Social Networking

Today I will be presenting a social networking demo for our college’s Web Council. I want to keep it short because we have other issues to talk about including the Website redesign update. I want to focus on just a few social networks or more precisely Web 2.0 applications. These applications include; Facebook, Wikipedia, blogs, Wikis, electronic portfolios and Google Apps for Education.

Facebook – Originally launched by a student at Harvard University as a way to keep in contact with fellow classmates. Now Facebook has expanded to everyone who has a official e-mail address. With Facebook you can choose to join one or more networks like College of Southern Maryland. This allows users to stay connected with users of the same network. http://www.facebook.com

Wikipedia – Written collaboratively by volunteers from everywhere, anytime by anyone. Did you know the college has a Wiki site? Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_Southern_Maryland.

Blog – Unique in that blogs are owned by an individual. The nature of the blog is to invite comments, suggestions and additions for the public. This idea is similar to social networking in that is shares features of personal expressions. It also serves as a location to share and connect to other web resources.

Wiki – Similar to a blog but work is completed as a collective unit. This collaborative environment is idea fro groups and committees/team assignments. This application is a tool for thinking, reflecting, creating and commenting.

Electronic Portfolios – Wikis, blogs and social networks have all influenced ePortfolios over the last five years. With Net Generation and Digital Natives sharing and organizing their lives online the idea of ePortfolios only makes sense. There are a number of available ePortfolio sites available online. Additionally, ePortfolio applications are becoming standard resources in Learning Management Systems like Angel and BlackBoard NG. Epsilen ePortfolio management system combines ePortfolio tools with social networking framework. Its application is being billed as the new model for the next generation of life- long learners and professionals. My Epsilen site: http://joelk.csmd.epsilen.com/content/personal/universal/public/home/index.aspx?pr=joelk

Google Apps Educational Edition – This application can be branded with the CSM name in the URL as well as a logo on the pages. When you log into Google you can send and receive email, create, edit, share and view documents, spreadsheets and presentations, create web sites and chat with other Google users. I am still doing some research on Google Apps Educational Edition. This application might be piloted this spring. I will have more information on Google Apps in an upcoming blog entry.

More on the TEACH Act

When the TEACH Act first come out we worked to ensure our college meet all the requirements that the law provides for educational institutions transmitting copyrighted works as part of a distance education course. The TEACH Act requires the following conditions must be satisfied to use material under the TEACH Act. The following are the requirements along with our college’s status in meeting those requirements. This also works as a good checklist for distance education instructors:

1. The institution must be accredited.
CSM is accredited

2. The transmission of the work must be part of an instructional activity.
The copyrighted material is used as part of a class experience

3. The work must be directly related to the teaching content.
Faculty is informed that use of copyrighted material should be related to the teaching content

4. The transmission must, to the extent technologically feasible, be limited to the student enrolled in the distance learning experience.
Blackboard CE8, CSM’s web delivery tool, requires a student to provide a valid login and password to enter the content

5. The institution must have a copyright policy.
CSM has a policy

6. The institution must provide notice to students that materials used in the course may be subject to copyright protection
CSM needs to add this statement to the footer portion of the Learning Modules page for each course.

7. The institution must apply technological measures that reasonably prevent students from retaining the work in accessible form after the class session.
After each session, the student must log out. At the end of the course (2 weeks), student’s access is taken away

8. The institution must apply technological measures that reasonable prevent redistribution of the material.
We purchased RealNetworks Real Player streaming audio/video server has the capability to prevent students from downloading the streamed file to their computer. This protocol is called “Secret Handshake”.

More links regarding Coprright and TEACH Act, thanks to my friends at University of West Georgia and their Distance Education Certificate Program:

Regents Guide to the TEACH Act
Copyright Considerations in the Digital Age
10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained, Brad Templeton
Copyright Issues Relating to On-Line Classrooms, Hill

Three Things that Online Instructors Need for Training

Instructors wishing to design and deliver web-based courses require certain skills which are different than skills needed for a traditional face-to-face course. By being aware of this, there are three important things that are overlooked by administrators creating training programs for prospective online instructors. Knowing the difference between traditional and nontraditional learners, time required to develop a course and the idea of providing prospective instructors training via the web.

Knowing the difference between traditional and nontraditional learners
Distance learning students are considered nontraditional students and approach learning differently than traditional students. The traditional student rely on an instructor led classroom (teacher to student), whereas nontraditional student learning is dialog based verses lecture based. Nontraditional learners need to know why they need to learn something before undertaking to learn it. This need suggests that the responsibility for learning be transferred from facilitator to learner (Andrological and Pedagogical Training Differences for Online Instructors, Gibbons & Wentworth, 2001(http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall43/gibbons_wentworth43.html)). The best way to create a productive dialog in your course is to use the Discussion Tool. A good model for productive discussions is to post a open ended question each week that relates to the module content that evokes a discussion that feeds in the experience of the nontraditional learners. Knowing the difference between a nontraditional learner and a traditional learning is the recipe for success in delivering a web-based course.

Time required to develop a course
It’s important to realize that the development of a web-based course requires considerable development time. Time is also required to integrate different teaching and learning styles, particularly collaborative, learner centered learning styles such as discussions that make the best use of web-based instructional technology. (Learn Online Staff: Grant MacEwan Collage (http://stats.macewan.ca/learn/staff/lit_comp.cfm)). Understanding what tools are available and how to effectively deploy these tools are essential skills required before undertaking a redesign from a traditional face-to-face to a web-based course. Before the content is revised and loaded into the course, the web-based instructor should have developed a syllabus which is reviewed by an experience web-based instructor or a mentor. After the prospective instructor has learned the tools, developed a syllabus and revised the content then the course can be constructed. All these phases in the development of a web-based course takes a considerable amount of time to accomplish.

Providing web-based training for prospective instructors
Training conducted online allows new facilitators to learn experientially under the same conditions as their future students (Andrological and Pedagogical Training Differences for Online Instructors, Gibbons & Wentworth, 2001(http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall43/gibbons_wentworth43.html)). This model of delivering web-based training to prospective web-based instructors is a win - win situation for educational institutions. Prospective instructors participate in a web-based course by accessing the content in the same manner as their students will access their content. Good design principles and ideas are picked up and later used by the prospective instructor. Also, the instructor experiences from a student standpoint the issues of working with the technology, navigating content and meeting deadlines. Another reason that institutions might consider this approach to training is that it reaches faculty that might not otherwise be able to attend the training due to scheduling conflicts.

Understanding these three factors and incorporating them into the educational institution’s training program will provide distance learning instructors with the skills needed to become effective online educators.

Google Sites

Google Sites is a free online Web2.0 application which makes creating and editing web sites easy. The site allows you to grab information, edit and post so viewers have viewing and/or editing access. What I like best is the freedom you have in design and the professional looking end result with no advertising.
Get started here: http://sites.google.com/site


I found Google Sites to be easy to use as well as features that allow you to edit the HTML. For the novice, the easy to use features enable you to create a faulty web page or a course home page anywhere as long as you have access to the Internet.

For faculty looking to create a faculty web page and course home page it is simple to customize the site by adding your photo, contact information course listing and individual pages for each course that continues documents such as syllabus, course notes, PowerPoints and even videos. Worried about space? You get 100MB of space, more than enough!

Google make available short YouTube videos to make learning how to use the application evan easier like this short getting started tutorial:



I was able to create my faculty web page in about three hours, and most of that time was spent learning the features and tools. Now, if I want to update the site, it is as easy as clicking on the site and adding the information.

View my site at http://sites.google.com/site/seanettles

Twitter

Twitter is a good resource to keep students up-to-date with what your currently doing.

Twitter could be used by an instructor to send messages in less than 180 characters, however this is nothing more than a new twist to the term for Instant Messaging. I think Twitter could be ideal for reminding students about homework, tests and such things, especially as they can enter their cell phone number to be alerted when an instructor does a Twitter entry. The advantage is that you don’t need to know the phone numbers of students to get messages onto their device: they are the ones who authorize their mobile phone from the website and they subscribe to your Twitter feed. The drawback is that all your students would have to be Twitter users, which is stretching your luck.

Twitter

FREE ePortfolio from Epsilen.com

www.epsilen.com allows you to create a free eportfolio. The service is free for all registered students and faculty of US colleges and universities.

The idea is to allow users to play with the product with the hopes that someday the institution will get a full capacity institutional license. This might be a good alternative to what we have now, called "Faculty Web Pages." So feel free to use the tools and make a web page. Some of the features include:

• Create and maintain a professional ePortfolio
• Engage in professional and social networking
• Showcase scholarly work and other documents in a wide range of formats
• Develop and share resumes
• Store and share files/objects
• Use Epsilen e-mail, blog, wiki, and other communication and collaboration tools
• Create and participate in professional collaboration groups
• Produce a personal ePortfolio Web site with profile, photos and video

If CSM becomes, a licensed Epsilen institution, your free ePortfolio will integrate dynamically with the more sophisticated tools and services that accompany the paid license.

My web site is at: http://joelk.csmd.epsilen.com

eLearning Course Tool Review: CourseLab 2.4

I read on the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies web site list a FREE eLearning Course Authoring Tool called CourseLab 2.4 available at www.courselab.com. Anytime I see something free it is worth the time and effort to download and pilot the software. I am not inclined to read directions, I prefer to roll up my sleeves and start working with the program, so I did. According to the web site “CourseLab is a powerful, yet easy-to-use, e-learning authoring tool that offers programming-free WYSIWYG environment for creating high-quality interactive e-learning content which can be published on the Internet, Learning Management Systems (LMS), CD-ROMS and other devices.” My objective was to develop a simple text and photo lecture for my class on Monday.

After downloading the product, I had to actually register via e-mail to get my code to run the program. The procedure was fast and relatively pain free. I was able to bring the interface up immediately and start exploring the features. However, things started to go downhill after that. The interface reminded me a lot of PowerPoint, but the functionality was primitive in comparison. I had a difficult time determining how to do simple actions like; create another slide, add text, add logo and adding photos. Typically, I am able to navigate a new program with ease but this interface was anything but “ease-of-use”. There are many free Web 2.0 tools out there, also free that are easier to understand, like Google Docs.

After stumbling around for 30 minutes I created a title slide and one content slide…with nothing in it. I grew frustrated and impatient and was looking for quick answers to my problems without having to read the directions or watch some promotional video. I guess everyone has a bad habit. So, I find this feature from the drop down menu labeled “Import From PowerPoint”. Hey, that’s just what I need! Most of the courses I build originate from PowerPoint. I use programs like Articulate, Impaticia and Captivate that have the same feature of importing PowerPoint directly into the program, then easily converting the presentation into a Flash delivered, interactive video. However, when I clicked on the CourseLab button it took me to the CourseLab web site where it gave me instructions on how to add this “Extra” for $99. Oh well, so much for being free. “You can lead me to water, but you can’t make me drink!”

After that episode, I exited the application and uninstalled the program. I dislike being lead to believe a product is free, only to find the statement was false. CourseLab, good luck in the future, a future without me!

Four-day week in education

Comment on http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/news-by-subject/technologies/widget/?i=54858

Think about this, an innovative distance education program!

Colleges are experimenting with four-day school weeks as a means to cut back on expenses and travel. I think this innovative idea has roots in distance education. The Web-Hybrid model in becoming increasing popular for an alternative to delivering F2F classes. In the Web-Hybrid model, faculty still meet with the students F2F but half the class is delivered online, thus cutting down on trips to the campus and campus space and utilities. A win win situation for both faculty and students.

For the staff, administrators are authorizing alternative schedules as an employee-friendly policy designed to soothe the sting of increasingly costly daily commutes. The alternative schedule could be telecommuting, which again has roots in distance education. Without all the Internet tools available today, telecommuting wouldn't be as productive. With Web 2.0 tools staff have access to documents, can communicate and collaborate with other staff and even have virtual meetings. Additionally, telecommuting days could be designates training days. Training could be delivered online by the HR and technology departments, an innovative distance education program!

Online Teacher & Education Certificates and Programs

University of West Georgia offers a great Distance Education Certified Trainer Program online along with another online program Advanced Technologies for Distance Education. It seems everyone is getting on the band wagon by offering Education and Technology programs online. Upon the success completion of these programs students are awarded online diplomas and certificates.

At eLearners.com they have created a list of all the online educational technology degrees, and the list is impressive with programs for certificates, Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate degrees.

See the list at online educational technology degrees

Innovative Approach to Digital Media Training & Support

From Campus Technology, August 2008, 2008 Innovations article

At Ball State University they have a unique way of introducing more digital technology into the curriculum by developing a Digital Corps. Digital Corps is a student labor pool that works alongside faculty on media projects. In return students of the Digital Corps are offered training, conferences and even Adobe Certified Expert/Adobe Certified Associate programs. As a result the students in the labor pool are certified and get real world experiences, a win win situation for students and faculty.

According to Jonathan Blake Huer, director of the Digital Corps, "The biggest problem has been retaining students. As they ahve mastered their respective crafts, they have been recruited by outside companies ans also by other units within the university."

An innovative program like this would be a benefit to both faculty and staff and the campus as a whole because of the access to more digital media.

Formative vs Summative Evaluations

Do you have a difficult time figuring out what the difference is between a formative and summative (post-class) assessment? Here is a great video from an explanation of a professor's formative evaluation for his university class. The nine minute video is at http://www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/formative.html# . Thanks to David Pollock for this link. Visit Dave athttp://davidpollock.blogspot.com.

Another good article is: Formative Evaluation: A Practical Guide.I found this article by Lisa Neal, who just happens to work for Datatel (our college's enterprise software) and it cleared up some questions.

Her approach to using formative evaluations in course design was easy for me to understand. She points out that there are four stages to a formative evaluation; "planning the sessions, conducting the sessions, compiling the results, and prioritizing the results from the sessions."

Under the conducting the session' stage she says "For example, if a user says "I don't like these colors," an evaluation should ask "Why don't you like them?" or "Are there colors you would prefer?" In an online class, if I asked the colors question, I would make sure that I was able to get valuable feedback from them. Sure beats non-productive comments like "I don't like the colors!.

Although the article is geared more towards learning objects and interactive multimedia training elements I think the article was very understanding. I also enjoyed the Plimoth Plantation's Online Learning Center's, You Are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving Learning Object. I can see where using the four stages of formative evaluation would benefit a project of that scope.

Experience Google Earth

If you haven't experienced Google Earth yet, I would highly recommend it. I find myself visiting the site frequently to go on virtual tours around the world. Google's satellite imagery-based mapping program brings the whole world to your desktop. I recently did a search for shipwrecks. It amazing the detail you get at different locations around the world.

The next step is how to incorporate Google Earth in your classroom. I found a link for educators in Google Earth at Google For Educators. From this link there are many resources and ideas. One this page there is a link to Getting Started. This gives you the simple steps to download Google Earth to your desktop. Step number 6 "Check out the education gallery for ideas for using Google Earth in the classroom." Be sure to check out this link. You will be amazed of how easily it is to incorporate Google Earth in your classroom.

Complete list of links:

1. Google Earth for Educators: http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html
   
2. Getting Started Guide: http://www.google.com/educators/start_earth.html
   
3. Education Gallery: http://earth.google.com/outreach/edu_culture.html

FLASH!

This link was sent to me by a friend.
Take a look at this website: http://producten.hema.nl/ (Make sure the sound is turned on).

HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany.

The site must have been painstakingly made with Flash!

Welcome Distance Learning Certificate Members

I wanted to be the first to post a response because, frankly, I would like the activity in my blog. I started the blog a few months ago as an attempt to provide an avenue to discuss material regarding technology in the classroom to our faculty. My goal is to help faculty embrace technology and assist them to implement the latest and greatest technologies to bring new levels of learning to their students. So far, none of my faculty have responded to my postings and it gets a little discouraging to see my efforts go unnoticed.

I hope you find some of the entries in this blog useful, especially the links to the podcasts. I find these podcasts convenient to listen to when I am jogging.

Our distance learning community is unique in the community college setting. We deliver over 150 courses a year taught by more than 50 instructors. Right now we offer 25% of our courses as distance learning. We use Blackboard CE6 for our Learning Management System (LMS). Blackboard bought out WebCT a couple years ago and as a result the company plans to produce a hybrid version of both products next year.

A good majority of these courses are taught by part-time instructors who typically hold down a job during the day and use the weekends and evenings to facilitate their online classes.

As the Instructional Technology Coordinator, one of my goals is to make myself, and my services available to the part-time faculty as well as the full-time faculty. This blog is an example of a tool developed to provide a forum of communicating with instructors at a distance. This blog is in addition to other methods of communication which include outdated e-mail list, word-of-mouth, web sites, telephones and department mailings.

With the goal of this blog to enhance communication with the part-time faculty, I question if they are prepared to embrace such a tool. Obviously, communication is important, especially in the academia environment. We all deal with the issue of communication obstacles between the administrators and faculty. Do you have any ideas on how to facilitate better communication with faculty?

Podcasts

Below is a list of Educational Podcast that will benefit our faculty:

		Homeschool Habitat Podcast by Homeschool Habitat Homeschool news, reviews, and mini-lessons for the kids!
2.		Speaking of History........ Podcast by Eric Langhorst Hello. Speaking of History is a blog and web site maintained by an 8th grade American History teacher in Missouri who attempts to use technology to enhance the curriculum.
3.		Teach42 Podcast by Steve Dembo Teah42 is a podcast about education, technology and educational technology! This show provides insight into current trends, educational issues and all the latest innovations that can be incorporated into and educational environment.
4.		BLOG-EFL Podcast by Graham Stanley Observations and comments on the use of weblogs, emerging technologies & e-learning tools for English Language Teaching (EFL & ESL).
5.		6by7 Reports Podcast by Gary Dietz 6by7 Reports discusses problems, solutions, and the people and organizations that came together to address educational and technology issues.
6.		Wisconsin Center for Education Research News Podcast by Paul Baker Part of the University of Wisconsin Madison's School of Education, the Wisconsin Center for Education Research is one of the oldest, largest, and most productive education research centers in the world.
7.		Connect Learning Podcast by David Warlick Regular wanderings into the world of 21st century teaching and learning.
8.		Learnitology Podcast by Chris Clark A project of the Learning Technology Lab at the University of Notre Dame. The goal is to encourage faculty to explore the use of technology in their courses.
9.		One Big Head Podcast by Jeff Moore Observations, philosophy, opinions, unsubstantiated rumors, flotsam and jetsam--the desk of a typical educational technology specialist.
10.		Tech Chick Tips Podcast Tips and tricks for gadgets and software for your digital life given by two Texas chicks obsessed with anything digital.
11.		The Greenbush Take2 Podcast Russ, Rich and Couch cover Greenbush, Education, and Technology related news with special weekly guests!
12.		The Tech Teachers Podcast Teachers talk

Just completed a online course "A Beginners Guide to Online Design" on Udutu's web site. See the link on the right-hand side labeled "Learn How Our Tool, myUdudtu Works". Some self-advertising, but most of this presentation describes online learning, basic principles of pedagogy (Bloom), learning outcomes and rich learning media. Nice overview.
http://www.udutu.com/

Today I will be at the Faculty Retreat demonstrating some Web 2.0 tools you can use to enhance your web based and F2F courses. Web 2.0 isn’t a new technology as you might think, as a matter of fact, it’s a new way of using the Internet. When we first started using the Internet we searched the vast extremes of the web for information or we used it for shopping. It was a place for us to view, surf and purchase. Now, with advances in the Internet, everyday users can be a contributor and not just a viewer. The Internet is a place to connect, collaborate, create and communicate. As educators, if we want to connect with our students we need to understand the potential of Web 2.0 tools and how they can be part of our course.

First, we need to start out by gaining an understanding of what Web 2.0 is. Here is a good presentation from Educause 2007:

| View | Upload your own

Second, we should learn about some of the most popular Web 2.0 tools. I have created a presentation that list my favorite 10 Web 2.0 tools:

| View | Upload your own

Finally, here is an extensive list of Web 2.0 tools, ranked by popularity and category: Top 100 Tools for Learning

So, that was easy! Your off using Web 2.0 tools! Now, if you respond to this post you will experience the collaboration feature of Web 2.0. Share your thoughts on Web 2.0, or create your own post or Blog! See you out there on the Internet!