Using Twitter and Mobile Learning

Twitter Uses:

1. Story telling
2. Debate from different points of view - ex. You post a statement, each student takes on a role and responds in a tweet to the statement. Then, each student selects a group of tweets to create a summary of tweets.

3. Respond to an experience ( a video, a story, a reading, etc) - Post your tweet - add to the next tweet, and so on. Each student - progressively makes the response longer.
To end it...
a. Either have students do this often (each module - and then, write occasional summaries - or be marked on total tweets based on a rubric)

Other mobile learning

4. Short videos - Take short videos or pictures - used to symbolize concepts, tell a story, demonstrate a finding, illustrate a concept etc.

5. Storyboarding - use quick, short comments to create a story line

6. User-friendly videos that are easily downloaded and "walk" students through the tool, just as if you were in the classroom.

Designing for mobile learning? Keep it simple so that download time is fast and reading panes are user-friendly

7. Podcasts - great way to share concepts
8. Administrivia - announcements, ads, register, add/ drop; connect with classmates, schedules, events, etc.

New Tools for Personal Learning

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

New Tools for Personal Learning

View more presentations from Stephen Downes.

Immersed in Second LIfe

How high can you fly? Go to Second Life and find out. Yesterday we had a class meeting in Second Life, meeting at the U of Manitoba's virtual lounge. I have mixed feelings about Second Life. I felt very clumsy and awkward, and a little uncomfortable when I actually "flew" into someone. On the positive side, I did feel like we were really meeting. I felt much more connected to the class participants. I noticed that we all fell into our usual human conventions - standing politely watching someone speak, moving quietly around, trying not to step into each other's personal space. It would be very interesting to study the interpersonal dynamics that go on in virtual worlds! I can see that there are potential benefits to using Second Life - that it really does create a strong sense of connectedness amongst participants. We're going to consider experimenting with it for the eCafe project. Truly good "food for thought"

happiness works!

Here's an interesting page - with a list of top 10 reasons why twitter can make you happy....
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/happinessproject/

Our DL procedures Bubbl.Us Link

Noon discussions

We had a great discussion yesterday at noon re: the path to adapting online instruction. Specifically I had 3 areas of concern to discuss:
1. How do we make sure the content is appropriate to the tool
2. Presentations - how do we move beyond powerpoint and text to truly make sure of online potential.
3.Difficulties I had in uploading content -

Solutions
1. Chris - take screen captures and narrate as move through screeens

- if I want to unify the screens, use a powerpoint slide / word doc that is open

i'm going to try Prezi for FAS 154 and screen capture tactic.