Daily Bookmarks 08/18/2007
The Internet’s new Dr. Spock? | Tech News on ZDNet Annotated
- Interview with Henry Jenkins about the younger generation and how being part of online participatory culture affects their learning.
– post by christyinsdesign
The research suggests that kids who live online understand the process by which knowledge is produced and shared in an online environment, whereas those kids who come in within 10 minutes, they’re trying to get the answer and get off. So they’re not as critical of a corporate Web site, for example. That’s just one example of some fundamental inequalities in access to social skills and culture competencies between the information-haves and have-nots.
Really this becomes the basis for the new hidden curriculum. We now must say those kids who are raised in an environment where they have regular access to the online world have a different way of learning that prepares them for school–to do better in school and in life–than those kids who were being left out.
Scholar360 – Learner Management System and Integrated Peer Network Annotated
- An LMS with built-in social networking tools
– post by christyinsdesign
The Scholar360 Network Learning Environment integrates the best features of a learning management system with the best features of a social network. Instructors can teach online courses, dialog with students via discussion boards and blogs, manage automated tests, lessons and grading. Students can share files, build an eportfolio, blog, build a peer and mentor network.
- Could social networking sites like Facebook be a PLE? What if LMSs like Blackboard and Moodle had a way to export the content so it could “seamlessly integrate” with Facebook?
– post by christyinsdesign
This Would Be Easier If You Were Joking | FunnyMonkey – Tools for Teachers
- Post (from a very grumpy writer) pointing out a major flaw in the idea of using Facebook as an LMS–the TOS means all content posted through Facebook grants a non-exclusive license to the work.
– post by christyinsdesign
Discovery Through eLearning: Shifting from Content-centred to Activity-centred ID
- Liveblogged summary of a presentation on the difference between “activity-centered learning” and “content-centered learning.” Tracy says, “Activity Centred is focused on the learning…Content Centred is focused on the teaching.” This sounds like constructivism to me, but maybe using this terminology would make it easier for some people to understand.
– post by christyinsdesign
» Has Facebook abandoned privacy? | The Social Web | ZDNet.com
- Summary of some non-obvious RSS feeds of Facebook data publicly available, with some potential privacy concerns.
– post by christyinsdesign
eSchool News online – Florida leads growth in virtual schooling Annotated
- Online schools are usually a the university level, but some K-12 virtual schools are out there too. I had no idea the growth rate was so high.
– post by christyinsdesign
Virtual schools are growing fast, though, at an annual rate of about 25 percent. Estimates of elementary and secondary students taking virtual classes range from 500,000 to 1 million nationally, compared with total public school enrollment of about 50 million.
the E-Learning is the future of the school 🙂 actualy, a lot of activity are moving in the vitual environment. who could imagine 20 years ago schools or museums online?
Great wiki resource. I need some more time to sort through it all, but I will definitely be doing so soon.
Thanks for sharing it, Bill!
Hello, Christy,
There has been a lot (and I mean A LOT) of words thrown at this subject — for a decent breakdown/overview of some of the discussions, see this wiki page:
http://octette.cs.man.ac.uk/jitt/index.php/PLEs_-_2006
Cheers,
Bill
Hi Bill,
Now I feel better. I hadn’t run across your blog previously, so “This would be easier if you were joking” was my first impression of you.
I don’t think I realized when I did my first post just how big this topic actually is. I’ll dig deeper into some of your previous posts in this area to see what else is there.
Thanks,
Christy
Hello, Christy,
Your first post didn’t put me in a bad mood. Really, it takes a whole lot more than a post about Facebook to get me cranked. I’m not a crackpot; I just play one on the web 🙂
WRT what Moodle, Drupal, and/or WPMU offer that BB/WebCT/D2L/theotherusualsuspects don’t, it’s a pretty enormous question, and one I’ve written about a fair amount on my blog. It has to do with the relationship between a learner and their work, how a learner can exist within the site outside a course (or if that’s even possible), how a learner can access work they have handed in for a course, how a learner can take their work with them when they leave the site, etc. And really, Drupal, Moodle, and WPMU all meet very different needs as well.
Cheers,
Bill
Fair enough. Mildly grumpy then. 🙂
Sorry my initial post on the topic put you in a bad mood. I hope my second one didn’t irritate you as much as my first clearly did.
And honestly, although I’m not joking about it, this is all very much in the theoretical realm for me. Even if I could use Facebook, I don’t think it would make sense for master’s courses for practicing teachers who don’t use this tool already.
So obviously you feel that Facebook as a specific tool wouldn’t work (and the license would certainly be a deal breaker for me too). You mention Moodle, Drupal, and WPMU as alternatives. What do you see those as offering, especially in the social networking area, that we can’t do in an LMS like Blackboard?
RE: “Post (from a very grumpy writer)”
Really, only a mildly grumpy writer.
Cheers,
Bill