Having Fun with Connectivism - #CCK11

Having some fun searching through the internet I came across a page that let's you find the shortest number of clicks from one Wikipedia article to another.  The example starts with Kevin Bacon to AI - 3 Clicks.

So I tried: Kevin Bacon to Connectivism - 5 Clicks
Kevin BaconChristmasGerman language-ismList of belief systemsConnectivism
I tried Kevin Bacon to George Siemens - 5 clicks because it includes the 4 clicks below:

To get from Kevin Bacon to Stephen Downes
Kevin BaconChicagoPublic Radio InternationalHistory of podcastingStephen DownesGeorge Siemens

and only 3 clicks to get from Stephen back to Kevin.

Stephen Downes
1959July 8Kevin Bacon
Oh the joys of Sunday afternoon.

Connectivism Word Cloud - #CCK11

I used Wordle and a popular tagged site for CCK11 - Welcome to Connectivism! — Connectivism

I love that Knowledge, Learning & Information really stand out.

Top 10 #lrnchat Tweets from Feb 24 Late Session

I'm a little late in posting this week's top 10, but here you go.  Once again this list is based on creativity, humour, sarcastic wit, and costume design. 

#lrnchat - Fact.  Tonight's session had 770 tweets.

Q0) We begin w/ a #lrnchat welcome: What have you learned today? If nothing fabulous, what have you learned this week?

08:49:54 pm dpelkins: Q0) Learned something extra super cool this week, but I’m not allowed to talk about it yet.  #lrnchat

(now that's just a tease)


Q1) What games do we play? #lrnchat

04:52:33 pm KristiBroom: Q1) I love clicking buttons and seeing what happens. Luckily, things don’t often blow up. #lrnchat

Q2) What are the most tedious (or stressful) tasks related to your work?  #lrnchat

08:56:51 pm minutebio: Q2) Playing helpdesk with WBT participants and LMS users #lrnchat

09:00:46 pm Quinnovator: Q2) stupid proprietary format incompatibilities.  Grr… #lrnchat

Q3) If we were to play our work as a game, what would be some of the rules?  #lrnchat 

09:09:12 pm kelly_smith01: Q3) As in Monopoly,  I am the banker. #lrnchat

09:10:38 pm elearningguy: Q3) exponential points for solving learning challenges with never-before-tried solutions (without first getting permissions) #lrnchat

09:11:17 pm mrch0mp3rs: Q3) Beard Rules: 3. Strike hard, strike fast, no mercy, keep moving, repeat. #lrnchat 

Q4) If work was a game, what would be the power-ups (items that give you extra power or make you feel better)? #lrnchat

09:22:12 pm LnDDave: Q4) My PLN is my Power Up. #lrnchat

09:26:35 pm dpelkins: Q4) Who knew? Q3 and Q4 have the same answer: juice and cookies!  #lrnchat

Q5) How would you recruit your allies if work was a game? #lrnchat

09:32:48 pm elearningguy: Q5) Come to the dark side.  We have cookies.  #lrnchat

09:33:46 pm mrch0mp3rs: Q5) Ask yourself (as I do)… what would The Beard do? #lrnchat

Now I want juice and cookies too.  (Tips for making the top 10 list, I can be bribed with milk and cookies - just a thought).

Personal Learning Environment & Networks (PLENKs) - Online Discussion (#CCK11)

Notes taken during today's online discussion.

Participants thoughts of PLEs

• All of my resources, tools, communities, and networks that I learn with every day.
• the tools, people, resources that I cultivate to create a learning ecosystem
• A self-created collection of resources and people
• Whatever in my environment supports learning
• what I lose when the web goes down
• The tools I use to connect to all "my twitter connections" and how I save that information
• A combination of tools, services and resources everyone uses in the process of personal knowledge garden.

What are the problems that PLEs solve?

• PLE captures the creative tension between individual & system
• The learning I want is scattered everywhere an the PLE is my collection of knowledge/artifacts I want
• Helps to organize the chaos of what I find interesting
• Connect the dots in my learning
• Lifelong learning
• Nearer to the "normal" ways of learning
• Build upon ideas earlier and provide feedback
• Captures the creative tension between individual and system
• PLE transverse the Silo effect

(PLE Example) Skip Ward Houston: http://change-leadershipllc.com/learning/?p=144

Participant thought - "A PLE provides a way to think about how learning is happening to me. I don't have to be here to learn.  I choose to be here.  I choose the tools I want to use here.  A PLE let's be approach the learning in a what that is physically and mentally occurring in similar ways."

MOOC - demonstrates the incoheresion that exists in learning


BrainySmurf:

• organizing the chaos (or info tsunami (Dec 23, 2004) as Jay Cross calls it) is so vital to my daily life now
• seems to me what's really new and pervasive now is access to multiple sources of info rather than "one source" (teacher/expert)

Learning literacy that a PLE Supports:

PLEs develop and have you create pattern recognition

Within your environment you analyzing items (learning elements) as they come in and you aren't just remembering and aggregating them, but you are recognizing patterns and you develop your own "categorizing" of forms, rules, similarities, and principles" between all the items that come in.  You are performing a cognitive task.

This pattern creation explains what I have been doing (in my opinion) when I collect info from my social networks and collect it into EVERNOTE. I seem to be able to retrieve the info even though I have thousands of items collected because of the patterns I have developed. Didn't know until now...this is how I was doing it.


Tracy Parish: This pattern creation explains what I have been doing (in my opinion) when I collect info from my social networks and collect it into EVERNOTE.  I seem to be able to retrieve the info even though I have thousands of items collected because of the patterns I have developed.  Didn't know until now...this is how I was doing it.

Lisa M Lane: the further I go into pattern recognition/creation, though, the more I lose my control of the specific content - I often can't find it again

Moderator (George Siemens): Here's a short post on how I manage information: https://landing.athabascau.ca/pg/blog/gsiemens/read/19803/how-do-you-manage-your-information
and more about "narratives of coherence" http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=220

Jenny Mackness: "Worried about "knocking" teachers, many are very talented and are working against the constraints of systems and are being brilliant in the way they are doing it."
Moderator (George Siemens): RESPONSE - the more structure a system the more tasks and roles required.  This creates "we have to do it this way". The old way is a good structured teacher with good outcomes gets the acknowledgement first.
Moderator (George Siemens): http://jennymackness.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/attacks-on-connectivism/
Moderator (Stephen Downes): The Role of the Educator: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-downes/the-role-of-the-educator_b_790937.html

Tracy Parish: Great post from Thomas Baker in conjunction to Stephen's Huffington post http://profesorbaker.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/23-educator-roles-an-imagined-interview-with-stephen-downes-cck11/


What do we need to be aware moving forward with PLEs?

• Transient of service
• If Evernote shut down, I might have to die
• You need a back up plan
• Informal and formal identity as official practitioner
• No concerns, what you forget, was not important
• Contrived PLEs when they are taught out of context
• Where is the teacher in a PLE
• Multiplicty of services
• If Internet fails, we would revert to old model of ed
• Getting my stuff out of the PLE
• Is PLE only an online environment
• What are pedagogical implications of PLEs for our learning practices in the era of network
• Institutionally difficult to support chaotic
• Validation of the content that is out there
• Getting children to learn the basics, before setting them free to learn

LeahGrrl: http://leahgrrl.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/cck11-connectivism-in-action/ Moderator (George Siemens): @leah - thanks for that link! "Programming is the new literacy of the digital age"



Cris2B: I don't think we'd be talking about PLEs today if Web 2.0 had not opened up the Internet

Moderator (George Siemens): Web 2.0 opened access to the net, made it more accessible to all, but closed it as well.  Far easier to create an account in Facebook then it is sometimes to create a WordPress blog.  Not open in terms of "free speech."

keith.hamon: Interesting link about effort to create a distributed network: http://emergentbydesign.com/2011/02/22/towards-a-distributed-internet/

Moderator (Stephen Downes): Connecting one account to others is difficult.  Facebook is doing this well though.
 
Moderator (George Siemens): The connections are what created value in PLEs.  The knowledge is created by the connections at a minimum.  Everytime Facebook manages to link to something else it gets users more integrated, more "locked in" or "invested into" the service.  Moderator (Stephen Downes): a 'connective lock-in'
 
Moderator (Stephen Downes): There is zero support for a PLE out there because there are so many players who want to *own* the connections. 

The knowledge is the connection.  If Facebook is the connection, it owns the knowledge and ownership of the connection is everything is this present society.

Lisa M Lane: ownership of the means of connection

Ad Inspired Template Design

The other day I read the latest posting on The Rapid eLearning Blog - 5 E-Learning Design Ideas I Got While Traveling.  Essentially it was about finding inspiration for templates and elements that might be used when creating elearning courses.

I knew that Tom Kuhlmann has been doing this king of seek and create for a long time and I started the practice as well.  I however, keep collecting the ideas, but fail to create much with them.

His blog posting had a challenge to use three different images to create elearning elements which he will be sharing in a future posting.  I submitted one for that purpose, but ti got me looking at some of my other collected ideas and what I could create.

Here is one that is based on this advertisement (Mohawk University ad, found in Training Magazine Jan/Feb 2011):

Ad Image

My Version

Link to download template

I will say that I think my version is very literal.  Perhaps I haven't had enough practice with creating these and pulling out elements from these items of inspiration.  However, I hope that with more practice in creating templates and elearning elements I will only get better.

OER (Open Education Resources) - an overview with Cable Green (CCK11)

Guest Speaker:

Cable Green - http://www.educause.edu/Community/MemDir/Profiles/CableGreen/42658
Director of eLearning & Open Education


Discussion of Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges

http://blog.oer.sbctc.edu/

http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/general/a_strategictechplan.aspx - Strategic Technology Plan - faculties in higher institutions will begin to share all information and those that do will survive.

http://opencourselibrary.org/  or http://www.sbctc.edu/college/_e-elearningopencourselibrary.aspx Sharing and building quality, educational materials so more people can access and succeed in higher education.
 - Working with textbook companies to help include information.  Faculty are unwilling to give up on quality and the textbook companies have the better quality information.  (perhaps the right searching tools and techniques are not available).
- Washington State will be getting this material "with or without the textbook companies, but would rather do it with the them".
-No longer standing by $100+ textbooks.  Must be cheaper and affordable.  When public funds are used to produce (something) it should have an open license on it. CC by licence ideally.

Another goal:
Taking 34+ colleges (institutions) from the thinking that "it's mine" to "proudly borrowed from there".

Common Cartridge: http://www.imsglobal.org/commoncartridge.html - from Global Learning Consortium

Open Licensing on Competive Grants http://www.sbctc.edu/general/admin/Tab_9_Open_Licensing_Policy.pdf
 "All digital software, education resources and knowledge produced through competitive grants, offered through and/or managed by the SBCTC, will carry a Creative Commons Attribution License."

Moderator (Stephen Downes): Either LGP-L or BSD license - allows open sourcing, allows commercial development

(benefits example - you share, someone else takes, modifies, improves upon, reshares)

LeahGrrl 1: "Survivors develop agendas for change while things are in flux." (Internet Time Alliance)
http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/read-the-declaration


Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources - http://oerconsortium.org/
 
----------------------------
 
Open Discussion:
 
MIT OpenCourseWare Turns 10: What's Next for Open Education?

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mit_opencourseware_turns_10_celebrating_a_decade_o.php
 
Quality OERs units + PLEs + Internet + Assessment + Accreditation = new educational models / opportunities
 
Example in US:
Higher Education = $10 Billion (from students, students get it from federal $, state $, cash, debt)
 
Text books in school tend to be 5-6 years old. 
 
Open license - with $10B for K-20 will cover:

• 150 highest enrolled courses in higher ed (BAs, BSc, etc)
• open textbooks - instructional materials
• open course ware
• K-12 (8 subjects each grade)
• open textbooks & materials
• open course ware

We need

• Quality
• CC BY
• C - fed, states
• RFP

Example: English 101 - 50000 students

Recommend checking out the recording of this webinar if you get the chance.  It's extremely interesting the position Washington State has taken on OERs.

Thoughts on a group vs. a network - CCK11

Some argue they are two separate things others believe they are one and the same. For me they individual.

A network (of persons) to me is a bunch of people that are connected together by one or more commonality. For example most of the people I follow on Twitter have some interest in elearning, instructive design, and/or social media. (Except of course for the several UFC fighters I follow - #guiltypleasure).

These people in the network come and go in and out of "daily twitter existence" with various bits of information. The thing here to note is that even though we are all connected, we are not all present every day contributing to the network of info. The network more so has and ebb and flow to its existence and I think even usefulness to the participants. We go to it when we have information to share and when we seek information, collaboration, review, etc.

I see a group as coming together or being formed for some specific purpose. If I think of and online class, then this is a group of people who may not participate daily, but mostly likely have a set of tasks that they have to perform weekly. That is there is a task or tasks within the group (a purpose) and there is a time line to perform such tasks.

This is not to say that once the class is finished that members of the group may no longer connect with one another. However, once the purpose has been fulfilled the connection of people now become a network or people with a commonality. They were all part of the class.

My conundrum now however, is what is CCK11? This is technically a course even through there is no concrete collaborative space or learning platform. There is a group of people within the overall enrollment of participants that are doing the course for credit. So I refer to them as a group because they have a purpose and a time frame in which to accomplish the purpose.

The other participants have a purpose, which is to learn about connectivism. The course runs for a certain amount of time, so there is a set time to complete this learning in. However, these participants come and go in and out of the "class". They can seek as much info as they wish. They can contribute as much as they wish. However, they don't need to do either.

So are these particular participants a network or a group? Of this I'm still unsure. I think if they participate regularly and set themselves time frames or goals to accomplish. Even if those goals are the tasks of the course. Then yes they are a group. If they participate only here and there and "check in" to the material or discussion occasionally, then they are part of the overall network of CCK. This would includes those participants that have joined in from previous sessions of CCK.

I'd be more than happy to hear any thoughts that others have on my position of groups versus networks. Do you think I'm correct in my outline above or way off? Feel free to comment.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Top 10 #lrnchat Tweets from Feb 17 Late Session

Well this was fun last week, so here we go again.  (Man it's hard to pick only 10...so I snuck in 11, but I could have made it about 30...great chat)

Q0) We begin w/ a #lrnchat welcome: What have you learned today? If nothing fabulous, what have you learned this week?

08:41:33 pm LandDDave: Q0) I learned that the more the snow melts, the less tolerant I become for the Christmas lights that are still hung.  #Lrnchat

Q1) What has innovated your practice as a learning professional? This might be a tool, technology or trend #lrnchat

08:51:28 pm ilearnatwork: q1) and playing – seeing where it takes you #lrnchat

8:49:33 pm Quinnovator: Q1) blogging, tweeting, presenting, writing. Read: risk-taking.  #lrnchat

Q2) What tools/technologies do you use routinely that you never expected to see yourself using? #lrnchat

08:58:05 pm JaneBozarth: Q2 cell phone as constant companion, though I rarely use it as a phone #lrnchat

09:00:30 pm minutebio: Q2) I have a time machine and after every Lrnchat I go to 2002 and make courses in Authorware. #lrnchat

Q3) If you were stranded on a desert island with a laptop, endless power, and WiFi, which tools could you not live without? #lrnchat 
(seriously...look at the answers on this one in the transcipt.  I was laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes)

09:10:10 pm LandDDave: Q3) If I were were stranded on a desert island with a wifi connection… I wouldn’t be stranded on a desert island.  #lrnchat

09:15:06 pm jaycross: Q3) Desert island? CARE packages. Babes parachuting in. Maybe an iPhone. Oops. Substitute “wife” for “babes”.  #lrnchat

Q4) What tool(s) do you no longer use – and why? #lrnchat

09:23:26 pm OpenSesameNow: Q4) Um, any tools/software I have to pay for? #lrnchat

09:31:26 pm kelly_smith01: Q4) The screach of a modem’s handshake. #lrnchat

Q5) What tool/tech (or feature of existing tool) are you waiting for to be developed? #lrnchat
(This one too - lrnchat peeps are extremely creative when asked to be.  LOLOLOL)

09:34:16 pm xlents_com: Q5 still waiting for my electric flying car to fold up into a briefcase - a la George Jetson  #lrnchat

09:38:28 pm minutebio: RT @shiftguru: Q5) an influencing ray to reprogram unwilling or ignorant stakeholders | A SME-Ray would be good too #lrnchat

Well that was fun selecting several of the best (meaning funny, sarcastic, retweeted, amusing) tweets, and was actually a lot more difficult than I imagined.  I should have remembered the brilliance that appears during #lrnchat.


See you next week.

Thoughts on Connectivism as a Learning Theory - CCK11

I began this course on Connectivism, Networked Learning and Connective Knowledge, well frankly because it was a course that was part of a certificate that seemed really interesting and it was starting the 2 days after I found out about it.  I had looked into it a few years ago, but didn't have the time at that point to commit to the course.   So, when I began this five weeks ago I really had no idea what I was in for, and now I need to express some thoughts on what I think about Connectivism as a Learning Theory.

I'm not going to argue one way or the other on whether it is a new theory or not.  I really have no idea or true position on the point.  When I read some of the criticisms against it being a theory I can understand why they are said.  But, I have been more drawn to believe that this is a new theory or at least the development of a new theory.  Perhaps the facilitators would agree as well on the development portion.  The first two weeks of this course were the most informative of any course I have ever taken.

During the first week I was really intrigued that this online course would not be presented on any particular teaching platform.  My colleague at work, bounded and overwhelmed by countless icons in Blackboard course was extremely jealous.  Readings are giving to the participants (some of whom are doing the course for credit, but approximately 80% are just participating to learn) and we're given the option to reflect on the work, re-purpose it, share it, tag it, or do nothing with it.  This seemed similar to the work I had done in online courses on discussion boards except this time I'm writing my perceptions into my blog, tweeting them or bookmarking items of interest and then commenting back on others' writings.  Again minus the platform.

By week two I suddenly understood.  I was not participating in a course without a platform, I was creating the very connections and nodes that the course was meant to explain to me.  I was seeking out the learnings, reflections and perceptions of others based on a weekly topic.  With approximately 200-300 participants is this year's session of the course it is impossible to maintain a home life and a work life and still read all of the participants' items.  However, as the course or theory proposes, I have begun to form connections with other participants in the class with which I relate.  Whether it is because of background or more often it seems that the language, imagery, and other artifacts (videos, images, etc.) they use to explain their perceptions are familiar to me and I understand the points they are making.

By participating in this course trying to understand and learning about connectivism, participating has been the most mind opening experience.  Not only have I created many new connections I can see the variety or patterns in these connections as well as the fact that I have realized how many other connections or networks of which I am a member.  I recently posted on my blog "Proud Connections to the Blue Cloud People" and won't repeat it here, but in this posting I was happy to discover and point out some of the connections I have formed with other elearning professionals.

These people are where I find the most value and meaning in Connectivism.  This is where I gain my knowledge from and share it back.  Daily and sometimes hourly I am learning new information from this brilliant set of minds and I hope that I too and allowing them to learn from me.  Many of the items I learn from them I don't pick up instantly and this is where I think the idea of being able to know how to navigate your connections and recognize patterns comes into play.  Many if the items that I find of interest I capture and save in a tool called Evernote.  The tool doesn't matter, but what does matter is that for the brief instant of copying and pasting something as simple as this image below allows me to "tag" it in my mind.  It's like bookmarking the idea and when the time comes for me to need this piece of information.  I don't KNOW it, but I do know how to access how I have stored it away, then how to navigate to learn and apply the information.

Often in this particular network I see (and I have myself) people that are part of the network using patterns or analyzing the network to find a piece of information.  They too have "bookmarked" a piece of information and then will put a message out to only 2-3 people of a thousand person network to find that information.  I/we have created patterns, without realizing it, and know that some people within the network will know how to access some information and others in the network will more quickly help us to access other information.  (Example: if I think I know someone...a woman....created a video about making an iphone app for a course.  I would look to my "bookmarks" to see if I saved it, and if not I would contact Jeanette, Jenise and Stephanie, because I would be almost convinced one of the three of them created it or could point me to it.)

I almost wrote early "how many networks that I created", but to me that seems almost impossible.  It appears and I think this is also what Connectivism speaks to, is that the knowledge already exists out in the minds of many.  It is about creating and developing connections to those many people that allows you to learn and formulate your own understanding of the material re-purpose it for your needs and share it to others that are also seeking to understand.  The more perspectives that are created the more the knowledge base and understanding grows amongst all.

As mentioned initially I have no position on whether this is truly a theory or not, but the methods and ideas within it fit for me and my learning.  It certainly fits for the learning mind frame I am currently in and the way in which I am gaining more knowledge and understanding of this course material.  I only can hope to understand it more fully by the end of the program, but suspect that it will continue well into the future.

It seems to me that "You don't know, what you don't know, but if you can learn to navigate your way to it, you just might learn some a bit more."

Some CCK11 Notes from Class Discussion with George Siemens

W1 - define was connectivism is.  Our knowledge is connected across networks, it's not just in our heads.  We learn how to access that information using various tools and "connections".  New research and new information keeps changing the information we have.  We don't learn everything in our head.

What is a learning theory? - describes how learning happens or how it occurs.  A learning theory should meet these and these needs and then show how it is occurring.

W2 - we have to be conscious of the patterns that form.

W3 - Don't get hung up on the topic of knowledge.  There is a body of theorizing around what is knowledge.

W4 - Is it unique?

You don't know what you don't know, but what you do know, you discover how to access.

W5 - IRRODL.org
What do you see as the relationship between connectivism and constructivism?  connecting and constructing.

Think of substrates and a mesh.  3 substrates -

1st substrate - biological basis (what is happening in our head?) (do we see a ball rolling in our head, no we see a shape, colours, movement, etc and this stitches together so we "know" it's a ball rolling).
2nd substrate - conceptual - how we bring ideas together.  Linking data.  Ie: if you are going to understand physics you need to know x, y, z, etc. all these are related.  If anyone comes along and says something different than x, y, z then it is our job to decided if it is correct and in addition to or different then what we previously knew.  Align or grow our perceptions within a discipline.

3rd substrate- external/social aspect of learning.  How we are connected to each other is our capacity to know?  Who we are connected to is going to determine who we are (choose your friends wisely).  Our relation to others can determine our happiness, health, physical wellbeing.

Book reference. http://connectedthebook.com/ 

You're not at substrate 1, 2 or 3 you are constantly moving through the mesh of these 3.

The distinction is that these are views of learning that explain the process of learning, but not the biological and certainly not the conceptualizing of learning.  Connectivism incorporates all 3 of these substrates.

Student: Learning, by definition, focuses on "biological learning". Connectivism goes beyond biological learning to include "learning or knowledge in non-human devices" as well. So, Learning Theory is a subset of the theory of connectivism.

George: Perhaps not fully.  My argument, all life is a learning process, not just what happens at school. ( I didn't do George justice in capturing his response).

Top 10 #lrnchat Tweets from Feb 10 Late Session

I've teamed up with Bill Cushard to bring you the Top 10 Tweets from the evening session of #lrnchat.  You can find Bill's morning Top 10 here: Luminary Learning (Feb. 10th's)


The Top 10 Tweets from the afternoon #lrnchat session on February 10. The only criteria I'm basing this on is following Bill's method to capture those tweets that are "based on my whimsical nature and love of dogeral and quick, dry wit. I ranked the tweets based on the order of the discussion questions and not based on worst to best or best to worst." 


Q0) We begin w/ a #lrnchat welcome: What have you learned today? If nothing fabulous, what have you learned this week?

08:43:54 pm olliegardener: q0) learnING that 2.30 am is a silly hour to be awake for a #lrnchat #lrnchat

04:39:06 pm megbertapelle: Q0) Pocket Frogs is addicting. I need a 12-step program… #lrnchat

 

Q1) If we could wipe the slate clean, what would online learning look like?#lrnchat
 

08:52:48 pm TriciaRansom: RT @kelly_smith01: Q1) Less ADDIE – More Geary. #lrnchat <– DRINK! DRINK!

04:48:37 pm learninganorak: Q1 People would get brownie points for being helpful and supportive, not just for selling the most widgets (or whatever) #lrnchat
04:48:52 pm LandDDave: Q1) There would be a written law banning NEXT buttons. #lrnchat

Q2) Which are more important “learning outcomes” or “performance outcomes”? #lrnchat

04:58:53 pm bschlenker: Q2) Peformance! Next question! #lrnchat

05:01:41 pm LandDDave: Q2) Hmm.. Do I want my heart surgeon to understand how to perform my surgery, or do I want him effective at doing it? #lrnchat

 

Q3) If we could wipe the slate clean, what sorts of tools would be necessary in corporate learning?#lrnchat

09:10:48 pm jaycross: Q3) Tools? We’ll take advantage of the tools the web brings us. We will ride on rails that were put down for other purposes. #lrnchat

Q4) How would people need to be different in your dream corp learning world? #lrnchat

09:23:42 pm KristiBroom: Q4) I don’t think the problems are with the people (always). I think it’s the processes/structures we impose on them. #lrnchat

Q5) What are some things you can do to work toward that dream state?#lrnchat

09:37:13 pm davidbell02: Q5) Be creative and dare to do what has not been done… #lrnchat

Well that was fun selecting 10 of the best tweets, and was actually a lot more difficult than I imagined.  I should have remembered the brilliance that appears during #lrnchat.


See you next week.

Managing and creating your own catalog of template resources

I created a screenr yesterday to share how I've decided to start cataloging all the elearning templates I collect.  Basically I took screen shots of my templates, pasted them onto slides within powerpoint using one slide for each template.  Now I have a plalce that I can quickly visually scan the ones that I have instead of trying to remember how each template looks based only on its file name.

 

http://screenr.com/Yyb

Here is a link to my current collection.  If there are any that you would like and are missing from your own catalog please contact me and I'll be happy to share them.  I've collected them from various blogs and might not remember the exact link to send you to the blog directly.

Social Media & Education - Reasons to be Fearful by Neil Selwyn (CCK11 live chat)

Social media and technology in education is exciting to be passionate about, but we need to also be caution and critical of some of the elements that this can bring the the teaching world.

Paper by Neil
Neil's publication page
4 areas to be concerned about (talking points that are being considered "out there")

Jonas Backelin: Fearful vs. excited

1 - Acknowledging the ideological nature of social media and education

• nothing is cut and dry
• there are not just technical issues to consider
• there are ethical issues too
• Michael Apple - Whose interest do technology in education serve.  Whose agenda is met.
• Various agendas:
• technophiles, '
• counter-cultural communitarians (hippy new age - making the work a better place),
• social pedagogues (redefine what users/learners are doing) ,
• radical individualist (individual should pursue their own interests)
• anti-statists (removal of the state from education)
• free-marketeers (can lead to the enhanced efficiency of education)
• Landgon Winner (1997) - cyberlibertarianism - a collection of ideas that links ecstatic enthusiasm for electronically mediated forms of living with radical libertarian ideas about the proper definition of freedom, social life, economics, and politics in the years to come.
• Where are things not changing, what is not changing for the better, where are problems sticking, what are new problems, who wins or loses using these tools, who gains from the use of the tools

Moderator (Stephen Downes): I'm actually in favour of using technology for stealth socialism
dustproduction: Immersve virtual worlds are also social media, and students are spending the same time, 10,000 hours gaming. This equals the hours spent in school.

NinaF: Definitely see that education is becoming more commodified.
FrancesBell: Agree - use of social media is not neutral - particularly when Facebook treats members as product not customers
the digital conservatoire: I think nothing can ever be neutral - of course our views are skewed by whatever our ideological stance is. I just find that people have not quite got the hang of technology - in terms of how to exploit its potential
Jennie Scott-McKenzie (jennieteacher): I am equally committed to getting schools outside - physically and in the community as well as using social media to apply our humanity in those local/global actions. I don't see it as all or nothing...
BrainySmurf: it seems that 'control' of education is more obviously in hands of users/learners in the past, which seems inevitable now that knowledge is easily accessible outside of classroom fredgarnett: Technology not neutral, but new media is adopted according to the degree that it patterns to conversation (Digital McLuhan)
 
2. The over-valorisation of the informal and the institutionalised

• the rush to reject the institution

Wanda Simpson: needs to be a blending of informal/institutional learning & technologies
dustproduction: so remove the technology and the social media is  still "emergent"

• Geeking out on social media tools,
• people who are good at learning find all sorts of ways to learn
• We under appreciate formal education (not popular to say, but it is true and we may miss out on true value)

Moderator (Stephen Downes): The best predictor of learning outcomes in general (and not just informal) is social-economic status
Moderator (George Siemens): interesting: formal learning as "equality of opportunity to access learning opportunity" johngriffin0928: I learn certainly things autonomously. I need help with other areas.
Jennie Scott-McKenzie (jennieteacher): the problem isn't expertise - it's the way it is delivered by the "classic learner" that has floated to the top of a "classic system" to teach in a "classic way"

• Remember we don't know what we don't know, and sometimes we need to be told what that is.

Stu Harris 1: balance is the key word
Moderator (Stephen Downes): the difference isn't between 'learn in a formal classroom' and 'learn by yourself / learn by discovery'

• People arguing to get rid of schools tend to be those that did well not in formal school

Cris2B: "end of school" is much like "end of newspapers" as Shirky argues we're lamenting the institutions as we know them and not as they need to evolve
BrainySmurf: @George, yes online is presenting new roles for formal institutions if they choose to embrace it
Stu Harris 1: all learning institutions should be constantly working to improve the learning environment.
Jennifer Dalby: I think we've come to this position because we started with the agenda of achieving recognition for informal learning.
BrainySmurf: @George, yes online is presenting new roles for formal institutions if they choose to embrace it
Mike Johnson: many learning technologists are so immersed in technology they forget those who could care less about it - the Selwyn critique has massive resonance with me and my students
Simon Fowler: @neil, I totally agree ... it does seem rooted in a post-modern suspicion of 'authority' and 'power' - as though we the free people don't seek, exercise and need authority and power (i.e. we want 'empowerment')

• should everyone know some sort of "programming", some sort of technology as this is the way information does seem to be moving and transferring around?
• Critical literacy vs. technical literacy (formal seems to promote this more) - critical digital literacy (better)

Jennifer Dalby: If new people don't learn programming, we'll only have technologies designed to influence consumer behaviour
Moderator (Stephen Downes):Those keen on formal, you do not "hear" say that you can't learn socially.  That you can only learn formally as well.
carol yeager: @Stephen ... solo learning is possible but is it preferable? and to what extent can one learn as a solo silo?

Value of formal education, gives those that are migeralized that can't access informal learning modes, gives more equality in education.

Moderator (Stephen Downes):It's not just "individual vs collective" but rather "individual vs Collect model A" and "individual vs collective model B" etc

3. Social media are not necessarily fair media

• not everyone has access to the same tools let alone computers or technology
• difference even in the nature of the use of the media
• more are okay with just consuming, but not as many produce and this is the opposite to "the purpose" of social media (perhaps)

Jennifer Dalby: There's a kind of digital charisma that comes into play, that is rarely acknowledged.
JGChesney: but the 1% who blog, 9% who comment and 90% who read are a far bit better than the passive culture taught by TV consumption by the previous generation
LeahGrrl: @Stu: Here, those percentages are reversed. Most kids don't get through high school in urban Columbus, Ohio.

• You learn more from doing (ie adding to wikipedia you learn about wikipedia, than just reading)
• learning in groups is a fair way to learn (perhaps not a good way)

Moderator (Stephen Downes): I think eventually everyone will have their own server (much the way everyone has their own telephone)
Stu Harris 1: @jonas    I think technology should not be as defined in schools.  It should be available and used for the purpose that presents itself at the time and in the context
DUMACORNELLUCIANro @web20education: I think that web 2.0 and social media can bring a new dimension and redorm education worldwide http://www.scoop.it/t/web20andsocialmediaesafetyinxxicenturyeducation/

BrainySmurf: in social media circles it seems a bit easier to reject those with whom we don't jive and find others with whom we do - seems a bit hard in person to do that
Abdullah: social media from my point of view provides more fairness for handicapped people who might find it difficult to "get out" to socialize. Of course there is this condition that they need to have internet connection.
fredgarnett: @Neil, when the LGC group developed the Open Context Model of Learning, based on what we learnt about learning from using new technology we deliberately left out any technology descriptors so people could think about learning; see http://www.slideshare.net/fredgarnett/the-craft-of-teaching-2011


4.  Social media and commodification of learning

• principles of social media are going main stream
• often about politics

Look to the recording of this talk.  My notes here are very minimal to what was discussed by the presenter and even less so of the classmates chat discussion. http://cck11.mooc.ca/recordings.htm

Proud Connections to the Blue Cloud People

"Looking at Your Connection Network with New Eyes"

So last week when I saw that you make a visualized map of your connections on Linkedin I thought excellent, I want to see how mine compares to the example they show.  And voila here it is.

Compared with examples I was kind of embarrassed on how small mine was.  It didn't look very dynamic or exciting at all.  How was I to share this with #CCK11?  Look how few connections I have.  I need more peers!!!

So I decided to keep it to myself.  Don't let anyone see how "unconnected" I am.  Then I re-looked at it today with a new set of eyes.

Let's give some context  here.  I'm in the middle of the network.  The green dots represent some of my organizational development contacts.  The orange dots are some colleagues from an improv troupe I once belonged to.  The pink dots are some of my colleagues from work (I'm adding to that).  The red dots either don't have a category or fall somewhere into the ones represented.  Then there is the large blue cloud of dots. That represents my elearning network of peers.  Some of these people I've met in person once or twice, but very few of them have I every laid eyes on.  These are my connections I have made purely through social networking.

Now that is a powerful statement.  I'm more connected to people I've never met face to face then I am to co-workers in my on organization and there are 2800 of them (there's about 15 dots represented by organization staff).

So several things come to me from this diagram.  Thinking from a career and work perspective I have more in common with the Blue Cloud people then with the people I interact with daily at my place of employment.  In fact to be honest I believe I interact with the Blue Cloud people more on a daily basis.  (face to face is over rated ;) - I jest).

The connections within the Blue Cloud are astounding.  There are so many interconnections within that network.  Truly a group of peers that connect and related to one another on many levels.  The links between the people are so great that they are almost solid.  I know many of these people here have a great number of further connections to other Blue Cloud people so the network I have represented is probably 1/10th the number of people that are actually in that cloud if with expanded it further and further to second connections.  Most probably my connections are 1/1000th of the secondary connections of those people, maybe more as I am only guessing.

Another very striking observation for me, and this is in light of some of the controversy at our organization about social networking and social learning, is that I am a bridge between those that I know are using and getting the significance of social networking and those that do not.  The people in the Blue Cloud my not understand it (and many might as they are a part of CCK11 or past CCK's), but they are all apart of my connected knowledge.  These are the very people that I connect with daily.  These are the people that are finding information, reworking it, retooling it, re-purposing it, sharing it back into the network for more of the Blue Cloud people to find, rework, retool, re-purpose and share back into the network.

This extremely tight network, and I say that because I have observed over the past several years that anyone with in this network can ask a question or look for feedback and some part (people) of the network always responds immediately.  Not an hour from posting the question and not a day, almost instantly someone answers back.

If I could post my Twitter network in a visual display such as the Linkedin one my Blue Cloud people would be more accurately represented.  The image above does not show the 900+ people in my Blue Cloud (elearning peers) network.  That is my place for connecting my knowledge to them and they to me.  That is where we share and learn together.

Small representation of twitter network - not great.

So the diagram above that bridges me between those that get it and those that are trying to understand, I believe will be a very powerful tool as I move forward in my organization being a champion for social learning and reasoning behind the need for connective knowledge.

Thinking Inside of the Circle May Be Just What You Need

Okay, so the real saying is "Think Outside of the Box", but two postings I saw this recently were so far out of the box for me that I started to wonder if it's a way of thinking I can every accomplish.  Maybe my thinking is outside sometimes, but the real genius is inside the circle or tip-toeing around the triangle or maybe skipping around the hexagon.  Whatever the phrase might be, these two gentlemen displayed some great ingenuity.

Bruce Graham is one of these gentleman.  He's a frequent responder in the Articulate Community forum (a place where users of Articulate can gather help on the product in general, but more specifically on elearning design and delivery tips, tricks, and general idea sharing).  Recently someone (Jenise Cook) asked about her course on protecting your SIN#.  She was just looking for some different ways to perhaps present the material.  Various ideas were shared by a few different community members, but the one that stuck out for me was Bruce's.

His thought, which again I thought was brilliant, was to present the material back to the learner in a completely sarcastic manner.  In a way this would showcase to the learner that the main points of the lesson should be "so obvious" to the average user that there should be know doubt in their mind that they should know and remember this information.  The "over the top" course would reinforce the lesson, most likely, in a humoristic manner that would stick to the learner.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing hobbies in America. Anyone who has your Social Security number can use it to get other personal information about you. But HEY!. That's OK - we're all friends here.  Lesson One - DO NOT MAKE EFFORTS TO PROTECT YOUR NUMBER

The lesson is filled with humour and sarcasm (maybe way I like it so much), but the overall summary or morale of each lesson is solid and factful.  A brilliant twist on a normal lesson delivery.  Spin the tale into a way the learner would never imagine.  Shock them with the material and it will stick.

The other example of ingenuity was from Thomas Baker (and if you haven't added his blog to your readings you should - an incredible and fun interactive teacher).  How much do you love this pic?

At Universidad de los Andes in Santiago, Chile. Thomas Baker having fun in class doing Limbo. Students waiting on their turn. (Source: La Tercera newspaper) via Final: The 80-20 Rule Re-Visited: Implications for Teacher Talking Time #ELTchat (blog posting)

His example to think differently about how to present material came from a posting he did on his blog 23 Educator Roles an Imagined Interview with Stephen Downes.  We've been taking CCK11 together this year and Stephen is one of the co-facilitators of the "course" (MOOC).  Thomas took an article (The Role of the Educator)  from the Huffington Post written by Stephen Downes and then re-wrote it into his blog as a series of questions and answers.  As if he was the one giving Stephen the interview.  Asking him questions of the material that was in the article and then using the article material as the answer to the question.

What a simple yet ingenious way to present material back to a learner in a different format.  It broke a long article in to manageable chunks.  It place that bit of human interaction back into what was just text and from, originally, one perspective.  More importantly it was well received by Stephen as well.

These two examples have me looking for more and more ways to think very differently about the way I would  like to present courses to learners.  Give them something they don't expect and look at the material from a completely different point of view.  I will be watching, reading and learning from these gentlemen for many years to come.  I thank them both for opening my mind to new and different possibilities.