elearnspace

eLearning Strategy

On Monday (May 12), we will begin our online conference: Shaping our future: Toward a Pan-Canadian elearning research agenda. Terry Anderson is the first presenter and will be presenting on The value, form, and function of a large scale research agenda. All sessions can be accessed here. Discussion during the conference (and more information on schedule, themes, etc) will be held here. If you're interested in attending our Monday presentation, please review how the scheduled time translates into your time zone.

Networking for your career

I spend most of my time looking at networks from the perspective of learners and educators. I find my own personal network for learning far exceeds any other information source (including Google). As I begin to follow/read different practitioners and theorists, I begin to develop in my own understanding - especially if they represent a related, but not overly similar field. Media, news, video games, communication theory, philosophy, and other areas contribute to my understanding of the role of technology for learning. But learning is not confined to colleges and universities. As this article states, the ability to form networks is vital for achieving personal and career goals. When I suggest how important personal learning networks are, I often encounter the statement "I don't have time". As this author states: "If you want to succeed you need to make the time". She then goes on to suggest that we need to schedule time for forming networks so that it becomes habitual. I wonder how many educators regularly set aside time to consider the quality and diversity of their networks...

Twitter

A short exploration of Twitter as a tool for reporting, filtering information, and consuming (much) time. A particular focus in the article is the use of twitter for finding information. I frequently see educators posting requests on Twitter...and the network replying with a great list of resources, often within minutes. Email lists no longer exhibit this spirit of sharing. It might be due to email fatigue and the fact that most of us see email as a burden, not an opportunity for helping others. With Twitter, the spirit of sharing and assistance remains strong. At least until network fatigue kicks in...

Walking Uncertain Paths: Technologies and models of learning for tomorrow

During this last week, at MADLaT, Peter Tittenberger and I presented several sessions. The first was a workshop addressing approaches educators need to consider as they move content online. The second session - Walking Uncertain Paths: Technologies and models of learning for tomorrow - was focus on where we are heading with educational technology, as technology both influences and reflects existing mindsets within society. I enjoyed both sessions as most of the time was spent in conversation rather than presentation. At one point, as a group of educators were addressing some of the change pressures they face, I asked about the key question guiding their technology plan: Is the question one of should we use technology or one of how should we use technology? Everyone in attendance stated technology use was a foregone conclusion. The only question they were grappling with was how to make it work. Not sure how I feel about that. A few good cynics are always nice to have around :).

Social Networks around the world

This is a bit dated (from last year, which is a condition of obsolescence in online tools and applications) but still useful to consider how social network sites are positioned around the world. I'm interested in how countries not yet dominant in social networking, but possessing large populations, will influence maps like this. Will sites like Facebook and Myspace be able to successfully internationalize? Or will companies such as South Korea's Cyworld serve their own markets more effectively?

What do we do with computers?

RescueTime is a tool that tracks what a user does with her/his computer. I tried it for a while. It was depressing, so I stopped using it. They've now publicized some aggregate information on computing habits of early adopters. The results are not surprising - most people still spend the bulk of their time in Microsoft-based applications. Google is coming on strong, however, with their email service approaching Outlook in terms of usage time. Google Reader rated quite highly as well for early adopters, almost on par with time spent in Google search.

Facebook

Identity is challenging in a distributed environment. When dealing with educators, I often mention that if they are not involved in networked conversation, their voice essentially doesn't exist (which raises the prospect that learners will receive information from less than ideal sources). Well, in reality, if you're not online, it's not only that you don't exist. Instead, the challenge arises that others may form your identity for you. For example, in a neighboring city of Brandon, Manitoba, a teenager has been charged with impersonating a teacher for creating a Facebook account using the teachers name and identity. While I see the parallel with impersonating a person in a physical space (and therefore the basis of the arrest), these types of things are almost impossible to control. The onus of confirming identity - much like email spam - should rest on the people interacting with the Facebook profile. I have become cynical over the last few years about people offering me huge sums of money if I will only provide my personal banking information. In a similar sense, when I encounter an individual online, I need to question/be wary. As astonishing as it may appear, not everything we encounter online is completely accurate.

Leading Learning

I presented at the Leading Learning conference this morning...presentation slides are here: On Becoming: cognitive and social impact of technology. My focus was on retaining the needed elements of education - transforming learner and society, deep understanding, cultivating capacity for ethical thought, and emphasizing "what it means to be human" - while fostering greater innovation in teaching and learning through the opportunities of technology. It's a tough balance to get right.

Digital Montessori for Big Kids

Games provide a useful model for learning (cost and time are two limiting factors). Games provide an ecology of exploration. Clear aims are pursued (complete a level, for example) in a flexible manner. Learners have time to explore peripheral experiences. The pseudo-linearity of intent within games combined with the ecology of exploration provide much of the value of games. An interesting post on the subject: Digital Montessori for Big Kids: "We’re so accustomed to silo’ing kids by age and ability these days that the mere suggestion of mixing in older or adult peers makes us somewhat uncomfortable. And yet, there is immense value in commingling experts and novices, learners and teachers, grown-ups and kids - especially in third places for informal sociability where one’s rank in terms of age or credentialing does not matter."

Data Visualization Talks

Data visualization is highly useful in helping us to make sense of complexity. If you're new to the concept, a few useful online talks are available to provide a basic introduction. We will be seeing many more visualization tools for use in learning: visualizing conversation/connections, content elements (word cloud, for example), related content, related learners, displaying relationships between complex concepts, etc.

Teaching: Networks and Social Connections

If you're interested, I've posted the slides from my presentation this morning - Rethinking Teaching: Networks and Social Connections to the Pacific Northwest Higher Education Teaching and Learning Conference. A somewhat interesting confluence of factors - social learning, activity theory, network theory, and technology - is occurring. And it seems to be accelerating. Recent conferences I've attended indicate a shift in educator mindsets from tools (blogs, wikis, podcasts) to concepts (networked learning, distributed cognition, rethinking teaching, etc.). Nice to see.

Writing history, together

I've been focused lately on trying to get a sense of the defining element that shapes, drives, and influences what's happening in the educational technology space today (and to a related but lesser degree, what's happening in society). I guess I'm asking the question: "What is the element/entity, that if we understood it better, would illuminate that nature and scope of the changes occurring?". People living in the midst of a revolution likely aren't aware of the full scope. And, I suspect, people living in non-revolutionary periods are not aware of how history will perceive their era. Are we in revolutionary or non-revolutionary times? Ultimately, history will pass the verdict. But in trying to find the element that will illuminate what is happening today, I'm increasingly returning to information. To how we create it. Share it. Dialogue around it. To this end, I find sites or concepts that alter how interaction with and around information of particular interest. For example - History Commons "allows people to investigate important issues by providing a space where people can collaborate on the documentation of past and current events, as well as the entities associated with those events." While people have always been able to do this, the scope and ease of collaborating and (hopefully) creating a multi-perspective information source is now greater than before. It just feels different to me. Like we're still going through many of the motions I recall going through in the past with regard to information creation/sharing...but something fundamental is different. Can't quite put my finger on it...

Connections are everything

Connections (obviously, but still worth noting occasionally) are central to how we socialize with and without technology. Technology brings to the forefront the sometimes less obvious connections found in a pre-internet world. How we used to network in face to face environments is now permissible at a more advanced level. Connections are everything: "My connectivity to individuals in libraries around the world have made me better at what I do and enabled me to build a rich understanding of practices different than just those I am surrounded with on a day-to-day basis. Maintaining these connections are incredibly important...connections are everything in the very technical sense that understanding and interacting with modern information technology can be seen as the management of connections."

Videos in courses

Could the Chronicle be awakening from its slumber of pre-1980's view of technology? It appears as if some signs of life exist as it explores video in courses. Capturing videos of lectures is a useful idea...but the length of videos can be an issue. If a lecture is boring, a one hour video of a lecture will retain this character. The TedTalks approach to video makes more sense (now, all you have to do is convince Nobel Laureates to speak to your class).

No Rest for the Wiki

Wikis embody much of the collaborative spirit that drives the discussion of participative technologies. They're (theoretically) open. Reflect the multiplicity of voices that often comprises the development of information and new ideas. They're accessible and easy to use. But, challenges exist in adoption because wikis force a consideration of where we end and the group begins. Technical issues are partly a problem as wikis are not the most intuitive tools available, but ease of use is improving. The big issues rests with the conceptual shifts required for using wikis. As this article - No Rest for the Wiki - (focusing on corporate adoption of wikis) states: "Even employees convinced of the usefulness of wikis aren't necessarily comfortable with them, especially when their work may be seen and tinkered with by colleagues from across the company."