Kathrine Bailey: Multimedia and Virtual Worlds

Siri-ous Conversation

2011-11-14T12:53:00.001-08:00

Hi Tech Fans!

Today I am taking a ten minute break to tell you about Siri, my newest purchase.

Now, all of you may have her in your pockets at the moment, but I want you to think about her for longer than a minute.

Those who have her will probably be the first to tell you that dialect is still an issue. I am from the south and I can definitively say that she is on an 80/20 accuracy rate with me. I find that if I am not enunciating, I run into the same old 'Dragon Naturally Speaking' issues of old.

However, I have hope.

Siri is in the cloud and I am not the only one training her. She is an intelligent agent learning from hundreds of thousands of others. Like a child she takes in the corrections and modifies her behavior and learns to give better answers thanks to the Nuance server in the background. That being said, remember that you have to touch the cloud to use her, so do not go buy the iPhone 4s if you are not going to get signal from your phone or a wi-fi hotspot.

What I find most hopeful is that if Apple can work this out, their products would have an ADA upside for education. Being able to take speech to text into everything from email to apps means a great deal to the way teachers work with students with disabilities. We also know it helps those without them, too. Apple devices already have some voice options built in and can read text to you as well as display closed captioning on files that have been captioned. This is a far cry from a Kindle or other eReader. I have hope then, that in the future Siri will help us close that gap. But, who knows which direction the wind may blow.

Limitations? Of course, it is not the 25th century yet. If you have Siri, she won't work in a crowded room or a noisy space. So, her best place is in your car....without the kids. My kids constantly kill her ability to understand by leaping into the conversation.

Another note about the car. I have a Ford Fusion with Sync technology. Eerily enough, she sounds JUST like the voice on Microsoft's Synch. They should have auditioned a different actress. I get confused as to whether Siri or Synch is talking to me.
PS...if you don't have Synch on a vehicle, you need to try it.

I have been saying for a very long time that if the government wants ADA solved, they need to pour money into captioning systems for the schools that are uniform and trainable for dialects. I hope that maybe they might get their heads together to do this with Apple since Apple has pushed forward. No, I am not saying it has to be an Apple world, but if you find something that works, commit and make it the 'best' it can be to do the thing you need. If Dragon wants to lead the way..go Dragon!

Institutions have little money, but we have lots of labor force in students. Start a project HERE at Austin Peay State University. Put the money into a future we can share with other institutions. Don't spread out your grants to solve little issues, solve the big issue. You want websites compliant and podcasting to be captioned. Harness Siri, or harness anything that leaps us forward.

Computer navigation will never be all voice for those with sight, but we will use it too. Using Siri for a week has made it apparent to me that voice activation and navigation are a portion of the issue at hand. We still will need more tools to meet the government mandates, but let us start with the first step, then the next will be easier. Access begins with innovation.

Stepping off the soap box, I have to say, Siri IS cool. Anyone complaining usually is jealous. She is fairly quick compared to other voice activated phones. I also find she is pretty accurate once you say it in a voice she understands. I also realized I mumble. ***mmmff

I like that I can tell her to tell my husband to pick up milk without typing all that. I like that I can make my appointments without the fifteen clicks to set them up on ANY smart phone. I like that she knows if something is going to be an issue for me. That is what technology is supposed to do, enhance, not run your life.

I am sure I will have more to say as I get more comfortable with the new technology, but the phone is light, the screen is wonderful, and Siri is HELPFUL for a wife and mom of three boys who also works in technology, a fast paced field.

For a good read:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/siri-is-iphone-4s-only-today-but-where-will-it-be-tomorrow/

ePub to iPhone a 5 minute Thought

2010-11-16T19:38:00.000-08:00

So I managed, yesterday, while using some good info from Tim Matheny from Apple, to make my first ePub for my iBooks app with Pages.

Sweet process really, and yet another prelude to why the publishing industry is changing.

I know that many of you are techies like me, but I had another life before this one, one in the arts. That life often makes me think about how what I do affects the industries around me that use print. Many of my Printing counter parts are getting laid off as companies dissappear that do ink press old fashioned books.

I do love the feel of a good book, but as prices soar on printed vs digital copies, I have to accept that I am part of that reason.

Apple has made it easy to be your own digital content specialist. You don't need a publishing house standing beside you to tell you your work is going to be the next big thing. You just need a place to make it, a place to put it for distribution, and a tweet or a FB post to alert those who might be interested where it is with a clever hashtag or social ad campaign.

Apple has the digital trend for multimedia creation and social networking mapped out and has given us the directions so to speak.

I wonder sometimes how the digital story telling in 140 characters or the longer video and audio pieces will change the collective conciousness of the world. Multiculturalism becomes a two second search. Even the Library of Congress is keeping our public tweets as some sort of time capsule.

Sounds silly to search tweets for history, right? Silly or not,our children may very well be citing tweets in their term papers in 2020.

I think about how twitter and FB will change APA and MLA and whatever current citation is the trend or norm. With Tagging and things like Creative Commons, it is possible today to build a program that tags all you publish and can also read the tags of others. Citation pages could, in theory, build themselves.

You laugh, but the technology is already out there, no one is leveraging it. If you do leverage it, tell them you found it here:)

Think of what 'cite as you write' could become? Imagine the freedom to talk about the connections and ideas with creativity instead of fear. I think that is the largest intellectual turn off for students, after all, the fear of plagiarism. What if all the research you used filtered into citations by tagging? What if simply # the source worked?

Either way, the ability to whip out my own short book with images, links, etc in about five minutes was revealing and heart stopping all at the same time. The world isn't the same and it is moving faster daily. Ms. Self from 8th grade probably wonders what her students are doing because they can't cite a source. I wonder sometimes at the University level what my students are doing that can't cite a source, for that matter.

I wonder sometimes if the method is important or if it is more important that they just note where they got it? That is a much longer discussion, isn't it?

Prelude to the next entry:
Are you ignoring mobile trends or portable devices in your industry or school? You should be reading anything you can get your hands on! The beauty of mobile and applications are focused shared pockets of learning and earning. More on the next post... meanwhile...go make something in Pages with ePub ok?

Lessons From the Game Culture for Education

2010-08-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

The keyword for this article is: Experience

Used in a sentence: Learning should be an experience.

Too often, we define learning by objectives, assessments and due dates. The experience of learning can be described but not explained by statistics.

Instinct is that mysterious little place where your gut meets your mind for a long conversation. Through experience, we encode methodologies, comprehensions, and understanding in milliseconds that will unlock our natural instincts or life skills. What takes us hours to get when we read, takes only moments when we can experience the lesson.

Gaming theory, problem based learning, and inquiry based learning are all new fangled terminology for the basic notion of learning through experiences that pull on those dark and deep corners of our genetics to wrinkle our brains like a circuit board for survival; a deep learning data base that can save us when knowledge and its application become an instinct that hones and directs our reactions for optimal results.

We set our students up to fail, we break their notions of the world, and then ask them to take that understanding and re-experience the lesson. We ask them to remember what happened and apply it. We ask them to give us new insight because their point of origin in the lesson is different than ours. We build new lessons for our students and ourselves to test the idea. We keep the things that work, they keep the things that work.

As a high school student and as a college student my Friday and Saturday nights were usually spent curled up on a floor with dice in hand listening to a story, a puzzle, a simulation of life. I had to work with 5 or 6 different guys with different skills to achieve a goal. I became a leader, a problem solver, and eventually a story and puzzle giver myself. The prior is the cycle of student and teacher in a microcosm through 'safe' experience.

Don't get me wrong, playing a game, any game, has an experience that mimics real world dynamics. Group work, problem identification, research and team effort to achieve a solution are regular everyday tasks for a 'gamer'. Gamers are PBL compliant.

I spend most of my day absorbed in this or that technology trying to find things that will create experience for learners. However, these technologies, no matter how cool they are can still fail students if the instructor will not put their game face on and 'play'.

What I mean, is that we, as instructors, get too caught up in the business of teaching and learning that we fail to think outside the box to gain a new learner's attention. For example, a lecture is a wonderful building block that can be recorded and viewed later or given in real time. However, that lecture is not what teaches the student. The student learns when we put them in situations, real or simulated, that show them and ourselves the value of the application of the knowledge. Success and failure both are valuable. The instructor mediates the experience and then helps the student be more successful through pointing out what was missed or additional resources. Sometimes their classmates as peers are effective teachers as well. I think you get the point, experience is the heart of learning, it is the best teacher. Flat knowledge in books or lectures are leap points for learning, but activity is the key to success in the learning cycle.

When I played a game like Dungeons and Dragons, there were lots of things to read, tally, chart, and remember. All of those things I could recite in my sleep. But they did not matter and would have faded away if I hadn't needed to know them for my favorite Saturday night activity; survive a team members folly because he forgot the most basic of gaming rules, let sleeping trolls lie.

The same thing happens for our students.
FACT: C6H12O6 is simple sugar.
Yeh, what is your point?
Well . . . if you know the formula for simple sugar you can figure out how to lose weight. Try coding the formula backwards, and remember that your body is built to accept Carbon first in food. Now if your body doesn't think your backwards chain is food, what happens?

It is the application of the knowledge and the consequences of using or not using the knowledge that make it important to the student to remember. Experience is the best teacher.

Too bad some people have to wake that troll up a few times to learn that trolls are best left to their dreaming. Just kidding. (Maybe not.)

Gamers are better learners and teachers. They become good leaders. Gamers have honed their problem solving skills and decisive actions through practice in safe environments. Trolls exist in real life, too. I think I saw one at the store the other day actually. Teaching your students how to 'play' is the most important gift you can give them for success in their professions and personal lives.

I know I say it often, but the most important book for you as an educator to read this year is Wikinomics by Tapscot and Williams. If you want to understand the world your students will work in and how the skills gleaned in problem based learning translate to the real world, you must read that book! Web 2.0 is not some term to keep the masses down, it is the battle ground in which we can lift them up and abolish the digital divide. (That is a whole other article though, isn't it?)

Now, I have homework for you. Using the above information, how can you take a series of definitions, statistics, and flat knowledge to engage your students in a common experience to generate deep learning in a F2F (Face to Face) or Online course.

Send me your ideas and I will post the best ones next week!

Why this is important to you:
http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010/learning-powered-technology

eReaders and eBooks in Online Education

2010-08-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..."-John Lennon

This is a quick blog, mostly to get everyone thinking outside the 'reader' for a moment.

I think sometimes we let technology drive how we work instead of driving technology the way we work best. There are a great deal of sites out there for free e-text books or even company generated text books for various e-readers.

Though the eReader idea is a step up from the mass killing of trees and buying and re-selling of paper text books, it still forces the student and instructor to interact with content in a prohibitive and less productive way.

We place courses online and ask instructors for self-generated material, but still use an external book or an embedded ebook.

I challenge all of us to re-think this.

Shouldn't the course BE a book? Why send them out to an eReader or a textbook? Why embed a book that is a series of web pages that must be read outside the lesson it is tied to?

Course Management or Learning Management systems allow us to write, link out, and create lessons all in the same space. Students pay us to be content matter experts in our subject areas. They chose our school, our program, US.

Think about this, in one department you may have three to five Doctorate level instructors who could, no doubt, create a 'book' that looks deceptively like a course with material that belongs to the University. Maybe they get paid for the creation like a course development. Now your students do not need a text book OR an eReader.

Even better, immediacy is the by product of a 'course book', for lack of a better term. Now you can pre-assess, read, post assess, and contribute assignments directly from the content module for that week. No surfing around, navigating an external object, etc. Students read it, they respond, right there.

Now, let us take this one more step. In Desire2Learn 9.0, for instance, you can create Learning Objects that can be tied to Learning Objectives. You can then create a curriculum map that is monitored through reporting to track and predict the success of students in your program. Your eReader can't do that.

All this being said, it would take a 6 month process for several people to get it going, but once it is built, it would be easy to maintain. Better yet, be sure its SCORM and Global IMS compliant as well as ADA and you can take the course-book anywhere.

Like I said, it is only daydreaming. As I connected the dots at Fusion 2010, I thought about my own course evaluations when I first began teaching. Students really hate text books and PowerPoints. They like rich content and discussion. Are we servicing them by handing them another book? Do we need to think outside the book?

Anyway, that is my thought for the day for all you avid fans.

Thanks to all of you who vist and share!

The Evil Empire of Educational Technology or Just Bright Business?

2010-07-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

Joshua Kim puts some perspective on the new Eluminate, Wimba, and BlackBoard Merger here:
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology_and_learning/first_reactions_to_blackboard_buying_wimba_and_elluminate

Let us take a moment to reflect on the last four years in elearning technology.

When I began in the industry in 2006, we were a BB institute (BB 6.3) with building blocks for Learning Objects for journals, blogs, wikis and for their really cool BackPack. I added within the first year Wimba's Live Classroom to our Voice Tools. Wimba as a building block inside of BlackBoard was beautiful. The system itself was fairly easy to navigate and Wimba just gave us one more way to communicate.

Were there headaches? Yep! Like many companies, Wimba had based their platform on Real Player for video at the time. Teaching students to use Real Player with a special set up, I piloted several sections of Speech with a brilliant co-worker. It was hard, but really gave our students a cheaper option than buying a 200 dollar video camera.
Alongside our work were teachers using TeacherTube and YouTube as well as other free wares. I championed Wimba to others, others picked up Wimba, Wimba got better.

We now are a D2L institution. Wimba doesn't quite work so beautifully there. Faculty have to see the ugly admin side of our server, and so do students. No pretty web interfaces or easy point, click, and do for us! I waited, waited, and then waited some more for the promised integration from both sides. With Wimba's sale to BB I wonder now who was telling the truth about WHY that integration was not taking place.

Lesson Learned: These are businesses and they DO NOT care about education no matter their creative little blurbs about being for people or being innovative.

Education should take a leaf out of this book and start creating our OWN solutions. We DO care about teaching and learning and we won't constantly be asking a vendor to reshape a tool because no programmer ever asked a teacher how it should work.

Overall, I know it was good business sense that created the agreement between Wimba, Eluminate and BlackBoard. I almost hate myself for, by proxy as a user of both, helping them understand how cool each other really were when combined. I noted in a journal almost two years ago that the natural evolution of the LMS would be something like Wimba with Learning Objects tools. The LMS would be only a repository and grading system wrapped around our more experiential tools. Discussion boards are boring, text is flat.

The only consolation that I have at the moment is that D2L, though corporate, is doing a better job of listening and opening up after the lawsuit. New products that BB has never even thought of, D2L is working on. I am proud to have worked with the D2L on the http://www.synergic3.com/ work that created the Course Builder and Design Wizard. These are tools for teaching that were informed by teachers.

The new external link integrator is another good sign for open practices that did not exist before.

I temper my praise with the Lesson Learned from above.

So, where are we? We should be in a state of constant vigilance. Watch what companies are doing, keep your RSS hot with their movements. Every year we have to renew contracts and make technology plans. We are business forecasters who make self fulfilling prophecies by what we support and do not support. When you see good practices and expected transparency, stick around. When you see doors between you and the person you are trying to reach, think twice. Contribute to growth, but make them pay YOU for your advice.

I never thought I would need a business degree or an economics background to teach, but I am finding on a regular basis I am becoming a paralegal (another article for certain). We should be requiring disclosure in our contracts! We should be leaving better 'outs' for when company directions are not matching our own. We should be mercantilists in the strictest sense!

How about clauses that give us money off our contracts for significant suggestions or development ideas or integration work from our institutions that are the result of collaboration with the company we purchased the product from? Why not give your clients the rewards? It at least makes us feel a little better about your company and our choice to use you.

As you can see, I am disillusioned though I understand the machine in elearning that has broken my heart. I really did believe that 'People teach People', and perhaps they do. However, I would also say, 'Businesses Make Money'. It was a smart move, but the rest of us will survive and find something else.

I close this article with a quick note that Wikinomics by Tapscott and Williams is the model we as educational institutions need to follow if we are looking at smart business practices for education. Collaboration is our only hope in keeping up. Take cues from community user groups and make your own communities. If we must predict the future, then let us write it together. If there is a problem, there are thousands of experts hanging out waiting at the FAQ.

We are in the business of education, and education has no room for business practices that are shady, veiled, and affect our ability to support the students we care about. Deals behind closed doors with a Thank You note afterwards are not how you treat loyal customers. You should talk to your customer base before merging or changing your paradigm drastically. You have a right to make a dollar, you do not, however, have the right to make a dollar by selling my server space!

Collaboration means openness, peering, sharing, and globalization according to Tapscott and Williams. Dear Wimba, you failed on openness and I will miss the warm fuzzy I used to feel before you became, "just a company."

Touch Me Nots

2010-06-22T06:33:00.001-07:00

I promised an update. Here it is.
The iPad has been here at the university for a few months. I love the thing. It is like my iPhone but easier to type on and read.
Those of you who are miniature freaks will probably avoid the iPad, but it is easier to carry than my laptop for the running around, showing things, catalogue stuff, look that up kind of days I have.
Does it need a few things. Yeppers. A camera would be helpful. Not worried about the phone, but a sure enough front facing camera like the iPhone 4 would make my heart skip a beat. Skype on my iPhone rocks, but the video conferencing from the iPhone 4 on an iPad would make my job in education a BREEZE. No more web cam distribution and teaching of complex video programs for faculty. They have enough to do without trying to learn new software that takes 10 clicks to get anywhere.
Weirdly enough, I would probably give up my phone for an iPad with the iPhone4 features.
Most of my phone apps ported nicely into the iPad. The Kindle on the iPad is MUCH easier to read. Typing is a joy, and the whole thing is simple enough that my 4 year old can turn it on and navigate it without being nannied through the process. As predicted, my Dad who doesn't type is in love.

Now that the glowing mushy honeymoon stuff is over, these are the opportunities to excel in owning an iPad:
1. No Flash is hard to overcome. I agree that we shouldn't be required to own Flash, but the world isn't going to be Flashless right away.
2. A few programming bumps exist in some of the new Apps as programmers get the hang of it. My Netflix App will kill it in a heartbeat.
3.NO CAMERA!!!
4. The high gloss screen is annoying in the sunlight and finger prints on your iPhone go a way with a wipe, but you need a screen cleaning cloth attached to the thing.
5. THAT is the case? Really? I could do that with cardboard for 4.95. My quilted Bible protector works better!

To say the least, none of those are deal breakers, just small complaints. I have seen the other side of the touch screen wars, and frankly will stay right where I am, with Apple.

I readily admit that I am not an 'open source angel' like many. I've seen what hackers can do. Droid is also not as smooth as the Apple's OS for mobile. The transitions are glitchy. Also, the amount of buttons you STILL need on the phones makes me grumpy. I tried to help a friend with a Blackberry the other day and thought I had stepped back into 1982. I am so used to the smooth operation of my phone I kind of forgot how much I thought I loved my HTC Mogul until I got my iPhone.

What makes me love my phone more than any I have had, easy, it works the way iWork.

Yes, I can use anything. I can even learn to use it well, but I hate being forced to work a certain way. I like my programs and gadgets to work like an extension of me. Self-centered? Maybe. But I like to think of Apple as human centric technology.

I am sure to get lots of disagreement from the other side of the fence, but I teach people technology. It takes five minutes to set up an iPhone and get oriented. It takes days for the others.

Universal Design: Touch Screen Wars

2009-12-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.mobilemag.com/2009/08/10/apple-macbook-touch-tablet-pc-with-3g-wireless-broadband/

and

http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet

Let me begin this entry by stating that the above sites are RUMOR sites. That being said, come dream with me.

We all have fallen in love with iTouch and the Surface. The change in size is a natural evolution of the product, but I think, as a technology person, it is more important to speak for a moment about WHY we love them so.

Universal Design:
"Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." –Ron Mace (http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/index.htm)

ADA compliance often adds Universal Design into our online environments and products. That nice ease down from a side walk at a crosswalk is a phenomenal example of how helping those with challenges helps those without the challenge too.

Universal Design is why we love our touch screen products so much. They have a way of doing things the way we naturally do them.

If three sheets of paper were laying on the table and you wanted to read the bottom one, you would slide the top two out of your way. That's how it works on a touch screen. Your natural movements and tendencies are met and there is no technological barrier to your work. Can't type? Speech to text and speech activation are natural ways we work as well. Optical Character Recognition and handwriting to text with pens on touch screens are wonderful for technophobes and non-typers.

I have two technophobes for parents, but even my Mom who can't type or program a VCR loves products like the Surface. They make her feel comfortable because they work the way the real world works. They don't make her learn new skills that are not part of her basic education from the K-12 world of the 40's. They just do what she wants to do without requiring her to think about the how. Writing a note means getting out the stylus. Send is pushing a button like your phone. She get's that.

Ok, I will admit that they are great for people like me as well. As part of the new language that my generation has developed through the net, the new touch products allow us to converse in pictures, sound, quick doodles, video clips, and SMS. I love how easy it is to say more with less. Email..blah (Google Wave I heart you.)

A funny conversation with my significant other about touch screen products engendered this article. We are both on a quest for iPhones or a netbook. We have been looking at products and comparing features, but found ourselves sliding into conversations about Sci-Fi films like Star Trek. There is a funny moment in one of the Star Trek movies in which they are in the 1980's/90's earth. They try to use a computer by speaking to it. Obviously the computer does nothing. They are told to use the mouse. They pick up the mouse and try to use it like a microphone.

Both my significant other and I agreed that in 10 years kids won't know what to do with a mouse. In 50 we might have those amazing computer projection walls that allow us to move content around, talk, and reason with our working partner, "Computer."

Computers are an extension of the human mind. We continually look for ways to make them work the way we do. Right now, small steps like touch screens make us more comfortable, but in 20 years, who knows what Universal Design will do for us.

Keyword for next entry: Fuzzy Logic

Until next time, keep an eye out for Universal Design in all your techno products. Think about HOW you work so that you can buy things that work the way you work. It's nice when you don't have to train your gadgets to help you, they just help you.

#=P Hash equals Power

2009-10-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

"In physics,power is the rate at which work is performed or energy is converted."
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28physics%29

Power equals work divided by time. So you get more power with less time.

This is, pardon the pun, a powerful metaphore. Hashtags or # plus a key word is a powerful formula for cataloging, idea jotting, event reminders, and just about anything you can use a "keyword" for when tagging.

For a longer description:http://www.techforluddites.com/2009/02/the-twitter-hash-tag-what-is-it-and-how-do-you-use-it.html

Where do you use it?

Well, it is a serreptitious use of twitter that has been applied to everything from geekpoles to conference notes. Simply tweet with a #keyterm and anyone can use the Search function of twitter to read what you are doing, thinking, working on, listening to, planning, etc.

A very cheap universal SMS or Short Message Server since twitter is free and all those using it are already text friendly. Those who aren't can still get a free account and search with a web browser on their PC or Mac.

Smart. Very. Advertising and spam have even hacked into the Hashtag power.

Now, remember that this is public, and tweets can be "found again" using new time warp functions. Keep it clean, keep it professional, and most of all keep it useful.

How do you know to search for a #tag on twitter? Easy enough. Most conferences, pamphlets, and advertisements tell you the hashtag or keyword to search for.
Also, you can random search for things you think others might be talking about. A common trend is a #moviename or #celebrityname EX: #AliceinWonderland or #JonnyDepp

If you are a researcher, its a little sloppy and on the qualitative side, but if you are tech admin and trying to see where the wind is blowing today, you can learn a lot from your friends out there. If you work with a group on a particular software, you can all # your comments on issues and solutions with the software name. What if another organization that uses the same software hashtags their issues and solutions. FAQ on the move with more info as the collaborative group grows.

There are many more things I can think of to use the #tag function for, but I think what is most important is the realization that there is power in "mashing up" many of our social networking tools for faster solutions or easier lives.

So, what will you #tag?

#whatwillutagkatblue14

Cloudy with a chance of computing...

2009-09-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to stop from my little digital world to talk about the things that keep coming up at work.

Cloud Computing:

Cloud computing is in essence the Tower of Babel, the Library at Alexandria, it is the collective consciousness.

We live in two veils of existence. We are never alone. We always have help. We have friends we will never see. We have friends we see that we never speak to the way we do the friends we don't see.

Is this bad?

Perspective is important. I listened recently to Dr. Christopher Dede at faculty forum speak about digital media.

As he spoke about value of digital media and social networking, there was still a sense of cynicism and distrust that seemed juxtaposed by his excitement for the tools. It made a lot of interference for me as a listener to hear someone diametrically opposed from a digital standpoint against the very same idealism his generation (my parents too) tried to teach us as young students. The ability to dream and to make those dreams come true.

I listened to the group pick apart the ability of my generation and the ones below me to delineate real from virtual worlds.

I found myself asking, "What is your problem? You told us to grow up and change the world, to make it a better place. You told us to make friends, to work together, to be more than what we are. So what if I have an Avatar--that avatar is working with others to transfer the world we are making in the cloud of the net back to YOUR reality."

Then I stopped myself.

Dr. Dede's rhetoric is indicative of the digital divide in whatever current terms are available.

I enjoyed what he had to say, but I can't necessarily agree with his ideas on application or his distrust. And, maybe he didn't really mean for his conversation to echo the distrust of his generation.

Students need solid problem based learning problems and skills to work in these virtual realms that will apply to their real life. I want my child to be a problem solver. I can thank my MOM for my first TSR Dungeons and Dragons set and its hours of problem solving and collaborative skills sets. World of War Craft, Second Life, Mafia Wars, and all the millions of flash group games are teaching us to work together rather than apart. Eventually no one will remember a world where it wasn't ok to go look something up or ask for help with a problem. If you can solve a problem together, you can solve it alone too. The skill set is the same, the knowledge base is just more diverse in a group.

More importantly, for me, his conversation opened my eyes on better ways to ask faculty and students to work together. Stop looking at the buttons, look at how the skills from the buttons that have nothing to do with clicking will click in the RW or Real World.

I find value in Second Life because we can see what works before we spend too much money or time. I value Second Life for being able to bring people into a multicultural or problem solving situation that I would never have access to in the Real World.

Academia is changing, and will continue to change. The world is opening up. Can you allow yourself for two moments to think that maybe someone sitting on a machine in Ghana might have the answer you need to your current problem? Can you be grateful that they are in your cloud helping you along? Can you help someone in Alaska? Australia? Thailand?

You tell your students to go to the library, but the world is right there waiting behind a 15 inch screen with real humans waiting to help you not only read their experiences, but to experience with them their world.

Cloudy with a chance of computing. Hope comes from the skies.

Browsers Be Gone....

2009-09-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

It seems easy, you make a tool that runs on any browser, then anyone can use it. Riiiight!

This week has been a lesson in how the lack of enforced code standards in XHTML and internet protocols as well as MIME types can create a nightmare for online education departments.

I am leaving company names out due to the fact that money is good and debt is bad, however, I am pretty sure they know who they are.

Most of the big Learning Management Systems as well as the new out-cropping of browser based add-ons for education begin by saying they support Internet Explorer....7...no wait 8...9? They constantly are having to shift their focus in coding to deal with the latest disaster that the company that owns the rights to the browser makes for them.

Add in Mozilla, Safari, Chrome, and whatever company decides to jump in, how ARE these companies that are using browsers going to hang in there for technical support. Every time the tools and add-ons up grade the transverse principle applies as well. What they do won't run on old browsers/java et al. Backwards compatibility seems to have never entered their thoughts.

This isn't like new and nifty brands of shoes, kids!

Maybe you should bundle a browser with your software that we can supply to our students? Maybe Education should create a flavor we encourage and support.
Maybe we need to re-think the backbone structure we use?

I do not have the answer students, instructors, tool makers and browser moguls. But, I do know that spending 8 or more hours trying to switch people back and forth between IE, Safari, and Mozilla because one things works in this browser and not that is ridiculous. A three ring circus.

Do we need enforced codes that ALL browsers must use? MIME type handlers that MUST be included in any new flavor. Required backwards compliance in all software and browsers? OH wait, even better, what happens in .Net or Virtual Worlds that ride on the same code backbones?

PLEASE make our jobs easier. If you have a solution my friends, post it here, let's talk about it. Petitions are waiting to be made.

Browsers be gone....or at least the difficulties.

Hey Gamer Fans--Check this out!

2009-08-05T17:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0401/04-ask.html

One of the physics students who works in our lab at APSU showed me this! Thanks Zach!

I wanted to take a minute to share it with you, because you should know you are working to transcribe books that OCR scanners can't read. You are also helping others with creating artificial intelligence.

PBS rocks! But I think it is also important to note that our students are watching, reading, and learning on the net. Social networking is not just about dating, it is even more so about like minded individuals discussing important innovations, seeking comprehension of the innovation, and applying the innovation in even more innovative ways.

Kudos to Zach, a remarkable student at a remarkable university, Austin Peay State University to be exact.

Mind Your Media

2009-08-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

One of the most common questions I get these days in the land of Online and Distributed Learning concerns the validity of chasing the social networking monster for education.

Is there value?

What many instructors in online and face to face courses are seeking to do is create a conversation that pulls us past the "lecture and test" principles commonly practiced before the 1970's revolution of problem based learning.

PBL or Problem Based Learning is NOT new guys. See http://www.ntlf.com/html/pi/9812/pbl_1.htm However, everyone has had a different take on how to make it work.

Problem based learning is time consuming to engineer effectively. Instructional Design principles vary, but one of the most common engineering practices in curriculum development is backwards engineering. The use of rubrics with competencies to meet learning objectives for overall competence in a subject is for some a natural way of teaching and certainly lends itself to backwards engineering. However, the 'road map' so to speak of the learning objectives and competencies can expand at an alarming rate if you really engineer a course. See: http://www.desire2learn.com/competencies/what/ for a useful look at the simplest maps.

In online education, that road map is tantamount. Time has to be spent on aligning technologies that will best allow students to meet the learning objectives and competencies for maximum learning, easy assessment, and overall comparison to expected outcomes in the rubric. In a larger scale, graduation rates and program success depends even on the smallest learning objectives and competency. If the department fails to look at core courses and what is expected for all students in each level to have mastered before progressing, the students will fail at an undesignated point when that competency is the cornerstone of their next competency in an upper level course.

An example from my own discipline of Theatre might be:

Competency: Successful students in theatre must understand the collaborative nature of theatre.

Learning Objective: Students will be able to label the production position chart from Producer to Stage Technician and discuss the hierarchical relationships between the positions with a focus on the collaborative nature of theatre.

Assessment: Label the hierarchical chart
Read sample tasks or problems that may arise in a productions cycle
Use discussion boards to talk about who students would assign those issues or tasks
The instructor may comment to enforce or "teach" good choices students post
Media of "sample" production meeting issues to be reviewed by student
Essay using texts or other sources to support personal idea of how to best resolve issues, describe what is happening in the meeting to be assessed by the instructor on quality and thoughtfulness of response.

Competency Achieved:
If a student understands the structure, they will know who to address the problem to and that their job is related to and dependent on other jobs. Critical thinking will allow them to independently select the most appropriate method to achieve a production goal.

Program Competency Achieved:
Program success would meant that the student who masters this seemingly "easy" learning objective and competency will be able to work and think at a higher level as a collaborative team member for planning and execution of anything from design work to being a member of an ensemble cast.

Returning to my point---->

Online development IS harder in the initial phase because the instructor must analyze their rubrics, competencies, and learning objectives with a finer eye to detail. Students are often learning in asynchronous formats without the ability to "stop the teacher" when they do not get it. They also do not constantly have the instructor reminding them of WHY it is important to learn what they are learning. In problem based learning, the WHY is a crucial element for students to foster trust, communication, and collaborative learning. Conversation is imperative to student success in any learning environment, social networking gives us that ability to converse out of synch with time about a common subject fed to places we live in most online or on our mobile phones.

There must be a balance between understanding for an assessment and understanding that endures through multiple assessments. Problem Based Learning is indeed a good method for fostering deep learning as well as critical thinking skills that will allow learners the ability to take the teachable moment into their own hands when you, the instructor, are not beside them in the work force.

Mind your media is my way of saying that all these tools for social networking and multimedia are just that, tools.

If you fail to think in terms of basic curriculum design, no cool video, no Twitter account, and no Facebook account will save you or increase learning.

One of the best books I ever read in grad school was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig. See: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/401.Robert_M_Pirsig for good quotes. We have to find the, "right tool for the right job." A phrase that applies to many disciplines, even that of theatre.

Yes, these tools are valuable, but YOU the instructor are even more valuable because you have the ability to use the tool to increase learning, and help students to critically think, discuss, and relate to one another. One mind is powerful, but as cloud computing has shown us, many minds solve a problem more quickly.

In summation, yes, there is value in blogs, vlogs, wikis, twitter, second life, and a host of other flavanoid loaded options for collaborative discussion and work. However, none of them have value without you, the instructor, to guide students through conversations as you have always done. No technology is a substitute for that.

Mind your Media!

Social Networking 101: Hacking Is Inevitable

2009-05-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

I want to stress that I spend a lot of time looking at my digital foot print.

What?

What is that?

Please note that just because you put something out on the web does not mean you:

1. Are the owner
2. Can control who sees it (despite what they told you in class)
3. Can dodge interviewers by saying, "I was just a kid!"

Some where, some how, anything can be found again.

Sometimes all you need to do is look at a Cached page on a google search. Hint...Myspace you can see deleted profiles that were private that way as well!

Next, there are "timewarp" sites that can let you find something as far back as the 90's. Yep, someone back then thought of owning you too. I bet you thought Facebook was the first to ever violate your rights.

Let me also stress that the cute guy next to you in class is not liable to feel the least bit shy about sharing his mobile pict txts from your last hot session or fight. Sadly, this is what is probably going to eventually cause Social Net's to charge money. They can ID you by a credit card and the government will be happy. Or, more importantly, they will have a stash of money for the liable suit that currently they think their terms and conditions protect them from. Note: Build a better mouse trap and some one will make a better mouse.

Welcome to the Web 2.0 world, it is OPEN and it is UNMONITORED.

Do I have stupid things out there...yep. Those of us who grew with the net were there before we even knew what it meant, let alone how long it would exist. I am pretty sure none of us really know what it all means now or what it will look like in another 20 years. Like the world we live in, the NetWorld is open ended.

So, I do the basic checks, google, etc on a regular basis to make sure I am still 'ok'. This isn't to say some post on a journal in which I was angry won't be found by someone who REALLY wants it. It simply means I know the worst for the average searcher. (Hint: Do these searches before you interview!)

Hint hint...most sites will take things down on request. No one wants a legal battle.

Finally, it is good to see who is checking you out. There are plenty of places to get trackers. My current fave is TraceMyIP.org
Easy to use, easy to place, and the average human doesn't have a clue what it is or what it does. It can give you a quick google map of where the the person is located--and sometimes to the house or building! You can track how often they show up, what pages they are looking at, etc. You can also use this as a cool marketing tracker if you work it correctly.

Either way, I thought I would devote today to sharing with my friends the darker side of Social Networking. Enjoy it, but like a night out at the club, watch your drink.

Welcome to the Holo Deck Captain.....

2009-03-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

http://tinyurl.com/5m2tzs

The URL posted above goes to a YouTube video that I very much enjoy watching.

If you work in the world of AV you can imagine how exciting something like this technology is. If you work with GPS technology, etc. even more so.

There are practical applications for the technology obviously, but one that I thought of almost immediately is holographic technology.
At Virginia Tech, my alma mater, there is a place called the CAVE. It is very much the first steps towards the infamous Holo Deck idea from Star Trek.

It involves tedious mapping and correlation to make the "holo tours" that they currently show, but imagine being able to take a software like Seadragon, feed in a few hundred real snapshots from all around the world to build an object that is projectable through a sort of fuzzy logic that the human brain uses.

I'm not saying it is going to be tomorrow, but the real and practical use of holographic technology will be in my lifetime--probably the latter part. Imagine Art History and being able to tour the cathedrals or visit the Parthenon; a meaningful "do" sort of experience that helps students not only witness but retain the lesson through deep learning.

The hardest part of my job is looking at each and every technology and trying to decide what will mean something in 5 or 10 years. What is going to last? Will the initial investment pay off?

The internet as we know it today was only text in 1993 for the most part. In 2023 we may see a virtual web that allows the user to move from site to site as an avatar to shop and "hold" objects, not just look at static pictures or Flash animations.

Social Networking is certainly taking us to heights unimagined in years past, not just in the amount of divorces, but in more productive uses. Imagine a think tank as large as the world in which everyone contributed to solve issues. A repository for world leaders to build better futures.

Imagine every computer in the US donating 10 percent of it's processing time to work on something for the betterment of society?

I think about these things quite a lot lately. We can do more. We should do more. What will you do?

The Millenium Project

2008-12-28T08:01:00.000-08:00

Let us not think of our projects in 5 or 10 year increments, let us contemplate the ripple effect of our actions by centuries.

My words to frame the ideas of The Long and Now Foundation: http://www.longnow.org/

A book that they published about their ideas many years ago greatly affected how I look at the projects I do in technology or in my own life.

Unfortunately one of the worst parts of the human condition is the sense of the immediate or "now". We solve problems based on the immediate need and do not anticipate or often care about what the next generation must deal with.

Technology requires us to think of evolution. Infrastructure for any technology is a costly venture. It is a living breathing part of our campuses and our class rooms. If we fail to think about its longevity we then are replacing millions of dollars of cable, hardware and software in as little as 3 years.

Schools want to save money, but are they saving money if the technology only lasts a year?

I bought a Gateway in 1998 that worked like a champ until 2006. Tell me that that 3500 wasn't worth it? I got the high end of everything and didn't need an upgrade until the processor could no longer keep up.

That is an extreme scenario, but understand that we ask our cars to make it 15 and 20 years and plan accordingly. We don't ask our desktops to do that.

I do know that if the goal is Star Trek---then perhaps we also need to look at the principles that frame the technology of Star Trek. Is there a standard for right and wrong action? Are we recycling what we can? Are we really establishing ethical uses for the abilities we create? Some would say just let it go--grow wildly and then regulate it. City planners will tell you that it's too late after all the highways are built.

This is my thought for all of us at the New Year. Let us work together in all our technology projects with a longer goal in mind. It isn't the immediate use of a learning repository, it should be the building of the library at Alexandria. It isn't the use of a course management system, but the building of the 25th century class room we should focus on.

Happy New Years!

2008-12-16T08:19:00.000-08:00

Multimedia Creation as a Non-Discursive Multicultural Teaching and Learning Method

Kathrine Bailey

December 8, 2008

Abstract
The inclusion of multicultural lessons in the classroom often fail due to incongruous teaching practices and methodology choices and not because the learning objective was unsound. Multimedia creation as a non-discursive multicultural teaching and learning method can alter the discursive method of auto-biography that often fails as a class assignment to create awareness and discussion for all learners in a classroom or community.

Introduction

“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of ignorance.” -Robert Quillen

How do educators, at any level, create opportunities for students to include their culture and personal experiences as bilingual or bicultural students in the learning environment and lesson plans in an unrestrictive method that creates understanding and ongoing conversations about multicultural attitudes in a productive manner inside and outside of the classroom or community?

Multimedia creation and viewing by students and community members is a non-discursive method that will allow critical thinking about race, gender, sexuality, and other multicultural issues.

Justification for the Multimedia Model

Non-Discursive learning practices that use multimedia creation are an excellent model for effective multicultural learning strategies, specifically the use of discursive practices in non-discursive multimedia methods that replicate the natural process of storytelling inherent in many cultures (Coffey, 2007). Multimedia project creation allows a student to express themselves in multi layered conversations of visual images and audio that can be processed in discursive and non-discursive ways (Hayes & Graves, 2002).

Sleeter and Tettegah in Technology As A Tool In Multicultural Teaching define discursive and non-discursive learning through descriptions in Langer’s book, Philosophy in a New Key:

Discursive knowledge uses verbal symbolism in the form of language, which allows us to abstract ideas from concrete experience and put together abstractions in sequential forms to convey propositions. Thus discursive knowledge is logical, linear, intellectual and decontextualized. Non-discursive knowledge is a way of making sense of “the flux of sensations” that we experience through our senses (p. 93). Non-discursive symbols such as lines, colors, and rhythms, encode experience and emotion in ways that discursive language cannot.

The creation of the multimedia objects as well as the viewing of a created multimedia object lays the essential ground work for a student or community member’s examination of personal attitudes towards race and culture as well as personal cultural identity (Sleeter & Tettegah, 2002). As the student or community member examines their current attitudes and perceptions, the instructor can create a conversation that in turn helps the student or community member construct a more positive and productive attitude towards race through critical thinking practices (Lott, 2008).

According to Sleeter and Tettegah in Technology As A Tool In Multicultural Teaching (2002):

Previous studies have proved that technology can provide meaningful ways for educators and students to process information and collaborate in order to promote critical thinking and social justice through multicultural education (Applebaum & Enomoto, 1995; Chisholm, 1994, 1995; Kendall, 1999; Kollock & Smith, 1999).

When a student or community member creates a discursive narrative of their own experience with details of their personal lives and culture, often they remain unheard by their peers due to language or cultural barriers as well as because of stylistic techniques (Coffey, 2007). Personal narrative in an interview naturally drifts forward and backwards in time and location, but the pure discursive narrative written in class or as an exercise towards conversation typically has a beginning, middle and end format (Coffey, 2007). The personal narrative method is difficult to replicate in a purely discursive method and is better suited to multimedia creation as a way to retain the sense of immediacy and understanding (Hays & Groves, 2002). Furthermore, the multimedia piece when created and viewed by others will enfold Gardener’s ideas of multiple intelligences and allow a viewer to process the information as well as create meaning and insight about the creator and their situation (Sleeter & Tettegah, 2002).

Students and community members can use images, symbols, signs, and other media clips to create a layered narrative that the viewer experiences. Though the media itself is not the same as stepping into someone’s experience, it is a nearer approximation experientially than that of purely discursive methods (Hayes & Groves, 2002; Marshal, 2001; Sleeter & Tettegah, 2002; Friesen & Hug, 2008).

Sleeter and Tettegah in Technology As A Tool In Multicultural Teaching (2002) give a compelling justification for multimedia as a methodology for multicultural learning and conversations:

Imagine trying to have students grasp complex ideas about racism, sexism, or culture by simply reading a textbook. Most teachers are aware that this does not work very well because discursive textbooks generally do not engage lived experiences very richly. Now imagine using a “textbook” that blends reading, video, music, and pictures.

An interview is often engaging because the narrative is not forced to follow discursive methodology. With multimedia, the non-discursive impartation of the same information is also enhanced with symbols, images, and other audio that can contribute to a person’s experience. The multimedia piece has the ability to place the narrative into the emotional spectrum of the observer on many levels. Experience of the piece allows the viewer the ability to translate the visual and verbal information and relate it to their understanding of the same symbols, etc. For example, a student or community member when speaking about their culture or an event may add images and reference timelines on a graphical chart. The observer may take that timeline and relate it to their life and experiences to compare and contrast. The comparison may compel the student in a media conversation to create their own piece in reply to help the other student or community member understand their experience of the same event on the timeline, much like YouTube (Marshal, 2001).

Simon Coffey in his paper, Discursive worlds of the language learner: a narrative analysis, takes time to define current thinking about second language acquisition theory. He takes great care to re-define the language learner as a, “social actor”. Much like Stanislavsky’s Method acting, the language learner is, “striving to do things, have things, be things” (Coffey, 2007). The immediacy of the prior action statements, however, is lost in discursive practices.

Instructors can create that immediacy, according to Hayes and Groves, through multimedia. “The engagement is intellectual and conscious as well as subconscious, intuitive, emotional and bodily (Hayes &Groves, 2002)”. Hayes and Groves also relate their own use of multimedia creation as a tool in their classroom with narrative of student choices and experiences. There are many references to writing as boring and student’s own perceptions that the combination of images and words allowed them more freedom to express their ideas. Many spoke of choosing images to evoke an emotional response similar to their own. Non-discursive methodology allowed them to better approximate their own experience by inducing the same emotional state in their viewers.

Hayes and Groves take care to note that these projects were not an end to a means. Hayes and Groves state that, “The videos provided a foundation from which we could build our discussions, class activities and projects”. In their conclusion, Hayes and Groves posit that:

Students need to critically examine diversity issues and their role in perpetuating and impending social change. Because we live in an age in which electronic imagery is quickly becoming the dominant social and cultural framework, using media in the classroom can be the method for encouraging our students into these kinds of roles.

Personalization or engagement is a known methodology for increasing student learning (Hansen, 2007). Creating a typology for understanding experiential learning for science and technology teachers by Ron Hansen has another powerful support statement for the use of multimedia as a teaching and learning methodology and echoes that of Coffey’s “social actor” as a language learner. Hansen states, “To experience something, by comparison, is to ‘get involved’.”

In conclusion, the current discursive methodologies for creating conversation in the classroom about multicultural issues is failing, not the ideology of multiculturalism itself. Through non-discursive methods, the instructor can engage the student and the community by creating a conversation that works on many levels to help students experience through narrative what their classmates or community members experience themselves as well as share in return their own responses to the multimedia. A conversation that is often difficult to create becomes an exciting and engaging communication for the student and the community.

Practical Application of Methodology

In order to better create a framework for educators using the suggested multimedia methodology for engaging students in meaningful conversation and critical thinking processes about multicultural issues it is necessary to create concrete models.

Coffey in Discursive worlds of the language learner: A narrative analysis, gives the reader a stronger sense of the importance of narrative as a teaching tool. He states, “Narratives allow an individual to make sense of their own past, present, and (predicted or imagined) future.”

Coffey further explains that, “Indeed, continuity across time is a key feature of narrative.”

Coffey also explains that narrative is how we reinforce our ideas of self and community and goes further to suggest that telling and retelling these narratives in rehearsed manners becomes a sort of autobiography for the person and at large the community. Coffey goes further by saying that the bilingual or multicultural individual is by nature situated between one or more community narratives.

For the multicultural or bilingual individual, they are set in a discursive trap of linear and finite relations to the community, and the community itself does little to help them redefine their autobiography on a more non-discursive path. When one is in a box, it is very hard to find the lid, so to speak. Using multimedia for a non-discursive autobiography can effectively allow the student or community member a chance to redefine and discuss their narrative in a less formal or conscious method. By erasing the rules of narrative, the instructor can effectively allow the student or community member to release the trappings of self as defined by material or concrete cultural concepts held to a beginning, middle and end. The freedom of expression to evoke an emotional response in peers not necessarily tied completely to language can create a common ground that allows the bilingual or multicultural learner access and acceptance as part of the group or community. For those of the dominant group, it becomes a way for them to relate to their multicultural or bilingual peers in a new way that can challenge their pre-conceptions of the student with whom they may have chosen not to engage out of misunderstanding or insular practices of community.

The instructor should begin the lesson with the idea in mind that the lesson is not a means to an end, but rather an ongoing process to create critical thinking that can challenge and change perceptions (Lott, 2008).

A TYPOLOGY FOR ANALYZING AN EXPERIENCE

The above typology composed by Ron Hansen is a beginning place for creating a rubric that addresses the experiential needs of the learner. When creating a rubric, the instructor should be extremely careful to provide enough direction, but not so much that the freedom of expression for the learner is lost. Define one to two goals from each of the experiential categories. Since the project is emphasizing the “social actor” of Coffey, it is important to remember that action phrases, like those of Method Acting can be helpful for the student.

For example, a goal in the rubric could be: Tell your classmates about a particular series of events out of order (maybe start at the end and go back to the beginning or start at the middle and go forward and back through time) using imagery, sound, and/or text to evoke an emotional response in a method that approximates your own cultural experience or challenges. Events might include racial confrontation, sexual discovery of self, or finding place in culture and community. Students can then post their work and discuss their responses.

Grading might contain points for content related to complexity of the issue addressed in conjunction to the depth and quality of expression. Technical grades for flow of narrative and use of technology can also be part of the grading rubric. Discussion participation and the ability of the media object itself to communicate to students is also an assessment source.

The instructor should investigate the technology level of their school and explore the technology in advance as well as receive training or professional development for their technology choices. Training will allow the instructor to train the students as well as create documentation for the student on how to use the technology effectively. Exploration should not be focused on just the technical elements, but should be conducted to find concrete examples of similar projects for students to observe and model from to achieve success. These models are spring boards for their own creative ideas and helpful for learners who are less creative to still meet the learning objective successfully.

The instructor should be willing to teach technology alongside the lesson objective. Remember that technology education in and of itself is a practice in multicultural education. Those without technology experience will soon be graduating into a work force that will require competency in basic multimedia and computer applications. As an instructor you will be effectively raising your student’s ability to close the digital divide as well as become critical thinkers (Marshal, 2001; Sleeter & Tettegah, 2002). The instructor should always keep in mind that a student or community member’s socio economic class and digital citizenship are also a part of their cultural identity and must be fostered for successful multicultural conversations (Marshal, 2001; Sleeter & Tettegah, 2002) .

Final Conclusion

In final conclusion, multicultural lessons are not failing in classrooms because the learning objective is unsound, rather they are failing because the methodology for achieving the learning objective is based on traditional discursive practices that do not engage the learner. Through non-discursive narrative creation with multimedia, students and community members can challenge their own personal autobiographies as well as relate to their peers in a more meaningful way that engenders critical thinking. Through critical thinking students and community members can challenge their own attitudes and perceptions of multicultural issues as well as create an ongoing discussion or conversation. The creation of willing and open conversation is the beginning place for success for any multicultural learning objective. Multimedia creation is a non-discursive method that can engender those important conversations.

As a final thought, “Talk to people about themselves and they will listen for hours (Benjamin Disraeli).”

References
Appelbaum, P. & Enomoto, E. (1995). Computer mediated communication for a multicultural experience. EducationalTechnology, 35(6) p. 49-58.

Chisholm, I. M. (1994). Culture and technology: Implications for multicultural education. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 3, (2) p2 13-22 8.

Chisholm, I.M. (1995). Equity & diversity in classroom computer use: A case study. Journal of Computing in Childhood Education, 6 (1) p. 59-80.

Coffey, Simon (2007). Discursive worlds of the language learner: A narrative analysis. Revista Complutense de Educacion, 18(2), 145-160. Retrieved December 4, 2008 from Education Full Text database.
Friesen, Norm (2008). Discursive psychology and Web 2.0 technology. Retrieved December 10, 2008 from http://learningspaces.org/n/node/17
Friesen, Norm and Theo Hug (2008). The mediatic turn: Exploring concepts in media pedagogy. Retrieved November 10, 2008 from http://learningspaces.org/n/node/17

Hansen, Ron (2007). Creating a typology for understanding experiential learning for science and technology teachers. 10th Conference of the International Organization for Science and Technology Education. Foz do Iguacu, Brazil. Retrieved December 10, 2008 from http://www.modelab.ufes.br/xioste/papers/xioste_paper062.pdf

Hammer, R. & Kellner, D. (2000). Multimedia pedagogy and multicultural education for the new millennium. Religious Education 95 Issue 4, p475, 15p.

Hayes, M. T., et. al. (2002), The medium is the experience: Uses of media in multicultural Education. Multicultural Education, 10(2), 15-18. Retrieved November 14, 2008, from
Education Full Text database.
Kendall, L. (1998). Meaning and identity in cyberspace: The performance of gender, class and race online. Symbolic Interaction, 21(2) p. 129-153.

Kollock & Smith, 1999). Communities in cyperspace. In P. Kollock and M. Smith (Eds), Communities in cyperspace. New York: Routledge.

Kymlicka, Will (1995) Multicultural citizenship: A liberal theory of minority rights. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Langer, S. K. (1976). Philosophy in a new key: A study in the symbolism of reason, rite, and art, 3 rd ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Lott, Vikki (2008). Critical thinking about race: A proactive paradigm for building bridges. SACS Conference Presentation. San Antonio, TX
Marshall, P., & ERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education, W. (2001, December 1). Multicultural education and technology: Perfect pair or odd couple? ERIC Digest. . (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED460129) Retrieved November 10, 2008, from ERIC database.

Sleeter, Christine and Sharon Tettegah (2002), The Medium is the experience: Uses of media in multicultural education. Multicultural Education, 10(2), 3-9. Retrieved November 14, 2008, from Education Full Text database.

Now You Can Get Your Second Life in a Second Language!

2008-10-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

"There’s been a quiet revolution going on, as international Second Life Residents and a small number of Lindens work together to translate tens of thousands of text strings and critical web pages into nine key languages. In another month (depending on QA time) the full viewer will be live in German, French, Korean, and Japanese. It will also be partially localized into Spanish, Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and Danish. We’ll continue to work on these languages, and plan to begin Italian and Dutch next. The goal is a high quality Second Life viewer and website available to all Residents communicating in each language."
http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/10/13/second-life-coming-soon-in-ten-languages/

For those of us in Education this is MAJOR progress. For those of us in the business world this is MAJOR progress.

Learning tools often are branded in a single language and therefore enforce the native tongue of their maker, unless it is a course cartridge to TEACH the secondary language. But, for a moment, take off your Dolly Doldrum face and rejoice with me. Imagine a software that could allow us to actively allow ourselves to inconspicuously begin learning another language.

How many of you have had silent ESL students in our courses? It is very difficult to get them to speak in English for fear of saying the wrong thing or fear they may not pronounce something correctly. They do not want to see their teacher or classmates wince when the pronunciation or word choice repeatedly affects communication. That poor student will go silent unless made welcome by those in the class and by the teacher.

The same effect happens for a native English speaker trying to learn a second language. No one likes to be wrong or see the pained expression of a teacher who is tired of your r's not rolling!

Imagine, if you will, a world market so to speak, with signs and symbols to decode in order to communicate. This is like traveling for real! You can stumble into a group of native speakers and begin halting conversation using Voice Chat or typing. You can then learn the spelling and vocabulary needed to exist in this new country. Welcome to the Rosetta Stone of the future. You learn by experience just like you do when you travel in the real world.

The bonus? They still don't know who you are if you mess up horribly, and as kind as most SL residents are, they will probably HELP YOU!

For teachers, this is the opportunity to connect students to native speakers for practice sessions. Oral skills are hard to develop during class time with a single teacher and only other non-native speakers are readily available for practice. We can't all afford that Summer Abroad, but we may now have the free ability for a day abroad or a year abroad to learn the culture and language of another country.

I just wanted to say KUDOS to Second Life for this effort. Teachers, if you have bright students with Linden minds, send them in to Second Life to help with the Rosetta Stone of the future. For that matter, shouldn't Rosetta be sponsoring this!!!

Arigato gozaimashita SL!

Virtual Disasters: Have we really learned anything?

2008-09-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

As I was writing for my poetry blog this Sunday I began to think about Ike and Katrina and every hurricane or disaster in my lifetime.

I also began to think of virtual recovery scenarios and wondered why more aren't developed and ran by the government.

For example, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) has a presence in Second Life, why aren't they running an infection scenario for Bird Flu or other common issues. A whole virtual population waits to see what that might be like.

For hurricanes? There are fabulous 3-D engineering programs like Pro-E or Autocad that can simulate everything from car parts to buildings with estimated stress reactions. In theory, an integration of these to programs with data from the national weather service could replicate anticipated damages or track possible weaknesses within cities.

Add in the Red Cross or other disaster recovery organizations with typical human response times and supply amounts and you could quickly calculate costs and human labor needed to clean up a disaster area.

Pathfinder Linden in Second Life works on such scenarios.

I guess I wonder why the government can pay 100 dollars for a hammer and not a couple of thousand for a Second Life Island.

In general, if you read enough about the new collaborative capabilities of the web, there are not many excuses left other than failure to "play" for why larger problems are not solved more quickly. We have very powerful abilities to combine wikis, blogs, virtual worlds, and image sites to talk about solutions and contribute answers to the larger human survival issues.

It only takes one place and 1000 minds to frame the problem, provide data, summarize the data, and find a solution. Computers cannot think like a human yet, but they can be a collective conscience if we let them.

Have you ever lain down at night with a problem you couldn't solve only to wake up with the solution from a dream? Web 2.0 and virtual worlds could be our big, "Ah ha!" What would you solve if you could with the help of the whole world?

How many clicks does it take to get through your profile on Facebook?

2008-09-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/F/FACEBOOK_FACELIFT?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-09-10-05-05-39

One of the students from my home institution is quoted in this article. I find it noteworthy that he is 19 and of the "digital generation".

Has our attention span come to this?

Just kidding guys. He has a valid point. How many of us have to deal with software that makes us nuts? No, do not answer that!

We hate it with a passsion. None of us has time for ten clicks to do one thing. Most of us wish we could just plug the machine directly into our brains fuzzy logic and, "make it happen just how we see it." (the Gregginator)

They make testing software like Morae to track clicks and measure the intuitiveness of software. If they really wanted to do us a favor, they would track the "annoyed click".

I bet many of you do not realize this; most voice software for customer service about 10 years ago began investing in ways for the computer to gauge your level of frustration. Vocal tones, how fast you do or do not answer a question,if you are hitting the keys hard, or a hitting a key repeatedly are signals the new software listens to for the computer to get you to a human faster. It knows you are going to implode or go postal any minute. Hint: Hit 0,1 or 9 repeatedly on most voice automated systems to get to customer service faster. Fail to give the expected or standard replies for at least three questions and you go straight to a human!

However, most of the soft ware we use daily does not learn from us. Microsoft et. al. assume we will just do their 200 steps because we are a captive audience. Click harder, triple click, whatever you like and you will not get help!

Course management systems? Do not get me started! They tell you they test these with human beings; I am not sure if I want to meet those human beings. They must have some masochistic tendencies or no free will. These systems can take multiple steps just to EMAIL someone. I takes no less than 6-12 clicks to email from the actual email link in our current LMS. The same applies for posting or replying to a post for a discussion board. Dropbox? Grading? Carpal Tunnel Syndrome America.

Most of us do not mind one or two clicks. Select, Cut, Paste are three easy keystrokes away. But if it takes a series of 10 moves to do something, we might as well be playing a master chess game against Bobby Fischer!

I leave you all with this thought: Life is short, save your clicks for when you are old.

Virtual Worlds Conference 2008

2008-08-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.virtualworldsexpo.com/index.html

My hand raises involuntarily, "Me, me, me! I want to go!"

The Virtual Worlds Conference is full of heavy hitters in the virtual world and gaming industry. A quick glance of not just the speakers, but the expected attendees should send anyone straight to the registration page!

Unfortunately for me, I do not see a lot of education heavy hitters hanging out at Virtual Worlds. No, the industries more common right now in online education are flat lifeless servers that are repositories for flat lifeless text documents.

Oh, there are occassional chat spaces and sometimes interactive web conferencing softwares, but there is no through patch to the virtual world where a student could pick up a book and read it or watch a performance or speaker in a "familliar" environtment.

Gaming theory or PBL (problem based learning) are the hot topics of education at the moment. The educational system has been looking inward and has finally realized that they are failing their students when they send them off into the real world.
Where are they failing them? Ask any industry and they will tell you that new graduates are full of specialized knowledge and, surprisingly, a lack of solid problem solving skills.

Will gaming theory and PBL be the panacea or a band-aid for the problem? Only time will tell, however, solid research seems to say that it at least helps.

Ina face to face classroom it is hard to give 100 students a problem solving experience. Flash games, virtual worlds and in some cases pre-packaged games can suplement instruction and give students a much needed brain boost.

In my day, we dug out the Dungeons & Dragons manuals, a hand full of dice, and several good friends to adventure our way through as a group towards a common goal. Oh, wait! We still do that EVERYDAY in my real world job.

The truth is, killing a dragon or finding a treasure has as much value to student problem solving and group skills as a webquest and a powerpoint, perhaps more so; at least killing a dragon is interesting. I was always willing,in my youth, to get over the annoying party member who wanted to wake up the sleeping ogre to ask it a question for the sake of a quest. My "grown-up" job requires that same patience and guidance skills as a party leader to use my teams attributes, unite them, and accomplish an important goal for the department.

We never really do stop slaying dragons, do we?

Anyway, this article is my small way of saying that I would like to be at the Virtual Worlds Conference, but more importantly, I would like to see those at the Virtual Worlds Conference take education as a partner and a venue more seriously!

Most schools do not have the budget to develop the kinds of programs that would enrich our student's experience, but a focus group or two might find pre-made accounting skills builders for non-traditional students. Or, even better, a 3-D repository and interactive sharing space for distance learners and their instructors!

Second Life, I challenge you to create an educational space without all the legal jargon that holds back educational institutions from joining in. I challenge you to create more G and PG spaces for those who must forge out alone to teach. I challenge you to integrate streaming seamlessly and include repository spaces. I challenge you, Second Life, to stop flirting with educational work and embrace it!

I challenge those in education to demand the same things. We can passively watch others make the most of the virtual world evolution or we can influence that evolution on a path conducive to our own needs and delivery methods. Who knows, we may learn something about education itself along the way.

"Beam me up Scotty!": IBM, Second Life, and Interoperablility of Virtual Worlds

2008-07-10T08:20:00.001-07:00

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/07/08/ibm-linden-lab-interoperability-announcement/

Christopher Keesey and I had a discussion last year about the future of Virtual Worlds and what we should be expecting to happen. One of the key survivability factors for the new vision of Virtual Worlds involves transparency between software applications and servers.

In layman's terms, the really cool avatar or character you made in one virtual world should become a solid identity on the network that can move from one virtual world to the next. For example, my avatar in Second Life, KitKatBailey, should be able to cross into World of Warcraft or Halo with the right Visa or pass key. Think of it as international traveling in a virtual world.

Why is this exciting or important that IMB and SL are working on this?

It means we are getting closer also to the idea of a 3-D internet. You will not navigate to flat pages for IBM or Old Navy to shop, your character will travel seemlessly from virtual store and realm to others without having to re-log in or build a new identity. Much like your MSN or Google ID passes through large amounts of sites on the internet now without having to retype in your credentials. You login once and go where you need to.

I hear a line from the Fifth Element, "Multipass."

It's true, one day we will have something like our SS# or Driver's license that is an all access pass to travel, shopping, etc in the virtual world. These are the baby steps.

Overall, I think it is good news. I hope Google and all the other entities on the current net hop aboard. It will be better funded and move faster if they invest as a group in what is the inevitable bright digital future of the digital citizen.

Lively Google or Half Life: Second Life Gets Competition?

2008-07-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.lively.com/popular

Dear Readers,

As you know I keep up with most trends. This one showed up in several places today from different "in the know" folk.

I am an explorer by nature so I thought, "Hey, why not?"

After all, Web 2.0 is heading towards Web 3D running with scissors, right?

Rating on a 1-10 scale for Lively so far is a solid 7.

It is interesting, easy to figure out without reading pages of instruction, however,it did crash my computer after install trying to generate the changes on the fly.

It is meant for XP and Vista only--sorry Safari.

Is it a viable alternative to Second Life? No, not really. It lacks the power, scope, and breadth of application that Second Life has as a tool for education.

It is a "Second Life for Dummies" alternative for instructors who merely wish to meet with their students and talk or lecture. Students or instructors with very little techno savvy can adopt this technology in about 15-45 minutes. It beats Second Life in that respect, but remember that more complicated tools with higher applications will take more time to learn than these small one purpose Web 2.0 tools. This has one application, chatting in a "pretty" room.

They will eventually get the bugs worked out I am sure. Google has the money for programmers after all.

Me, I am amused by it, I may even recommend it to faculty for alternative meeting or chat spaces. For real solid learning objective work, complex lecture delivery, or PBL (Problem Based Learning) I will continue to reccommend Second Life exploration.

KitKatBailey (See you in SL)

Where is Waldo? Finding the man in the machine.

2008-07-01T19:00:00.001-07:00

Collaboration is a joy for some, and a form of purgatory for others.

Add the word Online to Collaboration and you will see students and instructors run screaming in fear.

I have recently been taking an online class, something I recommend to all online instructors to do, and have found it to be most informative on many levels.

There are always "crazes" and "flavors of the month" for any online program, instructor, and student.

The current craze involves the Web 2.0 jargon and mythos.

What is it? Where do I get it? How do I use it? I can tell you I have gotten all those emails and phone calls. Some actually think it is a single program like MSWord or Dreamweaver.

What annoys me more than trying to explain Web 2.0, is trying to help frantic and pressured instructors understand that, "using Web 2.0 tools just to meet a technology initiative is counter productive."

Oh, perhaps I should explain that to the Administrators: Pressuring your faculty to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into their online classrooms is counter productive.

James and Kathleen Lengel would probably back me up on that.
www.ablongman.com/lengel1e

Anyway, my point is that randomly picking tools is not going to satisfy the student collaborative initiative online. In some instances the wrong tool can be a kill-joy that halts the learning process.

There are hundreds of "best practices" out there concerning the Web 2.0 tools, so I might as well add to the pile.

1. Pick something that has familiar elements. I.E. Google Docs has all the MS Suite capabilities AND can allow shared editing and chatting in real time as you work.

2. Pick something they might use again. It is great to complete an assignment, but you are training them for careers. A good deal of the content creation and sharing tools of Web 2.0 have a Second Life so to speak. What might they use in business or in a research lab?

3. Never pick anything that takes longer than 30-45 minutes to learn. They have an assignment due. They will hate you.

4. Create engaging lessons with the tool. Use problem based learning! Don't shy away from it. PBL is what Web 2.0 was made for. Collaboratively solving problems for business,research, and in our case, course work!

5. Thou shalt mash-up. It is ok to use just ONE tool, and in some cases you may need two or more. I.E. Run a Blog and a Wiki at the same time. The only hard fast rule is do not overload your students. Once again, 30-45 minutes to learn each tool means if you have 2 you have taken up 2 hours of their lives.

6. It's ok to ask for help. Go play with your students. That sounds wrong on more than one level, but it really is what you need to do. Figure out what they are using for their social lives, their data organization, and their work. Ask them what they have used and if it was meaningful. We are all evolving together, they just happen to have an advantage.

7. Make friends. Work with other disciplines and instructors to do cross curriculum projects with these tools. If you are working in Second Life to build a simulation--go see your graphic arts or video students!

8. Just start. I saw that phrase hanging over my computer in graduate school and I live by it. If you just start making choices then you will see what needs to be done next. If you wait around for it to solve itself you will just get old.

9. Don't forget the basics. In the end, the tools are just that, tools. Good solid lessons begin with a solid learning objective situated in a meaningful context.

10. Have fun yourself! This is the most important one. If you want to integrate technology it has to tempt you to experiment and work out the bugs. Make sure the software isn't a novelty. Do you find yourself coming back several times a day? Once a week? Half a year later and you can't remember your username and password?

In the end, its about finding the HUMAN in the technology.

*steps off of soap box*

Collaborative technology and collaborative culture are nothing new. We were raising barns together long before Web 2.0

Collaboration Station

2008-06-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

So, my new task is to start incorporating Web 2.0 into Second Life.

I really love the google docs...lets see if we can make this work.

I also found an incredibly COOL Web 2.0 site that groups and organizes the different companies and free/some not tools available by tagging.

Go here: http://www.go2web20.net/

It is all about creating things that can feed from these tools.

The other idea I recently had--feel free to use it--just give me credit--is to create a "visual" wiki. Items can be modified and changed in Second Life by others if you give permission. You could easily add text or other types of information into the objects. Or, better yet, imagine a house, Victorian, and you click on an architectural detail. A card gives you details about the details. Key words in the card bring up other cards and highlight portions of the house. A giant visual learning piece!

Ok, so that is a more complex idea, but I would imagine it could all work together. There were rumors of keywords being incorporated into SL--that coupled with their built in browser functions could mean Web 3.0 is coming to your neighborhood, real soon, y'all!

They Might Be Giants: Blackboard, D2L, and Web 2.0

2008-06-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/05/14/sync
http://www.blackboard.com/company/press/release.aspx?id=1145522

The last blog I put out was a warning that an LMS that did not incorporate Web 2.0 would soon find itself out of the market.

The above link shows that Blackboard is running with sissors in the direction of Facebook.

Ok guys, are you serious? Then again I have to think about another post recently quoting how many NetGens would leave their jobs if they were not allowed to use Facebook at work; perhaps Blackboard is onto something. Does this mean we will have Desire2Learn Myspace?

Other prominent directions I found on the BB site include a purchase of a company that handles SMS etc: http://www.blackboard.com/connect Oh, look! They are covering the cell phone angle I mentioned in an earlier blog.
Desire2Learn are you going iPhone?

One might look at the above information and say that Blackboard "gets" education and no one else is doing what they do, right?

The truth is no one else has the money to do what Blackboard is doing or most likely they fear litigation. D2L will never be able to continue development if they are always in a struggle of Titans with Blackboard.

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/22799
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/06/18/d2l

The above links are the latest press releases in that struggle. What I find almost touching (note the sarcasm) and very presumptive are statements that Blackboard will take care of D2L's customers if there is a service interuption due to their implied bankruptcy of Desire2Learn, or if Blackboard aquires D2L in some fantastical purchasing dream sequence.

I am thinking that D2L isn't much for selling, at least yet. See their blog concerning the trial and all its details: http://www.desire2learn.com/patentinfo/

Should I mention how creepy it is that Blackboard does NOT have anything so blatant for tracking the trial for their customers? It is a sort of Jedi Mind Trick. "These aren't the droids you are looking for."--thanks Obi Wan!

http://www.blackboard.com/patent/Community_Letter_032808.htm

Essentially the above link is one of two community letters that BB has on their site. Almost like a giant swatting off of a bothersome gnat, they make a quick note to their customers to say nothing is wrong and you will believe us. At least they would have us believe that. I'd imagine they are quaking in their boots over the possibility of having their patent overturned.

Do I know which Titan will win?

Well, Zeus won that match for those of you who remember your mythology. No one wanted the Titans around after all the mess they made.

Creating a 17,000 dollar Paperweight

2008-06-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Those who keep up with such things probably are aware of the case between Blackboard and Desire2Learn.

What they fail to see is the strain on the customers of BOTH software services. In the end both learning management systems are simply different flavors of a glorified web browser based application. (Both will be lucky if Google doesn't put them both out of business with all of their new collaborative tools.) In the end the LMS is a repository and unfortunately does not have much ACTIVE content. You can't edit together inside the LMS--BB or D2L. About the most active that any LMS can be is contributing to a discussion board or taking a quiz/survey. Any active content is linked to or created OUTSIDE the box.

What matters to me as a consumer, however, is that there are OTHER applications involved besides the powerhouses in the lawsuit.

These tools provide the active content our students are seeking. If one company decides not to share what is needed to integrate those technologies in, the people who lose are the school systems that bought the 3rd party software to meet the needs that the LMS didn't.

It takes time and careful thought is the answer you hear from either LMS when asked why this or that tool hasn't been added in. In the end it takes OPENESS and money. No one wants to share their code for fear of a lawsuit and neither has time to focus their efforts to integrating the tools because they are "avoiding lawsuits."

Peering, sharing, openess, and globalization under the research from Tapscot and Williams should be the driving force of any educational software company. It is what our students are doing, and if the LMS doesn't do what they or we as educators need to do to engage each other, it is not a good investment.

People Teach People! That is the Wimba motto. I wish those involved in the LMS war would look at that motto and pick it up as well. It isn't about the repository or the labeling of content for our students or us! It is about exploration, experience, and the sharing of that experience through group content.

The underpinnings of an LMS are NOT patentable (is that a word lol?). An LMS is a mashup of every existing Web 1.0 tool and of the HTML/XHTML language. It is as if Al Gore tried to patent the internet by saying he invented it. There were hundreds of thousands of hands and still are hundreds of thousands of hands creating the technology.

I digress.

The point is, move on without fear D2L and Blackboard stop wasting your energy.

Both should concentrate on making a product we want to buy. Liaise fair!

If anyone is going out to pick an LMS--here is an excellent shopping tip:
Are the tools you teach with in the LMS and is the LMS compatible with HOW you teach.

Even outside of the battleground there are other LMS software companies, and they need to be learning from this battle of titans--how will their product meet Web 2.0? How will it incorporate Web 3.0 (Experiential learning i.e. virtual worlds)?

Angel learning is about the only one I've seen planning for 3.0. They have an island on Second Life.

In the end, its about the right tool for the right job and getting the support for the tool and support for the tools the LMS doesn't have time to engineer on their own. Open up--let the light in.

I am looking at those in the LMS war and I am looking at my box of useless building blocks and add ons an I am saying to at least one party--HELP!

Gen x and y programming

2008-05-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOLCODE

http://lolcode.com/

http://www.dalkescientific.com/writings/diary/archive/2007/06/01/lolpython.html

The above sites represent the current code craze among the younger generation.

Who sayz the IM CRAZE has no PHAZE on the Industry?

I want a T-Shirt

I CAN HAZ----

Wikinomics, D2L, and Future Flights of Fancy

2008-01-25T19:17:00.000-08:00

How many of you have picked up a copy of Wikinomics by Tapscott and Williams?

None?

Ok, well for those of you addicted to Oprah's re-hashed classics (as if she was the first to read Love in the Time of Cholera), pick up a book that is relevant to your life. No, I am not suggesting that the classics do not have a place in our lives, but I am saying that the literary Canon should not be all you read. Besides, how else do we add to the Canon except by reading new works.

I digress.

For those of you in the business world or in education (not just online), Wikinomics is the definitive book on collaborative practices. It was intended as a primer for collaborative internet tools in business, but the same principles can be applied to education. If it can be applied to education, it can certainly be applied to the software we deliver online education through.

I had a meeting with a lovely gentleman from Desire to Learn this week concerning their multimedia object handlers and the currently non-XHTML (XML) compliant software. The good news is--they are working on it. The bad news for me is that it may be quite a while before I get to see the results.

I will not go into the upgrade horror that having 23 systems tied together brings, but it is a nice segway into how Wikinomics affects the development of products.

Open source products are to be cheered by most communities. According to Tapscott and Williams, it is a fast and inexpensive way to develop a tool for a focused group of users.

A great deal of companies start that way. They have an idea that groups of users work on together and then eventually they "lock it off" from outside editors to finish the development. They cover YEARS of development time in months because there are so many experts putting time in for FREE.

However good that principle is, there remains one problem. Many hands make light work, but can leave a worm trail of coding problems that may take several releases to fix. (Did someone say Vista?)

As more and more users find "bugs" they report them to the dedicated programmers, then the programmers make patches or hot fixes for the current version while fixing the new release. Sometimes a wiki or blog is used in conjunction with this process.

D2L relies on its ticket system and community site it seems to find and fix bugs. This is not necessarily a bad approach, but would be less frustrating for the users if they realized what was really happening.

The problem with ticketing systems is that you expect to submit a problem and get a solution. In 90% of the cases, that IS what happens. The other 10% however get answers like, "That will be in the next release." Another good one, "I will send that to the developers as a request."

Are they doing product testing? YES. Testing only helps work out ideas that have been realized.

Wikinomics does not talk about it, but from personal experience, you can lock off a product too soon.

The huge surge of schools, not just ours, into the D2L learning environment has enlivened their development again. Educators, the focus group for the software, are experiencing the software with their students. As they experience it, they find things that a programmer who does not teach online, may not have ever thought of.

Development should always have a team member that is a full time product user, and in some cases, more than one user.

Basic users need different things from advanced users. Biology teachers need different things from English teachers. Some things are common.

I do not envy the relatively infinite scope of developing a learning environment. Much like constructing a building, the software must accommidate different inhabitants with different needs.

I think what I saw showed me the "common spaces" are heading toward something more uniform and usable. A scalable system for "newbies" and for those of us in the point click generation.

Places I recommend going: Partnerships with other developers.

Open source does not mean open to the whole world, but you can certainly stay open by partnering with new creators. There is no rule that you have to develop everything yourself!

http://www.octopz.com/ is the web conferencing software of the future. I will be interested to see who snatches it up first. Breeze? Web Ex? Citrix? Wimba?

Or, will a smart learning managment system give instructors and students a really useful place to work collaboratively?

In the end, collaboration is the mode of the new business world. Ways to work globally using multiple machines to process and create together. After all 100,000 experts are much better than one.

Wikinomics. READ IT. Also, you can catch the paper that Samantha Penney and I published last year at: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/28/08/cd.pdf page 173

Second Life Charity--Lindens for Laudible Causes

2008-01-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22574057/?GT1=10755

Just wanted to pass along this gem of an article. Plastic people using plastic.

I am only kidding, this is really cool stuff.

I worked for 8 years doing corporate theater work. That is a genre of theatre in which you build sets etc for product release parties, company motivational get togethers, and often charities.

That being said, the average COST to the producer of said event is upwards of a minimum of 20,000 and often runs in the 100,000 or more range for JUST the entertainment. That does not include give aways, meals, speakers, etc.

Smart. VERY.

For essentially 9 dollars to have a more useful account, (the unpaid ones can't own land)you can create a place that creates revenue for your organization.

Colleges are also in on this. Annual giving campaigns are finding their way into Second Life. I would not be surprised if your fave college team doesn't soon have a shop to buy gear or even a "virtual" game in the near future. Maybe, just maybe, they might throw a fete on private land with donations as the entrance fee. Alumni, the sports teams, and the president of the university all there for you to meet and greet for 20,000 Linden. (Pocket Change in US dollars--current exchange is 265 lindens for 1 US dollar)

Second Life is even catering to the hipsters raising money for everything from Breast Cancer Research to Animal Rights.

I think it is positively brilliant considering the experience is so expensive in real world or RW as it is called.

Besides, after having sat through so many of these functions in RW, I would have given another 200 just to leave when I wanted to! The clothes kill me!

Either way, like the manifest destiny of the US towards the west coast, Second Life is driven by development into uncharted territory.

All I have to say is: SAVE FERRIS!

The Power of Blog--D2L and Media Redeemed!

2008-01-14T08:27:00.001-08:00

Not at all – feel free to post it!

It looks like my best availability this week is on Wednesday and Friday – is there a time on either of these days that will work for you?

Talk to you soon,
Greg

From: Bailey, Kathrine
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 10:50 AM
To: Greg Beckman
Subject: RE: Desire2Learn Insert Object Popup

I would love to…do you mind if I post this to show you guys care?

From: Greg Beckman
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 9:42 AM
To: Bailey, Kathrine
Subject: Desire2Learn Insert Object Popup

Hi Kathrine,

My name is Greg Beckman, a Lead Product Designer at Desire2Learn. I’ve worked extensively on the design for various tools in our Learning Environment product, including the latest (LE 8.2) versions of our Discussions, Content, and Grades tools.

I recently read the “D2L and Media” posting on your Blog, and I was wondering if you would be available for a call to discuss some of the issues you describe in your posting in more detail. I’m currently working on a design for a new version of our Insert Object functionality that I’d love to get your thoughts on if you can spare some time. We can also review some of the other usability issues that you’ve encountered and I can see what I can do about having those addressed as well.

Regards,
Greg

Greg Beckman
Lead Product Designer
Desire2Learn Inc

D2L and Media

2008-01-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

One of my many tasks as a Multimedia Specialist involves integrating net technology such as podcasts, vodcasts, flash etc into Learning Management Systems (LMS).

An LMS is essentially a giant database with an HTML interface. Files are stored and the HTML reader finds the appropriate handler for the file.

To my keen astonishment, Desire to Learn 8.1.3, (our new LMS)does NOT handle M4V or A.

It doesn't even act like those are on the map. Very funny indeed for a software that claims to be cutting edge.

I try not to grump too much---there are some cool things in D2L, however, it is a very unfinished and non intuitive product.

I can train someone in the basics of Blackboard or WebCT or even Moodle in about an hour. D2L--with all its kitchy tools takes at a minimum 5 hours. They trained the trainers in a 3 day session. Yes I was extremely grumpy about that.

One of the first rules of elegant design in any form of design is that it must be intutive. A user should, without ever picking up a manual (because who reads those?) be able to sit down and with in moments understand the basic navigation of the product.

I have been working in media since around 1993. Most technologies have the same sort of icons, functions, etc that are universal even if it is a different brand or as I like to say, flavor.

D2L has 5, yes count them, 5 different buttons to "activate" a choice.
Submit, Apply Changes, Save, Go, and Upload.

BlackBoard uses Submit for EVERYTHING.

WebCT has the same one button activator too.

You see where I am going?

Here is the BEST (note sarcasm) part about the handling of media in D2L. They put a little Object insertion tool on their HTML editor. That sounds wonderful helpful doesnt it?

Sure if you ARE a multimedia specialist. The poor faculty do not know about pixels or file types. In Blackboard or Moodle you upload the file and it takes it from there. No, not in D2L. It wants to know what it is--except that it tells you it only handles MP3, real media, and AVI or Windows Media. You can see where I am going with this I am sure. Most of us don't use these. AVI is such a huge file you would choke the system. Real Media has so many conflicts you hate to put it on any machine. And Windows Media doesn't play on a Macintosh (yes, some people still use them).

Even better? Can you stand it? They assign a default window of 100 x 100 pixels to the media. So when it does play you basically see a 1" x 1" window of the actual file which is typically 3" x 5". You can't access the buttons. You can't do anything. So now as a trainer, you must explain to your already baffled faculty that they have to some how measure what the file size they have displays at and set it appropriately.

Wow.

To circumvent the supposedly "helpful" technology, one must do a direct hyper link to the media in the Manage Files area and PRAY that the person has that media handler and that the D2L sys doesn't do funny things to it (like the M4V).

Our favorite quote here? That will be fixed in 8.2.

I hope they are planning for the future in 8.2, just getting what we are currently using doesn't do much when a NEW format comes out.

The Six P's are a rule to live by. Let us hope that D2L picks those up for future releases.

Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

If you are trying to hack a system on a regular basis....well, you know what I mean.

East Meets West: Myspace and Facebook

2007-11-19T19:32:00.001-08:00

For those of you who were wondering--Facebook and Myspace are still growing technologies. Nothing about them could be considered finished. The html codes for both sites are transparent enough for most teen hackers to circumvent.
If you do not want the world to see your information or know about your kinky habits, neither place is the place to post your most intimate thoughts.

In fact, most businesses will look to see if you have an account in either place and will in some cases look deeper if they have someone on staff who has the hack codes. Scary? No, not really. Anything you put on the web is public information.

What? You are surprised by this? No matter how many terms of agreements, security tools, and promises---NOTHING is 100% safe. If someone really wants your information they can get it or they know who can.

No, really, it is true. It's that way in real life, too. That is why private investigators exist. If you know what you are doing, you can get what you want. If you don't know what you are doing, you can always pay someone who does.

Facebook users are concerned at the moment about the infiltration of ads into their site. Myspace is tired of the ads. The ads, however, are what pay for the technology, so you either live with them or pay another service to get a site with no ads. Your television has commercials for a reason---the station could not operate without the millions in advertising.

The only real difference is that on the internet, they can track you. They can track what you look at, your shopping habits, and the times you are on the web. Hidden little tracker cookies that no matter how good your filters are, still watch you.

If you want to do something, complain to congress. Make trackers illegal. Your TV still has to rely on phone calls and surveys. The government won't let anything strange into your mailbox (federal offense) so why aren't tracking cookies treated with the same tough stance?

Commerce.

Next time you have two friends arguing over Myspace and Facebook, tell them worry about the cookies, not the ads. A passive ad can be ignored just like it is on your TV, however a tracker cookie is Orwellian and big brother IS watching you.

Sloan C and Virtual Lands

2007-11-10T23:33:00.000-08:00

This past week I had the privilidge of attending the Sloan C conference. For those of you not in the know, it is a online educational consortium that tries to educate its community on best practices for online education and technology trends.

Overall, I was pleased with the chance to connect with others.

My primary reason for attendence centered around the virtual world of Second Life. As with all bleeding edge uses for existing technologies, the presenters had as much knowledge as I did, and in some cases not as much knowledge.

The scale and scope of the use of virtual worlds in education seems to fall under the concensus that we all know its important, that something is happening, but it is really hard to measure the results.

I wonder if Second Life is up to partnering with companies such as Tech Smith to work out a way for Morae to help gauge if the sims that are created are doing anything new or diff than the flash games?

One of the things needed in the research seems to be a way to get clear data from virtual worlds.

That being said, what IS the data we want?

We know the ages of the users, we know some of the basic uses, but we can't effectively know how much students are learning in virtual environments without assessements and study groups.

I would love to see someone set up a group of students learning the same content in two different environments. Perhaps a third in a traditional classroom. So there it is. An LMS delivery, a Second Life delivery, and a Face to Face to see which is more effective or if they are all effective, which parts of the course were more effective in comparison to the others.

Another concensus that seemed to be reached is that the 21st century teacher is going to have to generate all content three or four different ways to incoporate the age range and learning styles of students. It may not be so necessary in 10 years or so, but for right now the spread of the haves and have nots of technology is wide.

Most people in distance and online education forget that in large portions of the accredited institutions who offer online programs, the technology gap is very wide. That applies to students and instructors alike; dial up to T3.

There is a larger gap for students in rural areas where landlines are the ONLY option. It might be cool to do Second Life or other collaborative software, but those on a land line at even 256K will find they cannot join into the online or virtual classroom with the same immediacy and ease as the on campus or even broadband students.

Yes, there are mobile wireless cards, but most of the affordable ones are no better than the 256K modems.

What do we do then?

Education can drive the online industry market. As with anything in our economy, if enough people demand it, the industry finds a way to deliver it.

We can get affordable flat screen TV's because everyone wants it. Money is put in by investors to make sure it is possible to get the mass distribution going.

A great deal of money was put into the internet at its inception by investment companies. Maybe it is time for Google to look at partnering up with AT & T or other companies that provide internet access via broadband. Increase your users and their speed. Create satisfied users. Like television, the massive jump in internet usage creates a group to market to. Open up the rural community, make it affordable and the industries will have a market.

We in education will benifit too!

One of the complaints I hear DAILEY from our online students is that they cannot get broadband where they live. The companies do not have the up front capital to run the lines and will not invest unless there is good reason to believe they will have subscribers. It is very easy to lay fiberoptics in a place that was primed for it. The rural areas are not primed, but need to be.

I have a fabulous idea--everyone write your senator---maybe Al Gore can "re-invent" the internet?

Second Life--is no life unless we catch our students up!