Chapter 7 - Making a Contribution

Opener #6 : Learner Participation in Open Information Communities

What this book is about - the creation of free and open access educational materials by anyone.  No limits on access, use, sharing or contributions.

Companies like Wikimedia  exemplify this to this author.  Relying on users that donate their time and talents.  It has become Mainstream

Web 1.0 to 2.0  
Internet has transformed from popular information transmission/consumption platform to a content creation, sharing, remixing, repurposing and distribution model.

Listing of different 2.0 tools, Chinswing, dotsub, YackPack, Youtube,
Exciting times to be a learner or a teacher.  All of these tools are essentially asynchronous.

Bandwidth
hogging 1/3 of Internet user 79 million people watched more then 3 billion Youtube videos in 1 month.
What happens when crushes bandwidth use? Government involvement? Bill Gates famously said personal computers will never need more the 4mb of Ram.  We are in 4 Terabytes now....

There is always this "the internet will end" montra.... usually for control purposes... either government or company initiated.

U-Learning
wireless/mobile tech have made u-learning possible.

this alters the traditional teacher-student relationship by encouraging learners to be more active in their learning pursuits.  For example, Martha using her ipad to look up Skatistan ...

Mobil Learning

ipod.... nearly all mobile devices learners are connected in some way
smart phones, twitter

I find it interesting that Schools is one of only placing you CAN'T have your mobile device.

Digital Clothing
Humans Online ALL the TIME... attention your LIFE WILL BE BROADCAST 24/7

Digital Schools
pocket schools (use mobil devices for school)

1 2 1 laptop

m learning and u-learning





* this utopian ideal is great, but it still rides on the backbone of businesses willing to fund and maintain it through some value added model.  Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple etc.... don't just give away "free" stuff without getting something in return.  Without a companies like these to provide the infrastructure of server farms, software and hardware the "cloud" would not exist.

Youtube is great but it has to be monetized to continue.  Twitter currently has millions and millions of users, but has not figured out how to monetize them yet.  It will die if it doesn't, disappearing like Netscape, AOL, Myspace.....

More then the Sum of Its Parts.

If you want to see a great way to take the information side of the internet (a Museum) and integrate it into an assignment check out my brothers blog

http://thetechcurve.org/
the post
Thursday, May 03, 2012




This project takes a piece of art and makes the student emerse themselves in it.  They beauty of this project is there is NO way to "fake" it and rip off some one else's project.

Chapter 6

I was happy to be assigned this chapter because it actually linked back to what I said in chapter one. (Tying back to the learning opportunities that are now available: virtual fieldtrips, online “textbooks”...) This really hit me my first year teaching when we took our eighth graders to Boston at the end of the year. A great proportion of our students had never been given the chance to visit a museum, let alone leave the state. Teaching in a school where over 80% of my students are low income, free or reduced lunch it really makes me think about how fortunate I am. But now, thanks to technology my students can experience, in a vitual format, some of the things they maybe have never had the possibility to take part in. 

I decided to check out some the websites mentioned in this section and posted the links below for anyone else that was curious as to what they really involved. I think, based on the information that was given in the book along with what I’ve browsed in these sites, that these are the correct links. But please correct me if I’m wrong! Really they seem to offer great resources to all grade levels and content area. 

Connexions: http://cnx.org/

Curriki: http://www.curriki.org/

MoOM (Museum of Online Museums): http://www.coudal.com/moom/
One of the things mentioned about this post that I really liked was about allowing visitors to share their own memories - photos, voice recordings, stories. I’ve always wanted to do this with my vacation photos! Now I’ve just got to visit one of these museums and do so! 

Encyclopedia of Life: http://eol.org/

Pretty cool for science. I think that’s what you teach Art, right?

Turning the Pages: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html/

ECHO (Exploring and Collecting History Online): http://echo.gmu.edu/

MERLOT: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm

P.S. Sorry I haven't been commenting on all of your posts - finishing up another online class and getting married two weeks from tomorrow - YIKES! I'll be back to post soon! :) 

Remember we are Asynchronous....

As we have begun posting I see some of you have become concerned about the time line.

Life, vacations and technology some times get in the way of making a post or comment.

Remember we are not doing this like the tradition classroom.  That model is I play sage on the stage, send you home with a homework assignment, then you regurgitate the work.  We wait a few days... then I give you a test so you can tell me the exact answer I already know, so you can forget it immediately.

In that setting every thing is done in the classroom setting.   Lets think of this model...

Normally once I send you off with the assignment I can't contact you or interact, however, with this format we can email, video conference, or blog at any time.

I actually get more interact then the normal setting.   For instance, a bunch of you have emailed me outside of the time frame you were supposed to.  Why shouldn't this count?

The blog and reading section is for us to share ideas on the reading and how it affects us.  That is a unique set of information only YOU can provide.   Each one of you has a different subject, age group, background, and circumstances that gives the rest a different insight on the reading.

I am more worried THAT you comment rather then WHEN you comment.   The only reason we have a time line for the chapter is so we all have a starting point to comment from.

So no worries on when..... I only want to you make sure you do.

This does require YOU check the comments on your post at a later date so you can read and post rebuttals or more info if needed.

On the management side...
The blog helps me with this.  I can see who has or hasn't posted.  I can use drafts for making notes.  I can edit a post (for example I did a little editor just fixing a spelling on Martha's but not changing content) Logistically I have tried to post something in between each on of your Chapter Post.

Remember what we are doing is not only about the reading and discussing the info we find from it, but seeing how it is done....

The Great Oz has spoken... pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

Chapter 5

It was interesting to read about the the open courseware (OCW) movement initiated by MIT. If they had not had the foresight and bravery to begin pioneer who knows where we would be today. The idea to share its course content with the world was a huge step forward pushing forward this digital renaissance we are in (or entering, depending on your source material). The “rational altruism” mentioned by Yue has empowered many learners. I have known about open courseware for some time. I stumbled upon MIT's OCW while searching for new course materials about 3 years ago. When I found this I thought what a great addition to my AP biology course. I have used a number of the video lectures (thought they often lack the visuals the instructors are using for copyright reasons) and a great many of the problem sets and exams to supplement my course. I have even used a few of these to enhance my understanding of some of the more complex biological issues.

It is staggering to think of the number of people that visit and learn from these resources each day. The ability to learn material based on your personal needs and desires can not be underscored. To think that 35 million people (including myself and my students) have used the MIT course materials since its inception is incredible.

One of the most astonishing things for me was the effect this OCW movement has had in other parts of the world. A world citizen, from any nation with internet access, could view these materials. The use of these courses in other countries such as Pakistan, China, Venezuela, and Nigeria is swesome. I never realized how important these resources were in countries where educational opportunities are so limited. The OCW movement has given millions the chance to learn new and powerful concepts. The OOPS project is expanding theses offerings to billions of Chinese by translating the MIT courses. This project thought is led by volunteers, much like Wikipedia. And much like Wikipedia the materials are open to other editors so that these materials can be updated, modified and improved. In 2008 the number of visitors to the OOPS translated courses topped 1.9 million.

The ability to merge course ideas and tailor your own educational experience has never been greater.

It is inspiring that more and more institutions are joining in the OCW movement. Just of few of the notable US ones include Harvard, Rice, The University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Tufts, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of California – Irvine. While these free courses do not award credits (yet) people can sometimes gain credit through CLEP exams or by preparing a portfolio based on what you have learned through an agency such as Learning Counts (http://www.learningcounts.org)

As the chapter concludes the focus shifts to the idea that all this content will be available to self teach and may eventually lead to free education. That learning is a basic human right (I agree). While I find this an interesting concept we must not forget that this content is the result of paid professionals. There must be some funding model to maintain and create new content. Also the content available is mainly factual, content knowledge (level one). The other aspects of instruction that lead to higher order thinking must be included to make these programs more successful. The P2PU seems to help address this to group based discussions and tutors....but its a start.

This is a great start but at can not replace a good deep experience. And truthfully not that many “standard” educational practices provide this either. But the OCW course movement is a great starting point to provided content. I see that the “teachers” will further evolve has this practice becomes more and more common. It will be interesting to see what the educational arena will look like 10 – 20 years from now.

Gotta love technology.... some times...

Being able to read my book on my ipad, make notes and post on the blog while sitting outside on my front deck with my new pup.   PRICELESS

Chapter 4: It's a Free Software World After All

My sincerest apologies for not having my blog post done yesterday. While certainly not an excuse, I just got engaged--I've been so excited planning my wedding that I lost track of time! Again, I'm sorry. I will have my post completed by tomorrow.