I’m presenting today at the CASE/NAIS conference — I’m in the Uncharted Territory track, which seems oddly appropriate 
For those interested, the presentation is available here (ppt download, 331 KB).
Cheers!
Over the last few months, I’ve received a few emails about how to get involved in the project. Toward that end, we set up a Mediawiki instance at http://wiki.openacademic.org. The wiki is pretty barren now, but we will be fleshing it out with more details on our roadmap, and our ideas all steps of the development process.
Since we brought the site live, one of the challenges we have faced is balancing the time necessary to do the work with the time necessary to let people know about the work. It’s an ongoing challenge, and we hope the wiki will help alleviate some of that inherent tension.
We are looking for people who want to get involved — people who are using these tools in the classroom, and developers who are writing code that supports a focused integration between these tools, and folks who are just plain interested. If you match any of those definitions, or even if you don’t, come on down.
And, it is OpenID enabled.
Some interesting thoughts about media literacy, google bombing, and white supremacism in a conversation started by Tom Hoffman and moved along by Will Richardson.
So, let’s get some of the important stuff out of the way:
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
I love the smell of in the morning. These legitimate links to sites on MLK will gain an incremental boost in page rank, thus pushing the crap at martinlutherking (dot) org further down in the rankings. While I don’t particularly agree with artificially gaming systems, I disagree more with racist propaganda. So, Googlebombs away.
On a seemingly unrelated note, in several other places I’ve seen hue and cry about the need to teach MySpace to students. On the sites where people actually take the time to explain what they mean by this, they usually equate “teaching MySpace” with teaching students how to protect their personal information online.
I shudder when I read these posts because I wonder if these people are really serious, or if they are cynically using the popularity of MySpace as a search term to buoy their own pagerank, and, by extension, their perceived credibility.
To me, online security and Google bombing both fall under the umbrella of media literacy. As the whole lonelygirl15 show demonstrated (and I’m intentionally not linking to any sources about this; if you need background, just google “lonelygirl15”), Identity is now content. MySpace, and YouTube, and blogs, and podcasts, and [fill in the blank with another web 2.0 buzzword] blur the lines between content creators and content consumers, but make no mistake about it: content is being consumed, and professional content creators (we can just call them salesmen or advertisers) are infiltrating “amateur” spaces in increasingly sophisticated efforts to work an angle and make a buck.
Credibility can now be gamed. Popularity can now be gamed. People actually spend time trying to figure out how to . I don’t point this out to criticize the internet, merely to demonstrate that the same issues that exist in Meatspace exist online. There is nothing wrong with making money. Even I try and do it on occasion. But, whether one is online or offline, ethical lapses abound. As educators and learners, our responsibility remains unchanged: how do we help our students and peers analyze the information they consume?
As Tom Hoffman points out in another post, this isn’t new ground. As a species, we have made use of critical thinking in past generations. But, as the tools for gaming credibility change, we need to teach our students how to look behind the curtain.
And this points to a frequently-overlooked value of blogging. Many people see blogging as the act of finding an audience, and denigrate blogging that occurs within a walled garden, or within a course that isn’t accessible to the entire internet. These folks miss the point. Blogging can be about finding an audience, but it also provides an accessible medium for finding a voice. In the process of learning how to structure an argument, one also learns how to spot strengths and weaknesses in the arguments one encounters. Through learning the technical aspects of writing well, one can learn the critical and analytical skills needed to navigate the internet safely.
Oh, and one other thing. Critical thinking works pretty well offline, too.
For a K-12 language educator, teaching vocabulary presents some singular challenges. While we all agree that vocabulary is a critical skill, the agreement tends to disappear when it comes to how to present vocabulary in a classroom setting. Talking about words has the potential to expose students to the power and paradox of language; however, vocabulary instruction frequently descends to a balance between exposing students to as many words as possible, defining the words clearly, and keeping the class awake in the process.
The challenge: minimize the rote repetition, maximize the time spent using the words.
A. One way through the morass:
A teacher logs onto a web site and types a list of words into a form. When the teacher submits the form, the following web pages are automagically created:
Later in the post, I’ll explain how this can work. For now, though, let’s take a look at what this could achieve.
In the time it would take to type ten or twenty words, an instructor could present students with a list of words and reliable definitions. Some online dictionaries also have pronunciation guides. The master page with all the words organizes the words in one place, to simplify studying for vocab exams. The individual pages for each word create some possibilities. From the pages containing individual words, students can be assigned (on a student-per-word basis) to:
Students could add their responses as comments on individual words, or as blog posts.The list included here is a quick start. A range of possibilities exist, and the best approach will be determined by the nature of the class. Speeding up the delivery of the definitions allows more class time to be spent working creatively with the words. As with any subject, questions will arise. Using this approach, however, the questions and their subsequent explanations are rooted in specific, concrete examples.
I have taught vocab in this way with some classes — coding the links by hand, of course, and by having students respond on paper if and when internet access was an issue. I buttress this approach with flashcards, and I’ve found that students tend to retain the definitions fairly well over time. In my classes, I have had students tell me that the process of learning the word (the limerick, the paragraph scene, the zeugma) became the mnemonic device through which they retained it. Of course, this is all anecdoctal, so take it for what it’s worth.
B. Taking a step back:
This approach has applications beyond studying vocabulary — instead of searching a dictionary site, however, you would want to search through a broader range of sites. In a Biology classroom, an instructor preparing their class to learn about photosynthesis could type in: photorespiration, carbon fixation, Calvin cycle
The comma marks the break point between individual search strings.
In a World History course, an instructor could type in: British colonial expansion India, British colonial failures India, British colonial wars India, British colonial rule Mahatma Gandhi
For what it’s worth, the same search strings for the World History course could also be used to teach online research methods and the critical thinking skills required to analyze bias in source material.
C. How this works:
It’s all about hacking search urls. Most search urls are composed of a prefix, the actual search string, and, in some cases, a suffix. The prefix generally contains the site address, plus some additional info to access the search. Looking at a few examples will help illustrate the point.
Example 1. Click here to get a definition of peripatetic from Merriam Webster online, and here to get a definition from Dictionary.com.
If you look at the url at m-w.com, you will see that the prefix is http://m-w.com/dictionary/ followed by the search string — in this case, the word. You can substitute different words to see what happens
With the url for Dictionary.com, the prefix looks a bit more verbose: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=
Example 2. Search Wikipedia for “be bop a doo bop”
The prefix for this search is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search= followed by the string: be+bop+a+doo+bop — it will also work without the plus signs connecting the words, but it’s bad form, and violates techno-geek etiquette. The suffix for Wikipedia is &go=Go
Example 3. for the Calvin cycle.
As would be expected, Google offers some fun options. For the basic search, the prefix is http://www.google.com/search?&q= followed by the search term. As with Wikipedia, the “+” signs are suggested but not mandatory. However, omitting the “+” signs does officially take you out of the running for the free pocket protector and propeller hat.
Example 4. Use Google to for information on invasive species.
In this example, the prefix remains the same: http://www.google.com/search?&q=
However, by attaching the suffix site:www.nbii.gov only that one specific site is searched.
By the way, to run a Google search in safe mode, just change the prefix: http://www.google.com/search?&safe=active&q=
At the risk of oversimplifying the process, to build this app, you’d set the code up to take the comma-separated values (as seen in this example), and build a search url by concatenating the prefix, the string, and the suffix.
D. Next steps:
The bad news? This app doesn’t exist, yet. The good news? It wouldn’t be too hard to build. My initial instinct would be to build it within Drupal and include this functionality in Drupal-based class sites. Left to our own devices, we’ll probably build it at some point, if or when our workload lightens up. If a developer is interested in building this out, we’d be glad to work with you to help you get it done; contact us and let us know. If someone wants this functionality, or if a couple schools want to get together to sponsor development on this, that’d be great too. No matter the route, it will get built, and released back to the open source and educational communities. It’s just a question of when.
Since announcing the OpenAcademic project last week, we have received emails from a wide variety of people and institutions expressing interest and offering help. It’s been a busy week, and the upcoming weeks promise to be even busier, but, based on the initial interest we have received, it feels good to be setting up a project that brings these open source tools to the educational community.
In the next couple of weeks we will launch the development site for the project — this site will open up the development community, and support those wanting to help out. The roadmap is being finalised and will appear shortly and as always, we will continue to keep you posted via the OpenAcademic blog.
We are very excited about the work going on here, and the potential as we move forward. Thanks for your interest, and check back here for the latest details.
Cheers,
The OA team
At long last, we are happy to announce the launch of the OpenAcademic project. This project is dedicated to integrating Elgg, Drupal, Moodle, and Mediawiki. All code developed under this project will be released back to the respective communities under an open source license, and it will be freely available to download and distribute.
Yeah. We’re silly like that.
This project arose from a series of online discussions about Elgg, Drupal, and Moodle, and how these tools fit in an educational setting. As we continued to talk about these tools, we all saw the opportunity to create a better online learning environment — a learning space that incorporated informal learning alongside a more formal course structure, and that drew from the strength of the community-building software already built by the open source community.
Over the next few days and weeks, we will be talking more about our plans and vision for the integration. In general terms, the integration will start with single sign on between sites, and the ability to move content seamlessly between sites. The integration will also include the ability to search across sites, and to aggregate tags across sites. As the integration develops, these tools have the potential to create a truly distributed network of learners.
This integration, and this site, are very much works in progress. As I mentioned above, we will be writing about our precise vision for the initial integration. As we develop code, we plan to release it as early and as often as possible. We want people to use it, and to give us feedback, and to get involved in the process. Towards that end, we will be launching a developer site shortly — a site where developers can find information on how to get involved, meet other coders working on the project, and share code back. Look to this space for an announcement about when the developer site goes live. In the meantime, if you want to help out with the code, or talk to us about development for your institution, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Currently, the project is moving forward on a few fronts. We have been focusing on single sign on, as we see that as a central piece of functionality. Work is underway on building out Elgg as the front end for an OpenID server, and Moodle integration of OpenID has also begun. Drupal is also OpenID enabled, and there is an OpenID plugin in the Mediawiki svn repository. We have also looked at a few possibilities for searching across multiple sites, and for aggregating tags across sites. One of the items on Elgg’s long term roadmap is the ability to search user profiles and maintain friends across different Elgg installs, and some initial work on that has also been completed.
So, here’s to the beginning of something fun.
Cheers,
The OpenAcademic team
OpenAcademic provides the following services:
Turnkey hosting packages. The turnkey packages are installed, configured, and handed over to you ready to use. These packages are ideal for institutions looking to outsource some sections of their technology infrastructure, thus freeing up tech staff to support teaching and learning. The turnkey solutions are also offered on a month-to-month basis, providing a cost effective option for testing the software with a small group of users before a large rollout.
Transfer service. If your organization starts out with one of our hosted services and subsequently decides to host the web sites on your servers, we will work with you to set up your hosting environment and transfer the sites with minimal downtime and no loss of data. so, if at a later date you really like the solution on offer and want to host it yourself, we can transfer it over to your servers.
We are currently working out the pricing on our hosted services. Look for a launch notice soon!
Custom development. Does your institution have a specific need that just isn’t being met by your current technology setup? We will work with you to design the solution that you want.
Contact the OpenAcademic team and we will talk through your requirements and come up with a custom solution to meet your needs and budget. OpenAcademic is all about flexible solutions that meet your needs.
We want this OpenAcademic website to reflect the whole process behind OpenAcademic - organic. We are constantly learning, improving our services, solutions and experience. As we do, this will reflect on the web site - we will be using this news blog to disseminate developments for those interested. If you want to get involved please feel free to comment on any of the posts.
I am very excited about the prospects of this new project. OpenAcademic is a new company with the sole aim of provide open source learning solutions which are:
To achieve these goals we approach things from an end users prospective - you should never need to bend your requirements and needs to fit the software you are using - it should be the other around, the software should work for you.
OpenAcademic takes advantage of some of the best Open Source educational tools available; Moodle, and Elgg as well as the excellent OpenID to glue it all together.
This is an organic project, we will be learning as we go along and are actively encouraging people to get involved. So, if you are a developer, and educator with a passion for online learning tools and environments or just someone who has a passion for this area, please get in touch.
