Michael Hotrum :: Feeds

Put Your Lectures Only Easily and for Free with Panopto

Pretty basic technology, but it's hard not to see something like this becoming standard. "Basically, the PowerPoint slides are synced with the video, and you can move up or down in the slide deck, with the video syncing automatically. Students can annotate your slides. You can add secondary video feeds or screen capture." Daniel Lemire, Weblog, December 2, 2008 [Tags: Video] [Link] [Comment]

How Can Institutional Processes Better Support Flexible Learning?

This question has been coming up a lot in Britain (there seems to be much less discussion of it at an institutional level elsewhere - maybe I'm just missing it). Scott Wilson asks how institutional processes can support new learning. He'd like to see them more able to support smaller and on-demand courses, personalized coursework, recognition of prior learning and new ways of learning. See also this post from Phil's JISC CETIS blog. Scott Wilson, Scott's Workblog, December 2, 2008 [Tags: Great Britain, Personalization, Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), Web Logs] [Link] [Comment]

Pownce Closes, Moves to SixApart

The graph in this post makes the reasoning perfectly clear. Pownce never came close to catching up to Twitter. Now I don't regret ignoring all those Pownce invites that cluttered my in-box. At least they're leaving with class, providing an application that allows users to download all their data and connections. See also the Blog Herald, Mashable. Bryan Alexander, Liberal Education Today, December 2, 2008 [Tags: Twitter] [Link] [Comment]

Expressing IEEE Learning Object Metadata Instances Using the Dublin Core Abstract Model

Mikael Nilsson writes, "I've finalized an early, but readable, draft of the mapping from IEEE LOM to the DC Abstract Model. The mapping is presented using the DC-TEXT syntax for DCAM." People are invited to submit comments to the DC-IEEELTSC-TASKFORCE list. Mikael Nilsson, Dublin Core, December 2, 2008 [Tags: Dublin Core, Metadata] [Link] [Comment]

The Dawn of Eduprog

"This genre defining movement perfectly reflects a domain that generates questionable "concept" specifcations of baroque complexity (cf. FRBR, IEEE LOM) and application profiles and reports the equivalent of extend guitar solos (cf. DC Description Set profile & UKLOM Core, from the eduprog back catalogue)." See also Brian Kelly. Lorna Campbell, Lorna's JISC CETIS blog, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Great Britain, Edupunk, Dublin Core] [Link] [Comment]

Standards for Technology Enhanced Learning

Passing along a request for input from Erik Duval. He postulates: "The main issue is no longer that we do not have sufficient standards. Rather, we have maybe too many and, more importantly, we don't make use of them in very advanced ways... Tools are lacking or too much let the standard shine through, rather than focusing on the user experience." Feedback is welcome. Also, see his snowflake number paper. Erik Duval, Erik Duval's Weblog, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Experience] [Link] [Comment]

Wii Remote Theremin

OK, I get it now. The Wiimote is a sensor (see, you miss basic points like this when you don't actually get your hands on the technology - and yes, I've asked NRC for a Wii for Christmas). And you can attach it to a computer. Lock it in place and move the infrared LEDs around. And so, "In an ingenious geek-out that's almost too perfectly suited for TED, designer Ken Moore presents a much-anticipated hack of the Nintendo Wii Remote: a theremin." Ken Moore, TEDBlog, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Wii, Wikipedia] [Link] [Comment]

Deconstructing the Work Literacy Learning Event

Not long after George Siemens and I launched our Connectivism course, Michele Martin, Harold Jarche and Tony Karrer launched their own Work Literacy structured in a very similar manner and using Ning as the aggregating agent (we used my own gRSShopper). Harold Jarche posted his reflections a few days after the course ended. The current post is Michele Martin's reflection. Interestingly, their experience was almost exactly the same as ours. Martin adds a list of things she'd change for next time: a shorter course, more consistent structure, more explicit sharing of responsibilities. See also Tony Karrer on the course design. Michele Martin, The Bamboo Project, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Traditional and Online Courses, Connectivism, Experience, RSS] [Link] [Comment]

Understanding Knowledge, George Oates, Flickr and Building Learning Communities in School

Two things stand out in this post. One is the obvious statement of the lessons that can be learned from the success of Flickr as a content storage site - "If we are genuine in building a learning community then we need to reduce all the telling people what to do stuff and rark up all the opportunities for belonging - the contributing and participating stuff." The second consists of observations of the differences between keynotes at the National Digital Forum and typical educators' conferences. "The NDF2008 keynotes were notable for their focus on real achievement. The NDF keynoters had all done the stuff they were talking about. ... Conference circuit junkies, (e) learning futurists and prophets didn't get a look in at the NDF08 conference." Well, hrm. Where does that that leave me? Written software? Check. Built online courses? Check. Built a learning management system? Check. Taught in classes? Check. Taught online? Check. Real projects at work in the real world? Check. OK, she must be talking about the other keynoters and e-learning futurists. Right? Artichoke may have a point, but as always, it's better to name names than to paint with such broad tar-brush strokes. Artichoke, Weblog, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Schools, Traditional and Online Courses, Online Learning, Learning Communities, Online Learning Communities, Project Based Learning, Flickr] [Link] [Comment]

Digital Age Learning Matrix

Louise Starkey looks at new technologies from the perspective of theories of creativity. Obviously, there are many more descriptions of creativity than are contained in this short paper, but I think that the case is made that a model of "creativity in the digital age" can be used to characterize the use of different technologies for different types of learning, creating a "digital age learning matrix". Louise Starkey, Teaching in the digital age, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Online Learning] [Link] [Comment]

Blackboard Now Suing USPTO

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Blackboard, which successfully sued Desire2Learn for a patent infringement earlier this year, is now suing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in an attempt to force it to abandon its review of the patent enforced in the court case. This creates what is known in logic as the fallacy of petitio principii. The court ruling presumed the correctness of the USPTO. Now the USPTO is being required to presume the correctness of the court ruling. See also Patently-O, from D2L, and the suit itself. Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Desire2Learn, Patents, Copyrights, Blackboard Inc., Patents] [Link] [Comment]

Brainify

Murray Goldberg, the person who created WebCT, has sent news of list latest creation to what seems to be every edublogger. "Brainify is an academic social bookmarking and community site for university and college students... Collect and share the academic websites that other students found useful in their courses." The interesting bit is that, if you add a resource, you own a bit of Brainify, which you collect as your share of the 30 percent that will be given back to users should the site ever be sold. Various Authors, Website, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Academia, Blackboard Inc.] [Link] [Comment]

VLE Debate: Where's the Debate?

This is one of those 'debates' live the ones they have on TV, where everybody involved comes from the same side. So of course there was "broad agreement" that while "a single institutional monolith is unlikely to find favour with most learners (students, teachers, administrators)... neither is the completely disaggregated approach of consuming feeds produced by a wide range of tools using an equally wide range of PLE components." Having just completed a course that amounts to such a disaggregated approach, I am left questioning this broad agreement. George Roberts, Weblog, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Video] [Link] [Comment]

Harder Vs. Smarter

"The biggest problem with U.S. public schools is ineffective teaching, according to decades of research." So writes Amanda Ripley in Time Magazine. The 'decades of research' appear to be a fabrication. My take: the greatest barrier to education is poverty and hardship. But instead of actually addressing poverty and hardship, a certain segment of society prefers to deflect the issue by blaming schools. And especially teachers. So we hear, over and over, that the unions prevent administrators from firing incompetent teachers. But this is not plausible. As I wrote yesterday, teachers are fired all the time, and on the flimsiest of excuses. So incompetent teachers can be fired. So it's not the teachers. It's the poverty. Still. Doug Noon, Borderland, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Schools, Research] [Link] [Comment]

When I Die who mourns my cyberlife?

NITROREV: Virtual Wake As I see Eduspaces - a social network I am part of - about to die and untimely death - I was wondering how to mourn the loss of those connections I made through this network. Then I encountered Stephen Taylor's blog entry where he muses about an actual incident of cyber friendship loss. It caused me a moment of thought. When I physically die, my cyber identityt continues on. The data remnants of my cyber activity exists - how will those I never met physically, yet socialized with electronically express condolences and grief? What happens to me cyber properties - do they revert to my heirs who have no interest in maintaining my blog entries and other data? Are they parsed out to my cyber friends? Further to this discussion I have a number of social software sites I maintain for educational institutions. Students post comments, reflections, artefacts and compile eportfolios. If a student does die, what is to be done with their entries? Do we just arbitrarily delete their account or maintain it in a condolences area? The expressions of grief, condolences and maintenance of cyber properties upon one's earthly death - these are issues we are yet to grapple with.

Cormier's Top ten Ed Stories 2007

Dave’s Educational Blog Dave Cormier lists his top ten tech ed stories of 2007 - number 10 is connectivism, number 1 is the action of one hacker to remove filtering software - what permeates all selections is openness and freedom and the need for effective education on the safe and efficient use of that openneness and freedom - kudos to Dave - always insightful

New MA program in Online Communities at USC

New MA program in Online Communities at USCUSC's pioneering Charles Annenberg Weingarten Program on Online Communities (APOC) is the first master’s program in the world to recognize that online communities are the future of our economic, political, and social lives. They are the most successful application of “Web 2.0” concepts, and are increasingly popular as well as critical to the success of a wide array of industries. APOC students learn, gain firsthand experience, and then create an online community, attaining a master’s degree in just a single year.

New MA program in Online Communities at USC

http://choicelearning.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-ma-program-in-online-commun

New MA program in Online Communities at USCUSC's pioneering Charles Annenberg Weingarten Program on Online Communities (APOC) is the first master’s program in the world to recognize that online communities are the future of our economic, political, and social lives. They are the most successful application of “Web 2.0” concepts, and are increasingly popular as well as critical to the success of a wide array of industries. APOC students learn, gain firsthand experience, and then create an online community, attaining a master’s degree in just a single year.

Cormier's Top ten Ed Stories 2007

http://choicelearning.blogspot.com/2007/12/cormiers-top-ten-ed-stories-200

Dave’s Educational Blog Dave Cormier lists his top ten tech ed stories of 2007 - number 10 is connectivism, number 1 is the action of one hacker to remove filtering software - what permeates all selections is openness and freedom and the need for effective education on the safe and efficient use of that openneness and freedom - kudos to Dave - always insightful

When I Die who mourns my cyberlife?

http://choicelearning.blogspot.com/2007/12/when-i-die-who-mourns-my-cyberl

NITROREV: Virtual Wake As I see Eduspaces - a social network I am part of - about to die and untimely death - I was wondering how to mourn the loss of those connections I made through this network. Then I encountered Stephen Taylor's blog entry where he muses about an actual incident of cyber friendship loss. It caused me a moment of thought. When I physically die, my cyber identityt continues on. The data remnants of my cyber activity exists - how will those I never met physically, yet socialized with electronically express condolences and grief? What happens to me cyber properties - do they revert to my heirs who have no interest in maintaining my blog entries and other data? Are they parsed out to my cyber friends? Further to this discussion I have a number of social software sites I maintain for educational institutions. Students post comments, reflections, artefacts and compile eportfolios. If a student does die, what is to be done with their entries? Do we just arbitrarily delete their account or maintain it in a condolences area? The expressions of grief, condolences and maintenance of cyber properties upon one's earthly death - these are issues we are yet to grapple with.

Old world copyright does not compute

Fair Use Vs. Free Speech in the Internet Age: The Lane Hartwell Problem

Item: non-profit music group Richter Scales create mash up video to present with their new song "The Bubble" - a parody on making it in the next big net bubble

Problem: after a million views on YouTube, video taken down because photographer Lane Hartwell objected to the unauthorized use of one of her photos in the video, then put up again with the offending photo replaced and a list of credits at the end for all the images used.

Real problem: the norms of the offline world and the emerging norms of the Internet are in conflict. People communicate on the web by sharing - reshaping images, audio - if you make it available expect it to be used. If you want to be part of a community - expect to share.

Solution - Payback: think of other forms than buying rights - maybe licensing - maybe trackbacks, leading to paid work

P.S. I just mashed techcrunch text - even stole straight lines. Copyright issue?

Rising gas prices equals rising interest in online courses

Fri Jun 13, 9:40 AM ET YaHoo News

Due to rising gas prices, online degree programs and distance learning options are skyrocketing according to a recent survey by Degree.com. Of those surveyed, 60 percent cited the high cost of gas as the reason for their interest in the internet education alternative.

(PRWEB) June 5, 2008 -- Degree.com, a website focusing on online degree programs and distance learning education, had 38 percent more visitors during April-May 2008 compared to February-March 2008, after adjusting for seasonal differences. In an informal survey of site visitors, the #1 reason for being interested in an online degree was “higher gas prices,” cited by 60 percent of those responding in May 2008. Other reasons given were convenience, parking, scheduling, babysitting and the cost of classes (http://www.degree.com).

In a comparable 2007 survey of visitors to Degree.com, the number 1 reason for interest in an online degree was “convenience,” with gas prices not even mentioned when the top five reasons were compiled. The surveys used a fill-in-the-blanks format rather than multiple choice, to increase the reliability of respondents’ answers.

“Gas is costing people upwards of $1000 a month,” says Sheila Danzig, who runs the Degree.com site. “And students are the last group who can afford that. Taking classes at home and other distance learning options allow students to avoid spending limited funds on gas and to have more time for a part-time job that helps pay the tuition bill. For the adult learner, online degree programs provide a perfect answer to a scarcity of time and resources, particularly for those who also work and have a family.”

Everyone wants to own me (data)

Item 1:
The Alumni Association at a Canadian University is offering a life time email account in cooperation with Google mail. maybe a note of caution is usefule here - Note that Google mail's terms of agreement include a statement of ownership:

11. Content licence from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.
11.2 You agree that this licence includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.
11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this licence shall permit Google to take these actions.
11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above licence.

So, Google wants to own me, my data and what about my security...

Item 2:

My Space, Facebook and now Google have announced a desire to be the central node for your personal profile and friends list, and allow you to move from social network to social network...

" Social networking site Facebook is following rival MySpace's lead by letting users transfer their personal profiles to other websites. Facebook will implement a system that allows its 70 million users to copy pictures, personal information and other customized applications established on its site to other websites without additional effort.
Users' privacy settings on Facebook will also remain in effect on external websites.
"We believe the next evolution of data portability is about much more than data," wrote Dave Morin on the social networking site's developer blog. "It's about giving users the ability to take their identity and friends with them around the Web, while being able to trust that their information is always up to date and always protected by their privacy settings."
Facebook's larger rival, MySpace, made a similar announcement on Tuesday. The social networking site, which has 120 million users, said it will allow users to move their profiles and media to partner websites, which so far include Yahoo Inc., eBay Inc., Photobucket and Twitter.
One of Facebook's initial partners will be news-ranking site Digg.com. Morin said Facebook will add more partners.

Ok here's my two cents:
I want data portability. I want to have an openID. I want to move in and out of various social networks - freely. I want a central homebase where my web identity lives. What I don't want is someone owning my data, my connections and my networking activity. Will any proprietary service alow me this freedom? No. is there another service available? No - not yet. We need a non-profit foundation to step in and act as the central hub for social network users - this is especially necessary in the educational arena as we move to lifelong learning and the development and maintenance of electronic portfolios - where will these perosnal learning maps reside? They certainly can't reside alongside the Google life long e-mail, nor should they reside on any proprietary learning management system.

We have a battle on our hands to ensure our web life remains (becomes) within our control.

A Tip in appreciation of posting

Tipjoy CrunchBase Company Profile

Now this is interesting - Tipjoy is a widget you can put on your blog where folks can "tip" you if they find your posting of particular value. Tipjoy will keep a record of those tips and when and IF the tipper decides to put real value behing their tipping gestures - each click of the “tip this” button sends bloggers a small fixed amount set by the tipper (10 cents is the default). 96% of tip amount goes to the blogger (2% goes toward PayPal fees and Tipjoy takes a 2% service fee).

Bloggers currently have two options for “withdrawing” their tips. They can either donate tips to charity or “buy” an Amazon gift card.

An interesting slice of human psychology - if I click a tip, will I feel obligated to follow through with my gesture? I'm a litle leary of putting this widget on my blog - mainly because I'm not here seeking remuneration for my postings - others linking to and or commenting on is my compensation.

making Social Sites Social

Further to Facebook cease and desist to Robert Scoble's scraping of his own data in Facebook -

1. Facebook doesn't play well with others.
Facebook Open Like A Granite Wall Compiler from Wired.com:
"As we’ve been repeating over an over again, Facebook doesn’t have an API. Flickr has an API, del.icio.us has an API, but Facebook doesn’t and that they would take legal action against code that allows what any self-respecting API is designed to do — import and export data — further demonstrates that Facebook just doesn’t get it."

2. We social members of innumerable social networks need an open social network protocol:
Content access controls - the ability to make some content visible to everyone and at the same time reserve other parts of content only for those visitors I’ve designated as “friends.”
Cross-interaction for existing Social Networks - Why can't I have all my social networks connected? Need: Incorporate your existing data while providing a way to define new friends without resorting to any specific social networking site.

3. Those connections I've made, that profile, those addresses, that content - it has no value unless I own it and can access it anywhere, anytime, across the web. So social networks! Be truly social. Play fair. Be nice. Share. Promote data portability.