E-learning, tasks for week 4

Find at least one good and one bad example case of course design and reflect your opinions of these courses in your personal Weblog.

I am sorry, but the question for me sounds a bit lopsided. There are at least two variables we have to know. In order to answer this question, we need to define “a good course” (or a bad one) and know whom are we talking about (good for who?).

I am returning to one of my earlier-stated principle: we shouldn’t be learning because of learning (or even not because of facts and concepts, diplomas and knowledge). We should be learning for inspiration and for certain higher level wisdom. What good will it do for us, if we overload our heads with tons of facts and theories?

So back to the initial question: a bad course doesn’t give me anything to think about and to apply in my work and this is probably partly due to the bad design of it. Contrary to a good course that makes me think, inspires me to actually do something new or make things better. If I happen to need “dry” information, I can always find it from the web, in a few seconds.

Unfortunately I don’t have any good examples of IMKE courses yet. But in general I am thrilled about the structure of different online course we have had, since they provide a certain freedom to do schoolwork when there’s time.  

As a group define what are the criteria for a good online course and reflect it in your group space (whatever you choose this to be), but make this group space visible to other groups by posting a link to your personal Weblogs.

http://tallinnuniversityprojects.pbworks.com/Online-Course-Criteria

Reading and reflection
1. Reflect and summarize on course readings in your personal Weblog: Explain, what are the components of course design!

These incredibly distant, dreary and futile theories are already making me angry, although I am very acquiescent and modest person.

Someone did some heavy research on how learning is facilitated and came up with the following: 

“Making errors is a natural consequence of problem solving.”

Another professor figured out that “learning is facilitated when learners are engaged in solving real-world problems.”

No comments!

When establishing a course, the design components you usually have to think about are fine   intro, purpose or objectives, structure, interaction, motivation, feedback, involvement and assessement. But can easily skip one or even more of them, as long as all of these finally end up in one thing: inspiration.

Learning something useless (just for learning or diploma) is not only wasting your time, but also deadening your mind and spirit. 

2. What was the most important thing you learned this week? What kind of questions/ideas/experiences this week’s activities raised for you? How is it related with the self-development plan in your personal learning contract?

This week I learned that we have a pretty effective groupwork ongoing. We managed to establish a list of course criterias from zero in almost no time.

I don’t have the self-development plan nor the learning contract yet, since I know exactly what I would like to achieve with this course. But I am thinking of establishing myself a learning contract by the end of this course!  The “self-development” part would be then finding motivation and usefulness of this! I am working on it.

3. Was there something you didn’t quite understand and want to know more about it?

“Learning is facilitated when the instruction demonstrates what is to be learned rather than merely telling information about what is to be learned.”

I read this statement five times, very slowly. And then went through the following chapter. And still didn’t quite catch the idea here.

4. What is your evaluation of this week’s groupwork? (What went well and what did not? How did groupwork influence fulfilling your personal learning contract?)

I think we have started our groupwork and established group interaction really well. Considering the different backgrounds and status quos we have.

5. Describe what has changed in your personal learning environment and in group environment?

I have gained some more experience on working with wikis. I still hate PBworks, but I think we could become friends at some point. It just takes time.

E-Learning, tasks for week 2

Here are the task and reflections for week 2:

1. Write down your personal learning contract in your personal Weblog according to the learning contract template:

My objectives: I would like to learn how to play piano. For three reasons:

a) Playing piano is just fun sometimes

b) I would like to be able to assist my children when they learn how to play instruments or sing

c) It helps me when I sing in a choir.

What resources will I need: I need a piano, a teacher and about 2 hours in a week

How will I do it: An one hour lesson with my excellent teacher every week in Oleviste church and additionally I will spend at least one hour every week practising at home. Will start from the very basics, the easiest songs and move on to more difficult ones according to the development of my skills. I am using my own piano at home and the one that is in church.

Evaluation criteria: By the end of the first year of my studies, I have to be able to play from the songs of Juhhei children choir from the notes, songs that require playing with two hands simultaneously in right rythm.

Self-reflection: My own opinion can be very subjective, but fortunately I have an excellent teacher who alarms me when my progress is too slow.

Reading and reflection

1. Reflect and summarise on course readings in your personal Weblog: How can a conversational personal contract improve self-directed learning?

In my opinion it is often unnecessary to have that kind of personal contract. I depends.

When speaking about the piano lessons, then the contract seems to be inevitable. The learner has to know why is he doing this and set goals how to make progress. But with university courses and curriulum it is impossible or even kind of stupid to form the learning contract.

It should be contract where you define everything – how many hours you spend on something, what do you need, what will be your research tools and who will be your teachers and groupmates. It doesn’t work like that, because you can’t really define all this beforehand. There’s no university course that is 100 percent practical and useful. Establishing a valid and meaningful learning contract might take more time than the course.

2. What was the most important thing you learned this week? What kind of questions/ideas/experiences this week’s activities raised for you? How is it related with the self-development plan in your personal learning contract?

I learned that there are even more people spending their time on studying the learning process and coming up with new theories on that. I personally do not believe in then value of study contract, but that is probably due to my ignorance.

3. Was there something you didn’t quite understand and want to know more about it?

All clear.

E-Learning assignment, week 1

Here are my reflections on course readings for week 1:

1. What are your expectations with this course?

I expect to get inspired by this course. I am not sure how that could happen, but we will see.

Sadly, I have to admit that after diving into “world of nice learning theories” there’s not too much hope for inspiration. I see that some people have done hardcore meta analysis on how people learn and how they use web for learning. But in general I hate theories.

Anderson, for example, has arrived to conculsion that “sufficient levels of deep and meaningful learning can be developed, as long as one of the three forms of interaction (student-teacher; student-student; student-content) is at very high levels.”

Cole has wored really hard to reach a conclusion that “online learning allows for flexibility of access, from anywhere and usually at anytime—essentially, it allows participants to collapse time and space”

Isn’t that bloody obvious, that is my question.

So the second expectation with this course I have is that it shouldn’t saturate me with facts, theories and concepts. Facts I can find from the Internet myself if needed. 

I tend to agree with Wilson when he says that “too strict an adherence to any particular theoretical viewpoint often filters our perceptions and blinds us to important lessons of reality.” 

2. What are the trends in e-learning and how do they influence online course design?
 
Online courses have made learning more focused on learner, his or her experiences and needs. It has also facilitated communication between learner(s), teacher(s) and their relation with the materials. Online courses tend to be more interesting as they are designed using the social and multimedia tools available.
 
But I think the bottom line has to be that online of offline, if the course doesn’t bring any value for the learner, it is waste of time. As a lot of university courses these days unfortunately are.

3. What was the most important thing that you learned this week? What kind of questions/ideas/experiences this week’s activities raised for you? How is it related with your expectations of the course?

I learned that there are actually some people out there spending their time on coming up with theories of learning.

I enjoyed reading Prensky’s practical postulates on how we learn.

But certain criticism entered my mind while reading the materials. They were about learning, but what is actually learning?

For me it is not only related to academic stuff, studying in a school, for me experiences (life-school) is also learning. If a miracle happens and I will get my Master’s degree, we can say that I have learned a lot. But if I spend every Sunday in Oleviste church, discovering myself, the God and the Bible, I have learned even more. So learning means not only courses but also things as socializing, raising kids, making mistakes, travelling etc.

And as we all know the current sad reality – there are highly educated people among unemployed. So diplomas don’t work, people are. Education and eruditness are not synonyms.

Two more ideas:

For learning we need technology, we need the Internet. So when we’d like an African tribe to learn something, we shouldn’t send them books and teachers, we should provide them with the Internet.

Online courses are nice, but they will never replace personal touch – the feeling when you can give your teacher a handshake and examine how experienced he or she really is, by counting the amount of his or her grey hair. 

4. Was there something you didn’t quite understand and want to know more about? 

Kirschner’s learner centered interaction design model – it sounds interesting, but I didn’t really understood this. I am not sure if I’d like to know more about this though. 

5. Describe the tools and resources of your personal learning environment. Were there problems in constructing a personal learning environment?

I have my course blog and I have started feeling comfortable working with course wiki’s. A year ago I didn’t even knew what the term “wiki” means.  Don’t see any problems.

Intro for E-learning course

This is an intro of me, one that I made for the E-learning course (IFI7139).

So my name is Toivo Tänavsuu. I am 29 years old. Troublemaker, in a sense that I am so busy that I never have enough time for anything, including schoolwork.

I am part of about a million things and projects, but my main responsibility is writing articles for Eesti Ekspress, the coolest weekly in Estonia. I am usually writing about business, IT and social issues.

Additionally I am behind a weblog TigerPrises.com, covering Estonian start-up, IT and technology scene. A lot of my time a spend in (or for) Oleviste church, since I am a Christian. And last but not least I have wife and two children who need me.

So I have already promised to Katri (the manager of IMKE program in Tallinn University) that if it happens that I will graduate and receive the Master diploma, I will organise something spectacular for my coursemates.  

About social tools – I don’t have anything I cannot live without. I am not using all this tingle-wingle available, since socialize every day with many people for my work anyway. Yes, I do have a Facebook and Twitter accounts (you can be my friend too!), but I have these only for one purpose: to “campaign” for my blog!

I am not familiar with E-learning world, half a year ago I didn even know what a wiki is! Learning general is tricky – lot of people these days seem to learn just to get a diploma. I would like to learn to get inspired! Learning has to be very practical. At least I know what a wiki is by the end of first year 🙂

So I am eager to “learn” more about the E-learning thing…

Review of the wiki-paper on Ads in Video Games

Here’s a review of wiki-paper “Ethics and Law in New Media: Advertising in video games” , a work by Gert, Thea, Ilya, Jossif and Jindrich.

The group has chosen rather interesting topic – Ads in video games. Especially good choice when considering two current trends: video games become more and more popular and marketing experts are continuously trying to find new and innovative ways to reach customers.

The group has given relatively exhaustive overview on the topic: when did first ads appear in video games, what kind of evolution has been in this field, what sord of tactics and methods are used. A slew of different examples are provided.

It is somewhat surprising to read that “an average video game player is 18-35 years old single male, who is overweight, aggressive, introverted and often depressed, with nearly 12% of them showing multiple signs of addiction. ”

Nevertheless I see one essential problem with this wiki-paper. It responds to the question “what is advertising in video games?” but ignores the analysis “what about advertising in video games?”

For me the topic associates with for example the problems of hidden advertising in ad-free state TV channel (ETV in Estonia) or hidden political advertising.

So I would have placed the questions of ethics and law to the center and tried to dissert on: 

• What sord of ethical problems video game advertising raise? How about Marlboro ads in race games for youth for example?
• Has there been any cases where industry has used “dirty” methods to reach its audience via video games?
• Are there any laws regulating video game advertising specificly?
• Has there been an legal problems i.e. certain advertising has been illegal?
• Are there any fields in this area, where regulation seems to be an absolute necessity?
• Where and why is advertising in video games illegal?

Although I have to admit – few words were written regarding intrusion, psychological vulnerabilities and commercial manipulation. There could have been more on those.

Otherwise, thanks for an interesting piece of work!

Example of “nonmarket production” in Media Industry

Home assignment for Ethics and Law in New Media course, week 2/1

This time I have to find an example of “nonmarket production” (something not depending on proprietary strategies) in my field of activities – print and online media.

I guess blogging would be a good example of this. Bloggers and other social media activists (facebookers, twitterers etc) are like rebels against traditional media or traditional ways of doing media, spreading (and selling) information. 

Very often these new media people are quicker and more effective in publishing information. I had a good example of this in one of my previous posts.

And if we would now ask what kind of rules, Codes, principles or traditions do the bloggers follow, we’d find it difficult to answer. These people are like wildcats, they make their own rules. And the only thing traditional media can do about it is try be innovative and say that bloggers are not really journalists, they are….you know…

Thoughts on ideas of Theobald, Handy and Castells

Home assignment for Ethics and Law in New Media course, week 1/2

Robert Theobald has this concept of “mind-quakes” – certain points in the process of change where the old model and old understanding lose their meaning.

An example of that can probably be found from Ancient Greece. Philosopher Homer and many other people thought the world was flat. But then Pythagoras and Aristotle postulated that the earth was round. What an amazing discovery!

Or another example. Invention of the telephone by Mr Bell. Grand shift in communication.

Charles Handy has listed nine paradoxes of society. For example: “The paradox of time. The application of modern technology means less time is needed to make and do things. People should have more spare time. But time has become a competitive weapon and getting things done quickly is imperative. As a result, many of those who work have less time than ever before.”

That sounds like me!

In addition to the nine, I could list some other paradoxes. For example:

– Paradox of wealth. People want to become rich. Yet money rarely makes people happier. 

– Paradox of sustainability. Although technology evolves and people gain knowledge on the efficient use of different resources, it becomes more and more clear that the world as it is now is unsustainable in long turn.

– Paradox of studying. People value education, life-long learning. And think that knowledge would make them more competitive as employees. Yet, employers are not looking for diplomas, but people that are able to solve problems. They are looking for experience and sensing.

Manuel Castells has described the network society. One charcteristic of it is information-based economy – the success of economic processes depends directly on information and its availability.

I half agree that a threat is the exclusion of those not keeping pace – in absence of adequate regulation, this threat is much more serious than in industrial society.

Indeed would I be disadvantaged when not having Internet access. I’d have to go to a bank to transfer money and banks charge an enormous fee for such a services. 

But one thing I disagree with. Many people tend to think that in order to keep the pace, one has to have a Facebook and Orkut accounts and they definately has to Twitter. All of them (except Orkut) are just marketing tools for me.

A review of Pekka Himanen’s paper “Challenges to the Global Information Society”

Home assignment for the Ethics and Law in New Media course, week 1/1

Dr. Pekka Himanen from the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology has written a paper for the Finnish Parliament, describing the future challenges of information society.

Himanen lists three substantially different innovative society models and writes about their problems – Silicon Valley (too neo-liberal), Singapore (too tax competition oriented), Finland (too passive and with too heavy welfare state burden).

I believe Estonia can be fourth society model, since people tend to underestimate the flexibility and adaptability Estonian society. Himanen is concerned about welfare state and equal rights. It’s the social burden of Finland he seems to worry about. Although social sphere represents about 40 percent of Estonia’s budget, we have been smart – introduction of the pension reform (where the current workers contribute into their future pensions) helps to reduce budget burdens. 

Another thing remarkable about Estonia: it is very difficult here to live by solely with the state unemployment aid, unlike in many other countries, especially Nordic, where you don’t necessarily have to work – the welfare society is taking care of you!  

I don’t want to argue that Estonia is the best information and welfare mix in the world. There’s a long way to go before our government is able to distinguish between who is earning money and who is spending it. Our current corporate taxation model (zero income tax for re-invested profits) is no longer competitive in promoting entrepreneurship and well-paid jobs.

But the bottom line is: think about the speed things could be implemented in a small society like Estonia, compared with countries such as Italy, France or Germany!

Himanen points out that the main task of a manager should be to promote creativity. That brought to my mind the story of how Estonian entrepreneurs wanted to establish a helicopter flights business in Africa, Sierra Leone. They told me it is impossible to do the aviation business with black people, even if they were educated in Europe. Because they do everything by the book. Looking for answers from a manual when flying a broken-down aircraft can be lethal.

Creativity or lack of it is also the argument of why some large IT companies refuse to outsource work from countries such as India.

Himanen says: “In the information society, where learning continues throughout our lives, schools should not only distribute information but
also, and equally importantly, build self-confidence and social skills, as well as help pupils to fulfil themselves by identifying their talents and creative passions.”

I totally agree. It’s good to see that some schools no longer judge over children starting their education from the first grade by their reading or calculating skills, but sociality instead.

And finally – Himanen worries about workers getting exhausted and stressed. I have a receipt against that: establish a start-up!

Power of New Media

A Ghost called “Innovation Journalism”

I skipped my lectures today to participate in a neet event in Helsinki – “Weather-casters of the Future” – the first Nordic conference on Innovation Journalism.

What is “innovation journalism” anyway? Is it an innovative way to publish  information or journalism covering innovations? Am I an innovation journalist as I am blogging about innovative Estonian start-ups in TigerPrises?

Well, so far all of the discussions at the conference have been on a theoretical level. Academics argue what it is and how it works and if it is universal or not.

Dance around theory

For example one of the key speakers – David Nordfors – Executive Director of Innovation Journalism Research Center at Stanford University claims that:

“Innovation journalism is  journalism covering innovation – innovation processes and innovation (eco) systems.”

And then he defines some of the key concepts:

“Innovation in journalism: innovative journalism”

“Innovation about journalism: innovation journalism”

“Innovation: process of creating and delivering new value to society”

I have a certain allergy against deep theories. So I was about to think : who really cares about the exact definition of innovation journalism?

If you are a journalist and your editor gets to your nerves, start blogging and twittering etc. Journalists write about interesting stuff. I write about stuff I like in Eesti Ekspress and my blogs.

I can set myself as an example. I was in Silicon Valley in May 2008. When an idea suddenly hit me: why should I  write only in Estonian, if I can write in English as well, getting substantially bigger potential audience for my work.

Almost instantly TigerPrises was born. And never did I thought afterwords if that was an innovation journalism project or not. Forget about theories, do something instead! I came back from the Valley with 20 stories!

Who has the wheele in media industry?

But then Nordfors said something interesting. He concludes journalism needs to be defined in relation to audience and not in relation to medium – because everybody has the medium.

That’s true. Estonian newspapers are at the moment actively trying to figure out what to do against the drop of subsctibers. Reader has become a true king and decider. No longer do the journalists enjoy monopoly of reader’s attention.

Now the editors ask: What is it that the readers really want to read? What sord of articles they like? What sord of layouts they fancy? Do they read newspapers at all in, lets say, about 2020?

A sad reality is that an investigative journalist can spend months on doing sophisticated research on a delicate, controversial and/or scandalistic topic. But the result can be that the readers shrug their shoulders. They don’t care, the story lacks personal touch.

Back to the conference. During a panel discussion few Finnish journalists gave somewhat more practical views on the issue. It’s interesting that the “conventional journalists” tend to reject and distance themselves from the concept of “innovation journalism”. Because they don’t understand it. they can’t predict, what will be hot in the future, so they either spend their energy on something unimportant or just fail to see the important trends and stuff.

T-shaped journalist

Another interesting idea came up when panelists tried to answer the question what quelities make a good innovation journalist?

He or she has to be “T-shaped person”. That means with broad and detailed knowledge in one specific area or sector BUT also with the ability to communicate between different sectors (without necessarily knowing them).

Qualities like “critically optimistic” and “problems solving” do also good.

Which reminds me an argument from Hans H Luik – Estonian “Rupert Murdoch”. Popular understanding is that technology and citizenship journalism has turned all the traditional media theories upside down.

But Luik suggests (and I agree with him) that maybe we are mixing up something here in a chumpy way. Journalism is not equvivalent word to Media. Because you can “do media” with your iPhone, but you need to invest a lot of money, hire professionals and establish an editorial to do journalism. In other words: journalism is an expensive way of “doing media”.

Or what to you think?