iSean

email is important for just about anyone who works in an online world. many of us consider many email applications before settling on the best of the bunch but often a solution lacking all of what we’d want. the browser is another important application for internet geeks (e.g., is there really a choice beyond Firefox?). but for me, two of the more important uses of my computer are for scheduling needs and for my to do lists. i am a Macintosh user, so i am pretty happy with iCal — it comes free with the Mac OS. unfortunately, iCal is not great for a person who has to sync calendars with others and for a person who often uses lab computers, etc. so i switched to Google’s calendars back in April of ‘06. at the time, i noted that Google worked well with iCal. i was wrong. while Google’s calendar can import iCal calendars, it’s not a two way street and thus it is worthless to even try it. so i gave up on iCal. i missed the quickness of using iCal when i am on my main computer. i can make quick edits and additions when using iCal that take a bit longer on Google’s calendars. and Google is fast. however, i recently discovered Spanning Sync (SS). SS is a tool that will work on your Mac to automatically (or manually) sync Google’s calendars with your iCal calendars and visa versa. they have a demo here and it looks just beautiful. i have grabbed the public beta but unfortunately i just discovered that the DIGG effect is in full force. this little application had made the digg front page and the servers at SS couldn’t handle the load, so they closed down their beta offering for now. shucks. on the other hand, i find it interesting that the application will reside on your computer, yet it uses the SS servers to perform the sync. imagine the amount of data that SS will have access to (insert evil laugh here). ;~)

as far as my to do list . . . i’ll have to save that for another day, but suffice to say i’ve moved beyond a simple text document and i am still searching for the ideal solution.

Technorati Tags: iCal, calendar, scheduling, digg, Google, Spanning Sync

so, i guess you can tell that i’ve taken some time off over the break. nothing like visiting Disney World to get me back into the swing of things. Heh heh.

i am not teaching ED 205 Computers in Education this semester for the first time in years. instead, i have a bunch of thesis students and a weekend class for LD teachers wanting to learn more about special education technology. in other words, i have time to do a lot more exploration of new technologies and time to try and find solutions to problems that i encountered when i was teaching ED 205. one of things that was easy to do in a regular classroom that was difficult online was a lesson on creating podcasts. when the lesson is taught in face-to-face classrooms, i can bring in the necessary equipment, etc. when i taught online, i just skipped this lesson and did a different lab instead. well, i think i’ve found a solution for podcasting that can even work when teaching online. Gabcast.

Gabcast is a tool that is self described as:

a podcasting and audioblogging platform that offers an easy way to create and distribute audio content. Most people will use a touch-tone telephone to make their recordings but we also provide worldwide access to the service through VoIP. Once you have made a recording and have published it, a newsfeed is immediately and automatically updated to alert subscribers to your channel.

in other words, students can create podcast just by using their phones. the service is free as long as the account stays under 200 MB. and, a podcast can be up to 60 minutes long. they have a toll-free 800 number and even free world numbers for everyone else. the podcast can be easily integrated with a student’s blog if they have one and they’ll even provide automatic RSS feeds, etc. it’s worth checking out if you don’t have the typical podcasting equipment, but you want to have your students creating podcasts.

Technorati Tags: blogging, education, gabcast, podcasting

well, this is free and it really is easy to use, fwiw. i am sort of taking a break for the holidays but i came across this site and just had to share my work — it took me about 1 minute to create this piece of . . . um, er, art? ;~)

doh! i just tried to post it and it failed. apparently, the EMBED tag isn’t working on my wordpress blog. i wonder if it’s turned off by default on all word press blogs? i’ll fiddle with the settings when i have more time, but i was trying to link to a presentation i made using spresent.com. it’s a flash-based presentation maker. the flash is pretty basic, but the features are also pretty easy to use and they work quickly to not slow down your workflow. it’s not a powerpoint killer by any means, but this thing has some potential in a snap.

at least once a year, i use Blackboard for an entire course. i never use it for my Technology in Education course, but this past semester I was teaching a technology related graduate class for special education teachers. Typically this class has many more students who are not as comfortable with using technology as my undergraduate students are. So, I use Blackboard to keep things simple and to keep me updated on how BB is evolving.

i still hate the online discussion forum in BB. it’s poorly implemented and it doesn’t look a whole lot better in the beta version of BB i now have access to (our university is switching in May). Notice how the forum still defaults to a threaded view (click to view larger version):

one of the features in BB that has some promise is the Discussion Grader. this is a tool that allows an instructor to easily view a student’s participation in the online discussions. here’s 2 screen shots showing a students who participated well versus a student who quickly added some posts (click to view larger versions):

the tool even gives a word count. while i am not one to tell my students how long a post should be, i do require that my students contribute substantively to each discussion and i define “substantive” so there is no confusion.

in contrast, i use phpBB forums. these forums have many more features that i feel enhance the experience for students and for me. notice the contrast between BB above and my forum here (click to view larger version):

the phpBB forums have avatars so we can “see” each other. the phpBB forums have signatures so i can see names easily and we can quickly ascertain what folks intend to teach as that might help to understand their perspective on a given topic, etc. and, all of the messages automatically appear on one page, which makes it easy to read a whole discussion without needing to click and click and click. there are other features as well, but this gets at some of the bigger ones that appeal to me.

that being said, i don’t like using phpBB forums when it comes time to grade. i can view all of any user’s posts quite easily, but the tool only shows me a preview as seen here (click to view a larger version):

sometimes i can tell whether a post is substantive or not, but other times i have to physically open the thread to view the posts contained therein.

fortunately, phpBB is easily modified and i am sure that a module has already been written to fix this issue. i’ll take some time next semester to find a module to show complete posts in this view rather than snippets. i have already used modules to turn off the ability for anyone to view my user list and thus view any user’s posts. only i can see this view. i used this forum for 2 years before i found that tool. while the message board was closed, a spammer could still see the user name list and that sometimes contains last names, etc. much safer now.

Technorati Tags: Blackboard, online learning, phpBB

the web community has gained a new tool for folks who want to start a user generated news site. i learned yesterday that the wikipedia founder is giving away web news sites to anyone who requests one. they are calling it openserving and it’s free. if you’ve ever used digg then you have an idea of what openserving is. the difference is that you (or anyone) can start your own news site and have your own URL with the software already installed and usable. this is similar to a blog or even a drupal news site. and, if you can’t come up with news of your own, you can easily add RSS feeds from others. it’s all run using open source software and users are even allowed to use advertising on their free sites and the user gets to keep 100% of the ad revenue generated. that’s pretty nifty for free.

i have many things to discuss on my blog, but i have to get through finals this week. stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogs, openserving

so, my experience with the knowledge tree is now done and was quite a fun experience. but, now i have some free time to focus on some projects that were on the back burner. and, perhaps my number 1 project is a wiki based textbook for educational technology (preservice teachers). in fact, i will be presenting on wikitextbooks early next year and hope to have a draft to show off at that time. i have spoken with other instructors who will use this textbook and they helped me conceptualize the project. my vision was to have many folks contributing, but i don’t think that will be the case as much as i had hoped. one of the things i won’t do is just open the writing process to anyone. since we’re writing this textbook to meet Michigan ed tech standards (closely aligned to the national standards, fwiw), i want to have some control. i am probably not using the wiki nature of the tool to the best of its abilities, but i have liked the look and feel of wikitextbooks that i’ve perused thus far. one of the first items that our little group decided was whether to write a textbook that could be read from beginning to end (similar to most textbooks now) or whether we would stick to topics. the group thought that topics would be best and that each instructor could piece together various topics to form assigned readings. this is much easier than writing a textbook, but it also loses some of the cohesion that can be had when a formal chapter is written. somehow i need to find a bit of a happy medium. i am also considering scrapping the wiki altogether and just using the book module in Drupal; though, that sure wouldn’t bode well for my presentation on wikitextbooks, eh? ;~)

so, i think i will take a few weeks to view many textbooks and to try and get a better sense of why i want to use a wiki over Drupal (or visa versa) and then choose the best took. i think i want students to have the ability to print the book that is online in case they want a hard copy (perhaps using Lulu.com, which is a cheap way to publish books — perhaps under $10 for a textbook).

please note that the image above shows a screen shot from Lulu.com when i selected a 200 page book that is perfectly bound like many books you find on bookshelves. compare this price ($8.54) to just about any textbook that is published by a publisher and you can immediately see the benefit of using this service over traditional companies. and, students wouldn’t have to get a printed version, but they should probably have the option available. unfortunately, i still get students who don’t own a computer and have to rely on campus computer labs for classwork. i am not sure that printing from a wiki environment would be easy, but that’s something i need to explore. same with the Drupal book option. there’s much to learn, but i am full steam ahead.

Technorati Tags: drupal, education, online learning, wikitext

wow, i think i’ve taught an online class for about 15 straight semesters now and i just realized i won’t be teaching one next semester. i coordinate a program and was scheduled to teach 2 online sections of our undergraduate educational technology program as my teaching load in the winter. however, a colleague of mine is taking his sabbatical and i was asked to cover the master’s thesis students. i have enough students that they’ll count as a section. i am also teaching a special education technology course that meets on 3 weekends (not originally planned — saving my wife from taking it as an overload). so, i had to find replacements for my 2 online sections. what a weird feeling it will be to not be online and to not teach the course i coordinate. on the other hand, i think i can finally take some time to update what i do online.

i also plan to put a huge effort into finishing my (our?) wiki textbook for educational technology. i plan to start using that wiki textbook for the program i coordinate starting in May, so i’ll have my work cut out for me. i hope others join in making the textbook. also, i am going to be presenting on this wiki-based textbook at the MACUL conference in the middle of March.

i have been using Drupal as my online teaching tool this semester. it’s worked very, very well. much better than i anticipated when i started. i was fortunate enough to hook up with folks who are very involved in making DrupalED.org with one of the key guys now working at my institution. they have a listserv that was invaluable as i set things up. but now, after having used Drupal for a semester, i better know how i want to set things up in the future. i’ll now have nearly 5 months to really get things set up so that my online learning environment is fully customized to my teaching style and to optimize things for my students. and hopefully the grade book module for Drupal will be ready by May so that i won’t need Blackboard for anything. that would be nice. and i’ll reiterate that i don’t hate Blackboard; rather, i like providing an example for future teachers on how to teach with technology by using tools that are open source and free . . . just in case they don’t have a school sponsored tool (e.g., Blackboard). but i do think Blackboard has some limitations that make it less appealing to me.

so, i hope the american citizens have a happy thanksgiving. i am off to Kansas for some turkey and pumpkin pie. ;~)

Technorati Tags: Blackboard, drupal, wiki, wikitext, online learning

my article on the Australian journal The Knowledge Tree is now available. you can read (or listen to) the article here — and feel free to discuss the article in the comments section. i am pleased with the results, but this article started with a different direction entirely. in fact, i originally wanted to talk about using blogs (like this one) to help shape learner dispositions. the resulting article still has a focus on student dispositions, but i narrowed the focus to those things that individual instructors can do with preservice and inservice teachers to help shape future behavior. specifically, the article looks at the use of modeling and the use of reflection and how blogs and other technologies can play a central role in these processes. please visit and join in the fun. also, there will be a live conversation with my wife (co-author) and me on the 27th of November (28th in Australia). more information can be found on the Elluminate Live website here.

i want to provide a snippet from an early draft of the article — keep in mind that this was a draft and not near completion; in fact, it was soon cut. but this snippet shows a direction i started to go and it’s something i want to explore more in the future. the paragraph in front of this one discusses the difficulty educators have in bridging the gap between research and practice and how new strategies might be warranted. so, here’s the snippet:

The dissemination of research findings to practitioners in a palatable, useful manner has been addressed by professionals in the field (insert cite here) as well as the organizations that oversee institutes of higher education. Currently, most research is disseminated to teachers in the form of research articles published in peer-reviewed journals or presentations made at national or state conferences. Often, researchers will make the effort to summarize descriptions of interventions, programs, or approaches and their findings for publication in practitioner-based journals. Unfortunately, most practicing teachers feel a disconnect with research published in peer-reviewed journals. In fact, peer-reviewed research is considered less trustworthy by teachers than is gaining information from peers and acquiring information during inservice trainings (Landrum, Cook, Tankersley, and Fitzgerald, 2002). Additionally, the demands placed on teacher time and budget cuts, prohibits teachers from attending conferences and reading widely in peer-reviewed of practitioner journals. One purpose of this article is to explore alternative methods for disseminating research results and best practices to educators who currently have limited time and opportunity to take advantage of traditional methods but are concerned about using best available, proven practices with regard to technology in education. A second, related purpose is to discuss how this sharing of information can impact the dispositions of preservice teachers.

i was going to discuss how ed tech blogs should start to see themselves as the vehicle for change in education. i wanted to explore whether blogs (e.g., ed tech) might be more trustworthy that peer reviewed journals and i had some evidence that this is the case. perhaps another article some day, but for now i’ll just explore this personally on my blog.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogs, dispositions, education, knowledge tree, modeling, scholarship, reflection

whether you think there is too much hype over web 2.0 or not, the fact is that there are some neat web-based applications that are emerging and have been emerging. i have been very busy with work and an article I was writing that I haven’t been posting much here lately. hopefully i am back on track now.

anyway, i came across a blog site last month that listed many web-based applications that are alternatives to desktop office applications. i bookmarked it using listmixer (my favorite social bookmarking site — even though i am not social about it; it keeps me synced between machines for websites i want to come back to) about a month ago and am just now getting around to reading it, but figured i’d share it since it is a continuation of some thinking i started on this blog earlier this year with regard to writely as an Microsoft Word replacement. here’s the link: http://www.solutionwatch.com/515/back-to-school-with-the-class-of-web-20-part-2/

Technorati Tags: education, web 2.0, web-based applications, spreadsheets, word processing

most folks in the ed tech field know about the recent patent dispute between Blackboard (BB) and Desire2Learn. Desire2Learn is refusing to comply with BB’s request to pay royalties and this has generated much discussion. in fact, Desire2Learn has become something of a folk hero (in corporate terms) for taking BB on.

well, EDUCAUSE (leading organization supporting technology in higher ed) recently came out and told BB that BB should relinquish their rights with regard to a patent they recently received. here’s a snippet from the actual letter that EDUCAUSE wrote:

EDUCAUSE is a non-profit association dedicated to serving its 2000 college and university members, as well as its 200 corporate members. We do not endorse products or take the side of one company over another. Our corporate guidelines, established in 1998, are very clear that EDUCAUSE is primarily accountable to its institutional members. In the event of a conflict between corporate and institutional member objectives, we must support our institutional members. Let me clearly state that we are not siding with Desire2Learn at the expense of Blackboard. Our discussions and actions are based solely on the collective interests of our institutional members.

There are two core tenets behind the community concern. One deals with co-creation and ownership; the other deals with innovation. Course management systems were developed by the higher education community, which includes academics, organizations, and corporations. Ideas were freely exchanged, prototypes developed, and refinements continue to be made. The new EDUCAUSE Catalyst Award, given to course management systems this year, celebrates that course management systems “were conceived and developed among faculty in pockets of innovation throughout the world. They originated simultaneously at a number of institutions,” as stated in the award announcement. One of the reasons course management systems were singled out for this award is because of the “fluid movement of ideas and initiatives between academia and the commercial sector as individual limited-use efforts evolved into enterprise-wide systems.” Our community has participated in the creation of course management systems. A claim that implies this community creation can be patented by one organization is anathema to our culture.

We realize that what one believes is not necessarily legally binding. As a result, EDUCAUSE engaged the services of a highly reputable, independent law firm to review the patent. The preliminary conclusion is that the patent was very broadly defined and was inappropriately approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That is certainly the view of the higher education community, many of whom are contributing evidence of prior art.

you can view the whole letter below this article.

i hope BB sees the light and does the right thing. i don’t use BB in my own teaching, but this whole episode has  caused me to promote open source solutions (e.g., Moodle, Drupal, phpBB, WordPress) beyond BB to my own students (future teachers). BB would most certainly get a lot of positive press if they were to heed the advice and recommendation from EDUCAUSE. Time will tell . . .

Technorati Tags: Blackboard, CMS, education, educause, LMS, patents, online learning