....Big sigh.... All done. All my papers are in. All my work is complete. I could walk away right now and disconnect from this class and from web 2.0. But Bryan, that means no Facebook, no blogs, no Diigo. Most of all, that means no exploring. Web 2.0 is fun! I want to explore. I want to post on my blog and read other blogs. I enjoy web 2.0.
Let's crowdsource it:
Right now there are 70 million Youtube videos.
Right now there are 130 million blogs.
Right now Twitter handles over 400 million tweets per day (http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/6/3069424/twitter-400-million-total-daily-tweets)
The verdict is in: Web 2.0 is fun. People, including myself, love it.
Speaking of crowdsourcing, how interesting is Peer2peer University? What a good idea to have people who are experts and wanting to contribute to the internet in a tangible way contribute to enriching people's lives. My only qualm is that they don't have a way to critique courses. If there was a way to promote the better courses and suggest improvements for the other courses, it would be a very good thing. I definitely see a future for sites like this, though.
Monday, August 6, 2012
week 6
The biggest thing I learned in the last 6 weeks is to be open to new technologies. There are so many web2.0 technologies I haven't tried yet. While some are because I've seen them in use and think there are better options and some are because I don't even know about them yet. This course taught me to always be looking for new ways of solving problems. For instance, the way I was keeping articles I liked in emails and on a word document and in my favorites tab before is silly compared to how I keep everything organized in my Diigo account now.
As a professional, I will be using several web2.0 in my internship I'll be starting soon. One of my main goals will be to keep people connected and engaged. I know we will be using a blog and discussion boards, but I hope to utilize a Diigo group (love my Diigo) also. We already use Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, so I'll probably have some control over those web 2.0 sites.
Finally, this class was so much fun because we had so much control over our work. Unlike so many other classes, we were able to dive in and explore areas we wanted to know more about. Whether you take an appreciative inquiry approach or try to fill in the gaps, this model allowed us to maximize our efficiency in learning and fit so many theories of adult learning (http://www.mysdcc.sdccd.edu/Staff/Instructor_Development/Content/HTML/Adult_Learning_Page1.htm). Now I feel so much more encouraged to let my learners have more control over their learning - not just to have them write down their own goals, but guide them in their own study more.
As a professional, I will be using several web2.0 in my internship I'll be starting soon. One of my main goals will be to keep people connected and engaged. I know we will be using a blog and discussion boards, but I hope to utilize a Diigo group (love my Diigo) also. We already use Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, so I'll probably have some control over those web 2.0 sites.
Finally, this class was so much fun because we had so much control over our work. Unlike so many other classes, we were able to dive in and explore areas we wanted to know more about. Whether you take an appreciative inquiry approach or try to fill in the gaps, this model allowed us to maximize our efficiency in learning and fit so many theories of adult learning (http://www.mysdcc.sdccd.edu/Staff/Instructor_Development/Content/HTML/Adult_Learning_Page1.htm). Now I feel so much more encouraged to let my learners have more control over their learning - not just to have them write down their own goals, but guide them in their own study more.
Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online
Upon further reflection, this is going to be the structure of the blog after the course ends. I'm going to post research and explain it as I interpret it.
Also, in the comments of the last blog, Alyn suggested that the teacher should be more present in the class, conversations, etc. I agree with him and found another article (http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html) that represents that sentiment.
1. Be present at the course site: the key is "liberal use of tools." I was shocked that some professors can be so unpresent that students may post comments like "Is anyone there?" Wow.
2. Create a supportive online community: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Very important. People need to feel appreciated and welcome.
3. Share a set of very clear expectations for your students and for yourself as to (1) how you will communicate and (2) how much time students should be working on the course each week: It is important to set goals and make the requirements very clear. Students need to know what is expected of them so they can be successful.
4. Use a variety of large group, small group, and individual work experiences: In this class, we have the opportunity to work in groups for our produsage assignments, we can have online conversations in the discussion boards.
5. Use both synchronous and asynchronous activities: In this class, we have webex sessions (none of which fit into my schedule, regretably) and the majority is asynchronous. Synchronous activities are important for building community.
6. Early in the term - about week 3, ask for informal feedback on "How is the course going?" and "Do you have any suggestions?" A great opportunity for students to reflect. I know it caused me to take a more research-based approach improving the blog. It was a very effective strategy because for the remainder of the short class, I will have a more guided approach based on my own goals.
7. Prepare Discussion Posts that Invite Questions, Discussions, Reflections and Responses: This speaks to asking high-level thinking skill questions. Simple correct/incorrect answers do not require much thought. Have a discussion. Better yet, have a debate.
8. Focus on content resources and applications and links to current events and examples that are easily accessed from learner's computers: People are taking the course to learn. Use a textbook written in the last 5 years. Reference research written recently. There is no excuse for antiquated ideas or wasting too much time on common knowledge.
9. Combine core concept learning with customized and personalized learning: I love the exploritory nature of this class. I am learning so much and everything is very applicable to my career and education. At the same time, the development of important ideas cannot be overlooked and I belive it is not.
10. Plan a good closing and wrap activity for the course: This makes sense. Ask the students to reflect and apply their learning.
Also, in the comments of the last blog, Alyn suggested that the teacher should be more present in the class, conversations, etc. I agree with him and found another article (http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html) that represents that sentiment.
1. Be present at the course site: the key is "liberal use of tools." I was shocked that some professors can be so unpresent that students may post comments like "Is anyone there?" Wow.
2. Create a supportive online community: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Very important. People need to feel appreciated and welcome.
3. Share a set of very clear expectations for your students and for yourself as to (1) how you will communicate and (2) how much time students should be working on the course each week: It is important to set goals and make the requirements very clear. Students need to know what is expected of them so they can be successful.
4. Use a variety of large group, small group, and individual work experiences: In this class, we have the opportunity to work in groups for our produsage assignments, we can have online conversations in the discussion boards.
5. Use both synchronous and asynchronous activities: In this class, we have webex sessions (none of which fit into my schedule, regretably) and the majority is asynchronous. Synchronous activities are important for building community.
6. Early in the term - about week 3, ask for informal feedback on "How is the course going?" and "Do you have any suggestions?" A great opportunity for students to reflect. I know it caused me to take a more research-based approach improving the blog. It was a very effective strategy because for the remainder of the short class, I will have a more guided approach based on my own goals.
7. Prepare Discussion Posts that Invite Questions, Discussions, Reflections and Responses: This speaks to asking high-level thinking skill questions. Simple correct/incorrect answers do not require much thought. Have a discussion. Better yet, have a debate.
8. Focus on content resources and applications and links to current events and examples that are easily accessed from learner's computers: People are taking the course to learn. Use a textbook written in the last 5 years. Reference research written recently. There is no excuse for antiquated ideas or wasting too much time on common knowledge.
9. Combine core concept learning with customized and personalized learning: I love the exploritory nature of this class. I am learning so much and everything is very applicable to my career and education. At the same time, the development of important ideas cannot be overlooked and I belive it is not.
10. Plan a good closing and wrap activity for the course: This makes sense. Ask the students to reflect and apply their learning.
Quick One-Liner Hints (copied directly from article):
- Create open-ended questions that learners can explore and apply the concepts that they are learning
- Model good Socratic-type probing and follow-up questions. Why do you think that? What is your reasoning? Is there an alternative strategy? Ask clarifying questions that encourage students to think about what they know and don't know.
- Stagger due dates of the responses and consider mid-point summary and /or encouraging comments
- Provide guidelines and instruction on responding to other students. For example, suggest a two-part response: (1) what you liked or agreed with or what resonated with you, and (2) a follow-up question such as what you are wondering about or curious about, etc.
- Provide choices and options for students. Providing choices for students in questioning follows the principle of providing options for personalized and customized learning for students and a way of validating and affirming knowledge and skills. Working professionals are often grappling with many issues - providing choices and options makes it possible to link the learning more directly with their work experiences and needs.
- Don't post questions soliciting basic facts, or questions for which there is an obvious yes/no response. The reason for this is obvious. Once one student responds, there is not much more to say! Very specific fact-based questions that you want to be sure that you students know are best used in practice quizzes.
- Reminder: Log in to your course at least 4 times a week - answer email, monitor discussions, post reminders, and hold online office hours.
best ways to engage people in online discussions
Our professor sent us an email asking us to check-in with her and in doing so, it gave me an opportunity to reflect on my experiences. In reflecting, I realized that I was learning how to be a web 2.0 produser, but not necessarily making the best of my experience to be a web 2.0 facilitator and educator. The example I gave her was that I wanted to learn how to facilitate better discussions online. I came across this post on how to engage students in online discussions: (http://icoblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/key-strategies-on-how-to-engage-students-in-online-discussion/).
To examine each point:
1. Set clear guidelines. Isn't this just goal setting? That's something to which every instructional designer can relate. What are we here to do? How do we do it? What is expected of everyone? Beautifully parsimonious.
2. Student-led discussions. Not all discussion boards are created this way. Some courses I have taken through other outlets in the past asked us very specific questions that almost had a right/wrong answer. Is that making the best use of a discussion board? Was there a different way the instructor could have asked the question to provoke more though? Which leads me to the next point...
3. Ask thought-provoking open-ended questions. See above. Plus, those questions do not need to be in the heading. An instructor can post those questions in response to student posts.
4. Make discussion an important part of the class. Adult learners will only do something if they see it as important to them at that moment. Telling someone it is a good way to learn without emphasizing its importance in their current situation is a recipe for failure.
5. Form small groups or teams: I once took a class that had us do a team debate. It was really interesting seeing the difference making teams can make.
6. Create a caring environment: this one was the most obvious to me. I was surprised it was all the way down here.
Great read, though, if you care to read the whole thing. You might want to Diigo it. :)
To examine each point:
1. Set clear guidelines. Isn't this just goal setting? That's something to which every instructional designer can relate. What are we here to do? How do we do it? What is expected of everyone? Beautifully parsimonious.
2. Student-led discussions. Not all discussion boards are created this way. Some courses I have taken through other outlets in the past asked us very specific questions that almost had a right/wrong answer. Is that making the best use of a discussion board? Was there a different way the instructor could have asked the question to provoke more though? Which leads me to the next point...
3. Ask thought-provoking open-ended questions. See above. Plus, those questions do not need to be in the heading. An instructor can post those questions in response to student posts.
4. Make discussion an important part of the class. Adult learners will only do something if they see it as important to them at that moment. Telling someone it is a good way to learn without emphasizing its importance in their current situation is a recipe for failure.
5. Form small groups or teams: I once took a class that had us do a team debate. It was really interesting seeing the difference making teams can make.
6. Create a caring environment: this one was the most obvious to me. I was surprised it was all the way down here.
Great read, though, if you care to read the whole thing. You might want to Diigo it. :)
Friday, August 3, 2012
Increase traffic to YOUR blog
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/21-tactics-to-increase-blog-traffic-2012
In the article "21 Tactics to Increase Traffic to your Blog," we learn the 10th way to increase traffic to your blog are to "Guest Blog (and Accept the Guest Posts of Others)." With that in mind, does anyone want to guest blog on my blog and I'll guest blog on yours?
Here's how it works:
1. Respond in the comments below that you would like to guest blog. I'm only accepting the first person, so the second comment will put out a request that can either be filled by the third person or they can submit their own request.
2. Write a blog and email it to me (bryanbiggers@gmail.com) so I can post it. Include the below disclaimer so everyone knows your brilliant blog post was written by you:
This is a guest blog written by (insert name). The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the author of this blog. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.
3. Post on your blog that you posted on my blog.
4. Enjoy the increased readership.
In the article "21 Tactics to Increase Traffic to your Blog," we learn the 10th way to increase traffic to your blog are to "Guest Blog (and Accept the Guest Posts of Others)." With that in mind, does anyone want to guest blog on my blog and I'll guest blog on yours?
Here's how it works:
1. Respond in the comments below that you would like to guest blog. I'm only accepting the first person, so the second comment will put out a request that can either be filled by the third person or they can submit their own request.
2. Write a blog and email it to me (bryanbiggers@gmail.com) so I can post it. Include the below disclaimer so everyone knows your brilliant blog post was written by you:
This is a guest blog written by (insert name). The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the author of this blog. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.
3. Post on your blog that you posted on my blog.
4. Enjoy the increased readership.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Just because I cannot talk about Folksonomies enough... :)
If there is any web 2.0 media I have grown in this course, it is in folksomy. Before the course, I wanted to save websites and did so in weird ways (copying URLs, saving in my favorites bar, emailing to myself, etc.) With this course, I have used several bookmarking sites and settled with Diigo. First, let me say that I LOVE social bookmarking. It is a fantastic way to save bookmarks for yourself for use later. For creating one's own library, there is nothing better. If one wants a "free-form user initiated system" for keeping websites for later reference, some form of folksomy is the best way to do it (at least as of now). It serves it's purpose as note-taking for the 21st century.
I do understand the desire to havea more "controlled sytem," too. When searching for information, I always search the internet with a site like Google first. Google sites are more centralized with SEOs, Google metrics and other systems. It is my first stop in searching for information. I understand why, for practicality, evolving and growing communities would want to move toward a more controlled system. It would improve the ability for people to find things. However, I like the ability for me to make my own library with my own key words that make sense to me. In this sense, I am an outsider to the community even though I have a few connections and have joined a couple groups.
If I wanted to move toward including myself more in the community, I would need to assimilate to the community. I would want to "adopt others' systems." I may even want to target specific audiences by tagging a certain way. Not that long ago, I had a conversation with some friends of mine about companies using Pintrest to market. They would take pictures and use pictures by other people and put their marketing material on the bottom. In doing so, they could target specific audiences. I thought it was a brilliant marketing strategy, but the people I was talking to were upset that their social network Pintrest was being corrupted by business and industry.
I do understand the desire to havea more "controlled sytem," too. When searching for information, I always search the internet with a site like Google first. Google sites are more centralized with SEOs, Google metrics and other systems. It is my first stop in searching for information. I understand why, for practicality, evolving and growing communities would want to move toward a more controlled system. It would improve the ability for people to find things. However, I like the ability for me to make my own library with my own key words that make sense to me. In this sense, I am an outsider to the community even though I have a few connections and have joined a couple groups.
If I wanted to move toward including myself more in the community, I would need to assimilate to the community. I would want to "adopt others' systems." I may even want to target specific audiences by tagging a certain way. Not that long ago, I had a conversation with some friends of mine about companies using Pintrest to market. They would take pictures and use pictures by other people and put their marketing material on the bottom. In doing so, they could target specific audiences. I thought it was a brilliant marketing strategy, but the people I was talking to were upset that their social network Pintrest was being corrupted by business and industry.
Recruiting of the future?
A Detroit Lions football blog I read with several authors is looking for writers (http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2012/7/30/3200979/pride-of-detroit-writers). If you're interested, you can email your username, ideas for posts and links to examples of your writing on the comments. This is interesting to me on several levels.
What better way to look for people to write for your blog than to ask your readers! They will apply themselves, tell their friends, and do some of the searching for you. Blogs especially tend to have niche readers, so anyone who might be interested in writing for the blog would be interested in reading the blog.
I see more and more companies using web 2.0 to post their openings. I see them using blogs, twitter, message boards and more. This isn't the way of the future. It's the way of the now.
If you look closely at the requirements, you'll see that the website is getting a little marketing research in the form of many people submitting their "ideas for posts." It can be challenging as an author of a blog to find new ideas for posts. This is a great way to ask your readers to think in depth about what they want to see on the site.
It is interesting to think of a collection of posts as someone's resume. It is good because it illustrates the volume and quality of thier work prior. Also, the reviewers of the information would be able to see the community's response to the posts.
What better way to look for people to write for your blog than to ask your readers! They will apply themselves, tell their friends, and do some of the searching for you. Blogs especially tend to have niche readers, so anyone who might be interested in writing for the blog would be interested in reading the blog.
I see more and more companies using web 2.0 to post their openings. I see them using blogs, twitter, message boards and more. This isn't the way of the future. It's the way of the now.
If you look closely at the requirements, you'll see that the website is getting a little marketing research in the form of many people submitting their "ideas for posts." It can be challenging as an author of a blog to find new ideas for posts. This is a great way to ask your readers to think in depth about what they want to see on the site.
It is interesting to think of a collection of posts as someone's resume. It is good because it illustrates the volume and quality of thier work prior. Also, the reviewers of the information would be able to see the community's response to the posts.
week 5 - Expertise
When I was younger, I was a big fan of just doing things. I would jump into a project and did not want to listen to the advice of others. It took one day in a Home Depot for me to finally switch that mentality. I don't remember what I was shopping for, but it was very difficult to find. My friend went one way and I went the other way. He asked someone and found the best tool in 5 minutes. I wandered for 10 minutes and came back with a similar, but wrong tool. It was at that point that I decided to try to rely on experts as much as possible. For me, this is no different on the web as anywhere else.
Deciding who the experts actually are is one difficulty on the web. In a face-to-face setting like Home Depot, the experts are clear. They are wearing orange smocks or they are covered in the same dirt/ paint/ lawn clippings you are except they walking around with more purpose. On the internet, it can be more challenging. I could introduce myself as the most highly regarded home construction expert in the world and you may not realize for a while that I am just a beginner.
Another obvious, but important point here is that someone could be an expert in home repair, but not have any knowledge about neuroscience or instructional design. So, choosing the right experts is important. Going to the right sources for the right information is important.
The Sharky book talks about "publish now, filter later." To find an expert, you would need to filter through many more non-experts. However, those experts have more channels to reach you, so what may have cost a subscription in Web 1.0 would be free on a blog now.
Deciding who the experts actually are is one difficulty on the web. In a face-to-face setting like Home Depot, the experts are clear. They are wearing orange smocks or they are covered in the same dirt/ paint/ lawn clippings you are except they walking around with more purpose. On the internet, it can be more challenging. I could introduce myself as the most highly regarded home construction expert in the world and you may not realize for a while that I am just a beginner.
Another obvious, but important point here is that someone could be an expert in home repair, but not have any knowledge about neuroscience or instructional design. So, choosing the right experts is important. Going to the right sources for the right information is important.
The Sharky book talks about "publish now, filter later." To find an expert, you would need to filter through many more non-experts. However, those experts have more channels to reach you, so what may have cost a subscription in Web 1.0 would be free on a blog now.
My game I made from Scratch
In my other class, I had the opportunity to make a game with the programing site called Scratch (scratch.mit.edu). It was a really fun experience. People can create their own projects and share them online for the community. It's primarily used for games, but I could see lots of uses like demonstrations and virtual worlds.
Without further ado, here is my game: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/bryanbiggers/2710541. There was a rotational issue you will see that I could not figure out how to resolve. Otherwise, it was incredibly fun making up a voice and playing with it. My fiance was cracking up listening to me make voices and play with different things on the site. It took a LONG time to get the hang of it, but I'm confident if I spent another couple hours or so, it would really come together.
Let me know what you think about my project and what other uses you see for the software.
Without further ado, here is my game: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/bryanbiggers/2710541. There was a rotational issue you will see that I could not figure out how to resolve. Otherwise, it was incredibly fun making up a voice and playing with it. My fiance was cracking up listening to me make voices and play with different things on the site. It took a LONG time to get the hang of it, but I'm confident if I spent another couple hours or so, it would really come together.
Let me know what you think about my project and what other uses you see for the software.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
A blog by any other name
How do issues such as authorship, copyright and open access impact your desire, ability and willingness to engage in produsage, both personally and professionally?
Whether I decide to keep using this blog or not, it is going to be a really funny artifact to look back on in a few years. As technology and opinions change, I will probably laugh out loud about certain comments I made. Also, being a student, I know that I have a lot to learn and probably have some misconceptions that a more experienced ID would probably read and have at least a good chuckle.
The open access component of web 2.0 caused me to debate how much ownership to take over my thoughts as I started this blog. Should I use my full name and build recognition or should I grow in my experience and create a new blog once I have more experience? Ultimately, I settled somewhere in the middle, but it was a concept that I had to wrestle with for a while. Professionally, there could be serious implications either way. This is true for all forms of produsage. There are many examples of people being fired for their what they write on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other sites. There are also many examples of people getting jobs (or in my case and internship) for what is on those same sites.
There are also personal implications of web 2.0. I could blog about something that upsets one of my friends. My fiance may have viewed me posting the picture of us running as a violation of privacy. Neither of those situations happened, but they were very real possibilities as I dove into this blog.
There are also some clearly helpful components to web 2.0. For instance, if I post this journal at a certain time with a groundbreaking theory and you post something a few minutes after commenting on mine, I would have undeniable authorship and copywrite evidence for a lawsuit. Don't worry, I probably won't sue you, but it is a very helpful attribute of web 2.0.
Whether I decide to keep using this blog or not, it is going to be a really funny artifact to look back on in a few years. As technology and opinions change, I will probably laugh out loud about certain comments I made. Also, being a student, I know that I have a lot to learn and probably have some misconceptions that a more experienced ID would probably read and have at least a good chuckle.
The open access component of web 2.0 caused me to debate how much ownership to take over my thoughts as I started this blog. Should I use my full name and build recognition or should I grow in my experience and create a new blog once I have more experience? Ultimately, I settled somewhere in the middle, but it was a concept that I had to wrestle with for a while. Professionally, there could be serious implications either way. This is true for all forms of produsage. There are many examples of people being fired for their what they write on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other sites. There are also many examples of people getting jobs (or in my case and internship) for what is on those same sites.
There are also personal implications of web 2.0. I could blog about something that upsets one of my friends. My fiance may have viewed me posting the picture of us running as a violation of privacy. Neither of those situations happened, but they were very real possibilities as I dove into this blog.
There are also some clearly helpful components to web 2.0. For instance, if I post this journal at a certain time with a groundbreaking theory and you post something a few minutes after commenting on mine, I would have undeniable authorship and copywrite evidence for a lawsuit. Don't worry, I probably won't sue you, but it is a very helpful attribute of web 2.0.
How to save money web 2.0 style
Chances are, if you're reading this, you too are trying to save money to pay for your degree like I am. Throw in the wedding and you have one guy looking to save a few bucks whereever possible. I'm not too proud to admit to using restaurants.com, Living Social, Groupon, and the entertainment books they pass out for fundraisers.
One way I always do is check sites like retailmenot.com whenever I buy things online. It's a quick way to save some money. In a 5 minute search, I saved $10 on something I was going to buy anyway today. That's $200/hour of work after taxes! If I made that much for my job, I wouldn't be scouring the net for deals. Actually, I probably would, but that's another story.
Looking for an excuse to write a blog post, I researched the site a little more and found a whole web 2.0 community of coupon clippers. First, all those coupons don't just appear from nowhere. They may have software that searches the internet for deals, but users can submit coupon codes to help other people save. Secondly, you can share your success or failure for a coupon to help other users know its reliability. This is a very helpful feature so you do not have to try every coupon.
None of the sites I looked at had discussion boards, but I know there are other sites that are specifically set up to be discussion boards like fatwallet.com. Those sites have a more community feel.
Anyone else have any ideas on saving using web 2.0?
One way I always do is check sites like retailmenot.com whenever I buy things online. It's a quick way to save some money. In a 5 minute search, I saved $10 on something I was going to buy anyway today. That's $200/hour of work after taxes! If I made that much for my job, I wouldn't be scouring the net for deals. Actually, I probably would, but that's another story.
Looking for an excuse to write a blog post, I researched the site a little more and found a whole web 2.0 community of coupon clippers. First, all those coupons don't just appear from nowhere. They may have software that searches the internet for deals, but users can submit coupon codes to help other people save. Secondly, you can share your success or failure for a coupon to help other users know its reliability. This is a very helpful feature so you do not have to try every coupon.
None of the sites I looked at had discussion boards, but I know there are other sites that are specifically set up to be discussion boards like fatwallet.com. Those sites have a more community feel.
Anyone else have any ideas on saving using web 2.0?
Friday, July 27, 2012
Building my ACC rivalries
As a guy who went to a Big Ten school for undergrad, I'm adjusting to my newfound ACC rivalries and this article written by Mark Edmundson in the NY Times is helping those along with statements like this one:
"Online education is a one-size-fits-all endeavor. It tends to be a monologue and not a real dialogue. The Internet teacher, even one who responds to students via e-mail, can never have the immediacy of contact that the teacher on the scene can, with his sensitivity to unspoken moods and enthusiasms."
These sentences to me raised a huge red flag. Has this guy ever had any contact with an online class at all? I sure hope he hasn't lead one! I believe that online classes are infinitely more scalable than F2F classes in theory and practice with all the web 2.0 technologies.
Also, when he talks about "immediacy," I always found F2F university classes challenging in that regard. If your class meets on Tuesday/ Thursday and you have a question on Friday, you cannot see the instructor again until Tuesday. That's not very immediate. "Oh, but you can email," you say? Isn't that just an online class? Throw in synchronous communication (webex, etc.) and you have an online class with all the benefits of an F2F class.
There are so many counterpoints to F2F only arguements: distance, time, a technology-based culture, energy, money, etc. that I will not go into detail here. My point is just that his point is misguided and his university is equally misguided and unconfident even in that. He points to his university firing and reinstating their president over her not keeping up with the demand for "Internet learning." UVA is a fine university and I'm sure Mr. Edmundson is a fine professor, but they had better keep up with their "Internet learning" while they still are.
"Online education is a one-size-fits-all endeavor. It tends to be a monologue and not a real dialogue. The Internet teacher, even one who responds to students via e-mail, can never have the immediacy of contact that the teacher on the scene can, with his sensitivity to unspoken moods and enthusiasms."
These sentences to me raised a huge red flag. Has this guy ever had any contact with an online class at all? I sure hope he hasn't lead one! I believe that online classes are infinitely more scalable than F2F classes in theory and practice with all the web 2.0 technologies.
Also, when he talks about "immediacy," I always found F2F university classes challenging in that regard. If your class meets on Tuesday/ Thursday and you have a question on Friday, you cannot see the instructor again until Tuesday. That's not very immediate. "Oh, but you can email," you say? Isn't that just an online class? Throw in synchronous communication (webex, etc.) and you have an online class with all the benefits of an F2F class.
There are so many counterpoints to F2F only arguements: distance, time, a technology-based culture, energy, money, etc. that I will not go into detail here. My point is just that his point is misguided and his university is equally misguided and unconfident even in that. He points to his university firing and reinstating their president over her not keeping up with the demand for "Internet learning." UVA is a fine university and I'm sure Mr. Edmundson is a fine professor, but they had better keep up with their "Internet learning" while they still are.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Diigo vs. Delicious (revisited)
Not that long ago I was SOLD on Delicious. I couldn't understand why people would ever journey into Diigoland. Then I found out an instructional designer with a very helpful blog uses Diigo and with a couple clicks, I had access to her own personal library of bookmarked cites (or at least what she wants to share). Just like that, now I'm sold on Diigo. Never going back. Game over. SOLD.
Social media tends to be like that. I am of the right age to remember when everyone was hooked on Myspace and Facebook was for people with lots of time on their hands. "Look at my cool background. I don't know why you'd ever use Faceb-- What? Facebook doesn't let you get bombarded with ads in your mailbox? Sign me up!"
Sometimes people find they like one technology more than another and sometimes something better is created. One of the things I like most about instructional design is that it is always changing. A chapter in a book I'm reading begins by the author expressing his frustration in trying three times within a decade to "take a still picture of moving target" in defining instructional design.
Time to go explore on Diigo... or maybe Delicious... or maybe Diigo...
Social media tends to be like that. I am of the right age to remember when everyone was hooked on Myspace and Facebook was for people with lots of time on their hands. "Look at my cool background. I don't know why you'd ever use Faceb-- What? Facebook doesn't let you get bombarded with ads in your mailbox? Sign me up!"
Sometimes people find they like one technology more than another and sometimes something better is created. One of the things I like most about instructional design is that it is always changing. A chapter in a book I'm reading begins by the author expressing his frustration in trying three times within a decade to "take a still picture of moving target" in defining instructional design.
Time to go explore on Diigo... or maybe Delicious... or maybe Diigo...
Friday, July 20, 2012
Blogs and wikis
For a project I am working on right now, we are leaning toward using blogs and wikis. The blogs will be used to keep students informed of updates to their classes, upcoming events, and more similarly to the announcements section of Blackboard. The Wiki will be so students can work on definitions and summaries of webinars.
The design and implementation challenges we as managment are running into now is how to host the blog and wiki. We are still working on which Learning Managment System we want to use, so we are not sure how to house these still. Also, we do not want the students to have to log into other software at the risk of making everything more difficult. So from a management side, we are trying to find the best way to mesh all this together.
Another issue we have is building value in the blog and wikis for the students. We are overcoming this hurdle by building them into the program as much as possible. Also, the library of blogs and wikis grows, it will be a metaphorical flywheel of information whereby more students will access it because it will be bigger and it will be bigger because more students will access it and so on.
If the students were to implement this, it would be even more challenging. Right now, the site does not have place for such comments or a blog. So, they would need to set up an outside blog or use Youtube to repost the webinars (and run into licensing issues).
Storify
I spent some time today and last night creating a Storify story for Knowledge Management. I had some Youtube videos, some links for websites on the Google search, some job postings I found on twitter, and other things. In finishing the final touches on my project, there was an error on the site and I couldn't do anything more. To make things worse, I didn't have an account yet, so I did not have it saved. At this point, I became really frustrated with it and closed the window, deleting my content. I opened up a new window with the thought of creating a new storify, but their signup form has three blanks that do not have any explanation of what you're supposed to type. So, I tried every combination I could think of for username, password and email address without any success. So, needless to say, I won't be able to share my Storify story.
Despite all that frustration, I like the site. I was all excited to use it for a project I'm working on. I am not sure if I'm still going to use it or not as ease of use is a huge concern for the person I'm working with. Even if it's not something I use for this project, it's something that I would like to use with later projects. It's a really good site for multimedia storage and dissemination.
Has anyone used it before and had more luck with it than I did? What did you create with it?
Despite all that frustration, I like the site. I was all excited to use it for a project I'm working on. I am not sure if I'm still going to use it or not as ease of use is a huge concern for the person I'm working with. Even if it's not something I use for this project, it's something that I would like to use with later projects. It's a really good site for multimedia storage and dissemination.
Has anyone used it before and had more luck with it than I did? What did you create with it?
It really is really simple
Today I finally signed up for Google Reader, which is an RSS reader. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it really is simple for the syndicator and the syndicatee. For the syndicator, all you have to do is allow RSS subscriptions on your blog (I did that on this blog last week). For the syndicatee, you just go to one of the RSS reader websites and type in the website you want to follow. Viola! You are now following blogs.
As I'm signing up for my google reading and reading through my websites, I look over at my fiance's Kindle and she's taking a break from her work checking out her food and running blogs. I am huge fan of Google. Everything they do is really good and I figured their reader would be the same, until I paid more attention to her app. It's called Pulse and it's really easy to use. The site describes itself as an "elegant news reading app" and it certainly is. Your blogs are in horizontal rows with each post comprising of a square in the row. In each square across is the title on the bottom and a picture (if applicable) above. You can scroll through the rows and simply tap to open that post. What makes it even better is that you can categorize your blogs (hers are food &fitness, wedding, fun) so you can read about one interest area at a time. It's a great app for anyone looking for an RSS reader on their mobile device. Their website (www.pulse.me) hints that they will be making a computer-based version this year for those looking to find a good RSS reader on their computer.
As I'm signing up for my google reading and reading through my websites, I look over at my fiance's Kindle and she's taking a break from her work checking out her food and running blogs. I am huge fan of Google. Everything they do is really good and I figured their reader would be the same, until I paid more attention to her app. It's called Pulse and it's really easy to use. The site describes itself as an "elegant news reading app" and it certainly is. Your blogs are in horizontal rows with each post comprising of a square in the row. In each square across is the title on the bottom and a picture (if applicable) above. You can scroll through the rows and simply tap to open that post. What makes it even better is that you can categorize your blogs (hers are food &fitness, wedding, fun) so you can read about one interest area at a time. It's a great app for anyone looking for an RSS reader on their mobile device. Their website (www.pulse.me) hints that they will be making a computer-based version this year for those looking to find a good RSS reader on their computer.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Finding the Groove
Given the options of "cool," "overwhelmed" and "finding the groove," I'd say my experience with a more investigative web 2.0 experience is definitely "finding the groove." I have always felt comfortable with "lurking" around Web 2.0. I enjoy reading other people's message board posts. I appreciate other people doing the work behind posting learning objects on Youtube. I like to follow several blogs.
However, it wasn't until this course that I started being a produser. I'm learning piece by piece and doing a little more every time I log on. I have my mobile blogger. I intend on learning how to subscribe to RSS feeds soon since I used compilers before. I'm also learning what I like and don't like about Web 2.0. There are certain components I love and certain components could do without. As for this full time blogging thing... we'll have to wait and see what happens with it, but I am actually enjoying it so far. :)
However, it wasn't until this course that I started being a produser. I'm learning piece by piece and doing a little more every time I log on. I have my mobile blogger. I intend on learning how to subscribe to RSS feeds soon since I used compilers before. I'm also learning what I like and don't like about Web 2.0. There are certain components I love and certain components could do without. As for this full time blogging thing... we'll have to wait and see what happens with it, but I am actually enjoying it so far. :)
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Blogging on the run
Today I had the opportunity to run on the Oviedo trail with my fiance and her mom near Orlando. The trail, as you can see, is beautiful.
I also had the chance to think about mobile learning using web 2.0 technology. Produsers can explain about what they see in the field to educate their students. Students can produse from the field as an assignment from their instructor. Also, both parties can use mobile resources like email and internet.
Which side of mobile Web 2.0 technology do you think will be more widespread, teacher or student?
I think I'm going to do a mobile web 2.0 technologies post later giving specific examples of mobile web 2.0 in education later, but if you want to help me get the ball rolling on that, feel free to fire away.
....in case you were wondering, yes that's my fiance and me, but she's WAY faster than me, so we rarely run actually with each other. :)
Blogs, Twitter, and Diigo or Delicious
Each technology has its own limitations and attributes.
Blogs are a great way to post information in an ongoing format that is easy for everyone to see and comment on. In essence, the "announcements" section of our Blackboard is a fantastic example of this. Likewise, I used a blog-type format for informing parents of events that worked well when I was school teacher. I think Blogs are one of the best Web 2.0 tools and am excited to use them more often.
Twitter has its advantages for informal learning. It is an easy place for people to ask questions (as illustrated in another post). It can be a good way for teachers to send quick bits of small amounts of information (i.e. "midterm due next week"). It has a lot of limitations in its short amount of characters it allows.
Diigo and Delicious are fantastic ideas for people to save information around the web. For example, a teacher who teaches a course on instructional games can save all the websites with good information, websites with actual instructional games, and anything else in one place that students can access at any time. Likewise, smart students can save information they think will benefit them later in one place on their Delicious page.
My only question is that I have found Delicious to be more helpful than Diigo, but Diigo boasts several reasons why they are better than Delicious and people tend to like Diigo more than Delicious. I would really like to hear why Diigo is better so I can be sure to use the best technology. So, if you like Diigo more than Delicious, why?
Blogs are a great way to post information in an ongoing format that is easy for everyone to see and comment on. In essence, the "announcements" section of our Blackboard is a fantastic example of this. Likewise, I used a blog-type format for informing parents of events that worked well when I was school teacher. I think Blogs are one of the best Web 2.0 tools and am excited to use them more often.
Twitter has its advantages for informal learning. It is an easy place for people to ask questions (as illustrated in another post). It can be a good way for teachers to send quick bits of small amounts of information (i.e. "midterm due next week"). It has a lot of limitations in its short amount of characters it allows.
Diigo and Delicious are fantastic ideas for people to save information around the web. For example, a teacher who teaches a course on instructional games can save all the websites with good information, websites with actual instructional games, and anything else in one place that students can access at any time. Likewise, smart students can save information they think will benefit them later in one place on their Delicious page.
My only question is that I have found Delicious to be more helpful than Diigo, but Diigo boasts several reasons why they are better than Delicious and people tend to like Diigo more than Delicious. I would really like to hear why Diigo is better so I can be sure to use the best technology. So, if you like Diigo more than Delicious, why?
Friday, July 13, 2012
Produsage
If you're not familiar with the term Produsage is a combination of the words production and usage. It is for people (like me and probably you) who use existing technologies to produce intellectual material.
As I previously mentioned, I'm a produser. I use blogger to create material on this blog. I use Facebook to share articles, pictures, and comments. I use discussion boards through my courses to share information. I use other message boards around the web to share opinions and insight.
Produsage is a term that I would like to see become more commonplace in our society. I'd much rather say, "I'm produsing my blog" than to have to tell someone, "I'm writting a blog entry for my blog." It is so much quicker and more specific. Since I believe Web 2.0 is here to stay, we might as well embrace it and build it into our vocabulary.
I also would like to see the term become more commonplace in the business arena. People using it more legitimizes Web 2.0 in the office because it has a term and isn't just "playing around on the internet." "Look at Bob, he's produsing" sounds like actual work, whereas "look at Bob, he's doing something with company blog" sounds like he needs something assigned to him. I believe that legitimizing it creates value in our profession.
As I previously mentioned, I'm a produser. I use blogger to create material on this blog. I use Facebook to share articles, pictures, and comments. I use discussion boards through my courses to share information. I use other message boards around the web to share opinions and insight.
Produsage is a term that I would like to see become more commonplace in our society. I'd much rather say, "I'm produsing my blog" than to have to tell someone, "I'm writting a blog entry for my blog." It is so much quicker and more specific. Since I believe Web 2.0 is here to stay, we might as well embrace it and build it into our vocabulary.
I also would like to see the term become more commonplace in the business arena. People using it more legitimizes Web 2.0 in the office because it has a term and isn't just "playing around on the internet." "Look at Bob, he's produsing" sounds like actual work, whereas "look at Bob, he's doing something with company blog" sounds like he needs something assigned to him. I believe that legitimizing it creates value in our profession.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Is the internet a democracy
I stumbled upon an interesting sentence in an article I read today explaining that a sports analyst's comments were not well-recieved. Regardless of whether it needed more or not, the only justification he gave was "judging by the slew of negative Twitter reaction" (Jahnke). At the time, I thought it was interesting considering this course (EME6414). The sentence seemed to imply that the court of public opinion is held on the internet now. Although the author only referenced twitter, if he wanted to illustrate the power of social media, couldn't he have referenced countless other Web 2.0 resources as well? Benkler illustrates in great detail all the Web 2.0 technologies and their advantages and disadvanges.
As far as its impact on education, I personally believe that the web's biggest impact will be on old-fashioned economics concept of supply and demand. Even as it stands now, we could have enrolled at countless universities online for our degrees; whereas there are no universities offering this program within driving distance of where I live. The internet has increased supply tremendously. With increased supply, there is a need for companies to be more comptetitive, lowering the expenses for us consumers. Also, this means that universities in particular need to be more "in touch" with the desires and needs of students to keep themselves competitive.
Does anyone else have insight on this topic they would like to share?
References:
Benkler, Y. (2006) The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and freedom. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Jahnke, J. (July 12, 2012) Matt Millen ripped for his take on Penn State report. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved from http://www.freep.com/article/20120712/SPORTS01/120712035/matt-millen-joe-paterno-espn-penn-state?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE
As far as its impact on education, I personally believe that the web's biggest impact will be on old-fashioned economics concept of supply and demand. Even as it stands now, we could have enrolled at countless universities online for our degrees; whereas there are no universities offering this program within driving distance of where I live. The internet has increased supply tremendously. With increased supply, there is a need for companies to be more comptetitive, lowering the expenses for us consumers. Also, this means that universities in particular need to be more "in touch" with the desires and needs of students to keep themselves competitive.
Does anyone else have insight on this topic they would like to share?
References:
Benkler, Y. (2006) The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and freedom. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Jahnke, J. (July 12, 2012) Matt Millen ripped for his take on Penn State report. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved from http://www.freep.com/article/20120712/SPORTS01/120712035/matt-millen-joe-paterno-espn-penn-state?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE
Voice Thread
I had the opportunity to explore Voice Thread yesterday and today. Voice thread allows you to post pictures which you can write on and make verbal comments over.
It was really interesting to think about the applications for this technology. Voice Thread explains that it can be used as an instructional tool, which inspired me to think of other uses for the technology. One idea I thought of was as performance support for engineers and techs fixing complex machines. Instructional designers could post pictures of the broken parts and voice over how to fix them. Another application I thought of would be as an easy way for parking enforcement to use the mobile version to snap photographs and voice over the photograph to explain the violation. I have seen parking enforcement taking photographs, but I wondered if those were stored efficiently.
Does anyone else know of any applications for Voice Thread?
It was really interesting to think about the applications for this technology. Voice Thread explains that it can be used as an instructional tool, which inspired me to think of other uses for the technology. One idea I thought of was as performance support for engineers and techs fixing complex machines. Instructional designers could post pictures of the broken parts and voice over how to fix them. Another application I thought of would be as an easy way for parking enforcement to use the mobile version to snap photographs and voice over the photograph to explain the violation. I have seen parking enforcement taking photographs, but I wondered if those were stored efficiently.
Does anyone else know of any applications for Voice Thread?
Barriers for technology
For my organization, I recently contributed two projects. The first was a training outline to be used by trainers which was really well recieved with a "really, really great work" comment.
The second was not as well recieved. It was a proposal to use Theory Maps (https://sites.google.com/site/eme6403bryanandbrian/home/what-is-the-tools) for leadership to solve logistical problems. I was able to use the FSU virtual library to find an article (Brzycki & Dudt) and analyze how to make the Web 2.0 software more accessible. I believe the software is a Low Threshold Application, thus addressing the issues of time, support, and cost (it's free). In our next meeting, as per a suggestion in the article, I'm going to model it for everyone to show how easy it is and how effective it can be in solving problems.
References:
Brzycki, D. & Dudt, K. 2005. Overcoming barriers to technology use in teacher preparation programs. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. 13(4): p619.
The second was not as well recieved. It was a proposal to use Theory Maps (https://sites.google.com/site/eme6403bryanandbrian/home/what-is-the-tools) for leadership to solve logistical problems. I was able to use the FSU virtual library to find an article (Brzycki & Dudt) and analyze how to make the Web 2.0 software more accessible. I believe the software is a Low Threshold Application, thus addressing the issues of time, support, and cost (it's free). In our next meeting, as per a suggestion in the article, I'm going to model it for everyone to show how easy it is and how effective it can be in solving problems.
References:
Brzycki, D. & Dudt, K. 2005. Overcoming barriers to technology use in teacher preparation programs. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. 13(4): p619.
Friday, July 6, 2012
How do I...?
I am really excited to begin this course and learn more about Web 2.0. More specifically, I'm interested to learn more about administering Web 2.0 in an educational setting. I have so many questions:
- How do I monitor my students?
- What are the best practices for promoting interaction but controlling content?
- To where are the trends leading education in this realm?
- How do I balance collaboration/ community/ etc. with individual projects?
- How can I create a more authentic audience for blogs I may post? In other words, how can I make people actually want to read my blogs and each others' blogs?
- What are some technologies I have not yet used and how can I learn from them and use them in the future?
Just because you can, does it mean you should?
Web 2.0 is amazing. I really appreciate the impact we all have experienced due to its creation. However, some resources are a little overused. Specifically, I'm referring to Twitter.
I like twitter as a resource for journalists to "break" news stories. This was especially helpful a couple years ago in the Middle East where some outlets were blocked, but Twitter was not and it was used to release photographs and information. Likewise, I appreciate reading headlines for breaking news before articles and analysis can be provided.
At the same time, I do not understand the literally millions of people who follow celebrities just so they can keep up-to-date on where and what the celebrities are eating. While I personally do not follow any celebrities, I can ignore this. It is dangerous to me in our democracy when celebrities who are not experts post their opinions for people who might be susceptible to others' opinions. Although this has happened for decades, twitter allows the celebrities to post their opinions without explanation or oportunity for rebuttal.
This brings me back to my original question: "just because we can, does it mean we should?" One of the limitations of Web 2.0 is that it creates an environment that is really easy for people to disseminate information without the rigors of peer-reviewed publishing. I hope that as Web 2.0 evolves, people develop a better filter and there are less "followers" of Web 2.0 and more "discerning users" of Web 2.0.
I like twitter as a resource for journalists to "break" news stories. This was especially helpful a couple years ago in the Middle East where some outlets were blocked, but Twitter was not and it was used to release photographs and information. Likewise, I appreciate reading headlines for breaking news before articles and analysis can be provided.
At the same time, I do not understand the literally millions of people who follow celebrities just so they can keep up-to-date on where and what the celebrities are eating. While I personally do not follow any celebrities, I can ignore this. It is dangerous to me in our democracy when celebrities who are not experts post their opinions for people who might be susceptible to others' opinions. Although this has happened for decades, twitter allows the celebrities to post their opinions without explanation or oportunity for rebuttal.
This brings me back to my original question: "just because we can, does it mean we should?" One of the limitations of Web 2.0 is that it creates an environment that is really easy for people to disseminate information without the rigors of peer-reviewed publishing. I hope that as Web 2.0 evolves, people develop a better filter and there are less "followers" of Web 2.0 and more "discerning users" of Web 2.0.
The Bryan Biggers (not so) Public Library
One really postive aspect of Web 2.0 that I use every day is the ability to create and maintain a virtual library of resources, documents, websites, etc. I have an ever-growing libary of these resources that I will be able to share with other people. I am growing this library for personal and professional uses.
Professionally, I keep my documents, research, helpful websites, and anything else that might prove useful later. All I need to do is share with a colleague an article and she will be able to access it at will. We also use Google Docs at work to keep records, etc. so we can all modify it.
Personally, I have created all the documents, spreadsheets, etc. for our wedding online. When I have friends in the future getting married, I will be able to pass them this resource as an outline to help them plan their weddings. With just a couple clicks, I'll be able to help by reducing some leg work for their wedding.
Professionally, I keep my documents, research, helpful websites, and anything else that might prove useful later. All I need to do is share with a colleague an article and she will be able to access it at will. We also use Google Docs at work to keep records, etc. so we can all modify it.
Personally, I have created all the documents, spreadsheets, etc. for our wedding online. When I have friends in the future getting married, I will be able to pass them this resource as an outline to help them plan their weddings. With just a couple clicks, I'll be able to help by reducing some leg work for their wedding.
Leader, follower, or something else?
Week
1
What
have been your prior experiences with Web 2.0 technologies?
I have used mapping tools, blogs, discussion boards, social networking sites, Youtube, sharable calendars, sharable spreadsheets and documents, blackboard, online sychnous and asynchronous chatting, polling, videoconferencing, wikis and probably more that I cannot recall off-hand. I know some of that might only partially qualify as Web 2.0.
Do you consider
yourself a leader or follower in this realm, or something else altogether? Why?
I know I am not a leader in Web 2.0 technology because leaders create and I have yet to create a technology. At the same time, it is difficult to think of myself as a follower since followers a like leaves in the wind blowing with whatever trend is the strongest at the time without a filter.
I consider myself a user of Web 2.0 technology. I discern the best tools and use them as appropriately as possible. I try to grow with them, following trends that are helpful and dismissing trends that are unuseful.
Also, discuss what you hope to get out of this class.
I hope to learn how to become a better Web 2.0 user. I hope to learn to use Web 2.0 technology more efficiently. Furthermore, I hope to learn to use Web 2.0 to provide more interactive and effective learning for my students in my current job and in future employment. In summary, I hope to move from a Web 2.0 user to a Web 2.0 administrator.
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