First, I run a study skills session with the group. Then they break into smaller groups for the school’s GROW program (Glossary  Research Organised Writing) where they work on writing styles, identifying key terms, marking criteria, supporting evidence, using scaffolds for writing, and advanced research skills. It is a really impressive program and takes into account the sort of navigation literacy skills that students need.

While waiting Year 11 to arrive, I was flicking through their booklet and came across a section ‘How Web 2.0 Savvy are you’. I quickly jotted down a few points to see whether I was savvy as the Year 11 students:

• Am I comfortable using the Internet. Yes.
• Do I have a web page. Yes.
• Do I read blogs. Yes.
• Do I write a blog. Yes.
• Do I have a Myspace etc page. No. Doh!
• Do I use YouTube. Yes.
• Do I use podcasts/vodcasts. Yes.
• Do I subscribe to RSS Feeds. Yes.
• Do I use Flickr or similar. Yes.
• Do I read/write wikis. Yes.

So I felt pretty good about how I would compare to a web savvy student. Mind you, 6 months ago prior to this subject for uni I would have only been able to answer yes to 3 of these!

But I started thinking – what else should be on this list? What else do we expect a Web 2.0 afficiado to be comfortable with?

I would probably add:

- Do you use a aggregator? (Mainly cause know I know that is what it is called – check out NetVibes as an example).

- Are you aware of the educational value to be found in Second Life? (Mainly cause I used to think it was just an advanced Dungeons and Dragons type thing but now am realizing there are great educational experiences taking place).

- Do you Skype? (or similar)

- Do you Twitter?

And why doesn’t the list talk about MSN/Chat programs: do we just assume all students are using them?

So then I started to think a bit more about the definition of Web 2.0 and this is what I found on a quick search:

Definitions of Web 2.0 on the Web:

• A term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform …
  www.2020systems.com/internet-ad-glossary-r-z.html
• Web 2.0 is a perceived or proposed second generation of the web. This is were the web has evolved and improved over time and now offers better and more up to date services like blogs, wiki’s, social networking sites etc
  germworks.net/blog/2007/02/11/web-jargon-explained/
• a term introduced in 2004 to characterize design patterns in a constellation of new generation Web applications which may provide an infrastructure for more dynamic user participation, social interaction and collaboration.
  www.csa.com/discoveryguides/scholarship/gloss.php
• The second phase of architecture and application development for the web. Web 2.0 applications often use a combination of techniques devised in the late 1990s, including public web service APIs (dating from 1998), Ajax (1998), and web syndication (1997).
  www.aardvarkmedia.co.uk/glossary.html
• Web 2.0 is an expression which was used for the first time in 2004 and referred to the second generation of Internet. The main characteristics of new era in Internet is connected with its constant development and delivering services tailored to the needs of each user.
  www.share.uni-koeln.de/
• Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004, refers to a perceived second-generation of Web-based services-such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies-that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web 2.0

I think I like the wikipedia one best (although I have no idea what folksonomies are).

So what’s your definition of Web2.0 and are there other technologies that should be on a Web2.0 list? Suggestions welcome.

Yet another new term!  Hershey (2006) defines ‘affective computing’ as computing that relates to, arises from or deliberately influences emotions – basically it is researching about emotion in computers.

One of my classmates John, will be pleased to know I have discovered in this reading even more new terms: ‘perezhivanie’.  Vygotsky (1994) found that the development of a child depends on the way the child experiences a situation in the environment, ie. how it relates emotionally to a certain event and coined this as perezhivanie.

The idea is that we know now that emotion and motivation strongly affect learning. So wouldn’t it make sense that we design the technology to react to the emotion of the students? Researchers in artificial intelligence have looked at ways to customize educational systems to the affective states of students.

For this to work, Piccard (1997) postulates that first the system has to be able to recognize the emotions of the student – are they disappointed, do they need encouragement, have they given up? Second the system must be able to express emotion and usually to make this more realistic the system is represented by a lifelike character (called animated pedagogical agents: check out  http://www.isi.edu/isd/ADE/ade-body.html) .  So where to from here?

Well, Hershey then goes on to look at the current state of the art on affectivity in e-learning systems. Research in the systems ability to recognize emotion focuses on voice, users actions in the system (eg time to accomplish a task, refusal of a request for help), facial expressions and physiological signs like pulse, muscle tension, breathing.  Results have been quite promising in these areas. The major challenge is to find a psychological model of emotions that can be implemented computationally.

I think this is a fascinating path we are taking, I can’t image a computer that could react and respond to my moods, in fact it seems to deliberately go out of it’s way to annoy me at times (if that damn paperclip pops up one more time!!) but I can imagine how a reactive learning environment would be so much more meaningful for learners.

So I look forward to the day when my computer can tell I am a bit down and sends me some virtual roses to cheer me up!

…………………………………………………..

Proper Referencing coming….Web-Based intelligent e-learning systems technologies and applications

Hershey PA : Information Science Pub., c2006

Information Science Pub., c2006.

I have a theory. I think a TRUE blogger blogs because a true blogger can’t help themselves. I am basing this theory on nothing more than my personal observations (very scientific). A month or so ago prior to starting this course I had nothing to ever do with blogs and no knowledge of blogs (other than having heard of Perez Hilton as a celebrity gossip blogger). I had no idea there were serious blogs out there or blogs that could be useful – I guess if I ever thought about them I thought they were simply the mad ravings of a tea-cosy headed geek. But the moment I set up this blog I was hooked. I am attempting to keep this blog more of an educational discourse on all things e-learning (of which blogging is certainly a feature) rather than my musings on everyday life (I am afraid if I started rambling all my thoughts about things like how people drive in Sydney, our tax system, our politicians, my new lounge room furniture etc etc I would never stop).  But I can see how it becomes an addictive process…..IF you are a certain type of person.

So what types of person blogs? As a child I kept journals, I wrote letters to myself to read in the future, I wrote long letters to my grandparents regularly, when I moved overseas I wrote comprehensive emails to all and sundry boring them senseless probably of our adventures while the last few years I have created web pages with commentary and photos of our travel for friends and family to share. Why? Cause I can’t help it. I would write it even if no-one ever read it as I feel compelled to record my thoughts. In simple terms, my nature is that of a chronicler. Perhaps one is either born like this or not, it is a matter of genes.

So what else do we find in the nature of a true blogger?

A true blogger is fairly self-confident and has a strong sense of self-worth. Why? Because they need to have conviction about their thoughts and be prepared to put them out there and be prepared to take any flak that they may generate.

A true blogger also needs to not worry too much about what other people think. This is something I have never had a problem with – and I think it is very much related to the previous point.

A true blogger is opinionated. Ask them and they will have an opinion about pretty much anything and be prepared to share it at the drop of a hat.

Now while I have pretty much described the compulsion to blog from my point of view, I guess another alternative to those who just feel compelled to record their thoughts and musings is the exhibitionist type of blogger, who, while opinionated, perhaps does care a bit too much about what people think and so is perhaps blogging more for what other people will think than for their own benefit. There are probably many different other reasons for blogging but I like to think my definition captures what I am terming the TRUE blogger.

My biggest problem as a blogger is brevity. Just haven’t got the hang of that part of it yet.

One of the biggest concerns I see from parents and teachers is students’ use of technology like chat programs and social networking sites at home when they are also trying to do their schoolwork. One of the biggest problems students complain about is how to deal with the multitude of distractions when they are trying to make themselves do their schoolwork.

This video from Prof Michael Wesch’s Digital Anthropology class at Kansas State University is a powerful depiction of the issues students today face in their technology driven world and in a world where our students have changed and our systems are struggling to keep up.

If you haven’t done it yet, watch the video now before continuing to read this post.

How do we cater for a generation that might read ‘8 books a year’ but ‘2300 websites and 1281 facebook profiles’? We know technology is going to be necessary to help the current generation learn effectively but often the generation designing the instructional materials/processes is not immersed in the digital culture and unable to truly understand how to make the most of the technology available.

A message that stood out for me was the girl who had the message ‘I am a multitasker’, then flips over to ‘I have to be’. How much of the way students process today is purely in self-defence? My lecturer then raised an interesting point, what happens if students are not good at multi-tasking – where does that then leave them?

The video also emphasizes the need for students to ‘learn how to learn’. A content driven approach to learning will not cut it in today’s world which is why our schools now try to use content as a vehicle to teach certain skills, how to analyse, how to communicate, how to ‘learn how to learn’. Students today need to continually learn new skills, as the video pointed out: ‘when I graduate I will probably have a job…that doesn’t exist today’. So the question is, can we revolutionize the way students learn in order to take into account the particular features of the technological world they inhabit?

The good news is yes we can and we are moving in the right direction. The bad news is that it will take time, educational systems are conservative as we do not want to take risks with our students’ education (or do we?). I do not think there will be dramatic changes during the current generation’s schooling. While we remain in an exam driven system, the output required will to a large extent drive the style of the input.

So what should students do now?

At this point in time, it seems that it is not possible for students to integrate the two worlds they inhabit – the world of their school education and the technologically savvy world. Yes some teachers are taking amazing leaps about bringing these two worlds together, but the gap is still large and although much work is being done at a grassroots level it is at the bureaucratic level where serious reform needs to take place.

So how do parents and students cope right now? The problem is, students are trying to integrate these two worlds that are just not ready to cope with amalgamation. I currently recommend that students keep these worlds separate in order to work efficiently at home – work in half an hour blocks focusing solely on schoolwork, then have time where they do whatever they like. This is not ideal – but it is the reality of what students need to do to get through the existing school system. Yes they should still take advantage of the technology opportunities that exist to help them learn, but reality is they do not currently have the skills to discriminate between using technology to help themselves learn and technology becoming a time-waster.

So yes, this is something we need to keep working on with them.

1. del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/)
I think students (those that aren’t already using it) will find this a really valuable tool, particularly senior students doing research for assignments or those doing subjects like Extension English where they need to reseach an area or the IB where they choose a research topic.

2. Vokis (http://www.voki.com/)
Vokis are just cool. I am going to use them to give a study skills message to students that they may not necessarily have read but are more likely to listen to from a voki.

3. 250 Cool generators (http://www.techroam.com/250-cool-generators/)
I stumbled onto this through an edublog and wow I love it – a great way to generate really interesting images.

4. Commoncraft (http://www.commoncraft.com/)
This is a really interesting way to communicate – I definitely want to spend more time exploring these (and maybe making my own?)

5. Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/)
Sharing powerpoints, not sure if I can use this but definitely worth exploring.

6. LOL speak (http://www.speaklolspeak.com/?mail=1140&t=anon)
Could be an interesting way to look at the need for ‘proper English’ in writing for students.

7. Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com)
A great rss reader and more.

8. Edublogs (http://www.edublogs.org)
Need I say more?

9. Some interesting YouTube videos:
I might embed these and write about them individually in later posts
http://www.youtube.com/v/dGCJ46vyR9o
http://www.youtube.com/v/oo53pQXHxBI&rel=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/nJFF7QkwRaI
http://www.youtube.com/v/nJFF7QkwRaI
http://www.youtube.com/v/FqfunyCeU5g&hl=en

This is a simply fabulous tool to help in the information management problem we face online. I can’t believe I had not embraced it earlier. It took me some time to add and sort all my personal bookmarks as at first I put masses of tags with each link. Then when I looked at my enormous cloudtag I had to stop and really think about how I planned to use this tool. Did I really need a tag on ’students’ for example? Some of the generic terms were not really going to be of much use to me. So I stopped and really thought about how I would use del.icio.us (should have done this at the start I guess but the problem was that I until I had used the tool I didn’t really understand how it worked or its potential). I then went back and rationalised my tags, thinking carefully for each link as to what purpose or categories I would like to access this link from. This took some time as often a new thought would occur and I would have to go back and add that tag to a number of the links. I think with use I will be more effective in my initial selection of tags but I would love to hear any tips from experienced del.icio.us users as to the best way to make use of this amazing tool. I’d also be interested to hear if there are any users who became disillusioned with it – after all, as the photo shows, we all have different ideas on what is delicious!