Based on Jon Udell’s excellent post, I spent the weekend getting reacquainted with work of Eric von Hippel, the researcher who pioneered the study of user-driven innovation. What’s interesting about von Hippel is that his research hits on the common themes of the open education movement, but does so in a slightly different key. Briefly, there are […]
Jon-Udell
What Intrigues Me About Google Wave
Now that I’ve had a little while to think about it, I’m ready to distill my initial enthusiastic reaction to Google Wave down to a manageably short (and hopefully non-fanboi) post. Let me say at the outset that I have no idea whether Wave will succeed. I am convinced, however, that something like Wave will […]
Teaching Faculty About Wikipedia (and Social Software in General)
I just discovered Jon Udell’s wonderfully archeological screencast about the evolution of a wikipedia page. In eight and a half minutes, he beautifully demonstrates how a community negotiates knowledge construction when nobody is the boss, anybody can edit, and there are no formal processes. As we know, this is a particularly vexing question to many […]
Video Literacy
There’s an old joke among instructional designers. In response to a request for “gratuitous” video in a course, we ask, “What moves?” The implication, of course, is that if you are not showing content that is inherently dynamic and in motion then there is no point to video. How last millennium can you be? The […]
Progress Toward an Offline e-Learning Client?
One of the most beloved aspects of the SUNY Learning Network’s current Lotus Notes-based homegrown LMS is its offline capabilities. Faculty members can download the current course data–including student discussion posts, tests, etc. They can respond to posts, grade papers and tests, add announcements, and so on, all while offline, and automatically synchronize the next […]
Del.icio.us Feast
I admit it: Much as del.icio.us has intrigued me, I could never quite figure out how to use the darned thing. Lucky for me, Eric Feinblatt turned me on to a screencast on the topic by John Udell. If you’re like me and you haven’t quite been able to get into del.icio.us, then check out […]
JotSpot Initial Impressions: This is Your Source Code on Wiki
After spending a few hours playing around with the JotSpot beta, I can say that I like what I see very much so far. As a non-programmer who wants to learn a little HTML and doesn’t read manuals very often, I love the “View Source” feature in my browser. I can find a page I […]