convenience in accessing…content.
Desire for personal relevance
There is also an interesting dichotomy between perceptions of privacy and publicity. Some of the perceptions held and distinctions made are that open areas such as Facebook, mySpace,Orkut, Friendster, etc. are assumed private, while academic areas such as learning management systems, prescribed blogs and other directed learning tools are assumed public (due to the sense of evaluation by profs and peers).
Digital Social Networks typically converse in chat speak versus the
more academic dialogue and discourse which demonstrates the following
characteristics:
- self-reflexive - comments scutinized and reflected upon, peers/profs as audience
- delimited - scale is localized and definable
- contributive - content added to pre-defined framework of analysis
- self-policing - established hierarchies maintain standards of conversation
Caveat: These are my interpretations and are subject to the vagaries of my muddled mind.
[tags]sstl2006, social, software, Gordon, digital, networks, myspace, facebook, blog, second_life, learning, environment, personal[/tags]
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November 14, 2006 at 8:45 am · Filed under Random Thoughts
Subtitled Insights from Early Adopters, this SIG advertises sessions on the following topics:
- Social Software in the Classroom: Happy Marriage or Clash of Cultures? (Eric Gordon, Emerson)
- Teaching and Learning in a Virtual World (Rebecca Nesson, Harvard)
- Electronic Constructivism: Inspiring and Motivating Students with Thought Provoking Questions and Emerging Technologies (Dr. Maureen Brown Yoder, Lesley University)
- Social Computing Tools in the Curriculum (Katie Livingston Vale, MIT)
More information is available at the Social Software SIG website including links to presentations and referenced materials.
It also leaves time at the end for furthering the creation of an online community of practice for EdTechies. This is probably the part I am looking forward to the most. I’ll post the details of the sessions that strike me although I’ve got to duck out of the first one to call into a teleconference to discuss Friday’s e-Portfolio summit.
The trip down from NH was a good 3 hours and 45 minutes but luckily, I’ve travelled down here with a colleague of mine, Casey Bisson of Maison Bisson fame so the trip was far more enjoyable than it might have been otherwise.
technorati tags:sstl2006,nercomp, sig, social, software, teaching, learning, technology, constructivism
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