Frances Bell :: Blog
http://francesbell.com/2009/03/30/documenting-your-project-in- When I was a systems developer, it was fashionable to loathe the task of documentation, yet when making system changes we were grateful for any documentation that had been provided. With student project work, we demand documentation of products and require some record of the process, often to support the valuable reflection that can maximise student learning. In a dissertation, one of the most illuminative questions can be What would you have done differently?
This weekend I was busy with a craft project - making 2 Ixus camera cases for loved ones with birthdays this week. It occurred to me that I could also experiment with recording the process on my Flickr.com site. 2 colleagues and I are starting a new ‘Digital Literacy’ style Year 1 undergraduate module, and I have become a bit obsessed with collecting tools, resources and activities for them, see http://delicious.com/francesbell/sbsemtech.
So here are the results of my labours - you can see the finished products,
and the visual project notebook covering design and process. You can view this is a slideshow (best to click Show Info option) at http://www.flickr.com/photos/francesbell/sets/72157616064980620/show/
or visit the set and view the images one by one.
Digital media (particularly once every student has an image/video/audio/internet device in their pocket) should make the capturing of work as it happens very easy. Blogs (as time-stamped streams of messages) are already used as project diaries, but for work with a visual element, flickr.com is an alternative. An image of a whiteboard is a much quicker and less formal way of recording decisions and designs agreed in a meeting. Flickr.com offers images and associated text, with a slideshow for ‘book’ format. Social network sites offer easy to use methods of combining different media that can be presented streams or feeds.
I am definitely going to experiment with these forms for my own use and with students.
http://francesbell.com/2009/03/26/ecstasy-and-events/ Nicholas Carr identifies Baudrillard as a prophet of ‘twitterification’. He says “Those that know the technology cannot see beyond it, and those that don’t know the technology cannot see into it. Both end up trafficking in absurdity. ” and goes on to quote Baudrillard’s eerily prophetic words from 1999 (collected in the book The Vital Illusion, in UK):
Ecstasy of the social: the masses. More social than the social.
Ecstasy of information: simulation. Truer than true.
Ecstasy of time: real time, instantaneity. More present than the present.
Ecstasy of the real: the hyperreal. More real than the real.
Ecstasy of sex: porn. More sexual than sex …
Thus, freedom has been obliterated, liquidated by liberation; truth has been supplanted by verification; the community has been liquidated and absorbed by communication … Everywhere we see a paradoxical logic: the idea is destroyed by its own realization, by its own excess. And in this way history itself comes to an end, finds itself obliterated by the instantaneity and omnipresence of the event.
It is pretty difficult to step back from the whirl of new technologies but we do need to take stock as well as experimenting if we are to shape those technologies and the world we live in.
http://francesbell.com/2009/03/26/global-faces-and-networked-p Nielsen have published a report called Global Faces and Networked Places - A Nielsen report on Social Networking’s New Global Footprint
Report Highlights are:
1. Putting the growth of social networks – popularity and engagement – into context
2. How the audience to social networks is changing
3. The challenges facing advertisers on social networks
4. What advertisers can do to find the magic formula for advertising in social networks
5. Factors contributing to the Facebook phenomenon
6. Why localisation has won the day in many countries
7. Where mobile social networking has taken the greatest hold
8. What ‘traditional’ publishers can do in the face of the social network phenomenon
Although focused on advertising, this report makes useful reading for many of us with wider interests. The finding that struck me was the ‘member communities’ (i.e. social networking and blogging sites) are the 4th most popular, and fastest growing, activity on the Internet.
This one is worth a read!
http://francesbell.com/2009/03/24/two-women-role-models/ As I pledged that I would and to mark Ada Lovelace Day, I am blogging two women who excel in technology and can provide role models for women in technology. Naturally their achievements intersect with my own interests and concerns but are also applicable to many women in technology. They have in common that they are talented, funny, resilient and are very supportive to women and men with whom they come into contact. Lastly, they are both mothers - this may not seem significant but is worth mentioning, I think, in recognition of women who combine their professional aspirations with family life.
I am only supposed to blog one woman but who’s going to stop me from blogging two?
The first woman that I’d like to blog is Alison Adam, who is currently a Professor in English, Sociology, Politics and Contemporary History at the University of Salford, and was formerly with the Information Systems group in Salford Business School (their gain was our loss). Alison has combined her interest in Information Technology and the Philosophy of Science to generate a wealth of work around gender, ethics and information technology. In her inaugural professorial address at Salford in 2005 “Desires and Devices: Exploring the Gender-Technology Relation” , Alison drew links between the stereotype of women’s supposed lack of knowledge of ‘modern’ technologies and their proficiency with textile technologies such as knitting and sewing to make a powerful argument for the role that women can play in effective design and use of information technology, see http://francesbell.com/2007/01/09/67/.
She is an inspirational role model for women (and men) in academia who want to tackle the challenging ethical, cultural and professional issues in IT. Alison led the Informatics Research Institute’s submission to the Library and Information Management for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. Alison’s research in the experience of women in IT raises big questions about the possibilities for us to achieve effective action, equality and diversity in a gendered, digitally saturated world.
The second woman that I wish to celebrate is Josie Fraser, an independent consultant.  Josie has been effective in influencing practice (in her work with further education colleges in their adoption of learning technologies) and and in policy, for example in her work in digital literacy. Josie’s view of digital literacy moves beyond the stultifying approach of cybersafety to regarding young people as empowered agents who may benefit form support in effective behaviours. Josie’s work on this and her role in the EduBlog awards was recognised when she won the ALT Learning Technologist of the year award in 2008. I have had the honour to work with Josie (and others) in workshops at ALT-C 2007 see http://web2slam.wetpaint.com and ALT-C 2008 see http://digdivslam.wetpaint.com. Workshop organisers and participants had a lot of fun and learned a lot about Web 2.0 and the Digital Divide in the process. Josie brought a freshness and sense of engagement to the ventures that has really influenced me in my work with students and colleagues at Salford. I have seen at first hand the support that Josie offers to others on Twitter , on the JISC Emerge community and in person
Let’s draw attention to women like Alison and Josie - real women, real role models!
http://francesbell.com/2009/03/19/assessment-and-teaching-of-2 original post at http://www.edu.salford.ac.uk/blogs/blbe/2009/03/19/assessment-and-teaching-of-21st-century-skills/
I just received this news from the ALT-Members list
“In response to the urgent and crucial need for assessment reform to advance educational transformation, Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco have set up a structure and a series of actions to address this need. We are currently identifying a team of international experts that will lead this effort and, with this call to action, invite other interested partners from government ministries, assessment organizations, universities and educational research institutions, foundations, and businesses to join in achieving the challenging goals of this Project.”
More details at Transforming Education: Assessing and Teaching 21st Century Skills (Microsoft) http://tinyurl.com/b2fwqe
This is a subject that has interested me for some time but has become more important as I prepare with colleagues for a new module called Emerging Technologies that will be delivered to 450 students in Salford Business School in September 2009. For me the key issue is about our graduates becoming people who can apply and develop their skills in ever-changing social and technological contexts. That means we will be supporting them to make effective (and fun) use of Twitter, blogs, youtube, etc. but also encouraging to reflect on what they did and why - what worked and didn’t - how things might have been different. That way, they can start to develop the meta-skills that will help them be effective users and decision-makers in changing sociotechnical contexts.
The Microsoft Report stresses skills like creativity and innovation but also wants measurability: these may not always be compatible. I am hoping that our students can learn a lot more than we can assess, and so how can we keep their engagement? Perhaps by marketing the idea that these skills are important, but also by trying to make the learning activities include some fun, inside and outside the ‘classroom’.
http://francesbell.com/2009/03/12/the-5-circles-of-scepticism/ 
(thanks to Washington Post http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/sc/2009/03/11/
A cartoon of my byline updated for twitter - that has made my day!
So I am thinking of five possibilities here, in increasing order of ‘volume’ and belief :
1. Tree falls in forest - noone hears it - does it make a sound?
2. Tree falls in forest - someone without a mobile Twitter-ready device hears it - do we know it made a sound?
3. Tree falls in forest - someone with a mobile Twitter-ready device hears it and tweets that s/he heard it fall - do we believe it fell?
4. Tree falls in forest - someone with a Twitter and camera ready mobile device takes a pic and tweets the Twitpic - do we know it made a sound?
5. Tree falls in forest - someone with with a Twitter and vidcam ready device takes a video with sound and tweets it - do we now believe and know that it made a sound?
O ye of little faith!
http://francesbell.com/2009/03/08/118/ Here is a reworked version of my conclusions from a paper on connectivism that I recently submitted to a conference. I can’t publish whole paper prior to review and (hopefully) publication at web site but I would be interested in comments on my findings. Related work is under CCK08 category on this blog.
Cormier identified as a benefit of connectivism that it allows a community of people (working with learning technologies) to legitimize what they are already doing. This is reminiscent of Wenger’s recognition of the potential for the refinement and propagation of knowledge through boundary crossing activities such as membership of multiple communities.
We can think about connectivism itself as a large scale knowledge network in which the practice of filtering to manage information overload is legitimate. But filtering can militate against making new connections, and even against the nurturing of fragile connections. Haythornthwaite (2002) and Jones et al (2008) identify the value of weak and latent ties in sustaining and strengthening networks, in this case a knowledge network. Weak and latent ties could enable knowledge propagation in and out of connectivism as a knowledge network. CCK08 gave examples of weak ties between connectivism and actor network theory in that a few of the participants on CCK08 brought up similarities between connectivism and Actor Network theory on CCK08 Moodle forums.
My argument is that if connectivism is not willing to be mutable knowledge as it extends its network, then it is self-contradictory. In other words, it is not behaving like the knowledge and networks described in the theory of connectivism. I would recommend that it exploit its current weak and latent ties to Actor Network Theory (ANT) and other descriptive theories of change that have been used successfully in sociotechnical contexts.
What learners and teachers do could be explored in rich case studies that tell the stories of networks forming (and decaying) in a context where learners and teachers use technologies to support their actions. Connectivism could learn from ANT in developing a richer empirical base to complement its theoretical principles and mitigate against the risks of normative stances (such as Downes distinction between groups and networks)
It seems likely that the theories of ANT could also be relevant to connectivism, and would certainly help to emphasise network creation and decay. Connectivism’s trajectory as a knowledge network is currently unknown - is it mutable and open? Studies of connectivism in use in specific contexts, and of connectivism itself will help to disclose its trajectory.of the knowledge network.
Critiques of ANT, for example its limited contribution to a critical theory of organisation (Whittle and Spicer 2008), may be relevant to connectivism that espouses emancipatory approaches to education yet has largely been taken up by those employed in formal education.
Of course, ANT may also benefit from ‘connection’ to connectivism, learning how to speak more broadly to practitioners, particularly within the field of learning. I really hope that this dialogue can take place, bridging theory and practice, and informing both connectivism and ANT.
References
Cormier, D. 2008. Rhizomatic education: Community as curriculum. Innovate 4 (no. 5), http://tinyurl.com/6axkez (accessed 12 Feb 2009).
Haythornthwaite, C. 2002. Strong, weak, and latent ties and the impact of new media. Information Society 18: 385-401.
Jones, C.R., D. Ferreday and V. Hodgson. 2008. Networked learning a relational approach: Weak and strong ties. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 24: 90-102.
Latour, B. On recalling ant. Department of Sociology, Lancaster University.http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/papers/Latour-Recalling-ANT.p
Law, J. Actor network theory and material semiotics. http://www.heterogeneities.net/publications/Law-ANTandMaterialSemiotic
Siemens, G. 2004. Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm (accessed 7 September 2008).
Wenger, E. 2000. Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization Science 7 (no. 2), http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-6i-9NcUbJ8C (accessed.
Whittle, A. and A. Spicer. 2008. Is actor network theory critique? Organization Studies 29: 611-29.
http://francesbell.com/2009/01/22/special-issue-of-alt-j-learn
I have been very excited to see the publication of the electronic and print version of the ALT-J Special Issue - Learning and Teaching in Immersive Virtual Worlds. I think that it is a great resource for anyone working in this area, but I may be biased by the fact that it’s the first issue published under my ‘care’. Anyway, I’m not the only one, as the people that ALT asked to comment on the issue have said some very good things about it (more of that later), see Wordle of their comments below.
Edited by Maggi Savin-Baden; Robert Ward,ISSN: 1741-1629 (electronic) 0968-7769 (paper) ,Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Content
1. Editorial, Pages 137 - 138 Link: http://tinyurl.com/9hxua6
2. From Multi-User Virtual Environment to 3D Virtual Learning
Environment, Pages 139 - 150
Authors: Daniel Livingstone; Jeremy Kemp; Edmund Edgar
Link: http://tinyurl.com/85545d
3. From cognitive capability to social reform? Shifting perceptions of
learning in immersive virtual worlds, Pages 151 - 161
Author: Maggi Savin-Baden
Link: http://tinyurl.com/7jjcmp
4. Problem-based learning spanning real and virtual words: a case study
in Second Life, Pages 163 - 172
Authors: Judith Good; Katherine Howland; Liz Thackray
Link: http://tinyurl.com/82v5vr
5. Observations of expert communicators in immersive virtual worlds:
implications for synchronous discussion, Pages 173 - 180
Author: Michael Hamilton McVey
Link: http://tinyurl.com/88dnpr
6. Laying the groundwork for socialisation and knowledge construction
within 3D virtual worlds, Pages 181 - 196
Authors: Shailey Minocha; Dave Roberts
Link: http://tinyurl.com/9pqsuz
7. Uncanny spaces for higher education: teaching and learning in virtual
worlds, Pages 197 - 205
Author: Siân Bayne
Link: http://tinyurl.com/97fe5m
8. Machinima interventions: innovative approaches to immersive virtual
world curriculum integration, Pages 207 - 220
Authors: Andrew John Middleton; Richard Mather
Link: http://tinyurl.com/8zbw5u
9. Collaborative virtual gaming worlds in higher education, Pages 221 - 229
Authors: Nicola Whitton; Paul Hollins
Link: http://tinyurl.com/987vmr
10. An investigation of the role of background music in IVWs for
learning, Pages 231 - 244
Authors: Debbie Richards; Eric Fassbender; Ayse Bilgin; William Forde
Thompson
Link: http://tinyurl.com/7v4ha3
- join ALT as individual or institutional member or
- find an individual member of ALT, and persuade them to lend you their print copy
Also, we are hoping that one of the papers will be made available as a sample on the T&F web site - watch this space.
http://francesbell.com/2009/01/09/blog-about-a-woman-in-techno I blogged about this yesterday at http://www.knowandnetwork.org/francesbell/weblog
Suw Charman-Anderson has set a challenge for people to blog about a woman in technology on Ada Lovelace Day, 24 March. As I write this 747 out of 1000 have pledged to do this so hitting the 1000 target won’t be an issue but let’s make this count by blogging, twittering and generally raising the profile of this venture. Role models are very important!.
Pledge is at http://www.pledgebank.com/AdaLovelaceDay
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