A Techy Feely Approach to Life » educational technology

Happy to be here

ajwms — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 19:29:16 +0000

I’m so glad that I have people here on a Friday afternoon.

Connectiveness – more and more and easier and easier

ajwms — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 18:29:11 +0000

While I have argued before with folks about how I don’t want all of my life to be merged (or converged or mind-melded) into one device (read cellphone), it does appear that this is the case for all of the new, emerging apps and services that are in the Web 2.0 camp.

Just today, I have learned that the Wikispaces site now allows for WAY EASY integration of media from such sources as YouTube, Odeo and MySpace. I was so happy when I figured out how to upload and link to an mp3 in the wiki and now, I can add a video greeting from Hellodeo or embed other media with a simple copy-paste-done. Cool.

And, I found Dabble, which appears to be a way to “collect” video from around the web (Google Video, YouTube, Ourmedia, Internet Archive, etc) and connect with folks who have the same interests. Hmmm…more to consider.

Of course there is always SuprGlu for keeping my little Flickr, Blogger, del.icio.us, lastFM self together in one place.

Why do I like convergence on the web but not on my belt?

Where have I been?

ajwms — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 19:07:04 +0000

Wow..this stuff is from 2000 and it is just now sinking into my head. I guess I was just too steeped in my Info Science work to be paying attention to education and learning theories.

But, I have been reading a good deal of Anderson, Garrison and Archer and their model for creating communities of inquiry in computer medicated communication environments. I like the discussion on the worthwhile educational experiences. And, the very basic figure does lend it self to summarizing it into what I have scribbled and hanging on my wall…titled: What It is all about.

Then, I find that my host here at edublogs.org also has written a great deal about it as well:

Communities of Inquiry at incorporated subversion

Hmm..I’m feeling behind but I feel like I have pulled into very good company. Back to reading.

Back from the WebCT (RIP) Conference

ajwms — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:05:27 +0000

Well, Chicago was a fantastic city. I was quite taken with how easy it was to get around. How much FREE stuff there was to do. Oh yeah, and the conference! Actually, I have always been one of those folks who actually attend the conference and this time was no different. This year, the conference seemed more somber..and the fact that the name “WebCT” is out the door was not lost on me. I am a bit bummed by that fact, for some reason. Just like I was when GoLive was bought by Adobe and then Macromedia was bought by Adobe and then…well, you get the idea.
The major theme for this year, in the sessions I chose, was Web 2.0. Wikis, wikis, wikis. RSS, podcasting – but I quibble with many folks’ definitions, and so forth. I’m curious to watch and see how this whole 2.0 thing will play out with educational technology in general and online learning, more specifically. The customization, the need for media experiences, the end user as the major player of the content and its organization all go really against the traditional thoughts and schemes of academia so the growing and changing might include some pains.

I need to sift and sort and think about some of the other things I learned this past week. Stay tuned!

Ning – social apps for everybody

ajwms — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 20:12:14 +0000

Wow..I’ve been experimenting all afternoon (off and on between getting ready for the conference next week) with Ning. What an interesting idea. Build your own social app with no programming. And, if you know code, you can edit your source code. Wow. Now, will this be around forever? Will it always be free? Hmm. I have a project in mind for school but those are the nagging questions.

Off to !MPACT 2006 – WebCT Users Conference

ajwms — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 20:28:07 +0000

Okay..so I hope to blog a good bit next week as I attend (and present) at the !MPACT 2006 WebCT Users Conference. With the merger with Blackboard, I am curious to hear what they have to say about the future of the product line and the company (Bb). I have a lot of time and energy invested in WebCT so I don’t want to say good-bye but I also would love to see a product that works well for students and is easy for faculty as well as for support. A girl can wish, can’t she??

Bumptop – finally

ajwms — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 12:45:02 +0000

Been trying to post this since last week but the server woes for edublogs.org kept me away. I saw this first on Lifehacker and then Merlin Mann over at 43 folders had a good take on it as well. What is it? Bumptop, a new approach to the GUI.

43 folders article

My first take (and the take on the person in my office who also saw it with me) was COOL! I am definitely a piler (as opposed to a filer or a trasher) for all my papers around me. My real desktop is usually full of papers in piles of relativity and importance to whatever is going on at the time (usually, she says)

Now, my virtual desktop is usually much more pristine. I am a filer in the digital world with files in their folders and subfolders, etc. The need for things like Google Desktop and Spotlight go right past me because I just know where to look for stuff. I do wonder if the search tools would be faster now on my new baby (see previous post) but I’m thinking that my habits of drilling for files would be hard to break.

So, I am thinking that I would get tired of all the “shuffling” after a day or two. I have way to much open and being used at anyone time for that metaphor to work for me. Oh well, still pretty slick.

Blogging from Flock!

ajwms — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:49:12 +0000

Back from a vacation..Ah, good rest even if we spent most of our time in the edges of Tropical Storm Alberto.

This is a post from my minty fresh install of Flock beta for Mac OS X. It seems to be pretty easy to set up…imported favorites from Firefox…added my info for AJDubLand….we’ll look into Flickr here in a minute and then I’ll get to running it through the paces of WebCT, Luminis and other fun stuff. But, for now, I’m going to stick to it for my new life 2.0!!

Tour (here’s a Flock tour, if you are interested

Blogged with Flock

RSS = REALLY SLICK STUFF

ajwms — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 19:23:14 +0000

As Darren Kuropatwa of the Rip,Mix, Burn blog said a few months ago…RSS is the killer app for educators. I have been working with instructional technologies of all kinds for about 20 years now and I got excited about a few things (ok..so I was pretty wrong about laserdisks). But RSS has got me really pumped up. It is a cool thing that can do so much and has so much potential. I am going to commit myself to finding good way to integrate RSS into as much as possible for myself personally as well as with the courses that I help support.

Starting a New Term

ajwms — Wed, 31 May 2006 12:58:48 +0000

We started Summer 2006 classes yesterday. It was a hectic day..one with two message on voice mail when I hung up the phone with someone else. But, I also got to solve a lot of little problems for folks and they were always appreciative and I was glad to be able to help.

I love looking out during our WebCT orientation and see folks smiling and nodding as they actually understand what I am saying. A lot of folks who come to the orientations care about their coursework (of course, they do – they drove in to the orientation session) and they want to succeed and we want them to do so as well. It’s a good feeling and I always look forward to it…even though I am totally pooped when the day is done!