Author: drkenny

EDG 6356 – Dr. Martha Bireda’s Guest Presentation

by drkenny

Dr. Bireda visited our class on September 26, 2012, to discuss the culture, social and educational strengths and needs of diverse learners.

The presentation is split into two sections.

First Hour


Second Half

Copyrights and Fair Use

by drkenny

This lesson come from EME 6207 – Web Development

Ethical Issues

Ethical issues are very important in education, especially when using technology. Often technology gets way ahead of ethics; just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

There are lots of questions out there about copyright, downloading and sharing files and maintaining a balance between sharing information and protecting your identity. Since it does not serve us well to ignore new technologies, we, as educators, must learn how to handle the issues that arise so we might enable students the opportunities for learning. In previous modules we looked at copyright and fair use, and how we can avoid problems. Now we will look at other ethical issues surrounding data collection (FERPA in particular), and discuss your rights and responsibilities in this area.

Ethics n. Date: 14th century: the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation; a set of moral principles or values; the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group; a guiding philosophy. Source: Webster Dictionary

Ethics are the moral guidelines that govern behavior. Ethics describe how we determine what is good and right, from what is bad and wrong. Teachers and students need to be aware of appropriate and acceptable behaviors in relation to computer practices and Internet usage. In this module, we will discuss ethics as it relates to computer usage. Computer ethics focus on unauthorized use of computer systems, software theft (piracy), information privacy, unauthorized collection and use of information, and copyright. Computers make the collection of data easier. They also impose great ethical challenges to us.

Risk Management

Computer Viruses

Several of the Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics deal with using a computer in ways that hurt others. People who create and spread computer viruses are acting in unethical, harmful ways. Often, computer viruses steal information from your computer, read and destroy personal files, and always interfere with a person’s work on the computer. When downloading software from the Internet it is imperative you have virus protection software in place on your computer. Some viruses are harmless and may simply freeze your computer system. Other viruses can cause extensive damage. The majority of viruses only infect Windows computers, however, the problem is increasing for Macintosh computer users as well.

It is believed that there are currently over one million known viruses in existence. It makes sense to protect your personal computer, classroom computer, or computer network by installing virus detection software. Most major companies that offer virus detection software allow updates to be downloaded from the Internet at no cost. Check with your school Technology Coordinator to find out how often your virus protection software is updated. For more information on computer viruses visit the following Web sites.

Creative Commons

A Solution For Copyright and Fair Use?

Copyright and the web bring interesting challenges for educators, and the wealth of images available on photo sharing sites, video sharing sites and web pages compounds the problem. Learn more (and teach) about Creative Commons licensing, which allows authors, photographers, artists, illustrators, musicians, etc. to decide the amount of control they have over their own works.

“The Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to legally build upon and share. The organization has released several copyright licenses known as Creative Commons licenses. These licenses, depending on the one chosen, restrict only certain rights (or none) of the work instead of traditional copyright, which is more restrictive.” (Wikipedia)

Anyone who creates and publishes work can choose how they are willing to share their work.

Learn more with this short cartoon about how Creative Commons licensing works.

See (and share) the great videos about Creative Commons here. Also, see

See Creative Commons: A New Tool for Schools. “A Creative Commons license provides clear guidance to students and educators as to how they may legally use the intellectual properties of others and how they may protect their own.”

When it comes to photos, Flickr lets you establish the rights you have to each image as you load them on the website. You can also search by CC license. If you’re looking for images to use in a website or slideshow, you can search only for photos with Attribution licensing, meaning others will let you copy, distribute, display and perform your work and derivative works if you give them credit. See flickrCC, where you can search for Creative Commons licensed images and link back to the source.

From Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk Blog: “There are two main ways to find Creative Commons licensed materials. CC has a specialized search tool at and there is a list of directories by format. Both can both be effective. Google Advanced Search also allows searching by ‘usage rights.'” The Creative Commons search tool will help you find photos, music, text, books, educational material, and more that is free to share or build upon utilizing Creative Commons enabled search services at Google, Yahoo!, and Flickr.

A great model resource for students: See these Guidelines for Multimedia and Web Communications.

Here’s a wiki with links to TONS of copyright free and creative commons licensed images, sounds, music, and more!! You’ll find what you need here for sure!

“Most of the media in these collections are attached to generous copyright licensing. Though you may not need to ask permission to use them when publishing on the Web for educational purposes, you should cite or attribute these images to their creators unless otherwise notified! If you see any copyright notices on these pages, read them for further instructions. (Things change.) Note: always check individual licensing notices before publishing on the Web or broadcasting!”

Open Source Software

According to Wikipedia:

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.

Open source software is very often free and developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open-source software is the most prominent example of open-source development and often compared to (technically defined) user-generated content or (legally defined) open content movements.

 

 
Here is one of the best places to find Open Source Software
 

 

A word of caution…

do not rely too heavily on these products unless you can first identify the ability of their developers to continue providing their products and/or will be willing to continue offering them for free.

If for example, you are a great fan of Google Sites (or wiki Spaces, for that matter), know that if you plan on investing considerable amount of time and energy developing tools or sharing data on them, what their copyright licenses are (some sites actually require you give up your rights to data you have created, as we shall see later on), and bet on them being around in the future. You Tube, for example, may seem very stable but no where are there any guarantees that they will continue sharing their site, or not begin charging for its services in the future. A good rule of thumb is that do not put anything on these sites that you could not live without past the current semester. Even links to videos are at the mercy of their creators, who may decide to take their videos down after a while… or contain copyright violation that forces them to remove the video.

In this course, we are going to attempt at least help you become as independent of these freebie sites as possible. We do not wish to alarm you, we simply want you to be intelligent consumers and be smart about how much effort you put into creating products/artifacts that you want some assurances will be around for the long haul.
 

FERPA

From the ed.gov Web site:

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) Home

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are “eligible students.”

Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student’s education records maintained by the school. Schools are not required to provide copies of records unless, for reasons such as great distance, it is impossible for parents or eligible students to review the records. Schools may charge a fee for copies.

Parents or eligible students have the right to request that a school correct records which they believe to be inaccurate or misleading. If the school decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student then has the right to a formal hearing. After the hearing, if the school still decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student has the right to place a statement with the record setting forth his or her view about the contested information.

Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student’s education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):

  • School officials with legitimate educational interest;
  • Other schools to which a student is transferring;
  • Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
  • Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
  • Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
  • Accrediting organizations;
  • To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
  • Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
  • State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law.

Schools may disclose, without consent, “directory” information such as a student’s name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.

As a school teacher, you will be required to know the basic tenets of FERPA. Dealing with technology may cause you more concerns, especially as it relates to disclosing potentially private information.

Lesson #1:

1. Check out this review of copyright/fair use on Wikipedia. It is pretty accurate!
2. Watch this video:

 

Lesson #2: What is all the fuss about Remixing?

Now that we have covered copyrights to a certain degree, it is time to look at the concept of remixing. Some of you alluded to the fact that copyright laws need to be changed based on changes in technology. The remix movement is certainly one of those considerations. Wikipedia actually has a very good description of all this.

There is a movement afoot to change the copyright laws to allow remix. The thought is that remixing is really a recreation of content into a new form and should be allowed.

This discussion has ranged from the very serious to satire.

Colbert followed this up with his now famous Green Screen Challenge

In fact, this whole idea started a revolution in thinking as seen by these videos

 

Lesson #3: What is the Open Source Movement?

Aligned with (and adding confusion to) the remix movement is the idea of “open source”.

Links:

DefinitionOpen CoursewareOpen Source MovementCreative Commons
A good place to start
Based on a significant amount of benefactors and foundations, MIT has placed many of its courses online for everyone to use openly as a part of its Open Courseware Initiative
There is an organization established to support the Open Source Movement.
Last but not least is Creative Commons, a site that bridges the gap between remixing and Open Source.
 

Do This!

Post your answer to the following questions to the Drop Box on Angel:

  • Does the video, “A Fair(y) Use Tale,” violate the Fair Use Four Factor guidelines or support them? Support your answer by citing from some of the information from Wikipedia or from your textbook.
  • Do you think most teachers are aware of fair use guidelines?
  • A lot of discussion is taking place about the need for copyright laws to change to fit the times. What do you think?
  • What about open source? What is your reaction to all of this?

From the Edification of Video Games to the Gamification of Instruction

by drkenny

This module is found in EME 6465 – Interactive Learning Environments. We thought is might be of interest to others.

Educational games is a topic we cover in several different courses. This is because using games in a classroom setting is one of the more publicized (and controversial) technologies introduced into the classroom in recent years.
Some of you may not have already taken EDF 6284 – Instructional Design. It is in this course where we delve into video game design in a little more detail as it relates to designing instruction. In this course we look at games with regards to interactive design and what we refer to ‘gamification’ of instruction.In order to ‘level the playing field’ (sorry for the pun), we present a review/synopsis of that course here. By clicking the far right tab (Review: Educational Value of Video games) we present the gist of the module from EDF 6284.

If you feel you need a review, go ahead and click that tab first. SOME of the premises of our discussions on ‘gamification’ are based on your general understanding of the design of video games and reason why perhaps they have been less successfully adopted by teachers. One thing we find is that it is not game design that has failed educators.. it appears that it is a lack of instructional design that has not been embraced game designers. To make matters worse, many game designers and proponents are rather smug about it … to the point that they feel they know more about teaching and learning than do their educator counterparts. While this may or not be true, game designers have figured out motivation and engagement through narrative fantasy and player interaction (i.e., game play techniques). Nevertheless I challenge you to find a variety of standalone video games that actually teach academic content. Thus, the controversy…

To repeat, video games do offer plenty of opportunities for educators to integrate terrific motivational, gameplay, and interactive techniques into their classrooms. Thus the ‘teachable moment’ presented this module.

Read on… let the games begin!!! (Sorry, could not help myself lol)
 

 

Gameplay Mechanics in InstructionKey TakawaysReview: Adding Educational Value to Video Games

What is Gamification*?

Proponents of game design are fully aware (sometimes in a fanatical way) about the ways in which games promote learning (if not content… at least gameplay mechanics).
That is why you do not see too many manuals out on how to play specific games. By their nature, those nicely designed create learning situations where player/learners are naturally motivated to learn. That’s just it!!! If only we could all innately ‘know’ how to create learning situations where all our students are happy to engage. It is all about the interface and interaction… So, if it is true that good game design automatically implies good learning, then it follows that we should be able to extract valuable information on learning/interaction design to be useful for our classrooms… thus, the concept of GAMIFICATION.

The concept of gamification is found in its obvious root: –a game.
Salen and Zimmerman define a game as:

“a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict (i.e. challenge), defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.”

If you read the articles above you should see the common themes that relate to the teaching and motivation masters (rules (events) and challenge (the ‘C’ in the ARCS Motivation Model).

Koster, in his seminal work The Theory of Fun also adds the words ‘interactivity’ and ‘feedback’, which lead to an emotional reaction (a la Brenda Laurel’s ideas on suspending one’s disbelief), and a conceptualization of an abstract version of a larger system (i.e., Computers as Theatre).

Most people believe that the definition of a game rests on the concept of ‘fun’. But we should now begin to realize that it is much larger than that.

Let’s see if Wikipedia can be of any help to us (note the underlined words and their relationship to the concept of ‘interactivity’ we are building here):

Gamification is the use of game design techniques, game thinking and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts. Typically gamification applies to non-game applications and processes, in order to encourage people to adopt them, or to influence how they are used. Gamification works by making technology more engaging, by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviors, by showing a path to mastery and autonomy, by helping to solve problems and not being a distraction, and by taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming

Accordingly, Kapp* arrives at his definition (click on the spoiler to read a definition for each term):

Gamification is using game-based

mechanics,
The mechanics of playing a game include levels, earning badges, point systems, scores, and time constraints
aesthetics,
User interface and the look and feel of the experience
and
game thinking
thinking about everyday experiences and converting them into an activity that has the elements of competition, cooperation, exploration, and storytelling.
to engage people,
motivate action,
A process that energizes and gives direction or meaning to behavior.
promote learning, and
solve problems.
The cooperative nature of games can focus on more than one person to solve a problem… the competitive nature encourages many to do their best to accomplish a goal.

What Gamification is not

While games and gamification share many of the following concepts, gamification is NOT any one of these alone taken singularly:

  • Badges, Points or Rewards – These are important but one of the lesser useful elements of games. Gamification focuses more on engagement, storytelling, visualization of characters, and problem-solving.
  • Trivialization of Learning – If they indeed are designed to properly teach academic content (see the RETAIN Model in the Review section) then they certainly do not cheapen the experience or dilute it. Fun does not mean trivial or not important or authentic.
  • New – Games (especially war games ) have been around since the 7th century.
  • Perfect for every situation – this goes without saying?
  • Easy to create – ditto?
  • Easily understandable and universally adopted by teachers – Ditto again, if you have read the above articles about making games educational. (Again, the review module delves deeper into this).

* Source: Kapp, K.M. (2012). The gamification of learning and instruction: Game-based methods and strategies for training and education. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

The following presentation is an excerpt from an open source, freely accessible courseware found at the UCIrvine Extension site, is probably one of the best summaries of gamification we could find. It runs about 35 minutes. The module, while free, does have a sort commercial in it for the UCIrvine online courses, but we have kept that part to a minimum and cropped the whole intro at the front…. as you review this material understand that our perspective, remember that our perspective is interactive design.. which is a part of overall instructional design. So, when you look at all of this try to keep the focus on designing interactive environments and what this all means to that process. In EDF 6282 (Instructional Design, we again look at games but from a more holistic vantage point.


Your takeaways from this lesson should include:

  • the defintion of a game
  • Gamification is the application of game-based mechanics, aesthetics, etc with the idea to motivate and engage to promote learning (motivation is a key principle in interactive design)
  • Gamification is adding fun to the learning experience without trivializing it (affect on interactive interface design?)
  • While these concepts are valuable, not all teachers are ready to automatically adopt games or the concept of gamification.. they must be taught to learn these concepts (how do you design an activity/lesson/interface that encourages engagement?)
  • While all games teach SOMETHING, it may not be what the teacher or instructor intended. Games need to be evaluated and assessed to be sure they match the lesson goals set forth
  • Gamers can learn from educators, and education can be informed by game design… but this symbiosis is not automatic
  • Based on the review of the module on the educational value of video games, you should understand at least why teachers do not tend to adopt games (at least on a standalone basis), and/or what need to be added to games to make them more educational (at least from the perspective of teaching academic CONTENT).

Do Video Games Work?

You may or may not be aware but some people are adamant that video games will revolutionize and reshape the classroom like no previous advancement. But many do not agree. In order to tap into this debate, I offer you links to a few discussions:

Those who differ on this perspective do so mainly because there has been little research done to show that games actually teach something. Here is a blog with opposing points of view:

A review of the literature reveals that very few have figured out what it is about games that work to be sure that all the teaching elements are there. We do have some insight to this, as we have been doing research in the area. In a review that we completed recently, we discovered a few areas that games seem to be lacking. The following are a few articles we published on the subject. One It of them covers many of the things that most folks simply ignore when they consider using games in their classrooms.

In the first article we developed the rationale behind a rubric to review the educational soundness of games.

In the second article we discuss video games from the perspective as to why teachers have sometimes been shown to be reluctant to adopt games in the classroom.

  1. Taking educational games seriously: using the RETAIN model to design endogenous fantasy into standalone educational games(pdf)
  2. Factors Affecting Adoption of Video Games in the Classroom (pdf)

For a more fully developed set of readings, you may wish to review the complete lesson from EDF 6284.



 

 

Do This!

Now that you have had the chance to review the module on making games more educational and this one in which we discuss and demonstrate how to ‘gamify’ learning experiences, we need for you to do two things:

  1. Post on the Discussion Board set up in Angel your views on whether the concept of gamification actually ‘holds water’ so-to-speak in your mind:
    • First, to set the context, explain from which perspective you are making your comments… K12?; business and industry? informal learning? (if the latter one, explain the context)
    • Do you think there is a need to / benefit in chang(ing) the perspective of learning to make classroom/learning experiences more interactive in this way? Why?/Why not?
    • How do you plan on introducing them to your classes (if you are not now teaching, explain this hypothetically)?
    • What is your take on Kapp’s ideas?What about Jimenez? Do you think he was modeling the concepts he was presenting in the way he conducted the session? If so, how? If not, how might he have changed it around a bit?
    •  Make sure you respond to at least six other’s posts, stating if and how you might agree or disagree. 

  2. Secondly, we need for you to actually provide an artifact. Take either this lesson or the Review Lesson from EDF 6284 and describe how you would ‘gamify’ it using Kapp’s and Jimenez’s principles (reward; status; achievement; self-expression; competition; altruism). This does not have to be very elaborate and the size of the post is not as important as how well you describe how you would convert the lessons. You do not have to demonstrate all of them but perhaps a good way to go on this would be to utilize each concept in checklist style and describe whether teach one is appropriate,(or not), then describe the manner in which you would integrate it into the lesson.
    Post your results in the Drop Box set up in Angel. Make sure you post into the text area, as it saves on grading time. You can write it all out in word on your computer then copy/paste it into the text box. Attachments will be dis-enabled in the drop box

Student Uploader for Large Media Files

by drkenny

INSTRUCTIONS.. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

    • Audio files MUST be created in .mp3 format. If you use an iPod or other android mobile device, the default file type is an .m4a, or .aiff, etc.
    • The please ensure that you have named your file exactly as noted in the instructions sent to you.
    • BEFORE YOU UPLOAD… PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ONLY ACCEPTED FILE TYPE FOR AUDIO TAPES IS .MP3.. IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER FILE TYPE (.M4A, ETC.), PLEASE CONVERT IT USING THIS ONLINE CONVERSION PROGRAM:
      ONCE COMPLETED, DOWNLOAD BACK TO YOUR COMPUTER THE CONVERTED .MP3 FILE. IT IS THE .MP3 FILE THAT YOU UPLOAD TO US.
    • To get your assignment to the correct location, answer the questions by selecting the correct responses in the drop down boxes.

    • Make sure all your entries are lower case (including the file name).

    • DO NOT include YOUR NAME in the file name. Follow the specifications provided by your instructor.

    • Depending on the file size, the upload may take several minutes.
    • PLEASE BE PATIENT AND DO NOT CLICK ANY OTHER BUTTONS OR LEAVE THE PAGE WHILE THE FILE UPLOAD IS IN PROCESS.
    • IF SUCCESSFUL YOU WILL RECEIVE THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IN THE UPLOAD AREA BELOW:

      FTP upload succeeded!
      A notification email has been sent to your instructor.

  • IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE ONE, THE FILE TRANSFER DID NOT WORK.

MAKE SURE WHEN YOU SELECT FROM THE DROP DOWN AREAS THAT THEY ‘TAKE’… THE WORD “Select…” SHOULD BE REPLACED WITH YOUR CLASS, TERM, CRN, AND PROJECT INFORMATION.

This is box title
[advanced_ftp_upload]

How to Build a Learning Portfolio – Ed Leadership

by drkenny

Here is a short presentation by Drs. Carter and Rea for Ed leadership students on how to create and post your portfolio to LiveText:

Please note that there is a new procedure for writing up the artifacts for your portfolios. Please contact Dr Rea via email or by phone (239-590-7777) to discuss.