Connectivism

The Wild World of Massively Open Online Courses

On 09/02/2010, in Connectivism, PLNs, disruption, higher education, innovation, personalized/customized learning, by Daniel Christian

The Wild World of Massively Open Online Courses — from unlimitedmagazine.com by Emily Senger
Would you participate in a class with 2300 other online students?

In a traditional university setting, a student pays to register for a course. The student shows up. A professor hands out an outline, assigns readings, stands at the front and lectures. Students take notes and ask questions. Then there is a test or an essay.

But with advancing online tools innovative educators are examining new ways to break out of this one-to-many model of education, through a concept called massively open online courses. The idea is to use open-source learning tools to make courses transparent and open to all, harnessing the knowledge of anyone who is interested in a topic.

George Siemens, along with colleague Stephen Downes, tried out the open course concept in fall 2008 through the University of Manitoba in a course called Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, or CCK08 for short. The course would allow 25 students to register, pay and receive credit for the course. All of the course content, including discussion boards, course readings, podcasts and any other teaching materials, was open to anyone who had an internet connection and created a user profile.

“The course was the platform, but anyone could build on that platform however they wanted,” says Siemens. “There’s this notion that technology is networked and social. It does alter the power relationship between the educator and the learner, a learner has more autonomy, they have more control. The expectation that you wait on the teacher to create everything for you and to tell you what to do is false.”

More here…

Also see:

Wendy Drexler’s final project for Connectivism and Connective Knowledge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA

Tagged with: Connectivism • customized learning • disruption • innovation • online learning • personal learning networks (PLNs) • personalized learning

Online collaboration: New innovations pave the way for convergence

On 08/17/2010, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Connectivism, K-12 related, Technologies for your home, Walmart of Education, blended learning, change, changing business models, collaboration, convergence, dangers of the status quo, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, expectations, face-to-face, future, game-changing environment, global / globalization, hybrid learning, innovation, interactivity, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, multimedia, network based learning, online learning, online media, social learning / networks, telecommunications, trends, videoconferencing, virtual K-12 schools, virtual field trips, virtual tutoring, virtual worlds, vision, webinars, by Daniel Christian

Online collaboration: New innovations pave the way for convergence — from prnewswire.com
Merger of television and computer takes giant step closer as innovative online tool suite is released

CALABASAS, Calif., Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Anticipating the coming paradigm shift that will merge your television and your computer, NxtGenTV has just released the most cohesive system of online tools to facilitate the ultimate interactive communication platform. Four years of innovating has resulted in NetConference.com, an elegant, easy-to-use online meeting system that supports the diverse requirements of single users, small and medium size businesses as well as enterprise and nonprofit organizations. Creating a new opportunity for the global audience to interact online in even greater and more efficient ways is only one of the many benefits of building a social media broadcasting system that facilitates Communication, Collaboration, Presentation and Education.

An industry leader in online games, apps, widgets, banners and rich media development for major entertainment brands, The Illusion Factory created a new company, NxtGenTV to develop and patent cutting-edge online technologies such as shared synchronized visual media and other key innovations that will further blur the lines between computers and television. “We have been passionate about creating the cumulative new systems that will drive Convergence,” shares Brian Weiner, CEO of The Illusion Factory, “our creation of NxtGenTV will lead the push for truly interactive television.”

Tagged with: 21st century • blended learning • collaboration • convergence • digital audio • digital storytelling • digital video • distance ed • future • game-changing environment • global • hybrid learning • innovation • new media literacies • online learning • online media • social networking • student expectations • technologies for the home • telecommunications • trends • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration

Cisco’s vision for learning – by Marcus Lim

On 08/10/2010, in 21st century, Connectivism, Web 2.0, digital learning, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, learning theories, telepresence, tools, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Here are some slides from a Cisco WebEx presentation by Marcus Lim

. .

Tagged with: 21st century • Connectivism • educational technology • emerging technologies • learning theories • telepresence • tools • videoconferencing • Web 2.0 • web-based collaboration

Connectivism in the Enterprise — G. Siemens

On 07/15/2010, in Connectivism, business, instructional design, learning theories, network based learning, social learning / networks, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Connectivism in the Enterprise — G. Siemens (July 2010)

Organizations are today faced with continually evolving markets, rapid knowledge growth, competitive pressures from emerging countries, and increased complexity in business development and strategy execution. This climate requires an evaluation of how existing learning, knowledge management, and capacity building activities support organizations in fulfilling their mandate and vision.

Traditional course-based learning and development is not sufficiently agile, flexible, or context-driven to address the pressures facing the enterprise. Three primary concerns exist with course-based learning and instructional design…

Tagged with: business • Connectivism • instructional design • learning • learning theories • social learning • social networking • workplace

Sounds like a learning ecosystem to me…

On 04/21/2010, in Connectivism, learning ecosystem, learning theories, by Daniel Christian

Thinking out loud about Connectivism — from iterating toward openness by David Wiley

The first part of commentary from David:

I’ve been reading George’s writing on the unique ideas in connectivism. Two assertions leap out at me in his list of how connectivism is different from other approaches.

First is the statement that “the same structure of learning that creates neural connections can be found in how we link ideas and in how we connect to people and information sources (emphasis DSC). One scepter to rule them all.”

This sounds almost exactly like the claim made in John Anderson and Lael Schooler’s 1991 Reflections of the Environment in Memory, which I consider one of the finest pieces of research in our field:

Availability of human memories for specific items shows reliable relationships to frequency, recency, and pattern of prior exposures to the item. These relationships have defied a systematic theoretical treatment. A number of environmental sources (New York Times, parental speech, electronic mail) are examined to show that the probability that a memory will be needed also shows reliable relationships to frequency, recency, and pattern of prior exposures. Moreover, the environmental relationships are the same as the memory relationships. It is argued that human memory has the form it does because it is adapted to these environmental relationships. Models for both the environment and human memory are described. Among the memory phenomena addressed are the practice function, the retention function, the effect of spacing of practice, and the relationship between degree of practice and retention.

From DSC:
David’s posting, George’s posting entitled, “What is the unique idea in Connectivism?”, and the comments therein create in my mind the image of a living, ever-changing, learning ecosystem…full of “nodes” that come into (and may eventually be removed from) our learning environment / sources of information.

Also from #CCK09 First Paper (Draft): ‘Positioning’ Connectivism, here are some more references regarding connectivism:

Stephen Downes, A quick introduction to connectivism(ustream)
Rita Kop & Adrian Hill, Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past?
Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964 (2006)
George Siemens, Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age
George Siemens, Defining Connectivism and Comparing connectivism with other learning theories
George Siemens, What is the unique idea in Connectivism?
Plon Verhagen, Connectivism: A New Learning Theory?

Tagged with: Connectivism • learning ecosystem • learning theories

Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy — from Terry Anderson [via G. Siemens]

On 04/20/2010, in Connectivism, distance education, learning theories, pedagogy, by Daniel Christian

Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy
Facilitator: Dr. Terry Anderson
Institution: Athabasca University
Date and time: Apr 14, 2010 11:00 AM
In this presentation Terry defines three pedagogical models that have defined distance education programming – behavioural/cognitive, constructivist and connectivist. He talks about the challenges and opportunity afforded by each model, with a focus on the emergent development of connectivism.

PowerPoint Presentation

Elluminate Recording

MP3 Recording

Text chat from Session

Tagged with: Connectivism • distance ed • learning theories • pedagogy

Wimba Connect 2010 — check out the applications of these tools

On 03/18/2010, in Connectivism, K-12 related, Languages and translation, Mobile learning, VLE, Wimba, blended learning, colleges, community colleges, computer science, convergence, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, disruption, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, hybrid learning, iPods, innovation, internet, languages, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, liberal arts, mathematics, multimedia, network based learning, online learning, participation, pedagogy, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, staying relevant, student-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, telecommunications, telepresence, tools, universities, videoconferencing, virtual K-12 schools, virtual field trips, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Wimba Connect 2010 — check out the applications of these tools

OPENING KEYNOTE
Carol Vallone, CEO, Wimba

Teaching Math & Sciences with Wimba (Panel)Andrew Byrne & Kurt Mederer, Convent of the Sacred Heart; David Tao, Santosh Madhavan & Dan Lim, Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences; Michele Barbeau & Kem Rogers, The University of Western Ontario

Using Wimba to Engage and Empower an Academic Community of Learners: The Case of the Global Citizen
Linda Ralston & Rebekah Grow, University of Utah

Faculty Development Wimba Style
Janet Welch & Stacey Mateika, Red Deer College

Using Wimba Voice, Pronto, and Create in Synchronously in Wimba Classroom and Asynchronously in an Online Environment
Brooke Eberwine, Steven Frecka & Jamie Westyn, OHDELA

Small Scale Implementation of Wimba Classroom – The Possibilities Are Endless
Regina Bobak & Julie Wolfe, Bloomsburg University of PA

Language Learning with Wimba (Panel)
Teresa MacKinnon, University of Warwick Language Centre; Ana Garcia Allen, The University of Western Ontario; Barbara Cohen, Berkeley College

Wikis, Wimbas, Whatevers! What Teachers Weave!
Jane Overmoe, Dakota Prairie HS

Taking the Troy Colloquium Online + Wimba: The Solution to Quality Online Learning
Gayle Nelson & Peter Paige, Troy University

Wimba Product Presentation
Annie Chechitelli, Wimba

Presentations Live or On-the-Go with Wimba Classroom MP4 Archives
Jason Rhode, Northern Illinois University & Larry Holland, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

NCVPS Cultural Cafe
Thomas Moncrief, North Carolina Virtual Public School

Our Journey: From Face 2 Face 2 Online Masters Degree
Gary Shouppe & Tom McCormack, Columbus State University

So Many Choices, So Little Time: Effective Voice Tools Training
Stacey Powell & Kathy McClelland, Auburn University

Features, Technical Problems and Technical Support in Higher Education Wimba Classrooms
Mary Nell McNeese, Amy Thornton & Jalynn Roberts, University of Southern Mississippi

ALAKAZAM!!! Instantly Transform your Physical Classrooms into Lecture Capture Spaces Using Wimba!
Scott Smith & Brian Reed, Wimba; Mark Burris, Michael Merritt & Linda Stauffer, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Using Wimba to Prepare for H1N1 and other Potential Disasters (Panel)
Phil O’Hara & Tim Fedak, Dalhousie University; David Tao & Dan Lim, Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences

Diminishing the Distance in Distance Ed – Wimba’s Live Tools: People Reaching People
Crystal Havely Stratton & Patricia Landy, Laramie County Community College

“Keep It Live” – What the Students Say!
Mike Scheuermann, Drexel University

Wimba Pronto 4 All: Pronto Invitations and Universal Integration
Marlen Rattiner & Chris Dixon, Wimba

Online Learning is all about Collaboration!
Mark Gensimore, Jed Friedrichsen & blendedschools.net

Bringing In Local and Global Guest Speakers through Wimba Classroom
Chunyan Song , Ann Steckel & Laura Sederberg, California State University, Chico

Envelop, Develop: Building a Statewide and College-Level Professional Development System with Wimba and your LMS
Terry Pollard & Christian Pruett, Mississippi SBCJC; Rebecca Butler, Northwest Mississippi Community College; Jennifer Nowotny, Wimba

Where Did My Wimba Go and Do Users Know It’s Missing?
Michael Rogers & Jim Wolfgang, University System of Georgia; Sean Hessenthaler, Wimba

The Professor is In: Lessons Learned in Delivery of Online Student Support
Michelle Escudier & Sharon Davis, Central Texas College

Pet Kangaroos and Other Tall Tails – Live and MP4 Examples, Best Practices and Case Studies on Using Wimba Down Under
Steve Watt & Thalia Cosmidis, NetSpot Pty Ltd

Reaching Over Wall: Linking Kindred Spirits via Live Web Conferencing
Phil O’Hara & Corinne Tobin, Dalhousie Unversity; Paul Lowe, University of the Arts London

Collaborating With Students – A Glimpse of the Future With Blackboard
Brian DeKemper, Solutions Engineer, Blackboard

The Blended Language Learning Consortium (presented remotely)
Paul Snookes & Judy Barker, University of Worcester

Bringing Wimba out of the Web and into the Classroom
Bryan Vandiviere, Kansas State University

Wimba Classroom Beyond Classes
Cory Stokes, Univeristy of Utah & Edwin Perez, Wimba

The Power of Wimba 6.0 Archives: Developing and Editing the Archive Library
Jun Yang, University of Maryland

From the Lands Down Under – Wimba Firing Up Staff and Students in Australia and New Zealand
Lisa Ransom & Oriel Kelly, Manukau Institute of Technology; Kerry Trabinger, Canberra Institute of Technology

A Triple Threat to Student Attrition: Three Disciplines, Three Perspectives, and Three Uses of Wimba Classroom to Improve Student Retention
Monica Brooks, Tracy Christofero, Karen Mitchell, & Marty Laubach, Marshall University

High Impact Pedagogy: Bringing Online and Blended Courses to ‘Life’ through Learning Simulation and Wimba
Kristen Betts, Drexel University

Video, Vodcasts, and YouTube – Oh My!
Sarah Bryans Bongey & Chery Takkunen, The College of St. Scholastica

Online Education and the Power of Web 2.0 for Student Retention
Felice Nudelman, The New York Times / Epsilen

The Ways Wimba Classroom Can Revolutionize the Offering of Online Degree Programs
Daniel Powell, University of Alabama School of Law

Using Breakout Rooms to Foster Faculty Development
Ann Morgan, Kelly Kist & Heather Zink, Rasmussen College

Computer Science “eXperience:” Using Wimba Tools to Enhance Computer Science Education
Adel Abunawass, Alexandra Young & Edwin Rudolph, University of West Georgia

The Virtual Student Experience: Addressing Emotional & Multiple Intelligences & Soliciting Student Feedback
Dawn Muhammad, Calumet College of St. Joseph & H. Jean Bryan, Ed.D., DePaul University

CLOSING KEYNOTE BY JEFF NOEL, THE DISNEY INSTITUTE
Jeff Noel, The Disney Institute

Poster Presentations

Online Office Hours: How I Get Them To Attend
Lyndasu Crowe, Darton College
Enhancing Student/Instructor Interaction in the Online Environment through Podcasting
Heather Zink, Rasmussen College
Mastering the Point: Using Wimba Live Classroom with Effective PowerPoint Presentations to Enhance Online Learning
Sue Burris, National Park Community College
Unleashing Wimba: Letting Students Take Control. A case study in providing webinar technology for students to facilitate group work.
Laurie Grosik, Indiana University of Pennsylvania & Cori Dunagan, Edinboro University
Building Tech Capacity in a Non-Profit Collaborative Using Wimba Classroom
Bruce Roxburgh, Green Communities Canada

Tagged with: blended learning • face-to-face • faculty • hybrid learning • languages • online learning • professional development • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration

A vision of the future Smart Classroom — Daniel S. Christian

On 03/12/2010, in 21st century, 3D, Apple, Connectivism, Geography / Geology, VLE, Wimba, augmented reality, blended learning, change, colleges, computer science, convergence, creativity, dangers of the status quo, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, disruption, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, face-to-face, faculty, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, higher education, hybrid learning, iPad, iPods, innovation, internet, learning, learning ecosystem, learning spaces, liberal arts, online learning, online media, pace of change, participation, passions, pedagogy, smart classrooms, strategy, teaching & learning, teaching online, training / corporate universities, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual worlds, visualizing information, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

A vision of the future Smart Classroom — Daniel S. Christian

Tagged with: blended learning • educational technology • future • future of higher education • hybrid learning • Keeping students engaged • smart classrooms

Envisioning the post-LMS era: The Open Learning Network — from Educause Quarterly by Jonathan Mott

On 03/04/2010, in CMS/LMS, Connectivism, Open Learning Network (OLN), PLNs, VLE, learning ecosystem, mash-ups, social learning / networks, by Daniel Christian

Envisioning the post-LMS era: The Open Learning Network – from Educause Quarterly by Jonathan Mott

Learning management systems (LMSs) have dominated the teaching and learning landscape in higher education for the past decade,¹ with a recent Delta Initiative report indicating that more than 90 percent of colleges and universities have a standardized, institutional LMS implementation.² LMS-related decisions continue to rank among the most pressing IT issues for campus leaders and administrators, as explained in EDUCAUSE Review’s “Top-10 IT Issues, 2009,” which lists several challenges associated with LMS implementations, including:

Acquisition strategies
Adapting LMSs to local needs
Managing rising costs
Maintaining system stability and integrity
Integrating LMSs with other campus tools and data³

While the LMS has become central to the business of colleges and universities, it has also become a symbol of the higher learning status quo. Many students, teachers, instructional technologists, and administrators consider the LMS too inflexible and are turning to the web for tools that support their everyday communication, productivity, and collaboration needs. Blogs, wikis, social networking sites, microblogging tools, and other web-based applications are supplanting the teaching and learning tools previously found only inside the LMS.

The dilemma thus created is succinctly summarized in the “Top-10″ report:

Although the LMS needs to continue serving as an enterprise CMS [course/content management system], it also needs to be a student-centered application that gives students greater control over content and learning. Hence, there is continual pressure for the LMS to utilize and integrate with many of the Web 2.0 tools that students already use freely on the Internet and that they expect to find in this kind of system. Some educators even argue that the next requirement is a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) that interoperates with an LMS.⁴ (emphasis DSC)

Where the LMS is vertically integrated and institutionally centralized, the PLE is the educational manifestation of the web’s “small pieces loosely joined,” a “world of pure connection, free of the arbitrary constraints of matter, distance, and time.”⁵ Proponents assert that the PLE’s greater flexibility, portability, adaptability, and openness make it far superior to the LMS as a teaching and learning platform. The PLE is not without its weaknesses, however. Potential security and reliability concerns abound. This conundrum leaves higher education with what appears to be an unsatisfying either-or choice that requires significant tradeoffs whichever path we choose.

In an increasingly sophisticated technology environment, however, I contend that we can bring together — or mash up — the best of both the LMS and the PLE paradigms to create a learning platform more ideally suited to teaching and learning in higher education — an “open learning network” (OLN) (emphasis DSC). An OLN is intended to be, at the same time:

Secure and open

Integrated and modular

Private and public

Reliable and flexible

The framework outlined in this article provides a blueprint for developing what KnowledgeWorks calls a “lightweight, modular infrastructure” with built-in resilience to meet the dynamic needs of today’s “learning agents.”⁶

The OLN has three key features:

It is malleable.

It leverages technologies that did not exist when the LMS was born in the late 1990s.

It strikes a manageable balance between imperatives of institutional networks and the promise of the cloud (emphasis DSC).

Tagged with: learning ecosystem • Open Learning Network (OLN)

Tagged with: Connectivism • social networking

Previous Entries

Learning Ecosystems

The Wild World of Massively Open Online Courses

Cisco’s vision for learning – by Marcus Lim

Sounds like a learning ecosystem to me…

Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy — from Terry Anderson [via G. Siemens]

A vision of the future Smart Classroom — Daniel S. Christian

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