Today I move on from my role as Project Officer with the Connected Learning Team at the Centre for Learning Innovation, TAFE NSW.
I know much has been achieved and that innovation has been realised..........the position, story and awareness raising of social softwares, mlearning and connected learning principles are now spoken of openly and clearly. There are no regrets and my farewell gathering, lunch and so on stands testament to that which I exploded in the organisations lap......gently.
I played but a small part in this learning journey. Many people there made it possible by listening, contributing and debating.
Speaking of the journey, my story just goes on and I move with it.
I believe innovation comes out of the need to communicate more clearly with others and on a higher order, to realise a human condition not yet attained either individually and collectively.
On that note I leave CLI with the knowledge that the next part of my own online and offline journey may add a few flagstones to the path that others are paving before me.
People like Leigh Blackall for instance.
Leigh Blackall and I underwent a lengthy Skype session the other night as I'd broken my headphones for the third time and now I've afforded myself another pair.
Leigh had some really amazing stuff to say which still threatens to implode my way of being yet I know I've been on this path for a while myself in many other roles and now I have to face the fact that it's time to take off my shoes as I enter the temple of the web. For years now, content I've developed and papers, images, videos and other creative endeavours have been buried amongst other digital matter like detritus gathering digital mould and dust.
For the last two weeks or so I've been preparing myself to go freeranging......public.........bill postering............... as I've become accustomed to in many other parts of my life. My family are spread far and wide, my life is distributed everywhere at once and it's all gone mobile so whats been holding me back till now ?
DRM, copyright, LMS, telco-shackles, fear, loathing, helplessness, wit, charm, fomats, laziness, sympathy, propriety, name-gaming, misunderstanding etc.
That will always be and these elements have been and no doubt will still play a part of my own learning journey.
As I've watched the effects of this on myself physically and mentally over the last fortnight I observe the foyer of which I've now decided to enter. The shared, distributive and networked web PLE has made it's way into my life in such a way that I have no other alternative other than to embrace the change. Many others are already ahead of me and in some ways this has made it easier as i live and learn as aprt of their learning journey.
I'm taken with how Leigh puts it, as I work far more effectively in pictures than words;
>>........So you see, I think it quite a different and liberating thing to think about in terms of web publishing - comparing web publishing to graffiti and pavement chalk poetics.
Once we're prepared to accept that time will wash even things digital, then we'll realise that for our presence to persist, for our markings to remain, we must remain active in remixing, reformatting, recreating, and republishing our works so that they reappear and reappear again - copied and redistributed by others across the Net.
I think its quite liberating to let go of the obvious - that digital means recorded, and think of it as a more fluid and transitory medium. The fact that a record or archive can be dug up if you really tried is just an added benefit, but its the here and now and what we say about before that catches me.......<<>> So you see, I think it quite a different and liberating thing to think about in terms of web publishing - comparing web publishing to graffiti and pavement chalk poetics. Once we're prepared to accept that time will wash even things digital, then we'll realise that for our presence to persist, for our markings to remain, we must remain active in remixing, reformatting, recreating, and republishing our works so that they reappear and reappear again - copied and redistributed by others across the Net.
I think its quite liberating to let go of the obvious - that digital means recorded, and think of it as a more fluid and transitory medium. The fact that a record or archive can be dug up if you really tried is just an added benefit, but its the here and now and what we say about before that catches me.
Michael Coughlan's session over at Talking VTE speaks a lot of what's possible.
My story just goes on and I move with it. I believe innovation comes out of the need to communicate more clearly with others and on a higher order, to realise a human condition not yet attained individually and collectively. To realise this I need to move, at times be still and ultimately share more of myself with others..........
I kind of like version two also.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
The Network Fails ( Occasionally.)
It's 5.01 pm.
Time to go home and reflect on another learning curve. What a anxious day.
It's a mixed blessing that the network fails occasionally. It gives me time to leave the online distractions and connect with real people.
People like James Worner inspire me with their ability to synthesise otherwise disparate and seemingly disconnected information into something that's cogent and relevant. I thank him for that from the bottom of my heart. I can venture out and head home knowing my rants online will be a little more purposeful and that my presentations online, conferenced and recorded will stand the test of time with more authenticity and flavour. Distribution is the key and if I can get permission to distribute our presentation on the web or link to it I'd feel very happy. Later....
Graham Wegner got me inspired last night with his thoughts on the whole concept of blogging as a means to engaging others in conversations...when they choose to and in good time. Like many other people I squeeze what i think, know and feel into what feels like a mad journal of reflections and hope driven episodes for others to contemplate. I really like the idea of the OLPC and intend chasing this for my kids and learners I engage who would benefit. What a great community.
I wonder at how many other networked technologies which have been built by a community are in the wings and ready to roll ? I sure wish I could find something that 'disguises' mobile communication technologies to do the same.
The idea that we could deconstruct and demystify the manner in which these devices enable communication still consumes me. The opportunity exists and the network lives.
Take Andrew Park for example. Who said great ideas dont come to fruition ?...... even though we bicker and fight amongst a culture of competitive advantage.
I really hope one day we will see a mlearning community share it's knowledge openly .......if we arent already ! Long live networked learning .................
Time to go home and reflect on another learning curve. What a anxious day.
It's a mixed blessing that the network fails occasionally. It gives me time to leave the online distractions and connect with real people.
People like James Worner inspire me with their ability to synthesise otherwise disparate and seemingly disconnected information into something that's cogent and relevant. I thank him for that from the bottom of my heart. I can venture out and head home knowing my rants online will be a little more purposeful and that my presentations online, conferenced and recorded will stand the test of time with more authenticity and flavour. Distribution is the key and if I can get permission to distribute our presentation on the web or link to it I'd feel very happy. Later....
Graham Wegner got me inspired last night with his thoughts on the whole concept of blogging as a means to engaging others in conversations...when they choose to and in good time. Like many other people I squeeze what i think, know and feel into what feels like a mad journal of reflections and hope driven episodes for others to contemplate. I really like the idea of the OLPC and intend chasing this for my kids and learners I engage who would benefit. What a great community.
I wonder at how many other networked technologies which have been built by a community are in the wings and ready to roll ? I sure wish I could find something that 'disguises' mobile communication technologies to do the same.
The idea that we could deconstruct and demystify the manner in which these devices enable communication still consumes me. The opportunity exists and the network lives.
Take Andrew Park for example. Who said great ideas dont come to fruition ?...... even though we bicker and fight amongst a culture of competitive advantage.
I really hope one day we will see a mlearning community share it's knowledge openly .......if we arent already ! Long live networked learning .................
Monday, June 12, 2006
Hack At The Back ( Not)
I follow with interest Leonard Low's accounts of what matters most for him as he 'enters' the discussions of where education hits elearning et. al.
I seem to recall doing something similar a few years ago in reframing others perspectives and achievements and splicing these with my own thoughts and musings. In fact I dont think I've ceased that behaviour although these days I'm inclined to say I have my own perspective on some things and despite better judgement seem to stray into the paths of others.
Now for today's blog focus.
Somewhere deep in the bowels of the discussions to happen at http://networksevents.flexiblelearning.net.au/ comes the following position statement;
".....Although the shift from the traditional classroom to E-learning 1.0 (e.g. flexible learning, blended delivery etc.) would have seemed like a paradigm shift to teachers learning to integrate technology into their teaching practice for the first time, their teaching methods would have stayed essentially the same – a teacher-centred, transmission model. It's not until they shift to E-learning 2.0 (using social networking tools) that they are forced to change their whole approach to teaching and the way they manage, relate to, and interact with, their students."
It doesent seem attributed to anyone in particular so......
My reply as such to this and other web2.0 discussions I posted here as part of yet another lengthy thread as part of the June AFLF Networks thread. I'm still thinking deeply on what this is for me as an educator and how to best unravel what I need to enable this for others.
:.........I've read the entire length of this discussion thread so far and marvel at the attempt to synthesise what 'web2.0' means in a pedagogical context.
Somewhere deep in my own open blog I recently coined;
"..........The risks of web 2.0 are in not engaging with 'it'. The worlds waiting while we ask questions of it and try desperately to frame it for our own purpose (education) using our own language and box it into our own set of guidelines, rules, regulations , standards and so on. Some of it's needed and an awful lot........ not. On that note I expect that students given some encouragement / deadline / choice will select / nominate their own distributed web 2.0 learning spaces and it's not entirely the role of the educator to give it rather listen for where it's happening for the student..."
I believe that the most relevant manifestation of these discussions ( web 2.0) exist in connected conversation places and spaces where individuals network knowledge and share opinion ( blogs, wikis, vlogs, myspaces, podblogs etc) ........Moodle threads such as these are a great start in this process to open the conversation so others can see and hear what we think.
I also believe that Web2.0 is more than 'free' spaces which enable communication, network knowledge and connect individuals.
Many of these 'free' spaces are riddled with security and privacy issues which we must as educators keep abreast of.....our professional development training should reflect this.Web 2.0 flicks the switch on content, challenges the notion of intellectual property and devolves management systems to that of connected learning communities where discussion is up first on the agenda.....very unlike the majority of what we drive our learners to and through.
What Leonard has inspired us with is not questions of web2.0 rather how it's being 'valued'.
The issues with web 2.0 ( for what the term is worth ) is in my opinion, that educational organisation management are still focussing how the benefits of these technologies thwart competitive advantage, how uncontrollable these technologies seem and how connected learning spaces are nothing more than a breach of students privacy and organisational copyright.
Correct me if I'm off the mark, but the very architecture and technologies that web 2.0 users ( teachers / students ) seek to employ to enable connected learning are outside of the firewalls, learning object repositiories and data collections of the organisation itself.
Our greatest challenge is in convincing web 2.0 providors that students 'content' and conversations are important to the development of students e-portfolio's - where authentication of engaged and diverse learning outcomes have been realised as a result of these interactions.
The education sector needs learning 'harvesters' for web2.0.
We have evolved past playing with these technologies........we ARE using them and now we need assurance that what we engage with online is authenticated and re-usable, valued and accountable, engaging and valid from an organisational perspective............"
That sort of sums it up for me.
I am also taken with Sean Fitzgeralds account of the web2.0 discussion and some of his elaborations in the EDNA group discussion;
Elearning 1.0 was static packaged content developed by content developers such as CD-Roms and courseware. It had litttle true interactivity and learner input and very little (if any) contact with a tutor.
Elearning 1.5 is best represented by Learner Management Systems. Some packaged content and some provided by the teacher. There is more interaction with a teacher and some with peers (through forums and chat).
E-learning 2.0 will follow a student-centred model and will be centred around the PLE using social softwares. Students generate and share content. They interact not only with teachers and their peers, but with anyone in the world they can learn from
This dosent sit quite right with me although I like it for it's basic format and I'm wondering why.
Better ponder on that one for a little while.
I seem to recall doing something similar a few years ago in reframing others perspectives and achievements and splicing these with my own thoughts and musings. In fact I dont think I've ceased that behaviour although these days I'm inclined to say I have my own perspective on some things and despite better judgement seem to stray into the paths of others.
Now for today's blog focus.
Somewhere deep in the bowels of the discussions to happen at http://networksevents.flexiblelearning.net.au/ comes the following position statement;
".....Although the shift from the traditional classroom to E-learning 1.0 (e.g. flexible learning, blended delivery etc.) would have seemed like a paradigm shift to teachers learning to integrate technology into their teaching practice for the first time, their teaching methods would have stayed essentially the same – a teacher-centred, transmission model. It's not until they shift to E-learning 2.0 (using social networking tools) that they are forced to change their whole approach to teaching and the way they manage, relate to, and interact with, their students."
It doesent seem attributed to anyone in particular so......
My reply as such to this and other web2.0 discussions I posted here as part of yet another lengthy thread as part of the June AFLF Networks thread. I'm still thinking deeply on what this is for me as an educator and how to best unravel what I need to enable this for others.
:.........I've read the entire length of this discussion thread so far and marvel at the attempt to synthesise what 'web2.0' means in a pedagogical context.
Somewhere deep in my own open blog I recently coined;
"..........The risks of web 2.0 are in not engaging with 'it'. The worlds waiting while we ask questions of it and try desperately to frame it for our own purpose (education) using our own language and box it into our own set of guidelines, rules, regulations , standards and so on. Some of it's needed and an awful lot........ not. On that note I expect that students given some encouragement / deadline / choice will select / nominate their own distributed web 2.0 learning spaces and it's not entirely the role of the educator to give it rather listen for where it's happening for the student..."
I believe that the most relevant manifestation of these discussions ( web 2.0) exist in connected conversation places and spaces where individuals network knowledge and share opinion ( blogs, wikis, vlogs, myspaces, podblogs etc) ........Moodle threads such as these are a great start in this process to open the conversation so others can see and hear what we think.
I also believe that Web2.0 is more than 'free' spaces which enable communication, network knowledge and connect individuals.
Many of these 'free' spaces are riddled with security and privacy issues which we must as educators keep abreast of.....our professional development training should reflect this.Web 2.0 flicks the switch on content, challenges the notion of intellectual property and devolves management systems to that of connected learning communities where discussion is up first on the agenda.....very unlike the majority of what we drive our learners to and through.
What Leonard has inspired us with is not questions of web2.0 rather how it's being 'valued'.
The issues with web 2.0 ( for what the term is worth ) is in my opinion, that educational organisation management are still focussing how the benefits of these technologies thwart competitive advantage, how uncontrollable these technologies seem and how connected learning spaces are nothing more than a breach of students privacy and organisational copyright.
Correct me if I'm off the mark, but the very architecture and technologies that web 2.0 users ( teachers / students ) seek to employ to enable connected learning are outside of the firewalls, learning object repositiories and data collections of the organisation itself.
Our greatest challenge is in convincing web 2.0 providors that students 'content' and conversations are important to the development of students e-portfolio's - where authentication of engaged and diverse learning outcomes have been realised as a result of these interactions.
The education sector needs learning 'harvesters' for web2.0.
We have evolved past playing with these technologies........we ARE using them and now we need assurance that what we engage with online is authenticated and re-usable, valued and accountable, engaging and valid from an organisational perspective............"
That sort of sums it up for me.
I am also taken with Sean Fitzgeralds account of the web2.0 discussion and some of his elaborations in the EDNA group discussion;
Elearning 1.0 was static packaged content developed by content developers such as CD-Roms and courseware. It had litttle true interactivity and learner input and very little (if any) contact with a tutor.
Elearning 1.5 is best represented by Learner Management Systems. Some packaged content and some provided by the teacher. There is more interaction with a teacher and some with peers (through forums and chat).
E-learning 2.0 will follow a student-centred model and will be centred around the PLE using social softwares. Students generate and share content. They interact not only with teachers and their peers, but with anyone in the world they can learn from
This dosent sit quite right with me although I like it for it's basic format and I'm wondering why.
Better ponder on that one for a little while.
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Springdoo : Mobile Video to The Web
The revamp of this site will hopefully now allow it to load faster and personally I was getting sick of all the flying bits and advertising.
I dont know about other readers and bloggers but I must say I'm getting sick of the blogger mash and chicklet overkill so much now that I've decided to tone it back for the sake of accessibility and to honour the fact fancy widget show better with faster load speeds in protopage anyhow. I wonder how they will run in pageflakes which is my next creative adventure .
Did Blogger go down for three hours today at your end ?
I say this mindful that may have contributed to some of this time taking into account my basic web building skills ( not to mention a new server switchover thanks to Servage who have been brilliant with feedback and value for service.) Apparently if you take up subscription with Servage and mention I passed on the referral I get extra web space which I'm happy to share for educational projects. Perhaps this could be a good venture in the future.
The switch over was more than a tag harrowing but well worth the effort.
On a more serious note I've been reading Selena Chan's musings on video email and thinking back on something that Anne Paterson's been asking for assistance with. Selana writes;
".........Springdoo also had an excellent interface for video emails. As the Springdoo office is based in Christchurch, I rang them to find out more about the product. Their video email function has become very popular but they are not supporting their audio mobile phone email function as their latest market research showed that this was not a function that mobile phone users wanted to use."
I have had some good feedback from others regarding Springdoo particularly Wendy Zammit over at TAFE NSW SIT campus who has been exploring it's use lately also.
I vote that Springdoo gives 'mobcasting' or mobile generated audio emails a go and I'd be keen to test it out with some of the assets I have here in Australia. I can see a market and and educational use for these particularly in a connected or distance learning environment. I'll have to drop them a line if Technorati dosent index this sooner.
Back to the bloggertemplate which is getting leaner and easier to use.
I dont know about other readers and bloggers but I must say I'm getting sick of the blogger mash and chicklet overkill so much now that I've decided to tone it back for the sake of accessibility and to honour the fact fancy widget show better with faster load speeds in protopage anyhow. I wonder how they will run in pageflakes which is my next creative adventure .
Did Blogger go down for three hours today at your end ?
I say this mindful that may have contributed to some of this time taking into account my basic web building skills ( not to mention a new server switchover thanks to Servage who have been brilliant with feedback and value for service.) Apparently if you take up subscription with Servage and mention I passed on the referral I get extra web space which I'm happy to share for educational projects. Perhaps this could be a good venture in the future.
The switch over was more than a tag harrowing but well worth the effort.
On a more serious note I've been reading Selena Chan's musings on video email and thinking back on something that Anne Paterson's been asking for assistance with. Selana writes;
".........Springdoo also had an excellent interface for video emails. As the Springdoo office is based in Christchurch, I rang them to find out more about the product. Their video email function has become very popular but they are not supporting their audio mobile phone email function as their latest market research showed that this was not a function that mobile phone users wanted to use."
I have had some good feedback from others regarding Springdoo particularly Wendy Zammit over at TAFE NSW SIT campus who has been exploring it's use lately also.
I vote that Springdoo gives 'mobcasting' or mobile generated audio emails a go and I'd be keen to test it out with some of the assets I have here in Australia. I can see a market and and educational use for these particularly in a connected or distance learning environment. I'll have to drop them a line if Technorati dosent index this sooner.
Back to the bloggertemplate which is getting leaner and easier to use.
Sunday, June 4, 2006
Frightmare
Well that was a nightmare and a half and a lesson to boot.
Now that the Livingdot server's been restored ( at cost ) and Servage have been commisioned I can now see why 'downtime' frightens most web1.0 punters.
Now for the next bit of the journey.....streamlining the ways to get what I've got up and available. Perhaps it might be useful for some and it's taught me that building and pointing back to things that are not solely the responsibilities of oneself needs to be addressed.
This wont make sense to you unless you had seen the other two sites I'd been building go down while I had issues this end. Alls well that ends well and at this point Servage looks sound.....provided I dont end up where I was with Livingdot.
A lesson and a frightmare to say the least.
Now that the Livingdot server's been restored ( at cost ) and Servage have been commisioned I can now see why 'downtime' frightens most web1.0 punters.
Now for the next bit of the journey.....streamlining the ways to get what I've got up and available. Perhaps it might be useful for some and it's taught me that building and pointing back to things that are not solely the responsibilities of oneself needs to be addressed.
This wont make sense to you unless you had seen the other two sites I'd been building go down while I had issues this end. Alls well that ends well and at this point Servage looks sound.....provided I dont end up where I was with Livingdot.
A lesson and a frightmare to say the least.
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