I am very excited to be teaching our introductory course this semester, entitled Instructional Systems Design. It’s a challenging course because it is introductory, but also because there’s so much I want to cover! Even though the syllabus is a reflection of what I think is important for someone entering the field, I want to highlight the main objective, which is to introduce students to the practice of instructional design and to enable them to become better learning experience designers.The syllabus is embedded below, but feel free to download it from scribd as well. If you’ve taught or taken a similar class in the past, I would love to hear your feedback!
Category: open Page 19 of 21
Critiquing eyes, by CarbonNYC (CC-license)
Critiques of the current state of education are omnipresent. In such critiques, authors often highlight the positive role that social media and open education can play. While I don’t believe that the status quo is the best environment for education and scholarship to thrive, I also don’t live in a social media utopia. Yet, the critiques of social media and open education that I read are often superficial and easily countered: face-to-face interaction is important and the “best” mode of communication, we can’t allow open participation due to federal regulation such as FERPA, etc, etc. This is frustrating. Critique and self-reflection are healthy, even for mere humans who support both the integration of social media and openness in educational settings (especially higher education). To help me (and my students) better understand the complexities, hidden agendas, implications, and rhetoric vs. reality, surrounding social media and open education, I have been collecting serious and well-articulated critiques of the two. I am posting a few of these below, but if you know of any more, please feel free to add them in the comments and I’ll update this entry!
Open Education: The need for critique (Richard Hall)
The educational significance of social media: A critical perspective (Neil Selwyn)
Citizenship, technology and learning –a review of recent literature (Neil Selwyn)
The romance of the public domain (Chander & Sunder)
What does ‘open’ really mean? (Tony Bates)
My edited book, Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, has just been published from Athabasca University Press, Canada’s leading publisher of Open Access, peer-reviewed, scholarly publications! Go get your free copy from the AU site above, and if you want to support the great work that Athabasca University Press is doing, then purchase the paperback volume (disclaimer: I earn a minute stream of royalty fees per copy).
A summary of the book follows:
A one-stop knowledge resource, Emerging Technologies in Distance Education showcases the international work of research scholars and innovative distance education practitioners, who use emerging interactive technologies for teaching and learning at a distance. This widely anticipated book harnesses the dispersed knowledge of international experts who highlight pedagogical, organizational, cultural, social, and economic factors that influence the adoption and integration of emerging technologies in distance education. Emerging Technologies in Distance Education provides expert advice on how educators can launch effective and engaging distance education initiatives, in response to technological advancements, changing mindsets, and economic and organizational pressures. The volume goes beyond the hype surrounding Web 2.0 technologies and highlights the important issues that researchers and educators need to consider to enhance educational practice.
Individual chapters are as follows:
PART 1: Foundations of Emerging Technologies in Distance Education
1. A definition of emerging technologies for education | George Veletsianos
2. Theories for Learning with Emerging Technologies | Terry Anderson
3. Imagining multi-roles in Web 2.0 Distance Education | Elizabeth Wellburn & BJ Eib
4. Beyond distance and time constraints: applying social networking tools and Web 2.0 approaches in distanceeducation | Mark J. W. Lee & Catherine McLoughlin
PART 2: Learning Designs for Emerging Technologies
5. “Emerging”: A re-conceptualization of contemporary technology design and integration | The Learning Technologies Collaborative
6. Developing Personal Learning Networks for Open & Social Learning | Alec Couros
7. Creating a Culture of Community in the Online Classroom Using Artistic Pedagogical Technologies | Beth Perry & Margaret Edwards
8. Structured Dialogue Embedded within Emerging Technologies | Yiannis Laouris, Gayle Underwood, Romina Laouri, Aleco Christakis
PART 3: Social, Organizational, & Contextual Factors in Emerging Technologies Implementations
9. Personal Learning Environments | Trey Martindale & Michael Dowdy
10. Open source course management systems in distance education | Andrew Whitworth & Angela Benson
11. Implementing Wikis in higher education institutions: the case of the Open University of Israel | Hagit Meishar-Tal, Yoav Yair and Edna Tal-Elhasid
12. The Use of Web Analytics in the Design and Evaluation of Distance Education | P. Clint Rogers, Mary R. McEwen & SaraJoy Pond
13. New communication options: A renaissance in IP use | Richard Caladine, Trish Andrews, Belinda Tynan, Robyn Smyth, & Deborah Vale
PART 4: Learner-learner, Learner-Content, & Learner-Instructor Interaction & Communication with Emerging Technologies
14. Using Social Media to Create a Place that Supports Communication | Rita Kop
15. Technical, Pedagogical and Cultural Considerations for Language Learning in MUVEs / Charles Xiaoxue Wang, Brendan Calandra & Youngjoo Yi
16. Animated Pedagogical Agents and Immersive Worlds: Two Worlds Colliding / Bob Heller & Mike Procter
[Update Feb 22, 2010: Thank you for the comments on the form below! I already have 70 bright ideas to improve the covers!!!]
Emerging Technologies in Distance Education is getting closer to completion. Now, we need to select a cover. Can you help? The amazingly talented Natalie Olsen created the four cover concepts appearing below and I am having trouble selecting one! If you can help by completing the form below, we would greatly appreciate it! I’ll post the result by the end of next week (Feb 28).
The four designs are:
Cover 1: Pencils. Cover 2: Wordle.
Cover 3: Chalkboard. Cover 4: Tin Cans.
This semester, I am teaching a class focusing on online learning in the context of participatory culture and media. Links to the following open access e-books were provided within my syllabus – I thought these might also be of value to individuals not registered in my class. Enjoy!
Theory and Practice of Online Learning (2nd edition) edited by Terry Anderson http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120146
Accessible Elements: Teaching Science Online and at a Distance edited by Dietmar Kennepohl and Lawton Shaw at http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120162
Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training edited by Mohamed Ally at http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120155
A Designer’s Log: Case Studies in Instructional Design by Michael Power at http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120161
Herrington, Herrington, Mantei, Olney & Ferry (Eds), New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, 2009: http://ro.uow.edu.au/newtech/
CU Online Handbook from the University of Colorado at Denver (Edited by Patrick R. Lowenthal, David Thomas, Anna Thai, & Brian Yuhnke), via http://www.cudenver.edu/Academics/CUOnline/FacultyResources/Handbook/Pages/Handbook2009.aspx
George Siemen’s Knowing knowledge via http://www.elearnspace.org/
Open Educational Resources Handbook for Educators
http://www.lulu.com/product/download/open-educational-resources-handbook-for-educators-version-10/3396518
Ito et al’s Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out. Kids Living and Learning with New Media from: http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/full_pdfs/Hanging_Out.pdf)
Data on the influence and impact of interactions in informal social networks is difficult to come by. Dr. Jon Becker is trying to collect data on the influence of Dr. Alec Couros‘ work, in support of Alec’s Tenure and Promotion application. Data from this endeavor will go in Alec’s digital portfolio that supports his application. This is a great idea, not just in terms of evaluating one’s contribution to the community, but also in terms of celebrating the achievements of a dedicated, resourceful, and brilliant colleague. If you have benefited in any way by interacting with Alec – and if you have interacted with Alec, I am sure you have – say it here!
A few short weeks ago a colleague at the University of Nicosia-Cyprus asked if I could pay a virtual visit to her class and have a discussion on issues relating to educational technology. Below are the slides that I’ll be using to discuss the use of emerging technologies in primary education. I don’t usually post these, but this one is in Greek so I thought that some people may find use in it. Below is the same message in Greek.
Πριν μερικές εβδομάδες μία συνάδελφος απο το Πανεπιστήμιο της Λευκωσίας ρώτησε αν θα μπορούσα να κάνω μια εικονική επίσκεψη στην τάξη της για συζήτηση για θέματα που αφορούν την εκπαιδευτική τεχνολογία. Πάρακάτω θα βρείτε τις σημειώσεις μου για τη χρήση των νέων τεχνολογιών στην πρωτοβάθμια/δημοτική εκπαίδευση. Δεν συνηθίζω να τις δίνω αυτές αλλά μίας και είναι στα ελληνικά σκέφτηκα ότι κάποιοι μπορεί να τις βρουν χρήσιμες.