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.

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Conferences cnx2010, conference, connexions, consortium, OCW

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.

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

People will bet on anything. From horses and cars to American Idol contestants and presidential candidates. At this year’s Games+Learning+Society Conference 5.0 I have enjoyed playing BackChatter, a game of trendwatching and betting on popular keywords in the Twitter backchannel. The idea is relatively simple. Before a keynote or session, each player sends a direct message with three words to an automated Twitter account. The point value drops as more people pick the same keyword, so originality is encouraged. At the end of the session or keynote, points are “paid out” to each player based on how many times their words were used. An online leader board makes everything nice and competitive. The results were displayed on several screens at the GLS conference.

For anyone who thinks this is a distraction, I can only offer my own experience with the game. Prior to the last keynote, I actually found myself reading Rich Halverson’s CV and an abstract of his book to prepare my keyword bets. I was more engaged than ever in the sessions, trying to detect trends I could use for future bets in the game. So while this is clearly anecdotal evidence, the game worked for me. LibraryRemix points out that because this activity develops skills in trendwatching, it could be powerful in schools as well:

What if your students were compelled to pre-analyze a discussion, predict trends (places they believe their peers will focus their attention during that discussion) AND perhaps empowered to influence those trends themselves, simply by participating in the conversation?  Heady hands-on experience!

I have hung out in many a Twitter backchannel at plenty of conferences (in case you haven’t heard, I’m the reigning Grand Poobah of Social Media from TTIX 09). BackChatter is the most effective, engaging idea I have seen for encouraging meaningful activity on Twitter. Kudos to all who were involved in this project! I hope you will share your project with other conference organizers.

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Conferences, twitter backchannel, betting, game, gls, gls09, trendwatching, twitter

Welcome to TTIX!

Earlier today I was crowned “Grand Poobah of Social Media” at this year’s Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange (http://ttix.org). This honor came shortly after Chris Lott’s closing keynote in which I realized that I would probably be better off if I tweeted less and meditated more. But now I carry a new mantle, an unexpected honor I earned by blasting out conference tweets and links like a mad man. I can’t complain. They gave me an iPod Touch.

Beyond the iPod Touch and the whole Grand Poobah experience, some highlights from this conference for me were chatting about Twitter as an engine with Scott Leslie at Sundance, catching up with David Wiley (finally!), and presenting with Marion Jensen on Augmented Field Trips using whereigo. Jon Mott’s Building a loosely coupled gradebook presentation and Chuck Wight’s Engaged or enraged? Courting the online learner with lessons learned from video games were also stand outs for me. And there was also the purchase of a Yamaha LD-10 guitar on the way home. What could be better?

Does this hat make me look like a Grand Poobah?

Every one of the keynotes was first rate. Brian Lamb threw it down with style with his presentation on The Urgency of Open Education. I love Brian’s question, referring to the thousands of cameras taking the same picture during Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin: “Was anyone in the audience really worried that this was going to be aptly documented visually?” I enjoy his perspective as he looks into the participatory culture of social media. Scott Leslie’s The Open Educator As DJ was both interesting and a visual breath of fresh air. Scott used a tool called Prezi — you just have to see it for yourself: http://prezi.com/66159/. Finally, Chris Lott really brought it home with his closing keynote, which takes a fresh, honest, philosophical look at at education. He started out sitting us down in Plato’s dark cave, and took us on a guided tour of the history of ideas. I’m so glad there are still people like Chris out there to remind me to be honest and humble about my learning journey.

This conference was packed with great sessions and (more importantly) with great people. When I tweeted something about TTIX saving the best sessions for last Scott Leslie replied that he disagreed because all the sessions were great. Looking back I have to agree. Kudos to the Marc Hugentobler (diamond_mind on Twitter) and the rest of the UVU TTIX team! I’m already looking forward to next year, and not just because I get to wear the Grand Poobah hat!

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Conferences poobah, ttix

This weekend I attended LDS General Conference. But this time there was Twitter. It changed the whole experience for me, as I found myself interacting with hundreds of people, sharing favorite quotes and making comments. I used http://twitterfall to see all the other tweets tagged with #ldsconf. In all, 775 “tweeple” posted 5936 tweets (Thanks to @ldsconf and http://hashtags.org for correcting me and helping me keep track). The most was 242 by @heartensoul4u. I have to say, this changed my church conference experience. I stayed awake the whole time! Last October marked the the first significant use of Twitter at LDS General Conference, but I think it increased significantly this year. It was nice to be part of that.

Just for fun, I made a Yahoo! Pipes LDS General Conference Tweetmap to show where the last 100 tweets came from. I wanted to map all 2000+ tweets, but Twitter’s search API only allows 100 at a time. Good enough for now. If you’re curious, all the tweets have been organized by speaker here: http://conference-tweets.appspot.com. Enjoy!

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Conferences, LDS, Random Thoughts

The OpenEd Tech Summit meetings held in Barcelona yesterday and today are over. As I head back to my frozen home in Logan, Utah, I will think more about what made this gathering so memorable. Perhaps it was the small meeting size, or the excellent choice in participants. There were many opportunities to network and “feed my Facebook.” Eva did a fantastic job coordinating every detail. I especially loved the walking tours of the older parts of Barcelona.

The collaborative work on the future of eLearning was enjoyable and engaging. Our group took a bold step in collaborative, community driven accreditation by giving Debby Knotts a certificate in Multidisciplinary Transnational PowerPoint Management Within Collaborative Working and Learning Teams (Typist). Paul Kirshner and my other colleagues in Group D made a point of asking for another OpenEd Tech Summit in 2009. All I can add is an impatient, “Are we almost there?”

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Conferences, Travel, eLearning #OpenEdTech2008, Barcelona, conference, UOC

Thanks to all who participate in this seminar! I hope it was helpful.

Some great ideas and links were shared today as we discussed the components that make up Web2.0. Here are the presentation slides. Also, here is a link to my class website (wiki) for preservice elementary school teachers: http://lab-inst.usu.edu/groups/inst4010/. Another great place to learn more about Web2.0 in learning is David Wiley’s Blogs, Wikis, and New Media for Learning OpenCourseWare course.

And here are links to some of the most interesting sites that were shared:

http://chinswing.com/ (A versatile audio sharing site — love it!)

http://livemocha.com (A social language learning site — where was this when I was a French teacher?!)

http://zamzar.com/ (Online file conversion tool — very cool)

http://www.edu20.org/ (An interesting Learning Management System, or LMS)

http://www.toondoo.com/ (Reminds me of ComicLife on the mac)

http://edublogs.org (A blogging platform just for educators. Sue Watter’s blog is particularly good)

http://teachertube.com (Similar to YouTube, but focused on education)

http://merlot.org (A peer reviewed learning content repository)

An example of embedding/reusing content:

We also talked a bit about OpenCourseWare. Here are a few examples, and links to learn more:

http://ocw.mit.edu (MIT’s OCW)

http://ocw.nd.edu (Notre Dame’s OCW)

http://ocw.usu.edu (Utah State’s OCW)

Start an OCW Interested in starting an OpenCourseWare at your institution? Start Here!

eduCommons A Free OpenCourseWare Management System

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Conferences, Instructional_Technology, OpenCourseWare, Tech Tools, Travel, Web 2.0, eLearning AECT2008, Conferences