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Flexknowlogy – Jared Stein's ARCHIVED blog – update to jaredstein.org
Jared Stein's archived blog on education, technology, culture, and the web
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Scott Leslie Says:
Hey, how easy/hard was it to get them on the network? What was the experience of browsing the web like? Would love to hear more observations about your experiences with XO laptops. Cheers, Scott
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Scott Leslie Says:
Interesting synchronicity as I was musing on a similar topic today. Re: WCET sessions, you already know how I feel about these. If you are up for a pre-conference workshop, though, I’d be down for that, maybe we could rope Chris Lott into too.
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Jared M. Stein Says:
Mesh networking is integrated into each XO laptop and so sharing stuff from computer to computer is simple. However, we’ve still not been able to connect to the Internet through any wireless network, but you can bet we’ll keep trying!
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Jared M. Stein Says:
A 3-man pre-con at WCET with you two guys would be great. Let’s e-mail some topics around, maybe?
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Chris Says:
I’m glad I triggered your thinking, but my intention was actually much simpler… my point isn’t against lecture as a teaching method. What I mean to say in my post is that there’s no reason to engage all the machinery and requirements of Elluminate if all one is going to do is lecture or commit murder by powerpoint.
In the first case, I don’t believe the talking head video adds significantly compared to the resources, etc. consumed (except, perhaps, in elementary school situations). Simple audioconference, in that situation, is cheaper and much more accessible.
In the second case, I again wonder why bother with all the machinery? It’s like fitting out all the gear needed for a six-week trek through Africa to stay the night at a park down the street.
The minute one starts talking about adding whiteboard activities or the presence indicators or a backchannel, etc. to the lecture, then of course it is a different story!
When I say I don’t have a problem with lecture mode, I mean it… there have been great teachers for thousands of years. But I also mean lecture to involve give and take with students, dialogue, dialectic, etc.
In any case, I/we have no desire to force different modes on instructors… if they are not inclined to change or desire to do something that they aren’t yet able to do, I just don’t see the POINT in forcing them into Elluminate.
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Chris Says:
Straight videoconference– we too have a university videoconference system– *can* be effective, but I remain unconvinced that it is essentially more effective than audioconference (and we have had a lot of experience with these modes) while it is even less open to student access.
Again, it will be situational– our students are very dispersed and the commodity internet to them isn’t reliable enough to route video… asking them to travel significant distances to sit in a room and deal with the intense transactional distance (search for that term for research) of videoconference just doesn’t work well.
I do like that the shininess of videoconferencing, which is like a jewelled bauble in the eyes of administrators, often leads to significant bandwidth upgrades to remote sites
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Scott Leslie Says:
ok, we have some time, the call doesn’t usually come out for a few months. Plus I am zoo’d with some other stuff. But that would be fun. Maybe we could do the “How to avoid building a creepy treehouse” session I mused about on twitter. Though I am not sure I know much bout that, all my treehouses seem pretty creepy to me.
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Scott Leslie Says:
Wow, that is an amazing statement, “we’ve still not been able to connect to the Internet through any wireless network.” Definitely keen to hear updates on that.
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Chris Says:
Count me in! Let’s email like it’s web .75!
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Chris Says:
I do hope to have another public debate at WCET next year and/or a couple of really integrated 2 person presentations. I hear murmurs that there is future hope for such things…
That being said, anything to keep the creepy treehouse meme is cool, but I’m game for whatever– it’s all about hanging and learning from my co-facilitators after all…
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Jared M. Stein Says:
I must confess that we’ve probably spent a total of an hour trying (collectively), and we have yet to dive into the manual…hmm, isn’t there a pithy saying about that as a last resort?
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Jared M. Stein Says:
If the three of us could grab a full session we could really mix the format up. Public debates, contradictory information to illustrate some of the dichotomies we might be seeing, mock in-fighting, who knows what we could stage?!
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Jared M. Stein Says:
Oh, and thanks to Scott I’m now in on Upcoming.org–simply a great way to “subscribe to” and share events.
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Chris Says:
I agree with all of your Twitter uses (and share them). We just have a fundamentally different perspective on what is important in making personal networks grow. You are happy with the growth you see and the contacts you make by limiting your network, I am happier leaving it open, making it more likely that people will come in from the outside. I also want my Twitters to feed into all the tools that are being built on it using the API. It’s no different to me than flickr or del.icio.us– I default to public. If a system doesn’t give me a choice and I have to choose one mode for all, I will opt for public.
We both know there is no real privacy. You are choosing to lower your voice but you are still at a public table… security through obscurity is no security at all.
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Jared M. Stein Says:
What you say is true, but because we know that anything digital and on the web is in someway innately public/insecure (and, yes, I am aware of this all the time) what I appear to be doing is making a stand on principle rather than on absolute, impeccable practicality. Or I’m simply, as you say, lowering my voice. I do the same thing in a coffee shop. I know the people around me _could_ hear me if they wanted to, but I also understand that most of them won’t care to. The same could be said about public Tweets, sure, but my personality says let’s declare myself to be semi-private.
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Jared M. Stein Says:
You’re right: Jewelled baubles abound! That’s all Blackboard Vista is, really. Moodle is nearly as good in respect to all the tools/features of Blackboard, and in some ways better. LMS-less? That’s still a different story.
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Jared M. Stein Says:
One of our college administrators stopped by, saw the XOs, was excited, decided to take one to the President’s Administrative Suite. Hope they see past the toy-ness of these without excessive scrutiny.
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Scott Leslie Says:
That seems the very modelof clarity and tact. And a big “AMEN” to the truth about the pain of transitioning between systems, which apart from the utter failure of consistent and widespread IMS CP support owes even more to how that leaves out whole other parts of “a course” to move, not even mentioning the user’s pain, discomfit and learning curve with the new systems. On the flip side, glad I also don’t have to manage campus migrations off of MS Office onto some other suite, or from one mail client to another. These are all big, painful processes, something I think you captured nicely and diplomatically here.
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John Krutsch Says:
I appreciate your clear thoughts on this matter I myself sent the following message to the admins here in Utah:
In my view change is inevitable. with all of the problems we have had with Bb at UVSC I would suggest that we start looking for a new LMS that UEN can run for us now, after all the Bb contract runs through Spring 2009.. We have ran Moodle here at UVSC for 2 years now and would suggest that we look at it as an alternative. I am very impressed with the Agilix philosophy and at first blush the product seems to stack up as well. The next generation of Bb products ought to be looked at too. we should look at the rfp we sent out last time and update it to meet not only today’s needs but foreseeable future needs as well. -
Jared M. Stein Says:
John Krutsch took the bull by the horns! There are so many many many painful aspects of migration (thanks for reminding us, Scott!) beyond just moving courses that it really deserves a deeper treatment, and I had intended to dissect the consequences of migration, but (1) that’s probably already been done, and, (2) what’s the point when nobody in upper admin cares to listen?
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Alan Says:
I applaud your efforts to break out of the conference box– I certainly hoped there were many conferences that do make such strides.
Its the big ones that will move the slowest because… well fill in your favorite theory.
And take my comments with some question in mine; there are my own experiences, and maybe the majority of conference attendees prefer to sit in rows and get a lecture.
And *please& drop the “Mr Levine” 0t makes me sound so old and respectable, and I hope to be neither
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Jared M. Stein Says:
I can also see that there is something nice in the sit back and watch lecture–Chris said maybe it’s more efficient. But to mix the whole thing up, push for more variety, see what ends up on top–that’s where I’m at. Your comments match my own sense almost to the tee, so why not see who else agrees?
And I gotta keep the “Mr”–it’s soooo post-modern rebel!
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John Krutsch Says:
I love the whole lot of ideas here. The two I would like to see implemented this year would be: Online session evaluations and Twitter used throughout.
As a conference we could easily setup for this (although with the dumb filter on guest accounts we will have to create full accounts for all attendees)
All this talk invigorates me for the conference. Let’s do some cool stuff!
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Steve Hargadon Says:
Hey! A Google alert on my own name always brings me to interesting people! We had three from the Salt Lake area at the workshop, and have had some additional requests to do something there. I’m going to see if I can squeeze in the time to attend TTIX.
I’d be interested in talking with you. You can email me directly at steve@hargadon.com.
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Scott Leslie Says:
I want one. And I was almost about to complain about the colour until the penny dropped and I got the joke. Awesome!
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Jared M. Stein Says:
What size do you wear? John pinned you as a “M” but I guessed an “L”.
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Scott Leslie Says:
I think if this depends if we are talking Canadian sizes versus American size
Probably a ‘large’ – I can always go for the baggy skateboarder look if its too big. -
Jared M. Stein Says:
Dave Lloyd said we can do this faster (shy the Google Doc step) with the similar Yahoo! tools.
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Chris Lott Says:
I will write more about this when I have time, but I don’t generally see PLEs as being opposite LMSs.
PLEs, to me, also encompass the idea of the PLN (or maybe the other way around).
At any rate, I do see some value in the LMS, particularly for business process concerns, though for some applications pedagogically as well. I see no reason that the two ideas, PLE and LMS, can’t– to a large extent– work together. I tend to put Blackboard as the centralized authenticated portal– some things need to be protected– that can lead students to the open stuff.
For me, it’s a matter of emphasis. The things a closed LMS does (being generous here) well (auto-enrollment, ties to single authentication from student info systems, closed discussion, etc) are known solutions to important, but limited problems. So I tend to focus on how and when to go beyond those bounds and to question the assumptions of what needs to be protected (aside from, as you note, matters of law).
Similarly, I focus on constructivist, community-centric approaches though I by no means believe that lecturing and other more passive and/or transfer models have no place! I just feel that, typically, that part has already been figured out. I don’t usually run into situations where people are in danger of not using their LMS enough or not lecturing enough…
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Jared M. Stein Says:
I can agree that the 2 don’t necessarily have to be opposites, though recent discussions paint the PLE as the supposed heir apparent to the LMS throne. When I started thinking about PLEs my vision included the LMS as a hub of sorts, but the more I teach within an LMS and dream up new ways of doing things without an LMS, the benefits of the LMS become less conspicuous in my image of robust and viable PLEs (I grant that this may be short-sighted, and that I am not giving enough credit to the LMS right now, but I can later on, with a hot beverage and a snack).
Let me poke a bit at the LMS vs PLE proposition:
Doesn’t the core concept of an LMS at least downplay or even inhibit the use of other tools by “locking in” teachers to their particular (I almost said “peculiar”) variety of “solutions”? It’s not quite that way yet, because the LMS lacks certain very popular tools, but I imagine the UberLMS of the future would have everything in a neat package, no?
And on the other side, wouldn’t a better selection of stronger PLE tools and implementations be able to replace the LMS entirely and for everybody? I felt that way a little bit with Google Apps and Sites this week…
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Chris Lott Says:
My very narrow view of the utility of the LMS derives from the privacy and protection it can provide. There are simply some interactions and artifacts that don’t benefit from being out in the public and that can even be damaging if they find their way there.
Of course other systems can be protected, but if (and these are important assumptions) the same capabilities are present in the LMS and the students can easily get there without any added layers of authentications– and if they are likely to already be familiar with that environment– then why not use it?
But this is a pretty narrow conception of things and I tend to opt for openness as the default position. Once we get into traditionally open tools locked away in the LMS (such blogs limited to the classrooom) and/or tools that are truncated in functionality (such Blackboard “wikis”) then I start wanting to wail and rend my educational garments.
It’s an open question how many characteristics of an LMS a system can take on before it effectively becomes one. Google Sites are a good example– they are running perilously close to the edge because though they provide a potentially protected environment, they seem to have truncated quite a few of the features that make wikis attractive to me…
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Chris Lott Says:
My drive-by answer is: why not include everything? As long as we stick to real examples and don’t get too far down the philosophical path (as I tend to do), then it shouldn’t be a problem.
I say this because I’m a big proponent of various physical practices (paper notes and lists, creating marginalia, etc) and real-world activities that feed into the digital realm, such as pieces of the Getting Things Done and Do it Tomorrow productivity systems… time management, organization, etc. all seem like important factors here.
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Jared M. Stein Says:
Yes, yes, and I’m finding myself moving forward, pulling back, going more digital, going less digital. It’s all about finding the most valuable resources and most efficient tools and using them.
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Michele Martin Says:
I agree that it should include everything. Even when Jane Knight asked for my Top 10 tools for learning, I included my trusty artist’s sketch pad, which I use for notes and mindmapping. I don’t think that our learning is confined to being online, although I definitely believe that it adds a dimension that isn’t available to us offline.
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rlubensky Says:
Hi Jared, thank you for considering my PLE article.
Your view of PLE is just the map of where your learning artefacts are located. I was looking at some sort of organising facility.
Remember, I attempted to synthesise commentary up to the date I wrote the article (2006). The debate about PLE as approach or product had already begun. I thought I was clear that such a “facility” might only hold links and your descriptive metadata. IMO, its very shape (including domain categorisation) should be crafted by you, not any software designer. Your iGoogle page and del.ico.us tags might well serve sufficiently as your PLE.
I accept your criticism that most conceptions of a PLE are literally structured hierarchically. I actually don’t think it should impose the entry point, unless it’s more convenient (eg auto-login). Also, I’d prefer a wide, flat index that takes shape through whatever query you might invent in the future.
There is also the issue of keeping track through time. Your map will change.
Again, thank you for making me think about it some more.
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Jared M. Stein Says:
I understand your purpose implicitly, and by no means was trying to criticize your approach or definition as much as I am trying to suggest a different approach to defining a PLE. My original thinking of the PLE was very similar to your definition, but as you said that was 2006!
Your points re. the changing-ness of the map are spot on, and must be considered in any rethinking of the definition of PLE.
Thanks for your commentary.
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John Krutsch Says:
BlackBoard is already claiming that the ruling does not affect the current D2L lawsuit:
http://tinyurl.com/yo3mev -
Jared M. Stein Says:
Blackboard states, “It has no effect on the validity of the patent, the lawsuit between Blackboard and Desire2Learn or the pending injunction against Desire2Learn.”This statement seems schizophrenic in the context of the USPTO’s reexamination, which rejected all 44 claims, but maybe that’s just a matter of course.
The Software Freedom Law Center stated, “…the days that are going forward are not likely to change today’s result. This patent is dead.”If the patent reexamination, which admittedly is non-final, does move forward as SFLO is concluding, the lawsuit WILL be overturned, and the injunction may be withdrawn.
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Darren Draper Says:
I like your map and admire your bravery. I’ve never tried to map my PLE – I’m too scared.
Nice work on the blog, too. I don’t know why, but I never realized you had one. I saw your site a while back – very nice – but look forward to reading your thoughts on a more regular basis.
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Jared M. Stein Says:
Barry Dahl posted up a podcast with patent attorney on his blog: desire2blog.blogspot.com/2008/04/
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johnkrutsch Says:
There were actually nine questions, the last one was if you had to add another question to the list what would it be and how would you answer it?
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slists Says:
Hi Jared,
Nice tool. I submitted tweetclouds to the twitter tool list at http://wtips.blogspot.com/2007/04/twitter-tools.html
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martin Says:
I’m sure this is on your list jared but including services such as coveritlive would be great – you could see the real issues under discussion
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Mark Crane Says:
Oh, this is excellent.
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Creepy Treehouse Says:
[...] http://flexknowlogy.learningfield.org/2008/04/09/defining-creepy-tree-house/ [...]
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bonnie.kyburz Says:
a few years ago, i repsonded to a Call for Papers at a national conference. the theme? “The Street,” as in, meeting our students in “The Street,” i.e., on their terms.
my paper that year said back, “your students don’t want you in their street.”
ha. creepy treehouse. i love it.
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Word of the Day: Creepy Treehouse « WiredPen Says:
[...] a phrase, not a word. But I’d not heard of it until Howard Rheingold mentioned it in a tweet. Flexknowlogy has a short essay describing various ways the phrase is used. Here’s one that is important [...]
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Benjamin Jörissen Says:
Great posting, learned from it.
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Melanie Says:
All of this, in some way or another comes back to opt-in v. opt-out models of power in relation to users. Whether it’s the creepy corporate treehouses (Facebook) or the well-intentioned creepy treehouses of education.
Bad pedagogy is like bad TOS. It’s top down – not collectively defined. We have to give students the right NOT to take part. That means making it abundantly clear that this is a legitimate option they will be supported in making.
A possible response to the problem of the creepy tree house is the provision of appropriate opportunities for students to take part defining their own social media policies as a group – what they will and will not share and how they will support those who choose to opt out. For example, in my program students had created a few Facebook groups (prior to my course).
I tried Twitter with my students as a back channel. I did this more as a demo than a requirement – in fact, it wasn’t a requirement. And I made it very clear that they did NOT have to participate. Nor would they be graded on their participation. Given that this was a web2.0 publishing course, tools like Twitter were of critical significance in relation to microcontent delivery formats (and emergent trends in publishing). The focus here was understanding, not social observation. A few of my students joined and are actively participating. My own policy was not to follow them unless they wanted me to do so (I teach at the college level).
Negotiating power relationships and privacy issues is the greatest challenge for equity-focused classroom2.0 educators. Unless you are teaching a web-focused course (in which production and technology are core to the curriculum focus) asking students to participate in social and participatory media should require clearly defined intentions (for example, “is this [latest 2.0 thingy] even relevant or useful to the teaching of [your subject here]?”)
Another way we can address this problem is to talk about it openly and directly with students. For example a discussion about Opt-in and Opt-out, privacy and Terms of Service in Facebook led to some wonderful discussion in my class – given the number of students who are unaware of the default settings in FB. These kinds of discussions can be redirected in relation to education and the classroom – in relation to the very possibility of genuine honesty, trust and transparency of social relationships in a context of assessment and evaluation.
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Melanie Says:
Furthermore:
“At the same time, other LMS tools that are more exclusively related to the traditional activity of teaching (e.g. gradebooks, online quizzing, material posting, etc) are not viewed as inherently creepy treehouse.”
I think this argument isn’t properly supported above. I just obtained my secondary teaching degree and practiced in four different high schools. I worked with at risk, special needs and advanced academic students. In all cases there were instances of academic disengagement and classroom management relating to “traditional” teaching. Sitting in a row in an uncomfortable desk being talked at for an hour by somebody who may or may not tie your identity to the curriculum may well be experienced as the ultimate coercion. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the entire educational system as it is today (still largely unchanged from 50 years ago in relation to the architecture of learning environments and philosophies of teaching) is incredibly oppressive.
One other issue that the creepy treehouse argument fails to address is the relationship of any learner (old or young) to the technology adoption lifecycle.
Surprisingly, many of my students positioned themselves as late majority – according an activity we did around adoption. A few even said they were laggards (didn’t like tech, felt overwhelmed and wanted to avoid) and a few felt they were early adopters (actually only TWO).
Characteristic of late majority users is a need to have things proven before adopting. This entirely different from the behaviour of the early or instant adopter who will try anything just to try it.
“Students reject creepy treehouses for one reason: they are creepy.”
Actually students reject the incitement to participate or try new things for a variety of reasons – including their place on the technology adoption lifecycle.
There is also basic disengagement and the cognitive disequilibrium experienced on the part of any learner in any context (the feeling of discomfort “why do I need this? I don’t like this. I don’t want to do this”). Learning isn’t especially fun in cognitive terms. A lot of research supports that.
And finally, there’s the politics of disengagement – what Herbert Kohl describes in his book “I won’t learn from you.” This is the conscious or unconscious disengagement that comes with the experience of inequity or exclusion. For example, if my students do not see their social identities reflected (social, cultural, socioeconomic, etc) they are unlikely to want to participate – again, this is very different from the disengagement you describe above.
http://melaniemcbride.net/2007/08/01/herbert-kohl-and-the-enigma-of-not-learning/ -
Jared Stein Says:
@Melanie Some great points that help complete the picture of why students don’t want to engage. And while some of them reach beyond my hopes in defining the concept of the creepy treehouse effect, I intend to address a number of these in a follow-up post.
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Technology and Learning » Are we “building creepy tree houses?” Says:
[...] http://flexknowlogy.learningfield.org/2008/04/09/defining-creepy-tree-house/ [...]
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Melanie Says:
Thanks Jared – I realise I got a little carried away but I kept on thinking about your post and then had to return and leave the further remarks. I will also be writing a post of my own. This is very, very important issue you’ve brought up.
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Jared Stein Says:
@Melanie Not at all. I appreciate the good thinking! Looking forward to your own post; please reply with a URL or Pingback.
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Eric Says:
To humbly add another thread to this fascinating discussion, I think its important to include a pseudo-Althusserian perspective on the issue. Compulsory education is first and foremost designed to produce productive workers. The architecural design of the classroom, the hours of the day, the separation of process vis a vis the “hiddenness” of pedagogical methodology from the students; all these factors mimic and initiate young students into the conditions of the modern work force (to a greater or lesser degree). If this is all true, then its also true that using social networking/web2.0 environments for class purposes is the pedagogical equivalent of being required to “hang out” with your boss after work and on weekends. Its a violation of the work/not work boundary, and one of the reasons I think students respond so viscerally to that violation is that it impinges on the separation of identity constructs for students by asking them (implicitly) to merge their professional with their casual selves.
I’d also note that it can work the other way as well, for the same reasons. When I was still playing a lot of World of Warcraft, I was always at some level afraid that someone in my guild would end up being a student in my class. The fear wasn’t that I wouldn’t have the respect of the student, but that the identity roles of professional and non-professional would become conflated.
When I’ve done Web2.0 projects in my FYCOMP courses, I always start with the presumption (and subsequent class-time) that they will be creating a new MySpace/Facebook/delicious account purely for the purposes of the project — I don’t forbid them from using existing accounts but we do talk about what you call “creepy tree house” (I’ve always just called it “yet another instance of the dominant ISA co-opting available structures” — yours is much better).
Thanks for the post!!
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Creepy Treehouse educators? « Cased Says:
[...] the gist is – students/learners – don’t go to your tutor/mentor’s creepy treehouse – build your own! A Creepy Tree House is what a professor can create by requiring his students to [...]
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Dispatch from vBusiness Expo » SLED® Blog Says:
[...] be studying the efficacy of these models,” he said. Sarah asks, “Is Second Life a ‘creepy treehouse‘?” Referring to the term used to describe a place (physical or virtual) created by [...]
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Student Affairs ITS Blog » What’s a “Creepy Treehouse?” Says:
[...] In our case, this term refers to an institutional system or environment put in place to be used by students. But our students see this as intrusive and more of an artificial requirement than an effective or naturally occurring system. A full explanation is available at the Flexknowlogy website. [...]
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John Connell » Blog Archive » Get out of the creepy treehouse! Says:
[...] A blog-search in my RSS feed gave me a link to Melanie McBride’s post on Classroom 2.0: Avoiding the ‘Creepy Treehouse’, and then on to Jared Stein’s post on Defining “Creepy Treehouse”. [...]
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Flexknowlogy » Why Do Teachers Build Creepy Treehouses? Says:
[...] Defining “Creepy Treehouse” [...]
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Tyrel Says:
I agree it’s not the use of these technologies in class. It is more the integration into every day life, and how students can learn and socialize for themselves. I’ve been wondering if the reason distance education does not get as much support is because it re-enforces the idea of students learning for themselves rather than being taught. What we should truly be doing as Ed-tech geeks is building around these technologies to show how they can be used to further ones learning. While most of these interactions with social media in the classroom are from the shelter/shield of a Learning Management System (LMS); we should encourage students to go and do these same things in the real world. If they do so and discover that it can greatly enhance learning they may interact with the professor of their own accord, thus removing the Creepy Tree House aspect.
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Chris Lott Says:
Now you’re getting into the reasoning behind my push on PLE as Third Space in the Oldenburg sense! I could say a lot more here but it would be mostly just long-winded agreement. None of these are binary issues, but spectrums in which educators and students inhabit the same space in varying proportions.
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Chris Lott Says:
This is quite interesting. We have a moodle server (I maintain it, nominally), but I’m not completely clear on the difference between open and shared. In both cases a user registers, but the “shared” mod allows a registered user to essentially act as an enrolled user?
How does this differ from just having a course with self-enrollment allowed?
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
This mod will open up 1 or more resources or activities to “open users” without opening the entire course. This allows me to use my regular Moodle LMS course shell both the live class host and as my opencourseware materials server without impacting my real students re. FERPA and other issues. The real advantage is this eliminates the need for a separate OCW server with duplicated content which may quickly lose it’s currency.
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johnkrutsch Says:
I think the key here is that the instructors that will be successfully in using Web 2.0 technologies without appearing to be building creepy treehouses will be those who are already active online or otherwise engaged in using Web 2.0 in their daily practice. Compulsory student-instructor social engagement is probably a bad idea but instructors who are actively in engaged in the Web 2.0 sphere could help students create their own PLE’s by modeling the benefit they get from their own PLE’s. If students then choose to follow or befriend an Instructor then I think true enrichment can occur.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
John, I think you summed up what I was trying to say in 3 pages quite succinctly in 1 paragraph!
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
a
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Flexknowlogy » Presenting OER Mod at MoodleMoot San Francisco Says:
[...] Moodle Open Mod for Sharing Open Educational Resources [...]
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Creepy Treehouse Says:
[...] just learned a new technology term – “creepy treehouse.” I first heard the term via an article in Inside Higher Ed on Blackboard building an [...]
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Quick Question… Says:
[...] Creepy Treehouse [...]
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Creepy Treehouse « Treasury Street Library Says:
[...] You just have to read this blog post about creepy treehouse from flexknowlogy.learningfield.org. There’s more at acrlog.org. I don’t need to add [...]
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stacey Says:
I just set up my scholar account and I am hooked already, and learned something new, love it, lol
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31 Day Comment Challenge: Days 19-25 | Information Wants To Be Free Says:
[...] since I was curious about where the concept originally came from. I next ended up at a blog called Flexknowlogy, which also talked about the creepy treehouse. I clicked on a link and ended up at Technagogy and [...]
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Faculty Ideas about Technology » Blog Archive » Creepy Treehouse Effect Says:
[...] being a “Creepy Treehouse”, the term coined by Chris Lott and brought to my attention by Jared Stein of Flexknowlogy. A Creepy Treehouse, in the Ed-Tech field, defined as ‘the use of technology used to lure [...]
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CAKES: learning technology blog · Running a University using iPhones Says:
[...] used for learning and not feel like it was intruding in their personal, informal space, as has been an argument against using Facebook for [...]
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It’s Mix Time! Creepy Treehouse « Daddy or Chips? Says:
[...] So, here tentatively, is the follow up: Creepy Treehouse! [...]
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Flexknowlogy » 31 Out of 95 E-Learning Ideas Ain’t Bad, Part 2 Says:
[...] 31 Out of 95 E-Learning Ideas Ain’t Bad [...]
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Lynda Deckard Ramos Says:
These are great lists…but what can the rank and file teachers like me do to be able to put these lists into practice. Most of the courses offered give history and philosophy…but little in the way of hands on help. Any ideas???
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Blog@UOe-L » Blog Archive » 31 ideias para o e-Learning… Says:
[...] 31 Out of 95 E-Learning Ideas Ain’t Bad [...]
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
The book does a pretty good job of giving hands-on directions to implementing some of these ideas, but I’m not averse to going into greater depth myself on some of these.
If you were to pick out 5 of these to put into practice, which would they be?
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Paul Left Says:
Re point #1: a weekly schedule is not always appropriate but when it is, I recommend linking it closely with course objectives and assessment. See my related post:
http://www.verso.co.nz/pedagogy/93/providing-clear-structures-and-guidance-for-online-learners/
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Paul Left Says:
Lynda said: ‘what can the rank and file teachers like me do to be able to put these lists into practice.’
One practical tip re #25:
If you’re using Moodle, you can create a glossary of key terms / concepts and easily configure it so that occurrences of those terms elsewhere in your site are automatically linked to the corresponding glossary entry. Blackboard also has a glossary module but when I last used it, it didn’t have auto-linking, you had to create links manually.
General tip:
Pick 2 or 3 of these you think are high priority for your area and work out how to implement them. Get a mentor / coach (someone with tech AND teaching expertise) to help you do this. If it seems one is too hard in your context, drop it for now. When you get them working the way you want, choose 2 or 3 more…
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Patti Shank Says:
Jared, I really like your selection of the best ideas from the book and agree that some are pretty obvious. I put some of those in there as a baseline so folks who haven’t developed online instruction know that these things are good to do.
Can I count on you for some good ideas in the next edition? Email me if you are, okay?
BTW, thanks for the Amazon review. They really help potential buyers know if the book is likely to be what they are looking for.
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Patti Shank Says:
P.S. Del.icio.us wasn’t popular when the last version of the Idea Book was completed but I agree it’sfantastci. My delicicous links: http://del.icio.us/LearningPeaks
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Beware the creepy treehouse « librarianization Says:
[...] Beware the creepy treehouse A month or so ago I came across a brilliant term that says a lot about the way professors and librarians today attempt to interact with students. The phrase is “creepy treehouse,” and is defined at great length here. [...]
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Thanks for the comments, Patti. I think the thing I liked most about your book is it used real, implemented best-practices from real e-learning projects. So if I have anything new to add, I’d love to offer it up as a small contribution!
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Saqib Ali Says:
Very nice.
You might also wanna try out IBM’s many eye. Not as aesthetically beautiful as wordle, but provides may more graphs.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
I do like Many Eyes as well as our own project, TweetClouds.com.
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TEL Away Day: Social Learn « Doug Clow’s Imaginatively-Titled Blog Says:
[...] SocialLearn a Creepy Treehouse? Less so since you give the choice/portability to the student, so they can make the decision [...]
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Paul Left Says:
The advantage also with ManyEyes is that it is compatible with Firefox on a Mac (10.3.9), where Wordle does not work. But they are quite different applications really – Wordle does word clouds while ManyEyes seems ideal for quantitative data sets.
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Creepy Treehouse « history-ing Says:
[...] has gotten significant play, and has sparked intense discussion across the ed-tech blogosphere. The basic definition covers a range of characteristics, but the one I think is most fitting as it applies to digital [...]
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Flexknowlogy » Ubuntu 8.4 on EeePC 900 Says:
[...] Review: EeePC 900 with Ubuntu 8.4 [...]
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Jared Stein Says:
This is stupid:
“Currently, we do not support WPA-enabled WiFi access points;” -
CAKES: learning technology blog · My Top 5 Learning Technolgy Blogs Says:
[...] a look at the Best of Apophenia page will be a good place to start. I’d say that we should be very careful about how we use social network sites in education, but understanding what engages our students in [...]
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Jen Says:
Thanks for picking up the thread and moving it forward! You’ve brought up even more memories for me. I’m also interested in the way you frame motivation. I think for DIY in our positions, the motivator is that we want the best learning experience for our learners. It is hard to get around bureaucracy. I got my wrist slapped a few times this week, but I just have to weigh all the consequences and keep moving on. Sometimes our ego will take a bruising for the choices we make. In the end, it’s all about what we can do for the learner. It helps to consider that each one of the students we influence, will pass that on to hundreds of others.
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Dave Truss Says:
As I said in my “Edupunk or Educational Leader?” post (linked to my name)…
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These are not Edupunks, they are Educational Leaders! The reality is that anti-establishment, Do-It-Yourself, transformative, collaborative, networked teachers doing new things, in new ways, in new wall-less, time-zone-less, textbook-less, standardized-test-less classrooms are paving the way for a new kind of schooling. I’ll say this again in a different way:These are not Edupunks, they are Educational Leaders! They are our role models paving a new path to a more meaningful educational experience in our schools. They may be on the fringe, but they are also at the forefront. They are leading the way.
…Let’s not put our leaders into fringe categories. Let’s recognize them as the trailblazers they are. They are Surfing the Edge of Chaos (or should I say educhaos)… and what they really deserve is our appreciation, thanks, and respect.
- – -I like your idea of everyone dedication 1/3 of their time for this, and like you, I dislike the term edupunk, not the significance of what it stands for.
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Gareth Says:
“Creepy Treehouse” is a phrase that needs to exist. I remember teaching college Spanish and having the department try to get us all web-boardy, and I thought it was “creepy treehouse” from my side. I was like could you please leave me some dignity, please, and not make me all creepy treehouse on these kids. They shouldn’t have my home phone number, they shouldn’t have my email unless they ask for it specifically, in short they shouldn’t have any interaction with me outside the class that they don’t initiate.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
UPDATE: My wireless network card has stopped working entirely. I went through the steps of updating the driver with no luck. I will be looking for a solution to this problem and posting it here.
I will also add that compared to the XO laptop, the EeePC blows it out of the water–who cares if the XO is supposed to be for kids? Sugar is still frustrating in it’s usability and very nearly pointless in comparison to the limitless desktop apps you can access through Ubuntu. Ken Woodward keeps reminding me that the XO has Tam-Tam Jam.
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Michael Horn Says:
Interesting post indeed. Just an update that I just saw that I thought you would want to know. From an Education Week article that stated the Obama campaign’s opposition to online learning:
“The Obama campaign contends that it might be difficult for states and districts to provide oversight of virtual schools.
“Many online schools are for-profit ventures and may siphon money away from public schools,” the Obama campaign memo said.”
As you said, we’d love to inform the campaign of how rich this opportunity might actually be because we think they might change their minds if they spent some time thinking about it.
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GTOSblog Says:
Thanks for the link.
As I pointed out in my post, I think online charter or public schools are actually a very effective measure at retaining students who would otherwise drop out and engaging advanced students.
In response to the above comment, that seems a little strange–I don’t see why virtual schools provide a unique oversight challenge. Provided that they establish certain accreditation procedures, managing the quality of the classroom experience in an online school would, if anything, seem easier than doing so in brick-and-mortar schools.
By the way, shoot me an email if you’re interested in swapping blogroll links.
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Eddie Says:
How exactly did you solve the wireless network problem? I’ve been searched through the internet without succeding results.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Eddie I haven’t solved it yet, though I did just by a Dynex USB wireless adapter to see if that will work in the interim. I’m almost never wired, so I need wireless just to figure out the wireless!
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
I finally got this working by installing Adam McDaniel’s custom kernal: Array.org EeePC Ubuntu Repository Custom Linux Kernel – Hardy Heron. I ran this fresh, did a bunch of updates, then had to run Adam’s updater (at the terminal: sudo apt-get install linux-eeepc linux-headers-eeepc ).
What’s ridiculous, though, is that I _also_ had the wireless turned OFF through the fn button.
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blog.scholarships.com » Blog Archive » Social Networking, Your Professors, the Generation Gap, and You Says:
[...] students, too) are likely to experience Facebook and other social networking sites as a “creepy treehouse,” a term the Chronicle of Higher Education shared with academia in its news blog yesterday. [...]
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Alec Couros Says:
It was interesting how quickly the story got posted. I spoke with the author (J. Young) that morning, mentioned your post, and he really liked the idea. I am glad he went to the source.
Cheers.
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Marie-Jose Klaver » Met je professor in een boomhut Says:
[...] en krijgen kippenvel bij het idee dat ze die moeten delen met volwassenen. Dit gevoel wordt wel het creepy treehouse effect genoemd in onderwijsland. Studenten brengen weliswaar veel tijd door op sociale netwerken en [...]
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Creepy treehouse - a place to avoid | Vespaterrors Says:
[...] Näin se on, ja on ollut opetusteknologian alkumetreiltä saakka. [...]
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Social Networking » Blog Archive » When Professors Create Social Networks for Classes … Says:
[...] crawl. Jared Stein, director of instructional-design services at Utah Valley University, offered a clear definition of the term on his blog earlier this year. “Though such systems may be seen as innovative or problem-solving [...]
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Debunking the Creepy Treehouse: the Functional Mall. : Edumorphology Says:
[...] need to debunk the Creepy Treehouse, as it seems to have become some sort of rallying cry and is pulling people in the wrong [...]
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Trouver l’équilibre » ActionsFLE Says:
[...] bien de “twitter” avec eux. On assiste à l’émergence de l’idée de “Creepy Treehouse” pour décrire les innovations technologiques des universitaires dans l’enseignement, [...]
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DT&L08: The Cheatability Factor | Flexknowlogy Says:
[...] On Friday, August 8 2008 I presented at Distance Teaching and Learning 2008 with Marc Hugentobler and John Krutsch. I’ve posted the the slides and the rubric from that session as the page, “The Cheatability Factor”. [...]
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Creepy Treehouse? « Extensible Librarian Says:
[...] a wonderful post on Flexknowlogy, I was introduced to the term in education technology of “creepy tree house.” From [...]
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This is creepy treehouse « Making Conversation with Museums Says:
[...] ed-tech blogosphere had been busy with creepy treehouses for months. The clearest definition is on Flexknowlogy – “Defining Creepy Treehouse” which includes: n. A place, physical or virtual (e.g. online), built by adults with the intention [...]
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Encountering the Treehouse « Connectivity Says:
[...] August 27, 2008 @ 10:56 am } · { Uncategorized } { Tags: social networking, web 2.0 } The creepy treehouse (http://flexknowlogy.learningfield.org/2008/04/09/defining-creepy-tree-house/) is new on my radar [...]
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Sherry Cox Says:
Hi,
Caught your presentation in Madison. It was great. I am very interested in using your cheatability rubric on our campus to test out the online courses and in a study. Have you done any validation with it? I would like to visit with you on the use of the rubric and on your development of it. Also the link for the power point slides of the presentation does not work.
Thanks,
Sherry Cox -
Melv Says:
Except in instances where the technology is created specifically to mimic a pre-existing, authentic tool already in use by students, I don’t think “creepy treehouse” or any of it’s negative implications apply to any technology de facto.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Melv I agree wholeheartedly.
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Darren Draper Says:
I’m finally catching up to this topic – an interesting aspect to social networking that I haven’t thought much about.
To be honest, I can sympathize with LilaTov Cocktail – but how much more creepy might it be when your high school or even middle school teacher requires access to your Twitter updates?
I look forward to updates on John’s and Marc’s presentation. Do you know if they’ll be sharing the content they present online?
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Some months after having and using the EeePC I can say that I am more impressed than I was initially, however its weaknesses still relegate it to my 2nd choice for serious writing or work. I do choose to take this around campus for meetings, as it’s the perfect size and weight, and I can talk tech with other folks who haven’t seen it yet.
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Are Institutional Portals and VLEs Really “Creepy Treehouses”? « UK Web Focus Says:
[...] to a post on the Technagogy blog, was coined by Chris Lott. The Flexknowlogy blog has sought to provide a definition. It seems that ’creepy treehouse’ can have the following [...]
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Re. Blackboard Customers Consider Alternatives | Flexknowlogy Says:
[...] about Bb’s modus operandi, the patent debacle, and of course the cost of licenses conjures new, bitter slogans to post on the Blackboard [...]
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johnkrutsch Says:
That is my goal If I could get a sweet cease-and-desist order that would be great for the framing!
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Robert Trim Says:
right on! Both these folks (John & Jarid) are just downstairs from my office. I am a user of both Bb and Moodle. Speaking from both sides of the fence… it is very clear, from the first mouse click in Bb, those hundreds of programmers are diligently working per the designs of a corp. cmty. that answers to a bottom line. I fear the day, but have no doubt that it will come, when Bd pulls it’s head out and finds that the LMS world has blown by them. That’s when they will play the legal card. I hope they are surprised by the financial resources that will surface in support of Moodle and other Open source LMS’s. My hope is that they (Bb) will be in a close door meeting working on how to NOT do a drag-n-drop, but add 3 more mouse clicks for a task… and come out of the meeting to find themselves just another WordPerfect in the world of word processors. Oh, sorry. For those of you that are fairly new to the software game… Wordperfect USE to be #1… but fell asleep at the switch.
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Dennis Lisonbee Says:
I’m part of the Bob, John and Jared group. Years ago I refused to adopt WEB CT because it was so clunky. Since I teach multimedia eventually I bit the bullet and adopted it. I wanted to talk the talk and walk the walk. Unfortunately the more I got into WEB CT, the more I disliked it. Clunky, poor asset management, major keystrokes, etc. etc.
Then came the change to Vista Blackboard. The only real advantage was adding files. Finally a windows style browser! Still, no drag and drop. Still no way to reset a class without bothering the administrator. Still, multiple unnecessary keystrokes to complete on command. (SIX mouse clicks to login and get to a class.) Plus I can’t email out a simple pdf without getting the administrator to up the attachment size. This year I’ve pulled way back and just use Blackboard as a file server and for web links. In the year 2008 is it moral for a corporation to sell such a high priced piece of outdated software?
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Robert O'Toole Says:
Actually many students view _all_ institutional-educational contexts as creepy treehouses – both technologically enhanced and traditional (“authentic”).
In a University, there are few occasions on which they have a sense of ownership and a deep understanding of process/power/knoweldge. That’s not latest news. Educationalists have been trying to address this for a long time. My university (Warwick) has many such constructivist initiatives that aim to empower students – new spaces, new technologies, new pedagogies – “reinventing the curriculum” as they say.
And do you know what the greatest point of resistance to this is? Many students are so used to learning in creepy treehouses that they feel lost without them.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
On Robert’s blog he describes this post as “somewhat naive” because it “certainly missing the fact that the issue of the ownership of learning is already one of the driving forces behind innovation in learning and teaching”.
I will, for the sake of argument, pretend for a moment that the definition of “creepy treehouse” was made with dire seriousness, rather than with a significant proportion of my tongue-in-cheek:
I believe this discussion of creepy treehouse suggests just the opposite of Robert’s conclusion; I for one wouldn’t even be entering into this conversation if ownership of learning was not a relevant and important topic of discussion.
That aspect of
creepiness” is most tangibly pronounced to me when monolithic technology platforms claim to provide things like blogs and wikis within their closed environments. If I have my students blog within Blackboard, it’s far removed from more (not absolutely) authentic blogging that could be achieved on, for instance, WordPress. In such cases the end-result may be trapped, and may not reflect the technical aspects of authentic practice.But there’s also a degree of creepiness apparent if I force my students to blog just for the sake of getting an “A” in the class with no connection to any authentic academic or professional practice. In such instances, the artificiality is not born of the technology but of the pedagogy, and the end result may be utterly meaningless, even if they do have more “tangible” ownership of the product.
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johnkrutsch Says:
Do you think you guys used enough buzzwords in the title? If I did not personally know the three of you I would have likely avoided this presentation.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Why the hate? Buzzwords are passe, but using buzzwords in a self-reflective manner is sooo post-modern. Right?
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OpenShare (v0.5) for Moodle Released | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] based on our old Open Mod for OER, I have renamed this version and reset the numbering because the scripting is 100% new and based on [...]
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OpenShare for Moodle Released at OCW Blog Says:
[...] Very neat news from Jared Stein last night: Tonight I release the first all-new version of the OpenShare modification for Moodle 1.9, which I demonstrated last week at OpenEd 2008. You may cut to the chase or simply download the OpenShare mod now. [...]
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OpenShare for Moodle Released at OCW Blog Says:
[...] the OpenShare modification for Moodle 1.9, which I demonstrated last week at OpenEd 2008. You may cut to the chase or simply download the OpenShare mod [...]
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DigiZen » Convertir a Moodle en un portal open courseware Says:
[...] Stein ha desarrollado una aplicación para Moodle que tiene el objetivo de facilitar el que se pueden compartir los contenidos de los cursos de forma [...]
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
ATTENTION: This mod is outdated. Please check out the all-new, easy-to-install OpenShare block for Moodle now available!
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Convertir a Moodle en un portal open courseware | Literatúrame! Says:
[...] Stein ha desarrollado una aplicación para Moodle que tiene el objetivo de facilitar el que se pueden compartir los contenidos de los cursos de forma [...]
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Two Fixes:
The Open Learner role Legacy setting was set to “Guest”–it should be set to “Student”. Latest upload includes this correction.
The OpenShare Modules page was not updating Grouping on first insert of closed data. Latest upload includes this correction.
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Patti Shank Says:
Jared, I’ve been asked to start on Volume 2 (new ideas). Got some ideas to share or know folks I should contact to get better-than-Vol 1 udeas? If so, email me.
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Paul Seiler Says:
Interesting functionality for Moodle. Given the growing interest in OER I am keen to see the growth/availability of tools that allow the opeening up of content without increasing the workload of educators/administrators. Well done.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Paul Thanks, right now this mod just makes content and activities available on the Moodle platform, but a future development will hopefully cover exporting content from the same server for reuse/remix in an objective format.
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OpenShare: Moodle como plataforma de recursos abiertos | Literatúrame! Says:
[...] Stein (Utah Valley University) ha lanzado recientemente OpenShare, un módulo para Moodle 1.9 que permite abrir cursos completos o partes de cursos al público en [...]
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Carnet de liens sur le e-Learning » Blog Archive » OpenShare (V0.5) for Moodle Released Says:
[...] http://flexknowlogy.learningfield.org/2008/10/01/openshare-v05-for-moodle-released/ [...]
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It’s not a "creepy treehouse", its where I work! Says:
[...] Defining Creepy Treehouse [...]
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Atanu Dey Says:
Thanks for the excellent topic.
Perhaps related to what is not replaceable in teaching is the matter of what is not replaceable in learning. From my own experience, I know that I have learned a lot from my peers. Also, I have learned a lot when I explain something to my peers.
So I believe that what is not replaceable in learning is the peer-to-peer interactions.
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OpenShare: Moodle como plataforma de recursos abiertos « EL BLOG de SISTACNET Says:
[...] Stein (Utah Valley University) ha lanzado recientemente OpenShare, un módulo para Moodle 1.9 que permite abrir cursos completos o partes de cursos al público en [...]
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Open Share para Moodle 1.9 : Aprender la Libertad Says:
[...] buena iniciativa. Hace unos días Jarot Stein presentó “Open Share” (V-0.5) una aplicación que permite que Moodle (a partir de la versión 1.9) pueda ser también utilizada [...]
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El Blog de Moodle en Español » OpenShare: Moodle como plataforma de recursos abiertos Says:
[...] Jared Stein: OpenShare (v0.5) for Moodle Released [...]
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Paul Seiler Says:
Jared, I might be able to help here. Please check out http://www.exelearning.org to read about an OS, government funded approach to this from Down Under. Authoring content separate from the run-time environment and packaging it to standards-compliant file types is the way we will be moving.
Just yesterday at ULearn 2008 (the largest ICT in Education conference in NZ) I launched (in the plenary session) a Managed Learning Environment initiative for NZ schools (and tertiary sort of). This work will design and promote (read invest in the interoperability to see vendors develop) an “educationally relevant, open, modular, standards-based, sustainable approach to OLE development and use for New Zealand schools.”
Two key aspects (from within the dozens of modules and services) are the LMS (where our thinking is similar to that on http://ocwblog.org/2008/10/02/openshare-for-moodle-released/) and the content lifecycle. With Moodle a high contender of one of our LMS (we will select 2-4) Open Share is of interest, but so is eXe. Make contact (paul.seiler@minedu.govt.nz) if you wish to speak further/see if there are areas of work we have in common. -
Jamie Stein Says:
I think you brought up some excellent points. While technology has expanded the ways that learning can take place, and has, perhaps, improved teaching methods aimed at specific individual needs, it seems clear to me that there is a human element to face-to-face teaching that should not be replaced. Teachers are able to ascertain more about a student’s response to learning by seeing their faces; especially, I think, in the case of female teachers (females typically being more emotionally perceptive to children) and younger students. Teachers also have the opportunity to serve as positive role models for students; this would be more difficult to accomplish outside of a traditional classroom. I think that alternatives to teaching such as independent and online education are great ways to enhance learning, but should not be used as a replacement for traditional learning, which has some very valuable functions.
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Jared Stein Says:
I just got the reviews from the DT&L presentation in Madison. Of 18 evaluations submitted we averaged 4.75 out of 5. Nice! Here are the comments:
“Bingo was a brilliant idea to engage listening! Very cool! Best information session of the conference”
“Excellent presentation!”
“Expand!”
“Disorganized, irrelevant. Time management.”Wow, that last comment was a little harsh! We like to think of our presentation as “open” and “customizable” based on the audience’s interest.
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Embracing failure | NPSC Blog Says:
[...] The real risk to your agency’s reputation is to continue to talk up your social media efforts as wonderful examples of engaging with citizens, while those selfsame citizens think that you have just built another creepy treehouse. [...]
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» Blog para tontos: los costes económicos de la enseñanza ¿será la nueva burbuja que explotará?… - Octubre 2/08 El Blog Boyacense: El sitio de referencia de tod@s l@s boyacenses Says:
[...] … y lo convierte en una plataforma abierta de recursos educativos. Esto permitirá a los diseñadores y a los tutores marcar todos o parte de los cursos Moodle como abiertos (públicos) o cerrados (bajo inscripción). [L][C] [...]
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Jared Stein Says:
There was an error in the settings.php file (which we aren’t even using yet). Eliminating the file works as an acceptable fix until we actually use the settings.php for something.
I’ve updated the block and re-uploaded.
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CCK08 - Connectivism Impacts « CCK08 - Viplav Baxi Says:
[...] An interesting article around Twitter behavior by Jared Stein notes – They need to watch and observe the experts as they work….examples suggest that there is some real learning potential for the cognitive apprentice in following experts or even colleagues on Twitter. (Twitter as a Tool of Cognitive Apprenticeship? | Flexknowlogy – Jared Stein on Education and Technology. Retrieved October 25, 2008, from http://flexknowlogy.learningfield.org/2007/12/21/twitter-as-a-tool-of-cognitive-apprenticeship/) [...]
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David Says:
I’ve installed your moodle module in a local server, my personal computer. I give permission to access courses in public.I have tested with different permissions (I have followed your steps video). But when I want to access them is asking for password student or enter as a guest. Do not assume that it will have to disappear?
Thank you for your attention and sorry for my English
David.
Vigo, Galicia, Spain -
Mr. Jared Stein Says:
David,
First make sure that either guest access or self-registration is enabled through the course settings. If they are, post again and I will email you directly. -
Sandi K. Says:
As you eluded: Spontaneity. Don’t get me wrong, structure can be helpful in moving students toward a learning goal, but the ability to be free and spontaneous to pursue subject specific topics allows students to gravitate toward things they care about. Distance learning can be great, but the structure needed to accommodate multiple students in an online environment can create complications…
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OpenShare: Moodle como plataforma de recursos abiertos | Literatúrame! Says:
[...] Jared Stein: OpenShare (v0.5) for Moodle Released [...]
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CCK08 “Paper” #2 - The Changing Roles of Educators | All The Young (Edu)Punks Says:
[...] Several blogs and papers (Media Multitasking Among American Youth, Teens And Social Media, Defining “Creepy Treehouse”) have looked at how this generation functions on the internet. As an educator, I believe it should [...]
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Openness at Utah Valley University | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] OpenShare (v0.5) for Moodle Released [...]
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Mark Crane Says:
This is such great news. I’m impresssed that you’ve slogged away at this for three years–that’s pretty inspiring.
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Chris Lott Says:
Good on ya! The most important point for us has also been figuring out and articulating our reason for entering the fray and what we can contribute. Not in the sense of planning the technical details, but in defining what our strengths and desires are. That’s a valuable process!
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Jim Groom Says:
Hey Jared,
There are a few things I love about your approach at UVU, first that you see the discussion as a way to fine-tune your vision and the university’s mission for the 21st century. Something, even if painstakingly developed, I overlooked a bit when I wrote the work folks do in meetings off to a degree. You say it beautifully here:
The most important part of this announcement is not that UVU will be engaging in opencourseware, nor even that we can officially join the OpenCourseWare Consortium—the key for me is having the chance to explore and articulate a vision for openness at UVU, and how we might proceed in a way that contributes uniquely and with impact.
The next thing I love is that, unlike the high profile and insanely wealthy research 1 schools, you all are in the financial position that many, many universities will find themselves in. What you do over the next months and years, and how you document the process of building this open culture will be just as valuable as the content you make available. There is the special relationship, the very process of doing this is as important to share as the ultimate courses that get packaged out on the other side. How does a university do this on a budget of $0? Well, it can be done, and working together we can show many folks how.
Thirdly, your reflections on where UVU sits in the OCW sphere of schools is a very good one. Often it is, once again, the high profile schools like MIT, Yale and Stanford that become the banner schools, and that is all well and good. However, the space for a vocational studies or liberal arts college (like UMW) often seems like an after thought given that much of what these colleges and universities deal with is the actual teaching and learning process in the classroom, rather than a more neatly packaged series of resources and publications. That is why the tracing of classroom experience, interaction, and the student’s reflection on their learning is so key in my mind when it comes to the web-based open content movement. In many ways, for me it is far more important to trace a moment than to preserve and reproduce a skeletal structure of resources that risk being de-contextualized and rendered meaningless for any given course. That negotiation and process needs to be captured and discovered by others in its messiness.
OK, now I’ll leave you alone, great stuff and congratulations to UVU!
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Tran|script, by Mike Caulfield » Blog Archive » UVU and the OCWC Says:
[...] Stein writes on his blog that UVU has decided to go open, using a very simple mechanism: Now UVU is not just a vocational/trade school (though I daresay [...]
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Chris Lott Says:
Whether we like it or not, the institutional situation does matter and it varies by institution. Your approach to sharing wouldn’t work for us– the problem we face isn’t in the process of making materials free (we already own all of our own course materials and have plenty of faculty who would add to that pool), but in extending the concept of openness. So our OER site (which is in no way affiliated, at this point, with any official organization known as OER, of which I have no knowledge whatsoever) includes OCW membership because it allows us to leverage more easily the resources the consortium provides and adds to the understanding and presence of the concept in the institution. I don’t see any downside to the membership.
As for Reverend Jim’s last point– the only problem I have with it (and his point really sits aside from anything else being discussed here) is that NO ONE is yet articulating that vision of openness and to my knowledge no one has proposed any action that takes even a single step in that direction… sharing a bunch o’ blogs (as valuable as that is) certainly isn’t it.
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Chris Lott Says:
Oh, and doing it with a “budget of 0″ is really an untruth. Again, no one is doing it. Everything ends up costing something, even if it’s hidden in the form of people’s time. It might be very low– and I guess one could argue that “not much” is the same as “0 dollars” but I’m not buying that spin. There’s no zero-cost way to shift to an open stance in even the simplest ways… I think it’s a bit misleading for anyone to pretend otherwise.
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Chris Lott Says:
In fact, and this is my last post because I am already late (you need to add comment editing here!), isn’t it precisely the fact that we, as small institutions with very little funding, have thought through the reasons for adopting modes of sharing and have a coherent philosophy about what we are doing and why the best reason to join good organizations that demand very little of the members? How else will those good-hearted groups be understood as more than huge info dumps from well-funded institutions.
I guess one of the things I am reacting to is the tone in this post and some it links to that the approach we have taken is somehow not really open or open enough, not cool enough for Jim and too planned for Scott and too cognizant that we are an institution for you. I find the whole thing rather strange, in fact.
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Terri Bays Says:
Congratulations, Jared!
So, maybe I’m reading with rose-colored glasses here, but I read Jared not as saying that there’s any problem with OCW membership, but that it isn’t *the most important part of this announcement.* I quite agree: the UVU folks have been hanging around with the OCWC so long that I was quite surprised that they”ve just now gotten word of official UVU support. They’ve been official members of the OCWC since before UVSC became UVU (BTW, you need to change your name in your OCWC member profile), so their membership isn’t news.
What *is* news is their idenitification of their importance as:
a trade college. Because we have a vocational
history. Because we have dozens of expert faculty
in vocations and trades, and skilled students
preparing to excel in their fields.Those of us in the OCWC are delighted to hear this news and to share with Jared and his colleagues their vision of openness. Again, congratulations for getting your administration on board!
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Terri – You’re right; I’m not at all trying to discount (let alone disparage) OCWC. I’m merely saying that while being an “official member” may be an artificial attraction to some institutions, it’s not so much for us, though I do intend to put in our OCWC application as soon as we have official sign-off on all 10 courses (right now we still have just 6).
@Chris I accept your criticisms as they apply to the “tone” of my post and intend to read through it again, as it does seem I’ve struck a nerve. Having said that, I suspect you may be reading too much into this. My intent was to state frankly why this milestone is important to me regardless (not in spite) of how it impacts our involvement with OCWC. I have benefited from the OCWC, particularly in terms of the support the members have given me (Dave Wiley, Marion Jensen, Steve Carson, John Dehlin, Terri Bays, and Jenny Gray in particular have been tremendously important in pushing this forward) and hope to continue to benefit from the organization.
Re. budgets my actual statement was “a designated budget of zero” which was only meant to indicate we haven’t had any institutional or outside funding allocated for this, and thus any process we have will have to be sustainable. In terms of how much it costs, sure it has cost me time to put together ideas and processes, and it has cost the institution money to send me to Open Ed conferences, and we have allocated some of my staff time to developing the Moodle mod, but my point is that we want to do this as part of our everyday jobs; we want openess to happen as naturally and efficiently as possible. I’m not saying this is the best scenario for all institutions; I’m saying it’s the only scenario that seems to be plausible for our institution at this point in time.
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Chris Lott Says:
@Jared: My “zero budget” comment was actually directed toward Jim’s comment and had nothing whatsoever to do with your post. I should have made that clearer.
I’m not *particularly* irritated by this specific post, though once the comments get going and Jim appears seemingly denigrating the not-radical-enough then Scott’s post gets misconstrued and then Brian Lamb appears to pile on in his blog with Leigh Blackall’s enthusiastic support– well, it seems easy to see where those of us who fit into that overlapping set of OCW supporters/members who aren’t clueless might feel a bit aggrieved with the atmosphere in our neck of the blogosphere.
@Terry I agree with the spirit of your statement. I said the same thing in our recent announcement about “going open,” specificallyl that membership in the OCW official movement wasn’t the most important thing in and of itself, but as a signifier that we have managed to start a small fire in our institution.
That being said, there is a tone in the air in various places (and I’m not the only one that’s noticing it) that seems to swirl about ideas like: there’s enough open content and/or joining the OCWC or being part of it is addressing an already solved question if not a sign that you aren’t doing enough and/or that content doesn’t matter, just artifacts of process and “contextualized information” etc.
Jared’s post by itself didn’t bug me– as you can see looking at my first comment– but in conjunction with Jim Groom (I’m a mad fan of the Reverend, so I’m assuming he’ll take my comments the way I intend them) it assumed a very different light.
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Reflections on Openess - Week 10 | All The Young (Edu)Punks Says:
[...] up. When I have to write about openess, and my thoughts about the week, I find this blog post about UVU goes open. Well, the article was posted last week – but much like my life, I’m about a week [...]
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Open Content is So, Like, Yesterday : Ruminate Says:
[...] a place for that lighter, shorter, smaller content… one place among many. Our own goals, like others, may be to do something different, but that’s not to diminish the importance of other [...]
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Personal Learning Environments - elearnspace Says:
[...] who know what they’re talking about…here’s their commentary on the workshop: Jared Stein, Chris Lott, and Scott Leslie. This PLE thing will yet take root [...]
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simon Says:
Thanks, this is very useful.
Actually browser font resizing seems to work as expected in IE6, IE7 and Google Chrome – the script and browser input into the text size are combined.
In Firefox the resize script ignores (or counteracts) the user’s text size setting.
Opera applies the user’s text size adjustment on-the-fly, but then forgets it as soon as the window is resized, and also ignores it when the page is first loaded.
Sometimes it might be desirable to ignore the relative text size the user has set in the browser, because people accidentally set it too large or too small (e.g. they are using the scroll wheel and press ctrl), and don’t even know they’ve done that. However, the ideal solution, which would involve actually reading the browser’s text size setting seems complicated.
You could add more info about how to use this method. Such as how to show areas of text which have an em size, but are not affected by the resize script.
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simon Says:
nb By ‘user’s text size ‘, above , I mean the setting made thru the browser, not the form on your test page
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Reflections on Open Content « Open Education News Says:
[...] a place for that lighter, shorter, smaller content… one place among many. Our own goals, like others, may be to do something different, but that’s not to diminish the importance of other approaches, [...]
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Tyrel Kelsey Says:
I wouldn’t say that I burst your bubble; because as we all know old browsers don’t die very quickly. Also I tested mine against yours in IE6 and yours looked much better.
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Matthew K. Tabor Says:
Amen.
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Marion Jensen Says:
Funny you should post this. I just wrote a piece on my blog about competition in instructional games. I think competition can be an effective way to engage students, and drive them to do more work then they may normally do without competition. It’s a double edged sword, but so is real life.
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Doug Johnson Says:
Hi Jared,
A very thoughtful response and answer to my question.
Thank you!
Doug
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Doug and @Matthew Thanks for reading through it!
@Marion You should post the URL or e-mail it to me and I’d link to it. This posting was just an off-the-cuff reply to Doug, but I really should have researched it a bit. The possible connection between competition and student motivation fascinates me, and is worthy of a deeper look.
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Nominated for the Edublog Awards 08 Says:
[...] On competitive blogging, by J. Stein. [...]
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John Krutsch Says:
Congrats! I on the other hand have always taken classes to avoid the repayment of any loans taken to further my eduction. You of course are the wiser.
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Chris Lott Says:
Thanks… This post feels like an award!
I’m not against awards either– if honest, I don’t think they hurt, and I even vote once in a while if a blog I like shows up or a post that influenced me is nominated (like this time around, I saw Scott up for a lifetime achievement award– why not?).
A little competition is a good thing. I find motivation in the competitive spirit of wanting to feel like I belong on the same team as the bloggers I admire. A diverse lot, that…
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Video: Intro to OpenShare for Moodle | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] Caufield asked that I put up a screencast on the OpenShare mod for Moodle. Here’s one that comes in just under 8 minutes–shorter even than my hatcheted and [...]
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Desperately Seeking a Lackey | Boston Daily Says:
[...] use of ‘net’ is totally creepy treehouse. This puts said columnist at well over 40. And possibly in a bow [...]
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Yeah, well it looks I paid mine off just in time to start going to school again. I wonder if I can get by without more loans. I sure hope so…
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First Day of Class: David Wiley’s Game-Like Intro to Open Ed | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology « Atropos by Peter J Dean Says:
[...] January, 2009 in eLearning, learning, technology First Day of Class: David Wiley’s Game-Like Intro to Open Ed | Flexknowlogy – Jared Stein on Educa…. No Comments Leave a Commenttrackback addressThere was an error with your comment, please try [...]
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Elena Says:
Excellent! I’m using a plugin, but why overloading the mysql table and monthly traffic with plugins if wordpress itself can do the job?
Thanks! -
Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Thanks Elena; glad it was useful. I almost didn’t post this because I worried nobody would bother with it.
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David Wiley Says:
It’s always interesting to read others’ takeaways from the class. As a point of interest, the course number is IPT692R (you ref. IPT369R above).
Some of the questions you raise in your post will make mighty tasty dissertation topics for someone…
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Your Open Education Is Showing | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] « On Creators, Consumers, Copyright Holders [...]
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John Hilton III Says:
Brilliant and entertaining allegory!
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@John Thanks! It needs some work, but it was fun to draft.
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Betsy Says:
Thanks for your helpful summary! I should be well prepared to watch the slideshow now.
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Randy Fisher (aka Wikirandy) Says:
Hi,
I’m responding to this post via a link on Stephen Downes website.
Regarding the points under: Pedagogic – the utlization of new technologies may enhance educational engagement amongst learners – I think that there is also an emphasis among educators themselves, in terms of their own use of new technologies, and the control that results because of that experience.
That’s what I have observed and experienced in WikiEducator – http://www.wikieducator.org
It’s also what I have written up, as the first part of my Masters Project (MA, Organization Management and Development, Fielding Graduate University).
“On an individual, self-managing basis, these educator-authors are choosing to develop OERs on WE to satisfy their own needs for power, achievement and/or affiliation. (McLelland, 1976) Part of what makes WE so compelling to educator-authors is how they are able to control their own destiny: with a freedom to experiment and learn, succeed and fail, and share the experience openly in a way that (1) serves their own private and professional interests; and (2) that their employers may or may not support. Experimentation, observation and reflection in a supportive environment, are seeding individual innovation, creativity and connection.”
The full paper has been written and published on WikiEducator as CC-BY-SA. I am interested in seeing how it contributes to this dialogue about open education and motivation, and generative learning experience.
The paper can be accessed at: http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Randyfisher/MP/Final_Paper
- Randy
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Jeremy Browne Says:
I’m following David’s course from a distance, and your summary really helps. (BTW, try to convince David to live-broadcast a class or two via justin.tv or something.)
A few notes: 1. I like that opening quote, but I don’t see it reflected much in your notes. Were there occasions where someone opened up for the wrong reasons? I blogged about that almost 3 years ago: http://brownelearning.org/blog/?p=41 .
Also, do you have any more resources on the opportunity vs. obligation distinction? I’m familiar with the rights vs. entitlements discussion (the right to marry doesn’t entitle me to a wife), but that’s not the same as what you wrote.
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On Open, distance, e-learning and other name confusion | Virtual Canuck Says:
[...] and this post, will likely be yet one more. It is intriguing to note that recent posts on the history of open education have completely neglected the earlier debate and begin with the relatively recent Open Educational [...]
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Jeremy Browne Says:
(Disclaimer: I’m following the course from a distance.)
1. I agree that we need to be very cautious in declaring a finite set of motivations. We especially should avoid dichotomies since they are damaging to our conception of reality. Taxonomies are only slightly more nuanced, but we need to remember not to mistake those models for reality.
Ergo, before discussing the motivations behind OE, we need to specify the aspect (faction?). You’ve done this well here.
2. I’ll blog on this, but a sociologist of higher ed (did you know those existed?) at Stanford once told me that the financial model for higher education is crumbling before our eyes. Professors are very accustomed to getting money to do what they want, but not accustomed to being responsible to the people who fund their research. This is especially true of federal funds.
Now those days are numbered. Academics will need to give something back when the government funds their work. OERs could save the day in that if the government funds our research, we will develop instructional materials and make them freely available.
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Jeremy Browne Says:
1. “FOSS and OER share a common conviction that access to resources, whether software code or learning materials, should be free and open for use, modification and sharing”
I saw this as a slahdot sig once: “Information wants to be anthropomorphized!!”
I take issue with the “should” component in this shared conviction, as it implies that all people, regardless of their world-view, *should* participate in the movement. I prefer the “as for me and my house,” approach, wherein *I* will say what *I* will do, and *I* will share my motivations for so doing. But it is not my right to tell others what *they* *should* do with their creations.
2. “exposes teaching to the quality-increasing pressures of peer review.”
I train public school teachers. If there is one thing that will kill a movement, it is this. I don’t believe this statement should be considered while ignoring its political ramifications.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Betsy Thanks! I’m glad to post these.
@Jeremy Yeah, the opening quote was subtly referenced throughout, though I must admit I was too slow to benefit from the full impact of it. I think the primary thrust was to warn us away from just doing things without proper forethought and motivation.
Re. opportunity vs. obligation, I can’t point to anything precisely, though I’ve read a number of writers and bloggers and left-leaning scholars speak about society’s obligation to educate and socialize youth, and that’s what I was getting at. It’s not a new concept. Off the top of my head I was thinking of an article that argues teaching intellectual subjects as well as moral subjects, a passage in Christiansen’s book “Disrupting Class”, and the now infamous long, video post by Stephen Downes against home-schooling, and, really, against parental control over their children’s education (I think the phrase he used was “parents do not own their children”). Again, I can’t point to any specific posts off the top of my head, but I would expect the antithesis of that position might be found on Matthew K. Tabor’s blog.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Randy I think you’re right on, and if you look at many explanations for the success of “Web 2.0″ a significant part of that lies in user-control of their destiny/identity.
@Jeremy I agree with you as well on both points.
1. If I’m reading you right, I think this goes back to the argument of “free” vs “open”, and what David Wiley cued me into re. the differences between CC By-SA and CC-By. I mentioned this in
2. On the surface the increased scrutiny could leave to quality improvements. But in reality this is the primary reason most faculty and teachers will object–even if they deny that that’s the reason. But while this may inhibit a large number of instructors, it won’t inhibit all instructors. And there is the idea that this could be tempered by allowing for collaborative editing (amongst peers or amongst the general public).
However, I will also say that I’ve seen (in a small sampling of 2 Utah institutions
) an increasing demand for “transparency” both in service and academic departments from the top-down. So it’s conceivable to me that this direction could be mandated! Is that good or bad? I’d say bad, as part of the critical liberty in openness may be the freedom to not be open. You can see, then, why I am personally leaning toward CC By and not CC By-SA -
Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Jeremy I totally agree with your second point. I hate the “change” mantra, but I think it’s inevitable. As higher education becomes increasingly popularized–that is, as it becomes more the rule for the public’s education and not the exception–it will be subjected to more of the scrutiny we are used to giving to businesses and business-like organizations. I could write a lengthy post just on this, but one example that strikes my fancy is the (purported) increased attention and power granted to student evaluations of instruction. Some have claimed they have become customer satisfaction cards (and again, I know I have a source for this, but can’t bring myself to dig it up right now!), but the tradition of higher education has not been consumer-driven.
Whether I agree with this trend or not doesn’t matter at this point, but I would like to revisit the idea later and test my rough theories!
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Steven Crawford Says:
Is it possible that we could use a paper version of the rubric and “score it by hand” for an on-campus workshop?
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Yes indeed. I’ve e-mailed you so we can discuss this further.
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AlanMJones Says:
“the quality-increasing pressures of peer review” sounds like teachers have plenty of time to audit other teacher’s courses. Most teachers I talk with say they can’t find enough time to teach their students.
I say look to the quality-increasing pressures of student review! Power to the learner, not just open education but market-driven, learner-as-consumer driven.
What more effective way to weed out bad content and ineffective teachers than to allow students to choose course content and instructor based on previous student reviews and (preferably) previous learning results. -
Brian Says:
Wow. Well worth the read.
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Tony Hirst Says:
But the MIT courses don’t look like that… they look like this: http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/blogarchive/010236.html
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Tony Excellent! Thanks for linking to that here. Your technical abilities provide a rather unusual set of glasses through which to see these OCW, no? I admit I haven’t even glossed over the myriad of Potentials for these two OER/OCW projects, but I also must wonder if the “incremental disaggregation” effort is worth the results here-and-now, or if it’s most beneficial as a proof of concept?
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National Centre for e-Social Science BLOG » Blog Archive » Comparison of online course materials Says:
[...] http://flexknowlogy.learningfield.org/2009/01/20/review-oer-from-mit-and-carnegie-mellons-oli/ [...]
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Mike Bogle Says:
Thanks very much for this – very interesting. I’ve passed along the article to others. The road through proprietary licensing is wrought with minefields it seems.
Cheers,
Mike
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Seminar: Open Educational Resources | weiterbildungsblog Says:
[...] Years of Open Content” und “Motivation”. Sehr interessant ist auch dieser Beitrag eines Teilnehmers (Jared Stein), in dem ausführlich das Angebot der MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) [...]
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David Wiley Says:
“It is tempting to generalize all the institutions that have followed MIT’s trailblazing example, and even joined the OpenCourseWare Consortium, as proponents of open education, but that may not always be the case.”
Too true! This goes to motivation issues we talked about afterward… Not everyone who jumps on the bandwagon looking to be included in the news stories is actually committed to the movement.
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David Wiley Says:
Excellent review! You’re the only person I’ve seen so far that used screenshots; they add a lot. Of course, the primary difference in these collections are who they are designed for and what uses the unis imagine those users wanting to make. (5)
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David Wiley Says:
Thanks for also covering Zero and Plus! (5)
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David Wiley Says:
Jared, thanks for breaking these motivations out and labeling them so clearly! (5)
@AlanMJones, the “quality-increasing pressures of peer review” don’t occur because faculty spend time reviewing one another’s courses. They occur because before a faculty posts their information they are forced to self-reflect on the quality of their own materials before putting them out where everyone can see them. It is very common for a participation pitch to end with the faculty members saying, “Sure, I’d love to put my stuff up. Just give me a few months to clean it up first, ok?”
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@David Thanks! The screenshots were a little clumsy until today; I grabbed them on a laptop Ubuntu install with a grumpy touchpad, which made cropping more trouble than it was worth.
As far as the objectives/strategies of the two examples, I think you’re right, and for that reason I almost found it unfair to do a side-by-side comparison. Mike Caufield posted something up on a similar note just today, describing MIT OCW as engineered for transparency, and OLI as engineered for reused (I agree on the first, not so much the second).
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
That was the most interesting part to me, as I could probably recite the standard licenses from memory at this point! But don’t test me on that…
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On the Sustainability of OER Projects | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] the LMS may be used as the OER publishing platform itself, technology provided (as I’ve prototyped on Moodle with the OpenShare block). However, in such a case the ability to release just parts of the course as OER is necessary, and [...]
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Personal reminder: in class today Sara Joy asked about bad derivatives. I found this in the CC FAQ, which is probably what Dr. Wiley was hunting for:
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SaraJoy Pond Says:
Thanks, Jared
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Thieme Hennis Says:
Hi, interesting piece. I am also convinced that lower barriers for publication, a more intrinsic relation with external parties, and new business models may lead to sustainability of OER. I am currently working with an OER/social networking startup, and we (http://aboutpeers.com) have proposed to develop the next Delft OCW site.
Find the link to my report on the future of Delft OCW (thesis project) here: http://hennistalk.blogspot.com/2008/05/final-thesis-report-future-of-delft.html
A shorter description, but without extensive description of the revenue models and overall sustainability can be found in the article I presented in last year’s Ed Media conference: http://www.scribd.com/doc/11464174/ED-Media-08-Future-of-Delft-OCW-A-Case-Study
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“Why we say we’re open…” « Ventures Says:
[...] 29, 2009 Jared presented a good broad categorization of open ed motivations (Philanthropic, Strategic, Pedagogic, [...]
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So You Think You Can License? « Ventures Says:
[...] Because this assignment is already 2 weeks late, because you can already read great summaries here, here, here, and–oh yeah–here, and because (despite his assertions) I just can’t [...]
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Tom Carey Says:
Another article to address OER sustainability is the chapter “Extending the Impact of Open Educational Resources through Alignment with…Institutional Strategy: Lessons Learned from the MERLOT Community Experience” in the book “Opening Up Education”. The part that applies to this discussion is a description of the MERLOT cooperative approaches to sustaining institutional investments – in essence, identifying strategic institutional priorities where support for OER work would have an evident payoff, rather than going for ‘big picture’ support of OER as opening up education to the world.
You can access the chapter online at http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/0262033712chap12.pdf
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Jeremy Says:
I like your ideas on mainstreaming. Just today in our college technology council meeting, I corrected the chairman’s assertion that it’s illegal to upload textbooks to our CMS. “It’s could be an *open* textbook,” I said.
But… You’re a “strong-minded capitalist, eh? Let’s talk about how companies react to market forces.
Look at diversified companies like IBM. I must admit that I’m a little biased (having completed three internships there as an undergrad), but whenever a market they’re in becomes a commodity, they bail out responsibly. It’s not worth it for them to compete on razor-thin margins.
Compare IBM’s actions to one-trick ponies like SCO, or consortia like RIAA, who employ every method at their disposal to force their relevance on the marketplace when demand is moving the other way.
Let’s bring this model into the OER debate on sustainability. *Are we so convinced that OER is the way to go that we have to put artificial structures on it to keep it viable?* Or are we willing to accept that, like an organism ill-suited for its environment, this movement may someday be extinct… and for good reason?
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Jeremy Says:
Preview of iFlipper! LOL!!
Sounds a lot like the flashcard database for the Arabic department in, like, 2003. It turned out to be much more robust than I had expected. I wound up using it to study for my CPSE course.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Jeremy I like where you’re going with this, but I’m not sure if adapting existing financial systems to OER efforts is “artificial structures”, though maybe I’m misunderstanding. I for one am willing to accept that the movement could be extinct, and for a good reason, but, based on several online cultural shifts toward “free” or “open” information, I think we’re more likely going with the flow rather than against it.
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Jared Stein Says:
I happen to be working on an Arabic project for a client. What technologies did you use for the Arabic flashcards?
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Tony Hursh Says:
My students did some interesting remixes last summer, using Mahara.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Thanks Tony, I will check those out, And using Mahara, no less? I’ve been playing with that a bit myself this winter.
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Graham Lerwis Says:
Hi Rob. It is true that educational developers and others who are focused on improving ‘the learning experience’ are all too aware of the ownership issue but I would not say that there is a general awareness of this, particularly among those new to teaching in universities.
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Jared Stein Says:
Seems to be slow uptake here, but I’ll keep this open and keep posting examples I found.
John Kuti of Saint Petersburg State University won the UK Open University’s 2007 Remix competition by adding localization and interactive value to an existing OpenLearn course.
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Estimating “Reuse / Remix” Value of 7 OER Projects | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] I recently reviewed OLI’s project on this web site, so let’s cut to the chase: [...]
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Tony Hirst Says:
Here’s a ‘representation’ of an MIT OCW course in which i turned all the pages into RSS, and then ‘remixed’ the course presentation as an OPML file that can be viewed in eg a Grazr widget: http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/blogarchive/010211.html
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John Hilton III Says:
Jared–thanks for a useful way of thinking about reusability. Very helpful.
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Ben Hubbard Says:
Hi Jared,
I manage webcast.berkeley and really appreciate your review. I think it’s a fair assessment of where we are.
A couple of comments: First, all of our courses published since Fall 2008 (when we implemented a new automated capture and distribution system) are available in h.264 format via the RSS feeds. Prior to this we were publishing content in Real Player format, we consider these courses a part of our archives. Second, the license granted to end users is published at the top of each course page (published since Fall 2008), just above the links to view/stream individual lectures in our JW flash player.
We hope to make the media download and licensing opportunities more clear through additional UI updates in the near future. Of course, this is a labor of love and a work in progress!
Thanks again for your feedback,
Ben -
Rantings and Ramblings From All Around.. » Blog Archive » Estimating “Reuse / Remix” Value of 7 Oer Projects Says:
[...] Thanks to a list of audio/video-enhanced MIT ocw I was able to find a worthy mark . Linear Algebra contains video lectures and interactive Java applets, presumably already of the lowest usable granularity. Anytime I see the TM Java I …Continue Reading… [...]
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Technology » Blog Archive » Estimating “Reuse / Remix” Value of 7 Oer Projects | Flexknowlogy … Says:
[...] I’d never been to the SEE site before, and I chose from a list of SEE’s more “popular” courses: Oussama Khatib’s Artificial Intelligence | Introduction to Robotics . Scrolling through the first page I found a link to “Download Zipped …Continue Reading… [...]
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Laura Says:
Hi
If you search on the OpenLearn website’s LabSpace for ‘public contributions’ you will see examples of remixed content on OpenLearn. When you click through from the search results to see the example, look for the versions block on the page to see links to the original content and all remixed versions. Public contributions are clearly marked. You can see one example here – look at the versions block for links to the two remixes of the course Meiosis and Metosis.http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1944
For the advanced search visit:
http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/advancedsearch.php -
Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Ben Thanks for commenting. I made a strong attempt to fairly represent each of the projects reviewed, but I must admit I could not be as thorough as I’d like due to time constraints. The details you point out are important, and I will edit the review of webcast.berkeley.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Laura, thank you for pointing out a couple of examples. I knew LabSpace was a place for remixes, but unfortunately haven’t yet had time to go through the public contributions with the attention to detail that I would like to.
Are there indicators on the LabSpace site that indicate something like % changed in public contributions?
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Another remix example from the UK Open University’s Tony Hirst:
…a ‘representation’ of an MIT OCW course in which i turned all the pages into RSS, and then ‘remixed’ the course presentation as an OPML file that can be viewed in eg a Grazr widget: http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/blogarchive/010211.html
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» OLDaily por Stephen Downes, enero 14, 2009 TIC, E/A, PER…: Says:
[...] digamos, a cualquier tarea escolar). Las respuestas son de lectura interesante. Jared Stein ofrece esta entrada así como información complementaria sobre educación abierta. Dan Coleman describe en un buen [...]
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A Fish Eye View » Blog Archive » Facebook at your own risk Says:
[...] send friend requests to former students myself. I wouldn’t want to hang out at the creepy treehouse either. However, I have made an exception for former research students, and they have not been [...]
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SaraJoy Pond Says:
I enjoy reading your notes…thanks for posting them.
I think you’re right about baby steps. There might be another element there, too… a sort of “warmth points” effect. Given that 1. BYU does already own all materials produced in the walk-in center, 2. Faculty probably still perceive that they own those materials, and 3. We anticipate the vast majority of faculty opting in to an open license, choosing to include that technically unnecessary form could be even more than a professional courtesy–it could be an opportunity to stimulate interest, awareness and support for the creation and sharing of high-quality open OERs. Faculty who feel they are part of something special–making a meaningful contribution out of the goodness of their hearts–may be spurred to suggest more and better resources than they would have otherwise…and even encourage their colleagues to do likewise.
Not sure it’s exactly applicable–but my dad always says “if you can’t fix it, feature it.” -
David Wiley Says:
“To foster the movement in the long-term it behooves us to focus on the immediate needs of local sustainability.” Yes, yes, yes. Otherwise, we become the dictionary example of “flash in the pan.”
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David Wiley Says:
You might look at some of the video remixes my students did a few years back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsFU3sAlPx4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQvLRXpGbzk and http://openwaterproject.org/media/
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David Wiley Says:
Jared, thanks for this excellent and valuable contribution. I’ve added and linked this new character class from the official character class site.
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» OLDaily por Stephen Downes, enero 21, 2009 TIC, E/A, PER…: Says:
[...] proyecto OLI (y no al revés, como MIT).” Jared Stein, Flexknowlogy (conocimiento flexible). [Liga] [etiquetas: aprendizaje Online, recursos educativos abiertos, aprendizaje basado en Proyectos, [...]
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Estimating “Reuse / Remix” Value of 7 OER Projects | weiterbildungsblog Says:
[...] Eine interessante Aufgabe, die sich der Autor gestellt hat: Er hat die Angebote von sieben OER- (Open Educational Resources) Projekten näher betrachtet und geprüft, in wie weit sich ihre Inhalte in neue Lernszenarien “übertragen” lassen. “Reuse & remix” eben. Konzeptionelle, technische und lizenzrechtliche Kriterien hat er an die Angebote von OpenLearn, Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative, MIT OpenCourseWare, Stanford Engineering Everywhere, webcast.berkeley, Open Yale Courses und Rice Connexions angelegt. Bestnoten gab es für UK Open University’s OpenLearn und Rice Connexions (4,5 von 5). Jared Stein, Flexknowlogy, 12. February 2009 [...]
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» OLDaily per Stephen Downes, 12 de febrer de 2009 TIC, E/A, REF / PER…: Says:
[...] equivocada que només elles produeixen OERs). Jared Stein, Flexknowlogy (coneixement flexible). [L'enllaç] [etiquetes: Conexions, recursos educatius Oberts, aprenentatge basat en Projectes, software obert [...]
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Adam Says:
This is a very cool project! I wasn’t able to get the “Font-size to body-width proportion” text field to have any effect in Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer. One suggestion would be to allow minimum font sizes so that it doesn’t get so small that it’s impossible to read.
What’s the status on this project?
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Adam, the font-size to body-width works for me on FF3 and IE7, but it takes affect only AFTER you resize your window again (i.e. it doesn’t reload the content until the window size changes).
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A Facebook reflection…buyer beware. « odnett Says:
[...] information like academic advising deadlines, etc. This came along side reading about the “creepy treehouse”effect, nicely discussed at Jared Stein’s blog, Flexknowlogy. And I marvel at the fact that some are [...]
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Brian Says:
I guess I should not be surprised that your notes strike me as more coherent and detailed than my own grasp of the subject.
Thanks for the kind words. Getting to talk with you was a big highlight of the trip.
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John Hilton III Says:
Thanks for sharing the great insights Jared–I wish I could have been there!
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Cool, glad that was useful. Noticed a few typos or thought seizures that I’ve now edited.
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The Urgency of Openness « Open Education News Says:
[...] to Jared Stein at Flexknowlogy.) Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Welcome Brian and [...]
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The Urgency of Openness | Educationload.com Says:
[...] (Thanks to Jared Stein at Flexknowlogy.) [...]
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blog.twidox.com » Blog Archive » The Urgency of Openness Says:
[...] (Thanks to Jared Stein at Flexknowlogy.) [...]
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coomaraswamee Says:
This is great. I think it’s easy for the pendulum to swing the other way to far though. It seems like creepy playhouse is a matter of trying too hard.
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coomaraswamee Says:
make that tree house not play house…ha
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The Creepy Treehouse Effect? | BCruzan's Ed Tech Blog Says:
[...] Defining “Creepy Treehouse” [...]
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andy Says:
Brewvies will have FULL Menu including the grill items open.
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Jesse Harding Says:
Hey Jared,
Ignite is going to be a great time. The format is a total riot and our speaker line-up is as excellent and diverse as it was last time. In answer to your Brewvies question – yes – the bar and grill will be open Jesse
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Awesome, thanks guys!
P.S. Should I plan to camp out in order to get a good place in line for PPT Karaoke?
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Engage Brain Before Opening Mouth | TechTicker Says:
[...] students, barring those that are asking for assistance. This is largely due to the notion of the Creepy Treehouse, and a concern that students will feel as though their personal space is being encroached upon. I [...]
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John Hilton III Says:
Jared–thanks for the post, you made the class come alive. One thing we discussed towards the end was what would happen if individual teachers were able to put content on Blackboard and be charged $5 for each student who enrolled in the course (not through a university, but through the teacher directly). This might allow for more a competitive market to exist in teaching.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Thanks, that’s being generous!
So teachers would have to pay $5? To whom?
Or learners would pay $5? To teachers?
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President of Blackboard Visits Open Education Class « Open Education News Says:
[...] 21, 2009 · No Comments Jared Stein presents notes from Thursday’s Introduction to Open Education class at BYU in which Russ Carlson, President [...]
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Tony Hirst Says:
I’ve often thought about the link or embed issue too, and I think there is a third option – to use a lightbox (shadowbox) to pop up the linked to resource in an overlay on the current page.
e.g. http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/blogarchive/007632.html and http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/blogarchive/014014.html
The rationale behind this approach is that it:
1) allows the reader to see the content in the current context;
2) whilst retaining the original context in the background.If you just embed/transclude content you are forcing the reader to engage with it inline/in the flow; if you use a lightbox, it’s a bit like a box in a print document -it takes you out of the original narrative flow but reminds you why you are viewing that document by retaining the original context (the reason for visiting the popped up/lightbox site) in the lower layer. It also retains a linear reading line. The link lets you open in the same window, open in another tab, open in another window or bookmark for later, which changes the dynamic, I think? Ie there are now multiple open documents that you have to read.
As far as the publishers of the linked to content go, if you pull the content from their site (as you do with a link, transclude, or lightbox), they get traffic stats and maybe page referrer information too.
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Tony Hirst Says:
For an example of how to embed a complete oer course in a page using a Grazr widget see eg http://openlearnigg.corank.com/tech/story/an-introduction-to-information-securit which shows an OpenLearn course from the OU embedded in a page (hundreds of other examples of openlearn widgets are available on the same site).
If the content you want to refer to/copy/link to is on a wordpress blog, you can easily get the single page rss and then render or embed that – eg see the PS to http://ouseful.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/single-item-rss-feeds-from-wordpress-blogs/
Here’s a bookmarklet that will pop a single WordPress blog page that you are currently viewing into a portable grazr widget:
javascript:window.location=”http://grazr.com/gzpanel.html?pl=ou&exp=1&file=”+window.location+”?feed=rss2&withoutcomments=1″
(The pl=ou includes demo OU branding; remove it for your own bookmarklet, or chat to the Grazr folks about getting your own Grazr skin…)
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Very cool, Tony; thanks for posting.
You’ve given a lot to think about in terms of alternate approaches. I’m going to take some time today to read through these posts and reply or follow-up later.
A couple issues off the top of my head:
* concern over mobile device performance
* concern over bad browser performance (aka JS-disabled)Also, I had thought last night about an XSL for custom-rendering of XML-written full feeds taken from external sources, mixed in with “staple” XML from local hosts for local branding and navigation. I suspect this will require a special plug-in on the server side.
Regardless, it’s another approach that may be worth looking into in instances where the XML is predictable (semantically correct XHTML is a viable target, but may not be consistent enough.
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Tony Hirst Says:
I haven’t actually given much thought to accessibility/JS; i’m still trying to identify the “wiring patterns” that are possible and seeing what they support; eg the grazr widget could equally well be a server side feed2html service?
Re the xml – interesting; have you been following @patrickgmj’s stuff – eg http://semantic.umwblogs.org/2009/03/10/whose-link-is-it-anyway/
My dabblings with XML in OpenLearn context are partially recorded here, but i think everything has rotted since i posted?!
http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/blogarchive/010124.html
http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/blogarchive/013035.html -
Mr. Jared Stein Says:
I have a penchant for testing accessibility particularly for mobile devices, though that might be putting the cart before the horse (that is, presuming that the demand for OER content on mobile devices may not outpace the development of mobile browser support for these technologies).
More good links for me to read through! I can’t keep up with you, but this is definitely appreciated nonetheless.
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OpenShare: Moodle como plataforma de recursos abiertos « EL MENTIROSO Says:
[...] Jared Stein: OpenShare (v0.5) for Moodle Released [...]
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Academic Sandbox (the blog) » Students and Copyright (and a little BSG) Says:
[...] We were having our students read/explore the piece in Kairos, “”Old + Old + Old = New: A Copyright Manifesto for the Digital World” and I thought that we definitely needed some historical background—kids today! They’re young! Anyway, I remembered one of the many, many things I starred in my Google Reader for later use: Jared Stein’s A Brief History of the Internet, Part I. [...]
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iterating toward openness » Blog Archive » Contra NC - Mostly Says:
[...] has turned out to be a reasonably useful analysis framework as demonstrated by Jared Stein’s Estimating “Reuse / Remix’ Value of 7 OER Projects and Aaron Johnson’s Reusability in the Land of [...]
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Web Developer - Shom Says:
This process is easy but quite lengthy. Can anyone suggest a short cut method?
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Pamela Scoot Says:
Useful post . Step by step tutorial helps me a lot. Thank you.
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Mirek Says:
This project seems to be helpfull for me, i´am solving a school problem, where i need to resize font proportional to window size. Please can you send me source code of this script? Thank you very much.
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Web Developer - Shom Says:
Thank you for important and useful code. I have tried this and it runs successfully. It is also very easy to use. Thanks again for sharing this.
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Pamela Scoot Says:
Useful post for those have a little knowledge about Word Press. Thanks for your PHP code for the beginners of PHP. I have some experience using WP . So please bring other excellent features of WP to your visitors.
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Dr. Jim James Says:
Jared!!
Just ran across the Krutsch video you did a year ago regarding Instructor Generated Load and student cheating. I created the term for my dissertation at the U of Wyoming (along with Michael Day, who was my dissertation committee chairman) and am pleased to see that it is still extant in the world of adult/distance learning. You did a good job with it.
Jim
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Thanks Jim! Glad you enjoyed it. I know John wants to do a follow-up, and ITC has talked about us doing a “live” episode at an upcoming conference.
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Personal Learning Environments: Best Resources From George Siemens Media Literacy Digest | 1 RSSBLOG.com Says:
[...] individuals who know what they’re talking about…here’s their commentary on the workshop: Jared Stein, Chris Lott, and Scott Leslie. This PLE thing will yet take root
. Published on MasterNewMedia on [...] -
Future Learning Environments: Key Trends And Highlights From George Siemens’ Media Literacy | 1 RSSBLOG.com Says:
[...] individuals who know what they’re talking about…here’s their commentary on the workshop: Jared Stein, Chris Lott, and Scott Leslie. This PLE thing will yet take root
. Published on MasterNewMedia on [...] -
Michael Says:
Hi, great article! I too have been exploring LabSpace among others as we embark upon our own OER project at the University of Cape Town. We are currently looking for a best practice model for our system. Will be watching your site.
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Coco Carey Says:
Why would an Open learner be denied access to anything the students are learning. The whole point of Open anything is to educate all. I’m 60 and don’t know why anyone with a desire to learn should be limited or
subjected to restrictions. It defeats the purpose and leaves my generation left out of learning the very things we obviously
should know to keep up in a rapidly changing environment. -
Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Coco, partly because releasing anything with student information in the US could potentially violate FERPA laws, so discussion forums, for instance, are straight out.
Second, often times educators can use copyrighted materials within the classroom under Fair Use or TEACH Act provisions, but those provisions would not apply if the materials were made available to the general public.
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ANGEL: A Corpse for Blackboard’s Corpulence | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] Blackboard immediately used to sue its next largest commercial rival, Desire2Learn. And though Blackboard was successful in its legal actions, twice since then the US Patent Office has rejected the original 44 patent claims, first in March [...]
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ANGEL: A Corpse for Blackboard’s Corpulence | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] actions, twice since then the US Patent Office has rejected the original 44 patent claims, first in March of 2008 and again in April of this [...]
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Mark Jenkins Says:
Blackboard’s internal disorganization and dismal customer service record since the WebCT acquisition will only be exacerbated by this. It’s a disaster, compounded by the fact that many current Angel clients chose the system both for its specific virtues . . . but also as a deliberate choice against Blackboard’s corporate stance, much less their ability to serve their clients.
To have Angel pulled into the problematic and dysfunctional support environment that we’ve seen from Blackboard over recent years is a generalized problem for higher ed and especially institutions who can’t manage effectively an open source solution. I can’t see how this is a good thing.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
You know it! It’s a good thing … for Bb only.
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James Says:
Takes someone selling to have a buyer.
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Travis Souza Says:
Yep. I think the majority share holder is looking for a payday without regard to their till now loyal and enthusiatic customers. Shame, Shame IUPUI.
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Referencias sobre las aplicaciones educativas de Twitter - DigiZen:Un blogfesor aprendiendo Says:
[...] Twitter as a Tool of Cognitive Apprenticeship? | Flexknowlogy – Jared Stein on Education and Technol… [...]
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Cole20 » Posts about Moodle news as of 20 June 2009 Says:
[...] about Moodle news as of 20 June 2009 06.20.2009 | Author: admin | Posted in LMS Notes on eLearning DevCon 2009 – flexknowlogy.learningfield.org 06/19/2009 I attended the 3-day eLearning DevCon 2009 in [...]
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Tom Kuhlmann Says:
Thanks for the recap. You bring out some good points.
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Help List University-Based OER Projects | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] the institutions and OER/OCW web sites, I’m collecting info on licensing, RSS/Atom feeds, and remixability of OER in each projects (as per @funnymonkey’s [...]
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If the Army sees the potential in Facebook, why not schools? « iThinkEducation.net! Says:
[...] environments. danah’s research backed this up and the concept of teachers creating “creepy treehouses” was enough to knock that desire of some on the [...]
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Holmes Says:
Brilliant! Works in IE8, FF3, and Chrome on WinXP SP3. Thank you so much for sharing this.
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Social Media and Learning « PLS Online Course Development Says:
[...] have a specific learning purpose. That helps establish some boundaries and can alleviate the “creepy treehouse” effect. [...]
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LMS Says:
I agree with your points about the widespread abuse of powerpoint(less). My motto for presentations is ‘less is more’ because implicity is the ultimate sophistication. After all, it is not so much what you say but how you say it. What do you mean when you mention ‘presentation zen’?
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Tech 2 Teach Today Says:
[...] recently heard the term “Creepy Treehouse Effect” from flexknowlogy, another hubber on similar topics. That’s when it really hit me! My students (and yours) [...]
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The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same? Says:
[...] are going on now about the role of social spaces online in education. For now I’ll pick the Creepy Treehouse posts at ACRLog, See Also, and Reflections from a Small College Library. For budding humanists, [...]
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John Hilton III Says:
thanks jared–i’ve been listening at a distance and appreciate your analysis. glad to hear that your were able to make it. see you soon…
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Commentary on Downes-Wiley Debate « Says:
[...] available as MP3’s. Today Downes has a roundup of some commentary on the debate. From the Jared Stein’s commentary: After some lengthy idling of engines, the real conversation starts when Downes asks, what does [...]
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Institutional Innovation » Defining “Creepy Treehouse” #pcthe Says:
[...] Defining “Creepy Treehouse” #pcthe george | August 16, 2009 In the field of educational technology a creepy treehouse is an institutionally controlled technology/tool that emulates or mimics pre-existing technologies or tools that may already be in use by the learners, or by learners’ peer groups. Though such systems may be seen as innovative or problem-solving to the institution, they may repulse some users who see them as infringement on the sanctity of their peer groups, or as having the potential for institutional violations of their privacy, liberty, ownership, or creativity. Some users may simply object to the influence of the institution. via flexknowlogy.learningfield.org [...]
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rWorld2 » Defining “Creepy Treehouse” #pcthe Says:
[...] Defining “Creepy Treehouse” #pcthe In the field of educational technology a creepy treehouse is an institutionally controlled technology/tool that emulates or mimics pre-existing technologies or tools that may already be in use by the learners, or by learners’ peer groups. Though such systems may be seen as innovative or problem-solving to the institution, they may repulse some users who see them as infringement on the sanctity of their peer groups, or as having the potential for institutional violations of their privacy, liberty, ownership, or creativity. Some users may simply object to the influence of the institution. via flexknowlogy.learningfield.org [...]
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Alan Arnold Says:
Jared, do you have any thoughts/plans to continue development past v0.5? With Moodle 2.0 coming “Real Soon Now”, our LMS-team’s attention is increasingly focussed on upgrade paths, and in particular, on any 3rd-party modules that might prove problematic for the transition from 1.9.x. It would be a great pity if we couldn’t take advantage of such a valuable OER enabler as OpenShare in a Moodle 2.0 world.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
Yes, we do intend to make a Moodle 2.0 version with some enhancements, and I will see how soon we can fit that version into our schedule.
However, the current openshare module is a “Block”, which limits some of the functionality we could add. Most of the enhanced features would require modification of Moodle core, a road we’re hesitant to go back down (we did so in the original version which was difficult to maintain).
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The Creepy Treehouse « Intersecting Lines Says:
[...] The Creepy Treehouse 19 08 2009 As I start out blogging again at least in part because of how much teaching and thinking I’ve done in the last few weeks about how participatory media can be leveraged in the classroom, I find it particularly ironic that a colleague of mine forward the following article to me the other day: “Defining ‘Creepy Treehouse.’“ [...]
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KerryJ’s blog » Using tech wisely and well Says:
[...] an educational purpose, you end up making users feel uncomfortable — better known as “creepy treehouses” [...]
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Creepy Treehouse Effect – How do we social network in Higher Ed? « Purdue eTech Says:
[...] “Creepy treehouse is what a professor can create by requiring his students to interact with him on a medium other than the class room tools. [E.g.] requiring students to follow him/her on peer networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook.” – excerpt via Mr. Jared Stein – Flexknowlogy [...]
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Boone Gorges Says:
Hi Jared. Thanks for your thoughtful post.
The anecdote of your white paper hits on what I think is the real upheaval that arrives with web 2.0ish technologies: the decentralization of authorship. Of course, people have always written in communities, and to that extent individual authorship and ownership of texts has never been entirely clear-cut. But the rise of explicitly collaborative forms of writing – and especially the espousal of these forms in classroom settings, where the next generation of writers is being trained – puts this issue front-and-center. I’d posit that the reason why you weren’t comfortable answer the question of ownership of the white paper is because there’s a sense in which it’s literally in flux. Accepting and embracing this is a very strange experience.
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Mr. Jared Stein Says:
@Boone Since the technologies allow us to collaborate more seamlessly and easily than ever before, we should explore the opportunities–but not blindly, I say, and only with reflection that is critical and allows for one to reject the philosophy of communal voice. I’m hopeful that one’s efforts as part of a community will serve (to use Gardner’s phrase) to amplify one’s identity.
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The Teacher List » Are you building a educational creepy treehouse? Says:
[...] I laughed at the question when I first heard it last spring, but then I took a closer look at this trend in education. Although, there is a broad interpretation of creepy treehouse (how children are lured to online environments), the specific educational application is described in this article from Flexknowlogy as “creepy treehouse is what a professor can create by requiring his students to interact with him on a medium other than the class room tools. [E.g.] requiring students to follow him/her on peer networking sites such as Twitter or FaceBook.” So, how many of us are nailing scrapwood together these days for our classes? How many of our schools and districts and universities are forging their best intentions that result in a CTH…? – The URL: http://flexknowlogy.learningfield.org/2008/04/09/defining-creepy-tree-house/ [...]
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darwyn Says:
will you post the code of it?… and we’ll see how it works.
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Robin Henry Says:
I see you are a teacher in web design. I am looking for someone to design a small home based business website. Do you have student s that might be interested in taking this up as a project in exchange for building their portfolio? If you have any other ideas of how I can accomplish this I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks so much,
Robin Henry
(626) 833-3645 -
There’s Good eLearning and there’s Bad eLearning: how do we tell one from the other? : John Connell: The Blog Says:
[...] Design Services at Utah Valley University, picked up on Lott’s coinage and offered some dictionary-type definitions for it, amongst them these two: ‘n. Any institutionally-created, operated or controlled [...]
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Qs on Attitudes Toward Institutional v. Informal Learning systems « learn.5tein.com Says:
[...] their own (even if only to meet a course requirement). This, of course, led me back to the idea of “creepy treehouses” (A term I have consciously avoided over the past year), and set me to rethink the survey to ask [...]
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Convivial Learning in a Tangled World : John Connell: The Blog Says:
[...] idea of the Creepy Treehouse came, for me at least, from Chris Lott, and was taken up by Jared Stein – some interesting discussion of the notion took place on my blog at Get Out of the Creepy [...]
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CogDogBlog » More Than Notes is Evernote Says:
[...] Message of Twitter: “Here It Is” and “Here I Am” and Jared Stein’s Online Class: What Size Do You Want To Be? – both some extensive writings that deserve more than a twitter span of [...]
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Welcome to SiSpace « Frances Bell at Sispace Says:
[...] what you were doing on Saturday night. This phenomenon has elsewhere been described as the “Creepy Tree House Effect” . What do you [...]
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Insidious pedagogy Says:
[...] social media and constructivist approaches choose to use open systems and avoid what the creepy tree house [...]
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Alan Arnold Says:
looks like PublicPrivate is heading in the same direction … http://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:PublicPrivate
any opportunity to combine forces?
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Jared Stein Says:
Good eye, Alan! I’ve posted to the Moodle wiki and hope to make contact. It sounds like what they want to do is exactly what we’ve tried to do with OpenShare.
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Friendly Treehouses (AHEA) « PrattleNog Says:
[...] Defining Creepy Treehouses [...]
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Wikis, blogs, and social networks oh my! « LI840 – Structure and Organization of Information Technology Says:
[...] treehouse.” Jameson gave us this link to a blog entry that attempts to explain the term: http://flexknowlogy.learningfield.org/2008/04/09/defining-creepy-tree-house/ If I understand it correctly, “creepy treehouse” is when adults try to create a place for kids [...]
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Nick Thompson Says:
Jared,
I went ahead and replied to your post here: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:PublicPrivate.
It looks like our approaches are nearly identical with a few small modifications.
The biggest difference, as far as I can tell is we decided to modify core Moodle, something you mention you’re trying to avoid. (I don’t blame you!)
I’ve noticed at least a couple people mentioning joining forces. I would be more than happy to just drop our code and use your block, but the reason we went the way we did and modified core Moodle is because it provides much automation that you can’t get otherwise.
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Stream Conference Pres with WebCamMax & Ustream | Flexknowlogy - Jared Stein on Education and Technology Says:
[...] Slides, Video from WCET09 [...]
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Why Ewan McIntosh is wrong. | dougbelshaw.com/blog Says:
[...] Open Source Software. Designing our own tools and learning spaces can often lead to the creation of ‘creepy treehouses’, stripped-down versions of what’s available elsewhere and clunky [...]
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OwenKelly.net » Blog Archive » WCET: connections & reflections Says:
[...] or Jared made it look easy. Either way it is near the top of my list of things to explore, and his explanation of the process will be my starting [...]
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Jong-Dae Park Says:
Hi!
I am interested in your presentation at San Francisco Moodlemoot 08. Can I get your presentation file? The link to openmod.ppt was broken.