It’s time to catch up with some fantastic scholastic chats in #eci831… and there are a few weeks to share. During #eci831 Week 10, Brian Lamb & Scott Leslie discussed their experience in remixing education. In reviewing some inspiring media savants, examples, and ideas for open, remixed educational resources.In a true network environment – the application logic is relied onto the machines and built into the network itself. The open education movement introduced large quantities of formal education resources into the pool of content that can be mashed up and remixed for learners. Networks have evolved to the point where learners are no longer bound by space or time, which allows learners to direct and choose their personal learning environment objectives. There is now a “mashup of learning” medium to best support content knowledge and skill acquisition for learners. The process of remixing education is simply extending the existing concept.Mashing OERs as an Instructor (or DJ) includes this sample DJ workflow applied to education:
As a recent invitee to Google Wave, I am still experimenting and sampling this new resource [with the help of The Complete Guide to Google Wave]. As more people receive invites and the beta version of Google Wave develops, educators will get involved and as they find value and potential for their profession.
I sat back to ponder why I blog, and why I take the time to read other blogs. Here are a few reasons I thought of off, the top of my head:
reflection
to share knowledge and resources
news & information acquisition
a research starting point
connection to peers in my field of study/work
a sounding board for ideas/questions/thoughts
to be part of a community
In thinking about education and reviewing the above list, I can see why blogging is an effective means for contextualizing and mentoring learners. Sue Waters mentors educators on effective blogging and web 2.0 resources on EduBlogs. She delved into the topic of blogging for learning and connection during last week’s #eci831 weekly session on Elluminate. The concept of blogging in the classroom, leads to a transparent educational process for students. Learners are able to share ideas and be empowered in their digital learning community. Blogging can deeper understanding of knowledge and course content, while challenging students to participate in an open, expressive forum.
It was interesting to learn how other students in the class viewed blogging for learning. Some are unsure about how to include blogs, while others want to ensure engagement and purpose in their learning environments. Here’s the #eci831 class brainstorm for our Thoughts, Challenges or Concerns about blogging:
how do educators best define learning outcomes to give purpose?
spam
how to get students to buy in
how to engage students; keep them interested and on task
most important aspect in my class
assigned topics or more creative original ideas
what to write
learning in a public forum – putting yourself out there
loosing the meaning for the learning objective
long term use
safety of students and liability
privacy concerns for parents
how to move teachers towards these ideas
non-standard views of students
open or closed environments for students?
teachers blogging as PD, nervous about putting their ideas out there
do all students feel confident in their posts
what to have the students blog about
how to move teachers away from seeing blogging as a tech ‘add
Final thoughts from Sue, was actually in the question form:
What are 3 questions (and why) you would like answered on educational blogging or building personal learning networks?
So here are my 3:
What are some of the key privacy concerns for educational blogging? And how educators best address these issues? Resources for either Canada or US would be greatly appreciated.
Are there any examples of peer mentor blogging initiatives in education, that you know of, in K-12 or Higher Education learning environments? It would be interesting to learn more about how modelling and mentoring can help learners engage in blogging.
How has your blogging practice altered (or has it?) now that microblogging (Twitter, etc) has been introduced into the blogasphere? Do you engage much in microblogging? How do you see value in it for learning?
is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright.
[They] provide free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof.
If you look at the Content Directories of CC is utilized by many companies, and even educational institutions. Some faculty started to challenge the traditional methods of research collection and how intellectual property is shared with others. One faculty shares how to encourage this open education movement in a publication called - Open Doors and Open Minds.
The recent development and contribution from Creative Commons is the DiscoverEd search engine, which provides accessible searches for open educational resources. This allows educators to access and share teaching and learning materials in an effective, easy way.
Great poster-making activity from the BullyingUK website. Excellent tools & resources here to share a positive message against cyber bullying with your students.
For those of you who missed the presentation, you are able to access the Educause web seminar archive for the slides or recording of the online event. This session was also a good prelude for the Open Education Conference which will be held in Vancouver, BC August 12-14, 2009.
Great comments from the online chat in the session today. Here are a few messages that resonated with me:
Can’t we set up private areas as well as shareable areas in our online learning environments? Both can be useful.
Many faculty are online and don’t realize the extent possibly
Old School Traditional Professors Unite–you have nothing to lose but your chains.
A lot depends on the way the activities are integrated, and whether the teacher walks the walk him- or herself.
More converstations to follow on Twitter – #opened09
There’s a whole lot of buzz in the news, on the political scene and elsewhere about micro-blogging with Twitter. As an educator, you decided to join to see what the tweet it was all about.
The good news is that educators CAN use this social media tool to connect with resources & individuals in their profession. Be sure to check out The Top 100 Edu Tweeters who share great resources, information & news about education.
Here are a few that I have been following on Twitter [and I am sure that a few more will be added shortly]:
@OpenUniversity: The Open University offers university education to everyone, and shares tips, news, and developments through this Twitter stream.
@utpress: This Tweeter offers news from Canada’s oldest and largest scholarly publisher.
@Librarian: This tweeter works to “reach the parts other libraries have yet to reach.”
@edventures: John Martin is a technology architect for higher education.
@eduguru: Follow edguru to learn about Internet marketing and web development for higher education.
@higheredu: Higher Edu works to get colleges and universities on Twitter.
To help states and districts prepare today’s students for the opportunities and challenges of tomorrow, a set of seven action steps and accompanying recommendations have been developed.
This national plan was initiated in 2004 to increase the involvement of technology in K-12 education. I hope that this tech plan will also be part of the educational reform focus for the new administration. The changes to K-12 technology use can and will impact students who attend college & university.
There may not be a mandate for higher education to have a specific, uniform technology plan, however there are a few trends to follow from the last few Horizon Reports c/0 Educause. Many institutions have seen great value incoporating technology into their strategic plans and recognizing the need for this support and growth.
Are you aware of what YOUR institution is planning for technology development & support for learning? Find out.
Technology is often created to make things more efficient and our lives easier. I also think that there has been excellent developments in the field of technology to support our various learning needs.
