Schalk's Open Educational Resources, Connectivism and Emerging Technologies Blog

Official OER's

2010-05-28T04:43:00.000-07:00

While reading the material for this week I was particularly intrueged by the inhibiting factors for reuse. As you know I also come from a third world- or developing country, South Africa. I can totaly identify with these factors as we deal with them every day.

The factor that is most prominent in my country is probably the one of access, and by this I mean internet and computer access. Looking at the teacher profile in our country you will find that the large majority of teachers teach in rural areas. Now you can imagine that teaching in a rural area in a third world country, you'd more than likely never seen a computer before, much less surfed the internet. This by extention relates to the average student coming to study at our University. This factor then obviously relates back to the issue of computer literacy. In my estimation Id say that les than 15% of South African people are computer literate. If you cannot operate a PC and the internet you are never going to be able to make use of OER's. It is also important to point out that teaching traditions in South Africa has for the most part remained the same. Teachers (even at higher education institutions) have remained very faithfull to the textbook. Many many courses are tought out of a textbook and there are only a few course utilising OER's to a very small degree.

In conclusion Ill have to say that OER's in third world countries will not work untill these problems are adressed. We at the dividion E-Learning at the Unversity Of The Free State are trying to adress these issues. A wonderfull oppertunity has come our way, where we are going to start a community service program in conjuction with the department of education, to start giving computer literacy classes to teachers of disadvantaged communities. The idea is that we provide them with the skills to teach their students in turn. Our goal here is to indirectly influence the quality of students that will attend our University.

Learning Objects report

2010-05-26T00:59:00.001-07:00

The New Media Consortium: Learning Objects Initiative & New Collaborations Initiative

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Library website critique

2010-05-19T05:39:00.000-07:00

For this weeks blog post I chose our institution's library website. This was a logical choice for me having worked in the library for two years prior to my current position at the division E-Learning at the University of the Free State. While working at the library I had to help students navigate the webpage and the online repositories. Lets have a look at some screen shots of the pages and decide wether this library page is a repository or referactory site.

On this page we can see the resources available online. There is a search engine that looks like this:

The search paramaters are narrow but effective in findinhg what you want. As in the blog post (http://blog.ouseful.info/2009/08/10/open-educational-resources-and-the-university-library-website/) we find that there are no mention of teaching materials or open educational resources.

Next we have a look at the terms and conditions of use of content. These T & C are obviously influenced by copyright rules and as you can see limits you greatly in the use of the content.

Once one agrees to the T & C you are taken to a page where databases and online journals repositories are housed. This means that this specific library website is indeed a referactory site that guides users to learning repositories like EBSCO Host and the like.

In my opinion the website is satisfactory to the level of online and computer skills the average student on our campus posess. Looking out of a lecturer's point of view who needs to create course material it is a different story. The copyright restrictions placed on the materials found through this refractory site virtually prohibits lecturers from re-using the content in their course material.

Reuse

2010-05-14T05:57:00.000-07:00

In my readings for this week I became aware of the reuse of learning objects or content for learning. This is not somthing entirely new to me. As some of the readings suggested, this reuse or mashing up of content originally began in music. Being a dj myself, I have over the years also made my fair share of mashups. I would take a song with no vocal and layer an accapella over the top (my newest one here: http://www31.zippyshare.com/v/80537387/file.html )This ofcourse brings up licensing and trademark issues, but my argument is that I am not making any money out of this and do it purely for my enjoyment.

As far a s reuseabilty in my own institution goes, it could be better. As we read this week, the reuse of objects depend to a large extent on the file type of the content. this means that the file should in a sense be "open" in nature to allow maximum reuse. At my institution all files uploaded on the lerning management system are pdf's. The reason being that not all computers on campus has the same version of Microsoft Office installed and this means that the file will open on one PC, but not on the next one. This obviously has huge implications for reuseability as we all know that one can not alter a pdf document.

Learning Objects

2010-05-07T03:32:00.000-07:00

In the readings for this week I noticed that Open Educational Resources and Learning Objects are very similar. Both are intangible electronic documents (videos, pdf, audio recordings) that can be accessed to facilitate learning. What became apparent is, the difference between the two lies in the copyright or licences that protect them.

These copyrights and licences in my opinion is the reason behind the downfall of Learning Objects. It became clear to me that educators/students who were interested in using these learning objects had to go through quite a lot of trouble to actually acquire the rights to use the learning object in question. This in turn made people negative toward the use there off and it slowly died out.

OER's differ in this instance where they are protected under different sub-divisions of the creative commons license and is infinately easier to use and use legally. One may even change and add to the work as long as there is no financial gain (fair use).

Another area that is of particular interest to me was the part on sustainability. For me a part of the downfall of Learning Objects was the difficult meta data technique of organising material in the repositories. With OER things are easier. Every person in the world is able to tag an object. After writing this post I will also tag it, making it easier for someone interested in OER to find it and use it. Sites like Diigo, Delicious and more are all based on the principle of social bookmarking. These types of sites are extremely valuable in OER as they replace the need for complex meta data organisation of content and in my opinion raises the sustainability of OER.

That's my two cents and understanding, please feel free to correct me or comment!

Have a cracking weekend!

Schalk

Copyrighted work and OER

2010-04-30T05:10:00.000-07:00

After reading this weeks material it has become clear to me that there is two sides to these different licenses. One might even say that it is a necesary evil

On the one hand I can see the value of the creative commons licences in freeing up the material for people right accross the globe to use and re-use. It also places some restrictions on how, where and when one might use the material. This is were the two sides I mentioned earlier comes in.

On the one hand it protects the author or creator of the material to some extent, for example fair use of material. On the other hand it might place undue and confusing restrictions on the work (I know I was initially very confused)and some individuals might think it easier just to copyright the work and be done with it.

In my opinion these licenses are a good thing, if they are used in the right instances and do not work against the ideal they are trying to uphold

My take on Open Educational Resources (Definitions)

2010-04-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

In this post I will give a short overview of what I believe to be the definitions for the terms Open, Education and Resource in the context of this module.

In my readings I have come to understand that the term "open" has a lot of sides to it. For me, in my context, it boils down to two major aspects that influence the degree of openness; namely technical characteristics and social characteristics.
In the first instance, technical constraints such as inter-operability of networks, uncompatible formats of documents and unavailability of technical specifications will limit the degree of openness. I've found that in our South African context the state of our hardware availability (eg. computer access and slow bandwidth) also play a role in the openness of content. For example, slow bandwidth will prohibit a student from watching a video. For all intensive purposes the video will be posted by its creator to be open and freely available to everyone accross the globe, but due to technical constraints it will not be available to some who live in countries like ours.
In the second instance, social characteristics, refers to the limitations that society has placed on the content. There may be various copyright laws placed on reproduction of the content. As I learned from the video of David Wiley there are numerous variants of the constraints placed on "open" content as well. Ultimately for something to be classified as truly open it must also be free. These types of content or works, according to Hill and Möller, allow users the freedom to study the works and apply knowledge gained from it, redistribute copies (in whole or parts)and to make improvements and release the new copies.

The term Educational in OER is at this stage problematic for me. As argued in the readings, is only content generated in educational settings like schools and universities educational resources or is any content no matter its origin a educational resource if someone learns something from it? I am confident that I will have a better understanding of this as the course progress.

The term resource is less problematic at this stage. Any material that a person draws on for whatever reason can be classified as a resource. Therefore we can group photos, documents, videos, sound files, networks and the like together under the communal banner of resources.

I hope I made sense in this post and please comment if you disagree or have anything to add.

Have a lovely weekend!
Schalk

Cape Town and Budapest initiatives

2010-04-15T01:34:00.000-07:00

I am in agreement with the ideas behind the initiatives and thus I have signed both. In an ever more globalized world it seems to me to be next step in effective education. Making information freely available will in the long run educate more peolpe around the world and that is the goal right? It sure is, but does these initiatives create more problems than it answers?

Like I said at the begining I am in agreement with the ideas behind these initiatives, but what will be the cost of initiating them? In one of these initiatives they state that they need publishers and corporartions to make their publications freely available. This is a neat idea but will this not mean the end for those publishing houses? Where will the revenue come from to pay the author? Lets face it no one will work for free. The other probhlem is the fact that not all people that this information will be available to will have the academic state of mind and integraty to treat the information as the intelectual property of the author, thus not giving the proper recognition.

The last point that I want to raise is the one of the technological constraints of the initiatives. These initiatives are completely reliant on the availability of appropriate and up to date technology (computers, bandwidth, 3G connections etc). In developed countries this might not be a problem, but in countires like South Africa where less than half the population has an PC in the house much less an connection to the internet, this is a problem. This problem excludes poor / underpriviliged people from the initiatives and these are exactly the people that would benifit most.

These are my initial thoughts after reading week 1 materials. Heres hoping that we can find answers together for these and other issues that might arise during the course.

All the best
Schalk

CCK 09Final Concept Map

2009-12-06T23:46:00.000-08:00

Final PLE

2009-12-04T01:27:00.001-08:00

Schalk Louw Connectivism & Connective Knowledge 2009 Final Project

2009-12-01T00:09:00.000-08:00

Schalk Louw Connectivism & Connective Knowledge 2009 Final Project

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Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2009 Paper 2

2009-11-20T02:39:00.000-08:00

Schalk Merwe Louw
Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2009 Short Paper 2

In this paper I am going to attempt to shed some light on the changing roles of educators at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. I am currently employed at the UFS as an Instructional Designer in the Division E-Learning. My job is to facilitate higher learning in an online environment and in order to do this properly I need to work closely with the lecturers and Teaching and Learning Managers. Therefore I have some insight to the challenges that teachers face.
The traditional method of face-to-face teaching is still used as the default means of teaching, but blended learning is being used more frequently as of late. We are at present in the stage where the early adopters appreciate the value of online learning, understand their role in facilitating online learning and have taken up the charge and are using blended- and online learning. The problem that arises with the early majority of adopters is that they feel that they are becoming obsolete as teachers. When confronted with this question we at the Division try and explain to them that in the connectivist framework, their roles as teachers are even more important than in the face-to-face sessions. In face- to-face sessions, content and information is transmitted from the lecturer to the student. Students are seen as empty vessels that need to be filled by the knowledge from the lecturer. When lecturers hear that learners must form their own connections and networks and learn from that, they feel that they have become obsolete, when in fact their job is even more important than before. In my view the educators main function in a connectivism framework is to steer the students in the right direction, with the advent of Web 2.0 technologies there is such a vast amount of information out there, it is easy to be overwhelmed by it all (especially if the student is new to the information being presented). The educator must therefore guide the student in the right direction and allow then to forge their own knowledge by connecting with different people and networks by means of the different tools available to them. By doing this, educators are empowering deep learning in their students, replacing the old sterile transfer of facts with connections and networks that will last them a lifetime and facilitate lifelong learning.

On a practical level, I found the work of Brennan (2005 p. 5) is very closely related with what we would like lecturers to understand about teaching in a connectivist way. It was found that the most effective practices engaged learners in constructivist approaches which develop cognitive skills through high levels of interactivity between all participants to encourage synthesis and analysis for ‘deep learning’ involving consistent levels of feedback by teachers who are imaginative, flexible, technologically gymnastic, committed, responsible and expert communicators. If our lectures can take this message to heart and implement it, I think we have done our job. Shifting mindsets from what is to what could be.

References:

Brennan, R. 2003, One size doesn’t fit all – Pedagogy in the online environment – Volume 1
http://www.ncver.edu.au/research/proj/nr0F05_1.pdf

Introduction to Emerging Technology Final Presentation: Web Conferencing

2009-10-28T04:09:00.000-07:00

An Introduction To Web Conferencing

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Dim Dim V.5 Worlds best Web Conferencing

2009-10-27T04:08:00.000-07:00

Skype Recording

2009-10-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Paper 1

2009-10-23T03:40:00.000-07:00

Connectivism is the learning theory that lies closest to my heart out of all the learning theories. While completing my Bachelors Degree, I had three years of Psychology as a main subject, so coming into this course I had been exposed to the theory of connectivism before. It must be said however that the connectivism theory had only been touched on briefly as part of the learning theories in one module in my second year of Psychology. This means that I have an idea what connectivism was about, but no substantial knowledge.

The reason that connectivism has been resonating with me from that first encounter with the theory is because it is the one that made the most sense to me. Behaviourism and constructivism are both valid theories, but conditions of learning has changed so radically with the technology explosion, that it would not be sensible to modify these existing theories (Siemens 2004 in Ireland 2007). The easiest explanation of connectivism was offered by Stephen Downes (2007) who stated that: “...connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks.” The way I understand it is that learning takes place through the connections that we make with other people. If I want to know how to build a homemade rocket, I will seek out those people who have the knowledge to build one and form a connection with them in order to learn from them. From this point of view, knowledge lies in the connections we form with others; if those connections were not there we would not have the knowledge. To me this is the basic starting point in connectivism, making a connection with another person to gain their knowledge and in turn provide them with what you know. From here on out the really interesting things start to happen. We now have a connection with a person who knows how to build a homemade rocket, but this person does not live in exile. He/she knows other people who might share the same passion for rockets. You do not know these people, but by extension of the network that you share you have access to their knowledge. This is my understanding of the diffusion of knowledge by means of a network and the basic principle of connectivism (Downes 2005).

With any “new” theory there will be criticism. Verhagen (2006) places connectivism at the level of curriculum, focussing on what people should learn and the skills they should develop. He goes further to say that if connectivism were truly at the theoretical level it would explore the process of how people learn. To me this criticism makes sense, but it is not overly important. The way in which people learn is secondary to making the connection. People would not even be able to learn if the connection was not there to begin with.
I truly believe that connectivism is the most applicable learning theory in our day and age. The all encompassing globalisation effect the Internet has walks hand in hand with the theory of connectivism. New acquaintances, and by implication new networks, are at our fingertips, no matter where in the world we, or the networks, are situated. The more I think about it, I find that I have always in one way or another learnt through connectivism, and in essence this theory has always been around, and I think will be of great value to educators and students in the digital age.

Deliciuos Account

2009-10-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

Im a bit late on this, but here is my Delicious account:

http://delicious.com/SchalkLouw

Schalk 101 Podcast

2009-10-02T05:31:00.000-07:00

The making of this podcast was easy and difficult at the same time. The easy part was using audacity as I have used similar and at times musch more complex software before. (Ableton Live, used for music production) The difficult part was the content. I had no idea what to talk about so in the end I rambled on for 7 minutes about my life and interests, so that you guys can get to know me a little better.

Have a good one!

My Personal Learning Environment

2009-10-01T01:49:00.000-07:00

Comparing 3 Personal Learning Environments. IET F 09

2009-09-28T01:48:00.001-07:00

Martin Weller - My personal work/leisure/learning environment

This was the first one that really caught my attention. I like Martin's PLE because it gives attention to his leisure/private time as well. Learning in my opinion does not happen from 9-5 and then stops. there has been many instances where I have learned something by playing around or while being on leisure time.

D'Arcy Norman "My PLE according to Goolge and Touchgraph

Here

I like the second simplified diagram from D'Arcy because this is learning through connectivism in its simplest of form. Here he uses online tools to connect to people who holds the knowledge that he seeks. Plain and simple.

Julie Collareda

Julies' PLE is the last one that I picked for this exercise. This one lies close to home as she has included the availability of internet access to her PLE. This is applicable in my case as well. I am only now getting round to writing this up as I did bot have any internet access the last week. This is a concept that might seem strange to people in first world countries, but in places like South Africa it's a real issue

Let me know what you think and have a good one!

How safe are we online? IET F 09

2009-09-22T03:11:00.001-07:00

This topic is one that I have thought about a lot in previous years. It has sparked interesting debates between various people and myself and I have come to the conclusion that it is all a matter of perception, more specifically what your perception of your level of online security is.

In my opinion the most important thing to remember is that nothing (as far as my knowledge goes ) is "unhackable". If someone wants to get into your facebook account badly enough for whatever reason they will. My facebook account has been hacked and the same goes for my G-mail account, it is not unheard of. The point that I have to emphasize though is that these accounts where hacked not to gain my personal information, but in order to do what I like to call "Link dumping" (Posting links to all of my contacts and then erasing them from my contact list, very very annoying). I was fortunate in this instance that the perpetrator did not use my personal information for something malicious but it might well have happened that way.

This bring me back to the point of perception of your online security. After the "attacks " on my accounts I became aware that I am not at ease with the information floating around the net about my private life. Sites like facebook and myspace reveal so much personal information that can be used for the wrong purposes if desired. I think that we as people living in the technology explosion era need to learn a new skill. The skill of knowing what information about ourselves we need to keep of the net, what instances we need to do this and where it is appropriate to expose this information. It will be a difficult process (As I have found out) but it needs to happen if we are ever to feel safe on the net.

Have a good one
Schalk

First week of CCK09

2009-09-20T02:49:00.000-07:00

So here we are at the end of the first week of the Connectivism and connective knowledge course. As another student remarked, I feel like I am at the tip of the ice berg, scratching the surface of a wealth of information laying beneath. I must say that this notion is very exciting to me.

Having studied developmental psychology in previous years, I was no stranger to the connectivism theory. We had discussed (not in much detail) this theory as part of the learning theories chapter in the course and to be honest it was the one that made the most sense to me then, and after this week it is making even more sense. If I reflect back on my life and the key skills that I feel I have acquired, it is becoming ever more clear that I have been learning what I know through connections with other people. I "see" connetivism all the time. From toddlers playing in the sand, the one learning how to build a sand castle by helping and interacting with the other one, to students sitting in a computer lab, the one learning how to navigate to a certain page on a University web site by asking directions from the other.

I wouldn't say that all the learning that has taken place in my life has been exclusively through connectivism, but I think that living in the time of massive information explosion and technology it is the most prominent and valid learning theory and I am very excited to be on the verge of diving headlong in to the underlying principles and factors regarding connectivism.

Have a lovely Sunday and good luck with the upcoming week.

Schalk

The first 5,000 days of the web, and the next 5,000: Kevin Kelly

2009-09-14T01:47:00.000-07:00

Verry interesrting talk. Relates a lot to connectivism like Richard Schwier said in the interview with George.

http://blog.ted.com/2008/07/the_first_5000.php

A blog is born....

2009-09-14T00:52:00.000-07:00

A blog is born every second, right? Well heres mine.

Hello world