These blogs are built using WordPress — IMHO WordPress is the best single user blogging system available (did I mention its free? And that I use it for my other blog as well?). The concept of podcasting has been getting a lot of press — and with Steve’s iTunes 4.9 demo at WWDC it appears as though it could be hitting the mainstream. What most people fail to realize about podcasting is how easy they are to serve up with the right tools. Aside from producing the podcast, getting it out to the Internet with an updated feed is daunting to some people. I came accross this really simple tutorial on how to use WordPress as a podcasting engine … take a look at it. What is so amazing is how easy it really is! Before you know it, you’ll have thousands of listeners, be listed in the iTunes 4.9 Podcasting Directory, and be a media darling.
ADCE Redux
iPod Teaching … ADCE Repeat
I wrote quite a while back about a little tool my friend Bart Pursel showed me, iStory. We’ve actually built an “interactive case study” with it to go along with our Online IST 302 course we’ve recently finished up. Bart had a very linear case study about scope management built that was just going to be a series of pages (html) in the course … I guess I should say that Bart’s the lead in our Office of Learning Solutions here at the Institute and his primary focus is a concept he calls gaming for non-entertainment purposes. Lots of people are looking at that space, but Bart is a gamer, he understands games, and as a bonus he understands how to drop the game concept on top of learning needs. Good stuff.At any rate, when Bart started talking about this thing it was right around the time we bought a bunch of iPods for research purposes … it was well before Universities (Duke, Drexel, and Georgia State come to mind) really started looking how to deploy them on a large scale to support teaching and learning. We came across the iStory Creator software from iPodSoft and started playing with it. Long story short … Bart took his linear case study and developed a first beta of it as an interactive game that teaches people the concepts of scope management — all on the iPod. Its actually pretty cool … loads into the notes section of the iPod and allows you to make decision ala the old “choose your own adventure books” us geeks loved when we were kids.
I’ve been talking with one of the developers at iPodSoft — the guy in charge of the OSX version of iStory and he gave me a heads up on some of their next steps with the Mac version of the product … I just thought I’d share them with you here because there are tons of things you can do with this software (and the notes section of the iPod in general). First of all, take these with a grain of salt as with any software roadmap, its in flux (scope management anyone?) … here are some of the highlights from my friend:
1.0
- Export as webpage (use one of 3 included themes or create your own)
- Greater control over the HTML output of the websites
2.0
- New iTunes like partner app that lets you manage all your notes, sync them with iPod and also download new ones via an iTunes Music Store like interface for the iStories on the iPodSoft site
- This next thing is unconfirmed as I have just come up with it but I think it would be really cool to have in. I’ll try and confirm it in the next few days. The ability to set up your own server for downloading notes, where you can download via the partner app and upload via iStory itself. For example, a teacher could put notes up on the server for students to download. We would also like to add the ability to add images to notes, but we would need apple to add an image tag to the iPod Photo’s notes for that to work. If you could find out anything about this that would be great.
Notice that little request in there at the end? At any rate, you hear that iPod people … open this puppy up a little and great things can happen! By the way, this isn’t a commercial for the tool, its merely me pointing out a tool that let’s you do some interesting things with the iPod. I’d love it if any of you have used this tool before and have any general comments … or what the heck you are doing with the iPod in and outside your classroom in general.
The ADCE? A Living Example …
As I am starting to really get around a bit here at the ADC Exchange it dawned on me that it is so close to a very powerful model for classroom utilization of blogs … we are missing a couple key components, but the start is really quite impressive given how all this came about (another story for another day). Right now, there are several blogs, written by several people, that cover critical themes related to the concepts of pervasive computing. All that is really missing is the front-end aggregator blog to pull it all together. What a learning environment! I have seen several good examples of the multi-user blogging system in place and it makes for quite a powerful conversation space.I teach with technology — I’ve done that since I started teaching six years ago. I am more than comfortable blowing things up and seeing where and how the pieces land. Students tend to get frustrated in the first week and say things like, “what the hell is going on here?” … but after that week, they come around, get excited, and get involved. That to me is the key to all this — trying things that will make the content, material, activities, and the other stuff of learning come to life. It sorts of fits that first level of instructional strategies — motivation. The technology aspects provide a spark … and I have to say the fact that students see their professor trying new things seems to get them interested in what I have to say. I guess they realize that I’m not worried about looking dumb or out of touch. Its kind of cool when you let your guard down, let your students call you by your first name (like friends tend to do), and just enter the learning space with them.
But, back to the Exchange place … the tool that drives this and all the other blogs is WordPress — IMHO, the best single user blogging tool available (did I mention its free?). It is so easy to install and get running. I used this instead of my University’s Learning Management System (LMS), ANGEL last fall and my students loved it. We looked at why they did and it just blew me away how much more they used the space than the “old-fashioned” message boards of the past. I have posted about some of these experiences in my Learning & Innovation blog, so head over to see some results. Interesting stuff. If you gave each student a space like this (or even, dare I say a Blogger space), let them respond to interesting questions, encourage them to write about what is meaningful to them, and them put a single access point at the front end in place (an aggregator) you’d have a very powerful, semi permanent learning environment. What do I mean by that? My goal with using a blog to encourage discussion last semester was to start a longitudinal space for students to use semester after semester. In the LMS world, once you finish the semester, the space is locked down and unusable by new members of your courses. Why must we start every semester from scratch? Why can’t our students stand on the shoulders of their previous peers? I think they can — but the tools have to support it.
Sorry for the rant, but it is nice to see a space like this with multiple perspectives all discussing a similar topic – sort of feels like a class. I think as you make your way around here, you should get sparks of ideas for how to change the landscape of your classrooms … doing so my provide either your students or you with the motivation to learn some new stuff. Isn’t that what education is all about? If you want to discuss any ideas, just drop a comment or email any of us! We’re dying to get the conversation started!
Our Digital World
I don’t think I have to really talk about how our World has become so connected … that’s fairly straight forward stuff. We know that we are part of this always-on society that seems to have more and more trouble turning it all off. To some that would seem disconcerting. I mean, how are we ever really supposed to relax, take a step back, gain perspective, or unplug when it is everywhere? I guess for me, the answer is that I can’t — I mean, I’ve tried. Just last week I actually went three days without my laptop, broadband connection, and my obsessive need to check my email and my RSS feeds. I had intended to go three full days, but I walked into the Apple Store in SOHO (NYC) and instead of looking at spending more of my cash on some Apple stuff, I checked my email and my feeds. Strange, but true.I think that’s the point — I am more at ease when I am connected. My parents don’t get that (and I suppose yours don’t either), but it is true. That’s why the whole notion of getting a grip of what is going on in our constantly connected environment is critical if we as educators and researchers are really going to make a difference with our Net Generation students. I walk across the Penn State campus and see more people with cell phones than backpacks … more students reading stuff on their laptops than newspapers … more students listening to iPods than each other. Some say that we’ve entered the age of poor communication — I beg to differ. I teach these kids and they are amazing communicators, amazing multi-taskers, and very strong and intelligent kids. We have to get into that space and figure out how to capture a slice of that mind share — that’s how we’ll make an impact.
I’ll do my best here to explore ways we can do just that — challenge ourselves so we can continue to challenge them. I love that … the notion that I first have to challenge myself to make sure my classrooms (and they aren’t all physical spaces anymore) are exciting and engaging spaces. I’ll spend a little time in the next couple of weeks talking about some of the tools we’ve built at the Solutions Institute that help faculty get into the “flow” with their students — tools that allow us to interact with them … the way they expect. I’ll look at some things we’re doing with iPods that extend beyond the podcast and can actually make it easier to assess and assign work. I’ll be inviting several of my virtual colleagues (they’re real people, but they really only exist out there somewhere in the blogosphere) to throw their ideas into the mix. So far, I’ve convinced D’Arcy Norman from the University of Calgary to by contributor. I’m sure he’ll bring his passion for learning object design and utilization to the fray.
I am going to be in Cupertino meeting with Apple next week to discuss how their tools can change what we as educators can do in and out of the classroom. We are looking to make significant progress in the educational space and this is a great step forward. If you have thoughts, ideas, or recommendations for those discussion, leave comments. This is our space.
My ADCE Welcome Post
Hi! Welcome to my space on the ADC Exchange … my name is Cole Camplese and I will be the primary blogger in this space. I am the Director of the Solutions Institute at the Pennsylvania State University. I oversee the R&D efforts of the Institute, set strategic goals, and spend a lot of time working with our partners to create interesting solutions to their challenges. I teach courses in the School of Information Sciences and Technology — typically utilizing the tools and courses we create within the Institute. Teaching gives me an amazing opportunity to try out all the crazy ideas I walk around with on a daily basis.
This blog, Tools the Enhance Teaching and Learning in Digital World, will try and focus around these ideas and how we can make small changes and end up with big impact. I am an avid blogger and maintain a couple of blog sites myself. I run the Learning and Innovation Blog and am a lead blogger at the Blogs@SI initative that we recently kicked off. I am really interested in the role of personal publishing and how it can create, build, and support communities of practice around multiple contexts. I am also just thrilled I don’t have to mess with silly WYSIWYG editors anymore! The web has finally entered a true read/write state and it is opening up doors for people across all industries — especially education. Putting tools like blogs, content management systems, and other emerging web technologies into the hands of faculty and students opens up amazing opportunities. Combine all of that with the power of RSS and syndication models and we are really on to something.
I hope you join me as I try to capture a little bit of the excitement I have for the use of technology to change the teaching and learning landscape. I have asked a couple of people who I truly respect to be collaborators at this site … they are mulling it over … if we can land several key voices across the teaching and learning with technology landscape, we’ll really be on to something! I am looking forward to sharing experiences with you over the course of the next several months and beyond! Do me (and yourself) a favor and syndicate this site into a news reader (or bloglines) so you can get updates automatically. I’ll be talking with you … oh, and while you are here, drop some comments on me! Looking forward to it–>