Archive for December, 2010
How do you use your mobile device?
Dec 30th
A quick thought and question regarding mobile devices. How do you use your device(s)?
I have an iPhone 3GS with the current version of iOS. By the iTunes storage meter, I’m an app hound. I love apps. Have more on my phone than I ever use. I even have some apps on my phone exclusively for the opportunity to demonstrate a capability of this (or other mobile devices) – for educational, professional or personal use. More >
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Loading ...Re: Siemens’ Thought Experiment on Connectivism
Dec 26th
I have been considering George Siemens’ Thought experiment on social networked learning (Connectivism). I engaged the thought experiment; it took more time and space than a comment, so I decided to post it here. If you haven’t yet read that post, you’ll want to make that jump before continuing here. Would appreciate any thoughts regarding this stream of consciousness explanation; I gave up on trying to organize it at the moment; there’s too many strands running through this for me to organize it effectively. My effort in the thought experiment may have resulted in noxious combustion rather than anything valuable ;-) More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Search the SLED Archives
Dec 21st
Many educators working with virtual environments and Second Life in particular likely are already familiar with the Second Life Education listserv from Linden Lab. With thousands of educators participating, the listserv is very active on a daily basis, and constantly provides new information, ideas, and resources related to real life education in Second Life.
In the previous incarnation of my MUVE Forward blog, I had the search widget below in the sidebar which allows for quick, Google-enabled searching of the listserv archives. I use it quite frequently; honestly, it’s the first place I look when searching for an answer to a question regarding education in Second life. I wanted to post/include it in this space, so as to not lose track of the resource.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Interesting Google Labs Projects
Dec 21st
It’s been a long while since I’ve flipped through Google Labs, and honestly, I can’t remember doing that recently in any depth or with much curiosity. Not sure why. I just happened across Google Labs tonight; perhaps it was a twitter mention of Google Shared Spaces – a sort of new/re- incarnation of Google Wave – that led me there. Giving it a little more time, I noticed several Labs projects that definitely deserve more attention from educators’ – if they’re not already getting that attention: Shared Spaces, Breadcrumb, News Timeline, and Fast Flip. I’m sure there’s more in Labs I need to find/explore. Let me know what you find that’s particularly interesting. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...WordPress Help! Private Comments/Posts & Aggregating Tags
Dec 17th
For the WordPress Mu gurus – or at least those more familiar with WP Mu than I (which does not require being a guru) – I have several questions. First, is there an available plugin that allows a post author to mark the post as private so that only they and a specific user or group of users can access/review the post? Second, is there an available plugin to allow a commenter to mark their comment as private so that only they and the post author (and system adminsitrators) can access/read the comment – even if the post isn’t private? Third, is there an available plugin that does site-wide aggregation of tags by user or tag?
That’s probably clear as mud, so I’ll explain what I’d like to do related to student portfolios and institutional assessment. I have italicized the parts of this scenario which are the source of my questions; the elements not italicized aren’t in question – I believe/know they can be done within WPMu. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Yahoo Serious? Sunsetting Delicious and others
Dec 16th
Yahoo… Are you serious?
(Update 12/17: Apparently they weren’t serious : here & here )
I received a bit of a surprise when checking my twitter news stream this evening. Yahoo will be shutting down Delicious and other applications it offers. Certainly, the news has already started rippling through the education community and likely will continue to do so for the next several weeks. But, the issue at hand isn’t so much about Delicious itself. Many users will simply export their Delicious bookmarks to other similar services (i.e. Diigo). The lingering concern within the education community will focus on the bigger picture: stability of web/cloud-based services. Personally, we know this will continue to happen, and we will continue to be surprised and concerned when it does. The bottom line, however, is we will simply move to a similar tool; if there’s one thing the internet provides, it’s redundancy of tools and services. It just happens to be an inconvenience . . . with perhaps one exception. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Metanomics: 2010 & Next – Second Life, Virtual Worlds & the State of the Union
Dec 15th
I attended the Metanomics series on virtual environments Tuesday afternoon; this epsiode was 2010 & Next – Second Life, Virtual Worlds and the State of the Union. I observed the virtual broadcast via NMC Teaching island (http://bit.ly/dYFJzi) though the chat, audio and video were all available via the Metanomics website.
One of the panel members was Larry Pixel (RL: Larry Johnson, CEO of the New Media Consortium); my primary interest in the event was to listen to commentary regarding the future of virtual worlds (and perhaps Second Life in particular) within the education sector. A few notes, comments and thoughts follow.
A quick summary? I believe Second Life does and will continue to offer unique benefits that other platforms and technologies do not; I believe the capabilities provide value-added benefit to education beyond what other platforms may currently offer. If at all possible, I believe educational institutions should maintain their presence in Second Life while exploring other platforms in parallel; I understand that an institution’s presence may need to be reduced to meet budgetary limitations, but I do not believe using the elimination of the educational discount as a reason to leave Second Life is a good or rational decision. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Forthcoming: Review of Literature on Net Generation Learners
Dec 6th
I have been hammering feverishly on my dissertation, which may or should be obvious given my last four posts. The focus of my dissertation is Computer Literacy Skills of Community College Learners. One upside to my dissertation process, in my opinion, is that it’s a “non-traditional” format; rather than the typical five chapter dissertation, I have to produce an introduction and a conclusion wrapped around three independent manuscripts prepared and ready for publication: seems to me to be a more useful process and product than a traditional dissertation. Currently, I’ve completed the first round of revisions on manuscript #1, a critical literature review; the abstract (as it stands at the moment) for that document is: More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...In the blue corner . . . NVivo 9!
Dec 4th
My relationship with NVivo 9 has become combative; it’s an outright, unsanctioned fight under MQCA rules (mixed qualitative coding arts). The report I needed from NVivo 9 was a list of all coding references with each having a list of the codes/nodes to which it was assigned. I’ve already spent one, previous post ranting about the fact that NVivo 9 can not perform that task: one that seems to be a basic necessity of qualitative research and analysis. It took more than a few hours of tinkering and learning, but I’ve managed to learn how to accomplish a reasonable facsimile of that report. I’ll try to describe what I’ve done in enough detail so that it may be helpful to others perhaps struggling with or learning NVivo 9 as I am. Read on if interested; otherwise, return your browser to its regularly scheduled viewing activity. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Are you kidding me NVivo 9?
Dec 2nd
Let me say up front that I realize when it comes right down to it, the situation I’m in is ultimately my fault. I made an assumption. I made an assumption regarding the capabilities of NVivo 9 – software developed specifically for the purpose of qualitative analysis of resource. I made that assumption; coded a lot of data, and now can not get the ONE report I need and want the most. Can I continue with the analysis without this report? To some extent yes. Is my research process hindered by not having the report I need? Absolutely.
So, why am I complaining publicly about it? I don’t believe the assumption I made was or is an unreasonable one; the assumption is quite logical, in my opinion. So, I’m putting it to the masses to (a) get your opinion regarding how reasonable or not my assumption may have been and (b) hopefully stumble across someone that has found a solution or workaround to get the reprort I want.
If you didn’t glaze over at NVivo 9 and are still with me, read on for details.
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