After reviewing the Book review guidelines from Journal of Educational Technology & Society, I believe that composing a book review boils down to ‘being succinct’ and ‘being yourself.’ And what I found out from From Now On The Educational Technology Journal is that reviewer has to pick up relatively new book (less than a year). However, the book I chose, Discussion-Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning: Theory, Practice and Assessment by Tisha Bender, was published in 2003. I wasn’t surprised that there are 2 reviews of this book available. I then searched for books pertaining to online discussion/collaboration and found another interesting book, Collaborating Online: Learning Together in Community by Rena M. Palloff and, Keith Pratt. Unfortunately, the book was published in 2004—1 year behind the proper timing for book review—and, of course, has been reviewed in Quarterly Review of Distance Education; Summer 2006, Vol. 7 Issue 2. Since these are only 2 books, from many books in this niche, that I found them interesting. I then decided to review the former one and take it as a stepping-stone to acquiring the skills in reviewing.
Authentic, technical professional development 02.0
Aiming at improving my technical skill in website security and maintenance, I came up with the following plan:
Objectives: Explain common types of attacks and how to withstand them (application) Examine threats and determine how to protect against them (analysis) Resources/strategies: I will mainly use Essential PHP Security (ISBN: 059600656X), consult PHP developer and moodle forum. I will then exercise security practices with my existing web applications. Target Date: 10/01-10/14 Finish the PHP book 10/01-10/30 Finish security coding Evidence: Fractions of code (with accompanying comments) in the site that shows protecting techniques against possible threats. Verification: I will deliver presentation of PHP security and related issues in class.
OneWebDay is a celebration of the Internet's ability to foster communication. Today, September 22, 2006, is the first official internet holiday according to OneWebDay website. If you wonder how to celebrate the day, wikihow has an answer for you.
Technology Magni-phi & related phenomena web presentation [positivism, cognitivism] Description When I was self-learning about psychology last summer, I had a hard time understanding phi and beta in the Gestalt theory. This site provides interactive review to differentiate phi and beta (discoverable fact). I remembered watching the presentation again and again to make sense of it. Still, it’s hard, even with animated presentation (cognitivism), to fully understand the difference between the two. I assumed it’s the fact that I couldn’t unearth from the material. http://www2.psych.purdue.edu/Magniphi/
Technology writely [constructivism] Description writely is an online word processor allowing users to synchronously collaborate document. It offers familiar toolbars similar to leading word processors which users may easily join forces by simply add colleague’s emails to the system. This sharing prevents collided text when two or more users edit the same place of the document. Writely promotes collaborative practice with web publishing and blogging features. http://www.writely.com/?action=home
Technology current.tv web technology to teach TV producer wannabe [constructivism] Description current tv is a cable channel seeking short program (pod) from viewer—viewer created content or VC2. Viewers joined community by viewing pods that are uploaded and voting their favorite pod to air on cable TV (socially constructed knowledge). VC2 producers then get paid if their pods were aired. The web provides thorough training section ranging from storytelling techniques to camera shooting and editing. Viewers then learn how to actively and critically produce content based on their own experience. Current.tv promotes collaborative learning and practicing with links to several communities worldwide. http://www.current.tv/ http://www.current.tv/make/training
Description Asynchronous discussion-based online teaching and learning is one of the promising tools in promoting high-level thinking. Rational I would want to examine potential of asynchronous online discussion, especially in term of high-level (critical) thinking. The finding focuses on conditions that foster, and evaluation techniques of critical thinking. Bender’s (2003) believes that humanities, social sciences, and writing are well suit for online education; I then hope to find support evidences for Bender’s assertion and potential in other disciplines that has potential for this educational model.
Authentic, technical professional development 01.0
I have been teaching web design and programming courses for almost 4 years. I also develop and administer a few websites. I was fortunate to getting started with html and notepad, then further studied web authoring and related tools, such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and Flash. After spending time designing and coding from scratch, I turned to CMS (mambo, phpnuke, and phpbb), and then LMS (moodle). Designing from pre-designed templates is a whole lot easier, and helps me focus on delivering content and managing the site. However, I am also concerned with site maintenance and hope to look into this area someday. The reason I keep procrastinating is because, to me, these issues seem so broad and obscure. Seeing myself in the future as a distance-learning director, I believe technical know-how is crucial.
My rough plan is to seek advice from professional webmaster, join developer community to gain more insight information, and find a book regarding maintenance and security.
Originally in PowerPoint, But I migrated to Photoshop because the transparent setting in PowerPoint (the overlapping blue and orange circles) doesn’t work for some reason. I also moved the brain image (the right one) so that it will not sit over the overlapping area.
Positioning My 01.1 – Required skills and Experiences
As I imagined that the online/distance learning posts will be ubiquitous in Thailand soon, I searched for online/distance learning executive positions in US and came up with required skills and experiences for my dream post--a Director of Distance Learning:
Technological Skills and Experiences:
Understanding of computer technologies and their applications, particularly in education
Experience utilizing and integrating instructional technologies and/or distance learning technologies in the curriculum
Academic Skills and Experiences:
Experience in working with faculty and students in an academic setting
Experience in (online/distance) instructional design, curricular planning, development, and program assessment/evaluation
Experience in student recruiting, and program marketing i
Research skills
Managerial Skills and Experiences:
Ability to respond quickly and effectively to changing situations
Ability to manage and lead the department to achieve strategic and budget goals i
Analytical, organizational, supervisory, reasoning, verbal and written communication, presentation, and problem solving skills
Note: As an executive level, I do believe that marketing and financial skills are as important as academic skills
Originally an artifact made with Flash from EME6405 Educational Technology & Teaching with Dr.Ferdig last spring, I think it is fit for our class assignment “Positioning Yourself in the Field”. This kind of assignments allow us to look back in time, think about what we have now, and envision ourselves in the future.
I dream of being a director of the Distance Learning Unit so I anticipated my own job description and required personal attributes to handle the tasks at hand. Well, I think the presentation is self-explanatory; hope you all enjoy.
Note that I put a Creative Commons License to my Flash presentation. I found this License information while I was wading through Blogger’s help section. I think it’s worth reading and working with this concept, at lease as a prospective instructional designer. With this license, we can share our works and, of course, can safely use resources from others.
A quick review for this license is at the comic ‘How it Works’.
After goofing around blogger’s help section, I finally found the way to install counter from Bravenet Hit Counter as you can see it on the bottom right of the screen. This Bravenet site allows you to link to 3 free simple counters/stats and has many counter designs for you to choose.
I would agree with the latest AECT definition of the concept of educational technology:
Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources1.
I like that the word ethical is added in this new definition since we all realized how easy for today’s learning materials are taken without permission. AECT’s code of ethics highlights commitment to the profession--inform users about copyright law and other laws relating to the profession. The code also underlines commitment to the individual--provide open and indiscriminate access. The word facilitating means that we focus on learning experience, not on technologies, and therefore seamlessly assist learners in improving their performance. The terms creating, using, and managing cover required activities in educational technology; creation implies analysis, design, development, and evaluation; utilization implies selection, diffusion, and institutionalization; and management incorporates project, delivery system, personnel, and information management (Reiser and Dempsey, 2006.)
References
Reiser, R. A. & Dempsey, J. V. (2006). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (2nd ed.) Columbus, Ohio: Prentice Hall
AECT (n.d.). Code of Ethics. Retrieved August 30, 2006, from http://www.aect.org/About/Ethics.htm
