Pushing and shoving do not produce quality uptake

What many senior management in institutions do not realise is that in their eagerness to push through the implementation of online learning and increase its uptake for strategic reasons, this pushing and shoving will eventually lead to a mass adoption in a shallow form that does not necessary guarantee an increase in the quality of learning. The masses will adopt a learning management system or a virtual learning environment simply to ease their current administrative task such as grading assessments and communicating important information to large groups of students. These reasons do not automatically lead to more effective teaching or learning experience. It will make the work of the academics who adopt the technology more efficient in completing their administrative work, but it does not necessary mean that this efficiency will be transferred to teaching and learning practices. 

Quality implementation requires learning about the enhancement that the technology brings. This learning process is achieved through both formal and informal interactions between those who have already mastered certain best practices and understand the affordances of the technology, and those who are just beginning to embark on their journey to explore the possibilities of integrating technology. Thus, the concept of community of practice is well-suited as a model to understand these interactions between the masters and their apprentices that would lead to fruitful collaborations between the two parties.  

Tipping Points??

After reading a posting on Facebook of Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Outliers (how do your actually pronounce this word?), and remembering several other earlier blogs on the same book in my Google Reader, I decided to check out the book at Borders (Curve). 

I remembered that just a few weeks ago, the book was prominently displayed and promoted at the entrance rack when it was first made available at Borders. So, I was thinking that it would be displayed at the same place. I was even expecting the buy two for 20% discount offer. But to my surprise, the book was no where to be found. After spending 30 minutes searching for it on my own, I decided to ask the support staff instead. The moment I mentioned the title, (that was when I start to wonder whether I had pronounced it correctly because she certainly said it with a different pronunciation than mine) the friendly staff exclaimed that the title was all sold out. She asked me why so many were asking for this book and I explained to her that this could be due to the word of mouth or blogs, in this case, that had been spreading over the Internet. Now, she understood why fifteen copies of the book were sold off immediately after they arrived at her store at Curve. Curious to know more about social networking, I asked her about Tipping Point, and she said they ran out of this title too after checking her computer. I was pretty surprised at this situation because it was not so often that I could not find popular and general book titles that I want at any local book store. This was a first for me.

Then, I thought to myself. Why not check out at MPH since it was also located at Curve and was not far away from Borders? So after a short walk to MPH and with only 30 minutes left for browsing before the store closed, I searched quite quickly at the usual racks where this title would have been displayed. Initially, I could not find any except for Blink (this title was also available at Borders). I thought the sales must really be good for this book to have two stores in the same vicinity selling off their copies of the same title. Then, after a last desperate attempt and a quick check with the sales staff, I actually found both Outliers and Tipping Point. And there were many copies available. So sales was not as brisk  as I thought at this book store. 

I decided to hold off the purchase of Outliers and bought the two older titles instead after a quick glance. After reading a few pages of Tipping Point, I started thinking why the brisk sales at Borders did not 'tip' over to MPH? What prevented it from happening?

• Was the interest on the book not suficient enough to cause the potential customers to check out another store at the same mall?
• Was it because they did not know about the existence of another book store?
• Was it because the location of MPH was much less visible or prominent compared to Borders?
• Was it because of the discount promotions available at Borders (MPH was having sales too)?
• Or were there other hidden reasons that I could not think of?

 Perhaps after reading Tipping Point, I will understand this phenomenon a bit better. 

Strange interest and capability

Often, we would stereotype a person as being interested in either science, or arts (humanities etc.). This is generally how we would look at people's interests or their inclination. Perhaps this is even more true for us in Malaysia due to our intense segregation of the fields of arts and science early in our high school education system. The divide is almost like the incompatibility between quantum physics and general relativity, or the ancient cities of Rome and Jerusalem. 

But strangely, I find myself interested in both science and history. I read books on the elegance of universe and at the same time magically drawn to ancient histories of civilizations long forgotten in the minds of the modern society, engulfed by the huge tidal waves of popular culture and post modernistic thinking. 

It made me think about what is the connection that links my interest to both science and history. Is there an element that connects these fields at a general level? I would think that I would dread to look at the mathematical equations needed to prove and understand all the scientific theories. I think I would dread learning mundanely, the vocabulary and grammar of ancient languages, although in this aspect, I think I will survive and evolve better than learning the arcane equations of mathematics. 

Or, perhaps, the human mind is capable of learning almost everything the human soul puts its energies to? Perhaps learning is more about the intensity or passion of the soul rather than the objectivity and logical reasoning of the mind. Perhaps, learning is utterly subjective in this sense. So, does it make sense to switch to the concepts of personal learning environment  (PLE) and open education. Is there a revolution at hand on the existing educational structures that have become mental barriers limiting our learning or interest to a stereotypical field of either arts or science?

Leaders really need to learn

I was reading the business section of a local newspaper which I seldom do, it dawned on me that perhaps one of the reasons why we are facing so much of bad results in our business or organization operations is because our leaders or decision makes do not listen to those who are below them. Perhaps this should not be generalized, but I think Asian leaders are more susceptible to this flaw because of our culture where respect is automatically given and demanded from once you are placed in the position of leadership. I am not saying that leaders should just do what is popular with the crowd, but they seriously need to learn how to listen to the feedback of those who are actually on the ground, be it their employees or customers. 

Book prints are here to stay

I just bought my first copy of Harry Porter after updating my DVD collection with all five movie adaption of the popular fantasy fiction. Earlier, I had tried to read the e-book version of Half-Blood Prince because I can't wait for the movie at the theatres. It is really an intriguing and inspiring story of the trials and triumphs of nobodies against seemingly powerful adversaries and odds. 

But my point is not about Harry Porter. What I was amazed with is the experience of holding and reading from the hard copy of the book compared with the digital form. The experience was totally lopsided. With the printed version, I could not stop but turn the pages as quickly as I could whereas I did not even manage to get past the first page on my large LCD monitor! The physical experience of holding and reading from a paper-bound print utterly outclass the iPaper analogous to watching a Premier League team against a non-league outfit. The feel, the touch, the colour and the texture of the hard cover were totally irreplaceable by what I saw on the screen.

This personal experience makes me conclude that unless there is a world-threatening and irreversible ecological disaster, printed books are here to stay compared to their digital counterparts.  

Mind mapping

I think one of the greatest drawbacks of mind mapping is its inability to show overtly the relationship between the keywords that it is linking. It is akin to writing down many keywords or subjects in sentences without the predicates that carry the main story of each sentence. This makes the sentences unintelligible and meaningless. The same goes for mind mapping where a mind map may be understandable to the author at the point when it is drawn, but it loses its effectiveness because the meanings or relationships that tie the keywords together are forgotten over time. The author may at the moment of creation of the mind map understand what he is drawing because his mind is constantly processing the links between the keywords, but it becomes unintelligible when the mind forgets these linkages. That is why I always preferred concept map instead of mind mapping. No doubt, the mind mapping process can be very useful while brain storming, but it can become quite lame after this process is over.

Provision does not automatically transform to success

Many people nowadays have the idea that once technology is provided, strange miraculous results will automatically follow without doing anything in between the starting point of provision and the end-point of success. The end-point is paradoxically never an end because success is a process just as much that it is perceived as a state. So I find it strange that the free provision of Internet access is listed as an immediate solution to our current global economic woes as if the provision of the technology alone is sufficient. No doubt it will in one way or another provide relief to the economic strain, but much work still needs to be done to transfer the technological investment to economic gains. A focus on efforts to raise literacy level of the public on the positive use of the Internet might quicken the pace towards the intended goal.

Short comments

• It is really strange for Chrome to not to have any feature to allow the subscription of RSS. 
  
• I think blogging as a tool and activity for learning may not be totally acceptable to some learners, especially those who are less expressive or lacking a good command of language.
• I think that one size does not fit all and the much touted concept of PLE or e-learning 2.0 may still need to be integrated with some of the well-tested teaching approaches over the centuries or more recently, the ones we have learned and used in the so-called e-learning 1.0. 

Game-based learning

Quite often, when I listen to presentations on game-based learning, it is touted as the magical and potent solution for learning innovation. I have never actually question this perception before until I started playing RPG games on Facebook. These games have a tendency to encourage you to gather and link up with other users of Facebook (most likely for the financial gains of the developers) to accomplish the missions or quests. I do not complain about this because I always keep the games from taking anything out of my pocket. ;-) I also like the idea of having a common interest which I can share with peoples from different countries and background. It's kind of like a virtual United Nations.

What I notice from the nature of the gamers is they have different tendencies and methods to solve any gaming tasks or issues they face. These methods and solutions are not much different from what we do when we learn or study for a course as a student. Some are generous and share in detail what they have learned to the point of preparing extensive manual guides to all other gamers. On the opposite end of the spectrum will be those who are quick to start a totally new forum just to get quick answers without even bothering to check whether the questions raised have already been answered by others in earlier forums. Therefore, the knowledge base generated for the benefit of all is not utilized. There are those like me who would take the time to look through the forums to check for possible answers and contribute in meagre ways what we know to the general audience and feeling satisfied and happy when we are given a praise or two.

On how the game is played, some will actually study the details and do the mathematics simply for the fun of learning about the game. These are usually the ones who would also be eager to share what they have learned. On the opposite, some are in it just for the rush of the moment, to complete all the missions and get the emotional high out of it. Knowledge about the game is not important, only the fun element is essential. Of course, sandwiched in between the two opposite ends would be the in betweens like me and many others.

This observation gives me an anecdotal conclusion that despite what is often said about game-based learning, the games do not actually dictate how the gamers will respond. The characteristics and tendencies of the gamers still play a large role on how they will learn from the process. Not doubt, gaming will enhance positive elements of learning but it can also do the same for the negatives. Getting the right mix and hoping for a correct response from the learners will still be an elusive solution that most of us in the educational field hope to achieve.

Resistance against new Facebook?

I am actually quite surprised by the negative reaction from a substantial group of people judging from the number of groups set up just to protest about the Facebook layout and features. Personally I find the new layout extremely practical and easy to use e.g. the ability to make comments to updates as you see it on your wall or in the news. I thought this is really a very quick and good way to directly communicate with the person who has just updated and posted something.

I love the new wall so much until I could no longer remember how the old wall looks like. It allows me to do sending, writing and sharing quickly and efficiently. It tempts me to rethink again why I need to keep my own blogs in another place when the wall itself can function as an effective replacement to my blogs. Writing this note itself feels like I am blogging already. I could easily syndicate feeds from my existing blogs and display them in this area. To me it is really great. The tabs are great too, both at the profile and home page. The location of bookmarks on the right side of the hompage personally works better for me than the old one. And the ease to configure my settings for each application is also great. The applications drop down menu has its strength and weaknesses but overall it works well with me.

So this brings me to think what could be the reason for so many Facebook addicts rejecting the new layout and features. I am contemplating one reason in particular. I am relatively new to Facebook which makes me less difficult to unlearn all the things which one would have picked up after using the old Facebook for sometime. Sometimes what we have learned can be so ingrained in us that we could find it very difficult and uncomfortable when asked to change, especially when we can have no say in the situation or decision making. Could this be the reason? It could be one of the many reasons I guess.

Application shortcuts on Google Chrome

I continue to marvel and find the application shortcuts provided by Google Chrome very useful not just because of its looks and feel (although that plays a big part as well), but its loading speed which allows you to quickly work on the website or web service as if it is just another desktop application (take a look at the quick launch shortcuts screenshot below). Perhaps there is some truth in saying that the browser has now indeed become the operating system.

Cuil's failure to search out Google Chrome

I am utterly shocked that the much touted Cuil search engine could not find entries on the launch of Google Chrome. If this is deliberate, then it is sad. If not, that it has failed my test. 

First impression of Google Chrome

Things I like:

• lightness
• speed of loading and rendering
• Apple-like feel
• browser acting like an application especially when you create application shortcuts (it really does feel and look like an application instead of being in a browser environment and unless my mind deceives me, it loads faster in such a mode than in a normal Chrome mode)
• creating application shortcuts on desktops etc.
• larger viewing space
• history shown in thumbnails
• task manager and stats 
• nice looking Javascript console
• bookmarks as you type at the address bar much like FireFox 3

Things I don't like:

• I miss my Google toolbar, bookmarks, etc
• It actually detects security issues with GMail!
• Some scripts (especially in Facebook which can become quite annoying) and plugins do not work (Quicktime is an example)
• no RSS support .. albeit at the moment
• not being able to use some cool addons in FF i.e. Shareaholics etc. takes valuable points from otherwise a pretty cool browser
• unable to import my vast collection of bookmarks from my Google account
• unable to move backwards and forwards to a few level deep

I will try out a bit more and log down after a night's sleep.

Screenshots

Short note on assessment

I was pondering over the concept of assessment for the last two days. The usual scenario when I was still lecturing was I would try to create final assessment which contained 'difficult and tricky' questions to determine whether the students are prepared to provide answers for something which they not learned directly from the classes. Now, since I am no longer teaching, I have the chance to rethink about this. Based on the literature that I have been reading, the question asked is "Is assessment meant to test what the students know or what they do not know?" I relate this to the purpose of learning or education. If learning is the focus of education, then we should be setting assessment that would test what the student have learned and not what they have not learned. Perhaps this is the reason why we are getting the so-called 'bell curve' for so many years. By doing so, we could actually be discriminating or excluding some students who might otherwise be perfectly all right to perform different vocations as adults in the employment market. Perhaps a better form of assessment would be projects and assignments compared to examinations. With the advent of e-portfolios, I think this can be a better choice.

Potential of Web 2.0 and Human Behaviour

While playing a highly addictive game in Facebook, it confirms what I have thinking about the potentials of Web 2.0 applications. I think this new generation of applications basically satisfy the needs of human beings to share our stories (satisfying a powerful need to create meanings in our lives which give us our identities as a person), to connect with others with our stories (thus forming a community that fills the void in us to belong) and to learn and grow from these activities which again fulfills our strongest desire to find meanings in our lives and grow as a human being. When technology is able to meet the core necessities and desire of the human pysche, it will mushroom beyond the designers' wildest dreams. If only education caters for such needs!

The Potential of Facebook

I think the new features in Facebook could really work out for educational use because it is now much easier to aggregate or pull information from various websites and publish it in your profile that could potentially form a personal portfolio that teachers and peers could comment and work on. Google Reader, Facebook Toolbar, Shareaholic are some of the common tools that easily integrate with Facebook.

Lively

I am bought over by the potential of Lively to be used as an educational tool for enhancing greater participation from students to chat or discuss about their subjects of learning. I was never a believer in using Second Life for educational purposes largely due to its cumbersome application which uses a lot of bandwidth, at least in my personal experience. I am also put off by the fact that I had to open another application and interface to conduct my explorations in the virtual world. Lively gives me a new flexibility that I never had with Second Life. I am able to embed my virtual rooms or spaces into existing virtual learning environments simply by pasting the generated script to my web page or blog. In this way, I can encourage students to login to an existing VLE and make use of Lively to conduct educational activities within a virtual academic context which Second Life could not do. I am also interested in the 'lightness' of Lively which requires only a small and simple installation on our desktops. Another feature is its features of deciding on access rights which I could use to formulate open or close tutorial sessions. On top of that, I have the capability to archive all conversations for research, assessment or evaluation.

E-Learning and Rising Fuel Cost

I am thinking with the cost of paper and publication rising due to the fuel price hike, it is sensible for educational institutions at all levels to implement some form of e-learning to reduce the use of paper products. One practical example would be omitting the need to print and submit printed assignments. I think this is the easiest task that can be implemented immediately because the technology is simple to use and does not require any steep learning curve. Even if the educational institutions do not have a learning management system or broadband connection, they could still use thumb drives which are very affordable nowadays. If we do not have Microsoft Office at home or at our workplace, we could always use Open Office and even Google Documents to write and submit the assignments. Educational institutions who do not have any servers to keep the assignments could invest in a few external hard drives and this would definitely be sufficient to store simple Word documents for many semesters if not years.

Teaching Staff Factor

Yesterday, I was discussing with two of my colleagues who were trying out a blog system for their classroom teaching this semester. We were discussing about the survey results which we retrieved from the VLE. An interesting point that I highlighted to them was the possibility of their teaching styles or methods were influencing student perception on blogging as a learning tool. This was quite evident from the simple comparison we made of the feedback gathered from the three groups of students who were taught by my three colleagues. Incidentally, the general pattern was that one was very strict in facilitation, another one gave the students a free hand and in between another who had a mixture of guided activities and the freedom to blog away from the recommended scope recommended. We talked how this could be a vital factor in explaining the patterns of feedback we received from the survey.