CIT 2007 - Learning and Teaching In a Flat World

A interesting presentation on the premises raised in Thomas L. Friedman's book "The World is Flat - A Brief History Of The Twenty-First Century" and their implications for education. The first part of the presentation dealt with some of the issues facing educators teaching in this new world and the second part of the presentation dealt with the learners learning in this new world.

The global competitive landscape has ben flattened and restructured - in other words the world is smaller, communications and information flow is faster and we live in a 24/7 world - much of the work we do now can be done in other places in other time zones while we sleep.

Here is what has happened:

• Empowerment
• Less hierarchy
• Widely distributed knowledge
• Course-based learning is unable to meet needs

It's the last point that has the biggest impact on me as an educator. If course-based learning isn't working, what do we need to replace it with?

The learning found in traditional course-based learning is now being found in all sorts of places, supported by tools and technologies that include:

• Aggregators - RSS
• Webware
• Blogging (everyone should be blogging)
• MMORPGs (World of Warcraft, Second Life)

One of the natures of these tools is that they tend to blur into each other - so expect some level of confusion and chaos with the use of these tools - but they are the tools of the millennial or net-gen learners.

Presenters compared the 21st century communications revolution as having the same impact as the Industrial Revolution did, and I think they have a valid point. The NCTT (National Center for Telecommunications Technologies) is a great resource linking the ICT industry and education - lots of resources and information on how changes in ICT will and are influencing education.

Bandwidth technologies and access to high speed bandwidth are being driven by several things including:

• Webware
• Online Gaming
• Video/IPTV
• MMORPGs
• Social Networking

It's access to bandwidth athat will impact education - without sufficient bandwidth, much of the tools and technologies we want to use in education will not be readily or universally accessible - this will be an issue for educators. Bandwidth is expanding, with research being done that has reached speeds of 20 megabits/second - unfortunately there are still large parts of North America (and much of the world) with dial-up or no connectivity. This will take a joint effort from ICT firms and educational institutions working together to fix.

As educators we need to understand the neo-millennial learners, have a "secret sauce" that will attract, engage, and retain learners and we need to understand the implications of the flattened world for education and learning.

Here are some of the implications of the flattened world:

• The worldis less predictable and hierarchical - undergoing rapid change with widely distributed knowledge - classroom learning is strating to fail
• Informal learning on the rise along with new technologies and forms of learning - learning is becoming indistinguishable from work
• Changing demographics require different learning approaches

There is a paradigm shift occurring in learning:

From To
Formal Training Informal Learning
Management Driven Learner Empowered
Centralized Decentralized
Instructor Driven Subject Matter Expert Empowered
Pedagogy/Instruction Collaboration
When Available When Needed
Individuals Communities
Organizational Trans-Organizational
Lifetime Employment Lifetime Employbility

Mobility is the steroids that are moving everything. Web 2.0 has brought many to many publishing, web apps, workflow driven team collaboration - on the mobile web information must be delivered seamlessly regardless of the device (Sir Tim Berners=Lee) - this is a major implication for learners and educators as more and more will use mobile devices and not computers to connect to the Web and access information and learning. we are seeing peer to peer communication through shared information.

So what should our learners look like? Here are some essential characteristics:

• Life long learning
• Able to navigate and evaluate information - information literacy
• Not about intelligence - it's about curiosity and passion
• Well rounded and creative (Sir Ken Robinson) - creativity should be a basic skill

And there are some challenges facing us as well:

• Numbers - not enough people
• Education at the top
• Ambition
• Education at the bottom
• Funding
• Infrastructure

These challenges can be met in many ways by realizing that the world is flat and that we must look at and adopt the new tools and technologies available to us and our learners - meet them where they are - learners now have a disposable life - this influences attitudes and engagement.

Mobility will be the driver - right now the iPhone is the best mobile device, but is about to get serious competition from the Google Phone (about $200 US). whatever device is used - it will all be about moile learning.

A great presentation highlighting ofr me what have become the major themes of CIT 2007 - mobility, learning, engagement and the paradigm shifts that are resulting in a whole new way to learn and educate...

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CIT 2007 - Opening General Session - Dr. Mark Milliron

Dr. Mark Milliron, president and CEO of Catalyze Learning International, was the opening general session keynote speaker. As such he is recognized as a leader in educational leadership and the use of technology in education. An extremely engaging speaker he talked about the changing face of learners and how technology and tools like social networking are going to change the face of community college education.

Community Colleges are preparing for multiple generations of learners and have to be prepared for all of them:

Baby Boomers (the family generation)
Gen X (the ME generation)
Net Gen (the WE generation, or as I have heard it coined, the "XBox generation")

Along with this we have to realize that there is an ongoing digital divide - broadband vs. dialup and that there are still dialup ghettos that will impact how and what technology can be delivered to learners.

Dr. Milliron talked about what is in store:

• Attract, Service, Retain and engage learners
• Visioning
• Planning
• Fund raising
• Capital
• Operational funds
• Maintenance funds
• Sustainable Learning Environments

We are going to see the following things influence how we will provide learning opportunities to our learners:

• Blurring and Blending
• Mobility Galore
• Gaming
• Social Networking
• High Impact Presentations/Engagement
• Analytics, Diagnostics, Evidence-based education
• The Human Touch
  

For blurring an blending we will see models of 20% of learners online, 20% face to face and the remainder taking a blended approach to their education. I know that this is something that I ned to take very seriously as an educator when looking at maintaining and developing curriculum and programmes.

Mobility galore - m-learning will be big - learners need access - the oasis effect - free wireless will keep learners engaged and on campus

Gaming - a whole different way to learn. Look at seriousgames.org and americasarmy.com for examples.

Social Networking is engaging and connecting - collaboration is key. Second Life - a bridge between gaming and education. Of the social networking sites Dr. Milliron compared MySpace as Bart and Facebook as Lisa (or Potsie and Ritchie depending on your generational analogies...). The OER Commons is social networking for faculty.

Take your work seriously and yourself lightly when dealing with net geners (makes sense and it works in my experience). Sixteen to twenty-year olds want IM or chat - not email or readings "EMails are whta old folks send me" - so true - just try getting learners to read their e-mails - Facebook a much faster way to communicate with them.

We need to build buildings with high impact presentation technologies and tools in them - retrofitting no longer working.

The use of analytics to determine the best use of resources is a critical process that we need to start using, just as the gaming industry has been doing for years.

On the Human Touch we need to have the courage to be open to opportunities, the courage to catalyze the conversation, and the courage to learn.

We need to engage all learners in this process, including the CAVE people - Colleagues Against Virtually Everything (and you know who you are..).

A great keynote to kick off CIT 2007 - what we need to do as we look forward and the good news for me is that I get it it. Can't wait to see what the rest of CIT 2007 brings...

CIT 2007 - Technical Issues

Hi everyone - CIT 2007 has been an absolutely amazing experience, and if you are a community college educator, you MUST get here. CIT 2008 will be in Salt Lake City.

Unfortunately there have been some technical issues here with the networks at the hotel and convention centre, so uploading to this blog has been erratic at best. I'm heading home tomorrow and will finish posting my experiences, thoughts, and things that made me go hmmm... (and there were lots) when I get home.

So stayed tuned - lots more to come...

CIT 2007 - Open Educational Resources For Teaching and Learning

This half-day workshop was delivered by Thad Nodine and Cynthia Jimes from the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), based in California. ISKME is an independent, nonprofit research institute that helps schools, colleges, universities, and the organizations that support them expand their capacity to collect and share information, apply it to well-defined problems, and create human-centered, knowledge-driven environments focused on learning and success (from the ISKME Web site).

This workshop focussed onlooking at open source and open sharing of free resources, the sharing of educational content (a big issue with faculty - what do I share?), Open Educational Resources (OER), the creative commons licensing process, and the paradigm shift facing educators today.

OER is free educational resources. One of the best sites is the OER Commons, a comprehensive collection of resources for K-12 and higher education. There are several institutions that are offering some or all of their educational resources for free. Some of these institutions include:

• MIT
• UC Berkeley
• Harvard
• Rice University (Connexions)
  
• Foothill DeAnza Community College (SOFIA Project)
  

There are several other resources available to educators as well:

• SERC - The Smithsonian Environmental Resource Center
• iTrain Online
• Lemill
• SOFIA - Sharing of Free Intellectual Assets
• Learn NC (K-12)
  

These sites provide an almost unlimited source of content and resources for educators. The big issue of course, for much of the material found on line, is what can you do with it? Can you localize it for your use, modify it for your courses? The answer is yes you can, but with some conditions. In most cases these conditions are controlled through the use of a Creative Commons license.

If you are producing any materials for use and are then sharing them online, a creative commons license makes a lot of sense. The Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry (from the CC web site). I have put a Creative Commons license on this blog for example that states that anyone can use anything from here as long as it is not for commercial purposes and that you let people know where it came from. If you are an educator, or anyone sharing online, check out the Creative Commons license options - I am sure that one will meet your needs.

There is a paradigm shift happening with the increased use of the Web for online earning and the availability of online resources. As educators we need to be aware of this shift. The key elements of this paradigm shift are:

• Sharing - much of what we do we now share
• Commenting - anyone can now tag or comment on what is posted online
• Authoring - anyone can author and authoring tools are powerful and easy to use
• Collaborating - we live in an increasingly collaborative space
• Training and mentoring - more and more we are developing mentoring relationships with peers, colleagues and learners from around the world.

So what is the process of producing and consuming fre content? Here is a quick diagram that might help explain:



Like most things we do educators, this is a cyclical process. Once we do get into this process though, the sheer volume of content available to us will be staggering. The keys are context and the ability to localize content to fit your needs and requirements, and then returning that localized content back "into the wild' to increase the knowledge base.

The key things that I learned at this workshop are that sharing of educational resources is the way to go, and there are some amazing tools and resources out there for use. In my opinion, the future is a combination of social networking and open educational resources. That combination will truly allow us all to become learning centred and collaborative. Bring it on...

CIT 2007 - Keeping Up With the Jetsons - Teaching and Learning With Web 2.0

This half-day workshop was presented by Shelley Rodrigo of Mesa Community College, part of the Maricopa Community Colleges system. Shelley has a background as an English instructor and us currently an instructional technologist and is involved with faculty development.

The workshop was focussed on Web 2.0 tools that will help both faculty and learners communicate better in today's Web 2.0 world.

The tools and technologies looked at were:

• Social bookmarking - del.icio.us (other tools were discussed
• Blogs
• RSS Feeds and aggregators (Google Reader)
• Wikis - Wetpaint and others
• Personal portals - iGoogle, Pageflakes, Netvibes

Here was also some discussion around Google apps, a technology very prominent at CIT 2007

The coolest part of this workshop was its collaborative and sharing nature. All of the materials, sites, tips, hints, and suggestions that we re talked about are posted onto the Jetsons wiki, developed for this workshop. Check out this wiki - it is full of great resources.

A really nice way for me to kick off CIT 2007. Shelley did a great job with this workshop, getting all of us engaged in the process. The participants left with great resources, in particular the wiki. The potential of Web 2.0 tools in community college education was clearly demonstrated. Even tough I have been fully immersed in Web 2.0 for a long time, I learned several things from the workshop (can teach new tricks after all...). Now I can't wait to take theme home, show others and use them myself...

Walkabout in Nashville...

A gorgeous Saturday here in Nashville and those of us who were here really enjoyed it, taking the opportunity to explore this vibrant city. I will eventually be uploading a lot of my pictures (I took 159 yesterday - have to love digital cameras!) to my Flickr site (look for the CIT 2007 Nashville TN set).

Nashville is a vibrant city with lots to see and do, particularly if you like music and food - from the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry to Jack's BBQ on Broadway, it's a great place to be. We walked all over the city, from the Cumberland River all the way to the Parthenon - a full-size replica of the Athens wonder. Along the way we saw the great Nashville architecture, Vanderbilt University and the homes of the Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators.

Conference started Saturday evening with a familiarization session for those of us who are first timers at CIT - a great way to get things started. can't wait for Sunday...

Welcome To Nashville and CIT 2007

Well here I am in Nashville after a day of airports and airplanes - an uneventful travel day - just a long one - 10 hours of travel time, but only about 3.5 hours of actual flying time. Gotta just love modern air travel.

Tomorrow the rest of the NSCC contingent arrives throughout the day and those of us who are already here in Nashville are planning on taking a bus tour of the city.

CIT 2007 starts tomorrow evening with a reception for all first time attendees (that would be me) - meet and greet, registration and tips and hints on how to get the most out of CIT 2007...

CIT 2007 Nashville

I'm leaving later today for Nashville where I will be attending the League for Innovation in the Community College's Conference on Information Technology (CIT 2007) in Nashville Tennessee (11-14 November). There are a total of fourteen of us from NSCC attending the conference, so look out nashville, here we come!

CIT 2007's mission is to offer a diverse program and cutting-edge exposition exploring the intelligent application of information technology in community and technical colleges (from the CIT 2007 Web site). I'm heading to CIT 2007 to see what's new and hot in community college education, innovative use of technology in learning, and perhaps most importantly to meet amazing people and listen to what they have to say. Oh yeah, and to go to the Grand Ole' Opry too!

It's going to be an amazing, jam-packed few days ate CIT 2007 (here is the conference program - it's also downloadable as a 164 page PDF file). I'm going to be blogging my experience at the conference, so if you what to se what's up and what I'm learning - stay tuned...

The Future Of Media...

Wednesday night I attended the ITANS (Information Technology Industry Alliance Of Nova Scotia) annual dinner. The guest speaker was Ken Rutkowski, media personality, strategist and consultant. The theme of his talk was on the future of media. A couple of cool things came out - one - it's gonna be a busy future, and two - I'm mostly there now!

Ken started his talk by describing old media (TV, newspapers etc.) and new media (Web, RSS, blogs, YouTube etc.) and their products - old media's product is content, while new media's product is the audience - the customer is the advertiser (makes sense - hits is one of the measures of success for an online presence). This distinction may be a little simplistic, but it allows for an identification f new media.

Mobile devices, in particular cell phones (smart devices) is where it is at for the future of media. By 2010 there will 2 billion Nokia cell phones alone in circulation - cell phone penetration is growing and in some nations is well over 90%. I've talked about this in past posts and it's interesting to here an industry expert say the same thing. In my mind it's mobile devices that are the future of education, allowing learners to learn where, when, what, and how they want to.

Ken went on to talk about RSS and push technology, how RSS is pushing information - the customer is the product. I'm a big fan of RSS - push technology is the only way these days to make sense of the sea of information that we are swimming in. Content is everywhere - podcasts, YouTube etc.

Ken then did something very cool- the rest of his presentation consisted of him using Skype to contact "some of his friends", industry experts and personalities who shared their thoughts with us on the future of media. His friends included:

• Ralph Simon - creator of the ring tone
• Johnathan Wendel - professional gamer (Fatality)
• James Sun - CEO of Zoodango - a social networking site that facilitates both online and F2F social networking
• Scott Page - former member of Pink Floyd and Supertramp, now involved in Web-based technology allowing bands to communicate with their fans

The common thread from each of these incredible people is that it's content and mobility, along with penetration that is going to be the future of social media. Businesses and individuals need to get out there and be active parts of this always on environment - be part of community.

Thanks to ITANS and the organizers for a great evening and a wonderful dinner. I know that the students that we brought along had an amazing time - they saw a glimpse into the future - where they will be working and living, and that is too cool...

I Am Blogger - Hear Me Roar!...

This whole blogging thing may just be here to stay :-). I've been blogging seriously now for a couple of years and I have friends like Randommind who have been blogging for considerably longer, saying amazing things and sharing their insights and wisdom with the world.

But what is even more amazing are those bloggers who don't always have important or profound things to say - the ones that are simply sharing their lives and momentary thoughts (like this post) with the world. Blogging has become a conversational method and opportunity - I can actually carry on a conversation with people from all over the world through my blog or their blog. Blogs have become, for me, an essential source of information and research - they are probably my primary source of a lot of the information, and inspiration that I get every day - blogs are immediate, relevant and in some instances even intimate as i share thoughts and opinions back and forth with fellow bloggers. Blogs are also a great way to get noticed out there in cyberspace as blogs have built-in search engine optimization (SEO) - you appear in the first couple of pages of results from a search engine. If you want to be visible online - blog!

I get a lot of my daily information from blogs - i literally have hundreds of feeds that I receive daily through Netvibes that I look at - several I read religiously, many I just scan the title for interest, but the point is I am getting my information from a sea of individuals and what they are sharing with the world. Th sheer power of the blog and it's ability to communicate information, opinion, passion, and knowledge is very powerful.

Even institutions and organizations are blogging - at my college, a new blog has just been started to discusses educational technologies - what a cool way for people to get out of their silos and share what they know with others. Together we all get better at what we do. I attended the Atlantic Internet Marketing conference last spring and one of the tips given there was for all companies to have a blog - be part of the process, talk to your customers and clients - build that personal relationship with them through blogs and just as importantly, get to the top of the search engine heap with SEO.

Many of my friends are blogging and you can see some of their links on my blogroll and my Feevy feed off to the right side of my blog - it's this ability to network and feed off of each other,to engage in conversations that makes blogging such a cool experience for me - it's not that I actually have anything profound or important to say, it's that I have SOMETHING to say and so do the millions of others out there who blog, and occasionally someone listens and comments back the conversation... It's very cool to hear what they have to say. We are bloggers - hear US ROAR!!...


(Photo - Lion by tgraham)

Where Were You When The Light Went Out?

Noel, or more correctly post-tropical storm Noel blew through here last night. Lots of wind and rain and the obligatory power outage. It seems these days it's a given that if it gets windy several things happen - generator, battery, and water sales goes up, and confidence in the power company goes way down. Having said that I'd like to thanks the power crews that venture out in the wind and rain to repair the outages - they have my admiration and thanks. I watch the Powerline Technicians climbing poles at the college during good weather - I can only imagine what it's like in a near hurricane.

Unlike during Hurricane Juan which roared through here in 2003, there was not a lot of damage in my neighbourhood (although there was damage in other parts of the city). I think the reason for the lack of damage was that most of the old trees were lost during Juan. What did come off the trees were all of the coloured leaves - what is left on the trees are the green leaves - it looks strangely Spring-like around here.

Oh and BTW, f you are missing a BBQ lid, it's on my front step...

The Death Of The Chemistry Set...

An interesting post at The 12 Angry Men Blog - "Endangered Species - The Chemistry Set". That prized toy of my youth, those vials and bottles, and tubes of elemental mystery is about as safe as the dodo on the road to extinction. Yet one more casualty of the war on terrorism. Or is it?

I remember my chemistry set with some fondness and I am sure that like most pre-teen boys who had one, the most fun was making smoke and things that went BANG!!, which is of course the last thing that people want happening today. I know that as a society we want to be safe, and ensure a certain amount of security for all, so getting the chemicals that do go BANG!! should be a little more difficult than going to Toys R'Us. But is the impending death of the chemistry set just a result of the socio-political climate we live in or something else as well? Could it be that the chemistry set is slipping into history because it doesn't come with batteries and a joystick and in fact, is the chemistry set another casualty of the Internet Age?

Book reading is down, TV-watching is down and time on the Internet is up. Between games, IM, social networking, and surfing, where does today's child have time to play with a chemistry set, unless of course it's 3-D Flash movies of chemical reactions, molecules, and compounds on a fully-interactive, dynamic web site. When I studied the Table of Elements it was a wall poster or a page in a textbook - now it's a full-colour animated, hyper-link work of Internet art. So while the main cause of the demise of the chemistry set may be the times we live in, a co-conspiratorin the death of the chemsirty set has to be the life kids lead today - indoors, exploring the world through electronics and technology - how can a chemistry set compete with that? Now go out and play! Hmmm...

(Picture - "DSCF0040 by Improbcat)

When Does a Blog Become a Web Site?...

When does a blog become a Web site? I've been asking myself that question the last little while as I take a look at my blog and at the blogs of friends and those that I read on a regular basis. When I started writing my blog it was just that - a place to write down some thoughts - sort of a blank journal. It had a couple of extras - my profile, a picture of me and the Blog archive - neat, clean, no fuss, no muss.

Now look at my blog - at last count there were 19 different things, widgets, components, add-ons, whatever you want to call them - from links to blogs I read, my wiki, my Flickr site, my Facebook profile, blog aggregator sites like Technorati, Feedburner, Netvibes, PageFlakes, and EduSpaces. I can chat through Meebo and stay in touch with Twitter. I can tell how many people are reading my blog through ClustrMaps (come on people where are you?), and I even have pictures of my favourite bloggers on my blog through Feevy.

When did my blog get so crowded anyway? It all just sort of snuck up on me. The other thing is now whenever I set up a profile in Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn or any other social media site, I always put my blog as my web site. I own a domain but haven't done anything with it (I really should) because I'm not a really big fan of "vanity" Web sites. But if you take a look at my blog - vanity thy name is...Me! Hmmm...

We Need A Meebo For Social Networks

A year or two ago if you had asked me what the most social tool that I was using, I would have said instant messaging (IM) software. I used ICQ, MSN (now Windows Live Messenger), and Google Talk to communicate with learners, colleagues, and friends. Thing was, I used all three separately, and had separate lists of contacts on each application.

But that changed with Meebo which allows me to have one single interface regardless of the IM client I was using - I broke down the IM silos (there is also Trillian, but it is an application that needs to be installed on individual computers - not quite as portable as Meebo). With Meebo I can be on a PC or Mac, and I can be in just any type of Web browser or device - universal chat - it has significantly expanded the IM horizon for me, extending the life and application of IM as a social tool that I can use.

But I am not using IM much these days (although with Meebo and now iChat in OS X Leopard I may be using it more...) my main social networking tools these days are social networking sites - the ones I use on a regular basis include Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, Orkut, EduSpaces (ELGG), Ning, and Google Groups (not to mention my blogs and wikis). that's seven different clients, all Web browser-based, but all with their own interface, own friends list, and own way of doing things. None of them can talk to each other - social networking silos.

We need a Meebo for social networking sites - a killer application that will allow me to communicate with all my fiends across all seven of the social networking sites that I now use - a completely transparent experience that will simply let me be social, not have to worry about what friend is on what service - that would be true social networking. As social networking continues to be a big part of people's online lives and becomes a bigger component of education, we need to be able to break down the silos of proprietary applications and interfaces and simply get people networking.

According to Wikipedia, there are currently 116 (and counting) different social networking Web sites - so if there is someone out there thinking that they would like to create the next great application, start thinking about a Meebo for social networking...

Engaging The Digital Learner

Last Saturday I had the privilege of participating in at workshop at the Burridge campus of NSCC in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Through NSCC's Community College Education Diploma Programme (CCEDP) new faculty and professional support staff hires attend a one week Foundations In Adult Education course in August if each year. Then at the end of October after several weeks in the classroom they gather again for a weekend of reflection and networking. This year several colleagues and myself were invited to this weekend to deliver an "Engaging the Digital Learner" workshop.

I believe that the future of education lies in the use of social media and the development of learning and learner-centric customized learning environments controlled by the learner - in other words the personal learning environment or PLE.

The team was led by my friend and colleague Carolyn (Randommind), and consisted of her husband (and my colleague) Chris (Bitdepth), and my colleagues Chris (The Path Is Too Deep) and Lorraine. Oh and me too! We are all graduates of CCEDP and all currently work at NSCC. I am so fortunate to work with such an amazing group of people. I am truly blessed.

Here's a picture of the group in front of the campus:

The workshop was conducted in a round robin or "cracker barrel" format with small groups moving from station to station. we looked at blogs, wikis, podcasts, Facebook and Second Life as educational tools and technologies for engaging today's (and tomorrow's generation of digital learners.

The participants were engaged and enthusiastic, exploring the tools and technologies presented to them, asking lots of relevant questions and actively using the tools presented. I'd spend time describing the experience, but Carolyn, Chris and Chris (I love Chris;s term - "Peeriority Complex") did a much better job on their blogs. Suffice to say that for me the whole event was another one of those "AHA!" moments that force you to look at what it is you are doing. I found the whole experience to be very profound and I was so glad that I was able to be a part of it.

I think what I got most out of this experience was the confirmation that social media is the future of education - the suggestions and enthusiasm of our audience of mostly faculty confirmed that for me. they were engaged and thinking of ways to use the content we facilitated. A workshop wiki, websuperhero was created by the workshop members (check it out) and there is still material being added to it. Many of the audience were asking about how they could use tools and technologies to assist learners, to provide them with choices and as a way to deliver resources and to gather additional resources from learners - the creation of custom learning environments - can you say PLE?

Lastly I want to thank Claudine, George, Libby, Michelle, and Bobbi and all the folks at Organizational Learning for what they do day in and day out to help make all of us better at what we do and make NSCC such an exciting, vibrant place to work at. Thanks all!!

(Photo - "The Team" by Chris Campbell)

Check out Chris Campbell's pictures on Flickr - they are amazing...

Reach Out To Nova Scotia...

I've talked a lot about AHA! moments and transformational learning, but today blew all of that away. Today was Reach Out To Nova Scotia for all learners and staff at the Nova Scotiia Community College (NSCC). I've worked at NSCC for almost five years now, and I love my job and my college - I get to interact on a daily basis with some of the most amazing, passionate, talented people, and the learning and transformations that occur daily are simply amazing. But today outdid them all.

Reach Out To Nova Scotia was a one day service learning opportunity for all staff and learners at NSCC. there were no classes today and over 1600 staff and 10,000 learners went out into their communities around the province and participated in over 300 projects, giving back to province as a way to say thank you for the support the province has given us (over $126 million in development money).

The scope and number of projects was diverse, but all had a common theme - service learning and giving to the community. There was lots of building, painting, scraping, bagging, raking, and picking up and sorting out. Here is one project - gleaning squash fields in the Annapolis valley, producing 5,000 pounds of squash for Feed Nova Scotia - what an amazing accomplishment!

To see more of the kind of projects that we undertook and to see the pride and passion of the people I am so fortunate to hang out with every day, check out the Reach Out To Nova Scotia Flickr site.

I find it hard right now to put in words how I feel about today - it's a mix of pride, well-being, and a feeling that something momentous has happened in my life that will take some time to sink in. I think that may be how many of my colleagues and friends are feeling tonight too - tired, but happy...

It was an amazing day - thank you Nova Scotia!!!

LMSs and PLEs - Friends Or Foes?

Most educators who have ever done any form of online, distance, or alternative delivery education are familiar with learning management systems (LMS). There are the well established commercial products such as WebCT and Blackboard and the more recent open source projects like Moodle and Sakai (the terms CMS, content management system and LCMS, learning content management system are also used, but I'm going to stick with LMS for the purposes of this post).

LMSs get used for all sorts of things - storing content, providing structure, learning outcomes, a common learning space for learners and faculty, scheduling, testing, learner progress, record keeping and more. LMSs have a place in education for delivering a common look and feel to learners, normally distance learners, and as a common location for all learners regardless of the delivery methodology to interact and learn together. LMSs are centrally administered and the course materials in them are traditionally created by faculty.

Then there is the personal learning environment or PLE. In a PLE learners take control of and manage their own learning including:

• setting their own learning outcomes
• managing their learning; managing both content and process
• communicating with others in the process of learning

This can be done using a combination of tools and technologies - presentations, lectures, discussions, podcasts, blogs, wikis, video, audio, and any other tool, technique or resources that helps a learner meet their learning styles and golas. The key here is that a PLE is developed, created, and managed by the learner and faculty provide a supportive, facilitative role. With new technologies, Web 2.0, and devices like Apple's iPhone (coming to Canada one of these days), learners now have absolute control over their learning environments and when, where, why, and how they learn.

So at face value it appears that LMSs and PLEs are at opposite ends of the learning spectrum - LMSs are organized and managed centrally by the creators and deliverers of learning and they are content-centric. PLEs are learner-centred and learner-organized, no two looking the same as they are developed and customized by their creators and users (the learner).

I believe that PLEs are the learning tool of the future - they are learning-centred, customized and transportable - with the right tools and technologies learning can take place anywhere inside or outside of traditional learning spaces. But many learning institutions, mine included, have invested a lot of time, effort, and money into LMSs that to date have been successful in delivering effective learning environments. Is there a middle ground where learners can take advantage of PLEs and institutions can still get use from their LMSs?

I think that there may be. If a learning institution adopts the PLE approach with its learners, it doesn't have to abandon any of its existing learning methods or tools, including any LMSs in use. In fact I believe that there is a role for a LMS to play in supporting and enhancing PLEs. Existing LMSs would provide excellent repositories for learning objects, data, tools and technologies that learners could access as part of their PLE creation and development, particularly as they are beginning the PLE development process and need extra support and facilitations. Institutions could use their LMSs in place to support the creativity of learner-created PLEs. As learners become more comfortable with the responsibility of creating and managing their PLE, they could then branch out beyond the LMS to find those tools and resources that work for their learning, and deposit the resources that they discover for other learners to use in the creation of their PLEs .

This way institutions and learners can transition away from LMSs and towards the use of PLEs without abandoning the investment made in LMSs. PLEs will require institutional support that the framework of existing LMSs can provide.

So LMSs and PLEs - friend or foe? Hmmm...

OLPC - One Laptop Per Child - Give One Get One...

Many of you have heard of the OLPC - One Laptop Per Child project. Also known as the $100.00 laptop (which is actually now the $188.00 laptop, but the price is falling), the intent of this project is to bring affordable computing to those nations and children who cannot afford traditional computing and/or network infrastructures.

The mission of the OLPC project is:

"To provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves. "

Or as the founder of the project, Nicholas Negroponte puts it - "It's an education project, not a laptop project.”

To date the organization that created the OLPC has only sold the laptop to national agencies and governments, but for a short period of time beginning November 12th, 2007, you have the chance to get your own OLPC through the "Give One Get One" programme. The way the programme work is that you pay $399.00 US and for that donation one laptop is sent to a child to learn in a developing nation, and one that will be sent to you for a child or school in your neighbourhood )or for your own use for that matter).

Why would you want to do this besides the obvious charitable reasons? Well the OLPC is actually a very capable computer and would make an excellent first computer for any child or novice to computing. It has some amazing features that we may see some day on mainstream, traditional laptop computers like the ability to create its own network of fellow OLPC laptops if no Internet connection is available, providing simple, and low cost classroom networks. It is aso very rugged, perfect for a child, and has some very neat power handling features. The battery, which is a $10 dollar part has a much longer life than batteries currently used in conventional laptops, significantly reducing the environmental footprint of used batteries.

You get a lot of computer for $100.00. The basic specifications can be found here, and include flash memory, a water resistant keyboard, wireless, tablet mode, and a Linux-based operating systems (mostly from Red Hat's Fedora Core 6) which all result is a very capble computer.

Here is a review of the OLPC by Davis Pogue:



Here is another review of the OLPC from Geek.com - Lessons To Learn From The OLPC - and there are many lessons that we could apply to the computers and networks that we are currently using for education, and for that matter even business applications.

I think that this is an amazing project with world-transforming potential. As an educator, I see the OLPC having terrific potential, not just in developing nations, but also here in Canada and other developing nations as an inexpensive way to give many of our under-privileged and developing children access to computing - skills that will be as necessary in the 21st century as reading, writing, and arithmetic. So on the 12th of November, I'll be Giving One and Getting One. Will you...?

(many thanks to my good friend Randommind for blogging about this - you always find the good stuff...)

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)

The Beginning Of A New Beginning...

As an adult educator I love this time of year. The weather is nice, although it has been a little hot and humid lately (sorry my Canadian predisposition to complain about the weather just reared its ugly head), everyone is recharged after a summer off, faculty are back on campus, and we await a whole new class of learners. It really is a great time of year, of new beginnings.

This year is really a new beginning for me. For those of you who have read my updated profile, you will know that I am now an academic chair at the NSCC, and for the first time in many years will not be in the classroom. It really is the beginning of a new beginning for me and I'm looking forward to the opportunities and challenges of the new position. I will still be contributing to the education and learning that happens at the College, just on a different stage and in different ways.

I have been asked by many people if I will miss the classroom, and to be honest, I don't think that I will - I love the classroom, but I also like the idea of being able to contribute to the College on the larger stage. I will still be interacting with learners, but in a different way and I will also be involved with faculty and staff; again in a new role.

It really is the beginning of a new beginning and I can't wait for next week and the return of learners...

I Have Seen The Light... And It's A Mac!!

I have seen the light and it's a Mac! In fact it's a shiny new Apple MacBook Pro. I have wanted a Mac for a long time, but was always put off by the price, the need for new software, and many other reasons that escape me now that I own one.

I've had my Mac now for almost a month, and let me tell you - OS X is everything Vista should be. I find it far more intuitive and easier to use. It's certainly easier to find things. I now prefer the Dock to the menu and taskbar model of Windows, and as a lifelong hater of touchpads, let me tell you the Mac's touchpad is simply well - amazing. I have an Apple Mighty Mouse (Bluetooth BTW), but I only use it in Second Life - I actually find the touchpad easy to use (and I never thought I would say that).

For those of you who are still saying yes, but Macs are more expensive, check out this article from IT Business.ca - "Mac vs.PC cost analysis Part 1". As for the software costs - there is an awful lot of Web 2.0, freeware and shareware out there at little or no cost for the Mac. If you absolutely must have that windows app then get a copy of Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion and get the best of both worlds.

Now when I need to replace my desktop, might it be an iMac? Hmmm...

E-Mail Is Dead! Long Live ??...

This post "Is E-Mail On The Way Out?" from the Adaptive Path blog (you should add it's feed to your RSS aggregator ASAP), got me thinking again about the use and lifespan of e-mail. Is e-mail dead? Not yet, but I think it is starting to not feel so well. I still run my life with e-mail, it's my main form of business communication certainly, but there are other tools and technologies creeping in and my e-mail clients should be worried.

If I take a moment and look at all of the tools that I am using to communicate and share with people in my personal life, e-mail is probably now the least used tool - I use Twitter to update my comings and goings (but I need to get better at it), Facebook for just about everything that is me, Skype to stay in touch and communicate visually and by voice, Blogger to express and share my thoughts, Google Docs and Spreadsheets and Google Groups to collaborate, and many other tools and technologies as the mood strikes.There isn't any room for e-mail in my personal life anymore.

And to top it all off I get most of this information pushed to me, not to my computer, but to my cell phone - I am truly mobile.

Now I am not actually saying that e-mail is dead - it is still the tool I use and most people use for business communication, and I don't see that changing anytime soon, but as an educator I have come to see learners who don't use e-mail regularly if at all anymore (just ask them if they read that important announcement sent to their College e-mail account if you don't believe me). Learners are telling me that e-mail is dull and slow, that it's not immediate enough - they prefer IM or Facebook, or some other more immediate form of communication.

I asked a first year IT class to make a choice - do without e-mail, or do without Internet access - it was unanimous - 100% offered to give up their e-mail on the spot. Today's learners see e-mail as an old, tired technology; one that is not agile or immediate enough for their needs. As educators we need to be where are learners are, and to get there we need to embrace the changing technologies and engage with them - and you know I have - and they are right - e-mail is old and slow! I actually can go for days not checking my personal e-mail account, but I am on Facebook every day - it's one of my home page tabs...

So if e-mail is dead - what will replace it? Well whatever it is, I think it will be more open and social than the closed system of sending a message to a finite number of addressees. It may be Facebook or its successor, or twitter, or a combination of more than one tool. Whatever it will be it will be accessed more on mobile devices than computers, that I know for sure. The only thing that I haven't quite got my head around is how confidential matters will be handled, so maybe there will always be a small corner in the room for e-mail or its closed successor. Hmmm...

(Photo - "Tools of the Trade" by tim_d)

Festival of Learning

I have the distinct privilege and honour of belonging to the most amazing learning organization - The Nova Scotia Community College. This past Thursday the most amazing event took place at our Truro campus. The College celebrated its first Festival of Learning, a day to share and celebrate the learning happening at the College. Colleagues presented on what they had learned, how they had learned and the transformations that occurred through their learning. The presentations were diverse and amazing in their power and quality.

I was asked to participate in a "Learning Market", where various presenters set up in a market stall sort of fashion and presented what they had done over lunch. My presentation was on my experience with conference blogging at STLHE 2007 (see my June posts).

What is conference blogging you say? Well it's blogging a conference while you are there - I find it to be a great reflective tool and a good way to share my conference experiences. When NSCC sends someone to an event or conference, they return to the College and share what they have learned - by blogging while at the conference, I find it more immediate and relevant, and the sharing begins before I even get home!

But enough about me - the festival was amazing - I have never seen so many engaged, energized, and passionate learners in one place - and the very cool thing is that as a presenter I learned more than most of the people who dropped by my display - I got to explain and contextualize what I did and got some great ideas on how to make it even better - so cool.

The other major event of the day was the graduation of the CCEDP (Community College Education Diploma Program) class. CCEDP is NSCC's staff and faculty development program and it is absolutely transformational. I have a MEd in Adult Education and Training and I learned more from the CCEDP program that I could actually use in the classroom than I ever did from grad school. There were 40 grads from the program. Here is a picture of those who attended the convocation. Congratulations to all of you!

New faculty orientation was also held this week in Truro, so 33 new faculty members from all across the College came together for a week of orientation and introductions. To all of you, welcome to NSCC, you have made a great choice - I look forward to working with all of you.

What an amazing day! As educators we so rarely get an opportunity to get together and share what we do, and what an opportunity the festival was, and perfect timing too - now we can take all of that energy and enthusiasm into a new academic year - the possibilities are endless!

I'd like to thank all of those who organized, setup, managed, ran, facilitated, presented, attended, and made the festival such a success, but I really want to thank my friend, my mentor, my colleague Libby for asking me to be a part of such an incredible day and Bobbi for all of her creativity and vision in making such an amazing day happen. Thanks Libby!! Thanks Bobbi!!...

I Speak Therefore I Am - Or Am I?

The latest version of the Second Life (SL) client has brought voice chat to the virtual world. There has been an amazing amount of debate (check out the SLED mailing list) about the use of voice in Second Life and what voice will do to the experience of using a virtual world where users are represented by an avatar that may have little or no connection to who they are in the "real world".

Will voice enhance or take away from the SL experience? It will certainly change it - I guess it will be the users who will determine the effects of voice chat. One thing that it has done already is caused interface changes in SL, which took some getting use to (my God I am a creature of habit!!). Many people are of the opinion that voice will add to the educational power of SL because users will be able to engage in conversations that are voice driven giving perhaps a better idea of who you are talking to and what they really mean. Just as many feel that it will take away from conversations and learning - I mean if you are talking to a beautiful female avatar who sounds like Jimmy Durante when they talk, that might have an effect on the conversation and the message.

All this debate about voice in a virtual world has me thinking about voice in the real world. The other day my best friend told me that I had a great "radio" voice - that surprised me because the voice I hear in my head when I speak doesn't sound like that to me. What are the implications of using voice to communicate? Much of my day to day communication these days is text-based - e-mails, chats, Facebook, instant messaging, text messages and so on. One of the complaints about text is that you can miss the nuances or intent of the message. Does voice get rid of this issue or add another layer? Is voice our preferred method of communication? Do you need to see the person(s) you are talking with so that you can see their body language to get the full meaning of what they are saying? Do any of our ways of communicating - text, voice, sight, sound individually give us the full meaning of a conversation, or do we need them all together to really understand a conversation?

These questions have great implications for us as educators, particularly as we move away from traditional classroom-based delivery where we have the full meal deal of voice, text, and sight, to alternate and distance delivery methods where we will probably have text, may have voice, but probably not sight. Can you really know someone who you have only texted with? I hope so, because I have people that I have met online and consider friends, but I have never actually spoken to them or seen them. This will become more and more common in the future.
So are these people whose voices we never hear less important or less relevant than those whose voice we do? I don't think so - ideas and points of view can be expressed without using voice, but we will all have to become better at expressing ourselves non-verbally, or we will lose the opportunity of meeting some pretty amazing people.

So if I never hear your voice, do you exist? Hmmm...


(Photo - "Elephant Talk" by gin_able)