It’s human nature perhaps to start taking things for granted, not dig below the surface and really start to understand how we can really use things to our advantage..such is the case for Twitter.  I tweet..lots of  things that interest me and I hope interest others.  I also tweet things I do ..particularly in Second Life but other areas of my life too.   I will probably tweet this blog too.

“Tweeting” is a form of microbloggin which is defined by Grosseck and Holutescu, (retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/2286799/Can-we-use-Twitter-for-educational-activities) as a Web2.0 technology, and a new form of blogging that let the users publish online brief text updates, usually less then 140-200 characters, sometimes images too.

Wikipedia provides the following defnition of microblogging:  is a passive broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically much smaller, in both actual size and aggregate file size. A microblog entry could consist of nothing but a short sentence fragment, an image or embedded video.

As with traditional blogging, microbloggers post about topics ranging from the simple, such as “what I’m doing right now,” to the thematic, such as “sports cars.” Commercial microblogs also exist, to promote websites, services and/or products, and to promote collaboration within an organisation.

I have been tweeting religiously for over a year now and plan to do so for at least another six months or for as long as I believe Twitter serves a purpose for me professionally and personally. Twitter has served as the means through which I have created an online persona and identity and I feel it has served that purpose very well.

As I am going to continue to maintain this blog with a focus on certain tools that i use and I have applied the use of Twitter it seemed the logical choice for this posting.  Given that I decided to do some background research to see how others are applying the use of Twitter as educators and perhaps even contrast or compare that to how I use Twitter for information sharing.

My search brought up the blog of Alan Lew, dated 2007. So I checked on Alan to see if he was still using Twitter and he is, in fact, still communicating via Twitter.

I have summarized Alan’s suggestions for using Twitter:

1.  Communicating with students regarding homework, content, and summarizing meetings and conferences.
2.  Communication via a mobile phone
3.  Digital Reference services

Moving on in my search I next found Carol Cooper-Taylor’s 2008 blog with 50 ideas on using twitter.    I reviewed her blog and summarize her observations here:

Sharing links, be human, respond to others, highlight student activities, communicate with and encourage others in your institution to use Twitter to communicate, tweet in moderation, use twitter for instant meet ups, use twitter for facilitating a “backchannel” discussion in the classroom, and bring great minds together!

Ron Jones, in September of 2008, published the following in SearchEngine Watch magazine:

Using twitter to increase the discussion outside the classroom regarding the subject taught..(issue of the day/week?)
Other:  Instant feedback.

• Track a conference or seminar.
• Follow a professional or famous person.
• Public notepad.
• Writing assignments.
• Grammar.
• Maximizing the teachable moment.

The following researchers; Kerstin Borau Carsten Ullrich, Jinjin Feng, and Ruimin Shen, detail how twitter can be used in language learning to faciliate learning English.    In their article they noted that.. “ twitter was selected because it provides the Chinese students the opportunity to
practice the target language as well as their communicative and cultural competence.”

They identify microblogging as tools (that)  enable users to post short messages that are distributed within their community. Users can post messages from their mobile devices, a Web page, from Instant Messengers and desktop clients. The same channels are used for receiving messages.

They found the following three advantages of using Twitter in their classroom :

• First, Twitter is easily accessibly from almost everywhere, so the students can practice at any time by sending and receiving messages either on the computer or the mobile phone. They can also decide how much time they spend reading and writing these messages. This is an essential feature for busy students.
• Second, Twitter is suitable for any level of English because in writing the messages, the students can chose a topic and grammatical structure fitting their level.
• Third, the use of Twitter as an online learning community can help to integrate students in the community who could not attend classroom.

In my research for this blog I found this wiki on Twitter… Twitter Fan Wiki. Which provides a warehouse for a variety of uses of Twitter and how to use Twitter.

In this  2007 article by Tseng, Song, Java and Finin the term microblogging is defined as  a new form of communication in which users can describe their current status in short posts distributed by instant messages, mobile phones, email or the Web.

In the August 16, 2010 US New and Report article the following uses of Twitter were identified:

1.      Using Twitter to post and answer questions during a lecture.
2.    Build networks in the professional world

3.    Develop marketing plans for businesses as a class project.

4.    Tweeting during commencement graduation and other events

5.    A way of connecting with other students in spite of off campus obligations

6.    A way of faculty connecting with other faculty on best practices in teaching

7.    “Digital faculty lounge” for connecting with other faculty

Together we are are just better, we learn from each other and we can bounce ideas off each other, as pointed out in Laura Walker’s 2009 blog on twitter.   This process allows users to reflect upon and improve their practice in the classroom.    Twitter can, and does for me at least, serve as my newspaper and new alert feed.  I check updates on my Twitter stream daily, this is how I learned of the Gulf Oil Spill and other national events.

Academ Hack’s blog from January 23rd, 2008 identifies the following academic uses for Twitter:

Facilitating classroom chatter that may or may not be subject related,  creating a sense of classroom community, understanding the global community, tracking a word, tracking a conference, following a professional, teaching grammar, rule based writing, maximizing a teachable moment, public notepad and writing assignments.

The online daily mewsmagaizine, Inside Higher Ed, has published 73 articles, blogs, etc., on Twitter, the most recent on August 19,2010, which relates to cell phone use.   This article presents a new initiative in which a university provided the following:

Georgia Gwinnett College employed when it decided to offer its more than 300 full- and part-time faculty members cell phones and encouraged them to respond to any calls or texts from students within 24 hours
Is this not great or what?  Gwinnett is taking a great leap off the cliff into the future ….hopefully not an initiative ahead of it’s time !!  I am including this here because Microblogging and smart phones go hand in hand!

On July 26, 2010 Business Week published an article on MBA schools and Twitter. With increased use of Twitter and Facebook schools are adding courses on Social Media at a record pace.    Twitter is being used by many companies for marketing, and special offers, one of my favorites to follow is Dell.

As I was doing research for this blog I came across Rachel Rueben’s The Use of Social Media in Higher Education for Marketing and Communications: A Guide for Professionals in Higher
Education at the following link: http://files.meetup.com/1491352/social-media-in-higher-education.pdf

In her guide she conveys that higher education is using Twitter as follows:

Of the 42 responders reporting to have an official Twitter account for their college, 50% of them say it is updated by their marketing/communications/public relations office. 50% use it to communicate with current students, and the other half use it to reach out to alumni. The majority update their status 1-4 times/week.

On May 20,2010, Hend Suliman Al-Khalifa, conveyed the following uses of Twitter in an eLearn Feature Article. (the results are based upon a Faculty Focus survey of 1900 academics)

• collaboration (between colleagues, in group meetings)
• communication
  • between teacher and student, student and student, teacher and parents
  • as a conference backchannel
  • for job posting
  • to circulate department news
• tools
  • as a personal learning environment/personal learning network
  • as a virtual office
  • to post assignments
  • for language learning
  • for class participation
  • to track attendance
  • to stay abreast of current issues in a given field

In May of 2010 Pearson released the details of their survey on the use of Social Media in education and the findings are as follows:

• Most faculty respondents (59%) have more than one social network account; nearly 25 percent have accounts on four or more social networks.

More findings can be found on the Pearson website. An article in the May 4,  2010 of Inside Higher Education summarizes the findings of this survey.   In a nutshell though we can speculate that professors and students are not quite the luddites that they appear to be, that there is a purpose for  twitter and other social networking tools in the classroom and in higher education.

The articles notes that:   In the open-ended portions of the survey, a substantial number of professors said they do not currently use social media tools but expect they will in the near future — meaning that by next year, the rate of usage will probably be even higher…. What this means to me is that if the utility of tools such as Twitter provide a convenience in communicating with students, assist them to meet the learning outcomes, and connecting with the faculty it will be implemented!  If Twitter provides a means of effectively conducting administrative tasks such as keeping attendance it will be effectively applied by faculty and used by students.

It’s one of those days when I am inspired by everything and have little or no organization or thought to what I am going to write about..but keeping up with this blog is a must on my list of things to do so I entitled this WEB Everything.  This post is a free flowing stream of consciousness about some different tools and sites I use across the web for a variety of different things.

When I thought about how to or what to write for this post I immediately turned to “Feed My App,” which is “a Web 2.0 Directory with the best and latest web 2.0 sites, daily updated. We classify web apps by tagging them and creating a brief description for each one listed.”

In all honesty I don’t get to spend enough time reviewing these tools however there are some here that I do use routinely.  This site categorizes the sites based upon tags.  The tag cloud is listed on the page.  In my review of the site I found the tag cloud which lists everything from A (accounting) to W (wiki).

I clicked on “Knowledge” in the tag cloud and found WebMD.  WebMDis a site I go to when I have an unexplained ache or pain this is where I go to get information.  Happy to say I am not spending too much time there but I do appreciate it’s information and accessibility.

I am intrigued by Wolfram Alpha.  I have used it a little and it is listed in the FeedMyApp directory under knowledge.   The goals of Wolfram Alpha are:

• Long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone.
• We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything.
• Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of             knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive        answers to factual queries.
• Our goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them with maximum clarity.
• Wolfram|Alpha is an ambitious, long-term intellectual endeavor that we intend will deliver

Another of my favorite sites is Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus. Visual Thesaurus is a powerful tool used to illustrate the relationships between words and much more.   From the website it states that: Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus which creates word maps that blossom with meanings and branch to related words. Its innovative display encourages exploration and learning.

Another exciting website that educators in particular need to review isScitable. Scitable is a free science library and personal learning tool brought to you by Nature Publishing Group, the world’s leading publisher of science. Scitable currently concentrates on genetics, the study of evolution, variation, and the rich complexity of living organisms.

Scitable is an open source/content website for scientist to present and share content.  Scitable labels itself as a collaborative learning space for science.  I am not a scientist nor do I teach in this discipline but it will be interesting to see how this seemingly well organized and presented site evolves.  If you are a science educator this is definitely as site to watch and get involved in as it provides a social networking format as well.

I have used Twine in the past..it is now Evri.  The website for Evristates that finds the latest news on your favorite topics so you can sit back and get informed.  I used Twine as a social networking tool or newfeed tool to connect with others who had similar interests.  Ultimately Evri seems to be a social bookmarking site.

There are 252 bookmarking sites, but what are they really?  According to Wikipedia social bookmarking is  a method for Internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarksfile sharing, the of web resources. Unlike resources themselves aren’t shared, merely bookmarks that reference them.

Writing this blog post has given me the motivation to investigate blogging sites.  some may claim that blogging is “dead” and some do. However being somewhat new to blogging I think it is essential. I like writing and writing blogs. It has truly allowed me an avenue for professional growth. If you blog for others and not yourself first then perhaps blogging is dead.

I used a WordPress theme to create this blog and recently opened up a word press blog at wordpress.org to create a free blog for a venture, Steampunk Adventures,that I have going with a team in Second Life ™.  I also use Blogger which is connected to my Google Account at cathylanderson.blogspot.com.

WordPressboasts over 237,000 bloggers.  It is a large resources for bloggers, writers, and educators who which to access a collaborative tool for writing, gathering comments and generating discussion.

According to Wikipedia Technorati is a site which is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. The name Technorati is a blend of the words technology and literati, which invokes the notion of technological intelligence or intellectualism.

If you wish you may also create video blogs.  Sites such as Vodspot provide a medium to present your videos. According to the Vodspot Blog: a… “new publishing platform for your Vodpod videos collection. It lets you turn your Vodpod collection into your own video site (we’ll host it for you) , and that you can use to create a video section of your site or blog or just to have your own little video world in cyberspace.”

FeedmyApp lists 214 blog sites.  There is bound to be one that will meet your needs if you aren’t overwhelmed by the review of all these sites.

In addition to creating, storing and sharing videos online there are also many ways to create, share and store audio files online.  One interesting site is BlogRadio. This site provides services for:

1. Subscribe to your favorite blogs using the BlogRadio Desktop Manager Tool

2. We’ll convert the text of the blog to an audio file (with a natural voice) for you.

3. To listen to your blogs, just start up the Desktop Manager and start listening!

Listen voice is an interesting sites which promotes their voice notes for many areas. Of special interest to educators maybe the group feature of this site. For groups there is a collaborative learning effort, whereby different members of study group can pick a topic each and record and share voice notes on it with each other would save time for everybody. Also, teachers can use our platform and record their lectures easily by just putting the Bluetooth earpiece and share with their students or other groups on a paid/ non-paid basis.  ListenVoice is a social learning platform, which enables its users to record voice notes using their phones. Users can access these voice notes from their computer, smartphones and download to their mp3 players. They can share notes with others using Facebook, Twitter, Email etc.

The voice notes are recorded via a  phone call, it is not noted whether or not this is a toll free call to Listen Voice.  For a basic free account one gets 5 minutes of recorded time using voice.  For a subscription at 19.95, the price at this time, the user gets to record a maximum of 2 hours of voice notes per call.

Blogamp is a site which promotes itself as audiocasting for the masses. Blogamp has been around for a while this information from their website indicates that:it was designed to deliver on-demand audio via a variety of web-based flash player widgets just before podcasting was established, back when audioblogging was the term used. Blogamp audio files maybe embedded to your website or blog.

Another site that maintains it’s currency and grows in recognition is Connexions.  Connexions is an environment for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web. … All content is free to use and reuse under the Creative Commons “attribution” license.   Connexions is a site which allows members to copy and reuse educational content as well as create your own content to share with others.

Connexions is a key player in the open content movement for education.  This is one of many sites, based upon the concept of social networking, that allows for the presentation of and reuse of educational resources.

Another site that I am professionally interested in is that of Moodle. As an educator I believe it is essential to stay current with the most recent trends in learning management systems. As Moodle is open source new innovations are continously evolving in the use of this LMS.   Due to the recent economic downturn more and more educators are seeking more economic solutions in their learning management systems.  As an example of this the South Carolina Department of Education recently adopted Moodle as a solution.

Another tool that i use for scheduling meetings with individuals outside of my organzation is Doodle. Doodle is... an online scheduling tool, Doodle takes the pain out of finding the right date and time for a group of people to meet and makes scheduling virtually effortless. The basic service is a free online coordination tool which requires neither registration nor software installation.

If you haven’t checked out YouTube…then I have to ask..why haven’t you? and been a bit judgmental about that.  YouTube is the video archive of who we are currently as people.  It shows what we do to have fun, make music, present information, and demonstrate how to do things. YouTube is just cool.

Do you want to incorporate videos into your course site but just don’t have the time?  Then Snag Films may have just the resource for you.  Interested in a serial killer?  Midwifery? former President Nixon? Egypt?   This site has a film for you. Be aware that this site is supported by “commercials” just like “real TV.”

Photosharing sites are popular with my favorite being Flickr..well it’s the one I use.  It has been my experience that as a user of some of these sites you “just end up using one,” without any real analysis or comparison of these sites.  One thing I do like about Flickr is picnik it is a photo editing site that can be used to do some basic photo edits for pictures uploaded to Flickr.  There are 470 Web 2.0 photo apps listed on FeedMyApp.   I use Twit Pic for photo sharing on the Twitter..it is the one that my cell phone defaults to, and when I am goofing around with photos and Twitter..well it’s the one I use.

In doing research for this blog I have found some sites I need to check out such as PhotoFunia. This site does the following as an online photo editing tool that gives you a fun filled experience.
You upload any photo and just wait to see the magic. Our proprietary technology automatically
identifies the face in the photo and let’s you add cool photo effects and create funny face photo
montages.

Dumpr is another site that allows the user to upload photos from his/her computer and apply affects to the picture.

Snipshot is a pay for service sitewhich allows for many photo editing services. These services include:

• Edit RAW files online
• Apply special effects
• Make portraits faster with face detection
• No download necessary—100% browser based, no plug-ins required
• One-click import from any web site with our bookmarklet
• Save as GIF, JPG, PDF, or PNG
• One-click enhance improves most images
• Basic editing tools like crop, rotate, resize
• Basic image adjustments like contrast, brightness, saturation, sharpness and hue
• Unlimited undo and redo (Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y, or ⌘Z and ⌘Y on your Mac)
• Nondestructive editing—we always work from the original
• Edit big pictures—up to 10 MB, or 25 megapixels (5000×5000 pixels)
• Import PDF

Splashup, a webbased photo editing tool is one I will be checking out frequently.  This site provides photo sharing, layer and blend modes, filters, layer effects, brushes and text editing.

I also found a site I was not previously aware of but will definitely book mark for further review and that is Seed from AOL.   From the About site it states that Seed: Join this network of amazing talent, and reach one of the web’s largest monthly audiences. SEED is the place for you to be seen, to be heard, to get credit and to get paid.

Triond is another site worthy of further exploration for writers as it provides: a complete publishing service that enables users to easily publish quality content of any type, in any media format. We publish your work on a network of niche websites so you reach a wider audience, gain more recognition and earn more revenue.

Feedback is consistent with the student able to monitor his / her progress.  Feedback may also come from peers and peer review.

Several reports or plans related to higher education, education technology, and online learning have been released in the last several months that indicate changes in how students learn, how they access their learning materials, and how that content is delivered.  In addition to this I will also give an overview of Millenials from the Pew Research Center.

In January 2010 the Sloan Consortium released their report on online education.  This report indicates that online experienced a growth of 17% in the last year.  Students in online classes comprise 25% of all students enrolled in higher education today, or 4.6 million students.    This 29 pages report found on the Sloan Consortium website presented the following information:

The issue of retention in online is also addressed in this report.   The question “Is retention in online harder than in  traditional face to face courses?”  This was administered via a survey of Chief Academic Officers which indicated that most were neutral on the question.  However those who agree outnumber of those who disagree.  Specifics on why this perception exists were not asked or provided.

Another report which was released by the US Department of Education is the:  Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies.  I previously blogged on this report however what this report indicates is that online learning, can,  under certain conditions,  provide better learning experiences to students.

Another study with trends to watch in distance education is theK-12 Online Learning reportfrom the Sloan Consortium. this 37 page report, based upon a survey administered to over 10,000 school districts, with a5/4% return of valid surveys,  published in January 2009 indicates that:

Most significant in regards to this report is the growth in online education which is illustrated by:

Regulators Can Help Advance / Slow Mobile Internet Evolution.

Can Facebook be used to provide content, a place for group communication and interaction for academic courses and programs…well all signs indicate a solid yes to this question.  As I have a Facebook page I decided to review sites that are relevant to certain discipline areas.    The aim of this blog is to identify sites where academics have illustrated how they use Facebook and to point you to those sites that are relevant to certain discipline areas.

I would like to hear comments from you.  Does Facebook have an application in education and if so how?  And if you are using it how are you using it?

What tools does Facebook have in place to manage classes, groups, and networking?

Facebook can deliver content in the form of photos, videos, documents that have been scanned to jpg’s, and notes:

For example a search of Facebook for “Calculus” yields:

The Calculuswebsite which is a fan site for students in Calculus and collaboration in problem solving, etc., in that area.    As recent as yesterday, March 20,2010 as I write this blog I noticed that there is a detailed response to a student’s request for help solving a problem.

Another Calculussite states:  This page is based on Mr. Morris’ Calculus 1 class at Las Positas College; however, those not in the class may find the content useful too.  This site provides flashcards based upon up coming exams that students can use as study aids.

There are professional websites such as the English Teachers Site. This club is designed as a place for English teachers to share resources and discuss teaching strategies with colleagues near and far. Share with your fellow English teachers any lesson plans, activities, must-teach novels, useful websites, videos, or books for any grade level… we’d love to hear about it! So please, post away!…

Or this site: English teachers put more thought into a novelthan the actual author did.

Computer Science Student Group: The importance of CS has never been greater. We’re discovering ways to build just about everything out of small, simple mechanisms glued together with software, so no matter what you do, CS tends to be inside. And the scope of this new CS is amazing: We’re at the center of the action in biology, nanotechnology, particle physics. If society is ever going to slash medical costs, CS will play the key role. I see CS as a sort of universal science. We’re beginning to pervade everything.

Mathematics the Language of the Sciences: group is intended for people who enjoy solving and/or contemplating mathematical, physical, engineering problems, and who enjoy going beyond and study the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics.  If you’re a mathematics, computer science, statistics, actuarial science, engineering major or you just love Mathematics, if you love to inquire about the philosophy of mathematics, or if you have any question in the field of Mathematics, then this is the group for you.

Health Informatics: This group joins interested people in Health Informatics, Medical Informatics, Healthcare IT, HIT – Health Information Technology, HIM – Health Information Management, HIS – Health Information Systems, Hospital Information Systems, CDSS – Clinical Decision Support Systems, EHR – Electronic Health Records, EMR – Electronic Medical Records, PACS – Picture Archiving and Communication Systems, DICOM – Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine, and many other related sciences and topics.

There are sites such as the 100 ways to use Facebook in the Classroom The Facebook Classroom: 25 Facebook Apps That Are Perfect for Online Education, or  this facebook site.

Application are available in Facebook such as the courses application which will allow  you to:

Courses

Display your courses on your profile for college or high school, find classmates, manage your schedule and assignments, create discussions, post notes, and form exclusive study groups. Welcome to Courses on Facebook.   You can use your Facebook course site as a “live syllabus” which will allow you to post assignments, communicate deadlines, deliver content, especially real time news feeds,  and facilitate discussions.

There is also a Files application which allows you to upload documents, photos, videos and pull informatin from your profile.

Is there an application in Pedagogy that Facebook lends itself to?  If so what is that?

Of course there is the relatively new and as yet evolving theory of connectivism:  a learning theory for the digital age,” has been developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes based on their analysis of the limitations of behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism to explain the effect technology has had on how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn.^[1] Donald G. Perrin, Executive Editor of the International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning says the theory “combines relevant elements of many learning theories, social structures, and technology to create a powerful theoretical construct for learning in the digital age.”^{[1]  (  Retrieved from Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism_%28learning_theory%29, Connectivism a learning theory for the digital age http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm, wikiveristy)}

Social Learning theory:  that focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context. It considers that people learn from one another, including such concepts as observational learning, imitation, and modeling.

Social Learning Theory; Bandura emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Bandura (1977) states: “Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.” (p22). Social learning theory explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, an environmental influences. The component processes underlying observational learning are: (1) Attention, including modeled events (distinctiveness, affective valence, complexity, prevalence, functional value) and observer characteristics (sensory capacities, arousal level, perceptual set, past reinforcement), (2) Retention, including symbolic coding, cognitive organization, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal), (3) Motor Reproduction, including physical capabilities, self-observation of reproduction, accuracy of feedback, and (4) Motivation, including external, vicarious and self reinforcement.  (retrieved from http://tip.psychology.org/bandura.html, 3/23/2010)

Action Learning: is an educational process whereby the participant studies their own actions and experience in order to improve performance. This concept is close to learning-by-doing and teaching through examples and repetitions.  Action learning is done in conjunction with others, in small groups called action learning sets or two-in, two-out team. It is proposed as particularly suitable for adults, as it enables each person to reflect on and review the action they have taken and the learning points arising. This should then guide future action and improve performance.  (retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_learning, 3/23/2010)

Action Learning: is a process of inquiry, beginning with the experience of not knowing ‘what to do next’, and finding that answers are not available through current expertise. When expertise fails to provide an answer, collaborative inquiry with fellow learners who are undergoing the same questioning experience is always available. To be effective, this partnership in learning needs to be both supportive and at the same time challenging, deeply caring yet questioning. Such partnerships actually create themselves when different people with different ideas engage whole-heartedly with each other to resolve each others’ problems.  (retrieved from What’s Action Learning 3/23/2010)

The use of Facebook and the potential of it is yet to be explored and documented fully as illustrated in this study by Schroeder and Greenbowe  who stated that “at the very least, the data suggest that students will use Facebook as an alternate mode of communication, particularly when deadlines approach. The results of this study may best be viewed as a case study, showing that for this specific group of students, Facebook proved to be a good medium for communication in the sense that students would use it.” (retrieved online http://gator.uhd.edu/~williams/AT/ChemOfFB.htm 3/23/2010)   Harris noted that the “growing influence demonstrates that the utilization of SNS can expand the dialogue outside of the classroom or campus, build better communication channels with students and may be valuable as a supplemental recruitment tool in higher education…” (Retrieved from   http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WMX/is_18_25/ai_n30956801/, 3/23/2010)  Heiberger and Harper illustrate the application of Facebook and benefits to the students as:  Facebook gives them opportunities to learn about and self select into programs and services beneficial to them…. Facebook can help students simplify and prioritize their choices, manage their time wisely, and be aware of the wide variety of options available to them on campus…”  (retrieved from http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/Chapter%202%20-%20Facebook%20and%20Student%20Engagement.pdf  3/23/2010)

In conclusion it is evident that the use of Facebook may prove to be beneficial to students as a source of information, tutoring and collaboration as illustrated by the Calculus sites provided, it may serve as a discussion networking site for professional development, and even a connection for future employment opportunities as demonstrated by the Computer Science sites.

There are a variety of communication, content and networking tools available through Facebook such as the files and courses application, and are worth exploring.

Learners must balance life responsibilities with the demands of learning.

Learner are autonomous and self directed.

Learners have a tremendous amount of life experiences.  They need to connect the                  learning to their knowledge base.  They must recognize the value of the learning.

Learners are goal oriented and know for what purpose they are learning new information.

Learning is self-initiated and tends to last a long time.

Adults as learners take on a great deal of responsibility for learning themselves.  This greatly alters the role of teacher in the learning environments in general but virtual worlds specifically.

Collaborative learning or cooperative learning was another learning theory cited by respondents as most often applied to the design of the learning program in Second Life.  The lecture, listening and note taking lives along side other processes are are based in student discussion and active work with the course content/ materials.  The design of the course is to ensure an intellectual experience for the students and emergent learning processes are identified..however key to the learning process is the discussion. (Macgregor and Smith, 1992, retrieved from http://learningcommons.evergreen.edu/pdf/collab.pdf)

The interactive environment of Second Life lends itself very well to the application of collaborative learning.  The benefits of this learning theory is viewed as freeing up professors from lecturing and allow them time to collaborate with students, enables students to collaborate with other independent of time and geography and provides a new mode for the production of knowledge.   (Tapscott, Don and Williams, Anthony, Educause Review 2010, 45, 1, January 2010)

Those examples of collaborative learning include any activities in which students work together to achieve a common goal.  These learning opportunities maybe well suited to role play, creation of learning objects, and communication activities.   Second Life provides many tools which may support the student in achieving the learning outcomes of a collaborative learning activity these include the communication tools, any activity in which they can create content in world, and the use of the group tools to support and encourage group and team work.

Collaborative learning theory is built upon those tenets of quality that we review in distance education these include student to student communication, student to content, and student to faculty.  These learning activities are illustrated as below:

The model above identifies several avenues of social interchange which seems to support the respondents observations regarding social learning theory.  Bandura identified and defined social learning theory in 1977 as the, “importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others….further

In addition to this, due to the rich immersive experience of being in virtual worlds experiential learning seems to be a logical choice for designing learning activities in virtual worlds.  Kolb defined experiential learning as follows: “experiential learning theory defines learning as ‘the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience’”(Kolb 1984, p. 41, retrieved from http://www.d.umn.edu/~kgilbert/educ5165-731/Readings/experiential-learning-theory.pdf, 2/10/10).  Fernwick, in 2007, identified the five dimensions of experiential learning as purpose, interpretation, engagement, self, and context.

Finally several respondents noted connectivism as a learning theory to be applied to designing course activities in virtual worlds.  Connectivism is a learning theory that should be at the forefront of learning in this digital age.  Defined by Siemens and Downes it takes into account the impact that advances in educational technology has had on how we learn.  (Siemens, 2005, retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm 2/10/10).

Siemens, 2005, further describes connectivism as the integration of eprinciples explored chaos, network and complexity and self organization theories.  He identified the following:

Principles of connectivism:

• Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
• Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
• Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
• Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

Connectivism lends itself very well to the current wave of information, social networking, technology, and change that we experience on a daily basis.  How this theory will allow us as learners and teachers apply the appropriate tools that we need to in order to learn is critical to assisting learners in achieving their goals.  Applying the environment of Second Life to facilitate learning, achieve the aim of decision making as a learning process and making effective decisions  is critical, however those opportunities are there as one engages in the virtual environment.

Putting the onus of learning on the student in student centered learning versus teacher centered learning requires a more consistent method of providing a means for the student to gather feedback on his/her progress in achieving the learning outcomes.  It is the learning outcomes that are fundamental to the assessment process.  The feedback or assessment that should be consistent, constant, and non intrusive to the student accessing the content or activiites he or she needs, and allow the student with the opportunity to apply new knowledge as well as prior learning.

Even if an individual goes off on his/her own explorations in the virtual world he or she can maintain connections with their group, engaged in the environment and observing the creation of objects and how they were designed by others.  They can communicate their findings back to their core group, ask questions of the builder who designed the object, can evaluate the object, and monitor, based upon the feedback if their activities are achieving the course or program learning outcomes. Essentially successfully achieving the outcomes is demonstrated by how successful the student is in demonstrating what he/she has learned, how they communicate their activities, and how they can demonstrate what they have learned to real life and virtually.

It is apparent that those who design learning experiences in virtual worlds can identify those practices which lend themselves best to the opportunities provided in Second Life for education.  Understanding the basic fundamentals of learning theories helps the educator best craft a learning “blueprint,” which justifies and drives the learning activities for students.  This justification is critical for students to grasp immediately and thereby makes their experience that much richer.  Getting students comfortable in Second Life as soon as  possible is essential so they can get beyond learning the basic fundamentals of navigation, communication and the culture so they can quickly access what they need to learn is critical.

Bandura, A. (1977), Social Learning Theory, as retrieved from http://tip.psychology.org/bandura.html.

Fenwick, Tara J, & Gouthro, Patricia (REVIEWER). (2004). Learning through experience: troubling orthodoxies and intersecting questions Review of the Learning through experience: troubling orthodoxies and intersecting questions Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 50(2), 211-214.  Retrieved February 10, 2010, from CBCA Complete.

Holistic. (2007, February 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:25, February 11, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holistic&oldid=110097300

Kolb, David A.., Boyatzis, Richard, Mainemelis, Charalampos, Experiential Learning Theory:
Previous Research and New Directions R. J. Sternberg and L. F. Zhang (Eds.), Perspectives on cognitive, learning, and thinking styles. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000.

Macgregor, Jean, Smith, Barbara; What is Collaborative Learning? retrieved from http://learningcommons.evergreen.edu/pdf/collab.pdf 2/10/10.

Siemens, George,Connectivism:A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, 2004, retrieved from Elearnspace, http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm).

Tapscott, Don and Williams, Anthony,Innovating the 21st-Century University: It’s Time!.  Educause Review, 45, 1.

Virtual world. (2010, February 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:24, February 11, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virtual_world&oldid=342452412

In their article in USDLA’s Distance Learning for Educators, Trainers, and Leaders Maria Puzziferro and Kaye Shelton ask questions regarding online education and distance learning that we as educators in online courses and programs should be asking ourselves as we review our courses and programs for quality.

One assumption that they question is “how do we define student or learning centered and students are in control of their own learning (pp 10).   this made me stop and think..it is easy to assume that this latest “buzz word phrase,” of the day drives the direction of online education today and education in general.  If we can say that our courses, programs and services are student or learner centered..then job done..we are meeting the needs of students.  But do we really know what this means?  does the student?  Does your educational institution or organization have a common agreement regarding what learning/student centered means and does it matter?   or are these just good PR buzz phrases?  Here are some various definitions of the terms and the institutions who use them…

Change has changed.  The old saying..the only thing that remains the same is that things will change, holds true but how change happens has changed as well.    Some will believe, hope and try …to not play a role in this change, deny it, push back against it, all for good reasons.  It will impact their jobs, those values they have held dear for their entire lives, those simple pleasures of their lives.  It will change those things they looked forward to sharing with their children and their children’s children..reading a book, watching television, where they live and how they communicate..these things are all changing.    My thoughts on change have been driven by a book I am now reading.

I have finally picked up and dove right into Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity is Near, When Humans Transcend Biology, admittedly a lot of this is over my head, but as I read it I was not certain whether or not to become excited about the future of society that Kurzweil illustrates or dive under the covers and wait until the “epoch” is over.    In fact Kurzweil identifies and defines six epochs that define human society, some in the past and some in the future..what then is an epoch.  Dictionary.com defines epoch as follows:  a particular period of time marked by distinctive features, events, etc.; the beginning of a a distinctive period in the history of anything…

What then does singularity mean?  Kurzweil defines singularity as a future period, during which technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversible transformed. The changes in technology happen so rapidly that Kurzweil defines it as exponential, the law of accelerating returns. I am not going to describe the history of technology and computing here, as Kurzweil does it much better than I do.  However it is also illustrated here:

Timeline of computer and Internet history:       http://www.warbaby.com/FG_test/Timeline.html

A History of Artificial Intelligence:                   http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AITopics/History

Living Internet;                                          http://www.livinginternet.com/

What we don’t know about the future of the Internet and technology may be defined by the user, what are their needs, what do they need?  The Pew Internet’s research on the future of the interest, based upon a survey technology experts and survey analysts maybe a good start, however it is just that a start, it difficult to determine trends based upon the observations of these individuals.   Their predictions include the following:  the emerging era of the blog, experts believe the Internet will bring yet more dramatic change to the news and publishing worlds. They predict the least amount of change to religion, we have already seen the changes to how our news is delivered, how we can influence the news, and changes to how we buy books.  This report also identified the following from this website:

• Some 77% said the mobile computing device (the smartphone) with more significant computing power will be 2020′s primary global Internet-connection platform.
• 64% favored the idea that 2020 user interfaces will offer advanced touch, talk and typing options and some added a fourth “T” – think.
• Nearly four out of five respondents (78%) said the original Internet architecture will not be completely replaced by a next-generation ‘net by 2020.
• Three out of five respondents (60%) disagreed with the idea that legislatures, courts, the technology industry, and media companies will exercise effective intellectual property control by 2020.
• A majority—56%—agreed that in 2020 “few lines (will) divide professional from personal time, and that’s OK.”
• 56% said while Web 2.0 is bringing some people closer, social tolerance will not be heightened by our new connections
• 45% agreed and 44% disagreed with the notion that the greater transparency of people and institutions afforded by the Internet will heighten individual integrity and forgiveness.
• More than half (55%) agreed that many lives will be touched in 2020 by virtual worlds, mirror worlds, and augmented reality, while 45% disagreed or did not answer the question.

As I interpret this information, other things I have read, trends, and the use of technology I ask myself what does this mean, what, besides newspapers, the music industry, and communications will be disrupted next.   Will publishing be disrupted with the prevalent nature of self-published  content on the web?  Yes.  It has already happened. I can write in isolation or publish  my writing and allow the reader to shape change and contribute to my writing.  Chances are self-publishing will become the norm as is evident by these sites:

Lulu:  A self-publishing site for authors, writers and photographers

MIxbook:was started with the idea that friends should be able to create books together. Though Mixbook software makes book creation easy and fun, it also allows groups of people to build books together. Now friends finally have a way to share their memories online!

How libraries are used has changed dramatically in the last 10 years.  Use primarily for their computers, Internet and ease of accessing resource the role of the librarian has changed to information technology expert, who understands the application of academic resources to certain discipline areas, the history of literature and writing to forward thinking technology expert.

The use of mobile technology i.e.) Ipod Touch and Cell phones provide for ubiquitous computer and any where anytime access to learning objects, resources and information.  This access to information around the world will support the tenets of Friedman and Bonk in their assertions that The World is Flat when it comes to globalization and business and The World is Open in regards to education.

It has been demonstrated by Google and other search engine technology that the parallel processing systems of the brain have been replicated by computers.  These interconnected networks of computers, as described by Stibels in his book Wired for Thought,  have allowed for pattern recognition  or optimal processing of the brain.  There is a certain uniqueness, non linearity and chaos if you will, to the processing of the brain, (a distractedness?) that this process may never be able to replicate.   What underpins new search engine technology?  What drives search engines such as Bing?Cuil? Cluuz?

Cuil: Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance.  Try it you might like it I know I did!

Cluuz: generates easier to understand search results through patent pending semantic cluster graphs, image extraction, and tag clouds.

The difference between standard search engines and Cluuz is in the fact that Cluuz does some work for you. A standard search engine shows links in a list. Cluuz instead peers into the searched web pages, extracts important terms and images, clusters them and gives them in chart format (semantic graph) and in a tag cloud where you can click on any entity to further focus your search…

Search engines abound. The focus is now on the “real time” web. What is the real time web?  What does this mean? According to Wikipedia real time web can be defined as: a set of technologies and practices which enable users to receive information as soon as it is published by its authors, rather than requiring that they or their software check a source periodically for updates.   On October 29, 2009 Mashable published this article on four emerging trends on the real time web.    These trends are real time collaboration, real time analytics, real time search and real time ecommerce.

These trends in technology will also impact education.  Education may be one of the institutions said to be slow to respond to change, but underlying currents of the economy, driving demands of the job market for high skilled workers, a continuous change in medical, communication, mobile technologies, and changes in the economy all drive a change in education.  In addition to that external pressures such as a rise in competition to the traditional education model will also drive change.  Open education resources, a more educated class of people from China, India, and other countries besides the United States have put increasing demands on the education system of the United States.

It maybe easy to scoff at models such at the University of the People, Peer to Peer, and the fact that Harvard is providing a free Master’s degree in education.  These initiatives may seem like a drop in the bucket to the huge education market, and taken singularly they are not significant, however taken as a whole they are, I believe the “perfect storm.”

Some people in the field of education are anxious for the change of open education to happen, for change to happen in the online world to the learning management system, for free textbooks, open access resources, and free education.  However, I feel it is critical to keep in mind that these people are in the minority, even though their arguments have merit in regards to the benefits of student and to student learning.    Reports are that students are already at the forefront of taking advantage of open education resources as they look for improved courseware and materials, from an open education institution, in courses they are enrolled in at a different institution.  In essence what I am saying is that students may enroll in a course at one college but access the course materials that are available at a different institution for a variety of reasons..but if they can access those materials and get through a course faster, have a better understanding of the course materials, and also do this for the purposes of convenience they will do so.

In essence what this comes down to is that it is the user who will drive where we go with technology. It is the user who is the innovator.  It is the student or the user who will ask for change in the status quo, and if they don’t receive what they are seeking they will find someone or some entity which will..that is the nature of what the advances in technology have provided us today.  Their needs will be underpinned by the economy, by their jobs, and the need for convenience and technical sophistication … they will question why not?  What if? and they will communicate what their experiences are with others..and not just their close circle of friends but with the world at large…

When I first came into Second Life I was totally lost, I am not a “gamer” and didn’t have a clue what to expect from participation in a three dimensional virtual world.  Now I know enough to know that my Second Life “rez day” is August 1, 2008.  Looking back I laugh, I am not sure but I think it took me a month just to get off orientation island in Second Life, wandering around some darkened city streets, and falling into a “water way” about 20 times while at a live music event.  It wasn’t until I was motivated to look around and evaluate Second Life as a platform for education and learning through my job that I took an active interest in Second Life.  At that point I mad a few investments in my learning about virtual worlds like buying a few books such as Second Life for Dummies, Second Life Grid, and a variety of blogs, research and articles.  In addition to this I joined the active and informative Second Life Educators List Serve and the Second Life Education Roundtable.  In addition to this I quickly learned that there were free classes in Second Life and participating in the Virtual World’s Best Practices in Education as a volunteer.  And while all of these activities were good they did not give me the level of breadth and depth that I was seeking in learning about virtual worlds in general and Second LIfe Specifically.

Because of my first experiences I am excited to write about  John Jamison, Imagilearning and my SLemester Experience colleagues.  It seems like just yesterday that I signed up for the SLemester, but in so many ways, in the rapidly evolving landscape of social networking, virtual worlds, and technology it seems ages ago.  Being a part of Imagilearning and connecting with John has really helped me better understand Second Life.   Before I knew about Imagilearning and the SLemester Experience I learned about John Jamison through his dissertation which I downloaded for review in my quest to learn more about the use of Second Life as a platform for learning and education.

John Jamison is an educator, innovator and researcher in the design, use and application of Second Life for education, training and business. His dissertation, published in 2008, makes John a pioneer in the field of research in virtual worlds.  To date, much that has been done is still based upon assumptions, speculations and little solid research and observations.  John’s dissertation, “Education in a Strange Land, The Experience of Traditional Education When Immersed in Virtual Environment of Second Life,” identified four themes;  social interactivity, environmental adjustment, learning curve and personal reason. I also came to gain more insight about John’s level of knowledge and professionalism by his input and participation on the SLED list serve and this is how I learned about the SLemester Experience.  When John posted that he was starting up the next session of the SLemester I decided, without hesitation,  to join up.  Since that time, May 2009, I have learned a great deal, had the opportunity to engage with others who share an interest in Second Life, and become fully immersed with them in this environment.

By the time I started in the Slemester program I knew a little about several different things in Second Life: shopping (of course!), buying and selling land, setting up groups, communication, terraforming, building, navigation I didn’t know how to do any of it very well..and there are always better ways of doing things in Second Life and John is the “go to guy” for this type of knowledge.  Through my participation in the SLEmester I learned about these skills as well as the inner workings and history of Second Life, through Johnm  a long time Second Life resident. In addition to this I have had the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with colleagues from all over the world because of my participation in the SLemester Experience.   These discussions take us in many directions from talking about books, the future of education and social networking, media as well as challenges faced by virtual worlds in a global environment.   It goes without saying that I signed up for SLEmester II without thinking twice!  I couldn’t wait for it to get started. However even more meaningful than that is the enduring connection that I now have with John Jamison and Imagilearning, his support on a research project I am working on in education and the future of education in Second Life.

But John Jamison’s Imagilearning is much more than the SLemester Experience. According to the Imagilearning website the mission of  this enterprise is:

In addition to the SLEmester Experience sessions one and two John also provides several consulting opportunities in education and training not just in the virtual environment but techniques and knowledge on creating environments in which learning occurs for the student.  Further information regarding Imagilearning can also be found  on this Ning Site:  http://futureoflearning.ning.com/, engage in a dialogue with other colleagues in order to learn about the best practices of teaching and learning in virtual worlds.  John has a cadre of Second Life, social  networking, business and education experts to draw upon to consult and meet your training needs.