FET8611 - Emerging Environments for Learning

Start of the SDD HSC Wiki...

2008-02-08T19:13:00.000-08:00

Well I have started the Wiki and thought it would be useful to get a picture of it now while it is still empty....

Introduction of Year 12 Face to Face Class to the concept of Open Source Text Book...

2008-02-08T18:56:00.000-08:00

Hmmm...the class is taught in a face to face manner, however they also have full access to the materials available to the online students. That said, they are a group that is less likely to take up online initiatives, however their first introduction was less than inspiring...

The group prefers more concrete examples and I tried to speak conceptually, so this probably had a more negative effect...I might need to post some more content in there to give them more of an idea.

Disappointed...but OK.

Chris :-|

Introduction of Year 12 Classes to concept of Open Source Text Book...

2008-02-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday this week (29 Jan 2008), I met (for the first time in 2008) with my Year 12 Software Design and Development Online Class. They are students from around NSW (Australia) that study the above course online, but try to spend a day per term (2 per semester) at my school doing a full day of teaching/planning/communicating.

It was at this time that I introduced the idea of an open source text book. They seemed to understand the concept, but I has also introduced a number of new initiatives into the course, all focused on increased collaboration. We will see over the next few weeks how well they understood and how they get involved with the project and in particular, contribute to it.

Chris :-)

Modified definition of Open Source Text Book, or at least the project definition...

2008-02-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking more about the concept that I had in mind for an open source text book, and the differences between my thoughts/plans and the definitions I have found from people around me and the web.

The plan for my text book is that my concept of an open source text is significantly larger than this project that I would like to implement. My definition should not be labelled open source, as initially it will not be modelled on the Open Source licensing for GNU license, but instead have the wiki open to users within the course (at present a class of face to face students and a class of online students).

Chris :-)

Post to professional group: 2nd time...

2008-02-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I posted the following message to a professional forum of Computing Studies Teachers in NSW (CSTeachers), unfortunately, there must have been some problem with transmission as the message did not arrive, so I have posted it again:
Chris :-|

Posted to: csteachers@groups.yahoo.com.au

Wikis...collaborative note taking and Open Source Text Books...

Hi all,

I am working on including wikis as part of my teaching environment and
also use them as a basis for an assignment for a Masters course in
emerging environments for learning.

I am wondering if anyone has been (or is) involved in creating or
managing a wiki for use within any course, but particularly in NSW
courses and even more particularly in SDD.

Similarly, but at a much higher level, has anyone had any experience
in creating or managing an Open Source Text book...or do we all agree
that with Sam's text as an authoritative source and that we see little
change in texts that the need for an open source text in SDD is not high?

So if you have experience, I would be VERY interested in
hearing/reading about them.

Thanks for your time.

Chris Woldhuis

Email me direct if appropriate: cwoldhuis@...

Blogging about Wikis in the classroom...

2008-02-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

Found this Blog from Weblogg-ed, interesting discussion on the use of wikis in the classroom as texts, but also about how open ended or constructivist learning leads some to assume weak learning, or minimal learning:

Chris :-)

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02 Dec 2007 09:51 am

“I’ll Take Poor Assumptions for $800, Alex”

So I’m looking at pretty bleak odds right now in terms of getting home from beautiful Monterey (where I got the experience of presenting on the TED stage even though it wan’t the TED conference) because there is this big blob of icy snow blue over New Jersey on the weather maps today. But this article about a Boston College professor who is using wikis to have students create the text for his course lifted my spirits a bit. Lots of shifts:

“My wiki is my textbook now,” he said. “This platform is infinitely better and gets better information from a variety of sources. It takes a year and half for a textbook to get published, and by the time that happens it is outdated. [The use of] textbooks will begin to fade … and these more collaborative-based, environment will probably rise to the surface.”

But here is the chuckle. In the comments on the story, we quickly get the typical skeptic:

What exactly are the students (or their parents) paying for, and what exactly do the students know at the end of the course that they didn’t know before? Or does everybody just get a nice fuzzy feeling because they create their own exams and determine their own grades? And how many credits do they get for this waste of time and money?

And, in an example of what fun all of this is, a student from the class gives a great response starting with “I’ll take poor assumptions for $800, Alex”. Nice.

Maybe my assumptions about the weather are wrong too…

Do Open Source Text Books Work?

2008-02-01T20:10:00.000-08:00

I just found an article by Ben Crowell titled: " Do Open-Source Books Work?" from http://www.lightandmatter.com/article/article.html

He raises a number of interesting points about open source text books. He focuses on the intention and the licensing of the books. Starting with Benjamin Franklin and his use of the lending library to "free" information and release it to the masses. With us in the information revolution, are we taking this concept seriously? He suggests we seem to be going in the opposite direction when it comes to texts for school and university study.

He discussed the Biophysics Textbook On-Line (BTOL) which is "collaborative but closed-source". One of the authors commented on the success of BTOL: "The BTOL is tied to a Society that already has an established community, regular meetings, newsletters, etc. We tap into all of this structure. For example, when a new article is posted we announce it in the Biophysical Society Newsletter. I would think that other fields might benefit from endorsement by an established society that already serves the field."

I am building a picture of Open Source Text Books that is different to my original intention, and now I think it is time to clarify this intention.

Open Source Text Book Definitions:

2008-02-01T19:18:00.000-08:00

In order to make a starting point, I did some research on different definitions of an Open Source Text Book:

Interestingly, Google Book Search comes up regularly in online searches – the next step was to see if this was a useful source of information, or maybe even an example of Open Source Text Books in action. The criteria for promoting the site states quite clearly that the role of Google Book Search is as the name suggests, a catalog of books. “We aim to help our users discover books, not read them online. In addition, copy, save and print functions are disabled. See the Programme Basics page for more information on how books are viewed.” Google Book Search Help Centre

However, in the practice, the Google Book Search proved useful in providing information directly from books by reading the book online. It allowed me to read books that I would not normally have taken in for this research as the books were held overseas or were fare enough out of reach to make a small research task like this not worth the effort to produce.

The next avenue was Wikibooks, as described by Daniel Terdiman below in 2005:

“Open-source textbooks on any topic, in any language, available to anyone, anywhere, for free - this is the goal of Wikibooks, a project of the Wikimedia Project, the folks who brought you Wikipedia. Currently consisting of over 11.000 book modules from kindergarten to university-level, Wikibooks opens the door to publishing textbooks in the same way Wikipedia allowed anyone to define and redefine a word – allowing real worldwide, open-ended discourse to enter into the academic arena. This could equal negative implications for the publishing industry if instructors begin selecting Wikibooks as texts for classes, a viable option considering the rising costs of published academic texts. But if the project continues to grow it could also positively impact global education, as free textbooks could be utilized in developing nations that are unable to provide hard copy books for students.” By Daniel Terdiman Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: September 28, 2005, 4:00 AM PDT

This prompted a search through Wikibooks to gain an understanding of whether this was the intention when wikibooks.org was created. It seems that this was the case, but they identified Pacific limitations: “What Wikibooks includes: Wikibooks is for textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals. These materials can be used in a traditional classroom, an accredited or respected institution, a home-school environment, as part of a Wikiversity course or for self-learning. As a general rule only instructional books are suitable for inclusion. Most types of books, both fiction and non-fiction, are not allowed on Wikibooks, unless they are instructional. The use of literary elements, such as allegory or fables as instructional tools can be permitted in some situations.” http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:What_is_Wikibooks (January 2008).

I (and it seems the creators) also found it easier to describe wiki books by describing what it is not: “Wikibooks is not:

a dictionary, a free wiki host or webspace provider, an encyclopedia, a news service, a place to publish original works, a mirror or a repository for source texts, a soapbox, paper, for developing new Wikimedia projects, censored for the protection of minors and not for video game strategy guides” http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:What_is_Wikibooks

In a blog from another secondary teacher in a public school (other information is kept confidential) under the heading of: “Open Source Textbooks” He writes :

“We don’t have a calculus text, so I’m left to my own devices. Fortunately, there’s a number of open-source textbooks!

* A Slashdot thread: Five Free Calculus Books

* Wikibooks Calculus

Tell me that story again, Grandpa, about the times before the internets… how was it that people survived?” http://understanding.mindtangle.net/?p=105

It seems that many people are forced into the realm of Open Source Text books, for the same reason as this teacher – no access to a purchasable text – or maybe moreso, an inability to purchase a class set of texts.

This brings me to the California Open Source Textbook Project (COSTP). This project is designed to combat the large amount of money spent on text books by the State of California. In their words: “It has been created to address the high cost, content range, and consistent shortages of K-12 textbooks in California.” http://www.opensourcetext.org/ (2002). Their plan is to “...not replace printed textbooks; it simply makes them less expensive to produce; and, in doing so creates many additional benefits...” http://www.opensourcetext.org/ (2002)

Interestingly, as “All Roads Lead to Rome”, I was lead by COSTP back to WikiBooks, and that is where COSTP started (in 2006) and seemingly finished on this project...No links to Open Source Text from California Department of Education site ...

Feedback from the Director of Distributed Learning...

2008-02-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

I spent some time discussing the concepts associated with the open source text book with the Director of Distributed Learning at my school. His comments/thoughts are summarised below:

Must be from multiple authors
Authors should be unpaid
Publisher should be unpaid
Potentially better text with multiple authors and a wider base of experience than a text with a single author
Better access to the text via the net that with a printed/paper book.
He imagined that it would take a similar appearance/functionality to Wikipedia

(Note: Worth noting that due to inconsistent internet usage, I am publishing multiple docs on the same day that have been built up over the last 2 weeks.)

Open Source vs Content & Copyright

2008-02-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

The Open Source Text Book is making progress...I have started talking with some of my colleagues from my work environment (Australian Secondary School that also offers online learning) and some of the teachers are interested in the concept.

Probably the biggest hurdles that can be envisaged at the moment are related to:

Content - how do you encourage students who are learning about the content of a course to submit expert knowledge to a textbook or at least an authoritative source of information.
Copyright - how can the open source text be maintained in a way that it will not break copyright. There are a number of texts that have been written for the course I teach, and some are excellent text books - the temptation will be for the students to copy content from them and not acknowledge the source.

I have some responses to this so far, but plan to read further into the www.opensourcetxt

Internet Outage...

2008-01-25T21:48:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time between posts....mostly due to limited internet access (through phone and Internet Cafe/Kiosks!)

But now back on track....

Skype Session with "Time Machine" Group

2008-01-06T13:21:00.001-08:00

Quite a surprise for me was the usefulness of Skype for a collaborative session yesterday. A surprise because of the usefulness due to it's simplicity...let me explain...

Three of us were in the conversation (Janet, Joyce and I) and we tried a few scenarios (typing, different conversations, MSN etc) before we stuck with a hosted conversation in Skype. Once were were connected and all on the same page the conversation flowed and the technology fell into the background...as is ideal.

We played with a bunch of tools, including Skribble (http://www.skrbl.com) and talked about where we are at in terms of our facilitated pages...a great conversation which highlighted the usefulness of a "simple" and common tool as Skype...

Chris :-)

Making progress again....

2008-01-06T13:03:00.001-08:00

Well I have had tro take a back step with my facilitated page...I am disappointed with not being able to use YackPAck as a tool for collaboration, and as such, I think the valueo f the facilitated page will be reduced, even in the sense that people will have to read through the page to get an idea of it and then register in order to have a go...and all I would be doing is putting much of the content discussed on the page into the YackPack environment...oh well, trying something fancy is not always worth it...

But moving forward now, I have started working on the proposal for Assignment 2, I am happy about that and this course has changed my thinking about the usefulness of Wikis. However, I am a big fan of Moodle and staying within the "main" learning environment, and this course has highlighted this.

I am a little frustrated with trying to keep up with the course is so many different learning environments...don't get me wrong, I enjoy the idea of looking at all this new technology and how it can be used to create better learning environments, but I am also struggling to keep up with so many environments in order to keep up with the course...

One example is that I am finding it hard to strike the right balance between getting into Twitter in order to make valid contributions to facilitated pages, when I need to do the same for FaceBook, Skype, MSN, Wimba, KnowledgeGarden and Moodle...

So that is where I am at now...that said, I am feeling much better now that I am starting to work on the major assignment...

Chris :-)

More frustration...going to the next loweer level...

2008-01-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

Trying to put into the Wiki some of the work that I have been doing to try and gets ome feedback on it, but no luck...going for a very basic setup now...must get something done to this page....feeling mighty frustrated now, but need to look further ahead! Change the plan...very disappointing...

Chris :-(

Frustration setting in....might be time to move on...

2008-01-04T03:48:00.000-08:00

Well I have spent a number of hours in 3 sessiosn trying to work out how to get YackPack working within a Wiki...but because Wikis don't take HTML (from what I can find out...) this is becoming almost an impossibility...

I found a link to Richard Hawkings Facilitated page (from Sem 2 2006) and have copied and modified the code from his page (which is a simple SWF file, but this is not allowing me all the functions that YackPack requires.

I have now resolved to have a link to YackPack and also just invite people along, at least then it will also work at the full speed.

I need to get going on the other stuff related to YackPack and not get caught up in the technical guff....

Chris :-|

John Heath - Amazing article...

2007-12-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

I have just finished reading the Wiki by John Heath and the article is amazing....I found myself immersed in the different theories and ideas suggested by many but put together so well by John.

I found myself relating to so many of the scenarios I don't know where to start...

Probably the most notable is, as I have mentioned I have changed jobs recently, and it was, as John suggests a move from an unsupportive environment to a supportive environment of early adopters of new and innovative educational technology. In terms of Convergence of resources, I was in a situation where the hierarchy was not supportive of my efforts to establish technology based education or even constructivist pedagogy into the classroom. Despite the excellent results I achieved and the high rating of student satisfaction and course growth...Therefore, the innovation was limited to my classroom.

Frustrated with the insistence on holding back the move towards this new technology, the extensiveness (as John puts it) was not there and so I was left with little option but to find a new and more innovative worklpace.

This is just one example of my life experience being clearly identified through JOhn's witing. A very well written wiki which summarises much of the course (I think!).

Chris :-)

Visions 2020: Transforming Education and Training through Advanced Technologies

2007-12-12T13:11:00.001-08:00

I have only just started reading this document, but already a quote of an old proverb is worthy of mention:

"A vision without a plan is just a dream. A plan without a vision is just drudgery. But a vision with a plan can change the world."

I have worked in 3 different schools in my professional life, and I have experienced all 3 - I am now ready to change the world. What an inspirational quote, once fully understood...

Some other thoughts are that there seems to be a strong emphasis on the virtual environment...I am not sure if a virtual environment is how we should be thinking, as it tends to allow us to think about how what we do now, will be done in the future...rather than thinking about how things can be done in the future.

There is an element that what I am suggesting in some way negates the current (and well tuned) practices, but I am not suggesting we throw out the old and adopt the new, but when we are thinking about the future, we should not limit ourselves to "mimicing" the current in order to place the new...

Thoughts for now...

Chris :-)

Catching up...many thoughts...

2007-12-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a while, but much water has passed under the bridge...

As I work through the readings and keep a track of the postings (I am finding mobile email VERY handy!) I am finding my mind drifting along a number of roads at the same time...

One fork in the road is following a path of school culture and support for not only emerging technology, but for real technology use in the classroom. A number of the other participants in the course are discussing problems with an unsupportive executive....how hard does this make teaching productively(!?!) or effectively using technology?? VERY difficult is my answer...

Now I find myself in a very supportive school, how different am I finding my teaching, or at least the support for teaching using emerging technology? It is so different, we are encouraged to find new and exciting ways of teaching and using the new tools available to us...

The other roads I am travelling down (and finding it hard to choose which path to travel) is which emerging technology should I choose to make my facilitated page about? the three technologies I am contemplating are:

Wikis - Although not new technology as such, but I would like to make use of Wikis to fill a void in my teaching style where I don't give students enough written documentation...I have started by presenting short web pages in Moodle, but find they are stale and dry...I want to explore using Wikis to build up the formal side of the courses I teach.
LAMS - (http://www.lamsinternational.com) Learning Activity Management System - Developed by Macquarie University in Sydney, it is a learning management system that focuses on the learning sequence - or simply "The Lesson" sequence. I think that the product that is offered could integrate very well (educationally) into Moodle. Some problems with this, is that I don't think the demo site has full functionality...and my school has had technical issues with integrating into Moodle in the past...they are open to installing LAMS, but are cautious.
YackPack (http://www.yackpack.com) - here is an emerging tool. I have played with it a little and can see value in using it in my setting, but am not sure if I have the resources to implement it fully or properly and so am not sure of the value of it in teaching programming (my main teaching role in the school). But if it is useful for teaching programming, then it is surely useful for teaching a wider variety of subjects/courses.

So, there is my current problems, at the moment I am leaning down the YackPack as it is further "out of my depth" as an educator and so will probably be a be a better one for me (and possibly others) doing this course.

Regards,
Chris :-)

Technology is easy: People are Hard

2007-12-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

I loved this quote from Gage (2002,p4-5) and this is so true of my work environments over the years....at times the technology has been hard, but once overcome, I realised the people were not going to be so easy...

The other side to this is that I see a number of teachers who make is easier (some early adopters) but they are not there to do well, but to make life easy...these also fit into the "hard basket", but are harder to identify...they tend to be the lazier ones...I have found anyway....

Chris :-)

Module 1 - Readings and posts to discussions.

2007-11-26T12:07:00.000-08:00

In the forum on Module 1.2, I commented on my experience in working with video editing. I made the comment which resounds very strong now...

"As someone who learns new technology reasonably quickly, and with a lot of patience, it highlighted to me the frustrations of teachers who were weaker with the use of technology but were experiencing technology failure. The reduced effectiveness of their teaching was significant, and was pivotal in their trying new things in the future. This changed my perspective as an IT Manager later in my career to be most supportive of teachers who try new technology in the classroom."

It only helps to focus my thoughts on how, as an early adopter, the useability of new technology is such an issue - how much more for those with less confidence and technical ability!

Next thought comes as a by-product of the recent election (last weekend) and how the new Govt plans to have Education Transformation (which has a nice ring to it!) and part of the plan is to give access to ALL students in Australia access to a computer and high speed Internet. The link is back to the notes for Module 1:

"ICT Devices are being used to empower individual freedoms and abilities and as such have a great potential to support educational reforms based on the ways individuals and groups are able to interact with information and co-construct learning and knowledge".

It is obvious that the current govt was thinking along the same lines...put the hardware in the people's hands and this is part of the way towards educational transformation.

Anyway, that is the main thought so far...

Starting FET8611...

2007-11-17T14:00:00.001-08:00

Well it has been a good start to this course...having to log in to so many different systems and set myself up....Moodle, knowledgeGarden, Skype, IM, Elluminate and Blogs. I have yet to do RSS feeds (although I use MS Outlook extensively and know it is a simple thing to do (In fact - Really Simple! ha ha) - but have not done it as yet! And I don't know about this "tagging" yet, however, I use FaceBook and I think it may be a form of it...

Anyway, some thoughts as I set up these tools...

Email - All fine, I deal with many daily so this is no problem (but VERY happy that I can get forum posts sent to my home/work email address! Go Moodle!)

Moodle - I have set up a Moodle installation and now use Moodle on a day to day basis, so this is fine.

Skype - Again, I use this regularly, from speaking to my wife in another room, to some of my students and my brother in Ecuador - so easy to set up.

Elluminate - Have just looked at this concept for my online course, and was thinking this would be good to use (and they just offered Elluminate Lite for free to K - 12 schools!) Not so simple, but fine. I had a demo conference with myself this morning...and I worked fine!

knowledgeGarden - now here is something new to me...a Wiki (I think!?!). Although there were great instructions, and a really good screen cast from Peter, and some really good comments already by other students...this one did not come naturally....

I understand that the language is simpler (than HTML) however, it would be better to have something like a HTML editor rather than having to put the code in. I wanted to make the text as "active" as possible, and I did, but it took time...more time than I planned...so didn't get too far...so that's my htoughts for now...will keep writing as I go.

Overall, now that I understand what the course is about, the whole scenario is perfect! Timing (during holidays - a good time to play!) and ready to finish off the setup my courses for 2008. So a reminder to be more constructivist is GREAT! I plan to use much of what we do in this course...thanks!

Chris :-)