Derek's Blog

It's been an extremely busy week - as can be seen from my lack of posts!
Several things I've been doing I intend blogging about at some point - lots of thinking about Online Communities of Practice etc.
In the meantime, I was inerested to read the Report on Children??s Internet Use From
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting that was sent to me by Chris Jegar. The report, titled CONNECTED TO THE FUTURE reveals that American children regardless of their age, income, or ethnicity, greatly increased their use of the Internet from home, school, or library over the past two years. Yet even with these growth trends, children from under-served populations still significantly lag behind more advantaged children both in home and school access. The report examines both the trends and the implications of children connecting to the Internet??and to their future.
There's some important reading here for those in New Zealand involved in ICTPD developments, as well as those involved in social policy - particularly around ensuring an appropriate level of network architecture is provided at a national level (eg provision of broadband) and a local level (eg clabling in schools, libraries etc).

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It must be the season for online Flash tutorials.....

I came across the following today...

Baruch College/City University of New York Offers Free Interactive Copyright Guide to help faculty determine the appropriate copyright guidelines they must follow when using different types of copyrighted media in their courses.

The interactive guide asks faculty a series of questions related to the nature of the copyrighted works they want to use and the methods in which they plan to use them. As each question is answered, the faculty progress through the virtual subway system, learning important copyright rules that apply to their specific situations. At the final stop, faculty are provided a list of guidelines for using copyrighted media that they can print out and keep for their own records.

I found the guide really interesting from two pespectives:
(a) understanding the actions that need to be taken regarding copyright clearance (in the US context at least) was helpful and informative, and
(b) the guide itself is an interesting example of an online interactive learning object. The request to complete the survey at the end is an indication that Baruch are seeking feedback to inform the possible development of other learning materials in this format.

(reference courtesy of Virtual University Gazette)

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In my work around the future of eLearning recently I was referred to the Edinburgh Scenarios. This Macromedia Breeze presentation summarizes really well the conlucsions of the Edinburgh planning group, and the scenarios that they came up with. The presentation features an animatied Powerpoint show that takes you through the process of scenario development and describes the scenarions that were arrived at. The presentation is narrated and commented on by Jay Cross of Internet Time and Jonathan Star from Global Business Network.

I'm a fan of scenario planning for the reasons described in the presentation - it's not about predicting the future, but about creating a framework that provides a basis for conversations. The Edinburgh scenarios are based around two sets of variables:
(a) the acceptance and adoption of technology in educaiton - (patchy-widespread), and
(b) sources of power, influence and new ideas (established - emergent)

The four scenarios they then describe are:
?? Virtually vanilla - (efficient, structured and technology-rich)
?? Back to the future (fearful, traditional and controlled)
?? You Choose (skeptical, local and real)
?? Web of confidence (experimental, creative and confident)

In pondering these through I found these scenarios helpful in framing a lot of what I see occuring in the eLearning space at the moment - particulary after my visit to Melbourne and in reviewing the work I've been doing with T4T4T - and understanding the various tensions that exist where decisions are being made.

In NZ education we have been promoting the autonomy of local schools and institutions since the reforms of 1989, resulting in many welcome improvements and efficiencies. Paradoxically, this approach has also led to most of our activity in the eLearning space being at the "patchy" end of the continuum - vascillating between the "Back to the future" and the "You choose" scenarios. Similarly, as we are now facing up to this by introducing measures to encourage "widespread adoption" at a strategic and policy level, we are facing yet another challenge - the tension between doing this within existing frameworks and traditional ways of thinking about funding etc, and the opportunities that exist from pursuing a more innovative and "learner-centred" approach.

The danger of succumbing to the former is that we'll end up in the "Back to the future" quadrant, described by Jay and Jonathan as their 'least preferred" (even dangerous) scenario. Unfortunately we may be seeing some of this in NZ already with what is happening with The Correspondence School and some of our other key educational agencies and institutions. Let's hope the conversations continue.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It had to happen!
In Melbourne I got talking with some very wired up young programmers who were sharing with me some of their thoughts and ideas (and experiences) with Podcasting, so I've come home determined to put some time into doing something about it.
No sooner have I decided to do this, (thinking that I'm finally getting to grips with where the technology is at) than the new new thing turns up on my email - called ANT
ANT is an RSS video aggregator and media player currently available for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther - essentially, it is a Podcasting tool for video!
Will be interesting to see what develops in this space!
(see also Adrian Miles' weblog)

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

ETS, the nonprofit group that created the SAT in the US and a number of other standardized tests, has worked with educators, information technology experts, and other institutions to develop a new test designed to measure what it means to be literate in the digital age.

Beta testing for the new ETS exam, called the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Literacy Assessment, began on Jan. 31 and ends March 31. A full "high stakes" version of the test is expected to be available early in 2006.

There's an demo of the test available that ran well on my computer - needs Flash to play.

The test is built around the five critical components of ICT literacy that are defined on the ETS site::
?? Access - knowing about and knowing how to collect and/or retrieve information.
?? Manage - applying an existing organizational or classification scheme.
?? Integrate - interpreting and representing information, which involves summarizing, comparing and contrasting.
?? Evaluate - making judgments about the quality, relevance, usefulness or efficiency of information.
?? Create - generating information by adapting, applying, designing, inventing or authoring information.

A backgrounder on this initiative can be found on the eSchool News site.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Final day of the !dea conference in Melbourne - I'm sitting in the Melbourne airport waiting for my plane reflecting on what I've learned, and enjoying the fact that I can connect to the web to blog via their wireless network!

Overall an extremely profitable trip - I've even learned the art of Simple Sequencing using SCORM standards and a tool called Reload (although I've found it pretty unstable to use on my Mac). Really interesting workshop with a variety of content developers working alongside the developers of various systems designed to incorporate SCORM compliant resources.

Must say that the whole experience has clarified a number of things for me, but has also left me feeling uncertain about the value of SCORM compliance in eLearning. So far the focus of SCORM has been on the definition of digital resources (SCOs - Sharable, Content Objects) and the creation of standards for these to allow for the exchange of these between and among systems. For many teachers using the objects this discussion may have seemed irrelevant - so long as they could appear in the LMS and be accessed by students.

The introduction of Sequencing has closed the gap between those concerned with the technology and standards, and the teachers/instructional designers etc. The pedagogical assumption behind Sequencing is that learning will occur as a result of interaction/engagement with resources/content - and that through the careful sequencing of these content items, learners can be encouraged to learn more effectively.

The problem with this for me is that, at a time when we are advancing theories and practices based on the construction of knowledge through participation, interaction, collaboration and a greater degree of self-determination, the end result of the sequencing process is a return to the Computer Based Training (CBT) approaches that were in vogue through the late 70s and 80s.

While there will inevitably be a place for well designed and well constructed sequences of learning materials, particularly in relation to skills development, filling 'gaps' in knowledge and areas of remediation, this must be seen only as a part of the overall Design for Learning - particularly if we are (as is being advocated) moving towards a service-oriented learning design.

This I have emerged from my Melbourne experience with a clearer idea of Learning Desing as the "superset" and "sequencing" as one of the subsets within this - providing an effective option in particular circumstances.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 6:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Discussion at the !dea conference have focused on a couple of things today:

• eLearning Frameworks
  
• repositories

• ARROW involving Monash University (Lead Institution), Swinburne University of Technology, The University of New South Wales and The National Library of Australia - exploring whether a single repository infrastructure can suport multiple types of digital content.
  
• Australian partnership for sustainable resources funded by DEST looking at the managenent of existing repositories.
  
• Australian Digital Theses program looking at moving from individual institutiional repositories to a national referring and discovery service.
  
• Australian Flexible Learning Network
  
• the Learning Architechture Project (LeAP) run by the Tasmanian Dept of Education which is a service oriented approach implemented over a range of repositories.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great article by Derek Morrison on his blog about podcasting. He provides a range of definitions and explanations of podcasting use. plus heaps of links that are worth exploring, including links to popular podcasting sites.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm in Melbourne at present, attending some of the !dea workshops on interoperability and standards.
Today I'm at the Open Technical Forum >/a> listening to a number of presentations from people such as Scott Wilson speaking about Service Oriented Architectures for eLearning.
Some key thoughts from the opening address....

1 - Emerging trends in eLearning:

• migration towards a component-based/service oriented architecture
  
• insitutionalisation of eLearning - eLearning is here to stay - no longer on the periphery, it is now a part of the way we do things.
  
• shift from provider focus to end user focus in the area of instructional design
  
• shift from using internal measures of progress/success of eLearning to external measures - "how has this met the needs of the users?"

2 - on the "to Do" list for eLearning practitioners

• improve the overall adaptability and usability of the technology
  
• extend capability to incorporate new pedagogical methods into eLearning systems (eg simulations etc)
  
• more adaptable to real-time needs of learners
  
• clear migration paths for organisations to grow from where they are now
  

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In recent weeks I've been working on a project that has involved much speculation about what the future Virtual Learning Environment might be - as we move from a system that is designed purely to transmit information, to systems that are customised to individuals, and grow organically according to individual patterns of behavour etc.
in this work I've looked at the developing role of blogs and wikis, the emergence of metadata and folksonomies , and paying particular attention to the recent writings of Scott Wilson from CETIS who has provided a fascinating visual version of a future VLE on his blog, which is written about in full on The JISC website . Another useful article appeared recently from George Seimens titled Learning Management Systems: The wrong place to start learning
Even my colleague from Ultralab, Stephen Powell, has begun to publish his thoughts on the subject with his entry on Why is the right software so important?
All of these discussions pick up on the trend towards a far more 'organic' structure to the web and its use, with technologies allowing the systems we use to be far more responsive to use - thus our interface and what is presented to us on it may be changing regularly to match our changing needs or useage patterns - or even according to the use patterns of those in our social network!

If all of this sounds challenging to you, take a look at this presentation that I came across tonight, set in 2014, the New York Times has gone offline, and what is EPIC?? Amid the news last week that Google has overtaken eBay on stock market value, this Flash presentation takes a speculative glance at what the future might hold. It reflects on the rise and rise of online media, and the questions that are raised at the end of the 8-minute presentation are challenges that we'd be wise to reflect on as we pursue the utopia of a 'personalised/customised universe'.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

An interesting ongoing discussion with David Stuart in the MoE research division on research priorities in the coming year(s). Seems one of the focus areas is likely to be to do with the notion of digital capabilities/literacies - determining the sorts of things our learners are going to need to acquire during their learning lifetime to make them effective lifelong learners!

I've offered a couple of background papers that are favourites of mine - but would be keen to hear of others..

Mine are:
The enGuage 21st Century Skills List from NCREL which identifies the following:

Digital-Age Literacy

* Basic, scientific, economic, and technological literacies
* Visual and information literacies
* Multicultural literacy and global awareness

Inventive Thinking

* Adaptability and managing complexity
* Self-direction
* Curiosity, creativity, and risk taking
* Higher-order thinking and sound reasoning

Effective Communication

* Teaming, collaboration, and interpersonal skills
* Personal, social, and civic responsibility
* Interactive communication

High Productivity

* Prioritizing, planning, and managing for results
* Effective use of real-world tools
* Ability to produce relevant, high-quality products

Each skill cluster is further broken down into representative skill sets, which offer guidance on recognizing student performance in developing the enGauge 21st Century Skills.

The other is a 2002 report published in the Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment titled Investigating Children??s Emerging Digital Literacies (downloads as a PDF)

This report identifies the following "Dimensions of Literacy"
* Major Literacy Skills
* Troubleshooting
* Purposes
* Tool Use
* Communication Literacy
* Web Literacy
And expands on the results of research that was carried out to find how the expressions of these dimensions varied in children from low income homes compared to those from middle income homes. Comparisons such as this are always open to scrutiny, and will certainly be changing as the technology and issues of access are changing, but the differentiations that are identified in this report provide some interesting insights as to how we might be regarding digital literacies and their development in our education system.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a number of conversations recently i've been asked what Podcasting is. My simple answer is that it is audio blogging - but it's not always helpful. Thus, when I came across the library site on the e-Learning Centre site I thought I'd put the link here to their Library entries on Podcasting. Included here are all sorts of links to definitions, explanations and technical information about Podcasting. Could be helpful!

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Following my last post, I've had a few chats with friends about future trends and where the digital world might be headed. A couple of relevant articles I came across today are worth adding to the discussion.

The first I read on Stephen Downes list and quotes a study claiming that adults are better web surfers than teens. The report is of a study by Nielsen Norman in Fremont, a firm known for studying how consumers use technology. They found that teens were hampered by poor reading and research skills and were more prone to leave a site after encountering difficulties. They also prefer sites with images - not glitzy images, but 'cool' design, such as at Apple. And labeling a site for 'kids' drives them away in droves!

The second came from a friend who is in the research division at the Ministry of Education. We've had long chats about the way in which kids are being 'shaped' by technology, and discussed at length the work of Prensky (Digital natives) and Tapscott (Growing up Digital) et. al.

Informal Learning for Children is an interview with HGSE Lecturer Joe Blatt. Blatt runs a popular course at Harvard University called "Growing up in a media world", based on the fact that most children spend more than 40 hours every week in front of ??screens."

Blatt believes we will see at least three really significant shifts in children??s learning sparked by the growth of information technologies.

1. there will be increasing emphasis on visual and sound communication, on imagery and demonstration replacing description.
   
2. the differences between content for adults and content for children will diminish.
   
3. children will learn more on their own than ever before, encountering unfiltered information and constructing from it their own meanings and understandings.

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

("Reprinted from Kevin Kruse's e-LearningGuru (www.e-LearningGuru.com)

The report, put together by the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future, comes in at over 100 pages covering 100 topics five categories. Truly awesome and a MUST READ for anyone in an "e-" industry. Their 10 Trends section includes:

• Digital divide is closing in America
  
• TV watching down; Internet use up
  
• Credibility of Internet is dropping
  
• Security concerns ease; online shopping up
  
• Geek-Nerd perception dead; 2/3 of USA households have Internet
  
• Personal privacy concerns rising
  
• Internet #1 source of all information (movies, hobbies, health, money)
  
• Benefits/drawbacks of Web for children is still ambiguous
  
• E-mail frustrations rising
  
• Broadband will change everything; always on more important than speed
  

Posted by Derek Wenmoth at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)