The Ed Techie

Twitter is your IT support

<Image http://www.flickr.com/photos/duncan/7172953614/>

This post isn't intended as a criticism of anyone, rather an observation on a trend I've noticed from several others also. 

I'm running my block of the Masters course H817 as a MOOC. It'll start this March, and one of the things I wanted is a DS106 style blog aggregator. That is, I want the contributors to register their blog, and for posts they tag appropriately to repost automatically in the course blog.

Now, the sensible way to do this seems to be to install WordPress and use the FeedWordPress plug-in. For reasons I won't go in to, I haven't been able to get this done at the Open University, despite trying since last July. I've spoken to people at others unis and it isn't isolated to the OU, it seems to be this low-level, experimental type of IT support is increasingly difficult to find.

Do you know who I think the culprit is? The VLE. As universities installed VLEs they became experts at developing enterprise level solutions. This is serious business and I have a lot of respect for people who do it. The level of support, planning and maintenance required for such systems is considerable. So we developed a whole host of processes to make sure it worked well. But along the way we lost the ability to support small scale IT requests that don't require an enterprise level solution. In short, we know how to spend £500,000 but not how to spend £500.

With time pushing on, I got some local support in IET (thanks Will), and investigated the best options. It became clear that hosting externally would be the easiest option. I asked on Twitter who the best hosting solutions were and got a great set of responses. Alan Cann suggested siteground and sent me a friend's introduction offer, so I signed up with them. In 10 minutes I'd followed their WordPress installation, installed WP, found the FeedWordPress plug-in and installed that too. The blog is here: h817open.net

My next problem was to get registration to work. I looked at what DS106 have done, and in response to a request on Twitter, Alan Levine pointed me to this solution from Martha Burtis. That was a bit beyond my coding skills. So I created a simple Google Form and embedded it in my blog. I then asked Martin Hawksey if he knew how to take a Google form output and turn it into an OPML file as FeedWordPress allows you to create a list of syndicated sites from an OPML file. He pointed me to this service, which does just that.

He and Tony also suggested some solutions which will help with autodiscovery (ie finding the feed for the blog if someone just enters their main URL). Martin lists some options here. I haven't quite cracked this yet, so it needs people to enter their feed url, which isn't ideal, so I'll keep working on this.

So, I think I have a working solution. If you have time, could you try it for me by registering your blog here and then posting something which has the tag #h817open. Only posts with this tag should appear. You can just do a test post, but perhaps more interestingly you could respond to the idea of whether "openness has won" or not with a post "Openness has (hasn't) won because..."

This took me about an afternoon. The problem is that it's quite a flaky solution, the OPML service could disappear, I don't really know if it will work for all blogs, and there's no support. So it could go down and I've got no backup. More worryingly I am at the edge of my expertise here, so I can't really do much more. So a university supported proper grown-up solution would be preferable. On the other hand, one of the things I frequently say is that the best thing we can teach our students is how to be good members of a network. And this is a clear demonstration of why I believe that. I think this tension between the innovative possibilities of new technology and the understandably cautious nature of institutional IT services will mean that we'll all need to do more of this DIY tech set-up and experimentation. And the only way to do that is to have a good network who can help.

One last plea - I joked with Alan that I needed DS106 out of a box. I think I'm serious though - it would be great to have a step by step, idiots guide to installing and setting up a DS106-like environment. The rest of us don't have Alan and Jim's tech skills, so getting to the starting line is difficult. I know they'll say you should invent your own way, but they done so much great work that I don't think they realise just how much expertise they have. A simple installation that let the rest of us get started, would mean we could all go off in different directions then. So any of the DS106 crowd up for it? And I do mean a simple guide, it has to be Weller-proof.

 

MOOC disco

So just before Christmas I finally managed to air a slot on DS106 Radio (thanks to Alan for being patient with the most needy DJ in DS106 history). It was remarkably easy to do, so I'd recommend it to anyone.

My idea was to create a set where each song reflected on some aspects of MOOCs. On reflection I don't think this came across without me doing some talking inbetween. I opted for film clips instead, but I think the "music connected by a theme we can discuss" approach has merits which I'd like to revisit. I know from compiling the set that even if it's an issue you've thought about a lot, adding music to it gives it a vibrancy or nuance that wasn't there previously. It would be a fun way to explore some issues without having to reference French philosophers (yes, I'm looking at you Cormier).

For the record, here are the tracks:

I'll let you make the connections to the topic.

And here is the (probably illegal) archive of the broadcast. It starts a bit quiet but cranks up halfway through the first song. See how many film clips you can get.

MOOC disco archive

 

 

What can I take away from DS106?

I think we can say that Jim Groom's Digital Storytelling course has been very successful in generating an online buzz, and as a model of what you can do with an open, online course. The development of DS106Radio has been something to behold as it has taken on a life of its own. As D'Arcy has commented most of the technology for this has been around for a while, but it all seemed to coalesce into something quite magical. Jim has some thoughts on DS106 radio here, arguing that it "provides is a model for yet another platform for sharing, creating, and trying to foster conversation."

I've been thinking about DS106 recently because I'm part of George Siemens' MOOC later this year, and I'm scheduled to rewrite some of the OU's Masters in Online Education soon, so I've been thinking what can I learn from it.

I'm reading Bolano's 2666 at the moment, and Jonathan Lehman's NYT review claims that it is "a landmark in what’s possible for the novel as a form". If it's not too pretentious to say so, I'd suggest the same is true for DS106 and the online course.

It's important to realise what isn't transferable (or readily transferable anyway). I'm not Jim (you'll have noticed), and part of the success of the course is centred around Jim's own personality. There would be something very sad in educators pretending to be Jim in order to recapture the same sort of atmosphere. But in this there is the first lesson, which is that some element of the educator's personality in an online course is both possible and desirable. Social media tends to work precisely when there is that element on personal mix, and to strip that out makes it a less engaging experience. This may be difficult to implement in the OU distance education setting which has always worked hard in its written material to remove the individual and to strive for a neutral tone. 

Another element that may not transfer well is the use of radio. Again this has been partly driven by Jim's personality, plus the amazing contribution of people such as Grant Potter. I would hazard that if I attempted it, the airwaves would remain silent, because the audience for my Masters course is quite different. Plus I would never get it through the OU's course approval process because of copyright issues. But as with the point above, it is not the surface element that is important, but rather, what it demonstrates. In this case the radio and the course as a whole shows that, given the right platform, students can be real co-creators of the course as a whole and of great content.

My third element is that of experimentation. I worry that as students pay more for their study, they will become increasingly conservative, as will institutions.  DS106 demonstrates that you can still experiment, as long as you frame it for students, and that the experience students get as a result of that can be far richer than a carefully controlled course design process. Who knows, it may even be fun.

Lastly, the course highlights the benefits of openness. For the on campus students they get access to a wider range of learners and a broader experience than they would otherwise. Jim gets people who help with technical issues (such as Grant), and suggest activities and assignments (such as Tom Woodward). And Jim's institution, University of Mary Washington, gets some good publicity and reputation for free. Openness is therefore an effective and efficient approach for all concerned.

So, although I doubt I'll be in a position to do anything as radical as DS106, by looking beyond the immediate elements, there is more that is transferrable from it into everyday practice than you might think.

 

Bavathursdays, messiness is part of the plan

<Image http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanislands/3716274762/ by Viqi French>

Last night I joined Jim Groom for a live session on DS106 Radio. The idea was to chat about 80s b-movies, an interest we have in common and see where it went. It's fair to say it went all over the shop, but was really fun from our end anyway (I'm not sure how much fun it was for the listener). But on the basis that it's through playing and doing fun stuff that you actually learn, we're going to have a go again. Next time we'll try and get others involved and have a focus around a particular theme or film I think.

I created some fake adverts for a VLE/LMS sponsor, ZombieBoard ("Because learning is too serious to have fun"), which are here:

 

MW80sBrit- zombie1

MW80sBrit- zombie2

MW80sBrit- zombie3

If you want to hear two people struggling with technology, winging it a bit, and then being self-indulgent about John Carpenter films, then you can listen to the whole show here:

 

Download Bavathursdays-ep1.mp3

 

 

 

 

My edtech life in 3 gifts

This is the digital version of putting an apple on teacher's desk...

This isn't an assignment for Jim Groom's Digital Storytelling course, but I had this idea last night, and spent this afternoon playing with it. Inspired by the excellent Radio 4 series, "A History of the World in 100 objects", my idea was to take three objects and use these to tell my life, or career, in educational technology. I was going to use any object, but decided to limit myself to gifts I've been given. The result is below. It didn't turn out that great, I really need more images and it needs to be snappier, but I thought I'd share it because I like the concept more than the product. One of these days, I hope to put some time to one of these and come up with something as good as Grant Potter's great story. Until then I may as well share the half-baked ideas I have, because someone may do something better with them.

I ain't no surfer

For Jim's digital storytelling course we have to tell a story about something that happened to us recently. I have chosen to make a quick vid about how I went surfing on Christmas Eve at Watergate Bay in Cornwall. It was good fun, but I completely failed to stand on the board, and realised that mental images I may have had of riding big tubes would not be realised. I think a basic lack of balance may be a factor. It was just an experiment in telling a story with a few images, and some music (I did it in Picasa).

 

PS - if you're not interested in Jim's course, you may get a bit fed up of these posts, I'm wary of using my main blog for the course also, so we'll see how it goes.

Digital storytelling - don't forget the text

There are some great ideas for digital storytelling activities over on the DS106 blog (I love Tom Woodward's suggestions for restrictions eg telling stories using only photos from a specific category).

They are very video and image - centric though so thought I'd speak up for text also amongst all the mashup mayhem. Obviously people have been doing storytelling online for ages, so we need to find new ways of doing it. One possibility would be tell a story through twitter. People have tried this before, some good examples in this post.

What I have in mind is not to actually use Twitter, but to create a story from a fictional set of tweets. It would be like Cloverfield in twitter. Or taking an existing movie and retelling it as if tweets from the character. What I like about this is the possibility for the story to emerge, and for the reader to know more than the characters. So is the twitter epistolary a possibility Mr Groom?

A Man/Me/Then Jim - digital storytelling

Like Alan Levine I have signed up for open courses but never completed them (I too am an OCDU (Open Course Drop Out)). This raises some issues for open education in itself - motivation to complete is not just about interest but also about pressure. If you have paid for a course then your commitment to it is higher, or if you've told everyone you're doing something it's harder to drop out.

But I'm willing to try again, particularly for something as innovative as Jim Groom's Digital Storytelling course ds106. I have a meta interest in this beyond the content (which I think will be great fun), and that is to see how a course which aggregates content from participants in the cloud feels and works. 

Already you can see that the open nature of the course has led to participants suggesting ways in which it can operate, or possible activities. This is partly a result of Jim having a good network who want to work with him, but also because the boundaries of the course are not fixed.

The course starts in January, but as a pre-course activity we were asked to create an animated gif of a favourite film which captures the essence of it. In an attempt to export some culture and sophistication to these rowdies, I created the following gif from Kieslowski's Double Life of Veronique. I cheated and used the online service GifSoup (warning, lots of the Gifs on the home page appear a bit 'adult'). I haven't seen this film for years, but I remember the brewing tea scene. It could be because it's contemplative, beautiful and about silence. Or it could be because I like tea.

GIFSoup

PS - blog title is from this Rilo Kiley song.