I found this activity very interesting and even exciting as I could relate and even envisage using/trying to use wikis in my own professional context. This could radically change how I teach (or one aspect of it). I need to reflect further on how I can best apply wikis and other technology (pod/videocasts, blogs, mobile phones, etc.) to my teaching context/my students' learning context.
There were various links I found interesting and useful (see below).
There was a paper on using games in education. I already know that perhaps 80% of my male students and 50% of my female students play computer games regularly or daily. Finding an interesting/attractive way of putting those gaming skills/skills used in gaming to use as a means of enhancing their English speaking skills would be a good way of centering learning on the students and not vice versa. But I can't find it now - maybe it was one I read for Unit 9 (blogs)??
Writing this I now realise I forgot to include in the briefing document that wikis can appeal to the students' "digital native" character. Though I feel it's not wise to presume that my Chinese students (of around 20 years of age) are the same as US or UK students. My students have lived their entire lives in the highly developed city of Shanghai and have many of the latest gadgets and seem interested in the latest fads, but I should be cautious when adapting western studies to an asian environment. Which is something I've already learnt the hard way when trying to apply a more interactive/communicative/student-centred style of teaching to my lessons.
References
Ferris, S. and Wilder, H. (2006) ‘Uses and potentials of wikis in the classroom’, Innovate, vol. 2, no. 5. [Online], Available from: http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=258 (Accessed 11 January 2009).
http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Articles+and+Resources
Lamb, B. (2004) ‘Wide open space: wikis, ready or not’, Educause Review, vol. 39, no. 5
(September/October), pp. 36–48. [Online], Available from:
http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp (Accessed 11 January 2009).
Prensky, M. 2001. Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon 9 (5).
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf. (accessed 11 January 2009).
TeachersFirst (2006-2008) 'Index' http://www.teachersfirst.com/index.cfm
Showing posts with label evidence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evidence. Show all posts
Monday, 12 January 2009
CA10.1- Putting knowledge into practice
So, explain to other English teachers:
- What are wikis?
- How can wikis be used in teaching English as a foreign language?
- What the teachers would need to do technically?
----------- to set one up
----------- to keep it working
What are wikis?
"Wikis are collaborative Web-based sites with "open editing." That is, the information on a wiki can be edited by any and all users. Once users visit wikis,they can read and, if they wish, edit or change the text by using a Web-browser to re-write, re-organize, or update the structure and content of the site. In wikis, readers are writers, and readers and writers jointly form a community of collaboration. Wikis can best be seen in action through the very popular Wikipedia [http://www.wikipedia.org/] and Wiktionary [http://wiktionary.org/]." (Ferris and Wilder, 2006, pp 2-3). If you haven't seen/experienced a wiki I suggest you take a look at Wikipedia before going on.
So, generally speaking, anyone can enter text onto a wiki page, edit any text, or create new pages and new hyperlinks. However, as you'll be using the wiki for class, you will probably want your wiki to have certain restrictions. You can make yourself the administrator/moderator/chief editor and "lock" certain pages that you want to be always visible and free from changes/edits. You can also specify and control who has access to the wiki. You can give all students in a class unique passwords so that additions and changes can be tracked. This can encourage students as they have (a kind of) proven ownership of their work. Or you could give the same password to all the students, but then you can't track changes by student. This may help encourage proactivity in the Chinese classroom with less outgoing students who may not participate for fear of making a mistake and being seen to lose face. However, this option also leaves more room for vandalism.
Wikis are simple to use because if you know how to use Word you can use a wiki. Students may need to learn a few more simple things, but the wiki itself will explain them and they can practice them straightaway without fear of ruining the wiki because another important point is that wikis are easily reversible. With this I mean that wikis automatically keep a history of changes so that things can easily be put back the way they were. This encourages bolder editing as any mistakes/changes of mind can be rectified straightaway or months later. It also helps discourage vandalism.
In case anyone asks, the word "wiki" was "coined by programmer Ward Cunningham (1949- ), from Hawaiian wiki-wiki ‘quick-quick.’" (Apple, 2009)
How can wikis be used in teaching English as a foreign language in China?
Obviously, as wikis are text based they lend themselves more readily to the skills of reading and writing. However, listening and speaking skills can be directly enhanced as wiki pages can have podcasts or videocasts embedded into them which students could listen to and watch, or even produce. Another important aspect is the sense of community collaboration/community learning that the wiki foments. Conversational English students could be assigned written wiki projects to complete together that they can later comment on/discuss (orally) in class. Thus the wiki would help provide a real reason to use English, while its asynchronous, online nature would tackle the typical excuse students use that they could never find time to get together to collaborate.
A wiki can encourage peer teaching/learning/support in that one student's text can be edited/corrected by other students. However, in a Chinese context this aspect of wikis needs to be carefully considered before being used - and I'm not even sure that many Chinese students would (initially) publicly want to correct other students for fear of shaming them. But I think that the idea of collective-ownership of work with all contributors being able to unilaterally edit fellow students' work can be a valuable life-experience for many Chinese students. Chinese students nowadays may suffer from "little-emperor syndrome", a direct consequence of the one-child policy. This condition manifests itself in arrogance, ego-centricity, and general anti-social behaviours - none of which are traits that western companies generally look for in their employees. This is a concern, because more than half of my students at this university state that they wish to work for a western company. So the lessons in teamwork, group goal over personal gain and initiative/proactivity can be far reaching. Though, for any lessons to be learnt, the students need to take an active interest in their contributions and what happens to them, which is something not always easy to achieve in a conversational English class taught by a foreigner in China. But as Clay Shirky observes: "A wiki in the hands of a healthy community works. A wiki in the hands of an indifferent community fails" (quoted in Lamb, 2004).
Archives of constantly updated information, relevant to the students and subject, can be created. Once a supportive environment has been established, students can share their knowledge and find out how teaching helps learning (or at least how organising/reflecting on one's thoughts helps deeper understanding).
Of course, the class wiki can lead to inter-class wikis if other English teachers are happy with the idea. I have no idea how inter-school or inter-country wikis would be viewed by students or school administration.
Separate areas of the wiki (or separate wikis) could be set up for certain students to collaborate on in private for debate or presentation projects for example.
What the teachers would need to do technically? - to set one up - to keep it working
When thinking about choosing a wiki, there "is no unified set of software characteristics that are shared by all wikis. The dozens of prominent wiki engines freely available for download on the Internet vary in approaches, programming languages, and architectures. Technical quirks of wiki systems, indicative of the often anarchic programming communities that have developed them, need to be considered before choosing a system" (Lamb, 2004).
Of course it goes without saying that the wiki should be set up and maintained at no financial cost (to you or the school). This means you need to set up a free wiki that can be password protected.
Working at a university in China means that certain western considerations may not be necessarily applicable. In the west, one might be well advised to first seek administrative approval and learn what the policy is on posting student information (names, photos, etc) on the internet is, and perhaps parent permission should also be sought (teachersfirst, 2009).
However, in China, two things advise against troubling school administration with such considerations. One is that the average foreign English teacher is merely tolerated (as a legal requirement for the teaching of English) and not actually expected or encouraged to go to great lengths to improve his/her students' level of English. Actively pointing out how teaching may be improved could be badly received as it could be understood as a criticism of current teaching methods. In order to save face the administration may resort to actively ignoring any requests to change teaching methodology. Absence of response may also be designed to save face for the foreign teacher as, in Chinese eyes, having their request denied would make the teacher lose face. Another complication would be that the school administration may agree to implement the use of wikis but actually do nothing about it. This again may be designed to save face for the teacher, and in Chinese eyes may not be considered misleading, a trick or deceitful in any way.
Another reason not to trouble school administration is that personal information doesn't seem to be as highly protected in China. A foreigner will find that without permission their personal details are passed on to 3rd parties if asked for and companies never heard of will send him/her letters, emails, sms and call at any time of the day or night. I would simply advise the teacher to set up a wiki that is password protected for viewing and editing. As for parental permission, I think parents may not understand why permission is being asked. Parents will agree to their son/daughter using a wiki provided you claim it's good for their child, and the child passes their oral English exams - which in China very rarely doesn't happen. It will be up to the teacher to try to make sure the student actually deserves their pass mark and makes the most of their wiki experience.
If school administration hears about the wiki, and takes an interest in it, you can give them a password that allows them to view the wiki. If they actually view the wiki and do see anything they don't like - which would probably be open, moderate to severe criticism of the school, China or its policies - then you could be fired, the police informed of your actions, you could be detained and then deported. If you're unsure of what you shouldn't discuss with students (and in many cases, teachers) then do an internet search.
Try to involve students in creating the editing policies/rules for the wiki. The greater their involvement in creating the wiki environment, the more likely they will follow those rules and participate in general. See http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikistep1.cfm for some ideas for polices.
Perhaps try to use the wiki as a shared English environment that students (don't have in real-life but) can experience, and refer to in discussions in class. However, the teacher should be cautious when intervening in the construction of this environment as to " truly empower students within collaborative or coconstructed activities requires the teacher to relinquish some degree of control over those activities. The instructor’s role shifts to that of establishing contexts or setting up problems to engage students. In a wiki, the instructor may set the stage or initiate interactions, but the medium works most effectively when students can assert meaningful autonomy over the process. It’s not that authority can’t be imposed on a wiki, but doing so undermines the effectiveness of the tool" (Lamb, 2004).
References
Apple Inc., (2005-2007) Apple Dictionary Version 1.0.2 (Accessed 11 January 2009).
Ferris, S. and Wilder, H. (2006) ‘Uses and potentials of wikis in the classroom’, Innovate, vol. 2, no. 5. [Online], Available from: http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?
view=article&id=258 (Accessed 11 January 2009).
Lamb, B. (2004) ‘Wide open space: wikis, ready or not’, Educause Review, vol. 39, no. 5
(September/October), pp. 36–48. [Online], Available from:
http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp (Accessed 11 January 2009).
TeachersFirst (2006-2008) 'Index' http://www.teachersfirst.com/index.cfm
Sunday, 11 January 2009
SA9.2
The Google Doc table as it looked after my latest additions to it.
The activity gave me the opportunity to use Google docs for the first time.
[Need to add to this entry. E.g. mention the other collaborators, especially Nigel S. See Cafe forum]
Friday, 9 January 2009
CA9.1 - desktop research
[<-- Click on the image to enlarge in the same window, then use the browser "back" button. Or open in separate tab or window]
In this activity your task is to research the use of blogs in education. You should locate a variety of sources that might include some or all of the following: - journal articles - news articles - blog entries - podcasts - case studies and examples - conference papers.
Having started this activity later than everyone else (on the forums), and having read the information they have posted, it seems rather futile to spend a great deal of time on this activity.
So I've googled "education blog"; "education blog UK"; and "what are blogs used for". There is tonnes of information out there and many many people have already provided their answers to the questions posed. It simply seems illogical to try to make my own categories of blogs for education when other people have made perfectly good categories already. I can't believe that we are being required to work "hard" instead of "smart".
Wikipedia (2009) defines a "blog" as:
A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Then goes on to say:
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting), which are part of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, one which consists of blogs with very short posts. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.[1] With the advent of video blogging, the word blog has taken on an even looser meaning — that of any bit of media wherein the subject expresses his opinion or simply talks about something.
Wikipedia lists types of blogs as:
Personal Blogs
The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog.
Corporate Blogs
For business purposes. Blogs, either used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs.
Question Blogging
A type of blog that answers questions
By Media Type
A blog comprising videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called a linklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog.[4] Blogs with shorter posts and mixed media types are called tumblelogs.
By Device
Blogs can also be defined by which type of device is used to compose it. A blog written by a mobile device like a mobile phone or PDA could be called a moblog.
By Genre
Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as political blogs, travel blogs, house blogs,[6] [7] fashion blogs, project blogs, education blogs, niche blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs and legal blogs (often referred to as a blawgs) or dreamlogs. While not a legitimate type of blog, one used for the sole purpose of spamming is known as a Splog.
Further down the same page wikipedia talks of an "edublog" and defines it as (wikipedia 2009b):
a blog written by someone with a stake in education. Examples might include blogs written by or for teachers, blogs maintained for the purpose of classroom instruction, or blogs written about educational policy. The collection of these blogs is called the edublogosphere by some, in keeping with the larger blogosphere, although that label is not necessarily universally agreed upon. Others refer to the community or collection of blogs and bloggers as the edusphere.
It goes on to list:
Notable Edubloggers
Stephen Downes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes]
Michael Feldstein [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Feldstein]
Will Richardson [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Richardson]
James N. Farmer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_N._Farmer]
Multiuser edublogging platforms
Free Edublogs - Widely used edublog by teachers. [http://edublogs.org/]
Classblogmeister - Widely used free edublog for students and teachers. [http://www.classblogmeister.com/]
EduSpaces - Social networking site for educators which includes blogs. Uses the Elgg platform. [http://eduspaces.net/]
TeachFor.Us - Teach for America teacher blogs, running Lyceum [http://TeachFor.Us/]
Teacher Lingo - Community of teacher blogs. Uses Community Server platform from Telligent Systems. [http://teacherlingo.com/]
-----------------
Jim in (http://discuss1.open.ac.uk/Login/FAVC-002C5775/FAVC-002C577B/FAVC-002C577C/I09C6F084?Templates=Printable) wrote:
"Educause ‘Additional Examples of Blogs’, Educause Learning Initiative, [online] Available from: http://www.educause.edu/ELI/ELIDiscoveryToolGuidetoBloggin/AdditionalExamplesofBlogs/13561 (Accessed 5 January 2009).
categories mentioned
* slices of life
(stream of consciousness writing by a blogger)
* topic blogs
(politics, library issues, learning technology)
* marketing blogs
(usually by a small business, providing extra information on a service or product - i.e. a new book)
* event blogs
(chronology of things happening at a conference, meeting, broader event from the perspective of the blogger)
* learning journals
(to gather reflections)
* scholarly blogs
(to share ideas related to a specific field)
* how to or best practices blogs
(how to create effective blogs)
I thought all of these categories could be linked to education in the broadest sense. At least five of them could be linked to "formal" educational use - topic blogs, event blogs, learning journals, scholarly blogs.. and how to / best practices. They could be further reviewed from the perspective of a teacher, student, administrator - each of these would have a different reason or point of view in how the blog might be used. "
------------------------
Nigel S, has used:
Personal) Reflective blogs
Collaborative blogs
Advisory/ informative blogs
Archive blogs
Source: forum message
-------------------
Keely has used:
Sharing general educational news
Blogs to learn from (informative blogs)
Sharing experiences
Advisory blogs
Reflective blogs (students engaged in courses)
Sharing resources and links
Learning & technology information news
Source: http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/viewpost.php?post=5498
------------------------
Colleen has used:
Advisory blog written by educational organisation
Blog maintained by an individual with expertise in learning technologies
Reflective blog written by a student on a course
Blog maintained by teaching practitioner to share good practice
Publicly available blogging opportunities for teachers and students
Source: forum message
----------------------
for CA9.1 @ 09-01-09
I tried to access the links given in the unit resources in order, but http://technorati.com/blogs/tag/education , http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0450.asp?bhcp=1 and http://edublogs.org/ would not open but http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs did. I read the first paragraph on the oedb site page that opened (oedb, 2009) and it supported my understanding that my research can only be peek at what the internet has to offer because there are far too many blogs on the internet for me to carry out detailed research. The first pragraph states that "There are over 30,000 blogs hosted at edublogs.org alone" (oedb, 2009). Jim and Nigel S also commented in the forums on how necessarily incomplete our research must be due to time constraints.
The oedb page went on to list its "Top 100 Educational Blogs", and separated the list into 10 categories. I used the listed categories as a starting point for my own search.
References
oedb (2009) http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs (accessed 09/01/09)
wikipedia (2009a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog (accessed 7 January 2009)
(wikipedia 2009b) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edublog
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Reflection for blog at 06-01-09
Right, things are getting serious now; if I want to leave 2 weeks for the ECA I need to finish units 8, 9 and 10 this week.
I'm amazed, with so little time left till the end of the course, that the tutors still haven't made a meaningful return to the forums.
I've read some other people's contributions (from the forums and their shared blogs) which have helped calm my nerves and given me some ideas (Emma, Colleen, Jim, Nigel S, Keely, Karen).
Let's see if I can post this to my blog today. I've had access problems again lately. Now I can usually view the blog but I can't edit the posts (I wanted to add tags to the posts that don't have them, which is about 90%), I wanted to change the name of the blog from "Metacog-what??!!) to something more formal/boring like "H808 blog". As I write this I'm still waiting for the blog to open. This morning I woke up thinking that I should perhaps move to a blog that actually allows me to use it 24/7. Some 3 years ago I blogged for about half a year. The experience was very positive as access was 24/7 and the blogs themselves had much greater functionality/"customisability". There was a definite sense of community that was enhanced by the blogs - not impeded by them.
It would be very nice if I got my TMA02 results back. I'd like to see the comments well before I have to write for the ECA. But Alan gave me an extension and my TMA02 was finally handed in on 26th Dec (coz of a couple of days of formatting problems).
Well, after 20 mins the blog still isn't opening. I started a blog for my students on Blogger so I know that it's accessible here in China. I'll open one for H808 now. This is very disappointing. Not at all what I expected when I started this course.
Ok, I've set up my new blog. It's at http://jmartel-h808-blog.blogspot.com/ . But I can't move posts over because I can't access my OU blog!!!!!!!!!! I've tried using Safari, Firefox and IE on a Mac, and IE7, Firefox and Safari using XP. At least my blog is showing no favouritism...Ah, I spoke too soon, a few minutes later IE7 on XP opened my blog - with errors, however the main text is visible. Then I tried to add a post and it's now loading interminably. Ok, time to forget moving the blog. I'll do that when I can.
I'm amazed, with so little time left till the end of the course, that the tutors still haven't made a meaningful return to the forums.
I've read some other people's contributions (from the forums and their shared blogs) which have helped calm my nerves and given me some ideas (Emma, Colleen, Jim, Nigel S, Keely, Karen).
Let's see if I can post this to my blog today. I've had access problems again lately. Now I can usually view the blog but I can't edit the posts (I wanted to add tags to the posts that don't have them, which is about 90%), I wanted to change the name of the blog from "Metacog-what??!!) to something more formal/boring like "H808 blog". As I write this I'm still waiting for the blog to open. This morning I woke up thinking that I should perhaps move to a blog that actually allows me to use it 24/7. Some 3 years ago I blogged for about half a year. The experience was very positive as access was 24/7 and the blogs themselves had much greater functionality/"customisability". There was a definite sense of community that was enhanced by the blogs - not impeded by them.
It would be very nice if I got my TMA02 results back. I'd like to see the comments well before I have to write for the ECA. But Alan gave me an extension and my TMA02 was finally handed in on 26th Dec (coz of a couple of days of formatting problems).
Well, after 20 mins the blog still isn't opening. I started a blog for my students on Blogger so I know that it's accessible here in China. I'll open one for H808 now. This is very disappointing. Not at all what I expected when I started this course.
Ok, I've set up my new blog. It's at http://jmartel-h808-blog.blogspot.com/ . But I can't move posts over because I can't access my OU blog!!!!!!!!!! I've tried using Safari, Firefox and IE on a Mac, and IE7, Firefox and Safari using XP. At least my blog is showing no favouritism...Ah, I spoke too soon, a few minutes later IE7 on XP opened my blog - with errors, however the main text is visible. Then I tried to add a post and it's now loading interminably. Ok, time to forget moving the blog. I'll do that when I can.
More on CA8.1
00:39 today
Visible to all Open University users
(For CA8.1 podcast link and transcript see below.)So, technology related competence for Unit 8:
- Installed and learnt to use Audacity and Lame encoder
- Used these to make a podcast
- Also learnt to use Keynote (Mac's PP style presentation tool)
- I already knew how to use iTunes
- I had already knew how to upload mp3s to podcasting website
I finally decided on a topic for the podcast; wrote some text and recorded it using Audacity and Lame.
Not having a sound studio is a problem when you live in downtown Shanghai - not the quietest of places at any given time! But I used a headset with mic and hoped for the best. The sound quality seems ok though of course not studio quality. My delivery of the text could be better, but generally I think vocalisation is ok and I did try to use different speed of delivery to differentiate between the podcast text itself and example-text (listen to the podcast and you'll understand what I'm talking about).
I didn't re-read any instructions for Audacity (if I did actually read any in the first place) and managed through some trial and error to make an mp3 recording of just under 6 minutes. I decided not to edit using audacity so I had to rerecord the whole thing or almost the whole thing a few times. I decided that would be more straightforward and probably quicker than trying to figure out how to edit using Audacity. But if I had to use the tool, I now feel confident that it can do the job and that I could learn to edit using it if needed. Of course I still prefer iMovie for audio and video editing.
While experimenting with the idea of using podcasts in the classroom, I decided to try out Mac's Keynote (Power Point (PP) Mac style, as it were). I wanted to see if it was easy to embed podcasts into a PP style presentation. I found out that Keynote is wonderfully simple to use. Adding photos, music or video is as simple as drag and drop. Then you resize and reposition using mouse/trackpad and cursor. I watched a single, brief, online video tutorial and was compiling my presentation seconds later. I added text and photos to "slides". I added video to slides and then added music on top. I had slides with different themes and had text, photos and video on the same slide. And all was achieved very intuitively and with great control over the results. I now feel confident that I can make a good-looking multimedia presentation for class that I can fully control/adjust in real-time. Using video-podcasts embedded in a mult-media presentation like this can be a very useful and effective way of highlighting various aspects of western culture for my Chinese students. I'm sure the excellent visual quality and clean finish of Keynote will impress and help maintain students' interest. Topics can be introduced and referenced very effectively leaving more time for students to actually practice their English speaking.
Podcasts can also be a great way for f2f TEFL teacher to save his/her voice from overuse in class. The podcasts (especially videopodcasts) can also be used to expose students to different authentic, native, English accents in a "natural" environment (on screen) - vital if the student is to communicate effectively in the real world.
And of course, the podcasts and whole presentations can be uploaded to a site or blog for the students to access at will in their own time.
Problems/issues that the students may encounter accessing/using the podcast/keynotes are:
- many students don't have computers and so getting access to a computer can sometimes be a problem
- some students claim not to have much practice using a computer - which could in turn lead to problems/delays accessing files in their own time. [Though I tend to think that this "excuse" is used to explain why they haven't done homework/accessed the files etc.]
- in class, equipment may fail or be incompatible.
- as there is only a computer for the teacher in my classrooms, the students won't have accessibility problems/issues when viewing the podcasts in class.
---------------
My podcast for CA8.1 will open directly clicking on http://www.switchpod.com/users/jm4298/JoseMartelH808PodcastforCA81.mp3 or go to feed://www.switchpod.com/users/jm4298/feed.xml to choose the link from the 4 OU podcasts I've published there. The file is just under 6 minutes long and 5.3MB.
Transcript:
Hello and welcome. My name is Jose Martel and I'm a student on the open University's course H808 The Elearning Professional. This podcast is a requirement for Core Activity 8.1.
I will briefly talk, from a personal perspective, on some aspects and issues of student group-collaboration in an asynchronous forum, especially when different time zones are involved.
It might be helpful to hear something I wrote when participating in a group collaboration with students in a time zone 8 hours behind my own:
"Most of the time I felt isolated, working alone in a time zone 8 hours ahead of the rest of the group. I could only hope for replies to my comments towards the end of my day (from 4pm onwards), by that time I had often been working on the activity from 7am to 10am then gone to work for 7 hours and returned after 6pm. My comments seemed distant in time and thought by then. It was sometimes hard to keep an interest in my point of view when I had posted a reply 12 hours before and had moved on in thought, but then would have to go back to reply to the old thoughts that were still being dealt with by other members of the group. It is possible that rest of the group also found it bothersome having to allow for the my late replies."
Something else that can negatively affect group collaboration are time limits. For the group activity just mentioned we had one week to prepare for, discuss and produce the required result. Here's a related text I wrote at the time:
I often had the impression that the group as a whole wanted to complete the activity with, "the easiest/less problematic route being taken" [...] that their overriding concern was finishing the activity (and moving on). Perhaps the asynchronous forum with time constraints and the fact that members were/are strangers may have been contributing factors. The general consensus seemed to be to try to integrate as many ideas as possible, to make it an inclusive-[activity] (regardless of an unsatisfactory outcome).
At the time I felt strongly enough about the issue to post a forum message. Here's an excerpt:
I'd like to question whether these quickie group activities are useful enough to us to warrant the additional stress and opportunities for discord and even antipathy that they bring. Also, I think often the lack of clear leadership (coupled with lack of time) within the group will result in the easiest/less problematic route being taken or an "ok, whatever you think is best" or even an "ok, whatever" attitude. All/some group members may not express their true thoughts through lack of interest, a desire to accept anything just to move on, wanting to avoid even the slightest confrontation, wanting to feel part of the group, other.
There may not be a good opportunity for real discussion, especially if members are in distant time zones.
These group activities can merely emphasise how much some of us are not part of the group activity or H808 cohort. And at best (worst?) they may only help to form cliques.
I feel it's essential that teachers/tutors need to give clear instructions and be actively monitoring the forums in order to pick up on problems/guide/give advice in a timely manner. I wrote that:
Perhaps given more time, clearer guidelines and guidance, the activity could have been more successful. However, even with improvements of presentation, H808 does not seem to have students who are ideally placed to participate effectively in, and learn from, group activities.
That also questioned whether group activities carried out via online asynchronous forums by students (and in particular, students who have full-time professional occupations) who have little time or inclination to collaborate will provide good opportunities for learning. At the time I said that I thought there was little deep-learning being achieved.
To sum up:
Group collaborations using online asynchronous forums can be problematic. Some issues to bear in mind can be the danger of pronounced feelings of isolation students can feel, especially when additionally displaced by time zones.
The group should be given enough time to complete the activity without feeling too pressured into avoiding discussion in order to finish the task.
An issue not previously mentioned, could be the need to make sure that students (especially students who don't know each other well) understand that asynchronous forum dynamics require a more cautious approach to discussions and problem solving. Verbal and non-verbal aspects of face-to-face discussions/meetings are absent so the risk of misunderstandings is greatly increased. And the resultant need to clearly state and clarify points made can add additional stress to the situation.
This has been Jose Martel presenting a podcast for Core Activity 8.1 of the open University's course H808, The Elearning Professional. The podcast briefly outlined, from a personal perspective, some aspects and issues of student group-collaboration in an asynchronous forum, especially when different time zones are involved.
Thank you for listening.
Friday, 2 January 2009
Re CA8.1
2 January, 03:14
Visible to all Open University users
Ok, in an attempt to create some (more) evidence to show I can use new technology, I decided to try to use Audacity and Lame to create a podcast on the XP partition of my MacBook. [Using Mac's Boot Camp I have partitioned/divided the hard drive and loaded XP on one part. Now I can use the MacBook to boot directly into Mac OS X 10.5.6 or XP professional 2002 SP3.]Being used to the simplicity of Mac installations it seemed to take some time to set up Audacity and Lame and I was a bit confused trying to locate the files to download. Audacity itself seems quite easy to use though (the basic functions at least). I didn't expect to have to search for the Lame encoder on behalf of Audacity. After a couple of hiccoughs I successfully linked it though and created my 1st MP3 using the software which played directly on iTunes for Windows.
All the while I was muddling through the instructions and trying to keep track of the IE windows (for a more authentic experience I decided not to use the much more convenient tabs in Safari for Windows -[Update-Windows automatic update offered me IE7 which has tabs so I switched; I also installed Firefox 3]). I couldn't help thinking that it's just so much easier and elegant using iMovie on Mac OS X.
I watched an interesting 2 hour long video podcast from Stanford University ("1.Darwin's Legacy: Course Introduction"). Then I thought I should perhaps simply listen to a podcast, so I listened to the 22+ min, "A World of Change: The International Initiative at Stanford University". Then I thought I should listen to something more elearning related, so I listened to the 9:34 min, "Listening to students - Innovative responses" from JISC (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2008/11/podcast63betsywilson.aspx) found thanks to Emma and a link in her blog post "Unit8 Part 1".
I was surprised by the informality of the video podcast. I had expected studio quality delivery/presentation, and found all the ums and ahs and fumbling of a live, unrehearsed performance. The 1st speaker was especially unprofessional/unrehearsed/lacking in confidence in his delivery. Also the PP presentations seemed rather amateurish/basic and not what I had expected of acclaimed and experienced professors/lecturors.
The Stanford podcast did have studio-quality audio. It seemed professional and interesting. However, half way through I found myself wanting to look at something in order to help focus my attention. I would have liked a transcription to follow as I listened, or actually be able to watch the various speakers.
The JISC podcast had good quality sound, though it seemed to have been recorded in a cafe and the interviewer seemed unexperienced and nervous. There was again no transcription, but the shorter duration made this less necessary for me.
Now to choose something to talk about...
- Professionals Vs service providers?
- The perceived need for legitimisation in the eyes of academics?
- ????
--------
02-01-09
Ok, some days later now.
I've continued to watch the Stanford Darwin series. Am on to lecture 5 of 10 now. Sometimes they can be too high-brow for me but they are interesting.
Perhaps I should try to listen/watch elearning podcasts!!!
Still can't think of something "that [addresses] an aspect of this course that raises issues for elearning in general" (unit8 part1 guide, p2) that I feel confident enough about to podcast on. Interviewing Chinese teachers on their thoughts on elearning (or foriegn English teachers) is an option, but would probably take some (considerable) time to prepare a face-to-face meeting/interview/discussion. Using something like Skype is a possibility though. But again the prep work and the actual production of the podcast seems prohibitively time-cinsuming at the moment. And leaving it for later doesn't seem an option either with work for the ECA drawing ever closer.
Sunday, 28 December 2008
Reflections on TMA02 - and towards the ECA
28 Dec 2008, 04:10
Visible to all Open University users
Part 1
Once I was able to write about an actual elearning professional in my "professional" context the exercise became easier to relate to and focus on. It became doable.
Part 2
A major pain was identifying all the evidence/forum messages. I had a pdf with 189 pages of largely repeated messages - i.e., new messages that included the rest of the thread. And I was to blame for a lot of that content! I hadn't systematically filed away the messages as they were produced or soon after. Lack of time and the benefit/need of hindsight in categorising the evidence were probably factors.
I think I would have found it easier (and would have used fewer words) if I had written in the 1st person. Emma asked about this and Robin replied positively but saying she should confirm with her group tutor. I thought it too late to go asking for and waiting for confirmation and simply needed to get on with it.
Overall, I need to stay on track and start preparing for the ECA from now. I definitely shouldn't leave writing till the last week.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Unit 6 woes...
24 Nov 2008, 12:02
Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 24 Nov 2008, 23:15
Visible to all Open University users
Emma and Karen have put parts of this thread on their blog coz it contains some useful reflection on the course. I thought that was a good idea so I've done the same but copied the whole thread. (Italics are Keely, Emma or Karen's text.)
-----
From: Keely Laycock 22 November 2008 20:30:13
Subject: Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe
Hi All,
I've noticed it before, but having just finished wading through the reading for Unit 6, I wondered if anyone else is as fed up as I am with all the core reading and activities concentrating on elearning within the post 16/HE sector? If we can use the work in this Unit for TMA02 part 1, it would be more benficial for some of us to have a 'selection' of core reading rather than having to find all the resources for my own context, that of elearning within secondary schools.
Keely
---------------
From: Jose Martel Penate 23 November 2008 01:59:03
Subject: Re: Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe
Hi Keely and everyone else,
Well, I'll freely admit that I'm feeling bored and lost since starting Unit 5.
I don't seem to relate to what we're being asked to read, research, learn.
I'm not sure if this is due to the excesses of work/stress caused by TMA01. Or if the constant study over 8+ weeks is finally taking it's toll. Or simply if my personal, everyday context has little to do with what I'm being asked to do.
It is true that I'm no longer used to studying and this course is very intensive.
In an effort to try to get some kind of grasp on Unit 6 I've read what other students have produced and shared. I've looked at the forum for unit 6 - messages from Philippa, Maria, and Mitchell - and some blogs. So far I've looked at Emma's blog and Jim's blog (see below for links). Both have interesting and useful information that I'm going to take a closer look at.
I often find that by reading other student's messages/work I see completely different points of view to my own (that's if I actually have a point of view on the subject in the first place!). Often this will make me question my own abilities and leave me wondering if I have what it takes to be an elearning professional. But I do think I'll pass this course - I'm learning to give the answers that are expected of me. Does this make me more of a professional? Probably.
Jose
---------------
From: Emma Nugent 3 23 November 2008 16:30:40
Subject: Re(2): Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe
Jose Martel Penate writes:
Hi Keely and everyone else,
Well, I'll freely admit that I'm feeling bored and lost since starting Unit 5.
I don't seem to relate to what we're being asked to read, research, learn.
I'm not sure if this is due to the excesses of work/stress caused by TMA01. Or if the constant study over 8+ weeks is finally taking it's toll. Or simply if my personal, everyday context has little to do with what I'm being asked to do.
It is true that I'm no longer used to studying and this course is very intensive.
I think it is all of these, I note that very few people have engaged in Supp Activity 6.2... a sign of how we're all feeling perhaps anyway, if you keep to the schedule you can have a well earned break at Christmas. I'm even going to somewhere without internet access for a week so I ensure I take a break.
In an effort to try to get some kind of grasp on Unit 6 I've read what other students have produced and shared. I've looked at the forum for unit 6 - messages from Philippa, Maria, and Mitchell - and some blogs. So far I've looked at Emma's blog and Jim's blog (see below for links). Both have interesting and useful information that I'm going to take a closer look at.
I often find that by reading other student's messages/work I see completely different points of view to my own (that's if I actually have a point of view on the subject in the first place!). Often this will make me question my own abilities and leave me wondering if I have what it takes to be an elearning professional. But I do think I'll pass this course - I'm learning to give the answers that are expected of me. Does this make me more of a professional? Probably.
Thanks for the compliment Jose but I took this approach too as i found Unit 6 a little perplexing and it helped reading other people's comments but you have to be strict with yourself incase of accusations of collusion so don't read them too intently just in case you find yourself regurgitating what others write. What I am finding is that the course structure is sometimes confusing but also see that this is a good thin...read on.
6.1 is all about the academic side of the elearning prof, I got disgruntled by this being a non academic; but 6.2 is about the learning technologist, still not my background but close if you include the management side of things. Hopefully by the time we get to the end of the course it will all fit together nicely, a reflective model no doubt. The reading in unit 6.2 reminded of what we're read about reflection weeks ago, about allowed what you learn as you go on to change your beliefs, opinions etc which is working for me on this course. It's nice when you see the comments you make in one unit written in one of the core readings of the following section. I'd better copy and paste this into to my blog quick...
Jose
Keely Laycock writes:
>Hi All,
>I've noticed it before, but having just finished wading through the
>reading for Unit 6, I wondered if anyone else is as fed up as I am with
>all the core reading and activities concentrating on elearning within the
>post 16/HE sector? If we can use the work in this Unit for TMA02 part 1,
>it would be more benficial for some of us to have a 'selection' of core
>reading rather than having to find all the resources for my own context,
>that of elearning within secondary schools.
>Keely
That's a really interesting point and not one that was at the forefront of my mind being someone who works in HE; but you are right because I don't think my elearning career will remain in HE necessarily and it's important to learn about all sectors...perhaps one element of the TMA should be a comparision with a context you know nothing about too...it would encourage sharing amongst those of us working in different sectors. Maybe an idea for a future presentation of this course.I'd put this in the main course forum so it's alerted to Robin to see there is any pre-HE reading planned later on.
Good to "chat", is that the bell for the next article to read going off now...
Emma
---------------
From: Karen J. Ogilvie 23 November 2008 16:43:59
Subject: Re(2): Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe
Jose Martel Penate writes:
Hi Keely and everyone else,
Well, I'll freely admit that I'm feeling bored and lost since starting Unit 5.
I don't seem to relate to what we're being asked to read, research, learn.
I'm so glad its not just me!
I'm not sure if this is due to the excesses of work/stress caused by TMA01. Or if the constant study over 8+ weeks is finally taking it's toll.
I wondered that too - am I just tired?
It is true that I'm no longer used to studying and this course is very intensive.
This is intensive but i've done a couple of other OU courses recently aand still feel the same. I feel that its quite difficult to get motivated since I finished TMA01 - things seem to have lost theit focus for me.
In an effort to try to get some kind of grasp on Unit 6 I've read what other students have produced and shared. I've looked at the forum for unit 6 - messages from Philippa, Maria, and Mitchell - and some blogs. So far I've looked at Emma's blog and Jim's blog (see below for links). Both have interesting and useful information that I'm going to take a closer look at.
I've done that too and read some very useful stuff which has helped to focus my thoughts (thanks all) but I do feel as if I'm snooping
I often find that by reading other student's messages/work I see completely different points of view to my own (that's if I actually have a point of view on the subject in the first place!). Often this will make me question my own abilities and leave me wondering if I have what it takes to be an elearning professional. But I do think I'll pass this course - I'm learning to give the answers that are expected of me. Does this make me more of a professional? Probably.
Agree with this too, however, sometimes I'm just left feeling inadequate - why couldn't I have come up with this myself? The scary thing about the last couple of units for me is that I beleive I am an elearning prof... By doing this course, I hope to achieve some accreditation for years of work and experience in practice... Perhaps its because my background is science/IT and I've never had to do all this 'social analysing' before. I'm very hands-on and concerned about good poractice, fit for purpose and usability etc.... but I am struggling with here, particularly with unit 6 part 1.
Best wishes
Karen
Jose
---------------
From: Jose Martel Penate 24 November 2008 01:22:05
Subject: Reply to Emma and Karen
To: H808 08I Cafe
Thanks Emma and Karen,
It is good to know that others are or might be feeling the same way...and it's very good to get support on things that aren't strictly course related. It really does help.
Re reading fellow students work, I agree it's a tricky business and best if used as a guide for our own reading which can lead to the production of our own notes. Simply copying isn't great for deep learning and there's a danger you can find yourself regurgitating what others write. (Hmmm, the last bit of that sentence sounds strangely familiar...did I read it somewhere?...nah, must be mine...) But reading other people's work can also give us new ideas - and I think this can lead to even trickier problems of copying and collusion if we don't reference properly in our own notes. But I think the pros of reading fellow students' work outweigh the admittedly serious cons. I also get the feeling I'm snooping or even stealing other people's thoughts/ideas but as long as I acknowledge where the ideas came from I think it's fine. After all, if they want to avoid ppl using their notes they wouldn't put them in places where we have access to them.
I definitely feel inadequate on this course. I'm surrounded by ppl with often tens of years of experience in their field and tons of professionalism and confidence. But that's the way it is. I just have to get on with it. And after my weekend of self-indulgent stewing in my woes, your messages have helped me climb back up.
Ok, back to unit 6...
Jose
-----
From: Keely Laycock 22 November 2008 20:30:13
Subject: Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe
Hi All,
I've noticed it before, but having just finished wading through the reading for Unit 6, I wondered if anyone else is as fed up as I am with all the core reading and activities concentrating on elearning within the post 16/HE sector? If we can use the work in this Unit for TMA02 part 1, it would be more benficial for some of us to have a 'selection' of core reading rather than having to find all the resources for my own context, that of elearning within secondary schools.
Keely
---------------
From: Jose Martel Penate 23 November 2008 01:59:03
Subject: Re: Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe
Hi Keely and everyone else,
Well, I'll freely admit that I'm feeling bored and lost since starting Unit 5.
I don't seem to relate to what we're being asked to read, research, learn.
I'm not sure if this is due to the excesses of work/stress caused by TMA01. Or if the constant study over 8+ weeks is finally taking it's toll. Or simply if my personal, everyday context has little to do with what I'm being asked to do.
It is true that I'm no longer used to studying and this course is very intensive.
In an effort to try to get some kind of grasp on Unit 6 I've read what other students have produced and shared. I've looked at the forum for unit 6 - messages from Philippa, Maria, and Mitchell - and some blogs. So far I've looked at Emma's blog and Jim's blog (see below for links). Both have interesting and useful information that I'm going to take a closer look at.
I often find that by reading other student's messages/work I see completely different points of view to my own (that's if I actually have a point of view on the subject in the first place!). Often this will make me question my own abilities and leave me wondering if I have what it takes to be an elearning professional. But I do think I'll pass this course - I'm learning to give the answers that are expected of me. Does this make me more of a professional? Probably.
Jose
---------------
From: Emma Nugent 3 23 November 2008 16:30:40
Subject: Re(2): Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe
Jose Martel Penate writes:
Hi Keely and everyone else,
Well, I'll freely admit that I'm feeling bored and lost since starting Unit 5.
I don't seem to relate to what we're being asked to read, research, learn.
I'm not sure if this is due to the excesses of work/stress caused by TMA01. Or if the constant study over 8+ weeks is finally taking it's toll. Or simply if my personal, everyday context has little to do with what I'm being asked to do.
It is true that I'm no longer used to studying and this course is very intensive.
I think it is all of these, I note that very few people have engaged in Supp Activity 6.2... a sign of how we're all feeling perhaps anyway, if you keep to the schedule you can have a well earned break at Christmas. I'm even going to somewhere without internet access for a week so I ensure I take a break.
In an effort to try to get some kind of grasp on Unit 6 I've read what other students have produced and shared. I've looked at the forum for unit 6 - messages from Philippa, Maria, and Mitchell - and some blogs. So far I've looked at Emma's blog and Jim's blog (see below for links). Both have interesting and useful information that I'm going to take a closer look at.
I often find that by reading other student's messages/work I see completely different points of view to my own (that's if I actually have a point of view on the subject in the first place!). Often this will make me question my own abilities and leave me wondering if I have what it takes to be an elearning professional. But I do think I'll pass this course - I'm learning to give the answers that are expected of me. Does this make me more of a professional? Probably.
Thanks for the compliment Jose but I took this approach too as i found Unit 6 a little perplexing and it helped reading other people's comments but you have to be strict with yourself incase of accusations of collusion so don't read them too intently just in case you find yourself regurgitating what others write. What I am finding is that the course structure is sometimes confusing but also see that this is a good thin...read on.
6.1 is all about the academic side of the elearning prof, I got disgruntled by this being a non academic; but 6.2 is about the learning technologist, still not my background but close if you include the management side of things. Hopefully by the time we get to the end of the course it will all fit together nicely, a reflective model no doubt. The reading in unit 6.2 reminded of what we're read about reflection weeks ago, about allowed what you learn as you go on to change your beliefs, opinions etc which is working for me on this course. It's nice when you see the comments you make in one unit written in one of the core readings of the following section. I'd better copy and paste this into to my blog quick...
Jose
Keely Laycock writes:
>Hi All,
>I've noticed it before, but having just finished wading through the
>reading for Unit 6, I wondered if anyone else is as fed up as I am with
>all the core reading and activities concentrating on elearning within the
>post 16/HE sector? If we can use the work in this Unit for TMA02 part 1,
>it would be more benficial for some of us to have a 'selection' of core
>reading rather than having to find all the resources for my own context,
>that of elearning within secondary schools.
>Keely
That's a really interesting point and not one that was at the forefront of my mind being someone who works in HE; but you are right because I don't think my elearning career will remain in HE necessarily and it's important to learn about all sectors...perhaps one element of the TMA should be a comparision with a context you know nothing about too...it would encourage sharing amongst those of us working in different sectors. Maybe an idea for a future presentation of this course.I'd put this in the main course forum so it's alerted to Robin to see there is any pre-HE reading planned later on.
Good to "chat", is that the bell for the next article to read going off now...
Emma
---------------
From: Karen J. Ogilvie 23 November 2008 16:43:59
Subject: Re(2): Course reading Unit 6
To: H808 08I Cafe
Jose Martel Penate writes:
Hi Keely and everyone else,
Well, I'll freely admit that I'm feeling bored and lost since starting Unit 5.
I don't seem to relate to what we're being asked to read, research, learn.
I'm so glad its not just me!
I'm not sure if this is due to the excesses of work/stress caused by TMA01. Or if the constant study over 8+ weeks is finally taking it's toll.
I wondered that too - am I just tired?
It is true that I'm no longer used to studying and this course is very intensive.
This is intensive but i've done a couple of other OU courses recently aand still feel the same. I feel that its quite difficult to get motivated since I finished TMA01 - things seem to have lost theit focus for me.
In an effort to try to get some kind of grasp on Unit 6 I've read what other students have produced and shared. I've looked at the forum for unit 6 - messages from Philippa, Maria, and Mitchell - and some blogs. So far I've looked at Emma's blog and Jim's blog (see below for links). Both have interesting and useful information that I'm going to take a closer look at.
I've done that too and read some very useful stuff which has helped to focus my thoughts (thanks all) but I do feel as if I'm snooping
I often find that by reading other student's messages/work I see completely different points of view to my own (that's if I actually have a point of view on the subject in the first place!). Often this will make me question my own abilities and leave me wondering if I have what it takes to be an elearning professional. But I do think I'll pass this course - I'm learning to give the answers that are expected of me. Does this make me more of a professional? Probably.
Agree with this too, however, sometimes I'm just left feeling inadequate - why couldn't I have come up with this myself? The scary thing about the last couple of units for me is that I beleive I am an elearning prof... By doing this course, I hope to achieve some accreditation for years of work and experience in practice... Perhaps its because my background is science/IT and I've never had to do all this 'social analysing' before. I'm very hands-on and concerned about good poractice, fit for purpose and usability etc.... but I am struggling with here, particularly with unit 6 part 1.
Best wishes
Karen
Jose
---------------
From: Jose Martel Penate 24 November 2008 01:22:05
Subject: Reply to Emma and Karen
To: H808 08I Cafe
Thanks Emma and Karen,
It is good to know that others are or might be feeling the same way...and it's very good to get support on things that aren't strictly course related. It really does help.
Re reading fellow students work, I agree it's a tricky business and best if used as a guide for our own reading which can lead to the production of our own notes. Simply copying isn't great for deep learning and there's a danger you can find yourself regurgitating what others write. (Hmmm, the last bit of that sentence sounds strangely familiar...did I read it somewhere?...nah, must be mine...) But reading other people's work can also give us new ideas - and I think this can lead to even trickier problems of copying and collusion if we don't reference properly in our own notes. But I think the pros of reading fellow students' work outweigh the admittedly serious cons. I also get the feeling I'm snooping or even stealing other people's thoughts/ideas but as long as I acknowledge where the ideas came from I think it's fine. After all, if they want to avoid ppl using their notes they wouldn't put them in places where we have access to them.
I definitely feel inadequate on this course. I'm surrounded by ppl with often tens of years of experience in their field and tons of professionalism and confidence. But that's the way it is. I just have to get on with it. And after my weekend of self-indulgent stewing in my woes, your messages have helped me climb back up.
Ok, back to unit 6...
Jose
Re Perkin's "The Third Social Revolution"
24 Nov 2008, 11:38
Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 24 Nov 2008, 11:44
Visible to all Open University users
Perkin in 1996 states that "The modern world is the world of the professional expert" (Perkins 1996, p1) as opposed to the industrial world dominated by capitalists. Perkin maintains that professionals' "power, prestige, influence, and
incomes stem from their possession of specialized knowledge, based on education, competitive merit, and experience on the job–in a word, on their human capital." (Perkins 1996, p1). Perkin states that "the key players are the professional managers of the great corporations and their counterparts ingovernment, the state bureaucrats" (Perkins 1996, p6). These professionals deal in "knowledge-based
services" (Perkins 1996, p6), "sophisticated services which have transformed human life" (Perkins 1996, p6). Perkins maintains that "As long as the particular expertise is scarce [...] the expert can command a rent as surely as the landlord or owner of industrial capital" (Perkins 1996, p7).
Stan (2008) points out that "Perkin’s view of society is closely related to the concept of the information society since an important part of being a professional is having information and being able to make use of it. This is one reason why the centrality of higher education is one of the major trends that Perkin attempts to explain."
Perkin warns that the more powerful professionals "are the elites who will make or break modern post-industrial society" by their "intelligence, enlightenment and integrity" though the unique cultural inheritance, social structure, and political ingenuity of each advanced country" is also a factor (Perkins 1996, p7).
References:
From: Philippa Perry 2 18 November 2008 19:00:26
Subject: Is this a professional society?
To: Alan Clarke
Cc: H808 ac6 Unit 6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_society
From: Mitchell Stan20 November 2008 13:51:53
Subject: Core Activity 6.1 on Perkins
To: H808 ac6 Unit 6
Perkin, H. (1996) Chapter 1 of The Third Revolution: Professional Elites in the Modern
World, London: Routledge. Available as a course resource.
incomes stem from their possession of specialized knowledge, based on education, competitive merit, and experience on the job–in a word, on their human capital." (Perkins 1996, p1). Perkin states that "the key players are the professional managers of the great corporations and their counterparts ingovernment, the state bureaucrats" (Perkins 1996, p6). These professionals deal in "knowledge-based
services" (Perkins 1996, p6), "sophisticated services which have transformed human life" (Perkins 1996, p6). Perkins maintains that "As long as the particular expertise is scarce [...] the expert can command a rent as surely as the landlord or owner of industrial capital" (Perkins 1996, p7).
Stan (2008) points out that "Perkin’s view of society is closely related to the concept of the information society since an important part of being a professional is having information and being able to make use of it. This is one reason why the centrality of higher education is one of the major trends that Perkin attempts to explain."
Perkin warns that the more powerful professionals "are the elites who will make or break modern post-industrial society" by their "intelligence, enlightenment and integrity" though the unique cultural inheritance, social structure, and political ingenuity of each advanced country" is also a factor (Perkins 1996, p7).
References:
From: Philippa Perry 2 18 November 2008 19:00:26
Subject: Is this a professional society?
To: Alan Clarke
Cc: H808 ac6 Unit 6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_society
From: Mitchell Stan20 November 2008 13:51:53
Subject: Core Activity 6.1 on Perkins
To: H808 ac6 Unit 6
Perkin, H. (1996) Chapter 1 of The Third Revolution: Professional Elites in the Modern
World, London: Routledge. Available as a course resource.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Jose-H808 - The eLearning professional - PDP Form (MyStuff) at 25-10-08
30 Oct 2008, 12:48
Visible to all Open University users
Saturday, October 25th, 2008, 5:17 AMJose-H808 - The eLearning professional - PDP Form (MyStuff) at 25-10-08
Training or development
Title for training or development Jose-H808 - The eLearning professional - PDP Form (MyStuff) at 25-10-08
Organisation or provider OU
Type training course
From date 06/09/2008
To date 25/01/2009
Ongoing Ongoing
Actions and dates to action
Action / Date
Outcomes
Learning objectives
• Familiarise self with debate about learning objects including respositories, metadata and IMS standards
• Gain insight into guiding online discussions and key factors for developing online communities
• Try out more audio-visual tools such as Skype (eg Netmeeting)
• Familiarise self with a variety of models for elearning
• Gain further ideas for online activities and an awareness for situations where they would be appropriate
• Look into how sensitive and critical comments are given to others (students and tutors) in an online environment, improve own techniques
• Familiarise self with some of the research behind elearning
• Try out a selection of common elearning platforms
• Familiarise self with methods for tackling plagiarism and digital copyright issues
• Look into ways online games are used in learning
• Develop working knowledge of, and ability to effectively use, key elearning technologies (e.g. eportfolios, wikis, blogs, learning journals, etc.)
• Improve, and document, own Critical Personal Reflection
Skills and/or expertise developed
• First experience with:
- (Skills) an eportfolio: MyStuff (Ongoing)
producing eportfolio items
tagging items
filling out first Training and Development Form
- (Skills) electronically annotating a pdf file (Unit 3)
- (Skills) creating a Local Area Network (LAN) (Unit 3)
- (Skills) editing a wiki (Unit 4)
- (Skills) making and publishing a podcast (Unit 4)
- (Skills) adding subtitles to video (Unit 4)
- (Skills) using a mind-mapping tool: FreeMind (Unit 4)
- (Skills/Proactivity) producing HowTo guides (Unit 4)
- (Proactivity) attempting to lead, inform or otherwise motivate others in an elearning context (Ongoing)
• Continuing experience with:
- (Skills) using and publishing a blog (Ongoing)
- (Skills/Proactivity) using/collaborating in online forums (Ongoing)
- (Skills) editing video (Unit 4)
- (Reflection) critical self-reflection (Ongoing)
- (Critique) analysis and critique of the practice of others (Ongoing)
- (Proactivity) attempting to lead, inform or otherwise motivate others (Ongoing)
General
Notes A lot of the above taken from:
- Barritt, O. (2008) "MOADE - H808 The Elearning professional", shared MyStuff item, (accessed 25th October 2008)
- Open University, (2008) "H808-Assignment guide 2008.pdf", (accessed 3rd October 2008)
- Open University, (2008) "H808-Course-guide-08.pdf", (accessed 3rd October 2008)
- Stan, M. (2008) "Personal development Objectives for H808", shared MyStuff item, accessed 25th October 2008
Tagged with H808 . PDP . training and development . reflection . skills . proactivity . critique .
1 comments
Alan Clarke on Sunday, October 26th, 2008, 11:29 PM says (privately)
Hi Jose
A well presented and detailed plan - it is clearly ambitous in the range and scale of the objectives - however, it demonstrates enthusiasm and motivation. You have tried to identify skills and knowledge already acquired through the course amd acknowledge sources. A very good effort
Cheers
Alan
Sunday, 19 October 2008
More evidence for SA4.2 - HowTo access/use OU resources when using a Mac
19 Oct 2008, 13:16
Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 19 Oct 2008, 13:17
Visible to all Open University users
HowTo access/use OU resources when using a Mac
By Jose Martel Penate H808 081
I'll be giving my personal experiences as an OU student in Shanghai who uses mac computers to access and use OU resources.
First, a bit about my mac setup. When at home, I typically use a Mac Mini bought in 2007, with 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and upgraded to 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, running OSX Leopard 10.5.5. On my commute to and from work I use an iBook bought in 2002, with a 600MHz PowerPC G3 processor, and upgraded to 640MB SDRAM, running OSX Tiger 10.4.11.
I've designated the iBook as the principal machine where OU work is concerned; it holds the OU working files and folders. When at home I connect the iBook to my ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) via a TL-R402 DSL router. The use of Bonjour simplifies my mac to mac connections and I can then use my Mac Mini to work on the files stored on the iBook - so both machines use the same files. This effectively avoids having to synchronise data (I'm refusing to spend money on a synchronisation solution).
I hold current backup files on both machines in locked folders that I've set Spotlight to ignore. This means that when I do OU related searches the only file/folders searched are the current working OU file/folders on the iBook. I also keep a backup folder of all my OU backups on an external hard drive. When I remember, I also replace the current OU backup folder I keep on my mp4 player (an Archos 604).
I typically use Safari (3.1.2) as my web browser of choice for most things, but for the OU I need to share the workload with Firefox (3.0.3). For simply accessing/reading OU webpages, I'll use Safari, but for editing I'll typically use Firefox. For the blogs - posts and comments - I need to use Firefox or formatting will be ignored. For editing "notes" in MyStuff, I again need to use Firefox because of formatting issues, but to upload files, Safari seems to work better and I recently found out I can write comments while using Safari and formatting is kept intact. For the wiki, it seems that editing can be done from Safari but can't while in Firefox or at least is inconsistent from Firefox. I'm new to the wiki so I haven't had a chance to investigate this further.
Regarding FirstClass, I haven't used their web version since I installed the Mac FirstClass Client (9.106) application in my first week of study. I can't remember much about FC web version, but I know I really didn't like it; it was slow and simply didn't work properly. The desktop version is clearly the superior product and, while not perfect, it is perfectly stable, useful and even has some nice (far more Mac-like than Window-ly) graphics.
Another word about the blogs. I want to browse my fellow students' blogs from time to time, but it's tedious and can be very time consuming having to go to each blog to find out if there have been new postings. So I subscribed to the RSS feeds for each blog. Each blog has a feed for posts and another feed for comments. You need to open the blogs from Safari and click directly on "RSS" (not "Atom" right next to it) - I prefer to right-click to open links in a new tab, but sometimes it seems that these RSS pages only open properly when you left-click directly. When the RSS page opens, left-click on the "Subscribe in Mail" link. If you then go to Mail you'll find an RSS feed that you can rename and that contains the posts or comments of the blog you subscribed to. The blog posts will have the blog poster's name - under the title - when you open each post, but the comments won't tell you where they come from. To find out whose blog the comments belong to you need to click on "Read more..." to be taken to the blog itself, and then rename the feed in Mail. If there is no feed in Mail, check your Mail preferences.
By the way, there is a Mac help website (that I didn't find very helpful). It's at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephen.mcgann/index.html . It seems to be more geared toward helping potential students identify which OU courses are mac-compatible. Apart from that, it limits itself to briefly commenting on the mac-compatiblity of various pieces of software that students may or may not need to use. I think the site will only be of any use to someone with little practical experience of using macs. The site doesn't actually give current students of OU courses any advice on day to day issues that arise while doing an OU course using a mac.
By Jose Martel Penate H808 081
I'll be giving my personal experiences as an OU student in Shanghai who uses mac computers to access and use OU resources.
First, a bit about my mac setup. When at home, I typically use a Mac Mini bought in 2007, with 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and upgraded to 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, running OSX Leopard 10.5.5. On my commute to and from work I use an iBook bought in 2002, with a 600MHz PowerPC G3 processor, and upgraded to 640MB SDRAM, running OSX Tiger 10.4.11.
I've designated the iBook as the principal machine where OU work is concerned; it holds the OU working files and folders. When at home I connect the iBook to my ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) via a TL-R402 DSL router. The use of Bonjour simplifies my mac to mac connections and I can then use my Mac Mini to work on the files stored on the iBook - so both machines use the same files. This effectively avoids having to synchronise data (I'm refusing to spend money on a synchronisation solution).
I hold current backup files on both machines in locked folders that I've set Spotlight to ignore. This means that when I do OU related searches the only file/folders searched are the current working OU file/folders on the iBook. I also keep a backup folder of all my OU backups on an external hard drive. When I remember, I also replace the current OU backup folder I keep on my mp4 player (an Archos 604).
I typically use Safari (3.1.2) as my web browser of choice for most things, but for the OU I need to share the workload with Firefox (3.0.3). For simply accessing/reading OU webpages, I'll use Safari, but for editing I'll typically use Firefox. For the blogs - posts and comments - I need to use Firefox or formatting will be ignored. For editing "notes" in MyStuff, I again need to use Firefox because of formatting issues, but to upload files, Safari seems to work better and I recently found out I can write comments while using Safari and formatting is kept intact. For the wiki, it seems that editing can be done from Safari but can't while in Firefox or at least is inconsistent from Firefox. I'm new to the wiki so I haven't had a chance to investigate this further.
Regarding FirstClass, I haven't used their web version since I installed the Mac FirstClass Client (9.106) application in my first week of study. I can't remember much about FC web version, but I know I really didn't like it; it was slow and simply didn't work properly. The desktop version is clearly the superior product and, while not perfect, it is perfectly stable, useful and even has some nice (far more Mac-like than Window-ly) graphics.
Another word about the blogs. I want to browse my fellow students' blogs from time to time, but it's tedious and can be very time consuming having to go to each blog to find out if there have been new postings. So I subscribed to the RSS feeds for each blog. Each blog has a feed for posts and another feed for comments. You need to open the blogs from Safari and click directly on "RSS" (not "Atom" right next to it) - I prefer to right-click to open links in a new tab, but sometimes it seems that these RSS pages only open properly when you left-click directly. When the RSS page opens, left-click on the "Subscribe in Mail" link. If you then go to Mail you'll find an RSS feed that you can rename and that contains the posts or comments of the blog you subscribed to. The blog posts will have the blog poster's name - under the title - when you open each post, but the comments won't tell you where they come from. To find out whose blog the comments belong to you need to click on "Read more..." to be taken to the blog itself, and then rename the feed in Mail. If there is no feed in Mail, check your Mail preferences.
By the way, there is a Mac help website (that I didn't find very helpful). It's at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephen.mcgann/index.html . It seems to be more geared toward helping potential students identify which OU courses are mac-compatible. Apart from that, it limits itself to briefly commenting on the mac-compatiblity of various pieces of software that students may or may not need to use. I think the site will only be of any use to someone with little practical experience of using macs. The site doesn't actually give current students of OU courses any advice on day to day issues that arise while doing an OU course using a mac.
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Evidence for SA4.2 - A podcast about: HowTo - use iMovie to make a podcast
18 Oct 2008, 10:35
Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 18 Oct 2008, 10:59
Visible to all Open University users
A podcast about: HowTo - use iMovie to make a podcast(Or simply how to edit video simply!) - By Jose Martel Penate
http://www.switchpod.com/users/jm4298/feed.xml
Why do a HowTo use a Mac application when everyone is using pcs/Windows?
Well, I don't have a pc to hand right now, and you can get an idea of the simplicity that characterises Macs.
About the podcast
My voice is quite low in the voiceover, you may need to turn the volume up. I was trying not to wake my daughter who was sleeping in the same room. I also muttered a bit and was a bit nasally - I'm getting a cold. And the blurry image quality, it's not great, but it's good enough to see what I'm getting at.
I'm going to try to upload the 2 minute 7 second video as an MPEG4 ("mp4") .m4v file (24.9), as a QuickTime .mov file (73MB), and as a DivX .divx file (17.4MB) [nope, Switchpod won't upload divx files]. Despite the difference in file sizes, and even with a less blurred image, image quality is comparable (I think).
Notes/corrections to the voiceover (Nope, not doing that voiceover again!)
- Aspect ratio is not the "shape of the screen", it's the shape of the video's viewable area and defines the proportions of people and things in the video - "the ratio of the width to the height of the image", (my computer's Dictionary, Version 2.0.2 (51.4).
- You choose bits of video clips using the mouse to move the cursor/arrow/pointer, and left click (and hold, i.e. keep button pressed) to indicate the start of your selection and drag the cursor to the end of your selected (bit of) clip where you indicate the end by lifting your finger off the left mouse button. The yellow outline shows what you've selected. You then left click and hold anywhere within the yellow area and drag the clip to the Project area.
You may notice that while dragging the 2nd clip I dropped it before getting to the project area, and the Source Video area scrolled up. This didn't matter because all I had to do was scroll down again and grab the clip where it was waiting for me (in it's place) exactly as I had selected it.
A point to note here is that you don't actually do anything to the original video; iMovie uses metadata to remember your selections and compile your finished "movie". Your original video always stays safe - unless you choose to delete it.
- As you move the cursor over the thumbnails the Viewer (in the top right-hand corner) shows what the cursor is moving over, at the speed the cursor is moving and in the direction the cursor is moving. As this happens you can listen to the soundtrack as well or have it turned off if you prefer. This is a great feature that lets you quickly search through your video at the speed you want, in the direction you want, stopping whenever and skipping huge sections if you like, with the Viewer always showing the bit/instant of video that the cursor is over.
http://www.switchpod.com/users/jm4298/feed.xml
Friday, 17 October 2008
CA4.1 - notes for my initial group input
17 Oct 2008, 10:40
Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 17 Oct 2008, 10:52
Visible to all Open University users
Point 1 of the CA4.1 instructions/brief states, "Form small groups of about four to six students. Use the course forum or the course wiki to compare multimedia skills amongst the group members, and to find out who is in a position to offer help."- In two forum messages (see highlighted text in messages below) I pointed out that I have a limited amount of experience creating and manipulating audio and video. I have mainly used Apple/Mac computers and free (Mac) compatible software. This means that my experiences may not be of direct use to others who are pc/Windows users. I did try (and will continue to endeavor) to give general advice and suggestions in any areas I can help. And by the way, I think all - or nearly all - of the free software I mention has Windows versions.
Point 3 of the CA4.1 instructions/brief states, "Read the Penn State material on what constitutes evidence of learning and contribute to a discussion in your tutor group about this, both your own learning and that of your students (if you have them)."
- I read the Penn State material. It gives basic, though (still) useful, advice on what type of files to use in a (Penn state) eportfolio:
.pdf files
- Portable Document File (PDF - not to be confused with Personal Development File, also shortened to PDF in some papers). Using a pdf helps ensure that the viewer of a document will see it as the creator of the document intended; e.g. formatting issues will not arise. The Penn State material seems to suggest that in order to create, read/view, print or store pdfs one needs Adobe software. Though Adobe continues to be a (the?) leading pdf developer, there are many software developers that offer pdf tools. Adobe and others offer free basic versions of pdf software. However the ideal pdf tool for each individual can only be found after trailing various options. I normally use Mac's own pdf solution, Preview, to read most pdfs, although I do have the latest Adobe reader installed. I also have the free pdf annotator, Skim, installed and use it as a very flexible solution for adding notes to/highlight/underline/etc pdfs.
Publishing images to the web
- The Penn State paper notes that web browsers handle GIF and JPEG images well (this information may be outdated - are there other equally good/better file formats?) and details the main differences between GIF and JPEG image files. I've never published images to the web but I have edited images, again, mainly on my Mac (using iPhoto). Usually I have never done more than crop images or perform some basic enhancement (straighten, adjust brightness or contrast, etc.). Also, I've always worked with jpg files (on my Mac "JPEG" is called "jpg"), or converted files to jpg for ease of use/compatiblity with Windows users, e.g. my screen grab/screen dump/screenshot application/software produces TIFF files. I've never really worked with image metadata (e.g. the date a photo was taken; the camera used; the settings used) - largely because importing images (e.g. my digital photos) directly into iPhoto causes iPhoto to handle metadata in the background and display more-user-friendly "tags" - and as long as I can view a photo I'm not that fussed about the image quality.
- I've used iPhoto to create digital photo-books of still images that can be presented as a slide-show with the optional incorporation of the optical sensation of movement (i.e. a video compilation of still images that uses the Ken Burns Effect to give the sensation of movement/video - "give life to still photographs by slowly zooming in on subjects of interest and panning from one subject to another", Wikipedia).
Sound as evidence
- The Penn State paper gives ideas for using sound as evidence, from simply recording an event, to linking to an audio file, to embedding sound into a webpage. Using Mac's GarageBand software - according to the blurb, Mac's "personal recording studio" application - I could record/compose/compile music, podcasts or sound effects. I've never really used it for more than an hour or two when getting my hands on a new mac (I have 3 now), and then I hide the application away never to be seen again. I could dig it out but I seem to remember that it looked quite complicated (though it's probably not if I understood a little about making music) and I think I'd prefer to use my video application, iMovie, to replace the sound track to videos or superimpose sounds or add a voiceover.
- Linking the H808 podcast was the first audio linking I've ever done, and I've never embedded anything into a webpage.
- There's free audio conversion software called Switch that I've used in the past to convert music videos (mp4 and WMV (Windows Media Video file)) to mp3. It can convert loads of other file types as well.
Video as evidence
- The paper gives basic information on making video clips. It actually mentions iMovie as an application to use. I have used iMovie to edit video and extract still images from video. Some months ago I imported AVI video taken by my father's JVC cam into iMovie, but for some reason the sound was lost. Later I learnt to strip the audio from a copy of the original video clip using Switch and added the sound track to the video using iMovie. Currently I use iMovie to edit short video clips of my baby daughter, captured using a Canon digital camera with SD card storage. The camera produces .MOD files which I used to convert to .AVI files by simply replacing the file extension (i.e. delete "MOD" in the file name and write "AVI" in its place), then I could view the files using VLC, but with no sound. I later learned to upload the MOD files directly into iMovie which converts the video into a QuickTime Movie (.MOV file). The problem with the MOV file is that it's quite large, and I can't view MOV files on my mp4 player. So I learnt to use DivX Converter to make smaller files that are viewable on my mp4 player. By "learning to use DivX Converter" I mean that I "dropped" a MOV file in the DivX Converter window and sometime later out popped the converted file.
---------------------------------
From: Jose Martel Penate 16 October 2008 15:22:26
Subject: My podcast
To: H808 08I Tech and Skills
Hi all,
I've shared 24 seconds of video (a podcast) of my little baby daughter. The video should be viewable on Windows iTunes. If you don't have iTunes then you could try downloading a great free media player called VLC. It will play most formats you're likely to come across (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/).
By the way, it took me 10 minutes to put together the video. That includes selecting the material, editing it and uploading it.
My podcast url: http://media.switchpod.com//users/jm4298/forH808podcast.m4v
Or the "feed" : http://www.switchpod.com/users/jm4298/feed.xml
Jose
-------------------------------
From: Jose Martel Penate 17 October 2008 02:59:51
Subject: Reply to Keely & Nigel S re my podcast
To: H808 08I Tech and Skills
Hi Keely and Nigel,
Thanks, my little baby daughter is lovely!
Yes, there is sound Nigel, you may have to turn the volume up on your player/computer - though you don't hear my daughter laugh (and she squeals or shrieks more than laughs at the moment), you'll only her mother making silly sounds for our daughter's amusement.
I would love to be able to offer you (all) some advice with this but I'm little more than a semi-experienced user myself. The great benefit that I have is that I'm using a Mac computer. Part of the basic software package that come with a Mac are sound and video editing programs. These programs are very intuitive for basic functions, and with the more advanced functions users can put together a music album or a full-length feature film.
All I can say is that Weller's instructions ("Create a podcast" at http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/resourcepage/view.php?id=90977&direct=1) for making an audio-podcast seem overly complex - of course this in order to try to help the very inexperienced student. But in essence - and while still holding out for confirmation from Helen - (I think) all you need to do is make an mp3 sound file.
This would mean that you make a recording and if it's not an mp3 file you convert it to mp3 using one of the many popular and free audio conversion programs. I often use Softpedia to find free software (http://www.softpedia.com/). Softpedia have different areas for Mac, Windows and Linux. I tend to go for software that has been downloaded by many people over a number of months - I also might do a google search to see what user reviews I might find - these steps are intended to try to filter out buggy software and select something that works and is useful. Once you have the mp3 file you upload it to Switchpod.
For the video-podcast, I used my Mac's iMovie application/software. I clicked to start a New Project and selected the 4:3 aspect ratio for the finished video (other viewing ratios are mobile phone (3:2) and widescreen (16:9)). I selected 1 clip from video I already had and put it into the New Project area. I selected another clip and placed it next to the 1st clip. I named my project and exported it (made it into a file I could email) as a medium sized video (viewing area of 640x480 pixel resolution) suitable for viewing on computers and that still has a smaller file size (4.8MB). I then I uploaded the file to Switchpod.
On the Mac it's all very easy, but you're using pcs with Windows.
If you do try to experiment with video, I'd suggest:
- never use an original valuable source/file, always use copies to play around on
- don't worry about content, just try to learn how to do it
- keep file sizes small! ("Small means quick": quicker response from your computer - less time waiting for processes to get done; shorter upload/download times; etc) Especially for experimenting, make short videos that have a small viewing area (see above), and opt for lower quality resolution if you know how (the lower the resolution, the smaller the file size)
- if you don't have a video camera (remember that digital (still photo) cameras can often take short videos) but do have editing software you could try experimenting with the demo video that the software may have. Or you could try downloading video from the web to mess around with (remember to scan with up to date anti-virus protection) - that video may be copy/edit protected though so perhaps search for/google non-comercial, everyday people's home videos (but remember copyright issues when linking to the OU). Your mobile phone might also have a video camera, but unless you already know how to download the movie files to your pc (and can convert the files if necessary) this option may not be worth the bother.
- I've used DivX in the past. It's a set of popular editing/conversion/player tools (http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/). Basic functionality is free: you can convert various video formats to DivX - a good quality but (relatively very) small file size. The DivX developers agree that software should be easy to use, so check it out if you have no editing solution that you're happy with at the moment.
Jose
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Some initial thoughts on tutor blogs...
16 Oct 2008, 01:01
Visible to all Open University users
I was starting to look though the blogs again (I haven't for a while) when I came across a post by Nigel S that caught my eye, Tutor perspectives - Interesting!, available from: http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/viewpost.php?post=2886Below is my reply to his post:
Hi Nigel,
Thanks for posting this, it hadn't occurred to me to peek into our tutors blogs, though I had noticed the links on the blog index page - I think I'll take a look after posting you this.
A thought that comes to mind is, does it help a student to see that their tutor is questioning their own actions/reactions/thoughts/etc? Would a student prefer to feel they have an "expert" tutor, omniscient, infallible?
I suppose being able to view a tutor's ponderings and perceived flounderings can be educational for the student as a "walk the walk" role model. But would this still be the case if the tutor was doing some serious professional-self-questioning/doubting and didn't find a suitable solution? In this case, I assume the student would not be allowed to see the tutor's musings, as, though they may be educational, they would also (perhaps) undermine the student's confidence in their tutor's professional ability.
And following on from that thought, if the tutor does censor their reflections (for student-viewable posts), would their reflections continue to be good role-model material? The student would only be seeing the tutor's Hollywood-happy-ending posts, and the student may be always feel only 60 minutes in - stuck in unfortunate plot twist, with no happy ending in sight.
Of course, maybe a good tutor will always find the right solution...
Jose
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Blog list @ 16/10/08
14 Oct 2008, 11:49
Edited by Jose Martel Penate, 16 Oct 2008, 00:44
Visible to all Open University users
Robin Goodfellow blog ( Course Chair)
Helen Chappel-Hayios ( Online moderator)
Julie Carle's Blog (TOB)
[[Carole Kane's' Blog]]
Saturday, 4 October 2008
My reply to Mitchell re his CA2.4 Critique Penn State
4 Oct 2008, 23:03
Visible to all Open University users
From: Jose Martel Penate 4 October 2008 22:50:25
Subject: Re: CA 2.4 Critique of Penn State Advice
To: H808 ac6 UNIT 2
Hi Mitchell,
In reply to your Critique of Penn State Advice (Stan, 2008), both Hurren (2008) and this writer (Martel, 2008) would agree with your affirmation that the Penn State documents (PSU, 2006) leave room for improvement, especially given the target reader, as you point out.
You suggest incorporating "more fully developed samples of ineffective and effective writing", as in Moon 2001. However, in Martel 2008, I question the effectiveness of including too much information. The Advice Penn State offers is already spread across at least 5 pages. I suggest that extending the advice much further - or incorporating much more information - may adversely affect the probability that students will try to fully assimilate that advice. Might not many pages of detailed information and more lengthy extracts of reflective writing simply scare, bore or even confuse these young, inexperienced and possibly unenthusiastic students?
Jose
References
Hurren, C.A. (02 October 2008 22:53:44); "Core activity 2.4: Criteria for reflective writing"; Message to Forum H808 ac6 UNIT 2 (accessed 03 October 2008)
Martel Penate, J (04 October 2008 08:53:30) "CA2.4-Critique Penn State Approach" Message to Forum H808 ac6 UNIT 2 (accessed 05 October 2008)
Moon, J. (2001) ‘PDP working paper 4: reflection in higher education learning’ [online], The Higher Education Academy. Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id72_Reflection_in_Higher_Education_Learning.rtf (accessed 29 June 2007)
Penn State University (PSU) (2006) REFLECT: providing insight, http://portfolio.psu.edu/reflect (accessed 1 July 2008)
Stan, M. (04 October 2008 18:51:45),CA 2.4 Critique of Penn State Advice", Message to Forum H808 ac6 UNIT 2 (Accessed 05 October 2008)
Mitchell Stan writes:
While the Penn State advice on reflective writing is a workable introduction to the topic, in my view there is room for improvement. Given that the target audience would largely consist of young adults with very little experience in carrying out this type of task, more fully developed samples of ineffective and effective writing would be beneficial. As Moon (2001) points out “not all students find reflection easy” and Appendix 2 of her article is an excellent example of the type of demonstration of reflective writing that would greatly assist students. Linking the reflective writing steps provided by Penn State to the process undertaken to write this type of example would definitely make them more concrete to students.
Reference
Moon, J. (2001) ‘PDP working paper 4: reflection in higher education learning’ [online], The Higher Education Academy. Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/
id72_Reflection_in_Higher_Education_Learning.rtf (accessed 29 June 2007).
---------------
CA2.4-Criteria for reflective writing
[<-- Click on the image to enlarge in the same window, then use the browser "back" button. Or open in separate tab or window]4 Oct 2008, 11:54
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Jose Martel-H808-CA2.4-Criteria for reflective writing
-In good reflective writing you need to describe what happened/what the issue was AND THEN write down HOW that made you feel (i.e. your reflections):
- Description provides context
- Reflections share meaning (PSU, 2006).
- Try to work systematically:
- chose what you want to reflect on
- write:
- what happened, try to keep to the facts, be precise (include enough detail)
- how you felt about this
- about the various things this could mean, to you, and to others
- what the consequences are, immediate and future
- as you write:
- ask yourself questions
- answer those questions
- try to see things from
- a different point of view
- the point of view of other people involved
- think about how past events may have influenced
- what happened
- your reactions to it
- other peoples' reactions to it
- compare these with your own reactions
- perhaps
- initially
- consider the details, the "small picture"
- then
- stand back, consider the "big picture"
- think about
- what you can learn from
- what happened
- your ongoing reflections
- what conclusions you can draw
- and the reasons why
- specific evidence
- to validate your conclusions
- already in your eportfolio (or that could be included)
- be honest
- tell the truth as you
- see it
- feel it
- try not to censor yourself
- be creative when looking for alternative solutions
- brainstorm; mind-map, etc.
- but don't be too fanciful with the results
- use
- an honest, upbeat, sincere tone
- short paragraphs starting with
- topic sentences, e.g.
- "From Jack's point of view nothing had changed."
- "The next day, I tried again."
- "Despite their assurances, nothing was the same any more."
- transition words, e.g.
- Besides; For example; Since; Thus; In order to; However; Overall (Moon, 2001; PSU, 2006)
References
Moon, J. (2001) ‘PDP working paper 4: reflection in higher education learning’ [online], The Higher Education Academy. Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id72_Reflection_in_Higher_Education_Learning.rtf (accessed 29 June 2007).
Penn State University (PSU) (2006) REFLECT: providing insight, http://portfolio.psu.edu/reflect (accessed 1 July 2008).
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