WSU Teaching & Learning Blog

Educause Learning Initiative highlighted a technique called Google Jockeying (http://moourl.com/qjj0m). A student is assigned the role of the class “googler”. The information is then presented simultaneously on a separate screen and would supplement the lecture presentation. It is suggested that this might be a way to positively harness the need for consulting additional information. The role could be assigned to a different person during each lecture. If separate screens are not available, the lecturer might pause and let the google jockey give a synopsis of information searches and let participants add any new searches that might help them in understanding or clarifying the presentation. Incorporating this role is a good way to quickly assess understanding and it is an opportunity to coach the students on using the internet and on evaluating internet resources.

Previously I posted about the Department of Communication’s summer doctoral seminar on communication activism. The seminar went quite well and I’m pleased to announce that a podcast episode about the seminar is now available. The audio, captured on the go using a little olympus digital recorder, documents some of the excitement and learning that occurred during this year’s event. 

You can get it (at no cost) in the iTunes Music Store - search for “Conflict Learning Audio”. You can also hear it online and/or download it at my Conflict Learning Audio podcast page http://www.campus-adr.net/podcast/  The direct link to just this episode is here.

FYI, the podcast server is an old machine that sits under my faculty office desk, so please be patient with it, especially given the hefty 19.7 MB size of the file.

If you have iTunes installed on your computer, you can go directly to the podcast in iTunes using this link.

Here’s the full episode description:

Engaged Scholarship Seminar - 2008-06-21 by Bill Warters

This episode focuses on the 2008 Summer Doctoral Seminar hosted by Wayne State University’s Department of Communication. The theme was “Communication Activism: Engaged Scholarship” and it featured guest scholar Dr. Larry Frey from the University of Colorado. We get to hear from some of the student participants and listen in on an engaging discussion that took place after students returned from a activists’ tour of Detroit. Interviewed participants include Audrey Wagstaff, Brian Ekdale, Janet Donoghue, Karen Greiner, Nadine Yehya, Sarah McGhee and Teemu Kauppi.

(43:06min, 20MB)

Brendan Barrett of the UN University reports that the Parlimentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has gone on record supporting open educational resources and open source tools like Moodle. Here’s more from Brendan:

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has just endorsed a recommendation to promote e-learning. This recommendation draws on the discussions that took place at preparatory e-conference on 1 October 2007, in which the UNU Media Studio participated via video conference (see blog post - http://www.mediastudio.unu.edu/en/2007/10/16/unu-recommendations-to-the-council-of-europe-2/).

The really good news is that the recommendation contains specific reference to the importance of promoting open source software and open educational resources, as proposed by the United Nations University. Here is the direct quotation:

“E-learning can be a powerful means of creating open educational resources accessible to everybody thus counteracting a divided knowledge society. In this regard, the Assembly calls on member parliaments to support the so-called “open source” movement in software development and initiatives for open educational resources - freely accessible on the Internet, and to adopt measures to combat the digital divide in order to close the gap between those who have access to ICT and the acquisition of ICT skills and those who do not, thus ensuring digital literacy for all.”

They later go on to make specific reference to the adoption of open source LMSs such as Moodle.

This is a truly important development for Europe (and for the entire world I hope!). Full recommendation attached. See the following conference website for papers and presentations 

- http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Conferences/conferences_e.htm

A great collection of writing about wikis in the higher education context is available online as a wiki (no surprise there, eh?). It is entitled The Wild Wild Wiki/Wiki Writing: Collaborative Learning in the College Classroom. Perhaps more interesting is the news that the University of Michigan press will be turning the collection into a book. Here’s the contents you can read online.

Volume Introduction “WhatWas a Wiki, and Why Do I Care? A Short and Usable History of Wikis”
Wikis and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
- “Wikis in the Classroom: A Taxonomy”
- “Wiki Justice, Social Ergonomics, and Ethical Collaborations”
- “Building Learning Communities with Wikis”
- “Content and Commentary: Parallel Structures of Organization and Interaction on Wikis”
Wikis in Composition and Communication
- “Disrupting Intellectual Property: Collaboration and Resistance in Wikis”
- “Wiki Lore and Politics in the Classroom”
- “An (Old) First-Timer’s Learning Curve: Curiosity, Trial, Resistance, and Accommodation”
- “Above and Below the Double Line: Refactoring and that Old-Time Revision”
- “Success Through Simplicity: On Developmental Writing and Community of Inquiry.”
- “Wiki as Textshop: Constructing Knowledge in the Electronic Classroom”
Wikis and the Higher Education Classroom
- “Is there a Wiki in this Class? Wikibooks and the Future of Higher Education”
- “Agency and Accountability: The Paradoxes of Wiki Discourse”
- “One Wiki, Two Classrooms”
- “Glossa Technologia: Anatomy of a Wiki-Based Annotated Bibliography”

This is a document that contains a table of best practices, tools and uses for building critical thinking skills while teaching online. It is based on a document called: Designing Online Instruction that Develops Critical and Creative Thinking Skills, Paula Jones, ABD, MaryAnn Kolloff, Ed D Fred Kolloff, Ph D; With additions and suggestions from: Office for Teaching and Learning, WSU

Best Practices Compilation

The Institute for Detroit  Studies at Marygrove College has developed a fascinating map of the Detroit area. It reports on some 24 different locations, providing pictures and examples of how the location appeared in literary works. Wayne State University is one of the locations, of course! Have a look at the map here.

I recently worked with an instructor from the Languages Department to add recorded voice messages and instructions to a Blackboard course. We used a tool called Audacity, open source software for recording and editing. It was easy to use, has an intuitive interface, and met all the needs of her course. It’s free and works on both a PC and a Mac. You can download it at http://sourceforge.net/

Adding voice to your course can make it more engaging, assist in accessibility, and provide a natural and compatible alternative to textual and visual information. I have put my own voice here. My message on adding voice

While you or may not be library staff, you might still appreciate an opportunity to participate in a self-paced exploration of some of the cool features of Web 2.0. It could be the perfect summer learning task. The tutorial, developed by the California School Library Association, provides 23 Things for you to do. Each Thing will show you one more web tool. There are many places for you to explore, experiment with, and think about creative ways to use this in your own work. If you are interested, visit http://schoollibrarylearning2.blogspot.com/ and get started exploring.

The  Pearson Foundation Digital Arts Alliance has produced a thought-provoking video on the direction that our education system needs to be moving in. You can check it out on YouTube. (thanks to Anne-Marie for the link)

The Annenberg Foundation is a major sponsor of Learner.org, a site providing video-on-demand learning resources for teachers. Wayne State University is one of the mirror sites for the service, providing streaming bandwidth to users in our area.  One nice example of the kind of content available is the course on News Writing that was developed in conjunction with KHSL-TV/Chico, CA.  In order to watch the videos, you need to create an account on the site, but the process is fast and relatively painless. Here’s the abstract on the 15-session course:

This series teaches the writing, reporting, editing, and communicating of information in the public interest. More than 100 journalists working in print, radio, and television reveal the secrets of their trade. Among those offering insights are Bob Woodward, Helen Thomas, Dave Barry, and Linda Ellerbee. Coverage of policy issues sheds light on journalism history, law, and ethics. A natural choice for students pursuing journalism or communications, News Writing is also an excellent resource for improving general writing skills, producing a school or university paper, continuing education for working journalists, or teacher professional development.