The Man Song...

For all those amongst you who know (or at least think they know) that they are lord and master of their domains, the truth is finally revealed - here is a hilarious video from the Milton Show that reveals the truth about all real men:



This was passed on to me by one of my female learners. Could it possible that the secret about men is out? Hmmm...

Support Our Troops...

Regardless of how you feel about Canada's mission in Afghanistan, supporting the troops that are there carrying out the mission is the right, patriotic, Canadian thing to do. This video tribute is from the Manitoba Moose AHL hockey team, and was shown after a game in which they wore special camouflage uniforms to show their support for te troops.



I want to thank all the troops who have served and are serving in Afghanistan for their professionalism, courage and dedication. They are all heroes...

Greatest Baseball Post-Season Moment Ever...

Actober.com is a great site that allows fans to upload videos that they have created celebrating baseball's post-season and what they think are the greatest moments in the sport. Here is a hilarious video from Jeff Probst of Survivor fame trying to decide the greatest October moment in baseball history...



What's your greatest baseball post-season moment?...

The Smiley Turns 25

Happy Birthday Smiley :-)!! The smiley :-) turns 25 today. Here is an article telling the tale of the smiley's creation and first use by Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman. An excerpt from the article explains the origins of :-) :

"Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly.

"I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)," wrote Fahlman. "Read it sideways.""

Emoticons have given us a simple way to convey emotions in typed conversations, adding depth and context to many conversations over the past 25 years - Happy Birthday smiley :-), may you have many more...

Are My Virtual Friends Real? ...

A recent article online at Information Week "MySpace Friends May Not Be Real", has got me thinking about the people that I have only met virtually and that I consider to be friends - are they real friends?

For me a friend is someone that I share common interests with, that I correspond with somehow on a fairly regular basis, and who knows more about me than name, rank, and serial number. I also know something about them and a friend is also someone who I want to talk to to ask questions of, to get their opinions on issues and to debate, discuss, and yes even argue with about the issues of the moment.

Using this criteria, I have several friends that I have never met anywhere other than online, mostly in Second Life where they are represented by their avatars. I consider many of these people to be good friends. In fact when I met one of my Second Life friends face to face in the real world this past summer for the very first time it was as if we had known each other for years (and in fact we have, just virtually).

I currently have almost 150 "friends" in Facebook. Are they all really friends - many are not, but many are and again, there are some who I have not net in the real world, although they are in the small minority. I find that for me Facebook has been a way to connect with colleagues and learners, and to stay in touch with old friends from the past. So on that point I do agree with the Information Week article - there is an element in social networking (for me at least) that requires some sort of face to face or real world connection in order to develop any sort of lasting bond.

This is not true though in my experience with virtual worlds such as Second Life. Whether it is because of the visual component, the chatting, and now voice, I feel no differently about my SL friends than I do about my real world friends. If they meet my criteria, they are a friend. I think that this is significant for me as an educator as more and more I will be dealing with learners and fellow facilitators that I will never meet face to face, yet I will need to develop relationships with. I think that it will mean that the definition of what a friend is and how we develop friendships will have to change. After all, these days just about everyone knows a couple that met on the Internet - are their relationships any less real or meaningful? We will need to redefine relationships and societal norms and here is an example of some of the issues and problems that could arise from the Wall Street Journal - "Is This Man Cheating On His Wife? It's a valid question - as the tools and means that we use to socialize evolve, so too must our conceptions and definitions of friends and relationships, and how we interact with each other, both in virtual and real settings

So, are my virtual friends real? They are to me...

I Wouldn't Want To Be A Network TV Executive...

I'm not sure I would want to be a network TV executive right now. There are just too many other choices for people these days to entertain and amuse themselves with, not to mention all of the new and diverse learning opportunities being presented to them - and network TV isn't even near the top of the list. Cable TV, video games, the Web, computers, MP3 players, on-demand video, the list goes on and network TV isn't even on it.

And the news isn't getting any better for the TV executives either. According to an article from Macworld, more and more people in the US are watching online video than ever before - 181 minutes a month and an average of 68 clips - that represents time away from TV (and lower ratings and less advertising revenue, and...). It also represents some very important trends for educators. If people are watching more and more on-demand video, then that seems to be an educational learning tool that we need to use more of. Focus on developing useful video-based resources that learners can get access to whenever they want - the continuing development of the PLE.

There are still issues of access - not everyone has high-speed Internet access which is necessary for the "live" viewing of online video, but even that mountain is slowly becoming a mole hill. I see all sorts of opportunities now to create and distribute learning objects and materials through video - if the learners are watching, let's give them something to look at... Hmmm...


(Photo - "Forgotten television" by autowitch)

MS-DOS 5 Upgrade Video

Thia is just too funny - for those of us who remember DOS, and in particular upgrading to DOS 5, what were we thinking? To those of you who never had the pleasure of using DOS, you can get a glimpse of what you missed. Either way enjoy and thanks to CollegeHumor.com for posting the video:

The Touch Table...

I'm always on the outlook or new technologies and what their impact could be on adult education. Sometime ago (February 2006) the following video appeared on TED.com, an amazing site that you must go to. The speaker is Jeff Han:



Pay attention to the audience reaction - it's quite interesting...

Well here we are about 18 months later and the technology has now gone commercial. Northrop Grumann has released what they are calling the "Touch Table". The FAA has just bought some for use as an "integrated collaboration environment" (sounds purpose built for education...). While not as technologically advanced as Jeff Han's multi-dimensional technology, it is the next step away from the traditional computer interface to a touch-based interface displaying 3-D maps etc., it is very cool to see a technology go from ooh and ahh at a convention ( a very impressive convention mind you) to a production technology. Here is a video of the touch table:



It will be interesting to see how long it takes for this technology to enter the classroom. Hmmm...

The Earth Moved - And It Was An iPod That Moved It...

Apple released its latest versions of the iPod this week and the one that has me all excited is the iPod Touch. Not only because it's basically an iPhone without the phone and for us in Canada will be the only way to get our iPhone "fix" for some time to come, but because I believe that the iPod Touch (and the iPhone when it finally arrives here) has the potential to revolutionize e-learning as we know it.

Why will they revolutionize e-learning? Well simply put, they will allow learners to connect from wherever they are and to create and use customized learning environments or PLEs. The iPod Touch has wi-fi capability which will allow learners to access the Internet and the learning resources there, not to mention any learning institution that makes itself available online (which these days is every learning institution). It will also very quickly have recording capability as well (the third-party accessory makers are probably working on that as we speak), so even the iPod Touch will truly become a two-way learning device, and just wait until the iPhone gets here...

With the iPod Touch and iPhone you now have devices that learners can use to get learning materials wherever they are in whatever form works for them - text, video, audio, or a combination of all three. Learners will be able to create a learning environment that is available 24/7 and suits their own personal approach to learning. Learning institutions will be able to reach learners not yet readily available - but will have to be creative in order to do it.

Can you just imagine the powerful learning that could occur if you gave learners a pre-loaded iPod Touch with all of their course materials on it instead of a pile of text books? Cheaper and much more in tune with the digital natives that we have now as learners and will have even more in the future (the true digital natives are coming - they are in K-12 now...).

There are several colleges and universities that have made course materials available through iTunes and its iTunes U page at the iTunes Store - lectures, presentations and course materials are available for download in podcast, vidcast and other formats - one more way for learners to create their own learning environments. Much of the material still requires registration, but much of it is free too (thanks MIT!).

So what does all this mean for us as adult educators? Well, for one thing, we must now seriously consider including these kinds of devices (the iPod Touch and iPhone are only the first of many...) and the learning resources that they can use whenever we begin to develop or modify curriculum and learning resources. We need to think about how to best use these tools to reach learners, what effect they will have on how we deliver learning, and how learners will use them to manage and customize their own learning experiences. I can quite honestly see myself delivering a course using these or similar devices in the not too distant future.

The Earth moved this week, and it was an iPod that moved it. Hmmm...

(Picture - "iPod touch" by peter.ca)

The First Day Of School...

Today is the first day of the fall semester at the Nova Scotia Community College, and I imagine educational institutions all over. To those of you heading back for another academic year, I wish you all the best. To those of you beginning your post-secondary learning , I wish you all the best and encourage you to become engaged in your learning and education - take responsibility for your learning, reflect on what you learn, and demand the most from your faculty and staff - they will provide it.

For faculty and staff, I wish you learning environments that are full of eager and engaged learners, wherever those learning environments may be - brick, click, or somewhere in between...

For learners, I wish you positive, effective learning environments, full of challenge and opportunities..

And for everyone I wish you a successful, safe, and happy academic year. Enjoy! Learning IS fun...

(Photo - "School Photo from Tungelsta" by Steffe)

Clouds...

I take pictures of clouds (some would say I have my head in the clouds most of the time, but that is a whole other matter...). I take pictures of clouds because I like what I see (or don't see) in them. In fact, here is my favourite one - I call it the "Cloud Beast":


If you like this one, you can check out more of my cloudy outlook on life on my Flickr site. I have a set called, of course,"Clouds"...

When Social Networks Go Bad...

I am a big believer in the power of social networking and social networks. I am certain that social networks and social software will have a huge impact on education (and already are), along with the way that we communicate. I have already posted on the fact that for most of my personal communication these days I am using less and less e-mail and IM, and more and more social networks, with Facebook and LinkedIn being the two I use the most, with Eduspaces (ELGG) and Bebo being used less. There is also Ning, to which I have been invited and Quechup, to which I was invited to over the weekend and which prompted this post. To add to this list, Wikipedia has a list of Social Networking Web Sites that currently lists 102 different social networking sites. Oh and then there is my favourite social network and the one where I have made many friends and met some of the most interesting people from around the world and around the world - Second Life.

And here is the problem - everyone of these sites, with the possible exception of Ning, which allows you to create your own network (bust you still have to join) are closed systems. It's one of the reason I'm a member of more than one social networking site and why so many exist - the all requires some sort of account setup and membership before you can begin to be even remotely social. It reminds me of the early days of IM where I had an ICQ account, an AIM account, and a Messenger account just so I could chat with everyone.

So - is a social network truly social if it is a closed system? If we have to belong to four or five different sites just to communicate with the people we meet or to share common interests, are we being social, or have we just adopted a new set of silos? What would be wrong with a common interface that would allow you to enter whatever social network that you want to belong too without having to have to log in separately every time. Sort of a Meebo for social networks. Hmmm...

I mentioned Quechup earlier - this past weekend I got an invite to join this social network from a member of a mailing list that I belong too. While I know this person through their online persona, I have not met them except in cyberspace and was somewhat puzzled why they would ask me to join their network. Before I had time to reply, several posts appeared on the mailing list complaining of being spammed by requests to join Quechup. Turns out that by default when you create an account on Quechup it sends out invites to everyone in your e-mail address book. This is something I want control over - it might be a great way to pad the membership numbers, but it is social networking gone bad - let me decide who to invite.

So where are we? Still in our silos that prevent true social interaction online - locked into our networks through logins and proprietary software. If Web 2.0 brought user content and control to the Web, then maybe social networking 2.0 will bring true, open border less social networking to the Web. The next killer app? Hmmm...

(Photo - "Table Brainstorming" - by edmittance)