Virtual worlds

Virtual worlds

Virtual worlds offer exciting possibilities in an educative environment that I argue are transformative in the way teachers think about teaching and how students become more actively engaged in the learning process. Dickey (2011) noted that the epistemological shift toward constructivist learning and technological advances have had great impact on instructional design. Dickey (2011) noted – correctly in my opinion – that effective learning occurs in multi-modal environments where the learner is actively engaged. SecondLife (SL) is the world’s largest online virtual world. It was originally designed as a social networking “world” but educators have come to realize its potential as an effective, immersive learning environment. For Dickey (2011) SL and other virtual worlds offer new and exciting possibilities to occur within the constructivist learning paradigm.

Although virtual worlds have been around for almost ten years, there is still only a modest amount of research that has been done. But SL for instance has shown to be an effective vehicle for enabling collaboration and communication with regard to storytelling among 9-11 year olds (Dickey 2011).

Furthermore as Dickey (2011) noted, teachers participating in studies where they were learning to use SL found that the ability for customiztion of SL was exciting. However, these teachers also raised concerns about the possibility of their students encountering objectionable material. However, I would inform my reader that SL is customizable to the point that teachers can create simulations and conditions in which it is impossible for students to encounter adult oriented areas as well as preventing incursions by – how else can I put this – virtual hookers into their constructed learning environments. It is beyond the scope of this summary to go into any detail about how this is accomplished but I do think it is important to note that in the case of large virtual worlds such as SL, it is important for teachers to control the technology  rather than allowing technology to dictate the curriculum and the way in which it is conducted.

Dickey (2011) also noted that some of the teachers surveyed stated that their schools may not be receptive to SL because the schools censor students’ online activities. One teacher noted that YouTube for instance is off-limits in the school system in all cases. In essence, the Dickey article really raises two interesting questions at least in my estimation. First, it seems that schools who do engage in heavy censorship of online activities need to reasses their censorship policies concerning online activities and weigh the risks against the benefits. I would opine that while there certainly is a need for controlling online activities vis a vis age appropriate activities, schools with a stringent censorship policy, or, more precisely, those with blanket censorship policies are in my opinion hindering teachers’ and students’ opportunities to utilize a technology that is collaborative and multi-modal in approach. Second, and perhaps related at least indirectly to the first point is the question of the teacher’s own ability to remain vigilant to ensure that her students remain focused (Dickey 2011). Teachers liked the idea that avatars are wildly customizable – and indeed they are – and they found that they had spent a lot more time focusing on the look of their avatars than they did in exploring learning possibilities in SL. One teacher expressed that while such customizablity was fun, she wasn’t certain it was terribly educational (Dickey 2011).

I feel however again – if I am permitted to editorialize – that in a very real sense – the transformative nature of virtual worlds informs – or rather misinforms – users new to these technologies. As Dickey (2011) noted, only modest research in the area of virtual worlds had been done, I would argue that this very same lack of research is a contributing factor to teachers’ trepidation about virtual world technology as a vehicle for constructivist learning.

The extant research, again albeit modest – has shown much promise. In a study by Xu, Park, and Baek (2011), the argument was made that digital storytelling addresses four essential student-centered learning activities in SL, namely: student engagement, reflection for deep learning, technology integration, and project-based learning. Students created stories using the multi-modal capabilities of SL. But according to Xu, Park, and Baek (2011), SL allows for the stories become virtual artifacts – read “real” – that give textures to the objects that represent the story. Xu, Park (2011), and Baek argued that virtual worlds offer the opportunity for creating learning environments as close to the real world as possible. In addition, students creating and interacting with the environment have a stong sense of “being there: as Xu, Park, and Baek noted.

My reader will have already noted that technology integration was listed as a component of student centered learning. For Xu, Park, and Baek (2011), such integration affords a more efficient, satisfying, and productive learning environment. Accordingly, technological integration really speaks to a mulyi-pronged approach to learning in that activities are designed to “intentionally ans actively help learners to construct their own meanings from thinking about experiences. It is my contention that since the constructivist theory of learning stresses the importance of experience, it stands to reason that the use of virtual worlds in constructing these experiences such that stories are created from them then the use of virtual world technology should be considered a pivotal tool for actively engaing constructivist learning.

I thought it wise to conclude this survey of articles with a discussion of how virtual worlds are being applied in a more focused area of study. Juaregi, Canto, de Graaff, Koenraad, and Moonen (2011) discussed the possibilities afforded by virtual worlds in the area of verbal interaction and second language learning and cross cultural exposure and immersion. The study focused on cultural similarities and differences in a simulated trip created in SL. These Dutch students explored Hispanic areas in SL. Jauregi, et al, (2011) noted that to avoid any uncomfortable situations, the Dutch students were paired with Spanish pre-service teachers. The Dutch students visited virtual Barcelona, Jalisco, and Al-Aldalus. The students were tasked with communicating with the Hispanic residents of these areas and talk about their experiences in SL. I should note here that among the plethora of tools available in Sl is the ability to use real time voice chat. Further tasks allowed for different pairings and encouraged the students to talk about cultural expectations and experiences.

Jauregi, et al,  noted that the benefits included a safe learning environment as well as observing that communication was much richer in two of the four appointed tasks that it would have been in a classroom or video-web communication vehicle such as Skype. Jauregi et al noted that foreign language instruction necessitates effective intercultural comepretence while respecting learner’s specific needs. The pre-service teachers reported that their own experience in SL was according to Jauregi, et al, (2011) as an eye opener in that situations similar to the real world could be practiced rather than written down or merely imagined.

Obviously, the scope of this assignment has restricted me to an in-depth of discussion of the efficacy of virtual worlds. Nonetheless I am a firm believer that virtual worlds afford an exciting educative environment that invokes the best of constructivist learning theories as well as Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences as discussed in my previous blog entry.

REFERENCES

Dickey, M. The pragmatics of virtual worlds for K-12 educators: Investigating the

         affordances and constraints of Active Worlds and Second Life with K-12 in-service

         teachers. Education Tech Research Dev. (2011) 59:1-20.

Jauregi, K., Canto, S., de Graaff, R., Koenraad, T., Moonene, M. Verbal interaction in Second

Life: Towards a pedagogic framework for task design. Computer Assisted Language Learning. 24: 1, February 2001. 77-101.

Xu, Y., Park, H., Baek, Y. A new approach toward digital storytelling: An activity focused on

            writing self-efficacy in a virtual learning environment. Educatiional Technology &

            Society. 14 (4), 181-191.

            

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences has appealed to me ever since I encountered his theory in Dr. William Gray's Ed. Psych course. In essence, Gardner theorizes that we each possess different intelligences in varying degrees and that each of us learn more efficiently with respect to those intelligences. But Gardner's theory has also proven to be transformative in the way that we now think of intelligence. We are of course aware of standardized I.Q. tests. These had their origins in France (Binet) and are better known as the Stanford-Binet. The earliest tests were problematic in that they favored upper class whites and as such, because of ethnic bias, were not a fair measure of intelligence. In fact, these same tests were contributing factors in the United States in determining that immigrants were ineducable! When the tests were given in the speaker's native language, the results were more accurate in terms of determining intelligence. But, I.Q. tests possess inherent problems - chief among them being that the only intelligence that can be measured is that which is quantifiable. Looking at Bloom's taxonomy for instance, one readily recognizes that knowledge and comprehension can be easily measured. Later along the continuum when attempting to measure higher order learning such as synthesis and evaluation the measurement becomes problematic. However, the real question when we speak about intelligence with respect to Gardner is that intelligence manifests itself in different ways. What had been commonly referred to as "talent" is seen as intelligence according to Gardner.
To continue with the I.Q. test example we may ask a simple question to see if there is any truth in Gardner's theory. However, the question must be asked within the paradigm that there is only one type of intelligence: that which is quantifiable. So for instance, how does one measure the intelligence of two different writers or painters or composers? If the old quantifiable theory of intelligence prevails then the astute reader will quickly come to the conclusion that the above question is unanswerable and even if an answer could be provided, that answer would have to be based upon the assessor's own sense of aesthetics.
Gardner postulates seven differing intelligences: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, body-kinesthetic, intrapersonal (e.g., insight, metacognition) and interpersonal (e.g., social skills) (http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/multiple-intelligences.html). What is important to note here is that there is not an hierarchy of intelligences implied or inferred according to Gardner. Rather, each intelligence is as valid as the others. Talent is not separate from intelligence. This may seem obvious to my readers but there was a time not so long ago when the two were thought of as separate; "gifted" children were those students classified as having performed well on standardized I.Q. tests and in accomplishing high grades in quantifiable categories.
As the reader has already guessed, when dealing with multiple intelligences easy quantification - read standardization - breaks down and is no longer an accurate nor complete picture of one's intelligence. As already stated the old paradigm gave favor to quantifiable results in mathematics and to subject questions that largely confined answers to knowledge and comprehension - the first two steps of Bloom. I am for instance rather lacking in mathematics. I may not score well on a standardized I.Q. test, but, being a musician, does the I.Q. test evaluate my musical intelligence? Hardly. While I may be able to recall information about The Beatles and/or Beethoven, all that tells the assessor of my intelligence is that I have good recall (knowledge in Bloom) concerning musicians. However, this information does not measure my intelligence as a composer of music. Gardner argued and I agree with his assessment that we need to measure intelligence(s) beyond the relatively narrow and certainly incomplete confines of mathematic/logical and linguistic measurements to encompass other modalities.
Gardner also included an important anthropological aspect in that he argued that different cultures emphasize different intelligences. It seems then that we have come full circle in that culturally biased I.Q. tests are indeed meaningless in a metacultural discussion.
Gardner stressed that each individual should be encouraged to develop the intelligences she possesses. Furthermore, learning occurs according to Gardner along these different modalities. Now we reach the crux of the discussion of Gardner and how his theory relates to our use of the internet in the classroom - and outside of it.
Think for a moment about all of the tools we have discussed and explored thus far this semester. Reflect on how each takes an integrative process and no matter how you slice it, Gardner is there - intentionally or not. Virtually all of the applications we have studied have held to Gardner's maxim that assessment of learning should measure multiple forms of intelligence. Mashups for instance act as multi-pronged learning tools which can and do facilitate learning through a number of modalities. So, the logical/mathematic intelligence is essentially on the same level playing field with the visual/auditory learner. We have seen already that virtual worlds, augmented reality, and even gaming have shown to be effective learning platforms. I will relate a personal experience with regard to this. As many of you know, I am a recent emigre to The Netherlands. My partner's son is 10 years of age and his language of origin is Dutch. However, except for his accent, his English is beyond even many of his American and British peers. While this may not seem remarkable, consider the following: he has only begun formal English training this school year - it is mandatory in The Netherlands. Dutch is the language spoken at home. So how does this child speak speak, understand, and write English so well? He learned English through gaming! America and Britain dominate the gaming industry especially in terms of "A" list games such as Skyrim and Assassin's Creed. This kid has not only achieved proficiency in English that his elder sister has yet to achieve, but has shown significant progress in the areas of synthesis and evaluation: the two highest forms of Bloom's taxonomy. I am working with him now and having him write original stories based upon his time spent in these other worlds. His sense of structure in a story format - in traditional textuality - rivals what I have read from many 10 year old - and OLDER - students in America.
While some might debate whether the lack of empirical evidence of Gardner's theory proves that it is in fact mere hypothesis, can we debate that intelligence is only meaningful when math/logic and linguistic skills are concerned? I think one would be hard pressed to provide a compelling argument against Gardner. But I ask you, if Gardner is wrong, then why have we found so many of these tools so effective and exciting?




Best,
Joe

Social networking

Using Diigo I applied to join a group called Ethical Issues in America. I want to join it primarily because of my activism in the anti-death penalty movement but other issues are discussed including euthanasia, gay marriage, "designer babies" - or what I would call the new eugenics. Everything discussed in this group proceeds from an ethical, human rights perspective. Such a group allows for the consideration of important issues such as does one have the right to end one's own life if one is suffering from a disease for which there is no cure and only extreme suffering awaits the patient until death. Perhaps the most fundamental question that pervades this group would be where does the state's power end with relation to the right of the individual to exercise her ownership over her body.

In my assessment the appeal for young and not so young to participate in networking sites lies in a very basic human need: connection. Connection of course can manifest in many ways. The most common connection I would offer that comes to most people's minds in terms of social networking would be to connect with friends. There was a time not so long ago when maintaining existing connections was rather limited to phone calls, physical visits and this antiquated process called "writing a letter.: ;) Yet, social networking has allowed connection based upon mutual interests. Sites like LinkedIn have proven to be invaluable alternatives to the resume scattershot approach in that headhunters have access to posted resumes and prospective job seekers have more exposure to possible jobs due to the fact that social networks are webs of people that are really intricate, complex connections in which communication is fostered.

I really hadn't given much thought to social networking in terms of education before this week's assignment. Yet on reflection and keeping with my assertion that connection lies at the very core of social networking, I can imagine how social networking can be used to create a group in which the social networking site can serve as a forum for persons exploring a common theme. Because networking sites allow for a number of approaches for sharing information, PLEs can easily be created - and monitored. Even Facebook would be an interesting platform and there are many such connected group entities already existing there.

Most of my time in social networks involves human rights issues. This year I get the unique perspective of viewing America from my new home in Europe. It is an election year and on the death penalty front, two more states are on the verge of abolishing it. (N.B. The death penalty is forbidden in the EU and in fact membership in the EU carries many conditions, and one of the most important of these is that a country may not practice capital punishment nor can it have a capital punishment statute on its books for any reason. Belarus for example has not been accepted into the EU because it has not abolished capital punishment). As I had stated in my first paragraph, there are other issues besides the death penalty that interest me as well. I believe in the power of knowledge as an effective agent for change and I believe that knowledge is far more effective than guns to influence thought and bring about paradigm shifts. Human rights has been a global issue since the formation of the UN as a response to the atrocities of Nazi Germany. Social networking creates - to borrow a term from author Marshall McLuhan - a global village in which awareness of human rights abuses can be raised and change can be effected. I also spend a considerable amount of time in social networks involving such diverse topics as animal rights, environmental issues, baseball, music, and magic as a performance art. As a side note, I find social networks to be fertile ground for interesting anthropological study and I hope to explore social networks from an anthropological perspective because education IS an area of interest anthropologically as anthropology is the study of culture.

I would say that the benefits of spending time in these networks would be for the reasons I have noted thus far in this blog entry. The drawbacks would be that there is a danger of developing a blindness/deafness to arguments from the other side of every issue. For instance, spending time in purely anti-death penalty focused groups would not allow me to read/hear what the other side has to say about this issue. From a more prosaic standpoint, the overwhelming amount of information out there on any given issue makes organization a bit of a challenge. Yes, we have wonderful technologies that can do most of the work for us with just a point and a click as in Diigo for instance but even with these technologies, meaningful (read thoughtful and reflective) engagement of the vast amount of material is still overwhelming. There is also I believe the importance of recognizing that social networks are comprised of individuals each with differing learning styles and as such, communication becomes an exercise in balancing efficiency with in-depth content.

Best,
Joe

PS: Pictures are coming soon from The Netherlands. There is an amazing monument to Raoul Wallenberg who saved many Jews from the Nazis. The memorial is in Gouda which itself is quite picturesque in its medieval charm.

Gaming

I wanted to subtitle this week's blog entry as "Everything Old is New Again." This may seem strange in light of our readings this week pertaining to gaming and how it relates to teaching. If somehow we lived in the proverbial vacuum and knew nothing about gaming even prior to the late 20th century then much of what has been discussed would indeed seem new and transformative. I hasten to add that I do believe that gaming, VR and AR are without an iota of doubt transformative but, it strikes me as interesting that in a sense one could argue that we are actually catching up to a very old and venerable idea. Before I comment on the sites I chose to visit I would like to talk about gaming in relation to education by briefly discussing the notion of game as a meta-concept.

As Johnson, Smith, Willis, Levine, and Haywood (2011) argued, game play allows for experimentation, problem solving, working toward a goal, and learning from failure - all of which are conducive to education such as, I would argue already had been well established in ancient games such as Go, Go-Moku, Chess, and other ancient games. While one might assert and the assertion would indeed be valid that games were thought of primarily as things to do that were recreative in nature and something engaged in during leisure time, gaming has always held a formidable educative paradigm as its foundation. If we look at chess for instance we find that indeed, like any other game, it contains the laundry list that Johnson, et. al, (2011) listed. According to gaming experts chess is the only game in which luck/chance plays no factor at all as opposed to games like poker, blackjack, or even Monopoly. In chess, one engages in constant problem solving; one must not only anticipate her opponent's strategy but she must also plan her own strategy and "see" a number of possible moves ahead. Chess is a game of pure strategy and here is the meta-game concept I want to establish: chess and war have something in common in that both are adversarial in nature - in fact it may be argued that all games, even cooperative games - are adversarial in nature. I will return to this point shortly. Returning for now to the correlation between war and chess, it is clear even to the casual observer that the same strategy that serves the general or admiral in war is the same strategy played out on the chess board. The military leader must understand and exploit the strengths  and challenges of soldiers. The chess player must do the same. The King for instance is the piece to be guarded and yet it is the King that is the weakest piece on the board. The strategy in chess is no different than that of war in that the king or capital must be protected while at the same time the focus is simultaneously on defeating the enemy king/capital. So we must ask what does strategy encompass? Strategy requires problem solving skills, a clear and attainable - in most cases - goal, experimentation, and learning from failure. Such is even true of games that do have a strong chance component. Tune into or play a game of poker and you will immediately understand that the savvy poker player for instance strategizes to minimize chance while simultaneously allowing for the vagaries of chance.

This may seem tangential to my readers but the thrust of our reading is how gaming contributes to education. If one of the components of education is the preparation of students then it seems to me that the notion of gaming as a viable component to learning seems to make such perfect sense that I am surprised that it took millenia until gaming was seriously studied and reported upon in educational journals. The military has engaged in war games for centuries to prepare for a multitude of possible combat scenarios; these war games were and are serious business and certainly not done merely as a leisure activity. So to me, gaming is not only important to education, it is essential. But what about that statement I made that even cooperative games are adversarial in nature? Every game has a goal, and in a cooperative game, that goal might be to slay the dragon at the end of a Dungeons and Dragons, or, working together to prevent an ecological disaster. Content is irrelevant in the meta-game concept; problem solving, learning from failure, experimentation, and in cooperative games, collaboration are skills that must be honed no matter the goal and no matter the subject and content.

Johnson, et. al, (2011) pointed out that the Serious Games movement sought to add a social layer to the game in that the social issues were social problems to be dealt with in which the player(s) must apply skills to learn to solve. I wanted to point out that even "entertainment" based games have taken on this sense of social issues. Though not mentioned in our readings, Johns-Hopkins University has taken the much more sophisticated big brother of World of Warcraft titled Neverwinter Nights and have used it to create social simulations which require collaborative problem solving. Daniel Punday in The Electronic Book Review discusses the sophistication of Neverwinter Nights as electronic narrative that is made more robust in that it includes a comprehensive toolset for players to design their own worlds. As a long time player of Neverwinter Nights, I can attest to its amazing possibilities as a tool for learning.

Johnson (2011) discusses the point that gaming blurs the line between the real world and the game world. Again I would argue that this has always been the case, but, for the sake of this discussion, I wanted to talk about a site that does just this. Stop Disasters engages the player in setting in motion measures to prevent disasters from earthquakes, wildfires, tsunamis, volcanoes, and hurricanes. I played the tsunami scenario and it was intense. And the genius of the design really struck me. When you look at the game, there is nothing terribly realistic about it; the game world resembles a Lego block construction and the trees and other flora and the "people" were simple pixels on a screen. Playing the game however, I found myself carefully deciding what structures to purchase to minimize damage. The game also has developments you can buy with a virtual budget including schools to educate your citizens about tsunamis, radar detection systems to sense the approach of the wave, construction options to strengthen buildings and many other variables. The adversary is not only the imminent tsunami but also the fact that the player only has a limited amount of resources from which to draw to save the populace and minimize infrastructure damage. I felt a real sense of connection and actually learned quite a bit about tsunamis in the process. Design wise, the game - though it lacks the graphic sophistication of commercial games - nonetheless provides what I felt was a robust learning environment that educated the gamer on ecological disasters as well as a sense of urgency to minimize the destruction. For those reading this that would be interested in a game like this but quite realistic and even more strategic and panic inducing in nature, I would recommend giving the game "From Dust" a spin. It is available on the cloud computing digital distribution service called Steam for 15.00USD.

Johnson (2010) talks about the importance of games giving the player a sense of accomplishment. Is this not true also of traditional education? Think back to calculus or when you might have learned a second language and the feeling of satisfaction you experienced when you overcame a learning challenge. The BBC offers a wonderful game that deals with dinosaurs and ecology/environment in its excellent game called Planet Dinosaur. In this simulation, you must deal with the problem of nurturing your dinosaurs so that they reach adulthood. The simulation takes into account such factors as habitat needs for your creatures as well as strategies to deal with potential ecological disasters that threaten to destroy not only your dinosaurs that you have so carefully nurtured but also the very world in which you AND the dinosaur "live." At least for me, the sense of accomplishment was quite satisfying as I was able to meet and solve problems presented by the game's ecosystems.

Finally, I visited Teen Second Life. Second Life is one of world's largest online virtual communities. Teen Second Life - like its big brother simply titled Second Life - is literally a planet in which anything is possible. While it is usually referred to as a game, Second Life has been and is still by such prestigious universities as Cambridge, Oxford, East Anglia, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and many more as well as corporations, governmental agencies, public and private schools, and law enforcement and health care professions as a platform for educative purposes. Second Life comes with a full suite of tools to build a simulation including 3D modeling tools, scripting, and tons of multimedia possibilities. Second Life is something that cannot be easily summed in even in a few paragraphs. It is free to "play". All you need to do is create an avatar and explore. I should add that Teen Second Life is actually incorporated into Second Life. (N.B. At one time it was a separate "world" but Linden Labs, the creators, have created grids on the main planet that are age restricted).

Our readings and the videos have all stressed the importance of gaming in allowing students to visualize difficult concepts in ways that traditional media simply cannot replicate. Students can experience dangerous situations without any real risk to themselves. Most importantly and the thing that really sums up my assertion that gaming is essential to learning is that gaming engages students and makes learning enjoyable. As Johnson (2010) stated, even "serious" games elicited positive responses from students. But, even more than this is the old adage that I believe is quite appropriate here: "we learn by doing" and games allows us to not only see, but do, and do such that we solve problems, learn from failure, experiment, and collaborate. Hey, that sounds like the "real world!"

Best,
Joe

Ethics and Open Content

Open content, public domain, copyleft, "no rights reserved", and a cornucopia of other terms have popped up all over this week's reading more prolifically than the proverbial mushrooms after a rainstorm. While at least to me it was a lot of information to internalize, essentially the subject at hand for this week's post is nothing short of a revolution in thinking about what has outlived its usefulness in terms of access to information. Here I am talking about copyright in relation to access to information and how traditional copyright has failed to meet the demands of today's learning society.  Journey with me as I attempt to unravel all of the wonderful possibilities.

Open content according to Johnson, Adams, and Haywood (2011) has allowed the dissemination and perusal of information to move away from the traditional modality of centralized and authoritative repositories that were essentially static into decentralized shareable resources that are both free and ubiquitous. Open content allows users to customize a work for use in the curriculum (Johnson, Adams, and Haywood) and allow the modification to be shared with other educators. Here then is where I would argue that the revolutionary concept comes into play in that educators can now customize according to the specific needs of each individual classroom, striking a balance between the authoritative voice of the original author while at the same time adding their own voice. From a bottom line perspective schools and students also benefit financially in that these open content textbooks are shareable as already stated,but students may also download these textbooks for free or at very reduced cost.

Central however to this issue of the ability to share and modify are concerns about retention of intellectual property rights, copyright as it pertains to the creator's right to distribute the work as well as the ability for the end user - and in this context I am of course speaking of students and educators - to use content and modify it without worrying about possible legal hassles. A number of solutions have presented themselves to remedy this situation.

Creative Commons states that copyright laws were created before the advent of the Internet and that the copying and pasting we now take for granted once required the explicit permission of the original creator. Creative Commons is an effort to create an environment which allows for different types of licenses that allow copyright holders to retain their intellectual property while simultaneously allowing for different levels of use of their works. Creative Commons allows for different levels of licensing from completely free use of intellectually all the way to limited non-commercial use. Johnson, Adams, and Haywood (2011) do state that the open content is diffuse and driven more my personal taste at the time of their report than by collaborative efforts among many. Implicit in this statement is the notion that open content is still a burgeoning effort. In the article they state that the full realization of the fruition of collaborative effort with regard to open content will take a number of years.

All of this seems quite utopian and certainly one that can be realized but the road has not been without a few legal potholes and corporate positioning. Open Content Alliance relates a number of issues surrounding Google Books and its attempt to monopolize the area of public domain books and other materials also known as "orphans." Google claimed to be a guardian of these orphans and along with Microsoft creative an initiative to scan millions of orphan books from hundreds of libraries. Open Content Alliance however points out that the restrictions placed upon the use of these orphans were such that libraries and educational institutions that once hailed the effort as being a savior to the academic community in fact placed Google in a position to dictate who could use what material under their terms - essentially breaking the law by using existing laws. Further complicating the situation was the fact that five years prior to the `google initiative, the Million Books Project had already begun the process of scanning these orphans without any restrictions whatsoever. Google's financial muscle it would seem had the opposite effect of what the project intended in that Google positioned itself as intellectual property owner of books that it legally did not own. A settlement was reached but it positions Google Books as a commercial distributor of out of print books without any serious competition.

However, Google's financial muscle popularity has not proven to be insurmountable and that is a very good thing for learning communities and casual readers as well. In the area of textbooks Flat World Knowledge is built upon the premise that authors contribute to the learning community by creating textbooks that can be modified as previously discussed to suit the needs of individual learning environments. Authors get rapid royalty return, students get choice, and faculty can modify (Flat World Knowledge).

Thanks to open content, the stranglehold of copyright is loosening to the obvious benefit of learning communities. Open content allows revision and modification of textbooks while the original author still retains intellectual property rights, in other words, licenses exist whereby the original creator must be credited and the same distribution conditions apply fir the revision and for and shared revisions thereafter.

Open content is frequently digital material (Johnson, Adams, and Haywood 2011) and as such allows the inclusion of video, audio, and images that enhance textuality. As such, there are online repositories of images, videos, and other media that may be used freely and in many cases these materials may be altered as well.

With the continued efforts by Flat World, Open Content Alliance, and even Google Books, it would appear that as the kinks are worked out we may finally be in a situation where everyone involved in the learning community truly does benefit creatively, collaboratively, and financially.

--

Addendum: Google Books IS a blast! Along with all of the classics such as Chaucer, Austen, Poe, and well, you name the classic author and chances are her/his works can be found there, you can also find cool stuff like Baseball Digest (I am a HUGE baseball fan), The Weekly World News - yes, now we can read that tabloid with no guilt and also not contribute to the death of trees, Calvin and Hobbes comics and scads of other great stuff. Actually I had never explored Google Books for quite a while and I was pleasantly surprised to see the fun stuff there too. Now, if you will pardon me, I am off to read the story about Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush being space alien skeleton brothers to Ted Nugent! I LOVE life!!

In The Clouds

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          title="Wordle: Death Penalty Info"><img
          src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/4746170/Death_Penalty_Info"
          alt="Wordle: Death Penalty Info"
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Build Your Own Curriculum
This site is really a fantastic resource for creating and sharing curriculum including ideas for your own curriculum plus the user has the ability to look at other institutions curricula as well. What's more, it is highly customizable in terms of search filtering. Let's say for example that you are a 12th grade history teacher in Toledo and you want to find out about the history curriculum in Chicago at the 12th grade level. Simple drop down menus allow the user to narrow her search and allow her to not only view in this example the Chicago high school curriculum, but also to copy it and then modify it to suit Toledo's specific needs.
Parents can also view the site to keep up on the school's curriculum as well so that they can stay informed. Students can view the site to stay informed of assignments and other course matters.
Build Your Own Curriculum is highly customizable even down to graphic design such as your school's logo!

Soap Box
How many here have taken Dr. Gray's Ed. Psych. courses? He is a great professor but keeping notes in his class can be a challenge at the best of times. Or think about any course you took in high school, undergraduate study, or perhaps a current face to face course you are taking this semester. Did you ever wish that you could simply press a button and the instructor would know that you are confused? Soap Box is your wish come true. This application allows students to ask questions of each other - for example a student may have missed an important point that the instructor made. Students can message anonymously to get this information without interrupting the flow of the lecture. Did you ever get confused on a certain point of discussion in a lecture but felt trepidation in raising your hand? Soap Box actually has a set of two widgets: one states "I get it" and the other states "I am confused." Soap Box runs in real time and can be watched by a GA for instance. If the widgets show that there seems to be quite a bit of confusion, the instructor will be alerted to slow down and clarify. According to the site, Soap Box breaks down the barriers of how students choose to participate in class. I think it is a very spiffy tool (When was the last time you read THAT word!!) but to insert an editorial comment here I sense that such a tool would encounter resistance from instructors; what is the very first rule in a classroom? Turn off cell phones! I envision resistance from some instructors in that they would argue that a tool such as Soap Box may draw students' attention away from the lecture. I would love to know what those of you in the trenches think. Professor Lambert, would you consider such a tool for your graduate recitations?

Study Blue
Study Blue is at least to me a more useful and mature, focused Twitter for educators and students. The tool allows the instructor to create flashcards, create practice exams, create notifications of what the students should study next and a scad of other features. Study Blue also taps into students' love of mobile technology in that studying can be done anywhere at anytime through apps on a Smart Phone for instance. I do think that this tool is far more useful than Twitter in that there are no limitations as to content and every module the instructor chooses to create is essentially self contained whereas with Twitter we know the 140 character limitation. When I worked at Penn State students would ask for past exams as a preparatory tool for an upcoming exam. The library archived these but Study Blue goes much further in that the app can provide immediate feedback for instance on a practice exam.
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This week's work has been a real epiphany for me. Cloud computing is something I have been familiar with in the gaming world with clients such as Steam. I need to reference my time as GIS Specialist at Penn State to illustrate just what an epiphany this has been. When we decided to create a GIS lab at the main library we had to deal with quite expensive site licensing and seat availability from ESRI which is the company that creates the industry standard mapping programs Arc/INFO and ArcView. In addition to the costs of the licenses we also had to constantly maintain our dedicated Unix based server as well as the hassles of getting Microsoft Windows for Workgroups and Novell clients to actually work with each other. ESRI now offers a browser based solution in which institutions no longer need to deal with the challenges I have mentioned. This is a boon to schools that heretofore could never afford a dedicated server let alone site licensing for an expensive GIS program. From an economic standpoint the cost savings to schools rich and poor indicates to me that a school that would not avail itself of such technology would either have a budget larger than Dubai or else actually enjoy tossing money to the winds.

Cloud based computing has effectively done away with the problems of maintaining site licenses and also schools can now hold on to older equipment longer with browser based approaches that allow teachers to create feature rich learning environments on older equipment.

Tags are useful in that they allow for related research on a topic. Tags have actually been around for a long time but many people were not aware of them. Why you ask? I will tell you! Embedded in the HTML code of web sites were these fun things called "metatags." When a website was designed, these metatags contained key words that search engines used to recall websites. I have no idea how many web pages exist today and when one also takes into account the fact that web pages are no longer static as they were in the Internet's infancy, tagging is a necessity to navigate the galaxy of information out there. Tagging allows not only for retrieval of information but also points students and educators to other relevant resources.

Tag clouds have so many uses. They can serve for instance as a tool for students to gauge their own understanding of an article for instance by looking at a graphic representation of words from the article. The most frequent and thus most important words as we have seen from the Wordle exercise are larger and thus attention is drawn to them. I liked the comparison tag cloud that was done to illustrate population comparisons among countries. Tag clouds therefore reinforce traditional textuality by engaging other modes of cognition for the student. As an aside, I would love to see more research comparing the efficacy of tag clouds along with text versus traditional text based learning alone. I would hazard a guess that comprehension rates are much higher when combining the two.

Best,
Joe

Blogging & Twittering

Obviously this first post has nothing to do with my interest in abolishing the death penalty but to our first assignment, so, with that in mind, here I go!

Blogging  represents both a widening and narrowing of news. According to the video "Blogs in Plain English" the approach to news in the 20th century was limited to specialists - in this case journalists - who decided what was news. In addition, news encompassed very broad topics and the watcher/reader/listener had no input. Blogging allows users to become the journalists and decide what news to share in topics that interest the blogger, hence making her/him the new specialist. According to the 2010 Horizon Report collaborative efforts such as blogging allow for commenting, sharing, and idea building in what I would call a constructivist learning environment. The article notes that in the workplace collaboration is highly desired and as such blogging's collaborative nature becomes an invaluable tool to foster collaboration among our students to prepare them for the "real world."

Twittering was always a strange thing to me and frankly still is! I have to admit that I would never have created a Twitter account if it was not a requirement. That said, much of what I commented on in terms of collaboration with blogging also applies to Twitter but in a much more tightly focused arena. The educational value of Twittering (and blogging) is that both take the learning environment out of the traditional learning environment and into a wider collaborative milieu in which students can respond synchronously and asynchronously as noted in the Horizon article, the online communication tools article, as well as the Tweets for Education videos. The video cited and example where, by using Twitter, a number of students collaborated on a story. Because of Twitter's 140 character limit, students had to keep their contributions tightly focused. I cite this because I believe it is central to the constructivist learning environment in that constructivist learning thrives on the very real notion that each member of the learning community is both a teacher and a learner. Study after study reveals that such learning is the most efficient and most rewarding. Twitter also allows for real time updates on courses, perhaps a band one is following, or crucial news events to name a few. Like blogging, Twitter allows sharing of ideas and content and as such promotes constructivist learning as well as the discovery of serendipitous learning moments that systems like Blackboard cannot because Blackboard takes place for the most part - if chat is disabled - in an asynchronous environment. Perhaps a better example of this "asynchronousness" would be WebCT - long may it rest in peace.

In both instances, the real value of blogging, Twittering, and other online tools provide a well rounded educational experience that moves away from what I would term "cultic." Yes I sense eyebrows raising at such a strange term. Allow me to explain please? I would argue that the old traditional classroom was a "cultic" environment in that it was something students participated in at certain times and in specific physical spaces. Think of the notion of mosque on Friday, synagogue on Saturday, and church on Sunday and I think you get the picture: you do these things at a certain time and place. Online learning environments allow and encourage learning to take place at all times possible and feasible which if you really think about it occurs all the time - even when we are fast asleep and dreaming. So it may be that on a Saturday night i have a burning question to ask or perhaps I have found an interest bit of news and I need to share it right then as opposed to waiting for 4th period History of Religion on Monday. I can share that idea as it has occurred at that moment. Obviously, the opposite holds true as well in that someone could tweet me with a question and thus collaboration once again occurs as does its necessary byproduct we call learning.

I chose a number of networks on Twitter partly because I want to see if my involvement in it will change my attitude about it. So the networks I chose reflect my own interests which again has been cited as important in all of the videos and readings. My networks include those for musicians as I am a keyboard player and singer and they include: Korg USA, Roland Corporation, and Kurzweil Music Systems. I am also a sleight of hand artist so I chose a few networks from the nefarious world of legerdemain. As a music listener I chose networks on Twitter devoted to The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Finally and most importantly as a human rights activist I chose The Death Penalty Information Center as it is the definitive clearinghouse for information on the death penalty as it is practiced nationally and globally.