tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50785122024-03-07T13:23:40.578-05:00EDUSIGN: Design & Technology in Education....... by Joel D. Galbraith<b>Increasing Learning in Mediated Learning Environments </b><br>
(...Issues related innovation in teaching and learning brought about by evolving social contexts and technologies...and other items I simply find noteworthy)Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-55297021334015715022011-01-25T04:34:00.003-05:002011-01-25T04:56:31.350-05:00Moving on...This blog has been dormant for some time. I had created and had been posting on an internal blog at the UNC School of Government, but have since taken a position of Director of Online Instruction at BYU-Idaho.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_Zj9QCxK8i0XikCRHfs0Ui87DSaehdkIIVAAjVhYgpXudAuUc6kvK0glGCwQaf9z7jwpRrKPpbuJKhblQ66-EEhVqPoOJoAil9U8KZaYYk1ieKO9Em44sDh2JB4jMYTsOZ8J/s1600/byui_logo_blk.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_Zj9QCxK8i0XikCRHfs0Ui87DSaehdkIIVAAjVhYgpXudAuUc6kvK0glGCwQaf9z7jwpRrKPpbuJKhblQ66-EEhVqPoOJoAil9U8KZaYYk1ieKO9Em44sDh2JB4jMYTsOZ8J/s320/byui_logo_blk.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566060022942883954" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Photography has taken over my writing. Some of my photos can be seen on <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdg239/">flickr</a>, but most I simply post to <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/joel.d.galbraith">Facebook</a>--not because they do such a nice job displaying photos, but that is where my social network is with whom I share my photos. I completed an entire year of a <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3204774&id=9328234">pic-a-day (2010)</a>. It was a great experience, but I'm taking a break from that, and now just posting at my leisure.<br /><br />I'm still immersed in edusign...design and technology in education, but am not writing about it in this venue. Cheers.<br />-Joel Galbraith<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-88880239238634174572008-10-20T22:04:00.003-04:002008-10-20T22:11:16.337-04:00Web2.0 vs. TV...(hint: TV won't win!)An interesting insights and short talk by Clay Shirky (author of Here Comes Everybody) at Web2.0Expo explaining how the participatory web is shaping how we're using our surplus time. He makes a great argument on how TV just no longer "gets it".<br /><br /><embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AbTSFAA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="242"></embed><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-89246264738561266192008-02-25T16:21:00.000-05:002008-02-25T16:22:21.278-05:00From Lion Country to Tar Heel Country: Moving to UNC<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLjRPgsVFqh-fpUcN-gwrn78kz8uEICNf5rFRlZh3-zS_p5Wl8zxKq7lmaHLJKqoWWD3Yg03VJY_FfHAkm2d6XI26-zRXukWSEGbnZ9n7bFRKtnLawMRD7cpq2xU8pLUVqAQES/s1600-h/UNC.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLjRPgsVFqh-fpUcN-gwrn78kz8uEICNf5rFRlZh3-zS_p5Wl8zxKq7lmaHLJKqoWWD3Yg03VJY_FfHAkm2d6XI26-zRXukWSEGbnZ9n7bFRKtnLawMRD7cpq2xU8pLUVqAQES/s200/UNC.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169916981480840946" border="0" /></a>I've accepted a position at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and join the <a href="http://sog.unc.edu/" target="_blank">School of Government</a><span style="font-family:Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;"> as an Instructional Analyst on March 15th, 2008.</span> <p><span style="font-family:Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">I look forward to increased opportunities to work closely with faculty to improve teaching and learning, and to discovering more about the </span><span style="font-family:Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">School's</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;"> unique mission.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-family:Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">...did I mention the NC should be a bit warmer than PA, though I will truly miss Central PA's "mountains", beautiful rural countryside and snow!</span></em></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-33557190579309123692008-02-15T10:52:00.011-05:002008-02-15T11:34:51.599-05:00Text-Focused Wiki = Contextualized Discussion = Better Online Learning<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/public/journals/3/homeHeaderTitleImage.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/public/journals/3/homeHeaderTitleImage.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>I came across an interesting article in <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2018/1921">First Monday</a> this morning via <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.distance-educator.com/index.php">Distance Educator</a> presenting research on the increased engagement and focus elicited by a wiki solution for online discussion over a more typical threaded discussion forum.<br /><b><span style=""></span></b><blockquote><b><span style="">Student Engagement In Distance Learning Environments: A Comparison Of Threaded Discussion Forums And Text-focused Wikis</span></b><span style=""><br />The purpose of this study was to improve the quality of students' online discussion of assigned readings in an online course. To improve the focus, depth, and connectedness of online discussion, the first author designed a text-focused Wiki that simultaneously displayed the assigned reading and students' comments side by side in adjacent columns. In the text-focused Wiki, students were able to read the assigned text in the left column and type their comments or questions in the right column adjacent to the sentence or passage that sparked their interest. In post-participation surveys, data were gathered about students' experiences in the text-focused Wiki and prior experiences in threaded discussion forums. Students reported more focus, depth, flow, idea generation, and enjoyment in the text-focused Wiki.</span></blockquote><span style=""></span><br />Basically, the wiki solution/interface set the course readings and discussion space in a side-by-side format allowing comments and discussion to be far more contextualized and specificas they referred to reaings adjacent to the comments. Of course in a typical threaded discussion, I'd have my students do the readings, and then discuss them after the fact...usually from memory. Comments are always more vague, and it takes some work getting learners (myself included) to cite specific examples or ideas from the readings.<br /><br />While I wasn't at all impressed with the layout and interface of their particular solution, I like the concept, and have heard of similar solutions which do not employ wikis, but do allow for embedded discussions within online documents. Many of these are simpler annotation tools, while others provide for a bit more in the way online discussion and dialogue. I've blogged a couple times recently about <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.viddler.com/">Viddler</a>'s feature which allows me and my students to engage in dialogue within the video file. I just like it when tool support the powerful principle of contexualized feedback--Where discussion and dialogue can occur very near to the actual experience or digital artifacts (video, text, images etc.) being studied. I've seen in my own teaching and learning experiences how dialogue and feedback is richer and more helpful when provided within context.<br /><br />If you encountered other examples of learner-friendly annotation, contextualized feedback and discussion solutions, please share them here.<br />-Joel G.<b><span style=""></span></b><span style=""></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-75853184564757720692008-02-05T16:11:00.000-05:002008-02-05T18:42:35.808-05:00Participation: The Core of Web 2.0 and Today's Digital Literacy<div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Participation is at the core of Web 2.0 and today's digital literacy.</span> You just can't sit back and observe, watch or even be a voracious consumer alone to be digitally literate. I'm really encouraged with how my (adult) students are gaining digital literacies in the online EDTECH course I teach. The course is designed to explore how video can be used to support teaching and learning. Needless to say, this course is far different (and more relevant) today than it was when I began teaching the class online 4 years ago. Indeed, the just-released <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2008-Horizon-Report.pdf">2008 Horizon Report</a> cited online "grassroots video" as being one of this years most relevant technologies to teaching, learning, and creative expression. From the report:<br /><blockquote>Video sharing sites continue to grow at some of the most prodigious rates on the Internet; it is very common now to find news clips, tutorials, and informative videos listed alongside the music videos and the raft of personal content that dominated these sites when they first appeared. What used to be difficult and expensive, and often required special servers and content distribution networks, now has become something anyone can do easily for almost nothing...almost any device that can access the Internet can play (and probably capture) it. From user-created clips and machinima to creative mashups to excerpts from news or television shows, video has become a popular medium for personal communication...once the exclusive province of highly trained professionals, video content production has gone grassroots.</blockquote>I've restructured my class to now be fully online (we used to send tapes by snail mail). I was concerned that some of my adult students wouldn't be up to the task. It is taking some stretching, but we're all doing it and as a class we're all slowly learning the value of becoming producers/contributors/creators/sharers of video in a Web 2.0 world.<br /><br />My favored tool these days for the class is <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.viddler.com/">www.viddler.com</a>. This is a feature-rich video hosting environment that encourages a participation in many ways. We rely heavily on the timeline-based feedback features which are ideally suited to our course which allow viewers to initiate threaded discussions right within the video using text or webcams. Of course, the site supports direct-to-server recording, tagging, groups, channels, friend networks, RSS feeds galore, and even revenue sharing. These features encourage participation on many different levels. See one of our student videos, and click on the dots in the timeline to see or add comments <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(Hey, they're all novices, so easy does it. Plus, can you say that you've posted any original video online yet?!)<br /></span></div><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="viddler_jjcowan_24" height="370" width="437"><param name="movie" value="http://www.viddler.com/player/2abb4814/"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.viddler.com/player/2abb4814/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" name="viddler_jjcowan_24" height="370" width="437"></embed></object><br /><br />At this year's <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://hosted.mediasite.com/hosted4/Catalog/?cid=cd40888eed5940f2bbd8daa8c09b4ecc">ELI conference</a> keynote sessions, both Henry Jenkins and Michael Wesch nicely address different aspects of the importance of participation and how in that process, meaningful connections are made (learnring occurs). Daniel Stanford wrote <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.iddblog.org/?p=63">a thoughtful post</a> that calls for new computer literacy standards. He suggests that techno savvy users today are not necessarily computer literate. I agree with his basic thesis (have noted my own kids being heavy computer users, Imers, Facebookers, but not knowing how to "Save As' in Word! The computer is simply become a means of accessing their social networks and the internet (an internet appliance). Daniel Standford feels, however, that teachers and students ought to be literate in some basic Photoshop and html skills. I feel quite strongly that he's off base in this regard. The particular tools are far less important to me anymore. In my own class, my students use whatever editing tool gets the job done for them. In the past I might have prescribed a single tool, but no longer--It's the CONTENT, not the TOOLS! New, and very capable tools come online at a dizzying pace these days.<br /><div> </div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">My own journey...</span><br />In the last year, I've challenged myself to do more than read about Web 2.0, and become more of a participator, and more digitally literate myself. I've taken some big steps, and feel I am doing enough for now (I do think one can go overboard!). Rather than simply be a reader, viewer, browser, consumer, I am now a contributor, poster, creator, linker, producer, promoter.<br /><br />I have created and shared videos of my own making online, I teach online using Web 2.0 tools and importantly include opportunities and reward my students for similar participation. I maintain my own blog and web space, I share my own photos online, I participate in online discussions and comment on blogs, I use an RSS reader, and subscribe to small collection of blogs. I use a social bookmarking space, and have started sharing more links, and am very slowly building my network. I manage my two social networking spaces (Facebook, Linkedin). <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(I write this more for my own record than as some form of self-aggrandizing activity...who knows what value this effort will have had a couple years from now)</span></span><br /><br />The most rewarding in all of this for me has been participating in this Blog, my Google reader page, and the fact that I get to learn new things alongside my online students (largely school teachers). Lots more to learn...<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Excelsior</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;">! </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >(Latin: onward and upward).</span><br />-Joel G.<br /><div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-20737805952260777452008-02-02T10:18:00.000-05:002008-02-02T10:36:42.126-05:00Social Network Fatigue or Growing Pains?I came across an <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/31/myspace_fb_comscore_drop/" goog_docs_charindex="19"><strong>article</strong> </a>from The Register that suggests (with the numbers) that interest in social networking is waning.<br /><blockquote>On Facebook [you] join, accumulate dozens of semi-friends, spy on a few exes for a bit, play some Scrabulous, get bored, then get on with your life, occasionally dropping in to respond to a message or see some photos that have been posted. Similarly, once the novelty of MySpace wears off, most people only stop by to check out bands or watch videos.</blockquote><br />I blogged about this a couple months ago in a post that quoted my 15 yr old daughter "<strong><a href="http://edusign.blogspot.com/2007/11/facebook-used-to-be-cool-and-now-its.html">Facebook used to be cool, and now it's all, like, junkie</a></strong>". We both felt our interest in Facebook was waning for various reasons.<br /><br />I'm not at all convinced the people don't want to connect anymore, nor that this isn't a potentially important aspect of ways we learn in a connected world, but social networking tools may be maturing--possibly a good sign for education.<br /><br />I don't understand it all yet, but this <a href="http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2008/02/urls-are-people-too.html" goog_docs_charindex="528"><strong>short article from Google</strong> </a>on the <strong>Social Graphing API</strong> suggests to me a better way to approach social networking. Connecting people around similar interests, artifacts, projects or profiles, regardless of the particlar software/tools they use or who is in whose contact list. This is something I'll be following and wanting to learn more about.<br />-Joel G.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-87245368347218145962008-01-30T22:23:00.000-05:002008-01-31T01:05:29.320-05:00Student Blogs, Ownership & Social Ratings in the Marketplace of Ideas<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia8YQpxyQvYDZwHb9w-zZxLDkjZhZhakk1kgfA8RIEZb0BjUcmZqgDiTSIuxGFIY_koAiz2aEImEccb8BBJo4eyzMT0ZkkDnioKOxPsL5DOYrnFKSJqZss_pS48izLr_PkHPqi/s1600-h/pligg.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5161517749141495794" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia8YQpxyQvYDZwHb9w-zZxLDkjZhZhakk1kgfA8RIEZb0BjUcmZqgDiTSIuxGFIY_koAiz2aEImEccb8BBJo4eyzMT0ZkkDnioKOxPsL5DOYrnFKSJqZss_pS48izLr_PkHPqi/s200/pligg.JPG" border="0" /></a>Cole Camplese and company at ETS are doing fabulous things at (and for) Penn State. Beside hard work, I gotta chalk up a lot of their success to a willingness and openness to experimentation (with apparent administrative support)--not with wild abandon, but in a measured and calculated way.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Student Blogs:</span></strong> In my last post, I shared how I was challenged with trying to find a meaningful way to integrate blogs into my course. Well, I think I'm on to the solution...courtesy of Cole Camplese and Scott McDonald . Cole recently posted some details on how he and Scott McDonald are using blogs and social ratings in the "disruptive technologies" class they co-teach...<em>and I steal, edit and present large swaths of his <a href="http://camplesegroup.com/blog/?p=858">original post</a> here:</em><br /><br /><blockquote><br /><p>A while back we completed another <a href="http://www.personal.psu.edu/cwc5/blogs/disruptive/media/SocialRatings.pdf" target="_blank" closure_hashcode_="1805">Hot Team white paper</a> related to social rating sites — think of <a href="http://www.digg.com/">digg.com</a> as the big example. Essentially a space where content is either aggregated in or submitted by users and then voted on by the community. Lots of people find these types of spaces very important for helping them filter and discover the things that are interesting to them. Scott McDonald and I made the decision to put a <a href="http://engage.tlt.psu.edu/disruptive/" target="_blank" closure_hashcode_="1806">pligg (open source) site</a> at the middle of our course. At the start it confused students a bit, but I am starting to see content coming in from student blogs, with comments, and votes. It is really cool to see a community developing before my eyes. </p><br /><p>Students [respond] to the course readings in their own blogs (so they “own” the content) and they are aggregated automatically into the Pligg site. They are then given three votes to give to the top posts (and they must comment on the post as to why they voted for it). The top vote getters rise to the top and these then form the basis for the face to face discussion for the week. It feels like it is a solid way to bring lots of pieces of content together and give students a real voice in the organization of emerging conversation. </p></blockquote><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Ownership:</span></strong> I think I'm finally getting what they're up to and once again feel like I'm a day late and a dollar short (I might be slow, but I catch up fairly quickly). I love the idea that by using individual student blogs, students "own" their comments, ideas and thinking. It stays with them in their own blog. Currently, we generate good discussions in the discussion forums embedded in our LMSs, but this--sometimes very rich--conversation all dies (or gets archived) once the 3 month course is over. By having students post to their blogs, there's a level of public accountability for what they are posting, and their thinking remains with them throughout their studies and potentially beyond.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.train-them-well.com/marketplace.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://www.train-them-well.com/marketplace.jpg" border="0" /></a>Social Ratings in the Marketplace of ideas:</span></strong> I think I like the social rating aspect of <a href="http://www.pligg.com/">pligg </a>too. I saw a very cool form of social ratings built into a beta discussion board tool at Indiana U a couple years back, and have long sought for such a marketplace-based approach to sharing/selling ideas. I think social rating systems can help stimulate individual accountability within learning environments, where collectively we can help separate the wheat (insightful comments) from the chaff (chatter). The comments of value generally rise to the surface. There is perhaps a danger of margnalizing less mainstream voices in this process, and faclitating "bandwagon ratings", but I imagine this can probably be mitigated with simple some course policies.<br /><br />While a somewhat minor issue, the look-n-feel of pligg needs to be significantly decluttered in my opinion to avoid distracting from the posts. As it stands, he default pligg interface appears to present more "clickable" items in each post than raw text which all vie for attention and I find confusing when you want the focus to be on the conversation. I prefer the cleaner look of posts in this pligg platform website <a href="http://www.realestatevoices.com/" target="_blank">http://www.realestatevoices.com/</a>, which has decluttered the interface somewhat.<br /><br />So, some very intriguing ideas that will likely need refinement through the process of my own experimentation, and by closely tracking the <a href="http://engage.tlt.psu.edu/disruptive/">experiments of other innovators </a>like Cole and Scott.<br /><br />-Joel G.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-38584879323127374262008-01-23T02:54:00.000-05:002008-01-31T01:00:32.275-05:00Ramblings (to self) on purposeful technology use...Some reading tonight on the folly of <a href="http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2008/01/under_construction.php">teachers building websites </a>spawned some thoughts about the importance of having a purpose for using any given technology or assigning any learning activity. The post talks about how teachers are so often sent to professional development workshops to learn web development or how to build web pages. Too often, however, teachers fail to have a solid purpose for using websites, and their web pages go unused or are never updated remaining eternally "under construction". David Jakes writes :<br /><span style="font-size:+0;"><blockquote><span style="font-size:+0;">Teacher Web pages are the HyperCard stacks of 2</span>008.<span style="font-size:+0;"></span></blockquote></span>I agree, but I would edit this to read:<br /><span style="font-size:+0;"><span style="font-size:+0;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:+0;">Teacher blogs of today are the teacher Web pages of the turn of the century, which were the HyperCard stacks of the 1990s</span>.<br /></blockquote></span>The notion of using technology for a purpose is not new, but was brought up again for me tonight as I read Jakes's post and by questions yesterday from a couple of my students who asked me what we 'd be doing in class with the blogs. I had real no answer and proceeded to remove some vestiges of the "blog" language I had initially tried to shoehorn into my syllabus.<br /><br />I had been trying to find a way to use blogs in my online course--I'd been trying really hard! It just didn't make sense yet for my course. I believe there are great ways to use blogs (and wikis and podcasts too)...but not for my class this semester. This has frustrated me because as an learning technologist, I really want to use blogs in a class to gain some first-hand experience and best practice knowledge with using blogs in a social/group learning environment. But it is not to be this semester, and I'm glad I didn't take the bait and put the proverbial cart before the horse.<br /><br />With regard to building websites, my students (who are largely teachers) used to create websites in my class too. I don't address that anymore, but have not yet found the ideal substitute for posting small instructional, media-rich nuggets. Wikis are likely the solution, as they provide a more customizable environment than a blog, but wikis are built for collaboration, and to use them just as modern-day-WYSIWYG web page builders seems less than ideal.<br /><br />I've not yet found the optimal solution. I think I ideally need an "Bliki" or a "Wlog"--an easy-to-use web publishing environment that has elements of both blogs and wikis. Maybe this is a job for Drupal or Movable Type 4....better yet, our focus in general should first be in helping teachers/instructors understand why, where, and for what purpose to use a given technology, and only then on providing them with knowledge on how to use them and mini successfful experiences in using them.<br />Well, I'm rambling at this point, but wanted to capture these thoughts as I continue to mull this dilemma over.<br />-Joel G.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-71103123876035059102008-01-01T21:35:00.000-05:002008-01-31T00:57:58.404-05:00Happy New Year...and more Social Bookmarking that is more...well, Social<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ixPPAW6e1_ckg_F8dalIwsC6Txea9URP3hxV1ElDxzF2PATZfjh78ZAWifHEgE-UrqO5ZPcDYYiD0rgC_b4W0JNJ4_9uPmA8iiicN8rXNbYNlkyaVlg0szujFi8xJ-cKrObZ/s1600-h/del.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150712773741001026" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" height="152" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ixPPAW6e1_ckg_F8dalIwsC6Txea9URP3hxV1ElDxzF2PATZfjh78ZAWifHEgE-UrqO5ZPcDYYiD0rgC_b4W0JNJ4_9uPmA8iiicN8rXNbYNlkyaVlg0szujFi8xJ-cKrObZ/s200/del.gif" width="155" border="0" /></a><br /><div>First off, <strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#006600;">Merry Christmas, Happy New Year</span></strong> and happy whatever other holidays you may celebrate. </div><div><br /><strong>2008</strong> is going to be a big year with lots of change in store for me: I'm teaching a largely new online course and trying out a bunch of new things which is usually exciting, but is also a bit scary this time since its lots of new all at once; I'm anticipating new employment and many new projects; I'll likely be moving and purchasing a new home; and on the personal-improvement level--and this is not yet well-thought-out--I want to get into more <em><strong>social</strong></em> social bookmarking! </div><div><br />Most of my bookmarking is simply for myself <em><span style="font-size:85%;">(I primarily use </span></em><a href="http://del.icio.us/jdg239"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>del.icio.us</strong></span></em></a><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>),</strong> </span></em>but there's little social about it. I intend to do more with my class this spring, so we'll see how it goes. In the mean time I came across this article <strong>"</strong><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/love-tagging-again.php"><strong>Five Ways You Can Fall in Love With Tagging Again</strong></a><strong>"</strong> that is already bemoaning what I haven't yet even started in earnest--social bookmarking. I've considered and struggled myself with the notion of tagging. I am not yet comfortable navigating my own tags and have not settled on consistent enough terms for myself, but I'm still not convinced the established taxonomies are all that much more useful.<br /><br />In any event, I look forward to teaching my online class this semester, and experimenting with ways in which to effectively use bookmarks in a more social way.<br />How do you use, or how have you used social bookmarking for yourself or in your teaching? Let me know.<br />-JG</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-12684735006571808592007-12-06T11:51:00.000-05:002008-01-31T00:58:57.552-05:00A first for me...a Google disclaimer...and I think I like it.I came across another interesting first for me today.<br /><br />I was searching Google for a particular public domain video that I'm considering using in my online class called "The Eternal Jew", and searched using the exact phrase. The first link on the search return page was a sort of Google apology. i.e. "for what you are about to see, we are truly sorry" It was just interesting and the first such notice I had ever seen.<br /><br />Certainly material that is offensive to me has shown up before on Google searches without any such disclaimer. Even the offensive N-word <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" >(if you're not from North America, look it up) </span>received no such treatment. I'm thinking that <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">I like the approach</span>, and just wish more terms generated such a thoughtful Google disclaimer and explanation...but must admit, that I'm tempted to see what else I can search on to elicit a Google disclaimer.<br /><br />I should also make clear that I find "The Eternal Jew", a Nazi-era propaganda film, to be <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">disturbing </span>and <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">extremely offensive</span>, but it is a very powerful <span style="font-size:78%;">(<span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">and free</span>) </span>example of propaganda (vs. documentary) and its effects that I try to discuss in my online class.<br />-JG<br /><br />See the exact Google text here:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZzYUJoYf-F1zLzrCy23FbW-uT8oKF20MS3NSmAZx7e3T8gQ5BADVrQ59RwGjLkOZ35P1PD-6djTmh8Ux5hogw8t_6hV7uxpTIKPixfcfdu8NJoliSbXwdPcn3ZjtGkJN1Wd9/s1600-h/jew_google.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140904502512403842" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 100px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZzYUJoYf-F1zLzrCy23FbW-uT8oKF20MS3NSmAZx7e3T8gQ5BADVrQ59RwGjLkOZ35P1PD-6djTmh8Ux5hogw8t_6hV7uxpTIKPixfcfdu8NJoliSbXwdPcn3ZjtGkJN1Wd9/s200/jew_google.png" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-63532246138737487342007-11-25T23:27:00.000-05:002008-01-31T00:59:31.739-05:00"Facebook used to be cool, and now it's all, like, junkie"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnanmc6p6xD-s_FTKSDTaK2u7ynp3tYmq7iJHfKAdfT8Pa4necf11gJEuASqIM0Q_GqJglntd6nxCtZAngjr3_CABt5FVgvBsUcBXp0QXYSV6_F0_0BPSJn6if3GHktd6EzzX/s1600-h/facebook.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137378218216681106" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnanmc6p6xD-s_FTKSDTaK2u7ynp3tYmq7iJHfKAdfT8Pa4necf11gJEuASqIM0Q_GqJglntd6nxCtZAngjr3_CABt5FVgvBsUcBXp0QXYSV6_F0_0BPSJn6if3GHktd6EzzX/s200/facebook.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I'm not sure what it means, but my 15 yr old daughter who has been a Facebook fanatic, laments that "Facebook used to be cool, and now it's all, like, junkie"--a sentiment I share given my own experience with Facebook.<br /><br />By opening up their API, have they imploded under the weight of wave after wave of junk apps--compatibility tests, "hot or not" and the like? My daughter says she has to "ignore" 50 invites a day, even from supposed "friends" in her network, and she doesn't even accept solicitation from anyone outside her network.<br /><br />My point is that as educators have spoken about being where our students are--being in the spaces that they occupy--being in Facebook and MySpace. I'm not sure what to think about that if my daughter and here friends are already growing weary of them...and yet she doesn't want to start all over again in another social network She feels trapped.<br /><br />I honestly don't know what this means or how this will all shake out, but I tend to put more trust in my daughter and friends than I do in the industry trend reports. At the same time my Linked-in account has grown quite a bit in the last couple months. Maybe the smaller networks are the more meaningful ones, maybe this is just Facebook experiencing growing pains.<br /><br />What seems obvious to me is that we educators must create truly helpful/useful or fun applications, and not just empty applications aimed at trying to show how hip we are cuz we've gotta Facebook app too <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" >(this is no comment on PSU's recent entry!)</span>.<br />It will be interesting to watch.<br />-JG<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-71766195763202597602007-11-21T14:23:00.000-05:002008-01-31T01:01:35.783-05:00Sink or Swim: Front loading Challenging Learning Activities<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJN7HlDYvAvs89MfuNBgYHoUFY0irIRzyTdZi6Fw12zE5gY2h1esMKkCElCu2ppuVY6ziqsHXijtJP-BvjowEejalPXYPdWa3hF_xpjLoahrSiQWKpS9Nbq5Dg-T60F9gtbTX/s1600-h/camera.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135385232770288274" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJN7HlDYvAvs89MfuNBgYHoUFY0irIRzyTdZi6Fw12zE5gY2h1esMKkCElCu2ppuVY6ziqsHXijtJP-BvjowEejalPXYPdWa3hF_xpjLoahrSiQWKpS9Nbq5Dg-T60F9gtbTX/s200/camera.bmp" border="0" /></a><br />I teach a digital-video-production-for-educators class online for Penn State World Campus, and am finishing a significant revision of the course. With this class, I'm concerned that I'm throwing my students in the deep end right at the outset of the class by having them plan, record, and upload an introduction of themselves on a video hosting site (Viddler, Voicethread, Teachertube, etc.). Some have never done anything with their videotapes--ever! let alone, connect their camera to their computer, edit, compress and post their videos to an online hosting site.<br /><br />My concern is that by requiring this, I may be setting myself up for a tech support nightmare. I'm hoping this is not the case. I'm hoping that we've come to the point where 1) tools are easy enough to use, and 2) participants have enough online media literacy. The first I hope is especially true. The latter I'm here to help my students with.<br />Later assignments will have them first edit their videos and then post them and comment on each other's videos throughout the class.<br /><a href="http://www.learningcircuits.org/2004/jul2004/allen.htm">E-learning guru, Michael Allen</a>, says:<br /><blockquote>Learners prefer jumping into interesting tasks, then breaking them down into their components as it becomes necessary....Actually it's much more effective to present challenges first. If learners can meet the challenge then you won't have bored them by telling them what they already know. If they can't meet the challenge, they can ask for help, and in doing so will value the information they receive more and will see its relevance [paraphrased].</blockquote><br />Believing he's right, I proceed to front load the challenging part of the class and get right to the whole point of the class--create and share effective instructional media using the tools of the day. I look forward to this new model over how we used to do it by sending videotapes back and forth by snail mail, email attachments or posting files to our CMS. I'm hoping that this new approach encourages far more collaboration and discussion around the videos, facilitates more experimentation and gives class participants new media skills--and that these skills will help them better do their respective jobs.<br />...but maybe deep down inside, I hope most of all that I haven't created a support nightmare.<br />-JG <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:78%;" >(did I mention that I've submitted ALL my final dissertation materials...all that's left now is the walk) </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-57986751451928278002007-11-06T15:32:00.001-05:002008-01-31T01:02:03.423-05:00Assignment #1: Post to WikipediaA professor has students publish a wikipedia article rather than generate and submit a term paper for only herself and the student to enjoy. I love the idea, and don't know why such a simple and fabulous idea didn't come to my mind a while ago. I do have my students post their videos online for the world to see...I guess that counts for something!<br /><a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071030-prof-replaces-term-papers-with-wikipedia-contributions.html">http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071030-prof-replaces-term-papers-with-wikipedia-contributions.html</a><br /><br />-Joel G.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-78802172932033401802007-10-29T14:58:00.000-04:002007-10-31T11:09:16.308-04:00Open Source, Open Education & Where to Put Instructional MaterialsAn interesting Open Source and Open Education presentation with some interesting details on the stats of publishing and the dilemma of finding/making usable content that is out there.<br /><br />I'm currently editing/repurposing/mashing up some open source content, and am trying to decide where/how best to house and present it. Feel free to suggest some ideas. I'm looking at <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.cnx.org/">Connexions</a> and considering a wiki, but am not convinced it's the best way to go. The target audience for the instruction (teachers new to developing online instruction) will likely be using <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.angellearning.com/">Angel </a>for the forseeable future, but <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.moodle.com/">Moodle </a>is another good option.<br /><br />I guess in evaluating my goals, I simultaneously wish to expose them to other options beside their current LMS, but in doing so I run the risk of confusing them more than helping them. There is, of course, also great value in teaching them to best utilize the tools that they have available to them--today.<br /><br />-JG<br /><br /><div style="width: 425px; text-align: left;" id="__ss_35800"><object style="margin: 0px;" height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://s3.amazonaws.com/slideshare/ssplayer2.swf?doc=developing-open-content-like-open-software-3423"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/slideshare/ssplayer2.swf?doc=developing-open-content-like-open-software-3423" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><div style="font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma,arial; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/?src=embed"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/slideshare/logo_embd.png" style="border: 0px none ; margin-top: -5px;" alt="SlideShare" /></a> | <a href="http://slideshare.net/jason.cole/developing-open-content-like-open-software" title="View this slideshow on SlideShare">View</a> | <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/upload">Upload your own</a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-71917793485503266212007-10-29T11:08:00.000-04:002007-10-29T11:53:50.245-04:00Change Happens...Lessons Live On (hopefully)A Fall weekend hike in the woods of beautiful central <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pennsylvania </span>with my family and my camera reminded me of some things about change:<br /><ul><li>Like the color of the leaves, change happens...</li><li>Like the seasons, change happens...</li><li>Like the technology of yesteryear, change happens...</li><li>Like our children, change happens...</li><li>Like the way we use things, change happens...</li></ul>...but hopefully we <span style="font-weight: bold;">learn valuable lessons</span> along the way, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">enjoy/embrace/relish the change</span>. More often than not, <span style="font-weight: bold;">it is a sign of growth</span>.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fjoelandsha%2Falbumid%2F5126780575539785457%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3DpRYPmVEFbAE" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="267" width="400"></embed><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><br>(click on the slideshow to visit the album and view full-screen)</span><br /><br />-JG<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-28351542256917820902007-10-22T01:28:00.000-04:002007-10-22T01:39:44.236-04:00The problem with "2.0"Ryan Bretag posted<a href="http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2007/10/puzzle_makers_or_trend_setters.php"> a great little gem</a> on the potential confusion caused by the recent "2.0"craze. So many terms (even in education) are getting the 2.0 treatment with unfortunately too little explication.<br />I agree that there is a more-than-trivial danger in applying a versioning scheme to learning and educational practice.<br />This may quickly get out of hand with everyone upping the ante, supposedly indicating that they have superior, latest-greatest teaching and learning going on.<br />If you think it's a puzzle now, just wait till some institutions/technologists start hawking and presenting at conferences on their new Learning 5.0 wares and methods!<br />I'm with Ryan on his trend-setting suggestion--i.e. start a trend of NOT using 2.0 language if we can help ourselves. I find myself waaay too often invoking (and furthering) the silly title of an otherwise important and meaningful phenomenon. I just don't think it is possible to stop at 2.0, and am concerned about already having seen mention of "Learning 2.5 and 3.0".<br />-Joel G.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-47765823190988726302007-10-20T01:06:00.000-04:002007-10-20T01:47:57.677-04:00Is Learning is Changing?An interesting video clip on how learning has changed. It is a bit negative, addressing the worst of large lecture classes, but interesting nontheless.<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dGCJ46vyR9o&rel=" width="425" height="366" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" border="0" wmode="transparent"></embed><br /><p><br />-JG</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-5392830890266328102007-10-19T11:02:00.000-04:002007-10-19T12:07:05.936-04:00Of under-desk keyboard trays, Magellan, and Instructional Technologists<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.personal.psu.edu/jsa161/work/idd/desk/DSC00215.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.personal.psu.edu/jsa161/work/idd/desk/DSC00215.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I'm in the (very) early stages of gathering ideas for a job talk or some other presentation on the role of instructional designer and technologist as educational innovator and explorer. More than this, it is about living a life continual innovation and exploration (learning?), and helping build a culture of innovation around you. It seems related to other notions on my mind of late:<br /><ul><li>Web 2.0</li><li>learner/student/user-generated content</li><li>democratic forms of teaching and learning<br /></li></ul>I was pleasantly struck by a <a href="https://iddexchange.worldcampus.psu.edu/?q=node/483"><span style="font-weight: bold;">recent post by a co-worker</span></a> , Jin An. He solved a simple problem he had with the keyboard tray stuck under many of our desks--what to do with the thing if your don't use it?! The point is not his solution, but the fact that he first <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">documented </span>the problem, and then <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">shared </span>his solution with all of us on our office blog. Nothing earth-shattering, just a simple solution, shared easily and in a helpful way with his peers. The blog platform, easy access to a digital camera (phone?) and my RSS feed brought his solution to my door step (computer screen).<br /><br />No staff meeting, no training, no manual...just a beautifully simple example continuous exploration and innovation that I hope we all exhibit no matter what sphere we work in, no matter what our job or tasks are.<br /><br />A key point here is that Jin exhibits the <span style="font-weight: bold;">profession </span>of educational e<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>xplorer/innovator. Finding and keeping the solution for himself would have been completely appropriate and would have served his needs no less. A traveler, for example, can enjoy his/her travels and gawk at the wonder of it all. But in charting new territory in the rapidly changing landscape of educational technology and learning, like the explorers of yore (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan">Magellan</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_clark">Lewis & Clark</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook">Cook</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo">Marco Polo</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_battuta">Ibn Battuta</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He">Zheng He</a>), our job as instructional designers and technologists in the profession of educational e<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>xplorer/innovator, is to document and share (publish) our discoveries.<br /><br />I find myself too often selfish in my discoveries as I fail to share or adequately evaluate and document my personal discoveries for those that may follow. I may need to kick off another blog for my discoveries that don't quite fit the format and purpose of this blog. Hmmm. I'll give that some thought.<br />-JG<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-7773154682873053152007-10-15T11:56:00.000-04:002007-10-15T12:34:57.216-04:00The future of elearning requires change in Tools, Processes AND TeachersFunny how my thinking never seems to stray very far...and these are just out-loud thoughts right now. <br /><br />I've been developing an online "course/workshop" with the goal of helping faculty who are new to online teaching and learning, navigate the waters of building their online courses. Quite honestly, I've been stumbling over myself on this project, and think it has something to do with what I see as inconsistencies in what I'm used to doing, and what I've come to value in recent months with regard to what online teaching/learning should be. I stumble in reconciling what "stuff" <span style="font-style: italic;">should </span>be taught vs. what <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">can </span>be effectively learned without being experienced. In retrospect this is not completely new to me since I prefer learning through doing--both in my own teaching and in my own life.<br /><br />Cole Camplese posted recently about what <a href="http://camplesegroup.com/blog/?p=753">future elearning tools</a> might (need to) look like. Cole says:<br /><blockquote>What I struggle with is the idea of what is a really good eLearning environment these days? In my mind, a handful of pages of content that link and embed objects that drive student and faculty to engage in conversations (on or off line) seems to be the goal. With that said, why not design those content pages in a blog so students and faculty (and maybe people from the outside) can have conversations in context? Why are we still struggling with what the right eLearning tool set looks like when we are sitting in a world with dozens of content creation tools? The model we are trying to avoid consists of tons of static text pages that prompt students to leave the content and jump into a discussion forum to interact — I’ve never liked that, but now the technology supports what I am after … the opportunity for conversation at every level of a course experience.</blockquote>This is no trivial puzzle that has also occupied my thinking of late…I feel like the <a href="http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Screen/4432/gstory1.html">Grinch (who stole Christmas) </a>in that he puzzled for hours "till his puzzler was sore"--<span style="font-weight: bold;">how I feel on this particular issue</span>.<br /><br />The current model--or the way I've been trained to design instruction was largely content based, peppered with some online activities where possible. A lot of lip service is paid to active engagement and learning activities. Like Cole says, a host of disparate new tools exist out there that have a great deal of potential, but how to aggregate them, and how do you help teachers think differently about online teaching.<br /><br />I and many others advocate some form of a 3-pronged attack--one that looks at:<br /><ol><li>the enviroment (tools)<br /></li><li>the processes (learning activities)<br /></li><li>the people (both teachers AND students). <br /></li></ol>The environment/tools, processes and even students are coming along, but they are only 2/3 of the equation. The teachers and online teaching practice generally seems to lag a smidgen. These 3 areas have to <span style="font-weight: bold;">move forward together</span> to affect change, but too often the responsibilities for these 3 areas lie in different organizations and (try to) go forward uncoordinated.<br /><br />-Joel G.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-33567398632316704532007-10-06T02:34:00.000-04:002007-10-06T02:38:21.482-04:00That's "Dr. Galbraith" to you...I just successfully defended my PhD thesis today. Yes, that's now Herr Professor, Sir, Dr. Galbraith to you ;-)<br /><br />Boy do I feel the power! Actually, my wife and kids aren't that impressed, although they are delighted that Dad seems a little happier these days. As for me, I'm just glad to get out of college again before my oldest daughter starts college in a couple years <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(Graduation ceremony in December)</span></span>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDU3QzHRHiN8tHpyQFVcXME2tM1bZjvSyR9HDtYmz3RBt4yhYVpBcJwT6mS3NUcTbQfFNKhCF7MJT5zN0wdUNZPVysd1tgMQaizChWEY62JodjePEvlTWJtUHWGhI_ZJWDSbd2/s1600-h/PICT0023-1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDU3QzHRHiN8tHpyQFVcXME2tM1bZjvSyR9HDtYmz3RBt4yhYVpBcJwT6mS3NUcTbQfFNKhCF7MJT5zN0wdUNZPVysd1tgMQaizChWEY62JodjePEvlTWJtUHWGhI_ZJWDSbd2/s320/PICT0023-1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5118102215555240018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(Shortly after my successful defense at the Penn State Nittany Lion shrine)</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;">It was a good experience. I had a wonderfully supportive and distinguished dissertation committee: Dr. Christopher Hoadley (chair), Dr. Barbara Grabowski, Dr. Katherine Augustine, and Dr. S. Shyam Sundar. I received some good feedback on my research, and felt they were genuinely interested. My dissertation title is: <div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote>The effects of Socially Relevant Representations on Learning, Social Presence and Interaction for students in Self-Directed Online Learning Settings<br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >or in plain English...</span><br />The influence of warm and friendly instructional materials on students' learning and interaction when studying alone at the computer <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(not much better!)</span></span><br /></blockquote></div>I'll likely write more about my research here in the near future, but for now...I need a weekend break from it (comments and accolades welcome).<br />-Joel G.<br /></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-35299673548728741702007-09-27T10:19:00.000-04:002007-10-06T02:07:48.437-04:00Blogging: Lessons from Leonardo da Vinci<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/themes/euromanuscripts/images/leonardolge.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/themes/euromanuscripts/images/leonardolge.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Amy Grahan posted some thoughts on "<a href="http://www.contentious.com/archives/2007/09/05/how-to-blog-without-the-time-sink/">How to blog without the time sink</a>". I like her comment on not treating posts as article writing, but rather like a "backup brain". She makes three main points on blogging:<br /><ol><li><em>Blog your initial brainstorming (ideas).</em> </li><li><em>Blog your research & discovery (came across x today--just like this post).</em></li><li><em>Blog your interactions (interesting conversations).</em></li></ol>A few years ago, I visited an exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci's sketches at the <a href="http://www.artic.edu/">Art Institute of Chicago</a>. It was an amazing exhibit featuring a bunch of <span style="font-weight: bold;">unfinished</span>, not fully formed ideas, drawings and musings. The kind of stuff I doodled in the margins of my notebooks in highschool--only admittedly much better.<br /><br />I found his unfinished, "unpublished" works amazing...if not <span style="font-weight: bold;">more amazing</span> that his polished work. Maybe because I got a glimpse on the process, on the thinking that makes his work so enduring. Though he didn't publish his notebooks, his unfinished "process" is an astounding exhibit itself!<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Take a moment to visit the <a href="http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html">"turning the pages" </a>link at the British Library site to see one amazing early-day blog! </span><span style="font-style: italic;">(scroll down on site to find Sketches by Leonardo)</span></blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>So, I agree with Amy Grahan's points for the most part. I generally want and TRY to make each post to be a meaningful nugget. What that often means though, is that I delay writing thought/ideas that are good enough (i.e. great gets in the way of good enough) . It also means that when I do get around to writing, it is often too much. I for one have little patience reading long blog posts, and imagine others do too. So, I'm going to work on remedying this.<br /><br />This handicap pervades much of my life. As I finish up my PhD dissertation, I have found nearly every step of the way in this process that I have let striving for perfection--notice I said "striving", not "achieving"!--paralyze my progress. I've been doing better lately, but it's a lesson I have to keep re-learning.<br /><br />Blogging in some ways has, and can continue helping me do what Da Vinci did with his notebooks. It can help me get over my habit of perpetual tinkering and polishing--fearing to release my ideas into the world before they are fully formed.<br />so with that, and without turning this thought into an "article," I'm going to hit the publish button and see what happens.<br />-JG<br /><span style="font-size:78%;">[Update: I went back and edited this post a bunch---aaargh, though it is considerably better (and longer), I just couldn't leave good enough alone. Maybe I need to turn off editing rights for myself ;-) ]<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-77192467027519132012007-09-20T07:05:00.000-04:002007-09-27T10:40:40.599-04:00Busy, busy, busy...I'm still here, but am involved in a project (ok, It's my PhD dissertation) that is consuming every moment of my time for at least another couple weeks. It's exhausting, but back to the grindstone I must go....<br />-Joel G.<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-4857956839274392882007-08-31T12:05:00.000-04:002007-08-31T12:21:28.266-04:00Designing Reference Hybrids vs. Online coursesA good <a href="http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2006/05/shift-in-elearning-from-pure.html">post here from Tony Karrer on his elearningtech blog</a>. I'm in the midst of designing a course these days, and have been challenged with what to leave out! I've got gobs of material, but know that no one really cares or can make any real use of the material if it's spewed out all at once. Karrer writes about trends toward creating "Reference Hybrids" vs. creating "courses". The trend is toward shorter modules or nuggets vs. whole online courses. I like, and buy into the concept, but don't yet have many good models in mind. <br /><br />I don't know if it's my own training in the old model, or if it's the university systems (or both) that seem to push against this approach--A proper online course should at least be equivalent in "rigor" (read seat time, amount of content) to a F2F course.<br /><br />This idea of small portions of learning has been in the literature for years (job aids, just in time learning), but somehow now it seems to be really taking hold in higher education--at least in my own design efforts. Read Karrer's <a href="http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2006/05/shift-in-elearning-from-pure.html">full post.</a><br />-JG<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-13014304209318595832007-08-29T10:35:00.000-04:002007-08-29T10:36:36.752-04:00When Flexible loses its FlexibilityAn interesting opinion letter to a campus paper. The student complains that so many of his courses are now online, that he's losing the campus experience. I also wonder about what a campus gains if most of their courses are online? What do the students gain? Simply changing the venue (classroom to online) doesn't necessarily increase student options or flexibility.<br /><a href="http://media.www.thecurrentonline.com/media/storage/paper304/news/2007/08/27/Opinions/I.Could.Have.Gone.To.The.University.Of.Phoenix-2938507.shtml">I could have gone to the University of Phoenix - Opinions</a><br />-JG<div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5078512.post-11538424473882756562007-08-28T00:21:00.000-04:002007-08-28T02:13:46.398-04:00When "Best of Breed" maybe isn't best...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWlA7xAYnAK2xLY3r0tBpaRJ7yzdyPM34SEw_s5-PZ7aWKrf8q_1zJh9JlTUHA7nMYniGr_aOVnC8tKrjpIEgSrHHRhaUz9P7t-ADelPn3g0cvYTL0es0jkRROVwqLRYx-9Fy_/s1600-h/215556976_e17a7cbede_m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWlA7xAYnAK2xLY3r0tBpaRJ7yzdyPM34SEw_s5-PZ7aWKrf8q_1zJh9JlTUHA7nMYniGr_aOVnC8tKrjpIEgSrHHRhaUz9P7t-ADelPn3g0cvYTL0es0jkRROVwqLRYx-9Fy_/s200/215556976_e17a7cbede_m.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5103629569310345250" border="0" /></a>My latest thinking has been about what the current web2.0, best-of-breed, approach to learning technologies may mean for future learning systems--technically speaking.<br />When evaluating a new LMS or any large-system, vendors are keen to repeatedly point out how their open architecture will allow our system admins to plug-in, extend, add-on, and integrate any number of "best-of-breed" applications. (This can be code for "we don't have that service, don't plan on developing it, and rely on (hope that) others will build system extensions with your desired functionality.)<br /><br />As attractive as so many of these nifty, browser-based, Ajax apps and web2.0 widgets are, what does it mean to have VLE or LMS systems that are so customizeable, personalizable and decentralized--read dependent on others' services?!?. Currently my Facebook, iGoogle, Firefox and similar pages or apps already come up now and then with unreachable services, or unavailable extensions. These can become especially problematic when any component piece is upgraded.<br /><br />Companies like <a href="http://www.blackboard.com/">Blackboard </a>have had what it calls "building blocks" for some time now, <a href="http://facebook.com/">Facebook </a>has created an api, now chuck full of more privacy-hemorrhaging gotta-haves than I even care or have time to explore. <a href="http://moodle.org/">Moodle </a>has numerous plugins and modules. Angel doesn't yet, but seems to be headed that direction. In the web2.0 world, there are seemingly endless tools (many in alpha, beta, gold) that have relevance to learning and digital expression. <a href="http://www.mashable.com/">Mashable </a>published a great list of <a href="http://mashable.com/2007/07/23/online-media/">400+ tools for photographers, videobloggers, podcasters and musicians</a>. Similar resources can be found <a href="http://www.go2web20.net/">go2web20.net</a> and <a href="http://www.allthingsweb2.com/">allthingsweb2.com</a>.<br /><br />Say you identify the best of breed apps for your course needs and want to integrate even just a tiny handful of these--and you just might after you try some of them--integrating the services, dealing with uptime, maintenance, server space, buy-outs, loss of venture capital, authentication, privacy could be a nightmare--especially if you are:<br /><ul><li>An instructor who has built their learning activities and assignments around the provided functionality</li><li>A student whose grade or portfolio relies on having stable services and storage for your assignments</li><li>The one tasked to provide simultaneously innovative, flexible and reliable services to the college or university</li></ul>I plan on using some of these in an upcoming course I teach, but the what-if's are starting to worry me a touch. Still, as a designer and educator I want to use/explore many of these tools, and I think I want our systems people to facilitate it...but the more <span style="font-weight: bold;">un-integrated</span> 3rd party accounts I sign up for, the less I'm sure about it's positive effects on the overall and long-term learning experience. There's something to be said for tight integration , vs. Best of Breed (think Mac vs. PC). Does integration itself at some point make the whole system best of breed?<br /><br />I'm not sure where its all headed, but those affiliated closely with <a href="http://www.educause.edu/">Educause</a> are concerned and write/speak on the topic. Feel free to share some good posts/articles you've see related to this post.<br />-Joel G.<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >(image source: <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/bryce/">soldierant)</a></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">This post originally from from Edusign (http://edusign.blogspot.com/)</div>Joel Galbraithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03678891383252966802noreply@blogger.com0