Blackboard will want me to be a BbWorld VIP blogger because

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Despite my well-known FaceBook profile pic that parodies NASCAR's endorsement strategies as applied to Higher Ed, I'm not one to lend my name, face, and social cred to just any ol' .edu startup. I will, however, probably poke under the hood of any HE app you want me to test drive, and then give you my unadulterated feedback on what works and what doesn't.  I'm at the point of feeling slightly nauseated by any blind email that starts with "Dear Greg - are you satisfied with your LMS strategy"? 

Well, yes, I am satisfied. I'm satisfied that SUNY has selected a partner (Blackboard) who has been wise enough to realize their organizational culture needed to shift, and tough enough to make those changes happen. I'm content that the customer-centric values of ANGEL have been brought to the fore.  I'm wise enough to know that I can dig my heels in on issues that matter, and that Bb will listen. 

So, honestly, would Bb want me as a blogger? And if so, why? Well, if we assume someone at the mothership reads this, and passes it up the chain, the following points will likely be well known inside the beltway:

1. I need to add more conference pins to my obsessive/compulsive collection
2. I need to validate my theory that Vegas is simply a plastic imitation of NOLA. This can only be done via an extensive field observation
3. The last time I flew to Vegas was heading into SuperBowl weekend. Do you have any idea what's it like to spend 6 hours on a plane with drunken fans of both teams on both sides of you?
4. I never collected on that "ANGEL users can come for free" comp - just sayin'. 
5. Ray follows me on Facebook - God help him
6. They already have my FB and Twitter feeds up on the Customer Support heads up displays in the NOC
7. Product Management visibly winces when they see me coming
8. I missed out on the beads, damn it
9. I enjoy snickering at Bb Learn "updates" that announce incorporating  existing ANGEL functionality
10. My loyalty can't be bought, but I have published rates for hourly rental
11. I often wonder why when talking open source, people say "free like free beer" or "free like a puppy", but they never say "free like a lasting communicable disease"
12. BbWorld is sort of like ComicCon, with the nerds, minus the cool  fanboy costumes
13. I secretly adore 70's disco
14. I really enjoy hearing Ray say "we're getting the band back together, man"
15. I will seriously debate you on the needed functionality of LTI 2.x after a few rounds
16. Some midwestern Bb users mistook me for their account rep while I was wandering down Bourbon St. No, I don't understand it either, but it got me free drinks, so it was all good
17. Someone in Bb senior leadership needs to appear in an Elvis jumpsuit, and I seriously need to see that
18. I can listen to Dave Mills and understand at least 50% of what he's talking about
19. As an ambassador for my institution, I get the chance to exclaim in my best "He-Man" voice "by the Power of SUNY!"
20. Lastly, and most importantly, Mike Buchanon will be very sad if I'm not there

LMS Bake off - who has the best tasting cookies?

Recently I am embarked on a suicide mission - er, research project - under the DOODLE aegis on behalf of SLN. In brief, as ANGEL heads towards end of life (EOL) in 2014 and SUNY will presumably contractually migrate to the Blackboard NG platform, we in the SUNY community need to perform due diligence and examine all feasible LMS alternatives.

To that end, a working group within DOODLE has been assembled from our membership. Our first task (nearly complete) is to document current functionality in ANGEL, and then begin the same level of analysis for Blackboard, Moodle, and Sakai. Other LMS systems will be kept on our "watch list" for future scrutiny and evaluation.

Some preliminary research by team member and colleague Clark Shah-Nelson can be viewed here:

https://confluence.delhi.edu/display/CIS/SUNY-Wide+LMS+Response

The EduTools site offers side by side feature/functionality comparisons, but is still somewhat out of sync with the market space (ANGEL 7.3 vs. 7.4 and apparently no evaluation of the Bb 9 series platform). That being said, however ,this is an admirable effort and is what our project team is shooting for.

The Socially Networked LMS

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

memory and multitasking study

A recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences contained a study that measured the effects of competing simultaneous tasks on memory and learning. Russell Poldrack, co-author of the study, provided the following commentary in an interview:

"Multitasking adversely affects how you learn," said Russell Poldrack, UCLA associate professor of psychology and co-author of the study.

"Even if you learn while multitasking, that learning is less flexible and more specialized, so you cannot retrieve the information as easily. Our study shows that to the degree you can learn while multitasking, you will use different brain systems.

"The best thing you can do to improve your memory is to pay attention to the things you want to remember. Our data support that. When distractions force you to pay less attention to what you are doing, you don't learn as well as if you had paid full attention."

Tasks that require more attention, such as learning calculus or reading Shakespeare, will be particularly adversely affected by multitasking, he said.

Poldrack notes that multi-tasking while engaged in learning new material will likely have an adverse affect on learning. Hopefully, some empirical evidence regarding multi-tasking will cut through the myths regarding the "gaming generation".

Oh Brother X, Where Art Thou?

Well, now that they discharged X from the Home for the Temporarily Disgruntled, it's time to catch up a bit. Here's some breaking news and random thoughts:

• Carey Hatch has been named Interim Director of SLN. Carey brings years of coalition building experience, particularly regarding the creation of SUNYConnect. Welcome aboard, Carey!
• Ken Udas has announced his departure to assume a leadership role with Penn State's World Campus Online distance learning initiative. X has no doubt that SLN's loss will be the Nittany Lions' gain. You know, as an SU alumn I can't stand losing ANYTHING to Penn State...
• X's mild mannered alter ego will be presenting at the SLOAN-C International Conference on Asynchronous Learnining Networks this fall with his esteemed colleagues on the blended learning pilot program in process at our institution.
• SUNY Cortland joins the iTunes bandwagon - see e-literati Alex Reid's thoughts on integrating podcasting into his course. Note Alex's thoughts on coursecasting and the dialog that ensues in the comments section.
  
  

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I've found that the particular theme of a given post derives from the title. So, you might guess that selecting the title FIRST is a somewhat arduous process. I initially had "Another Brick in the Wall" in my head, but frankly, the overarching themes of paranoia and bleak finality are a bit...much...for a thematic convention here. So, that brought me to the Thin White Duke, Ziggy Stardust, aka David Jones and the classic line "turn and face the strain" in "Changes". Which is exactly what we've done as a community these past few days...

I don't wish to comment on any personnel issues, or reporting structure issues that were discussed, as (a) official announcements should be forthcoming and (b)my journalistic heart knows that writing anything that could be considered libel is just not a good thing :-)Suffice it to say that the key personnel who are the heart and soul of SLN will continue to do Good Works. What seems to be worth talking about is just where we're at now ("standin' at the crossroads.." crooned Robert Johnson), and just where the Hell we're going next.

In order to set a course, pick a direction, and find out who we want to be when we're all growed up requires a decision by a committee. Before we veer off into committees, horses, and camels, I'll note that there is an apparently honest attempt at broad representation across the SUNY landscape. Since it is nearly overwhelmingly executive representation, there was an obvious concern voiced about listening to not only us- the resident Geek Squad- but also the faculty and our students. Whether we'll actually get this level of democratic involvement is an unknown at this stage.

Then there's the matter of the timeline. It seems maddeningly, dangerously short- but you have to stop and consider the alignment of the stars, Cassandra. ESC is on amazingly short timeline to evaluate their RFP responses and come to some decision of their own. Would it surprise any of us, then, if the Administration's need to get off the pot coincided with ESC's timing?

Speaking of ESC- we should all tip our hats to our colleagues for the incredible piece of work that they've accomplished- generating a well thought out, detailed map of all our requirements - and for the work that lies ahead, in evaluating vendor responses (are you guys going to sleep at all during this period?).

And what's my take on where we should go? Ah...all two of you who read this blog have already heard my thoughts. No, I'm not being coy; I've already expressed my thoughts publicly that an open source LMOS could indeed be a viable solution - once it reaches maturity. And I really do think that we should stop trying to teach this pig called Notes to sing/ It's time to find the tool that was intended for our purposes; rather than continuing to try to drive nails with a 2x4, we should be looking for a hammer. Yes, we could try to continue to develop the missing critical functionality, and we probably could keep the current system on life support beyond the projected three years, but would that truly serve our faculty users? Don't they deserve an interface that doesn't force them to learn arcane procedures just to publish their content? Shouldn't we be focusing on helping them *design* effective courses, rather than camouflaging holes in the LMS and writing that off as pedagogical issues (I'm talking about the criminal lack of a test engine here, folks)?

Well, here's my crackpot idea: We all would agree that our revenue stream of asynchronous learning needs a stable platform. We would probably agree that we're still groping the elephant when it comes to developing a systematized approach to blended learning. So, why not take a bi-directional approach? Phase in the new LMS, whatever it may be, for the fully online component. Continue to use Notes in the non-mission critical function of blended and web-enhanced learning. Develop an open source approach that will replace the Notes platform over time. As the open source LMS matures (and one would hopefully agree that noodling around with it in blending is non-destructive testing) we could offer asynch courses on eitherplatform. And everybody wins :-)

Of course, thinking aloud like this obviously demonstrates why X should not be in charge of technical thought leadership for this project:-)

Changing gears here at the end - these times when we can all come together in one place, to compare plans, tactics, annoyances, hopes, dreams, fears- this is the true essence of our community. If for no other reason than this, we should turn around and lock eyes with our Albanian delegation and say "thank you". United we stand, divided we fall. To our brethren late of The Tower, I say - you guys have extreme intestinal fortitude. I've rode the dot com roller coaster through boom and bust, and I've honestly lost count of how many leaders I've seen consigned off to "special assignment" gulags, waiting for their parachutes to deploy. I know what it feels like to walk around under a cloud, not knowing whatmight transpire the next time you set foot in the office. But hang in there, brothers and sisters, people get ready, there's a train a'comin...

of cabbages and kings

Well, ol' X has ruminated some, and perhaps its time to speak of the SLN dilemna. Now, don't go expecting any "Albany Insider" expose, here, people. I simply want to frame some of the issues that are on the table, causing much gut wrenching angst amongst my colleagues.

SLN, for those of you that don't know, has existed since its inception on a Lotus Notes platform. Yes, you heard me correctly; stop laughing. You have to recall that at this particular point in time Web-based learning systems were in their infancy. In fact, some of the prime contenders from that day and age have since disappeared (go dig up my sparkling review of TopClass from that era if you want a chuckle). So, given the systems at hand, and apparently at least a smidgeon of Notes development know-how, SLN was born.

Now, generally speaking, we all grow and mature over time. Software does this too, though often in ways that are described as "software bloat" (cf. any Microsloth app you can think of). SLN, because of it's unique neither fish nor fowl deployment of Notes as an LMS, has existed in a bit of a Bizzaro World parallel universe ("Bizzaro World Learning System am painful and non-intuitive for faculty users. Bizzaro LMS am complicated, thus good"). Possibly recognizing this, but more importantly realizing that IBM is finally letting the sands of time run out on Notes, SLN launched and RFCPR2D2 (ok, I can't really think of what to label it, got it?) that outlined the proposed structure of SLN 2.0. In what some might deem a clear case of hubris, the Albanian Faction came up with an amalgam of best of breed components to comprise an open source learning management system. Other than the fact that I keep hearing the Johnny Cash song "one piece at a time" in my head (Cash's character builds his own "dream car" by brining home components from the assembly line where he works), the plan as described needed a lot of stars to align in a big hurry. While I think there is great promise in the LAMS interoperability framework and other open source LMOS intiatives that has been proposed, a standard doth not a product make. Anyone ever measure the life cycle of an Internet standard?

One key item of interest to the campuses should have factored into this recommendation: our track record on the existing SLN 1.0 as a revenue stream. My impression is that the SUNY community at large recognizes the alternative/additional/supplimental revenue that is generated by online courses. Thus, CIO's and other responsible parties are loath to place a key financial operation on an untried platform that has no second tier commerical support.

Thus, (don't you love paragraphs that start with "thus.."?), the largest system user of SLN, Empire State College, has opted to go out to bid with it's own RFP for an LMS. ESC provides the lion's share of online courses within the SUNY system, which isn't suprising considering that it always has been a "virtual university" since it's inception. The key question here is whether so goeth ESC, thus goeth the rest of the pack. (OK, too many "thuses" in one paragraph-it's starting to sound too Old Testament).

X can't offer any further insights, because X, like Mongo "is pawn in game of life". It would appear that other fellow MIDs feel much the same way; thanks to one comrade's bold charge, the Provost will be present at the AC/MID summit to provide a system update.

Will this provide earth-shattering news? Will our heros survive? Tune in again-
same bat time-
same bat channel

Prensky Beat

Since I was curious about any research underpinnings to shore up Marc Prensky's TLT presentation on the "Digital Native" generation, I went trolling to DEOS-L. Here's the responses so far:

"There's Don Tapscott's "Growing up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation" (1998), an outline of which you can find at http://www.growingupdigital.com/ . However, when I read the book, I recall thinking that his sample of students was not really representative of the 'net generation' as a whole, but rather focused on a fairly privileged middle class to upper midle-class group. However, he mentions multi-processing only in passing.

Theoretically, the following article suggests that human brains in general are capable of multi-processing:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050718/multitasking.html
Human Brain's 'Mastermind' Located By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

July 20, 2005 - Humans attempt to do many things at the same time,
such as driving and chatting on the phone, or working and listening
to music, and now research suggests why such multitasking may be
possible: the brain appears to have its own control center.

However, I suspect that young brains are 'hard-wired' by the multiplicity of electronic media they're exposed to at a younger age and hence develop greater facility in multi-tasking" .....Alex Kuskis

Elizabeth Fanning, apparently so slouch at educational game design herself, said this:
"i'm very familiar with marc prensky and his work. despite the logic of what prensky may have to say about natives and non-natives, after having worked as an instructional designer and in adult learning for more than 15 years, i would have to say that as a species, we are more adaptable than it might be suggested that age limits us in being. that is, i have been pleasantly surprised by older people adapting to creating new schema frameworks based on how we can currently access and process information. unfortunately, i know of no formal studies on this, although a friend of mine did do a pilot study to explore it further, using instant messaging and computation tasks -- and found no significant difference."


Lastly, Andrew Chambers' take:
"Personally as a grad student in cognition and education I doubt there is much research yet. I have seen little other than some theoretical musings. However there is a need for clarity on "perform multiple tasks simultaneously". The way the brain processes and stores information depending on the theory you use always requires a user to selectively attend to information as only limited processing can take place "simultaneosuly". There are some who theorise the Net Natives can switch between tasks faster and can thus selectively attend quicker and handle more information than those who haven't been steeped in the new mediums. In essence they aren't processing information in parallel or simultaneosuly, the brains layout and design doesn't really allow for this but they are supposedly attending to more information more quickly.

What is needed is empirical evidence of these heightened abilities. Don't be surprised that they can't come up with evidence as a lot of these researchers simply aren't researchers and their premises are not based on empirical evidence or the research findings are extrapolated from other areas. Whether this extrapolation or "transfer" of findings is valid is the question. Remember that those in business are their to sell you their ideas and services not to do scientificly accurate
studies. Be wary of hype.

Whether quality learning comes from being able to do 3 things simultaneously will depend on how much the information streams complement or interfere with each other and whether there is overloading of short term memory etc. (according to some classic theories of memory and learning)

Personally I believe that ANYONE can become net native it just takes time and practice. In other words one can learn to deal with large amounts of information. All brains are plastic and fluid and can adjust to new complex environments regardless of age and how information is delivered. Having used computers for over 25 years and the net for 15 I could be said to have some of the skills of the net natives. Then again anyone who has been using computers that long or longer would also be in the same league.

The more interesting question is how they are using the technologies. For instance video blogging, chatting, IMing etc and how this could be applied in the learning process. Closing the gap between what they do now and how we build and use classic learning management systems and learning tools is a major issue today. As someone responsible for training academic staff, developing new systems etc it is my job to
close this gap whether it is real or imagined...

See Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?:
, but be warned Prensky does state at the very top: "Here I present evidence for why I think this is so." This is obviously not a scientific refereed article. I agree with some of the theories espoused here but as you state one just needs hard research evidence..."

So there you have it. Any Ph.D candidates out there need a project?

If at first you don't succeed...

Last week we had the pleasure of gathering for TLT in Albany. One of the highlights was listening to Marc Prensky speak about the "Digital Natives" generation and their expectations regarding engagement. The notion of engagement in regards to motivation and it's relationship to learner success has been on the table since John Keller described his ARCS model of motivation;so I won't say I was particularly startled by Prensky's comments. One element that was implicit in his presentation, but never really stated, was that most really good game play is incremental, in that your experience builds from a succession of failures.

Think about that for a second: why do we stick with certain games? Because they suck? Because we can beat the system senseless in no time flat? Even if you're ancient like me, you can recall that even the most primitive, crappy interface can hook you for hours (Come on, who had an Atari and remembers Pong? Raise your hands..). Now, let's flip back to ARCS for a second, with this comment from Driscoll: "Students gain confidence in their own abilities when they experience success at challenging tasks" (Fernandez and Dabbagh, citing Driscoll, 1993, p.312). A challenge can really only produce two results: success, or failure. We often think only in terms of learner success and satisfaction. How often do we consider the concept of learner discomfort as a tool that builds knowledge and skills?

One committee I sit on is considering how to create a comforting, encouraging, warm, fuzzy, safe, makes me think of Mom and Home environment for our campus library. Well, possbily "makes me think of Barnes and Noble" is a better descriptor, but at any rate- one member pulled up this article that focuses primarily on the notion that computers can learn. Roger Schank's response follows his pet theory that humans learn through failure. I've seen Schank put this concept into play in a CD-ROM that trained non-profit managers how to deal with people. In a great scenario, you, the learner had to choose how to deal with a particulary angry man of the cloth who needed to speak to you RIGHT NOW about a pressing issue. At this decision point, I recall that you could (a)listen to the Padre's complaints or (b)blow him off by filtering him through your secretary. Choosing (b) later results in said Man of God showing up at your Board meeting, rising out of the audience and shaking his finger at you, decrying that you were "too busy" to deal with him when issue x wasn't a crisis. Hoo boy, talk about discomfort :-)

Now, to attempt to pull these threads together: What Schank posits is that learning can occur from failure - from "lessons learned", if you will. I would guess that if you polled any avid gamer about why they play Halo, Doom, "Let's Count Sand", whatever- you would find that it is the *challenge* of trying to beat the system - to win. But we know that winning takes many hours of time invested, thought, perhaps cribbing strategies from fellow gamers- but it also takes many hours of "got the humanoid- got the invader" type failures - incremental failures- to move towards the ultimate goal. In closing, I'll quote from my colleague Doug Deal:

"...but we should not forget that intellectual encounters--if they are to have lasting results--should involve challenge and discomfort, the edge of anxiety that characterizes the unsettled mind in the learning process. Can we find a way to do justice to the lurching uncertainties, the risks to complacency, and the abandonment of what is comfortable--the common side-effects of intellectual engagement of the serious variety? Gathering information is, on one level, a simple and fairly benign process, but shaping information into new knowledge, distilling deeper insights from that knowledge (flirting with "wisdom" here)... surely these evoke emotions and mind-states other than those we associate with the comforts of bean-counting"
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Pod people

Duke Univeristy is hosting a symposium on podcasting Sept 27-28. Elements of this should be available online...

There seems to be great interest in integrating podcasts and RSS feeds into the learning mix. Apparently podcasts can be used to distribute content other than mere audio files - text files such as pdfs can be pushed as well. I see the ability to push content as a plus - this is why I've leaned heavily on listservs to notify students of class meetintg schedules, assignment due dates, etc. It removes the variable of attentativeness - "I didn't know this was due; was it in the syllabus"? - a really basic level of grokking that some students just either can't master, or aren't motivated sufficiently to take on the responsibility of self-direction (rememer that I've dealt primarily with community college students to date).

Although the hype for push technology came and went in the early 90's (remember those desktop clients that sucked down news feeds, stock tickers and other crap that cluttered your desktop, consumed bandwidth on the LAN, and just generally distracted you from doing actual work?), RSS and podcasting, along with legacy technologies like list serves, seem to denote not only a need but perhaps an actual desire to have aggregrated content sentto you, rather than performing traditional inet hunter/gatherer googling scavenger hunts.

Where's Waldo?

Where I have been, you ask? OK, so nobody asked - it was rhetorical freakin' QUESTION, ALL RIGHT?
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Anyway, yes, the avalanche of Fall start up hit, and hit hard. Not so much in dealing with making sure courses were up, profs were alive and actually in their courses, as much as being on the receiving end of a litany of complaints about system slowness. And yes...it...is...sloooooow. Why? Don't ask me - I just handle the pedagogical aspects here. Anecdotal evidence derived from chatting with my profs suggests that at least some students have dropped online courses out of frustation. Yikes.

Rather than add yet another pitchfork to the angry throng of MIDizens chasing after the SLN development team, I reached out and pulled a favor. Got some Keynote data from my old boss, Bob- thanks, Bob, I owe you at least one pint at Clark's - more like two or three.

Will it help? Dunno; but it doesn't hurt to pitch in where you can.

On another front, I've learned a possible workaround in my laptop configuration dilemna. Without spilling top-secret campus security policies, I'll just say that what I thought was an aberration (not allowing an authenticated login via LDAP) is the norm, and that in some cases....insert redacted text here :-) So, I'm off to a wireless hotspot to perform a little "experiment"...

Monday, Monday...ahhhr

This Monday is National Talk Like a Pirate Day. That's right, ye swabs, you heard me!

My pirate name is:

Dirty Tom Kidd

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Avast with yer simpering complaints about server performance and yer molly coddlin' learnin' styles - we'll be sailin' the high seas o' knowledge and takin' NO PRISONERS :-)

The horror...the...horror...

Ever feel like you're on a slow boat to nowhere, searching for an overweight Marlon Brando in pyjamas? No? I didn't think so, but we'll use that mnemonic to bridge to a brief bang your head against the concrete anecdote from this review cycle.

One of my remote profs, who's taught before, had her course ready...uhm, sort of. She had students emailing her assignments, emailing written work, and creating a written summary of their discussion posts, and emailing that too! And emailing back a word doc version of a quiz. I *thought* her previous course actually had these types of activities in there, but maybe a ghostwriting ID'er somewhere helped her out the first time. Regardless, we got it back on track to actually utlize the technology at hand....

Another one had about 12 discussion threads per module, multiple multiple starter questions, all in all the Bataan Death March of online courses. Turns out she was pretty much orphaned between the time my predecessor left and I arrived, so she just "made stuff up" by herself as she went along. Eek!

On the bright side, we found a way to condense down the course info section using a tabbed table layout trick. Kudos to Herr Prusch for that gimme....it does sort of open the door mentally to really seeing the limitations of the current Notes driven CMS, and the "wouldn't it be nice if.." design postulations that could provide some visual cueing as to *where* in the labrynth of learning the student is...