Wow - I wish I would have said that....

The article "Who is afraid of the Big Bad copyright?" is right on. I wish I would have written this. The law is not clear and thus the admonition to seek forgiveness rather than permission resonates with me. I also like the suggestion that our librarians cease to be the copyright police. And it is VERY interesting that there is not one reported case involving educators. Despite the seemingly monolithic language of statutes, it is what the courts say they mean that is the key. It would be difficult to imagine an educator losing a fair use case unless they had crossed the line into the commercial speech realm. With all of our focus in this class on social networking and bolgs, etc., the lines could become blurred. But until the first shot is fired, I say "use!"

SixDegrees.com

1. What was the target audience for this social networking site?
I choose to look at SixDegrees.com since it was the first. This was focused on friends and family, just as some of the popular sites are now.
2. How long was the site in existence?
Four years.
3. Why was it popular? What was its demise?
It was popular, I suppose, because it was first. Its demise is blamed on being ahead of its time, but that doesn’t resonate with me. It did not have the functionality of the successive sites, and the founders did not see the future clearly.
4. Is/was there another competitor in the same market that was more popular?
It did not have a more popular competitor to deal with, and again, appears to have failed due to lack of vision.
5. Would you ever consider creating an account and using it? Explain your reason using a personal experience as an example.
Sure. It looks very much like many of the popular sites now, like Facebook, of which I am a member, albeit a deadbeat.

You're such a Twit!

I am a huge Twitter fan. (Check me out at Bodytalkman.) I have been able to make contact with thousands of like-minded people all over the world in a very short time. My focus has been with the work that I do with Energy Medicine Foundation, but I see no reason why this couldn't work just as well in any context, including education. Indeed, the 140 words or less requirement of Twitter could easily spark some very interesting discussions. And it would certainly meet the attention span and tech savvy needs of this new generation. If engagement truly is the key, and in an educational context I define that as passion, it would be very interesting to see if any students continued on after they were no longer required to post. In the educational context I think content would be key, unless there was some mutual interest or "celebrity" factor, such as the preception that one's ideas were changing the world. I honestly don't see any negatives here, since the Discussion Board is already in place in Blackboard. And Twitter would be so much sexier and more interesting. Bottom line, I just might add a Twitter component to my next online class....

"Social" Networking

There are two things that strike me in Hargadon's blog. First, his argumennt that engagement is more important than the content. Doesn't the content drive engagement? Perhaps not in a social networking context. It would in a blog context for sure. But I gather relationship is the real key in this virtal world. The other comment that I found interesting was that the site should be guided. Again, this was somewhat counter-intuitive to me. Which raises the question, at what point do these sites cease to be social networking sites, and become something else all together? If you are working this hard at something, when does it cross the line into a commercial or business context? From an education standpoint, the content would be critical to maintaining engagement, and of course it would need to be guided. I suppose I would see the key as creating passion, either for the content or for relationship. I am reading the latest bio on Einstein and I wonder what it must have been like to be a correspondent of his. Would we all be interested in his blog? What sort of social network would he create today? And would his celebrity trump some of the arguments of Hargadon? I am an avid Twitter fan and I do see the value in this networking tool, although the sheer volume is a great barrier to effective communication. But I have met several people via tweets and have used their services or saved their websites. but this is where these sites seem to be driven by business relationship or commercial context more than social networking. It is this blur on underlying motivation that holds the key to the future of these sites.

Wiki Me

I like these two links because they are focused on business issues, which is where I teach:
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/economics.html
http://www.khake.com/page31.html
I also liked this site for its information on a variety of places to create wikis:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiFarms
I am convinced that I will be developing one of these for one of my classes in the future. The benfits just seem huge to me, now that I am exploring the concept in detail. I am not worried about the negatives of students being able to enter and update entries, and it just seems like a great forum for the interchange of ideas, which is what I think a college class should really be. The key isue is time - not just in developing the wiki lesson plan for a future class, but even answering this very question....

All Wikied Up

After reading some of these great posts and the reading materials, I will try not to be repetitive. Here is the key, I think, and after much thought, I am really warming up to this. It creates engagement, a personal stake, in the dialogue. It means that the students have as much to say as the instructor (something I already encourage in my classes, where there are no "right" answers to the scenarios). It will also mean that the dialogue will follow the interests of the group, much like one would want in the F2F. One post suggested that there could be some concerns with students manipulating or altering posts, etc. This is the same concern with broader wikis. But if people are that passionate about the material, I say right on! That might be a very unexpected, but none-the-less ringing, endorsement of the class. This is particularly so if critical thinking is prized over reaching the "correct" answers. Granted, this won't be true for all classes, but it certainly would be true of mine. My guess is that a detailed syllabus might be a waste of time in such a class, where the course followed the interests and dialogue and controversy stimulated by the wiki. But what an interesting document would exist by class end! Wow. I may have talked myself into this. Is it possible that this sort of flexilbility and passion could stimulate creator involvement and greater interest and curiosity? Yes, for sure. But in classes, like mine, where the ages and abilities of the students vary greatly, we could also see many get left behind or out. I'm not sure at this moment how best to manage that. But this would also be an interesting way to teach a class from the instructor's viewpoint, as well. We, too, need stimulation and passion, and this just might be an amazing way for an old dog to learn new tricks.

Instructional Design

I like the "Androgogy" and "Assure" moels of instructional design.Here is a Wikipedia entry for Androgogy: "Andragogy consists of learning strategies focused on adults. It is often interpreted as the process of engaging adult learners with the structure of learning experience. Originally used by Alexander Kapp (a German educator) in 1833, andragogy was developed into a theory of adult education by the American educator Malcolm Knowles.
Knowles asserted that andragogy (Greek: "man-leading") should be distinguished from the more commonly used pedagogy (Greek: "child-leading").
Knowles' theory can be stated with six assumptions of adult learning:[1][2]
Adults need to know the reason for learning something (Need to Know) Experience (including error) provides the basis for learning activities (Foundation). Adults need to be responsible for their decisions on education; involvement in the planning and evaluation of their instruction (Self-concept). Adults are most interested in learning subjects having immediate relevance to their work and/or personal lives (Readiness). Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented (Orientation). Adults respond better to internal versus external motivators (Motivation). The term has been used by some to allow discussion of contrast between self-directed and 'taught' education.[3]"
And this entry on the Assure model is as good a description of what I do in my lesson plans as I have ever seen:The ASSURE Model(From Instructional Media and Technologies for Learning by Heinich, Molenda, Russell, Smaldino, 1999)
Analyze learners State objectives Select instructional methods, media, and materials Utilize media and materials Require learner participation Evaluate and revise
The ASSURE model is an ISD (Instructional Systems Design) process that was modified to be used by teachers in the regular classroom The ISD process is one in which teachers and trainers can use to design and develop the most appropriate learning environment for their students. You can use this process in writing your lesson plans and in improving teaching and learning.
The ASSURE model incorporates Robert Gagne's events of instruction to assure effective use of media in instruction.
Analyze learners
Before you can begin, you must know your target audience (your students). You need to write down the following information about your students:
General characteristics - grade, age, ethnic group, sex, mental, emotional, physical, or social problems, socioeconomic level, and so on. Specific entry competencies - prior knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Learning styles - verbal, logical, visual, musical, structured, and so on.
State objectives
Once you know your students, you can begin writing the objectives of your lesson. Objectives are the learning outcomes, that is, what will the student get out of the lesson?
The ABCD's of writing objectives are:
Audience (who are your students?) Behavior to be demonstrated Conditions under which the behavior will be observed Degree to which the learned skills are to be mastered.
Example: Fifth grade social studies students (Audience) will be able to name at least 90% (Degree) of the state capitols (Behavior) when given a list of states (Condition).
Select instructional methods, media, and materials
Once you know your students and have a clear idea of what they should get out of the lesson, then you are ready to select the:
Instructional method that you feel is most appropriate to meet the objectives for these particular students. Media that would be best suited to work with your instructional method, the objectives, and your students. Media could be text, still images, video, audio, and computer multimedia. Materials that provide your students with the help they need in mastering the objectives. Materials might be purchased and used as is or they might need some modifications. You can also design and create your own materials for the students to use. Materials would be specific software programs, music, videotapes, images, but would also be equipment, i.e., overhead projector, computer, printer, scanner, TV, laserdisk player, VCR, and so on. Utilize media and materials Now it's time to do your lesson and use the media and materials that you have selected. You should always preview the materials before using them in a class and you should also use the equipment in advance to be sure it works and you know how to use it. If you use electronic equipment, don't assume that everything will work. Be sure to have a plan B. Hardware and software are created by humans. Humans make mistakes and so software has mistakes in it. Hardware can malfunction. Don't get discouraged if technology lets you down. Make sure that your instructional materials are suitable and working the best you can and then use it in the classroom.
Require learner participation
Remember, students learn best when they are actively involved in the learning. The passive learner has more trouble learning whatever we try to pour into his/her brain. Whatever your teaching strategy, you can incorporate questions and answers, discussions, group work, hands-on activities, and other ways of getting students actively involved in the learning of the content. It is up to you, the teacher, to make sure that all your students have opportunities to participate in the learning activities in the unit plan. Avoid lecturing for an entire hour. Listen to your students and allow them to become aware of the content. Allow them to learn as opposed to trying to "teach" them.
Evaluate and revise
This last stage is often neglected but it is the most important one. Anyone can develop a lesson and deliver it, but really good teachers must reflect upon the lesson, the stated objectives, the instructional strategy, the instructional materials, and the assessment and determine if these elements of the lesson were effective or if one or more of them need to be changed the next time the lesson is done. Sometimes a lesson may seem like it would be great, at least on paper. But then when you actually teach the lesson with a specific set of students, you might discover there were several things that did not seem to work. Your expectations might be too high or too low. The materials used might not have been appropriate for the grade level or the material might not be very motivating. The instructional strategy might not have got students interesting in participation or the strategy might have been difficult for you to manage. The assessment you used might have shown that students didn't learn what you tested for. This might mean that you did not accurately test for the stated objectives, the method of assessment needs to be revised, or the lesson did not permit enough time for the students to master the objectives.
You are not a bad teacher if a lesson does not work. You are a bad teacher if you don't reflect upon your lessons and work on revising elements of the lesson until your students become successful learners."
And the beauty of this explanation, is that it also answered the remaining part of the question for me. Indeed, after each semester of teaching online, I have engaged in this practice and each year have made significant chnages based on my own evaluation of my work.