Class Reflection: Personal Learning Environments

There were a lot of interesting topics from the expert presentations this week(March 25,10): Accessibility by Shri, Netop by Dustin and PLEs Personal Learning Environments by Klye.My most favorite is PLEs because we are all have our own learning environments and Klye did a very good for this presentation.I use igoogle as a mashup and add several windows in it, I have 6 email addresses, 4 free blogs and 3 websites, 3 youtube accounts, sign up for few social networking sites and a bunch of websites, using skype for international call and video chat and more.I keep update things in Thailand from my friends on facebook (and also fighting about political issues), online newspapers,lots of information goes direct to my emails. While I was listening to Klye,I was thinking about myself, my personal learning environment and I felt that my life are more crazy tan ever. I think now it's hard to seperate our private learning environment(outside school) and school environment because we are using almost the same sources of information.We google information for classes'works and for our personal needs. Although,we can say that the ilearn, myitec ning or this blog are for class, it has no rule saying that we cannot use them for personal need sometime.Now I want to organize my personal learning environments; I should eliminate some thing that not neccessary or redundane and add some new tools that answer my needs.
According to Educause, there are 7 things we should know about PLEs
1.What is it
2.Who is doing it
3.How does it work
4.Why is it significant
5.What are the downsides
6.Where is it go
7.What are the implications for teaching and learning
For the detail please visit http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7049.pdf

Xtranormal Movie

Fun! I think this website is easy to use and I like that I can sign up using my facebook account.After finished the movie, there are several ways to share the movie: like share to facebook, send email ,or copy code and embed it to website.I thought I can hit share to youtube and it will go to my youtube account but I think it went to the xtranormal channel instead since it didn't ask what is my youtube account.Moreover,it was pretty slow to render the movie and even longer if we want to download the file.But you can come back and download the file later the web will keep our video file for 3 days, so I got my file a next day after I requested it and I was able to upload that file to my youtube account. In general I think it's a good and fun site.

Connectivism

When I first read about connectivism I thought yes, that is what I do, I connect to people and/or computers to gather information to learn how to do something (eg: learn a new computer program) or to acquire knowledge to enable me to make an informed decision.We have to accept that formal education does not meet all of our needs…so we need to experiment with other ways of learning.

In the group discussion,we thought that actually connectivism is not something new at all. A lot of sources stated that connectivism is a learning theory for digital age that is not true since we all have learned so many things by connecting to others via different types of channels such as from peer,TV,newspaper,etc. I do agree that these emerging technologies: google,youtube,blog,social networking sites have been used to facilitate and expand this concept greatly.


Here some critism of connectivism that I found it's interesting.
A challenge to connectivism

Networks are important but haven't changed learning so much that we need to throw away all of the established learning theories and replace them with a brand new one. How do we test whether a new idea is an interesting speculation or something more substantial? A good learning theory should:
- contribute to a theory/practice spiral of curriculum / learning reform,
- provide a significant new perspective about how we see learning happening
- represent historical alternatives accurately.

Connectivism fails on the first count by using language and slogans that are sometimes “correct” but are too generalised to guide new practice at the level of how learning actually happens.

Connectivisim does contribute to a general world outlook but we already have theories and manifestos for that view (systems theory, chaos theory, network theory, cluetrain manifesto), so we don't need a new -ism in this respect.

Finally, connectivism misrepresents the current state of established alternative learning theories such as constructivism, behaviourism and cognitivism, so this basis for a new theory is also dubious.
from http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2006/12/challenge-to-connectivism.html

Connectivism Video Podcast

I made this poor video to reflect some ideas about connectivism.Actually,I shame to upload this video to my blog but...anyways.I grabbed all the images from internet but forgot where I got them from, so if someone see this video and find that the image I used is your,tell me your link I will put it in this blog.I used some part of the songs I like "wind of change", Scorpions and "Imagine", John Lennon. Well, I will film something authentic when I have time(someday).

Project Idea : Thai Lesson for Beginners

This is the same project that I am working on 801 and also my for 894 in the Fall 2010.
Here is a my brife proposal:

Thai Lesson for Beginners

Background

To help non–Thai people who need to or would like to be able to communicate in Thai language, for instance expatriates, retirees in Thailand, spouses and children of Thai, by providing beginning Thai lessons. These lessons will include: the Thai alphabet, basic vowels, how to make simple words and how to pronounce them. Lots of non-native Thai speakers have learned Thai only by trying to memorize some basic vocabulary or sentences without knowing the basics of Thai writing and reading. Moreover, most Thai language books and websites teach how to pronounce Thai sounds by associating them with English sounds which is a cause of problems to the learners later because Thai sounds and English sounds are not exactly the same. These are the main reasons why many foreigners who stay in Thailand for a long period (more than 2 years) still cannot pronounce Thai correctly, speak more varieties of sentences, or even make accurate sentences.


Objectives
to be able to do the following:
• Read the often used 28 Thai letters correctly.
• Read the basic single 17 Thai vowels correctly.
• Pronounce basic Thai words correctly without associating sounds and letters from their native language.
Delivery system and Media Selections
This project will be delivered online using web base platform, multimedia, and emerging online technologies. For instance, animation, streaming video, audio , and web conferencing tool.

For more specifically for the emerging technologies that I might apply to this project are included: webboard or blog,youtube channel for this project,podcast,screencasting,
skype.

Meaning

I think the last sense "Meaning" is the very important one.I think about if I had money more than enough or I knew that I have a short time left before I die.I am sure that I would done differently if I have not had to worry about money or I knew that I am going to die soon. Why? I think because I were not be afraid to take more risk ,this means I were able to do something more extreme and didn't have to compromise.Back to the instructional design, meaning for me is the most important part.Although the design so cool, we apply appropriate technologies and spend a lot of time to develop the lesson but if it's meaningless for the target audiences then we might waste time and effort for nothing.The most websites that I visit regularly, they are all meaningful,useful,and helpful.Some of them might have a bad design or boring looking but they have content that I am looking for and that enough for me.

It must be the best if we develop the lesson that is rich of content and is well designed in the same time, but in the real life this not easy at all,especially when we work alone.I experienced that myself when I built my second website that I wanted to cover all information about the topic.Only gathered and prepared all the content it took me almost a year,and what about the design part started in graphic program and brought all to web authoring program.Finally I finished it but still have a lot of things that need to be fixed but I don't have time (lazy)to do. But if I can change my attitude and be aware that I don't have a lot of time left, I might be more aggressive with my works.

Minds on Fire

This article reminded me what I have learned from ITEC 800 class. The concept of social learning,learning community,or connectivism, for me they are almost the same idea and I totally agree that these concepts are very effective way to learn this day. I enjoyed reading this paper, so many inspiring idea and example.If I have time, I will explore more all those websites (I hope).I like to quote some sentences from this article,the ideas that get in to my mind.

"Mastering the field of knowledge involves not only "learning about" the subject but also "learn to be" a full participant in the field" This is so true when I think about my experiences.What I learned 4 years and 2 years from my previous degree couldn't compare to what I have learned from the works. This idea is related to another sentence ,"...the process of seeking the knowledge when it is needed in order to carry out a particular situated task."

The second life is also a great tool for education,I hope in the near future we will have Thai websites that bring this idea to encourage Thai children to learn and explore more about science since Thailand still don't have enough human resources in the science field.

Intergrating 6 Sense into the Instructional Design

From"The Whole New Mind" Pink believes that we are moving into a conceptual age and this means the requirements for a desirable employee have changed, placing more value on whole brain thinkers. If this is the case, the next step is applying right brain-directed practices in the educational system. Pink identifies six senses that make up whole brain thinkers. They are design, story, meaning, empathy, play and symphony.

not just function, but also design.
not just argument, but also story.
not just focus, but also symphony.
not just logic, but also empathy.
not just seriousness, but also play.
not just accumulation, but also meaning.

DESIGN
How to bring all the element of the lesson together in order to encourage engagement with the lesson.How to make the new knowledge that's attractive to the learners.And the lesson must be easy the use and understand.The elememts might include: content,flow of the content,medium,tools,technologies,look and feel.All these have to fit with the subject and the learners.

STORY
Give a basic example telling the learners the stories that illustrate the concept.
The interesting story is easy to memorize and understand the concept easire.
On the other hand,ask for student to tell their own story that related to the topic.

SYMPHONY
Design classroom projects that cross disciplines.
Ask for the application of skills and concepts to genuine problems.
Use inductive learning strategies (learning by doing).

EMPATHY
Peer feedback,critique,group discussion can help the learners understand others view points and problems
Give students service-learning and volunteer opportunities to help other students that struggle with the lesson.

PLAY
Bring some fun activities in to the lesson but still relevant to the subject

MEANING
Explain or give some example why the lesson is important to the learner and how can they apply what they will learn to the real life or how can this lesson improve their life.

UI & UX

I learned a lot from the guest speaker from Meebo.It's interesting how she compared the development of classical music with the development of technology.The last part when she talked about her teal works at Meebo is my most favorite.It is a good example of how to design the interface and I am always interested in design aspects (something like layout, color,pattern); although I am not very good at it. I wrote down some interesting idea that she mentioned; some ideas that I can't agree more.

"Simple unified voice", this is very important when we have to work as a team and have to make the design that represent "Brand." The look and feel of everything that represent our brand and all elements that will create the user experiences must be consistency. I love the word "Simple"; this is very important impact to the user experiences.How can we design the interface that looks cool and also simple to use.

"Things that you can do dose not mean that you should do" , Sounds like me. Yes when I learn some new skill or I know how to do something new, sometime I tend to add all of them to my work; although it's might not necessary at all. Why? I think sometime we want to prove or show that we can do so many things, we have a lot of skills,we are sophisticated. As I said I did that a lot when I learn something new. I think about Flash, a lot of web sites added too many flashy things into their page, when it's doesn't necessary at all and a lot of time this kind of thing distracting or even annoying the users.

Screencasting Software: iShowU

I and Tina were working together on screencasting software and we both have never used this kind of software before. So, we designed to work on iShowU since be both are mac users and iShowu is one of the cheapest screencasting program for mac. The video tutorial was rcorded by using ishowU. I tried to upload slides with the video embedded but didn't work properly, so I seperated them.

Here is our presentation

Design: Why is it important

I made a short presentation focused on the design for business and design for our future.