Etmooc Third Anniversary Challenge Part 1

So Susan has sent us all a challenge.

My first selection is Alan Levine and his post All A-mazing.

Why this post and this Etmoocer?

First because this post speaks to me about the importance, not just of elementary teachers and the first years at school, but the power of setting goals for students and demonstrating that you, as a teacher, believe that every student can succeed and meet goals with support, encouragement and love. I truly believe that this magic formula works. I saw it happen in the schools I taught in. I also saw when it didn't happen, when teachers didn't embrace the joy of learning, or as the blog mentions, when teachers have discouraging, self-defeating outlooks about their students.

Students all know when you don't think much of them.

Second, Alan Levine was a presenter in Etmooc and introduced us all to DS106. I'd like to say that I DS106 everyday (I don't, wish I did!) but I value the time I do spend on any project with fellow DS106ers, particularly radio projects! He has been generous with his time to his students and fellow DS106ers and is a living, breathing embodiment of all of the great qualities a teacher should have. Thank you Alan.

Finally, this post struck a chord with me because I didn't have a Miss Apple Daisy of a teacher for Grade 1, in fact I had one of the discouraging types of teachers. I never have forgotten her name. And maybe it is time I say "thank you" to Mrs. Lynch because I have made sure throughout my teaching career (and all of its twists and turns) that I teach in a positive, uplifting manner and respect my students and their learning.

ETMOOC Anniversary and Noam Chomsky

Well, Tuesday January 14th was like old home week as the ETMOOCers gathered around our twitter feed (#etmchat/#etmooc) and chatted about what we had accomplished since starting ETMOOC. Quite a buzz! Some people described it as a high school reunion! As always it was a pleasure to share and discuss different ideas.

After the chat, I was energized as I always am after an ETMOOC exchange of ideas. I am currently reading Noam Chomsky's "Chomsky on Mis Education" and after the twitter chat several of the ideas he was discussing really struck a chord with me. They explain why the ETMOOC community is so strong and why we all feel that it has been such a powerful learning tool. Chomsky mentioned, while writing about John Dewey and his approach to education that, "education is not to be viewed as something like filling a vessel with water but, rather, assisting a flower to grow in its own way...In other words, providing the circumstances in which the normal creative patterns will flourish." (pg 38)

Everyone learnt that one in teacher's college, right, but how often do we see it happen? Well, it happened in ETMOOC and it happens in DS106 everyday. So using social media tools to connect, share and collaborate allows for the 'normal creative patterns' to flourish. What connected communities like ETMOOC and DS106 allow to happen is for us, as academics, teachers, administrators and trainers is to throw off the shackles of curriculum, 'what you should learn/do/know' and actually play and make our own meaning without fear of judgement. It allows us to grow in our own way.

The other interesting aspect of ETMOOC and other connected learning I've participated in (CLMOOC, Open Spokes, Headless13, etc.) is that it promotes a "free association on terms of equality and sharing and cooperation, participating on equal terms to achieve common goals that were democratically conceived." (pg 39) ETMOOC had us working, playing and learning on the same level. The hierarchy of the school structure vanished and we all worked together for both common goals (lipdub) as well as our own personal learning goals. According to Chomsky this produces "free human beings." Certainly I feel as if I've been released from bondage. I may never go back to regular school again! (Oh well, no PhD for me!) I wonder what elementary school would look like if we approached education in this manner? And would society be willing to let children play their way to learning?

2013: A year of learning

Hard to believe that 2013, a year of incredible growth for me, is in it's last days. I've learnt so much, connected with some tremendous people through various MOOCs, starting with MOOCMOOC and ETMOOC, participated in Open Spokes and DS106, brushed by people in passing and truly bonded with others.

I was already participating in the world of MOOCS prior to enrolling in MOOCMOOC, delivered by the brilliant people at Hybrid Pedagogy and ETMOOC, created by Alec Couros. And I was learning in those 2012 MOOCs. But the true connected power of the Internet and social media was yet to be unveiled for me until this year. This experience has been like watching a flower unfurl, moment by moment just becoming more stunningly beautiful. Like a flower, it has withered and faded, waiting for the next cycle of rebirth. As the pressures of my non-digital life grew, I have had to take a step back, rethink what, when and how I interacted online and how often. I have had to put my non-digital life first, dis-engaging from some courses and groups entirely, not because they are not worthy but because there was just not enough time in the day to take care of both my "real" and my "digital" life. And I have learnt that that is ok.

And this step back has allowed me to understand how positive my online relationships are to my growth and sense of self, but also to understand that many of them are fleeting, and I need to become comfortable with that. Not superficial, because some of the most brief brushes against the ideas and thoughts of others have been a catalyst for a change in perspective, resulted in an outpouring of creativity or refinement of my ideas about learning and education. I've remembered how much I love to teach, how much I love being creative, and how much I enjoy new ideas and challenges. But in the end, what will always takes precedence is my relationships, both face to face and virtual. To be true to myself, I nurture my relationships, which in turn means nurturing and pacing myself so I don't burn out in either venue. Yet another lesson I am trying to learn.

I have met so many people this year who have been supportive, caring, engaging, entertaining, creative, clever, and challenging. Because of my interactions with you all I've been a radio show chef, a killer zombie, a poet, an artist, an author, a teacher, a rock star, a video star, a movie maker, a documentary director, a toy maker and a friend. It has been a pleasure. To all of you within my Professional Learning Network I say "Thank You."

You've helped me become a better teacher, a better learner, and enriched my life. May 2014 be a year of positive growth for us all, where we continue to be kind, playful, thoughtful and engaged, supporting each other as we travel along a learning journey together. Blessing for 2014.

Karen

Why I am Headless this fall

Yesterday I posted about Design Thinking Action Lab on the last day of that particular course. I didn't get as much out of it as I had hoped. However, I have enormously high expectations of Headless DS106. Why? Because I've been mucking about on the sidelines of DS106 even before I took ETMOOC. I try to do the Daily Creates when I have the opportunity as it's fun, stimulates my creativity and I'm always amazed and delighted at the creativity of others. I do the writing assignments, I occasionally do the photo assignments and I rarely do the video assignments. This is a reflection of both my access to the tools for these various creates and my level of comfort with each of the methods of creation. And I have no clue about how to do radio but I will learn! (I'm still figuring how to take/make video with my new laptop for example and my desktop computer is still sitting in pieces. I don't even have my desk up yet let alone my clothes in my drawers. And please let's not talk about my kitchen and bathrooms-I'm still waiting for countertops!)

I've been dipping in and out of the DS106 daily creates and assignments off and on this year, flirting with making the commitment to an actual course, but after reading and watching Christina Hendricks have such a blast with DS106zone, I knew that I would sign up for the next offering of DS106. At this point, with my house still in shambles, I can't guarantee how much time I can put into the course but that's the beauty of open education- I won't have to feel guilty for not getting everything done, nor am I constrained by set deadlines. It's very liberating. And that makes learning much more pleasurable.

So here's to being headless for the next few months!

Communicating, connecting and networking

So I'm still in reflection mode about my own learning so you'll have to bear with one more clmooc reflection. And it's not really so much a clmooc reflection as it is a reflection about 2013 so far, my "mooc" year. Since we're supposed to be blogging and sharing I've had a bit of time to review what I've been writing this year. And I've noticed a trend. I write more when I am making than I do when I am supposed to be thinking. In fact, I am beginning to think that all of my writing is dependent on making. I use the make as a springboard to further my understanding of the process of making, the resulting make and how it has impacted my learning. I use the make as a tool to communicate my ideas, and use the sharing of the make as a way to build connections. From my connections, I receive feedback and new ideas for makes, which increases the number of products I make, which foster new communication and new connections. Loop upon loop. Eventually, the connections become a network.

Now, as I am relatively new to the idea of networking my network is not extensive but it is there. And while three months ago I was nervous that I would not maintain my network I realize now that while I might leave my network to go on vacation or because of computer issues or work pressures I will always return. Being connected has become necessary. And that connection requires communication and making to be maintained. Make and share, make and share. My new mantra.

Using the tools of the web

I am continuing to reflect on my learning within the clmooc environment. The learning curve in clmooc has not been as steep as either MoocMooc or ETMOOC as indicated by my prezi contribution of a few weeks ago. I'm not feeling guilty anymore because I don't post on everyone's contribution, I don't always do all the work, and I am more forgiving of my mistakes. I used to feel guilty though.  It's hard to break old ways of thinking and doing.

2013 has been a year of tremendous growth for me. I`m much more comfortable in the socially networked communication environment and more willing to take the risks of creating and sharing. I want to connect and I am willing to make those connections. As George Siemens says "Our connections are now global," (Thanks Diane Samson for sharing this video.) I don't think it is because I have removed my super-ego from the equation, but that I realize that much of the negative views I have of my work are my own. So while I am still very critical of what I make, being in this environment gives me the push I need to produce work that is NOT perfect. In this environment it is not expected. And that is so freeing.

I'm more willing to try a variety of tools that the web has to offer now. Since starting clmooc I've used Animoto, Prezi, and Infinite Monkeys for the first time, gone back and used Popcorn Maker again (which has already been updated since I used it last! That was only four months ago!), tried my hand at Thimble again (baby steps, baby steps), and attempted to attach my blog RSS, which I have 50/50 chance of doing successfully- who knew this would continue to plague me after all these months! Perhaps it is because I don't want to create a new blog just for clmooc. But that's ok too. I'll get it eventually. And when I get my new computer, I will make a stop action film!

I love learning the new ways of making, but that is because I enjoy the process of learning how to use a tool as much as I love the creation that results from the use of the tool. It melds both my analytical nature of "How does this work?" with my creative side of "What can I make?" And what finer type of learning is there? Thanks clmooc for giving me a summer of makes!

Connected Learning and reflections on making

Well I've hacked Chad's Thimble page. Unfortunately, I am not thimbley enough to be able to alter the map so I've added in what I thought originally was superfluous information (my children, my siblings, etc.) However, on reflection, my place in the family as the eldest of five, and the impact that my children have had on my growth and learning over the years had to be included. It's connected. It's connected to my emotional well being as well as my need to learn. There was no spot for my husband specifically but he is the long pink line (and I included the times he was away that impacted most heavily on our family- not all- my tube map would then run out of London and into the country side.) Sometimes I wonder why I have invested so much into formal learning, since financially it hasn't always been the smartest thing for me to do. My resume is littered with incomplete transcripts from universities I've attended but left because we've moved. I've commuted over 6 hours a week to get to class and then had to pack it in because we've moved yet again. Thank goodness I am stubborn. It took me over 15 years to get my Masters at more than three universities.

What is the power of making? The power of understanding. The power of reflection. To create this map I started first with Sara Green's titles and filled them in. But I hadn't entered more than three titles before I realized I needed to think and reflect on my learning, not Sara's. Not to treat this as an exercise/fill in the blank opportunity, but as an exercise to study how does everything I do (pottery workshops, moocs, classes, cooking with my mother) impacts on everything I teach and learn. How has my personal life impacted on my professional life? They are intertwined and cannot be disconnected, just as my interactions in moocs cannot be disconnected from my work as an instructional designer.

For me, I pursue both formal and informal learning opportunities for a number of reasons: employment, curiosity, enhancement and/or exploration of new skills, and for the needed external push to keep on improving. But why connected learning? Because I am someone who recognized early in my life that I need feedback, conversation and exposure to different perspectives to make my learning happen at the highest level. It is when I connect the most, that my brain is firing the fastest. I literally could spend my life just conversing about ideas with others. In the end though, while my learning is socially driven, the satisfaction is always personal. And perhaps, that is why it is so important to me to share. Wouldn't it be nice for all of our students to be connected and have that sense of personal satisfaction from their learning?

Infinite Monkeys: Part III

Well here it is: My first app.

Feedback welcome!

I ended up making a document with links to my YouTube playlist and a number of blogs so that I could add some more information to the app. Publishing the app is very easy.

So my overall rating for using the program is mixed. There is an assumption of knowledge (like how to submit RSS feeds) that did make it challenging, but having created the app if I had a particular subject I am interested in sharing I can see using this again.

If I was teaching this (and I did use this video for support) I would have structured it differently. I would have talked about the gathering of resources a little more and perhaps how to choose resources (since your limited to nine icons) and different ways to stretch out the content through the use of documents, etc. Many of the resources that are used in the video were not relevant to the building of my app. As you work through the video, you can see how he is embedding already made content (calendars, etc.) with the words, "Real simple." I loathe those words as it always makes me feel 'real dumb' as I struggle to build the content required to make the app at least somewhat useful. This would be an extremely useful app builder if I was a business owner.

All in all, I learned a lot!

Maps

Maps! I have a lot of maps in my car, stuck into the pockets of the door. Maps of states and provinces, maps of attractions, museums, historic sites, maps of army bases. Some of the maps are in map books, some on the large sheets of paper that you try to fold back into the proper shape after using but never quite succeed. Indeed, in the trunk of the car is a plastic tub with all of the extra maps that we've picked up and may need again. In fact, the first thing I do when I move into a new area is buy a map. I have my husband drive me around the area for the first month we move to a new community so I can get the routes into my brain and off the paper. I don't like GP systems, often because I get lost using them and I don't have a cellphone either. When I drive, I drive and I really don't like being distracted.
I've moved a lot as my husband's job requires it. We'll be moving again this year but this time I've moved to the community ahead of time. We've moved to a place where we've lived before, which means I already know where I am going. I don't need to rely on a map as much. Not that there isn't anything new in the community since the last time I've lived here. Things do change. So there are still places to explore and see. But there is also a great deal of comfort in coming back to a place that you're familiar with and to not have to constantly rely on a map for the first few months after moving.

So, because I do know where I am going in this community I've made a video and a Google map of my visit to the library. What's great is I've learned to do two new things this week. Splice a video and to use Google maps to trace my movements. Thanks clmooc!

Off to the train for my weekly trip home to Montreal.

Hybrid Pedagogy: Leaders in Innovation

I’m biased. I admit it. I’m partial to the  Hybrid Pedagogy team of Pete Rorabaugh, Jesse Stommel, Sean Michael Morris, Robin Wharton and Valerie Robin.  How can I not be? These are the folks that brought us Twitter vs. Zombies where I learned to use Twitter as a communication tool through a game with Pete Rorabaugh. (I make an excellent zombie!)  I had participated in MOOCMOOC (a Hybrid Pedagogy playground) where I was introduced to the collaborative nature of Google docs. (No limit to the number of participants- write a paper in a day!) MOOCMOOC brought me to ETMOOC, a collaboratively run mooc which blew my mind away! I’ve written gushing posts about ETMOOC before but it can never be stated enough: Best learning experience ever! I felt renewed , rejuvenated in my learning, inspired by the brush with some amazingly creative people.  Jesse Stommel was a participant in ETMOOC and guided a collaborative effort in writing a poem. ETMOOC lead to postetmooc, because once you’ve ETMOOCed you want to maintain those collaborations, the positive energy that swirls around when your mind is being stretched and you’ve got a group who care about collaborative learning as a support network. You can see how Hybrid Pedagogy has become so much a part of my learning. In the spirit of collaboration I want to share!

When I contacted Pete Rorabaugh and Jesse Stommel about spending a month on Hybrid Pedagogy for postetmooc they were more than open to the idea. They have graciously agreed to participate in our discussion about digital publishing, networking, and community. 

 

So what’s so great about Hybrid Pedagogy and why should we spend a month studying and reading and questioning the founders? Let me count the ways:

1.   Promoting links between higher education and K-12: This is a great idea. As a former elementary teacher, I often feel like a poor cousin in the teaching world (particularly when people asked me why I was not teaching at a higher grade level.) Education is experiencing a major shake-up and K-12 is going to be a part of that change. The need to collaborate and rethink the process of learning is critical for all of us, at every grade level.

Jesse Stommel @Jessifer

It's always been a key part of our mission to broaden our network and make connections between K-12 and #highered.

And isn’t this something we’ve wanted to see too?

2.   A community:  Both Pete Rorabaugh and Jesse Stommel see the creation of Hybrid Pedagogy as a community that networks, researches and publishes scholarly articles surrounding the issues of progressive, critical pedagogy. “What we wanted to build was a network, a community for engaging a discussion of digital pedagogy, critical pedagogy, open education, and online learning. At the same time, we wanted to build a collection of resources to help facilitate conversations within that community.” jessestommel.com/blog/files/Pub…

 

As we’ve moved on from ETMOOC we’ve joined different ventures that require us to think about community, networking and publishing. We’ve also begun to really understand the value in developing collections of resources to share with our peers. 

3.   The spirit of scholarly generosity: As a journal, Hybrid Pedagogy has a team which peer reviews everything it publishes. They’ve published lots in a short period of time. But it is the spirit behind the journal that is the motivating factor here. They’re challenging the idea, not of scholarship, but of academic publishing and the rigid format that has evolved over the last 100 years that often favours the publisher and not the scholar. “The notion of an “academic journal” needs dismantling and reimagining. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t continue to have traditional academic journals, but that we need to considerably broaden the landscape to make way for dynamic collaboration, new media, and participatory culture.” jessestommel.com/blog/files/Pub…

As we move forward, we too need to think about how we are going to share our academic work with the world. 
 

4.  The use of play as a teaching tool: This, to me, is critical. I believe strongly in the value of play as a facilitator for learning for students of all ages. I rarely see it within the adult learning setting. The creation of Twitter vs. Zombies was eye opening to me. It wasn’t just that I learned the use of a technology I was struggling to understand through a game, but I also experienced the sheer joy of learning through play. As I said before, I haven’t played such a great game of tag in years. Through the process of game playing (because I am a highly competitive tag player) I learned to post pictures in Twitter, add sound, use Bitly, etc and finally create a popcorn video. Much of what comes out of Hybrid Pedagogy, including MOOCMOOC also incorporates this aspect of play. As Pete Rorabaugh wrote to me: “In short, we want to promote digital interaction -- our own and those of our colleagues -- that are open, collaborative, experiential, critical, experimental, rigorous, and playful. We want to promote collective pedagogical and scholarly work that empowers student agency and challenges established educational binaries.”

And really who doesn’t want to be a part of that amazing transformation?

So for the month of June, follow #digped (they do a twitterchat on the first Friday of the month about various topics), check out their website, follow some of the Unconference suggestions and prepare to ask Hybrid Pedagogy your questions in the hangout and in our Twitterchat #etmchat!

Teach the web, Postetmooc and other activities

So I am about to embark on another mooc type endeavour, with Mozilla's Teach the Web. I'll see how it turns out. I am already feeling a little anxious because of course I've forgotten how to connect my blog to an aggregator (and the assumption that it is easy is to figure out ticks me off! and is one of my pet peeves about Mozilla.) But given that I start most moocs feeling a little anxious I expect that I'll enjoy the learning once I cross all of my little Rubicons.

Postetmooc is turning out to be a great extension of ETMOOC and I am so glad. I was missing my Wednesday twitterchat, and the Google + coffee group meeting every second Tuesday has been great for sparking new ideas and discussing topics that we were introduced to in ETMOOC. I am particularly interested in our current topic, branding and digital identities. Will Richardson and others have written recently on this topic so it should be a great discussion. Primarily though, we're going to be reading the blogs of Seth Godin over the next week or so simply because we find references to his ideas in everyone's blog. Why not just go to the source!

I've also been lucky enough to join a few other communities with similar interests such as OOE (open online education) and Open Spokes (vlogging). I am so glad I am making the effort of maintaining my PLN!

One of the things I love about the web is that I can find out what other people are thinking and talking about. In the last six months I've taken the bold leap (at least for me) of being on Twitter and blogging/vlogging. However, like many newbies to the social media verse I was afraid of what this might do to my sense of privacy/identity. In looking for information about branding/digital identities I found this gem of a video that reflects my justifiable fears of big data and the companies that use our data to generate wealth. This has nothing to do with education and everything to do with becoming a continuous target for advertisers.

Lo and behold, I hadn't realised I had given up all rights to privacy when I signed up for Facebook which is how I keep up with friends and family spread all over the world. So, I am going to consider giving Facebook the boot. I may have to resort to more traditional forms of communication. Ah well, at least I will end up supporting Canada Post!

Post ETMOOC -April

So I promised a more analytical response of why etmooc was so valuable as a learning process and here it is. What is interesting is that even though I am no longer in the weekly/biweekly task mode for etmooc, as a post etmooc blog group member our group has maintained that biweekly format, I expect for continuity's sake. Even though I am a member of different groups now, I miss that etmooc feeling. I expect it is because etmooc made sure to expose us to different thought leaders every week and kept our brain humming at peak intensity. (So am I a knowledge/new experience junkie?) I often wonder how many weeks/months/years of planning and knowledge went into the creation of etmooc.

So a few reasons why etmooc worked:

• Emphasis on exposure to new ideas/technologies and thought leaders
• Discussion of new ideas in multiple formats with multiple avenues for exploration
• Creation and expansion of PLN encouraged and facilitated
• Creation of content by the learner (us) for consumption by fellow learners using both old and new technological tools in creative ways (I still feel Haiku Deck deprived as a pc user)
• Comment on content by peers encouraged
• No assessment except through voluntary peer to peer assessment
• Learner control of knowledge accessed, consumed and conveyed
• Positive reinforcement of any knowledge acquired by peers and moderators

So I would be interested in how many etmoocers actively participated in the journey, was there a difference in the level of engagement between those who started in the beginning vs. those who started later, and what was the overall retention rate for the program?

There are other questions of course. How do we import this model of engagement into the classroom (both K-12, higher ed and training of adults)? Could/should we use this as a model for the future in education? How would the majority of teachers react to giving up control? How would governments react to this type of approach? How does this approach challenge current practices in the field of assessment which is really government's way of maintaining control of what is taught?

Personally, will I be able to maintain this level of engagement post-etmooc? Can I continue to nurture and expand my PLN without it becoming an enormous responsibility both professionally and personally? Do I have the technological skills I need to support my connections?  If I feel overwhelmed and need to disengage are my multiple PLNs supportive enough to let me exit and enter at will? What are the social connections of these networks and my responsibilities to the multiple networks? How much do my own personal beliefs about social interactions govern my sense of responsibility to the networks?

Continuing the journey......

A Wonder for My Mental Beach-ETMOOC

As Christina Hendricks first said "This is my love letter to ETMOOC"

It is hard to believe that three months have gone by and that ETMOOC has passed so quickly. If you had said to me on New Year's Eve that, "2013 would be the year you fully reconnect with not only your love of learning but your joy of teaching." I would have snorted in disbelief.

Do you remember when you were small and found a treasure on the beach? The sand was warm as it sifted between your toes, your hair was almost hot from the sun beating down on it and the water made a soft, rhythmic lapping sound where it broke along the shore? And then you spotted it? It could have been a magical speckled rock with golden glints, or a shell with that smooth lustre inside and purply grey knobbles on the outside. Or it may have been a gnarled piece of driftwood that looked like a face or the actual bones of an animal? And you would cup it in your hands and race up to your parents or your brothers and sisters to show them the wonder of what you had found? Serendipitously, I found a wonder for my mental beach. ETMOOC.

Life is full of surprises, twists, turns and opportunities. And ETMOOC has been a tremendous opportunity. Not just because I learned new technical skills, or because I embraced my artistic, creative side, or because I was introduced to new ways of thinking and communicating. These have been enormously beneficial to me. But what I have valued most are the people I have interacted with all along this journey.

I feel like I've been on an exploratory mission to a new territory, with some wonderful guides and an enormous group of supporters who read my blogs, provided feedback, answered my questions and made me stop lurking and actually participate, even though what I may be saying is not original or has been repeated elsewhere. Remixing, repurposing and retweeting are part of my repertoire now. I learned that it is okay to share, to be open and that my incessant need to ask questions is what makes me who I am, so ask away! Jeff Merrell said it best when he used the word authentic. This has been an authentic learning experience for me and I hope that the spirit that has infused me during ETMOOC will keep me connected, sharing and questioning long into the future.

Please leave the lights on....

Collective Wisdom: Using Aboriginal Knowledge as a Guide to Openness

Interesting how sense making converges. Not only rhizomatically but layered and scaffolded. Currently I am enrolled in three courses, ETMOOC, Aboriginal Worldviews and Education (AWE) and WomenLearningTech. I am also reading the Half Life of Facts. Last night we had a wonderful etmooc chat around K-12 open education discussing ideas about what does being open mean, the potential pitfalls and barriers as well as the opportunities openness brings to us and our students. This morning while looking up some information for a quiz in AWE I came across these words in the section about personal knowledge from Marlene Brant Castellano in Updating Aboriginal Traditions of Knowledge (2000) "Aboriginal knowledge is rooted in personal experience and lays no claim to universality. The degree to which you can trust what is being said is tied up with integrity and perceptiveness of the speaker...His observations would not necessarily be accepted uncritically, nor would they be contradicted or dismissed. Rather, they would be put in context." ( I added the bold) This ties in directly with many of the topics we discussed last night, that of building a 'brand,' (I hate that term for carrying my identity forward! Please someone rescue us from becoming part of a marketing campaign!) based on integrity and perceptiveness, building trust and relationships online and the need for placing observations and ideas in context.

I also like the idea that you can be critical of an idea without being dismissive or contradictory. "The personal nature of knowledge means that disparate and even contradictory perceptions can be accepted as valid because they are unique to the person....In other words, people do not contest with one another to establish who is correct-who has the 'truth.'" And after reading Half Life of Facts and seeing how teaching science in elementary school can be changed in a blink of an eye (Pluto is not a planet, Bernoulli's Principle does/does not explain lift) what is 'truth' and who has ownership? And how long does 'truth' last? Perhaps that is an aspect of openness that also needs to be discussed.  Even in science, light is both a wave and a particle and the principles of flight can be explained through Bernoulli's Principle or Newton's laws of motion. Why must, as I have said before, there always be a right answer? This means that we all have the opportunity to pursue making our own truth and knowledge and by each of us sharing and respecting other views we grow together. Within aboriginal knowledge, "collective wisdom is arrived at by a process of 'putting our minds together,'" which seems to mirror the actions we take within the ETMOOC community on a regular basis. I know that I have been enriched by the process of creating collective wisdom, both in my thinking and in my new friendships.

If you do anything this week, please take an opportunity to read this wonderful article. There is also a section on oral tradition, and experiential learning that turns our discussion of literacy on its head as aboriginal knowledge considers the literate approach to knowing one dimensional.

"'I can't promise to tell you the truth; I can only tell you what I know.'"

How I am learning to use Mozilla: By taking a sMOOC

So the past two weeks we've been concentrating on digital literacy and what it means in all its various personae. ETMOOC had proposed the following questions to answer:
 
What does it mean to be digitally literate? 
What is the difference between being digital literate and web literate?
How does digital literacy relate to participatory culture?
What digital competencies and skills do your learners demonstrate through their daily use of technology?
What digital competencies and skills are required by our emerging knowledge economy/age?
What are the differences between digital literacy and digital fluency?
What is the role of attention within the spectrum of 21st century literacies?
What are the problems inherent in defining literacy, fluency, skills, and competency today (e.g., using terms like 21st century literacies, digital fluency), and how do these affect curricular development, pedagogy, and the work of teachers and students?

I have thought about these questions, answered some and been baffled by others. What these past two weeks have done is show my areas of literacy strengths  and weaknesses. And so I have decided to do something about them. Thank goodness for my PLN as they have showed me the way! Thanks Christina Hendricks and Janet Webster for steering me in the right direction.

So as you know if you've been avidly following my blog (ha!ha!) is that I've been trying to learn how to use the various new software put out by Mozilla. First there was the tale of using Popcorn  and now I am writing about my ongoing saga with Thimble, X ray Goggles and Hackasaurus. It's not been pretty. Unlike Haiku Deck, which very nicely responded to my laments on Twitter about it not being available for PC users, I am never sure if Mozilla has heard me (even though sometimes I think they have-my mistake).

So what are my issues with Mozilla which is admittedly putting out some fantastic stuff for us to play with in this sandbox and expand our digital literacy?

I think, no, I know! that Mozilla suffers from a lack of "instruction" literacy. They are either a) so immersed in the language of code that they don't see that others are not or b) trying to convince us that it is that easy. I am not sure which one it is but either way I feel as dumb as a pack of hammers every time I go to their site (I felt the same when I started Popcorn). I had a very brief (and mercifully short) introduction to html in the distant past and I've steered clear ever since. (Is it because it reminds me of how stupid I feel in math?) Now I am going back to play with html because it is time. And right off the bat I am made to feel incompetent.

This is what I mean:

 Now this says three easy steps. I can tell you right now they are wrong. I have actually enrolled in this smooc course WomenLearningTech (courtesy of Christina and Janet) so that I can be taught how to use Mozilla XRay Goggles and all of their other lovely programs. It took Kim Wilkens 6 minutes of video time to explain this software and I was pausing and following along step by step in order to create this. Once you understand that to Activate XRay Goggles you have to put it in your bookmark bar that solved a lot of problems. But how was I supposed to know that? Is there a secret code or something? And the different colours? What do they mean? Is there a colour code? And which box to type in to change the code? The one on the left or the right? (the left) And what not to touch of the code in the box?  After the lesson with Kim I had produced my own web remix. I still don't know what the R is supposed to do. I expect that now I at least know what I am supposed to do in the site I might go and try and find out.

Perhaps Mozilla expects us to mess around with the program and find out by playing with it? That's great for some, especially if it works. But it doesn't work for me and that means it won't work for others. How does this approach promote digital literacy? Wake up Mozilla! If you really want people to use your products cure your "instruction" literacy problem so I can cure my"digital" literacy problems.

And Mozilla? I really hope you're listening this time.

You say "condition", I say "continuum."

So #etmchat today was interesting. I am still having problems getting past literacy being a "condition" rather than a "continuum" and it really boils down to semantics, which means.....we're both right? You see, getting down to it linguistically condition has multiple meanings. Doug Belshaw likes #2 on the list of dictionary definitions while I use the word in all it's multiple meanings including 5 b) which is obsolete [and when did that happen?] Now continuum  really does explain exactly how I think of literacy. And perhaps it is because I have a degree that straddles both science and the arts it suits me to think of us being on a sliding scale of literacy, both in the traditional sense of literacy as defined by Doug Belshaw in his blog and the newer, ever expanding digital literacies as discussed over the past few days. And since I seem to disagree with Doug on the use of the word "condition" I also disagree with his definition of "skill" as he has chosen to define it. Not because it is wrong, but because of his choice, again, of  which aspect of the definition to use in defining what a skill is. For me, the acquisition and use of language skills (in all its multiple formats) is the bedrock of literacy. All flows from this. 

Finally, I am taking issue with the idea that we are literate for a purpose. We are literate because we acquire language through social interaction. How many of us actually remember learning how to read or to speak? I don't. I just remember getting in trouble for writing my own sentences and for reading too much in Grade 1. (I didn't like Mrs. Lynch's sentences. She called my mum. I did not get in trouble. I love my mother.) I watched my nephew teach himself to read a few years ago and I will concede it was for a purpose. He wanted to read what and when he wanted to read. There was no "awareness, that you are, indeed, literate" on the part of my nephew. It was a need. So is a 'need' a purpose? So as the old Gershwin song says "you say 'tomato' and I say 'tomato.'

How I learned to love Twitter.

It's all here in my Storify. I had a blast and while not completely competent in the medium yet I have actually been in a Twitterchat twice now!

Who is Digital Literacy for?

So I am stuck in last week's storytelling mode because I am still working with Popcorn Maker. While you can turn the sound off on the video you've downloaded, you can't seem to be able to replace the sound track with another track ( I was thinking of replacing the sound track on Twitter vs. Zombies to yodeling just for fun. It changes the impact of the video that's for sure! If you want to try this go to Soundcloud, find your favourite track, open Popcorn Maker and turn the sound off on the video you are using as the base for your new mash up.) I was looking at the popup feature which does have a sound aspect but I am not sure how that would work when trying to replace an entire soundtrack plus you have the popup bubble on your screen. Am I just asking too much from the program? Any other Popcorn Makers out there having the same issue?

This leads into the subject of digital literacy. I have yet to see the discussion by Doug Belshaw and I will probably miss part of tonight's discussion with Howard Rheingold. Real life interfering with digital life! But what is digital literacy, really? Does it mean that I can swim in the digital pond? There are times I think I may be just dog paddling and not able to complete a lap. And yet, I am supposed to be competent in the area of technology (or at least my degree says so!) So if I am feeling a tad overwhelmed at times, how must it be for those who have little to no experience with technology?

I found my dad a few weeks ago, attempting to email someone back and he had placed his message in the bcc line. My dad is an intelligent man, well read and fluent in a verbal argument. But he does not write. (He's a lefty and there were a few too many cracks on the knuckles when he was trying to write left handed so he just doesn't do it with his right hand or his left hand.) But he will type occasionally. But he doesn't use email. And email today is so ubiquitous that programmers really don't think about new users too much anymore. And you have to know where to get help to use help on a page. And he did not.

So how easy is digital literacy? It demands so much more of us than traditional literacy because we not only have to engage with people and print in real time, we now have to write and maintain a written presence, have some sort of oral presence and perhaps a pictorial presence online. We need to be willing to fling ourselves off the digital cliff so to speak, to dive into the deep waters of new programs and ways of communicating. And how many of us are committed to being a perpetual student? And what about access to digital literacy? Is this literacy only for the connected few with high speed internet? So literacy for the elite? How many more divisions are we going to put between those who are struggling with basic literacy and those of us who have the time, energy, money and education to swim in this pond?

So as usual no answers, but a whole pile of questions!

Twitter vs. Zombies 2.0 using Popcorn #2

So I thought I would talk about Popcorn Maker as educational software today rather than just sharing what I made with Popcorn. I am in the process of creating a new movie with Popcorn to experiment with the program so more, so as I warned before, there will be another Zombie movie coming to a browser near you.

What's to like about Popcorn? Actually, quite a bit. It is certainly easy to place media into the template and to add all sorts of popups, text , etc. But anyone who has used the software is aware that it is supposed to be user friendly.

But is it? First, the tutorial.

 "Hi, Popcorn is so easy to use, any idiot can do so and it will take you five minutes or less to understand how to use the software. Then you can make a video. Enjoy!"
"Hi, my name is Karen and I have some questions? Um...Hello?" New user goes through Popcorn site looking for answers and gets this:
 "Hi, Popcorn is so easy to use, any idiot can do so and it will take you five minutes or less to understand how to use the software. Then you can make a video. Enjoy!"
 
So maybe I was having an off day but nobody's software is that good that it doesn't need a help desk that gives answers. So hopefully other users will also share their experience of using Popcorn ( this one was helpful. You'll notice the interface has changed a little since this wiki was created.)

Now why did I need help?

Have a look at the tutorial. All of the extra content added to the video is in one or two layers. The tutorial plays and it looks so easy.

When I started playing with the program to make my video "Twitter vs. Zombies 2.0" I wanted to cut the first 19 seconds after the first second. I used Skip, then I added in my first popup, played around with length, font, etc. of the popup and moved on. I then added in my next popup (@cogdog) and a photo of a strawberry that Alan Levine had tried to use to save himself from zombiehood. Placing it on the screen, I could see that no matter where I placed it, the photo wasn't going to work, so I went to delete it.

Guess what? There is no delete button in Popcorn Maker. I tried to move it, and it wasn't going anywhere. That's when my fruitless hunt for answers began. I found the wiki I've linked to above and it mentions (in passing, almost as an aside!) that if you want to remove something from your video you can delete the layer as each layer has a garbage can icon beside it. So I deleted the layer, plus all the work I had done so far.

Started again. Made many layers. Worked on the content some more to refine my popups and text. Added some more skips into the movie. While the play bar tells you approximately what second you are in the movie, each event demands an exact time and you need to know that for the movie to be seamless.  Added a loop. Added another loop. Loop seemed to be broken and kept looping at the original number of loops I requested instead of the new number. Removed looping layer (which was a shame because I think having the woman look over her shoulder a couple of times would have been amusing.) Tried to line up looped event with popup event (Statue of Liberty) hoping that would improve play by moving the layers. You can't add extra layers between layers to keep events together for tracking purposes. You can only add layers at the bottom. You can't move layers. If you delete layer 2 it messes up at the layer 13. Complete hopeless mess. Movie now stuck skipping between the opening and the first zombie and won't progress. Close program. Open program. Seems to be working......and no it's not. Delete movie. Did this a few more times.

And that's when I went back to the first principles of design. I know we all want to build spontaneity into the process of creation but it is still a process. I created a storyboard. For every layer I wrote down the potential action/event, the time when I wanted it to occur, the accompanying text and I did it sequentially (except for the first skip that did not seem to like being in layer 0, it went into layer 1). This time it seemed to work. I previewed, refined the content of the events and published.

But my cautionary tale does not end there, unfortunately. When you play the movie back prior to previewing, it seems to run smoothly. All of the cuts and loops seemed to splice together nicely. Then you look at the preview. Little bits of film that you've skipped or looped that you may have missed magically appear. You go back, refine again, republish, preview, all seems well and post. As you review the finished product you notice the little problem areas that still plague it.

Today, I went back to my video and tweaked it a little more. I think I may have improved it a bit, but the Statue of Liberty loop still isn't right.

The moral of the story? Please use Popcorn in your classroom. It is a great program. But be prepared to teach students how to storyboard in conjunction with using this program because remixing a story in Popcorn needs to be planned to work. It will save you and your students hours of frustration.

Twitter vs. Zombies using Popcorn

I had a few false starts with this software, probably because I was trying something new for me (I did send a tweet for help!) but in the end I think this is a pretty good movie/story. Would I use popcorn again? I expect so. I can see it being K-12 friendly as well (with a well thought out wiki for support).

Here is the link to the original video which I thought was fun and a good choice as a base. And here is my popcorn as my ode to Twitter vs Zombies 2.0.

Unfortunately for all of you I haven't finished mining my zombie experience so you'll just have to sit back and enjoy (or not!)