Review of E-Learning 2010
Over the last semester in E-Learning we have learnt about alot of different aspects of the elearning environment. Some of the aspects have been relatively easy for myself on a personal level because I consider myself a digital native even though I was born in the late 80s.
I have immersed myself in technology ever since I could remember. My first computer being an old 486 with Windows 3.0 being the latest and greatest thing, my digital experience started as GUIs (Graphic User Interfaces) were just appearing aka Windows 3.0, with DOS being phased out as the main computer experience.
This class, has allowed me to revisit alot of elements of elearning, which I have not used in quite a while, and at the same time allowed me to be creative in my design of my major assignment.
The blog world, or blogosphere as it is known is one element of the web which I have not paid much attention to, and it is something which I have enjoyed in this class. This was one area of the e-learning class which I have paid particular interest to because it is an element I have struggled with at times. Vijay, has been particularly knowledgeable with this element and has allowed me to learn at a pace which I have been able to immerse myself with. Blogging about what I have learnt each class has been quite rewarding because I was able to look back on my notes and review what I had learnt and unltimately pass on the knowledge to others in my class and in the digital community. Since this class I have started two other blogs to help my students understand Adobe Flash and have posted my first Video Log (vlog) since this class has finished – go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SeYGcGwmpc to view.
As discussed in my blogs, I believe that eventually online communication will develop into something that resembles a cross between Facebook/Second Life and Blogging combined. Through this course I have been able to discuss this possibility with my peers. Online communication is something that is relatively new, the year 1999 – 2000 is when the first mIRC chat functions existed. I believe that this form of communication will be able to revolutionalise the way we interact on the web and beyond. With Synchronous communication becoming second nature to us – see YouTube Video for example of the Future – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM particularly watch from 2.15 mins onwards to see what I mean by the future.
Podcasting is something that I have been proficient in before the class started, so I was able to use my already established knowledge to help others. Last year I developed a program using podcasting for students to record Time Tables on GarageBand. GarageBand is my preferred platform for podcasting, however if you would like a free program use Audacity, which can be found on http://www.download.com.
One element of the web (Web 2.0), which I have not known alot about, and something that I have found particularly useful, is Delicious, which is an online bookmarking service. Delicious is a program in which people create social networks about anything and everything that you find on the internet. Unlike conventional bookmarks, these are freely available online and you can even search for these bookmarks on www.delicious.com. I have found this particularly useful in my everyday life, because I have found alot of posted material on Adobe Flash, which I use in class, this platform is great because you do not need to google search you topic, you just visit delicious and find ones that people have already posted online.
One particular element of the e-learning class which I have found fascinating and will be following up in my classes teaching ICT in schools is Synchronous Technologies:
The different Synchronous tools on the Internet are: (I have provided a link where I have found the technology)
 Web conferencing for Sharing presentations and information
 Video conferencing for In-depth discussions with higher-touch interactions (http://www.skype.com)
 Chat for Information sharing of low-complexity issues
 Instant messaging for Ad hoc quick communications (web-messenger.eu/)
 White boarding for Co-development of ideas (http://www.wallwisher.com/)
 Application sharing for Co-development of documents (www.limewire.com/)
 Audio conferencing for Discussions and dialogue
I am currently using some Synchronous tools in class at the moment to test their potential in the classroom environment.
 Video conferencing for In-depth discussions with higher-touch interactions (http://www.skype.com)
I am using this software to set up buddy schools with my grade in primary school. The aim of this class is to set up communication in a Synchronous way, to initiate communication with a sister school. Then my grade will follow this up with Asynchronous communications such as wikis and blogs, to follow up the rich conversations that will follow through this topic.
 White boarding for Co-development of ideas (http://www.wallwisher.com/)

Wallwisher is something I have been using as a Synchronous tool to build ideas in class. It is an interactive brainstorming software which can be used in classes to build ideas.
Please visit: http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/4aict2010 and http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/3bict2010 for examples on how I have been using this software in my classes.
This e-learning Masters subject has allowed me to continue my development as a teacher and use the knowledge I have built to educate others. It has been a great experience.

The article is about the Norwegian Knowledge Institute’s (NKI) development and research into the online learning model or the ‘Distance Learning Model’.
After reading this article on  going from E learning to M Learning, I can see the potential of this software in use at universities and institutions. M Learning or mobile learning is the ability of downloading pdfs on your phones, pda’s to read and discuss. The problem with this technology is obviously being screen size. This software was to be implemented on their LMS for the needs of the students (2007). 

The potential for this is exponential in my opinion. Thanks to the iPad, I see a cross between E and M learning taking place in the next few years. The reason behind this is that the iPad is like a giant iPhone, thus it cannot be considered an M learning hardware, but in the same token in my opinion cannot be considered a truly E learning tool either. The upside to having a device capable of having wifi/3g inbuilt, can be used as an e-reader and have apps realidy available to it is huge. In my opinion if the iPad 2.0 when released has a few bits and pieces added to it namely a camera, USB port, I see this device taking over netbooks competely.

When this happens watch out microsoft! I see universities picking up this technology and having streaming lectures, interactive tutes and using the devices as portable lecture tutorials where students can engage with the class and the lecturer at the same time.

Open Source Tools

Since I am an Apple Mac person I feel that as a point of difference to everyone else I will review some programs for the apple mac which are freeware or open sourced. However the reviews I will be making are available on both the PC and Mac – except for Handbrake. The first open souce program will talk about is actually available on both programs and that is the internet browser Mozilla Firefox.

It is described as The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Considered by many to be the world’s best browser.

I really dislike internet explorer, I believe that it is slow and suspect to spyware, viruses and malware. So Firefox is a good browser to use if you want a reliable internet browser which is free.

The next free software I will be discussing is:

Handbrake

Handbrake is a DVD ripper and MPEG-4 / H.264 encoding. Very simple to use.

People on apple mac use Handbrake if they are to copy a DVD that they have legally purchased as a backup for their existing DVD. Many people use this software to back up DVDs on their computers that they have purchased in CD form.

VLC

VLC is a media player which is freely available online. Plays more video files than most players: Quicktime, AVI, DIVX, OGG, and more. Pretty good interface.

This media player is not just a normal media player, it plays many formats that are not recognised in conventional players.

Last but not least is Open Office

OpenOffice is a full-featured, office suite compatible with Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. Friends don’t let friends pay for Microsoft Office.

Openoffice is an awesome office package and is free. It has a word processor, Excel, powerpoint and database inbuilt. It comes from the same people which designed Java. The great thing about OpenOffice is that it is compatibe with Microsoft office and you can even save you work as .doc (work document), which is great.

After reading this article I am still convinced that YouTube should be allowed in schools. This article has enhanced my understanding about the issues but however, I still feel that the good outweighs the bad in this case. There are many great things are available on YouTube that are just shut out by the education department. Sneldon points out that the website should be used in context, however we as teachers should be allowed to make the education choice for our children rather than the education dept just blocking everyting that they see fit.

The interesting irony is the fact that my year 8, 9, 10 and 11 classes all are able to get around the system that blocks the websites, which I find absolutely ridiculous. If you want to find out more about how my students do these, google web proxies and you will find out how they do it.

I understand why the education dept blocks the websites however with the amount of good these websites offer, I would like the chance as a teacher to view the website without having to go home and download the youtube clip, and then show it in class!

If you would like to know how to download youtube videos, 1st use Mozilla Firefox and then download the addon – SoThink Web Video Downloader.

“Teachers and Social networking sites: Think Before you post”

The second article we looked at involved teachers and Social Networks this article by Russo, Squelch & Varnham (2009), talks about how teachers can misuse facebook and get in trouble with the Education Department, for having innapropriate comments, photos amongst other things that may appear on the social networking site.

The first thing I say to those people are:

1. Put your profile on PRIVATE

2. Make your profile UNSEARCHABLE

3. DO NOT add your bosses on Facebook

4. DO NOT add students, past students to your Facebook

5. And if your drunk STAY OFF FACEBOOK!

These five steps will ensure that you have a job to go to in the morning

Have a read of this article to show how Facebook ruined a teachers life because she broke one of the cardinal 5 sins

http://www.reputationdefender.com/blog/2009/11/13/teacher-fired-over-facebook-profile/

Personally, I have a facebook page, however I am not searchable, my surname is misspelt online and my profile picture is of ‘Damien’ of South Park. Even if my students found my page, they would be guessing who I was. This is the best way of ensuring your professionality when teaching.

RSS has been around for quite a while now and I use it religiously to get all my ‘feeds’ for my soccer, AFL, and teams news. Below is a little definition of what are RSS feeds and why RSS feeds are used. What do you use RSS feeds for? Feel free to leave a comment below.

What is RSS?
RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

Why RSS?
RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site’s email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly and includes big names like Yahoo News.

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling has a place in educaton as it provides a way of stimulating learning through digital words, songs and stories. It allows for greater engaging and motivating students in delivering ideas and concepts of different web 2.0 tools.

Feel free to visit http://www.cap.nsw.edu.au/digital_storytelling/digital_storytelling.htm for more information on digital storytelling, and feel free to leave a comment in the comments section.

Delicious Bookmarking

Delicious (formerly del.icio.us, pronounced “delicious”) is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded by Joshua Schachter in 2003 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. By the end of 2008, the service claimed more than 5.3 million users and 180 million unique bookmarked URLs. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

In my opinion Delicious is a fantastic tool in order to find and search for bookmarks in your chosen topic. In delicious most of the legwork is already done for you and all you need to do is search for the websites that you are after. You can add more to the delicious site as you find more bookmarks which you are interested in. Delicious is a quasi social network, because it allows you to ‘view’ other peoples profiles and see what they have bookmarked.

Instructional Design (also called Instructional Systems Design (ISD)) is the practice of maximizing the effectiveness, efficiency and appeal of instruction and other learning experiences. The process consists broadly of determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some “intervention” to assist in the transition. Ideally the process is informed by pedagogically and andragogically (adult learning) tested theories of learning and may take place in student-only, teacher-led or community-based settings. The outcome of this instruction may be directly observable and scientifically measured or completely hidden and assumed. There are many instructional design models but many are based on the ADDIE model with the phases analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. As a field, instructional design is historically and traditionally rooted in cognitive  and behavioral psychology. – Wikipedia

Instructional Design as I understand it is the development of a curricula based on independent learning plans. This is already been implemented in primary schools across the Victorian Curriculum.

ADDIE process

Perhaps the most common model used for creating instructional materials is the ADDIE Process. This acronym stands for the 5 phases contained in the model:

• Analyze – analyze learner characteristics, task to be learned, etc.
• Design – develop learning objectives, choose an instructional approach
• Develop – create instructional or training materials
• Implement – deliver or distribute the instructional materials
• Evaluate – make sure the materials achieved the desired goals

This model, refered to as the ADDIE process, can be found in many aspects of the Victorian Curriculum, in Literacy, this method is heavily used to structure the classes, so that children have a firm understanding of the work they are expected to complete.

I believe this is a good way of educating however there are some educators which are strongly against instructional design. Here is a snippet of what one educator is saying in regard to Instructional design in regard to constructivism (learning by doing)

Several educators have also questioned the effectiveness of this approach toward instructional design, especially as it applies to the development of instruction for novices (Mayer, 2004; Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark, 2006). While some constructivists argue that “learning by doing” enhances learning, critics of this instructional strategy argue that little empirical evidence exists to support this statement given novice learners (Mayer, 2004; Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark, 2006). Sweller and his colleagues argue that novices do not possess the underlying mental models, or “schemas” necessary for “learning by doing” (e.g. Sweller, 1988). Indeed, Mayer (2004) reviewed the literature and found that fifty years of empirical data do not support using the constructivist teaching technique of pure discovery; in those situations requiring discovery, he argues for the use of guided discovery instead.

What are your thoughts about this? Please feel free to add comments in the comments section of my blog!

I have used many Web 2.0 tools in the classroom in particular podcasting, my project last year was to make podcasts of the timetable chart, we implemented this in a p-2 role where we made a rap for each times table and podcasted it into garageband, an application on the apple mac.

For Secondary

For secondary school students, podcasting can be used quite well to integrate into almost any class, and can be used to review and discuss other aspects of the course that the teachers educate. For example physics teachers can use podcasting to further extend students, help struggling students and help deliver a more effective classroom both in class and out of class.

For Primary

Students can use podcasts to deliver information during classes, for example during reading classes, students can podcast their material on audacity and then save it as a podcast, the teacher can then review this and give comment to the students.

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are a great way to keep in contact with students podcasts, or vice versa, because you can subsribe to the podcasts via iTunes, here is a demonstration below.

Podcasting: Taking control of the Media

This video demonstrates how Social Media is overtaking the Media as the next generation of information. It is instantaneous, unbiased (depending on the podcaster) and more relevant (in some cases) to the Media outlets such as the Herald Sun, The Age etc

Blogs are limited by the fact that people can only comment the blog that you have posted, with a wiki, everyones a collaborator.

The best known aspect of this is wikipedia.

However like blogs, they can have their downsides too, with some wiki’s designed to make fun of people (not in a nice way), this can be viewed HERE.

What are wiki’s?

Wikis are free, online writing spaces that use simple formatting rules you don’t need to understand HTML in order to make a wiki. People who contribute to a wiki need to understand that their words may be deleted and changedby others.
When writers contribute to a public wiki, their work could potentially be read by millionsof readers. Wikis give focus to the last draft, yet wikis provide a history. Each time the text is changed, a new versionis saved. Anyone can go back later and see previous versions.

Differences between blogs and wiki’s

Wiki

No one owns content, No specific organization (hyperlinks), Anyone can edit other people’s work, Perpetual work in progress, Good for collaborative group work.

Blog

A person owns their post, Specific organization (reverse chronological), Only the author can edit their own work (others can comment), Posts are permanent, Good for disseminating information/starting a dialogue

Using Wiki’s in Education

Personally I love using Wiki’s in education and luckily enough at university I have used them a few times.

Examples of these can be found here:

http://www.mmarts.com.au/acm2003/index.php

This was for a collaborative project in ICT class in 2008

http://aem6100semester2.pbworks.com/

This is one that I am using currently, undertaken in my Research Masters subject.

I have used wiki’s before in an IT class when teaching year 10s, it was a great tool to use to captivate the attention of students, and keeping them engaged in classwork. I found the students made an effort to keep up with posting and even answered their own questions on then forum. I found that I was able to communicate with the students after school hours, if they needed help with their work! I would recommend people use wiki’s to teach ANY subject.

Article Response – Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study

Wikis are simple websites that allow their users to create and edit content.

The basic element of this research report was that a school used wiki’s as apart of their formal classes in ICT, a school agreed to be apart of the ‘groundbreaking’ study because it allowed its students to actually use Web 2.0 in their formal studies. (Sorry to sound cynical, but I have been having this discussion with other teachers about Web 2.0 in the classroom – but I will come back to this later on).

A specialist technology co-educational secondary school in Gloucestershire agreed to host the
study. Three Year 9 (age 13-14) ICT classes took part in the project. The teachers assigned
students to random groups of between six and nine, each with their own separate wiki.

The project ran for three weeks at the end of the autumn term in 2005. The students were
asked to work in their teams on a history-based research project with a broad title of
‘innovations in technology since 1950’. They were asked to research and present through the
wiki a project looking at the impact of technology in a particular topic, such as music, sport,
etc.

The basic element of this was that students were asked to collaborate using the wiki, instead of face-to-face, every conversation was delivered through the wiki or was documented through the wiki.

What I found when reading this was that the researcher was a little bit disillusioned with the process, because obviously the students were not taking the project as seriously as he would have hoped (although he doesn’t mention this, I know because I have tried this with high school students [Year 8s] and it did not bode well with them).

The argument continued:
This was almost the only example of one student trying to contribute to the work of others,
and was met with hostility by the rest of the group. ‘Heatherw’ had stepped outside the
boundaries of legitimate

Anecdotal notes – I think that students should be given more than three weeks for a project using wiki’s, teachers are scared of using technology in the classroom.

Overall I think the study felt very rushed to me, as mentioned previous three weeks is just not long enough to get a wiki up and running, six-eight months should have been the timeframe over a realm of subjects, in my opinion.

Anecdotal Notes – I am very cynical how teachers use Web 2.0 in the class and how it is allowed to function, I work in a primary/high school and I see everyday students “accessing” facebook and youtube through web proxies (i’ll explain these next week), when theoretically these “websites” should be blocked. I do not see the point in blocking Web 2.0 tools, because students are intelligent they will find ways around the SINA system!

Given your background and work situation, how would you use (if not already been using) Wikis ? Do you think they would improve the current practices of teaching/learning/training/knowledge management in your area? How?

Personally I use wiki’s in the classroom, I think they are a fantastic tool and should be used with great enthusiasm! As mentioned previous it allows personal connectedness with the students whenever they need help and it is a greast way for students to connect to one another.

Response to Dhammikafernando’s post:

About the Wiki environment being easy to use -  it sure beats the original version of Word (no number to follow), where one had to switch screens and type in commands to Bold face, centre align, etc.  for example, <BOLD> <CENTRE> This is my Title <BOLD> <CENTRE> ,  where the second set of commands turned off the formatting feature.  After WYSIWYG came in, life became very simple, and those who enter the technosphere these days don’t understand how easy things are now, and how much simpler things are with a mouse!

Those were the days! Takes me back to HTML coding in word! Did you know you can actually use word to produce a website? Google it!

I feel that while the ‘blog’ is a great social tool and a welcomed addition into the Web 2.0 family, I feel that sooner or later that the blog will be surpassed by facebook/twitter as the outlet for social interaction, if it hasn’t already passed. These are my arguments FOR the deconstruction of blogs as a social medium.

1. They reach a select audience

Yes, it is true, as much as bloggers do not like to admit it! Ask yourself how do people get it ‘out there’ into the social world that they have a ‘blog’? Do I hear you say social mediums such as twitter, mypace and facebook? Well if you did then I would be right in my analogy then wouldn’t I?

2. Beware the FACEless blogger

End of the day, bloggers are anonymous! Facebookers are less likely to be anonymous, therefore what they may put on their site, might be more legitimate than on a blog, and besides if you don’t know the person your adding, then don’t add them.

3. Facebook HAS a blog site!

Yes, Facebook already has a blog site attached to its site, so you don’t even need to blog on an external site anymore, you can get your fix right on facebook.

4. Wiki’s are better

Ok I’m biased, but I find wiki’s to be a much better option than blogs, blogs are great but you can only do so much on it, and people can only ‘comment’ on your blog, Wiki’s are better Web 2.0 tools because they allow collaboration!

Let’s see: if any one can master a blog, it means any one can have a blog and write whatever he or she has in mind: a dream, a recipe, a funny story about a cat, a poem, a diary, a sleazy comment about another person, porn, hateful remarks and more. Hey, it’s a free world! But, because there are so many bloggers out there, it’s rather difficult to find quality blogs. – http://ezinearticles.com/?Blogging—Pros-and-Cons&id=275144

This remark is very true about blogs, there are some proberbial expletive ‘crap’ blogs out there. These blogs are what we like to call splogs.

A spam blog, sometimes referred to by the neologism splog,^[1] is a blog which the author uses to promote affiliated websites, to increase the search engine rankings of associated sites or to simply sell links/ads.

The purpose of a splog can be to increase the PageRank or backlink portfolio of affiliate websites, to artificially inflate paid ad impressions from visitors (see MFA-blogs), and/or use the blog as a link outlet to sell links or get new sites indexed. Spam blogs are usually a type of scraper site, where content is often either inauthentic text or merely stolen (see blog scraping) from other websites. These blogs usually contain a high number of links to sites associated with the splog creator which are often disreputable or otherwise useless websites. – Wikipedia

After blogging about how bad blogs are, I feel the need to rebutt my own statement, here are some great blogs for your perusal.

http://www.westhamtillidie.com/

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

http://www.techtrot.com/primepress/

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Also I feel abliged to tell you how to create a GREAT blog!

Writing great content for your blog is only half the battle. A blog is a success if it has loyal followers who read, interact and share the posts that you create (see right- a tiny snapshot of Blogging Tip’s engaged Twitter followers!). This boils down to improving your blog engagement. Take a look at these 50 examples to learn more….

The Basics

Be useful:
1. Official Google Blog – breaks news about google as well as helpful advice on how to use its services.
Example post: Introducing Google Chrome
2. Lifehacker- tips and downloads for getting things done
Example post: Lifehacker’s 2009 Gift Guide, for the Lifehacker-Type in Your Life
3. GoMediaZine- real world advice from working artists and designers.
Example post: Create a Dream Design with 3D Typography

Respond:
4. Prime Press- Ravi is incredibly helpful in the comments for the blog about his WordPress theme- just have a look at how often he appears in the comments of the example post below. He even went so far as to create a forum to respond to questions about Prime Press.
Example post: Setting up the WordPress static homepage
5. Blogstorm- Patrick is great at responding to queries of the online marketing persuasion in the comments of his blog.
Example post: WordPress crawl rate tracker

Keep it short:
6. Seth Godin - Seth’s blog doesn’t really need any introduction. He knows that marketers are busy people, and most of his posts take two minutes to read without compromising on quality and usefulness.
Example post: The first transaction
7. Copyblogger Similarly, many of the most popular posts on copyblogger are short and to the point.
Example post: Become a better writer

Be regular:
8. Post Secret- every Sunday, without fail. There are lots of loyal post secret fans who look forward to seeing this week’s selection of secretive postcards over their Sunday breakfast.
Example post: Sunday Secrets
9. Daily Tips- clue’s in the name: daily tips for everyone. Bound to do wonders for your return visits!
Example post: Ear ache relief
10. Daily Soccer Blog- as above, keep those soccer fans returning to your site day after day after day….
Example post: Sacking in Scotland – Who’s Next?

Engaging Content

Be personal:
11. Dooce- Heather B. Armstrong famously got fired for blogging about her company on her site. Since then she’s become a full time professional blogger and continues her candid journey.
Example post: My Old Man
12. Generation Y- stories from Cuba by Yoani Sánchez. She describes her blog as “an exercise in cowardice” as she writes about stuff that she couldn’t talk about in her civic life. The blog is banned in Cuba.
Example post: Promises
13. The Pioneer Woman- writes about her life on a cattle ranch (and her past life eating sushi in the city). Addictive stuff.
Example post: Weaning Wild Colts

Ask for comments:
14. The Telegraph - who would’ve thought it? That the pinnacle of British journalistic reporting should care what we, the mob, think? Turns out, they do! (Even if it is only the fashion section…)
Example post: What do you think of Alexander McQueen’s monster shoes
15. The Conscience of a Liberal As above- another professional journalist asking for our opinion in the comments.
Example post: Just the usual disaster

Be controversial:
16. TechCrunch- notoriously controversial in what it chooses to publish, Techcrunch certainly knows how to get people checking back to see the latest scandal unfurl.
Example post: Twitter Hacked
17. Perez Hilton- takes no prisoners when it comes to posting controversial content about celebrities.
Example post: Tiger Paid For Ho’s Lipo And Other Juicy Goodness!
18. Mental Floss- posting regularly on more intellectually controversial subjects than the two above. Great way to engage readers.
Example post: 3 Controversial Maps

Reviews:
19. Becky’s Books Reviews- Let your readers know you care by reviewing whatever and helping them choose what to invest in. A great trust builder if you get it right.
Example post: Dani Noir
20. Rotten Tomatoes- as above, this time with movies. Extra points as users actually contribute most of the reviews
Example post: Twilight reviews

Images:
21. Boston big picture- hi-res, regular photos, usually of current events. A winner combination and one that will keep users returning again and again.
Example post: Olympic Torch Relay
22. PDN Photo of the Day- one incredible photo per day.
Example post: Jim Mason, Medicine Man
23. PhotoPosts- a site that handily combines a whole load of photoblogs for its usrs to enjoy.
Example post: Cao Dei

Use your users

Citizen reporting/crowd sourcing:
24. The Guardian- not really a blog, but a great example of an online authority getting its users in an important process.
Example post: MP’s Expenses
25. Wired Journalists- collaborative journalism at its finest.
Example post: Google Wave and Journalism
26. We The Media- grass roots journalism that seeks to defy the ‘Big Media’ and turn reporting into a conversation rather than a lecture.
Example post: Serious Ad Money

Submissions:
27. Detention Slip- Asks teachers to send in their most “outrageous, ridiculous, and over the top DETENTION SLIPS!” for feature on the site and possible inclusion in a book.
Example post: Sign up to the newsletter to receive the best submissions.
28. i can haz cheezburger?- Submit, lol-it and then await the votes.
Example post- Chiropractic kitteh

Guest posts:
29. Four Hour Work Week- really great guest post set up, with a short introduction to make the guest feel welcome and the readers feel like they’ve just been treated.
Example post: guest post from Eric Ries
30. Blogging Bits- Nice ‘n straight forward.
Example post: guest post from Matt Harzewski
31. Blogging Tips- a permanent page that welcomes guest posters on a range of blogging topics.
Example post: This one!

Poll/opinion on a change:
32. Guardian’s Tech Blog- posts a query each week and the best comments are excerpted and published.
Example post: You decide: should you let someone else in your company use your password
33. Wired- Regular polls on hotly debated topics
Example post: Would you pay 99 cents p/m for unlimited Pandora?
34. Mashable- Weekly lunchtime polls
Example post:Top 10 Facebook Apps

Rewards, Incentives:

Competitions
35. VW Camper Van blog- these guys seem to hold a fair few competitions- the one below encourages users to submit a photo and then vote.
Example post: Reader’s Ride of the Year
36. Blurb Blog- Hold regular book competitions. The below example has the added extra of downloadable vote-for-me badges- your secret competition weapon when it comes to building inbound links.
Example post: People’s Choice Voting
37. Murray Newlands- this affiliate marketing blog has a whole page dedicated to current contests.
Example post: YouTube Film Contest

Comment competitions:
38. New Scientist- Ran a competition to win a piece of moon rock. Very low barrier to entry as users just had to leave a comment!
Example post: Moon Rock!
39. Read Write Web- a one-off competition that openly stated its purpose as a means to encourage quality comments.
Example: Comments Competition

Star system:
40. SEOmoz- Lots of friendly rivalry to become the Top Member on the blog.
Example: Top Ranked Members
41. Ice Caves- Top Commenters Competition held monthly with profile badges as rewards.
Example: Top Commenters Competition

Offsite

Facebook
42. Mashable- Facebook blog profiles are often undernourished and unloved. Not so with Mashable.
Example: Mashable on Facebook
Twitter
43. Geek Parent- Step one: have a great blog. Step two: have an even better Twitter account to spread the love.
Example: Twitter- Mike T Rose
Social media sites
44. Cracked- a lot of the big blogs have a regular presence on social media sites without even trying, but Cracked goes one step further and plays to the crowd.
Example post: Digg this

Take it offline

Events
45. Distilled- a London based internet marketing agency with a popular blog (Disclaimer: I worked for them), who recently held a Pro Training Seminar in London and then posted updates and content.
Example post: Pro Training Seminar Overview
46. Techcrunch- run a very popular offline conference that complements their blog.
Example: Techcrunch50
47. CAFOD blog- you don’t have to run the whole event, just a visible attendance will do wonders for your offline blog engagement.
Example: Climate change: From Bangladesh to The Wave

Blogger meetup
48. NetSquared- ‘Net Tuesdays’ provide a chance to connect locally with all those interested in the intersection of social technologies and social change
Example: Net2 Local
50. London Bloggers- host London bloggers meetups.
Example: Christmas Bloggers Meetup
50. Vimeo- hold regular free offline film screenings
Example: Vimeo Offline

This referenced piece was written by Lucy Langdon. This information and many more can be found on http://www.bloggingtips.com/

To finish up this I WILL tell you in my opinion what the great wave of the future will be….

Better yet i’ll show you

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20070319/

The program is called ‘Second Life’ and it will revolutionise the way we interact, shop, make money, go to school and revolutionise society, welcome to Avatar!

The learning style indicator test showed what learning style we are through a website forum, however I do feel that this a bad example for a learning style website.

This indicates a visual learning style. Visual learners will probably have the easiest time with online learning since much of the material is still in the written form.

This indicates a facilitator teaching style where formative evaluation and student reflection are essential elements. A principle goal of the facilitator is to enable students to become skilled at self-evaluation and be able to use their evaluations to improve their learning.

I believe I am highly skilled in eLearning, I am able to use it in my teaching as an educator and keep up to date with the latest websites and information on the internet. I am subscribed to many online forums, both educational and social. In my teaching in both Primary and Secondary I use ICT to formulate engaging technology for the students to use.

With my answers to the learning indicator tests, I believe it is faily accurate, however I do not like that the answers pop up after every question, this makes the website quite confusing to understand. A better way would be in the form of a questionnaire where you click submit and it tells you what you are.

This is what I got on OnlineLearning.net

Your score is 92%. Sign me up!

You are a great candidate for online teaching. We hope you will fill out our online application form.

Below is a detailed analysis of the results of your quiz

Analysis of your results

Experience in the online learning environment and qualifications:

If you have had first-hand experience as an online student, you will likely have greater insight into your own online students’ needs and a better understanding of special requirements of the online environment. Experience using the Internet and the Web to enhance your teaching in the traditional classroom can be a good first step to teaching entirely online.

Teaching style and habits needed to teach online:

The online facilitator should be open, concerned, flexible, and sincere. An online instructor must be able to compensate for the lack of physical presence in the virtual classroom by creating a supportive environment where all students feel comfortable participating and especially where students know that their instructor is accessible. Failure to do this can alienate the class both from each other and from the instructor and would make a very weak learning environment. Online students are as busy, or busier than anyone else in today’s hurried world. The students are the customers and are expecting to be treated as such. An online instructor should be willing to give individual attention to students who may need extra help. Being sensitive, open and flexible is not an option, it is a requirement. A successful online facilitator should feel comfortable communicating in writing. The face-to-face contact traditionally available in a classroom setting is gone in the online learning process. The ability to verbally communicate is replaced with a keyboard, and this communication is intense and demanding. An online instructor must feel good about communicating in writing because that is a base element in the process.

This was an interesting way of looking at how confident I am in using ICT, I thought I actually would have been more than 92% confident, however I think this had to do with me answering that I would not like to do an online course, rather coming to lectures instead. I actually prefer the interaction, and feel more motivated when I go ‘into’ uni rather than a pure online course.

The Future of eLearning in Higher Education

If I was to take a course, I believe my best style of learning would be a mixed mode (online/blended), this would be so because personally I need substance to my learning. Because I am a visual learner I need to be able to see the product or thing which I am studying and need to see the lecturer explaining things. i believe I am half way between an auditory/visual learner.

This indicates a visual learning style. Visual learners will probably have the easiest time with online learning since much of the material is still in the written form.

This was the answer which popped up most in my test however the auditory learning style popped up four times where visual popped up five times.

Future of Online Learning

The article ‘Future of Online Learning’ is a reflection of how ‘educated society’ sees ICT and the trend towards ‘Blended’ and ‘Online’ classes. Personally I believe that both have its merits, and I believe that ICT is integral to today’s society, however I still am of the view that, as an educator and a student to that respect that ‘class time’ is still important in education.

Advances in Internet
technology (for example,
greatly extended bandwidth
and wireless Internet
connections) are likely
to increase the use of
multimedia and interactive
simulations or games in
online learning

This statement is a very powerful one, because it reflects again the ‘Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants’ debate that is going on at the moment. In University (and I will provide an anecdotal story to substantiate this),t here was a engineering lecturer which developed a new program to be used in Engineering, this program was fantastic and would revolutionise the way that not only the course would be done, but engineering as well. However there was one problem, it was a program which involved alot of new buttons, gadgets etc. So the Digital Natives of the world decided to build this program into a ‘Game Platform’ similar to DOOM and WOLFENSTEIN 3D.

This paved the way for Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants to learn a new piece of technology relevant to their career (which mind you had over 200 commands) in a simple game platform (shooter), which would 1. Engage the masses and 2. Actually help them with their careers.

According to the article, the trend will be towards Online Education as ‘THE PREMIER’ teaching facility, and not only that, but we will get better results because of it. I however tend to disagree, and believe that we will get the most out of a ‘blended curriculum’, because I believe laziness will get the better of society if all they need to do is get up, turn on the computer and watch a lecture.

Please feel free to watch this short You tube video on what school could be like in the future….SCARY!

This is my second post for AEG5018. In week 2 we described the differences between Asyncronous and Syncronous communications. In this post I will be explaining each element, posting some pictures of different Asyncronous and Syncronous communications and commenting on the articles that we are reading at the moment.

Syncronous Communication

In the lecture Syncronous communication was described as;
• Enabling real-time communication and collaboration in a “same time-different place” mode.
• Interaction with an instructor via the Internet/Web in real time
• Geographically dispersed students accessing the same Web site at the same time as an instructor
• Instructor “broadcasting” video/audio out to the students

So basically this means that in today’s society we are able to have real time conversations on the internet with anyone in the world (barring time difference).

I can think of two instances of this type of technology off the top of my head. Skype and MSN Messenger.

Skype and MSN Messenger are two types of Syncronous technologies, however not all Syncronous technologies need to be ‘social’. Many educational institutions use Syncronous technologies to deliver web based lectures and are used to communicate to other institutions. Once instance of this that I know of is PD Online.

PD Online is a system that is used in Education to deliver Personal Development sessions to teachers. Teachers log on (at the appropriate times, can chat to one another and listen to a webinar (Like a seminar except on the web), and can be speaking to people right throughout the world.

Synchronous, or real-time, communication
is emerging as a popular technology in
online education, and the merging of Web
and audio/video delivery formats with
broadband access, effectively virtualising
education on a global scale. – Lecture two (3/08/10)

The different Syncronous tools on the Internet are: (I have provided a link where I have found the technology)

Audio conferencing for Discussions and dialogue
Web conferencing for Sharing presentations and information
Video conferencing for In-depth discussions with higher-touch interactions (http://www.skype.com)
Chat for Information sharing of low-complexity issues
Instant messaging for Ad hoc quick communications (web-messenger.eu/)
White boarding for Co-development of ideas (http://www.wallwisher.com/)
Application sharing for Co-development of documents (www.limewire.com/)

Asynchronous Communication

Asynchronous communication is
communication taking place at different
times
• Text-based discussion on a website, to
extend or replace in-class discussion
• Allows students to complete their tasks on
their own time and schedule, without live
interaction with the instructor – Lecture 2

Asynchronous communication is not real time, these are still web 2.0 based however with this type of communication it is carried out throughout a certain time. Examples of Asynchronous communication can be wiki’s, WebCT, email distributive lists etc. Why I say that these take time is because they are not instataneous. As new information is placed on the wiki’s, WebCT, email etc. People are able to ‘add’ their own comments, thoughts ans opinions on Asynchronous communication sites.

Wikipedia is probably the biggest online ‘wiki’ site. People are able to log into wikipedia and change it, if the information is wrong. This is probably the single biggest Asynchronous Communication site out on the Internet to date.

Other Asynchronous Communication sites are:

Hotmail is a collaborative tool used to pass on information to one another.

I quite frequently write on http://www.bigfooty.com this website is where AFL fans come together and discuss their teams in a friendly and sometimes fiery way. This is technically called a message board or also known as a wiki and it is a form of Asynchronous Communication.

Other Asynchronous tools are: (Where possible I will provide a link)

Discussion Boards

Blogs (http://www.wordpress.com)

Email

Streaming Audio

Streaming Video

Narrated Slideshows

Surveys and Polls

Shared Calendars

Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

The article by Prensky – Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants is quite an interesting read because it looks at the way students have changed, and education with it. The article starts off with quite a thought provoking quote of:

Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.

This quote quite sums up the sentiments of Prensky’s view of the world today which in his opinion is set up in two ways:

We have the digital natives (Gen Z, N or D) depending on what you would like to call them, which have basically grown up with the technology around them; computers, xboxes, wii’s etc have formed the ubiqitous lives which Gen Z have become accustomed to. On the other hand we have the digital immigrants, which if you haven’t figured out by now is the rest of the world, so the Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y etc all fit into the digital immigrants mould, these people have not had the luxury of having technology available to them, some of these people had to deal with the first use of Fortran, DOS and other systems before GUI’s were even invented. Most Baby Boomers and Gen Xers consider themselves technologically illiterate so it is interesting how people have become engaged into the technology.

Digital Immigrants don’t believe their students can learn successfully while watching TV or listening to music, because they (the Immigrants) can’t. Of course not – they didn’t practice this skill constantly for all of their formative years. Digital Immigrants think learning can’t (or shouldn’t) be fun. Why should they – they didn’t spend their formative years learning with Sesame Street.

The quote I have just put into the document sums up how Digital Immigrants are vastly different to Digital Natives, Digital natives are so used to having information readily available to them, or by the click of a mouse, being able to multitask really well and listen to music while doing homework or watching TV, while talking on the phone, while eating dinner and reading tonight’s maths homework. Digital Natives have become accustomed to these annomalies in today’s digital society.

As educators, we need to be thinking about how to teach both Legacy and Future content in the language of the Digital Natives. The first involves a major translation and change of methodology; the second involves all that PLUS new content and thinking. It’s not actually clear to me which is harder – “learning new stuff” or “learning new ways to do old stuff.” I suspect it’s the latter.

As highlighted in this quote, as educator we need to be able to teach students of the future, it is a well known fact that most preps that enter school, over 90% of them, their careers haven’t even been invented yet. So what are we teaching them? We as teachers, need to be able to teach the future wave of students at an earlier age all out technology and its use in society.

The crux of the article comes about half way through it as a quote made me stand out and take notice.

Monkey Wrench has been phenomenally successful in getting young people interested in learning the software.

Digital Natives did not want to embrace the new software for engineering because it had too many buttons, so they decided to make a game from the software to engage the Natives. I thought, what a brilliant thing to do. “Digital Native” methodology is the way that we as educators should view education as a way to re-engage todays society.

If Digital Natives can learn all 151 pokemon, their moves, abilities and stealth then surely we as educators can provide some sort of education stimuli in Mathematics, Literacy etc.

In geography – which is all but ignored these days – there is no reason that a generation that can memorize over 100 Pokémon characters with all their characteristics, history and evolution can’t learn the names, populations, capitals and relationships of all the 181 nations in the world. It just depends on how it is presented.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Two Communication Tools

To be continued…

Questions

Are you a DN or DI? What about the people you are currently working with at your workplace/institution. Are they digital immigrants or natives? Is it difficult to teach/train them? What methods do you follow to train them?

DN

Find a mailing/discussion list related to your area of interest and subscribe by email. Briefly explain what this list is and let the class know what is happening with your list…some details including the average number of messages received per day/week, the advantage of being a member of that list etc.

ICT run by Paula Christopherson