Flexknowlogy – Jared Stein's ARCHIVED blog – update to jaredstein.org

Cross-posted and modified from Teaching Web Design. Note: this is not a refined commentary, nor is it new–I wrote it for the primary benefit of my students to explain why all of a sudden I started using blogs and emphasizing the extracurricular professional community. I hope to come back and edit/revise this statement, but I wanted to at least post this draft while the irons were hot.

I teach DGM 2740: Web Design online (and once in a blue moon on-campus). This is the course that sequentially and logically follows DGM 2120: Web Essentials (which I also teach) at Utah Valley State College in the Digital Media department.

During the first week of Web Design I have students read The Expert Mind, an article by Philip Ross featured in Scientific American. This is a great article for those gearing up to master any field of study. Among it’s arguments is the idea of effortful study“:

Effortful study is the key to achieving success in chess, classical music, soccer and many other fields. New research has indicated that motivation is a more important factor than innate ability.

Web design is a field that mixes many other fields together, and today’s expert Web designers must have a foundational knowledge of design theory, including it’s elements and principles as well as knowledge of information architecture, usability, accessibility, computer graphic applications, and, of course, languages such as XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. These areas require memorization, rote practice, problem-solving, examples, and independent exploration. In general this relates to the cognitive aspect of learning, one which can be mediated at least in part through a behaviorist approach (see Bill Kerr’s article on Minsky for a clearer introductory explanation on this notion, though as I learned as a grad student and witnessed first-hand as a language teacher, there is an affective domain which, when attended to appropriately, can positively impact learning as information is made personally meaningful, as emotion is stimulated, and as neural connections formed/forged and reinforced.

But to become an expert, to master Web design one must have intrinsic motivation as the SciAm article suggests, and as we learn from ed researches such as Maslow, Schunk, etc . I believe that part of that motivation is inherent in stduents decision to become a Web developer/designer. But students can fuel yourself by feeding off of the larger Web design community. And with the current manifestation of the information age, the increasing popularity of social software and online networking (the so-called “Web 2.0″), there has never been a better time to be connected to experts and professionals in the field.

This is not to say that I encourage my students to harass the current luminaries of Web design; rather I want my students to read about them, observe their activities through social software tools such as blogs and twitter. I want them to use folksonomies, and use tools like del.icio.us and digg to find the best and most talked about articles in the field. In essence, I want them to go, read, and do what the professionals go, read, and do, whether that’s taking in the latest ideas and commentary in periodicals such as A List Apart, or asking questions and providing answers on discussion forums and mailing lists such as CSS Discuss.

As my students develop their skills and rack up experiences, they can become more and more a part of this professional community. At the same time, I believe there is value in students forming their own community to support, learn from, and show off to each other. That’s part of why I’m now having students create and write in a blog designated to the subject of Web design and development. Not only can they emulate some of the practices of the experts by sharing, analyzing, and even writing Web design related news, they are creating nodes through which they can find and connect with each other.

And the blogs are something they can take with them. By independently finding and analyzing news or information articles related to Web design, they are building a highly visible portfolio piece that they can (1) continue after they finish the course, and (2) incorporate into resume materials to present to prospective employers. Definitely one of the pros of embedding authentic social software tools (see Scott Leslie’s Pros and Cons of Loosely Coupled Teaching for an idea of where this could end up taking us).

At the same time, I recognize there may be a natural reluctance in students for whole-hearted embracing of the idea of writing a blog for class. It’s the whole creepy treehouse notion, and it’s probably also some insecurity–these are, after all, novices for the most part. For students who are wary of the meaningfulness of the blog assignments, just remember:

You don’t have to be an expert yet to write a blog, you just need to be interested, teachable, and energetic. You have to be motivated to learn.

You are apprentices, and this is effortful study.

I teach DGM 2740: Web Design online (and once in a blue moon on-campus). This is the course that sequentially and logically follows DGM 2120: Web Essentials (which I also teach) at Utah Valley University in the Digital Media department.

During the first week of Web Design I have students read The Expert Mind, an article by Philip Ross featured in Scientific American. This is a great article for those gearing up to master any field of study. Among it’s arguments is the idea of effortful study“:

Effortful study is the key to achieving success in chess, classical music, soccer and many other fields. New research has indicated that motivation is a more important factor than innate ability.

Web design is a field that mixes many other fields together, and today’s expert Web designers must have a foundational knowledge of design theory, including it’s elements and principles as well as knowledge of information architecture, usability, accessibility, computer graphic applications, and, of course, languages such as XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. These areas require memorization, rote practice, problem-solving, examples, and independent exploration. In general this relates to the cognitive aspect of learning, one which can be mediated at least in part through a behaviorist approach (see Bill Kerr’s article on Minsky for a clearer introductory explanation on this notion, though as I learned as a grad student and witnessed first-hand as a language teacher, there is an affective domain which, when attended to appropriately, can positively impact learning as information is made personally meaningful, as emotion is stimulated, and as neural connections formed/forged and reinforced.

But to become an expert, to master Web design one must have intrinsic motivation as the SciAm article suggests, and as we learn from ed researches such as Maslow, Schunk, etc . I believe that part of that motivation is inherent in stduents decision to become a Web developer/designer. But students can fuel yourself by feeding off of the larger Web design community. And with the current manifestation of the information age, the increasing popularity of social software and online networking (the so-called “Web 2.0″), there has never been a better time to be connected to experts and professionals in the field.

This is not to say that I encourage my students to harass the current luminaries of Web design; rather I want my students to read about them, observe their activities through social software tools such as blogs and twitter. I want them to use folksonomies, and use tools like del.icio.us and digg to find the best and most talked about articles in the field. In essence, I want them to go, read, and do what the professionals go, read, and do, whether that’s taking in the latest ideas and commentary in periodicals such as A List Apart, or asking questions and providing answers on discussion forums and mailing lists such as CSS Discuss.

As my students develop their skills and rack up experiences, they can become more and more a part of this professional community. At the same time, I believe there is value in students forming their own community to support, learn from, and show off to each other. That’s part of why I’m now having students create and write in a blog designated to the subject of Web design and development. Not only can they emulate some of the practices of the experts by sharing, analyzing, and even writing Web design related news, they are creating nodes through which they can find and connect with each other.

And the blogs are something they can take with them. By independently finding and analyzing news or information articles related to Web design, they are building a highly visible portfolio piece that they can (1) continue after they finish the course, and (2) incorporate into resume materials to present to prospective employers. Definitely one of the pros of embedding authentic social software tools (see Scott Leslie’s Pros and Cons of Loosely Coupled Teaching for an idea of where this could end up taking us).

At the same time, I recognize there may be a natural reluctance in students for whole-hearted embracing of the idea of writing a blog for class. It’s the whole creepy treehouse notion, and it’s probably also some insecurity–these are, after all, novices for the most part. For students who are wary of the meaningfulness of the blog assignments, just remember:

You don’t have to be an expert yet to write a blog, you just need to be interested, teachable, and energetic. You have to be motivated to learn.

You are apprentices, and this is effortful study.

Several higher education institutions in Utah are part of a Blackboard Vista 4 statewide implementation hosted by the very capable and laudable folks at UEN. While I myself have never been a fan of the WebCT/Blackboard Vista as a Learning Management System (LMS), I recognized early in the pilot that the choice of this LMS was inevitable, and so we roll with the punches.

However, even prior to the official implementation of (then WebCT) Vista, John Krutsch and I began test-piloting Moodle, the popular open source LMS. Both John and I found Moodle 1.6 to be, in most respects, fully the equal of Blackboard Vista 4; though it lacked a couple of important features (e.g. selective release), it also sported some great and forward-looking new tools (e.g. workshops with peer/self-assessments, blogs, wikis, RSS, student-edited glossaries, custom themes, etc). Add to that the fact that Moodle is open source, has a formidable user-base that’s always supportive, and requires no licensing fee, Moodle seemed the likely successor of BB Vista.

Earlier this month there have been orchestrations by a local company called Agilix to woo state institutions towards their new LMS product, GoCourses. Though already in use by BYU’s extensive Independent Study program, my preview of the Agilix LMS struck me as still in beta. But that’s a good thing, for Agilix seems keen to listen to ideas and feedback from state institutions as it urges each of us to the alter.

On the BB Vista admin’s mailing list there have been some questions and some minor grumblings about Agilix, and the possibility of massive change despite the fact that most of us who are involved in educational technology are still licking our wounds from the Vista migration. Here’s my response to all the good folks there:

Though IMS and common cartridge is coming along, I think we’re still a long way from a painless transition, no matter what happens. Whether it’s a change from BB Vista to BB Super Enterprise Campus Miracle Edition, or to Agilix or to Moodle or to whatever, there will be pain. WebCT CE 4 to WebCT Vista 4 is pain. Vista or CE to Moodle is pain. Sometimes even Vista to Vista is pain. I’m about to find out if Moodle or Vista to Agilix is pain. We owe it to ourselves to make sure the pain’s worth it.

From my point of view, migrating to Blackboard Vista has not been worth the pain. Don’t get me wrong: I have absolutely no complaints with the strong support and command of Vista that UEN provides us, but the Vista product itself was hardly a huge advance from CE 4.1, and, as I’ve suggested in the past, Vista took almost as many steps backward as it took forward.

At UVU we too are experimenting with alternatives, and I support these experiments as much out of apathy for Blackboard as out of recognition that change _is_ inevitable. My personal prediction is we at UVSC will see some sort of institutional LMS change pushed down or brought up within 2 years. To that end, I’m excited to play with Agilix, but I’m still very enthused about our successes and experiences with Moodle. I doubt either will be a panacea, but that’s probably true of anything we try. At least with Moodle it’s open source and easily modifiable, customizable, and of course the license is free.

If that seems too much of an endorsement of Moodle, think again: I am after the absolute best LMS that will offer our diverse institutions more of what they need than Vista currently does. I’m also strongly in favor of longevity in a product, and the mere fact that Moodle is open source and does not have a limited license sets me at ease. But if another product had a similar solution (i.e. an unlimited use, perpetual license) that would satisfy me as well.

At any rate, it’s going to be an interesting next few years. I am privileged to be witness to the rapid changes in LMS, and have hope that we’ll end up with something that is ultimately better. Eventually I want to see us go LMS-less, but that, wouldn’t you know, still poses a number of significant challenges, both for IT and regular (non-geek) faculty.

Several folks in my Twitter circle have been discussing the pros and cons of Public vs Protected Twitter updates. The whole thing seems to have been started by Scott Leslie, who shook up our Twitter miniverse by protecting his updates(!). Chris Lott jumped in and posted an interesting perspective on his ‘blog with the provocative title, Donning the Twitter Condom, and D’Arcy Norman highlighted some of the distinctions between Twitter vs the Blog, resulting a healthy amount of back-and-forth commenting both in Twitter and on ‘blogs comment fields.

In a nutshell, Twitter allows users to set their Twitter posts to be Shared on the Public timeline so that anyone and everyone can see them, or protect them. The question is, does Protected updates limit a person? Is it counteractive to what Twitter is supposed to be? What is Twitter supposed to be?

My perspective is that Twitter needs to provide both via a flickr/vox-like public, friends, family, friends and family, and even private messaging option. As it stands now, Protect update is above all frustrating (until you get used to the fact that it usually doesn’t matter if your Tweets are public because most people don’t care) in its limitations; it certainly doesn’t allow for the sort of compromise in publishing that I envision.

The first day I used Twitter I sensed this weakness, checked the settings, and knew immediately I had to have mine protected. Much of it for the reasons D’Arcy describes: [semi]privacy in Twitter allows for more candor, spontaneity, and perhaps even an occasional ribald or off-the-cuff comment than I would indulge in on a blog–either posting or commenting.

But I’m also naturally a very private person, and there’s plenty about me and in my personality that I do not wish to share with strangers, let alone the public. Sure, like everyone I crave attention and recognition at some level, but I personally prefer to temper that craving with a strong defense of personal control. Twitter is publishing whether you like it or not; trying to distinguish it from publishing a blog article by virtue of intention is simply fooling yourself.

As for meeting new people and expanding the social network I must say I don’t feel I’ve been inhibited by my privacy. I explore lots of folks just by browsing the ‘Following’ of other friends and ‘followed’ colleagues. Additionally, I believe even with privacy Twitter has substantiated distant or loose connections I have with probably a half-dozen individuals.

I follow just over 18 active people, and that’s just about my threshold for msg intake (I still can’t read all their msgs). A little more than a dozen follow me, and that too seems to be just about my limit for a potential audience–at least as far as Tweets are concerned. As just about everyone else has observed, anything better/larger/broader than a Tweet should be published on a blog.

So what’s Twitter for? To me:

1. Simplified, spontaneous/rhythmic journaling (output; private/semi-private)
2. Micro-blogging (output; public/semi-private)
3. Idea-sharing/cognitive apprenticeship (input; public)
4. Substantiating one’s social relationships (active/passive interaction; semi-private)
5. Expanding one’s social network passive/active interaction; public/semi-private)

Of course, there are more reasons or applications than this, in different priority, and probably better phrased too, but this is how I apply Twitter: a medium that’s somewhere between a private journal and a ‘blog, something that’s like instant messaging but innately more archival and group-networked. It’s very very good, perhaps a life-changing tool (for good or ill?), but certainly not perfect.

Chris Lott, commenting on his institution’s acquisition of Elluminate video-conferencing platform as a teaching tool concludes,

The real issue with any of these tools isn’t finding one that works, it is learning– and then teaching colleagues– how to teach in a way that takes advantage of the capabilities and doesn’t merely replicate the lecture mode in a distributed format. That’s deadly. As I always say, the only thing more deadly than the PowerPoint drone and lecture model is that same model through a mediating tool like Elluminate…About Elluminate

I agree that when video-conferencing avoiding replication of ineffective lecture modes is important; however, always the devil’s advocate (well, at least 50% of the time), have to ask, first, if this is a blanket condemnation of the lecture mode regardless of delivery method, or if the technology itself interferes with, disturbs, or detracts from the traditional lecture (which may in a classroom actually be effective).

I’m guessing most folks in educational technology or instructional design lament the continued use of straight lecture format (“sage on the stage”) regardless of delivery environment, but I, having been a student in more than a handful of damn good and several quite memorable lectures (from which I still retain a significant amount of information), causing me to assert that straight lecture is not de facto a bad thing.

At this point I have absolutely no empirical evidence that suggests straight lecture is or can be highly effective, but now (from this small comment tacked onto the end of a technology tool review, no less) I’m inspired to look into it. Comparitively speaking how effective is lecture for learning? What makes lecture more or less effective? There has to be a good deal of research on this already. (Any recommendations on salient books/articles are now being accepted!)

I can name some ailments of lectures delivered via video conferencing that I have witnessed. In both edtech informational sessions and in vendor presentations delivered via video conferencing, presenters do tend to follow a simple, generic pattern (much informed by PowerPoint) which centers on providing text-and-talk-heavy information in tedious spurts with brief pauses for “questions” (which, in and of themselves, often occur too late or at moments so ill-planned moments that they actually increase the presentations/presenter’s anesthetizing qualities). Any questions posed rarely lead to real dialogue or discussion; rather, questions are merely a challenge that the presenter must overcome before being allowed to continue with his/her script.

And though these ailments can certainly be present in a live, in-person classroom-style lecture or presentation, my instinct tells me that there’s something about phsyical human presence that either reinforces the delivery of the information, or provides for better audience attention through either overt or more subtle person-to-person engagement.

The next question, then, would be how does technology deliver methods affect the effectiveness of lecture? Video conferencing in particular should be examined, though of course some common attributes will need to be agreed upon so as to include a live fiber-optic system like we have at UVSC, or an Internet-delivered system like Elluminate.

I would hypothesize that a boring lecture in the classroom becomes worse when video-delivered, either because it becomes (a) less interesting for lack of physical presence (for whatever reason…engagement?), or (b) less compelling to one’s attention when technology-delivered (possibly because of the presence or availability of more distractors, or because of the absence of social pressure to show interest/passively participate).

It would be interesting to brainstorm presentation effectiveness on tech-delivered platforms with some ed researchers and public speaking experts. How does one leverage the live delivery method so that the end results are superior to static information delivery? How does one construct information to affect better learning? How does one engage with the audience and make an impact that may stimulate memory a la the affective factor?

We received a few XO Laptops today as part of the Give One, Get One initiative through the One Laptop Per Child organization. Marc, Ken, and I popped them open and began fiddling around with the capabilities. Our first impression was that these are clearly made to limit adult usage (tiny keyboard, tiny screen), and to inhibit market value. But the UI is very straight-forward and after twenty minutes I think we were all literate in the basic menus and functionalities.

I’m sure I’ll add more later, but wanted to make a quick, enthusiastic, thumbs-up and provide a handful of photos of the XOs on flickr.

Looking ahead to conferences in 2008, I’m already planning on attending ITC’s elearning conference in Florida in February as a pure particpant/observer. And of course I’ll be co-hosting and probably presenting at our Teaching w/ Technology Idea Exchange in June. There are a few other conferences that I’m interested in presenting at:

• Distance Teaching & Learning in Madison, Wisconsin (proposal deadline: Jan 15, 2008). I could do an online course showcase or two. Japanese comes to mind, and I’m pretty proud of my new version of Web Essentials. Or I could just push for a regular session proposal, but what topic? “Authentic Applications of Social Networking Tools”? or the yet-unfounded “LMS-Less”?
• Collaboration 2008 – The Southwest Vista User’s Group in Salt Lake City, Utah (proposal deadline: Jan 11, 2008). No idea on a topic here, as I’m not a BB Vista advocate, but I should try to present to support the Utah cause.
• WCET’s 20th Annual Conference is held in Phoenix, AZ November 5-8 this year. As far as I know, the call for proposals is not yet open, and I don’t see a proposal deadline. WCET sessions usually annoy me because each speakers get approx 15 minutes to talk, sharing a 50 minute session with other presenters who may or may not have similar ideas, and may or may not develop synergy. I would love to do a pre-conference at WCET this year, but am not sure how to go about suggesting one to the WCET folks.
• C()SL is sure to have another OpenEd 2008 conference, at which I’d love to present our still-alpha OpenMod for moodle. But will that ever be completed?

I think more than anything I simply need to motivate myself to come up with a good presentation and submit by said proposal due date(s). If needs be, I can use a vague title and determine the specific content as the months pass. I also am considering collaborating with colleagues on a presentation, though I myself often disdain presentations with multiple and unnecessary “support” presenters.

Which leads me to consider the fact that attending a conference can be quite different depending on whether I go by myself or with comrades. I’m a loner by nature, so the solo experience is wonderful in that I tend to learn a lot and reinforce my internal motivation to strive for excellence. I also tend to explore ideas fairly broadly. And I’m always concerned with the bang-for-buck factor of conferences, and so going by myself means the department has more money to spread around at the other conferences.

When I’m with colleagues or comrades, however, the experience is substantiated by the affective factor, and my exploration of ideas tends to be deeper as we discuss possibilities and scenarios together. We also seem to develop a stronger team relationship, and return from such conferences more socially engaged, which is, of course, a natural agent for productivity and innovation in the workplace.

Regardless, I’ll sure to be practicing my own peculiar style of session attendance, which has gained the dubious label of “The Jared Method” by Mr. Hugentobler, where I pop into one session, grab the printed materials, listen to the opening lines as I scan the materials to evaluate the session, then (often) pop out to investigate another session in like manner. If colleagues are involved I can often verify or correct my first impression of the session later in the day.