Posts tagged education
VodPod
Jul 16th
What is it?
The VodPod website uses phrases like:
- It’s your video network.
- Simply the best way to collect, share & watch videos.
- Let people watch your favorite videos from your favorite sites, right on your blog.
In short, it’s a personal repository for storing collections of online videos from popular video sites like YouTube, Google, Yahoo!, Daily Motion, MySpace, MetaCafe and others.
How does it work?
After creating an account, users have a default Pod and may add others. VodPod has a shortcut button to be added to browser toolbars. Adding items to your Pod only requires browsing video sites as you normally would and using the “Add to VodPod” button when needed. Using that button adds/embeds the video to your personal Pod.
What’s cool about it?
- Users can create different collections, each has their own URL; for example, I created this Web2.0 collection about 10 minutes.
- Each Pod has it’s own page where participants can add additional videos, rate and comment on existing videos, and message back and forth.
- Widgets. The VodPod player for a particular Pod can be embedded in another website which allows dynamic sharing of personally relevant videos. This is the widget for the aforementioned Web2.0 collection:
How can it be used in the classroom?
At the very least, VodPod provides a cleaner way to build and view a collection of online videos relevant to a specific topic. Rather than a list of simple links which branch out to a variety of pages, VodPod embeds all of the videos into the PodPage. This makes it easier to refer to and use online videos in a classroom (barring any bandwidth and access restrictions for YouTube imposed by your institution, of course ;-)
Also, VodPod has built in features to facilitate collaborative, community discussion regarding the videos. Learners can rate, comment on, and leave messages about the different videos. The possibilities for compare/contrast and critical review type activities are intriguing. A VodPod of two videos covering the same international event – one from Eurpoean news and one from US news source – could afford learners the opportunity to collaboratively discuss the two videos. Certainly, that’s a task possible with a bookmarking tool and a discussion board, but I do believe VodPod’s ease of use and available tools warrants its use.
Finally, Pod’ders can join a Pod and add additional videos. This creates opportunities for collaborative group work requiring the collection and critique of videos on a particular topic. Learners, in groups of four in a US History course, are asked to identify and collect images and videos focused on the end of World War II. VodPod provides the tool by which that collection can be accumulated and stored on the web, not to mention the other tools VodPod offers.
I first noticed VodPod via Alan Levine’s CogDogBlog.
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Loading ...Sites of Interest (AKA, I read & blog too much)
Jul 14th
Like every other edublogger in the world, I read many (okay, perhaps a number beyond my own comprehension ;-) more sites, stories, news, items, and issues than the ones on which I have time to comment in this space. However, as I encounter those other items, I do often tag the ones I find particularly interesting and believe may be of interest to others. The webpages and RSS feeds created from that activity may be useful. Thus, if you ever notice a lull on this blog, these other feeds are likely active and perhaps useful.
Sites of Interest. This is a del.icio.us link roll of sites I’ve tagged specifically to appear on this site. The 7 or so most recent sites tagged appear in the sidebar.
Tech Tools. These items focus on tools I find useful or interesting; they aren’t all necessarily educationally related, but the tools can enhance and make more efficient the user experience. For example, I’m a avid Firefox user, so you’ll probably find quite a few Firefox extensions in this feed. All of the items in this feed are ones I’ve encountered from other feeds: a best of type feed for the things I read.
EdTech News & Items. These items focus more on news stories and issues related to the intersection of education and technology that do not fall into one of the other categories, and you’ll occassionally notice some crossposting from the other feeds mentioned here. All of the items in this feed are ones I’ve encountered from other feeds.
Learning Media. To use a technical term, this is stuff that can be used in a classroom. These are often references to educationally related videos or sites that teach particular content from a good cross-section of disciplines. Essentially, if I think, “Oh, I need to share that with a chemistry teacher” – I mark the article in this group. These aren’t necessarily the sites or media proper; these are items I’ve encountered from other feeds. If you’re interested in actual learning content . . .
Learning Xchange. This is the same as Learning Media except items in this feed will be actual sites or content rather than an article referencing the site. This is a del.icio.us link roll.
For a few other miscellaneous items less related to this site, I’m only going to provide the link . . .
Second Life Education News. News, events, tools, items, content etc related to educational uses of the multi-user virtual environment of Second Life. If you ‘re not familiar with it, I also blog on this topic specifically at MUVE Forward: Real Education in Second Life by Topher Zwiers.
Second Life General News. General news and issues related to Second Life; it provides the larger context in which real education occurs in SL.
Online Learning. News, issues, tools, events, items and content related to distance learning. I’ve spent 5+ years supporting faculty use of distance learning technologies in a College environment; while my role at work has changed slightly, my interest in distance learning has not, so I continue to read and tag relevant items.
Learning Research. I’m also a graduate student, still (as my wife would say), and reading research is a much different experience and has a much different purpose than reading blogs and news sites. This is the container for learning research I encounter.
General Technology. The big picture for everything we do in educational technology. These are general news, issues, tools, events, items and content related to the technology industry. I read more gadgety type news in this space, but I also catch a lot of trend type articles in this space.
And now… I *think* I read and blog WAY more than I perhaps should. No wonder I’m *still* a graduate student. LOL.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...What constitutes an "expert?"
Jul 13th
Consistent with the them of this blog I guess, a few articles I read recently have been stewing and simmering. I’ve been giving more thought to Sarah Robbins’ comments about the movie Ratatouille as an allegory for Web 2.0 along with Jakob Nielsen’s Write Articles, Not Blog Postings article (which Alan Levine’s CogDogBlog highlighted for me). What constitutes an expert? As Ratatouille perhaps suggests, despite Nielsen’s article and comments to the contrary on Sarah’s blog, can “anyone” be an expert?
I think “Yes” for two reasons.
From the most recent Technology & Learning, CEO Anshul Samar runs Elementeo, “an online, interactive board game that teaches chemistry to students” which Samar hopes will reach $1 million in revenue for 2008.
And, from around the web, Katharine Berry created a web-based viewer for Second Life using AJAX. What has required the Second Life client in the past, may now be viewed in a standard web browser. While she admits the code is messy and features need to be added, it is under continued development.
Now, why do those two stories suggest that “anyone” can be an expert?
CEO Anshul Samar? He’s 13.
Ms. Katharine Berry? She spends her Second Life on the TEEN grid.
Those two individuals are definitely, from all outward appearances and expectations, what one might consider to be an expert. Admittedly, Mr. Samar and Ms. Berry accomplished tasks much more difficult than writing a blog, but it is still the open, writeable web that offered them the opportunity to exhibit expertise.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Visual Depiction of Internet Evolution & The Semantic Web
Jul 13th
I encountered the image to the left in the most recent edition of Technology and Learning and located it on the web. As T&L commented, the image is “being touted as one of the best visual depictions of the Internet’s evolution.”
The image is worth a look for an idea of several ways in which the web may evolve over the next several years. Image is attributed to RadarNetworks and Nova Spivack.
More importantly, quick web research identified this July 3rd CNN article which provides an overview of the semantic web concept.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Free Instructional Design Services in Second Life?
Jul 13th
Reflecting on the last couple of posts, I have become aware of an assumption I’ve implicitly made regarding faculty teaching and working in Second Life. I have assumed that faculty working in Second Life have an instructional design or educational technology background, but that’s apparently not the case. Why did I assume that, and more importantly, what are the implications of that realization?
I believe I assumed all educators in Second Life had some instructional technology background for three reasons. First, I have that background, so I blindly thought others did – really just didn’t give it a thought. Second, while our backgrounds are different, to this point, most of us are speaking the same language focused on early teaching experiences in Second Life. Third, the teaching and learning experiences developed by early adopters in many instances is truly phenomenal from an instructional design and technology perspective, so it appeared that the majority had some sort of a background in the field or were working with an instructional designer. At the very least, most of the education I’ve seen taking place in Second Life hasn’t exhibited quality gaps that are attributed to instructional design – hype perhaps, but not instructional design. Ultimately, I realized that Second Life early adopters may be incredibly talented, experienced and innovative teachers, but that does not mean however they have an instructional design, educational technology or educational psychology background that specializes in the use of technology to facilitate learning.
This realization has two implications, for me.
Initially, there’s two levels of conversations to engage regarding the use of Second Life for educational purposes; the latter of the two, I believe, is important to the continued development of education in Second Life. The broader conversation is the one I’ve been engaged in to this point: a focus on more general descriptions of teaching projects and the use of Second Life as a tool to develop digital assets. The more granular discussion is the one I’ve started to engage over the last couple of weeks, and that’s discussing more specific elements related to teaching in Second Life: assessment, learner motivation, social presence, learner engagement etc.
Finally, I understand that many educational institutions do not employ an instructional designer or educational technologist with formal training in that field. In that situation, I am willing to offer, as much as I possibly can, pro bono assistance with instructional design needs and ideas for Second Life projects; simply contact me at topher at muveforward dot com. I’ll do what I can to help and make arrangements for a voice conversation (20-30 minutes) or two via Skype or the first look viewer in world.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Assessing Learner Performance in Second Life
Jul 12th
Describing skills necessary to design effective learning experiences in yesterday’s entry, I omitted one that may perhaps prove to be one of the more significant challenges for faculty teaching in Second Life: assessment.
Following yesterday’s post, I happened to meet up with an individual (will add more specific information, with her permission ;-) to discuss a few ideas. The conversation turned to a project slated at her institution for the Fall in which business entrepreneurship students will engage an experiential, authentic learning activity in Second Life: start a small business in Second Life while addressing principles of entrepreneurship. Of course, the institution wants to evaluate the effectiveness and net gain of using Second Life in comparison to more traditional modes of content delivery; to accomplish that, they’re planning to have a group using Second Life and a group not using Second Life each complete an end of course exam. Throughout the course, they’re also planning for the Second Life group to produce written work focused on entrepreneurial principles.
My question and point was and is this. In classroom environments, we use objective exams and written work to estimate how well a learner understands content because the classroom environment limits our opportunities to evaluate actual performance utilizing the content that’s been taught. Traditional meatspace or web-based classrooms for teaching entrepreneurship have a variety of constraints that prohibit learners from actually starting a business. In lieu of that actual performance, learners can read about starting a business; they can watch videos; they can listen to faculty or guest speakers talk about it; they can discuss it in small groups; or, they may be able to play serious games simulating it. But, they typically do not have a realistic opportunity actually to start a business using principles of entrepreneurship. So, we can only approximate how well they might actually “do it in the real world,” and we approximate by assessments that hopefully do a good job of measuring the ability to perform in the real world.
So, if we have the opportunity to measure actual, “real world” performance, should we not do that rather than approximating? Certainly. Will observing a learner’s actual efforts to start a business not always be a more accurate way of determining if they’ve learned the concepts of entrepreneurship? Absolutely. So, if we can design learning activities in Second Life that afford learners the opportunity to actually start a business, shouldn’t we evaluate the artifacts and performance produced by that experience? Most likely.
I’m not suggesting we have to entirely abandon approximations of performance like objective exams or written work; in many instances, local, state or national policies require those more objective, more easily standardized assessments for accountability purposes. However, there’s something terribly incongruous if learners authentically performing learned skills in Second Life are only evaluated and assessed based upon approximations of their ability to perform. Faculty teaching in Second Life should assess actual performance.
Thus, the capability to design “alternate forms of assessment” (a term used in the educational psychology literature to describe performance rubrics, portfolios, etc) will prove, I believe, to be a critical skill for successful and quality use of Second Life in educational environments.
The issue is that that type of assessment is not easy for or familiar to most faculty teaching the content. If my description of details related to entrepreneurship seem scant, there’s a reason for that; I have NO experience with or background in that field. I chose to be an instructional designer and educational technologist, not an entrepreneur (although I could easily tell you which would have been the bigger financial payoff ;-). Likewise, the individual I met has NO experience or background in educational assessment. My graduate work is in instructional design and technology; hers is in computer science and business. So, to repeat a question, slightly modified, from yesterday’s post, “How many institutions offering Second Life learning will expect faculty trained in specific disciplines (Computer Science or Business) to master a skill set which instructional designers have spent a doctoral graduate career learning?”
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...VoiceThread
Jul 9th
What is it?
VoiceThread allows users to upload and then orally comment on photos. The site tour: “What’s a VoiceThread anyway?” provides a decent overview and demo of the application.
How does it work?
Users upload pictures that are added to the flash media player; different permissions can be set to allow the VoiceThread to be public or private and the opportunity to add audio can be limited to specific users. Once created, users may add audio to narrate/annotate each individual picture. The VoiceThread can be linked to on the VoiceThread site or downloaded for inclusion in a different site.
What’s cool about it?
– VoiceThreads may be left open for other users and friends to comment on the image; this enables interesting collaborative and learning community applications of the technology.
– VoiceThreads may be saved and shared, in Flash video format, on any website. This allows portability to personal websites.
How can it be used in the classroom?
Nearly every discipline can benefit from this technology by simply soliciting learner reactions to digital images and photographs.
In an American History course, what instructional and learning value could come of having each learner in the course record their personal reactions to the images in this VoiceThread? What if learners were asked to record their thoughts once prior to in-class discussion or reading assignments and then again after learning more about how World War II ended? How many learners knew of Japan’s interest in surrender; does awareness of that not-widely covered historical fact have a significant impact on learner reactions?
In a literature course, would learner’s recording impromptu reactions to poetry-related imagery add value to their understanding of a poem? Could a group of learners potentially collaboratively create an artistic oral performance describing that imagery?
—— Additional Thought 4/10/2007 ——
How did I not describe the potential for language instruction? Using instructor-specified graphics, learners could create personal VoiceThreads in which they tell a story about each image. Alternatively, an instructor could create a VoiceThread of 2-3 images; for each image, the instructor begins a story. Learners then follow suit by each adding several thoughts or ideas to collaboratively develop a longer story about each image; individuals could be assessed on their speaking skills and whether their contribution fits within the context of the story already created by classmates.
———————————————
I first noticed VoiceThread via Dean Shareski’s blog, Ideas & Thoughts from an EdTech
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...When is using Second Life NOT Hype?
Jun 27th
I recently was asked,
When is the use of Second Life just hype (or not)? When will or do educational uses of Second Life get beyond the hype? What value is there in using Second Life besides simply making a marketing splash for the institution or organization?
Certainly, there’s still much buzz surrounding Second Life, and much of it is still hype and, actually, anti-hype. A quick Google Blog Search for “Second Life business hype” reveals volumes of relevant blog entries.
I’ve been giving serious thought to my initial answer which was something similar to . . .
Using Second Life is nothing more than hype if an institution or teacher is using the technology for the sake of using the technology. If Second Life is only being used for learning activities that can be accomplished using other, older technologies with the same or less level of complexity, that’s hype. At that point, the only value for using Second Life is being able to claim “We’re using Second Life.” Educational use of Second Life ceases to be simple hype when there’s true value added benefits of using the technology, when the technology supports a learning activity or approach to instruction that can not be supported by other technologies, when the unique affordances of Second Life are utilized for the benefit of learners and teachers.
Essentially, I think it comes back to the quality issue.
while maintaining proper focus on the desired learning outcomes, develop authentic learning projects that allow learners to engage learning content through interaction with communities and/or creation of content or products in a manner not possible through a physical or standard web-based learning environment.
My goal is for my institution to engage Second Life in a quality manner from the start; while those interested in marketing our institution may enjoy the idea of promoting a campus, if that’s all we do, it’s hype. To avoid the hype, we need to implement quality, unique learning experiences that may only be accomplished through a Second Life-type of technology.
How is your institution using Second Life? Hype or more-than-hype?
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