Plantable Packaging

I was reading a magazine called Natural Health and came across a really cool concept that I hope companies and consumers will take seriously - plantable packaging. Plantable packaging is made of 100 percent recycled post-consumer fiberboard, which begins to decompose within a few days of being placed in wet dirt. Plantable packages are embedded with seeds such as sweet basil, amaranth, and wildflowers that sprout after just a few weeks. According to the article, we could save 90 million trees a year in the United States if just 10 percent of American companies switched to post-consumer fiberboard not to mention the transformation of landfills that could occur. Check out Pangea Organics and Cargo Cosmetics for companies that support this concept.

Ning

K, I am having way too much fun with Ning. I had no idea it had come so far as a do it yourself social networking tool. Thanks to Classroom 2.o and Steve Hargadon for showing me the light. Anyways, I have started my own private social network for friends and family called JulzWorld. I think I will use this for the Fostering Online Learning Communities course I teach as well. It really is very fun times at Ning... :) ~julz

RETAzen PD Workshop

We had about 30 teachers from New Mexico here at NMSU for RETA Professional Development 2007. I enjoyed providing a workshop that was requested called Web 2.0 for Learning 2.0. Of course since my mom is The Chocolate Lady in Old Mesilla, I had chocolate incentives. One of the more important things to come out of the workshop was the discussion on technology and ethics we had and an activity we did - RETAzen Blog Norms. To see the list of our norms, go to the RETAzens Blog. The list is on the left. I plan to see if there might be a more fun way, like with Flash to display them... :) Happy Blogging! :) ~julz

Thiagi, Moodle, and eLearning

Thiagi is one of my favorite educators though his focus is more about business training. I received one of his newsletters today and did a bit of exploring of his resources because I had the vague memory that he uses Moodle and I will be a serious Moodle user soon along with some of New Mexico's eteachers. I found it and one of his courses is called The Four-Door Approach to Elearning. To check it out:

• Go to http://4d-elearning.com/, I like the Wikipedia widget on the entry page :)
• Click on The Four-Door Approach to Elearning
• That’s it, explore and enjoy!

Want More Thiagi Thiagi site - http://thiagi.com Thiagi June Newsletter - http://thiagi.com/pfp/IE4H/june2007.html TGIF! :) ~julz

I Love Widgets!

As you can tell by my blog, I LOVE Widgets! I just added a couple of widgets recommended by Read/Write Web. I'm also working on an explanation and widget resources for my RETAzens at the current RETA Wiki.

Happy Birthday Star Wars!

Star Wars came out when I was 7 (yes, I'm 37) and my dad was a huge fan. Those were exciting times waiting for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I was quite saddened when Han Solo was put into deep freeze, repulsed by Jaba the Hut, and of course, loved the Ewoks. So it's all things Star Wars for a while. CNN story, Thirty years later, 'Star Wars' force still being felt, provides a nice historical perspective and some upcoming events. TheForce.net has tons of great links to stories about Star Wars turning 30. I'll be keeping an eye on the Star Wars site to see if anything special goes on there. The TechRepublic has some fun videos and trivia. I wonder if there's going to be anything going on in Second Life?

Waste a Few Minutes w/ Guess the Google

Two cool things to waste a few minutes on: Guess-the-Google Montage-a-Google Have Fun!

Second Life Update

Recently we started a Second Life initiative here at NMSU, currently referred to as NMSU Aggie Island. So you'll be seeing my SL updates. To see all SL updates that I post, there's a nice feature in new Blogger that allows you to label/tag your posts, so find my "blog topics" and click on "second life". My SL update for today is a two-part special: 1. My Pepperdine CadreX-Mate Cheryl is a rockin' SL specialist. I had the opportunity to attend her NACOL presentation, Social Networking and Second Life: Uses for E-learning. You'll want to check out ED Tech Island in Second Life, 3D Learn, emilychang.com, nicenet.org, SL Conferenc 2007, and CXKnowledge.com. I've also added an SL VodPod with some cool SL vids, I'm going to try and add them to this post. 2. Robert Scoble and James Au converse and present us with Second Life 101 videos. That's it for now. May your first and second lives by happy ones! :) ~julz

Mobile devices in Second Life

Bethany and I were chatting the other day about streaming video and wondering if there are mobile media devices in Second Life. And now I just came across a Cruxy, a cool portable music player widget for Second Life.

NY Children

Danny Goldfield is working on his project NY Children. He plans to photograph a child from every country on earth with the criteria that they must all live in New York. He has photographed 148 with 46 to go. It's quite beautiful and a refreshing look at beauty in the world.

Adding Avatar and Video

We've been playing with some fun tools. My Voki (avatar video) is added on the right, my BubbleGuru should pop, and for this post I am doing a wee demo of Flixn. These tools post easily into my WebCT course as well...

In honor

http://www.onedayblogsilence.com

This day shall unite us all about this unbelievable painful & shocking event and show some respect and love to those who lost their loved ones.

On April 30th 2007, the Blogosphere will hold a One-Day Blog Silence in honor of the victims at Virginia Tech. More then 30 died at the US college massacre.

All you have to do is spread the word about it and post the graphic on your blog on 30th April 2007. No words and no comments. Just respect, reflect and empathy.

Spread the word about this event:

Yoga Video for Lola

Dear Lola, I hope your back feels better. Now you shouldn't do anything without your doctor's permission, but yoga is amazing. Here is the link I promised you for one of my favorite yoga videos by one of my favorite yogis, Rodney Yee: Much Love, ~julz

NM Job Postings

I received a cool newsletter today and it had links to NM job postings that I thought was nifty and good to have on hand: TECHNICAL JOBS can be found at http://www.nmtechjobs.org/djoblist.aspx - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PRESBYTERIAN MEDICAL SERVICES has a website-based job listing and on- line application process. Use this link for easy access: http://www.pms-inc.org/jobsatpms. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FEDERAL JOBS can be found at http://www.federaljobsearch.com/New_Mexico.asp - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO jobs can be found at http://www.unm.edu/jobs.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NM STATE UNIVERSITY jobs can be found at http://www.nmsu.edu/~personel/postings/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - EDUCATION JOBS IN NM can be found @ http://www.academic360.com/hr/hrlisting.cfm?TerID=32

Angela Calabrese Barton

The learning sciences and place: transforming how we think about urban science education why is it so difficult to bridge everyday science with school science? Bridging efforts: connected science Understanding what children bring -youth culture --- Instructional frameworks --- successful teacher content and youth focused Pigeon project KWL real pigeon documentation detailed drawings content analysis graphs/concept maps final KWL chart Then interviewed students focus was that they maintained original concepts and didn't see the purpose of studying the pigeons one student wanted to go to clean neighborhood and see pigeons there... even in class with master teacher doing reform-based science... AGENCY, as a place based construct... Agency - (Holland) Agency, place and learning Barton's perspective scoial cognition critical/feminist perspectives transformation, both what youth know and how they use what they know is deeply rooted in space... Place - physical, biological, political, social, and cultural with multidimensial histories and identities. science as tool and context in efforts to enact agency... Transforming Identity i.e. reptile boy, from class clown to expert through science and video project and done in a playful way, grades didn't improve but participation subtly shifted, how was space in afterschool program constructed that provided this opp? Bone Song - she used artistic skill to create bone song, and song was shared as a heuristic to teach the whole 6th grade, 95% on test. Transforming Worlds Extending human capital -science and tech knowledge Extending material capital - tech, etc. Expanding their social capital - experts, etc. made movie about animals because they wanted to go to zoo

John G. Hedberg

Disruptive Technologies - disrupting pedagogies elearning effective elearning requires rethinking of learning activities and identifying the right technologies for the tasks the extent to which a student gains the same pedagogical benefit from a printout of your web resources... How teachers use elearning top is access to materials, etc. information presentation bottom is the group and interactive experiences teachers not using creatively but students find use important and personal benefits learning connections discuss ideas stay connected to others gauge progress on discussion board see other students qs benchmarking against others ask uncomfortable qs connected to instructors Disruptive innovations a new technological innovation that displaces an existant dominant technology (clayton christensen, 2003) John used photography as example other examples -the decline of aristotelian dialogue with ther rise of textbooks -ramus and his "method" in the 1500s On the surface seems great but with example of textbook, has gone from all text to almost all images and unless activity is set up so that student puts narrative back together then it doesn't make sense, look at worksheets that require one word answers... the obverse of disruptive innovations, horse drawn automobile, street sweeping machine. look at interactive whiteboard - sustaining innovation that doesn't change pedagogy and its this sort of technology that is easily adapted in classrooms Mediating tools... -increasing the ways in which the tools can be used -instant movies -conversion between representational formats -rethinking the visual and interactive froms to create new interactions with content (cf Amazon vs. traditional bookstores) Using what the technology affords! -technology has enabled visual and aural informatin display within software -tech supports constructivist philosophical orientation -increased recognition of social cognition... ... Anatomy of elearning New learning taxonomy Outcomes | Interactive activity | digital asset | support | assessment add the descriptors Examples -games -learning objects -digital repositories -creative uses of the tech )building on multiple modalities and multi literacies -social networks Games Quest Atlantis - disrupts pedagogy, talking across grades, devising shared resources rather than working in silos, neg responses from those who weren't invited or those who were dragged in, much more interesting world for students Digital asset reusability there are some real probs with learning objects they can do: -information display -conceptual models -contextual rep -LAMS - pedagogical assets, more meaningful than simple learning objects LMS vs. Digital repositories (libraries) G-portal project PBL with digital libraries Social networks and -discussion forums, adding little photo totally changes the nature of the interaction Authentic tasks for collaborative elearning -cell phone activity of orientation and debate w/evidence sent back to class -exercise in communication and geographical landscapes -lenght of argumentative text messages were interesting and rather full considering small screen Virtual field trip -NASA, ACA, and ICT Innovations Centre -overview of the site and resources -focus on data for scientific exploration and inquiry processes -extended CD resources with wiki ******************************** this makes me think about RETA curriculum, we should look at this and see if its possible to add collab tools to our existing stuff... Activity types rule focus ... Searching for the disruptive! Teacher use | Student use presentational | Using ppt in a lecture |ppt to report back generative representational (transduction) elearning possibilities find chart engagement | passive interest | dynamic interaction | Flow state elarning | transfer | translate | transcend applications | lists of activities learning outcomes | lists of outcomes he recommends blogs and wikis next steps recognize students' time poverty increase authentic integration activities ...

Analyzing Collaborative Learning

Assessing the quality of collaborative argumentation present and discuss range of ways evaluative criteria insights into both: -group -individual illuminates both" -function -structure -content provides both: -quant info -qual pic Transcript of class discussion provided coding speech acts typical cats are: positions argument debate Diagram speech acts Evaluating speech act analysis based on the previous criteria Individual | yes Group | partly etc. An Argument Network/diagram/flow chart with arrows shown broad but shallow argumentation found illuminated by shallow chart deep argumentation has richer diagram/chart applying charting to this research showed fairly rich chart Analysis of Reason Types Examples methodology sample size study duration presence of comparison... Evaluation analyses of reason types Chart with criteria Example: Masked observation Goal of strategy | To evaluate whether observations are valid underlying mechanism or explanation | scientists are objective, fair, and unbiased...Scientists don't care about outcome Causal factors | biases might arise if scientists did care about outcome ''' Evaluating reason schema... Implications and conclusions no one method of assessment meets all criteria use comb of methods explore new methods use methods to link processes to learning explore other methods to link to discourse... Representations for anlayzing tool-mediated collaborative larning -sociocultural theory as theoretical framework -analyzing complex learning environments -representations for dealing with complex data ... Conceptual Framework -learning embedded in sociocultural context and activity system (cole & engstrom, 1993) -cultural artifacts help mediate thinking and interactions (kozulin, 1998) --material objects, such as computers --symbolic tools such as language --help org and constrain activity -knowledge constructed through social interaction (palincsar, 1998) -need to study using multiple perspectives and analytic techniques (hmelo-silver, 2003) Studying Collaboration Reps for understanding complex collaborative learning environments -diagram )larkin & simon, 1987) -sna (martinez, dimitriadis, rubis, gomez, adn de la Fuente (2003) in CSCL environment -directed graphs (strom, kemeny, lehrer, forman (2001) -CORDFU -CORDTRA STELLAR online learning environment for pre-service teachers with screenshot -knowledge web -library of videocases and problems -PBL online student module -online tools - notebook, group whiteboard, commenting collaborative space, discussion forum Understanding Learning in STELLAR Contrasting cases of a successful and unsuccessful group (how determine success?) group 1, 5 studs Group 2, ? studs ... Frequencies charts: Tool Use, Discourse Codes HIstograms CORDTRA Diagrams looking at collaborative phase of the activity multiple methods needed to understand CORDTRA pros and cons successful use to correlate relationship between discourse and tools use... A perpsective on collaborative learning informed by peers learning from each other vygotskian: scaffolding by a more skilled learner Piaget cognitive Tther conceptualizations fo peer learning distributed cognitions excessive sharing of common knowledge is prob co-construction of knowledge conceptual change The goal of this study was to examine if and how influence is accomplished within a group Specific questions do peers influence one another during group discussions in such a way that input from others is recalled later? does peer interction increase... 76 3-person groups given case material f2f discussion, consensus plan Automatic Coding of Communication in Collaboration Protocols CSCL CSCL environments offer tools to facilitate… Analysis of collab dialogue protocols Qual – necessary but subject and biased Development of systematic coding system -problem of unit coding, segmentation prob -reliability and validity probs Automatic coding happiness :) Use of discourse markers - limited set of them, such as "oh, by the way, well, however..." MEPA, Multiple .... email them and you can use it Segmentation Filter: 300 Production rules punctuation connectives starting discourse markers exception/restriction rules splitting messages Dialogue Act Coding (DAC Filter): 1250 production rules Coding messages argumentativeness responsives informatives elicitations imperatives RQs Reliable? Valid? Tests they ran say it is ran it on VCRI groupware environment ... Brigid Barron from Stanford referenced Resnick Used Case Studies Studied distribution of scores used videotapes compared written work to conversations groups as "ensembles" use of workbook as center broadcast of work individual and group work going on at the same time conversational metrics - joint attention ... Lots of phenomena to investigate gestures strategies intention and motivation to co-regulate, collaborate, dominate, etc. both speakers and listeners haver consequential roles to play questions peer -idea generators? -groups develop own participation methods cordtra -relations between contributions ... argumentation -metrics for argument quality agreement would be helpful ... MEPA - Multiple Episode Protocol Analysis -how and when to use it? -compare with cordtra? -combine this with qual case approach would be powerful... key question to consider is how between person phenomena are being represented... what do we mean by term quality, this was my question about success...

Complex Systems in Education:

Conceptual Principles, Methodologies, and Implications for Research in the Learning Sciences Complex individual agents in system look at rules that define interaction with each other and at the environment they are in, sometimes those rules are very simple, what seems to make it complex at macro level (emergent properties)... Michael Jacobson Challenge: Updating Education, 2nd Revolution in Education Before Education Cognition and Learnability -can students learn complex systems Just Plain Folks & Experts notes: Pushing the theoretical and research how people learn... fostering far transfer of knowledge Paolo NorthWestern http://ccl.northwestern.edu Argument for widespread adoption of complex0-systems perspectives and methods in the field of education - to reformulate ed experience/content agent-based modeling James provided me following definition via Skype "In agent-based modeling (ABM), a system is modeled as a collection of autonomous decision-making entities called agents. Each agent individually assesses its situation and makes decisions on the basis of a set of rules. Agents may execute various behaviors appropriate for the system they represent—for example, producing, consuming, or selling. Repetitive competitive interactions between agents are a feature of agent-based modeling, which relies on the power of computers to explore dynamics out of the reach of pure mathematical methods (1, 2). At the simplest level, an agent-based model consists of a system of agents and the relationships between them. Even a simple agent-based model can exhibit complex behavior patterns (3) and provide valuable information about the dynamics of the real-world system that it emulates. In addition, agents may be capable of evolving, allowing unanticipated behaviors to emerge. Sophisticated ABM sometimes incorporates neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, or other learning techniques to allow realistic learning and adaptation. agent as entity variables ... Affordances of agent-based modeling modeling vs. equational modeling 4 areas ripe for picking School Content -each model has list of agents and emergent ? NetLogo Connected Chemistry EconLab ProbLab MaterialSim BEAGLE NIELS Educational Policyschool change/choice Cocial Learning Cognition Grounded Idealization..Goldstone Systems that look different may instantiate the same deep principle if cognition is tied to perceiving and interacting with particular scenarios, then how can we hoepe to have transfer from one scenario to another that looks so different from another? i.e. different systems, same diffusion-limited aggregation How can transfer be fostered across simulation Formalism-based Transfer Interpretation of grounded situations -case studies -online interpretation of simulation elements -perception+interpretation -perceptual learning Figurative descriptions of similarity using space vs. literal and concrete use of space...Pattern Learn When does transfer occur and not occur? Conclusion -Just because something is perceptual does not make it superficial -Grounding principles and education

What else do we want to know?

Q1. *What is urgent? Given all the various dimensions of differences between case studies, along which dimensions should we contrast cases? ---your research question will help make this choice. *Include study of very successful communities, such as informal CoI's. What makes them "hot"? What makes them more engaged? How can these hot items inform successful online communities? What are their goals? What are the goals of education? How do these goals compare or inform each other? *Include emergent data analysis as well as approaching them with specific questions. Q2. *What are the discontinuities in the continuum of scale from micro to cultural-historical? Where must one change theories and methods? *What does it mean to generalize - what forms of generalization are desirable? *What is the language to describe the phenomenon so we can meaningfully share results? *Operationalizing terms. Are we talking about the same phenomenon? *Coherent picture of how/when/why you mix methods and theories -perceptions about methods, is the conflict amongst the methods or the social group? *Being able to contrast and compare -need a lot more conversations like this! (Bridging disciplines/international/etc.) Q3. *Need a common language to describe the phenomena so we can meaningfully share results --"everything is vague to a degree; you don not realize it until you try to make it precise." --theory co-evolves with language *Not a "coherent theory," but coordinated collection of theories applied at different scales *Would like to see theories that can address significant problems in this world *

Studying Engaged Learning in Online Communities: Q1-Q3

Question/Group 1. what can we learn from contrasting cases of engaged learning in online communities? charge: identify three contrasting cases based on the experiences of group members; explain on what a project studied across these contexts might focus? 1. Georgia - space based on critical friends model of interaction, teachers bring problem, dilemma, etc., facilitator takes them through a protocol to engage the issue, space is being built - chat or discussion, hetero and homo groups, lots to look at, interactions of variety though structured, developing teacher PD community. 2. stellar: online integrated learning environment with media cases, online collaborative tools, activity structures, preservice education initially, thinking broader, online course community - groups that work, groups that don't within. Theory-based tool, structured. 7. texplorers - open source software for teachers to explore, resource based repository, prefer f2f, peak in activities right after gather, bring in gaming to platform, have difficulty inspiring online interaction, teachers lack access, 3. wikipedia community 4. myspace: organic growth 5. netlogo users group 6. educational community using collaborative tool 8.fostering community purposefully - IT community established with course project but then died, difficulty in discussion - time constraints, school priorities, life priorities... 9. inquiry-based HS community of 400 that had to do 6-week science project, virtual summer camp, volunteer participant, form 4-6 person groups, people coming in and out poses challenges, though not good at scientific conversation, they deeply engage in participation in this community - LAIN in University of Taiwain, home computer use... 10. GLOBE run by David Perkins and Wisk, cognitively oriented, theoretical basis 11. Walden University, alternative way to re-enter classroom for masters, cohort of students 12. U of Wisconsin-Madison, Master of Science for Educational Professionals, cohort, huge waiting list, very successful 13. online community of (CoP)i.e. ski club, biking, (developing community of interest) trying to set up weather community) enthusiastic communities, run by volunteers, dues, community education Discussion Notes: research that we do needs to be appropriate for world that is coming feedback has indicated that utilizing f2f with online for some may be important there are some communities working completely online, but there is research about blending being positive established international successful communities of teacher professional development communities of interest developing vs. existing communities communities within social networks gaming community information creation/repository moveon.org support group for cancer community political activity communities that support passion/passion education Dimensions of Constrast engagement levels: low > high formal > informal learning blended > online only Design (theory > open tools Ownership: Top down > grass roots high facilitation > minimal facilitation developing > established Identity: anon/avatar > self tool set/community channels: what tools for what purposes 3 selected 1. TPD - GLOBE, Tapped In, ILF, grass roots/university PD orgs: uganets listserv, RETAzens, 2. Community of Interest - Cancer support, ski club- madnorski, moveon.org, LAIN, NetLogo, wikipedia, etc. 3. Course/Cohort - STELLAR, MSEP/MSPE?, TERC program (walden) why contrast? Dimensions, generalizability, factors of success, transferable elements, what are the natural groupings/dichotomies... Question/Group 2. Given differing methods, questions, time scales, grain sizes, philosophical orientations and site contexts, how much generalizability of findings about engaged learning in online communities is possible and/or desirable? Select a topic for study and consider how much generalization is possible and/or desirable given differing methods, questions, time scales, grain sizes, philosophical orientations and/or site contexts. Reporter Notes: what do we mean by generalizability? can we generalize? diff types of community? how define community, what types? interest driven, professional v. student, online v. blended, CoPs... Our notes need taxonomy for online community concept Riel & Polin Barab Fisher - Center for Learning and Online Design CoPS more homogeneous Interest driven more heterogenous -want to look at diffs and sims across community -review of literature to develop taxonomies -could help to have a community of researchers developing generalizability of taxonomies, test concept of engaged online community of researchers about engaged online communities -individual/independent studies and meta studies, what should be measured and what are the goals 1. mixed -qual -quan 2. should define & operationalize our variables 3. collect multiple data for complete picture, triangulation of data possible Question/Group 3. What do researchers need in order to develop a coherent theory of engaged learning in online communities? Does this differ from other learning science contexts? (Redbud Room; Gerry) Charge: Identify at least three types of theoretical issues that need to be addressed. Select one of these and describe what would be needed in order to study it. Reporter notes: brainstormed all theories they could CoPs, Vygotsky-related, issues about context, small group theory out of social psychology, communities... picked small group theory out of social psychology to focus on and put in context of work done in Second Life -what are people saying to each other -what are people doing -what what questions ask of each other -how people learn whether or not they are given efficiency or adaptive expertise goal, focus more on efficiency -do members build theory of what they did or not in order to make small group theory usable, need to look at theories based on post interviews and behavior in the environment, something about herd theory, leadership v. followers... Sharon what are appropriate goals for education, for researchers, finding self looking for theory to help people engage in important endeavors/outcomes, what engages in getting together in context of doing important work, where is the theory that helps people get together in communities for socially important work...