Social eLearning

Kick start Language iPad project - My first blog post

2012-02-27T13:24:00.000+13:00

I am from ........
I have been in NZ for ..........
What I want to achieve from this coures.

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

It finally worked!!!!!

2012-02-14T15:40:00.001+13:00

I idea why it wasn't working before! Haven't done anything different this time :-(?

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

What education should be like!

2011-05-16T10:56:00.000+12:00

Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education from sam seidel on Vimeo.

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

Shave4Cancer shave off

2011-05-14T15:11:00.001+12:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer#photo/dayling92/5592753064963540609,authkey:Gv1sRgCL6l6afS-L2bMw/5592753243402994786

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Another Student Feedback from a Project - Authentic Learning and Web 2.0

2011-04-21T11:07:00.000+12:00

I was a student enrolled in the Certificate of Boat building
program at the Institute of Applied Science, Unitec. One of those exciting
things during the course is the elearning perspective based on Web 2.0
technology and applications, which was introduced and promoted by Vickel.

Despite the concept of Web 2.0 sounds quite complicated or specialized,
this new educational approach actually uses daily computer software and
program, online applications and resources, and other IT technologies we
use everyday, such as 3G network on our mobile, recording video and taking
pictures with camera or smart phone, etc.

Based on this approach, we (tutors and students all together) established a
comprehensive Web2.0 e-learning platform. Everyone got their own Blog. In
the blog, students can write down what they have done today, what are they
thinking, or what kind of help they need. Other students and tutors can read
his blog and make comments on it. Moreover, blog is also used to create
students’ portfolio (now we call it e-portfolio). Students are asked to take
photos and videos during the workshop, and upload them to the blog. Other
internet applications and webs, such as Google Docs, Buzz and YouTube are
used as well as useful tools to improve communications between students
and tutors.

I really liked this Web2.0 concept and I think its application in the CAT program
is quite successful. I think it has following advantages:

1. Improved communication between students and tutors with little or
no limitation of time and place. Compared with face-to-face meeting
and communication, students and tutors now can communicate online.
You can post your ideas, thoughts, suggests or comments at anytime,
anywhere. You do not have to be in the workshop in order to discuss
with your mates and the tutor.
2. An effective way to record work and study. As pictures and videos are
made during the workshop, students can upload them onto their blog.
This provides a dynamic and expressive source for constructing their e-
portfolio online.
3. More progress-oriented and better supervision on students’ work
and study. Students are asked to write their blog based on their daily
learning process. Tutors can see how each student is doing all the
way through the course. This gives opportunity for tutors to make more
comprehensive and flexible assessment on the student on the basis of
his learning process, not only on the basis of the final outcome.
4. Students are more motivated. Well, as a student, your assessment
and portfolio will be based on what you have put on your blog. So you
need pay more attention on your daily study. Moreover, you can also
help other students if they post any questions on the blog and make comments on their works. And remember, other students can do the
same to you.
5. It does not increase the cost of study. Software, applications, websites
and other devices and technologies used in the Web2.0 educational
approach are mostly free. You might need a cellphone that can take
pictures and videos. If you happened to have not got one, do not worry.
You can borrow the camera from the institute.

(Former student in the Boat Building course, Unitec New Zealand)

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

authentic learning

2011-04-05T13:07:00.001+12:00

Boat building students

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Emerging themes from student blogs.

2011-03-31T09:19:00.000+13:00

How students are using blogs in their course and what are some of the emerging themes.

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

Things that make your day!

2011-03-23T12:01:00.000+13:00

I started a Web 2.0 project with Marine Technology students last week and had only spent 1 hour with the students explaining why we were doing things the new way. Got the students setup on Blogger, Gmail and gave them a quick overview of GDocs and Youtube.

Picture: Student's in the Marine Technology course doing a presentation this morning.

After the session last week and few days later, a student commented:

ILearning???

I've just started the 2011 semester 1 studies and something very diferrent is changing the "old fashion way" of teaching students at Unitec, I am saying that because I already been at Unitec on semester 2 2010, and we were tired of listening to our tutor talking for two hours every day doing the theory side, seeing my colleagues falling asleep, anyway to my and the others surprise Unitec had implemented a new tool called "ILearning" I have to admit I was a bit worried how would it end up, but now I really like the idea and I need to say since wed 16/03 when we had our first day of "ILearning" I am really impressed how the theory side became much more interesting, and we(students) are more involved as a team, I hope my classmates are enjoying as much as I am and together we will learn how to build our blogs. (Marine Technology Student, 2011)

What more can I say! They are willing to make the change, but it is how we take it to the student's that makes a difference (no digital native assumptions!!). Also the acceptance of the teacher, he/she plays a huge role. I have to admit the staff I am working with is a STAR!

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

Article: Google’s Blogger Is About to Get an Overhaul

2011-03-15T14:06:00.000+13:00

Google's Blogger Is About to Get an Overhaul
http://mashable.com/2011/03/14/googles-blogger-is-about-to-get-an-overhaul/

(Sent from Flipboard)

Immersive Learning - bringing the past to live - Second Life

2011-03-04T15:32:00.000+13:00

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

Session with the Chinese delegates

2011-02-23T22:17:00.001+13:00

Session delivered to the Chinese delegates on how the eTeam is implementing the two key strategies at Unitec, the Living curriculum and the eLearning strategy through a community of practice approach.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

From Click to Touch - Gesture based learning in SL

2011-02-23T13:10:00.000+13:00

Kinect in Second Life

Moving from an age of Clicks to Gesture based navigation. Exciting development mainly implications on learning in SL!

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

#SLT10 - Class

2011-02-09T19:56:00.001+13:00

YouTube Video

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Waikato Uni iPedagogy workshop with @thomcochrane

2011-02-09T19:49:00.001+13:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

#ascilite10 Martin Oliver Keynote last day on GBL

2011-02-08T16:37:00.004+13:00

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

#ascilite Ron Oliver on learning design

2011-02-08T16:35:00.003+13:00

Listen!

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

Wcelfest - Waikato university elearning

2011-02-03T09:39:00.001+13:00

eLearning

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Social Media Monopoly via Dan Martell

2010-11-22T08:27:00.000+13:00

Flowtown - Social Media Marketing Application

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

Pixelpipe HD

2010-11-12T17:58:00.001+13:00

Pixelpipe HD - should be a cool app to use on the iPad for blog posts and status updates! Test post from the iPhone.

Pixelpipe HD

Pixelpipe HD should be a cool app to use on the iPad now for blog posts and status updates.

Boat Building Students - a milestone achieved

2010-11-11T22:44:00.000+13:00

this blog post by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

Project Gran Turismo 5 - CAME Proposal (Game-based learning and Web 2.0)

2010-11-09T16:58:00.008+13:00

Project Gran Turismo 5 (GT5) - CAME Semester 1, 2011

Proposal By:
Vickel Narayan

Academic Adviser (Learning Technologies),
Te Puna Ako

Email: vnarayan@unitec.ac.nz
Phone: ext 7413

Introduction

The CAME created waves around the institute and to some extent in other institutes in modeling effective pedagogy. It is also the first course at Unitec to successfully go through the rigorous Living Curriculum tick process. Institutionally the CAME has put Department of Automotive and the Faculty at the forefront of effective practice in learning and teaching and has set a model of others to learn from.

The CAME managed to successfully move from teacher-content to student generated-content, a process where students take ownership of their own learning and the teachers in the course playing the role of a facilitator. Feedback to students on their work in class became a critical feature in the learning process along with building relationships with students and encouraging the same between students. The course has had positive impact on student's learning (Narayan & Baglow, 2010) and hopefully the students will move on to achieve greater things as they begin their career. Even though there are a number of things happening in the CAME that is having a positive effect on the way students learn, there is still room for improvement. Herrington (2006) expresses the importance of authentic learning contexts in promoting higher student engagement, success and for creating an opportunity for students to explore a 'real world' situation over a sustained period of time to deliver a solution.

This proposal outlines how GT5 will be integrated in the course to create an experience for the students to learn from. The proposal also ensures CAME and the Faculty maintains the lead in innovative approaches to learning and teaching and continues to set a model for it's staff, other programmes and faculties to learn from.

About Gran Turismo 5

My Page user options

Figure 1.0 - My page on GT5

Tuning Shop - Customising the Car

Figure 2.0 - Tuning options in the game

Is a multi-player online gaming device however it's not just about racing:

Personal online message board to keep in touch with friends.
You can gift car parts to your friends.
You can take pictures and share it with your friends.

(As outlined in figure 1.0)

Dynamic weather hence gives a feel of how the vehicle behaves under different weather conditions (temperature, pressure, humidity).
Over 900 cars from different car manufacturers, all on HD with crisp clear picture and graphics.

Cars are customisable meaning one can build a car down-up through the Tuning Shop (Pictures from the tuning shop: http://www.gtplanet.net/gran-turismo-5-menu-screens-show-tuning-options/gt5-menu-tuning-7/ and http://us.gran-turismo.com/us/news/d5297p2.html). This is how the game flows (Career Mode):

You start with 3,500 Cr (iPad version). This credit is used to by a car but before you can buy a car you keep to get a drivers licence to drive one in the game.
You race to gain extra credit.
Using this credit you can buy parts from the After Market Store (this ranges from tyres to pistons and suspension). This website shows the tuning options in GT5: http://www.gtplanet.net/gran-turismo-5-menu-screens-show-tuning-options/
Next you take the car to a Diagnostics Centre to run tests on the customisations you have made. There are various tests you can perform for example: compression, torque, speed, variations in behavior under different conditions (Pressure, stress etc). After the test, make the changes as needed and
You take the car for a spin on the track.

Theoretical Underpinning

The most critical ingredient to students' succeeding at learning is motivation, 'a motivated learner can't be stopped' (Prensky, 2003. p. 1). Contrary to this well known fact and in this digital age, student learning still remains 'dry' (Eck, 2006; Prensky, 2003). This said there is a platform available for educators that achieves high level of engagement and motivation to utilise and can be found in almost all homes in some form: computer and video games. Prensky (2003) claims that students attitude towards computer/video games is totally opposite to what some of them have towards school. The attitude students have towards video/computers games in what is desperately needed in the schools: 'interest, competition, cooperation, results-oriented, actively seeking information and solutions' (p. 1).

Prensky (2001) suggests that games can facilitate as many as 36 vital and effective learning principles. These include instant feedback, decision making roles, a student could be punished by being given a tougher task if they failed (sets higher expectations, challenges hence becomes a motivational factor), engaging, lets the user experiment many ways to learn and allows flexibility to create different thoughts (Prensky, 2001). Pivec et al. (2003) also suggest that games can create a collaborative learning environment. The use of multi-player gaming platforms allows users to exchange thoughts and ideas with other users who are interacting with the content simultaneously under shared circumstances. This takes collaboration to a new level where the level of critique and exploration of a concept or event is negotiated between individuals to create new understandings and meanings (Johnson et al., 2010). The New Horizon Report (2010) outlines number of case studies where game-based learning was successfully incorporated in the curriculum. Prensky (2001) states 5 affordances of video/computer games for students that renders it as a powerful learning platform: (1) engage (2) explore, (3) explain, (4) elaborate and (5) evaluate. These elements when mixed with the right pedagogy create an environment, which could be beneficial to both students and teachers (Eck, 2006; Prensky, 2001).

Design: GBL, Constructivism, Authentic Learning

"Knowledge is not passively accumulated: rather, it is a result of active cognising by the individual" (Doolittle, 1999. p. 6)

The table below outlines the relationship between the 3 (GBL, constructivism and authentic learning) and how GT5 and Web 2.0 tools bridge the two into an effective learning environment.

GT5 (Game-based learning)	Constructivism	Authentic Learning
The situations presented in the game are realistic scenarios a racing driver and his crew face. This also creates an urgency/relevance for future tasks/actions	learning context should be authentic and where possible should be real-world the learning should have immediate relevance to the students	'real world' learning - the learning situation has immediate relevance to the way learning will be applied in real life
All digital games presents an ill defined problem but 'in-time' promotes are in place to guide them through the process	learning should be situated in a social environment to enable collaboration and sharing	learning activities are ill defined - one complex problem that the students can explore over a period of time
The diagnostics centre, teacher in class and because GT5 is an online gaming platform expertise from around the world is also available		students have access to expertise and the use/process is modeled
As a driver, owner, crew member, analyst. This enables a learner to bring any prior knowledge they may have into the current situation they are/could be facing.	the learning should take into account the learners prior knowledge and should build from it	learners are able to explore an issue from multiple perspective and through assuming different identities (roles)
Blogging/student portfolio, Google Buzz all situated within a student CoP - all geared towards building a student community - community of learners	should be student-centred - students given the ownership of their own learning	learning is situated in socio-cultural setting - students construct knowledge together through interaction each each other
Reflection and articulation is at the core of students blogging, learning activities designed also take this into consideration and feedback a regular event	formative assessments should be embedded within the course to create opportunity for the teacher to guide and lead the student into further learning.	Reflection and articulation is a critical element in the learning process
Scaffolds are built into almost all the games as an engagement factor, teachers in class as coach, and other resources on the web as guided by the teacher. Vickel Narayan as a technology steward and support in class for students/teacher, every week for 1-2hrs.	the teachers role in the process to be as a facilitator and not an instructor.	'Scaffolding and coaching' - support mechanisms are out in place to help the students through the process - digital resources, readings, teachers
ePortfolio - every activity and events within make up a post(s). An assessment rubric will be discussed/created with the students at the start of the course.	teachers to create an environment that nurtures student views and perspectives and allows students to deliver content in multiple formats (multimedia - pictures, videos, audio, storyboards etc).	Authentic assessment - embedded assessment - activities and assessments are not separate and distinct from each other rather they should implement each other

(Doolittle, 1999; Herrington, 2006; Lombardi, 2007)

Gran Turismo 5 allows students an opportunity to experience learning in an authentic context. The game will be embedded in the course which will allow students to learn basic car parts and the functions in a fun environment. The teachers in the course will have a set of questions to look at after each gaming session to reflect on. A possible learning scenario is presented below:

The class will be broken down into smaller groups of up to 4 students in each. (Groups maintained for the whole course.) The groups begin by having a gaming session to decide who is the best driver of them all. This exercise will help build a team as in many cases students don't know each other and it takes a while to establish a relationship to get a team going. The person who wins the contest becomes the driver for the team and other members the pit crew. Learning activities here after are based on analysing the performance of the car and tweaking the parts for better performance on the race course. The diagrams below outline how the gaming aspect will be used in student learning and integrated in the curriculum.

Pedagogical Affordances of the Game

Figure 3.0 - Pedagogical affordances of the game

Figure 3.0 outlines the features of the game and further details in the diagram outline possible use in the course. The CAME students this year (2010) had to learn about parts and its functions by reading books, watching videos and through communal discussions however the students had very limited opportunity to explore the parts in an authentic context. GT5 will allow the students to explore various models of a part and put them through a number of diagnostics to determine the impart of certain variables on the performance of the car. Figure 2.0 shows a screen capture from the game of the tuning features available, in this case the engine block, piston and ECU. Other options are available for example the chassis, tyres, body (fibre and alloy), turbo charging, exhaust, etc. Figure 4.0 outlines the process each group and group members will have to go through after a session on the console. The teachers in the course will be heavily involved in the process providing guidance (feedback), setting up conditions and requirements for the activity and observing the activities for expected deliverables. The reflective blog posts will add towards the student portfolio as an assessed activity.

Embedding it in the course - It's not just about gaming

Figure 4.0 - Use with Web 2.0 tools to enhance students learning.

Conclusion

The use of technology in learning and technology is only effective if it is underpinned by effective pedagogy and careful planning for embedding it within the curriculum is done (Johnson et al., 2010; Prensky, 2003). Prensky (2001) floated the concept of what he called digital natives (born after 1980) and digital immigrates (born before 19980). From the data collected this year, majority of students in CAME could be categorised as digital natives and according to Prensky digital natives are attracted to technology as a metal is to a magnet. This was apparent with technology used in the course this year, again the data collected from the students indicated that they were happy with the use of etools in the course (Narayan & Baglow, 2010). The indications are that the students enrolling in the CAME and many entry level courses here at Unitec will be getting younger every year with different expectations of how learning should be (Horizon, 2010).

Literacy and numeracy is still an area that needs attention, while literacy is being looked at GT5 can help with the numeracy issues. The diagnostics students can run in GT5 requires them to gain an understanding of what the numbers mean and how they arrive at the result. This requires them to gain an understanding of the process and the method, the motivation in the process is to get the best performance from the car they have customised when it comes race day against other groups and win. This when combined with blogs allows the teacher to identify and help the students/group where needed, this could even happen at an early stage. GT5 creates an opportunity for students and teachers alike to tackle numeracy issues which under normal circumstances would go undetected.

Also keeping in mind future plans CAME has of moving into schools this pilot project will help make a difference in the lives of many students who drop out of the school system by engaging the students in a fun but effective learning environment. This project will also create an opportunity of the CAT students to be involved and hopefully will get the staff teaching excited to try out new and informed methods of teaching.

References

Doolittle, P. E. (1999). Constructivism and Online Education Retrieved January, 2007, from http://edpsychserver.ed.vt.edu/workshops/tohe1999/pedagogy.html
Eck, R. V. (2006). Digital Game-Based learning: it's not just the digital natives who are restless. EDUCAUSE, 41(2).
Herrington, J. (2006). Authentic e-learning in higher education: Design principles for authentic learning environments and tasks. Paper presented at the E-Learning Conference.
Johnson, L., Levine, L., Smith, R., & Stone, S. (2010). The 2010 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
Lombardi, M. M. (2007). Authentic learning for the 21st century: an overview: EDUCAUSE.
Pivec, M., Dziabenko, O., & Schinnerl, I. (2003). Aspects of game-based learning. MIS Quarterly, 3(1).
Prensky, M. (2003). Digital game-based learning. ACM Portal, 1(1).
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning. New Yorke: McGraw-Hill.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 6.
Narayan, V., & Baglow, L. (2010). New beginnings: Facilitating effective learning through the use of Web 2.0 tools. In C. Steel, M.J. Keppell & P. Gerbic, Curriculum, technology & transformation for an unknown future. Proceedings ascilite Sydney 2010.

this project proposal by Vickel Narayan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.

Boat Building - Small Craft Build

2010-10-26T13:59:00.002+13:00

Test post

Boating Building - Student showing me how to find the Centre Line

2010-10-20T10:18:00.001+13:00

Students are doing similar things on their portfolios. I'll be posting links to their portfolios later-on.

2010-09-07T20:39:00.001+12:00

Test post from my iPhone using seesmic and ping.fm hope this works. I have added almost all my web 2 accounts possible to seesmic to test if it will update all or just some. I am intentionally typing to go beyond 140 characters let's see if it will update twitter or just my blogs - blogger and typepad .... I should be over 140 characters by now so here it goes.... Also attaching a picture .... To teat the limitation.... Here it goes ok uploading picture failed!!!!! I wonder why something wrong with tweetpic?

iPad - iCommunicate, iCreate, iShare and iLearn?

2010-08-27T11:35:00.001+12:00

Context:

Students in the Civil Engineering course have to buy a calculate worth some where around $400NZ. The calculator has very limited use in class, basically calculations and programming only. The course itself is very hands-on. Students meet once in a week for a 4 hour lecture followed up by a practical session using the equipments for surveying and many calculations that follow later. In the practical session the students record data they would have taken using these equipments and is later used for calculating 'things' (sorry I have no knowledge of surveying hence wouldn't pretend to know what they calculate from the data collected) needed from it. Data is recorded on a sheet of paper and is later (when the students have returned back to the classroom) checked by the teacher. The reason why it couldn't be checked out in the field is, students are not at the same location they could be few hundred meters apart doing their own bit in groups. This creates a few problems for the students and teacher alike:

teacher is unable to give feedback or check for accuracy. This is only possible after the students are back in classroom. The students miss out on being able to correct their mistake and take readings and data again.
Because data is recorded on a sheet of paper it limits what calculations could be done out in the field.
other problems not relation to practical sessions:

the 4 hour lecture. I did a quick survey in class with the students and they admitted that they find the 4 hour lecture overwhelming and boring. The staff teaching the course reflecting on his 4 hour session stated standing in-front of the class talking and going through PowerPoint presentations and pdf's to deliver the required knowledge to the students.
'Learning' and 'assessment' are seen as two distinctively separate process. Learning is where the teacher is in-charge - talking and explaining and lecturing most of the time (Teacher - active, students - passive participants). Assessment, students are expected to recall and regurgitate the knowledge 'learnt'.

The iPad .....

iPad was designed primarily as a 'consumption' device- watching videos, pictures, reading book, browsing the net and as a portable gaming unit. The apps designed for it available on the App store however take this even further. It potentially turns it into a portable computer that not only allows content to be received but can engage the user into creating it too. Some key elements not available on the iPad however make it a bit difficult, for example:

lack of a camera (no photos or videos)
iPad runs a mini or lite version of a browser Safari and now many other available on the App store. This creates a problem for using applications like Google Apps and other - they need a full browser to function properly. We can however overcome these limitations by using Apps from the App store, like Documents on the go, Documents 2, Connect - these apps allow you to connect to cloud platforms like Google, download the documents edit and sync it back. Some even allow you to create a document on the iPad itself and can later be uploaded to a cloud storage. Blogging that is a crucial tool we use in our course. However again because iPad doesn't have a full browser blogging is made difficult and the lack of a proper blogging app on the store compounds the issue. We can do email blogging but this means we'll be restricted to text only. Other digital artifacts like pictures and videos are critical elements when blogging to engage students in cognitive processes.

Vox has been the best blogging platform for use in class, well at least for me, Blogger is close but not as good. However Blogger is flexible when it comes to blogging on the iPad unlike Vox. It gives you a HTML compose window and throws an error message when you try to change to WYSIWYG saying "the browser you are using is not supported."

What we are doing with it?

16 Civil Engineering students and 2 staff teaching the course received an iPad (Wifi version 16 Gig) each for use this semester.

The concept map on the left outlines few tools we'll be using in the course. Others tools will be added as needed. m48 is an App that can be downloaded for free from the App store. This is the same calculator students buy for around $400NZ.

Documents 2 is a free App again from the App store that allows the user to create/download documents from Google docs to edit, this can be sync'ed back to Google Docs. Students setup a Blogger account for use in the course. My experience with Blogger has been: it's hard to create or get the student community going hence Google Buzz will be use to and an auto-feed will be activated meaning every time the student make a post on their blog a message will be posted on Buzz hence all the students can see and participate*. The teacher can also use it to initiate discussions and to engage the students. To make things simple Google Mobile App for iPad will be used, this adds a short cut on the iPad making access easier. Buzz Buzz is another app that can be used to access and post to Google Buzz only.

So what do these Apps do?

Let's call it Web Surfing 2.0 - the old way was browsing the net using a web browser, FireFox, Internet explorer, Opera, Safari etc. The browser was the portable to accessing information. Apps on the App store for the iPhone do the same but each service have there own version and with customisable options. You select the services you want delivered when you open the application on your iOS device. It has a more personal touch to what a browser can deliver. NZ Herald have an app for the iPad, TVNZ also have an app for portable Apple products. Will this change the way we have browsed the web since its invention, only time will tell. Portable devices have replaced desktop and laptops as the leader when it comes to accessing the web according to recent research done in USA.

Given the limitation of the browse on the iPad and other portable Apple products these apps allow the user more capabilities, for example Google Docs doesn't function properly using iOS version of Safari but other Apps like Documents on the Go, Connect etc allow you to edit and create documents. Similarly blogging has always been seen as a primarily web based event because of browser capabilities on the iPad, blogging using the browse is not possible hence Apps like iBlog, Blogit, TypePad etc enables the user to perform these actions. Moblogging (Mobile blogging) is also gaining momentum, you compose a message and flick it to your unique Moblogging email address and your blogging platform does the rest. Portable Mobile devices are changing the way we have done things, enhancing the experience and delivering a more personalised experience.

In the project above we have selected Douments 2 for accessing Documents hosted on Google so enables the user to upload to Google from iPad. Documents 2 delivers functions like font formating (bold, italics, underline etc) and basic calculations while using Spreadsheet.

Buzz Buzz is an app for buzzing - service similar to Twitter - Google version of it. It takes Twitter a step further by allowing users to share pictures, videos, links etc and it is treated as a conversation unlike Twitter which treats every post as an individual blurb. Connecting Blogger to Buzz will automatically posts updates on Buzz hence people following you can quickly see what you been up to, for students it makes a huge difference - collaborative learning.

The aim of this project is:

Does the iPad provide any additional value to students in Civil engineering course?
To explore its affordance for use in a student-centred learning environment.

More updates from the project to follow.

Future of Computing and Learning ...iPad,iPhone - iDock

2010-08-05T12:43:00.000+12:00

The problem

Okay so in brief this is the story ...... I have an iPhone, iPad, a Netbook (Dell mini 9), MacBook Pro and and Mac Mini ....you would ask where do I use all this technology and what for:

iPhone - almost everytime, probably the best investment of all the technology
iPad - in meetings and as an entertainment unit
Netbook - sometimes use it, haven't used it for a while now .... but are handy in conferences due ti its portability
MacBook Pro - @ work and home when I need something decent to work on
Mac mini - well again use it only when I feel I don't need to use the MacBook pro ......have to start it up, connect to power ........ Mac mini is always convenient, just jump on and get started....

So where does the iDock concept fit in the already long list of things at home and work?

Well the iDock is to solve the problem. The new iPhone 4 comes with a A4 processor (1GHz speed), 512MB RAM ...... well if this is the way than future phones will be much faster with bigger RAM meaning almost as powerful as a normal desktop or a laptop or even faster ...... let's put it this way, there is more potential .... the number of apps on Apple store for iPhone is growing at an exponential rate ... not just growing but growing with more features enabling the ability to do more on a cellphone. For example things possible on an iPhone: editing Videos, Audio, Pictures, Edit/Create Documents (excel, ppt, word an more), eMails, web browsing, entertainment (high end graphics better than same desktop and laptop games, geo-tagging, and more)

The iPhone (or other smartphones) will have the capability to perform complex and big tasks almost the same as a computer ...... the iDock concept does what a docking station for a laptop does .... provides more power and ability such as USB ports, monitor out, printer port etc. The iDock will do the same and in doing so convert the iPhone into a desktop computer .... better, it allows the user to carry important documents and data on the phone and still have to power to do anything at anytime...... the iDock will provide a DVD drive, USB, Firewire and monitor out this of-course depends on Apple and other smartphone manufacturers to open the platform and upgrade the hardware in future handsets to allow these capabilities ...... it's not that we don't have the technology or ability it's more that we need time and perhaps vision from leading phone manufacturers to take this further.

How it will work?

Dock your iPhone on the iDock and away you go. Plug in the peripheral devices you use for example, USB keyboard, an external monitor and perhaps an external harddrive. The iDock is a dumb unit (meaning it has no operating system), the iPhone and the apps on the iPhone is the main unit. Although the iDock may have RAM and a processor to ease the load on the iPhone processor, it is to 'enhance' the ability on the iPhone. The apps on the iPhone are like apps you have on a desktop or laptop.

The way things are moving at the moment, you wouldn't really need a huge processor to perform your tasks. Cloud computing is growing at the same rate as the smartphones are growing in power and ability perhaps leveraging off each others success and complementing each others strengths and weaknesses.

What is the future than?

The future is cloud computing and in mobile technology like smartphones. Ubiquitous computing - being everywhere and having the power of a computer and more in your hand.

Autotronics Project Semester 2

2010-07-22T13:05:00.006+12:00

Outline of the course this semester.

This is the concept map for a project with semester 2 (2010) Autotronics students.

Again the first step for this project was working with the staff teaching this course (Community of Practice), unfortunately staff teaching the students in the first semester is still a long way off and needs sometime to reflect and to take in the transition from transmission to student-centredness. We have hence inherited some problems that I'll discuss later.

This would be my second project where I have established a CoP to work on pedagogy, facilitation and assessment at the same time looking at how we can use learning technology to enhance student experience and learning.

Reflections on the CoP

The beginnings

The first get-together is always hard on everyone especially for staff who are coming in not sure what to expect and importantly what degree of openness would be required. I approach this carefully hence an informal location and a cup of coffee puts everyone at ease (thanks @thomcochrane for the idea). Next getting a touch on what people feel about use of technology in class and what they think is good or bad about it. This normally creates a space for me to talk about other projects and discuss the similarities and what the outcomes were. I have so far found after the first gathering that you are likely to get a couple who are really interested and hence go away looking for more information and case studies. These people in my experience have come the conveners (people who work within a CoP to keep others informed and enthused). These people in my experience have played an important role in keeping the CoP afloat. I have reflected on this and the reason why this happens is: 1. these people are already are a member of the CoP that has existed for a while hence I am considered an "outsider", and 2. these people already have a relationship with others in the CoP while I am still establishing myself. Working with staff in a faculty or a department it is important to recognise these people and work along side them while you are still establishing a relationship and identity. Spiky profile of staff is a major challenge, some staff are early adapters and are willing to give a go while others need more time to digest what we had discussed. Again it is important to allow time for this to happen, it is an important stage of the process.

What follows

Revisting Pedagogy

In my experience discussing teaching practice has been a very sensitive issue. For some in the CoP the practice could be years long and hence you have to be very careful how you approach this. I have faced some real resistance from staff and some even choose to leave the CoP. I have found discussing a 'new approach' in my case social constructivism creates an atmosphere for people without realising to open up. Mostly the questions are either inquisitive or defensive of whatever their current practice maybe. There are always those who choose to sit back and listen to what is being said again there is nothing wrong with this. So without pointing a finger at anyone or without asking for someone to openly discuss their teaching practice we have created a surrounding where people reflect on their practice voluntarily. This in the following meetings materialise into questions leading into discussions and case studies of others in the CoP to learn from or add to with their own experience.

Having an online presence for the CoP is not critical at this stage but I have found it to be beneficial. Staff who are on-board by now start to use the space to post constructive comments, useful questions, case studies to backup what we would have discussed on the other hand it also gives members who wouldn't normally engage in discussion to open up. At times discussion could continue online after the meeting had concluded. I am very aware of the fears people have especially when it comes to technology hence at this stage having an online presence is beneficial hence making participation voluntary works best. The priority at this stage is to discuss and lay a foundation to build upon. To get the staff to reflect on their practice and identify areas they could improve upon at the same time raising awareness on advantages of social constructivism as most staff I have encounted predominately teach in a transmission mode - delivery of knowledge from the teacher to student.

Designing courses for collaborative learning

Remember all this happens in the CoP over several meetings in formal and informal spaces as required.

In my experience achieving the change in mindset from traditional teaching methods to constructivism has taken somewhere between 9 months to 1 year. You'll have some staff who make this shift in a few weeks or in a matter of few months but for a majority in my case it took them 9 months to 1year. I didn't collect any data especially age but knowing the members in the CoP's I have been involved in, staff over the age of 40 have taken a longer time to achieve this change. However there were few in the same age group who took few months. I found the main difference between the members in this age group and those who made the change quicker to be their attitude - willingness to change and try something different.

Once we have achieved the change in pedagogy it is time for planning, what will be done in class. Over the projects I was involved in last semester, I have come up with this sheet to help staff plan for the lessons.

When we talk about student-centred learning we are somewhat limited to what degree we can involve students in the process. Most courses offered at tertiary institutes outline the learning outcomes hence we have to walk with this limitation to design a student-centred environment or learning experience. The course design framework takes this limitation and provides the staff teaching a way to create an engaging, student-centred learning experience. The design framework is based to Laurillard's conversational model for learning.

The course design framework discussed above is a "Scaffolded approach" to student-centred learning. Critiques of student-centred learning say that students enrolling to master a discipline may not have any experience or may have some but not relevant. Hence students are not in a position to know where to start from and are unable to create a context for themselves for learn from.

Scaffolded Student-Centred Learning

Figure 1: Three phase Scaffolded student-centred learning

Figure 1:
Key: T = Teacher involvement, SC - Student Community, PLN - Personal Learning Networks

Phase 1: Teacher plays a critical role in setting the scene. S/He designs learning blocks per each learning outcome or could be just one. Teacher directs the learning but ensures students are actively involved. The focus in this phase is establishing a students community and on engaging student with creating content - Teacher designs questions that provides direction to the students on what content to create. This could be individual or group activity. Students are encouraged to give peer feedback on the student community (individual blogs). There is very little or no context.

Phase 2: The the end of phase 1 students are (1) familiar with the tools, (2) have acquired skills needed (digital), (3) now have the base knowledge which they can build upon, (4) recognise the importance of students community and collaborative learning and (5) begin building their critical thinking skills. This provides them and puts them in a position to now start negotiating the learning context. They could collaborate with the teacher in creating one for themself or a group could negotiate one for themselves. At this stage and would probably happen in the first phase implicitly students would start developing their own learning environment and learning network. The focus for students stays with the student community but the PLN becomes a source of knowledge.

Phase 3: At this stage students are entirely in the driving seat and hence a true student-centred learning emerges. The teacher is there as a guide, student community and the PLN take a greater part in the students learning.

Use of Learning Technologies

So far we have talked about pedagogy and facilitation, we haven't seen where technology fits into the puzzle. As the students progress through the scaffolded continuum, technology plays an important role in keeping the learners and teacher connected. It also plays a part in bridging the gap between learning and context as context is not always in the classroom or other formal learning spaces. Technology for collaboration, creation and communication. Use of technology in phases 1 and 2 is determined by the teacher however the use of tools in phase 3 is determined by the student.

Education vs Creativity

2010-07-15T15:37:00.000+12:00

Models for Reflection - ePortfolios

2010-07-15T12:36:00.007+12:00

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (Read the original post)

Stages:

Description - What happened?
Feelings - What were you thinking and feeling?
Evaluate - What were the positives and negative of the experience?
Analysis - What did you understand/learn from the experience?
Conclusion - What else could you have done?
Action Plan - if it happens again, what would you do differently?

(Picture source: http://distributedresearch.net/blog/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/gibbsmodelreflection.jpg)

Peter Pappas' Taxonomy of Reflection (Read the original post)

Very closely aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy.

Stages:

Remembering
Understanding
Applying
Analysing
Evaluating
Creating

(Picture source: http://peterpappas.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341d880253ef0120a7a4dd53970b-pi)

The iPad ..... Finally

2010-07-15T12:17:00.000+12:00

Blogging from the iPad Wifi:

Now that I have an iPad, I can finally have a play. Here is my initial reaction, typing on the notebook app:

"First play with the iPad ..... Testing the keyboard ..... Awesome love it love it" ..... just a suggestion please don't try to use your thumb to type .... turn the iPad around to landscape mode this will give you a bigger and better virtual keyboard to type.

Ok now to some serious stuff:

It is good to know that the iPad has thousands of apps already on the store and I am sure many are on the way but surely you wouldn't have an app for every possible case, at some point you'll have to use the web and for that you'll need a browser. It's not that the iPad doesn't have a browse, the problem is it's not the full version. Safari for the iPad and iPhone has limited capability to that you use on your computer, this causes a few problems.

I tried to format some topics in this blog post on the iPad, I wasn't able to this because of limited java support. I tried running Google documents ... again Google popped up a message saying the browser you are using doesn't not support full capability.

The lack of a camera combined with the limitations discussed above, iPad will be a nightmare to use with students for learning. For students to blog they'll need to download a blogger app, this may cost money, no camera means they'll have to use something else ...... just makes a simple process for students so much harder and painful. Ubiquitous learning yes but could be limited to transmission only ...... careful planning and choice of tools is recommended if you were thinking of using an iPad with your students.

Gaming front:

Enjoyed a short game .... loved the experience. I think I'll now sell my Xbox ....don't have time to play it and when I do, I don't have the Xbox anywhere near me .... I guess an iPhone and having an iPad makes total sense.

One month later ......

I bought an iPad 3G in Singapore and have been using it for sometime now. Most of the free apps I was using on my iPhone cost money to use on the iPad :-(. This may change when iPads are available globally ....... my frustration still reminds with the limited browser capability on the iPad. I downloaded some paid apps that allows me to work around the limitations mainly being able to create/edit Google docs on the iPad. This however is a concern if we required students to use it. The 3G model gives me ability to run navigation apps. I found some apps I installed in Singapore really useful for moving around the city.

Here is a list of some apps I have on my iPad at the moment:

Mobile Maps by Sygic (New Zealand and Australia) (Paid) - Turn-by-turn Navigation app that I paid for for use on my iPhone, works fine on the iPad.Having a bigger screen is really cool.
Tumblr (Free) - blogging/note taking app
Evernote (Free) - blogging, note taking and more
IM+ Lite (Free) - messaging
Tweetdeck (Free) - Keep in touch with your Tweeps.
Quickoffice (Paid) - gives you ability to create/edit documents and sync it with Google and others.
FeeddlerRSS (Free) - access your RSS feeds from Google Reader
GoodReader (Paid) - file management with VGA out
Expedition (Paid) - Web browsing with VGA out
HelloTXT (Free) - aggregate your social sites in one place, you can update your status or post to your blog from one place. It supports upto 52 social networking sites this includes Blogger, Twitter, Buzz, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Facebook and others
RunKeeper (Free) - trace where you are going. I downloaded this app for my iPhone but my use has been different. This app keeps a record for how far you have ran, speed and traces your route in real-time. I have used this app to walk around new places ..... being able to see whether you are heading in the right direction makes a difference.
Acrossair (Free) - augmented reality app designed for use on iPhone. The iPad has now camera but this app still functions minus the camera view ofcourse ..... found it useful on my recent trip to Singapore and Malaysia. I used it multiple times to find restaurants, and other POI.
N.O.V.A (Paid) - You gotta have fun!!! I downloaded this for play on my iPhone and found the graphics to not too bad on the iPad.
AccuWeather (Free) - best free weather app for the iPad.
Google (Free)
QuickVoice (Free) - Pro version allows longer record time.
Facebook (Free) - using the iPhone version since there is none available for the iPad.
AudioLite (Free) - write (free hand or type) record and sync with the text, you can also share via email, Pro version allows other options! Lite version allows upto 20 minutes of record time.
Kindle (Free)
Wikipanion (Free) - wiki search made easy.
Google Earth (Free)
Remote (Free) - control your iTunes music from your iPad, iPhone or iPod.
Tunes Remote (Paid) - control the music on your iPad, iPhone or iPod. So your are playing music from your iPhone now you need an app to control the music from another portable device like the iPad or iPod, this is the app.
Documents 2 (Free) - access your docs on Google, create or edit.
Quick Graph (Free) - graphs for mathematical equations.
Atomic Lite (Free) - multi-tabbed browsing.

Motivators in Learning - Great Youtube Video

2010-06-03T11:07:00.000+12:00

Curatr Review

2010-06-01T23:37:00.003+12:00

Curatr - Review

I have had sometime (maybe 1 hour) to play with much talked about Curatr ..... first impressions:

1. The so called Gaming Aspect of Curatr.

It works by collating scores whenever you view a resource and either you like or dislike it (Yes, it's mandatory, you can't move to the next lesson unless you have done this!). I was quite disappointed to find out how scoring worked (I could be wrong).

2. No place for feed on an activity

I have been through a few resources on the account I was given and I couldn't see any place to leave a feedback or to comment on existing content.

3. Content driven - driven both by the teacher and students

Curatr is unfortunately content driven and is limited to Websites, Youtube, Text box (it didn't work for me), Pictures and Audio. This of course assumes that you have created the content before hand and uploaded it to appropriate platform for use. Curatr however allows peers to create or lets say collate contents to help others in class.

4. Difficult user interface

I initially found the user interface difficult to use. I couldn't make out where I was going and what I was meant to be doing or looking at first.

Where's the Pedagogy?

The burning question, what was the pedagogical underpinning for Curatr? You couldn't really say social constructivist .... maybe a beginnings of something bigger to come? The only bit I would say that would very least be called social was creating or collating resources that you found useful for others in class to use. Curatr allows you to create a profile but again it is very basic and you can't see the profiles of others in class. There is very little opportunity to network with other learners in class to discuss collectively and create new meaning and knowledge.

I was left asking .... it is a portal? Is it a basic social bookmarking tool .... I am still a bit confused. It seems the only thing you can do is create a portable (works on iPhone) collection of different digital artifacts that may help you in your learning or peers in some way.

Mobile Front - Comparing to Evernote

Yes Curatr has an iPhone app, so does Evernote. If I was to compare these two applications and it's suitability in learning and teaching, I'd say Evernote would be my choice. The difference I am talking about is huge.

Teacher vs Student content (Curatr allows students to collect content not necessarily their own)
Networking opportunities between the two apps is again a problem. Curatr - hardly any evidence. Evernote - and online profile viewable by others.
mLearning - even though Curatr has an iPhone app, it hardly uses the powerful features the iPhone is equipped with. Evernote on the other hand allows - on spot - audio capture, picture, video and text. Evernote empowers the students, enables them to create content and hence their own meaning from it. It enables students to share with each other what they have done and build collective understanding at the same time supporting each other.

I was expecting more from Curatr. The promotion video and hype that surrounded Curatr before launch of beta painted a totally different picture in my head to what was delivered. The claims around game based learning and the inclusion of what makes games so appealing didn't really work for me. It is not still about scores when playing a game but the challenge that comes your way, constant feedback and helpful hints that pop-up every now and then, creating that safe competitive environment where you can do a single player or a team play, having the ability to choose the level of difficulty to begin playing, the audio, visuals and constant connectedness with your team members (audio and chat if playing multiplayer online game), strategising, immersive environment and finally clever scoring.

Automotive CoP - eLcc's running the show

2010-06-01T14:29:00.002+12:00

Today I was invited to a CoP get together that my eLcc's (eLearning Community Coordinators) had organised.

I in a prior conversation I had told my eLcc's that I will come and sit somewhere in the corner and would only observe the session. I wanted the eLcc's to take control and to drive the community. I am not a member of the Automotive department hence I didn't want to intrude on the staff in the department.

I have to say I found it very difficult not to get involved in the discussions. I however had to get involved in some discussions and when some questions where directed at me. For example, I was put on spot when someone asked me what the acronym URL stood for ....... to buy sometime while I Googled the answer .... I yelled out let me Google it. I guess it played to the moment and to say that none of us were experts. (URL - Uniform Resource Locator)

I am slowly getting to know the staff in the department and understanding what their believes are. The session the eLcc's facilitated yesterday was to get the members in the room and to talk about issues and fears around eLearning. Chris had put a Fear Wall in the room and he started by putting his own: Too quick ... things were just moving very fast and Chris feared that he may not be able to cope with it. Scott on the other hand was showing the DTT (Department of Transport technology) online Community space and explaining the purpose. Scott tried to demo the forum and it wasn't working properly. Someone in the room suggested that Scott try Firefox. This person also shared with all in the room his experience with FF and Internet Explorer. I guess one thing we achieved yesterday for certain was the move away from IE and into FF. I really enjoyed this discussion because it had true characteristics of a CoP.

One member in this department shared the Moodle resource he had created for his students. The teaching staff are now interested in having a look at it and evaluating if it will help them with using Moodle.

Chris shared how his students were using the Flip Camera in Boat Building. It was surprising to see how many staff were interested in knowing more about it while few in the room where clearly wondering how or what difference it would make for their students.

Youtube was a major topic .... mainly the copyright issues. I had to sum it up "If it's yours, upload. If you are not the creator/owner, don't." The discussion moved to eLearning. Many in the room were suggesting Moodle was eLearning and that uploading documents and videos was enough. I was hoping someone would just yell out, eLearning is NOT Moodle and just uploading content is not enough, luckily Chris did. He corrected that eLearning not just Moodle and most innovative/creative learning and teaching actually happens out of Moodle in the Cloud (Web 2). Chris showed them what you had done with his students and the use of portfolios - Blogging.

Google came up and the information available if you searched for something, some questions: how do you make out if the information is correct? How to do know if its authentic, Too much information, information overload. I had to chip in: Google is a great place to start looking and for gathering opinion. If you are looking for authentic data that is verified and critiqued then our Library offers Online Journal databases. The information available on these DB's are peer review and verified. If you require your students to present correct, up-to-date information, you would probably direct them to seek information from these DB's. This itself could be a huge topic of discussion, academic skills and writing.

Something that came through explicitly in the gather together yesterday was the different needs staff in the department have mainly learning styles. The 'Little Book' came up - a notebook (book and pen not the Netbook PC) most staff curry with them to note important details and they frequently refer to the information they would have written down. Some comments: 1) workshops are organised and the presenters come in and show them how and what but don't provide any hard copy resources they can keep for later use (problem remembering things) and 2) they present too fast. I was dragged into this discussion, I and few others in the room suggested that you have to speak up and let the presenter know that he/she was going too fast. I suggested that if they don't provide you with the printouts, you can create your own by simply noting down the important points in your notebook. You can then circulate this between other staff members and expand it. I could have gone on to suggest doing it online but this I felt wasn't the right time .... maybe at a later stage when people have come to grips with Moodle, some Web 2 tools and the Internet.

The session concluded with a challenge for the staff present: create a Google Account and have a play for our next meet.

Another update soon.

GDHE Re-design

2010-05-16T22:32:00.028+12:00

Over the last few months Thom Cochrane and I have been busy re-designing a Unitec course Technologies for Social Learning.

Course aim: To explore the implications of new and emerging learning technologies to enhance student learning and own pedagogical practice.

What the course is all about (Prezi presentation below).

GDHE_New on Prezi

Qik - Mobile video by Vickel Narayan

2010-05-03T12:01:00.001+12:00

Teaching and Web 2.0

2010-04-29T15:35:00.001+12:00

This is a test blog post .... testing Vox and Blogger crossposting.

Moodle4iPhone project some thoughts

2010-04-16T13:53:00.001+12:00

Moodle4iPhone

Julian Ridden demoed a web based Moodle site for iPhone, they have called it Moodle4iPhone Project. It's not just all about iPhone, they have one for Android phone as well.

What I was expecting from the session.

Well I was expecting to see an iPhone platform that takes Moodle into mLearning territory. Unfortunately Moodle4iPhone is replicating all what Moodle on a computer would do. What I really found disappointing was the start of the session where the presented stated mobile phones are for assessing content and information. It was as if the only purpose mobiles could be used for was for transmitting content to students who are sitting idol somewhere doing nothing :-(

Delivering content to students who are some where out there doing nothing is a good idea but can we call it learning? For me learning is a result of someones experience and the experience will result in user generated content. Moodle4iPhone offers features that are present on Moodle like forum (you can reply to the forum) and almost all activity that can be found on a standard Moodle install.

What's missing from Moodle4iPhone

I still think this is a opportunity lost if we are just trying to re-create something that is doable on Moodle through the computer. To make Moodle a true mLearning system we need to leverage on things that are offered to us while using a mobile phone rather than just seeing it as a delivery tool. Things like geotagging, video, pictures and audio now offer users to create rich content at a touch. Why not use these to allow students on Moodle to create and share their experience with their network. We have to remember that learning doesn't happen in classrooms only, it's about capturing these moments and mobile phones make it easy. There is a touch of authenticity to a persons learning experience. The term Ubiquitous learners comes about whenever we talk about eLearning, the ability to capture a thought or take a snapshot of something interesting is a part of learning.

In my opinion Moodle4iPhone totally misses the strength of mLearning altogether. It renders itself to a teacher driven learning environment.

ePortfolio sessions

2010-03-24T22:57:00.002+13:00

This week I have had 2 ePortfolio sessions with 2 different group of students. One group with a good age mix and another with students arranging from 16-24 year old with a couple probably in the 30s.

About the session:

Well the sessions went well. I always begin by saying use of portfolio in education is not new. It gives the students a sense of believe that what they'll be doing in the session and later in the course is not new. I normally follow this with a question, how did it use to be done. The answer mostly is on paper. I follow this up with, so what problems arise from doing things on paper? Students are normally quick to point out that things begin a nightmare to manage, forget about sharing and collaborate. Now that the students themselves have identified the problem I introduce the E.

Throwing in the mix Facebook, Bebo, Myspace and Youtube helps and also pointing to students who have profiles on any of these systems that they already have a portfolio. Facebook, Bebo, Myspace and Youtube could be classified as a SOCIAL Portfolio. ePortofolio - e meaning electronic or going digital. Asking the students now to identify the benefits works wonders. In the two sessions I did this week, students in both sessions identified the ability to share, communicate, collaborate and co-create is vastly increased in an online environment. The concept of leaving feedback on Facebook or Myspace and Youtube is not very different to what the students will be needed to do in their course portfolio. Having discussed this and pointing out that your Facebook portfolio is SOCIAL and what is needed in the course is a PROFESSIONAL portfolio seems to help students understand the concept better.

I like to start talking about ePortfolios by asking students to explain this diagram that was done by my former colleague Hazel Owen.

The diagram outlines three very important elements of an ePortfolio, audience, the stage and back-stage. Knowing who you are developing the portfolio for helps you with the content and also helps you keep the portfolio focused. Students identify their two main audience as teachers and potential employers. The stage I find to be very interesting especially if you have teachers in class. The stage is where you are performing and this rises a very interesting question, who is the performer, the teacher or student? The obvious answer is student, it has to be if he/she is expected to talk about it in the portfolio. But if the teacher takes the centre stage in learning everyday, how can you expect the students to hand-in a good portfolio. An eportfolio for assessment in learning only works if students are handed a fair chance to create its own experience on the stage hence creating a event to reflect on. The content becomes the back-stage, what the student did to prepare for it, planning, time management, documentation, reading, writing and research all spiced up by reflecting on the performance on the stage.

After I have established this platform, I take the students through this plan. The session follows, what an eportfolio is, why create one, getting started and finally posting the first blog to get over any initial fears. We are using Blogger as the platform for students to create their portfolio. The choice to go with Blogger was because it makes managing the content easier since it hookers up with Picasa, Youtube and Google Docs very easily. Students are asked to create a Google account first and in the session I take them through Gmail (Video and Voice chat), Documents, Youtube, and Calender. This combination of tools makes Google a very tempting choice. There is not a huge learning curve for the students to get started with most of Google tools.

Now back to the two groups of students I mentioned earlier in the post. I found the students in the class of age group 16-25 years very open to the idea of ePortfolios, whereas the older students out right commented 'Why would I waste my time'. I don't believe in comments like age is a factor in using technology for learning. I believe it is a persons attitude or fear that is holding them back. In the session at regular intervals I run polls and surveys to assure unwilling students in class that you are not alone in this journey. The lecturer and the number is willing students are always available for help, all you have to do is ask. I also at this stage open the room up for discussion and encourage the willing students and persuade and assure the unwilling students why they think eportfolio is the way to go. I found it valuable to get a discussion going amongst students to help them help each other.

Follow up sessions with these students are planned.

Technology and Literacy

2010-03-23T20:07:00.000+13:00

The use of technology in learning is increasing and it will grow to be an important tool for the students. Not to say it is not at the moment. Some schools have really embraced learning technologies and really see it as the tool to improve learning. It is no different at Unitec, New Zealand. The eLearning strategy that is being rolled out this year together with the Living Curricula will certainly put technology as the tool for improved learning and teaching.
While talking about a project I am involved in today at a meeting, I was asked how the use of technology in this course was meeting the literacy needs of the institution and other interested stakeholders?

Well for me personally any learning that is driven by technology has to be better than the old traditional transmission method. Technology empowers the students, helps them form their own identity and also helps students identify how they learn best.

It is all good to say a questionnaire can help determine or find the literacy need of a student but is it a matter of asking someone who knows no better? For me literacy is a transformational journey, the needs of a student changes, it does not remain the same every time. Well for a transmission style teaching the questionnaire will work wonders! Things are prescribed for the students hence the literacy needs of a student can easily be determined.

True learning for me happens when a student is responsible of its own learning. The teacher is facilitating learning by encouraging student generated content. 'If I am creating, I am learning', student centred learning hence is the platform you want to be building on if you went to improve literacy in students.

I came across this interesting blog post by Clive Thompson about Andrea Lunsford. Lunsford is a professor at Stanford University where she embarked on a project called Stanford Study of Writing to analyse students use of written and spoke language. Lunsford collected 14,672 student writing samples dating from year 2001-2006, the samples were made up of in-class assignments, formal essays, and journal entries to emails, blog posts, and chat sessions.

Having reviewed the samples Lunford states,"I think we're in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek civilization". Technology was identified as the catalyst that was driving the revival of writing and not only this, it is also creating use for it in many different ways (you can read more about this here).

If you would just take a step back and reflect on what's driving the Web 2.0 craze? Communication, collaboration, creation and networking all of which is underpinned by use of language either written, spoken or visual.

A Twitter story

2010-03-10T23:42:00.001+13:00

Lisa Etheridge (lisatickledpink), a second year design student here at Unitec woke up on Thursday morning (4/3/10) a Twitter celebrity! Lisa is a student involved in a project Thom Cochrane and Isaac Flitta (staff from Te Puna Ako and Department of Design) are doing with universities from Chile and Ireland.The students from all three universities in the project are using Twitter as a communication tool. The time difference between the three country makes Twitter a perfect fit.

Thom Cochrane ran a Twitter session with the students here at Unitec involved in the project and Lisa Etheridge was one of them. Lisa's first twit to the Twitterverse was "I hate technology".

At the same time in the USA Leo Laporte and Co were looking for someone new to Twitter with less than 3 followers to promote to their 150,000 strong TV show followers. Leo was doing this to show a celeb it is not difficult to get 15,000 followers on Twitter hence the random select. One person from Leo Laporte's group searched for the exact words Lisa had twitted "I hate Technology" of cause Lisa wasn't the only one who twitted these words but what made her special was that she was from New Zealand and the guy who searched for these words had just had an awesome vacation in New Zealand. This is how Lisa became their choice. It was televised live and people watching were asked to randomly follow lisatickledpink. By Friday morning (5/3/10) Lisa had more than 3000 followers ..... the number is still increasing at a steady rate of 10 followers per minute and now stands at 15,638 (as at 10/3/10 @ 11.28 pm).

All this happened, Lisa had become an overnight Twitter Celebrity and she didn't have a clue. She would have had a shock looking at her inbox. She panicked and locked her Twitter profile and spent sometime looking for answers. She after a few minutes unlocked her account and posted her second twit!

Lisa has so far had an Interview on Kiwi FM (Youtube video attached) and she is tomorrow morning featuring in a 1 minute interview on TV 1 outlining her experience so far with Twitter and the expectations from her 15,000 strong followers.

Lisa receives an iPad from Leo Laporte and one lucky follower will also receive one.

The project Lisa is involved in now has a greater scope and a global audience to learn and collaborate with. Reading some of Lisa's recent posts, she has already started making use of the knowledge and expertise from her community.

Lisa's Blog site: http://lisae294.vox.com/

CAME Project kicks off

2010-03-09T13:49:00.001+13:00

Last week I took the first lot of students from the Certificate in Automotive and Mechanical Engineering course through Google Apps and Blogger. We had about 20 students in class and they all had their own laptops. I wasn't at all ready for this. David Clarke (lecturer in the course) gave me a call early Monday morning asking if I could do something with the students the same day. I was anticipating this but later in the week. I am happy to report the 2 hour session however went smoothly and I managed to achieve what was very quickly planned.

I have since put together a wikispaces resource centre for students. This will make the next session later this week easier for me. Here is the link to the wikispaces website.

Yesterday we gave out Dell Mini 9 Netbooks to a select group of students. It was very interesting to observe how excited and quick the students were to to jump on the net. The Netbooks which were given out were pre-configured hence it made it easy for the students to be connected. I have to say the first site they all opened (most of them did) was Youtube. It is suprising to see how Youtube is replacing Google as preferred search or reference website in the younger generation. The Dell Minis come with a built-in camweb, bluebooth, and Wifi, the only problem with it is limited storage space (it has a 8 gig main drive storage).

The storage space shouldn't be a big issue since students are making extensive use of Google. However we have supplied the students with a 8gig SD card so they can use this to store any video and pictures they may take during to course. Students are to use Picasa to storage pictures and Youtube for videos.

The aim of this project is to embed technology on the learning process hence enabling students to create their own content. Students use this content to create an eportfolio which they submit at the end of the course for assessment. We are also hoping the students will continue working on their portfolio in the courses that follow.

In all we have more than 80 students in this course. They are divided into 4 groups and each group will be looked after by one of the four teaching staff. The students however go through a rotation, all four teachers teach different topics in the course.

Last week I attended a session where students were to present their findings on safety (personal safety in a work environment). Almost all groups had drawn very neat pictures to relay the message, unfortunately the students did not have any equipment to digitally capture this. They could have used the webcame on their netbooks but the problem is, the webcams on these netbooks are facing the user every time, it is fixed.

I sent out a request to the head of department, asking for fund so that we can buy 8 of the compact digital video cameras that doubles up as a camera. I was so delighted to see the support, the head of department approved the purchase in a few hours. So this is what we bought for the students to use to capture what happens in and outside of the classroom.

I'll be shortly adding another page in the wikispaces site: Using the JVC HD Video Camera. I bit about the compact vidcam, Full HD, easy upload to Youtube, 8 Mega Pixel still capture, 90 minute battery life. 3X digital zoom. Only problem with this model is it doesn't not have much built in storage. We now need to buy SD cards, it can take up to 32 gig. This in-fact could play to our benefit since the Dell Mini 9's have a SD slot, hence it will make it easy for the students to transfer files from the camera.

It is an exciting project and a first in the trade school. The four staff involved in this project so far have enjoyed the journey and appreciate the change from the old way to new way of teaching. Early indication from students has been good so far. Most of them have bought the laptop and the use in class has been good.

Albany High School - Learning Commons

2010-03-04T21:56:00.000+13:00

Today a few staff from Unitec went over to Albany High School to look at the first totally Open Source school in New Zealand and to also look at the brand new purpose built classrooms. The deputy principal Mark Osbourne met us and was very kind to show us around the new building.

The school has really taken on board the learning commons idea so much so they don't really have any classrooms, very impressive. We came across a class where students in beginner, intermediate and advance mathematics class where were all studying together, awesome! Also of interest was that the teachers for each level were cooperative and totally open to sharing their own teaching practice. Better for the students as Mark put it "students had support if they turned left or right". I won't delve into the benefits of learning commons learning and teaching setups.

Students are not restricted to just the technologies in school rather they are encouraged to bring with them whatever they are comfortable with to help; them in their learning. Some students according to the deputy principal have on occasions brought their Play Stations and Xbox.

The ethos behind the school is 'Open'. What the school has so far customised they have shared with the community and have shared with other surrounding schools. They have their own version of Youtube, they have called it Ourtube. They also have ePortfolio platforms in use (Mahara), a LMS (Moodle), the open source library system called Koha and they are working on customising the open source bookmarking system Pligg. Most of the storage needed for digital data is also outsourced, emails are with Google and the computers in the building are all running Ubuntu operating system.

It is a great model for other schools in New Zealand. Why would you want to pay for proprietary systems and software that cost thousands of dollars which can be spent on providing better service and designing/creating a better learning environment for students.

Every meter of space at the school could be used as a learning space. We also came across a case where students were having a Japanese lesson, sitting on the floor, in the corridor with purpose built desks that could be folded and put away after class.

I however have to say, I did felt there was a mismatch between the setup and how students were taught. I did notice in one class the laptops were kept close, the projector going and the teacher standing in front directing learning. It could well have been something that needed to be done by the teacher hence the setup. I could be totally wrong here as we did not spend a lot of time questioning the teaching style. The picture on the left shows the learning commons setup, the teacher and the students. It would be fair to say from the setup that it is a transmission style teaching setup. Again I could be quick to jump to conclusions and a bit harsh giving only spent 1 hour at the school. From my experience the change from a transmission style of teaching to a student centred teaching is huge and a very sensitive matter. Whatever my thoughts are the setup and work done at the school is a step in the right direction and hopefully these students will help bring about much needed change in the tertiary sector.

Ah ha moment ....

2010-02-22T22:12:00.002+13:00

I spent almost all of last week prepping the members in my CoP on social learning where I introduced Moodle and Google App concept. I have been blogging about the journey for a while, in my last blog post "I can feel the Buzz" I reported that social learning suddenly dawned upon the members early last week so I took the opportunity to take it further.

To roll out the Moodle Google Apps concept, I borrowed 2 Netbooks for the staff members who didn't have a laptop. A night before I developed a scenario for the staff members to look at the following day. I had intentionally made some mistakes and automotive not being my area of expertise there were bound to be some anyway. You can find a copy of the scenario here. I borrowed the Netbooks to give the staff members a feel of what the students will bring to class and how it can help in facilitating a social learning space.

Once I had all the staff logged onto staff wifi and Google, I gave them a quick tour of Google docs. This is when I shared the scenario with all the members and asked them to correct any mistake and add anything they thought was important. The group spent about 15 minutes doing this. I had some staff members who were already using Google hence I asked them to help the others out. After this 15 minutes I asked the members to reflect on what had just happened. Few things came up:

the room setting, as the desks were arranged in rows, members found it difficult to communicate and help each other (refer to figure 1.1)
since we had some expertise in the room, the job for the teacher became easy
more time with the facilitator (one-on-one)
the process was lot engaging then just watching or listening

Figure 1.1 - default classroom setting, this the members found difficult to work with, hence it will now be moved to fit the social learning requirements

I also got the members to reflect on the scenario, here are some comments:

I can see lots of conversations happening
students would be very active in the task
teacher is not doing anything apart from being there as a guide
students would probably come up with the content
engaging
good use of e-tools to bring together learning and social dimensions

After this I showed the staff how they can compare the original and other versions on Google doc. How Google doc is able to break it down to individual participation, also the 'real time' factor (multiple users editing the document at the same time).

Moving on from docs, it was time for blogging. If the students are expected to blog, the teachers should be leading the way. I got all the members to create a blogger account, this is easy if you already have a Google account. Blogger as an eportfolio. A requirement to becoming a senior lecturer here at Unitec, staff are to submit a portfolio of activities done in class. I used this to talk about the importance of blogging along with modeling the practice to students, PLN, reflection and it's importance on improving your teaching (reflection is the lowest common denominator, if you don't reflect you'll probably never find what you are doing wrong). I gave them a task, some members in this CoP have been involved for the past year and we have some members who only started few weeks ago. The task was to reflect on the past few weeks/year being in the CoP, the key highlights for them and what impact it may have on their teaching. Some members were uncomfortable with making their blog open hence for now they have kept it private ..... small steps at a time ..... when they are confident and comfortable with making themselves visible to the world, they'll make the blog public. This transition is something that has to come from within and it can't be forced.

We closed the session discussing other possible elearning tools and Second Life was mentioned. I was asked to talk further on it hence I showed them a video from Youtube, one closer to home, the SLENZ Birthing Unit and another random video simulating how a jet engine works.

After this session the feedback from all the members was, we could have been doing this all this time. I guess it's not a bad comment knowing none or most of them didn't want to get involved in the project. This week is student orientation week, week 2 will give the members an opportunity to practice some of the skills.

My involvement will continue as a technology steward for both staff and students, looking forward to it and the challengers.

The Automotive department has made some changes that will allow students to buy a Netbook or any other machine they prefer. The course previously required the students to buy the mechanical tools needed in the course. The school is now buying a common set for all students and will be used as needed, this saves student money with which they are to buy a computer. By week 2-3 we should have a good indication of how many students have bought a laptop. The mandatory requirements for the computer were set as: webcam and wifi.

Google App and Moodle a concept

2010-02-16T21:59:00.012+13:00

Google Buzz? Does this now make Google Apps a one-stop, all-in-one learning platform?

Absolutely yes!!! In fact whenever I am talking to the staff at my institute about Moodle and some web 2 tools, I can't stop myself from mentioning Google Apps and every time at the end I realise why would we need a LMS? Unitec this year moved all student email to Google, shame the staff will remain with Groupwise. We tried our best to move the whole institute to Google unfortunately some policies got in the way :-(.

Going back to the question I started with, why would you want to use a LMS when you can do all and more with Google Apps.

The mindmap below is still a work in progress. I'll be working on it in the coming days.

One common theme that is consistent through almost all the Google App is ability to create, collaboration and communication. This sits well with teaching that is underpinned by social learning theory. The wide range of tools audio, video, picture, text with both synchronous and asynchronous ability makes it a very enticing learning platform indeed.

The only problem for me at the moment with Google is that tools appear to be spread all over the place. iGoogle made an attempt to bring them together but it needs certain degree of tweaking and widgets for all the tools are not available.

Todays learners are ubiquitous and Google suits them really well. Anytime, any place and anytime.

I can feel the BUZZ!!!

2010-02-15T19:11:00.010+13:00

Today was the first meeting of my community of practice. We started this CoP early last year since then I have seen the numbers grow, shrink and grow again late last year. I was in for a surprise this morning. I couldn't believe the words I was hearing.

The CoP was formed with staff mostly from the school of built environment. The aim was to up-skill the staff interested on use of technology in education. The ride had been rough and at times thoughts did cross my mind if the CoP was actually serving the purpose it was setup for.

Last year was basically spent laying the foundation having realised that the staff were still stuck in the traditional teaching method. Nothing wrong here it makes sense since most of the staff join the institute straight from the trade sector and didn't necessarily have any teaching experience. Their only teaching experience is likely to be the one they had, when they schooled (likely to be traditional teaching method, transmission) hence their teaching style would be a reflection of this experience.

Almost all of last year was spent on changing the mindset of the staff involved. It's a critical stage of the change and from experience a sensitive issue. In some cases I was going to challenge some staff who had been teaching for the past 14 or so years and for them the method has worked, students graduated and also managed to achieved decent success rate so why would anyone change something that was working 'fine'.

I had tried many approaches from modeling, showcasing the benefits, putting them through a blended learning course (only a 2 hour session) and even bringing an outsider to share her experience with her students in going from traditional to blended and sharing the benefit. It made no difference ..... I could feel the skepticism in the room.

The cows didn't come home till the end of last week. Two of the staff in my CoP were involved in a week long workshop on CoP with Etienne Wenger and Bev Trayner. The week was full of social activities and use of technology modeled were appropriate. I have to admit the week long workshop was a great showcase of social learning and how to facilitate it.

This morning when I entered the meeting room, things were already underway. The sound I was hearing couldn't have been any sweeter. I was hearing words like co-create, students don't need books, tools like Youtube, Flickr and even Second Life were being mentioned. Social learning was being discussed to a great extent, staff were strategizing scavenger hunts involving students going as far as choosing their own projects, bringing some degree of authenticity in the assessment. It just sounded so right that I just seat back and heard the discussion without getting involved.

Reflecting on the past year and this CoP, time sometimes is the key, both allowing the time for the participants to reflect and get a handle on the new concepts and letting it sink in and at the same time having the time to model the approach, obviously 2 hours wasn't enough. The need/purpose and authenticity is critical as well. My modeling session was perhaps too superficial when compare to the week long session with Etienne and Bev.

We are meeting this week Wednesday to design a blended learning course that would put students in the centre of their own learning.

Jacqui McDonald from USQ, Australia sharing her experience on Community of Practice at her Institute

2010-02-09T21:42:00.008+13:00

Jacqui and Co wrote a paper and presented at Herdsa here is a link to the paper: http://unitec-ccs.wikispaces.com/file/view/McDonald_Collins_Hingst_Kimmins_Lynch_Star_HERDSA_2008.pdf The video above discusses some of the issues talked about in detail in this paper.

Community of Practice workshop day 1

2010-02-08T22:33:00.000+13:00

The day officially began with a powhiri at the Unitec Marae. I have to say, having been to the Marae about 4 times since it opened last year, I got to hear the story behind where the aspiration for the design came from. All the carvings in the Marae present something from Unitec and the history of Aotearoa (early settlement and developments from here on). The carvings inside most Marae's represent Maori gods but the Unitec Marae is different. It is different because it has a 'community feel in it', it brings together people from all cultural backgrounds and the carvings reflect this.

After the powhiri Etienne gave a very moving speech, not very long but the message he sent out had an immediate effect and showed what sort of person Etienne really is. In my previous blog post I said he was a humble man and in his speech he showed exactly this.

We had morning tea and from here on the day kicked into gear. Ray Meldrum delivered a session on living curricula ( another strategy that ties in quite well with the eLearning strategy). This was followed up by Etienne and Bev with a session on CoP and intro session where they reflected on their own experiences with some CoP's they had been involved in. For me the important message was 'CoP can not be forced', it has to be organic and this is where the strength of a CoP comes from. Etienne even went as far as saying a CoP that is forcefully imposed on a group of people will fail, he then reflected on some of his experience on this. I streamed this session on the internet live using livesteam (url for the stream: livestream.com/ewsessions). I am happy to report I had about 14 views and 3 of them joined in from Australia. I'll be broadcasting the morning sessions every day for this week, you can catch this on the url given above.

The afternoon session focused on finding a purpose for the CoP and identifying the issues that may arise in the process. We'll take this further tomorrow in the afternoon session. I'll blog more on this tomorrow.

(The group session)

Dinner with Etienne and Bev .....

2010-02-07T22:27:00.001+13:00

I felt some-wort lucky to be invited to a dinner organised by our Dean to welcome Etienne Wenger and Bev Trayner who are here at Unitec to deliver a week long workshop on community of practice, this also marks the official launch of the Unitec eLearning Strategy.

Our manager, Robert Aryes (soon to be, starts on March 1) offered to pick and drop me from my place, a huge thanks Robert!

To be honest I wasn't sure what sort of environment I'll be in. I mean whether the conversations would flow freely or it will be that awkward dinner you'd remember for a while. I was however glad to know that Robert would be there hence I felt we'll keep company if things didn't go well.

Well I am glad to say the dinner at the Viaduct (Kermadec Ocean Fresh Restaurant, Auckland City) was awesome. I would probably go as far as saying it was one of the best 'professional' dinner I have been to. The conversations started on the way to the venue and it continued during and after. Some constructive talk and reflections on CoP, and lots of stories from Etienne and Bev who have traveled quite a lot around the world. Robert, our new manager was able to find some commonalities since he has just finished a 12 month OE through Europe and most of Asia. I actually found Bev and Etienne very open, humble and down to earth people who appreciate an honest discussion and they also have a great sense of humour.

Oh I almost forgot to mention the food was awesome! I guess the favourite of the day would have to be grilled fish ... just divine, plus local wine, Kumeu and Hawkes Bay. Robert had the honour of choosing the wine for us, have to say .... good choice ... he knows his wine alright!!! O yes the desert ....... Vanilla cheese cake and Etienne found out all about Kiwi Hokey Pokey.

(Clockwise starting from left: Linda Keesing-Styles (Dean Teaching and Learning), Bev Trayner, Etienne Wenger, Vickel Narayan and Robert Aryes)

Twitter as a Community Building tool

2010-01-28T14:16:00.005+13:00

We are just about to roll out a strategy that hinges on CoP. We have so far implemented a Ning site for the project, identified the people (Community Coordinators) who'll be responsible for their department and a week long workshop is coming up early next month with Etienne Wenger.

All seems to be in place except I am wondering will Ning be enough? Will it be enough for the Community Coordinators (CC) to feel safe and is it be able say to the CC's that they are not alone in this.

I feel that it may not be enough, my rational is, Ning is an intermittent support mechanism, good for having an in-depth discussion and provides room for greater collaboration but the opportunity to build and nurture a relationship could be cumbersome. I think this is where Twitter has it's strength. It provides an unintrusive synchronous space to say everyday "I am here, I am just a click away".

A good relationship takes time and commitment to show you care, Twitter allows space for this to occur overtime. The fact that it brings the message to you (being proactive) when compared to Ning where you have to visit the site to get the message (reactive) makes a huge difference. Of-course the other strength is that one post reaches out to all the members, it re-enforces the relationship/bond of the community, "we are here for each other". We have enabled RSS on the Ning site but it doesn't have the same feel to what a Twitter update has.

Now our challenge is how to get the CC's to use Twitter productively. We are hoping to use Twitter in the week long workshop to showcase the power, 'the power of togetherness'. We'll get the CC's signed up to Twitter the first day and will get them to install a Twitter client on their laptop.

The idea is to run Twitterfall everyday for the week, hoping it will get their attention and highlight the strength of Twitter. The use will be modeled by members in the implementation team who have used Twitter for a few years now.

The good news is we have 3 CC's already on Twitter, hopefully they'll be able to help us.

Will update this post with comments as the workshop progresses on February.

Mobile phone for kids: dial a parent

2010-01-05T10:08:00.000+13:00

Article from Stuff.co.nz: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/3205003/Dial-a-parent-kids-get-mobile

Learning in 140 characters?

2009-12-14T10:14:00.002+13:00

140 characters? Can learning really occur when you are limited to just 140 characters to express your view(s)? A simple answer is yes, the key being the synthesis of the vast knowledge and information you have and condensing it to only 140 characters or less.

Speaking from my experience of using Twitter for sometime now. Whenever I engage in a Twitter discussion I have really had to find a balance of what I am trying to put across to others following me. Finding the balance requires a great deal of thinking, self-critic and consciousness, planning, analysing exiting knowledge and acquired knowledge (other resources available on the net and elsewhere), reflection (knowledge and self-experience) and synthesis (construct).

One may not have these skills to begin with but the use of a tool like Twitter and the nature of it's use will surely enable one to work on it. The important question being how to use a tool such as Twitter effectively with students? My though on this is, rather then looking at Twitter as a teaching tool, look at it as a tool for nurturing community of learners, facilitating and creating an environment that enables students to collaborate and communicate. The fallout from this process is likely to be the skills outlined in the diagram. The approach is likely to take a long time to establish before it starts yielding some results.

For a short time use in classroom maybe for a semester or a short course, I just came across a good case of Twitter in learning (Problem-based learning scenario), refer to this link: http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/12/04/csi-twitter-crime-scene-investigation/. In a nutshell, a skeleton is found on school grounds and students now have to find what animal it came from. Three options of achieving this is outline in the blog post, the last being putting it to the Twitter community. The result, within 3 hours there were over 50 Twitter responses with pictures linking to Flickr and other resources to justify the animal of choice. A GREAT learning opportunity for students. They would have learned more then just this animal in the process!

Twitter could also be encouraged as a back-channeling mechanism for activities in class or outside. A classic example, my colleagues are attending a conference in Auckland that I couldn't be a part of, but the back-channeling from the event has kept me informed, topped off with discussions and critique on Twitter, refer to the images below:

The twits have a good dose of questions, humour, good mix of images and videos from the events, and links to appropriate research that may have been done elsewhere.
Here is a rubric for assessing students on Twitter: http://blogs.educationau.edu.au/ksmith/2009/10/21/assessing-learning-with-web-20-twitter/

A good read, SMS and Twitter in education: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091210162224.htm

Off the herald this morning: Twitter shows it power: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10615430

Another good read with links to possible use of Twitter in education: http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2008/05/27/twitter-for-librarians-the-ultimate-guide/

Updated 5/11/2010

Study finds Twitter improves student engagement (http://mashable.com/2010/11/04/twitter-student-engagement/):

Moodle vs Ning

2009-12-03T10:16:00.000+13:00

A question was asked earlier this week by a staff member here at Unitec.

Why use Ning over Moodle? Is there an expectation on the staff to use Ning with the students as well

The context:

We are trying to implement a strategy and it will be done through a community of practice approach.

Response to the question:

There is no expectation for staff to use Ning or similar platforms with their students however we have found staff using LMS (Blackboard/Moodle and others) take a blended approach (Moodle and Ning) this allows a for a formal space for core course content, showcasing, and assessment on Moodle and Ning allows for development, group work, sharing and co-construction (informal space).

Why we chose Ning on this occasion:

The whole notion behind a Community of Practice is equality, shared, flexibility, respect, collaboration, communication, co-construction ......... keeping this in mind Ning was chosen over Moodle. Moodle is more hierarchical and this is not in keeping with the notion of community of practice.

The current Ning site (unitec-ccs.ning.com) will feature a blended approach (with Moodle) as we move into the workshops early next year.

eLearning and Web 2.0 tools for schools/teachers/students

2009-11-30T10:17:00.000+13:00

A great collection of tools:

Blackboard 9.0

2009-10-29T10:18:00.000+13:00

Having spent in access of 9 hours (webinar included) on the new Bb 9 platform the impression I got is not very compelling.

It’s apparent after logging into the new platform that Bb has done some work around user interface. Unlike the old platforms the system is not so click heavy. The claim on Bb website a “Web 2.0 look-and-feel” is to an extent justified; they have made the interface customizable, engaging with a drag and drop mechanism. The problem for me here is that users can only customise the front page once logged into the system.

If I understand Web 2 correctly then web 2 is about empowering the users in as many ways possible. The latest release of Bb 9 fails to provide users with the ability to personalize any page at a course level. Unlike Moodle, users have the choice of giving course page a colour and feel to their liking. The concept of having a Web 2 feel (drag and drop interface) is not new and is something that has come to light in the past few years. Good website designers have been using this successfully for quite sometime, what surprises me is it took Bb this long to release such a feature.

The new release has tagging and bookmarking functionality. Also added in this release is the ability to feed updates from Bb to individual user Facebook profile. There are issues related to using Facebook which students may unknowingly fall victims to. Accounts on Facebook maybe be “deleted” upon request, these accounts are actually not deleted but are “deactivated” meaning all user content/information is still stored on the server for an unknown period (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Facebook). Use of Facebook in education is still arguable. Would students want course notifications published onto their profile?

Discussion Boards in Bb has been a tool that I think needed some work and it is a shame to see it remain the same. The discussion board by default misses the “social element”. Emails from a discussion board won’t be sent out to the students unless they subscribe to it. It is arguable, to have emails sent out to student inbox or not. Students enrolled in a class by default form a social community and for it to function properly the teacher is responsible of finding ways to make it engaging and a functioning community. Going by social constructivist pedagogy then emails from a discussion board would be a must, RSS feeds would makes things easier. Bb 9 doesn’t even have RSS capability at a forum level. The lack of use of basic social networking tools again highlights the flaw in design and platform pedagogy (Is there a pedagogy which was kept in mind while designing Bb, I still sometimes struggle to answer this question). I can see an effort on going towards a social environment but again not enough evidence to classify it as one. The lack of student-teacher, student-student co-construction is also missing. If we look at the way glossaries work in the latest version on Bb, it can only be edited and updated by the teacher (unlike in Moodle, it could be students or teacher or both).

For me Bb has always been and still is more inclined towards being a teacher-centred platform.

Blog tools V8 vs V9. David Hopkins in this blog does a direct comparison of the blogging tools in Bb 9 and Bb 8 with the Learning Objects plug-in installed. He concludes that he would rather stick with the Learning Object blogging tool (V8) due to some design issues in Bb 9 (http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/camtasia/BB9-blog/BB9-blog.html). Bb also made this comment on the V9 website “… working in course/unit groups just became more powerful: now students can really take ownership of their group work. Students can customise the look-and-feel of their Groups within a course/unit, assign tasks to individual members, collaborate through blogs and create group assignments”. What’s new here, we have had blogs and wikis in V7 & V8 for quite sometime now. I think what they meant to say was “it is available for use for free now”. It comes pre-installed in V 9!

Bb 9 on iPhone. My question is why on iPhone only while some LMS’s are able to function smoothly on any phone as long as it is connected to the net and has a compatible browser. You’ll need to download a plug-in to your iPhone/iPod to be able to use this feature. Some comments left on David’s twitter page about this tool ““students can’t find stuff in BB on a 17? monitor - let alone an Itouch screen”. People who have tried this tool say that the Bb server needs to be configured correctly in order to use the iPhone/iPod plug-in otherwise it is blocked.

Gradebook in V 9 is mostly unchanged, contrary to the comments made on the site “… from a single place educators can view tasks to be completed, assignments to grade, and new discussion board postings to review. They can monitor ‘at risk’ students and receive course/unit notifications”. Tools referred to in this claim have been on Bb for quite sometime now. They are referring to the Early warning system and the overall Gradebook function. Bb 9 has given these tools a common place hence is centralised and is more visible unlike before.

On a positive note Bb 9 and even the older versions have a more flexible Gradebook when compared with other systems. The ability to create individual reports for students would be handy for teachers (Bb 9). The Gradebook tools in Bb 9 remains the same with a bit of streamlining and polishing.

The virtual collaboration tools (Virtual classrooms) in V9 appears to the same as V8 that were unstable.

The news is not all bad, according to the readings I have done; Bb V 9 upgrade is free (now I am not sure, maybe it is only if you are moving from V8 to V9). It comes with some useful tools like “conditional activities” – students can only progress to the next stage having successfully met the criteria set by the teacher (this feature should also be available in Moodle 2.0 to be released soon). The level of notification and the ability for a student to monitor their own progress has been taken to another level. The Dashboard in V9 is apparently a one-stop-shop for students looking for deadlines, test assignment schedules, and other task. Bb 9 has a built-in feature that can support student portfolios (there are issues around portability and the degree of integration with other portfolio systems). The mash-up feature in Bb 9 is said to be a good addition. It allows for easy integration (import and export) with other systems namely, Sakai and Moodle. Bb V9 comes with an enhanced group tool that now offers (1) ability for students to form own groups or (2) system can randomly assign students to a group. The group tool also offers more collaborative tools for example blogs, journals, tasks and ability for a group to personalise the group space (ability to add extra modules if needed). I am however disappointed to see that there is only one type of Group possible, separate group, meaning groups can’t collaborate or see what the other has done. Group in Bb is still viewed as a separate unit with its own space, and not an intricate part of the wider group (class).

Blackboard has done some work around central storage. Teaching staff can now upload files and contents and these are accessible through “My content” menu that is available across the platform.

I also noticed that Bb 9 has done considerable amount of work in developing an interface that cares for the disabled students. All pictures upload now can have Alt tags; sadly this field is not mandatory unlike in Moodle (it kind of defeats the purpose).

To sum it up briefly: They have done some good work around usability and in including Web 2 tools but the lack of cohesion and consideration of any pedagogy in particular lets it down. The lack of creative ideas seems to have limited Bb to deliver almost the same product (almost the same as V7 and V8) with lots of hype around it.

GDHE session

2009-10-15T10:20:00.000+13:00

Yesterday I did a session on 'LMS and beyond' for the GDHE programme. I was under the impression that I'll have 3 hours as all the other sessions did. I found out late Tuesday afternoon that I only had 2 hours. It was a bit too late by then. I had already planned for a 3 hour session. I knew going into the session that I'll be struggling against time hence I dropped the first (online pedagogy) and the last part (online course design) and just focused on the middle section which was looking at the tools in Moodle and it's use in class.

I was initially asked to do a 'show and tell' session but that's something I have struggled with for sometime now. It only takes 30 minutes and you have a problem in your hand. The attendees are not always (well never are) at the same level, by the first 30 minutes people are all the place, some struggling and some would have already given up. Another problem with the show and tell approach is people only retain probably the first 10-20 minutes of the learning ...... the rest is @#$%^^****())(&^%, yes you are right garbage ....... you loose their attention and engagement (well there is never any engagement to begin with in show and tell approach).

So for the GDHE session I planned my lesson with a twist. I was going to 'teach' to bunch of teachers, so it had to be something tasteful and engaging!!!! Here's what a started with: What I wanted these teachers to do with their students having attended my session? I just didn't want them to use the LMS but also wanted them to harvest the power of the internet. I did not want to stand in front of the class and deliver. I guess my goal was, if I can get these teachers to realise that going online wasn't simply just about uploading pdf's, doc files etc and using forum and blog rather it is an opportunity to revisit the pedagogy. And that if you want to harvest the true power there is a bigger change that needs to occur, that is moving away from stand, package and deliver to getting students to co-construct, and making the process a student centred approach. In a nutshell I was planning for a session that would model student centred approach and moving from being a 'teacher' to becoming a 'facilitator'. A socio-constructivist approach.

I was actually delighted to see the feedback after the session. Reading the feedback off people's blog was the first thing I did. I got the attendees to reflect on the whole session:

What did you think of the session?

What did you learn?

What did you think was the role of the 'teacher' in this session?

What improvements would you recommend to this session?

Here are some of the feedback I got:

Participant 1:

"Getting directly into moodle use with Vickel. An interesting session that was crammed full of great ideas for social engagement of students. In this session I find myself continually refining my knowledge of what moodle can achieve, and how to go about many of the tasks I need.

I found other people's ideas and 'take' on quizzes, wikis and lessons of considerable interest as these are newer areas for me. I would particularly like to see a lot more ideas on quizzes, and I am confident that we will get many more resources than we can cope with from Vickel, and the moodle community.

Thanks Vickel, I will have a lot more questions for you, that was a good session despite the crimp on time."

Participant 2:

What I thought of today's session

Very interesting and interactive session by Vickel in the afternoon.

What I have learned

This was my first interaction with much of this material and much of what I heard and saw was very useful and informative.

The role of the "teacher" in today's session
The role of the coach was well demonstrated - particularly in the afternoon where the session time was shortened.

Participant 3:

The session was good and very creative. The course materials were well prepared.

I learned things I never learnt before in this IT era.

The teacher's role in this session should be a facilitator as well as tutor simultaneously.

Participant 4:

The session was very good....... but would like to have much more time.... Double the time!
Have learned many uses in Moodle, improvements have experienced so much.
A facilitator who has been able to sped up the hic-cups where at reached barriers, sped easily to find the useful tips.
Improvements.... constantly yearly updates.... more such workshops.

Talking to a colleague before the session, I stated that if I walked out of the session with 1 person identifying my role as a facilitator I would say the session was a success. The word facilitator poured through the feedbacks I had received.

It was an awesome experience for me. I enjoyed the interaction and discussions we had. I am especially proud of the fact that attendees really enjoyed the learner centred approach :-) and also identified some positives, like "This afternoon I had trouble with dead mouse and missed logon. However as we worked in group it didn't matter. While we were working in groups teacher had opportunity to show me how to log in or catch up.".

Google Sidewiki - Rocks!!!!

2009-09-25T10:21:00.000+12:00

Released recently Google Sidewiki gives blogging and web surfing a whole new meaning. It is located as the name suggests on the side of any website you are visiting (you have to install a plugin in order for it to work). If you want to make a new entry, all you have to do is slide open Sidewiki and start typing.

Cool, if you highlight a word on the website it's added to the wiki and you can then start talking about it. How many times have you forgotten something you thought was important while reading?

So if you are reading something on a site and so are your friends or any one for this matter, all the entries made about the page will be displayed to everyone (Kind of open wiki for the web page). Quite powerful I'd say for students and teachers who venture out on the net to seek information. Now you can make meaning, collaborate and gather feedback. A powerful tool to encourage students.

If you want you can plug the entries you create using Sidewiki to your blog (Blogger only).

If you are visiting a site and someone has already started a wiki on it, Sidewiki will automatically pick it up and will appear on the left hand side of the page. If the page has none, you can start one.

Here is what people had to say about Wikipedia:

Twitter v Facebook -- FB wins, it 'enhances your intelligence', Twitter doesn't :-(

2009-09-10T10:22:00.000+12:00

A study done at University of Stirling in Scotland shows Twitter may not be good for your brain as it 'weakens the working memory'. The argument is justified by the researcher by concluding that Twitter needs no decoding of information hence the mind is not working to build new nerve connections. Facebook on the other hand requires your mind to think because it has apps like Sodoku and others. (You can read more about this here)

Well for me having used Twitter for the last year or so and Facebook for more then 2 years, it is exactly the opposite.

I think the sample in the research done at University of Stirling were making minimal use of Twitter, not exactly the way I have been using it. For me it gets me thinking every time a read a twit. People I am following have similar interest to me in the field of education. News, publications and blogs are frequently posted, just yesterday in 1 hour I received about 200 twits from a person attending a conference in US on Virtual worlds in education. Twitter has evolved over the years. It is no longer just 140 characters. Twitter has become a powerful tool with the ability to link out to pictures, videos, audios and almost all the popular apps used on the net. It creates a very rich multimedia environment. Twitter for me generates curiosity, helps build critical thinking skills, builds networks, helps me keep up to date with the happenings around the world and area of my interest and is instant.

Mum, six year old and dial up

2009-09-08T10:23:00.000+12:00

My colleague brought in her 6 old year daughter to work today; she had to stay behind from school because of some ‘unknown’ illness (I am sure we all have been there with our parents). I’ll call the little one Mia. Mia is just like any other 6 year old, she is full of energy, loves to run and play, enjoys pie and donut, she also as I found out loves to play games online.

You must be thinking where am I going this is, right?

Well today at morning tea something life changing happened for Mia’s mum. We were talking to Mia and she was telling us how she loves little kid stories and somehow we ended up talking about Internet. So Mia’s mum goes:

Mum: so Mia would you like broadband?
(Mia without any hesitation goes)
Mia: Yap (with quite a lot of energy and enthusiasm)
Mum: what do you think about dial up?
(Mia with a sad face but in a funny tone)
Mia: Boooooooo!!!! I can’t play Disney games, Mum!

Now we all here at work have been telling Mia’s mum to get rid of painful dial up and to get broadband but No!!!!

Moral of the story!!!

Get broadband Mum for God sake. The kid knows more then you!!!
And also that times have changed, you wouldn't fine many 6 year olds who haven't used a computer. They have been on the net and from a very early age realise the benefits.

100 essential tools for teachers :-)

2009-09-07T10:27:00.000+12:00

A list of 100 tools for teachers to empower, engage/motivate and interact/collaborate.

View the list here.

Google Wave – how will it change the online learning landscape?

2009-09-07T10:24:00.001+12:00

That is Google Wave – in a nutshell having read few postings online (since Google Wave is not out yet):

• Has real time components, mainly that you’ll be able to see what the second person is typing character by character
• Openness, ability to embed your blogs, website, twitter and video etc
• Google applications and others – similar to Facebook, you’ll be able to use apps put out by third party developers since Google Wave is Open source.
• Google Wave Wiki
• Playback, apparently you’ll be able to play back any part of Google Wave to trace the progress.
• Drag and drop file sharing
• Social presence - networking and collaboration. Google Wave is said to even have a project management tool.

Now putting Google Wave together with the already impressive collection of Google tools (Calender, Blogger, iGoogle, Google Reader, Groups, Google Docs, Google Talk, Google Map …. you get the picture), where does it leave the ‘primitive’ LMS systems as education and mainly blended learning approach and Personal Learning Environment gathers momentum.

Google Wave will probably change the online learning landscape, as we know it. On every investment, one expects at least some positive return. As far as LMS’s go the students actually get none! All the work they do in a course over the semester is lost as the courses on LMS’s are recycled for use next semester. As far as the notion of ePortfolios go, Google Wave will have a huge impact upon selection of what tool to go with and a positive spin for the students who’ll be able to showcase all of three years work to prospect employees.

Highly networked students ready to tackle anything that is thrown at them. I wish I had an eportfolio when I finished my undergraduate degree. I find myself going through boxes of paper when looking for information (well I have moved on from it now, LOVE Google search and to some extent Youtube).
If learning is social then the networks we build along the way is critical. Nurturing the relationship and learning from each other at the same time should be a life long process. ICT plays a very important role in this process, critically the skills needed and the need to instill it in the learning process is equally important.

Google Wave provides all the tools needed and more for free. Do institutes need to look deeper at what is it they want from delivering courses online?

If a teacher-controlled environment in needed then LMS is the way to go. On the other hand a learner-centred, engaging and truly preparing a students for what the future may throw at them is needed then handing the power to students is important. The power to reflect, critic their won work and at the same time that of the peers, to collaborate and to start a never ending journey that of Life long learning then a platform that is not institutionally controlled, is readily accessible and reliable is needed.

Youtube seek-peek at Google Wave:

Shorter version (10 mins only - highlights)

The revolution begins: EDUPUNK!!!

How the LMS market stacks up.

2009-09-01T10:28:00.000+12:00

[Source: http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/lms_market.png]

Amazed to see that Bb still has a huge hold on the market. I am sure things will take a turn in a few years time as Open Source establishes itself further.

Mind mapping - 100 reasons why you should do it.

2009-08-31T10:29:00.000+12:00

I have been asked many times by people who have not used or are thinking of using mind maps, why they should use/create one. This website outlines 100 reasons why using a mind map is handy.

[http://www.mindmapinspiration.com/100-reasons-to-mind-map-paul-foreman/]

Assessment Design ;-)

2009-08-24T10:30:00.001+12:00

Problem with the answer or the question, you be the judge.

It's official - 'The Most Effective Teachers Are In A Class Of Their Own'

2009-07-31T10:31:00.000+12:00

According to a latest research done in UK at School of Education in University of Nottingham over a 2 year period shows that teachers who are 'doing it right' are a cut above the rest!

Quote:

"Knowledgeable, innovative, skilful, fun-loving, caring, supportive, task and pupil centred – it’s official – the most effective teachers are in a class of their own. They stimulate a pupil’s imagination, challenge their views, encourage them to do great things and motivate them through tailored teaching practices to ensure that every pupil feels a sense of achievement and valued as part of the class community."

According to the principle researcher Professor Christopher Day the research gave them an idea of the skill set needed to be an 'effective teacher':

“ability to create a positive climate for learning by challenging pupils’ ideas, inspiring them, being more innovative in their practice and differentiating amongst pupils according to their abilities and interests where appropriate”

Source:

(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090707210802.htm)

Educational uses of SL

2009-07-03T14:54:00.000+12:00

Alice - a new way to learn programming

2009-06-30T10:33:00.001+12:00

If you have done any programming papers, you'd know what I am talking about. The 'make it or break it' case eventuates when you do the first paper, if you find it hard you'll probably quit the major and choose something else.

Having done a major is programming, I at times wondered in my first year, why was I wasting my time, learning the rigid programming syntax. In the first semester of the major, I ended up programming a basic calculator and a wage calculator, it didn't make sense. Why was I reinventing the world? Not mentioning the boring moments I had to put up with almost everyday while working on the computer doing my assignments. You are stuck with a black screen (Borland C++) that had a miserable interface and very basic help library.

The thought of quitting the major had crossed my mind so many times but I persevered and finished my major.

Teaching programming to year 12 and 13's would probably be the biggest challenge I faced quite early in my career. I did struggle at times and so did my students. Reflecting on my struggle while finishing my major, I could understand what my students were going through. The process of 'doing' and 'learning from it' was disjointed. The process fell apart because the students were not keen on 'doing' hence the latter never eventuated. Some of the reasons for not 'doing' - not fun, boring and nothing to conceptualise. I managed to work around some of these issues by making the class more game oriented and getting students to reflect at the end of every session. However the problem of teaching the rigid syntax or for students to remember these syntax always proved difficult. Somewhere down the line I discovered Alice, invented by the late Randy Pausch (watch his video: The Last Lecture).

Alice is a 3D platform for students to learn programming. Students learn the concept and logic for programming by controlling Alice and what she does inworld. The students can make her dance, walk, run, jump and many other complex maneuvers meaning rising the level every time and with it the need to learn complex programming skills. The immersive nature of Alice appears to have broken the barrier of 'not doing'. You are not just writing codes but you are actually getting Alice (Avatar) to do something. It's fun, it is easy (possibly because the pain of remembering the rigid syntax is outweighed by the enjoy students get out of using it) and best of all it works!

According to ScienceDialy a research done at Duke University, students were

highly engaged (unheard comments in a classroom like: ""'Oh, wow, look!' they told each other. 'Come here. Show me. Look at this!'" ). The students were creating stories with Alice.

keen on asking for more time to finish their work (students having spent 5-6 hours on Alice were still keen on continuing).

It also helped balance the male to female ratio in class, programming classes are mostly male dominated. It also created a very good platform for students hence the student turnover for the next class was good.

By the time I discovered Alice it was too late for my high school students but I had an opportunity to try it with my students in 2007. The feedback I received from my students were very similar to what's stated by Duke University. Students loved the fact that they actually created something, and that they could control what happened inworld. The understanding of key programming concepts became more apparent and easier to understand. I also noticed that students were highly engaged in the process and that they were willing to invest huge amount of time developing their world.

Second Life is another platform that could be used but has a steep learning curve. It maybe more suited at a university level. Second Life is more developed and has it's own scripting language (very similar to java) and is not free unlike Alice.

ClickHeat | Clicks heatmap

2009-06-27T10:35:00.000+12:00

ClickHeat is an OpenSource web application that helps monitor the behaviour of the visitors on your website. ClickHeat shows the 'hot' and 'cold' areas on the page.

Read more about ClickHeat.

eAssessments

2009-06-26T10:36:00.000+12:00

Wordnik

2009-06-23T10:37:00.000+12:00

Wordnik

An ongoing project devoted to discovering
all the words and everything about them

Wordnik includes definition, examples of the word in use, images, pronunciation, related words, users can leave notes and tag, and a summary page.

Good tool for vocabulary and general use.

From eLearning to Social Learning

2009-06-16T10:40:00.000+12:00

Jane Hart from the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies has done some great work around social learning. The 3 series presentation she has done are awesome. You can have a look at them here. Or click on the links below.

The future of e-learning is social learning

View more Microsoft Word documents from Jane Hart.

Using Elgg as a Social Learning platform

View more Microsoft Word documents from Jane Hart.

Using a social media platform in FE/HE

View more Microsoft Word documents from Jane Hart.

Using a social media platform in the workplace

View more Microsoft Word documents from Jane Hart.

Supporting formal and informal social learning

View more Microsoft Word documents from Jane Hart.

VoiceThread

2009-06-16T10:39:00.000+12:00

What is VoiceThread?

VoiceThread is a voice forum.
Let me call it 'second generation' discussion forum and I'll call the text discussion boards present in Moodle, Blackboard and websites 'first generation'. Unlike the first generation discussion forums that are mainly textual, VoiceThread takes 1st gen discussion forum to another level. You can now have online discussions without even typing a word! You can post a video, picture or simply a small introductory voice message to get the discussion going. People posting replies to your forum can do it either by posting a voice message or typing in a response. The VoiceThread environment offers you all the tools necessary to do this, meaning you don't need to open or install any additional application, all you need is a mic and a speaker on your computer to get started and these are standard in almost all computer.

7 things you should know about VoiceThread (EDUCAUSE article (pdf)) does a great job on explaining what VoiceThread is all about and its implications for teaching and learning.

Below is an example VoiceThread is use:

Social eLearning

2009-06-16T10:38:00.000+12:00

Created using Stripgenerator.

Need more than 140 characters on your twit?

2009-06-11T10:41:00.000+12:00

Write4net

Write4net is a separate service to twitter, it allows you to compose a blog, meaning you can insert pictures, videos etc. It publishes it to your twitter account by converting the blog url into a small url (something like TinyURL), your followers receive the twit as a link which when linked takes the users through to the original posting on Write4net.

Write4net is a free service and is very easy to use. Basically when you link through to the Write4net website, you land on the compose page. You type whatever you want and then click on the publish link. It will then ask you for your twitter username and password, allow access and you are ready to go.

It's like blogging in micro-blogging, I like that!

Moodle tutorials

2009-06-07T10:32:00.000+12:00

For all your Moodle needs go to this one-stop Moodle tutorial shop --> http://www.moodletutorials.org/index.php

It has video tutorials on Moodle for almost all Moodle modules and more.

Google image labeler

2009-06-03T10:42:00.000+12:00

I came across this new feature in Google called Google Image Labeler.

What it does?

It throws a series of pictures and finds you a partner online to work with. What you have to do is label the image with as many words as possible in 2 minutes and your partner will do the same (you and your partner see the same image). Google then scores you and your partner. At the end of the 'game' Google will display the source of the image and the words that were attached with it.

Possible use with students

A fun way to practice vocabulary.

Poll Everywhere (Twitter App works with PPT/websites)

2009-05-28T10:43:00.000+12:00

Poll everywhere is a 3rd party Twitter application that works with PowerPoint, you can also embed it in a web page. It could be used realtime with your students. You can create multi-choice questions and get feedback right there in the classroom or you could be more creative and set activities outside of the classroom. The thing I love about this application is it can be used anywhere as the name suggestions. It takes the learning outside of the classroom.

It's a pay service but offers a free version for use with up to 30 participants. I thought this was a very generous offer. Students can SMS the answers but it may not be free. It is free in Australia but I couldn't find anything which said SMS service in NZ was free.

3.05 pm update: Sorry spoke to soon, if you haven't read my previous post Twitter update (SMS) from Vodafone network is now free in New Zealand. This means you can send and receive 200 sms/month from twitter for free. This also means Poll Everywhere is then free and to send your response to any Poll Everywhere Multichoice poll send it to this number 8987 with the message @poll CODE

Poll Everywhere also allows you to create short answer quiz/poll, of course this is limited to 160 characters (same as sms). Again you respond to any Poll Everywhere Short Answer poll by sending a sms to 8987 with the message @poll CODE Answer

Link to the main page: Poll Everywhere

Using Poll Everywhere

Try it out!
Text a code (one of 38101, 38102 or 38100) to 8987. Wait for a while and the graph should update.

Make your own poll voting question with Poll Everywhere

The start of a new beginning

2009-05-19T10:45:00.001+12:00

Robot teacher for kids in classroom?!?

She can't move on her own, she can talk but it feels like she is choking.

I am actually lost for words!!! I have no idea how to categorise this, creepy, innovative, enabling in some ways, "things not to try in class" ..... not sure. To an extent I agree with the comment made by its creator "there are children who don't have an opportunity to come into contact with technology".

Kids seem to be fascinated by it :-).

Next Gen search engine

2009-05-18T10:46:00.000+12:00

Wolfram (alpha) is online now. Try it out http://www59.wolframalpha.com/

Wolfram .... Some say it is the next big thing on the web!

2009-05-04T10:47:00.000+12:00

What is it?

It is a search engine for finding/manipulating factual data. Stephen Wolfram (creator) and his team call it “computational knowledge engine” for the web. Unlike Google it doesn’t only return a collection of links and information in other format. Wolfram actually goes a step further and tries to understand the question and then computes the answers to answer a wide range of questions that may arise from your original.

For example “What is the population of New Zealand”, pause for a while and think about the types of questions that can arise here. Wolfram does exactly this and then computes the answers and provides a detailed view. A good example of the intelligence of this system is: “GDP France/Italy”, the system is smart enough to figure that I have information about both these places and hence I can perform this mathematical operation. Wolfram doesn’t have a predefined database that has all the information like Google does, rather it goes a mile extra in trying to make sense of this information.

Another example from blog.wolfram.com:

“To give an amusing example, every school child has at one time or another written a report on the moon, and they probably included the wrong figure for how far the moon is from the earth. Why wrong? Because the distance from the earth to the moon is not constant: it changes by as much as a mile a minute. If you ask Wolfram|Alpha the distance to the moon, it tells you not only the conventionally quoted average distance, but also the actual distance right now, which can at times be well over ten thousand miles off the average. The actual distance is a figure that can be arrived at only by computation based on the moon’s known orbital parameters.”

In a nutshell a search engine for factual data with computational power. I have this information, what can I do with it.

Wolfram goes live sometime this month, exact date is unknown (I couldn’t find anything on Google.).

Visit: http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Second Life

2009-04-27T10:49:00.001+12:00

Second Life (SL) for those who are already familiar with SL please bear with me.

SL is a 3D virtual environment, it is really not a game (as many people perceive) rather it is an environment left upto its users to “create”, it could be anything, users have the freedom. It has a potential of being tailored into a game (may I say there are some really good games in SL) possible through SL scripting (Linden scripting language). According to SL statistics for March 2008, SL had well over 13 million subscribers, who spent a staggering 28 million hours for the month of January (2008) alone. It is this that got me thinking about SL as a potential educational tool. 28 million hours spent in one month alone, wow, this has to be a very highly engaging platform right?

If you haven’t had a SL experience, I would recommend that you create a login and just visit a few islands to get an idea. You’ll be able to visit a virtual Taj Mahal, a NASA museum of spacecrafts (from the early days), a “Second World” (virtual Earth), you’ll even find Dell’s online shop (Toyota and IBM), refer to these links to view pictures of some interesting places to visit in SL http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/sets/72157594417463338/ or http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SecondLife/SecondLifeGreatPlaces.html.

I have always believed in the equation FUN + PLAY = LEARNING, this equation is applicable at so many levels in education. It has a potential to create a good social environment, a good platform to engage with others and to interact and can provide learners an opportunity to explore and create. It is these possibilities present in SL that has me and other educators around the world wrapped around its finger. I attach this video from Youtube to highlight some of the educational potential of SL.

Still early days I would say hence lots of skepticism and questions about SL. SL is a tool which takes a lot to get started, investments cost etc still Harvard amongst other universities are using it already.

The SLENZ (Second Life Education in New Zealand, http://slenz.wordpress.com) project has embarked on a journey to further evaluate the potential of SL in education. It will be interesting to see what the outcomes are. From what we already know, there is a steep learning curve for both teachers and students to begin with. There is a huge upfront investment in developing the learning resources and environment and to do this you need to own/lease a piece of virtual land and money (Linden dollars) to buy stuff and have knowledge of how to operate and create on the system. There are technical issues, issues around reliability and other issues may arise as the virtual world draws closer to replicating the real world and consequently creating real issues in a virtual world (example copyright, ownership, social issues, law and order etc).

Few thoughts to finish with, is something similar to SL the future of the web? There are obvious issues here but if something more open and with almost the same or more features as SL comes along, the web might just take a turn to a 3D approach. Browsing the web will become something like taking a work or ride to a destination with your friends. Further uptake of this technology will unravel more potential and acceptance. The younger generations now accustomed to powerful games and graphics are set to welcome this environment with open arms. Where does this leave us with the future of education?

Flickr

2009-04-27T10:49:00.000+12:00

Flickr in 3D

Finally a 3D search engine for Flickr, have a play here.
All you need to do is enter a tag as the search criteria.

Really cool :-)!!!

Visual guide to Twitter

2009-04-20T10:51:00.000+12:00

Ways Twitter can be helpful, in business or for personal use. Click here.

9 reasons to use Twitter in schools. Click here.