Well, today I posted my first thoughts over at the ADC Exchange Blog that I am running … the title, written by Apple, is Tools to Enhance Teaching and Learning in a Digital World. A little long, but its what they wanted. I am one of several bloggers writing about interesting (we hope) things going on in the pervasive computing landscape — each of us has a different topic. I think it’ll be a good space over time and I am hoping that we can keep it going. Add it to your blogroll or to your subscriptions and keep track of what is happening over there. I promise to keep posting here, there, and at the blogs@si site!
Current Projects
Moving Towards Web Standards
I love it when things start working … the senior webmaster in the School of Information Sciences and Technology at PSU (within the Solutions Institute) took the time to post her thoughts related to the topic of web standards at the blogs@si site. Rose lays out some great concepts in her first post at the site and I thought it was well worth the read. Rose is an amazing webmaster and she has been pushing PSU to think about standards for five years or so … that’s well before the buzz (that’s a dumb choice of words) related to accessibility. If you have any interest in the subject, take the time and jump over to her post. By the way, while you’re there, leave a post and let us all know what you think.
The Read/Write Web: Next Gen Textbooks
I am still trying to figure out what it really means to have three blogs going at the same time … so much of what I want to post, I want to have in each spot. Until I figure it out, you’ll have to understand. Sorry … this is cross posted at blogs@si as well.
I just read a good post over at Weblogg-ed … The Case Against Textbooks and thought I’d share it into this space. The Read/Write Web is a powerful thing and even more powerful when put to work for good instead of evil (that sounded a little over the top don’t you think?). I am thinking of the project we are getting set to do with Dr. Mike McNeese — he calls an eBook … I think its a perfect opportunity to try either the book feature of this system or with a straight up wiki. He wants a way to create a student centered book/textbook related to HCI written by his students — both undergraduate and graduate. I think he originally just wanted an interactive text — interactive in that it was online and had animations. It seems to me that it would be mush more powerful if students could use and grow the thing over time; without a bunch of developers and instructional designers getting in the way.
The way I see it, most of the eLearning stuff we’ve done should be built on the Read/Write Web concept that is starting to emerge. I know we used to call the content for Online IST a living textbook … it was really static though. Even though it is all stored and published out of a databse, there is nothing dynamic about it except for the Flash-based interactions. It just sits there on screen so you can read it. If it were all in a Read/Write mode, students could annotate it, discuss it, contextualize it, and really whatever they wanted. Has some downsides, but I think its worth a little research and experimentation. At any rate, it got me thinking. Any thoughts?
Blogging for Marketing Rising
I think we all knew this and really don’t need a post to explain it, but what the hell! We’ve just started blogs@si — for a different reason, but in the end its all about putting the power of publishing in the hands of the community. A while back I was talking to some friends at Apple, actually egging them on to start some sort of coorporate blogging program … didn’t get too far, but they have started doing it for a few things.
This little read popped into my bloglines this morning and thought I’d shre the link … Micro Persuasion: Corporate Blogging Rising … sort of reminds me of hte research proposal we are organizing around community blogging and shared community ownership. See Higher Education isn’t that far behind!
Heading Off to the Apple Digital Campus Leadership Institute
Leaving tomorrow for the ADC Leadership Institute at the University of Missouri. Should be a good time … There will be a lot of good activity going on over at the blog site that has been set up. I’ll be blogging along with some of the other ADC members … MOJO will be doing all sorts of podcasting and vodcasting during the event as well … so be sure to get over there often — or better yet, subscribe to the feed.
I am going to be focusing my energy over there and at the new blogs@si site we’ve been setting up, so look for posts at those places. I’m sure I’ll have some stuff to post here, but not all that much for the next day or so. Later–>
Apple Digital Campus Leadership Institute Blog
Lead blogger for the event … here’s the new WP space … needs some serious work! Go visit the Apple Digital Campus Leadership Institute Blog. Later.
Where Have You Been?
That’s what a lot of people (if you count the four or five people who visit this site as a lot) have been asking the last several days. No, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth, but I have been both very busy and very distracted the last week or so. Things have been nuts at work and we have been getting some new initiatives running, so that’s good. We have been spending most of our time between rolling out the few fixes that are needed to the CMS we built to drive the School’s web presence and investigating several open source tools for our blogs@ist project and a few kick ass project management and bug tracking tools. Its kept me busy.
Some other things on the personal side of my life — I am a real person — have also gotten in the way of posting. As a matter of fact they are the kinds of things you’d love to post about, but just know it wouldn’t be a good idea to do so. Some of the things I have been working on and trying to pull together have taken quite frankly all of my time and mental energy and it hasn’t left me with anything to say. I can say this, stay tuned … some interesting things are in the works.
Here’s something I will rant about for a second … the whole podcasting, Daily Source Code thing has gotten me a bit down. I’ve been a daily listener to the Source Code since around October or so and have always loved it … I am seeing the end of the run for me though. The content just doesn’t seem as inspiring to me anymore and podcasting in general hasn’t been getting me going like it did the past several months. My podcasting guys (who we do our weekly show with) and I haven’t even posted our last two shows … I’m just not feeling it. I need some new, good content to get me excited again. Or maybe that I am moving on to the next round of thinking with all this stuff …
Anyway, more to come on the new ideas front shortly … a few last wrinkles to work out. I will try to get the posting juices flowing again and get this thing back to where there’s actually some discussion related to Innovation & Learning. And oh, by the way, Let’s Go Mountaineers (WVU in the Sweet 16)!
EDU Blogging Research
We are working on an article and a new toolset that has sent us down the path to investigate Blogging in Education. Robert Shedd, an IST student working in the Solutions Institute, and I are working together on this to see what we can figure about how blogging is being utilized, what role rich media plays in blogging, and if there is a need for tools to create content quickly and easily. In the commercial spaces, there are tools and services available, but it is still a back room effort here in higher education. I thought I’d throw this page together for a landing place for our research efforts … at least for the time being. Feel free to browse this space and as always, contact us or leave comments. Thanks.
ARTICLES
Content Delivery in the ‘Blogosphere’
Richard E. Ferdig, Ph.D., and Kaye D. Trammell, University of Florida
T.H.E. Journal Online: Technological Horizons in Education
The Blogs are a Comin’
Con Rodi
Center for Human-Computer Interaction and Department of Computer Science
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
Functions of New Media: Understanding Weblogs
(a major challenge to make the study manageable and get comparative information)
Eric C. Williams
Blogging as a Course Management Tool
Jon Baggaley
An Exploratory Analysis of Weblogs
Michael Tyworth
DOCUMENTS FROM PROQUEST
Back-to-School Blogging
BROCK READ. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Washington: Sep 3, 2004. Vol. 51, Iss. 02; p. A.35
Classroom Use Of Web Logs Raises Concerns
Kevin J. Delaney. Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Oct 27, 2004. p. B.1
Educational Blogging
Stephen Downes. EDUCAUSE Review. Boulder: Sep/Oct 2004. Vol. 39, Iss. 5; p. 14
A Student Pundit’s Venture Into Poli-Cyberspace
ANDREA L. FOSTER. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Washington: Aug 13, 2004. Vol. 50, Iss. 49; p. A.33
Composing at the keyboard Taking their passions to the web, bloggers invigorate classical music scene; [Home Edition]
PIERRE RUHE. The Atlanta Journal – Constitution. Atlanta, Ga.: Feb 6, 2005. p. L.1
‘Blogs’ Help Educators Share Ideas, Air Frustrations
Mark Toner. Education Week. Washington: Jan 14, 2004. Vol. 23, Iss. 18; p. 8
Blogging and blogspots: An alternative format for encouraging reflective practice among preservice teachers
Gary M Stiler, Thomas Philleo. Education. Chula Vista: Summer 2003. Vol. 123, Iss. 4; p. 789
Put another (B)log on the wire: Publishing learning logs as weblogs
Christian Wagner. Journal of Information Systems Education. West Lafayette: Jul 2003. Vol. 14, Iss. 2; p. 131
Scholars Who Blog
DAVID GLENN. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Washington: Jun 6, 2003. Vol. 49, Iss. 39; p. A.14
‘Blogs’: The latest option in raising your voice online
Reid Goldsborough. Consumers’ Research Magazine. Washington: Jun 2003. Vol. 86, Iss. 6; p. 32