Terence Armentano - eResume & ePortfolio

Has anyone thought about doing something like this because of your deep love for web 2.0, education, technology, and pedagogy? If so, please email me and I can set you up with a counselor.

VOIP technology is becoming more mainstream in social, educational, and professional capacities. One popular VOIP tool that is widely used around the world is Skype. As it is such a popular tool, developers have created add-ons for skype to enhance its abilities. So if you are a Skype user you might want to check out the following article on 50 ways of enhancing Skype.

Here is a good informational video by my friend, Stephen Downes, about how Web 2.0 supports interaction, usability and relevance in online learning. After watching the video, go to the discussion board for discussion. Discuss Web 2.0 and Your Own Learning and Development

According to a recent article in USA Today, “More than 300 universities, including Harvard and Duke, use Second Life as an educational tool, says Claudia L’Amoreaux of Linden Labs. Some educators conduct entire distance-learning courses there; others supplement classes.” I believe BGSU is one of those 300. Second Life is a 3D virtual world created by Linden Labs. It’s kind of like putting a 3D skin on the internet. Instead of visiting the Nissan website with text, images, audio, and video, I could go to their virtual headquarters in a 3D world (called Second Life) and see their latest models and talk to their salesmen avatars. I have mixed feelings about using Second Life for online education. Online education is great because it is flexible, accessible, and works into our lifestyle. Think about online banking. When you want to make an online banking transaction, would you rather enter the Bank’s Virtual world, wait in a virtual line, and talk to a virtual teller or just log in with your password and make your transaction? Like any technology, it can be applied effectively or ineffectively to the learning landscape. Before diving into Second Life, an instructor should ask what about Second Life will enhance this course? I’ve always believed that the internet’s greatest strength is found not in its interface but in it’s capacity for speeding up communication, access to information, and networking. For example, in several minutes, I can check over 50 sources that are being updated by the minute around a single topic using RSS Feeds, Google Alerts, and Social Bookmarking, or I could jump into Second Life for an hour, fly around, and try to clothe my naked avatar. I’m not anti-Second Life, I’m just saying flying around a 3D world could be a huge waste of time or it could be captivating for the students depending on what, where, and why they are flying. My main point is that Instructors just need to think about the benefits of using Second Life as it relates to their subject area and their learning objectives. What are some subjects that would benefit from a 3D world?

Stephen Downes makes a good point in his comment on my previous post. Why not post it online? So I thought I would do one better and post them both online and make the check sheet a wiki so that others can build on it. Thanks.

Check it out here
The password to edit the wiki is “online”

If you attended my presentation at the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning and would like a copy of the Blended Program Development Check-Sheet and Presentation, please send me an email and I will forward you a copy. My email is terence at bgsu dot edu

I am here at the Distance Learning Conference in Madison Wisconsin and just attended Dr. Mark David Milliron’s key note, titled “My Generation Your Generation We’re All in this Together.” Much of what Dr. Milliron spoke about, I have observed or written about on this blog. One thing that really stuck out was how he suggested that online courses and blended courses will be mainstream because they offer value added situations and experience for students. Universities that keep putting online against face to face and in it’s own category miss the point. Many students want to take a couple face to face courses and a couple online courses. Students want to be able to flex their schedules, take the courses they want from the teachers they want, and interact online. See my University 2.0 post. Another idea that stands out is that traditional marketing and advertising will be less effective for university’s because of the social networking that goes on online. Schools can advertise all they want, but if students want to know about a school they can find out online. See my web 2.0 and higher ed post.

The following are the scratch notes I made during the presentation. These are meant to help me remember key concepts, but if you find them helpful then great.

- Take out all-in one device (trade it with the person next to you). People get nervous since we are becoming more dependent on these devices.
- Changing infrastructure for how we live (virtual)
- Mainstreaming distance education
- Vision, Planning, Fundraising (capital funds, operational funds, maintenance plans), Building
- Hybrid – The middle of the bell curve - the way of the future – They already know it…we do everything online (banking, cars, etc). The action is in the middle
- Get away from what is better (online vs. face to face)
- Believes Itunes-like system will be the learning infrastructure of the future (DRM, labels, etc)
- Example - A student has 2 morning classes 4 hour gap until 3rd class (wants to work online in between courses)
- Mobile lifestyle
- Thinks games will be a big part of the learning economy (I somewhat disagree) –(my observation: people play games to escape reality, not engage reality.)
- (showing youtube videos – Blackberry, teacher throws cell phone, wii) (grandpa bowls with grandson 3 states away on the wii)
- He says the data shows gamers are very active people
- Pepperdine bought real-estate in second life (info for Justin)
- Social Networking – Marketing and ads will do less because people will check you out via networking – students checking email less (IM, texting, facebook)
- Kettering – innovative stick figure animation about the university – connects with students
- Internet2 – holographic lab – the future
- Techno-Cro-Magnon theory “Technology…Good”
- Analytics, diagnostics, and evidence based education. Book recommended “Completing on Analytics” – Risk analytics – Credit Card story about company tracking woman’s habit and called her when it wasn’t her buying pattern. They were correct.
- Though we are connected more than ever before, people can still feel lonely. Integrate the human experience. Book recommendation – Social intelligence by Daniel Golman.

Thanks to Dr. Bruce Edwards at BGSU for this lead. The following is an excellent list of technology tools that can be utilized for elearning. This list was compiled by 88 elearning professionals and posted at the Center for Learning and Performance Technologies. The list contains just about everything I could think of though I might add the following: iMovie, iDVD, JumpCut, Bubbleshare, Thinkature, Jott, Gabjam, Yourminis, SurveyMonkey, Google Analytics or Sitemeter, Gtalk, to name a few. Please post any thoughts you have about this list. What would you add?