Loriz eLog

My Final EDES Curtain: I Did It My Way

2009-08-15T15:29:00.023-06:00

As I face my last EDES blog, I experience déjà vu. I am Billy Crystal in Throw Mama from the Train. I struggle to get past my first line: "The night was humid/moist/wet/damp." No matter how I try, the words that would sound intelligent at least to my own ears seem to elude me. In the previous blog, I was stymied by the question: What's next? I couldn't think of a thing to say. Today, I am approaching my final reflection from the opposite end of the continuum; I have too much to say and no idea where to begin. It feels like a jumble of emotionalisms. At any rate, I will Risk It and jump right in:

To try is to risk failure.

The person, who risks nothing,
Does nothing,
Has nothing and is nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But they simply cannot learn,
Feel, change, grow, love or live.

Risks must be taken because
The greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

You LEARN from the TRYING; you WIN from the DOING.

So, here goes....

Reflections on the Learning Process

I began my serious sojourn into the blogosphere when I began the EDES course. Although I had set up a couple of blogs in a previous July residency, the experience was simply meant to be introductory. There was no time allotted for exploration, experimentation, and skill building. As an instructor of English writing skills at the post secondary level, I never really thought of the blog as another writing genre. I thought it was simply a venue for someone’s ramblings on any number of topics with limited opportunity for interactivity. Thus, for all intents and purposes, I began blogging very much the newbie with an attitude.

In the words of Edward Said, "Beginning is not only a kind of action. It is also a frame of mind, a kind of work, an attitude, a consciousness." When learning occurs, initial attitudes tend to change. Mine did.

In the EDES course, we learned by doing; and indeed, my learnings were many and varied. I began by creating my own Weblog using Google's Blogger. My first blog was simply a response to an assignment. Since then I began to understand Richardson's (2009) distinctions between posting and blogging and the stages that most beginning bloggers go through (p. 31). In my first post, I was not journaling an account of chronological activities, I did not provide any links to relevant sites with annotations, nor did I provide analytic, synthesizing, or reflective comments on literature, material, or other blogs that I had read. My command of Blogger features was limited. My post consisted mainly of text except for my profile that included a photo of myself, and I had added a couple of family photos. I tried to incorporate tags. However, the spacing between paragraphs showed I had not used the Edit HTML feature. I immediately began to hear about the need for a hook, that blogs were written to be read by others, so they had to attract readers, and they had to be reader friendly. I had taught some journalism and newspaper writing, so I understood headlines. They tell the news story in a nutshell, but I had overlooked the fact that blogs are also written for an audience, so titles must catch a reader’s interest. Given the number of blogs out there, a writer needs to gain a competitive edge.

As my learning went on, I tried to concentrate on headlines that hooked and content that engaged the would-be reader. Thus, my next two blogs were purely textual. I played with the spacing between paragraphs, but I had not yet experimented with the Edit HTML feature. I did include links and tags, and I started to receive comments from my classmates and prof. Now, that was a new experience. I began to master photo sharing through Flickr and Picnik. I remember struggling to add a video to my blog only to have my classmates report they were unable to view it. By the end of our exploration of video sharing sites, I did conquer HTML well enough to embed YouTube videos. I had also learned to link to resource material. I was beginning to really enjoy this blogging business. This was approximately the time I learned that I could link only to open source material available on the Internet, but any data I had found in my College library databases was licensed; therefore, viewers would not have access without appropriate userids and passwords. Again thank you to my classmates for pointing this out. Good lesson learned. I began to include APA style Reference lists (5th ed.) knowing full well that we were on the brink of the release of APA (6th ed.). I continued to agonize over the hook. By this time, I realized that besides the headline, the hook included an opening sentence or two. These should be Search Engine friendly. Here is where tags, taxonomies, keywords factored in. I was beginning to learn the lingo. But I wondered if I would ever truly master all of this? It was time to focus on my classmates’ work to see how they were approaching the blog. I also explored the work of professional bloggers: MasterMaq, Copyblogger, ProBlogger, and Larry Ferlazzo. I was learning a lot! However, it dawned on me that besides knowing the theory cognitively, I would have to demonstrate my learnings through my blogs. I was also working to show analytic and critical thinking, to synthesize, and to consider the implications of my statements and discoveries. In other words, I was aiming to extend my work beyond simple blogging in the hopes of achieving real blogging (Richardson, 2009, p. 31). I immediately fell in love with Animoto, Voicethread, and Mashups. I began to envisage ways to share some of my new skills with my College colleagues. These multimedia applications might be the best place to get them “hooked” on Web 2.0. At one point in this course, I remember recounting the way in which a number of my co-workers had overcome their aversion to DOS. It was through email. People got hooked on email even if it simply meant that all they used it for initially was to share jokes.

Just when I thought I knew all there was to know about Web 2.0, we explored social bookmarking, virtual libraries, and social networking sites. As Louis L'Amour says, "There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." I explored Facebook, My Space, Twitter and even eHarmony and PlentyOfFish. At about this time, I had the opportunity to meet Mack D. Male--MasterMaq--via Elluminate. He is very knowledgeable and comfortable moving back and forth between Web 2.0 applications. He convinced me of the power of the media and the importance of the blog as the pivotal application. He showed us how well blogs and Twitter work in combination. He also encouraged us to write about things we felt passionate about. When I did that, I noticed I got more comments from readers and higher marks. What must I still work on? In all honesty, I would have to say “Everything.” Communication is such an inexact science; in fact, it is the arena that first taught me that learning is lifelong. It is difficult to reach everyone with the same degree of success using one communicative approach.

Learning Highlights/Classmates' Input

If I were to provide a commentary of my learnings highlights throughout this course, I would point out that the EDES course exemplified induction into research-led, inquiry-based learning (McGowan, 2005). I would also point out work ethic. This was a heavy course; I really had to focus to keep up.

At the onset, I remember trying to keep up with Dan's early postings. He jolted me out of any state of inertia or procrastination I may have lapsed into. I enjoyed comparing notes with Heather our superwoman--working, capping project, EDES class. My blogging, like hers, will remain a work in progress. I also shared commonality with both Heather and Gerta in that we all work in higher education. Some of our collective perceptions were notable, quotable, and comparable. I continue to work on my blogging hooks; sometimes I come up with better ones than I do at other times. Shirley's opening anecdotes and analogies very quickly caught my attention. I tried to mimic her approach in openning a number of my blogs. I achieved varying degrees of success. I would like to find my Voice in the blogosphere as Ruth has. In Columbia University’s Newsletter, Oh (n.d.) states that faculty have become a trusted voice in the blogosphere. They are the "go to" people. This is the Voice I would like to establish for myself—a trusted one. I am working to engage in an educational blogging community beginning with my EDES classmates. Ruth has encouraged me to reach beyond our safe little EDES class; in fact, she pointed out that I had a follower or two from outside of our class. She suggests that I begin commenting on other bloggers’ work. I have yet to do this. I have occasionally referred to classmates’ thoughts in my own blog or discussion. YouTube says we should build blogging communities, and to do so this is one of the things we should do. I have admired the thinking of every one of my classmates. Tara, Debbie, like everyone else's, one of the things I found to be most helpful were the links each of you provided in his or her blogs. It would have been impossible for me to find all of them on my own especially within the timelines we were given. I found Carol's testimonials regarding the ease of use of Diigo and PageFlakes helpful. I did not have to find time to experiment with these on my own. I have learned much from the work and role modeling of my classmates. I must say that I’ve become a connoisseur of exceptional writing styles, use of graphics and collection of various Web 2.0 application, Voice, access to impressive resources and links that I would not have come up with myself in this short a time span. In all honesty, I am already becoming nostalgic. Whereas, this has been a heavy course, I know that I will miss the learning and the community. Hopefully, we will all stay in contact through our blogs or perhaps Facebook. Hey, everyone, did I actually put that in writing?

And to our profs: Thank you to Joanne for the trailfires. They gave us such a good start in learning about each Web 2.0 application. Jenn, you were always upfront with us regarding the intensity of this course and the heavy workload. Indeed, these realities mean that this course is definitely not for the faint of heart. But actually, I think it's been a great teaching ploy! Your strategy for this summer course was pure genius. The course asked us, as students, to confront the issue of digital technology and information overload; thus the course itself gave us a first hand experience in this regard.

Learning Lowlights/Intimidation Factors

As far as learning goes, the EDES course in itself presented no lowlights as long as timely learning did occur. There were, however, intimidating factors. I confess, fear was the biggest factor. What if I was unable to master skills well enough to meet deadlines. When I dabbled in blogging and other Web 2.0 applications before, I was a member of a face-to-face group. A professor, tech expert, or tech-savvy classmate was there to help us walk through an e-process or setup. In this course, I faced my computer at home, alone, in isolation, without a manual, without a tech expert to provide "how to" demonstations and textual interpretations. What if I couldn't figure out how to accomplish a task or how to use a digital tool? Then what? As a result, what if I were to miss a due time or date? I knew I was so close to the end of my Master's requirements, and yet at times I felt so far from it. I had enrolled in this EDES course because it presented skills that I really felt I could benefit from. But what if I couldn't master them? Today, I am thinking of John Heywood's words, "A hard beginning maketh a good ending." I think I have arrived.

Integrating Technology at Work

Looking back, I cannot believe how much I have learned and how eager I am to experiment with and apply my Web 2.0 skills at my workplace with staff and students: blogging, photosharing, videosharing, social bookmarking, podcasting, virtual library visitations, wiki collaborations, social networking and Twittering.

How does all of this fit in with my personal inquiry question? As I’ve said in previous discussions and blog, I know exactly which Web 2.0 applications I will be applying in each of my courses. Having worked my way through Web 2.0, I am convinced that the blog is really the place to start and that it functions as a great base or offshoot for all of the other applications. However, to hook my students in either English or Computer classes, a variety of program areas ranging from Human Services, to Health Care, to Business, to Trades, to Learning and Employment Foundations, I may be starting with other relevant tools such as Flickr, Animoto, and Voicethread. I no longer see academic integrity and plagiarism as bigger problems than they were before my introduction to Web 2.0. I do see, however, that my role in teaching proper documentation skills will continue to be very important.

Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow: Technology 4Me

When I think about my co-workers, I am still toying with a move to Instructional Design. I think I could really utilize and develop my Web 2.0 skills further. I also think I would be in a strategic position to encourage and school my colleagues in these skill sets. For myself, in the immediate sense, I want to explore and possibly subscribe to Diigo, PageFlakes, and Zemanta. I intend to continue exploring sites that suggest ways to make a blog more successful such as those stated in the following: ProBlogger, Northeastern University, Copyblogger, Garrett, Blogging with Success, and Wordpress. Beyond these immediate strategies, I will continue exploring the blogosphere, I will try to continue following my classmates blogs, I will continue to sign up for every tech training program my College offers. I believe that one of the main implications for my own future thinking, working, and networking, professional development is keeping up with change. The EDES course gave me an opportunity to bring myself somewhat up-to-speed on Web 2.0, but there is so much left to learn. Technology will continue to change. That is a fact. I cannot be left behind especially not if I intend to remain an educator in good standing. As Mack D. Male (2009) pointed out, if he were a student today, he would expect his teachers/instructors to be knowledgeable in multiple ICT applications--or at least aware of what's out there. Keeping up is the main implication. My rural, northern College is in the process of capitalizing on technology for online and distance learning. Electronic resources and virtual libraries help put rural adult learners on a par with their urban counterparts who always had greater access to sizeable library resources. Rural colleges are working diligently to lobby government resources to help finance supernet, greater bandwidth, and other forms of affordable high speed Internet to rural homes. Many of our students, whether or not they emanate from remote locations are avid users of mobile phones, texting, and photo-taking. Many are also avid users of social networking, Facebook in particular. Some aspects of netiquette, appropriate disclosure, common sense reputation-building remains to be taught and learned. I hope to help make overall inroads in our students' and faculty's ethical use of technology for learning, as well as to encourage and facilitate sharing of resources and collaborative learning.

The curtain is about to fall on my sojourn into Web 2.0 through the EDES course. But I know that each time a door closes, a new one opens up. Like the words in the Elvis Presley/Frank Sinatra song, I definitely did EDES my way; at times my performance was laudable; at other times, it felt dismal. But the learning throughout was immeasurable and the EDES learning community was exemplary and for that I am truly grateful. Ralph Bellamy says that, "Everything ends. But there are always new beginnings."

References

McGowan, U. (2005). Academic integrity: An awareness and development issue for students and staff. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2(3a), 48-57. Retrieved August 15, 2009, from http://jutlp.uow.edu.au/2005_v02_i03a/pdf/mcgowan_005.pdf

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Chaossphere or Chaosfear: What to Do Next?

2009-08-12T19:19:00.004-06:00

Chaossphere is one of the latest buzzwords to hit the blogosphere. It is represented by eight arrows set in a radial pattern. The concept, as it relates to technology, is still new and under dispute in Wikipedia. The basic idea holds that there is a glut of information out there for us to consume; there are multitudinous digital tools and applications to choose from; we struggle to answer a series of questions. Where do we go from here? What should we do next? How should we do it? Where do we start? How do we integrate technology into education? The best definition I could find says that the chaossphere symbol is purposely generic and any-directional to represent the vastness and flexibility of chaos rather than to indicate fearsome disorder. However, to me the concept is still somewhat frightening and suggestive of the decision I am attempting to make in light of our Blog #11 assignment: What's next? What Web 2.0 tool should I introduce my co-workers to first?

The Indecisive Second Born

I once read a psychology study that found second born children to be easy going, but indecisive. I am that second born child. Facing my EDES 501 Blog #11 decision, I feel like the contestant in Let's Make a Deal facing Host Monty Hall. I worry that I will choose the door with the goat behind it rather than the Ferrai. What if I try to interest my co-workers in a Web 2.0 tool, but they are not inspired? What if nothing I try to do makes a difference? Despite my fears, I decided to take the risk. From all that I had experienced in EDES 501, from the reviews of Richardson (2009) and the resources posted under Trailfires, MasterMaq, Jenn's great instruction, my classmates' enthusiasm, blogs, and feedback--Carol, Dan, Debbie, Gerta, Heather, Ruth, Shirley, and Tara--I was thoroughly convinced. The blog it is! OK, which door shall I open?

Re-thinking a Hasty Decision

But this is where indecision set in. Perhaps I should think this through more carefully. It may be wise to first consider the technological resources available at my workplace. Before deciding on a logical Web 2.0 tool to introduce to my colleagues and staff, I need to consider the digital resources available at my College. At the main campus, we have a number of computer labs, the library information commons, an Innovation Lab, video conferencing labs, designated wireless areas, Smart Classrooms equipped with a computer and multimedia project, and some classrooms with SmartBoards. In terms of LMS and related software, we have Moodle and Elluminate, together with standard Microsoft programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access 2007. Specific program areas have additional software according to need and licensing. We also have an Instructional Design team, and also our Computer Services Department.

Let's Hear It for the Time Traveller

Before deciding "What's next?" maybe I should take a trip through time to revisit where we came from and then project to where we want to or need to go.

Over time, our technologies have changed according to need, human creativity, and inventiveness. Each time, in some ways, life got easier, richer, and more enjoyable; but it also got much faster.

Choosing a Tool from Web 2.0

What are the implications for the teaching and learning of adults? How does one keep up the momentum that we achieved in our class? How do we integrate technology into our educative environment? How do I acquaint members of my staff to Web 2.0? What tool do I start with?

Of necessity, I am going to go out on a limb here. Our blog assignment asked us to choose one tool, but in considering my colleagues and staff, I think it is necessary to "hook" people using the Web 2.0 tool of most immediate use to them, their program, or their students. Initially, I had considered beginning with the blog, and from my own experience I know why that is the best choice. However, at work immediacy is often the deciding factor.

How does all of this fit in with my personal inquiry question? As I’ve said in previous discussions and blogs, I know exactly which Web 2.0 applications are applicable to the various program areas in which I work. Thus, to hook my faculty, staff, and students in a variety of programs ranging from Human Services, to Health Care, to Business, to Trades, to Learning and Employment Foundations, I must choose a tool most applicable to each of them. Human Services programs, including Community Social Work and Educational Assistant/Early Learning and Childcare programs, would immediately benefit by blogging and producing pod/vodcasts. Most other programs would most likely be hooked on photo and video sharing and mashups. In particular, I am thinking of the Native Cultural Arts program. Instructors would be eager to help their students showcase and market their work online. I would consider starting with tools such as Flickr, Animoto, and Voicethread. These tools would be relevant and also enjoyable. When I think of Trades programs such as automotives, welding, forestry, carpentry, and natural resources, I think the graphic tools would also be accepted and applied more readily. In programs where writing has a higher emphasis, I no longer see academic integrity and plagiarism as bigger problems than they were before my introduction to Web 2.0. I do see, however, that my role in teaching proper APA style (6th ed.) documentation skills will continue to be very important and that sharing those skills with co-workers and students will also be crucial.

When I think about my co-workers, I am still toying with a move to Instructional Design. I think I could really utilize and develop my Web 2.0 skills further. I also think I would be in a strategic position to encourage and school my colleagues in these skill sets. For myself, in the immediate sense, I want to explore and possibly subscribe to Diigo, PageFlakes, and Zemanta. For myself, I intend to continue exploring sites that suggest ways to make a blog more successful such as those stated in the following:

ProBlogger, Northeastern University, Copyblogger, Garrett, Blogging with Success, and Wordpress.

Web 2.0 in Higher Education

View more presentations from markvanharmelen.

In addition multiple other links discuss the current gap that exists between higher education and Web 2.0 savvy. As educators in post secondary programs, I believe we have about one to two years in which to close the gap. Educators are expected to be leaders and facilitators of learning. As Male (2009) said, we have to be aware of and skilled at a number of Web 2.0 applications in order to win the respect of our studnets and to remain credible in 21st century education. See: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/heweb2.aspx
http://mfeldstein.com/sociallearn-bridging-the-gap-between-web-20-and-higher-education/
http://librarytwopointzero.blogspot.com/2009/05/web-20-in-higher-education.html

In my zeal to bring Web 2.0 to my College--faculty and staff--one of the biggest problems will indeed be the digital divide. However, this is not to say that some co-workers do not have access to computers and software. It is more a question of inspiring some digital immigrants to learn new digital skills. A number of employees are on the verge of retirement. Will these people be eager to push themselves to become literate in new technologies? From first hand experience, I know that some co-workers would much prefer that or actually expect that someone else should do the job for them. That will be the biggest challenge. Other co-workers are either already schooling themselves in digital skills or they are asking for training.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Handy Web 2.0 Links

2009-08-12T11:48:00.001-06:00

Here is link to Larry Ferlazzo's blog "The Best Collections of Web 2.0 Tools for Education" in case you missed it in my collection of blog subscriptions. Ferlazzo has included a number of excellent links to resources--some were already shared by classmates--others may not have been. At any rate, they are here in one place. Some of these resources may help you decide which Web 2.0 tool you will be most likely to initiate with your own staff.

5 Great Instant Messenger Aggregators Across Multiple Platforms

2009-08-09T11:09:00.001-06:00

5 Great Instant Messenger Aggregators Across Multiple Platforms

Posted using ShareThis

So Much to Learn, So Little Time: Blogging 4PD

2009-08-06T20:59:00.068-06:00

Using Blogs and Wikis for Professional Development

View more presentations from Dana Huff.

Richardson (2009) says that ICT and the Read/Write Web have ushered in an age of new literacies. Being literate no longer means having the ability to read, write, and do a bit of math to meet daily living needs. Today, preparing students to become productive members of society means readying them to be proficient in using a variety of web tools to gain and share information and to complete projects and tasks collaboratively. The classroom has become a place for seamless transfer of information. Today, educators do not "own" their teaching materials. They share and exchange instructional plans. For instance, my course materials are stored in our College's Moodle repository. Educators find and implement data and learning objects that go beyond the course textbook. The Internet is our library. Because so many educators are willing to post their ideas and strategies to the web, students can avail themselves of many teachers over a twenty-four hour period. Education and learning is social and collaborative and the result of such learning is generally destined for an audience that goes beyond the individual classroom. No longer is the traditional class lecture an end in itself; it is the starting point for dialogue and participative learning. The Read/Write Web encourages students to engage in research-led and inquiry-based learning. Knowing how and where to find information is more important than merely knowing a correct answer. And evaluating the reliability and validity of source material is also a key factor in the Web 2.0 world. This often means engaging with the data source to question and comment. Ultimately, mastering material, not only passing a test; and contributing ideas, not mere course completion are the goals.

Role of Educators

Richardson (2009) is a strong advocate of the blog. He urges educators to begin their journeys into the blogosphere with this tool. As leaders and facilitators of learning, educators must be proactive in schooling themselves to be aware of, comfortable with, and knowledgeable in using a wide variety of Web 2.0 applications (Male, 2009). Educators must be the role models of life-long learning, especially since technology is constantly changing, and one application is soon replaced by another. As educators, we have to accept and even embrace change. Professional Development sessions can go a long way in keeping educators abreast of up-and-coming skill sets.

Blogs and Blogging

So, how do we keep up with change? One strategy is to learn to blog and to become a member of a blogging community. In this way, educators can learn a lot from colleagues without always needing to wait to engage formally in conference settings. Interacting with fellow professionals and other experts through blogs allows us to get feedback on our thoughts through blog comments and to share ideas on what our learning needs are. Blogs also provide a venue for sharing issues and concerns and to better determine which ones might be better covered in formal training sessions.

Blogs Revisited

We have been told that the blog is the most widely adopted Web 2.0 tool; it is easy to create, easy to update, and easy to engage and interact with through the comment feature. It allows educators to maintain their status as lifelong learners; hence, ongoing professional development is within arm's reach. It allows them to emerge from their pedagogical isolation to share ideas, strategies, experiences, and even frustrations. They can seek out educative content from sources to critique, analyze, and synthesize in immediate or longer time periods. They can post their perceptions and have fellow professionals provide feedback or other solutions with which to resolve emergent teaching and learning situations. Because blogs have an archiving feature, they can function as resources in the present or over time. Blogs lend themselves to the addition of gadgets and links including blogrolls, RSS feeds, and aggregators. This brings the user closer to a one-stop shopping approach to accessing a wealth of relevant resource material. Besides giving us an opportunity to discuss ways to become better professionals, blogs also provide us with an opportunity to explore a number of ways in which they can function as a viable teaching tools to interact with students and to allow them to practice communication and online literacy skills.

RSS Feeds and Aggregators

The Richardson (2009) text, trailfires, YouTube, and the Internet are replete with definitions and lists of RSS feeds and news aggregators. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication, but is sometimes called Rich Site Summary. RSS is a format used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—and to bring material such as full or summarized text together with publishing dates and authorship automatically to a reader's blog. My chosen RSS is Google Reader. This type of RSS feed is very beneficial to readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from their preferred websites or to aggregators that collect articles by headlines functioning as links from many sites into one place; e.g. reader's blog. Wikipedia, 24Eyes, and NewsOnFeeds provide lengthy lists of aggregators to choose from. Richardson states that one of the most difficult tasks is disciplining yourself to check your feeds regularly.

Subscriptions

I have subscribed to a number of invaluable resources: MasterMaq (Thank you Jenn), BBC Breaking News, Technorati, Copyblogger, Bloglines, Larry Ferlazzo, Problogger, Web Design Discussion, TechLearning, Canadian Journal of Education, George Siemens, Google Video, Google Reader, and Emerging Technologies in Education. In addition, I follow a number of Twitters. I have reached the point where I must purge feeds that I am really struggling to find time to read. Blogs I will not be deleting are the ones belonging to my EDES 501 classmates. How fortunate I am to be a member of this class! My classmates are a constant source of valuable leads, links, data, professionalism, and encouragement. I did check the Portage College electronic databases including ProQuest and Lois Hole, but many of the peer-reviewed resources relevant to blogging and PD are somewhat dated: 2006-2008.

Blogging 4PD

Huff''s attached video Using Blogs and Wikis for Professional Development sings the praises of technology in education. Huff contends that, in reality, technology will not replace teachers; however, teachers who can engage students online, through collaboration, and through Web 2.0 will certainly replace those who do not. The OC Adult Ed Teachers’ Network provides an excellent example of adult education instructors connecting through the blogosphere. This is a wonderful indicator for me to emulate in my own College. Furthermore, Edublogs provided another good exmple of the type of information that can be shared via the blog: 10 ways to use your edublog to teach. All of these pointers provide online ready references for educators to put to use. Thacher's PD PowerPoint presentation entitled Networking Online for Professional Development describes a number of ways that educators can enhance their performance using Web 2.0. What better way to share these perceptions than through PD-related blogs.
Long (2009) states that:

1. Professional development for new learning spaces and styles is not best undertaken by a series of ‘one off’ professional days listening to some perceived expert - although these do have their uses if the focus is right. Nor are mandatory after school CPD sessions particularly effective after what can be a gruelling day.

2. Most effective is working with teachers, in their rooms, with their students. 'Learning Leaders' (call them what you will) supporting teachers using and develop new learning and teaching styles can be really effective, working on ‘real’ work during a normal day. Usually most effective is to arrange this support working with every member of a faculty or department simultaneously. This allows real time modelling of good (and new) practice, team teaching, real time support, group work, mixed groupings, lead lessons, small group work with the whole team working, learning and gaining confidence together. This is not a one hour session – this takes some days to really embed in along with return visits. Real time evaluation and changes in approach can also be developed along with codes for students of expected behaviours and work habits. ‘Doing it to just one individual’ just is not anywhere near as effective and can be pointless.

3.Within a school then this group of teachers become leaders and the learning support goes to another faculty and develop their skills and so on. Staff from the second group can then compare notes and strategies with the first group and so the movement spreads. Approaches will vary depending on the subject and but can also really enhance cross curricular project work and make things much for interesting and enjoyable for teachers as well as students as they work in teams rather than the solitary ‘secret activity’ that so often happens. (All of this is done obviously maintaining a real focus on improving standards.) Developing this across schools then also allows other collaborations. (parags 6-8)

And think about the collaboration and support throughout thius process that can take place via the blog. Peter (2009) discusses effective teaching, quality instruction, and professional development in light of learning technologies. He says that effective teaching is:

* being prepared, and being flexible - knowing the curriculum, knowing the students and able to adapt and adopt the lesson as necessary. Technology can help organize the curriculum. Technology, specifically media, can provide a greater range of flexibility and possibilities.
* focused on learning - creates an environment that celebrates learning as the process and not only the product. Through integrated technology, the focus can be on learning and the learners. Providing technology to address specific needs.
* based on how students learn - responding to the unique perspectives and styles of the learner. Learning can be supplemented through a careful and deliberate use of technology.
* student-centered - students are the focus for learning. The ubiquitous and pervasive presence of technology in the hands of students can reshape learning, and shift the focus from teaching to learning.
* authentic - relevant, integrated experiences where knowledge is applied. Learning, as well as teaching, focuses on application, integration, and construction of new knowledge to new situations.
* improving -creating change, whether permanent or transitional. Both teaching and learning address change in the individual, change in knowledge, skills, abilities, and so much more.
* learning - a process, a continuum, a cycle. Through teaching, people learn. Through learning, people are taught.
* creating opportunities - never ending, life long. Teaching should never be a means to an end. Teaching is change, is adaptation and more.
* social change - empowering the learner. Teaching enriches the human spirit and empowers the learner and the teacher.

So much of what Peter (2009, August 4) has said can be learned, shared, nurtured, supported through professional collaboration and PD-oriented blogs. In a prior blog, Peter (2009, August 2)says the following:

Professional development ...

* is a way to meet colleagues with similar interests,
* is focused on developing teaching abilities and interests,
* provides immediate solutions to immediate problems,
* answers questions by making me think,
* improves my critical thinking skills,
* makes me more reflective about my teaching and student learning,
* is continual throughout the academic year,
* is structured,
* may be unstructured,
* may be cohort-based,
* may be small-group,
* acknowledges what I know,
* helps me identify what I need to know,
* provides content knowledge and skills,
* enables me to grow professionally,
* models best practices,
* increases my awareness of new and emerging technologies,
* engages me in the process of professional development,
* integrates technology,
* is social,
* is collaborative,
* is transparent,
* is relevant and is focused on topics for today's teaching and learning,
* can be flexible and presented in different modalities and with different medium and media,
* is current and updated,
* is fun and exciting,
* creates a sense of wonder in me as a participant and learner,
* helps me learn,
* provides me with appropriate resources for future success,
* and continues to evolve.

Obviously, the blog is the logical application with which to meet all of these goals.

How can I best describe my experience in learning about blogs, together with RSS feeds and news/blog aggregates? Since we were already required to set up blogs, RSS feeds, and aggregators, this expereince wasn't exactly new. However, now that we have experimented with blogs and blogging first hand, I feel more in tune. Adding gadgets and links to my blog is not nearly the challenge it was at the onset of this course. My bigger concern now is limiting my feeds to those which are most useful and which I am actually following. If I haven't been finding articles of interest to read, I must consider deleting them. The numbers of feeds that have accumulated do feel overwhelming.

Beyond the inclusion of the blog for a number of my English classes in particular, I intend to continue blogging. I have an opportunity to move to our Instructional Design Department. If that happens, I will most certainly attempt to engage my colleagues using the blog. As I mentioned, my other colleague in Instructional Design has already begun using Twitter. I think together, we will be able to generate an enthusiastic following in our College. Aspects of the digital divide that will prevail will most likely result from a reluctant age group stemming from the digital immigrant or baby boomer category. Some members of this group do want to use Web 2.0 features in their classes, but their belief is that "this isn't my job," and that a dedicated group of professionals should do the work; i.e., putting together podcasts, videos, mashups, wikis, blogs, etc.

More Tweets for Twitter

2009-08-06T13:43:00.019-06:00

Having sat through Mack D. Male's most informative session last night, I have given the Twitter application further thought. I have decided that Twitter may work well to share "real time" messages with my students, but if I want to post items that students can refer to later, the blog might be the better venue since it lends itself to archiving.

Some of my key learnings from Mack D. Male's presentation last night support some of my other readings including: being aware of the power of social media; writing about things you have a passion for or enthusiasm about and that enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm in your viewers; having knowledge or at least awareness of the workings of tech applications in teaching, learning, and communication; knowing that optimal blog length is variable, but that most of the time one screen length might be enough; and understanding that the blog is beginning to morph into a website. This brings me to a useful conclusion for my personal inquiry. I toyed with using Twitter to reach my students or a wiki, but now I am sold on the blog. Blogs lend themselves to archiving; whereas, Twitter does not. Viewers can comment on my blog posting, while wikis are largely collaborative tools that lend themselves to editing and possible change. Certainly, I could always check the wiki history, but at times that could be a little cumbersome. I can link so many other sites and tools to my blog that students and other faculty and staff can access or re-visit. However, one last thing I learned is that using a combination of Web 2.0 tools is probably the best approach since each tool is useful in its own particular way. It was interesting to hear Mack D. Male agree that his best approach to accomplishment is continuous partial attention; i.e., multitasking. That is a clear statement on how many of our students functuin.

Beyond other relevant literature, Mack D. Male and Honeycutt and Herring (2009) support the notion that Twitter is a useful tool for conveying news instantaneously, but that it was not necessarily meant to provide a venue for analytic, indepth assessment of situations. It is also functional for collaboration and generation of quick responses. The idea of checking your Twitter feed is not exhausting since each post is very short, so most users are not dreading the idea of going there. Johnson (2009) notes that Twitter is useful for status reports, the intent, I believe was for business, but student progress indicators could factor in keeping with the need for confidentiality.

The PC Magazine (2009) presents useful tips for using Twitter: 10 tips for beginners and 6 tips for making it useful. What I found intersting was that people could use their camera phones to takes pictures, then they could post them in Twitter. Surely, this would make real time news even more meaningful. Thus, Twitter allows you to follow up-to-the-minute news, ask for help, promote your work, search for work, stay in contact with friends, and meet celebrities. All of this is for the most part educationally relevant.

Just as we had discussed effective headlines for our blogs, Thompson's (2009) Pistachio post provides tips for constructing Twitter-friendly headlines. Keep them short; avoid puns; use key words to optimize search engine success, use hashtags [#] to categorize tweets by content, deal with one story per tweet, provide direct links to a story rather than to a homepage, and remember, you don't have enough characters to provide subheadings. All good advice. One final point, learning Twitter lingo is a must. Once you get into it, you soon get the hang of it: twitter, tweople, twoosh, tweetup, tweetdeck, twellow, and the like. Indeed, what fun!

Is Twitter for the Birds?

2009-08-05T15:13:00.020-06:00

When I was accepted into the EDES 501 class, I immediately ordered our textbook. As soon as it arrived, I checked to see which Web 2.0 tools we would be exploring. I saw Twitter. My sister, a high power corporate executive, was skeptical. She wondered why any intelligent person would want to subscribe to something that had you twittering and tweeting like a silly bird.

At work the next day, I visited a colleague who is a member of the Instructional Design team at my College. She is an avid Twitterer. Her claim to fame? She says she helped Ashton Kutcher attain his first million followers. Well, that didn’t really go a long way to put me in mind of professional uses for Twitter. Furthermore, I kept thinking of my sister’s comments about silly birds. Then I analyzed her negative depiction of birds as being “silly.” Hmmm.
To begin with, there is the age old metaphor about the wise old owl:

A wise old owl sat in an oak.
The more he saw, the less he spoke
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

I thought of the North American Eagle. In many of our First Nations cultures, the Eagle is a symbol of sacred status, gifted in the role of leadership among birds. In 1782, the Eagle was chosen to be the national emblem of the USA because of its long life, great strength, piercing vision, and majestic looks. Then again, there is Richard Bach’s (1970) story about Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who is bored by the daily wrangling over food. He has a passion for flying, so he pushes himself to learn and practice that skill. His nonconformity leads to expulsion from the flock, but even as an outcast, he continues to learn and rise closer to heaven. One more outstanding feathered friend that proves birds aren’t silly creatures to be ignored is the Disney character, Tweety Bird:

So, who was wiser there? Was it Sylvester, the cat, or Tweety, the bird? So then, the concept of the birdbrain as a stupid person with a short attention span has no credibility. Like the Twitter application, the wise old owl learned to use fewer words—keeping tweets down to 140 characters or less—and “wisely” to listen more. The powerful Eagle and Jonathan Livingston Seagull learn to soar in peaceful solitude above the mundane daily activities to see life’s “big picture.” And our beloved Tweety Bird is never at a loss in dealing with the conniving Sylvester. He sees through the cat’s devious, scheming antics. All right, let’s go on to Twitter and Tweet.

I paid my College colleague another visit. “Teach me,” I said, “Teach me how to use Twitter.” She proceeded to do just that. I became her instant follower; in fact, I helped her move up the ranks to one of the top 45 spots [people] in educational technology being followed. Her job at our College requires her to devote one day per week to researching new technologies that we may want to use. She has uncovered a myriad of relevant links. Besides her, I immediately began to follow Larry Ferlazzo in both his edublog and Twitter accounts. I have since added Will Richardson’s accounts. I have bookmarked quite a number of sites in Google Reader. I must make a point of adding those to my blog for ready reference. In looking at my list, I am having a difficult time remembering/determining which sites are blogs and which are Twitter accounts; sometimes one creator had both. At any rate, I am also following: ClearBlogging, Copyblogger, George Siemens, MasterMaq (see Twitter 101 in my sidebar), Go2Web2.0, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Wikispaces Blog, Problogger, CommonCraft, the blogs of all my classmates, and Joanne’s trailfires.

I researched Twitter to determine why it is so popular. Obviously, it is simple to use and it provides a quick connect to other people. Whereas, teenagers might use Twitter to follow celebrities and to get the latest news—gossip—from their friends, it is a great application for mobile texting and instant messaging. Beyond the SNS uses, Twitter allows users of all ages to conduct searches, get “real time” news of the day from anywhere in the world, and to engage in business, politics, and education. Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as 140 character tweets. Twitter allows connectability to other social networks & other user apps, feeds, etc. It lends itself to conversation and collaboration. Teaching and learning research skills in libraries using Twitter is also a popular notion. I can see us adopting this practice at my College. TechLearning lists a number of ways that make Twitter a good resource for learning: it is an instant resource for multiple ideas; it provides news that is local, national, or international; it allows for sharing of reflective practice among educators; it is useful for gaining instant feedback; it is a great medium for professional development.

How then do I propose to use Twitter for my own work and needs. I have already begun to interact with my colleague at work. I believe there will be opportunities to add other professionals to this following including our librarians, and most likely the entire Instructional Design team. In addition, there are a number of other Moodle savvy instructors who will most likely want to participate. Sessions in using Web 2.0 will make for great professional development activities. I know that our VP Academic is very much pushing the elearning envelope and this is a good thing for our distance and remote learners once supernet is made available more widely throughtout the North.

I am thinking that Twitter might be the application to get my students to follow me for quick information tips on course-related matters. Students may prefer to use Twitter to quickly share course and program updates with each other rather than Facebook, which they may prefer to retain for more socially-oriented discourse. I need to get my own Twitter account up-to-date and better organized to get the best use from it on my students' behalf. I have already collected excellent resources, but unless I categorize them properly, much of that information will remain untapped. I still wonder about the extent to which I should put Web 2.0 applications to use if I know that access to technology is still an issue for some of our students. Students do have access during the school day, but, excited as I am, I had better begin slowly and I had better be somewhat careful not to assign too much online technology-based homework, at least not until I determine the extent of the digital divide class-by-class.

Edu Blogosphere A List June08

2009-08-03T15:07:00.001-06:00

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Alive or Virtually Alive? That is the Question.

2009-08-03T13:46:00.032-06:00

Oh, my! So many choices! Which will make me most popular? Which will grant me in-crowd status? Which will give me a chance to meet the Who’s Who of the world or maybe even Mr. Right—on a budget? Can I become a member of Billionaire.com for free? What about Facebook, My Space, Plaxo, Linkedin, Rfriendz, Twitter, lavalife, hi5, eHarmony, or PlentyOfFish? What will these do for me? With whom can I connect? YouTube says the purpose of these social networking tools ranges from virtual engagement with family and friends, to sharing news and information, to finding contacts for jobs and careers, to searches for soul mates. I admit I have been a member of Linkedin and Plaxo for what feels like a long time. But my accounts have remained inactive. My sister had talked me into registering. Now, we’re both trying to figure out how to cancel. I’ve had many a student invite me to join Rfriendz and Facebook. I stubbornly refused. Now, Heather has invited me to join the EDES 501 group in Facebook. . . . What can I say, Heather is so persuasive! Of course, I joined. It is nice to see other familiar faces there—Carol, Ruth. . . . OK, OK, I’m in. Now what? I feel like an adolescent invited to the school dance, only I don’t know how to dance. I am living the Facebook wallflower nightmare! Is it possible? Am I this old, and still this socially inept? No Sir! I am going to dive right in.

I decided to explore Facebook first. It was initially set up in 2004 for the elite post-secondary students of Harvard University. Now, who wouldn’t want to lay claim to scholarship at Harvard? Since then, Facebook has become available to anyone and everyone. It can no longer be said to breed social division. In the past couple of years, I have witnessed countless students at my community college gazing at their photos in Facebook that they, themselves, posted. So, narcissism may be alive and well, but social divisionism? Absolutely not. Then I signed up for MySpace. It’s hard to explore some of these tools without signing up. They all seem similar in that you see a lot of posted pictures and profiles that share personal information. Hmmm. Are these all true-to-life? Or are they assumed personas and avatars? How will my already overly busy life allow me time to keep up with all of these social networks? I feel exhausted and overwhelmed. Perhaps I should take a nap.

The word virtual is defined as that which exists in essence or effect, but not in actual fact, form, or name. Wikipedia says that a thing may display the salient qualities of the real, but it is not, in fact, real. Conversationally, virtual may be used to mean almost, practically, or in effect. In computer science, virtual reality refers to a technology which allows users to interact with a computer-simulated environment depicting a real or imaginary world. The experience is generally visual, but high end systems can also include auditory and tactile sensations.
In the early 1800’s Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote the poem The Lady of Shalott. The story occurs during the time of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Seemingly happy, the Lady of Shalott is relegated to life in a tower on the Island of Shalott overlooking Camelot. In the tower, she weaves tapestries of scenes of the outside world as they pass by her window. The Lady of Shalott can only view this world indirectly as shadowy images of reality reflected in her mirror. Compared to the busy participatory lives of those she observes, the Lady’s life is solitary and static. If she were to interact directly with the real world, a curse would surely befall her. Nonetheless, when Sir Lancelot rides by, with dazzling armour, ringing harness bells, and cheerful song; his mirrored image is too much for the Lady of Shalott. She rushes to her window to see life in reality thus triggering the curse. Her hapless social interaction causes the mirror to break; her tapestry to unravel; and her identity, self-worth, and ego to be shattered. So she dies. Is there a lesson here for us as more and more of our lifespans are expended in the virtual world?

The Lady of Shalott’s story puts me in mind of our own efforts to “mirror” face-to-face social interactions with networking. Much like the Lady of Shalott, Rogers (2009) states that “our social interactions . . . are becoming increasingly fragmented, isolating and disembodied” (¶10). She goes on to say that although Facebook et al. can enhance communication, social networking websites per se provide us with solitary ways to be engaged. When we post to a social network, we are usually physically alone; and someone may, or may not, be viewing. We think we are in company, but we might not be.

Social networks redefine what it means to connect to each other. They provide a huge audience for self-absorption. Nothing is insignificant. The Twitter question that initiates interconnectivity is “What are you doing?” We assume everyone wants to know everything about us, all the time, and that our ordinary lives warrant such attention. Rogers (2009) says that “Alone in front of a computer, we become so desperate for intimacy that we encourage a type of banal dialogue and detail-bombing we would never abide in person” (¶13). YouTube’s Facebook in Real Life provides a spoof, but nonetheless, an excellent illustration of this point.

Rogers continues her satire by saying, “On Facebook, I poke dead people” (¶16). She points out that many deceased, former users re-appear on the website to issue annual reminders of their birthdays. In this way, social websites allow us to ‘poke’ the dead to continue our relationships with them, thus discouraging us from confronting issues of mortality. And finally, Roger’s notion of committing “Facebook suicide” (¶27) by deleting your account is equally difficult because new Facebook policies have granted this networking site control of your deleted information and your cancelled account.

However, is it really as dismal as all that? Granted, many users do socialize. Others seek soul mates. But social networking sites are also a great place to connect quickly for issues relating to professions, e.g., UBC education; politics, e.g., the Obama presidential campaign; commerce, e.g. advertising and marketing; and law enforcement, e.g. Tameside police officer finds missing persons.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are free. In education, these sites have been touted as effective tools for interaction, chatting, collaboration, groupwork, and initiating contact (Doering, Beach, & O’Brien, 2007; Gordhamer, 2009). Social networking tools are also an excellent way for students to build their information literacy skills through use and practice alone. Although Twitter will be the subject of our next blog, my research lists this Web 2.0 Read/Write tool among the social networks; therefore, I am commenting on it briefly. Academically, Twitter is a great way to follow the findings of other professionals whose interests correspond to your research. I follow the tweets of one of my colleagues at work because her interest and role has to do with educational technology and instructional design. She has uncovered numerous other experts in the field and new Web 2.0 tools of interest to my work. Students can begin to develop a link list relevant to their chosen fields as well. Feasibly students can connect and collaborate using Facebook or MySpace for online discussion and to complete assignments or other group projects and reports. Instructors can use social networking tools—that which is known to students—to kick off discussions pertaining to copyright, intellectual property, creativity, appropriation, reliability of data, academic integrity, and documentation. Alexander (2008) sees this approach as being far more informative than simply telling students to avoid using Wikipedia.

Speaking for the Office of Learning Technology, Wong (2009) says that Facebook has become one of the main communication tools used by UBC students to touch base with friends, organize events, and connect with classmates. Wong goes on to say that students from a variety of Canadian universities have formed lobby groups through Facebook contacts to lead petitions and to stay abreast of strikes that could affect them. Some universities have begun to use Facebook to recruit students. Wong says that many students who have access to Blackboard or Moodle discussion forums prefer to use Facebook instead.

Unfortunately, Wong also points to a number of downsides to this movement in education. Many Facebook users are not aware of social networking privacy issues. A number of educators are concerned about this site’s requirement for disclosure of personal information. Would it be ethical for educators to require students to use a site that demands disclosure of personal information that would be viewed by total strangers? In my case, at Portage College, how could I insist that all students collaborate on a project using a social networking tools when all students do not have 24/7 access to high speed Internet or computer for that matter. Some instructors and students feel that social networking tools are more appropriate for peer-to-peer communication rather than instructor to student just as many young people avoid inviting their parents to be their “friends.” UBC’s Digital Tattoo Project advises that much more work remains to be done to effectively educate students, faculty, and staff about online usage of Web 2.0 social networking tools.

As this applies to my College, I would definitely have to concur. But what exciting times these are! Digital divide or not, I believe that as a community college educator, I would be remiss if I did not introduce my classes to Web 2.0 and its potential uses. Students are definitely in need of coaching regarding appropriate personal disclosure online just as we discuss those issues in light of the professions they are training for and their face-to-face contacts with clients and colleagues. No matter how you slice it, reputations are easily built, but hard to live down.

References

Doering, A., Beach, R., & O'Brien, D. (2007). Infusing Multimodal Tools and Digital Literacies into an English Education Program. English Education, 40(1), 41-60. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1372319181).

25 Tools: A Toolbox for Learning Professionals 2009

2009-07-30T10:44:00.001-06:00

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Voicethread: The Many Faces of Lori

2009-07-29T19:01:00.005-06:00

Finding My Mashup Mojo

2009-07-29T17:04:00.007-06:00

As I viewed the Blog #7 assignment, a feeling of fear and trepidation swept over me. I wondered how multimedia sharing could be distinguished from YouTube and video sharing. What does mashup mean? Does it have something to do with kitchens and potatoes? I really never did excel in the kitchen. As we were growing up, the job of making supper for the family fell to my older sister and me. We typically burnt the potatoes. I wondered further, is mashup something akin to the mosh pit experience described by my son when he was in his early twenties? You know, loud music, crowd surfing, slamming, and shoving? If that is the case, do I really want to get myself involved in Animoto or Voicethread? Would I get my face re-arranged? Would I have to use my avatar for real? But enough speculation and procrastination; I must get myself to multimedia sharing. Blog #7 is due this Thursday. Hmmm. I approached this Web 2.0 project with the clear angst of a digital immigrant.

I scuttled off to visit Wikipedia. I was surprised to find little descriptive/explanatory information. However, it did explain the expression digital mashup, which I felt was most relevant to my cause. The following is a direct quote, "A digital mashup is a digital media file containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video and animation drawn from pre-existing sources, to create a new derivative work." Wikipedia goes on to say that digital text mashups commonly appear as blogs and online forums that combine copied source text with blogger and reader comments. My red plagiarism flags immediately popped up in my head [?????]. Does everyone always document sources appropriately? The Wikipedia article also said that mashups are often fan-produced video-audio clips that include favourite songs like most YouTube content. Hmmm. Copyright [?????]. How does this work? Does every producer take the time to get copyright permissions? Or is this our way of rebelling against all of those restrictive integrity/due-consideration-for-the-creator policies?

Wikipedia named ipernity as a free multimedia service together with the following:

Photo sharing: Flickr, Zooomr, Photobucket, SmugMug
Video sharing: YouTube, Vimeo, sevenload
Livecasting: Ustream.tv, Justin.tv, Stickam
Audio and Music Sharing: imeem, The Hype Machine, Last.fm, ccMixter

So, I wasn't really wrong; some of the Web 2.0 tools we've already experimented with do fit the category of multimedia sharing.

Well, I decided Wikipedia had not left me dramatically wiser, so I resorted to Google. Now, why didn't I think of that before? Immediately, I was taken to the login/registration page for both Voicethread and then Animoto. I registered for both applications and proceeded to dabble. Surprisingly, these tools didn't seem too hard. Maybe I'm emerging from my digital cyberfog. Having by now experienced a number of Web 2.0 applications, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. I created my Animoto clip, then my Voicethread clip. I again adjourned to the Innovation Lab at my College to use the microphone there for Voicethread. There was a webcam sitting atop the computer monitor I was stationed at. As I was interacting and recording for my Voicethread clip, one of the techies came by and flipped on the webcam. He thought I could record and film my real self while I was at it. I didn't realize I was actually doing that. I decided to leave that brief botched clip in to provide comic relief; after all, it used to work for Shakespeare.

Descy (2007) and Lucky, Christmann, and Whiting (2008) speak of mashups using Google Earth or Mapquest. These projects help students and businesses co-mingle geography with world events and locations with real estate. The mashups often mix maps, textual data with background music from different sources. Skiba (2007) projects usefulness of mashups for nursing education as visualizations, for interactivity, and for interventions. I was unable to find more current sources of information in the databases. It is difficult to get peer-reviewed articles published within current timelines that are meaningful when speaking of digital resources, the Internet, and the world wide web.

It dawned on me that there was one other place I should have looked--trailfires. Wow! I could have saved myself a lot of surfing time had I checked there first. Oh well, the research exercise did me good. I did notice that I would like to return to my mashup creations to add-in a few more things like doodling. I was immediately hooked on the Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner doodles, and textual/verbal commentaries.

So, onwards then. What are the implications of multimedia sharing sites? What are the applications for my work and my personal inquiry as an instructor in a community college? What are the issues in the big picture?

I think that just as I enjoyed creating multimedia projects, I am certain that my students would also enjoy such a task. Part of the reason could be the instructor's enthusiasm rubbing off on them. As an instructor, I find that if I am not passionate about a topic or manner of accomplishing a task, it is less likely that students will approach the project positively. However, in order for students to be competent in putting together mashups, they will first need to be schooled in a variety of Web 2.0 tools. Since teaching students computer software programs is 50% of my job at Portage College, I will add mini-workshops in these applications culminating in a mashup in my compter courses. Students and indeed instructors in most program areas I teach for could benefit from competence in these skill sets.

I would still have to say that the digital divide and access to digital hardware and software is still the biggest issue. Right now every classroom in the College should be computerized. That would constitute a significant cost. The College has already added a number of wireless access areas, but the majority of students do not own laptop computers or the most up-to-date software. Many students come from financially depressed communities, so they cannot afford their own computers. Our current college president has done a masterful job in spearheading successful fund raising ventures to supplement Advanced Education government funding. We are after all a small college, so we receive lesser funding than do larger schools such as the U of A, GMCC, or NAIT. However, even as we speak, enhanced cabling and fibre optics are being upgraded at our college.

Naturally, as the English instructor who teaches students to conduct research-led, enquiry-based learning to complete scholastic papers, I continue to be concerned with issues of academic integrity, including plagiarism, copyright, intellectual property, privacy, and appropriate publication and personal disclosure. Once you post something about yourself online, there is no retrieval, as on Facebook. Also, checking for reliability and validity of source material may become far more labor intensive as admitted by Richardson (2009).

References

Descy, D. (2007). Mashups...with or without potatoes... TechTrends, 51(6), 4-5. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1390930141).

Lucking, R., Christmann, E., & Whiting, M. (2008). Make your own mashup maps. Science Scope, 31(8), 58-61. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1465910571).

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Skiba, D. J. (2007). Nursing Education 2.0: Are Mashups Useful for Nursing Education? Nursing Education Perspectives, 28(5), 286-8. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1356040821).

Animoto: Travels to Exotic Places

2009-07-29T16:40:00.018-06:00

Wiki Glitch

2009-07-27T08:40:00.004-06:00

One point that I had intended to mention in my last blog was the glitch we experienced using wikispaces back in July of 2007 in my EDU 597 course. If two people or more were trying to edit a particular posting at the same time, which can happen quite often if a class is working on a particular project, the application stalled thus stopping anything from happening. This reality caused us some frustration. I don't know if wikispaces has since corrected the problem. Has anyone tried dual editing?

Exploring Wiki Wonderland

2009-07-25T10:56:00.079-06:00

Wiki. Waikiki. Hawaii. Drums. Hula dancers. Grass skirts. Incredibly quick hip and knee action. Beach. Ocean. Surf. Surfing. Sunshine. All of these keywords illicit a nostalgic longing for that beautiful Pacific island holiday.

The expressions wiki, surf, and surfing also conjure up the notion of quick virtual visits to Internet sites and the world wide web [WWW].

No matter how you slice it, my wiki experience has been totally positive. OK, I confess. In my July 2007 residency at the U of A, I completed EDU 597 with Dr. Phil McCrae. In the intense two weeks we spent with him, we were required to post our work and interact with cohort members in a wiki. The wiki was an excellent venue for sharing and collaboration. In it, we posted research data links, learning objects, videos, and photos. We posted responses to discussion questions for all to see. The wiki became our one-stop-shopping centre and the wiki sandbox was our social meeting place somewhat like our Coffee Talk room in Blackboard. Rather than opening multiple sites and links, for the most part, in the wiki, we had only one central location to check. The concept is corroborated in YouTube's Wikis in Plain English. Specifically, this video demonstrates how wikis are more efficient for collaboration or planning than are emails because they provide one space where a group of people can share and adjust ideas or data using the editing tool. In addition, wikis can be limited to a group of people through invitation, userids and passwords. Like wikispaces, wetpaint and pbwiki are also great wiki development tools.

No doubt Wikipedia, the free, open source, collaborative encyclopedia, is the best known wiki. The word wiki, meaning fast or quick, is borrowed from the Hawaiian language. Wikis lend themselves to quick and easy creation of web pages and editing of data by anyone in the world at any time using simple markup language or WYSIWYG text editor. According to Godwin-Jones (as cited in Dossiers, 2006), "the overriding goal of a wiki is to become a shared repository of knowledge with the knowledge base growing over time" (parag. 1). Wikis suggest than many heads/contributors are better than one. Unless the wiki has been specifically set up by invitation, the default setting authorizes everyone to be an author. Educators may prefer to restrict wiki users to a given class only. To minimize concern with vandalized information, wikis as collaborative communities, generally develop self-policed databases. Halavais' experiment (as cited in Richardson, 2009) showed that thirteen deliberately created errors posted to various Wikipedia articles were all corrected within a period of two hours.

I checked additional databases to explore overriding peer-reviewed pedagogical attitudes towards wikis. I discovered the following key perceptions. Hazari, North, and Moreland (2009) conducted a study to determine the potential of wikis in improving learning outcomes in university business programs. They found that opportunities for interactivity and collaboration were excellent. Group learning in wikis through brainstorming, group discussion, creation of knowledge bases, and collaborative writing also tended to enhance student motivation. The main expressed reservation was that effective learning should not depend on only one Web 2.0 tool. Dede (2009) suggests that shared knowledge goes a long way towards generating wisdom. A number of sources point to the value of wikis in science classes (Kahn, 2009), math classes (Narasimhan, 2009), and the health sciences (Hanson, Thackeray, Barnes, Neiger, & McIntyre, 2008). Others discuss the value of wikis in libraries for enhanced IT literacy and communication (Summers, 2009), for just-in-time teaching [JiTT] (Higdon & Topaz, 2009), for collaboration (Lucking & Christmann, 2008), and for special education (Reeves & Standard 2009). Although not comprehensive, that is quite an impressive list.

In terms of my experience, I think that whenever and wherever collaboration is required or desirable, wikis would certainly be useful. If a collaborative report is required in an English class whether it be for a trades, health, Educational Assistant [EA], or Social Work-related programs, the wiki would function as a great tool. For younger children and the EAs, the wiki could be used to build short stories. The wiki as a forum for debate in a social studies class holds a lot of promise. All of my classes could use the wiki as a repository for assignment-related research data. Many of us as educators find ourselves reinventing the wheel in our sundry campus locations. The wiki could provide us with a central location--or electronic bulletin board, if you will--for sharing course and program-related ideas.

One issue that continues to plague me that requires more thought and research on my part is my concern with duplication. I will be using the Moodle LMS companion site for most of my courses. How can I get the best use out of each Web 2.0 tool without making the students feel that they are duplicating work assignments/expectations? Certainly, I can see myself developing a number of categories in the wiki for student and instructor postings: links to course-related research sites, links to all other Web 2.0 tools, or links to resources such as Google Earth, Many Eyes, Tag Cloud, Bubbl.us, or Second Life. In some ways, I could use it very much like we are currently using our blogs. I think that if I want students to complete individual work perhaps I would set up blogs; if most of their work is intended to be completed as a group or in collaboration, the wiki would certainly lend itself. NOTE: In my blog, I have added a link to my planned wiki site. Obviously, I need to add links and pages to my wiki in order to render it truly functional. According to Godwin-Jones (as cited in Dossiers, 2005), "Blogs are often quite structured, while wikis are more flexible. Blogs are chronological; whereas, wikis can be organized in innumerable ways (subjects, categories, hierarchies, etc). Wikis include a search feature; whereas, many blogs do not. Once a blog message is posted, it cannot be edited by others. Wiki pages can usually be edited by anyone. (As stated earlier, Wiki pages are, by default, open, but they can be configured to give selective access, or may even be entirely closed.) And while blogs can be highly personal, wikis are intensely collaborative."

For me, learning to use the wiki was a question of trying to remember what we had done in the brief two-week period in 2007. I was already feeling rather friendly towards this application even though it was a steep learning curve in 2007. However, having used WebCT, Moodle, and now Blaclboard, I am starting to recognize similaries. The learning curve is getting less steep. I had created one wiki a couple of weeks prior to the beginning of EDES 501. When I returned to it, I discovered that I could not access it? Hmmm. What was the problem? Was it a simple question of forgetting my userid and password, or what? So what did I do? I created a second wiki. The link shows up in my blog as <http://webapp09.wikispaces.com/> Here, I intend to add all of my new pages as described above: links, resources, questions and answers, assignments, etc.

So what are some of the implications of wikis for my work? My personal inquiry question? As an English instructor whose job it is to teach post-secondary students to write scholastic papers that demonstrate academic ethics "knowing what sources to trust is becoming a much more labor-intensive exercise, and wikis, with many often anonymous authors, make that even more difficult (Richardson, 2009, p. 59). The fact that errors in Wikipedia were not corrected for a period of two hours means that those conducting research may have found and quoted incorrect data during that time slot (Richardson, p. 56). And what about the digital divide? Web 2.0, including the wiki, is very helpful for distance education opportunities, or is it? Until the gap between ICT haves and have nots is obliterated, some people do not have ongoing access to all of these Web 2.0 tools including the wiki. Until high speed Internet, digital technology, and sufficient broadband reaches all, equality still does not exist. Yes, Jennifer, my College does have an Academic Council that lobbies for equality for all learners. However, we have not truly arrived yet. Equality for all can also fall into the political arena at all levels: national, provincial, and local. Financial needs must be met. Whose needs are addressed first? Politics is alive and well in aboriginal and metis communities as well. Who divvies up the monetary spoils? The haves and have nots exist there too. Case in point: Who is the Chief? Who sits on Band Council? In mainstream society: Who is county mayor? Who are the county councillors? And whose needs are typically addressed first? Is democracy always pure?

In addition, Hazari, North, and Moreland (2009) found that previous web experience is associated with a pedagogical value of Wiki score [PVW], together with gender and age. Males tend to score higher than females presumably because they spend more time online. Similarly, as discussed by Prensky (2001), the young (digital natives) tend to have an advantage over older users (digital immigrants).
Even Wikipedia itself is showing on a number of pages which data needs further editing or other revisions. The warning is often clearly stated. But what if an error has not been recognized? Daignault (as cited in Dossiers, 2006) argues that if in wikis the "principle of non-neutrality is upheld, technology will reflect the interests of a given collective and will give rise to both creative and destructive tensions concerning its use. The collective tensions created by wikis — for those who dare to risk living them — may radically alter pedagogical praxis. Wikis’ collective, open structure redistributes the traditional (i.e. academic) knowledge-power nexus along non-authoritative lines. Some further concerns for academics are presented in the About Research section"; issues such as reliability of sources, finding one's personal voice and feeling confidence in it, citation, academic ethics, and plagiarism.

References

Dede, C. (2009). Technologies That Facilitate Generating Knowledge and Possibly Wisdom. Educational Researcher, 38(4), 260-263. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1746991931).

Hanson, C., Thackeray, R., Barnes, M., Neiger, B., & McIntyre, E. (2008). Integrating Web 2.0 in Health Education Preparation and Practice. American Journal of Health Education, 39(3), 157-166. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1490008021).

Hazari, S., North, A., & Moreland, D. (2009). Investigating Pedagogical Value of Wiki Technology. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 187-198. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1755224781).

Higdon, J., & Topaz, C. (2009). BLOGS AND WIKIS AS INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLS: A SOCIAL SOFTWARE ADAPTATION OF JUST-IN-TIME TEACHING. College Teaching, 57(2), 105-109. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1667018651).

Lucking, R., & Christmann, E. (2008). The collaborative power of wikis. Science Scope, 31(6), 58-59. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. Document ID: 1460512811).

Narasimhan, R. (2009). Incorporating Current Research, Wikis, and Discussion Lists in a Mathematics Capstone Course. Primus : Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, 19(1), 29-38. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1642644021).

Reeves, S., Standard, B. (2009). Blending Technology and Literacy Strategies: Engaging Learners with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders. Journal of Special Education Technology, 24(2), 42-45. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1797984611).

Summers, L. (2009). THE VALUE OF SOCIAL SOFTWARE IN SCHOOL LIBRARY INSTRUCTION, COMMUNICATION, & COLLABORATION. Knowledge Quest, 37(4), 48-50. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1709435611).

Lori's Avatar

2009-07-23T15:20:00.002-06:00

Plain Language Podcast

2009-07-23T14:05:00.007-06:00

iHaunt Virtual Libraries

2009-07-22T10:16:00.047-06:00

Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary (1968) says that haunt means "to visit, appear, recur, or linger about persistently especially in a ghostly form" (p. 614). The dictionary goes on to define virtual as "having the effect, but not the actual form of what is specified" (p. 1498). Our current assignment asks me to virtually visit and linger in a variety of libraries otherwise said to exist in a digital or digitized form. It's an interesting reversal from the ghostly norm: it is the library that is virtual, and the users that have substance.

Wikipedia says that the virtual or digital library converts and stores collections in digital formats (as opposed to print, microform, or other media). This material is accessible via computer or computer network. Generally, virtual libraries aggregate and offer user communities access to that content. The material can range from questionable to immeasurable quality. Today's trend in public, school, college, and university libraries is to develop digital download websites, that include eBooks, audiobooks, music, and video. A distinction is often made between content that was created in a digital format, known as born-digital, and information that has been converted from a physical medium, e.g., paper, by digitizing. The term hybrid library is sometimes used for libraries that have both physical collections and digital collections.

My cursory research into a number of ProQuest articles seemed to indicate that much work remains to be done where virtual libraries are concerned. However, virtual libraries hold a lot of promise for special needs people. For instance, digital talking books can be very helpful for the blind. Many articles simply speak of the needs of and the spatial design for a virtual library commons. So, what I found was somewhat embryonic literature on this topic.

Many academic libraries are currently building repositories of the institution's books, papers, theses, and other works which can be digitized or were 'born digital'. My workplace, Portage College, is in the process of moving towards that goal (B. Palmer, personal communication, July 21, 2009). Portage College is working to provide research and resource material for the convenience of students engaged in online and distance education in rural and remote areas especially in northeastern Alberta. Already our students have access to a significant number of Portage's subscriptions to electronic databases, eBooks, and the Lois Hole databases. Palmer went on to say that government funding and licensing permissions allow some institutions to make their virtual library materials available to the entire world for free as open access or with only a few restrictions. In contrast, research published in commercial or professional journals is generally provided by publishers with limited access rights. Hence, links to my College's library resources and database subscriptions is accessible only by those in possession of Portage College userids and passwords .

Palmer (2009) stated that high end virtual libraries in higher education are housed in top notch world class universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and Yale. She pointed out that the University of Calgary [U of C] had created digitized or open source resources for their geology and geophysics programs. She indicated that the Peel Library at the U of A is also a front runner in the development of digitized collections.

In my attempts to research virtual libraries, I am represented by my virtual self--my avatar shown to the right. [What a dreamer I am!] First I visited Google and vlib.org. Again Palmer (2009) was of immeasurable help in assessing Virtual Library. She indicated that there was little in that web site to assure the user of quality and reliability of data. Clicking on a number of links proved futile. Many turned up blank screens or error messages. One of the more productive links related to Art History. Palmer instructed me to click the About Us link. She showed me little information that would build a sense of trust in the reliability of those materials.

In the video clip below, YouTube provides an excellent virtual tour of a library called Discover a New World at Columbus Public Library. So the term virtual in combination with library can mean that the tour of the facility is virtual or that the resources have been digitized and are available virtually.

I proceeded to check out the web links in our eClass. First, I visited the Springfield Township High School Virtual Library. Contrary to my reaction to Virtual Library, I was instantly impressed. The opening screen in itself was age appropriate, fun looking and inviting. The links to databases and numerous sites were navigable through icon image links rather than text. The site is colorful and inviting. Although I could not navigate to all parts of the virtual library without a userid and password, I discovered material that was suited to the needs of high school students including my chronic concern with academic integrity and plagiarism.

My next visit was to the BC Parkcrest School Library. For the second time, I was denied access. So, on to the McLurg School Library. I tried to access ProQuest resources, but of course these require access via authentication. I was able to open some links and copyright friendly resources like classroom clipart. The Bessie Chin Library website was quite restrictive since it appears to house a large number of electronic databases which require userids and passwords; in this case, it might not be truly a virtual library. I also found the opening page to be very busy or cluttered. I moved on to the Grandview Library, which I found to be well-organized and user friendly. It definitely looked inviting to elementary school children. It had a cleaner, crisper interface. I went on to the Internet Public Library where I looked up Russian icons. Some pages came up blank, but I did find some Russian paintings. Very nice. I then checked into Andrea's Virtual School Library. I was immediately charmed by it. It was easy to navigate and contained colorful and interesting resources, most of which were accessible. I found that I could not explore the Alberta School Library Ning since the network can only be accessed by invitation.

Our blog assignment asked us to go beyond out web links in eClass. I thought I would see if I could explore Harvard University's virtual library. I was definitely impressed. The site does forewarn users that some licensed resources may be accessed by userid and password only, but a large number are available for public consumption. Since my son and his wife earned their PhD dgrees here, I chose to visit the University of Cambridge, UK. I found some interesting data in the Control Engineering Virtual Library organized by country. Most data was accessible; others were dependent on userid and password.

Whereas, it would seem that much useful information can be found in virtual libraries, my gut instinct tells me that most data is specific to the academic institution and appropriate to targeted age or grade levels. When exploring other virtual libraries, often times logins and passwords are mandatory. But again, I will refer to the words of Portage librarian Palmer (2009), when discussing virtual or digitized libraries, the pros are many and the cons are few. Our community college students preferring digital sources of information whether residing on campus or commuting from distant home communities. In addition more and more of our students are signing up for online and distance learning. That way they don't have to uproot their families or split their families so a member can acquire a trade, get training or further education. Students are being schooled on determining what a reliable resource is and what might be questionable. Palmer stated that the only real negative factor relating to virtual or digitized library resource is the digital divide. Some students are still computer illiterate. They would need to improve their IT skills prior to enrolling in an online program that is dependent on digitized sources. A number of our remote and rural communities including First Nations and Metis Settlements do not have access to high speed Internet much less SuperNet. Some depend on dial-up service; other do not own a home computer.

So, one final thought, how does the virtual library impact my personal inquiry question? I believe that hte virtual library being developed at Portage College will be an excellent resource for all of our students in all programs. Such a resource will most likely encourage prospective candidates to enroll in our programs just because of such ready access to materials. Certainly, immersing students in academic integrity, and research and literacy skills will also be necessary.

References

Funk and Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary. (1968). New York, NY: Funk & Wagnalls.

Tank, E., & Frederiksen, C. (2007). The DAISYstandard: Entering the global virtual library. Library Trends, 55(4), 932-949. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1289470991).

Podcasting: How hard can it be?

2009-07-16T15:15:00.072-06:00

I grew up on a small farm in northern Alberta. In those days, no one in my corner of the world had a television or even a telephone. We generated our own entertainment in the form of social gatherings where we met, danced, played games, conducted business, and shared and discussed local news. Most families had access to a newspaper such as the Winnipeg Free Press Weekly or Saskatchewan's Western Producer, and most had a radio with an exterior battery and a very tall outdoor antenna.

As a small child, I was fascinated by the radio, which was generally operated by one or the other of my parents. It was a magical box that produced music and provincial, national, and international news. I was most impressed by the voices that emerged from this magical box. I was certain that if my parents let me look; I would see tiny little people, like Gulliver's Lilliputians, living, speaking, and singing to us from inside that box. Due to my belief in this magical world, the notion of someday broadcasting my own program was totally outside the realm of possibility. Looking back on that perception from my current vantage point, I am thinking if tiny "pretend" people could do it, why can't I?

Gaining New Knowledge

Since the beginning of this course, my habitual starting point in exploring each new "killer" app, podcasting, in this case, is our text (Richardson, 2009, pp. 110-127). My second pit stop is Wikipedia. Wikipedia provides that brief dollop of information that builds an initial understanding. It describes the podcast as digital audio or video computer files that can be downloaded and shared by means of web syndication. Thirdly, I have come to appreciate YouTube in that it provides instructional audio/video clips. For me, the Plain English versions are most appealing in that they are a Web 2.0 equivalent of the current-application-being-explored for dummies. They are communicated in a manner that is readily understood by amateurs and experts alike. A second YouTube video explains how to create a podcast using Audacity, the open source, free, audio-editing program. Richardson (2009) says that "using Audacity, you can easily edit out all of the 'ums' and 'ahs,' unless of course you find they add charm to your show" (p. 117). A 15-minute YouTube video I found useful was one called "A Podcasting Tutorial [Podcasting 101]." In addition to some very useful "how to" information, the narrator, Bwana, articulates three key considerations for podcasting: motivation; i.e., feeling passionate about your topic; equipment, including a microphone, computer, and software; and production. Naturally, the trailfires accessible in our eClass also provide numerous links to helpful information.

With this instructional information in mind, I set out to create a podcast. Rather than going live as Bwana prefers to do given his three years of podcasting experience in combination with expensive, glitzy equipment; I chose to proceed in a more conservative fashion. I would pre-record, then upload and release my creative masterpiece. The first thing I discovered was that my faithful old headset with built-in mic was not to be found. Somewhat rattled by this discovery, I rushed off to the Innovation Lab at my College to use the equipment there. I chose a PowerPoint presentation on plain language that I have used in a number of workshops. I thought I could "wing it," so I proceeded with a voice-over on that presentation. Oh my, imagine my chagrin! I had uttered an inordinate number of ums and ahs. Then I remembered Richardson's (2009) words; I submit I retained the ums and ahs in my podcast for the sake of charm.

My next big job was uploading my podcast to my blog. I tried to use iTunes to which I am subscribed. My efforts were to no avail. I could upload and transfer podcasts from iTunes' listings to my account and on to my iPod, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to upload and release my own broadcast from there. So, I toyed with other software: Camtasia, Podcastalley.com, and finally I settled on box.net. I tried saving my creation in various formats: *.swf, *.m4v, and I finally decided to go with the tried and true *.wmv (through Windows Media Player) that most users are likely to have access. I uploaded and shared my Plain Language podcast to my blog. I did get it to work, but in a somewhat trial-by-fire fashion. There has to be an easier way. I must learn those ways from my EDES 501 prof and peers.

Further Research

At this point of frustration, I revisited eClass and what to my disbelieving eyes should I see on the homepage, but the link entitled "Ready to Podcast? Then eCast at the U of A!" Naturally, this data is accessible only with a CCID userid and password. The information provided is available to both U of A faculty and students. It lists the 10 best practices of podcasting among which are points such as insuring clarity, preparedness, brevity, fluency, correctness, technical savvy, and enjoyability. The site discusses when educators may wish to use podcasts and when they may wish to have students produce them. Faculty may use podcasts to provide data beyond the classroom, interview audios, lecture highlights or review material, or anecdotal information. Students may be required to use the podcast to provide a commentary on a given lecture or to submit group projects. A printable *.pdf document provides a wealth of "how to" information. This U of A web page also provides an eCast launch site to create and upload your podcast. This site will be invaluable to me for future reference.

I made a point of visiting electronic databases. Here I found multiple resources that discuss educational podcasting. Among others, Kerstetter (2009) notes the obvious use of podcasts in music classes. Lord (2008) and others discuss the usefulness of podcasts in ESL and language instruction classrooms. Lauer (2008) remarks on podcasting as a new phenomenon for delivery of media, entertainment, and journalistic content in higher education. Gatewood (2008) speaks of the value of podcasting from the standpoint of listener convenience and its usefulness for educational levels from K-12. Thematically, within the databases contemporary educational opinion appears to agree on the points presented in the above citations. However, one other resource, worthy of note, was that of Berk, Olsen, Atkinson, and Comerford (2007) who have pointed out the value of the podcast as a tool for providing information literacy in academic libraries. Besides the library and music and language classes, a number of documents indicate that podcasts might also be useful in business classes, distance learning, nursing, and physical education programs. It would appear that from a pedagogical perspective, we have only touched the tip of the iceberg of possibilities.

College Ed Implications and My Personal Inquiry

Reflecting on my work with post secondary adult learners in a rural, northern community college, I feel a sense of excitement. More and more, we are entering the era of distance education and online learning. The podcast could work very effectively in this venue. Furthermore, in my instructional role, I have experienced many an auditory learner, including those who experience dyslexia or dysgraphia. However, even students without these learning issues perform best through the process of "tell me how to do it, show me how to do it, then let me do it." Thus, the podcast--both audio and video--could do the job. As the U of A eCast site indicated, I could use the podcast in face-to-face and Moodle classes. If I, the instructor, or a student is absent on a given class day, a podcast could be used to cover material that was missed. If I wish to enhance the course with enrichment material or an interview of an expert, I could share that via podcast. Review material on Moodle could be accessed by students prior to due dates for tests or assignments. I am still wondering about the process for ensuring copyright permissions, intellectual property issues, and overall academic integrity is met. There is no problem if developed material is either the instructor's or the student's, but what if some of it comes from sources. Video clips can show those sources; audio clips should verbalize them. Exactly how will this work, though?

I guess the only issue I can foresee at this time--and this may come across somewhat like scare mongering--would be the situation where students in the name of the College publish something questionable or offensive to the web; e.g., pornography, hate literature, drug related, criminal, etc.

References

Berk, J., Olsen, S., Atkinson, J., & Comerford, J. (2007). Innovation in a podshell: bringing information literacy into the world of podcasting. The Electronic Library, 25(4), 409-419. Retrieved July 19, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1360295081).

Gatewood, K. (2008). Podcasting: Just the Basics. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 44(2), 90-93. Retrieved July 19, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1404441791).

Kerstetter, K.. (2009). Educational Applications of Podcasting in the Music Classroom. Music Educators Journal, 95(4), 23-26,5. Retrieved July 19, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1740351491).

Lauer, M. (2008). Podcasting for Learning in Universities. Review of medium_being_reviewed title_of_work_reviewed_in_italics. TechTrends, 52(4), 73. Retrieved July 19, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1607895021).

Lord, G. (2008). Podcasting Communities and Second Language Pronunciation. Foreign Language Annals, 41(2), 364-379. Retrieved July 19, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1514361041).

Taming e-Chaos

2009-07-15T15:00:00.000-06:00

Until yesterday, my thirst for elearning put me in mind of one who drinks from a fire hose. I was drowning. I wrestled with chaos in an overwhelming amount of information, applications, tools, features, and software. Timelines seemed so short! I realized that staying organized in a digital world was no easy feat. I began to think that maybe I needed a new computer, a bigger hard drive, more memory, glitzier programs.

I began to question myself. Am I truly Prensky's digital immigrant? Or have I become a digital dropout? Or worse. Perhaps I am a bona fide computer illiterate? Is my learning curve too steep? What personal fears have I brought into this course? How do I know if I have engaged with elearning techniques? Am I just going through the motions of cyber-faking? Have I succumbed to the dark side of elearning? After all, faking is easier. Or is it? Yes, I can choose an avatar to represent myself as a digital whiz who is also skinny and beautiful. But how long can I fool others: my classmates, my professor, my students? Perhaps successful use of Web 2.0 requires a predominance of right brain functionality. Maybe my success in traditional education suggests that my thinking over the years has flexed only my left brain. For instance, I have generally used a linear outline, rather than a mind map to plan my papers. Even the discovery of the digtal mind mapping/brainstorming tool bubbl.us didn't totally win me over. Maybe my right brain is pathetically atrophied. To keep track of things and knowing myself to be very much the "list" person, I tried sticky notes on my desktop only to find myself constanting losing the feature under multiple other open windows and dialogue boxes on my screen. It was simply easier to go to a sheet of paper or calendar on my desk to create a hardcopy.

No, I decided that if I do a little research, if I scour various digital resources, talk to those in the know, that I would indeed find the necessary drastic e-measures I needed to overcome my digital fears. This notion put me in mind of the lesson represented in one of my favorite children's books, Piper's (1954) classic The Little Engine That Could . When faced with a daunting task, the little engine says, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can"; by the end of the book, the refrain changes to "I thought I could." And so it is; I, too, think I can tame e-chaos.

So what were my sources of inspiration? I took Jennifer and Joanne's advice from their July 10, 2009 post to us; I conducted further research, and I talked to people in the know. MacLean's (2009, April) edition of Edmontonians published the 4th annual salute to women in business. One of these women was Norene Stasiewich, founder and CEO of Pivit, Inc., a company that designs, builds, develops, and maintains professional and corporate websites. She shared some of her knowledge and experience. She advised me to explore a local run virtual-based Edmonton Community Forum called Connect2Edmonton and other successful bloggers' websites. She encouraged me to visit MasterMaq's blog, produced by the recognized Edmonton blogger, Mack D. Male. She pointed out that how one organizes a blog site goes a long way towards providing access to one's resources from one location. Further, where one places links and gadgets on that blog site also helps. Things that I would like to access quickly or things that I would like to invite others to use should be found easily near the top of the site--the less scrolling the better. She indicated that light, airy colors with a hint of contrast are the trend today. This design promises to be more inviting.

Stasiewich also encouraged me to explore social bookmarking sites. SocialMarker and Wikipedia both provide extensive lists of sites that one can choose from. Social Bookmark Script discusses methods to optimize the work of search engines allowing a viewer to find information more quickly. Wikipedia also provides a brief introduction to relevant terminology such as metadata--information about other data--and folksonomies, also known as social tagging or keywords. Folksonomies help you search for and share the information you found with others.

Our Blog #3 class assignment directed us to view the YouTube video Social Bookmarking in Plain English. This video and Richardson's (2009) text both allude to the Google compatible bookmarking site known as del.icio.us. Unlike Diigo [that saves content] also referred to in our text, del.icio.us shares links. Del.icio.us was very easy to use; all you type in after http:// is the word del.icio.us together with any desired tags. As stated by Lefever in the YouTube video, "Too easy!"

Until I began my research into social bookmarks, I did not fully appreciate the value of tags even if I did use Many Eyes and Wordle in a previous Master's research paper. I was simply producing interesting visualizations and word clouds to analyze frequency of specific word usage in textual context. Now, I can see that tagging folksonomies can also help me resurrect data I found at some other time and that I can also share easily with others. I can also see that if I am struggling to come up with appropriate tags for an article I found, I can engage either ManyEyes or Wordle to come up with some.

So, how did I apply all of these tips? Well, I revisted my blog. I chose a different design template to be more in keeping with market trends. I reshuffled my layout to be more user friendly. I've added my gadgets, including del.icio.us, in the right frame. What a difference that made for my needs. I now feel thoroughly excited about my blog. In itself, my blog now feels somewhat like one-stop shopping.

So, what does academic research say? In my exploration of peer-reviewed full text ProQuest database articles, I wasn't at all surprised to see considerable enthusiasm for social bookmarking and del.icio.us. I believe bookmarking was my turning point as well. There is hope and promise for taming my own chaotic feelings in relation to Web 2.0. Darby and Gilmour (2009) state that del.icio.us provides a simple way to develop lists of library resources. Eastment (2008) says that as a bookmarking service, del.icio.us was the first to allow users to save their bookmarks or favorites to a public page rather than a single computer. The other big feature is the tag or key word which simplifies users efforts to quickly find stored data again. Stephens (2007) points out that folksonomies and user-based tagging lend to sharing and collaboration. It spares professionals or other like-minded people from having to repeat the same "motions" to extrapolate the same information or create the same product. Considerable time can be saved. I don't know if anyone else has spent many hours and sometimes years creating a teaching strategy only to find that a colleague in a different school jurisdiction or even a different province has developed almost exactly the same lesson or learning object. I have. Makes you kind of wonder.

Thus, having said all that I have so far, what are the implications for my work with adult students in higher ed? How does all of this impact my personal inquiry question? How will I use social bookmarking in my work? my classes? How will my students react? How will they use this new approach? Will they welcome it, or will they be overwhelmed?

Actually, I think a lot of my questions will depend on me, the instructor. Like I commented on Dan's efforts to give his children the opportunity to create a video, the task for his very young "students" was easy. Why? Because of the quality of teaching and guiding that he provided. A sincere compliment, Dan! Again, as I stated in a previous blog, I think the biggest problem for my students is access--access to high speed Internet. Otherwise, I think most students will become proficient and enthusiastic about the digital approaches available through Web 2.0. Creating videos/photo sharing sites, job-related portfolios allows students to enjoy what I refer to as their own personal God-like experience where they work hard on a project, they tame e-chaos; then they stop at the end of the day to look back on what they've accomplished, and [they see] that it was good.

How to Look! Listen! Learn! the Cyberway

2009-07-11T14:55:00.073-06:00

As I continue my trek into cyberspace, I will go boldly where this blogger has not gone before.

More Blogging Tips

Before I move on to a consideration of video sharing sites, I have re-visited the notion of improving my blog. According to Copyblogger and Magnetic Headlines, the first secret to a more inviting blog is its headline or post title. Twenty-two formulas and templates are provided as examples that the novice blogger may wish to try. The following are three examples:
"Who else wants [a great blog template?]" assumes we all want the same thing.
"The secret of [podcasting.]" shares insider information of benefit to the reader.
"Here is a method [that is helping bloggers write better post titles.]" finds a target audience that will benefit.
The last five examples in Copyblogger are suggested with a cautionary note. We are advised to avoid blog titles that begin with the word warning, or how to (perhaps) get rich quick, or 101 ways to. . . . unless we can truthfully deliver on these promises. Having read through the examples and since I am a novice blogger, I decided to start my hooking improvements with baby steps; I chose the typical "How to" title on a topic I can deliver.

New Knowledge

Now, on to the job at hand. For Blog #2, I explored YouTube, TeacherTube, EduTube, Vimeo, and Google Images. Wikipedia shows additional video sharing platforms and hosting sites. I looked at a few fleetingly. Truly, I had no idea there were so many out there. Surely, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a picture with audio and animation provides an even richer user/viewer experience. Everyone loves a good movie although maybe not your old school black and white NFB film combined with a monotone monologue.

Of the video sharing sites named above, YouTube is probably the most popular, at least it's the one with which I am most familiar. According to Wikipedia, YouTube was originally developed in 2005, and a little over a year later, it was bought out by Google for a scant $1.65 billion. Since YouTube and Google Images both belong to Google, I have chosen to concentrate on YouTube; it does appear to be the glitzier site. YouTube hosts a variety of video content including movie and TV clips, music, and individual amateur videos and video blogs. My favorite movie clip on YouTube comes from Adventures in Babysitting, but then I am very much a Blues fan.

Major media outlets such as the CBS, BBC, and others have also shared their material on YouTube. At the writing of our text, Richardson (2009) states that the historic American election that voted in the first black president was very much a "YouTube Campaign" (p. 3). YouTube indicates that it has policies in place to control the uploading and viewing of offensive or pornographic material at least to non-subscribers and those under 18 years of age.

As the name suggests, Wikipedia describes TeacherTube as a video sharing site that is very similar to YouTube, but that it is designed specifically for educators working in the K-12 and colleges arenas. It particularly appeals to those teachers whose schools have applied content filtering systems for safety reasons. Unfortunately, this filteration sometimes also blocks worthwhile material.

EduTube.org claims to be the most interesting and popular home of free, online educational videos that are available for downloading. The sitemap lists key subject areas addressed as well as applicable educational levels, tags, video types (animations, documentaries, interviews, music), and languages, etc.

Vimeo is described as a social video hosting site. It allows registered users to upload, embed, share, and store videos. Users can create profiles and upload avatars. Vimeo disallows gaming and offensive material like pornography. It is protective of its reputation in attracting a sohisticated artistic crowd. It does indeed have a nice clean interface that is set up like a blog. The videos I watched were very creative. For instance the following video masterfully conveys a feeling of dread:

Golden (opening scene) from Dean Yurke on Vimeo.

Exploring Video Sharing Sites

Because I had some familiarity with YouTube, the process of learning about video sharing was a lot of fun although I must admit that explorations can consume an awful lot of time. Because I am an instructor in higher education, we are not restricted with content filters to the extent that K-12 schools would be. We try to deal with our adult learners on an integrity basis, which, of course, does not guarantee that no one is bending the rules. Over the years, in serious chronic cases, the rare student has been required to leave the college. However, I am not aware of any recent cases.

I did find that for most of the video sharing sites to be truly usable, I had to register for them. The word overwhelming does come to mind. My second issue relates to availability of material relevant to the courses that I teach; i.e., writing for academia and the workplace. I checked out a number of video clips that dealt with proofing and editing skills, in other words grammar. What I found was the equivalent of the talking head.

I am not sure students would find these clips radically more interesting than their texts or their instructor. Supposing that the novelty would be a draw, I believe that it would take a tremendous amount of time to listen to a sufficient number of scenarios to lodge an indelible lesson in grammar, punctuation, or sentencing.

Research

I found the article "Video Sharing on School Tube" in Proquest that discusses SchoolTube as a safe, moderated website for teachers and students to use for sharing and storing videos. A second article "YouTube Professors: Scholars as Online Video Stars" indicates that YouTube is connecting with instructors in higher education and that this is turning out to be very popular. It also promises to change the manner in which education is conducted, in other words more publicly than the traditional closed door classroom. However, another article entitled "YouTube's Legal Issues Grow" points out that this video sharing host is still struggling with users who post videos which they do not have a right to. All the articles I scanned speak of the popularity of video sharing, the new age experience, the applicability to various subject areas including music and filming. However, there appears to be something of a balance in articles providing cautionary remarks: legality issues, pornography, F.O.I.P, waivers, permissions, and longevity of articles' existance on the web.

Implications/Applications

Some of the instructors who teach online courses at my college have incorporated YouTube video clips into their companion sites in Moodle. Depending on the courses you teach, YouTube provides many useful resources or those which can be used to kick off class discussions. As long as our rural northern students--often from remote locations--are on campus, or in their band offices, most can access video sharing sites due to supernet and other versions of high speed Internet. If students go home, many do not even have access to dial up Internet; thus, the digital divide is alive and well. In some cases the problem surfaces right within our main campus where insufficient bandwidth, as indicated in the Videoblogging article in Educause, is the reality.

We often speak of new age multitaskers, and indeed many of our adult learners are enamored with cell phones and their texting capabilities, almost to the point of addiction. In rural community colleges, we often serve the needs of students who deal with varying learning disabilities and degrees of FASD. These are people who need special consideration for quiet rooms, extra time, and online readers to help them cope in test writing situations. The tools of educational technology are at times very helpful, but at other times they function as a further distraction for this type of student. Auditory learners and those who experience dyslexia or dysgraphia find considerable help through technology. For most students the novelty of learning with technology is motivating in itself. However, Marc Prensky (2001) coined the expressions Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. He used the expression digital natives to refer to our current school population, children who were born into the computer era. The digital immigrants were people like myself who became acquainted with technology as an adult. However, there are two other groups worthy of note. These are the computer illiterates and the digital dropouts. The ages of my college students range from 17 or 18 to upwards of 55. Some of the older students are computer illiterates. Attitudinally, some share the feelings of students from the earlier days in education when they were streamed into classes that represented their level of achievement; e.g. rabbits versus sloths; or the A-class versus the D-class. There is a sense of being overwhelmed, a type of generation gap, a feeling that it will be impossible to catch up with younger students' ability to use technology. Digital dropouts populate another group, albeit a very small group. Often these are people who have experienced technology, but prefer to accomplish tasks in earlier ways; e.g., face-to-face, possibly from scratch. These are people who refuse to give in to the machine.

I also feel that the move to multitasking leaves some of our students in the situation of a speedy car ride down a narrow highway. Much stimuli pass before their eyes, but many do not come back to review, reflect, analyze, or critique what they have seen. It's a lot like scanning a daily newspaper. I can generally stay on top of what is going on in the world today, but I have no indepth knowledge of world events unless I stop to read the entire story.

My other concern relates to academic integrity and reliable sources of information. Again in relation to many of my students who are not just adult learners, they are also parents with additional child caring responsibilities. After spending entire days in class, many cannot get to their homework assignments until 10 p.m. or later once the children go to bed. Exploring or creating features in Web 2.0 can be very time consuming, so for some of our students the academic expectations could become insurmountable. When students are stuck for time, they are more likely to cut corners and plagiarize, breach copyright, etc. for the sake of survival alone.

My Personal Inquiry

Web 2.0 holds so much promise in education. There will come a time when we run out of the student groups that fall into the category of the computer/digital illiterate. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my APA Manual (6th ed.) to see how blogs, twitters, wikis, podcasts are to be correctly documented. This alone may take away some of my plagiarism and copyright apprehension. I am eager to add some of my Web 2.0 learnings to my courses. The blog seems to be a given now that I am learning more about the expectations and that which makes for an effective blog. I can also think of course-related applications for photo sharing and video sharing sites as I alluded to in my previous blog: "Is using Flickr fun, or what?"

Speaking of Web 2.0 learnings, I tried my hand at uploading one of my PowerPoint shows with audio and self broadcasting in YouTube. Forgive me where I have not achieved perfection; it was my first effort.

Going on a Picnik

2009-07-08T20:49:00.006-06:00

In Flickr, the editing requires the user to go on a Picnik. I guess this is an extra step, but truly it didn't seem too onorous.

In Picnik, I managed to correct 'red eye' in my grandson's pictures; he has such brown eyes that they tend to show up as red eyes in photos. I got a "kick" out of Picnik's labels for the red eye correction--human or furball. Too funny.

I noticed that I doubled up my comments on photos in my slideshow. I think I've learned how, or maybe more appropriately, where to include them correctly. I also noticed that to see my comments viewers have to click on the "show info" command.

On my picture in the opening frame showing "Proud Grammy" I managed to use the contrast, brightness, and color features to make that photo usable since the original shows me caught in a deep shadow, so I was quite darkened and nearly impossible to see. That was great! I wonder, maybe these features work better than plastic surgery. Perhaps I can make myself look like a celebrity--you know, one of the beautiful people.

With more time, I would have tried the map features. In the opening frame, I would have put myself in Las Vegas at the Hoover Dam site right on the border of Nevada and Arizona.

Is using Flickr fun, or what?

2009-07-08T13:21:00.021-06:00

I checked out Picasa since it is a free 100 MB download from Google. I did the tour; it uses a nice, clean interface. I was impressed! Then I checked out Flickr, and I did the tour. The Flickr tour also uses a nice, clean interface.

Ultimately, I chose to go with Flickr. Why, you ask? Because my work can be done directly on the web. I don't have to use up 100 MB of space on my computer; I don't want to overload my system. Flickr allows me 100 MB of free space for photos. In our text, Richardson (2009, pp. 99-107) provides excellent instructions for using Flickr and the corresponding editing program called Picnik. To be off to a quick start being the novice that I am, I decided to follow Richardson's guidelines.

However, in uploading my photos, I noticed that my system really slowed down and on the first try my computer became totally unresponsive. So there I was starting from scratch; I had to shut down and begin the process all over again. To be fair, part of the problem may have had something to do with my Internet Security; I am not sure. The other part may have had something to do with user error, but who wants to admit to that? Who indeed?

I can definitely see though why a photo sharing site is a good place to begin exploring Web 2.0. It is indeed a lot of fun. I have created a slideshow called Proud Grammy Moments. Funny. I always say that one of the best ways to get rid of unwanted guests is to pull out the family photo albums. I promise, though, my creation is short--12 slides--so hopefully no one will have a chance to get bored. I do know that I still have much to learn about adding comments/captions to make my slideshow/stream more meaningful. This will come with a bit more practice.

My Flickr URL is http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorizal/show

I will also attempt to link to my site using the sharing feature available in Flickr itself. Hopefully, I've figured it out correctly. Html.... Hmmmm.

For courses in adult education, I can see myself using photo sharing sites/programs such as Flickr, Picasa, Splash-up, Adobe Photo Shop, etc. as repositories for images I would like to use in Moodle, a PowerPoint presentation, or other software program to demonstrate a relevant point for a class. For instance, in my Forest Technician or Natural Resources class, I may want to show students, or have them show me, examples of data found in their field work experiences. This type of data could be added for the purposes of illustration in a scholastic assignment or work-related report. Naturally, I would expect students to add commentaries to whatever they are illustrating since my main responsibility is instructing students in effective written workplace communication. Educational Assistants could document, for their instructors, work completed as part of their practicuum experiences; for example, their interactions with special needs students. In a Native Cultural Arts class, I could get students to begin developing portfolios of their arts or crafts projects. Hmmm. These prospects are beginning to sound rather promising and downright exciting!

Adult Education and Web 2.0

2009-07-07T20:25:00.003-06:00

When it comes to Web 2.0, formulating my personal inquiry involves a two-pronged exploration. First, how might I be able to incorporate specific features of Web 2.0 into my adult education classes especially given the IT hardware and software available to me and my students at my College. The second aspect of this involves my role as an instructor of English classes where I teach post-secondary students to conduct research for development into academic papers. Students are expected to utilize reliable sources and maintain academic integrity. Web 2.0 opens up a lot of questions regarding choice of reliable sources, avoidance of plagiarism, and breaches of intellectual property rights and copyrights. What is the process of documenting data found in someone else's blog, Twitter entry, etc? Perhaps the APA Manual (6th ed.) will shed light on these questions. The 6th ed. should be available this summer.

Why Blogger?

2009-07-06T11:07:00.014-06:00

In reflecting upon why I chose Blogger as my web-based tool rather than Wordpress, Edublog, TypePad, LiveJournal, or Movable Type, I decided to "start small" as Richardson (2009, p. 44) has advised; and, I digress, this is also in keeping with the words in Burton Cummings' song, "Break it to me gently. . . "
In a previous Master's course or two, we were introduced to Blogger. We set up our blogs and experimented briefly. July residencies tend to be very intense, so I did not have an opportunity to get a more in depth experience. This course provides the perfect opportunity.
There is a tremendous amount of information available about blogging. Doing a Google search proves that. (By the way, has anyone tried bing.com?) One of my personal favorite blogs is Larry Ferlazzo's edublog. I am amazed at the number of businesses that have incorporated blogs into their websites. My Internet service provider--Telus--routinely provides helpful articles. For instance, the July 2009 Currents publication provided an article entitled "Blogging made easy."
I must admit that, for me, the process of setting up a blog was very much a question of trial and error, and learn by doing. Our textbook was also very helpful.
However, there were other reasons why I chose Blogger. It appeared to be user friendly, and being Google-owned it afforded me a feeling of familiarity. I felt the WYSIWYG editor that is compatible with Word 2007 was also important for my needs in courses I teach in adult education. I like the fact that Blogger begins with a draft version, which allows for composition/revision prior to publication. I don't have to do my trial version in a different venue before copying and pasting it over. The draft phase also gives blog authors the opportunity to re-think what they said and how they said it. That is the equivalent to our mothers' advice telling us to count to ten before blurting out our thoughts. A further point that is useful from an instructional perspective, is the possibility of deleting inappropriate or potentially offensive "comments"; however, I can see where that could pose a different problem. Could students accuse instructors of editing or changing their comments? Hmmm. I need to explore this further.
I would like to try blogging with a number of my adult ed classes this fall particularly those that do not have access to my Moodle companion sites. Since the programs I work for at my College have not set aside budget dollars for added space in a blogging application, I thought the "Blogger" price was right. I like the fact that it has a time stamp that identifies student publication dates to ensure due dates/times are met.
In addition, I like the notion of using Blogger to assess student participation. That would take away some of the marking subjectivity concerns that students tend to raise regarding participation marks. I think it is important to establish some level of privacy control through the use of the invitation feature, which again raises my own question regarding this, my blog. Was I supposed to set that up here? I can't wait to see Jennifer's blogging assessment rubric. I think that sample will be very useful for my own instructional needs.

A Little about Me

2009-07-02T11:38:00.003-06:00

Hi, everyone. I am totally thrilled to be starting EDES 501 as my last option for my Master’s degree—MES:LIT—which I began in July 2006.

I am a U of A graduate holding B.Ed. and B.A. degrees. My major was English with a second field of major in Psychology/Sociology. As part of a bursary obligation, I taught my first year in Lac La Biche, Alberta in Dr. Swift Junior High School. I taught mainly Language Arts to students enrolled in grades 8-9, but I also taught Reading, Health, and Drama. Following completion of my B.A. degree, I did cover-off with the Edmonton Public School Board in a grade 4 classroom in Richard Secord. I then became a Language Arts coordinator in the McNally School Cluster. From there, I moved on to a position in McNally Composite High School teaching English 20 and English Language 22. After that, I returned to Lac La Biche to teach English at J. A. Williams Senior High School. Functioning as the unofficial English Department head, I taught mostly English 30 and English Literature 21, but I also taught English 20, some English 10, and even some Language Arts 9 when the Grade 9’s were transferred over to the High School.

I left the teaching profession for a time to work as a research analyst for a local agency called the Regional Economic Development Council [REDC]. Later I was a partner in a retail business. When my son was two years old, I became an instructor at AVC, now known as Portage College. For eleven years, I was coordinator of the Community Social Work program taking it from a certificate to a diploma program. Throughout the years, I have been responsible for teaching English and/or computer software courses to most post-secondary program areas within Portage College: Human Services, Business, Trades, Health Services, Learning and Employment Foundations, and Continuing Education. Most recently, I have had the opportunity to engage in distance education via video-conference and Moodle. Although I always enjoyed working with students, I found my niche working with adult learners.

My role as an English instructor has focused mainly on helping students become aware of the importance of effective writing skills when attempting to succeed in post-secondary education and in the workplace. The growing variety of information and communication technologies [ICT] is changing the manner in which we communicate in academia, in the workplace, and in society in general. ICT is a perfect adjunct to my skill set.

Outside of my job, I do have another life. I have a wonderful son and daughter-in-law. They both earned PhDs in Cambridge, England. They are now working at the U of A in managerial roles. Besides those accomplishments, they have given me the most delightful grandson, who will be celebrating his second birthday tomorrow, July 5.

I am looking forward to all other self-introductions and all that EDES 501 has to offer.