I was looking for some Firefox extensions this morning and noticed that Performancing has changed to ScribeFire. “ScribeFire (previously Performancing for Firefox) is a full-featured
blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post
to your blog. You can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are
browsing, take notes, and post to your blog.” Version 1.4 changes include:
- Rebranding of Performancing for Firefox as ScribeFire
- Improved support for Blogger accounts
- Improved file upload support
- Added support of the new Wordpress.com API
I’ve been using Performancing since David King recommended it to me last fall at Internet Librarian. It’s a great tool for publishing to blogs, particularly if you author or maintain quite a few different blogs.
Looking for a good game to play? Can’t quite pony up the money for a next-gen (now current gen) console? Then you might look at IGN’s Top 25 Playstation 2 Games of All Time. The list is being gradually released this week, so check IGN for updates. I’m currently playing number 22 on the list, Kingdom Hearts, a game from 2002. Just because a game is old (or so last-gen) doesn’t mean it’s not good. Kingdom Hearts can be picked up for $19.99, as is the case for many of the games on the list. If you’re looking for great games on a librarian’s salary, this list can help.
Update: There is also a Top 25 GameCube Games of All Time, as well as a Top 25 Xbox Games of All Time.
George Siemens, the keynote speaker yesterday at ODCE, mentioned an open source social networking project yesterday. I did not catch the name, but I did get a chance to ask him this morning. The project is called the Virtual Learning Commons.
The Virtual Learning Commons (VLC) is a web-based environment that combines a content management system, a set of academic support tools, and a social networking environment. The administrative functions of the VLC include the ability to manage all aspects of the site, including the creation of communities, content pages, navigation headings, content maps, configuration of tools, user accounts, user profiles and social networking topics and comments. Users of the site can add personal profile information, select avatars, generate topics of conversation (to do’s), create lists of to do items and personal contact lists.
This application sounds interesting, and it may be worth checking out.
Accelerating Change in Scholarly Communication
This morning I attended an interactive discussion of the changes in scholarly communication. The disucssion revolved around open access and digital repository initiatives. Faculty, librarians, and instructional technologists/support persons attended and provide insight into the discussion. The presenters took notes on flip charts of all the discussion, which they will compile and post to the ODCE blog or wiki ASAP. I was too busy wrapping my head around the issues to blog the session, so I’m really looking forward to the presenters’ synopsis of the session.
Murder on Grimm Isle: The Design of a Game-Based Learning Environment
Michele Dickey, Associate Professor / Miami University
What to borrow from game desing
Why borrow from game design
Challenges of
What to borrow from game design
- God’s eye vs. first person
Narrative
Interactivity
This is important in bringing the player into the game environment
Why Borrow form game desing
- design of experiential environments
- first person vs.third person (Winn 2002)
Use of narrative: Adventure Game design
- cognitive framework for problem-solving
- design heuristics for educational games
Use of Narrative: MMORPGs
- small quests
- types of knowledge: declarative, procedural,
Challenges of integrating game elements
- instructional designers and K-12 educators
Overview Murder on Grimm Isle
- Game-based learning environment
- adventure style game
- purpoes: foster argumentation writing skills for grades 9-12 and first year college
- experiential learning–artifacts not just text
- spatial narratie–cognitive framework (Henry Jenkins)
Game
Setting: Grimm Isle
Scenario: Robson Wolf has been found murdered on his estate
Factors: Impending hurrican (Island evacuated)
Learner: Investigator
Characters
Robson Wolfe
Challenges: Narrative
spatial narrative vs. linear narrative
Challenges of design
- Environment design
- 2D too restrictive vs 3D too open
Uses ActiveWorlds
- pros: no programming, growing resources
- cons: subscription, file conversion, object and image file sizes
Outcome: Formulative Evaluation
- if it is there, it must be part of the story
- choice needs to be part of the environment
Resources
Game Engines and Virtual Worlds
Active Worlds (cheap)
Ogre (open source)
Panda 3D (free)
Second LIfe (various price models)
Need to see handout for 3D modelers
New Intersections for Students Engagement: Leveraging Learning Cultures with Multimedia Technologies
Kathy Webb and Tingting Lu, The Ohio State University Libraries
Why a student learning culture in the library?
points to OCLC College Students’ Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources
also College Learning for the New Global Century (pdf)
Traditional library service promotes a 1:1 potential for learning
Librarian behind the desk helps a single user at one time
Reference staffs are on the decline
New learning culture at OSU
Student to student service
Spreads leaning at the grass roots
Librarians apprenticed and coached high-achieving students to work as peer student helpers
Students become advocates for the library
Library assets
Librarians
Collections
Spaces
Learning Culture
Interactive
Authentic
Collaborative
Organic
bottom-up
Students hired as peer library tutors are paid $8.75 an hour.
Forms of multimedia
music, photos, text, podcasts, screencasts, video, powerpoint
Digital portfolio was uses as a container and a laboratory
good vehicle to articulate the products of personal and professional learning
digital portfolios are flexible
showcase libary and resources
Technologies used
office and lab PCs
digital cameras and recording devices
Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, Adobe Premier, and Captivate
Used storyboarding sheets to direct students
Have a weekly meetings to get updates and provide directions
Overall, it sounds like a really cool project and it appears that the student employees are getting a lot out of the program . However, I would have liked to have learned more about how this impacts library services.
I’m at the Ohio Digital Commons for Education today and tomorrow. I’ll do my best to blog the conference.
Keynote: Content, Connections, Conversations
George Siemens
Description: “Content
has, for much of the life of formal education, held the prestigious
central position, reflected in bold statements like “content is king”.
Over the last five years, the web has shifted from write to a
read/write model, where end users contribute to the original voice.
Feedback is constant, original content is fluid. YouTube, blogs, wikis,
podcasts, social book marking, and other simple, social tools have
changed how we relate to each other and to content. These changes in
the online space are now being mirrored in our classrooms and courses.
Learners perceive content as a conduit to conversation. Changing
learner expectations require that educators rethink how learning is
fostered – a shift from passive content consumption to active content
co-creation. How do these changes impact educators? Institutions? The
process of learning?
“
Will spend some time talking about what is happening with knowledge, technology, and how these apply to the educational institution.
We have a lot of room for optimism in our current educational environment. We have technological tools that will enable educators to implement new ideas and help older ideals come to fruition.
Current model of education is not working, according to Albert Toffler and Bill Gates. We are not effectively teaching our students.
Change pressures lead to new methods, new structures and spaces, which creates new affordances. This is an ongoing loop.
We need to make sure our new model is holistic and be contextually appropriate. Experts will not tell you how to do things, or which is the best model for your given situation. It is a matter of which approach is best for the situation, not which tool you use.
Content in education
- Content is open
- Mashups
- Participatory
- Create, co-create, re-create
Sites like you-Tube are based on the foundations of academics. As academics, we create, we co-create, we re-create. YouTube basically amplifies this.
Conversations
- Global
- Open
- User-controlled
- Two-way
Content is created through the conversations.
Our devices
Cell phones are prolific.
For continual dialogue, we create communities
- Content (Flickr)
- Issues
- Goals (43 Things) people with the same goals connect to each other
- User-filitered –readers deem what news is the most worthy
As a result, our knowledge is changing
Knowledge is a much more collaborative process today
Learners create meaning out of the content, rather than simply reciting the content
Connections
- To stay current
- to know and to be known
- linking, relating, connecting
- digital life portfolio
Connected sites don’t make you famous for 15 minutes. Connected sites make you famous to 15 people.
Twitter is an example of this.
Things like IM give you persistent presence
Where does knowledge reside?
Knowledge resides in the networks that we are creating
Vygotsky, Wittgenstein, Spivey
Connectivism
- Knowledge is held distributed within a network
- Competence/learning occurs through network connection
- Technology performs grunt cognition (example is flickr tag clouds)
- Capacity to stay current
- Knowing where/who (lifelong learning)
- sense making/pattern recognition
Tools reflect a changed manner of relating to each other and relating to content
wikis, blogs, podcasts, etc
What is a network
nodes and connections
Elements of a complex network system
components + interactions = emergence
Knowing today means understanding ambiguity and uncertainty.
George mentions an oepn source project from University of Manitoba that allows users to create connections about what they want to do. Not sure what this is, but it may be worth checking out.
Trends in Ohio
202 % increase in faculty teaching online (since 2004)
279% increased in degrees/certificates online
Have we simply taking our old way of teaching and put it online in Blackboard? Or are we adapting to these online learners?
Models to move forward
Good management kills innovation
need to adopt a model of perpetual experimentation
Seed, Select, and Amplify
Do something, if it works, do it again. If it does not work, do something else. (AMEN!!)
Siemens recommends a text that all librarians to look at: Understanding Knowledge as Commons
