Tom's Two Cents

2010 Connexions Conference in Houston, Texas

I’ve just attended another interesting Connexions conference, and now it’s time to dump a few ideas out here so I can get to sleep.

Conference summary

After a nice welcome and introduction, the first panel shared major content projects, demonstrating the supreme importance the Connexions team places on the content. Mark Horner shared the four projects he is leading with the support of the Shuttleworth Foundation. Jan-Bart de Vreede presented the Wikiwijs project. Kien Pham (Vietnam Foundation), Gary Martin (National Council of Professors of Educational Administration),
Judy Baker (Community College Consortium for Open Education Resources), and Fred Moody (Rice University Press) all shared very interesting projects.

During the breakout sessions, Connexions Project Manager Kathi Fletcher and Alan Runyan of Enfold Systems shared details about the newly-released Enterprise Rhaptos, an open source, stand-alone version of Connexions’ software. This is big news, and I’ll go into more detail later.

During the afternoon authors’ panel, Chuck Severance shared a great story of reuse, and how he ended up authoring 3 books in one year. Jan Odegard, Ken Busbee, and Andrew Barron also contributed to an interesting panel. I also enjoyed hearing from a long list of for profit partners: enTourage (makers of eDGe), SoftChalk, UniqU (providing services and training around Connexions), inetoo, ereadia, Soomo Publishing & WebAssign. Connexions is clearly living up to their name and gaining momentum.

Technical stuff

I’m pleased to see Enterprise Rhaptos rolling out as an open source project. This could meet the needs of many organizations who want their own Connexions site. It will be interesting to see how Enterprise Rhaptos competes with eduCommons in the institutional OCW space, and I would love to see content flow easily between the two systems so users can experience the “frictionless remix” mentioned during several sessions.

Here are some new features Kathi Fletcher announced for Enterprise Rhaptos and for the main Connexions repository:

1. Quick install instructions (for Enterprise Rhaptos) You can be up and running in 20 min. — I’m intrigued with Amazon EPS virtualization, but I don’t see any docs on setting that up. Anyone have a link?
2. Web-based MathML editor that can be used outside of CNX as well
3. CollXML (CNX aggregation format) will soon support output to IMS CC
4. Support for Google Analytics allowing individual members to track their own stats.
5. Kathi announced several more features that the Shuttleworth foundation agreed to sponsor the day before. Since the slides aren’t up yet, here is a photo of Kathi’s feature slide. A bounty system of community development was also announced at the same time, allowing outside developers to be paid for working on features the community is willing to fund.

Future directions and friendly feedback

The new Connexions features and the introduction of Enterprise Rhaptos brings with it new questions. Here are some things to think about:

1. How will Enterprise Rhaptos instances connect to the Connexions Mother Ship (CMS)? It seems reasonable to expect a search from cnx.org to list results from Enterprise Rhaptos sites. Wouldn’t it also make sense to allow Enterprise Rhaptos to upload content to the main cnx.org site as well? Perhaps via RSync?
2. With multiple Enterprise Rhaptos, how will we standardize UIDs for duplicate copies of content? Could we establish a domain-level ID as well as a UID for content. I am in favor of the LOCKSS model (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe), but I don’t necessarily want Google to have the last word on which copy I find. It makes sense to decide on a consistent URL structure in place up front so Enterprise Rhaptos instances can play nice with the Connexions Mother Ship.
3. Why not have a basic, through-the-web, WYSIWYG editor option for Connexions? Perhaps this should have been my first question. Let me explain this further in the next paragraph.

As someone who is still relatively new to Connexions, I offer the perspective of a new user. I can see how the strangeness of the Connexions Extensible Markup Language (CNXML) could be intimidating to an instructor with average computer skills who wants to add their content to Connexions. Even the Microsoft Word plugin doesn’t entirely get around this issue, and users still end up staring at XML code. Frankly, no one should be surprise that Computer Science instructors are among the main advocates for Connexions. They are not intimidated by a raw markup language. What about everyone else? Could a “beginner mode” be added as an more simple option for authoring?

What elements would be included in a simplified authoring mode? It would be interesting to analyze all the content on the Connexions site to determine which specific tags are being used most. Could a basic, WYSIWYG web editor be created to satisfy the needs of most content creators? While I understand the wonderful advantages of using XML, it could be made all but invisible in “beginner mode,” and I think this would attract even more content creators than ever before.

To conclude, the Connexions 2010 conference was exciting, encouraging, and though-provoking. I’m thrilled to see such a vibrant community forming to meet the needs of so many different users using Connexions. And, as always, it’s always nice to see old friends and make some new ones.

Related Posts:

• Consortia as far as the eye can see! But why pay the fee?
• Free Samples – USU OpenCourseWare is a Virtual Visitor’s Center: Part 2
• USU OpenCourseWare is a Virtual Visitor’s Center
• UNESCO Conference on Open Social Learning
• OpenEd Tech 2009: Are we almost there?

Conferences cnx2010, conference, connexions, consortium, OCW

It seems every time I turn around a new consortium has popped up somewhere on the Open Education landscape. While I see the value of like-minded folks coming together to compare notes, discuss interoperability, etc, I have to wonder if many of them couldn’t operate just as well as chapters or SIGs of an existing consortium. This would offer many of the same advantages, including 501c3 US non-profit status, without all overhead of being a completely separate entity. If one of the reasons for forming a consortium is advocacy won’t fewer, larger consortia tend to wield a greater influence on legislators and policy makers? It might also allow for lower membership fees, if fees are necessary.

The question of membership fees is a tricky one. The Connexions Consortium and the OCW Consortium are still working on how to add value for members. Some newer members have suggested that discounts on consulting services would make membership fees worthwhile, and some even indicated being willing to pay 10x the current fee in this case.

Since non-members can attend the same conferences as members, what motivates newcomers to pay for joining a consortium? Voting rights? Bragging rights? It was different when it was free, but now there has to be something more. If we can’t think of a better way to attract paid consortium memberships, perhaps the membership fees should be required to attend conferences. This is standard practice for many academic conferences, but no one wants to alienate anyone in the Open Education space — a space defined by its openness, after all.

Related Posts:

• Reflexions on the 2nd Connexions Conference
• Free Samples – USU OpenCourseWare is a Virtual Visitor’s Center: Part 2
• USU OpenCourseWare is a Virtual Visitor’s Center

Openness connexions, consortium, cxn2010, OCW

David Wiley left a comment on my last post about USU OpenCourseWare sustainability that sparked a new post.

David’s comment:

I think the problem of the moment is that every person on campus is asking, with regard to their specific program, “how do you justify NOT paying for it?” And yet things are being cut left and right. In a climate where serious conversations are being had about laying off faculty, I worry that you can’t argue for a program on any merits other than “in addition to be useful, it brings in additional dollars.” But I’d love to be wrong.

My reply:

… I don’t want to stray too far from the context of my letter, which was directed at a marketing and PR committee. My point is that we have not made a strong enough case to these people. Marketing a university costs money, and the return on this investment is measured in eyeballs, visitors, or hits — not dollars. An established OpenCourseWare like USU OCW should be a marketing line item because it provides more marketing bang for every buck. Smart organizations like Talis have figured this out and are now using their marketing budgets to fund interesting projects that will enhance their reputation (http://blogs.talis.com/education/incubator/). I realize this is all stuff you know, but I’m just putting it out there for others.

Value

I think saying that OpenCourseWare needs to “bring in additional dollars” is looking at the problem too narrowly. Yes, every OCW needs to generate value, and that value must be recognized by the institutions decision-makers. I am not against OCWs earning money linking to paid courses, but I think USU OCW has something else to offer.

As I studied in the Utah State University library today I noticed several groups of students being taken on a tour of the campus, 8 students at a time. Several of the students appeared to be foreign students. How did these students decide to attend Utah State University? More importantly, how will students find and choose a university in the future (assuming universities are not irrelevant at that point)?

I am not saying Utah State University should replace its guided campus tours with OpenCourseWare; I am only suggesting that USU OpenCourseWare has incredible value as a sort of Virtual Visitor’s Center. USU OCW is essentially a “student magnet” — a site that attracts learners from near and far and showcases some of the great courses USU has to offer. It’s like the free samples at Sam’s Club.

Free samples

I believe USU OCW is more useful than a traditional advertisement because it draws the right target group: learners! USU OCW allows them a sample of some great course content available at Utah State University. And just like the free samples they give away at your local membership warehouse, it gets people interested. Of course when it comes to course content in an OpenCourseWare, you can give away all the samples you want and you haven’t lost anything. Students will still have to pay for the degree.

This is valuable stuff. How valuable? To put things into perspective I will compare it to something much less useful: a Google Ad. Google Ads for popular university keywords range from 76 cents to $1.80. At a conservative 76 cents per click, an ad campaign for a university would cost $380,000 for 500,000 clicks. At its peak, USU OCW had an annual operating cost of $120,000 and had over 550,000 visits last year. That’s 1.5 million clicks from people interested in learning something. If you are a marketing committee, that’s worth something.

A well-developed OpenCourseWare site is valuable in so many ways. Please understand that by focusing on the marketing potential of OCW I do not mean to reduce it to merely a marketing tool. My point is that something doesn’t have to turn a profit to be sustainable. It can “earn its keep” in other ways — like marketing.

So what is your school doing with its marketing dollars? Why not create a virtual visitor’s center with OpenCourseWare? Why not give out “free samples” to thousands of prospective students? They will still come to you for the credentials. And there will be more of them.

Related Posts:

• USU OpenCourseWare is a Virtual Visitor’s Center

OpenCourseWare marketing, OCW, sustainability, USU OCW

Dear USU Board of Trustees Marketing and Public Relations Committee,

If you could build a university visitor’s center that would attract over a million different visitors in the first four years of operation — a center your could run maintain with just one or two employees that would draw thousands of learners from all over the world — If you could create such a place, how much would that be worth to you? Guess what? You already have it. It’s called USU OpenCourseWare, and it’s already paid for. So how much would you be willing to pay to keep this virtual visitor’s center working for you? Would it be worth $10,000 per month to attract 43,000 monthly visitors (not just random visitors, but people actively seeking educational content) to a USU website, ready to learn? That’s what it would cost to continue to develop USU’s OpenCourseWare site, adding new courses to the showcase each semester. Of course this site is more than a marketing effort. There is value for existing students and faculty to be able to access this course content as well — especially during Blackboard outages. OpenCourseWare courses are available without a password for anyone to use. And they are definitely being noticed. In fact, USU has an international reputation as one of the best OCWs in the world, especially for its agriculture course materials. USU OpenCourseWare is listed alongside MIT, Notre Dame, and Yale OCWs. So how do we justify paying $120,000 each year for an OpenCourseWare program? I would ask how we justify NOT paying for it.

In the past USU has advertised to random travelers in an airline magazine. Surely it must be worth more to attract an audience of learners to a USU website filled with high quality courses for them to examine. Which do you think will attract more prospective students and faculty, a site filled with course materials or an airline ad? So, now that the outside funding is gone, what is a site like USU OpenCourseWare worth in terms of marketing and PR? Is a USU site that consistently attracts 250,000 unique visitors each year worth keeping? Will USU spend its marketing budget on airline ads instead? Please support USU OpenCourseWare so it can continue to showcase content from scores of great USU courses to tens of thousands of interested visitors every month. Many of those virtual visitors will be seeking a degree sooner than you think.

Related Posts:

• Free Samples – USU OpenCourseWare is a Virtual Visitor’s Center: Part 2

OpenCourseWare marketing, OCW, sustainability, value

First I want to share one more article about the Twitter History project I’m involved with that came out in this morning’s local newspaper:  http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2010/01/13/news/news05-01-13-10.txt. Journalist Arie Kirk did a nice job describing the project. Best-selling author Annette Lyon also wrote about her involvement in TwHistory here on her blog, and it’s a great read.

But there’s always more to the story, which is one of the things I love about history. Here’s a little glimpse of what’s been going on behind the scenes as volunteer authors gear up for the Mormon Overland Trail reenactment using a Google groups page:

Laurie: Does anyone understand the concept behind the ten-mile stakes, as in ”Put up the fifth ten miles stake.” Do they count these per week?

Annette: I have no idea how often they did these, but it sounds like they’re putting up markers every ten miles for those who come behind. Someone–I can’t remember who–built a pretty sophisticated odometer to track the miles.

Marion: That was Appleton Harmon who created the odometer, I believe. I think he got tired of counting the rag tied to wagon wheel. I’m not sure what they mean by the fifth. They wouldn’t have done that in one day, so maybe they were tracking by week?

Josi: I think they meant a fifth of whiskey; that’s about what I would need about every 10 miles to get from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake.

Marion: LOL

Rob: I think we might be surprised to see how often that was the case.  :) There’s a story from Robert Gardner, one of my ancestors, while working on the temple.  He had a big gash cut in his leg from a log coming down a chute up in the mountains.  Porter Rockwell was helping him out and gave him some whiskey.  Rob told that he started pouring it on his leg to clean the wound, and Porter told him that it was for him to drink, so he did both.

If you would like to join in on the fun please contact us via the TwHistory.org site or leave me a comment. What would you like to reenact next?

Related Posts:

• UNESCO Conference on Open Social Learning
• Presenting TwHistory at International Seminar of UNESCO Chair in E-Learning
• TwHistory.org Fund Raising with Kickstarter.com
• Historical Reenactments – Teaching with Twitter
• Press Release: Tweeting the Civil War on Twhistory.com

twitter open social learning, reenactments, twhistory

Sometimes it’s frustrating not having a PhD yet. It certainly makes getting funding for projects a lot harder. Occasionally there are opportunities like the Talis Incubator for Open Education that don’t require a PhD for the application process, but those are pretty rare, and I have to wonder how many “independents” actually get funded.

Enter Kickstarter.com. A beautifully simple way to raise money for projects of all kinds. Check out Kickstarter’s blog for examples of some really creative projects that have been funded so far. From Detroit real estate investing by the inch to pre-paid book writing (ahem, Marion), the list goes on. Read more…

Related Posts:

• The (even more) Fun Side of TwHistory
• UNESCO Conference on Open Social Learning
• Presenting TwHistory at International Seminar of UNESCO Chair in E-Learning
• Historical Reenactments – Teaching with Twitter
• Press Release: Tweeting the Civil War on Twhistory.com

twitter fundraising, Kickstarter, PhD, twhistory

I didn’t get around to writing a real year end letter for 2009, but I wanted to at least share a couple pictures. The first one is of my family as most people see us. The second one is more honest. Happy New Year!

Read more…

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Family

In response to Marion’s tradition of posting his favorite Christmas song during this time of giving, I am sharing two of my all time favorite French songs. Well, the second one is at least “French-esque.” I would like to dedicate these musical gems to all my friends who have moved (or are moving) from Logan. May you find happiness in greener pastures, and may I follow you soon. Now sit back and enjoy… Read more…

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Personal French, sharing, song

Several people have asked me which Android phone I would buy if I were to buy one right now. Until yesterday that was an easy choice. I would buy the G1. They are cheap and easy to root. But now that the DROID has been successfully rooted, the decision is harder. I guess it depends on your carrier. Why do I only care about rooted Android devices? Here is a short list of the things you can do once you root your Android device (there are many more):

1. Performance enhancements: Rooted G1s can run at the full 512MHz (Stock G1s are underclocked at 384MHz because of battery life, and possibly to market the myTouch as “faster.” They actually have the same CPU inside.)

2. Wireless tethering: Your G1 can basically act like a wireless router, allowing you and anyone you approve to connect to the Internet via your phone’s unlimited data plan. (This works best with 3G connections). Here is the free app you need (only works on rooted phones): http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/

3. Google Maps Navigation on G1 (no more DROID envy!): http://lifehacker.com/5402207/get-google-maps-navigation-on-your-g1 (easiest method here: http://digs.by/lxn)

More reasons to root your Android device: http://lifehacker.com/5342237/five-great-reasons-to-root-your-android-phone
The Best ROM currently available: CyanogenMod. Instructions for rooting: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php/Main_Page

Related Posts:

• How To Root Your G1 Android Phone (and why you might want to)
• Upgrading Android G1 From Older CyanogenMod Versions to 4.2.3.1
• 10 months with an Android

Android DROID, G1, root

IMG_5600, originally uploaded by caswell_tom.

I really enjoyed being part of the UNESCO Chair in E-Learning conference on Open Social Learning last week with my friend and colleague, Marion Jensen. We presented TwHistory, a project that Marion started and I have been involved with during 2009, and it involves reenacting historical events using Twitter. Jeff Young posted a nice summary of the TwHistory project on the Wired Campus Blog of The Chronicle of Higher Education, although he gave me more credit than I deserve. TwHistory was Marion’s idea from the beginning; I was fortunate enough to have gotten involved early on in the development of that idea.

For more about the UNECSO Chair in E-Learning conference I will refer you to José Mota’s excellent conference summary. This was my fourth time visiting Barcelona over the past 18 months, and I feel very lucky to have had all those opportunities. Barcelona has quickly become one of my favorite cities in the world, and the wonderful people at UOC are big part of why I feel that way. Thank you to Emma, Julia, and all the organizers at UOC for an excellent conference. You have given me a lot to think about, and I look forward to future opportunities to share and discuss the future of Open Social Learning.

Related Posts:

• The (even more) Fun Side of TwHistory
• Presenting TwHistory at International Seminar of UNESCO Chair in E-Learning
• OpenEd Tech 2009: Are we almost there?
• Reflexions on the 2nd Connexions Conference
• TwHistory.org Fund Raising with Kickstarter.com

Conferences, twitter conference, eLChair09, open social learning, twhistory, UNESCO, UOC