There many famous quotes and expressions related to change and innovation that imply that what we see around us everyday is basically what we already have seen; i.e., today is the same as yesterday. For instance, the obvious one is “the more things change, the more things stay the same.” Another is “Yesterday comes like today.” How about this one that I found in Wikiquote (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Geoff_Dyer): “They made two thousand years ago seem like yesterday, and yesterday looked like today, just as today would, in time, look like tomorrow” by Geoff Dyer. In contrast, the 9th president of Turkey, Süleyman Demirel said “Yesterday is yesterday, today is today” (see http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/S%C3%BCleyman_Demirel).
Well, some of what I see happening in relation to the use of technology in education reminds me of the past. However, much of it has some freshness that is worth writing about. Let’s see if you agree.
Twenty Years Back:. Back in the late 1980s when I was just a wee young lad studying collaborative reading and writing back at the University of Wisconsin (age 7 or 8), there were numerous methods that were developed and researched and dozens more that were likely never researched. For example, there were generic cooperative learning methods such as student Team Learning techniques like Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) and Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT) from Robert Slavin and others at Johns Hopkins University which were more behaviorally based. At the same time, there was the Learning Together method as well as Structured Controversy from David and Roger Johnson at the Cooperative Learning Center the University of Minnesota which were both more humanistically based. There were several other generic cooperative learning methods that could also be used for reading and writing.
At some point there was a flurry of techniques developed specific to the reading and writing area. Much of this flurry paralleled the rise in meacognitive strategy research in the cognitive psychology camp. I do not have the time nor the space to detail each method here but I have a really old and never officially published paper on this if anyone wants. For instance, around 1988 many people were talking about the success of the Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) method which Robert Stevens researched when at Johns Hopkins. There was also research on Reciprocal Teaching which Anne Marie Palincsar and Anne Brown made highly popular when at the University of Illinois; it is popular today. Then there was the MURDER/Cooperative Scripts technique which Don Dansereau and his colleagues at Texas Christian University designed and researched for helping with the comprehension of text in pairs. Note that back when I was at West Virginia University, Deb Clarke and I developed a similar technique called READERS, but that is another story for another day. In contrast to these peer-based and cooperative methods, other techniques that took a more personalized or individualized stance including Reading Recovery (Pinnell, 1989), and Success for All (Slavin et al., 1990). Interestingly, these two methods you still here about today!
For all you Web 2.0 and e-learning geeks, there were technology-based approaches for collaboratively developing reading, writing, and other skills such as Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environments (CSILE) from my friends at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) (Scardamalia, Bereiter, McLean, Swallow, & Woodruff, 1989). CSILE morphed into the Knowledge Forum about a decade ago. Also interesting to me was the Reading Partner and Writing Partner approaches wherein, like my dissertation, technology was used as a tool or collaborative partner operating in the zone of proximal development of the learner (see work of Salomon, Globerson, and Guterman, 1989 as well as Zellermayer, Salomon, Globerson, & Givon, 1991). Then there was the work of John Bransford and his colleagues at the Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (Bransford, Sherwood, & Hasselbring, 1988) which designed numerous instructionally "anchoring" situations called "macrocontexts." Macrocontexts are a shared knowledge or experience base (back in those days they were typically films adapted to video) that help learners focus on collaborative meaning making activities, small group dialogue, and the building of multiple perspectives. With the explosion of online video during the past few years, macrocontexts and anchoring instruction is definitely alive and well in the twenty-first century. Now you can anchor your instruction in a common YouTube, TeacherTube, CNN, or Yahoo video which your class can watch (or potentially create).
In addition to macrocontexts and anchoring instruction, what does this have to do with today? Well every single method mentioned above were multicomponent strategies. They were called “kitchen sink” approaches to instruction since everything was thrown in (e.g., discussion, peer feedback, modeling, questioning, reflection, debate, etc.). In fact, the research at the time on cooperative scripts and reciprocal teaching was highly focused on determining which strategy or feature was vital to making any of them work. However, that was the kicker—there was no one key strategy. Everything was needed!
Back to Today: And that, my friends, leads me to this reflection on my own teaching the past few weeks and this entire fall. I have been trying out things that involve many pedagogical ideas meshed and intertwined with each other. For the most part, they have worked great. But, just like those cooperative reading and collaborative writing methods that I studied in the 1980s, none of these would have worked so well if I had forgotten a piece. Perhaps that is why teaching is an art and a science. Here are ten of these pedagogical ideas and inventions (all briefly stated):
Ten Ideas Where Multi-Pedagogies Meet Multi-Technologies:
1. Synchronous Webinar plus Asynchronous Discussion: Three weeks ago, my students in my learning theories class (see syllabus at http://php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk/P540_syllabus_fall_2007.htm) had a Breeze (now Adobe Connect Pro) meeting with the famous instructional design professor from Utah State, Dr. David Merrill. He was marvelous and the session was as well (we recorded the final 53 minutes of it; you can find it here: http://breeze.iu.edu/p62836909/; ignore the first few minutes with feedback in the system). But this was a capstone event. Before meeting Dr. Merrill in Breeze, my students read and discussed some of his articles online and watched a videostreamed lecture he gave at Florida State University last April (see http://mediasite.oddl.fsu.edu/mediasite/Catalog/Front.aspx?cid=faec6088-49ee-4d37-967d-6d09bb49ca25; go to page 2). Combining such pedagogical approaches was highly powerful. They read, discussed and debated, watched, brainstormed about, and then met Dr. David Merrill. Along the way, they used at least four different technologies.
2. Improvisation: After the Breeze session, I had my students do some improvisation of their learning theories (in a similar fashion to a performance I merrily witnessed at the Comedy Store in London last year); I am always on the lookout for ideas to enhance my teaching. Here I had students read ideas from their reflections on their learning and teaching philosophies. Some of these were on paper and others came from posts in our online discussion forum. If I liked what they were saying, I blew a train whistle at random moments and they went to the end of the line and stayed in the competition. If I did not like it or they hemmed and hawed or repeated themselves, I rang a bell and they had to sit down. I did this in groups of 4 students. The ones left standing at the end got a trophy. The train whistle and the bell were the main technologies used here though they might have posted their philosophies to Oncourse. Improv is fun and cool.
3. Wikibook Critiquing, Editing, and Creating: At the same time, this class was creating a Wikibook on the “Practice of Learning Theories” (the POLT; see http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_Learning_Theories) with students from the University of Houston. But first this class critiqued an existing wikibook on learning theories from Michael Orey’s class at the University of Georgia (see critiques at http://wow-iu-uh.wikispaces.com/ and Mike's Wikibook at http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page. Then they edited an existing Wikibook on learning theories and learning theorists from Dale Fowler’s class at Indiana Wesleyan. In effect, this is likely the first class to ever critique a wikibook, edit a wikibook, and produce one of their own. We ended with a capstone videoconference between Indiana and Houston students. Again, there were many things combined in here. Student chapter drafts were edited by their instructors and peers before posting.
4. Wikibook Global Collaboration: In my other class on the Web 2.0 and Participatory e-Learning (see http://mypage.iu.edu/~cjbonk/Syllabus_R685_Fall_of_2007.htm), during the past few weeks, my students and I designed a Wikibook on “The Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies” or “The WELT”). Peers from the Open University of Malaysia, Beijing Normal University, National Chiao Tung University, and Indiana State have all been involved in this wikibook project. Individual work plus peer feedback from around the world and now anyone can edit it! This is so cool. Check it out: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Web_2.0_and_Emerging_Learning_Technologies. Perhaps you can make a contribution! Note that students also reflected on their learning from their wikibook chapter.
5. Second Life from the Source: In the Web 2.0 and Participatory e-Learning class (i.e., R685), two weeks ago we had a guest lecture from Sarah Robbins (alias “Intellagirl” in Second Life; see http://home.intellagirl.com/). I had her make an appearance only my students read about Second Life (SL) and watched educational videos in YouTube related to it. During my class, Sarah talked about her upcoming book, “Second Life for Dummies” which I recommend some of you check out. My students were amazed with her presentation style. So, in this approach, we had a live demonstration of SL after watching SL videos and reading about SL.
6. Wiki Research Panel: In the previous week, we had a wiki research panel of graduate students and faculty members (wherein I participated). First we read articles on wikis, then they heard research on wikipedia and wikibooks, and then, as stated earlier, they wrote their own wikibooks. Multi-pedagogical approaches and multi-technologies.
7. Blogging Plus: The R685 class also did blogging for a class assignment and had an option to create a YouTube video, video podcast (i.e., vodcast), or video blog (i.e., vlog) in place of one of their other assignments. This worked pretty well. Some students did not look forward to critical friend feedback but they grew to liking it. Some students received feedback from the author of the articles they were reflecting on. Now that is cool and something that was much more rare or impossible previously. With the blog assignment was a reflection paper and peer feedback from an assigned critical friend on each blog. Multiple levels of reflection!
8. Online Explorations for Class Role Plays: The Web 2.0 class also engaged in role play during the semester related to the free and open source software movement. First they had to find out as much information as they could about the person whom they were to role play (most of it online). Then they were to read his or her assigned articles (which were all online). It was quite fun and fascinating.
9. Podcast Explorations: I also had my students listen to a podcast and critique it during the week we were reading about podcasts (again all online articles). And three times during the semester, we had a podcast made in iTunes of the lecture. We experienced podcast then in multiple ways—listened, created, and read about them.
10. YouTube Anchors and Enders: Finally, I had my P540 (learning theory) students sign up to be the cool resource provider for the class one week during the semester. In addition to online articles and portals, they had to find online videos such as YouTube videos to show that relates to the weekly assigned readings. These videos can anchor their instruction at the beginning of class as well as end the class meeting. As they found out, there are thousands of educational videos you can use. We post these to our course management system to watch later if they want. One day, we watched short online videos from George Siemens about Connectivism and then we brainstormed questions to ask him. George replied via email to the class. How cool was that! We all should be using short online videos in our teaching at least a couple of times per course. They are free, they are available in many formats and from many sources, and they are at your fingertips (no longer do you need to complete a silly form to get the video from an AV department). In addition, you can feel less guilty not showing the entire video. Hec, you can always show it again later on or students can access it on their own before or after class. Video in instruction is now on demand and highly flexible AND it can be the anchor of your lectures. Dual coding theory in action--your verbal lectures or course readings plus a few short YouTube or CNN videos. Wow--this is so cool!
So, combining pedagogies and combining technologies was my approach this fall. Like the strategies from the 1980s, mentioned earlier, I tried multicomponent methods. I threw in the kitchen sink! I am not sure what worked best or why it worked, but, as a whole, it worked and that is the important thing. Increasingly instructors will be relying on teaching techniques which are multicomponent. There is so much to do and so many opportunities. Time to turn on the juice!
We live in a time when people talk about multi-tasking and multi-literacies. I think we have to start discussing multi-pedagogies and multi-technologies. Yesterday is yesterday, and today is today; so let’s find more ways to live in today and take advantage of what is here now or in front of us.
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Sunday, 9 December 2007
New blog layout and e-learning in Thailand (can you say "Oum"?)
1. New blog look and feel: Ok, whatcha all think of my new blog layout? I tightened it up a bit and adopted the style of Cool Cat Teacher, Vicky Davis (see http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/).
I got her blessing and approval before doing this, of course. And she asked to post a link to my new Facebook group “Bonkian YouTubian Researchian” for my YouTube research: http://indiana.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6703696942. If you are not into Facebook, just go here to participate: http://trainingshare.com/video/
=================
2. E-Learning Conference in Bangkok: I was in Bangkok almost exactly a year ago for an e-learning conference. It was a fabulous time there! My friend, Ta Boonseng, a doctoral student from the University of Missouri, brought me there. I will see Ta in St. Louis next Sunday for my birthday and the Packers-Rams football game. I have been a Green Bay Packer fan since I will a little kid. St. Louis is only 4 hours away so not too bad. That will be a ton of fun! Ta, is great--he had bands from 6 pubs sing happy birthday to me last year on December 16th on my bday. He also had the entire conference sing happy bday to me. The previous week I was in Taiwan, so it was quite the trip! If you want to read more about that TravelinEdMan adventure, go to this blog post: http://travelinedman.blogspot.com/2006_12_22_archive.html
I love Thailand--they sing very nicely there! Smile. Yesterday, my friend, Oum, in Bangkok, Thailand asked me to mention her great e-learning conference and workshop coming up in March in Bangkok as well as Pattaya, Thailand. Oum, also known as Dr. Amornvan Limsommut is the Director of e-Learning Center at Suan Dusit Rajabhat University in Bangkok. She is a wonderful coordinator of this conference with much passion, energy, and creative marketing for the field of e-learning. If you want more information, just contact Oum; her email is: limsommut@hotmail.com.
More details are provided below. It will be a great time of year to go to Thailand! Bring your swimsuits...ok! I may go. Not yet determined. Here is the information you need:
“International conference and workshop on e-Learning strategies: Edutainment & Exhibition on e-Learning product and service providers” March 7th–11th, 2008* Bangkok and Pattaya, Thailand
* Conference date 7th and 9th March 2008 in Bangkok
* Workshop date 10th – 11th March 2008 in Pattaya
organized by e-Learning Center, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Thailand
The theme of the event serves a multi-disciplinary forum for the discussion and exchange of information on both research, development, and applications related to e-Learning in both theoretical and technological perspectives, edutainment, hardware, software development, digital content, instructional design, LMS, LCMS, Mobile Learning, system integration Standard, Communication and collaboration etc.
***All topics about e-Learning are welcome***
Highlights:
- International Conference on e-Learning strategies: Edutainment
-Exhibition and Showcase on e-Learning product and service providers both freeware and commercial
- e- Learning Network Building Workshop on collaborative and teamwork building in beautiful Koh Larn, Pattaya which has so far been a traveler paradise. It is truly a sought-after island for enthusiasts of coral snorkeling, sheer white sandy beaches and cerulean blue sea - an image of Andaman Sea.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SUBMITTING YOUR PAPERS, DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES!
Call for papers and participations:
* Abstract submission deadline: 13th January 2008
* Full-paper submission deadline: 3rd February 2008
Registration: Deadline: 29th Feb 2008.
Registration can be made online or download the form to complete offline at http://www.elearning.dusit.ac.th/conference2008/
Fees: Type Early-bird Registration fee
Activity A USD 120 (until 31st January 2008) USD 150(since 1st February 2008)
Activity B USD 400 (until 31st January 2008) USD 500 (since 1st February 2008)
Activity A (3 days Conference in Bangkok, Thailand):
Fee includes Conference registration fee, 3 lunches, 5 coffee breaks, a welcome cruise dinner, Bangkok sightseeing tour and a conference proceedings.
Activity B (2 days Workshop at Pattaya: Kho Larn Island, Thailand):
Fee includes 1 Night 5 star hotel with Breakfast, lunch and dinner, all transportations, all sessions of workshop.
Note: The organizer reserves the right to cancel Activity B if the number of registered participants for Activity B is less than 25. In such case, full refund will be provided.
Program Activities:
* Keynote Speakers
* Invited Panels/Speakers
* Papers
* Panels
* Demonstrations/Posters
* Corporate Showcases & Demonstrations
* Workshops on e-Learning network building (at Kho Larn, Pattaya)
* Executive meeting on sharing e-Learning Products and services
Recommended Accommodation for the Conference:
Suan Dusit Place Hotel (right at the conference venue): http://www.dusitplace.com
** We offer reservation service at this hotel upon your registration **
Register now at http://www.elearning.dusit.ac.th/conference2008
Further information:
Please visit the conference site at http://www.elearning.dusit.ac.th/conference2008
Organized by:
e-Learning Center, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University,
295 Ratchasima Rd.
Dusit, Bangkok, Thailand, 10300
Tel: +(66 2) 244-5315
Mobile: +(66 8) 9814-1020
Fax: +(66 2) 244-5315
E-mail: elearning@dusit.ac.th
Enjoy the conference and Bangkok if you go.
I got her blessing and approval before doing this, of course. And she asked to post a link to my new Facebook group “Bonkian YouTubian Researchian” for my YouTube research: http://indiana.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6703696942. If you are not into Facebook, just go here to participate: http://trainingshare.com/video/
=================
2. E-Learning Conference in Bangkok: I was in Bangkok almost exactly a year ago for an e-learning conference. It was a fabulous time there! My friend, Ta Boonseng, a doctoral student from the University of Missouri, brought me there. I will see Ta in St. Louis next Sunday for my birthday and the Packers-Rams football game. I have been a Green Bay Packer fan since I will a little kid. St. Louis is only 4 hours away so not too bad. That will be a ton of fun! Ta, is great--he had bands from 6 pubs sing happy birthday to me last year on December 16th on my bday. He also had the entire conference sing happy bday to me. The previous week I was in Taiwan, so it was quite the trip! If you want to read more about that TravelinEdMan adventure, go to this blog post: http://travelinedman.blogspot.com/2006_12_22_archive.html
I love Thailand--they sing very nicely there! Smile. Yesterday, my friend, Oum, in Bangkok, Thailand asked me to mention her great e-learning conference and workshop coming up in March in Bangkok as well as Pattaya, Thailand. Oum, also known as Dr. Amornvan Limsommut is the Director of e-Learning Center at Suan Dusit Rajabhat University in Bangkok. She is a wonderful coordinator of this conference with much passion, energy, and creative marketing for the field of e-learning. If you want more information, just contact Oum; her email is: limsommut@hotmail.com.
More details are provided below. It will be a great time of year to go to Thailand! Bring your swimsuits...ok! I may go. Not yet determined. Here is the information you need:
“International conference and workshop on e-Learning strategies: Edutainment & Exhibition on e-Learning product and service providers” March 7th–11th, 2008* Bangkok and Pattaya, Thailand
* Conference date 7th and 9th March 2008 in Bangkok
* Workshop date 10th – 11th March 2008 in Pattaya
organized by e-Learning Center, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Thailand
The theme of the event serves a multi-disciplinary forum for the discussion and exchange of information on both research, development, and applications related to e-Learning in both theoretical and technological perspectives, edutainment, hardware, software development, digital content, instructional design, LMS, LCMS, Mobile Learning, system integration Standard, Communication and collaboration etc.
***All topics about e-Learning are welcome***
Highlights:
- International Conference on e-Learning strategies: Edutainment
-Exhibition and Showcase on e-Learning product and service providers both freeware and commercial
- e- Learning Network Building Workshop on collaborative and teamwork building in beautiful Koh Larn, Pattaya which has so far been a traveler paradise. It is truly a sought-after island for enthusiasts of coral snorkeling, sheer white sandy beaches and cerulean blue sea - an image of Andaman Sea.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SUBMITTING YOUR PAPERS, DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES!
Call for papers and participations:
* Abstract submission deadline: 13th January 2008
* Full-paper submission deadline: 3rd February 2008
Registration: Deadline: 29th Feb 2008.
Registration can be made online or download the form to complete offline at http://www.elearning.dusit.ac.th/conference2008/
Fees: Type Early-bird Registration fee
Activity A USD 120 (until 31st January 2008) USD 150(since 1st February 2008)
Activity B USD 400 (until 31st January 2008) USD 500 (since 1st February 2008)
Activity A (3 days Conference in Bangkok, Thailand):
Fee includes Conference registration fee, 3 lunches, 5 coffee breaks, a welcome cruise dinner, Bangkok sightseeing tour and a conference proceedings.
Activity B (2 days Workshop at Pattaya: Kho Larn Island, Thailand):
Fee includes 1 Night 5 star hotel with Breakfast, lunch and dinner, all transportations, all sessions of workshop.
Note: The organizer reserves the right to cancel Activity B if the number of registered participants for Activity B is less than 25. In such case, full refund will be provided.
Program Activities:
* Keynote Speakers
* Invited Panels/Speakers
* Papers
* Panels
* Demonstrations/Posters
* Corporate Showcases & Demonstrations
* Workshops on e-Learning network building (at Kho Larn, Pattaya)
* Executive meeting on sharing e-Learning Products and services
Recommended Accommodation for the Conference:
Suan Dusit Place Hotel (right at the conference venue): http://www.dusitplace.com
** We offer reservation service at this hotel upon your registration **
Register now at http://www.elearning.dusit.ac.th/conference2008
Further information:
Please visit the conference site at http://www.elearning.dusit.ac.th/conference2008
Organized by:
e-Learning Center, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University,
295 Ratchasima Rd.
Dusit, Bangkok, Thailand, 10300
Tel: +(66 2) 244-5315
Mobile: +(66 8) 9814-1020
Fax: +(66 2) 244-5315
E-mail: elearning@dusit.ac.th
Enjoy the conference and Bangkok if you go.
Friday, 7 December 2007
Join My New Facebook Group for YouTube Research Project: "Bonkian YouTubian Researchian" Need 1,000 Respondents by New Years!
My research team and I are conducting research on the motivational and educational aspects of YouTube and have created a Facebook group for it. We need 1,000 respondents by January 1st. Please join this new Facebook group and participate in this research or pass this email on to your friends.
New Facebook Group: “Bonkian YouTubian Researchian”: http://indiana.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6703696942
Or, if you want to skip Facebook and still participate, just go to http://trainingshare.com/video/ and click on the video or the link.
Purpose of Research: What motivates people to watch, create, share, or comment on YouTube videos? Participate in this survey research on YouTube by Dr. Curt Bonk and his colleagues at Indiana University: click to http://trainingshare.com/video/. Take a survey on one of 60 of the most popular YouTube videos of all time. Some are educational, some in arts and entertainment, some political and environmental, some sports related, some comedy, and some are on emerging technologies. Take a random survey and get a chance to win an iPhone and an iPod. This research study just started and you can help by taking a few minutes to complete one of the surveys. Goal: 1,000 respondents by New Years! You can be one of them! You too can be a YouTubian research participant.
For those that love YouTube, here is a link to a list of all 60 popular videos used in this research project that you can watch or share:
http://travelinedman.blogspot.com/2007/09/popular-youtube-video-survey-research.html
The above link also explains this project in a bit more detail.
Holiday cheers and thanks!
Curt
New Facebook Group: “Bonkian YouTubian Researchian”: http://indiana.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6703696942
Or, if you want to skip Facebook and still participate, just go to http://trainingshare.com/video/ and click on the video or the link.
Purpose of Research: What motivates people to watch, create, share, or comment on YouTube videos? Participate in this survey research on YouTube by Dr. Curt Bonk and his colleagues at Indiana University: click to http://trainingshare.com/video/. Take a survey on one of 60 of the most popular YouTube videos of all time. Some are educational, some in arts and entertainment, some political and environmental, some sports related, some comedy, and some are on emerging technologies. Take a random survey and get a chance to win an iPhone and an iPod. This research study just started and you can help by taking a few minutes to complete one of the surveys. Goal: 1,000 respondents by New Years! You can be one of them! You too can be a YouTubian research participant.
For those that love YouTube, here is a link to a list of all 60 popular videos used in this research project that you can watch or share:
http://travelinedman.blogspot.com/2007/09/popular-youtube-video-survey-research.html
The above link also explains this project in a bit more detail.
Holiday cheers and thanks!
Curt
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
Hearing your words via computer: Podcasted research is a whole new teaching tool!
It was a good day to publish today. Three research articles got out--2 in the International Review of Research of Research on Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL); see http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/index and 1 in the Journal of Interactive Online Learning (JIOL); see http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/showissue.cfm?volID=6&IssueID=21. These are listed below.
But what is amazing is not the free downloadable PDF files (i.e., text) but the audio or MP3 files with the IRRODL articles. I know that this journal has had this audio feature in for 2 years now, but I never noticed it before. Of course, the journal is using open source software and not paying for AT&T voices, but it still sounds very cool (better than I remember writing them). And they are being used by people in several countries in Africa. Now that is way cool. Why doesn't every journal do this? Or at least every open access journal? We could then be working on resolving some of our serious digital divide problems. Ok, I will admit that this idea requires Internet access by someone to download the files.
What about others? Imagine if my graduate students (or your students) had all their articles in audio format! They could listen to research while attending their son's swim meets or daughter's soccer games. They could listen to them when driving to class and have them fresh in their minds. They could listen them when running during lunch or after work. They could share them with other students, colleagues at work, or even friends and relatives. Imagine if your mother could ask you questions about some new model, method, or idea she heard on her iPod or MP3 player when listening to your article during the holiday season? Imagine speaking to an audience in Africa, China, or India which heard your article or many of your articles; not simply heard about you.
Text is great and journals provide us with increasing access to text. But, let me tell you, when you hear your article (even when read my a stale robotic voice), it is a highly pleasurable experience. It takes weeks or months (and sometimes years) to think through your ideas and put them to paper in a publishable manner. But what happens when they are played back to you in 30 minutes or perhaps an hour. You hear your ideas pressing up against other ideas that you had. And when it is a collaborative effort (as most of mine are), you see how you were able to weave your distinct voices together. That is really the coolest part. You certainly can see the voices come together in text. However, that is not anywhere near the joy I felt when hearing one of my articles tonight; even if the computer voice pronounced "reification" as "rife-ication." I can read, save, and print out the text file; but to listen to it is refreshing. It is like having someone in the room with you present your ideas back to you.
How else to use? Here are 10 ideas off the top of my head (took 5-10 minutes to generate these so there must be tons more!)
1. Idea Rehearsals Via Audio: Perhaps as a way of thinking or rehearsing through a presentation on an article. You can hear the computer voice and know you can do better. Maybe have the audio file play for 20 or 30 seconds and then pause it and you repeat it or summarize the points made.
2. Audio Quote Summaries: Perhaps use it for short quotes--cue up the audio to the right spot and have the computer read the article aloud to the class and then have student reflections on each quote or story.
3. Random Audio Snippets: Play random 15 to 30 second sections of the MP3 file and ask the class to make sense of them. Simply click on different parts of the audio--you never know what you will play, nor do they.
4. Stump the Class Idea Audios: Play a 5 or 10 or 15 minute chunk of a popular article that your students have not read and ask them to figure out the author without looking it up online. Figure it out through discussion.
5. Post Audio Expert Interviews: Ask the original authors to comment on a particular audio snippet from the article that you play for them.
6. Audio Splicing: Have students find a way to splice sections of audio recordings of different articles and have them try to create a theme or pattern. See if the class can determine where it was spliced in.
7. Audio Learning Alternatives: Have students download the audio and listen to it in a place where they never have studied in the past. Ask them to reflect on their learning.
8. Multi-Sensory Experiences: Have students listen to one article from an author, read another one, and also watch him or her deliver a speech or presentation in an online streamed video or conference presentation. Ask them to compare and contrast the three formats--read, see, and hear.
9. Multi-Sensory Experiences with Author Capstone: After #8, brainstorm questions about the articles, podcast, or video and then invite that person (or persons if joint efforts) into class and discuss these questions with him or her.
10. Best of Article Audio Creations: Create your own audio or MP3 file of articles your class is reading from a particular journal. Maybe read or listen to a special journal issue and have your students pull out he key concepts and create an MP3 file of them and then share this with the journal editors. Perhaps they will publish this "best of" podcast.
Those are just a few ideas I had in 5-10 minutes of thinking about this. I am sure you all can come out with dozens more. For more ideas, you can order this book (coming out next July):
Bonk, C. J., & Zhang, K. (in press). Empowering Online Learning: 100+ Activities for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Ok, here are the three articles published I had today. The first publication is research with two University of Houston colleagues, Dr. Mimi Lee and Dr. Grace Lin, while helping analyze the community of practice of global translators at the OOPS (Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System). OOPS is helping translating MIT courses to traditional and simplified Chinese. It is a fascinating story.
Lee, M., Lin, M.-F., & Bonk, C. J. (2007, November). OOPS, turning MIT OpenCourseWare into Chinese: An analysis of a community of practice of global translators. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(3). Available: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/463/980 (HTML) and http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/463/982 (PDF)
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/463/966 (audio file)
The second article is a following or Part 2 of an article on open source in China.
Pan, G., & Bonk, C. J. (2007, November). The emergence of open-source software in North America. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 8(3). Available: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/496/938 (HTML) and http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/496/950 (PDF)
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/496/971 (audio file)
Here is the orignal (this was is highly popular in IRRODL or so we have been told):
Pan, G., & Bonk, C. J. (2007, March). The emergence of open-source software in China. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 8(1). Available: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/331/762 (HTML) and http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/331/777 (PDF)
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/331/771 (audio file)
The third article of mine published today explores the use of Breeze (Adobe Connect Pro) in an instructional design class wherein residential and distance students are doing critiques of online designs:
Park, Y. J., & Bonk, C. J. (2007). Synchronous learning experiences: Distance and residential learners’ perspectives in a blended graduate course. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 6(3) 245-264. Available: http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/showissue.cfm?volID=6&IssueID=21
Here is the sister article to that one that came out a couple of months ago:
Park, Y. J., & Bonk, C. J. (2007). Is life a Breeze?: A case study for promoting synchronous learning in a blended graduate course. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT), 3(3), 307-323; see http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no3/park.pdf or http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no3/park.htm
Finally, for those not wanting to read research but, insted, needing some entertainment related to the Web 2.0? Watch this YouTube video:
"Here Comes Another Bubble - The Richter Scales"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4fzvQ6I-o
It came out 2-3 days ago and already has had 231,548 views!!!!!! If you like Billy Joel the singer, you will like this one.
But what is amazing is not the free downloadable PDF files (i.e., text) but the audio or MP3 files with the IRRODL articles. I know that this journal has had this audio feature in for 2 years now, but I never noticed it before. Of course, the journal is using open source software and not paying for AT&T voices, but it still sounds very cool (better than I remember writing them). And they are being used by people in several countries in Africa. Now that is way cool. Why doesn't every journal do this? Or at least every open access journal? We could then be working on resolving some of our serious digital divide problems. Ok, I will admit that this idea requires Internet access by someone to download the files.
What about others? Imagine if my graduate students (or your students) had all their articles in audio format! They could listen to research while attending their son's swim meets or daughter's soccer games. They could listen to them when driving to class and have them fresh in their minds. They could listen them when running during lunch or after work. They could share them with other students, colleagues at work, or even friends and relatives. Imagine if your mother could ask you questions about some new model, method, or idea she heard on her iPod or MP3 player when listening to your article during the holiday season? Imagine speaking to an audience in Africa, China, or India which heard your article or many of your articles; not simply heard about you.
Text is great and journals provide us with increasing access to text. But, let me tell you, when you hear your article (even when read my a stale robotic voice), it is a highly pleasurable experience. It takes weeks or months (and sometimes years) to think through your ideas and put them to paper in a publishable manner. But what happens when they are played back to you in 30 minutes or perhaps an hour. You hear your ideas pressing up against other ideas that you had. And when it is a collaborative effort (as most of mine are), you see how you were able to weave your distinct voices together. That is really the coolest part. You certainly can see the voices come together in text. However, that is not anywhere near the joy I felt when hearing one of my articles tonight; even if the computer voice pronounced "reification" as "rife-ication." I can read, save, and print out the text file; but to listen to it is refreshing. It is like having someone in the room with you present your ideas back to you.
How else to use? Here are 10 ideas off the top of my head (took 5-10 minutes to generate these so there must be tons more!)
1. Idea Rehearsals Via Audio: Perhaps as a way of thinking or rehearsing through a presentation on an article. You can hear the computer voice and know you can do better. Maybe have the audio file play for 20 or 30 seconds and then pause it and you repeat it or summarize the points made.
2. Audio Quote Summaries: Perhaps use it for short quotes--cue up the audio to the right spot and have the computer read the article aloud to the class and then have student reflections on each quote or story.
3. Random Audio Snippets: Play random 15 to 30 second sections of the MP3 file and ask the class to make sense of them. Simply click on different parts of the audio--you never know what you will play, nor do they.
4. Stump the Class Idea Audios: Play a 5 or 10 or 15 minute chunk of a popular article that your students have not read and ask them to figure out the author without looking it up online. Figure it out through discussion.
5. Post Audio Expert Interviews: Ask the original authors to comment on a particular audio snippet from the article that you play for them.
6. Audio Splicing: Have students find a way to splice sections of audio recordings of different articles and have them try to create a theme or pattern. See if the class can determine where it was spliced in.
7. Audio Learning Alternatives: Have students download the audio and listen to it in a place where they never have studied in the past. Ask them to reflect on their learning.
8. Multi-Sensory Experiences: Have students listen to one article from an author, read another one, and also watch him or her deliver a speech or presentation in an online streamed video or conference presentation. Ask them to compare and contrast the three formats--read, see, and hear.
9. Multi-Sensory Experiences with Author Capstone: After #8, brainstorm questions about the articles, podcast, or video and then invite that person (or persons if joint efforts) into class and discuss these questions with him or her.
10. Best of Article Audio Creations: Create your own audio or MP3 file of articles your class is reading from a particular journal. Maybe read or listen to a special journal issue and have your students pull out he key concepts and create an MP3 file of them and then share this with the journal editors. Perhaps they will publish this "best of" podcast.
Those are just a few ideas I had in 5-10 minutes of thinking about this. I am sure you all can come out with dozens more. For more ideas, you can order this book (coming out next July):
Bonk, C. J., & Zhang, K. (in press). Empowering Online Learning: 100+ Activities for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Ok, here are the three articles published I had today. The first publication is research with two University of Houston colleagues, Dr. Mimi Lee and Dr. Grace Lin, while helping analyze the community of practice of global translators at the OOPS (Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System). OOPS is helping translating MIT courses to traditional and simplified Chinese. It is a fascinating story.
Lee, M., Lin, M.-F., & Bonk, C. J. (2007, November). OOPS, turning MIT OpenCourseWare into Chinese: An analysis of a community of practice of global translators. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(3). Available: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/463/980 (HTML) and http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/463/982 (PDF)
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/463/966 (audio file)
The second article is a following or Part 2 of an article on open source in China.
Pan, G., & Bonk, C. J. (2007, November). The emergence of open-source software in North America. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 8(3). Available: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/496/938 (HTML) and http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/496/950 (PDF)
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/496/971 (audio file)
Here is the orignal (this was is highly popular in IRRODL or so we have been told):
Pan, G., & Bonk, C. J. (2007, March). The emergence of open-source software in China. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 8(1). Available: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/331/762 (HTML) and http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/331/777 (PDF)
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/331/771 (audio file)
The third article of mine published today explores the use of Breeze (Adobe Connect Pro) in an instructional design class wherein residential and distance students are doing critiques of online designs:
Park, Y. J., & Bonk, C. J. (2007). Synchronous learning experiences: Distance and residential learners’ perspectives in a blended graduate course. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 6(3) 245-264. Available: http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/showissue.cfm?volID=6&IssueID=21
Here is the sister article to that one that came out a couple of months ago:
Park, Y. J., & Bonk, C. J. (2007). Is life a Breeze?: A case study for promoting synchronous learning in a blended graduate course. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT), 3(3), 307-323; see http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no3/park.pdf or http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no3/park.htm
Finally, for those not wanting to read research but, insted, needing some entertainment related to the Web 2.0? Watch this YouTube video:
"Here Comes Another Bubble - The Richter Scales"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4fzvQ6I-o
It came out 2-3 days ago and already has had 231,548 views!!!!!! If you like Billy Joel the singer, you will like this one.
Friday, 30 November 2007
Upcoming August 7, 2008 Wisconsin 24th Annual Distance Teaching and Learning Keynote: “Movin’ to Montana Soon; Gonna be a Distance Learning Tycoon!”
A couple of months ago, I was invited to keynote the 24th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison, Wisconsin Thursday morning August 7th at the Frank Lloyd Wright Convention Center (see http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/). Thursday is the big day for this conference so I was totally thrilled to be asked. The email invite came from Jane Terpstra, the Conference Director (she also inquired why I had not attended the previous 2 conferences after doing 7 in a row). Needless to say, as a fellow cheesehead, I quickly said yes since this is where I went to graduate school, it is the state where grew up (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), and a place that I dream about each day. Madison is absolutely the best place on the planet. And besides, Madison is on a vortex so you can feel the spirit and inspirational presence or aura of the place when you are there. Just drive through on I-90 or I-94 and when you get to the outskirts of this town, you literally feel like a different sort of human being—at one with nature and wanting to help others.
I have presented at this conference many times. When at the conference from 1999-2005 I became known for my Hawaiian shirts. I wore Hawaiian shirts under my suit and tie (at some point in my talk I would strip down to it and my shorts), over the top of my suit (hiding my nice shirt and tie which at some pt I would change into), or when walking in wearing what appeared to be only a Gateway box as an unemployed dotcom worker. But those where other times. Now I am just a boring traditional presenter again. Not! I wonder what I can be this year!!! Suggestions welcome! If I choose your idea, I will send you one of my books for free.
Every year, I did 1 or 2 preconference workshops which were a ton of fun to do! Each was 3 hours long and usually had 70-100 people so I got to meet many participants and form dozens of new friendships. However, I did not go to the conference the past couple of years due to needing a break in my speaking schedule (giving over 100 talks in 2005 as well as 2006 exhausted me and I needed time to write books). So this invite was great since I get to see my favorite place and favorite people and perhaps even my mother and other relatives!
Madison is the best city in the world, and, in August, there are few people who would be willing (or able) to contend it. Ya I’m speaking about August in Madison, Wisconsin with concerts on the square around the state Capital, State Street Brats, Friday night fireworks at the UW Union Terrace, sailing on Lake Mendota with my friend John Craig, and performances and music on the roof of the convention center each Friday night. It is a phenomenal experience. Why would someone miss it? And why do people go to the conference and leave it at 2 or 3 pm on Friday afternoon before experiencing a Friday night in the summer in Madison? I am not sure why. But please, if you go this year, stay an extra night and have fun with my friends and I as we listen to some great music and perhaps sip a few beers (while hopefully not needing to swat too many mosquitoes).
The conference is now entering its 24th year and has a diverse audience. This IS the longest running distance education conference that I know of. Because of its longevity, it has attracted some well known and high quality distance learning presenters and researchers. In terms of attendees, two-thirds are from higher education and the rest are from corporate training, non-profit organizations, government training, and K-12 education. This sorta matches the mix of my research and consulting—mostly higher ed but I work with all sectors. Many administrators from higher education (as well as faculty and instructors teaching in distance education programs) attend this conference so it will be a good one for me to talk about my upcoming book with Jossey Bass (due out in July of 2008):
Bonk, C. J., & Zhang, K. (in press). Empowering Online Learning: 100+ Activities for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Unfortunately, the above book is taking a long time in press but Jossey Bass thinks it will be good timing to come out right before the conference. For those who cannot wait, Ke Zhang and I have a journal article summarizing it. For a copy of that article, just send me an email or see:
Bonk, C. J., & Zhang, K. (2006). Introducing the R2D2 model: Online learning for the diverse learners of this world. Distance Education, 27(2), 249-264.
As I noted in an earlier blog post, this book details my R2D2 model (Read-Reflect-Display-Do) and has 25 examples for each of the four phases of the model. In addition to my conference keynote on August 7th, I will have a breakout session related to this book. The title of that breakout session will be: From R2D2 to the Matrix: A Galaxy of Online Learning Style, Motivational, Blended Learning, and Learner-Centered Examples. Hope you can make it. I will be giving away a few copies of the book at that session.
If you are interested in presenting at this conference, proposals are due on January 15th, 2008 (for more details, see http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/workshop.cfm). Get in early, as many of my students and colleagues will be submitting this year. And if you want to be a conference exhibitor, it is not too expensive. I used to do that for my company, SurveyShare, and always got people interested in my survey software (see http://www.surveyshare.com/). If you have questions or want to participate in research presentations, poster, information session, roundtables, demonstrations, exhibits, workshops, etc, the conference manager is Kimary Peterson (email is distel2@education.wisc.edu) and Jane’s email is jkterpstra@education.wisc.edu; see her contact information here: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/contact.cfm). You can also see a PDF call for papers at http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/CALL08.pdf.
In 2007, the Wisconsin DL conference had about 800-900 participants from the USA and another 100 or so from 17 different countries or a total of around 1,000 people participate. Wow, this will be a fantastic forum to present at! I cannot wait. I hope that some of my former professors, mentors, and graduate school colleagues can attend this conference. Jane mentioned that this past year they had representatives from all 50 of the United States except Montana and then she asked me for a description of my keynote. In hopes to help her attract people from Montana, I sent her this one:
Wisconsin Conference Keynote Title: "Movin’ to Montana soon, gonna be a Distance Learning tycoon." (of course, you must know Frank Zappa’s “Montana song” to understand the inspiration for this title (http://www.lyricsdepot.com/frank-zappa/montana.html)
Keynote Description:
As Dr. Bonk will demonstrate in this session, distance learning has burgeoned in ever corner of the world, from China to Canada to Chile to Chad. More impressively, it has made it to Montana...and not in a small way. Over 99 percent of high schools in Montana have courses in Chinese, Japanese, and Montanese. In addition, all K-12 students in Montana are required to bring their iPods, cell phones, and laptops to their classes for daily lessons plans on Shakespeare, Darwin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Queen Lativah, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem. Given all these activities, it is not surprising that, according to recent polls published in the New York Times, Montaneans are emerging as the most sophisticated consumers of distance learning in the world. This is a land of the big sky and my oh my do they ever like their pie in the sky distance learning programming. As an example, did you know that the average size of display devices in videoconferencing suites in Montana average 100 inches? In fact, there are several sites in Bozeman displaying distance learning programs on 100 foot long screens? Driving through Montana? You can now watch distance learning programs at rest stops, construction sites, convenience stores, gas stations, and even when speeding down the highway at 90+ miles per hour--the screens are so colossal, you can see them for miles. Be sure to keep two hands on the wheel, though.
As a second example, education-minded tourists are no longer coming to Yellowstone to see Ol' Faithful; instead, they are renting out cabins and participating in a variety of blended and fully online distance learning experiences. Notably, Yellowstone Park rangers have created a series of podcasts for attendees to listen to at night. Having trouble sleeping? Not anymore. Just put the Park Ranger Podcast (PRP) in one ear and hear yourself snoring in other. Not surprisingly, “PRP after dark” is the most popular distance learning program in the federal government; more than 3 million listeners this past summer alone. We just might balance the federal budget with such ingenuity! A third example is the infamous Butte Blogger—it’s a Butte!
Spurred by such energy and assorted government distance learning initiatives, distance and e-learning vendors are coming in droves to Great Falls, Billings, Butte, Missoula, and Helena to set up shop. As you may know, ever since the great quake of 1989, Silicon Valley companies have been gradually migrating eastward in the anticipation of the real "big one" and right now Montana is deemed to be the safe spot. Several state senators from Montana have even put forth a bill to rename the state “Sillitana” in recognition of their high tech initiatives. Distance learning is certainly happening in Montana. As a tribute, Dr. Bonk will end this session with a rendition of Frank Zappa's famed “Montana song.” Come join in the fun and sing along with him: “guess I’m Movin’ to Montana soon; gonna be a Distance Learning tycoon."
What do you think? Will this title and abstract inspire people from Montana to come to the conference and my keynote? Tell ya what; if you are from Montana and come to the Wisconsin DL conference and let me know it, I will give you my “Empowering Online Learning” (R2D2) book for free. I will do this for as many Montaneans as show up. Folks from Big Sandy, Geyser, Fort Shaw, Custer, Big Sky, East Glacier Park, Shelby, Libby, Roundup, and Crow Agency—I wanted to see you! All 944,632 of you! Why not! Hec, I like Montana and the west so much, I will do this for all those attending from Wyoming and Idaho as well. Deal? Deal! Now, toss in the remaining states touching Montana (i.e., North and South Dakota) while we are at it. Ok Montaneans, this is your wake-up call. I want to see you!
I do hope that someone from Montana attends the conference. Just so you know, here is the real keynote title and description (sorry Montana people—but I do promise to mention you in my talk at least once—send me distance learning examples from Montana and I will try to include as many as I can):
Real Keynote: Technology Trends Opening Access to Education Worldwide: Now, we ALL can learn!
According to Thomas Friedman’s book, The World is Flat, worldwide economic trends are flattening. In education, however, learning opportunities are actually expanding or opening up through myriad of emerging distance learning technologies. From online content in the form of e-books, podcasts, streamed videos, and satellite maps to participatory environments such as social networking, wikis, and alternate reality worlds, technology-based learning continues to offer new pathways to learning. At the same time, instructors increasingly share their course materials and teaching ideas globally, thereby providing expanding learning opportunities and resources. And the software on which to provide such online learning contents and experiences is increasingly free and open source.
Naturally, many questions surround such systems, sites, and resources. For example, how can instructors and learners in developed and developing countries take advantage of these trends? For what purpose will people share? How can these trends converge to address individual learner's needs worldwide? Curt Bonk will address these issues while enticing participants to think of implications for their organizations, countries, and regions of the world as well as for themselves as leaders and learners.
What do you think of the above keynote? In effect, I will walk the audience through my WE-ALL-LEARN model which is the basis of the other book I am working on (each letter stands for a technology trend). This book is tentatively titled, “WE-ALL-LEARN: An Open Education Extension of the World is Flat.” I hope to be done with it in the early part of 2008. Ok, see you all in Madtown in August! This will be a blast since now, “WE-ALL-LEARN.” Anyone need some dental floss?
I have presented at this conference many times. When at the conference from 1999-2005 I became known for my Hawaiian shirts. I wore Hawaiian shirts under my suit and tie (at some point in my talk I would strip down to it and my shorts), over the top of my suit (hiding my nice shirt and tie which at some pt I would change into), or when walking in wearing what appeared to be only a Gateway box as an unemployed dotcom worker. But those where other times. Now I am just a boring traditional presenter again. Not! I wonder what I can be this year!!! Suggestions welcome! If I choose your idea, I will send you one of my books for free.
Every year, I did 1 or 2 preconference workshops which were a ton of fun to do! Each was 3 hours long and usually had 70-100 people so I got to meet many participants and form dozens of new friendships. However, I did not go to the conference the past couple of years due to needing a break in my speaking schedule (giving over 100 talks in 2005 as well as 2006 exhausted me and I needed time to write books). So this invite was great since I get to see my favorite place and favorite people and perhaps even my mother and other relatives!
Madison is the best city in the world, and, in August, there are few people who would be willing (or able) to contend it. Ya I’m speaking about August in Madison, Wisconsin with concerts on the square around the state Capital, State Street Brats, Friday night fireworks at the UW Union Terrace, sailing on Lake Mendota with my friend John Craig, and performances and music on the roof of the convention center each Friday night. It is a phenomenal experience. Why would someone miss it? And why do people go to the conference and leave it at 2 or 3 pm on Friday afternoon before experiencing a Friday night in the summer in Madison? I am not sure why. But please, if you go this year, stay an extra night and have fun with my friends and I as we listen to some great music and perhaps sip a few beers (while hopefully not needing to swat too many mosquitoes).
The conference is now entering its 24th year and has a diverse audience. This IS the longest running distance education conference that I know of. Because of its longevity, it has attracted some well known and high quality distance learning presenters and researchers. In terms of attendees, two-thirds are from higher education and the rest are from corporate training, non-profit organizations, government training, and K-12 education. This sorta matches the mix of my research and consulting—mostly higher ed but I work with all sectors. Many administrators from higher education (as well as faculty and instructors teaching in distance education programs) attend this conference so it will be a good one for me to talk about my upcoming book with Jossey Bass (due out in July of 2008):
Bonk, C. J., & Zhang, K. (in press). Empowering Online Learning: 100+ Activities for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Unfortunately, the above book is taking a long time in press but Jossey Bass thinks it will be good timing to come out right before the conference. For those who cannot wait, Ke Zhang and I have a journal article summarizing it. For a copy of that article, just send me an email or see:
Bonk, C. J., & Zhang, K. (2006). Introducing the R2D2 model: Online learning for the diverse learners of this world. Distance Education, 27(2), 249-264.
As I noted in an earlier blog post, this book details my R2D2 model (Read-Reflect-Display-Do) and has 25 examples for each of the four phases of the model. In addition to my conference keynote on August 7th, I will have a breakout session related to this book. The title of that breakout session will be: From R2D2 to the Matrix: A Galaxy of Online Learning Style, Motivational, Blended Learning, and Learner-Centered Examples. Hope you can make it. I will be giving away a few copies of the book at that session.
If you are interested in presenting at this conference, proposals are due on January 15th, 2008 (for more details, see http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/workshop.cfm). Get in early, as many of my students and colleagues will be submitting this year. And if you want to be a conference exhibitor, it is not too expensive. I used to do that for my company, SurveyShare, and always got people interested in my survey software (see http://www.surveyshare.com/). If you have questions or want to participate in research presentations, poster, information session, roundtables, demonstrations, exhibits, workshops, etc, the conference manager is Kimary Peterson (email is distel2@education.wisc.edu) and Jane’s email is jkterpstra@education.wisc.edu; see her contact information here: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/contact.cfm). You can also see a PDF call for papers at http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/CALL08.pdf.
In 2007, the Wisconsin DL conference had about 800-900 participants from the USA and another 100 or so from 17 different countries or a total of around 1,000 people participate. Wow, this will be a fantastic forum to present at! I cannot wait. I hope that some of my former professors, mentors, and graduate school colleagues can attend this conference. Jane mentioned that this past year they had representatives from all 50 of the United States except Montana and then she asked me for a description of my keynote. In hopes to help her attract people from Montana, I sent her this one:
Wisconsin Conference Keynote Title: "Movin’ to Montana soon, gonna be a Distance Learning tycoon." (of course, you must know Frank Zappa’s “Montana song” to understand the inspiration for this title (http://www.lyricsdepot.com/frank-zappa/montana.html)
Keynote Description:
As Dr. Bonk will demonstrate in this session, distance learning has burgeoned in ever corner of the world, from China to Canada to Chile to Chad. More impressively, it has made it to Montana...and not in a small way. Over 99 percent of high schools in Montana have courses in Chinese, Japanese, and Montanese. In addition, all K-12 students in Montana are required to bring their iPods, cell phones, and laptops to their classes for daily lessons plans on Shakespeare, Darwin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Queen Lativah, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem. Given all these activities, it is not surprising that, according to recent polls published in the New York Times, Montaneans are emerging as the most sophisticated consumers of distance learning in the world. This is a land of the big sky and my oh my do they ever like their pie in the sky distance learning programming. As an example, did you know that the average size of display devices in videoconferencing suites in Montana average 100 inches? In fact, there are several sites in Bozeman displaying distance learning programs on 100 foot long screens? Driving through Montana? You can now watch distance learning programs at rest stops, construction sites, convenience stores, gas stations, and even when speeding down the highway at 90+ miles per hour--the screens are so colossal, you can see them for miles. Be sure to keep two hands on the wheel, though.
As a second example, education-minded tourists are no longer coming to Yellowstone to see Ol' Faithful; instead, they are renting out cabins and participating in a variety of blended and fully online distance learning experiences. Notably, Yellowstone Park rangers have created a series of podcasts for attendees to listen to at night. Having trouble sleeping? Not anymore. Just put the Park Ranger Podcast (PRP) in one ear and hear yourself snoring in other. Not surprisingly, “PRP after dark” is the most popular distance learning program in the federal government; more than 3 million listeners this past summer alone. We just might balance the federal budget with such ingenuity! A third example is the infamous Butte Blogger—it’s a Butte!
Spurred by such energy and assorted government distance learning initiatives, distance and e-learning vendors are coming in droves to Great Falls, Billings, Butte, Missoula, and Helena to set up shop. As you may know, ever since the great quake of 1989, Silicon Valley companies have been gradually migrating eastward in the anticipation of the real "big one" and right now Montana is deemed to be the safe spot. Several state senators from Montana have even put forth a bill to rename the state “Sillitana” in recognition of their high tech initiatives. Distance learning is certainly happening in Montana. As a tribute, Dr. Bonk will end this session with a rendition of Frank Zappa's famed “Montana song.” Come join in the fun and sing along with him: “guess I’m Movin’ to Montana soon; gonna be a Distance Learning tycoon."
What do you think? Will this title and abstract inspire people from Montana to come to the conference and my keynote? Tell ya what; if you are from Montana and come to the Wisconsin DL conference and let me know it, I will give you my “Empowering Online Learning” (R2D2) book for free. I will do this for as many Montaneans as show up. Folks from Big Sandy, Geyser, Fort Shaw, Custer, Big Sky, East Glacier Park, Shelby, Libby, Roundup, and Crow Agency—I wanted to see you! All 944,632 of you! Why not! Hec, I like Montana and the west so much, I will do this for all those attending from Wyoming and Idaho as well. Deal? Deal! Now, toss in the remaining states touching Montana (i.e., North and South Dakota) while we are at it. Ok Montaneans, this is your wake-up call. I want to see you!
I do hope that someone from Montana attends the conference. Just so you know, here is the real keynote title and description (sorry Montana people—but I do promise to mention you in my talk at least once—send me distance learning examples from Montana and I will try to include as many as I can):
Real Keynote: Technology Trends Opening Access to Education Worldwide: Now, we ALL can learn!
According to Thomas Friedman’s book, The World is Flat, worldwide economic trends are flattening. In education, however, learning opportunities are actually expanding or opening up through myriad of emerging distance learning technologies. From online content in the form of e-books, podcasts, streamed videos, and satellite maps to participatory environments such as social networking, wikis, and alternate reality worlds, technology-based learning continues to offer new pathways to learning. At the same time, instructors increasingly share their course materials and teaching ideas globally, thereby providing expanding learning opportunities and resources. And the software on which to provide such online learning contents and experiences is increasingly free and open source.
Naturally, many questions surround such systems, sites, and resources. For example, how can instructors and learners in developed and developing countries take advantage of these trends? For what purpose will people share? How can these trends converge to address individual learner's needs worldwide? Curt Bonk will address these issues while enticing participants to think of implications for their organizations, countries, and regions of the world as well as for themselves as leaders and learners.
What do you think of the above keynote? In effect, I will walk the audience through my WE-ALL-LEARN model which is the basis of the other book I am working on (each letter stands for a technology trend). This book is tentatively titled, “WE-ALL-LEARN: An Open Education Extension of the World is Flat.” I hope to be done with it in the early part of 2008. Ok, see you all in Madtown in August! This will be a blast since now, “WE-ALL-LEARN.” Anyone need some dental floss?
Friday, 2 November 2007
IU IST Dept Now in iTunes: Bonkcasts on Blended Learning as well as the Flat Learning World (also speaking in DC)
As you will see below, "TravelinEdMan" is making a reappearance after a purposeful 4-5 month hiatus from the speaking circuit to write books. These are one day trips to DC for various conferences and invited talks. First though, let me mention a couple of recent podcasts (i.e., Bonkcasts) you can listen to in case you are unable to attend one of my talks.
Podcasts: I am happy to announce that the podcasts I did back in late August and early September for the Indiana University (IU) Instructional Systems Technology (IST) colloquium series are finally posted to iTunes. My department (i.e., IST) created a wonderful, new podcast colloquium series in iTunes. I am one of the first to do a podcast for it and got ambitious and did 2 of them. These are each other an hour long! Both are based on popular conference keynote talks I have been doing. Here is the URL: http://itunes.iu.edu
When you get there, launch iTunes and then scroll down to the link for the Pilot Course named "IST @ IUB Colloquium Series." Next look for my talks:
1. "Blended Learning: Situations, Solutions, and Some Stunning Surprises"
2. "The Learning World is Flat" (this one should really be called: "How the Learning World Became Flat: Ten Knowledge Sharing and Technology Trends Equalizing Access to Learning" I have also labeled it, "WE-ALL-LEARN: An Open Education Extension of the World is Flat"
Abstracts are below:
1. Blended Learning: Situations, Solutions, and Several Surprises
Abstract: There is both extensive confusion and much optimism about blended learning due to multiple blended learning definitions and approaches. Some might blend to take advantage of face-to-face and virtual learning opportunities. Others might blend to combine synchronous and asynchronous technologies to best meet student needs. To addresses these issues, Dr. Bonk will lay out several different models and definitions of blended learning as well as the advantages and disadvantages of blended learning. Importantly, the session will include a dozen different situations or problems and more than 50 potential blended learning solutions in many different disciplines and levels of institutions. Many of the examples will come from Dr. Bonk’s recent Handbook of Blended learning: Global Perspectives, Local Designs. Dr. Bonk will also tap into recent data he has collected on the present and future state of blended learning around the planet. Some of this data will surprise you! During this session, small teams of participants (instructional designers, trainers, administrators, instructors, students, etc.) will build and later present their own blended learning models.
2. How the Learning World Became Flat: Ten Knowledge Sharing and Technology Trends Equalizing Access to Learning
Abstract: Ten technology trends have emerged during the past few years that have flattened the world of learning and made it accessible to increasing numbers of learners. The learning world is being flattened by such technologies as Google, Skype, Wikipedia, podcasting, and blogs. Additional flatteners that are transforming the possibilities for learning include online learning portals such as digital libraries, museums, and referenceware, mobile technologies, wireless technologies, cheap computers, free online courses and software, and open source software. There are web sites springing up around the globe related to sharing courses, course materials, resources, and teaching ideas. MERLOT, for example, has more than 34,500 members and 15,000 shared learning objects as well as an annual international conference. Connexions is a similar project for sharing learning resources from Rice University, while the UK has just developed a learning object site called Jorum. And, of course, there is a the MIT OpenCourseWare initiative which is not only sharing MIT course content around the globe in English, but is now being translated into other languages such as Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese. Interestingly, more than 50 universities around the globe are following the lead of MIT and placing their courses online including those in Vietnam , Japan , and India . Naturally, many questions surround such systems and sites. For example, how can these trends converge to address every potential learner on this planet? How can developing worlds take advantage of these ten trends? For what purpose will people share? Will these knowledge sharing and technology trends bridge the digital divide? Does the importance of knowledge sharing differ by culture? In this humorous, informative, media-rich, and thought provoking session, Curt Bonk will highlight such themes and issues while pushing the audience to think of short- and long-range implications both for their institutions, countries, and regions of the world as well as for themselves.
DC Presentations: I will be doing the latter talk on how the learning world has become flat 2 times in the next 10 days in Washington, DC:
1. Tuesday, November 6, 2007, 1:30-2:30 pm (informal social networking to follow)
Room 4115 Hornbake Building, South Wing; Research Colloquium Series: College of Information Studies, University of Maryland. This is free to the public!
2. Monday (November 12th at 1:30-3:00 pm) in downtown DC at the hotel Renaissance (999 9th St). This is part of my keynote for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities annual conference. This conference costs $95. http://www.aucd.org/template/news.cfm?news_id=1554&id=17
3. I am also doing this public talk on the 12th in DC. “Creating Engaging, Collaborative, and More Active Classes: Low-Risk, Low-Cost, Low Time (for online classrooms)” at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus. Time is Monday, November 12th from 6-7 pm. Where: Annandale Campus – CT building Room 335. This is free to the public!
“Creating Engaging, Collaborative, and More Active Classes: Low-Risk, Low-Cost, Low Time (for online classrooms)”
Abstract: Are you bored with your teaching? Are your students? Are students not engaged in their learning? Do you feel that new approaches simply take too much time or are too risky? Are you interested in collaborative learning? In this talk, Dr. Bonk provides more than 100 ways to liven up your lectures and get your students involved and engaged in learning. The emphasis will be on collaborative learning and student engagement in that learning. There will be dozens of collaborative learning methods that you can use to motivate and engage your students in their learning. Some of the strategies will be very teacher-centered, while others will give students more ownership and control of the curriculum. These strategies will relate to creativity, critical thinking, cooperative and collaborative learning, and motivation. Importantly, each strategy will be laid out in a step-by-step approach. In addition, Dr. Bonk label each one in terms of the degree of risk, time, and cost and he will offer his advice for getting started with these tools and techniques.
4. I am doing a 4th talk on November 6th at the Convention Center in DC. This one is on blended learning for public health educators at 4:30 pm. I have a more minor role in it.
Hope to see some of you there! If not, you can take a listen to the podcasts I mentioned in iTunes. http://itunes.iu.edu
Podcasts: I am happy to announce that the podcasts I did back in late August and early September for the Indiana University (IU) Instructional Systems Technology (IST) colloquium series are finally posted to iTunes. My department (i.e., IST) created a wonderful, new podcast colloquium series in iTunes. I am one of the first to do a podcast for it and got ambitious and did 2 of them. These are each other an hour long! Both are based on popular conference keynote talks I have been doing. Here is the URL: http://itunes.iu.edu
When you get there, launch iTunes and then scroll down to the link for the Pilot Course named "IST @ IUB Colloquium Series." Next look for my talks:
1. "Blended Learning: Situations, Solutions, and Some Stunning Surprises"
2. "The Learning World is Flat" (this one should really be called: "How the Learning World Became Flat: Ten Knowledge Sharing and Technology Trends Equalizing Access to Learning" I have also labeled it, "WE-ALL-LEARN: An Open Education Extension of the World is Flat"
Abstracts are below:
1. Blended Learning: Situations, Solutions, and Several Surprises
Abstract: There is both extensive confusion and much optimism about blended learning due to multiple blended learning definitions and approaches. Some might blend to take advantage of face-to-face and virtual learning opportunities. Others might blend to combine synchronous and asynchronous technologies to best meet student needs. To addresses these issues, Dr. Bonk will lay out several different models and definitions of blended learning as well as the advantages and disadvantages of blended learning. Importantly, the session will include a dozen different situations or problems and more than 50 potential blended learning solutions in many different disciplines and levels of institutions. Many of the examples will come from Dr. Bonk’s recent Handbook of Blended learning: Global Perspectives, Local Designs. Dr. Bonk will also tap into recent data he has collected on the present and future state of blended learning around the planet. Some of this data will surprise you! During this session, small teams of participants (instructional designers, trainers, administrators, instructors, students, etc.) will build and later present their own blended learning models.
2. How the Learning World Became Flat: Ten Knowledge Sharing and Technology Trends Equalizing Access to Learning
Abstract: Ten technology trends have emerged during the past few years that have flattened the world of learning and made it accessible to increasing numbers of learners. The learning world is being flattened by such technologies as Google, Skype, Wikipedia, podcasting, and blogs. Additional flatteners that are transforming the possibilities for learning include online learning portals such as digital libraries, museums, and referenceware, mobile technologies, wireless technologies, cheap computers, free online courses and software, and open source software. There are web sites springing up around the globe related to sharing courses, course materials, resources, and teaching ideas. MERLOT, for example, has more than 34,500 members and 15,000 shared learning objects as well as an annual international conference. Connexions is a similar project for sharing learning resources from Rice University, while the UK has just developed a learning object site called Jorum. And, of course, there is a the MIT OpenCourseWare initiative which is not only sharing MIT course content around the globe in English, but is now being translated into other languages such as Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese. Interestingly, more than 50 universities around the globe are following the lead of MIT and placing their courses online including those in Vietnam , Japan , and India . Naturally, many questions surround such systems and sites. For example, how can these trends converge to address every potential learner on this planet? How can developing worlds take advantage of these ten trends? For what purpose will people share? Will these knowledge sharing and technology trends bridge the digital divide? Does the importance of knowledge sharing differ by culture? In this humorous, informative, media-rich, and thought provoking session, Curt Bonk will highlight such themes and issues while pushing the audience to think of short- and long-range implications both for their institutions, countries, and regions of the world as well as for themselves.
DC Presentations: I will be doing the latter talk on how the learning world has become flat 2 times in the next 10 days in Washington, DC:
1. Tuesday, November 6, 2007, 1:30-2:30 pm (informal social networking to follow)
Room 4115 Hornbake Building, South Wing; Research Colloquium Series: College of Information Studies, University of Maryland. This is free to the public!
2. Monday (November 12th at 1:30-3:00 pm) in downtown DC at the hotel Renaissance (999 9th St). This is part of my keynote for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities annual conference. This conference costs $95. http://www.aucd.org/template/news.cfm?news_id=1554&id=17
3. I am also doing this public talk on the 12th in DC. “Creating Engaging, Collaborative, and More Active Classes: Low-Risk, Low-Cost, Low Time (for online classrooms)” at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus. Time is Monday, November 12th from 6-7 pm. Where: Annandale Campus – CT building Room 335. This is free to the public!
“Creating Engaging, Collaborative, and More Active Classes: Low-Risk, Low-Cost, Low Time (for online classrooms)”
Abstract: Are you bored with your teaching? Are your students? Are students not engaged in their learning? Do you feel that new approaches simply take too much time or are too risky? Are you interested in collaborative learning? In this talk, Dr. Bonk provides more than 100 ways to liven up your lectures and get your students involved and engaged in learning. The emphasis will be on collaborative learning and student engagement in that learning. There will be dozens of collaborative learning methods that you can use to motivate and engage your students in their learning. Some of the strategies will be very teacher-centered, while others will give students more ownership and control of the curriculum. These strategies will relate to creativity, critical thinking, cooperative and collaborative learning, and motivation. Importantly, each strategy will be laid out in a step-by-step approach. In addition, Dr. Bonk label each one in terms of the degree of risk, time, and cost and he will offer his advice for getting started with these tools and techniques.
4. I am doing a 4th talk on November 6th at the Convention Center in DC. This one is on blended learning for public health educators at 4:30 pm. I have a more minor role in it.
Hope to see some of you there! If not, you can take a listen to the podcasts I mentioned in iTunes. http://itunes.iu.edu
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Time to graduate to "The Graduate Educator"!!!
I got an email late tonight from my colleague, Dr. Cecil Smith, who went to graduate school with me in educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin oh so long ago. Seems that Cecil has started a new blog that focuses on the education of graduate students as well as those teaching in graduate programs. It is called, "The Graduate Educator" (http://www.graducator.blogspot.com). In this blog, Cecil discusses issues such as innovative college teaching, pros and cons of giving students more voice or ownership over their learning, grant writing, plagairism, technology integration, conference speaking, instructor modeling, etc. I could envision using his musings and commentary in my own classes.
See
http://www.graducator.blogspot.com
In effect, this is a discussion of topics that surround those in graduate programs on a daily basis. As such, it is an excellent source of topics to read about, reflect upon, and discuss with others. Some of the issues he discusses are those that you cannot really fit in a class or faculty training or that are too often ignored. In a way, Cecil is using his blog to mentor graduate students in his own program at Northern Illinois University as well as new faculty around the planet or anyone who simply stumbles upon it. He is also starting a discussion about graduate education. With adult education populations exploding through the emergence of online and blended learning, a discussion of their needs, experiences, and requirements is quite useful. Cecil understands adult education and has many books, articles, and conference papers in this area. Cecil started this 2 months ago and really enjoys it.
A few months ago, I mentioned Cecil in my advice on how to get published as a young scholar. Cecil has an article filled with advice for new faculty members which I suggested he turn into a book. Young people in higher education environments will want to read it!
Smith, M C. (2004, April). Advice for new faculty members: Getting your writing program started. Discussion presented as part of Division C New Faculty Mentoring session at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego.
http://www.cedu.niu.edu/~smith/whatsnew.htm
Thanks Cecil! It is always great to see my friends from graduate school doing so well! I have heard from many of them the past two weeks.
See the blog, "The Graduate Educator" (link is above) as well as his homepage and the article noted above. Cecil's Homepage: http://www.cedu.niu.edu/~smith
See
http://www.graducator.blogspot.com
In effect, this is a discussion of topics that surround those in graduate programs on a daily basis. As such, it is an excellent source of topics to read about, reflect upon, and discuss with others. Some of the issues he discusses are those that you cannot really fit in a class or faculty training or that are too often ignored. In a way, Cecil is using his blog to mentor graduate students in his own program at Northern Illinois University as well as new faculty around the planet or anyone who simply stumbles upon it. He is also starting a discussion about graduate education. With adult education populations exploding through the emergence of online and blended learning, a discussion of their needs, experiences, and requirements is quite useful. Cecil understands adult education and has many books, articles, and conference papers in this area. Cecil started this 2 months ago and really enjoys it.
A few months ago, I mentioned Cecil in my advice on how to get published as a young scholar. Cecil has an article filled with advice for new faculty members which I suggested he turn into a book. Young people in higher education environments will want to read it!
Smith, M C. (2004, April). Advice for new faculty members: Getting your writing program started. Discussion presented as part of Division C New Faculty Mentoring session at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego.
http://www.cedu.niu.edu/~smith/whatsnew.htm
Thanks Cecil! It is always great to see my friends from graduate school doing so well! I have heard from many of them the past two weeks.
See the blog, "The Graduate Educator" (link is above) as well as his homepage and the article noted above. Cecil's Homepage: http://www.cedu.niu.edu/~smith
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)