Thursday, November 24, 2011

KNOWLEDGE GAINED THROUGH CONNECTIVIST LEARNING ...

Current pedagogy says we need to measure what you learn ... and just how should we measure MOOC learning?


                                                    GROWING KNOWLEDGE


How do you use what you learn?



Wednesday, November 23, 2011

What is Education to me?

What is Education to me?

This is a podcast I created several years ago and I am including it here as a frame of reference for several blog posts that will follow. At the time of the recording, I was becoming acquainted with and learning how to use Moodle as a LMS/CMS . It has far greater capabilities for freedom in learning than the Angel system I had been using. It was a breath of fresh air knowing that a wider variety of learning mode preferences, combined with an ever expanding world of web 2.0, and beyond, tools are available. This "pod o matic" is only one of those opportunities (tools, in the ed parlance).

As I learned more about Moodle, I realized that the participant (learner) now has a much wider ability to shape the learning approach as well as the application of content. This is a good thing from my perspective. I used Moodle to lay the foundation for a presentation that I gave at the USDLA/IFWE conference in 2010.
I believe it is good practice to model my own learning journey and pass it to those who might be interested. You can find a SlideShare of that presentation in a previous blogpost of mine.

And now, I ask ... what is education to you?

                                             



Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Global Communication

has been seriously enhanced with the new Google + hangout option.  This feature is as close to face to face, up close and personal, as one can get without actually being in the same geographic location.  I have participated and initiate several hangout sessions over the past few weeks and will try to make them a Sunday afternoon feature through early December.  A number of folks have stopped by from CMC11 ... both credit seeking folks and some from the larger group of participants.  I have also met up with folks from other areas of the internet world ... Jeff Lebow uses the hangout as the venue for his weekly COOLCasts broadcast out of South Korea.  Several of us have been guests over the past months and Jeff has interviewed on topics of interest which he records with ScreenCastOMatic and then uploads to YouTube so anyone can listen and see them.

The possibilities for all manner of global communication are there and we can explore, play and discover best how to use the opportunities. Participation is limited to ten in a hangout at a time.  Last I heard, there should be an upcoming hangout led by our resident oenophile, John Griffin, in the very near future ... details will follow soon.

I am including 2 images taken over the past few days.  The first one was a hangout that included Canada, New Zealand and US participants.   The second, is a hangout of only two locations ... Canada and the US ... the major element in the second one was that participants communicated only in French ... and the purpose is to learn and practice conversational French. As educational researchers, Rita and Stephen travel Canada extensively.  While English is widely spoken, it is a good practice to also be able to converse with the large French speaking populations of Canada in their native tongue.  So, even if you know no French, or only a few words , or are fluently conversant in French ... the invite was open to all.   Global communication in action?  What do you think?
 Stephen Downes, Moncton, Canada; Mark McGuire, Dunedin, NZ; Carol Yeager, Catskill, NY, US

 
Stephen Downes, l' homme mystere & Rita Kop, Moncton, Canada avec Carol Yeager, Catskill, NY.
                                      S'il vous plaît, que le français parlé ici aujourd'hui. Merci.







Saturday, November 5, 2011

CREATIVITY AND CHAOS

As I was uploading my own SlideShare for my blog posting today, I found this one ...I  think it is a thought provoking series of words and images.  It may also be the feelings you are experiencing in this MOOC.  What do you think?

                                                                Chaos and Creativity

                                                            

Some of My Reflections on the Learning Process

Creativity and Creative Problem Solving are building blocks for sustaining lifelong learning and having fun in the process.

As a lifelong learner, mentor and  learning facilitator it has been important for me to grow within the global community and apply collaborative learning styles in many venues. I have been fortunate enough to  work with people from different cultures, different geographic locations and a variety of ages, in multiple venues. Business and academic settings have been the core opportunities.

Exponential growth of the technological and information age has presented opportunities for collaboration and ease of communication. Continual development of open education resources have led a cultural, geographic location, age and occupational evolution.

Alvin Toffler, sociologist and futurist said in the 1980’s that “ the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

The main purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how to build a community of global learners for the purpose of connecting and engaging people of all ages and cultures in collaborative lifelong learning.  Using current as well as projected modes of communication, social media,  web tools and ever emerging portable technologies, we will be able to maintain continual connections via visual, aural and written modes of communication; asynchronously and synchronously.



 I embrace a creative lifelong learning methodology, where participants are expected to accept responsibility for their own learning.  Discussions will demonstrate how Moodle Course Management System (CMS/LMS), Wikieducator, Second Life, Twitter, Facebook and WiZiQ have been combined to enhance online facilitation and learning via Blended Online Learning modalities.


I am including a slideshare that accompanied this discussion that I led in December 2010,  for your perusal.  I believe most of the links are still active and those that are not, you should be able to Google for additional information.



                                               CREATIVITY IN LIFELONG LEARNING