Computer games, simulations... they are engaging to kids, but where does the technology fit for learning? One place well worth visiting is the Education Arcade: The Future of Video Games in Education:
The Education Arcade represents a consortium of international game designers, publishers, scholars, educators, and policy makers who are exploring the new frontiers of educational media that have been opened by computer and video games.Our mission is to demonstrate the social, cultural, and educational potentials of games by initiating new game development projects, coordinating interdisciplinary research efforts, and informing public conversations about the broader and sometimes unexpected uses of this emerging art form in education. In short, we want to lead change in the way the world learns through computer and video games.
Another excellent expert is Marc Prensky who writes and speaks on the role of "digital game-based learning". Marc has written much on the concept of "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" citing the differences in approaches to technology from todays youth who are immersed in it (natives "who speak digital fluently") and those of us who have come to it later (immigrants, we "speak digital with an accent").
See also the database resource site Social Impact Games "entertaining games with non-entertainment goals" which lists now over 200 such games:
The goal of this site is to catalog the growing number of video and computer games whose primary purpose is something other than to entertain. These are also known as "serious games.""Game" (i.e. video and computer) has become a language --i.e. a medium of expression -- in which almost any idea can be, and is being, expressed. It is our intention to help document this growing phenomenon and list, so that:
1. People who want to locate Social Impact Games can find them, and
2. People who want to create Social Impact Games can see what others have done.
Shall we play a game?
I’m Jim Patterson, co-chair of ELT…
Let’s start off with this. Just hot off the press:
http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm045.asp
Great articles on weblogs, wikis, and mobile technology:
Educational Blogging
Stephen Downes
The process of blogging—of reading online, engaging a community, and
reflecting it online—is a process of bringing life into learning.
Going Nomadic: Mobile Learning in Higher Education
Bryan Alexander
How are wireless, mobile technologies and their emergent trends, such
as swarms, affecting the learning environment, pedagogy, and campus
life?
Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not
Brian Lamb
The needs met by “wikis”—documents posted online for open editing by
all—are simply not being satisfied by present IT strategies and tools.
From the Higher Technology Roundup: Science and Technology Competitiveness Act at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_bills&docid=f:h5022ih.txt.pdf
Congress filed a higher education and technology-related bill, H.R. 5002, known as the Higher Education Science and Technology Competitiveness Act. This bill will strengthen and expand scientific and technological educational capabilities by establishing partnerships between community colleges and other universities.
From fellow Ocotillo co-chair Shelley Rodrigo of the English Department at
Mesa Community College comes word that Kairos Fall 2004 is out at http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/9.1/ There is a lot here on “portable technologies.” This is all about wireless “wi-fi” stuff and how it impacts learning. Give it a gander.
Our first “road show” is October 6 when I will be visiting the Rio Salado faculty. This is what I will cover:
1. Introduction to Ocotillo and Emerging Learning Technologies
2. Jim Patterson starts off with some recent emerging learning
technologies...
3. Listening session as faculty and staff discuss the technologies they are using and the ones they know about they want to use. Discussion on cost,
ease of implementation, and ability to help students learn.
I am looking at no more than an hour. I mostly want to hear what YOU guys
are using and what you have heard and WANT to use.
I will then set up a special discussion board at the Ocotillo site so we can
continue our discussion virtually.
How does that sound????
Most of us in education know all about the professional organizations like AACE and The League for Innovation… but there is a lot going on in the commercial organizations. One I want to highlight this week is ASTD or the American Society for Training and Development. I’m a long-time member. They are at http://www.astd.org Take a look around. I’ve spoken a number of times in the past to their national conferences. And, I’m doing so again this February in Las Vegas at their ASTD TechKnowledge® 2005
eTensify: Take eLearning to The Next Level. I love speaking at these things. For once, these kinds of professional associations usually waive any registration fee. That is a sizable hit. After coming to PVCC from the U.S. Army, I was astounded to find many of the academic associations do not waive registration fees for speakers! Another benefit is I get free reign in the exhibitor’s area. Now, this is fun and I plan on reporting back in February on what I learned. I will be presenting on “free and inexpensive software tools for online learning.” The TechKnowledge site is at http://www.astd.org/astd/conferences/tk05/tk05_home
Let me leave you with one more thing… the download section from PC World (GEEK TIME!)
Quick Notes Plus
Quick Notes Plus lets you organize your own virtual memo board and categorize your notes. You can import and export text to your memo board, send notes from one spot on the desktop to another, and even send notes as e-mail across a network. With QNP's ability to stick notes to documents and Web sites, nothing will be safe from your commentary.
Version: 5.0
Price: Free trial; $25 to purchase
Download Quick Notes Plus now at:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,5530,tk,hsx,00.asp
KeyNote
People manage their information in a variety of ways. Some find that the best way to keep track of things is to write them down on paper. Others go the digital route and use a PDA, which gives them a ton of functionality. Even with options like these, many still insist on keeping all of the juicy details in their noggin. It doesn't really matter how you keep track of things because different people go for different methods. If it works for you, do it. As you can expect, software information managers are also another option to explore. One program to look into is KeyNote. When you use software to keep track of things, you usually end up having a bunch of different files filled with various details. KeyNote works to prevent this problem by managing multiple notes within one file. The tree type layout of the notes that you create will help you to visually stay organized. Not only will your content be organized in a cleaner fashion, but it'll also be more secure. That's right - you can choose to secure your content by encrypting it with an algorithm such as Blowfish. The text formatting options included with the program help to make it more than just a simple note keeper. Download KeyNote and see what type of content it'll help you to create.
http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html
That’s all for this week. You have enough homework!!!
Jim Patterson
A technology that is here: Voice Over IP (VOIP). BusinessWeek provides a good overview:
Net phone services are the future. Here's a primer on the technology, the potential savings, and trade-offsJust a few years ago, only tech geeks and a few hobbyists made phone calls over the Internet. Now, Net telephony is starting to find widespread acceptance among consumers and corporate customers alike. The technology is taking off despite its clumsy name: VoIP, short for voice over Internet protocol. The U.S. alone already has 500,000 residential users, and that market could grow to 16.5 million by 2008, according to analyst Jon Arnold of consultant Frost & Sullivan
Mesa Community College's red Mountain campus implemented Cisco VOIP for all of their telephones (small reference here).
You can try it yourself with the free Skype software "Free Internet telepohny that just works"-- with Skype you can "call" any other Skype users via the net.... or for a small fee you can use Skype on your computer to call any landline phone number.
Think about new ways to communicate (voice and computer interaction?) and you see that a phone is not just a business tool or a desk ornament.
Steve Mann has been pushing the envelope with "wearable" computing devices since the mid 1980s. is it outlandish?
See for yourself at http://wearcam.org/, a long scrolling list of images and links to papers and presentations about the intersection of people and computing devices.
Link courtesy of David Daviess blog posting about his early use of "moblogging" or "mobile blogging", the process of publishing to a weblog from a mobile telephone.
How about that? Two new tech terms in one blog entry.
Emerging Learning Technologies Report for the Week of 20 September….
Welcome to you who have stumbled on us for the first time during our Ocotillo Virtual Kickoff. I’m Jim Patterson, co-chair with Dr. Roger Yohe for Emerging Learning Technologies or ELT for short.
As I uncover research or in my everyday reading interesting things dealing with ELT. Feel free to join in on our discussions. Also, we are going to try to hit all the campuses at some time or another to chat with faculty and staff about what YOU are using in the classroom.
Let me get started with this week’s installment.
The mail brought me a host of goodies this past week. PC World is one of many I subscribe to. Heck, I admit it, I’m a goofy geek (or as a speech student of mine last semester said, “A geek who can speak.”). Check out their website at http://www.pcworld.com/ The October 2004 issue starts out with an interesting cover fold out report on what you can do with Google. After reading this, I sounded like Johnny Carson (remember him?) when he used to say, “I did not know that!” Did you know, for instance, you can search FROOGLE for products? Looking for a webcam to try real time conferencing but don’t want to spend a lot of bucks? This is the place. Want a quick way to see what Google offers? Go to http://www.google.com/options/index.html Definitions? Try typing in define: word and get a definition of “word.” Get maps with Google. Try typing in the address and see! You can also put in package tracking numbers and flight numbers and get information. So go and Google It!
Also in PC World for October: “Create a Web Site in Minutes.” This will show your students how to blog in minutes. Go to http://www.blogger.com or http://www.hello.com to get started. I just got this email announcing a live conference in using weblogs in higher education. Go to https://www.academicimpressions.com/web_conferences/weblogs.htm for more information. The live session will be held October 5, 2004 at 10:00am MST.
Oooo, a neat toy! Page 83 of the October issue has an ad for a toy I want. It is the Fisher CameraCorder by Sanyo that takes new MPEG-4 video. Up til know I have added video content to my BlackBoard online classes with my Logitech webcam. I save it as an AVI file, which is huge, and then compress it with Helix Producer, available free from http://www.real.com The problem is the video quality suffers. HOWEVER, my online students report great luck with it even with dial-up. What I do is to record a short introduction to the topic of the week. It only lasts a minute and a half. Students tell me they love being able to see and hear their online instructor and I think it gives them something of what they get with a face2face class. Anyway, the little Fisher can record around a ½ an hour of material on a 512mb card. I Froggled this product and the link is here: http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=fisher+cameracorder&btnG=Search+Froogle As you can see, it is still kind of pricey technology.
OK, fellow geeks. PC World has a quiz you need to take. It is called R U Annoying. Ruh roh. It is at http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,117412,00.asp Just to help you measure yourself, I got a “15.” Not good. I have another test on my office door called “You know you are a geek when…” It is located at http://www.julen.net/ephemera/pub/Geek.html One of the items is, “You know you are a geek when you have more email addresses than pairs of shoes.” OK, I admit it!
The mail also brought another issue of “Technology and Learning” (http://www.techlearning.com). Carry your desktop with you with this simple device called a Migo. It looks a lot like those thumb drives I see students and faculty carrying (me, too!). The company is at http://www.4migo.com Ahh, yet another article on Maximize Google and that is at http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=26807056 One thing I learned was you can opt out your personal information from Google.
One topic I am vitally interested in is in computer/information literacy. This is something you will hear more about. http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10810510
OK, my fingers are tired. That’s all for now.
Jim Patterson
Ocotillo Co-Chair
Emerging
I will be visiting Rio Salado on Wednesday October 6th from 9 am to 10 am to talk about their/our Emerging Learning Technologies, thanks to the invite of Angela Ambrosia!
Jim Patterson
Welcome to the Emerging Learning Technologies (ELT) entry for the week of September 13, 2004!
I think we often need to look outside our borders to see what else is going on with ELT. I did this week, going out to Britain. I’ve long been fascinated by what goes in the United Kingdom with instructional technology and online learning. For one thing, they have had a much longer experience with distance learning. History shows us that Britain wanted an educated civil service, yet their civil servants often served thousands of miles from any university. The University of London started a real distance program using the relatively slow means of mail by ship and local proctors for exams. Now, many British universities are on the cutting/bleeding edge of modern technology to deliver effective instruction.
Jane Knight created something called the e-Learning Centre. She has a section on technology that is interesting at http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/guide2elearning/ Here is the link to her current newsletter for September: http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/eclipsenewsletters/latest.htm
On that page, note the article on blogging… for some reason, I am fixated on this… haha. That article is from our friends at Educause. Another interesting article is the use of online technology in the health care field, in this case, Current Learning in Palliative Care (CLIP). It is nice to see applications in the sciences as I don’t think science folks think much of online and learning technologies. That is an unscientific opinion, of course.
Oh, I have another thing to add to my entry this time… are you familiar with the newsgroup bit.listserv.edtech? Here is a web link: http://groups.google.com/groups?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=bit%2Elistserv%2Eedtech
Bookmark that one!
The one entry that I think is interesting is the “2nd call for Papers.” It is on Politics, Ethics and Online Instruction" Call for Papers for the 2004 international conference on
Teaching Online in Higher Education (TOHE) November 10-12. The interesting thing is the presentations will be ONLINE. This is one I am going to submit a paper for. Here is the link for “2nd call” - http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=bit.listserv.edtech&selm=Pine.LNX.3.96.1040912131032.24641B-100000%40mail.h-net.msu.edu
Have a good week!
Jim Patterson
I’ve done some research on using digital camera technology in the classroom. What I found is, for me, interesting. There are lots of examples of lesson plans and ideas for using digital photography in the elementary classroom. And that is ok, too. For those of us in higher education, we can see these lesson plans and ideas and adapt them to our classroom. I’m not just talking about lesson plans on teaching digital photography. I am talking about lesson plans and ideas on how to USE the technology in teaching various subjects!
I love to Kodak site listed below. There are lots of ideas to get you started. Also, the Adobe site has some ideas aimed at elementary students (again, we can adapt!). Also note the school sites I have here. All should spark some ideas!
This is enough to get you (me) started… I know this has given me some goofy ideas.
More to come on that!
Jim Patterson
I am curious if any of you have used digital in the classroom? Any interesting, off-beat examples????
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/dlc/plus/chapter5/lessonPlans.shtml
http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/lessons/main.html
http://www.wacona.com/digicam/digicam.html
http://tlc.ousd.k12.ca.us/~acody/digi1.html
http://www.42explore.com/photog.htm
http://www.lauriefowler.com/digphoto.html
http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/lon/lonlinks/digicam/teacher/home.html
http://www.tech4learning.com/staffdev/dc.html
http://www.ncsu.edu/sciencejunction/route/teachtech/teachtechdigitalcam/
In my duties as online learning coordinator at Paradise Valley Community College I often run into interesting things we can use to enhance the online experience. I am currently talking to somebody from http://www.horizonwimba.com about doing a demonstration of their product for our online learning committee next month. I thought I'd post a list of their seminars coming up that you can register for. Some of the topics have to do with other areas here in Ocotillo land!
1) Scaling Online Delivery through the use of Learning Objects presented by: Maggie McVay Lynch, Portland State University
When? Wednesday, September 8, 2004 at 3pm EDT
2) Distance Student Support: How far do you go? presented by Bob Corio, University of South Dakota
Wednesday, September 15, 2004 at 2pm EDT
3) Demonstration of Horizon Wimba's Live Classroom PowerLink for WebCT Campus Edition
Jay Grossen, Horizon Wimba
Thursday, September 16, 2004 at 3pm EDT
4) Demonstration of Horizon Wimba's Live Classroom Building Block for Blackboard
Jay Gossen, Horizon Wimba
Tuesday, September 21, 2004 at 2pm EDT
5) A Great Distance: Using a Live Virtual Classroom in Developing and Industrialized Nations
Nadine Sunderland, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Wednesday, September 22, 2004 at 3pm EDT
6) Engaging Students by Engaging Faculty: Planning for Educational
Excellence in Distance Education Courses
Mary Nunaley & Skip Sparkman, Volunteer State Community College
Tuesday, September 28, 2004 at 3pm EDT
To register for any presentation, click on: http://www.horizonwimba.com/horizon/dls/
I hope you find something of interest!
Jim Patterson
The latest issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education has a nice article on "back to school blogging." It features blogs, or online web discussions, that help students get situated in their new school. Here is an example of such a blog from a student at Davidson College: Davidson Blog
LiveJournal is the free service this student uses to blog. Another one comes with the Google Toolbar and is free and it is called Blogger.
The Chroncle of Higher Education has published other articles on using blogs in higher education. Click the link for a webliography of other articles: Chronicle's stories on blogging. You can read the stories if you have a subscription to the Chronicle. I suppose people with a subscription could help those without (hint, hint). I am jim.patterson@pvmail.maricopa.edu (hint, hint, hint).
How do you use blogs? How might you use blogs? LET US KNOW!
Jim Patterson
Philly Considers Wireless Internet for All! In this story, Philadelphia officials are considering wi-fi for the whole city at rates well under industry rates. Read the story here: Philly Wi-Fi?
Is this something you think the Phoenix area could do? How would that impact learning????