Archive for the 'Open Education' Category

Serious Gaming

Published by Talya Goldberg on August 4, 2008 in Online Education, Open Education, Social Media and eLearning tools. 2 Comments

The term “Serious Gaming”, refers to games that are used not only for entertainment purposes but are also used for “training, advertising, simulation, or education”, and allow the user to learn new skills as well as developing and honing ones they already have. They “can be of any genre, use any game technology, and be developed for any platform”

The Game Impact theory states that there are 5 main reasons that are driving the adoption of game technologies in recent times, they are;

  • Cost advantage of hardware platforms,
  • Sophistication of software applications,
  • Social acceptance of game tools,
  • Successes in other industries, and
  • Innovative experiments in the adopting industry.

    • This concept is not only aimed at primary and secondary education level, but also can be an incredible tool for businesses that are willing to try new and “adventurous” routes to improve their staff’s skills. It is “intended to provide an engaging, self-reinforcing context in which to motivate and educate the players”. By playing around in the simulation, people can learn how to make better decisions in the real world. This allows people to start  talking about different issues whilst allowing them to increases their capabilities in a very short space of time.

    Serious Gaming also allows for mental stimulation through “Novelty, Variety, Challenge, Practice” and “Brain Fitness” and if used regularly, they can and will improve attention, memory, thinking, and stress management.

    In the past games were not seen as “serious” tools, and for this reason businesses shied away from using them, as well as the fact that until recently the technology was simply not as advanced or developed, and could only be used on a very basic level, and therefore it was not able to lead to much change or growth. Games however have become part of the modern lifestyle and are much more widely accepted than ever before, this is also due to the invention of multi-player games as it has allowed “games” to become much more interactive. Due to this we shall soon be seeing a new and flourishing market of games aimed specifically at education or “edutainment”

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    Digital Game Based Learning

    Published by Jeremy Setzer on July 2, 2008 in Online Education, Open Education and learning events. 0 Comments

    When it comes to learning technologies games have been around for quite a while. However with technology progressing as fast as it is there is now a whole new way to develop games and serious games for all aspects of learning.

    Continuing in this light the Shuttleworth Foundation will be holding an Indaba on games and learning in South Africa on the 14th of August.

    It will be exploring, amongst other things, the state of gaming among the youth, opportunities for using games in education and learning, and identifying barriers to increased use of gaming in learning.

    Steve Vosloo will also be reporting back on the 2008 Games, Learning and Society conference.

    Space is limited but to attend you can contact Wendy Stoffels (wendy@shuttleworthfoundation.org)

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    Microsoft meets OLPC - Is This the End of a Great Idea?

    Published by Jeremy Setzer on May 21, 2008 in Jeremy Setzer, Open Education and eLearning tools. 0 Comments

    The OLPC (one laptop per child) project has announced it is going to release the XO-2 computer in 2010 in response to feedback from Government, educators and the children. They are aiming to price it at $75 (which is $25 below the previous recommended price of $100). This laptop will be smaller, use less power and will have a new touch sensitive display. Sounds great, doesn’t it…

    In a previous post, I wrote about the feasibility of the OLPC project. It is essentially a western (developed) solution to a developing world’s problem. Now it seems there has been an interesting turn of events.

    Microsoft is now involved in the project (supplying their XP Operating System) and while it might appear that the worlds biggest software producer might be a good person to have in your camp, it might be the straw that breaks the donkeys back…

    Why, you may ask could it be a bad thing? Well, it pretty much means the end of the open-source aspect of the project (unless Microsoft is going well, ’soft’ on their stance on open source). The OLPC project was originally based on the concept of open source and the ‘learning by doing’ theory of education. Children in developing nations do not have access to many resources and sharing what they have might be key to quicker development and better learning. Lets hope Microsoft being on board doesn’t mean a change of direction for the OLPC.

    We will be watching this space to see developments…

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    Wikieducator

    Published by Jeremy Setzer on April 25, 2008 in Collaboration, Huddlemind.net, Jeremy Setzer, Online Education, Open Education, Social Media, Uncategorized and huddlemind. 0 Comments

    Wikieducator

    If you have a few spare minutes in your hectic schedules you should check out http://wikieducator.org Just be warned it might take up more of your time than you might expect…

    What is Wikieducator? It is a collaborative space for the planning of education projects linked with the development of free content. A space to develop free content on Wikieducator for e-learning and to work on building open education resources (OERs) and a space to network funding proposals developed as free content.

    It was voted by Stephen Downes as the best educational wiki last year and if the developments that have happened are anything to go by, watch this space.

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    The Age of conversation

    Published by Jeremy Setzer on April 8, 2008 in Jeremy Setzer, Open Education and Social Media. 0 Comments

    The book The Age of Conversation is finally available.

    For those of you who haven’t heard, The Age of Conversation was authored by 100 people and the topic is” The Conversation Age” and basically each person gets one page (around 400 words). It is based on the concept of We is Smarter than Me.

    Subscribing to the concept of a group conversation around a topic the book gives thoughts on the conversation age.

    You can buy it here with the proceeds from book sales going to charity… They had a Social Media Bum Rush to promote the book to get everybody to buy it at the same time to get it to the top of amazon… Sneaky.

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    Collaborative Learning Software

    Published by Jeremy Setzer on March 25, 2008 in Huddlemind.net, Jeremy Setzer, Online Education, Open Education and Social Media. 4 Comments

    collaborative software

    Collaborative learning software is a major asset to a company or school if it is used properly.

    We have been running a discussion on Huddlemind.net around the Software and its uses and usability and below is a short list of some of the programmes we have come across and briefly what they do:

    • 37 Signals: (which incorporates)

    Basecamp: Basecamp is one of the most widely used project management systems used and is very user friendly. Basecamp “provides tools tailored to improve the communication between people working together on a project”

    Basecamp is used by over 1 million people worldwide and the Basecamp API allows you to build add-ons.

    Highrise, (a Web-based Customer Relationship Manager and contact manager), Backpack, (an information organisation tool) and Campfire, (a web-based group chat tool that allows you to start up a password-based chat room in seconds), all fall under the umbrella of 37 signals.

    • Moodle: Moodle is a free, open source course management system based on teaching principles that aims to help create effective online learning communities.

    Being open source Moodle is constantly developing and is available in a wide range of download options. Currently Moodle has over 330’000 users worldwide.

    • HotChalk: HotChalk is a learning environment for teachers, learners and parents that includes “a learning management system premium digital content like NBC News video, and professional development for teachers in a Web-based environment”

    Hotchalk seems to be easy to use and has the potential to link educators with students and set up a sharing network. More than 100 000 schools are listed on the HotChalk database. HotChalk is also free software so it is more accessible to schools.

    • Mynoteit: Mynoteit allows you to take, edit and share notes online. You have a to-do list as well as a calendar which allows you to manage tasks better

    • Wiki’s: Wiki’s are the collaborative software that allows you to create and power community websites. Wiki’s are widely used on the web and have a very wide variety of uses.

    • Google Apps is a Google service that has features that are the same as traditional office suites. It includes Gmail, Start Page, Control Panel, Google, Talk, Google Docs and Google Calendar.

    Google Apps brings together services to help your organisation to help collaboration and communication

    • Second Life: Second Life is being used in the field of Collaborative Learning Software in that they are providing platforms to people to enable them to create virtual environments. Many of these are now being used for learning.

    • Turnitin: Turnitin consists of four aspects: namely,

    Plagiarism Prevention, which identifies papers containing unoriginal material and acts as a powerful deterrent to stop student plagiarism before it starts.

    Peer Review, a system that gives students the tools to review and respond to their classmates’ work online using questions that are customized or created by the instructor.
    Grademark, a digital markup system that gives instructors the ability to edit and grade papers completely online.
    Gradebook, which enables instructors to manage grades and assignments online

    Turnitin is also now fully integrated with Moodle.

    • Blackboard. Blackboard includes a course management aspect, it is closed source but it does have a customizable open architecture, and a scalable design that allows for integration with student information systems and authentication protocols. It is sometimes a bit too comprehensive and might lack simplicity but has lots of applications.

    • Ning: Ning, the social networking platform, is being used for more and more applications. The ability to program your own Ning site and being able to build your own platform is what’s made Ning so user-friendly and adaptable for uses other than social-networking. Possibly the only drawback of Ning is that you need knowledge of web-programming to get it up and running.

    • Another interesting site pointed out by Dave Everitt is The De Montfort Creativity Assistant, a project by IOCT it is “a tool designed to help develop creative ideas in a transdisciplinary multimedia context, based upon the thesis that creativity is an emergent property”

    It comprises two main components, the Creativity Assistant and the Creative Environment.
    The Creative Environment integrates the Collaborative Editor, Instant Messaging, Collaborative Whiteboard and a Reminder Functionality and it provides several tools in one environment.

    As with everything these programs are dependent on how you and your company use and adapt to use them. Implementation is the all-important aspect here, if all your staff aren’t willing to use these applications then the benefit will be apparent, but not as apparent as if it is embraced by all your users.

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    A vision of students today

    Published by Jeremy Setzer on March 13, 2008 in Jeremy Setzer, Open Education and Social Media. 1 Comment

    From Dr. Michael Wesch and the digital ethnography working group, at the Kansas state University…

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    The future of Education.

    Published by Jeremy Setzer on March 4, 2008 in Jeremy Setzer and Open Education. 0 Comments

    With today’s fast moving society and ever changing world the field of education seems to be the next in line for a major paradigm shift. No longer is it a group of students sitting in a lecture hall listening and taking notes. Some amazing developments are happening in the field of education and with the acceptance of open source the possibilities could be endless…

    It is far more a conversation now than people being talked to. Especially in the field of executive education when you are dealing with educated professionals who generally have time constraints and can’t afford to waste any resource.

    OEDb

    Sites such as OEDb (Online Education Database) which shows reviews of 1,038 programs from 88 accredited online colleges and a local site Dendrite Studios started by Neels van der Westhuizen and Dirk Visser who’s vision is “To help anyone learn anything they desire Dendritefor the benefit of humanity.” are helping people find education facilities that are more suited to their needs.

    So here at Huddlemind we are going to strive to keep you up to date and informed as to what’s hot and new in the field of education.

    Watch this space…

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