Pageflakes

This past week I have been exploring PageFlakes as a tool for creating a public Personal Learning Network.  What makes PageFlakes different from iGoogle or some of the other personalized homepages is that in addition to private pages you can also make a page public or create a Pagecast.

Like many of the personalized homepages, PageFlakes offers gadets, or "flakes", that can accomplish many tasks such as calendars, time zone converters, notepads, discussion forums, and RSS readers.

Will Richardson discusses how to use PageFlakes as a student portal on his blog post here.

A teacher reflects on blogging as a teaching tool

Leslie Whitaker, a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee posted her recent experiences with using blogs as a teaching tool to The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus blog today.  She had her students blog immediately after watching a live broadcast of President Obama's address during the memorial service for the people killed at Fort Hood earlier this week.  She gave them 10 minutes and then asked them to read aloud what they'd written.  The results impressed her.

Here is an expert of some of the responses her students gave:

One student, who had family members in the military, wrote a prose poem that started every line with "I hate", including one line, "I hate that my brother lost six years of his life in the Army."

Another student wrote "I have never witnessed the horrors of a murder. To the best of my knowledge, neither has anyone I know. I cannot approximate nor rationalize nor understand the emotions involved, and pretending otherwise seems false. So I am detached."

What Ms. Whitaker reflected was that by hearing her students' reactions as they shared with each other, made the experience of watching the president's address far more meaningful than if she had watched it with her family or by herself.   She also felt that her class was able to give voice to the videly divergent views that exist in our country.


She closed by posing the following questions: 

• Is this what blogging at its best offers us as a society, the chance to put the various slivers of reaction to any complex problem side by side? Or is the process I stumbled upon simply a standard educational model of requiring students to think, write, and then discuss? 
• Was 10 minutes too short a time to process a reaction to such a complicated situation? Or is 10 minutes longer than we usually get?"

Here are my responses to her questions:

• I do think that blogging offers us as a global community to put our reactions to complex situations side by side.  That's one of the great powerfulness that blogs and micro-blogging tools such as Twitter, allow us to do is respond in a rapid manner as news happens
• I think 10 minutes was long enough.  It gave enough time to think it over with too much time to over-analyze it.  Would her students have been so brutally honest given more time?
  

 What do you think? I encourage you my readers to post your responses as a comment.

Stages of PLN Adoption

Last week while researching about PLNs (Personal Learning Networks) for our final project, I came across the following pictures on Flickr, titled the Stages of PLN adoption. 

It intrigued me so I searched more to find out who created it and if there was more information on these stages.

What I discovered is that Jeff Utrecht, who writes a blog The Thinking Stick, wrote a blog post about the stages, in it he lists the 5 stages as:

1. Immersion: Immerse yourself into networks. Create any and all networks you can find where there are people and ideas to connect to. Collaboration and connections take off.
2. Evaluation: Evaluate your networks and start to focus in on which networks you really want to focus your time on. You begin feeling a sense of urgency and try to figure out a way to “Know it all.”
3. Know it all: Find that you are spending many hours trying to learn everything you can. Realize there is much you do not know and feel like you can’t disconnect. This usually comes with spending every waking minutes trying to be connected to the point that you give up sleep and contact with others around you to be connected to your networks of knowledge.
4. Perspective: Start to put your life into perspective. Usually comes when you are forced to leave the network for awhile and spend time with family and friends who are not connected (a vacation to a hotel that does not offer a wireless connection, or visiting friends or family who do not have an Internet connection).
5. Balance: Try and find that balance between learning and living. Understanding that you can not know it all, and begin to understand that you can rely on your network to learn and store knowledge for you. A sense of calm begins as you understand that you can learn when you need to learn and you do not need to know it all right now.

He states, "As you immerse yourself into the network your learning increases, the more you learn, the more you want to learn, the more immersed you become within the network. Until you reach a point that you understand the fundamentals of Web 2.0, the direction of Education, or whatever it is that interests you and you have in your PLN to begin with.
I also do not believe you have to go through all these stages. Some people jump from stage 2 to stage 5 or do not become so immersed into their PLN that they ever reach stage 3, that sense of having to “know it all.”

I think I'm currently in the perspective stage.   Due to current demands in both my personal and professional life I've had to pull back a little bit from the 24/7 feed of information.  I haven't looked at Twitter in several weeks and I'm only keeping up on blogs because I've set my feed reader up well.

Google for Educators

While working on the Flat Classroom Project, I've been learning about Thomas Freidman's flattners. One of the topics in the Flat Classroom Project is "Google Takes over the World", which always makes me smile but in a good way. I personally love Google and their wide array of products and solutions that make my life easier, especially when working with technology.

As I read Jamie's blog about the lack of technology use in the the classroom she is in for her level 3 field experience, I went looking to see how hard it would be to find information for educators on Google's products.

Lo and behold I found a post on A GeekyMomma's Blog, titled "The Google Salad Bar", which was the analogy that most teachers think of Google only as a Search engine, which is the same as going to a salad bar and only eating the lettuce.  In this post she had a link to Google for Educators which is an excellent site listing all of the different Google tools including webinars on how their being used in classrooms and even lesson plans.

I think that with resources such as these any teacher should be able to integrate technology into their classroom.

Corporate Wikis

Recently I read a couple of blog posts by Ann All, a blogger at ITBusinessEdge, an aggregator of Business IT news and research, regarding corporate wikis and implied that wikis are "where work gets done".  That comment came from an interview Ann had done earlier with Aaron Fulkerson, co-founder and CEO of software provider MindTouch, where he stated that "A blog can disseminate information to a wider audience, but to get work done, you go to a wiki, where you collaborate, iterate, pull information from disparate sources and then hammer something into acationable information".

Image from jjarron

In her post, she also explained that MindTouch is by no means the only company that is using wikis successfully, Cisco's collaboration platform uses wikis heavily, and even the military is using wikis to enhance communication. In a recent Mashable article it listed four benefits of a wiki:

• The ability to gather and present information, so "one person can add an idea while others refine it and add their expertise"
• Ability to track changes, a must for any corporate communication
• Ability to archive information
• and finally, their ease of use.  

Ann also has another post about how to use wikis in your company, which really sparked my interest because my office has a great need to an information repository.  We currently use shared network locations, but the problem with that is that in order for it to be effective everyone has to use the same naming convention put their file in the correct folder, etc. In my previous jobs we have used wikis extensively as a company handbook, knowledge base and document repository all rolled into one.  As I read her list of suggested way to use wikis many of the ways I just mentioned were included.

My first podcast

Today I published my first podcast, the beginning in a series for the Admissions Office at the University of Northern Iowa.

It covers the different types of campus visits offered and why a campus visit is a great first step in choosing a college.

I'd love to get some feedback on it.   I used Audacity, an open source software tool for audio recording and editing.  I had some trouble at first with getting the recording levels correct, but with the help of Audacity's support documents found that there are some issues with Vista and to run it in XP Compatability mode.  After that things were much smoother.

National Online Educators Face Struggles with State Regulations

In an article on Oct 13, The Wired Campus, The Chronicle on Higher Education's tech blog, reported that distance educators, state regulators, and accreditors met in Washington, D.C. in an "attempt to reconcile the desires of a booming cross-border online-education industry with the need to protect consumers from shady online operators and resolve their complaints."

The article states that, "The problem, in the eyes of those who want reform, is a decentralized higher-education system that empowers each state to establish its own rules. Distance institutions must often get approval to do business in each jurisdiction. That means untangling a “complex and redundant web of processes, regulations, and standards,” says the report, called “Aligning State Approval and Regional Accreditation for Online Postsecondary Institutions.” It costs lots of money, takes lots of time, and ultimately restricts access to education, the report argues.

“We’ve got a structure here that was created for the 19th and 20th century,” says John F. Ebersole, president of Excelsior College, a distance-learning institution based in New York. “It is not appropriate for the 21st century.”

The situation is made worse because some states “create defensive barriers to protect in-state institutions from external competition,” says the new report, published by the Presidents’ Forum, a collaboration of national, adult-serving institutions that embrace online education. Local colleges or professional associations occasionally prod institutions to build protectionist walls. "Some may discriminate specifically against online learning," the report says.

[...] The big issue is who deals with problems like student complaints, administrative misbehavior, and unqualified faculty, he says. State licensing agencies set up their "vast list of rules" to "prevent problems and resolve those that occur," he says, "because no one else can or will."

What do you think? Who should deal with problems like student complaints and unqualified faculty if state regulations are lifted?

Virtual Worlds - the future of education?

While most people think of Second Life when you mention virtual worlds to them, there are many different virtual worlds out there including Massively Multi-Player Online Games (MMPOG), 3D Virtual Worlds, such as Second Life, and even Education-focused Virtual Worlds.

The first educational focused virtual world was Whyville and was launched in April 1999 and currently has a player base of over 3 million users. In addition to colleges and universities using Second Life as a platform another project is AWEDU, started by Active Worlds, Inc.

While some may feel that virtual worlds are just another passing fad, I think they have real potential for enriching education. Virtual worlds allow a level of interaction not possible from reading a book, or listening to a lecture. What if instead of reading about the Sistine Chapel, you could travel to it and view the awe-inspiring masterpiece. I think the next step is to educate teachers on how to incorporate virtual worlds into their classroom as well as ensuring that schools technology infrastructure can support the interaction.

New Google tool - Google SideWiki

Google released a new tool a couple of weeks ago called, Google SideWiki, designed to for people to help and learn from others as you browse the web. SideWiki has been included as a feature of the Google Toolbar for FireFox and Internet Explorer and is being added to Google Chrome as well.

One of the really cool features is the ability to post to Blogger with it as well. While I haven't had a chance to try it out myself the buzz about it online is mostly positive, with a few thoughts on how to keep down the flame wars.

Have you heard of Google SideWiki? If so what do you think so far? How could it be useful in the classroom?

Open Source Education

Open source is a term that has grown in use and while once was confined just to software has grown to include many different disciplines including education, such as MIT's Open Courseware which offers MIT coursework for free. In regards to software though open source as defined by the Open Source Initiative has 10 components which include more than just access to the source code. Open source software must also allow for the modification of the source code and redistribution.

Image via Columbus State University

Here are a list of my top five open source applications that have a use in the classroom:

1. OpenOffice.org - a multi-platform and multi-lingual office suite that is compatible with all versions of Microsoft Office and is a very good replacement for those looking to get away from the cost associated with Microsoft.
2. Scribus - Page layout software similar to Adobe PageMaker, that runs on Linux/Unix, Mac OS and Windows.
3. Audacity - a great audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux operating systems.
   
4. Moodle - a learning management system (LMS) that provides functionality similar to Blackboard, WebCT or Angel.
5. Firefox - a web browser from Mozilla that has been around for a long time and with the release of version 3.5 is even faster and more stable. This browser is also way more secure than Internet Explorer as well as standards compliant (although IE is getting better).

If you're interested in finding more open source software solutions for your classroom, consider visiting SchoolForge.net, a site that brings together many open resources for classrooms, not just software.

Hip Hop in the Classroom

Last night on my way to Milwaukee, my husband and I were listening to Wisconsin Public Radio and heard a story about a Math teacher in San Diego, Alex Kajitani, who used rap to teach Math concepts to his students. While using rap in the classroom is not new, the story talked about the deeper issue of why such tactics are so successful in reaching students. Part of the reason they are so successful is they are engaging the student in a culturally relevant way.

The use of technology in the classroom accomplishes much the same thing. Students today are "digital natives", mobile technology and the internet are a way of life for them. Using chalkboards and overhead projectors while not necessarily wrong, it does show the students that their teacher is not fluent in their cultural currency.

What ways have you attempted to connect with your students using something similar to this? What was the result?

Photo via The Rappin' Mathematician

Global Opportunities in Learning

When you think about global opportunities in learning, the most traditional is a Study abroad or exchange program, but with advances in technology the opportunities have been greatly expanded. The traditional routes still exist, but now platforms such as Skype, video conferencing has become much easier to facilitate. Social networks have also enabled learners to expand their network globally and make connections with people from around the world.

Image by Melinda Kolk
via Pics4Learning

It is also easier than ever to get international tv programming and news through internet sources. When I was in high school we used to watch German television programming and read German newspapers online. This was useful and also helped us get a feel for their culture. I think a newspaper can tell you so much about a culture. It allows you to see what's important to a countries citizens, how their government operates.

Wired Campus - Sept. 15

Image from Pathfinder Linden (Flickr)

In today's The Wired Campus, a tech newsletter from The Chronicle of Higher Education, there were two articles that caught my eye. The first was the teaser in the subject line, U. Texas System Buys Land in Second Life. The article reports that the University of Texas purchased 49 pieces of virtual land for a total cost of $34,300 plus maintenance fees of $147.50/month. I'm surprised that the university made such an investment in the tough economic times of tightening state budgets and increasing competition in higher education, but I'm pleased that they see the potiential and were willing to make the investment.

The second article that was of interest, once I scanned the the rest of the newsletter, was one about how the University of British Columbia used clickers to quiz students in multiple locations. I had heard of clickers being used in classrooms but never in a situation where students were in different locations. Here in Iowa, we have the ICN and I think that the use of clickers could really add to the interactivity of a class taught over the ICN.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, what do you think about U of Texas's purchase, smart or silly? Have you used clickers in your classroom? How could they be used over a distributed network such as the ICN?

Social Networking

I'll be the first to admit I was not an early adopter of social networks, which is surprising since I'm typically an early adopter of most technology. I, like several of my classmates, didn't really see the need to keep up to date on what people I went to high school with, that I wasn't even friends with in high school, are up to these days. And I sure don't have time to take countless quizzes, etc.

But reluctantly I finally joined Facebook last fall, and this spring finally set up a Twitter account, and surprisingly I've found I enjoy using both. Facebook has helped me keep in touch with former co-workers, as well as friends flung across the US. I've also found that social networks can be very helpful when trying to locate new employment or help a friend locate new employment. With Twitter, the people I follow really are my personal learning network. I follow NPR, ABC News, as well as several colleagues on campus. I been able to stay up to date on the latest news and find some new and interesting people who blog about topics that are meaningful to me.

In the context of emerging instructional technologies, I found a link from a blog I follow (EdVentures in Technology), to someone on his blogroll (Jeff Utrecht, The Thinking Stick) with and interesting post recently about how facebook and twitter and social networks helped students connect with a wider world. The post is titled "A blog post, a tweet and a connection". For all of those who think social media has no place in education, I really encourage to read his post and let me know your thoughts.

The Role of Blogs in Education

While blogs are not new in education (they've been on the scene since 2004), their role like all instructional technologies is constantly evolving.

Two of the leaders (in my opinion, at least) in using blogs in education, Will Richardson and Anne Davis, have had lots to say over the years on how to effectively use blogs in education.

Anne has worked with a variety of ages and subject areas as well as presenting at national conferences. In her presentation at the 2004 NECC Conference, she lists dozens of possiblities that fall into 5 main categories, using blogs to enhance learning, using blogs to distribute classroom information, using blogs as a professional development tool to reflect on their teaching, having students create blogs to express themselves creatively and finally using a shared blog to work collaboratively.

Several years after her initial presentation in 2004, she shared a Lessons learned post that was a result from a NECC Panel Discussion as well as her own experiences. She emphasizees how blogs can help create a feeling of ownership and control over the curriculm for students. In addition to Anne's list of lessons, Will also posted his own list, and the biggest thing I took away from his post was that"blogging is thinking", that and "blogs take work".

Having at least one personal blog, that I try and post to occasionally I can relate to the blogs take work, but they are also such a great resource. I'm looking forward to regularly posting and seeing what conversations can develop. I'd love to hear your comments on how you view the role of blogs in education.

Introduction

I am a graduate student at the University of Northern Iowa in the Performance Training & Technology program. I am in my third semester of my program and hope to work in the area of instructional design working primarily with adult and online education.

This blog is being started as place to reflect on topics for one of my classes, Emerging Instructional Technologies, but I hope to continue it as a place to keep the discussion alive even after the semester is over.