I agree with Heather in her post that his topic sounds a little to theoritical at this point, but with further investigation it will become less so. Audi said it sounded like LO's, which I have no idea what that is referring to so will have to investigate that also. Will continue my search on the morrow!
Hi All! Well this week say goodbye to wikis and hello Shared Content Object Reference Model (SCROM). You will find more in depth information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCROM , but basically it is a collection of standards and specifications for web-based e-learning. It was born out of the Advanced distributed Learning Initiative, which comes out of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. I have to admit, I'm still a little fuzzy on the whole thing and finding information has been a challenge, but I will persevere onward. For now reading the website posted will give you as it did me a jump start on this new concept.
Hi Everyone! Well, this wraps up our time on wikis togehter. I hope you all have learned something new, because I know I have. I also want to say that I have enjoyed reading about everybody else's technology that they shared on their blogs. This has been a great way to learn about all the new things that are taking place out there without having to spend the time researching it all. Thanks to those of you that sent little tib bits of info for me to follow up on and present for you here. Not sure what I'm posting on next, but it will certainly be a learning experience!
In lieu of last weeks dicussion, suing wikis with onlinegraduat courses, I thought this would be a good follow up. Especially when you consider the field that most of us are planning on venturing forth in! The article is entitled "The Wiki & the Digital Libray" by Jeremy Frumkin. In order to access it you need to go to the Sryacuse University Library website. From there go to data base articels and then click on Library & Information Science. Go to the Emerald database and click on it. From there type in title of the article in the search box and click. It should be the first title in the list and just click on that. Here's the link just in case you can click on this and get right to it. http://www.emeraldinsight.com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=/published/emeraldfulltextarticle/pdf/1640210104.pdf
In my ongoing search to bring you new information regarding wikis, I came across this article that I thought was extremely pertinent to our situations as online learners. The article is entitled Use of Wikis in Graduate Course Work, by Mary Bold, from the Journal of Interactive Learning Research. http://find.galegroup.com.libezproxy2.syr.deu/itx/printdoc.do?&prodId=EAIM&userGrou It looks at using wikis as collaborative tools in conjunction with Blackboard or Webct. We should all understand at this point how a wiki works in a non-educational setting, so now lets look at how it works in an academic setting, such as a college or university. In this setting it provides a collaborative workspace where a document can be displayed with minimal knowledge of HTML tags. The document can then be "edited live" in the browser window on the Internet. A new techi word I discovered in this article was coweb, which refers to collaborative webpages that students are using in connection with these wikis. These cowebs allow students to contribute to the space, which is immediately and automatically updated. Another reason for these collaboration wikis is to put some of the "housekeeping tasks" of course management into the hands of the students. This accomplishes a couple of things; one, it frees the instructor of some of the jobs associated with this type of course learning, and by freeing up a professor, it allows them to use this new found time and energy in other areas. Secondly it introduces students to a new form of collaborative learning, i.e. the wiki, in a nongraded activity but one that has relevance to their course work. I know in this course we have been introduced to blogs and blogging. Maybe in the future, wiki activities will be added to further enhance the online learners experiences.
I have to admit that when we started this blog project I found myself terrified about having to do this, as I had never even looked at a blog much less create one. I thought just another busy project for us to do. What I have come to realize is that this is a terrific way for us to learn about all the new technologies that are out there without having to research every one on our own. While I still don't understand all of them completely, and don't have time enough to explore them as in depth as I would like to, I know that they are out there and have learned enough about them to fall back on when the time comes that I can use them in my career and have the time to do more of my own exploration into them. Thank you to all my team members for your time and research into your topics.
Wikimapia! This is a very cool site and I have to thank Brad for sending the information on to me to investigate further. This site was created by Alexander Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev and was started on May 24, 2006. Their goal with this site is to "describe the whole planet Earth". This site is unrelated to Wikipedia and the Wkimedia foundation, but the creators say that they were inspired by Wikipedia. Unlike other wiki style systems, Wikimapia has no registered users and no administrative hierarchy. All users edit the site anonymously and there is nothing in place for monitoring or disciplining problematic users. Currently it list the 100 biggest cities in the world. This site is similar to Google Earth in allowing the user to zoom in on a specific area of the world. With Wikimapia, you can zoom in on a city of your choosing. I chose to look at New York city and when I went there I clicked on a box, which turned out to be Brooklyn. When I clicked on the box is brought up a synopsis of the city itself. It had a link to the city of Brookly, which when I clicked on that it took me to the Brooklyn city website where it had links for lodging, dining, attractions, guided tours and a calendar of monthly events. I think this could be a great tool for teachers if they are talking about a certain city that can be found on the site. The teacher could bring it up and they can zoom in and get a virtual tour of what the city looks like and how it relates to other cities in the same state. Here is the link to check it out for yourseleves and explore a city of your choosing!www.wikimapia.com Have fun!
After reading everyone's comments this week, I would like to sum up this weeks topic on Wikibooks. First, I liked Brad's take on the evolution that is taking place between the printed book vs. the electronic book. That those of us who adapt ourselves to the new technologies that are rapidly evolving, we will survive, while those who choose not to, will not. I understand Audi's concerns about good research material being poste without the review process that takes place the old-fasioned way, but this process is not without it's mistakes also. Hopefully a satisfactory aggreement will be met with all parties involved. Like Heather I also know the politics behind the textbook industry and the fact that 2-3 states tend to controll what gets published and what does not, which of course is grossly wrong! These books are not infallible. In recent years we have heard of some of the major mistakes that have been found in these textbooks or how one-sided they can be on certain topics. The old-fasioned peer review process is not always perfect, but is anything? Wikibooks could the the perfect outlet for some small, but very good textbooks that can't compete in the big leagues because of the politics surrounding this industry. Like you Heather, I don't see the printed volume going the way of the doe-doe bird because of e-books, but lets use both in conjucntion with one another to learn the things we seek to learn.
