[end of term marking!]

This is just too eloquent:





NB: I found the image included in Richard Haswell's article "The Complexities of Responding to Student Writing" and he references the image as: Composition Chronicle: Newsletter for Writing Teachers 8 (3), April 1995, p. 11.

[Transliteracy in my Classrooms]

Ok, so I'm halfway through the second week of lecturing.  Classes seem to be going well (students are coming to class and participating! yay!) and essays, stories and grammar theory are being studied.


As I flip through the syllabus and note my "blog comment" assignments and "blog post" reflections the word transliteracy flits back and forth in my mind.  Transliteracy of course isn't on the curriculum but neither are blogging or media literacy per se.  Though transliteracy is always under development, I'm feeling a strong pull to encourage students to see their movements from writing essays in class, group presentations, blogging, reading online narratives like Inanimate Alice, and designing posters (tweeting comes later on) as examples of being transliterate. I wonder if they can name their behaviour, their learning might have even more resonance? 


I remind my students that we're participating in the online environment and honing our new/social media (and transliterate) skills because when they enter the workforce, they'll need to be prepared.  Librarian by Day gives some good life examples on the necessity to be transliterate:

"Government agencies are no longer issuing print forms, you have to access them online.  Your health insurance plan was a website and you have an account, when you call they will tell you to go there to get information. Banks are sending alerts and account balance information via text messages. Facebook privacy settings are complex and change frequently. The price of computers is dropping allowing more people to own one. Free WiFi access points are increasing, allowing more people internet access."

If our students don't experience these kinds of movement, from offline to online, how will they learn to be literate (not just trial and error or basic proficiencies)? I feel more and more strongly that helping to develop these transliterate skills needs a place in a classroom (though some, of course, are better equipped than others).  


There are lots of ways to begin. Students can use blog posts as reading or reflective learning journals. They can add comments on to the teacher-managed class blog as a way of interacting in class discussion, sharing ideas and even doing pre or post-reading activities.  The Future of Ed. site suggests venturing into transliteracy by:

• Viewing or posting a video around your lesson plan or around an educational component on TeacherTube
• Trying e-learning for your own professional development
• Learning how The Transliteracies Project is designing technology to improve the experience of reading for people of all backgrounds
• Exploring how archaeology and media can be used in your next class at MetaMedia
• Downloading courses from Stanford University on iTunes, MIT OpenCourseWare, or another open access sites for use in your classrorom

Also from the Future of Ed. site, this video with director of Media X's (at Stanford) Chuck House on the 21st century workforce:

[new media literacies: employment]

Project Manager:
Project NML seeks a detail-oriented, highly organized, and people-person Project Manager to handle the administration of NML's The Educator's House. This international project joins the NML team with Rio de Janiero's Department of Education to implement a new paradigm for teaching that fully integrates the new media literacies across curricula. The overarching mandate for the position is to provide direction for day-to-day project operations and leadership to staff and students involved. In addition to administrative responsibilities, the Project Manager will be part of a collaborative, distributed applied research program and will be required to demonstrate leadership responsibilities across all projects undertaken by the NML program. This position is housed at USC Annenberg School for Communication in Los Angeles, California.

Curriculum Specialist:

Project NML seeks a creative, media-savvy, bi-lingual in Brazilian Portuguese and English Curriculum Specialist to collaborate in the design of the strategies, content and structure of NML's The Educator's House. This international project joins the NML team with Rio de Janiero's Department of Education to implement a new paradigm for teaching that fully integrates the new media literacies across curricula. The overarching mandate for the position is to design and produce activities and class learning experiences; and to monitor, analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the resources to achieve the goals and objectives of the project. In addition to these content development responsibilities, the Curriculum Specialist will be part of a collaborative, distributed applied research program and will be required to contribute to writing study results across all projects undertaken by NML.  This position has the potential to be a work-from-home position with regular scheduled meetings with the team both in-person and online.


Programmer:
Project NML seeks a creative and innovative web Applications Programmer to be responsible for the technical analysis and development of applications used in conducting research and providing education strategies. The overarching mandate for the position is to work collaboratively with NML's partner, Platform Shoes Forum, and contribute to design, development and refinement of the Learning Library (http://newmedialiteracies.org/library/).  This position has the potential to be a work-from-home position with regular scheduled meetings with the team both in-person and online. 

[2 English lessons in 1: parody and bad grammar]

So when students ask us why grammar is important, another reason to add to the list includes maturity.  As the singer says:  "I never changed my verbal habits since I was three."

The video url is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj6QqCH7g0Q&feature=player_embedded

This video might be useful with younger classes or maybe ESL or EFL learners?

I found this super article via Gerry McKiernan at Reference Notes. Have a read:

New York Times / August 19, 2009, 1:08 pm / Updated: 1:29 pm / Steve Lohr

A recent 93-page report on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a starchy academic title, but a most intriguing conclusion:

“On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

The report examined the comparative research on online versus traditional classroom teaching from 1996 to 2008. Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the comparative studies were done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs of various kinds, from medical training to the military.

Over the 12-year span, the report found 99 studies in which there were quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The analysis for the Department of Education found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile.

That is a modest but statistically meaningful difference.

“The study’s major significance lies in demonstrating that online learning today is not just better than nothing — it actually tends to be better than conventional instruction,” said Barbara Means, the study’s lead author and an educational psychologist at SRI International.

This hardly means that we’ll be saying good-bye to classrooms. But the report does suggest that online education could be set to expand sharply over the next few years, as evidence mounts of its value.

Until fairly recently, online education amounted to little more than electronic versions of the old-line correspondence courses. That has really changed with arrival of Web-based video, instant messaging and collaboration tools. The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual students than is possible in classrooms. That enables more “learning by doing,” which many students find more engaging and useful.

[snip]

“We are at an inflection point in online education,” said Philip R. Regier, the dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program. Mr. Regier sees things evolving fairly rapidly, accelerated by the increasing use of social networking technology. More and more, students will help and teach each other, he said. [snip]

“The technology will be used to create learning communities among students in new ways,” Mr. Regier said. “People are correct when they say online education will take things out the classroom. But they are wrong, I think, when they assume it will make learning an independent, personal activity. Learning has to occur in a community.”

Source

[http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/]

Full Text Available At

[http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf]

[university 2.0 approaches]

The future of the university is set to change, we all know that. But how rapidly and in what ways? Peer 2 Peer University is an example of how to "hack education" and upgrade teaching and learning especially for those who cannot afford the more traditional books, laptops and professor time. Note: the future is just beginning, there is a long way to go.

The Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) is an online community of open study groups for short university-level courses. Think of it as online book clubs for open educational resources. The P2PU helps you navigate the wealth of open education materials that are out there, creates small groups of motivated learners, and supports the design and facilitation of courses. Students and tutors get recognition for their work, and we are building pathways to formal credit as well.

For more information:

Introduction

• About P2PU
• Course list
• Team
• Advisory Group
• Frequently Asked Questions

Courses

• Behavioral Economics and Decision Making
• Copyright for Educators
• Introduction to Cyberpunk Literature
• Land Restoration and Afforestation
• Open Creative Nonfiction Writing
• Poker and strategic thinking

Unless otherwise noted, all content on the P2PU site is licensed under:

[*becoming* technologically iterate]

On ‘Becoming’ Technologically Literate: A Multiple Literacies Theory Perspective/p>

FRANCIS BANGOU & MONICA WATERHOUSE University of Ottawa, Canada

doi:10.2304/ciec.2008.5.4.445

VIEW FULL TEXT | BACK TO CONTENTS LIST

This article uses a multiple literacies theory framework to explore the processes of ‘becoming’ technologically literate through a year-long ethnographic study of two Master of Education pre-service second language teachers, a Latina woman and an African American woman, who learned how to use computer technology to teach Spanish at a large Midwestern university. The case studies of these two women are analyzed to gain insights into how teacher education programs can support racial minority pre-service teachers in ‘becoming’ technologically literate. First, the authors provide an overview of the multiple literacies theory developed by Masny. Second, the stories of the two pre-service teachers are presented. Finally, curricular and pedagogical recommendations for second language education Master of Education programs are provided.

[cfp: workshop on academia 2.0]

Academia 2.0 and Beyond – How Social Software Changes Research and Education in Academia

(at the European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work 2009)

Workshop will take place on the 8th of September in Vienna, Austria

Organizers:

• Michael Koch, Bundeswehr University Munich, http://www.kooperationssysteme.de/
• Isa Jahnke, Technische Universität Dortmund, http://www.isa-jahnke.de/

Abstract

The Web 2.0 and Social Software is often attributed with a high potential for addressing today’s challenges in knowledge management and distributed collaboration. This development has already reached industry. Using the term Enterprise 2.0, different possibilities to use Social Software in enterprises are researched. But also in academia, cooperation to generate new knowledge, and to add it to the scientific discourse may radically change under open Web 2.0 conditions. In addition, teaching and learning scenarios might be moved towards technology enhanced lifelong learning communities. The aim of this workshop is to discuss the application of Social Software in academia (research as well as teaching and learning) – and how these new kinds of software might change the whole setting – make new ways of doing research or teaching and learning possible or at least easier to do.

Motivation/Theme

New buzzwords have become part of our daily lexicon: Web 2.0, Social Software and Social Web are often used as synonyms. These concepts focus on new or existing software systems, which are influenced by human communication and collaboration (Jahnke & Koch 2009). Thus, Web 2.0 is heavily reliant on social interaction, and so, social web-based applications generate and require a human-centered design approach. Furthermore, this kind of new media influences the people. A new generation of the “digital natives” are arriving (Prensky, 2001). The number of users of Web 2.0 applications in private settings (e.g., leisure) is very high. However, in organizations and enterprises Web 2.0 concepts or such combined applications are still at an early stage (Koch & Richter 2008). The same is true for universities. Franklin & van Harmelen (2007) show some examples of institutional practices. A potential of Web 2.0 for academia show also Rollet et al. (2007). To conclude, there are some Web 2.0 tools in universities, in particular wikis and blogs (e.g., Hookway, 2008) but the usage of these tools and other Web 2.0 scenarios for supporting teaching, learning or research is not yet fully developed. So, the question how the Web 2.0 can support community-based learning (e.g. Barr & Tagg, 1995) or research processes in academia is not yet satisfactorily answered.

Research questions

The main research question of the workshop is: Are there any innovative research and/or teaching designs or arrangements (e.g., Alexander, 2006; Downes, 2005) using social software and what can we learn from these scenarios? Some derived research questions which we will discuss in our workshop:

• a) What Web 2.0 applications exist in universities, in research or in learning? Do Web 2.0 applications in academia make a difference to existing Internet applications like email, content management systems or newsgroups?
• b) Do you have success stories or success criteria of Web 2.0 usage in academic fields? What changes are observable or essential when introducing Web 2.0 concepts in teaching (e.g. new design/balance of teaching and learning) or research settings?
• c) How can we introduce Web 2.0 applications in the academic world, and support the change management process? How can we successfully distribute the concepts into a university?

Aim

Our aim is to collect proposals for academic practice with Web 2.0, to specify research questions dealing with Web 2.0 in academia (e.g., new forms of interactions, changing research practice, new learning scenarios, organizational change by using new media) or to discuss new research methods (e.g., e-ethnography) and their challenges in this topic. In our workshop, we want to share practical experience or research results about using Web 2.0 in teaching and research, for example, e-learning goes Web 2.0, scientific communities goes Web 2.0, research publications goes Web 2.0 or university goes Web 2.0. Therefore, we strongly invite researchers and practitioners who have ideas or experience of using Web 2.0 applications in academia.

Participation Requirements

Workshop participants are requested to submit a position paper covering practice with Web 2.0 in academia, research focus or research questions, proposals for academic practice with Web 2.0, proposals for new research methods with regard to Web 2.0 in academia or specific case studies (if applicable) and findings to date. Using practical examples the participants should demonstrate how the concepts and developments behind the Web 2.0 and Social Software movement are used in academia, what Web 2.0 characteristics could make a good basis for academia.

Deadline for position papers: June 29, 2009 (new deadline)

There is no size limit or formatting requirement for position papers.

Please send position papers as PDF or document files to the two organizers:

• michael.koch@unibw.de
• isa.jahnke@tu-dortmund.de

Position papers will be presented and discussed during the workshop.

Read more here and here.

[handy resource list: new media, cultural studies, web 2.0]

Have a look at this wiki for a useful list of resources covering topics such as:

• Cultural Geography
• Cultural History
• Hacker Culture
• Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications
• Open Source Information Technology
• Social Networking
• Virtual Communities
• Webnographies

There are also links to papers, videos, interviews, researchers, conferences, syllabi and more!

[phd training session: digital literacy & creativity]

A full-day for the AHRC funded CEDAR (Collaborative Digital Research in the Humanities), organised by the Universities of Bangor (Dr Astrid Ensslin) and Aberystwyth (Dr Will Slocombe).

As I've noted before, I'll be talking about academic blogging and the digital literacy (a favourite topic of mine).

For the students participating, feel free to add comments as directed in the presentation.



Please comment on the idea of reading and writing as “an invisible skill” (see Sue Thomas's video, 16:00) and whether you find the Stroop test challenging or not and why.


Literacy + Technology + Creativity = Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

Important that these elements are seen as interdependent


Read The Whale Hunt here: http://thewhalehunt.org


UPDATE: Keno Buss and Sascha Westendorf have joined us for a bit about their project and some hands-on experience with the De Montfort Creativity Assistant.

[e-books for e-ducation]

A British Columbia school is trading in books for e-books:

"It’s about as big as a day-planner and much, much lighter than 300 textbooks.

Flicking from virtual page to virtual page, teacher Devon Stokes-Bennett deftly navigates through her electronic book, highlighting passages of Marley and Me. She looks right at home in this brave new world of education.

WestShore Centre for Learning and Training, part of the Sooke School District, is introducing 50 e-books to its students in an attempt to give learning a push into the digital age.

“These kids were born in the digital era. They came out of the womb knowing how to use technology,” says Daphne Churchill, principal of WCLT. “(For students), going to a building and trying to access information out of books, to copy it down ... doesn’t make sense in their world anymore.”

WCLT is the first school in the province to adopt e-books as a vehicle to deliver part of its curriculum, mainly novels for English class. The pilot project — called Teaching for the 21st Century — has also caught the attention of the University of Victoria’s digital humanities department.

Before full rollout, a few WCLT students are “beta testing” the electronic book technology — the main roadblocks are SD 62 security features conflicting with online digital libraries. The educators admit they depend on students to flush out problems. Kids are driving how the technology is used in the classroom, not the other way around, Stokes-Bennett says.

“They play around, take intuitive guesses. They just poke away at it,” she says. “We’ve got to listen to the kids to find out what works. This can’t be imposed from the top-down.”

Stokes-Bennett and fellow teacher Dawn Anderson launched the e-book project after being awarded $75,000 from the Times-Colonist Raise-a-Reader fund. Part of the grant went toward 50 Sony Reader Digital Books.

E-books are part of the inevitable evolution of education, the teachers say.

Virtual books can’t be lost or damaged, allowing more money directed into student resources (although electronic readers are about $400 each). The most basic e-book can collapse dozens of heavy textbooks into a 200 gram computer. Buying the rights to digital copies is half the price as physical books, Stokes-Bennett says.

On the learning end, e-books allow students to integrate study with online social networking, blogging and almost instantaneous access to information that has become the norm. Ultimately, it’s supposed to help students become better readers and more creative thinkers.

UVic English professor Ray Siemens, the Canada Research Chair for Digital Humanities, said the WCLT project will allow his lab to better understand how electronic media influences learning.

For instance, if a high school student reads a Charles Dickens novel, they would normally tap into associated online social networks, dictionaries, wikis and information, which enhances and encourages the learning process, he says. Take that resource away and the students are less likely to succeed.

“Kids of this generation are very intuitive. They quickly realize the benefits of working this way,” Siemens says. “I’m interested in learning from those who are emerging readers, where all the computer skills reside. This is a generation who doesn’t know the world without computers, e-mail or networking.”

It’s still early days, but Siemens says e-book technology, book publishers and the reading public have finally found an equilibrium. “E-ink” technology is easier on the eyes and more people are reading with electronic media. He expects the next generation of kids to almost exclusively use electronic reading devices.

The e-books at WCLT are black and white and have rudimentary graphics, but the educators say they are the future of education. Stokes-Bennett described it as teaching kids skills for the future instead of obsolete methods of the past.

Churchill expects to iron out the kinks and see what sets of problems emerge using e-books, but ultimately they would like to see the project expand across the district.

“This will fundamentally change the way we do education,” she says."

[2 employment opportunities: professor of new media and digital culture and research assistant in new media and education

Here are two exciting opportunities for new media and digital culture academics. One is an assistant prof. position at the University of the Netherlands, the other is a research assistant role on an exciting project to create an educational website (with the British Library).

Association of Universities in The Netherlands - VSNU

Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture

University of Amsterdam

Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture
(Noord-Holland), 30 hours per week
University of Amsterdam

Job description
The ideal candidate would have familiarity with the study of digital media in the humanities, and have made acquaintance with such areas as cyberculture, digital humanities, information aesthetics and visualization, Internet studies, media arts, media history, media theory and/or virtual ethnography. Internet skills are essential, as is up-to-date knowledge of Internet culture. Practical experience in working with Web-based applications (e.g., blogs and wikis) is desirable.

The new media and digital culture team is part of the Media Studies department and concerns itself with research strategies for the critical study of Internet culture. The Assistant Professor is expected to teach on both the bachelor's and master's degree levels, in courses concerned with such topics as digital journalism, digital aesthetics, Internet research methods and techniques, media archaeology as well as the politics of code.

Candidates also should have a new media research agenda.

Tasks:

• Teaching and developing teaching activities both as part of and outside the Media and Culture programme
• (Co-)supervising Bachelor's and Master's theses
• Independently conducting research in the area mentioned, resulting in contributions to leading international publications
• Co-supervising PhD candidates
• Making a contribution to raising contract and indirect funding

Requirements
Required education/skills:

• Relevant PhD degree
• Experience in research and excellent research skills, evidenced by publications in renowned international professional journals / book form
• Teaching experience at the university level and demonstrable didactic abilities and / or training, evidence by an educational portfolio
• Experience with digital and audio-visual equipment; affinity with ICT in academic education
• Team spirit and capable of functioning at all levels of more than one study programme
• Willingness to develop in a multidisciplinary capacity in order to be able to participate in multiple areas of the Faculty's curriculum
• Organisational experience and skills
• Thorough knowledge of Dutch and English; non-native Dutch speakers must achieve fluency in Dutch within two years

Read more about this opportunity here: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/XF244/Assistant_Professor_of_New_Media_and_Digital_Culture/

Closing Date: Sunday, 19th April 2009

British Library

Research Assistant

Children's Play in the New Media Age

St Pancras, London
18-month post, starting October 2009
£30,768
Ref: S&C00166

This is an opportunity to explore the theme of children's play and develop an interactive resource that will be used by audiences worldwide.

The British Library, in collaboration with the Institute of Education, the University of Sheffield and the University of East London, is embarking on a innovative project entitled ‘Children's Play in the New Media Age', inspired by the Opie Collection of Children's Games and Songs.

As part of a team of researchers you'll deliver an educational website aimed at a variety of audiences, learners and researchers. Specifically, you'll be involved in selecting, editing and digitising audio recordings, enhancing existing catalogue records and writing descriptive and interpretative content.

Excellent research and organisational skills are essential. It's likely you will have a post-graduate or equivalent qualification in an area such as Childhood Studies, Primary Education, Folklore/Cultural Tradition, Sociology or Social Studies - and you will certainly be familiar with the research output of Peter and Iona Opie.

Basic technical skills and experience of creating educational resources and/or web content are also important. However, training will be provided where required.

To apply for this unique opportunity, visit http://gs10.globalsuccessor.com/fe/tpl_britishlibrary01.asp?newms=jj&id=65150&----JOB-PREVIEW-MODE----

Closing date: 29 April 2009

Read more about this position here: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/GH546/

[social media and sustainability]

Recently I was asked to give a presentation to a group on the theme of social media and sustainability. I began with an introduction to some web 2.0 applications (blogs, wikis, twitter) and the usefulness of rss. Then I gave some examples of organisations employing aspects of social media to generate interest/support in an environmental issue or to garner information. Early into my introduction I asked the group (there were about 35 or so) to answer some questions to give me (and them) and idea of how they are situated in relation to social media.
The questions I asked included:

• Do you send txt msgs?
• Do you blog or comment on blogs?
• Do you listen to podcasts?
• Do you have a Facebook profile?
• Do you participate on an e-mail list?
• Have you watched a YouTube video?
• Do you Tweet?
• Do you have a Flickr account?
• Do you aggregate RSS feeds?

How do you think the group did? Would your prediction change if I told you this was research-oriented group? That mostly everyone there was over 35 (except perhaps for a few ph.d students who joined us and the speaker of course...)?

Well no one had a blog though a few did listen to podcasts and the question about tweeting generated a few giggles. Two people in the room had photo-sharing accounts but no one knew what RSS was so definitely no one was using a feed aggregator. Having said this, I think I'd have received similar answers with a younger group. In fact, having posed this questions to my first year and third year media undergrads they too did not have blogs but they watched and uploaded videos and shared photos and updates with facebook. No one there knew about rss either. So, not too dissimilar...which leads me to...

Someone at the talk implied that *we* (harumph) are digital immigrants and that our students and the groups we're trying to target (in this case, to instill change and be proactive about the environment) are digital natives, ergo they *know* this *stuff*... Firstly, I disagree that technology-use is a generational thing (think of silver surfers). Secondly, just because you or your child or your niece or whomever...has access to a nintendo ds or a psp or txts all the time does not mean that they are literate and know how to protect themselves online and recognise issues related to identity theft, bullying and even future employment (do you really want your future employer to see evidence of a drunken saturday night - I know my first and third years did NOT realise this).

I think there's often talk about helping students become *literate* (or transliterate) in the online environment - how do they navigate all the different modes alongside identity and IP (especially for researchers) etc...but what about the teachers? Where is the acknowledgment that those doing the teaching also need time to learn, absorb and choose how and if they're going to implement web 2.0 applications? I'm wondering more about this because although the group I was talking with weren't there in terms of pedagogy the questions they asked were just as applicable:

• why *should* we use [enter application here, twitter/facebook/blogs/podcasts/youtube/flickr]?
• doesn't this just add more work?
• what are the benefits?

I think it's to be expected that there is anxiety with new things; adding to our work and generating frustration but I think the examples I showed of organisations leveraging social media to share ideas and generate buzz illustrated well the potentials. I quite like what ForestEthics, Greenpeace and Sierra Club BC, the three leading environmental groups that have worked with the B.C. government, First Nations and industry leaders to British Columbia’s globally unique Great Bear Rainforest. Together, they launched a social media campaign using facebook, twitter, blogs and youtube videos. They also made it easy for supporters to send pre-written protest e-mails and add their voices to the campaign. On the 31st of March 2009 the social media efforts paid off:

"March 31, 2009, Vancouver, British Columbia – The promise made three years ago to protect one-third of British Columbia’s globally unique Great Bear Rainforest and develop the foundations for a conservation-based economy in the region has been fulfilled. Today’s announcement is greatly welcomed by ForestEthics, Greenpeace and Sierra Club BC, the three leading environmental groups that have worked with the B.C. government, First Nations and industry leaders to ensure the promise would be kept. Today’s announcement lays out the tremendous ecological and economic gains for the region and the long-term commitment to ensure the health of the rainforest and communities."

Have a look at the youtube video:

The questions after the session were enlightening. Most were excited to explore social media themselves but admitted that they didn't really know about "these sorts of things." They wanted to learn but weren't sure whether they had the institutional support. So key the to us being able to pass on knowledge is institutional/work support in terms of teaching the teachers (employees etc...) and giving them the time to learn how to use tools effectively (of course this goes for anything right? not just social media or computer technologies). I must say, the IOCT is brilliant in that respect - using twitter and facebook and blogging are recognised aspects of research and demonstrate interaction with/in the field. (disclosure: I am employed as a Research Fellow at the IOCT).

[web 2.0 tools and education]

I've been reading the JISC report on Web 2.0 for Content for Learning and Teaching in
Higher Education and on page 8 the authors have this useful list of ideas on how to use certain web 2.0 tools to facilitate learning. None of them are new to me but still good ideas. I'd be interested to hear what innovative uses other educators are coming up with.

Podcasts can be used to provide introductory material before lectures, or, more commonly, to record lectures and allow students to listen to the lectures again, either because they were unable to attend, or to reinforce their learning. Podcasts can be used to make lectures redundant while still supplying (possibly didactic) presentations of learning material by lecturers.
· Vidcasts can be used to supply to supply videos of experimental procedures in advance of lab sessions
· Podcasts can be used to supply audio tutorial material and/or exemplar recordings of native speakers to foreign language learners.
· Distribution and sharing of educational media and resources. For example, an art history class could have access to a set of art works via a photo sharing system.
· The ability to comment on and critique each others work; including by people on other courses or at other institutions.
· Flickr allows for annotations to be associated with different areas of an image and for comments to be made on the image as a whole, thereby facilitating teacher explanations, class discussion, and collaborative comment. It could be used for the example above.
· For Flickr, FlickrCC18 is a particularly useful ancillary service that allows users to find Creative Commons licensed images that are freely reusable as educational resources.
· Instructional videos and seminar records can be hosted on video sharing systems. Google Video allows for longer higher quality videos than YouTube, and contains a specific genre of educational video

"Education in every country and in every epoch has always been social in nature. Indeed, by its very essence it could hardly exist as anti-social in anyway. Both in the seminary and in the old high school, in the military schools and in the schools for the daughters of the nobility [...] it was never the teacher or the tutor who did the teaching, but the particular social environment in the school which was created for each individual instance" ~~Vygotsky

[web 2.0 apps for education]

As always, I've been browsing the web looking for handy tools which let me (easily) link social media and web 2.0 with life-long learning.

Here are a few keepers:

Moodle: free, create and share online learning communities


LectureShare: share lectures and notes (similar to slideshare.net)


Lifelong Learning Network: social networking for lifelong learners


Smart.fm: "the place you go to learn"

E-Learning Community 2.0: "a social site for knowledge seekers to enrich their knowledge through online learning, sharing and socializing to make new friends without boundaries"

Barbelith: "Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century..."

Flashcard Friends: Interesting but does require you to register (for free) before doing anything

Classroom 2.0: One of my favourites, with a helpful community of teachers

Top photo of a computer lab by Amber Coggin and found on classroom 2.0.

[Learn, Teach and Play in 3D Virtual Worlds]

Second Life and City University London

A one-day seminar on the topic of "Learn, Teach and
Play in 3D Virtual Worlds"
We welcome teachers, students, educational technologists, researchers, and anyone interested in 3D virtual worlds and games. We welcome you to showcase your virtual world projects (e.g. education, virtual museum, etc), to present your research findings, or simply to voice your opinions about it.

Time and place
• the seminar (whole day, 18 March 2009) will be face to face meeting at City University London (time and room will be announced later).

Types of participation
• If you are interested in attending this event, please send in a short bio (50-100 words) to us.
• If you are interested in showcasing your project, please send in a short bio (50-100 words) and a short description of the project (around 300 words)
• If you are interested in presenting your research findings, please send in a short bio (50-100 words) and an abstract of the study (around 300 words)

We are not just looking for presentations but participatory formats to share and debate. Thus, we welcome ideas of other types of participations. Please submit a proposal (around 300 words) to let us know what you would like to discuss, how you think we could best
exchange ideas in this event and the anticipated outputs.

In addition, a virtual meeting (in Second Life) will take place a day before the face to face event and everyone is welcome. Further information of the virtual event will be announced shortly.

Please register the event at http://learnteachandplay.eventbrite.com/ If you have further enquiries please do not hesitate to contact Ulrike Pfeil (U.Pfeil-1@city.ac.uk)

Jim Ang, City University London
Panayiotis Zapihris, City University London
David White, Oxford University
Steven Warburton, King's College
Palitha Edirisingha, University of Leicester

This event is sponsored by JISC EMERGE http://elgg.jiscemerge.org.uk/

[CEDAR: doctoral training and research methods]

AHRC-funded doctoral training scheme, CEDAR (Collaborative Digital Research in the Humanities), organised by the Universities of Bangor (Dr Astrid Ensslin) and Aberystwyth (Dr Will Slocombe).

I'll be running the third session in May at the IOCT at DMU - transliteracy, multimodal writing/reading and (hopefully) the creativity assistant. Attendance is free, and a limited number of travel bursaries are available (see details in attachments). BUT priority is given to Ph.D students who are funded by the AHRC.



Read more about it here: CEDAR.pdf

Download the registration form here: Cedar_registration.doc

[employment: senior researcher future lab]

This position will be of interest to those working in education/pedagogy and new media research:

Senior Researcher

£41,000-£47,000
BRISTOL

Futurelab aims to transform the way people learn by using technology & innovation to create educational resources that are involving, interactive & imaginative.

We are currently looking to recruit a senior researcher to join our educational research team

You will manage a small team undertaking programmes of desk research, consultation, events & publications activities in order to make significant evidence-based contributions to debates on education in the 21st Century. We're looking for either a field researcher (ideally PhD or equivalent) with teaching experience or an educational practitioner with research experience.

As a manager of research project teams and programmes, you will work collaboratively to ensure effective delivery of research objectives and timely reporting to clients. You will generate new ideas for R&D activity & will bid for financial support for these ideas.

You will have experience of both producing & editing high quality, accessible written outputs, and have presentation skills that engage a range of audiences. You will build partnerships and represent an organisation with a reputation for inspiring educational innovation & change.

This role demands a versatile, hands-on approach from a team player with a genuine enthusiasm for education & new technologies.

Interest in the aims of Futurelab will ensure you make your mark in one of the most dynamic organisations in the education arena.

Application packs (sorry, NO CVs) for both roles can be downloaded from:
www.futurelab.org.uk/jobs

Futurelab , 1 Canons Road, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5UH
Tel: 0117 915 8203

Closing date for both posts is Sunday 25 January 09

[cfp: interdisciplinary perspectives on e-learning]

Special Issue of E-Learning on globally networked learning in higher education

E-Learning, a peer-reviewed international journal directed towards the study of e-learning in its diverse aspects, invites submissions for a special issue on “Globalizing Higher Education Across the Disciplines: Innovative Partnerships, Policies, and Pedagogies for Globally Networked Learning Environments,” guest edited by Doreen Starke-Meyerring.

Early national and global policy discourses around the role of the internet in higher education advanced utopian and dystopian understandings of the internet as a new global market for existing industrial-model, locally produced higher education courses and programs to be repackaged for global delivery and global trade online. As a result, hundreds of millions of public and private dollars have been spent on global internet-based higher education marketing consortia, many of which have since failed. As initial responses to digital technologies, these initiatives had largely tried to reproduce established institutionally bounded practices in digital environments, disregarding the networked nature and peer production potential of digital technologies, and therefore lacking pedagogical innovation to re-envision learning in a globally networked world.

At the same time, however, many faculty across the disciplines in higher education have begun to develop alternative pedagogies and learning environments that take advantage of the globally networked nature of digital technologies. These globally networked learning environments (GNLEs) connect students with peers, instructors, professionals, experts, and communities from diverse contexts to help students develop new ways of knowledge making and learn how to build shared learning and knowledge cultures across traditional boundaries, especially with peers and communities that have been the most marginalized and disadvantaged in the emerging global social and economic order. However, such GNLEs are difficult to develop because they require robust partnerships, must negotiate a multitude of divergent national and institutional local policies, and as innovations, face challenges of institutional support infrastructures and policies designed around traditional local classrooms.

The purpose of this special issue is to understand the current state of globally networked learning environments across disciplines in higher education and to advance insights into their development and sustainability. The special issue therefore invites both conceptual contributions that address larger questions surrounding GNLEs as well as research studies of GNLE development across disciplines, addressing questions such as these (among others):

- What is the current state of globally networked learning in higher education?
- How have GNLEs addressed issues of global and local social justice?
- What kind of disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge making do GNLEs enable that would be difficult to achieve in traditional institutionally bounded classrooms? How?
- What challenges do educators face in designing, implementing, and sustaining such partnered learning environments? How do they overcome them?
- How do national and global policies regulating higher education as well as those regulating digital technologies (e.g. privacy, intellectual property, and censorship policies) enable or constrain the development of GNLEs?
- How do local institutional policies, including policies regulating digital technologies, enable or constrain the development of GNLEs?
- What institutional initiatives (e.g., task forces, innovator networks, centres for research and faculty support, integrated support networks) have emerged to support the work of faculty innovators?
- What research is needed to advance globally networked learning environments in higher education? Schedule:

• Proposals indicating the purpose, rationale, and possible approach of contributions (250-500 words): January 31, 2009
  
• Submissions (full manuscripts): May 31, 2009
  
• Accepted manuscripts revised for publication: September 1, 2009
  
• Scheduled publication of issue: Winter 2010
  

Please direct inquiries and proposals to the guest editor: Doreen Starke-Meyerring doreen.starke-meyerring@mcgill.ca

Please also contact the editor if you are interested in serving as a reviewer for this special issue. *****************************************************

[collective indigenous memory and digital archiving]

Gail Maurice says "Every step I take is with my ancestors; my memory in my bones..."

With this quote echoing in my head I'm wondering how this kind of cultural valuing of memory appears in a world where technology can ensure a kind of *archiving* of memory. Is taking a step with ancestors the same or even possible if new generations have access to digital memories? How does the passing on of stories, ideas, warnings, histories change if elders can include recourse to multimodal or hyperlinked creations?

This musing led me to "Designing digital knowledge management tools with Aboriginal Australians" by Helen Verran, Michael Christie, Bryce Anbins-King, Trevor van Weeren and Wulumdhuna Yunupingu. The article can be found in Digital Creativity, 2007, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 129–142.

In the article, the authors explain that "A significant number of indigenous and non-indigenous people respond with horror to the idea of using digital technologies to do collective memory in indigenous communities." This "horror" seems to stem from a belief that computers are anathema to a collective memory that is created together, in person, alongside nature/land. "Computers are actually more harm than good." There is a worry (understandably) that technology (or at least the way it is used) can help inculcate notions that indigenous knowledge is a commodity.

Verran et al call on feminist discourse to help negotiate the role of technology; there is an emphasis on the always-already provisional and partial view of knowledge (via mechanical means or otherwise): "Located accountability is built on what Haraway (1991, p.191) terms “partial, locatable critical knowledges”. As she makes clear, the fact that our knowing is relative to and limited by our locations does not in any sense relieve us of responsibility for it. On the contrary, it is precisely the fact that our vision of the world is a vision from somewhere, that it is inextricably based in an embodied and therefore partial perspective, which makes us personally responsible for it. The only possible route to objectivity on this view is through collective knowledge of the specific locations of our respective visions." (Suchman 2002, p. 96)

The article goes on to flesh out some ways of combining technology with the need to archive cultural memories. There are some interesting projects which, I think, can be quite appealing to students - especially aboriginal. Take for instance the TAMI database: "a fluid file management and database system which carries no Western assumptions about knowledge, and which maximises the possibility for the user to creatively relate and annotate assemblages of resources for their own purposes." This means that there are no hiearchies built into the system, no author, then subject etc... but rather: "The only a priori ontological distinction at work in the database is the distinction between texts, audios, movies and images. Apart from that there are no pre-existing categories (as there are in other database where metadata are sequestered into fields such as ‘author, ‘title’, ‘subject’). This provides a certain ontological flatness so indigenous knowledge traditions are not pre-empted by Western assumptions." Image cited in journal article. A project in a classroom might include students using google pages or delicious (though the latter might seem more "western" with the emphasis on text) to craft their own database of memories or experiences - perhaps focused on an emotion, story or single memory and from their build a multimodal archive. Also, rather than searching TAMI with a text string, as we do in google and delicious, users can scan thumbnails of each resource. Sounds a bit like some visual search engines. What the authors note at the end of the article is the ever-necessary importance of "digitally-canny outsiders" who know how to use the technology and are culturally sensitive.

See a map of UK memories here: http://www.nationsmemorybank.com/memorymap/


The image at the top of this post is of Cliff Island, Institute for Northern Studies fonds, University of Saskatchewan Archives, Institute for Northern Studies (INS) fonds – F2100. Binder 10. II. Slides – 4501 to 5000. Database ID: 20263.

[employment - lecturer in internet studies]

This sounds like a great post for all you internet researchers:

Lecturer, Internet Studies
REF: 4511
Closing: Monday, 24 November, 2008

Documents: Position Description Application Advice (Before applying for this position, please view the Application Advice document mentioned above) Apply Now
Location
School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts, Faculty of Humanities
Bentley
Position Details
Academic, Full Time
Salary: $70,846 - $84,132, Level ALB
Conditions of Employment: "Employment at Curtin is governed by either an Individual Transitional Employment Agreement (ITEA) or a Certified Agreement. The University reserves the right to offer a position under an Individual Transitional Employment Agreement only"
Description Summary
(Full-Time, Fixed term – 3 years) This position will involve teaching, research and research supervision in the broad field of Internet Studies. It has a particular emphasis on the use of the Internet for communications and the relationship of the Internet with other media. The successful applicant will require a PhD in a field of research relevant to Internet Studies, be an active researcher while focusing on the Internet and being an experienced university educator. Benefits and Remuneration The salary ranges presented are those which are contained within the University’s Certified Agreements. An individual may negotiate an alternative salary arrangement under an Individual Transitional Employment Agreement (ITEA). Employee benefits include up to 17 percent employer superannuation contribution, study assistance, a comprehensive salary packaging program, and flexible and family friendly work practices in a cosmopolitan community at a convenient location. Eligibility Applicants must meet all essential criteria to be considered for the position. Successful applicants must be eligible to work in Australia for the duration of the appointment. Contact Further information about the position can be obtained by contacting Associate Professor Matthew Allen (Head of Department, Internet Studies), on telephone +61 8 9266 3511 or via e-mail at m.allen@curtin.edu.au. To submit an application, please click on the Apply Now button. Alternatively, post your application to: Ms Angela Glazbrook Deputy School Administrator School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts Faculty of Humanities Curtin University of Technology A.Glazbrook@curtin.edu.au +61 8 9266 2509 Valuing Diversity and Affirmative Action Applications are invited from women and men who share the University’s values, ethics, international outlook, value diversity and have an informed respect for indigenous people. Curtin University reserves the right at its sole discretion to withdraw from the recruitment process, not to make an appointment, or to appoint by invitation, at anytime. Closing Date: 5pm on Monday 24 November, 2008

[aboriginal pedagogy and language]

I've just started reading Robert Bringhurst's The Solid Form of Language. A fantastic read and the book itself is a beatiful artifact, all texture and typography, just demanding to be touched.The image of the book on the left is from phil dokas on flickr. He's done a great job of capturing the texture of the book. "Drop a word in the ocean of meaning and concentric ripples form. To define a single word means to try to catch those ripples. No one’s hands are fast enough." ... poet, typographer and linguist Robert Bringhurst presents a brief history of writing and a new way of classifying and understanding the relationship between script and meaning.

Beginning with the original relationship between a language and its written script, Bringhurst takes us on a history of reading and writing that begins with the interpretation of animal tracks and fast-forwards up to the typographical abundance of more recent times. The first four sections of the essay describe the earliest creation of scripts, their movement across the globe and the typographic developments within and across languages.

In the fifth and final section of the essay, Bringhurst introduces his system of classifying scripts. Placing four established categories of written language – semographic, syllabic, alphabetic and prosodic – on a wheel adjacent to one another, he uses the location, size and shape of points on the wheel to show the degree to which individual world languages incorporate these aspects of recorded meaning. Bringhurst’s system is based on an appreciation that indeed no one’s hands are fast enough and that no single script adheres to or can be understood within the confines of a single method of transcription."

As I'm reading this book on typographic and linguistic developments I also have learnt that First Nations peoples of Manitoba (I wonder if this is true for all First Nations peoples?) prefer to use language as their main identifier:

For me this seems to highlight the importance of an oral culture and the tradition of passing on history, stories, teachings - a kind of "collective memory" that wouldn't get passed on if there wasn't the knowledge of language.

Image above of "Plains Cree Inscription" at the Forks Park in Winnipeg, found on wikipedia.