Some CCK11 Notes from Class Discussion with George Siemens

W1 - define was connectivism is.  Our knowledge is connected across networks, it's not just in our heads.  We learn how to access that information using various tools and "connections".  New research and new information keeps changing the information we have.  We don't learn everything in our head.

What is a learning theory? - describes how learning happens or how it occurs.  A learning theory should meet these and these needs and then show how it is occurring.

W2 - we have to be conscious of the patterns that form.

W3 - Don't get hung up on the topic of knowledge.  There is a body of theorizing around what is knowledge.

W4 - Is it unique?

You don't know what you don't know, but what you do know, you discover how to access.

W5 - IRRODL.org
What do you see as the relationship between connectivism and constructivism?  connecting and constructing.

Think of substrates and a mesh.  3 substrates -

1st substrate - biological basis (what is happening in our head?) (do we see a ball rolling in our head, no we see a shape, colours, movement, etc and this stitches together so we "know" it's a ball rolling).
2nd substrate - conceptual - how we bring ideas together.  Linking data.  Ie: if you are going to understand physics you need to know x, y, z, etc. all these are related.  If anyone comes along and says something different than x, y, z then it is our job to decided if it is correct and in addition to or different then what we previously knew.  Align or grow our perceptions within a discipline.

3rd substrate- external/social aspect of learning.  How we are connected to each other is our capacity to know?  Who we are connected to is going to determine who we are (choose your friends wisely).  Our relation to others can determine our happiness, health, physical wellbeing.

Book reference. http://connectedthebook.com/ 

You're not at substrate 1, 2 or 3 you are constantly moving through the mesh of these 3.

The distinction is that these are views of learning that explain the process of learning, but not the biological and certainly not the conceptualizing of learning.  Connectivism incorporates all 3 of these substrates.

Student: Learning, by definition, focuses on "biological learning". Connectivism goes beyond biological learning to include "learning or knowledge in non-human devices" as well. So, Learning Theory is a subset of the theory of connectivism.

George: Perhaps not fully.  My argument, all life is a learning process, not just what happens at school. ( I didn't do George justice in capturing his response).

Top 10 #lrnchat Tweets from Feb 10 Late Session

I've teamed up with Bill Cushard to bring you the Top 10 Tweets from the evening session of #lrnchat.  You can find Bill's morning Top 10 here: Luminary Learning (Feb. 10th's)


The Top 10 Tweets from the afternoon #lrnchat session on February 10. The only criteria I'm basing this on is following Bill's method to capture those tweets that are "based on my whimsical nature and love of dogeral and quick, dry wit. I ranked the tweets based on the order of the discussion questions and not based on worst to best or best to worst." 


Q0) We begin w/ a #lrnchat welcome: What have you learned today? If nothing fabulous, what have you learned this week?

08:43:54 pm olliegardener: q0) learnING that 2.30 am is a silly hour to be awake for a #lrnchat #lrnchat

04:39:06 pm megbertapelle: Q0) Pocket Frogs is addicting. I need a 12-step program… #lrnchat

 

Q1) If we could wipe the slate clean, what would online learning look like?#lrnchat
 

08:52:48 pm TriciaRansom: RT @kelly_smith01: Q1) Less ADDIE – More Geary. #lrnchat <– DRINK! DRINK!

04:48:37 pm learninganorak: Q1 People would get brownie points for being helpful and supportive, not just for selling the most widgets (or whatever) #lrnchat
04:48:52 pm LandDDave: Q1) There would be a written law banning NEXT buttons. #lrnchat

Q2) Which are more important “learning outcomes” or “performance outcomes”? #lrnchat

04:58:53 pm bschlenker: Q2) Peformance! Next question! #lrnchat

05:01:41 pm LandDDave: Q2) Hmm.. Do I want my heart surgeon to understand how to perform my surgery, or do I want him effective at doing it? #lrnchat

 

Q3) If we could wipe the slate clean, what sorts of tools would be necessary in corporate learning?#lrnchat

09:10:48 pm jaycross: Q3) Tools? We’ll take advantage of the tools the web brings us. We will ride on rails that were put down for other purposes. #lrnchat

Q4) How would people need to be different in your dream corp learning world? #lrnchat

09:23:42 pm KristiBroom: Q4) I don’t think the problems are with the people (always). I think it’s the processes/structures we impose on them. #lrnchat

Q5) What are some things you can do to work toward that dream state?#lrnchat

09:37:13 pm davidbell02: Q5) Be creative and dare to do what has not been done… #lrnchat

Well that was fun selecting 10 of the best tweets, and was actually a lot more difficult than I imagined.  I should have remembered the brilliance that appears during #lrnchat.


See you next week.

Managing and creating your own catalog of template resources

I created a screenr yesterday to share how I've decided to start cataloging all the elearning templates I collect.  Basically I took screen shots of my templates, pasted them onto slides within powerpoint using one slide for each template.  Now I have a plalce that I can quickly visually scan the ones that I have instead of trying to remember how each template looks based only on its file name.

 

http://screenr.com/Yyb

Here is a link to my current collection.  If there are any that you would like and are missing from your own catalog please contact me and I'll be happy to share them.  I've collected them from various blogs and might not remember the exact link to send you to the blog directly.

Social Media & Education - Reasons to be Fearful by Neil Selwyn (CCK11 live chat)

Social media and technology in education is exciting to be passionate about, but we need to also be caution and critical of some of the elements that this can bring the the teaching world.

Paper by Neil
Neil's publication page
4 areas to be concerned about (talking points that are being considered "out there")

Jonas Backelin: Fearful vs. excited

1 - Acknowledging the ideological nature of social media and education

• nothing is cut and dry
• there are not just technical issues to consider
• there are ethical issues too
• Michael Apple - Whose interest do technology in education serve.  Whose agenda is met.
• Various agendas:
• technophiles, '
• counter-cultural communitarians (hippy new age - making the work a better place),
• social pedagogues (redefine what users/learners are doing) ,
• radical individualist (individual should pursue their own interests)
• anti-statists (removal of the state from education)
• free-marketeers (can lead to the enhanced efficiency of education)
• Landgon Winner (1997) - cyberlibertarianism - a collection of ideas that links ecstatic enthusiasm for electronically mediated forms of living with radical libertarian ideas about the proper definition of freedom, social life, economics, and politics in the years to come.
• Where are things not changing, what is not changing for the better, where are problems sticking, what are new problems, who wins or loses using these tools, who gains from the use of the tools

Moderator (Stephen Downes): I'm actually in favour of using technology for stealth socialism
dustproduction: Immersve virtual worlds are also social media, and students are spending the same time, 10,000 hours gaming. This equals the hours spent in school.

NinaF: Definitely see that education is becoming more commodified.
FrancesBell: Agree - use of social media is not neutral - particularly when Facebook treats members as product not customers
the digital conservatoire: I think nothing can ever be neutral - of course our views are skewed by whatever our ideological stance is. I just find that people have not quite got the hang of technology - in terms of how to exploit its potential
Jennie Scott-McKenzie (jennieteacher): I am equally committed to getting schools outside - physically and in the community as well as using social media to apply our humanity in those local/global actions. I don't see it as all or nothing...
BrainySmurf: it seems that 'control' of education is more obviously in hands of users/learners in the past, which seems inevitable now that knowledge is easily accessible outside of classroom fredgarnett: Technology not neutral, but new media is adopted according to the degree that it patterns to conversation (Digital McLuhan)
 
2. The over-valorisation of the informal and the institutionalised

• the rush to reject the institution

Wanda Simpson: needs to be a blending of informal/institutional learning & technologies
dustproduction: so remove the technology and the social media is  still "emergent"

• Geeking out on social media tools,
• people who are good at learning find all sorts of ways to learn
• We under appreciate formal education (not popular to say, but it is true and we may miss out on true value)

Moderator (Stephen Downes): The best predictor of learning outcomes in general (and not just informal) is social-economic status
Moderator (George Siemens): interesting: formal learning as "equality of opportunity to access learning opportunity" johngriffin0928: I learn certainly things autonomously. I need help with other areas.
Jennie Scott-McKenzie (jennieteacher): the problem isn't expertise - it's the way it is delivered by the "classic learner" that has floated to the top of a "classic system" to teach in a "classic way"

• Remember we don't know what we don't know, and sometimes we need to be told what that is.

Stu Harris 1: balance is the key word
Moderator (Stephen Downes): the difference isn't between 'learn in a formal classroom' and 'learn by yourself / learn by discovery'

• People arguing to get rid of schools tend to be those that did well not in formal school

Cris2B: "end of school" is much like "end of newspapers" as Shirky argues we're lamenting the institutions as we know them and not as they need to evolve
BrainySmurf: @George, yes online is presenting new roles for formal institutions if they choose to embrace it
Stu Harris 1: all learning institutions should be constantly working to improve the learning environment.
Jennifer Dalby: I think we've come to this position because we started with the agenda of achieving recognition for informal learning.
BrainySmurf: @George, yes online is presenting new roles for formal institutions if they choose to embrace it
Mike Johnson: many learning technologists are so immersed in technology they forget those who could care less about it - the Selwyn critique has massive resonance with me and my students
Simon Fowler: @neil, I totally agree ... it does seem rooted in a post-modern suspicion of 'authority' and 'power' - as though we the free people don't seek, exercise and need authority and power (i.e. we want 'empowerment')

• should everyone know some sort of "programming", some sort of technology as this is the way information does seem to be moving and transferring around?
• Critical literacy vs. technical literacy (formal seems to promote this more) - critical digital literacy (better)

Jennifer Dalby: If new people don't learn programming, we'll only have technologies designed to influence consumer behaviour
Moderator (Stephen Downes):Those keen on formal, you do not "hear" say that you can't learn socially.  That you can only learn formally as well.
carol yeager: @Stephen ... solo learning is possible but is it preferable? and to what extent can one learn as a solo silo?

Value of formal education, gives those that are migeralized that can't access informal learning modes, gives more equality in education.

Moderator (Stephen Downes):It's not just "individual vs collective" but rather "individual vs Collect model A" and "individual vs collective model B" etc

3. Social media are not necessarily fair media

• not everyone has access to the same tools let alone computers or technology
• difference even in the nature of the use of the media
• more are okay with just consuming, but not as many produce and this is the opposite to "the purpose" of social media (perhaps)

Jennifer Dalby: There's a kind of digital charisma that comes into play, that is rarely acknowledged.
JGChesney: but the 1% who blog, 9% who comment and 90% who read are a far bit better than the passive culture taught by TV consumption by the previous generation
LeahGrrl: @Stu: Here, those percentages are reversed. Most kids don't get through high school in urban Columbus, Ohio.

• You learn more from doing (ie adding to wikipedia you learn about wikipedia, than just reading)
• learning in groups is a fair way to learn (perhaps not a good way)

Moderator (Stephen Downes): I think eventually everyone will have their own server (much the way everyone has their own telephone)
Stu Harris 1: @jonas    I think technology should not be as defined in schools.  It should be available and used for the purpose that presents itself at the time and in the context
DUMACORNELLUCIANro @web20education: I think that web 2.0 and social media can bring a new dimension and redorm education worldwide http://www.scoop.it/t/web20andsocialmediaesafetyinxxicenturyeducation/

BrainySmurf: in social media circles it seems a bit easier to reject those with whom we don't jive and find others with whom we do - seems a bit hard in person to do that
Abdullah: social media from my point of view provides more fairness for handicapped people who might find it difficult to "get out" to socialize. Of course there is this condition that they need to have internet connection.
fredgarnett: @Neil, when the LGC group developed the Open Context Model of Learning, based on what we learnt about learning from using new technology we deliberately left out any technology descriptors so people could think about learning; see http://www.slideshare.net/fredgarnett/the-craft-of-teaching-2011


4.  Social media and commodification of learning

• principles of social media are going main stream
• often about politics

Look to the recording of this talk.  My notes here are very minimal to what was discussed by the presenter and even less so of the classmates chat discussion. http://cck11.mooc.ca/recordings.htm

Proud Connections to the Blue Cloud People

"Looking at Your Connection Network with New Eyes"

So last week when I saw that you make a visualized map of your connections on Linkedin I thought excellent, I want to see how mine compares to the example they show.  And voila here it is.

Compared with examples I was kind of embarrassed on how small mine was.  It didn't look very dynamic or exciting at all.  How was I to share this with #CCK11?  Look how few connections I have.  I need more peers!!!

So I decided to keep it to myself.  Don't let anyone see how "unconnected" I am.  Then I re-looked at it today with a new set of eyes.

Let's give some context  here.  I'm in the middle of the network.  The green dots represent some of my organizational development contacts.  The orange dots are some colleagues from an improv troupe I once belonged to.  The pink dots are some of my colleagues from work (I'm adding to that).  The red dots either don't have a category or fall somewhere into the ones represented.  Then there is the large blue cloud of dots. That represents my elearning network of peers.  Some of these people I've met in person once or twice, but very few of them have I every laid eyes on.  These are my connections I have made purely through social networking.

Now that is a powerful statement.  I'm more connected to people I've never met face to face then I am to co-workers in my on organization and there are 2800 of them (there's about 15 dots represented by organization staff).

So several things come to me from this diagram.  Thinking from a career and work perspective I have more in common with the Blue Cloud people then with the people I interact with daily at my place of employment.  In fact to be honest I believe I interact with the Blue Cloud people more on a daily basis.  (face to face is over rated ;) - I jest).

The connections within the Blue Cloud are astounding.  There are so many interconnections within that network.  Truly a group of peers that connect and related to one another on many levels.  The links between the people are so great that they are almost solid.  I know many of these people here have a great number of further connections to other Blue Cloud people so the network I have represented is probably 1/10th the number of people that are actually in that cloud if with expanded it further and further to second connections.  Most probably my connections are 1/1000th of the secondary connections of those people, maybe more as I am only guessing.

Another very striking observation for me, and this is in light of some of the controversy at our organization about social networking and social learning, is that I am a bridge between those that I know are using and getting the significance of social networking and those that do not.  The people in the Blue Cloud my not understand it (and many might as they are a part of CCK11 or past CCK's), but they are all apart of my connected knowledge.  These are the very people that I connect with daily.  These are the people that are finding information, reworking it, retooling it, re-purposing it, sharing it back into the network for more of the Blue Cloud people to find, rework, retool, re-purpose and share back into the network.

This extremely tight network, and I say that because I have observed over the past several years that anyone with in this network can ask a question or look for feedback and some part (people) of the network always responds immediately.  Not an hour from posting the question and not a day, almost instantly someone answers back.

If I could post my Twitter network in a visual display such as the Linkedin one my Blue Cloud people would be more accurately represented.  The image above does not show the 900+ people in my Blue Cloud (elearning peers) network.  That is my place for connecting my knowledge to them and they to me.  That is where we share and learn together.

Small representation of twitter network - not great.

So the diagram above that bridges me between those that get it and those that are trying to understand, I believe will be a very powerful tool as I move forward in my organization being a champion for social learning and reasoning behind the need for connective knowledge.

Thinking Inside of the Circle May Be Just What You Need

Okay, so the real saying is "Think Outside of the Box", but two postings I saw this recently were so far out of the box for me that I started to wonder if it's a way of thinking I can every accomplish.  Maybe my thinking is outside sometimes, but the real genius is inside the circle or tip-toeing around the triangle or maybe skipping around the hexagon.  Whatever the phrase might be, these two gentlemen displayed some great ingenuity.

Bruce Graham is one of these gentleman.  He's a frequent responder in the Articulate Community forum (a place where users of Articulate can gather help on the product in general, but more specifically on elearning design and delivery tips, tricks, and general idea sharing).  Recently someone (Jenise Cook) asked about her course on protecting your SIN#.  She was just looking for some different ways to perhaps present the material.  Various ideas were shared by a few different community members, but the one that stuck out for me was Bruce's.

His thought, which again I thought was brilliant, was to present the material back to the learner in a completely sarcastic manner.  In a way this would showcase to the learner that the main points of the lesson should be "so obvious" to the average user that there should be know doubt in their mind that they should know and remember this information.  The "over the top" course would reinforce the lesson, most likely, in a humoristic manner that would stick to the learner.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing hobbies in America. Anyone who has your Social Security number can use it to get other personal information about you. But HEY!. That's OK - we're all friends here.  Lesson One - DO NOT MAKE EFFORTS TO PROTECT YOUR NUMBER

The lesson is filled with humour and sarcasm (maybe way I like it so much), but the overall summary or morale of each lesson is solid and factful.  A brilliant twist on a normal lesson delivery.  Spin the tale into a way the learner would never imagine.  Shock them with the material and it will stick.

The other example of ingenuity was from Thomas Baker (and if you haven't added his blog to your readings you should - an incredible and fun interactive teacher).  How much do you love this pic?

At Universidad de los Andes in Santiago, Chile. Thomas Baker having fun in class doing Limbo. Students waiting on their turn. (Source: La Tercera newspaper) via Final: The 80-20 Rule Re-Visited: Implications for Teacher Talking Time #ELTchat (blog posting)

His example to think differently about how to present material came from a posting he did on his blog 23 Educator Roles an Imagined Interview with Stephen Downes.  We've been taking CCK11 together this year and Stephen is one of the co-facilitators of the "course" (MOOC).  Thomas took an article (The Role of the Educator)  from the Huffington Post written by Stephen Downes and then re-wrote it into his blog as a series of questions and answers.  As if he was the one giving Stephen the interview.  Asking him questions of the material that was in the article and then using the article material as the answer to the question.

What a simple yet ingenious way to present material back to a learner in a different format.  It broke a long article in to manageable chunks.  It place that bit of human interaction back into what was just text and from, originally, one perspective.  More importantly it was well received by Stephen as well.

These two examples have me looking for more and more ways to think very differently about the way I would  like to present courses to learners.  Give them something they don't expect and look at the material from a completely different point of view.  I will be watching, reading and learning from these gentlemen for many years to come.  I thank them both for opening my mind to new and different possibilities.

Digital Scholarship - Martin Weller (Elluminate Session - Jan 26, 2011) #CCK11

Book - The Digital Scholar

Blog - The Ed Techie

Blogging is:

• social - create networks using, reading, commenting
• democratic - anyone can start one
• posts can be long or short
• can be about any topic/subject
• filled with multi-media
• professional or informal (or both)
• anyone can read, no one can read them, 1000s can read them

Questions about blogs:

• do they represent "proper scholarship?
• central or peripheral to practice
• applicable to all domains
• more useful for some functions than others
• which are filled with quality (number of hits, readers, posts?)
• compliment or replace existing channels
• should the authors be rewarded (tenure)
• should blogs use institutional systems or be separated

Digital Scholarship is Digital Network and Open
- common format
- open - a way of thinking, find something you share it

Wolfgang Greller (Netherlands) 1: scholarship is kept within the 'system', anything outside is called 'wisdom', no?

They Boyer View of Scholarship

• discovery - research
• integration - across domains
• application - taking knowledge and applying it
• teaching

http://www.walshier.com/wall/digschol1 - add your thoughts to this list

Academic scholars do not only do scholarships for money (tenure).

Resource for later - slideshare by Marin = http://www.slideshare.net/mweller/thoughts-on-digital-scholarship

Link to Martin's last presentation: https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2010-09-22.0729.M.340DDA914E66190DED68B759DCF9C3.vcr&sid=2008104 (PLENK 2010)


Recognizing Digital Scholarship
Determine the quality of someones research.
- recreate existing model
- find digital equivalents
- generate guidelines
- use metrics
- peer-assessments
- micro-credit
- developing alternative methods

Some of the interesting comments made by participants

Moderator (George Siemens): @Tracy - basically, being a scholar in digital environments
Moderator (George Siemens): i.e. traditionally, an academic or scholar was "validated" by journal articles, review committees, etc
Moderator (George Siemens): with digital scholarship, we recognize activity in online settings

Martin - what scholars do and how it is affected by digital practice.  Digital practice blurs the boundaries.  You may not typically be recognized in the scholarly role, but the lines of this are now less defined.  Demonstrates that people with a good online reputation.  Recognized in a manner that is still credible.

Moderator (George Siemens): so anyone who has a passion in a topic and writes about it, engages around it online, then they would be a scholar?


Moderator (Stephen Downes): So far, what I've seen of 'scholarship' in our field is people who have no knowledge or experience of technology writing in academic journals about technology
Simon Fowler: @SuzGupta - yes, I'm struggling too in seeing how Connectivism (knowledge in networks) has any identifiable measures of 'quality
 
jackiegerstein: Charles McClintock defines the scholar-practitioner as "an ideal of professional excellence grounded in theory and research, informed by experimental knowledge, and motivated by personal values, political commitments, and ethical conduct
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2963240/what_is_a_true_scholarpractitioner.html

Moderator (Stephen Downes): Why is one person a 'scholar' and another not? Because the one is 'schooled' - ie., has read the literature, has relevant experience, etc
Moderator (George Siemens): i.e. one who has read the literature, is informed and knowledgeable
fredgarnett: @NinaC many PhD students have quite a reach through their blogs now
elaine: huge difference between consultant and scholar. In Canada we are experiencing a boom in business and therefore consultancy while scholarship and research is clearly under attack. Eg. Environment Canada researchers are muzzled by government whose permission to speak must be sought. Ghastly!


Moderator (George Siemens): This is my new favorite journal: http://www.math.pacificu.edu/~emmons/JofUR/


Moderator (Stephen Downes): Google Knol - http://knol.google.com/


keith.hamon: @Lindsay: I agree that scholarship is not about money. Open Web allows anyone to be a publisher (however poorly) or a scholar (however poorly). The evaluation is up to the marketplace of the Web to attend to this scholarship or not


Moderator (Stephen Downes): I think there's a couple of different ways to 'do scholarship' - one is to be embedded 'in the flow' and to be sharing content, resources, etc., with people - the other way is to be more detached, less embedded, to pull back and reflect on concepts or experiences - each has strengths and weaknesses...

SuzGupta: @elaine: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=scholar

Recorded Presentation:
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008104&password=M.9F5B4A75EE14B7E56C1A9B3D5967B6

Dynamizing my Learning Experience - #CCK11

How much do you love the word DYNAMIZE?  When I saw/heard Stephen Downes use it in his talk on "Learning Networks: Theory & Practice" from 2005, he says "Dynamize...I know dynamize is not a word, but there wasn't a good word.  A networks is something that is fluid, it is something that is dynamic, it is something that changes constantly.  Connections are grown, connections are shaped, connection are changed."

I thought well if it wasn't a word it was a perfect word to describe how my learning connections within this course are growing.  Each day I am looking to more and more blogs, I'm searching for more images, seeking out new videos, increasing the people I follow on Twitter and those that follow me are increasing.  My connections are growing, shaping and changing.  I very much suspect some of these connections will remain until the end and into the future and some will not.  We each will serve each other in a variety of ways and what ever those are is perfect.  I may only connect to student A once and that is great.  It may be all I need to gain more insight into something or even more so, it may be all I need to create 1000 new connections.  If the latter is the case think of the impact that 1 student has made to my increased knowledge portfolio.

When do I love learning....when one idea, piques my interest to seek out more information and that piques my curiosity to find even more.

I tried to search out dynamize since it did indeed or rather Stephen's explanation perfectly fit my current experience.  So after finding out that dynamize is indeed a word, I started looking to find out when it became a word.  In doing so I found great video from BBC News - "When Does a Word Become a Word?"   I then started hoping that if Stephen thought in 2005 (and the audience since they chuckled at his remark of using the word) it wasn't a word; perhaps he is the one that is responsible for putting it in there.  Alas, one reference does link it back to 1850 dynamic.  Oh well, the journey and connections I followed to find this was worth every moment of the experience.

W2: More - Network Diagram Examples (#CCK11)

When I thought of looking for a network diagram, I'm not sure why, but looking for one on how bees interact came to mind. Maybe it is because the network of communication that goes on within any particular hive has got to be astounding.  So on my hunt for such a diagram, here are just a few that struck me as intriguing (perhaps by content, perhaps by visual appearance...I won't tell).

Here's an interesting site with a Gallery of Network Images.  I'm not exactly sure how the person developed them, but the are intriguing.

This one is about our biological clocks and all the factors that contribute to its regulation. "Two-Way Communication Between Common Biological Pathways and Body's Daily Clock."

(Credit: John Hogenesch, PhD, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Cell)

Excerpt from posting: The new data, published online in Cell this week (Sep, 21, 2009), suggest that someday physicians may be able to use small molecules that inhibit or stimulate these biological processes in order to influence a person's clock when it gets out of sync due to jetlag or shift work, and to devise new ways to treat metabolic disorders that are intimately tied to the body's daily cycles.

Also a fascinating Organic Industry Structure diagram from: GreenWala - Live Life Greener blog posting: "Organinc Brands - The Greener Choice with an Oddly Crunchy Darth Vader Center?"  (I just love the title)

(Credit: Phil Howard, Assistant Professor, Dept. Of Community, Agriculture Recreation and Resource Studies, Michigan State University)

Real time air traffic images.  This is interesting because there are no true lines to be seen, but certainly nodes can be seen. Cloudless Real-Time Air-Traffic

I never did find my diagram of bee hive communication.  However, it certainly led me to some very interesting examples of network diagrams and in many different configuration.

Thoughts on Losing Waldo? - #CCK11

I was explaining to someone today about the idea that was raise in our online conversation last week, that knowledge is something that can't be unlearned.  As Stephen Downes explained, it's similar to looking at a "Where's Waldo" picture.  Once you know where he is, you always see him.  You can point to him in an instant and will be able to do so into the future.

This person at work looked at me, said "hmmmm, I'll need to think about that, I'm not sure I agree."  Stephen's explanation seemed completed logical to me and to many others in the class.

#cck11: Connectivism and Social Constructivism – what’s the difference? blog: Life through a Linz
Day 4: Where's Waldo? #CCK11 blog: Profesorbaker's Blog

(2008) Rehasing Old Tools to Look at CCK08 blog: OUseful.Info, the blog...

I'm curious to hear from anyone who perhaps didn't agree with this statement?  Please feel free to comment here:

W2: Network Diagram Examples (#CCK11)

There was a great Screenr that was shared this week by David Fair, Articulate Customer Support Engineer on "How to embed Qwiki.com presentations into #Articulate Presenter."  I hadn't yet heard of Qwiki so I began to try it out to see what results I could find.

This week's task in #CCK11 is to find examples of network diagrams (etc.).  So I began using Qwiki to see what I could find.  Here are a few (not great, but I wanted to give it a try):

Social Network
Connectivism  (no images, just words)
Network Topology

Here's a diagram of the various systems and databases that are all connected here within our facility.  I've had to take out most of the labels as they represent direct vendor products, but one can see the many interconnections present.  These systems house all the information of patients, treatments, staff, purchasing, lab works, pharmacy orders, etc. and how they all connect and work together.

Concept Map at the End of Week 1 - #CCK11

I've been working on a concept map of what I learn or gather in regards to my activity within the CCK11 (Connectivism and Connected Knowledge).  I've been using the PersonalBrain tool to gather together all blogs I read and the posts that I read within them, twitter feeds and the links I follow from them, daily feeds and the links to blogs, videos, images, etc from them as well.  Basically anything I read, watch, or interact with during this course I'm capturing into my map.

Please keep in mind that with as many people in the course as there are, this map in no way captures everyone and everything thing that is being communicated or created in relation to CCK11 or years previous.  It is a map of what I observed and interactive with as I seek out my own knowledge into and around Connectivism.

So far after 1 week it looks like this completely expanded:

I'm excited to see how it will transform week by week and can't even image its appearance at the end of this course.

I still tweak it each time I look at it.  I make new connections from one main heading to another.  I think of new ways to better catalog ideas within it.  So it is truly an ongoing and changing map as I continue to use it, but I think I'm comfortable sharing it now in this form and as we move forward.

Please feel free to take a look at it and I promise it will change daily and grow dramatically. (link to  MY MAP)

Talking with George Siemens and Stephen Downes - CCK11 (week 1)

NOTES FROM:
First Facilitator Session - Review of Readings

 http://cck11.mooc.ca/week1.htm - "The Stephen and George Linkfest"

From George's first paper:
Connected specialization - "Store my knowledge in my friends".  I might not know how to do something, but I know who to call (connect to) that does have the answer.

Does Connectivisim entirely change the notion of expertise? - Stu Harris (cck11)
George's reply - a significant influence for sure.

What is the difference between "adaptive patterns" and "remixed prior knowledge"? - Jack Park (cck11)

• Adaptive reveal our development over a period of time.
• Over time you see how someone connects with others.
• This might start to show how our patterns of knowledge develop. (e.g. many new inventions are combinations of other inventions - example the steam engine)

What connectivism claim in terms on knowledge construction that constructivism cannot? - Saadat (cck11)

• Not all learning is acquisition. 
• More organic growth of knowledge
• New nodes are created and this can change the existing knowledge
• Focus on the connection to understand knowledge develop
• How we are connecting people and concepts
• Seeing learning from the lens of connection and connection forming
• "Explain what is the underlying biological pinning of other learning theories?"

"...not rejecting old theories, but how are you actually using them?" - Simon Fowler (cck11)

• Some value in existing theories don't apply to the needs of people today
• Determine what is learning and how does it actually occur

Jack Park "so you're saying they are the same. you appear to be saying that one builds on the other. so I'm interpreting the answer to say that connectivism builds on constructivism: not using the term "constructs" sounds a bit like wordsmithing -- don't mean to sound hostile, but everything that goes on in biological entities is anticipatory, whether constructed or not--at least, that's one view. I buy completely the renewed emphasis on relationships (connections)"

• If we can understand the underpinnings of learning, how the brain itself produces similar connections, it tells us some level of synchronicity between these  (Olaf Sorns)
• Sense that increasingly that the emphasis is shifting to a network assessment of learning.  Constructivism is very board umbrella.

Look back in 10 years time, and we will most likely realize we still don't have one theory that covers it all.  Can we find a more imperial basis of how people learn and in turn the best way to teach?

Stu Harris (cck11) - Connectivism makes it more difficult to continue the silos.

Keith Hamon (cck11) - The connection is the key. A single neuron knows nothing, contains no idea, only a pattern of interconnected neurons can generate knowledge

Meaningful way to connect knowledge?

• We do need a base of knowledge to start with (George yes, Stephen perhaps no)
• Listening to a good lecture is much like a good book (sometimes)
• There is value sometimes, with some topics - exploration does not work.  Direct instruction is needed (eg. medical)
• Experts can sense elements that novices can not. "intuition".  Not truly - fire example- it was too hot, too much water, too much etc.  The Expert could "see" the patterns, but the novice couldn't yet.

Overhead or skills necessary to truly utilize the tools in front of them?

• George - Learning and learning innovations need to work within the reality of what is available
• Stephen (perhaps) - ignore the system and do your own thing
• Focus on teachers, focus only material, focus only learners....need to balance all
• We don't yet have the tools to effectively learn in this setting, but we are getting there.
• Need more tools that permit learners to learn without boundaries and barriers.  Need fluid interaction.
• Barriers (time length, when, etc)
• Learning implications of social interactions?

Can connectivism exist without the technology?

• Yes constantly in a place of interacting with people with out technology
• (view that language is not a technology though)
• Treat the process of learning in social networks as a human attribute.
• Technology advances those social interactions to a level beyond the one on one level.

Larry Kahn (cck11): Given the pace with which technology is evolving, how long do you think Connectivism will remain a valid theory?
Stu harris (cck11): @Larry  Doesn't the theory itself provide for its own evolution?

Stephen: Insofar as other theories are consistent with connectivism, they can be adopted... but where they differ, they should be corrected.

Language - is itself a network.  Meaning of any particular word, sentence, phrase, expression depends on a network of relationships with other words, sentences and phrases.
In connectivisim we take this seriously and this approach goes into the teaching and learning as well.  The meaning is embedded into this network.  Therefore the teaching of "facts" becomes more involved.  More where learning becomes embedded into this network as well.

Connectivism explained to an 8 year old? Linn (cck11)

• You learn from your friends, but you don't take your friends word for eve5rything , you check things out for yourself and then share what you learn with your friends. (Stephen)

How to unconnect from connections that don't serve you well?

• G -Not connect any more - starve a node (concept) that's not serving you any more.
• G -Ie: Flat earth policy - how well is it integrated with your overall knowledge structure.
• S - Ie learned racism to have yourself immersed in a world view, attitudes, beliefs, phrases, "dog whistles"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics) this all together constitutes racism (works for biology, physics, math, etc).
• S - You can't listen to it and turn it on or off at will.  Over time you gradually gather these items, you may decide to agree or disagree, but none the less you have learned something. 
• S - Learning is natural, learning is something you do not matter what.  You're receiving input all day every day and this supports and creates learning.  Most is not purposeful.  Absorbing, understanding and adapting to environment.
• G - Learning is absolutely constant
• S - you have very very limited control over what you learned, but you have control over what you are exposed to.  You can try to resist (fire - if it touches you it will burn you). 
• Nina (cck11): Link to Buddhism and Sufism, consciousness enables you to learn from every small experience and action.
• S - Attentiveness to understand and experience something.
• graemeferris (cck11): I find it useful to think about this in terms of the feedback mechanisms at work. Both positive and negative feedback mechanisms lead to learning
• G - only physical or biological damage to your brain may effect learning

S - Flat earth - the power of a concept is how integrated it is into other perceptions of your life.

Learning to Understanding an "-Ism"

Understanding this "connectivism" stuff is a little more challenging than I was expecting, but the more I look into it, the more I read, the more I watch....the more I think I might be starting to comprehend.

I started by reading the first few items that were listed on the CCK11 board and thought "man what have I gotten myself into".  Then I listened to the webinar today and I thought "man what have I gotten myself into."  So I took one more crack at it tonight and listened, watched and read the remaining items.  I looked a few of the postings from other students and slowly, very slowly, I think I might be starting to understand.

It's amazing (and slightly sneaky) that what I'm learning about is how I'm learning about it.  Creating connections, seeking out information, working it all into a format that is something I can digest and re-access I believe is completely the essence of what we are each are trying to accomplish with in this course.

The other thing I'm trying to do as I work though this material is create a concept map.  I don't think I'm truly doing what is asked of me as part of the credit (yes, crazy me is doing this for credit too), but it is challenging difficult to wrap my thoughts around trying to, well in fact, map my thoughts.  I'm using TheBrain.com to collect, sort and connect all that I come across through out this course.  I am suspecting that by the 8th week when the concept map is due that I will have some incredibly complex web of information all related in some manner or another to CCK11.

Here's an image currently of what it looks like.  Please take into consideration that I've already replayed with it, moved things around, reconnected items at least 10 times and I'm sure I'll be tweaking it more as the course goes along.  When I get more comfortable with the layout of the main points and what should fall under them I'll share the Brain so that others can look at it and hopefully access some of the information on it.  Not sure about this as this may come down to a matter of $ for service by the vendor.  For now my mind is exploding trying to keep up and create this and it's only day 2 - but there in is some of the fun in this all for me.

The World Comes Out to Join in #CCK11

I was just reading through the introductions for this "go-round" of CCK11 and was excited to see the amazing minds that are being shared through this course.  The resumes of some of the participants are astounding.  (Feeling overwhelmed increasing drastically)

 I was also excited to see the wide variety of locations that participants will be joining in from.  The fact that some many people are connecting from so far away from one another always astounds me. The best representation of the excitement that this creates for me is a scene from `The Big Bang Theory`tv show.  The one where they turn on the lamp and stereo in their apartment remotely (video link) Some of you are going....ahhhh that`s hilarious I love that scene.  Others are going (as my husband loving calls me) nerd.  And still others are finding another blog to read.

If you haven`t left yet.....
Some of the people I`m excited to be learning from are (based on the introductions) from:

Argentina
Australia
Belgium
Canada
Chili
Germany
Italy
Mexico
New Zealand
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Scotland
Serbia
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Taiwan
Turkey
UK
USA
Japan

Looks like a fantastic group to me.

Darn a wrote a huge post yesterday

I wrote a really long posting yestereday on my phone while I was commuting and now I've lost it.  I'm extremely upset, because it should have posted automatically.  Unfortunately, and I'm not sure why, I don't remember much of what I wrote.  I know it was about the #CCK11 material that I read yesterday for class, but what I specifially was writing about has completely eluded me.

Odd.

Participating in my first course that isn't hosted on a platform #cck11

I looked at this course in previous years and even followed some of the discussions for a very brief time. However, now that I'm enrolled and am participating for me the timing couldn't be better.

I'm so intrigued with the whole idea of the delivery not being on anyone platform. That the concepts or topics for each week are "broadcasted" to the world and that those that are participating in the discussion are "broadcasting" back to anyone who wants to look in on what is generated.

I'm excited that (and this is one rare day for me) that I read today's material on my phone while on the subway. I'm posting my thoughts regarding the intro to the course on MY own blog. One that I've had for a few years. However, the best part or fun for me is that I'm able to respond and do the participating on my mobile.

I can read the material, watch videos, search chats and respond like this (by email) direct to my blog.

I've done lots of surfing on my phone, but to have a real purpose to search for more than the next movie time is exciting.

Am I a techno-nerd? My family and friends would say yes. Am I a learning-nerd? Again yes. I thrive learning more of anything. [ I think if I could have a show on the Discovery Channel it would have to Daily Planet because they cover the most topics. ]

So, back on topic. I'm really excited about the modalities I'm going to be able to explore this course through and with the incredible number of incredible minds I'm going to connect with.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

How do you read through it all and keep up with everything? #cck11

I was a little scared when I read that the first CCK had 2200 participants and the second 700.  If the course/theory about learning through your connections means I have to connect to that many people, how am I ever to manage.

Even with my Twitter account I'm approaching if not over the 1000 mark and it's becoming more more difficult to look at it all.  I think many people that hear about learning through a network or networks have that panic feeling initially about "How can I possibly read/view/follow it all?"

And then I breathed......

I though about my own advice that I often give people that I'm trying to explain the benefits of Twitter to and I watched Success in a MOOC.

And then I breathed again.......

You don't have to follow it all.  You don't have to read it all.  You read what interests you.  You connect with smaller groups or communities within the larger network of all the people in the class, or all the people you follow  on Twitter.

What is good about this practice and makes it all more manageable is that if you connect with a few great people that you know share great information....where do you suppose they are collecting some of it from....other connections within the greater network.

Consider this picture below.  If you connect to A & D  and they connect to B & C, you most likely will end up getting some of the best information from B & C even though you never truly connect to their RSS feeds, Twitter posts, bookmarks, blogs, pics, etc.  In turn Person C is going to get some of your best information as well.  Not from you, but from Person D or A as they are the people that follow you and share out your information to the network.

We can't possibly follow every person that is out there sharing information on specific topics.  However, if you can build up some really strong connections with others interested in the same "topic".  Develop some "trust in sharing" and "learning relationships" with them.  Create a network.  Then these people become your community.  We each in turn become gathers for one another.  Gathers of information.  Distributors of information.  All learning together.

Starting the Year off with #CCK11 - 'Connectivism' and Connective Knowledge

I walked into work yesterday and my co-worker told me how she had just signed up for 2 final courses she had been hoping to complete for the past year in order to complete her certificate.  I'm not sure which bulb went off in my head, or maybe the term should be which one went on, but I had the feeling come over me that I wish I was taking another course.

Then less then half and hour later I see on my Twitter feed from George Siemens:

We (@downes and I) start CCK11 on Monday http://bit.ly/hJwXEKbiggest change-no LMS (moodle). Sign up here: http://bit.ly/fNR8KF

As soon as I saw the #CCK11 I knew exactly the course before even following the links.  This would be the Connectivism course facilitated by George and Stephen Downes.  I've looked into the course in past, but didn't think I had the time to commit to joining the extensive "conversation "this course will create.  So a little more digging and I think I've found what I might academically be looking for right now.

I suppose it felt like to many "signs" all appearing at once that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to tap into a new learning opportunity.  Some of the faces in the class are ones that I have been communicating and learning from for quite some time.  So that feeling of first day of school and I don't know anyone is still there, but not nearly as bad as day 1 Grade 1.

My only challenge at the moment is getting registered.  It's amazing that this is a free MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), and I have registered online for the course.  However, if I can get a credit for it from University of Manitoba I'm going to and  there is the place that I'm currently having trouble registering.  It's my own fault leaving this to the last minute, but I did only find out about it yesterday.

So, here's to an exciting new learning adventure.  What a great way to start off a new year.

Using Social Media Tools Inappropriately is Not The Fault of the Tool

I'm getting a little tired of defending social media tools every other week at my place of employment.  Several "mishaps" have occurred during work hours and suddenly we need to ban Facebook and cell phones.

As an example:  We have 6 computers in our Library area that staff will come in on their breaks and use to search anything.  There has been an overwhelming number of technical issues on these 6 computers and troubleshooting this issues is falling on the resource person for the library.  Not her job and I agree on this point.  However, saying that if we ban Facebook the problem will go away is a false idea.

A department meeting yesterday allowed me to point out that if the computers are having technical problem after technical problem it is more likely that the computers are "slightly" out of date compared to workstation computers, or user error.  If she/our time is being wasted having to trouble shoot the computers and this is not part of our function within our positions, then there is a staffing issue with our area (and that's not going to change).

The next comment was that the computers were not meant for people to sit at and look at pictures of their friends, kids, wedding, trips, etc.  So once again I was able to point out that not everyone uses Facebook for this purpose.  Some people use this tool for connecting for school work, others are members of serious groups and meet through Facebook.  Other's use Facebook as their primary tool for email.  In fact with the launch of their new email function who knows how users will react to using it for their primary email account.  Chances are there will be a large uptake.  So if you ban Facebook do you ban Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, etc.  No.  You can't discriminate and say this tool is okay, but this one is not because you can look at pictures on it.  Guess what you can send pictures through any and all of them and in case you never knew it you can send music, video clips, recipes, white-papers, minutes, agendas, books, newspapers and an endless list of other "materials".

The bigger problem here (in our department) is not what is on the computers or what is being used on them.  It is what is the purpose of them.  If the purpose is, and this is because they are situated in a Library, that they are for research and work only, then say so.  Make this a policy that these computers are for the sole purpose of Yada Yada.  That is a valid argument.  It has nothing to do with the tools that are being used on the computer it is why are they being used and how do we actually want the computers to be use.  If people are looking at inappropriate un-work related materials, whether on Facebook, or catalogue shopping, or travel research then that is a performance issue.  If they are looking at it on their break/personal time then in most organizations what one does on their break is their business and so we are back to what is the purpose of the computers.  If someone is looking at inappropriate materials on work time, then we are back to a performance issue.  Neither of these scenarios are the fault of the social media tool  The issue lies either with the purpose of the computers or the performance of the employee.

I'll keep fighting and advocating for what I think is a good fight.  I'd be lost as an employee and basically a department of one with out my social network of peers and colleagues.

I'd love to hear any feedback from reader on this topic.  Is your organization open to social media tools?  Do you block some and not others?  Do you have policies for use/misuse?  Will you share them?  What are your personal thoughts on the topic?