March 2011 Blog Posts (16)

Unplugging from the Commercial Software Grid Using Moodle on a Shoestring:

Where’s the Chalk?

Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference

Nancy Berkompas and Rick Elder -Bay Mills Community College

Kent Brooks --Western Oklahoma State College

Chicago IL - April 10, 2011

Higher Learning Commission…

Intro

The online classroom is still seen by some as lacking the human “connectivity” of face-to-face courses(Kelly)(Vrasidas, and Stock McIsaac 22-36).  In an online course we lose eye contact, body language and other non-verbal cues which are available to the instructor, as well as students, in the traditional face-to-face instructional setting. My experience as a student, instructor and IT support for online courses has left me less than satisfied with the tools…

I was just thinking that the reason for this post may be obvious to some, but not necessarily to me. The world is going mobile!  Sure it is all around me but I have always been a bit of a skeptic (no more like) slow mover on this one.  Sure you might say look around everyone is going mobile, people are dropping land lines, the Apps business is going wild(Who doesn't have Angry Birds on some mobile device) etc etc etc.    Personally, I really don’t like typing with my…

I was just thinking I have been using Dropbox for over a year and Dropbox is tough to beat. I used to access my own files over FTP from some online server space, but would occasionally have a few  issues with reliability and usability. If my connection dropped out, I lost access. Therefore the ability to store the files both locally and on the cloud such as you can with dropbox is a tremendous benefit  Your computer treats it like local storage (since it is, in fact, stored locally and then…

I was just thinking that Learning to Grow well is not always easy.   There are many disaster stories about organizations which have grown too fast for their own good.  We are a small rural institution who is on the verge of not being small and as such have had to think about what all of this means.  Much of this story is told in the video below and in my post :

Cost Savings, Economic Impact, Enterprise Capability and User…

John Chambers Cisco

1. A Teacher from 100 years ago could come in and teach in a format that would not be substantially different from then.  
2. From our 16 speakers We are beginning to see transitions and tipping points.

Micheal Stevenson Cisco

1. It is simply no longer good enough to be second. 
2. Cisco provides support for Education…

I had one link wrong in one of my other posts so here we go again.  Today was the final day of the 2011 Heartland eLearning Conference at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. These are links to the resources I shared in my pre-conference workshops, and breakout session.

 …

I was just thinking that I have this video in another location, but it will be  easier to find in its own separate post.  What a great couple of learning days at the Heartland elearning conference.  Actually I have been on a a week and a half roll.  First the League for Innovation at the Community College, then the Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges and Finally the Heartland eLearning Conference.  During Micheal…

The cloud is generally...

faster

more convienent

more stable

Crusty Neverchange

 …

March 8

Micheal Wesch Keynote

Key Statements

Students are meaning seekers

We need to move from knowledgable to knowledge - able

Knowledge-ability

We need to get beyond critical thinking

Your identity is reflected back from others

We have never had higher self esteem than now

Media are not just tools

Media mediates relationships

When media…

In 2008 Western Oklahoma State College traveled to the Yunnan Province in China to work on a collaborative partnership with Chuxiong Normal University.  I originally blogged this on a Ning Site that I dropped after Nings commercialization of their service.  I have final dug up these notes and commentary on the trip.   The Links below provide insight and commentary from Kent Brooks and Denise Phelan about a culture that most Americans never see. 

If you would like some…

"This life is not practice and if you don't feel that kind of passion all day long  for what you are doing then you need to change because this life is too short to not to do so." Jim Stovall Author of The

I was just thinking what a great week of learning this past week was at both…

Dr Keith Sawyer author of Group Genius

Creativity 

We are in a Creative Economy

We are in a Knowledge Age

Policy Reports with 30000 view 

Innovate America How we are going to compete

Rise above the Gathering Storm

What is key  to educating people for creativity

1. Better K12 Ed
2. Better Higher Ed funding and…