Bill Brandon: Clippings

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 21:14:31 GMT

Learning Trends and the Learning Imperative.

Learning Trends and the Learning Imperative: "To be involved in learning today is to be involved in the process of change". Elliot Masie captures the heart of learning: it's a change task...intended to react to change in the world around. He also touches on a point I've set as central to connectivism: " The reality is, in a world of high velocity, we have to create content that is occasionally evaporative."

[elearnspace]

Wed, 25 Aug 2004 19:03:00 GMT

Constructivism, Cognitivism, and Behaviorism.

Constructivism, Cognitivism, and Behaviorism: "When do you employ each of these philosophies in your instructional designs? What I like about the question is its pragmatism. It suggests that constructivism, cognitivism, and behaviorism are all perspectives that you try on to achieve specific goals rather than fundamentally correct or incorrect positions about how human beings learn."

[elearnspace]

Wed, 25 Aug 2004 19:01:29 GMT

Learning Styles.

Should we be Using Learning Styles: (.pdf file)...this document evaluates the most popular learning style models, looking at reliability, validity, and impact on pedagogy. Most complete overview of learning styles I've come across...

[elearnspace]

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Fri, 25 Jun 2004 03:30:44 GMT

Nice... Timeline Creator Tool.

Just saw this at the NMC 2004 5 minutes of Fame- a nifty app for creation of interactive timelines- presentation is via Flash (of course), but data driven by XML. Created by the Center for Educational Resources at Johns Hopkins, the Timeline Creator is a freebie for downloading and provides what looks like a simple interface for buildling timelines.

Might the timelines be consider Learning Objects? What the heck not?

[cogdogblog]

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Fri, 25 Jun 2004 03:29:38 GMT

ACollab - accessible, open source, multi-group, Web-based collaborative work environment.

http://www.atutor.ca/acollab/index.php

If you weren't already impressed enough with Atutor, the accessible, open source LMS from U of Toronto's Adaptive Technology Resource Centre, along comes the second piece in their ever-growing suite of accessible learning technologies. With shared document authoring, calendering, chat, threaded discussion and extensive group support, ACollab is WCAG 1.0, Section 508 US-compliant software that can be easily integrated with Atutor to provide a powerful open source learning environment. Caution: use of this product may actually enable learning amongst an entire class of people who are otherwise discriminated against by badly designed, inaccessible technologies. - SWL

[EdTechPost]

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Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:27:42 GMT

A special request. With thanks to my colleague Stephen Downes for writing most of the following, and licensing it in such a way that I may repurpose it:

As you may know, the work I do is funded by the Government of Canada through its support for the National Research Council's Atlantic E-Business Initiative in the Institute for Information Technology. The National Research Council has given me a great deal of freedom to offer a wide range of offerings for the Web community, including Seb's Open Research, the Seb's OpenMind wiki, weblog deployments at educational institutions, the Internet Topic Exchange (in collaboration with Phil Pearson), various publications, presentations, outreach and involvement in various innovation and knowledge sharing networks and more.

From time to time, funding for such initiatives is reviewed, and our office is no exception. Quite reasonably, the auditors would like to be able to show that some value was received for the money spent, that the work performed here had a positive impact on the wider community.

The impact of my work, and the work of our group as a whole, is hard to measure. Sure, there are the usual things - number of publications, number of talks, agreements signed, and so on, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Not even close. My weblog does not really show up on the tally sheet, for example. TopicExchange.com flies below the radar for most established metrics.

So they have asked me, "Do you have recorded bits where people say 'how great you are', 'you have had a great impact ...', 'we couldn't have done this without you...', either of a personal or NRC nature?" Such stories "have a tendency to really impact write-ups for funding cases."

Well, I suppose I do, but I don't know what they are. So I need your help.

If you could, please take a couple of minutes and send me an email documenting the impact I've had and that the NRC E-learning Group has had on your work and your projects. You don't need to go into detail (though you can if you want); just let us know what we did that helped you with what you're doing. We want stories from across Canada and from around the world.

Send it to me by email at Sebastien -dot- Paquet -at- nrc -dot- ca.

Your help here would really be appreciated. Even a couple of sentences would give us information we did not have. So, please take a couple of minutes, and let us know how we've helped. This will allow us to continue providing our research and services for free for a long time to come.

Many thanks.

Sébastien Paquet

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. [Seb's Open Research]

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Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:26:21 GMT

DrupalEd / Classroom Weblog Tools. Charlie Lowe has been working hard to create a Weblog set up for writing classes using Drupal.

Drupal, at its base installation, is a blank slate, a content management system that can be used to create a large variety of different websites. Thus, DrupalEd is preconfigured for creating a community site suitable for the online writing classroom, a highly configurable platform that better facilitates community interaction and collaboration than is possible with proprietary course management systems. Educators will find that this distribution, once installed, eliminates 95% of the work involved in setting up a Drupal site for a writing class, as well as containing some documentation materials which will reduce the learning curve for site administration.

Here at NECC, there has been lots of talk about the "best" tool for classroom Weblog application, and frankly, there haven't been a lot of good answers. One of the ironies is that as I walked around the exhibit hall yesterday, I must have seen over a dozen booths that were pitching various products that blogs can already do for a fraction of the cost (i.e online portfolio, course management software.) And then there were those few things that I found myself wishing were included in the current choices (i.e. calendaring.)

The killer app for edublogging isn't anywhere out there right now, and the general consensus among those of us who actually spend time thinking about these things is that the tools are changing so fast anyway that in a couple of years whatever works now will probably be obsolete. That being said, we need to put together a comparison of current software from an educator's perspective, i.e. how much, how hosted, security, preview posting, ease of setup, etc. I think Anne may have started on this, but is there any reason why we the community shouldn't start wiki-ing this stuff into an edublogpedia? [Weblogg-ed News]

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Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:25:20 GMT

Production for Use.

A reflective look at the forces affecting design -- style vs. usability. Many designers have been exploring the balance of these forces -- some vouch for usability and others vouch for style, but there's magic when a balance of both fits the real purpose of design. And to really know the balance, designers have to be holistic. This holistic approach is now widely referred to as experience design. Jesse James Garrett's map (PDF file) is a good reference point to experience design and makes me wonder if there could be a similar map for the elements for learning experience design or LXD.

[elearningpost]

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Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:24:25 GMT

User Experience Design.

Peter Morville takes on the task of defining user experience design using his honeycomb diagram, which presents the various facets of experience design: Useful, Usable, Desirable, Findable, Accessible, Credible and Valuable.

[elearningpost]

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Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:23:05 GMT

More on the e/merge 2004 - Blended Collaborative Learning Conference.

This virtual conference starts on the 28th of June. Among several other interesting presentations I'm particularly looking forward to one by Derrick Cogburn on "Going Global, Locally: Geographically Distributed Collaborative Learning Environments for Studies of Globalisation and the Information Society". The full announcement (recieved by e-mail from Tony Carr) below:

e/merge 2004 - Blended Collaborative Learning in Southern Africa (http://emerge2004.net) is the first virtual conference on educational technology in the SADC region. e/merge 2004 will take place online from 28 June to 10 July 2004 and will include associated face to face events in some Southern African cities. Our 2004 conference focuses on collaborative learning involving a blend of online and face to face interaction in our regional context of unequal access to technology. e/merge 2004 is hosted by the Multimedia Education Group (MEG) of the University of Cape Town in partnership with the Tertiary Education Network (TENET).

Our virtual keynotes are from Professor Derrick Cogburn of Michigan University on "Going Global, Locally: Geographically Distributed Collaborative Learning Environments for Studies of Globalisation and the Information Society" and from Dr Gilly Salmon of the Open University on "Scenarios for the Future of e-learning". Come and learn about blended, collaborative learning with experts presenting from Australia, Botswana,
Mozambique, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States and participants from around the world.

Other highlights include presentations by Maria Beebe from the Centre for Bridging the Digital Divide, Dick N'gambi from University of Cape Town, Bronwyn Stuckey from University of Wollongong in Australia, Xavier Muianga from Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, Hentie Wilson from UNISA and Dr Andrew Morrison from Intermedia at University of Oslo.
There will also be workshops on online facilitation (Nancy White of Full Circle Associates) and Learning Objects (Brenda Mallinson and Greig Krull of Rhodes University) as well as a tour of synchronous environments (Robin Good of kolabora.com)

There is something for everyone with an interest in educational technologies. The conference is scheduled in four phases starting with the Big Picture (digital divide, theoretically oriented and institutional papers) and Case Studies from Across the Region during the first week. During the second week we have the Learning Communities (Educator and Student communities) and Learning Environments phases. You can focus on specific phases of discussion or choose just the presentations that most interest you.

You can register online at http://emerge2004.net/register/ There is a nominal registration fee that ranges from R100 for SADC based students and school teachers to R200 for other SADC participants and R320 (approx 50 USA Dollars ) for participants from outside the SADC.

e/merge 2004 is funded by TENET and MEG and sponsored by All Things in Moderation, Light Edge Technologies and Macromedia. e/merge 2004 is also supported by the Southern African Network for Educational Technology and eLearning (SANTEC) and the Western Cape Schools Network, Schoolnet SA and Schoolnet Africa.

By Martin Terre Blanche 18 June 2004 [Collaborative Learning]

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Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:21:58 GMT

BlogMatrix Jäger v1.2. BlogMatrix Jäger is now in it’s 1.2 release. Jäger is a “one-panel” RSS / blog reader that is designed to be “browser-centric”. The 1.2 release adds significant functionality about the 1.0 release, including RSS 2 enclosure support (which works very well with BitTorrents), “Watch Lists” to automatically mark interesting posts, “Filters” to automatically remove uninteresting entries or create feeds restricted to a few keywords, and a “Favorites” list, for users who have a LOT of sites to follow. By chris@pirillo.com (Chris Pirillo). [Lockergnome's RSS & Atom Tips]

Parked

Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:20:18 GMT

90% of all usability testing is useless. Lane Becker has written an article that suggests that 90% of all usability testing is useless. To quote: Ninety percent of all usability testing performed on Web sites is useless. This is not to say that it doesn't have a... [Column Two]

Parked

Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:19:14 GMT

User experience honeycomb. Peter Morville has published his new user experience honeycomb, which provides a new perspective on the facets of user experience. To quote: When I broadened my interest from IA to UX, I found the need for a new diagram to... [Column Two]

Parked

Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:17:49 GMT

Storytelling for leaders. Evelyn Clark has written an article on storytelling for leaders. To quote: Storytelling is a powerful communication tool that marketing and advertising professionals use very skillfully to promote their companies' products or services. But did you know that stories are... [Column Two]

Parked

Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:16:39 GMT

DrupalEd and DrupalBlog Downloads and Demos. The DrupalEd and DrupalBlog distributions previously mentioned on cyberdash are now ready for download. Each is tar gzipped and contains a copy of the Configuration Guide as a pdf and text file.

Get the DrupalEd distribution. Visit the demo site (feel free to use the admin username and password listed in the installation section of the guide). Get the DrupalEd Configuration Guide pdf.

Get the DrupalBlog distribution. Visit the demo site (feel free to use the admin username and password listed in the installation section of the guide). Get the DrupalBlog Configuration Guide pdf. [cyberdash - cyberteacher cyberculture cyberlearner]

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Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:15:18 GMT

Introduction to Blackboard 6.1 Enterprise. This manual has step-by-step instructions to use the features of the Enterprise version of course management system Blackboard 6.1. [Maricopa Learning eXchange (MLX) Newest]

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Thu, 24 Jun 2004 23:13:56 GMT

Shortage of Instructional Designers Hits Off-Shore Vendors. The booming off-shore eLearning industry in India has a few unique problems of its own to grapple with. An acute shortage of trained Instructional Designers is one. Unlike the United States, there are no institutions offering courses in Instructional Technology... [The Learned Man!]

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Tue, 15 Jun 2004 03:55:29 GMT

Pick and choose might be key.

An important message lies in this Australian experiment -- mixing both information and instruction are essential for public use of e-learning material. I wrote about this strategy in 2001 under the title of Blending Information and Instruction. What I did then, and guess what is still relevant today, is to look at companies that were providing exemplar online support. I chose Macromedia, Adobe and Apple back then and analyzed their online support strategy. These companies offered both information in the form of knowledge bases and instruction in the form of small modules and full-blown courses. This is the same strategy the Austrade pilot has implemented with success.

[elearningpost]

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Mon, 14 Jun 2004 15:51:49 GMT

More Wikis.

Heh... this had to happen... and good that it has... looks like I totally missed SnipSnap, JSPWiki, Instiki, Socialtext (although looks like it could be pricey) and a whole heap of stuff that Oliver ruminated on yesterday including Zwiki (& version Personal Wiki), VoodooPad (& Vpwiki) and even something along the lines of SubEthaEdit... will have to develop this more I think.

[incorporated subversion]

Parked

Mon, 14 Jun 2004 15:48:24 GMT

What do I want in a wiki?.

Keeping on the wiki theme, I've had a 'mini' crack at this before but, um, I've changed my mind :o) and lordy, it's probably only fair to draw up some kind of 'criteria' for wiki-selection... before I do though can I make clear that I'm looking at Wikis for a specific purpose here:

-To use in a higher education context with groups ranging from 20 to 1000 students
-To use for tasks ranging from short collaborative projects to developing social dynamics to ongoing collaboration & communication
-To use with specific courses on an 'amateur' basis... no real $ floating around here, and no institutional objectives (as yet)

And that like it as I don't I have to play by the technical rules in place... i.e. if you don't run on PHP / MySQL then you don't run... so what we end up using may not be the best option, it may just be the best option that fits.

Oh yeah, and I'm prone to getting confused about technical stuff, making huge omissions and getting things plain wrong :o)

So, taken that things like simultaneous editing and version control are a given, what do we want in a wiki, in no particular order:

-Free / Affordable & PHP & MySQL based

-Something we can host ourselves (while having a service hosted by someone else is a great plus for the non-techie individual teacher - whom I would probably encourage to use a service hosted by someone else -, these projects will undoubtedly involve multiple tutors who will only really be happy if we have 'control' (in terms of backing up & supporting) the system)

-WYSIWYG editor or suitable formatting help (fact is, students and teachers unfamiliar with wikis will need this in order to feel that they can use the system effectively... this is not to say that you can't have good formatting help though, for example and ever present guide to how to format with wiki styles)

-Obvious page creator (WikiWords, while beautifully simple, just won't do it... there needs to be an icon or a 'Create New Page' link)

-Email / RSS enabled (People need to be able to subscribe to pages (not whole wikis!) and 'watch them' - as I'm not doing this with a bunch o' bloggers this needs to be available primarily as email updates when things are changed... additionally RSS would be good, but please not instead of!)

-Easy Attachments, Images & File Sharing (This has got to be as easy as attaching a document to an email or putting an image in a Word document)

-Security Settings (Need to be able to lock some pages and allow different types of access)

-Comments Feature (Need to be able to comment on these pages... email updates on these are a must too!)

-That Personal Touch (At its most simple users need to be able to log in, have their own page and give themselves a 'signature' so that when they edit people can see who they are and they can easily track what the have done)

-Flexibility of Design (It needs to be able to be easily adaptable to it's environment... for example to be able to be CSSed as appropriate)

Does anybody think I'm being unreasonable here or have missed anything key? I'm going to ponder it for a while and then try to draw up a kinda comparison chart (with comments) for all the wikis that've come up.

[incorporated subversion]

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Mon, 14 Jun 2004 13:57:14 GMT

Back to patterns. Denham Grey has written an blog entry on using patterns as part of knowledge management. To quote: Need to capture experience and expertise?, introduce new ideas into your organization?, want a template to document rationale and good practice?, wish to... [Column Two]

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Mon, 14 Jun 2004 13:56:19 GMT

The educated blogger: Using weblogs to promote literacy in the classroom - David Huffaker, First Monday. This paper explores the role of weblogs or "blogs" in classroom settings. Blogs, which resemble personal journals or diaries and provide an online venue where selfâ€“expression and creativity is encouraged and online communities are built, provide an exc [Online Learning Update]

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Sun, 13 Jun 2004 17:52:23 GMT

Employers jumping on e-learning bandwagon - VIRGINIA GALT, Globe and Mail. For software company president Mike Gardner, one of the most enjoyable aspects of e-learning is the informal brainstorming that goes on around the virtual water cooler. "All of us religiously read the water cooler," said Mr. Gardner, who is earning his [Online Learning Update]

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Sun, 13 Jun 2004 17:51:01 GMT

Minor Updates to DrupalEd/Drupal Blog Configuration Guides. HubLog gave me a little feedback on installing DrupalEd after having a positive experience with the installation and configuration. The DrupalEd/DrupalBlog Configuration Guides have been updated to reflect HubLog's suggestions. [cyberdash - cyberteacher cyberculture cyberlearner]

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Sun, 13 Jun 2004 17:50:19 GMT

Coworking Institute.

Coworking Institute...a site on collaboration, tools, best practices, and social processes. The links section offers detailed exploration of elearning, virtual communities, coworking, etc. Good resource site.

[elearnspace]