Laura Blankenship March 26th, 2008
We successfully recorded the Information Management Workshop. It ended up in two parts.
We covered using Google Reader and RSS Feeds generally, EndNote Web, del.icio.us, and Zotero.
Laura Blankenship February 28th, 2008
Shameless self-promotion. Here’s a podcast I did at ELI with Veronica Diaz. We talk Web 2.0, faculty support and education. Enjoy.
Laura Blankenship February 25th, 2008
Here is the presentation from our session on using blogs. It’s also available as a video from iTunes U.
Laura Blankenship February 25th, 2008
Over the weekend (and snow day), I saw the educational blog world aflutter with the news about Blackboard’s win over rival D2L. Inside Higher Ed covers the story quite well. (Also at The Chronicle.) Blackboard’s patent has long been disputed and many in the educational technology community have been critical over Blackboard’s recent business practices. In fact, according to Michael Feldstein, who has been following the case since it began, Blackboard is losing customers and some blame these practices in part. Blackboard’s many patents are still being reviewed after several entities, including the Software Freedom Foundation asked the patent office for the review (which I discussed here). Educause, the leading organization for higher education technology, also criticized Blackboard’s patents. I think it will be a while before we fully know what the fallout (if any) is. D2L is likely to appeal and we’ll be waiting for the patent review as well.
Laura Blankenship February 6th, 2008
I’ve been back from the Educause Learning Initiative Annual Conference for a few days now, finally catching up on everything. There were lots of great sessions from ELI that I want to recommend to those who did not attend. All the recorded sessions are available here.
First, I’d recommend George Siemens’ talk on Connectivism, which provides a new way to think about learning. I’ve been following his work for quite a while and find it quite compelling. This talk was a good introduction.
Second, I’d recommend Michael Wesch’s talk on Human Futures for Technology and Education: A Crisis of Significance. I didn’t get to see this talk myself as it conflicted with my own panel, the video for which you can find here and the audio here. You may know Wesch’s work from YouTube. He’s had a few videos go viral.
Third, Intellagirl’s talk on using Second Life to teach rhetoric was quite inspiring and had me looking at Second Life in a new way.
Each talk is about an hour, includes video and slides and is well worth the time spent viewing them. It’s a great way to see some of the ideas from a conference without having to go. But it’s also well worth going for the discussions in between. Hopefully, in watching these videos, you’ll have things to discuss as well.
Laura Blankenship October 30th, 2007
First, there’s this video on the Information R/evolution:
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I’m in the middle of reading Everything is Miscellaneous, which I highly recommend to anyone who regularly creates, stores, uses, or interacts with information of any kind–which is almost all of us. This video in combination with the book are really hitting home. There are challenges, of course, with information being less neatly organized. But the biggest challenge is to the idea of information organization itself. We are the organizers, not some group of gatekeepers.
Then, there’s this video about Today’s Student.
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Some very interesting information here. One thing that I thought about was the way that small liberal arts colleges really are positioned well to take advantage of information technology tools. Larger colleges and universities seem to be focused on using technology for more efficient information delivery, not for finding ways to engage students and create collaborative learning opportunities.
Catherine Farman September 18th, 2007
I am a devoted evangelist of free office applications that chip away at the hegemony of Microsoft Office. Last week while on duty here in the New Media Lab, a fellow student asked me if I knew where she could get the new Microsoft Office for her Mac- and I encouraged her to instead try a couple of these free, open source office programs. On a college campus, where the faculty and staff use Microsoft Office and the students who interact with them cannot or do not want to pay for such expensive software, free programs such as OpenOffice (for Windows and Mac) and my personal fave, NeoOffice for the Mac, are vital for those sharing projects, papers, and presentations inside and outside of class.
I have used Google Documents for about a year now, and find it has many advantages over desktop applications- I can backup my papers there; create documents quickly for notes on-the-go; convert files quickly online to PDF, Word, and other file types; and I have found it useful for filling out forms or writing reports for projects and professors that I wish to share immediately through email. I’ve even helped friends write resumes and papers through the sharing features; I read and mark up places for change, and the other person sees it immediately as a revision. In short, I love Google Docs- so when I saw today that Google Presentations had just been introduced, I gave it a try to see if it would win me over just as Docs has done. I’ve presented my findings in- what else?- a Google ‘powerpoint’ file that I am now sharing here in this blog. The first few slides are me messing around, seeing what I can do with the app- and the last couple list what I found to be the strengths and weaknesses in the app.
The coolest feature I’ve found is something anyone reading this can use right now: integrated Google Talk, right alongside the presentation. Viewers and the presenter(s) can interact online as the powerpoint unfolds. You can join in just by viewing the presentation- so go there now and let me know your thoughts.
Laura Blankenship September 8th, 2007
This week, Mark and I talk to Shannon Hauser, a Sophomore at University of Mary Washington who blogs at Loaded Learning. She participated in a Freshman Seminar that incorporated blogging and also works for the Division of Teaching and Learning Technology at UMW. She talks about how blogging has enhanced her education and taken it beyond the classroom. Enjoy! (21 mb file)
Laura Blankenship June 15th, 2007
This week, while Mark was basking at the beach, I talked to Lindsay Gold and Liz Newbury, two former Bryn Mawr students who are also gamers. We talked extensively about issues we see surrounding women getting involved in gaming. They did a presentation for our department on the Wii, WoW, and Second Life. I recorded that presentation and will post it later. In the meantime, take a listen to my interview with them.
Episode 16 (mp3, approx. 24 mb)