Fin de la nuit

This isn't a posting related to my teaching or PhD, but could perhaps be used as an example of 'real use' of Flickr. I've upload some suggestions for the EATAW logo to a Flickr group I created especially for discussing these with fellow Board members. I'll have to see their reasons - both to Flickr and to the logos.

Nice application of Wordle to liven up a potentially dry subject! The interface is interesting, and the application of Wordle would show interesting different different between the different US President addresses. An intro to content analysis perhaps... Could even see an application in my PhD as instant concordance... just to break up the heaps of text :-)

The Flickr experiment has ground to a halt. O and I explored some features usefully but probably just scratched the surface. S requested membership and posted a photo but did not anything else. I doubt that much else will happen now - possibly because handling visual materials is not a core activities for most colleagues. I am also thinking that, for the next SIG thing I do, I'll give a tighter brief (eg request membership, post a photo, comment on a photo) and specify a time-frame, so colleagues don't feel they can put off participating. I'll also send reminder emails because if they want to learn about social media, they do have to use them! Overall, the SIG is going nowhere fast because there isn't a moderator following such principles. It's not because they are colleagues that they should know better (in fact possibly the opposite as so few have an online presence).

I finished reading the first two chapters from Koshy's AR book yesterday, and used the rest of the day to set out ideas based around this text, to start drafting the RF2 submission (or whatever the number is). I thought at first that I would write only about the paradigm section, but ended up with all sorts of notes about the intro, the LR and the data chapters - as well with a long list of texts to read. So it was a really useful session. I will get Koshy's book as it is turning out much better than I first thought: the vignettes are of interest, but mostly it's her presentation of 'key features' that is spurring me to consider all sorts of things within and beyond AR.

Don't know whether I'll use this. Just worth keeping the reference

I won't be able to create demos for every social software I'd like to use for LTA, so I need to look around. This is a nice one for Diigo.

Since I keep wondering about social media policy for teaching, it would seem a good idea to ask students to design a social media policy for the organisation they work for, or alternatively for their profession (eg  CIPR policy). This could be done as groupwork, eg via a wiki. Students could be grouped by course (ie all MATC together, etc), and if necessary, have two or more groups per course. I could refer students to a couple of existing policies to get them going. After that, the task could involve a Web quest and posting results to a Diigo list (one for the module).

I can see some positivies and negatives about writing up my first experience with Ning. It was a practical attempt to understand the platform and to see whether it would appropriate for teaching and learning. So in terms of usability I learnt something (which included recognising how powerful Bb is in terms of forum management, even it is not very user-friendly). There was no actual research goal. But who says that action research can reflect back as well as forward? The contributors were not 'representative' in the sense that they did not look like a normal cohort. They were representative in another way: they include past, current and prospective students. The activities were not traditional learning activities (ie no learning outcome planned), but a gathering of views on the level of interest in social media for organisational purposes. The experience made me aware of the need for a social media policy for universities. It's all very well to have uni policy (not at ...

Worth considering for a paper on policy on Social Media and LTA?

A new book to add to the pile for the Methodology chapter...

A useful review/overview. Gives me ideas as to which platform I'd like to use for the SMUO module - even if Google Wave is not 'social media' according to Daniel Tenner, which I think I agree with... given that I haven't received my invite yet.

It's not a PhD related idea, but who knows, it might becomes useful... It is still about using social media in teaching. Another idea during my long train journey back home last night: to incorporate Flickr in the Visual Comm module. I'll set up a group in Flickr, upload some pics for students to annotate and analyse in a Flickr discussion; students could also/preferably upload similar images for the group. Would be good for 'semiotics' task. I would need to do a quick Jing demo, to show students what I have in mind. In turn, that Jing demo could be used as discussion point (video demos would certainly interest the tech comm students).

Last night in on the train, I had an idea about my PhD work. Since it is an action research project, there will be different cycles. Who says where the cycle starts? So I thought I'd include my experiences with the online focus group that I held last June. In many ways, this was 'square one' since the group discusssed the potential and possible issues for the then proposed SMUO module. Obviously it wasn't set up to be part of the PhD work, so it was a 'naturally occurring event', but still, it is was gave me the PhD idea in the medium term. Here's what I wrote in the SHU CoLab Ning by way of analysis of this first Ning experience. I used Ning last summer as a platform for an online focus groups that brought together a group of past, current and prospective students. The point was to find out their views on a proposed DL pg module, which with their help, ended up being named 'social media uses in organisations'. I hadn't done that kind of on...

I just found this blog site (via llane's delicious list) which is used to support students on a Philo 'course' (ie US for module). A quick scan and it certainly seems an interesting idea, though it probably requires quite a lot of tech tweaking in the background (so is it for me?). There's some background info at: http://www.andrewcullison.com/2009/09/wordpress-as-a-replacement-course-management-system/comment-page-1/ I'd like to explore this a bit - as part of my action research - as a possible platform for my SMUO module. This seems to suggest that there will be quite a few cycles in the research: this initial tool review has to be part of it (even if it's just be involved). Reflexivity, reflexivity...

Just so that I don't forget this tutorial site!

Some quick notes on CMM chapter on action research. different takes on the AR process (diagram) Several approaches to AR (> link to article about AR project in Israel: Arieli, Friedman & Agbaria 2009 'paradox of participation in AR', AR 7(3):263-290) Critique of AR (esp. Habermas and critical theory stance) Some key refs for me to follow up.

There's Some interesting stuff in this blog which I could re-use as part of my PhD. I've made some progress but need to keep track. The Cambridge PhD programme made it compulsory to have a diary (it didn't say 'blog' of course) which seems a good idea, even though it's not required for SHU. Now I'm starting in earnest, it's probably a good ideas to have a space to share ideas with Diana R

This report presents some key concepts about educational practices in the future - and also some examples of practice. It's interesting to see the view from the higher ground sometimes.

Probably a bit early to think about about it but just in case... The full title for the conference is 'Learning without Limits: Facing the Challenges'. The blurb says: We will focus on the challenges and opportunities brought by formal and informal learning, social networks and personal technologies, mobile learning and innovative on-campus education, virtual and real teaching & learning scenarios, and how teachers and learners are harnessing the power and potential of new and emerging technologies. Topic areas: Emerging Learning Technologies Classroom Learning Technology New Pedagogies and Practices Mobile Learning, Ambient and Pervasive Technologies Games for Learning 3D Multi User Virtual Environments Social Web and Social Networking Multi-Media Digital Literacy Digital Identity

The journey continues. I have just posted my first Slideshare presentation, based on the one I gave at a conference last week. As with each new social media tool I use, I feel really nervous. I know perfectly well that only a handful of people look at it, but somehow it feels quite different, as if everyone online could see it. I'll probably create a link from my LinkedIn page, to create a more complete professional portrait.