Topics people liked from the web 2.0 Expo:
Zude- social computing platform. create, consolidate, communicate, and share the web.
Octopus-file share for design (make edits to logos or whatever)
Jing-cross platform, screen capturing, file is stored on a network drive instead of your computer
***No class next couple weeks: work on final project.***
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Web 2.0 Expo
I couldn't make it to the Web 2.0 Expo so I checked out the blog, which provided all the highlights and news coverage from the expo. I checked out the article "Cool and Not So Cool from Web 2.0 Expo 2008" covered by David Sparks. The article detailed the interesting and not so interesting presentations and topics that were covered during the conference. Below are some subjects that sparked my interest:
Oosah - A Web-based media management application. Sure I can upload all my media and manage it from Oosah. What’s really valuable is the ability to bring in media from all your social media applications like YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, and Facebook (more to come soon). You can edit and upload from within Oosah and the media will be updated on the respective social media applications.
This is a great mash-up. Some times I feel like the majority of my time working on the internet and with computers in general goes to opening up programs and logging in here and there. It can get really annoying and time consuming. I checked out the Oosah website and it looks very clean and user friendly. I will be opening up an account very soon.
David Calkins’ presentation on Robots - David Calkins’ is the world’s biggest robotics geek I know. His ring bearer at his wedding was a robot and his groomsmen were storm troopers. Seriously! I believe his father also dressed up as Darth Vader (not 100% sure of that though). Calkins teaches at SFSU and is also the President of the Robotics Society of America. I attended one of his ROBOlympics events and wrote about it for T3 magazine. His presentation talked about all the ways robots have and will continue to help us in our lives: home entertainment, home security, assisted living, SEX!, robotic cars, robotic bartenders and waiters, manual labor, sports (NASCAR danger without the loss of human life), battlefield robots, and space/underwater exploration. While all of this is impressive, it is us humans who will decide what robots will do.
I didn't even know this guy taught at SFSU. I did more research on David Calkins and his passion for robotics and it seems like a very interesting guy. On top of teaching at SFSU, he has been on numerous television shows, and is the founder of ROBOLympics (the international olympics for robots), and is a judge on Battlebots.
TellMe - These guys have been around for a while but they showed off their new voice-activated information system for BlackBerry devices. Extremely impressive and accurate voice recognition by anyone using the device. I spoke into the device the name of a Mexican burrito joint, Papalote, and it found both locations. From there I can easily get an address, phone number, a map, or directions. Best part, it’s free. If you have a BlackBerry you should definitely download and install this application.
I researched this further and found out that TellMe and Microsoft had partnered and that TellMe had won CNET Webware 100 Award for mobile application. I think this is a very innovative technology that goes beyond what many technologies do. TellMe actually made their technology fitted to the human user, instead of people having to change their natural human instincts and methods to operate a tool.
In addition to covering the "cool" aspects of the expo, David Sparks also discussed a few presentations that did not go so well and he deemed "uncool". Those ranged from a speaker who was clearly drunk to a new company presentation that Sparks considered "the absolute worst product demonstration in the thirteen years I’ve been a technology journalist." He didn't mention who the company was so I wonder if anybody knows what he's talking about and may have been there to witness the atrocity.
Oosah - A Web-based media management application. Sure I can upload all my media and manage it from Oosah. What’s really valuable is the ability to bring in media from all your social media applications like YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, and Facebook (more to come soon). You can edit and upload from within Oosah and the media will be updated on the respective social media applications.
This is a great mash-up. Some times I feel like the majority of my time working on the internet and with computers in general goes to opening up programs and logging in here and there. It can get really annoying and time consuming. I checked out the Oosah website and it looks very clean and user friendly. I will be opening up an account very soon.
David Calkins’ presentation on Robots - David Calkins’ is the world’s biggest robotics geek I know. His ring bearer at his wedding was a robot and his groomsmen were storm troopers. Seriously! I believe his father also dressed up as Darth Vader (not 100% sure of that though). Calkins teaches at SFSU and is also the President of the Robotics Society of America. I attended one of his ROBOlympics events and wrote about it for T3 magazine. His presentation talked about all the ways robots have and will continue to help us in our lives: home entertainment, home security, assisted living, SEX!, robotic cars, robotic bartenders and waiters, manual labor, sports (NASCAR danger without the loss of human life), battlefield robots, and space/underwater exploration. While all of this is impressive, it is us humans who will decide what robots will do.
I didn't even know this guy taught at SFSU. I did more research on David Calkins and his passion for robotics and it seems like a very interesting guy. On top of teaching at SFSU, he has been on numerous television shows, and is the founder of ROBOLympics (the international olympics for robots), and is a judge on Battlebots.
TellMe - These guys have been around for a while but they showed off their new voice-activated information system for BlackBerry devices. Extremely impressive and accurate voice recognition by anyone using the device. I spoke into the device the name of a Mexican burrito joint, Papalote, and it found both locations. From there I can easily get an address, phone number, a map, or directions. Best part, it’s free. If you have a BlackBerry you should definitely download and install this application.
I researched this further and found out that TellMe and Microsoft had partnered and that TellMe had won CNET Webware 100 Award for mobile application. I think this is a very innovative technology that goes beyond what many technologies do. TellMe actually made their technology fitted to the human user, instead of people having to change their natural human instincts and methods to operate a tool.
In addition to covering the "cool" aspects of the expo, David Sparks also discussed a few presentations that did not go so well and he deemed "uncool". Those ranged from a speaker who was clearly drunk to a new company presentation that Sparks considered "the absolute worst product demonstration in the thirteen years I’ve been a technology journalist." He didn't mention who the company was so I wonder if anybody knows what he's talking about and may have been there to witness the atrocity.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Final Project Proposal
The final project proposal is on my wiki. Please check it out and make changes or suggestions as you see fit.
Final Project Proposal
Final Project Proposal
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Interface Design: VoiceThread
Information Design:
The primary users of VoiceThread are educators and students.
The amount of information presented on the homepage is a lot, but is presented in a parallel, easy-to-read and follow way. Information is chunked int he center of the screen with visual and verbal clues and headers directing the users.The language used is basic enough that a younger audience may read it and understand. Larger size headings direct users to a specific function and the graphics used are relevant and easily comphrendable. For example, visual cues are shown underneath the heading "Comment" and a different icon is used for each type of commenting that can be used: voice (mic or phone), text, audio file, and webcam. The consistency of the site is on and off. By clicking on a category tab (travel, classroom, etc.) the consistency in graphics, color, and type is well done, but when creating a VoiceThread or viewing your account, the consistency is a little off. It is not clear how to get back to the homepage or how to start creating a thread, you kind of have to play around with different functions in order to find out. The detail about making a VoiceThread and specific rules and regulations or specific functions within creating a thread are not properly detailed anywhere that I can see.
Interactivity:
Orientation is pretty basic in the VoiceThread site. There are essential three main areas you can explore (browse, my voice, and create). You can quickly navigate you way around. Sub-topics are branched to larger topics. For example, when you are browsing the threads you can select "all" "today" "this week" or "this month". The functionality works very well for the most part. The only problem is when you are using the actual voice thread technology, certain problems arise that effect the overall functionality and merit of the site.
On Screen Design:
My first impression of the Voicethread website was that it was designed in an easy understand interface. It wasn't oo flashy or too detailed, just basic, with the amount of information on each page. The interface isn't the most impressive and lacks a little creativity, but it suites the technology it was designed for. The resloution and colors are fine. Three main colors are used: red, white, and gray. The layout is well done. Voicethread used a three colum layout to display and organize information, which maker all the information readable because it is a recognizable structure to users.
The primary users of VoiceThread are educators and students.
The amount of information presented on the homepage is a lot, but is presented in a parallel, easy-to-read and follow way. Information is chunked int he center of the screen with visual and verbal clues and headers directing the users.The language used is basic enough that a younger audience may read it and understand. Larger size headings direct users to a specific function and the graphics used are relevant and easily comphrendable. For example, visual cues are shown underneath the heading "Comment" and a different icon is used for each type of commenting that can be used: voice (mic or phone), text, audio file, and webcam. The consistency of the site is on and off. By clicking on a category tab (travel, classroom, etc.) the consistency in graphics, color, and type is well done, but when creating a VoiceThread or viewing your account, the consistency is a little off. It is not clear how to get back to the homepage or how to start creating a thread, you kind of have to play around with different functions in order to find out. The detail about making a VoiceThread and specific rules and regulations or specific functions within creating a thread are not properly detailed anywhere that I can see.
Interactivity:
Orientation is pretty basic in the VoiceThread site. There are essential three main areas you can explore (browse, my voice, and create). You can quickly navigate you way around. Sub-topics are branched to larger topics. For example, when you are browsing the threads you can select "all" "today" "this week" or "this month". The functionality works very well for the most part. The only problem is when you are using the actual voice thread technology, certain problems arise that effect the overall functionality and merit of the site.
On Screen Design:
My first impression of the Voicethread website was that it was designed in an easy understand interface. It wasn't oo flashy or too detailed, just basic, with the amount of information on each page. The interface isn't the most impressive and lacks a little creativity, but it suites the technology it was designed for. The resloution and colors are fine. Three main colors are used: red, white, and gray. The layout is well done. Voicethread used a three colum layout to display and organize information, which maker all the information readable because it is a recognizable structure to users.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Class Notes
Web 2.0 Conference next Tues. instead of class
Homework:
1.Blog about conference
2.Interface Design critique assignment.
3.Decide final project topic.
4.Write draft proposal on wiki.
Empathy:
empathy: "putting yourself in ones shoes"
not sympathy...that's pity.
ties in with design. when a designer is designing they must think about the user.
symphony: empathetic people understand the idea of context.
build empathy by volunteering in an area that is unfamiliar to you.
odiogo.com
Play:
games, humor, joyfulness, bringing humor and light-heartiness to business and products.
launchball (comp game premised of sound and engineering stuff)
"play will be to the 21st century what work was to the last 300 years of industrial society-our dominant way of knowing, doing, and creating value."
Meaning:
take spirtuality seriously, be thankful
take the 20-10 test
picture yourself at 90
Homework:
1.Blog about conference
2.Interface Design critique assignment.
3.Decide final project topic.
4.Write draft proposal on wiki.
Empathy:
empathy: "putting yourself in ones shoes"
not sympathy...that's pity.
ties in with design. when a designer is designing they must think about the user.
symphony: empathetic people understand the idea of context.
build empathy by volunteering in an area that is unfamiliar to you.
odiogo.com
Play:
games, humor, joyfulness, bringing humor and light-heartiness to business and products.
launchball (comp game premised of sound and engineering stuff)
"play will be to the 21st century what work was to the last 300 years of industrial society-our dominant way of knowing, doing, and creating value."
Meaning:
take spirtuality seriously, be thankful
take the 20-10 test
picture yourself at 90
Orbit Design Flaws
Check out my Voicethread for The Design of Everyday Things, Chapter One: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things.
Design Flaws of Orbit Gum
Design Flaws of Orbit Gum
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Class Notes: Eugene Lee
CEO 2.0- the first enterprise wiki companysocialtext: campus technology
case study:Boston college
wikis to run his business class. wiki as a mashup to combine all web 2.0 tools.
"its not the tools it's the process it enables."
educators must provide incentives for usage.
incentive in business: competition, he would copy and paste the amount of people making edits for all to see and that gave people an incentive to use the wiki.
carrot: top contributers to wiki (typically by perr vote) receive bonus points.
stick: base-level participation required.
training and development, human resources.
in a corporation they version track ever edit. the company can see everything. anamity is not allowed.
the edit button is a osychological thing. in a corporate world there is the sense of authorship that feels like it should not be messed with.
gardening: in wiki language it means fixing peoples stuff, editing. it happens fast.
adobe-hard for the sales guys to know about products.
instant access to information about it on wiki
dell: after installing wiki, call time was reduced by 20% (thats millions of dollars)
wikis work best:
small groups (les than 150 people)
donated wikis to non-profits.
wikis facilitate diff public and private workspaces.
one trick to get people to edit is they purposefully put errors on the page.
core wiki use:
1.collaborative inteligence(all levels of people in a corp. communicating, great for field sales and marketing teams, comprised of employees and external partners)
2. participatory knowledge- great for tech support and cust. service
3.flexible client collaboration- managing complex projects with geographically disperesed teams, great for extrnets where connecting with partners and suppliers is crucial
4. business social networks- discover the experts and tap the innovations of employees.
socialtext was the first co that talked about web 2.0 patterns and wanted to apply it to enterprises.
company sells on a subscription basis
corporate deployment: they ship you the appliance (software)
training is usually a 2 day thing.
customers are: media company, law firms, fortune 10 company, innovation center inside a health care company.
Brian's Presentation: Snapz Pro Z
one month trial for free. to buy it $200 (camptasia) $70 Snapz Pro Z
selection: customized to what you want. 3 icons in box, press return and it will copy what you want in the box (apple, shift,3)
movie: hit return and it automatically starts filming him, to stop press comand, shift, 3, save and then view it in your quick time player.
Homeowrk:
read chapter one in everday things, picture assignment
case study:Boston college
wikis to run his business class. wiki as a mashup to combine all web 2.0 tools.
"its not the tools it's the process it enables."
educators must provide incentives for usage.
incentive in business: competition, he would copy and paste the amount of people making edits for all to see and that gave people an incentive to use the wiki.
carrot: top contributers to wiki (typically by perr vote) receive bonus points.
stick: base-level participation required.
training and development, human resources.
in a corporation they version track ever edit. the company can see everything. anamity is not allowed.
the edit button is a osychological thing. in a corporate world there is the sense of authorship that feels like it should not be messed with.
gardening: in wiki language it means fixing peoples stuff, editing. it happens fast.
adobe-hard for the sales guys to know about products.
instant access to information about it on wiki
dell: after installing wiki, call time was reduced by 20% (thats millions of dollars)
wikis work best:
small groups (les than 150 people)
donated wikis to non-profits.
wikis facilitate diff public and private workspaces.
one trick to get people to edit is they purposefully put errors on the page.
core wiki use:
1.collaborative inteligence(all levels of people in a corp. communicating, great for field sales and marketing teams, comprised of employees and external partners)
2. participatory knowledge- great for tech support and cust. service
3.flexible client collaboration- managing complex projects with geographically disperesed teams, great for extrnets where connecting with partners and suppliers is crucial
4. business social networks- discover the experts and tap the innovations of employees.
socialtext was the first co that talked about web 2.0 patterns and wanted to apply it to enterprises.
company sells on a subscription basis
corporate deployment: they ship you the appliance (software)
training is usually a 2 day thing.
customers are: media company, law firms, fortune 10 company, innovation center inside a health care company.
Brian's Presentation: Snapz Pro Z
one month trial for free. to buy it $200 (camptasia) $70 Snapz Pro Z
About Snapz Pro X
A quantum leap in video capture technology, adroitly capturing full motion video of anything on your screen at a blistering pace, complete with digital audio, and an optional microphone voiceover. Think of it as a digital video camera for your screen. If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how priceless a movie would be for getting your point across. Snapz Pro X makes short work of making training videos, producing product demos, creating tutorials, archiving streaming video, and anything else you can think of.
selection: customized to what you want. 3 icons in box, press return and it will copy what you want in the box (apple, shift,3)
movie: hit return and it automatically starts filming him, to stop press comand, shift, 3, save and then view it in your quick time player.
Homeowrk:
read chapter one in everday things, picture assignment
Five Frame Story
Click the link below to check out my five frame story.
Guess the: who, what, why, when, where, how.
Five Frame Story
Guess the: who, what, why, when, where, how.
Five Frame Story
Group Project: Story
The link below is a power point for chapter five (Story) in A Whole New Mind.
Created by Barry, Brian, and Christina
Chapter Five: Story
Created by Barry, Brian, and Christina
Chapter Five: Story
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Class Notes for 2/18/08
No class next week: Spring Break!
**catch up on all assignments!!!!**
A Whole New Mind
the new age is a conceptual age. the skills that artists have are more important (visual, creative)
the first three chapters talks about the right and left sides of the brain, global economy, Asia, abundance, automation, manufacturing, cheaper faster-in demand, high concept,high touch.
Project: Chapter Five: Story---past groups have summarized chapter or created some sort of story that relates.
Separate Project: Create a five frame story out of pictures in a sequential order. Use flicker or voicethread.
Presentations:
WiZiQ -- Brings students and teachers together without boundaries. teach and learn live, online, free. find, share, download, upload, powerpoints and PDFs. schedule sessions with students, search for topics, public sessions delivered by subject experts, create own tests, search for tests.
Skype---http://skype.com/
make calls from your computer to anywhere in the world anytime, day, night, morning or weekends. (only skype to skype)
cheap calls to phones and mobile across the world (you can view all rates)
sessions: conduct or participate w/ audio and/or video
**catch up on all assignments!!!!**
A Whole New Mind
the new age is a conceptual age. the skills that artists have are more important (visual, creative)
the first three chapters talks about the right and left sides of the brain, global economy, Asia, abundance, automation, manufacturing, cheaper faster-in demand, high concept,high touch.
Project: Chapter Five: Story---past groups have summarized chapter or created some sort of story that relates.
Separate Project: Create a five frame story out of pictures in a sequential order. Use flicker or voicethread.
Presentations:
WiZiQ -- Brings students and teachers together without boundaries. teach and learn live, online, free. find, share, download, upload, powerpoints and PDFs. schedule sessions with students, search for topics, public sessions delivered by subject experts, create own tests, search for tests.
Skype---http://skype.com/
make calls from your computer to anywhere in the world anytime, day, night, morning or weekends. (only skype to skype)
cheap calls to phones and mobile across the world (you can view all rates)
sessions: conduct or participate w/ audio and/or video
Monday, March 10, 2008
Voicethread Presentation
Voicethread:
1. Create. (from images)
2. Comment. (by voice, phone, or type)
3. Share. (transforming media)
http://voicethread.com/#q
Voicethread in the Classroom:
http://voicethread.com/share/74456/
http://voicethread.com/share/71234/
http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/show?id=649749%3ABlogPost%3A4151
My Voicethread Creation:
http://voicethread.com/share/71234/
Similar Services:
http://www.yackpack.com/
1. Create. (from images)
2. Comment. (by voice, phone, or type)
3. Share. (transforming media)
http://voicethread.com/#q
Voicethread in the Classroom:
http://voicethread.com/share/74456/
http://voicethread.com/share/71234/
http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/show?id=649749%3ABlogPost%3A4151
My Voicethread Creation:
http://voicethread.com/share/71234/
Similar Services:
http://www.yackpack.com/
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Class Notes 2/26: Tools, Blog Types, Presentations
Flock- mash-up social software app.
connect to flicker, blogger, youtube, facebook, all in the same place.
a little slow, but good.
Google Reader and Delicious = library of commonly used sites that can be placed into iGoogle on your homepage for easy access.
Google Doc - all can collaborate on docs, open source, similar docs of Word.
Stephen Downes blog: OLDaily
Types of Blogs:
According to WordPress.com personal is the broadest of categories.
Banned blogs: re-publish, SEO blogs, get rich quick schemes, pirated blogs.
Presentations:
1. Tagging, Social Bookmarking, and Folksonomies
Social Bookmarking (tagging):
Delicious, citeulike.com (application does the tagging), furl, magnolia.com
organize and categorize info, sharing, discovery, mash-ups
Folksonomies -- a method of collaboratively tagging intended to make info easy to access
Brainpath.com ---elearning community
all classification methods
2. Joshua: RSS
you can set up an RSS news screen saver (go in screen saver settings)
not all sites have RSS, but you can know by preforming a search or looking for the orange icon
feed
RSS in Blogs:
Atom is an alternative to RSS
you have control over what you see, you can shorten, take away graphics
click on subscribe to: Posts(Atom)...in Safari
Firefox has own tab for RSS options
RSS readers: on podcasts, iGoogle, Looking Forward
Homework:
21st Century Learning:
read article, take notes with Freemind Map, post map to wiki and/or blog
Web 2.0 Tools to Use:
Diigo: http://www.diigo.com/welcome?name=cantos
VoiceThread: VoiceThread.com
connect to flicker, blogger, youtube, facebook, all in the same place.
a little slow, but good.
Google Reader and Delicious = library of commonly used sites that can be placed into iGoogle on your homepage for easy access.
Google Doc - all can collaborate on docs, open source, similar docs of Word.
Stephen Downes blog: OLDaily
Types of Blogs:
According to WordPress.com personal is the broadest of categories.
Banned blogs: re-publish, SEO blogs, get rich quick schemes, pirated blogs.
Presentations:
1. Tagging, Social Bookmarking, and Folksonomies
Social Bookmarking (tagging):
Delicious, citeulike.com (application does the tagging), furl, magnolia.com
organize and categorize info, sharing, discovery, mash-ups
Folksonomies -- a method of collaboratively tagging intended to make info easy to access
Brainpath.com ---elearning community
all classification methods
2. Joshua: RSS
you can set up an RSS news screen saver (go in screen saver settings)
not all sites have RSS, but you can know by preforming a search or looking for the orange icon
feed
RSS in Blogs:
Atom is an alternative to RSS
you have control over what you see, you can shorten, take away graphics
click on subscribe to: Posts(Atom)...in Safari
Firefox has own tab for RSS options
RSS readers: on podcasts, iGoogle, Looking Forward
Homework:
21st Century Learning:
read article, take notes with Freemind Map, post map to wiki and/or blog
Web 2.0 Tools to Use:
Diigo: http://www.diigo.com/welcome?name=cantos
VoiceThread: VoiceThread.com
MacWorld Web 2.0 Presentation
The Web 2.0 video presented the latest tools and technologies that teachers, students, and everyone and anyone could use to collaborate and learn on the web.
The presenter listed several open source resources that will assist in getting the most out of the Web 2.0 experience. He also cited and explained some very interesting facts about the types of viewers, critics, and contributors of this web era. For example the age range of most people contributing content to the web and critiquing information are young; between the ages of 12 and 26 and the age range of people just viewing content on the web are of an older age.
Of the plethora of resources presented I found a majority of them to be helpful and interesting and a handful of them interesting enough to explore further into and use in the future.
These tools and resources are:
There are so many more resources that the presenter brought to light that I want to research further and apply to my everyday learning and collaborating applications.
Extra Notes:
packaderm.com (open source web applications)
RSS (Real Simple Syndication) - family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content. XML based format for content distribution.
The presenter listed several open source resources that will assist in getting the most out of the Web 2.0 experience. He also cited and explained some very interesting facts about the types of viewers, critics, and contributors of this web era. For example the age range of most people contributing content to the web and critiquing information are young; between the ages of 12 and 26 and the age range of people just viewing content on the web are of an older age.
Of the plethora of resources presented I found a majority of them to be helpful and interesting and a handful of them interesting enough to explore further into and use in the future.
These tools and resources are:
- marumushi.com -- a mash-up platform that allows you to combine several of the same types of sites and information in the same easy to access platform. The example the presenter used was news from a variety of different websites (Google, yahoo, CNN) and mashing them together so that the viewer can access all information easily and distinguish what news source is most appealing.
- ePortfolios -- a site that allows users to contribute content to be analyzed and critiqued by others through a medium of productive collaboration.
- FeedBurner -- a site just purchased by Google in which users can subscribe the URL to their website, blog, or wiki and receive advertisement in exchange.
- McGraw Hill website -- an interactive learning site in which teachers and students can collaborate and learn together in fun and interactive ways. Two of the most interesting tools on the McGraw Hill website are "Meet the Authors" and "Poetry Mosaic", platforms in which one can learn about different authors through a variety of mediums and create and learn about poetry.
- ThinkVitamin -- a website that keeps web professionals and students updated on current web and digital design technologies, tools, resources, and platforms through AJAX, a tool that turns websites into web applications. Job postings by location and category are also available through this website which helps people in technical and design fields tap into the hidden job market.
There are so many more resources that the presenter brought to light that I want to research further and apply to my everyday learning and collaborating applications.
Extra Notes:
packaderm.com (open source web applications)
RSS (Real Simple Syndication) - family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content. XML based format for content distribution.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Learning in the Digital Age
The article "Learning in the Digital Age" by John Seely Brown discusses the shift in way people learn and develop knowledge and how certain universities are making new strides in order to accommodate this new learning style.
Brown comments that "learning is a remarkably social process" and that "it occurs not as a response to teaching, but rather as a result of a social framework that fosters learning." In the past most teaching methods were based on a lecture basis and not so much on a hands on and collaborative basis, but since the dawn of the digital age the way students learn has shifted and therefore educators have felt the need to adapt.
Many universities are "stepping up their educational game" by introducing "enculturation" into their curriculum, in which students "can watch, listen, and peripherally participate" in their subject matter and really start to understand their community of interest. At MIT, the "prototype physics studio mixes lecture, recitation, and hands-on laboratory experience" in order for students to participate in a more active learning style.
While many more universities are realizing the need for their teaching tactics to adapt to their students learning styles, many other schools and educators are resisting the change and damaging the potential of their students. Nicole Herz, an Asian Studies professor quotes "in other words, we refuse to learn from the culture and technology that thrives outside the university--the visualizing, messaging, and innovating driven by the young."
Just like with any kind of shift or progress, there are going to be people who are scared of it and not willing to adapt. I think what surprises me most is that I would never expect the kind of people that would resist progress would be educators, but as I reflect on my educational history it is clear to me. It was not until I came to San Francisco State University that I witnessed the type of "encultural" teaching methods that are so essential in this day in age. In high school and even at my junior college these important tactics were never practiced and barely discussed. If universities are changing their methods of teaching, I believe it is just as crucial, if not more crucial, for all levels of education to follow the same path. I think if our country can get up to speed with these digital age advances than we would see a larger number of kids graduating high school and many more kids interested in pursuing higher education. In order for America to maintain our status and competitiveness, these changes are essential and should no longer be ignored or put on the back burner.
Brown comments that "learning is a remarkably social process" and that "it occurs not as a response to teaching, but rather as a result of a social framework that fosters learning." In the past most teaching methods were based on a lecture basis and not so much on a hands on and collaborative basis, but since the dawn of the digital age the way students learn has shifted and therefore educators have felt the need to adapt.
Many universities are "stepping up their educational game" by introducing "enculturation" into their curriculum, in which students "can watch, listen, and peripherally participate" in their subject matter and really start to understand their community of interest. At MIT, the "prototype physics studio mixes lecture, recitation, and hands-on laboratory experience" in order for students to participate in a more active learning style.
While many more universities are realizing the need for their teaching tactics to adapt to their students learning styles, many other schools and educators are resisting the change and damaging the potential of their students. Nicole Herz, an Asian Studies professor quotes "in other words, we refuse to learn from the culture and technology that thrives outside the university--the visualizing, messaging, and innovating driven by the young."
Just like with any kind of shift or progress, there are going to be people who are scared of it and not willing to adapt. I think what surprises me most is that I would never expect the kind of people that would resist progress would be educators, but as I reflect on my educational history it is clear to me. It was not until I came to San Francisco State University that I witnessed the type of "encultural" teaching methods that are so essential in this day in age. In high school and even at my junior college these important tactics were never practiced and barely discussed. If universities are changing their methods of teaching, I believe it is just as crucial, if not more crucial, for all levels of education to follow the same path. I think if our country can get up to speed with these digital age advances than we would see a larger number of kids graduating high school and many more kids interested in pursuing higher education. In order for America to maintain our status and competitiveness, these changes are essential and should no longer be ignored or put on the back burner.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Connectivism Learning Theory
Connectivism is a learning theory for the digital age. Prior to technology's impact on the way people learn were three learning theories: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. These theories have limitations; they do not address learning outside of people or describe how learning happens within organizations. Even after these three theories were revised several times for the new age, they still come up short. This is how the concept of connectivism blossomed.
Connectivism realizes that "action is often needed without personal learning - that is, we need to act by drawing information outside of our primary knowledge."Recognizing and forming connections and patterns is how people learn in the new digital age and it "is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations."
The quote: "The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe." concludes the concept of connectivism. Individuals must have the ability to constantly learn new things at a fast pace because new amounts of knowledge and technology are ocuring at such a fast pace, our minds must be two steps ahead at all times.
Connectivism realizes that "action is often needed without personal learning - that is, we need to act by drawing information outside of our primary knowledge."Recognizing and forming connections and patterns is how people learn in the new digital age and it "is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations."
The quote: "The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe." concludes the concept of connectivism. Individuals must have the ability to constantly learn new things at a fast pace because new amounts of knowledge and technology are ocuring at such a fast pace, our minds must be two steps ahead at all times.
Web 2.0
The discussion on Web 2.0 that took place on the first day of class reminded me a lot of a book I read last semester, The World is Flat. The book explored the history of technology, globalization, and discussed ways in which America must compete with the rest of the world in order to stay on top in the new "flat" world. The book explored a number of different topics including Web 2.0 and how the internet is constantly changing the world for better or worse.
I consider myself to be pretty knowledgable about Web 2.0 technologies: blogs, flicker, photobucket, myspace, facebook, wikis, web tagging, etc., but there is always more to learn and always more to explore as these technologies evolve. For example, until last class I had no idea about igoogle's capabilities. After class I quickly set igoogle up as my homepage on my desktop and I am loving it.
Preparing for a career in the technical communication field I know that this class will be very helpful to me and I am excited to dive into the projects and learn some cool stuff.
I consider myself to be pretty knowledgable about Web 2.0 technologies: blogs, flicker, photobucket, myspace, facebook, wikis, web tagging, etc., but there is always more to learn and always more to explore as these technologies evolve. For example, until last class I had no idea about igoogle's capabilities. After class I quickly set igoogle up as my homepage on my desktop and I am loving it.
Preparing for a career in the technical communication field I know that this class will be very helpful to me and I am excited to dive into the projects and learn some cool stuff.
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