Microsoft Vista Launches

Microsoft Vista Launches: ZDNet UK Article1 | ZDNetUK Article 2

A new ZDNet (UK) article talks about the release of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista. It provides a brief run through on why many will resist upgrading to Vista from Windows XP or Windows 2000. With many having only deployed Windows XP recently in the business/corporate environment, most IT managers are in no rush to go through what are often nightmarish headaches just to view their desktops in the new theme and UI upgrades known as Aero and Glass.

Some of the problems that this long-talked about, and long-delayed release faced include:

• A re-write of over 70% of the original code-base
• Creation of six different "flavors" (versions) for users from home user, to corporate enterprise, and nearly everything in-between
• Lack of drivers for important hardware resources such as Wi-Fi adapters and video cards
• 20 minutes or more to return a machine from hibernation
• Requires a medium-high-end video card to get the full experience from the new/improved AeroGlass user-interface.
• Battery draining issues that are still unresolved, with an expected resolution sometime in January 2007
  

From personal experience, with the first couple of Betas, and the subsequent final release candidate, Vista sure looks spiffy, but it relocates many items within its UI that will force many users to relearn who to change basic settings on their PC. It took me 15 minutes to figure out how to add a Wi-Fi profile for a network that didn't broadcast its station ID (a basic/common practice for Wi-Fi owners to use to help "shield" their Wi-Fi signal from prying eyes). Keep in mind, the first beta didn't recognize much of anything on my Dell Inspiron E1505 Core Duo machine, but later versions only left with me ailing Wi-Fi (though mostly fixed) and ATI Graphic card issues.

Once you learn how to navigate this new UI and theme, one releases how much "prettier" it is compared to the visual refresh we received with either Windows XP or XP Media Center Edition. While I love the new AeroGlass look, I have taken to calling this release, at least based on its look, Windows OS X. MAC users will probably have to do a double take at first to see that spiffy OS X look semi-replicated on a Windows PC.

I wouldn't rush out to upgrade just yet though, for a couple reasons. For one, any of you gamers need to wait a bit until various video driver and other issues are worked out. And consumers can't purchase this new Vista version until March of 2007, though many new computers you buy now, including those from Dell computers, will ship with a vouchers (at a cost of $10 on the Dell site) to provide a Vista Upgrade Disk upon its release.

Sorry if I geeked out on any of you, but I'm sure a few of you might appreciate this bit of dribble about Vista ;)

Critical E-Learning Failure: UKeU

The Real Story Behind the Failure of U.K. eUniversity : Link to Article

Lessons to be learned from the failure of the UK e-University - by Paul Bacsich, Middlesex University: Link to Paper (PDF)

After reading the articles for this week's lecture, it would almost seem that the future of E-Learning, and many of the ideas we place into the field of Ed. Tech., are a constant track towards a future of failure. While on a personal note, I don't believe that we're doomed to failure, I believe that we must work to truly change how we as educators instruct our students, for only then can technology become the tool that revolutionizes education in the manner we've desired it to be since the 1920's.

I ran across an interesting article (and later a small paper about the same issue) about the failure of U.K.'s eUniversity. The goal of this eUniversity was something as an undergraduate I found totally intriguing, for the concept of a fully online university seemed truly appealing. I hadn't thought much about the eUniversity until I stumbled across this article, and I'm sad to say, it looks like it failed.

So why did the U.K.'s eUniveristy fail? For many of us who feel that online education still has a bright, if not slow-to-start future, the eUniversity might sound like a grad idea: a national, commercial e-university in which you could take various courses from up to 20 different Universities, offering 40 different programs, and receive your degree from the real college/university campus of choice (assuming you met the stated criteria for its degree program). Without completely ruining the article for you, it came down to many factors, many of which are still the primary issues with our online education not just in the United States, but in our online education offerings at the University of Florida:

• Bad timing for the project start: the "Dot-Com Crash" happened just a few weeks after its project debuted
• The first programs took almost 3 years to get off the ground
• Failed to meet its recruiting target (by Nov 2003, it had only enrolled 900 out of the target goal of 5600)
• Online delivery was presented as an alternative to the traditional campus, instead of the supplement many online programs truly end up being
• Confusion between the "branding" the mainstream U.K. universities offered (which emphasized the three elements of tradition, place, and quality) versus the marketing the UKeU promised: "the best of U.K. higher education with online convenience". - Convenience is NOT favored as a strong part of the image of U.K. higher education abroad.
• Platform Investment:
• CMS available (BlackBoard, WebCT) didn't offer the flexibility needed to integrating into a portal of knowledge and exploration
• Positioned its e-learning as a supplement to the campuses involved
• Not Student Driven - all material was content driven
• Limited the use of "good Pedagogy"
• Millions spent on in-house development of a new platform whose full potential and capabilities may never be known
• Impatience - In development for 3 years with minimal attracted cash support, the company was only able to recruit and enroll students for 1 year. Results were not enough for the few investors that hadn't pulled out, leaving the UKeU doomed to failure.

The UKeU represents what many of us as educators and educational technologists have found out already, entering into the E-Learning environment can not be entered into lightly. It takes much time, planning, resources, creativity, and imagination to make E-Leaning a true, stand-alone success, and not a convenient supplementary learning exercise. After all that we have learned this semester, I feel that we have all learned something that has challenged our pre-dispositions about how easy it is, or should be, to make online education truly work. I know my assumptions have changed, and I constantly find myself re-evaluating my thoughts on how to use Ed Tech. to its fullest potential.

Positioning Myself in the Field: Part IV

I just wanted to let everyone know that later this evening/afternoon that my product for my Positioning assignment would be available at the link below. Right now, there's a construction sign up as I complete the full coding of the site, but as soon as the image below disappears from the site, my new knowledge portal will be live and ready for use and review. I welcome any comments you have on this new section of my site!

Educational Technology Portal

Edit: Sorry for any confusion I might have caused with the wording above, but the Educational Technology portal has been ready for viewing since yesterday evening (Nov 16, 2006). I've place an image of the new site next to the construction image to show that the site is ready for viewing, and includes a feedback form for anyone who'd like to fill it out :)

Social Networking for Kids?

As I get ready for work this morning, I had my TV on Cartoon Network (my favorite station), and I noticed a new product I hadn't seen before. They're called Miuchiz, and they come in three different styles:

• Bratz: These big-headed, stylish Bratz girls (from the doll line of the same name) are ready to shop and chat till they drop! (Yasmin, Chloe)
• Pawz: Cute and cuddly pets like dogs and cats need love, attention, and a chance to play! (Dash, Spike)
• Monsterz: Train and battle your favorite monster, compete in competitions, and prove your worthiness! (Inferno, Roc, Creeper)
  

Essentially, they are handheld units that resemble Tamagotchis (for those of us who remember them), but the format is more like a small handheld video game versus the traditional egg-shape of the past. So what do these Miuchiz do? You can train them in battle, care for them, shop at the stores, play games, and more! The handhelds have three different modes:

• 1-player mode: Train, feed, shop, play games, and care for your interactive digital friend
• 2-player mode: Wirelessly chat, trade gifts and items, and compete in games against each other
• Online-mode: Plug your Miuchiz Unit into your computer's USB port, go online (get your parents' permission of course), and visit Planet Mion! Each different type of Miuchiz have their own section of the planet, and once you've arrived, you can explore a 3D world, play games, chat with all the other Miuchiz friends, and download items to your handheld for later use. There also appears to be a common area of the planet where you can join forces, make friends, and enjoy everyone from the various Miuchiz character universe.
  

While these Miuchiz might be just a new fad in the digital companion universe, this is the first one I've seen touting the true interconnectivity to be with your friends online no matter where you are. They truly push and encourage the sense of an online community with these pets. As far as I can tell, the main difference between these Miuchiz handhelds is the avatars you can take care of, and the environment style that they exist in while they are contained within the handheld unit. I'm almost tempted to pick one up and see if they're worth the hype.

A quick look at online retailers like Target.Com, Amazon.Com, and ToysRUs.com, Walmart.com, shows that these units cost between $24.88-$29.99, and that each unit contains a specific character from the different Miuchiz lines (Monsterz, Pawz, Bratz). New characters should be released around January 2007. Purchasing/registering your handheld online entitles you to a free-year's subscription to all the Miuchiz content, and additional renewals and other items can be obtained for a small, undisclosed fee.

Does anyone have children or know of big kids like myself who might enjoy one of these, or be tempted to pick one up and see what the hype is about?

PS3 Lines already forming in America?!?!

Referenced Article: Found on SlashDot and Video Game Blogger

I like to consider myself an avid gamer, at least when I had more time on my hands. I eagerly await the launch date of the next-gen console or game as much as the next guy or gal. And on launch day, I have been known on occasion to arrive at one of my favorite bastions of electronic retailing around midnight of the release day, usually with a couple friends or a sleep-deprived girlfriend, in tow.

But with the PS3's launch day, Friday, November 17th, 2006, only 9 days away, there are already reports of people camping out in front of Best Buy in anticipation of the launch and getting the first shiny consoles of the shelves. I'm sure some would call that dedication, and many would love to relive the glorious tales of adventure that await outside the storefront of a Best Buy at all hours of the night with only one's laptop, cell phone, and a cooler's supply of food quickly dwindling away. But me...I think it borderlines on ludicrous.

The PS3 base model retails for $500, and the premium model (or whatever its being called now) will retail for $600, both before taxes, the purchase of a game ($60+, and no, the system doesn't come with any game included, save maybe a small demo disc), and the all important second controller ($40 I believe). You could easily drop a grand of cold hard cash or plastic for this machine's launch day, and I know many that are willing to do so. But how do these people manage to get the time off of work, put their lives on hold, or avoid the economic reality of it all, to camp out in front of a store for a console they could have pre-ordered online from MANY retailers, just to have the bragging rights to say "Yep, I was there, took the first system of the shelf, and plopped down on the couch in front of the TV before 9:05am for my first game of NCAA2007 for the PS3."

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE VIDEO GAMES! But as much as I really love them, and eagerly anticipate the launch of the next-gen consoles (the Nintendo Wii all the way, baby!), would any of you do this? Would any of our professors, co-workers, and peers understand and appreciate that we were MIA for 9+ days waiting for the PS3, and be like, "Bryan, I understand, the PS3 is important to your life and your success, you go right ahead and get in line for it, we'll be ready for your return when the time is right."

I guess what I'm really trying to ask is, would anyone like to meet me at Target on Thursday, November 16th, after Dr. Dawson's class, and camp out in the Nintendo Wii line, as we gawk at the PS3 crowd? :)

RLO's and Life-Long Learning: Reflection

Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs):

Having only been recently introduced to the concept of RLO's in the late Spring of 2006, I found Dan's presentation on RLO's quite thorough. I completely agree with his ideal definition for RLOs, as “any digital resource that can be used in the service of education or training that supports a learning objective.”

The concepts on the various items of metadata, LOMS, and Oncology were definitely new to me, but the explanations provided helped me understand Dan's presentation even with my lack of prior knowledge on these subjects.

Thinking of LMS as Knowledge Ecosystems was an intriguing concept, and one I hadn't thought of until this presentation. The contextual nature of this ecosystem might make certain items in an LMS harder to explain or justify, but I believe that its contextual nature also helps make it easier to understand the meaning behind items of discussion.

Life-Long Learning:

At first, I had simply assumed that all human beings were life-long learners, and I suppose even now at some esoteric level, this assumption isn't untrue. I found how Kathryn's definition of life-long learning to be much more concrete than my aforementioned notion, and appreciated how she broke down the notions of the Life-Long Learner into small ideas.

Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) were something I had considered to have the most practical use to me those with special needs or other handicaps and disabilities. Clearly, this thought process of mine was rather narrow. The benefits behind PLEs seem to be bountiful, provided you follow three concepts that a PLE must:

1. Be user-centric
2. Be user-friendly
3. Assessment Ready (pre and post), modify if needed

I think we all could benefit as instructors, educational technologists, and learners if more PLE's were created for the various facets of learning we encounter every day.

Final Thoughts

After re-reading my notes, I began to wonder if my Podcasting Portal could possible be considered a combination of a RLO and a PLE. Or perhaps, if I added more content, and modified some existing content, it could become a hybrid of these two concepts. It goes without saying, these two presentations gave me a lot to think about, and were both of great benefit to me.

Thanks Dan and Kathryn!

Media Methods: LSU and Tegrity (NSD)

LSU Expands Distance Learning Program Through Online Learning Solution

Article Link: http://www.thejournal.com/articles/15796_1

Dr. Thomas Lynch, a professor of Public Information at LSU, had a problem. He wished to begin integrating and expanding his lecture materials outside the normal classroom to better engage his students in the learning process. While LSU did provide support for hosting files online via BlackBoard and SemesterBook (a LSU in-house developed program) for students, there was no option for streaming media of any kind due to costs and other technical reasons.

Enter Tegrity, Inc. and their WebLearner program. After a brief demonstration at the LSU campus, the WebLearner program proved that it could “dramatically reduce the time and effort required to record audio and video in sync with the classroom PowerPoint presentations...it also delivered high-quality, indexed modules, at connection speeds as low as 28.8K, which was deemed essential for practical, inexpensive viewing by all of their students.” WebLearner impressed LSU, and they bought this new learning system.

Dr. Lynch immediately grabbed hold of this new technology, and “produced more than 100 online modules in less than half a semester without any production assistance or technical support from the university, except for their assistance in placing the files on a special server.” Soon after, Dr. Lynch developed a plan to utilize this new technology and hopefully prove its effectiveness to his administrators and his classroom.

Dr. Lynch developed a system of choices for his students as they started a new semester:

1. He could continue lecturing the class as he had always done, and the students could use the recordings optionally for review purposes.
2. He could stop lecturing, and students could rely solely on the Tegrity files.
3. He also gave each student the option of either staying for a live lecture, or leaving after the first 15 minutes and viewing the recording at their leisure.

Within two weeks, the third option proved to be the chosen one.

The results indicated that “by the end of the semester...the grades for the first semester when we used Tegrity were slightly better than when we took the traditional approach.”

I found this article to be a positive approach where an instructor took the bull by the horns and sought to improve both his students' ability to learn, and at the same time, improved his own technological skillset and notions of technology and instruction.

Social Networking with Ning: For Jade

Article Link 1
Article Link 2

Social networking sites have certainly taken off recently, though I doubt the many denizens of these sites think of them in terms of social networking. Ning, co-founded by Marc Andreesen (Netscape Co-Founder) and Gina Bianchini (24 Hour Laundry, another type of social networking site), aims to truly bring the next level of social networking to not just the social masses, but the developers as well.

Not only is the site full programmable for developers, but the site allows its users to customize its look to a decent extent, with an upgrade coming in December of 2006 that should greatly increase the user's control of layout, content, and theming. Co-founder Gina Bianchini says, “What's different about Ning from other services is that we give you your own video site like YouTube, or social-networking site like MySpace. But unlike being a page in somebody else's service, it's yours. You get to choose what it's about."

After visiting their site, I definitely find it to be a blending of many social networking ideas: a blog, a video hosting service (a-la You Tube), a My Space-esque feel for content, FaceBook style posting and grouping, and even a bit of flexibility a-la Google Pages. It's certainly a neat idea, and since Ning users don't need to know any coding what-so-ever to enjoy its features and customize their Ning site as they see fit, it will definitely appeal to the masses. While I don't know if its a service I'd use, given that I know some web coding and I have my own hosting space, Ning's potential rates high in my book. I also found it a bit odd that Ning had existed for over a year, but I hadn't heard anything about it till now.

A Hallow Engagement

As many of you might know, my girlfriend, Jenny (a recent a CoE graduate), moved to the West Palm Beach area to begin her career teaching 4th grade in September. The past two months apart have been a constant reminder of how much we mean to each other, and I appreciate the support and camaraderie each of you in the Ed. Tech. program have shown me.

With that in mind, I felt it appropriate to make this important announcement: Jenny and I are now officially engaged!

Please feel free to view the Photo Gallery of our special weekend and share it with those who might be interested.

And for those of you have have some extra time and bandwidth to kill, here are some links to a few short movie clips I took of a special fireworks celebration during our stay in Disney World!

• Fireworks Clip 1 (3.4MB)
• Fireworks Clip 2 (10.5MB)
• Fireworks Clip 3 (18.0MB)
• Fireworks Clip 4 (16.7MB)
• Fireworks Clip 5 (12.5MB)