Blog Resource Page
Quote: "A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people."
Comment: Short article...links to additional resources/articles on blogging.
Open Journal System
Quote: "Open Journal Systems (OJS) is a journal management and publishing system that has been developed by the Public Knowledge Project through its federally funded efforts to expand and improve access to research."
Comment: Rather than simply complaining about the "closing up" of knowledge, some people actually do something about it...
I attended a presentation on learner success this week. The speaker presented a variety of interesting perspectives...while intended for classrooms, they transfer nicely to elearning. Some thoughts expressed:
Computer Literacy
Quote: "How much computing knowledge should we include in courses to help our students in the workplace? What do they need to know? What is desirable?"
Comment: Understatement: Computer literacy is important...but it seems gaps continue to grow as technology advances...and tomorrow's innovations are built on today's...things are becoming more complex. Yet the expectation that everyone is proficient with a computer is perhaps the wrong perspective...I think we need programs that allow users to do what they want to do without learning "technology as a second language". Think of the value of basic HTML authoring tools - once the technology was taken out of the tool (via programs like Dreamweaver and FrontPage), a larger audience began to use them.
12 Kinds of Knowledge Workers
Comment: Takes a neat approach to defining KM workers from various perspectives...KM is a HUGE field with conflicting views ("KM is everything" to "KM sucks"). An article like this portrays the various components of KM, without trying to force it into a tidy box.
Simplicity vs. Innovation
Quote: "How do web designers avoid dullness while maintaining simplicity? How do they strike a balance that will satisfy both innovative web developers and conservative end users?"
Comment: Web designers and instructional designers have a similar challenge: how to communicate intended messages most effectively. Graphics, audio, Flash, etc. may look nice, but they don't improve learner effectiveness if they are poorly selected. The task should drive tool selection. For this reason, the needs and wants of the user should always take a central role. The best way to ensure user value in a site/course is to give him/her the information they came for...
What's Next? via Techno-News Blog
Quote: "To effectively position technology to be relevant, we need to change, and ultimately overcome the long-held assumptions that drive the formal process associated with measuring learning outcomes in higher education...The move from anywhere, anytime to everywhere, all the time, any way you want it, represents as significant a shift"
Comment: Author grapples with the role of technology and it's evolution since the dot com bubble burst...and properly sets the attention not on technology, but on the role of technology in meeting the needs of students...through multi-sensory and personalized learning.
Dimensions of Communication
Quote: "All the communication technologies we use -- telephones, newspapers, radio, IM, e-mail, mailing lists, TV, books -- are mired in historical cruft that keeps us from seeing clearly what to build next."
Comment: Short read...presents communication in the following dimensions: timing, audience, mode, length, persistence, production level, identity, and permission. I would add "need for communication"...while not directly a dimension of communication, it certainly drives the characteristics listed.
XML and Web Sites
Quote: "How do I build a Web site using XML?"
Comment: Great links to books, software, XML and databases, and providing dynamic content. Rich resource.
What's A Weblog?
Comment: Offers a list of ten characteristics of blogs...my favorite: "A weblog is watching brains at work, especially watching brains with the ultimate prosthetic device -- everyone else's brain and the whole net connected."
The Sparrow
Stephen Downes expresses his philosophical side...the man doth write well...
Huge Productivity Boost Reported With Collaboration
Quote: "For companies that remain skeptical of the bottom-line benefits of collaboration tools, a survey of 300 business leaders conducted by Deloitte Consulting should provide some compelling evidence. Of course, if the survey is accurate, there aren't too many skeptics left."
Comment: Short article...extolling benefits of collaboration for corporations. I'm sure similar benefits can be realized in the education sector - particularly if departments within an institution start collaborating and sharing experience/resources.
Several weeks ago, I sent out an email to staff at Red River College asking if there was any interest in forming a "grassroots" group to encourage knowledge sharing (knowledge management). I had fairly good response (about 40 instructors responded). Based on this response, we formed a steering committee to create a strategy. Here's what we decided:
The goal is to start sharing...and have the results speak for themselves - i.e. rather than selling the concept, promote the value experienced. The first issue is social - not technological - which is why a "storytelling" medium like blogging is the center of the process. A small core of 3 - 4 committed bloggers is all that is needed to start opening doors of conversation.
From Weblog to Moblog
Quote: "Weblogs evolved as eager Web writers merged personal journals with amateur journalism, liberally sprinkled with links to other like-minded sites. So what might happen when these eager webloggers take their mobile devices into the field, and work on some mobile weblogs? We're likely to see something that doesn't look like any weblog that yet exists. "
Comment: Blogs are a glimpse of what education will look like eventually (hopefully!). Previously, the teacher lectured and students listened...evaluation was based on student's ability to "tell-back" to the teacher what they had been lectured about. With the exception of evaluation, this process is much like traditional journalism - the paper/magazine tells readers how things are...and that's it - no forum for dialogue that allows readers to interact with the author, content and each other. Blogs are changing this aspect of journalism...now fringe voices and opinions are heard. The content expert (article author) is no longer central to the dialogue - he/she can initiate it, but the readers can interact and voice opinions...just like education should be...
Virtual Faith
Quote: "At Eastern University, faith is a serious matter. Most students attend chapel services every Wednesday morning, and a Bible-study course is required. When the university began offering distance education five years ago, administrators and faculty members wanted to make sure they could recreate the evangelical institution's campus environment online."
Comment: This article explores an issue that is central for many instructors moving content online: how to create a learning environment online that is similar to high-contact classrooms. One of the most critical factors in the process: the commitment and dedication of the instructor. The author does a nice job of detailing how online learning is being/was developed to meet the unique needs of a small college.
New association Digital Storytelling, or go directly to their site: DSA
Quote: "Over the last decade, across the world, artists, business people, community activists, educators, media professionals, and large numbers of the general public have discovered the power of Digital Storytelling.
Apple & the Pirate Everyman
Quote: "In every area, Apple has pushed away from proprietary software technologies and restrictions and moved towards the creativity, interdependance and freedoms of open standards. Apple has tried - wherever possible - to live by the adage that information wants to be free. It's decided not to fight this aspect of information but instead encourage it, help it to be free. And in fact try to make it as free as possible..."
Comment: The current furor over free information/resources (news, videos, songs, content) is between two camps - those who are trying to bend the Internet for revenue generation (corporations)...and those who feel everything should be free (consumers). Apple has taken the unusual position of being a corporation that's trying to generate revenue from giving consumers what they want. Why is no one else getting this message?
Blog Resources via SiT
Comment: Great listing of various blog resources - very valuable...and it looks like it is still under revision.
IBM partners launch on-demand services
Quote: "The tech titan's new "computing on demand" program, launched last month, is intended to allow companies to buy information technology the way they purchase electricity, paying a monthly bill for services."
Comment: Very short article...curious how long it will take to get this in education...and for that matter, what the impact of it will be...IBM has committed significantly to the concept of computing on demand (to the tune of $10 billion). It is a dramatic change in the role of technology. Basically tech becomes (as it should be) a utility - selected based on need.
Top Ten Technologies for Schools
Quote: "What's a "smart" technology? While one might argue that all technology-from a toaster to a moon rover-is smart, those we present in the following Top 10 list meet their own set of criteria."
Comment: Some technologies in this list have been the "next big thing" for years (artificial intelligence, VR, voice to text)...and others (like digital video production) are still emerging. Simplicity and a learner-needs focus is missing (and this is one of the things that disturbs me every time I read about technology and education). Would be nice to have more communication tools on the list as well (simple things like blogs/rss don't make the list...whereas complex, FAR into the future items like AI do).
As we continue to move forward with technology, existing weaknesses in education (course model, lack of recognition for prior learning, instructor/lecture centric, content-focused - rather than addressing learner needs) will be more noticeable. For example, many instructors do not have course content created in learning outcomes format...but the very process of media and activity selection requires an understanding of the intended learning. Outcomes are like goals - they guide behaviour (in this case content development). The instructional design process is then utilized to ensure that outcomes are met through the use of technology, giving consideration to the uniqueness of the medium. (btw - outcomes do not have to be explicitly stated in a course outline - the greatest value of learning outcomes is not for the student, but for the course designer/instructor).
The A-Z of Knowledge Technology (Part 1) and (Part 2) via Column Two
Comment: Nice resource listing common concepts of knowledge management. Worth a skim.
Over the last several days, I've encountered two very different views of storing learning objects - centralized (via Learning Content Management System - LCMS) or decentralized (either peer-to-peer, or with dispersed resources, but centralized listing). The first system (LCMS) was a demonstration of Jupiter Suite from Avaltus. Slick, user friendly, and conceptually, easy to grasp. Content is stored locally, and essentially only accessible to the institution - and for that matter, the people who are given permission in the institution. Content creation and acquisition is controlled and monitored.
My exposure to the decentralized content system came in the form of a presentation on Web Services and Semantic Web for the Next Generation of Learning Repositories. This model is still in development stages (but Stephen Downes has been writing about it for a while). Conceptually, distributed learning object networks are much more difficult to grasp...largely because there isn't very much existing to use as a reference point (well, other than the Internet itself). The concepts of third-party metadata, LO rating, buying/exchanging objects, etc. seem far into the future given the extensive hype, but lack of actual results in this field to date. However, the outcome of this model is openness - the gatekeeper has been eliminated, and essentially, learning objects stand based on their own quality - good resources get used, bad resources don't.
Question: In what circumstances would an LCMS be used? Well, the only situation I can see is if the organization has content that is proprietary...like corporations. This system works for closed, single-point quality control. It has a place in corporations - just not sure about education - which is based on sharing and openness. With that said, it is important to highlight that even if the distributed model for LO's succeeds - organizations will still need a content management system (not to be confused with LCMS). Documents that have organizational value...but not necessarily student value - need to be tagged, managed and controlled...and, as I've stated before, content management is a "back fill" area for elearning - it's important...but we just haven't gotten around to it...
Learning Objects 101: A Primer for Neophytes
Quote: "Ask any three educators what a learning object is, and you're liable to get three different answers. For some, learning objects-small reusable chunks of learning-represent a major paradigm shift away from the traditional unit of learning that has dominated formal education for the last two centuries-the course...For others, learning objects are just a fancy new handle for something that teachers have been doing for years-sharing."
Comment: Nice overview of learning objects...complete with many links to articles and sites ( which have been detailed here over the last several weeks/months). As I've stated before, learning objects are currently presented only from an educator/administrator perspective (reusable - save time, save money (get the free can opener if you order now...)). I know educators are grappling with increased costs, reduced budgets...and "consumer" demand for high quality education. Learning objects are often viewed as the solution to these problems.
Learning objects need to be considered more from a learners perspective. How do LO's help the learning process? How do learners benefit? Obviously - better quality education resources...but beyond that is the real value...if learning content is chunked, then learners can conceivably enter a course at various levels (rather than at the start and progress through till the end) - and content can be presented in various ways (audio, video, text, etc - all achieving the same learning outcome, but geared towards different learning styles, intelligences)...learner value in learning objects is found in personalization. As long as reuse is the main focus, a big part of the reason for using objects is being overlooked.
XML for the Rest of Us
Quote: "We've known for many years that most of our vital information lives in documents, not databases...Empowering ordinary users to create and interact with XML data is a huge step forward."
Comment: Mainly focuses on the XML features of the new Mircrosoft Office 11 Suite (still in beta)...
Semantic Web - Interview
Quote: "The Semantic Web is an extension of the current Web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation...The Semantic Web will allow two things. First, it will allow this information to be surfaced in the form of data, so that a program doesn't have to strip the formatting and pictures and ads off a Web page and guess the data. Second, it will allow people to write (or generate) files which explain - to a machine - the relationship between different sets of data."
Why is the Web Still Only a Single-User System?
Quote: "...in its present state, fundamentally single-user. Browsing the Web is a solitary activity, and interacting with a Web site is a simple matter of data exchange between a client and a server. What they propose is that the current Web infrastructure be slightly modified so that Web sites are transformed into "places" and people browsing the Web are recognized as individual entities inhabiting the places that they visit. In other words, when you connect to a Web site, you can choose to reveal your identity if you wish, and then you'd be able to interact with other people who are visiting that Web site - whether it be by way of chat or file exchange. "
Comment: The notion of a multi-user web is great...but most people have moved past the "coolness" of the Internet, and now use it primarily as a tool. Going online now involves task-specific objectives (i.e. get informatin, research)...the noble concept of contributing information and dialoguing extensively with random sites we visit seems to be against the grain of how many people use the Internet. With that said, I still think concepts like wiki's are great...and perhaps if the option existed, more dialogue would occur online.
Institutional Repositories
Quote: "Institutional repositories build on a growing grassroots faculty practice of posting research online, most often on personal web sites, but also on departmental sites or in disciplinary repositories. This demonstrates a desire for expanded exposure of, and access to, their work. In addition, digital publishing technologies, ever-expanding global networking, and enabling interoperability protocols and metadata standards are coalescing to provide practical technical solutions that can be implemented now. The convergence of these interrelated strands indicates that institutional repositories merit serious and immediate consideration from academic institutions and their constituent faculty, librarians, and administrators."
Comment: Sometimes technology brings to the fore front the need for improvements in how we do things...this is certainly the case with sharing of resources institutionally. Recently, learning objects have hijacked discussions of repositories...this article highlights the need for a repository for sharing knowledge, not only learning objects.
Categorizing Knowledge
Quote: "Theoretical discussions of knowledge management typically start with the distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge. Ignore the tacit dimension for a moment and consider a progression of four kinds of explicit knowledge that can shape how I collect, organize, and share knowledge."
Structured Content: What's in it for Writers?
Quote: "Everyone has heard (or experienced) stories of CMS or knowledge management initiatives that did not work because content contributors refused to use the tools deployed or were unwilling or unable to supply content in the format required. The conclusion often reached is that writers cannot give up their WYSIWYG tools and that any attempt to make them do so is doomed to failure."
Comment: The main thrust of the article is simple: tools that match tasks get used. Instant messaging and blogging are great examples. They are not complex, advanced technologies...but they work...and for users, that's the first and greatest criteria.
Criteria for Optimal Web Design via Column Two
Comment: Great resource...samples: how should information be positioned, using images, using text, navigation, accessiblility.
Why Convert to XML
Quote: "XML has become a buzzword that's so over-used that it's difficult to understand when it might and when it might not be appropriate. In general, the main reason for XML's popularity is that it provides an underlying technology that gives "portability" of information across platforms, applications, and organizations."
Comment: Nice overview of the benefits and values of XML
Dial M for...
You knew it was coming... M-learning (or mobile learning) has been slowly growing. As if trying to make e-learning work wasn't enough? What letter+learning combination will be next? (My Polish heritage is secretly hoping for Z-Learning...we haven't had enough consonant clusters put to use...bring on the CZs, RZs and SZs... :-) ) Despite the relatively new name, apparently we've been doing mobile learning for some time. While PDAs have become the poster child of the m-learning movement, any portable device (such as laptop computers and cell phones) can be used in m-learning. Our department has been involved in m-learning for the past 5 years! However, without wireless technology, we just haven't been doing it in a very user-friendly manner.
As George has mentioned (several times), we've recently started to test out PDAs to determine their usefulness in our programs. I have to admit, there is definitely a "coolness" factor to PDAs. Even though I haven't had this little device for long, I've enjoyed experimenting with it. However, part of me wonders whether this will last for long - can I possible continue to feel that poking at a tiny keyboard with a short stick in order to type information is "cool"? I'm pretty patient, but even I can see a time when I will begin to get frustrated with this limitation...it's on the distant horizon right now, but it's barrelling towards me pretty quickly.
While m-learning attempts to merge accessibility and convenience, just how convenient are PDAs? Aside from the fact that they're portable, do they have enough benefits to make them a worthwhile investment? I can see them being useful in our lab courses. Right now, students cannot use their laptops in our kitchens - not enough connections, and not enough room to store a dozen or more laptops at one time. PDAs with wireless network connections would allow these students to access recipes and look up information about some cooking technique for which they need some additional information. Is that enough to warrant the expense of such technology? Are there more uses that we haven't considered? Since we have only been experimenting for a brief time, I'm certain that there are more uses to discover. However, I'm still skeptical about whether these devices could ever do the same job that laptops do in our classrooms. I see far greater possibilities in tablet PCs, which are apparently set to drop in price and become much more accessible.
We'll definitely continue to keep you posted about our experiment in m-learning. In the meantime, here are a few articles to provide you with more information about m-learning and PDAs in the classroom. Before I go, I'll let you know that I'll be taking a brief hiatus from this column for the next couple of weeks - am in the tail end of the latest course I'm taking, and I definitely need the extra time to finish off my final essay. We'll be back in December.
Steve
Study: PDAs Good for Education
Quote: "Rick Ayers received 30 Palms to use with Berkeley High School stdents on the production of hteir school newspaper, the Jacket. 'It was helpful because it allowed for more efficient information gathering, fast checking -- and for interfacing with the production computer,' said Ayers, and English teacher and last year's advisor to the paper. 'They could compare information with each other, compare quotes and use the dictionary.' "
Comment: A brief article that outlines some of the findings of a study which incorporated PDAs into classrooms. Cynics might note that the study was sponsored by Palm, trying to expand market share. The optimist in me says take any relevant information you can find and try to run with it.
Ready or Not -- PDAs in the Classroom
Quote: "As with any new technology there are advantages and disadvantages to using small, inexpensive computers in the classroom. Through a number of fairy extensive pilot projects using wirelessly connected PocketPC devices at Wake Forest University, we've noted a few of both. And while the jury is still out regarding the educational use of these technologies, they are already appearing widely across our campuses, just begging for problems to solve. Ready or not, here they come."
Comment: I thought this article had a nice balance between identifying both the positive and negative attributes of trying to use PDAs in educational settings - I particularly like the "browsing the Web with one of these devices is a bit like looking at your television through a straw" comment! The theme here is to try and find appropriate uses for these devices based on their strengths and limitations, as well as those of the population that will potentially be using them. A good, quick read.
Quote: "I know. What you really want to know is what you can actually use m-learning for. Given we are talkingabout a pretty basic piece of kit, what can you realistically do? Well, one way of looking at this is to break the learning process down into phases and see how m-learning could contribute to each phase. One idea is to use m-learning to help in the preparatory phase, before the learning begins, through the use of diagnostics...The provision of information will, in many cases, be the primary use of m-learning, but it does not need to end there. The interactive capabilities of mobile devices provide considerable scope for more practical learning activities.
Comment: Here's a broader look at the field of m-learning, which means you too can get your students to start learning using their cell phones! All facetiousness aside, there are a number of ideas and links in this article, which will allow you to explore the teaching and learning potential of mobile devices. You might even want to read this article using your cell phone...sorry...couldn't resist... :-)
10 Mobile Technologies to Watch
Quote: "Technology dreamers envision a day when almost everything -- video games, chat sessions, keyboards, even advertisements -- will get beamed through the air."
Comment: Some of the technologies listed in this article are a little, well, out there. I don't know how thrill-a-minute it would be to try and prevent your snake from eating itself before it gets to food...hmmm. Some of the inventions presented have some great potential, though. I love the concept of the keyboard made of light. This would be an ideal addition to any PDA. The Zoominator (great name!) looks like another concept that could help make PDAs much nicer to use.
Basic Computer Literacy for K-20
Quote: "Just what do people mean by computer literacy and are you computerliterate? Is it even sensible to talk about computer literacy? Is there evidence of an increase in IQ scores in the general population and if so is it due to better nutrition or perhaps the use of computers?"
Music Labels: Streaming Is Swell
Quote: "Record companies continue to use their financial muscle to slow the growth of file-trading networks and to acquire digital-rights management technologies that limit what people can do with MP3s and other files.
To meet the growing demand for digital music, labels have turned to streaming services because they offer the one thing entertainment conglomerates want most: control."
Comment: Content...who owns it...how much can I charge for it...what do I want my users to do with it...etc. These are just a few of the concerns being grappled with at various levels of recording/content-producing industries. The problem rests in the medium itself. The Internet is (was?) a forum of freedom - sharing, communicating, linking. Now, for-profit interests are trying to bend this medium to serve their profit-oriented goals. It's a tough task...but apparently, the for-profits are making ground fairly consistently. Problem: it is altering the nature of the medium itself. Part of the reason the Internet grew as rapidly as it did was the free-flow of information.
On a related note: Charge For Web Site...get used to more of this: "Saying it wants to impose the traditional newspaper subscription business model on Internet news sites, the Spanish daily El Pais next week will begin charging for access to any part of its Web site, elpais.es...However, El Pais is believed to be the first big general-interest paper in Europe to put its entire interactive newspaper behind a paid subscription wall."
Introducing the Microcontent Client via a Klog apart
Quote: "The microcontent client is an extensible desktop application based around standard Internet protocols that leverages existing web technologies to find, navigate, collect, and author chunks of content for consumption by either the microcontent browser or a standard web browser. The primary advantage of the microcontent client over existing Internet technologies is that it will enable the sharing of meme-sized chunks of information using a consistent set of navigation, user interface, storage, and networking technologies. In short, a better user interface for task-based activities, and a more powerful system for reading, searching, annotating, reviewing, and other information-based activities on the Internet.
Comment: "Must read" article. Searching, aggregating, authoring, using information is the heart of an information society. For myself, these tasks comprise a huge part of my day...yet currently, these are compartmentized - i.e. I search, or I aggregate, or I author...but each requires a different tool/process. What is needed is a tool that allows users to complete information-oriented tasks...effectively and efficiently. As this article highlights, it will not be built on the existing framework of the browser. A new model and approach is needed.
Once you're done reading this article...follow it up with a slightly different view: converged software client
The Definition of Information Architecture
Quote: "From Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture
Make Your XML RDF Friendly via OLDaily
Comment: Tech heavy...but worth skimming. See also: What is RDF?...and for another perspective:Get your RDF out of my XML, cont....finally, have a look at this interesting site: Well Formed Web
25 Theses of Information Architecture via LucDesk
Comment: Each of the 25 points is quotable...space doesn't allow...sample: "Shaping information to be relevant and timely requires specialized human work. Doing so for a globally shared environment that is itself made of information is a relatively new kind of specialized human work."
A K-Log Pilot Recap
Quote: "k-log...it's a network of weblogs throughout an organization designed to facilitate knowledge sharing"
Comment: Starts out as an advertisement for Radio-based blogs...but eventually offers great insights to organizational knowledge sharing. Lessons learned: have a problem to solve, reward participation, define what you're looking for, ensure senior participation.
Gareth's Tips on Sucks-Less Writing
Quote: "Over the years, it's been those foot-sloggin' the trenches with me -- fellow editors and writers -- who've taught me the most about good writing. When I examine my work, I can see them lurking there within it. Whatever success I've had as a writer, I owe a great deal of that to them. So without further ado...Some Lessons Learned:"
Comment: Great article providing basic writing tips. Ideal for the aspiring blogger...
The Rationale Behind the Introduction of e-learning
Quote: "The rationale behind the introduction of e-learning is sound but the implementation is typically poor, with the consequence that initial expectations are frequently called into question."
Comment: This article makes several wrong (critical) statements: "Classroom training was never a good way to learn." What?!? Classroom learning is a GREAT way to learn...in fact it is one of the most effective ways. The concern with classrooms is not the format itself...it is with accessibility, scalability, expense, and lack of archives (i.e. when a lecture ends, it's gone). Big difference between a medium itself...and the limitations of that medium. Learning is a process/activity that is initiated through whatever means are most effective (effectiveness can be defined on many levels, including: cost, impact of learning, number of people trained, etc.). So, if an organization needs to train 5000 people around the world - elearning may be selected as the most effective format. However, to train a group of 100 employees in one location (and in a highly visual, hands-on task), may be best suited to classroom/lab training. The classroom is not dead...it is still a very effective tool that should be selected when circumstances and needs warrant - just like elearning.
Next comment: "The essence of e-learning is the transformation of physical resources (such as training materials) into a format from which they can be easily accessed and duplicated." NO!! That is the essence of moving resources online. Creating digital resources has nothing to do with effective elearning. Digitizing is digitizing...and that's it. This is a dangerous mindset that has resulted in many frustrated learners, high drop out rates, and poor results from elearning. Effective elearning requires instructional design, facilitation, high interaction...these are the essence of elearning.
LearningTimes
Quote: "LearningTimes is an open community for education-minded people.
Members have free access to a wide range of opportunities to interact with peers from across the globe -- live online, asynchronously and face-to-face."
Interaction Design
Quote: "...we'll discuss the activity of interaction design as it relates to the Web and the relative advantages and disadvantages of the Web as an interactive medium. In addition, we'll examine a variety of solutions to common interaction design problems."
Comment: The first of what looks to be an interesting 12 article series. This article introduces the concept of interaction design.
One of the challenges of living in an information-rich society is to be able to see which information has value...and which is clutter. Simplicity is the greatest challenge. How do we navigate through the many conflicting view points and perspectives and focus on the important issues? This is a real concern in a new (rapidly growing) industry like elearning.
Apparently, every industry has a series of (usually 5 - 7) "critical success factors" (CSF). These are things, which if done consistently, will result in the success of an individual or organization. So, do the CSF's right...and it doesn't matter much what you do wrong...your activities are focused on the tasks that create results.
If the concept of CSF's has merit, what are they for elearning? What should we focus on in order to succeed (and use as a decision making criteria to turn focus away from "distracters")? Here's my list:
Grounds for Identity
Quotes: "A year ago, identity was mostly the concern of privacy and crypto guys. The only company taking much public interest was Microsoft, which was busy scaring everybody with its Passport identity management system...I don't want any organization having control of my identity. I don't trust enterprises. I don't trust the government. I want to be the center of my identity."
Developing an Interactive Web-Based Classroom
Quote: "Creating a successful interactive web-based learning environment can be a challenging task. There are many issues to consider in the design, development, and delivery of a web-based course. Instructors must rethink the way that they teach to create an interactive learning environment in a web-based format."
Comment: Nice article for new online instructors. Covers: designing, developing, delivering, and evaluating online learning. As the article states: "Instructors who are novices in online instruction often assume that all they have to do is transfer the content of their traditional course into a few web documents, post it on a server, and then a web-based course is created." Online learning is much more than moving content online. The heart of the online experience is the learner, the content, and the instructor. Everything - from technology to instructional design - is utilized to improve the quality of this experience.
Glossary
Quote: "a layman's guide to speaking geek'
Comment: Great glossary...book mark it!
Institutional Challenges in the Creation and Delivery of an Online Degree Program
Quote: "There are extensive issues within an institution that must be resolved for innovative online programs to succeed. Frequently program developers must address internal politics while convincing administrators that a new program will benefit the institution. Extensive teamwork throughout an institution is also necessary. In order to illuminate these issues, we will describe how we and our colleagues designed and delivered an online social sciences bachelor's degree in liberal arts..."
Comment: Details the process of moving a program online, including: getting approval, marketing, student services, and faculty issues. I'd like to see more of a focus on the actual processes of moving content online...this is where most of the issues arise. Most colleges/universities are good at creating and building courses/programs (after all, this is what they do). The real challenge is designing for online - because that is the part of the equation that is still new to many institutions. Broad generalization: the area where most course development goes "wrong" - not utilizing an instructional designer or ID process.
Asynchronous Discussions: Importance, Design, Facilitation and Evaluation
Quote: "Should you use asynchronous discussions in your course? What will they accomplish? How can they be effective? The answer to these questions is important for every online facilitator to investigate. Although you may believe online teaching and learning is in its infancy, there is enough research reported in the literature to establish asynchronous discussions as one of the most significant factors in effective online courses.
Comment: Great resource for discussion questions, including: why use them, characteristics, organization, facilitating, and evaluation.
Follow Up Site - TechLearn
Quote: "On this site you can find the presentation slides, audio recordings and video streams from several hundred presentations that were given at TechLearn 2002. If you do not see the session you are looking for, please make sure to check back, as we will be adding content as we get it."
The Blog Realm: RSS, Aggregators, and Reading the Blog Fantastic
Quote: "But for every blogger out there, there are probably a dozen or more others who prefer reading to writing. With the explosion of Weblogs come new ways of reading them.
The solutions used to keep up with blogs are often called news aggregators. Much of the current software is still buggy and imperfect. It is in some ways like the early days of the Web when many issues were still being resolved, but these approaches may well become more integrated into e-mail, Web browsing, and stand-alone software in the next few years."
Comment: Just when you thought I'd babbled enough about blogs and syndication...:). Great article. If you are new to RSS and syndication...skim this article - quick read and provides a nice introduction...only problem - doesn't mention Aggie - my aggregator of choice (takes 5 minutes to install).
Harmonizing Search and Content Management via Column Two
Quote: "Content Management and site search represent different software families, but nonetheless have become increasingly related. Clearly, a good site search engine is essential to any high-quality Web publishing effort. Moreover, a CMS can significantly improve site searches by normalizing (and even automatically generating) Meta information such as key words, page titles, content descriptions, structured asset descriptors, categories, and so forth. The result is improved site searches for your visitors, potentially improved Internet search engine rankings (Search Engine Optimization), and reduced cost and effort on your part to add these features to your site.
Comment: Nice overview of searching - spidering vs. dynamic. In elearning, knowledge discovery (KD) will play a more prominent role as content and knowledge management continue to grow. In some ways, the industry moved so quickly, that it is now retreating and backfilling basics like content management.
GLUEwiki
Comment: Neat tool...can be used to set up discussions on blogs/web sites.
Napster Co-Founder's New Venture
Quote: "Billed as a consumer-oriented tool to help end users "securely update, maintain and access" their contact lists, the free beta version of Plaxo integrates with Microsoft Outlook for Windows."
Comment: Looks interesting...process is simple - "Those who download the software stay in sync with each other automatically through a Plaxo update center that runs behind the scenes, updating users' address books when members change their information."
DARE
Quote: "DARE (Digital Academic Repositories) is a collective initiative by the Dutch universities to make all their research results digitally accessible."
Macromedia - Contribute
Quote: "With Macromedia Contribute now anyone can easily update and publish content to existing websites without knowing HTML."
Comment: Encountered this about 6 times today...finally decided to blog it. Focus with this is basically to allow non-HTML people to edit an publish on the web (static pages)...sounds like blogging to me.
I just downloaded the software. Excellent. This is right in line with what I've mentioned over the last several months - we need software/tools that make it easy for instructors to remain instructors...i.e. let technologists be technologists - get everyone to play to their strengths and interests.
Contribute is essentially "tech-free"...simple, effective tutorials explain the software...and use is very simple. If a person can perform very basic tasks on a computer...he/she can publish to the web.
I've posted a new article from the elearning course: Elearning Adoption & Marketing...presents an overview of the issues in fostering elearning adoption...and marketing to learners, instructors, and organizations.
Testing, Testing...
Last week, I listed a number of articles that looked at issues surrounding plagiarism in the classroom, both real and virtual. A natural offshoot, I figured, was the exploration of assessment. The topic of assessment has always interested me...how can we effectively gauge whether the concepts/skills/information presented in a classroom has effectively been understood by the learners, and to what extent? I had a couple of articles in my reading stack that related to assessment, but I needed to flesh this out a bit, so I began searching for a few more interesting takes on the topic. I can honestly say it was difficult to find good articles that addressed assessment in online courses, or that could be adapted.
Why is this the case? Yes, part of this can be chalked up to the fact that online learning is still a relatively recent development; people are still trying to feel their way around effective online assessment. And there are certainly challenges to overcome when trying to assess students from a remote location. Often, the vast distances that separate learner and teacher means that assessment has to be done asynchronously. Does this make assessment more challenging? Certainly. Does it mean that assessment has to be relegated to test questions and discussion posts. I don't see that as being the case. These are very easy solutions, but they can also be very limiting. Don't get me wrong. I'm not joining the fashionable bandwagon that says multiple choice tests are ineffective. Those of you that have tried to write effective multiple choice test questions can vouch for the fact that you can test at amuch higher level than simple recall. However, you can also vouch for the fact that such questions are difficult and time-consuming to write.
So what's the solution? As usual, I have none that I can offer readily. I know from experience, that several online courses that I've taken have incorporated creative and effective assessment techniques that I can recommend:
Interestingly, all of these examples involved group work in the virtual classroom. This was something that seemed so impossible to me when I first started taking online courses - based on everything that I'd heard, you were supposed to feel isolated without the physical presence of other students, an instructor. Instead, these activities did not only help overcome that problem, they managed to assess the research and thinking that I had to do when working with course content. Was it easy for these instructors to come up with these assessments and work out all of the related logistics? I would wager that it took a fair bit of time to come up with these solutions. Was it worth it? Based on the comments from all of the students, I would say, overwhelmingly, yes!
See you next week. Happy reading!
Steve
Quote: "This is not to say that concepts, facts, definitions, dates, names, and locations have no place in education. However, as these critics point out, many of our assessment practices place too much emphasis on assessing content and give far too little attention to the skills and knowledge listed above. They also argue that we must no longer treat assessment (testing) as fundamentally separate from instruction."
Comment: An interesting examination of a variety of assessment issues. The author briefly examines both the popularity and the criticisms levelled against standardized testing, as well as some of the problems associated with content-based instruction. The bulk of the article examines alternative assessment techniques such as performance assessment, authentic assessment, performance criteria, portfolios, as well as providing a fairly detailed example of developing performance tasks. Lots of territory covered here.
A Brief Overview of Assessing Learning in Online Classes
Quote: "I have been involved in over two dozen online classes and I have found that student frustration in distance learning (DL) can be attributed to two main problems: not enough feedback, and not knowing how they will be assessed...Assessment and evaluation of learning must leave no room for ambiguity. Even before you create your syllabus, you need to give serious consideration to what type of assesment system you want to use for your class, whether it is a traditional or online class, or a combination of both (hybrid class)."
Comment: This article briefly comments about the limitations of multiple choice testing before exploring a number of alternative assessment strategies. Instead of leading students to focus on one "right" answer, courses (and their assessment strategies) should allow students to explore the range of possiblities, explore differing viewpoints, discuss and debate with their classmates. This approach creates more work for the instructor, but allows for an "optimal learning experience" for the students.
Effective Online Assessment Strategies for Today's Colleges and Universities
Quote: "A relavant approach to assessing adult learners supports a student centered educational philosophy. The focus involves helping individuals become more self-directed in their learning plans and activities. This is a situational goal that requires assessment procedures that acknowledges their needs, gifts and talents. Teachers must recognize that adults are autonomous learners who have varying degrees of independence in their study habits and desire relevance in the evaluation of their assignments."
Comment: One of the interesting points brought up in this article is a survey that showed a majority of students viewed assessment as a teacher oriented activity. Yes, it was only one study, but it was a revelational concept. Since this is an assessment of student knowledge, I'd never conceived that opinions like that would exist. The focus presented (if you haven't guessed by now...) is how to structure course assessment to create a student-centered course. There are some good ideas presented here.
Interactive Assessment and Course Transformation Using Web-Based Tools
Quote: "Interactive assessment implies a dynamic process that is both formative and summative. It is based on examination of the three aforementioned dimensions: the instructor's perception, the student's perception, and the student's performance. Students are provided with instruments to let the instructor know what went well and what did not, both in terms of their performance and in terms of their perceptions of the teacher's performance. Constantly getting back to the students closes what Angelo and Cross (1993) call the 'classroom feedback loop.' And as they point out, when 'this approach becomes integrated into everyday classroom activities, the communications loop connecting faculty to students - and teaching to learning - becomes more efficient and more effective'."
Comment: I always like to try and include an article that features the actual experiences of someone who has implemented some of the ideas being examined...and this article is it. One of the nice things about the experiences being presented is that they are good examples of "toe in the water" approaches - there is nothing here that is so difficult to try that it should discourage new users of online pedagogy and technology. If you are new to this area, this article provides a number of ideas that are great places to start.
Why Share Online Course Materials?
Quote: "...my belief that in the coming years, faculty would be engaged less in developing their own online courses and instead would be using course materials developed elsewhere. One of the faculty members was confused. "What do you mean?" she asked. "How could I use someone else's material to teach my courses? How could those materials be relevant for my students? Why would I want to do that anyway?""
Comment: For the last several years, learning objects have been the hype of elearning (for more information see: elearnspace: Learning Objects. The notion of sharing resources and utilitizing content that others have developed is excellent (after all, isn't that what we do when we use a textbook in a course?). At this point, however, learning objects are more hype than reality...it's almost an "economy of scale" issue - we need enough resources and learning objects in place in order to truly begin sharing and utilizing. It's difficult to share when resources are scarce. And, just to end with my usual comment about learning objects: reusability is the wrong focus...the true value of learning objects is in personalizing the learning experience for learners.
Handheld Devices: Toward a More Mobile Campus
Quote: "Personal computing is on the move-if slowly-from the desktop to a more mobile environment. Handheld devices, connected wirelessly to the campus network, will certainly change the way we work and communicate. But how soon, and when?"
Implementing PDAs in a College Course: One Professor's Perspective
Quote: "Underlying any attempt at integrating new technology should be a basic philosophy of the interplay between technology and education. When technology is used to support a task for which it is not well suited, failure is likely. The same is true when students are asked to use technology when it's not needed. Fortunately, both of these mistakes can be avoided by adopting the principles of "use-centered design" (Flach & Dominguez, 1995). Use-centered design replaces the traditional focus on either user or product with a concentration on the goals and tasks associated with the use of the technology."
Comment: Timely article...we are experimenting with wireless PDAs in our department. The author explores various aspects of PDAs in education, including applications, quizzing, document formats, course scheduling, etc...and ends with this sage advice: "Like all technologies, a PDA is only a tool; if used inappropriately it can be a source of frustration, but if used correctly it can be a tremendous asset. PDAs are likely to become an integral part of the educational landscape, so course instructors can either invest in utilizing them properly or hope that their students will."
Internet2 Pumps Streaming Media
Quote: "For most Internet users, streaming media means sound that cuts in and out and a choppy picture viewed in a window the size of a deck of cards. But for Internet2 users, it's a different story."
Comment: This spring, we conducted a 12 week course over the Internet via streaming video. The result was positive...a good video stream was achieved with a bit of tweaking (and working with the network administrator). The project involved regular about 25 students, eTV (the digital media lab at RRC), and myself. We set up a laptop in the studio with a PowerPoint presentation, and as I presented the information, the cameras were switched between the PowerPoint slides and myself. Initially, I started by standing and walking around as I would in a regular lecture...but the result was blurred video (or slight delay) each time I moved my hands or walked. For the rest of the sessions I was seated at a desk.
Towards the end of the project, we added a second computer in order for students to ask questions via chat. The result was interactive video (with a slight delay between presentation of content and student questions - due to buffering). Student comments were very positive (especially as the project moved along and we were able to generate a consistently high-quality video stream).
Effective Online Assessment Strategies for Today's Colleges & Universities via Online Learning Update
Quote: "It is important for teachers to have a clear vision of their roles and responsibilities to provide the best teaching strategies for their students. The instructor's role is a dynamic one that requires having individuals who are able to create a virtual climate that encourages meaningful individual and collaborative learning. Assessment is an important element in the teaching and learning process that challenges instructors to consider evaluation techniques that meet the learning needs of today's adult learners."
Comment: Assessment is different online...or at least it should be (actually, assessment should also be different in the classroom - tests are ineffective for most assessments). Plagiarism is a hot topic in education (read Steve's recent post)...especially in relation to online learning. How can we improve the effectiveness/authenticity of online assessment. The answer lies in authentic assessments...and this article does a nice job detailing student-centered and authentic assessment.
Web Ontology Language (OWL) Guide Version 1.0
Quote: "The World Wide Web as it is currently constituted resembles a poorly mapped geography. Our insight into the documents and capabilities available are based on keyword searches, abetted by clever use of document connectivity and usage patterns. The sheer mass of this data is unmanageable without powerful tool support. In order to map this terrain more precisely, computational agents require machine-readable descriptions of the content and capabilities of web accessible resources. These descriptions must be in addition to the human-readable versions of that information.
The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is intended to provide a language that can be used to describe the classes and relations between them that are inherent in Web documents and applications."
Comment: A significant document...addressing the realization that current greatest weakness of the web is "findability". OWL is an attempt to address this...
Innovation Interrupted
Quote: "Maybe it will take a new generation of technologists to view the world differently, or a hard-core innovation to create entire new categories of automation we have yet to imagine. But as things stand today, even the visionaries lack vision. Everyone is focused on the pragmatic, day-to-day realities of trying to hobble from one quarter to the next, holding onto as much of their cash and their head count as possible."
Comment: Good overview of what is happening in the world of technology - in terms of priorities, investment, trends (wireless, linux, portals, hosted applications). Number one concern for Chief Information Officers? Integration.
Handbook of User-Centred Design via Column Two
Quote: "This handbook on user-centred design is intended for those responsible for commissioning or carrying out usability work during the development of interactive systems. It consists of 5 chapters..."
Problems and Issues in Online Learning
Quote: "In general the issues surrounding the location, distribution and reuse of learning resources online have to do with system architecture and resource based on what I call the "silo model." On the silo model, resources are not designed or intended for wide distribution. Rather, they are located in a particular location, or a particular format, are intended for one sort of use only."
Comment: Lists "problem" areas for online learning: proprietary standards, overly strict standards, monolithic solutions, closed marketplace, disintermediation, selective semantics, and digital rights mismanagement. From my perspective, the biggest issue relates to monolithic solutions - not just LCMS listed in the article...but the whole approach to elearning. Simple, effective tools - that's all that is needed. Blogging, discussion forums, communication tools...these work fine - and are often more effective for learners and instructors than systems like WebCT or BlackBoard. The higher the entry barriers to elearning...the more elitist the field, and the less likely to be integrated into education/life.
Ontology Building: A Survey of Editing Tools
Quote: "As the hype of past decades fades, the current heir to the artificial intelligence legacy may well be ontologies. Evolving from semantic network notions, modern ontologies are proving quite useful. And they are doing so without relying on the jumble of rule-based techniques common in earlier knowledge representation efforts."
Comment: Describes process of building ontologies, links to an excellent chart of tools, and provides guidelines for use. Excellent resource.
I was speaking with a student yesterday who was frustrated at her inability to perform a particular task. Our ensuing discussion brought concepts of effort and ability to the forefront.
Most of us evaluate ourselves by our ability...this is especially true in the field of technology. An instructor who is not very comfortable with technology labels him/herself as incapable of moving resources online ("I hate technology"). A student who has difficulty grasping a critical learning concept exclaims "I can't get this stuff...I'm not good at math (or English, or whatever)". Implied in each statement is the notion that we are somehow unable to alter our areas of knowledge deficiency...so before we start learning something new, past failures override even our attempts.
Evaluating our skills based on ability is wrong. Ability is an outcome of effort. If we evaluate ourselves by ability, rather than by effort, we will be reluctant to take new risks/challenges/learning opportunities. Just because a person is not familiar with HTML today (i.e. ability), does not mean he/she cannot learn the skills (effort) to be proficient in the future. Often, however, we fail to see that the reason we lack ability in an area is because we have only put in minimal effort.
As educators, our goal needs to be to teach students about the value of effort. Skill sets and knowledge are changing so rapidly that ability today is obsolescence tomorrow. The only way to meet future challenges is to ingrain in students the impact of effort...those math/English/computer skill deficiencies can be translated to abilities by effort.
We do a great disservice to students (and ill-prepare them for the future) if we train them to value abilities to over effort. Our competence in most areas is directly related to "time on task". This critical concept should be communicated to students so they feel capable of meeting the challenges of an increasingly complex world - effort creates abilities.
Componentization
Quotes: "That's why we need a simple tool for e-learning access, a simple API or protocol that can be easily adapted by developers, that provides people with a view of the entire learning object sphere. Until such a thing exists, the whole field of learning objects dies stillborn, a great idea that nobody could use... breakthroughts we need are in this description: multiple instances of essential components - to avoid bottlenecks, standards tolerance - to ensure interoperability, smart learning objects - to ensure simplicity, browsing tools - to ensure usability"
Learning Object Primer...from e-Learning Guru
In today's newsletter, Kevin Kruse offers some great starter resources on learning objects:
Coming of Age
Quote: "Individuals in companies have passionately championed the need for IAs in the development process. Some have even succeeded in building a discipline, a practice of people, a foundation for others to build on. Despite the dotcom bust, where it has been difficult for even the best of us to persevere in championing this role, many of us are thriving and succeeding."
Information Architecture: From Craft to Profession
Quote: "Information architecture is primarily about the design of information environments and the management of an information environment design process. Information architecture's roots are in multiple fields including visual design, information design, library science, and engineering psychology (more commonly known as human factors)."
Comment: As I've stated previously...information architecture and content management are two largely undeveloped aspects of elearning...and in the future they will be very much central. Coincidentaly...the difference between IA and instructional design: IA is concerned with the design of info environments...and ID, very loosely defined, is a system or process of organizing learning resources to ensure learners achieve established learning outcomes.
The Problems of Acquiring Knowledge
Quote: "One of the questions I'd like an answer to is: what actions do workers take when they discover that they have a knowledge gap or a need to learn a new skill?
We all know that an informal process takes place, where people start by reaching out to their peers or supervisors for information or knowledge. But what if the knowledge gap is too large for this informal approach?"
Comment: Short article...and the best part of it are the questions quoted above. Instructors who are new to the online environment struggle with these issues...they want to move online...but everywhere they turn, they encounter new terms/acronyms, processes, limitations, etc. It's overwhelming...and quoting Masie again: "However, most felt there was nowhere to take their learning or knowledge request."
Ozzie: Collaboration tools must be natural
Quote: "MOST collaboration software is not used as fully as it might be because it lacks a natural interface, and if collaboration tools are ever to be crucial business applications, vendors must improve the way users interact with them, said Ray Ozzie, founder of peer-to-peer technology vendor Groove Networks.
Comment: Ease of use (natural is how this article describes it) is THE most important aspect of technology use. Instant messaging and blogging are huge (and growing) because anyone can learn to use them in a matter of minutes.
Assessment, Assessment Rubrics and Evaluation Guidelines
Quote: "Teachers make judgments about students every day, based on informal and formal appraisals of classroom work, homework assignments, and performance on quizzes and tests. Assessment rubrics listing benchmarks for student achievement assist in this evaluation by providing objective guidelines to measure and evaluate learning. These rubrics also improve learning because students who understand them before a project is due can take the evaluation criteria into account as they complete their work. For assessment tips and tools, and for help in developing, adapting, or adopting assessments that detail what you expect students to learn and evaluate what they have mastered for any given lesson, visit the following Web sites:"
Comment: Extensive links of rubric and assessment resources.
New Crunch & What to do About It
Quotes: "Many colleges and universities are experiencing severe financial pressures - most notably at some state college and university systems. We are already seeing staff cuts in professional development and some unprecedented budget cuts for technology support... In these newly difficult times - the New Crunch -- we need cost-effective approaches to improving teaching and learning with technology. Here are my candidates, with more explanation below."
E-Learning: An Application Whose Time Has Come
Quote: "E-learning is becoming a mainstream application across all industries and disciplines. Enterprises want to take advantage of Web-based learning, but success requires more than moving education and learning to the Web."
Comment: Nice overview article...making the case for elearning. Includes "who's using elearning", challenges, and technology
Portals, Blogs, & RSS: why they are your future via OLDaily
Comment: Talk about timing!...I just had a meeting this afternoon with a small group at RRC about using blogs and RSS as a knowledge management strategy for the college. As a grassroots KM group, our objective is to get people to share information and connect with others. We hope to get instructors and staff from across the college blogging, linking, and RSSing until a robust knowledge sharing culture exists. Obviously a several year goal...but if we can get 5 - 6 committed bloggers at the start, it would be a great way to showcase the value of simple, social technologies.
...and on that note, here is and EXCELLENT post from John Robb on K-logs
Faceted Classification of Information
Quotes: "Given the significant difficulties in categorizing books, papers, and articles using traditional library classification techniques, it would seem next to impossible for humans to classify the small chunks of rapidly changing information that characterize information-intensive business environments. But it's not. Library and information science professionals have already provided the foundations of an alternative to traditional classification techniques: faceted classification.
Comment: I'm intrigued with the concept of information storage, archiving, and retrieval (no idea why...but I am). Central to this process is classification. Previously linear classification schemes don't work (as well) anymore...an approach is needed that allows flexible access, variety of information display, context sensitive searching, etc.
I had an opportunity to interview Jay Cross of Internettime recently...here is the link: Jay Cross Interview. Jay presents a good overview of the background of elearning, where elearning is at today...and current directions.
Collaborative Tools for e-Learning
Quote: "Despite the confusion, there continue to be indications that we are on the threshold of an exciting new era for education, training and society at large. As momentum builds, collaborative e-learning tools are changing the way we work, learn and socialize."
Comment: This article would be greatly enriched with some links...but does mention quite a few tools for elearning. Article also mentions Groove...a program that I used last year in several classes and projects with colleagues. The more I work with Groove, the more convinced I am that the future of learning will look much more like Groove than WebCT or BlackBoard...Groove is a learning tool...WebCT/BlackBoard are teaching tools. Big difference in usability.
Cyber-Busted?
Whenever I talk with people interested in starting to teach online, inevitably the topic turns to cheating. How do we know that the student is actually the one writing the tests? How can we be sure that the student is not using other resources to help find the right answers to the test questions? After hearing such questions over and over, I'm definitely wondering whether we are expending valuable energy worrying about the wrong things.
Please don't get me wrong. I work in a department that incorporates laptop computers into most of our programs. I am under no misguided impressions - a significant number of students will try to complete their work using as little energy as possible; many will resort to cheating of some sort to achieve this goal. We see it term after term. One of our instructors is so capable of rooting out plagiarism, we've taken to calling her "Inspector Clouseau" (and very respectfully, at that!). I've supervised tests where students tried to communicate answers to questions using instant messaging programs. We've tried to eliminate these types of loopholes through a test pilot of an impressive software package called Software Secure, which prevents the use of any outside resources when writing a test.
So what happens when the teacher is no longer physically present in the virtual classroom...does this not suddenly make it open season for cheating? Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions when it comes to online course security. Should we be worried about whether the student is the one taking the test? Forgive my impertinence, but how many of your regular classroom-based students have you retinal-scanned recently? How do you know that the people sitting in front of you in class are who they claim to be? Do we check student IDs on a regular basis? If not, why are you worrying about the this issue in online courses. In fact, if your tests are designed to allow a total stranger to take them and pass them, shouldn't you rethink how you are testing what you are teaching? There is a lot to be said for incorporating process-based assessment (where students are required to do something other than recall what was taught) in order to demonstrate mastery of the course content...but more about that in a future column...
If you are interested in how to effectively deal with issues of plagiarism and cheating, there are TONS of resources on the Internet. A couple of real treasure troves include an issue of wwwtools as well as Plagiarism which was a website featured in Stephen Downes' OLDaily e-newsletter. A lot of the really good resources will focus not only on how to identify plagiarism but also on how to help your students develop a greater understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and why it is wrong.
Whew - I'm all ranted out for this week. See you next week.
Steve
When Students Cheat, Don't Blame the Internet
Quote: "Cheating, I believe, often springs from the depersonalization of modern life. The more anonymous we feel, the easier it is for us to be generally meaner: to cut off another car in traffic, pretend we don't see the homeless guy asking for money, snap at telemarketers. Anonymity also allows us to imagine that no one is watching."
Comment: This article states that de-personalizing education helps to encourage cheating rather than just having easier access to technology. There are also some examples of how this professor deals with discouraging plagiarism in her courses. I included this article because I hoped to get people to consider the concept that when we blame technology, we are really fighting the symptoms as opposed to the actual disease. In a society that condones (and often glamorizes) success at any price, should our focus really be on the tools people use to cheat or rather on why people felt it is okay to cheat in the first place?
Quote: "Last fall, though, I helped to sponsor a teaching colloquium for faculty members in which we discussed strategies for both preventing and responding to plagiarism. We advertised the colloquium as offering the opportunity to think about one of those moments in teaching when you feel totally alone: because each case, like each student, is so different. No rules -- and no advice from colleagues -- can determine the appropriate punishment for you to administer."
Comment: An article that not only documents a professor's attempts to discourage plagiarism in his courses, but also his individual journey to find a way to deal with plagiarists. What I find interesting is how this individual tries to come up with a solution that he feels is balanced and fair.
Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers
Quote: "The availability of textual material in electronic format has made plagiarism easier than ever. Copying and pasting of paragraphs or even entire essays now can be performed with just a few mouse clicks. The strategies discussed here can be used to combat what some believe is an increasing amount of plagiarism on research papers. By employing these strategies, you can help encourage students to value the assignment and to do their own work."
Comment: This is a fairly extensive article that explores a number of non-traditional areas, including exploring strategies of awareness (why students cheat, educating your students about plagiarism, explaining the benefits of citing sources), strategies of prevention (require specific components in the paper, specific steps for the paper, and oral reports), as well as strategies of detection. Lots of good ideas here.
A Faculty Guide to Cyber-Plagiarism
Quote: "Although plagiarism has been around as long as students have, the Internet has dramatically increased the ease of and opportunities for plagiarism. "Cyber-plagiarism" is the term used to describe the process by which students either copy ideas found on the Web without giving proper attribution, or the process by which students download research papers from the Web, in whole or in part, and submit the paper as original work. The phenomenon of cyber-plagiarism is affecting Universities around the globe...The purpose of this web site is to examine the issues of plagiarism and cyber-plagiarism and what faculty can do to prevent, detect, and report plagiarism."
Comment: Here's an example (a Canadian one, no less...) of resources set up to help faculty deal with cyber-plagiarism. It covers a wide spectrum of topics and includes lots of resources (handouts for students, etc.) that faculty can use in their attempts to discourage and prevent cheating.
The Role of Community Management
Quote: "Community management is concerned with the process of making your community work for, with and about your members. Your community is like an iceberg - the visible part above the surface is only a fraction of what is going on within and around the community."
Comment: For the most part, if you replace "community manager" with elearning instructor in the article, you have a great listing of suggestions on managing the digital learning experience.
Tech's newest trend--decentralization
Quote: "The world is becoming increasingly complex. Companies manage supply chains in real time, while hundreds of thousands of gamers gather in shared virtual worlds. Networks must carry vast and growing amounts of traffic, with no end in sight. Centralized systems eventually crumble under the strain of that complexity."
Find
Quote: "Find makes searching for stuff quick and efficient. Here's a quick overview of what you can currently do with Find: Lightspeed search of the content of your emails, Very quickly search your computer for files in any directory by filename, Intelligent indexing returns the information you need in an instant, Scroll through results, with the contents of files appearing in the viewer to the right, Search the Web and fast-cache results for near instant viewing (results remain cached locally for offline viewing), Launch files in their native applications."
DSpace
Quote: "DSpace is an open source software platform that enables institutions to:
Online Learning Conference Summary
Wrap up site for Online Learning 2002 Conference. Some good notes...as well as very useful recorded audio/powerpoint presentations. In particular, check out:
Learning Technology Standards: The Inflection Point of the New Learning and Knowledge Economy?
Preparing Teachers to Use Learning Objects
Quote: "Our article describes learning objects, explores why teachers would want to use them, and explains how to facilitate their use."
Comment: Simple overview of learning objects...especially on how to encourage teachers to use them. Like most articles on learning objects, however, it fails to provide user-level resources for developing learning objects...and makes the assumption that the greatest value of learning objects is their reusability...it's not. This is a value to the teacher/organization. The greatest value of learning objects rests in the ability to create personalized learning for students...but that'll take a few years. Much discussion on learning objects is still at the theory level...which means that as organizations actually start to work with learning objects (versus only talking about them) many currently unseen situations will arise - such as getting teachers to actually use them...and perhaps most importantly - connecting learning objects with the course content and context. This is going to be a HUGE concern. I've spent time exploring MERLOT and other repositories. Currently, learning objects searching is not very efficient...a person has to wade through an incredible amount of resources to get useful items. Intelligent searching is a much needed stage in learning object development.
Important note: "When selecting or developing learning objects, the teacher's first priority is to ensure that the lesson objectives determined by the curriculum form the foundation for the lesson plan; once defined and established, these same lesson objectives should in turn govern the design and use of learning objects. In short, the application of the electronic-learning component should blend with other aspects of a lesson."
Making sense of e-learning in a confused market
Quote: "Recent articles in the industry press have suggested that current buyers of e-learning are both cautious and confused. This has come about as a consequence of a series of events in the marketplace: the dot com crash, continuing falling share prices and a stream of vendor mergers and acquisitions in addition to reduced training budgets and stories of unsuccessful LMS implementations and high course drop out rates..."
Comment: Article explores elearning background, buying and managing elearning, vendor selection, etc.
Death of the Internet via Weblogg-ed
Quote: "The Internet's promise as a new medium -- where text, audio, video and data can be freely exchanged -- is under attack by the corporations that control the public's access to the 'Net, as they see opportunities to monitor and charge for the content people seek and send. The industry's vision is the online equivalent of seizing the taxpayer-owned airways, as radio and television conglomerates did over the course of the 20th century."
Comment: Little doubt that the Internet is "closing"...beginning stages is evident by the amount of subscription based sites (while not charging yet, the structure is in place). Notable thought: "Consumption-based pricing and other restrictive access controls contradict the spirit of openness and innovation that built the Internet in the first place, and will do irreparable harm to its future as a medium for small business initiatives, non-commercial users and democratic discourse. "...education institutions will be the first (and greatest) victim.
Intel's Gamble
Quote: "You know that saying, 'The Internet changes everything'? People now are backing away from it, but I say, Just wait five years. Hundreds of billions of dollars we now spend on voice telecommunications will become a freebie--just like [Cisco CEO] John Chambers has said. That's Moore's Law at work. The entire entertainment industry will be digitally distributed over broadband networks. [Media companies are] going to tip over, because one of them, with its back to the wall, will make the transition, and the others will have to follow. That's Moore's Law at work. Houses will be wireless, broadband will be delivered wirelessly, and home and portable computers and consumer electronics are going to be built to facilitate all of the above. Okay, it hasn't happened in the first five years; it's going to take ten. And there will be a lot of pain for some. But it will happen, and we'll all benefit.""
Comment: Article is mainly focused on Moore's law...but eventually moves onto wireless...the last paragraph is where the important points are made (and that is quoted above!)