The Socially Networked LMS

Much virtual ink has been spilled of late regarding BlackWeb's FaceBook integration -but I'm not going to prat on about the "creepy treehouse" -others have done a far better job, and faster. Instead, let's talk about what an LMS can and can't currently do in terms of mimicking or integrating with web2.0 social networking tools.

We just hosted the remarkable Gardner Campbell on campus for a faculty workshop in web2.0. Gardner's keynote speech posited the concept of "cognitive fingerprints" or "cognition prints" -visible ways in which we can seek evidence of cognition, or cognitive presence if you prefer.

When we say "critical thinking" and "LMS" in the same sentence, the next phrase that inevitably follows is "discussion board". Why? In the context of the repurposed groupware that is a commercial LMS (Michael Feldstein's definition), we have a somewhat limited toolset of instructional Legos that we cobble together in the form of a course.

Gardner offered a fabulous "well, duh" compare/contrast moment between a board in Bb and an open-source bulletin board he uses. The most glaringly obvious differences:

• the ability to associate an avatar of choice with your identity
• the ability to have the poster's profile only one click away, every time they post

More importantly, Campbell argues, is the evidence of authentic engagement with the subject matter at hand - most notably lacking in his hacked classroom are the Re:Re:Re subject lines that suggest that students are going through basic higher order primate conditioned reflexes - ie; hit the "Post" button X number of times to earn an "A".

It made me think: what if, besides this standard literary centric toolbar for students:

we had the near ubiquitous Web2.0 content sharing toolbar as well?

it's Twitterific!

Well, Twitter has bit me, and bit me hard. I had a cresting wave of skepticism when I first created the account, which wasn't assuaged much by picking my less than dozen online friends and colleagues to follow. I've heard that your first few weeks really are nothing more than talking to yourself, which I found to be pretty much true.

But now...besides exchanging non-sequitors with my conference drinking buddies, I actually pick up on interesting articles, blogs etc to read. I have strange voyeuristic moments into semi-friends' personal lives. I have people I've never met following me (why?). Best of all, I can see how Twitter really works as a virtual megaphone. The media contacted us about a tiny bit of legislation embedded in a bill in Congress that calls for identity confirmation of online learners. Shades of George Orwell, Batman! As I twittered about this, you could just see folks' heads snapping around and saying "what the...". And that's cool...

Finally a good hair day in Second Life

I continue to feel ambiguous about Second Life - there's a high cognitive load in mastering the interface (which I will unabashedly admit I have not), working through your sense of dislocation, overcoming shyness...and bad hair.

My more experienced colleagues tell me that many SL residents will shun noobs, based on their appearance. Very sad...so of course I've been on a quest for "perfect hair" for quite some time. Now, I think, I am satisfied; here's the results...

Beyond hours of superficial preening and playing "what should I wear", we've been searching out resources that could complement our online theater courses. Here's today's langiappe for you:
Theatron - which exists both on the web in VRML format and in Second Life (search for Theatron1 and Theatron2). This are amazing efforts that integrate today's 3D modeling techniques with the scientific inquiry of archaelogy.

Future: Shocked

My colleague Nancy Wozniak at Dutchess CC asked some thought provoking questions of the instructional design community lately (check DEOS-L if you want to respond). I thought I'd share my lunatic ravings here; although it might sound somewhat jaundiced, my thoughts were recently shaped by presentations from respectable authorities like Dee Fink and Tara Gray. Read on...

-What do you think is the big challenge distance learning faces in the future?
Only one challenge? There will be several:
-DL will be a commodity experience for users, driven by price point and the perceived value of national and regional accreditation attached to degree programs.
-the younger end of the DL consumer spectrum will be bored by the relatively static nature of current distance learning content, and will challenge developers to truly provide a "user created" learning experience.
-market forces in the economy will drive US business and industry to make specific demands on colleges/universities in terms of graduating students' marketable skill sets. We will see a two tiered approach to higher ed - highly specialized, skills based technology curricula provided by "trade schools", community colleges and 2 year ATC type institutions; and more in-depth, but still highly focused "professional" labelled graduate and undergraduate programs that focus on management and R&D aspects of engineering and science, particularly biotech.


-What do you think the face of education will look like in 2015?
Increasing levels of formal/informal partnerships with business will create niche degree programs and certificates, particularly at the graduate level. Accrediting bodies will place greater emphasis on demonstrating and measuring learning outcomes, forcing higher ed to develop a complex and refined assessment outcomes process (the mother of all e-portfolios). In turn, either highly customized LMS/SIS couplings or "turn key" customizations that integrate data from diverse repositories (within the campus) and provide in-depth data mining capabilities for reporting.

-What technologies in distance learning will be used?
Existing commercial systems and open source systems will provide enriched m-learning (mobile) content, once the industry determines what the "killer app" for mobile users really is. In turn, the platform will drive chunking of instructional content into "micro-lessons" that can be easily processed during commute times, etc. GIS overlays will help you locate "study buddies", small group team members, and off-campus lending libraries. Social networking will define study groups that exist across institutions, confounding administration who continue to combat plagiarism. Greater emphasis on less structured, user controlled experiences will bring us the "loosely coupled LMS", possibiy mixing components from commercial providers with open source apps. The "Google LMS" will allow mash ups of various technologies into a fluid LMS structure, realizing the LAMS vision.

-Do you think the current faculty attitudes towards distance learning will change?
Entering new faculty accept the ubiquity of the LMS, just as they do IM, wikis, and Google. Aging faculty recognize that a continuing secondary income stream will be derived from teaching online, at a distance, and will embrace teaching online as an "exit strategy" into retirement.

-Will we still have the conventional LMS?
Absolutely. Except there will be only one commercial system, owned by Microsoft...or maybe Oracle :-) As ASPs gear up to provide hosted solutions and back end integation to campus SIS systems (watch for SunGuard/SCT as an early entrant, followed closely by ominvores EDS, Accenture, and the like.


-What technologies will we be using for distance learning in 2015?
Perhaps a greater integration with virtual worlds into and out of the LMS, along with the "social operating system" as sketched out by NMC. Otherwise, TCP/IP, HTTP, SMTP/POP3 and RSS continue to be the order of the day. Oh, and don't rule out the return of ITV (instructional television), as broadcast and cable increasingly have access to cost-effective, digitally delivered TV signals to your door. Increased interactivity on the digital set top box could open up a two way channel and return us to an enhanced, digitally crystal clear version of the telecourses of the not too distant past.

Now THAT'S a Vitae...

Well, I guess the big news is that I finally broke down and bought an iPod of my very own. Reconditioned, second gen model direct from the Apple web site. Beyond great NPR programming like "To the best of our knowledge" and "Sound Opinions", I'm searching out iTunes U material..and I came across "Dr. Gwen". The icon alone within the iTunes store was enough to make me pause.

Looking a bit further I found that Gwen Morse, Ph.D, MSN, has had a long professional and academic calendar. I'm rather intrigued as to how she veered off from traditional academia into the for profit world of Kaplan, Regis and Walden. But more to the point, this web site rocks -her courses could be dry as the Sahara, but based solely on the bling of her web site, I'd sign up. I'd be curious to see if faculty who move into the "pay for play" world of U of Phoenix et al. also sex up themselves on the Web, either for prospective employers or students. Maybe my Second Life avatar should replace my mugshot...?

A Bad Case of Happy Feet

Though I am suffering from post-conference burnout, I have a lot of things (good and bad) to share from both the SLOAN-C ALN conference in Orlando and SUNY's TLT conference in Poughkeepsie. But first, let's start with an anecdote from the bar...aren't bars where we really learn everything we need to know in life, anyway? Why else was Coach such a paragon of wisdom on Cheers? Anywho...

Everyone has a newbie experience in Second Life; most simply report the confusion of dropping naked into Orientation Island, or walking into walls, & c. But my colleague Clark Sakai...ah, Clark has the best tale of all. He recounted it to us at the bar, of course, and my new found friend David/John from the Open University of the UK and I tried to retell the tale to others, but there was a distinct kinethestic element involved in the telling of the tale...so Clark, uber nerd that he is, has retold the story in video. Watch and learn, my children:

Click To Play

Of course, what seems to be missing from this machinima retelling is the lap dance. Where is the lap dance, Clark?

Podcasting and Driving don't mix

Perhaps it's because I've become very bored with my one hour commute to campus, but I've started to find new ways to entertain myself while driving. Now, I already have XM Satellite radio, and I can fritter away time flitting from one channel to another...most days. But I have the podcasting bug; no time to listen to 'em in office, what to do, what to do?

Well, if I could simply hijack my daughter's iPod, my problem would be solved. But since she doesn't want me cluttering up her precious disk space with podcasts ("Dad, I don't want to listen to French lessons.."), that was out. So is buying one for myself, at least until I squirrel away some more hard earned cash. So...enter the "laptop as mp3 player".

On the surface this seems like an ok idea. Until you realize that the cheap, onboard speaker doesn't really produce a huge, Who-like amount of db. I guess I could plug in headphones, but I don't really like to completely isolate myself from the world outside while driving. Not a big deal, we can just listen closely. But...boy, that iTunes interface was not meant to be operated with only one hand!

Despite these UI issues, I was able to listen to at least one 'cast on the way here. Truthfully, I had more issues with the quality of the academic podcasts I was sampling. I think it's time to reiterate some basic principles to all you would be broadcasters out there, from an old time, old school, old media guy like myself. To wit:

1. set a freakin' recording level. Do this NOW; before your students show up and you spend the next hour mumbling incoherently into your microphone. You want to get that meter (or slider bar) up to about "zero", perhaps a counterintuitive label, but you want to see that meter working towards hitting the "red zone". Record, playback, listen. Can you hear it? Is it faint? Distorted? Adjust volume up or down; repeat test/listen, lather, rinse, repeat.

2. use an external mic. If you plan to wander aimlessly while you lecture, then buy something like Belkin's mic that plugs directly into the iPod for recording. Very clever...place the microphone at about your 2nd or 3rd shirt button if you're a man. Remember, the capsule points up, not down!

3. Don't talk about visuals we can't see. "As you see, on this slide..". Please...post the slides online if you must do this.

4. Repeat questions from the audience. Typical snippet I listened to this morning: "Question?"...long silent pause for an inaudible student question... "No, absolutely not; that's not how I would define this situation". Uhm, thanks, Prof, very helpful, but what was the question?

5. Edit, Edit, Edit for scripted Q&A. Listening to the Colonial Williamsburg series of podcasts, I'm struck by how often interviewer Lloyd Dobbins says things like "ah, well...no, I'm not going to ask you that question" as he obviously scans his written list and then moves on. A little post-production goes a long ways towards listenability, folks. Audacity is free, iLife (with Garage Band) is relatively cheap. Both are fairly easy even for novices to use.

ALN conference: from Innovation to Application

X came to the not-so-sunny Sunshine State Tuesday to attend the ALN conference, organized by the SLOAN-C foundation for distance learning. Right now, I'm in the early phase of a workshop on innovative tools for DL led by Larry Ragan, Larry Cooperman and Ray Schroeder. Take a log at the guy's blog for tools you might use...I've already found one useful tool for myself - RSS-to-javascript.com, a freeware web-based tool that easily allows you to aggregate blog content into your personal blog. I'll put this on my "round to it" list to implement here in the future :-)

X