Logged in to New Literacies today and posted a couple of contributions.
Really nice WebCT site -a real effort to create something more fun to use than the standard interface and structure of most WebCT sites.
Interestingly, there's no section on the assessment - a big 6,000 word essay apparently. I revert to student behaviour and it's the first thing I look for.
I suspect that the course team took a deliberate decision to conceal it so that we'd concentrate on the readings and activities.
There's no rushing ahead to later weeks' activities as weekly units look to be time released. There is, however, a detailed, thematically arranged reading list).
I think it's a good move not to hit online learners with all the content on day 1. The tracking back option will be more useful though as learning is about recursive movements.
The welcome video from Julia was a nice touch (that's an idea I'll steal!) and I liked the idea of PowerPoint presentations to introduce course team and students - much better than "say a few words about yourself in this forum".
Mobile Blogging from here.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Web 2.0 and HE
The term 'Web 2.0' denotes a loose amalgam of emergent tools and technologies characterised by a dynamic social element and an emphasis on content sharing and collaboration.
There are a number of excellent introductions to the 'volatile' environments and tools that define the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Here are some key ones:
There are a number of excellent introductions to the 'volatile' environments and tools that define the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Here are some key ones:
Alexander, B. (2006) Web 2.0: a new wave of innovation for teaching and
learning? Educause Review 41(2)
Last accessed 22 January
2008 from: http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm06/erm0621.asp
Anderson. P (2007). What is Web 2.0? Ideas, Technologies and
Implications for Education (JISC)
Last accessed 22 January 2008 from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/techwatch/tsw0701.pdfO'Reilly, Tim (2005) What is Web 2.0?: design patterns and business
models for the next generation of software
Last accessed 22 January
2008 from: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=1Wesch, M. (2007) Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us
Last
accessed 22 January 2008 from: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
Wikis in HE
A wiki is a web site that any user can edit. For this reason, they are sometimes known as read/write web pages.
Typically, a group of people with shared interests and/or common goals participate in the creation and development of web pages and other online documentation on a particular domain of knowledge.
The term wiki is also used to refer to the software that enables online collaboration. Wiki software offers easy-to-use html editing tools that allow users to create web pages, embed images, add hyperlinks and so on.
If you're interested in learning more about wiki software Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia and best-known example of a wiki, has an excellent description.
Here are some of the main characteristics of a wiki:
Typically, a group of people with shared interests and/or common goals participate in the creation and development of web pages and other online documentation on a particular domain of knowledge.
The term wiki is also used to refer to the software that enables online collaboration. Wiki software offers easy-to-use html editing tools that allow users to create web pages, embed images, add hyperlinks and so on.
If you're interested in learning more about wiki software Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia and best-known example of a wiki, has an excellent description.
Here are some of the main characteristics of a wiki:
- easy-to-use interface that allows users to upload and edit entries through their web browser;
- facility for the originator of a wiki to determine who has edit rights (wikis therefore support both individual and team work);
- version control that automatically saves earlier pages (therefore retrievable in the event of a mistake or disagreement).
Finally, here are some useful articles:
Bristow, R. (2005). 'Beyond email: wikis, blogs and other strange beasts'. Ariadne, 42. Accessed 23 January 2008 from: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/beyond-email-rpt/intro.html
Pixy Ferris, S. and Wilder, H.(2006) 'Uses and potentials of wikis in the classroom'. Innovate: journal of online education 2(5). Accessed 23 January 2008 from: http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=258
Lamb, B. (2004) 'Wide open spaces: wikis, ready or not'. Educause Review 39(5). Accessed 23 January 2008 from: http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp
Blogs in HE
A blog is, in essence, an online journal.
Implicit in the structure of a blog is an ownership model whereby a primary author creates content (e.g. expresses an opinion) which is then commented upon by others. Interaction takes the form of commentary produced by the online audience relating to primary content.
Here's a summary of the main features of a blog:
Bristow, R. (2005). Beyond email: wikis, blogs and other strange beasts. Ariadne, 42 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/beyond-email-rpt/intro.html
Dickey, M. D. (2004) The impact of web-logs (blogs) on student perceptions of isolation and alienation in a web-based distance-learning environment. Open Learning, 19(3) 279-292
Nückles, M. et al. (2004). The use of public learning diaries in blended learning. Journal of Educational Media, 29 (1), 49-66
Weller, M. et al. (2005).Use of innovative technologies on an e-learning course. Internet and Higher Education, 8, 61–71
Williams, J. B. and Jacobs, J. (2004). Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2), 232-247. http://www.jeremybwilliams.net/AJETpaper.pdf
Implicit in the structure of a blog is an ownership model whereby a primary author creates content (e.g. expresses an opinion) which is then commented upon by others. Interaction takes the form of commentary produced by the online audience relating to primary content.
Here's a summary of the main features of a blog:
- individual dated entries comprised of text and images, hyperlinks to external websites and other media;
- reverse chronological arrangement of entries that places the most recent entry at the top of the page;
- easy-to-use interface that allows users to upload and edit entries through their web browser;
- secondary content made possible through a comments box after each entry allowing others to respond to primary content;
- search function;
- ability to 'tag' blog posts;
- automatic archiving of entries according to month and year;
Bristow, R. (2005). Beyond email: wikis, blogs and other strange beasts. Ariadne, 42 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/beyond-email-rpt/intro.html
Dickey, M. D. (2004) The impact of web-logs (blogs) on student perceptions of isolation and alienation in a web-based distance-learning environment. Open Learning, 19(3) 279-292
Nückles, M. et al. (2004). The use of public learning diaries in blended learning. Journal of Educational Media, 29 (1), 49-66
Weller, M. et al. (2005).Use of innovative technologies on an e-learning course. Internet and Higher Education, 8, 61–71
Williams, J. B. and Jacobs, J. (2004). Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2), 232-247. http://www.jeremybwilliams.net/AJETpaper.pdf
Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking refers to the practice of storing your favourite web sites online using web-based services such as del.icio.us, Furl or BibSonomy.
The social dimension of this practice comes from making your bookmarked web sites public, allowing you to share them with friends, family and, of course, colleagues and students.
del.icio.us is perhaps the best-known social bookmarking site and the one we’ve recommend. First, you’ll need to create an account. This takes a few seconds and just requires you to choose a username and password. Once, created, you’ll then need to install two buttons on web browser. One button is a short cut to your del.icio.us web page; the other is a tag button allowing you to bookmark the web sites you are viewing and add keywords and comments. Any sites you bookmark are added to your personal del.icio.us page.
By using a social bookmarking site, your bookmarks are no longer tied to a particular computer. Wherever you have web access, you have access to your bookmarks.
When you bookmark a site, you are asked to assign it a tag or keyword. This helps organise your bookmarks and allows you, should you wish, to share your bookmarks more selectively by linking to your page of favourite sites with a particular tag, as in the example below:
Social bookmarking isn’t just about you sharing web sites with your students. It’s easy for students to create their own individual or joint accounts and creating their own set of tagged and annotated web pages.
The social dimension of this practice comes from making your bookmarked web sites public, allowing you to share them with friends, family and, of course, colleagues and students.
del.icio.us is perhaps the best-known social bookmarking site and the one we’ve recommend. First, you’ll need to create an account. This takes a few seconds and just requires you to choose a username and password. Once, created, you’ll then need to install two buttons on web browser. One button is a short cut to your del.icio.us web page; the other is a tag button allowing you to bookmark the web sites you are viewing and add keywords and comments. Any sites you bookmark are added to your personal del.icio.us page.
By using a social bookmarking site, your bookmarks are no longer tied to a particular computer. Wherever you have web access, you have access to your bookmarks.
When you bookmark a site, you are asked to assign it a tag or keyword. This helps organise your bookmarks and allows you, should you wish, to share your bookmarks more selectively by linking to your page of favourite sites with a particular tag, as in the example below:
http://del.icio.us/Anthony_McNeill/Social_BookmarkingAdding a web site to your favourites will allow you to view how many other people have bookmarked it as well as the other sites they have added to their favourites. It’s also possible exploit the ‘wisdom of crowds’ by searching for web sites by tag and then bookmarking other users’ bookmarks.
Social bookmarking isn’t just about you sharing web sites with your students. It’s easy for students to create their own individual or joint accounts and creating their own set of tagged and annotated web pages.
Cousin on the VLE
Here are some interesting extracts from Glynis Cousin's chapter relevant to our discussion of VLEs:
References
Cousin, G. (2005) 'Learning from cyberspace' in Land, R. and Bayne, S. (eds) Education in cyberspace. London: RoutledgeFalmer. pp. 117-129
.. unless [...] experimentation is encouraged, VLE environments tend to be skewed towards the simulation of the classroom, lecture hall, tutor's office and the student common room. […]Another clue to the resonance VLEs establish with the old world can be found in their brand names or symbols: Blackboard and First Class are two obvious ones and in the case of the WebCT logo we have the image of a little white, male professor complete with mortar board and gown, clutching the sturdy medium of paper. (Cousin: 2005 p.121)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mob_Quad_from_Chapel_Tower.jpg
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
Though the online medium can allow forays into unchartered territory, there is a level at which the VLE pulls up the drawbridge, enclosing the student and tutor within a familiar university building. [...] … the identities encouraged by VLEs derive from a protectionist view of the university as the centre and controller of knowledge production. (Cousin: 2005 pp.122-123)
... it may be best to regard VLEs as transitional objects, enabling academics to work with the new and the old simultaneously. (Cousin 2005: 127-8)
... the declining use of any media which have played a part in our identity formation is understandably experienced as loss. For some this loss prompts a luddite yearning for the apparent safety of the past. p.120
References
Cousin, G. (2005) 'Learning from cyberspace' in Land, R. and Bayne, S. (eds) Education in cyberspace. London: RoutledgeFalmer. pp. 117-129
Social Networking
There are a number of very popular social networking sites (SNS) now which allow users to connect and interact with others using a range of tools including instant messaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogs, wikis, discussion boards and ‘wall’ spaces.
The most popular social networking environments are currently Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.
For a short video introduction to social networking, take a look at the video below:
If you’d like some further reading then try:
boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
Selwyn, N. (2007). Screw Blackboard... do it on Facebook! an investigation of students' educational use of Facebook. Paper presented to Poke 1.0 – Facebook social research symposium, November. http://www.scribd.com/doc/513958/Facebook-seminar-paper-Selwyn
Silly stuff
As promised, here's the Facebook for silver surfers spoof I mentionned last night:
Click on image to access web page
Enjoy!
Click on image to access web pageYou might also enjoy this video too. Not sure what it is - authentic or spoof? - but it's a nice warning to those who predict technology-driven utopias (and dystopias) for learning:
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Today's Blogging Workshop
Here's my presentation for today's workshop on blogging:
Eduspaces is an HE-oriented social networkign site with a useful blog (e.g. mine).
Eduspaces is an HE-oriented social networkign site with a useful blog (e.g. mine).
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