http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/08/now-reading/

I have just been experimenting with the “Now Reading” plugin, as a possible way of keeping track of some of the books that I’ve read. I’m not sure yet if I can include the reviews in the main blog, or if they have to stay as part of the library.

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/19/what-are-frie

The Guardian reports on research by Dr. Reader (Sheffield Hallam) looking at the nature of friendship, and how that is/ isn’t changing with the way that people are using Facebook etc.,
While they found that many users may have more “friends”, they still had the same 5 or so really close friends that the average person has in previous studies of friendship.
I recently read (I think in Tapley’s Designing your Second Life , that in SL, it’s better etiquette to offer a calling card, rather than friendship when you first meet someone.

In related items, the BBC looks at the increasing tendency of firms to ban individuals from using Social Networking sites, as it is seen to ‘costs businesses dear’

I find that I still struggle with knowing the correct etiquette in Facebook. If someone asks me to be their friend, is it OK to say “No”? If someone offers me an application, are they mortally offended if I say “No”. Are my students really interested in the films that I like, or have they just asked everyone in their friends list?

On a more positive note, this week, I was contacted by two old class mates, found my school’s group, was found by my Sister in Law and someone I did my undergraduate degree with. And I’d hardly call myself active there!

I’ve also installed the “Second Friends” application - and Slideshare. I can see particular potential in the latter, if I’m thinking about the eLearning potential of Facebook. I just wish that it had a blogging tool (and the ability to export data as readily as it imports it).

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/20/common-craft-

Common Craft - Explanations In Plain English

I’ve seen CommonCraft’s “Wikis in Plain English” at YouTube, but this site is more useful, as they’ve got several videos - including Social Networking sites, RSS etc.,

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/24/the-dna-of-th

Graham Atwell posts a link to a long paper he has written about PLEs in general. In his blog post, he re-posts the comments he makes about reflection, the difficulties of getting students to reflect - and the fact that there is natural tendency to comment superficially on what the student thinks the teacher is going to want to read.

Reflecting on work isn’t something that I had to do at school, nor in my first degree. It’s something that I find hard, yet I have to get students to do it. Atwell quotes from Kathleen Yancey’s “Reflection in the writing Classroom”:

reflection is always a fiction where students write specifically to the needs of the tutor.

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/24/comparison-of

Useful table highlighting the features of various free bibliographic managing tools.

At the moment, I’m tending to stick to a combination of Zotero - for its ability to capture information when working online, and EndNote - for the integration with Word etc.

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/24/introducing-e

Blackboard officially launched EduGarage on October 23rd. This is a site that brings together all the developers working on Powerlinks for the assorted Blackboard products. It’s set up as a wiki, with forums etc.

What I find particularly interesting is that they’ve announced it on the Blackboard blog, which is rather more feature rich (essentially a “bog standard blog”) than the blogging tool built into WebCT Vista. I’ve not seen Blackboard’s blogging tool, but from what I’ve read, it’s pretty much like WebCT’s. In the Web2.0 category there are a number of useful tools, such as Scholar - a social bookmarking tool,  the work that is being done to link Blackboard with SecondLife and other Virtual worlds, and a few other ideas.

It looks like Blackboard are starting to realise that a closed monolith isn’t the way that the education world wants to work any more.  I hope that they are going to really make good use of the ideas, not a “sort of” one that really isn’t what can be done with other tools. (At present, the blogging tool in WebCT Vista is a “sort of”)

Via: Stephen Downes

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/28/elearning-exa

Cathy More posts a list of some interactive eLearning materials. She’s included some of the CommonCraft videos that I like, as well as a range of (perhaps a little US Centric) other good examples.

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/30/e-learning-my

Barry Dahl raises the point that while we, as lecturing staff, may think that students *want* to be part of an eLearning community - and take steps to encourage it, perhaps they don’t. He hasn’t actually given the results of what the students actually think - which would be useful.

I’m not sure that I agree with him; face to face students do develop a community while they are studying. Often it is just while they are studying, and often pre-existing communities outside the learning community are those that receive the full dedication. The benefits gained from speaking to someone about the work they are doing, in a relaxed, social way, is often very important to students. I find it hard to believe that online students don’t find that useful. Clearly online students are often, as Dahl points out, people with many other interests, so the online community may well be more transitory and purpose driven. But, I feel sure that it exists for a significant number of students.

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/30/whos-editing-

right now? Rather a fun application!

http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/2007/10/30/searching-for

Freedman in Newsweek, looks at the competition currently facing Google. He starts with a history of Google - commenting

in 1998 word started getting around about a new search engine from a tiny company with a goofy name that sometimes returned more-useful results

It was in Summer of 1999 that I was doing my MSc project - looking at search engines - most of my classmates saw me as really rather odd using Google rather than AltaVista. Now, when I ask students to use different search engines, they look at me as if I’m a bit odd…

Freedman goes on to look at several different search engines; the difference between the position of Google now, and Altavista then is of course a much bigger user base - and far more at stake financially.