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.