October 2004
October 31, 2004
Why did you decide to do online education?
Below is a list of reasons why students decided to do online education. These have not been edited and are from a survey the students take before accessing their online course.
I chose online education because I prefer to learn at my own pace.
I enjoy working independantly.
I decided to take this class through cyber school, for I play alot of sports, and at times I found it hard to catch up on all the notes I missed, so I think an online education would work well for me.
Math classes to busy in school. I also have help at home and I did really well last year.
I am a little behind for the grade 10 year, and I need to repeat some classes. I want to graduate on time and my mom suggested i take online classes to catch up.
I decided to take online education, because it will give me a great opportunity to work at my own pace and I get to take at home. It is also a great experience.
I decided to do online education, because I felt I was able to take more than five classes at once.
Because it was the only way I could fit it in.
So I could work on my own schedual. I am a busy kid !
I work well independently and have taken some courses in the past through cyberschool that I enjoyed.
Because I wanted this class, but I had already filled up my schedule.
I choose to do it last year and really enjoyed how you could do it when you had the time, but as well to challenge yourself to be disciplined enough to complete the assignments
The reason I decided to do online education is that it is a new and interesting way to do my school and I can do it on my own time. I am home schooled and this presented me with a different method for math.
I decided to do the class when we had to pick electives for next year.
The Youth of Today have no attention span.
I have heard in the last couple week a common statement in the halls of a high school from two different teachers, this comment was;
The youth of today have no attention span.
The reason the comment was shared with me was because of my association with the Cyber School. This lack of attention span was attributed to the internet, music videos and video games. As both of my peers made this comment, I agreed and went on my way, accepting the fact that running the cyber school in some way made me responsible for lack of attention that my peer's students are displaying.
Then last night as I was lying in bed with my cyber glasses on and it came to me; the students of today don't have attention span problems the exact opposite actually. Through my cyber glass I see high school students who spend 7 plus hours playing, no mastering a video game. This could not be achieve if you had no attention span because as they play the game, they are "icq" ing or "msn"ing with their friends, listening to music, talking on the phone and watching a football game on the T.V. I would say that the students of today have become masters at focusing their attention on the task at hand.
Turning my cyber glasses to my peer's classrooms, maybe my peer's classroom lectures are not something they want to focus upon. Could the problem perhaps lie with the school system and the slowness in which they are reacting to the changes in their clientele? The teachers with their comments have identified the problem, but have they changed their approach to teaching to accommodate the change? What I see is the school system which is still using a system which has been in use for hundreds of years. No teacher will say the students are the same as they were even fifty years ago. In fact most teachers will state that there has been a dramatic change in the students in the last fifteen years, yet the system they are using to educate the students has not dramatically changed to accommodate these changes.
I do think we are on the edge of some of these dramatic changes, I think the excitement towards online learning in the K-12 system is one of the dramatic changes that are starting to appear in the system. Don't get me wrong, I believe that the system is starting to change, as the children of today become the teachers of tomorrow. There is hope because most teachers are gifted at adapting to the needs of their students, they have identified the problems and in time they will adapt. This makes today one of the most exciting times in history to be a teacher and even more exciting to be involved in the cyber school. I for one believe that online learning is the first of the dramatic changes that will meet the needs of the future students.
The reality:
Students have dramatically changed in the last fifty years.
The problem:
The school system is still using basically the same method of teaching that they have used for the last two hundred years.
The solution:
Dramatic changes to instruction to fit the needs of today's students.
The students of today will become the teacher of tomorrow.
Recognition:
Online schools are the first of the dramatic changes need to meet the needs.
The excitement:
I am part of the cyber school, I am part of the first wave of change.
October 30, 2004
E-learning passport to future
The PASS-port e-learning scheme is a new system that allows those who cannot - or are not allowed to - go to school do their work at home.
The scheme, run by Norfolk County Council's education department, has reached a broad cross-section of disaffected or isolated children.
Those helped so far include children with severe illnesses, behavioural problems, who have been excluded from school, or who have so little confidence or self-esteem that school is too daunting.
EDP24 - E-learning passport to future
October 28, 2004
Plugging Into the Net, Through the Humble Wall Outlet
HIGH-speed Internet access usually comes to homes through one of two wires: a telephone line for D.S.L. subscribers, or a coaxial cable for cable modem users. But an emerging technology known as broadband over power lines, or B.P.L., may soon offer a third wire into homes, channeling high-speed data through a somewhat improbable conduit: an ordinary electrical outlet.
Sex Is Out, Consuming Is In
Internet users are doing far fewer searches for sex and pornography and more for e-commerce and business than they were seven years ago, University of Pittsburgh and Penn State researchers say in a new book.
Wired News: Sex Is Out, Consuming Is In
Baby Daxtin Gray Cannell
Baby Daxtin
Originally uploaded by dcannell.
I am trying out a new website called flickr and this image was one I had on my desktop. It seems to be a very neat system for adding images to your blog. Check it out.
http://www.flickr.com
October 27, 2004
More ruminations about teachers, students, and technology use...
I think there's a direct link here between what Will is seeing and Prensky's idea about digital immigrants teaching digital natives. Maybe what we need to be doing is looking at how our digital 'accents' manifest themselves and how we can compensate for that...
Blogging and School Administrators
Blog flow
One of the gems that I found this morning was from Darren Cannell who has a pretty interesting post titled "Are we entering a dark age of information?" In it, he paints a picture of the potential changes that these technologies are creating and the lack of recognition by schools.
Weblogg-ed - Using Weblogs and RSS in Education :
WiredKids.org
WiredSafety, Is A 501(c)(3) Program and the largest online safety, education and help group in the world. We are a cyber-neighborhood watch and operate worldwide in cyberspace through our more than 9,000 volunteers worldwide. (WiredSafety is run entirely by volunteers.)
WiredKids, the ultimate online safety project for kids and teens!
GetNetWise
The Internet is an increasingly important place to work, play and learn for both adults and children. At the same time, we are concerned about the risks we face online. The challenge is to stay "one-click" ahead of would-be pornographers, hackers, child-predators and those who would misuse your and your child's sensitive information. GetNetWise can help.
GetNetWise | You're one click away
Cyber Smart
The CyberSmart! Education Company is built on the simple notion that using the Internet effectively, responsible and securely is a 21st Century core competency that can and must be taught. A non-profit 501 C (3) corporation, we are a national leader calling for a nationwide coordinated action agenda to teach the information skills needed to effectively use the Internet for learning and working; and to ensure a social foundation and culture of secure use of our online resources.
Kidz Privacy
Whether playing, shopping, studying or just surfing, today's kids are taking advantage of all that the web has to offer. But when it comes to their personal information, who's in charge? The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, requires commercial website operators to get parental consent before collecting any personal information from kids under 13. COPPA allows teachers to act on behalf of a parent during school activities online, but does not require them to do so. That is, the law does not require teachers to make decisions about the collection of their students' personal information. Check to see whether your school district has a policy about disclosing student information.
AOL@school
While virtually all schools in the U.S. are now wired for the Internet, studies clearly indicate that educators are not certain how best to make use of the medium's vast educational resources. AOL@SCHOOL applies America Online's hallmark focus on convenience and ease-of-use to this dilemma, providing a variety of age-appropriate educational content, state-of-the-art communications features and special safety tools to make the Internet more powerful for teachers and students.
AOL's Safety Clicks
Surf Swell Island
Surf Swell Island is a place on the Internet where kids and parents can learn about Internet safety. We at The Walt Disney Company believe that children of all ages learn best when they are relaxed and having a good time. That's why we have chosen to address this very serious topic in a fun and engaging forum.
Disney Online - Activity Center - Surf Swell Island
CyberNetiquette Comix
Welcome to CyberNetiquette Comix, an entertaining, interactive way for families to learn valuable lessons about online safety. Join classic Disney characters for adventure, fun, and online awareness tips. We encourage parents and children to enjoy and discuss these interactive fables together.
Staysafeonline.info
Securing your personal computer plays a crucial role in protecting our nation's Internet infrastructure. The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is a public-private partnership focused on promoting cyber security and safe behavior online. We drive awareness and response to pressing cyber security issues; providing tools and resources to empower home users, small businesses, as well as schools and universities to stay safe online.
October 26, 2004
Challenges of Online Teaching
As an educator with many years of classroom experience, I take pleasure in my quest for new opportunities and the direction that online teaching has taken my students and me. A cup of coffee at my workstation, casual attire, and money saved for running shoes in lieu of high heels are benefits to be certain, but below I offer a few actual benefits
Techlearning > > Challenges of Online Teaching > October 19, 2004
E-learning Future: With or Without Teachers?
When you read reports about the future of e-learning such as the latest ACTeN - Anticipating Content Technology Needs report of June 2004 you get the impression that e-learning is and will be void of any teachers.
HCC's growing online courses educating those who otherwise couldn't enroll
Once parents have picked up the children, she stays busy preparing supper and spending time with her kids. It is not until they are tucked into bed that Rowell can get to her Hawkeye Community College classes. Fortunately, all she has to do is log on to the Internet and click the mouse.
WCFCourier.com | The Waterloo Cedar-Falls Courier Online!
October 25, 2004
Educational Blogging
The bell rings, and the halls of Institut St-Joseph in Quebec City echo the clatter of the fifth- and sixth-graders. Some take their chairs in the more traditional classroom on the lower floor. Others attend to their projects in the large, open activity room upstairs, pausing perhaps to study one of the chess games hanging on the wall before meeting in groups to plan the current project. A third group steps up a half flight of stairs into the small narrow room at the front of the building, one wall lined with pictures and plastercine models of imagined aliens, the other with a bank of Apple computers.
EDUCAUSE REVIEW | September/October 2004, Volume 39, Number 5
Get the paddles...the heart rate is dropping...we can save it.
I am starting to hear rumblings across the net that e-learning is dying at the university level. I clarify the statement at the university level because I think e-learning is just starting at the K-12 area and will work wonderfully there.
Do I think the statement about the universities is true?
No I don't believe it is dead, yet its heart rate is just very slow, but I do believe there might needs to be some life style changes for it to become healthy.
What changes you might ask?
Well let me enlighten...
Most universities have separated the content expert (the professor) from the content development. (I.T. department)
This was done to save money. (it is a cookie cutter method of developing courses.)
Most professors (who are very busy people) would not find the time to learn how to develop a course. Don't get me going on professors (please forgive me if you are one of those professors who take pride and spend time to working at being a good teacher.) Professors in general consider teaching to be a part of their job that they have to do and not their chosen vocation. Having your doctorate in no way prepares you to be teacher. So, when universities decided to develop online courses, they did not actually ask the people who would be teaching the course how they thought it should be done because they have no training in teaching. What they decided to do is get it developed by another group of people who know nothing about teaching. They gave the job to the IT department, better known as the computer geeks. They are very versed in the technology that will be used for development and delivery of online courses but not in the content. It is kind of like asking the builders of brick and mortar schools and blackboard makers to develop the courses for F2F courses.( ok that was a little bit of a stretch but you know what I mean.)
So, now we have two sets of people involved; Professors who are the content experts, IT people who know the technology, and together they develop some beautiful courses. (online pretty textbook type courses)
So why is e-learning heart rate dropping?
What makes an online course work is a content developer who takes the time to learn the technology, takes the time to make them self a good teacher, combine the two into a vibrant pretty course developed around their personality. Content presented with personality, continuously updated and adapted to the needs of the students. This course will be alive. Dead is the pretty course that when a professor needs the smallest little thing changed has to go back to the IT department to add an image or cross a "t" or dot an "i" because the technology is beyond him or her. Back to an IT department which is so understaffed that they do not have the time to keep doing revisions to course. Course revisions are needed for an online course to success.
Ok, I may not know what I am talking about, but ask yourself a question...think of a course that is successful online...check the elements.
Created by one person or at least was developed by one dedicated person who took ownership.
The person teaching it is a teacher (not a research professor, a person who entertains, teaches and you know does all the other thing good teachers do.)
The course content is secondary to the teacher; content has personality stamped all over it.
Fun is a big part of the course.
Is it possible to save the university online life, for sure it is just going to take some time to find the university teachers and then some time for them to develop some fun online courses.
My cyber glasses are looking up into the ivory tower and sees a problem, no one's fault just a design problem.
October 23, 2004
VeryBestKiDs.com
VeryBestKids.com was created by Nestlé in an effort to make every moment with your kids special and unforgettable. The time you share with your kids should be treasured, that's why we're here, to help you make those moments possible. Consider us your personal resource for articles and tips on how to keep your kids happy and healthy, and know that we strive to be a place where you and your kids come for a treasure trove of great ideas, activities, recipes and fun.
Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online:
Effective online learning requires careful preparation, design, implementation, and follow-up. This article combines best practices from a variety of resources -- research studies, publications, and discussions among online instructors. The analogy of a garden is used to reinforce practices that will ensure a successful "harvest!"
Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online:
How to Teach Like a Pro!
Faculty Training for Online Teaching
During follow-up focus-group sessions with several groups of participants, faculty expressed satisfaction with the technical aspects of the training they received to teach online courses. They referred to the continual improvement of both hardware and software, as well as agreed that, if a college uses a CMS to deliver online courses, faculty should be provided training to use that CMS.
Faculty Training for Online Teaching
October 22, 2004
Read this and smile
Some times computer people take themselves too serious.
A couple of definitions to help lighten the mood.
MODEM - what ya did when the grass and weeds got too tall
SCREEN - helps keep the skeeters off the porch
HACKER - Uncle Leroy after 32 years of smoking
MAC - Big Bubba's favorite fast food.
INTERNET - where the cafeteria workers put their hair
Smiling behind my cyber glasses.
October 20, 2004
Childnet International
Welcome to Childnet International, a non-profit organisation working with others to "help make the Internet a great and safe place for children
www.Cyberbullying.ca
Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal Web sites, and defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.
www.bullying.org
www.bullying.org is a multiple award-winning Web site that was created to help people with the issues of bullying within a safe, positive international community. www.bullying.org is a supportive community where people can learn that they are NOT alone in being bullied and teased, that being bullied and teased is NOT their fault and that they CAN do something positive about it.
October 17, 2004
Are we at a turning point for the web?
I see through my cyber glasses the net as containing information which can be named rays of sunlight. These are the unscreened material on the web that I find that beam directly into my interests. This to me is the best that the web has to offer. The opinions, research, thoughts, theories and websites that just seem to jump right out at me and held my interest. This is what originally drew me to web and has kept me here for ten plus years. During those ten years, the web has changed the way I live my life. I do not go to library, I do not write snail mail letters, I do not keep appliance manuals, I use the web to learn, inform, entertain and stay connected.
Below this layer of rays of sunlight is the gray material, the quicksand that people out there feel I need to know. As the number of websites increased, the people who sites are not drawing the attention will invent new ways to force their sand on people. This evasive computing will increase in the future. We are at a stage where we will need to decide what we are willing to do. We have been holding on as tight as we can to the web as it explodes into our lives. I think we have reached the stage where it is still exploding but it has been doing so for so long that some people are starting to stand back and reflect upon what is happening. It is the time to sit back reflect upon what has been done and either give up the freedom or fight for the right to decide what our rays will be.
In a net where spam, virus and other net tom foolery forces us back into our shells is it or will it be possible to find our way out of this and blossom into a net where you can stand up announce ourselves without fear of being attacked by the spammers, hackers. Every attempt on the net of building a sharing trust filled community has be clogged by the invasive computers out there who feel they have the right to bog down the possibility of what the net could be. E-mail system is one of the first great community builders that has been kicked down by the spammers, kick to such a state that it has been necessary to chance the free exchange of information. Blogging communities are becoming clogged with comment posting that don't relate to the blog topics, it just is a place for spammers to post. The web itself has be brought to its knees by virus. Wiki an open source community web posting will be railroaded by the same aspect of the net that has been attacking the communication and web.
Is it possible for us to step through, can we design systems that will control this flood on unwanted material without including politics? Who is going to dictate what is good and what is not? Will systems be designed where I get to be the one that chooses. Don't take material away just give me the tools to find what I want. I am willing to put up with the quicksand material which is pulling the net down just so I can have head above the muck and experience the rays of sunlight that do exist out there and as I do this am I willing to let people know who I am by announcing myself as I tread hard to stay above the spammers, virus or the darker side of the net. And when I do announce my existence and climb higher above the quicksand does the attack on me increase because I am a post within a massive swirl of information. Are there enough people or institutions willing to be posts to allow other to recognize the possibility and work towards make the potential of the net blossom? I think the net is just entering into the most existing era yet.
October 16, 2004
A view from the trenches
Matthew Pittinsky, 32, is cofounder and chairman of Blackboard Inc., which went public in June and whose E-learning software is now used by more than 2,000 colleges, schools, and companies worldwide. In his spare time, he's also pursuing a Ph.D. in the sociology of education at Teachers College, Columbia University, with a particular interest in how online and in-class peer relationships influence student achievement. Pittinsky, who eventually hopes to add teaching and research to his Blackboard responsibilities, recently shared his perspectives on the future--and past--of E-learning with senior writer Anne McGrath.
USNews.com: A view from the trenches (10/18/04)
Comment found on Weblogg-ed.com
It is nice to see people explain what I mean because sometimes I am curious if they even get it???? Sometimes when I ramble even I get confused.
Anyway here is a comment I found about my entering into a dark age of information posting.
One of the gems that I found this morning was from Darren Cannell who has a pretty interesting post titled "Are we entering a dark age of information?" In it, he paints a picture of the potential changes that these technologies are creating and the lack of recognition by schools.
Too much information.
Students who understand how to navigate the web.
Teachers who do not.
Students who have no one to show them what is good and what is bad.
A system of education in which students and teachers do not connect.
I'm wondering to what extent students are passing their teachers in their ability to manipulate the Internet and information, and to what extent teachers will be willing to learn how to model the skills that students are going to need to manage all of this in effective ways. If I'm struggling, I can't imagine what it must be like for teachers who are just seeing the landscape for the first time.
Weblogg-ed - Using Weblogs and RSS in Education :
Tracing the Evolution of Social Software
The term 'social software', which is now used to define software that supports group interaction, has only become relatively popular within the last two or more years. However, the core ideas of social software itself enjoy a much longer history, running back to Vannevar Bush's ideas about 'memex' in 1945, and traveling through terms such as Augmentation, Groupware, and CSCW in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Life With Alacrity: Tracing the Evolution of Social Software
October 14, 2004
Repository should be a thing of the past (continued)
I knew when I wrote my entry about repositories being a thing of the past, that those people who had spent a better part of a decade making repositories would be upset. I still stand by my comment: The internet by itself is one big repository; we do not need to horde stuff into a tighter site to make it useful. Tagging, better search engines and free use for everyone would allow these to happen. The greatest thing about that making that comment is I have no answer to the tagging problems or the other problems that arises from following my idea. But if we continue to make repositories (I have made a few in my time) we will never find a solution. Some of the bigger repositories like Merlot have gotten so big they mirror the internet problems, cannot find what I need, better structure needed, and better tagging system etc. So, if Merlot finds a good solution could we not be just as effective by applying the strategy to the whole internet, no duplication necessary.
Signed a past repository builder who put on his cyber glasses and decided no more.
Apologize for comment area not working.
Here I thought no one cared, because I have been getting no pings, no comments I was in a bloggin black hole and then I figured it out...my comments area and the pings were not working. I had banned so many ips that I had covered every possible ip in the world...no just kidding. It did however stop the areas from working so I cleaned out the banned ip area and that seems to have fixed the problem. I may be swamped now with those people out there who are selling drugs and body part enlargement drugs commenting on everything and anything. At least some of them have the curtesy to post a comment like..."I agree" before they write in their casino ad or drug ad.
Anyways the long and short of it is...you can comment now...sorry it took so long for me to realize that people do want to say something I just would not let them.
Games and Sims Should they be used in Education?
I love the statement education should not be fun. I learn the most when I am having fun. If you tap into my competitiveness, I will work harder and learn more than if I am not challenged. It might just be my learning style but make education a game and look out I am there, if by chance I learn something yahoo all the better.
Some of the most intelligent people I know are gamers, are they gamers because they are intelligent and does the games just challenge them like very few other ventures can? The ability for sophisticated games to adapt to the skill and intellect of the user, makes them challenging for the gifted and for the not so gifted. This is a fairly unique claim and might be what draws the intelligent people to games.
The variety of computer games makes it very difficult for one to deny their attraction and accounts for their popularity with the young people of today. The youth who are not afraid of computers are drawn into the gaming world because of the attraction and lack of barriers that many older people harbor against computers. Most people who claim to be against them have not really given them a chance and are basing their dislike on there personal experience with their children or significant others continuous use of said games or they have never been thrilled about computers in general.
If you can identify a game that a non-believer likes to play, then show them how that experience can be greatly enhanced by the connectivity and computing power of today's gaming computers and you will have a convert on your hands.
"I don't like computer games, I am more into a nice old fashion games like chess." Put them in front of a gamers machine, let them play one of the many advanced chess games where you actually battle your opponents pieces or are ridiculed by the computer for a silly move or taught how to improve your game, or link via the net to play against your father who lives on the other side of the planet. Find a game that challenges the person in the same way that chess does and a convert will be born.
It is my view as seen through my cyber glasses that anyone who is against computer games has just not played the right game and do not understand the attraction or the possible learning power they can hold for the students of today.
Voice Recognition software does it work for anyone.
Does anyone out there successfully use voice recognition software? Do you have to retrain your speaking voice...I knew a few professors who would be great at using this software their voices never changed no matter what their mood. Monotone rules.
This text I typed in:
I am sitting here trying out the new voice recognition software that comes with Office 2003. I spend two sessions training it to recognize my voice and below you will see the results. The quote I would like to use is: If a married man is standing in the woods without his wife and makes a statement would he still be wrong?
This is using voice recognition software:
I'm sitting here trying of the new voice recognition software that comes with office 2003-two sessions training and to recognize my boys and bubble you'll see the result that "I would like to use these is in a very bad and standing in the woods without is white and makes a statement when he still be wrong
Maybe a few more training sessions.
One more try.
I'm sitting here trying out the new voice recognition software that comes with office 2003-and two sessions training and to recognize my boys and bubble we will see the results that "I would like to use his if a married man is standing in the woods without his wife and makes a statement when he still be well
Third try
I'm sitting here trying of the new voice recognition software that come with office 2003 has been two sessions training and to recognize my voice and bob Dole we will see the results to "I would like to use its if a married man is standing in the woods without his wife and makes a statement in which he still be wrong
Fourth try
I'm sitting here trying out the new voice recognition software that comes with office 2003 has been two sessions training and to recognize my voice and below you will see the results of the quilt I would like to use it as if a married man is standing in the woods without his wife and makes a statement would he still be wrong
I think I will try a few more training sessions and see if it gets any better. How did Bob Dole get into my speech and what is my boys and bubble...it sounds perverted!
Maybe this is a programmers joke, lets just substitue words instead of the real ones...like the Monty Python skit about the translation dictionary.
Who know I will keep trying it and keep you posted.
My cyber glasses must be causing static in my mic.
October 13, 2004
What Makes a Simulation Fun?
Creating a memorable experience for users.
Twelve ways to make your simulation fun.
What Makes a Simulation Fun? | Forio Simulations
A methodology for the design of educational computer adventure games
A methodology for the design of educational computer adventure games
Twitch Speed.com
Hi, and welcome to the wonderful world of Digital Game-Based Learning. This is the companion site to the book. My intention is to provide as much information as possible on all forms of Digital Game-Based Learning, its users and providers, as well as a forum for discussion on the topic of Digital Game-Based Learning.
TWITCHSPEED.COM Digital Game-Based Learning
October 12, 2004
Student-Centered Intranets
Technology has truly found a home in our nation's schools. Computers are in classrooms, in libraries, in computer labs, and in other common areas around each campus. They are connected to the Internet as well as to each other. They are connected to powerful fileservers offering the best educational software and reference material. But what has the introduction of all this technology really meant for our students?
Techlearning > > Student-Centered Intranets > October 1, 2004
October 10, 2004
Game-Based Learning:
Game-Based Learning:
How to Delight and Instruct in the 21st Century
Herein lies a moral about how videogames (arguably one of the most sophisticated forms of information technology to date) are influencing higher education. To learn more about videogames in academe, I sought out the insights of five leading-edge thinkers in the field: James Paul Gee, J. C. Herz, Randy Hinrichs, Marc Prensky, and Ben Sawyer. All five had traveled to San Jose, California, in March 2004 for the Serious Games Summit at the annual Game Developers Conference.
EDUCAUSE REVIEW | September/October 2004, Volume 39, Number 5
October 9, 2004
Are we entering a dark age of information?
I view through my cyber glasses a future of too much available information and no system to access it. When I was in school the teacher told me what I needed to know, I studied it, regurgitated it back during a test at the end of the unit. A nice tight system which was easy to figure out what you needed to know to be successful. Is this type of schooling a thing of the past?
Is it possible for a teacher to realistically teach content in the information age? Is there so much content available that you cannot teach it? Is this going a time when teachers do not know what to teach and students do not knowing what will be on the test.
Are text books, libraries and standardized content a thing of the past? Will the school of the future be a connected environment flooded with content with no rudder, guidelines or work which has been evaluated? Will the student of the future have the skills to know what is real and what is crap? Will the students personalize their education to the point where it becomes a problem solving approach? They ask a question and teacher assists them in finding the answers, find the answers within the massive amount of content both the good and bad content. Giving the students the skills to answer any questions they might have in life. Not teaching them content, but showing them how to find the answers to their questions. An exciting era of education but do we have the teachers who can get us there? How do we make the transition? Who is going to teach the teachers to adjust to this new reality? Is the day where the teachers behind their classroom door, entertain and teach with what he/she has in their head or in their textbook rapidly becoming a thing of the past? Are the schools ready to remove the walls and welcome in the information age? I for one do not think so. I think there is going to be an era of adjustment? An era called the dark age of information. An era where the high school system will not be able to meet the needs of their students, an era where the universities will be rapidly trying to adjust to the demands of the new connect students entering their halls. The administration of both types of institutions come from a time where the students were different, they are not going to understand the new type of student. This lack of understanding will result in a slow reforming of the system.
Until the connected students become the administration and effect the changes need to make the system work we will be in a dark age of information.
Too much information.
Students who understand how to navigate the web.
Teachers who do not.
Students who have no one to show them what is good and what is bad.
A system of education in which students and teachers do not connect.
The result is a dark age of information.
A little pessimistic but still a view through the cyber glasses.
October 8, 2004
Gamers Spar for National Honor
And I was not invited...who do I need to talk to about this....
Sorry this article has little to do with online learning but I was not invited so...I want to know why...:)
Wired News: Gamers Spar for National Honor
Visionaries outline web's future
Universal access to all human knowledge could be had for around $260m, a conference about the web's future has been told.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Visionaries outline web's future
October 7, 2004
Cool Optical Illusions
Thanks for visiting! We like optical illusions, and we like you. Let me say that again... thank you for coming! Because of you, we've become one of the largest optical illusions websites online. Look around, you may agree that we're the best!
Optical Illusions Pictures - OVER 140 @ Cool Optical Illusions!
Eyetricks.com
Welcome to eyetricks.com, your source for optical illusions, brain teasers, games, 3D images and other mind teasing oddities.
eyetricks.com - Amazing Optical Illusions, 3D Stereograms, and other Mind Teasing Oddities!
Grand Illusions
Welcome to Grand Illusions, the site for the enquiring mind.
With optical illusions, scientific toys, visual effects, and even a little magic.
Lateral thinking puzzles
These pages of lateral thinking puzzles has been put together with the aim of exercising the brain cells and reminding your brain that it can think laterally. Don't worry, the puzzles here are not too cryptic.
Learning Object Repositories are a thing of the past as seen through the cyber glasses.
In my humble opinion, the number one issue of using learning objects to create course material is one of saving time (searching vs. starting from scratch). The challenge to find just the right learning object to meet instructional requirements is almost as great as developing a standardized globally acceptable meta-system. These issues alone are why the learning object repositories concept has not taken off.
Most experts when trying to explain why the repository system has become bogged down will try to blame it on a lack of meta-tagging or standards. The development of a universally accepted meta-tag system would only result in a lot of work for undergraduate students who would be needed to apply these to the existing learning objects. The expert's solution to this costly method of meta-tagging the learning objects is to get the users of the repositories to tag the objects as they search and sort through them. This user meta-tagging system is flawed because even the easiest user applicable tagging system will require time and expertise that most searchers who are pressed for time even to find an object that comes close to matching the style and needs of the course do not have. The other choice is to get the developer at the time of creation to tag the object, again flawed because the developer has barely the time needed to adequately create the learning object never mind meta-tagging so someone else out there on the web would be able to find it and use it. A robot type tagging system has the best chance of success. But once tagged the fact still remains that the majority of learning objects are created by course designers to fit into a specific location and style. This limits the usefulness of much of the material which would be found within a repository and greatly reducing the chances of finding a sufficient number of objects that look like they belong together and fit the needs. After taking all this into consideration perhaps it is better just to create the material from scratch. Then once the course has been created, enhance and support it with robot tagged learning objects that you might (I stress the word might) have time to search for once you have taught the course for a few years. Which comes to another question, has anyone every ever really completed an online course? Every online course that I have written never seems to be done; I am always finding new exciting learning objects to support my created content. Maybe this is the answer to how and when learning objects should be used in creating learning material.
Learning object repositories are a thing of the past. The material should reside in the location it was originally created for. Once tagged in that location it can be found as easily there as it could be found in a repository. The money being spent collecting all the objects into a repository should be spent on developing an automated tagging system then the complete web becomes the repository, removing the need for duplication of objects.
Possibly a narrow tinted view through the cyber glasses.
October 6, 2004
The Education Arcade
The Education Arcade represents a consortium of international game designers, publishers, scholars, educators, and policy makers who are exploring the new frontiers of educational media that have been opened by computer and video games
The Education Arcade :: The Future of Videogames in Education
Social Impact Games
The goal of this site is to catalog the growing number of video and computer games whose primary purpose is something other than to entertain. These are also known as "serious games."
SimPlay.net
SimPlay.Net provides the opportunity to join a role play simulation using a unique software provided by Fablusi P/L.
The idea is to choose and play a role
in a virtual world very similar to the real.
You set the objectives of your role, create the
strategy to reach these objectives, and interact
with other 'live' roles through the software.
SimPlay.Net Role Play Simulations
Learning Games
Learning Games let people learn by playing. Learning Games are computer simulations that let learners practice a highly interactive task.
Learning Games - Activate Learning
Games and Activities for Building and Training Teams
Since teamwork involves participants interacting with one another, it makes sense that they should also learn in situations presented by games and activities. Following are some additional reasons why an interactive experiential approach results in effective learning.
Games and Activities for Building and Training Teams
Employees discover that work is all fun and games
The greatest challenge for any learning system is not the impartation of knowledge, but the use of it to change human attitudes and behaviour. That's why web-based e-learning has been criticised in this column for lacking the power to help people modify their work habits, by showing them one-on-one how to put what is learned into practice.
Employees discover that work is all fun and games - theage.com.au
Post-It Virtual style
I looked high and low for virtual post it notes, so I could take the yellow post-its off the outside edge of my monitor...it was starting to look like it had feathers there were so many attach to it.
The solution was found with the people who made the real world ones...check out their virtual post-its.
Post-it® Software Notes: Overview
October 5, 2004
Connectivity and Learning in Canada's Schools
Stats Canada checked out the online world for schools and this research paper takes a look at the stats. A very interesting read.
Connectivity and Learning in Canada's Schools
Designing an assessment system.
As any HE teacher soon becomes aware, assessment is a major concern in designing and running a course. It can take up a large part of both teachers' and students' time, cause considerable anxiety and play a major role in determining how and what learners learn. A recent study at Leeds Metropolitan University (Innis, 1996) confirmed one's suspicions that most of students' out-of-class study time is devoted to assessed tasks. Indeed, it has often been observed that assessment is the tail that wags the educational dog -- but is it always wagging as we might wish? The purpose of this essay is to help you develop or improve an assessment strategy that will truly foster and reward your students' learning.
Designing an assessment system.
Basic Guide to Program Evaluation
Note that the concept of program evaluation can include a wide variety of methods to evaluate many aspects of programs in nonprofit or for-profit organizations. There are numerous books and other materials that provide in-depth analysis of evaluations, their designs, methods, combination of methods and techniques of analysis. However, personnel do not have to be experts in these topics to carry out a useful program evaluation. The "20-80" rule applies here, that 20% of effort generates 80% of the needed results. It's better to do what might turn out to be an average effort at evaluation than to do no evaluation at all. (Besides, if you resort to bringing in an evaluation consultant, you should be a smart consumer. Far too many program evaluations generate information that is either impractical or irrelevant -- if the information is understood at all.) This document orients personnel to the nature of program evaluation and how it can be carried out in a realistic and practical fashion.
Basic Guide to Program Evaluation
A Convergent Participation Model for Evaluation of Learning Objects
The properties that distinguish learning objects from other forms of educational software - global accessibility, metadata standards, finer granularity and reusability - have implications for evaluation. This article proposes a convergent participation model for learning object evaluation in which representatives from stakeholder groups (e.g., students, instructors, subject matter experts, instructional designers, and media developers) converge toward more similar descriptions and ratings through a two-stage process supported by online collaboration tools. The article reviews evaluation models that have been applied to educational software and media, considers models for gathering and meta-evaluating individual user reviews that have recently emerged on the Web, and describes the peer review model adopted for the MERLOT repository. The convergent participation model is assessed in relation to other models and with respect to its support for eight goals of learning object evaluation: (1) aid for searching and selecting, (2) guidance for use, (3) formative evaluation, (4) influence on design practices, (5) professional development and student learning, (6) community building, (7) social recognition, and (8) economic exchange.
A Convergent Participation Model for Evaluation of Learning Objects
Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Evaluation
ASSESSING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS often entails using the four-level model developed by Donald Kirkpatrick (1994). According to this model, evaluation should always begin with level one, and then, as time and budget allows, should move sequentially through levels two, three, and four. Information from each prior level serves as a base for the next level's evaluation. Thus, each successive level represents a more precise measure of the effectiveness of the training program, but at the same time requires a more rigorous and time-consuming analysis.
Kirkpatrick'sFour Levels of Evaluation
Evaluation in Distance Education
The challenge of evaluation in distance education can be both a complex and confusing enterprise. Most of us would like to merely get on with it, do an evaluation of our distance education program, and not spend an inordinate amount of time defining evaluation terms, clarifying evaluation concepts, and being confused with semantic differences that are apparent whenever the terms, concepts and sematic differences if we are ever to move to the point of being able to construct and implement meaningful evaluation in distance education. The good news is that once we understand the "playing field" of evaluation practice becomes a rather simple task instead of a daunting challenge.
Evaluation in Distance Education
Evaluation Concepts and Practice in Selected Distance Education Institutions
Evaluation Concepts and Practice in Selected Distance Education Institutions
How Interactive are YOUR Distance Courses? A Rubric for Assessing Interaction in Distance Learning
However, we also note great variation in what faculty and students view as "interactive qualities." In order to clarify the role of this important factor and encourage faculty to make their distance courses more interactive, the authors have designed a rubric for faculty to use to determine the degree of interactivity in their own distance learning courses. This rubric is based on information obtained from a review and analysis of a considerable body of literature and research on this topic.
How Interactive are YOUR Distance Courses
Abbott and Costello and Computers
Those of us old enough to remember Abbott and Costello or have ever seen their "Who's on First" routine should appreciate this.
Costello wants to buy a Computer from Abbott.
ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: Thanks. I'm setting up an office in my den, and I'm thinking about buying a computer.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou.
ABBOTT: Your computer?
COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou.
ABBOTT: What about Windows?
COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?
ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with windows?
COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look in the windows?
ABBOTT: Wallpaper.
COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.
ABBOTT: Software for windows?
COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What have you got?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?
ABBOTT: I just did.
COSTELLO: You just did what?
ABBOTT: Recommend something.
COSTELLO: You recommended something?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: For my office?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!
ABBOTT: I recommend office with windows.
COSTELLO: I already have an office and it has windows! OK, lets just say, I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I
need?
ABBOTT: Word.
COSTELLO: What word?
ABBOTT: Word in Office.
COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.
ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows
ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue "W."
COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue "w" if you don't start with some straight answers. OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet?
ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One.
COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of your business. Just tell me what I need!
ABBOTT: Real One.
COSTELLO: If it's a long movie I also want to see reel 2,3&4. Can I watch them?
ABBOTT: Of course.
COSTELLO: Great, with what?
ABBOTT: Real One.
COSTELLO: OK, I'm at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I do?
ABBOTT: You click the blue "1."
COSTELLO: I click the blue one what?
ABBOTT: The blue "1."
COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue w?
ABBOTT: The blue 1 is Real One and the blue W is Word.
COSTELLO: What word?
ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: But there's three words in "office for windows"!
ABBOTT: No, just one. but its the most popular Word in the world.
COSTELLO: It is?
ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren't many other Words left. It pretty much wiped out all the other Words out there.
COSTELLO: And that word is real one?
ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn't even Part of Office.
COSTELLO: Stop! Don't start that again. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?
ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.
COSTELLO: What's bundled to my computer?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?
ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.
COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?
ABBOTT: One copy.
COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money?
ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy money.
COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?
ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!
(LATER)
COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off??
ABBOTT: Click on "START".......... Evy***********
October 4, 2004
Amateur Revolution.
From astronomy to computing, networks of amateurs are displacing the pros and spawning some of the greatest innovations.
Fast Company | Amateur Revolution
Next big thing: The Web as your servant.
The Web is over. Now comes the next big thing, growing out of the primordial soup of wireless and wired networks, gadgets, software, satellites and social changes created over the past decade.
USATODAY.com - Next big thing: The Web as your servant
Big Dog's ISD Page
Dynamic Learning Communities: An Alternative to Designed Instructional Systems
In the wake of the constructivist movement in psychology and education, the field of instructional design (ID) is reexamining its relationship to learning and instruction. Many ID theorists are calling for more situated approaches to the design of instruction, encouraging teachers and local groups to take ownership of the design process and adapt their methods and goals to the needs of students and stakeholders
Learning Objects a time saver or not?
Here is the situation...
I have been given the job of creating on online course. I have heard the experts tell me don't re- invent the wheel. One to always listen to the experts, I go searching the web and run across many learning objects.
Is this going to save me time?
Is this going to cause me more work then me doing it from scratch?
Now what?
If you can find someone who has created objects that match your content, your approach and have broken it up into sections that you would have used. Then you are off to the races...but nine out of ten times this doesn't happen. Most times you find this great learning object and then you alter your objectives and flow to try to make it fit into your course...bad news.
Learning objects should support not create instructional materials. A structure for the instructional material, an approach for presenting the material should be designed first. Once this has been done, using learning objects to support the instructional material result in the best material. The reason being is that it is very difficult to find an object which will fit the material, objectives, and approach perfectly. So quite often they are used to support rather than create.
Trying to create instructional material directly from learning objects tends to force the developer down an instructional path that was not originally part of the plan. In other words they will find an object that contains material that pertains to the lesson that is being worked on but has a few extras that do not and hence creates a disconnected mish-mash approach to course material.
Creating a common approach to instructional material which has been supported by a variety of learning objects is the strongest approach to the use of learning objects.
Just my vision through the cyber glasses.
