Digital Learning Communities

In 2001 I think I used Ceres (later to be named Tinderbox ) and then later my first installation of Movable Type (when it was still free and TypePad was not even a twinkle in anyone's eyes), and before then it was via Tinderbox. ... I'll simply backdate it to the original date of publication, which strikes me as very 1984 but I shouldn't have to rely on the Wayback Machine to show that I was there.

From the Canberra Times (16 March 2008), an interview I did talking about social software in education with specific reference to students as co-designers and the importance of network literacy. 

I have a chapter ("Softvideography: Digital Video as Postliterate Practice") in Byron Hawk , David M. ... This collection has been four years in the making (books really are a cautious medium) and two copies arrived fresh off the press this week.

In the US at least, you can now send the location of businesses that you find on Google Maps to your Garmin GPS. It works through Firefox with my Garmin nüvi 760: first of all find the business you want in Google Maps (it doesn't work in Australia, but I've made it work for US businesses), then click the Send link towards the top-right of the Maps window, between Print and Link to this page (with the icon of the envelope to the left).

In the 'window' that appears, click the GPS link on the left. If the GPS link isn't there, the location can't be transferred to your GPS.

Choose the location you want to transfer from the Include: popup, then choose Garmin from the Make: popup. Click the Send button. This should take you to the Garmin website. The first time you try it, you will need to install the Garmin Communicator plug-in. This works with Firefox for me, but not Safari. Download and install the plug-in, then follow the instructions. Be careful the installer doesn't take you back to Safari after the installation, make sure it's Firefox.

How about other locations, apart from businesses, Google?

The March 2008 edition the Carrick Institute's, Carrick Communique, carries an article on our Digital Learning Communities project. The article covers some of the key findings that are emerging from our project. You can download the PDF document (4MB) here.

Stephen Barrass and I have just had our paper, Social Software: Piloting MyToons As A Digital Learning Community For Teaching New Media, accepted for Edmedia 2008 to be held in Vienna, Austria later this year. The abstract follows:

This paper describes a pilot project using the MyToons.com animation social networking site to teach a New Media unit at the University of Canberra in 2007. MyToons, modeled on MySpace and other popular social software sites, has additional characteristics that focus on the construction of social identity and peer networking. The location of MyToons in the public space beyond the classroom embeds the students in an authentic community of practice, with exemplars, technical support, and opportunities to network and showcase their creativity and productions. In this study we reflect on the process of integrating MyToons into the unit syllabus, and the results from an evaluation survey of the students. This analysis confirms the importance of usability and sociability for the creation of an online community of practice for peer learning.

I have just upgraded to Drupal 6.1 though I am still waiting for a decent WYSIWYG editor for this version. I must admit that while I think Drupal is great for database-driven websites, I am stuggling with it a bit as a personal publishing platform and still regualarly consider hosting Wordpress myself or making the leap to fully hosted solution from James Farmer and the team at Edublogs.

News from IERG...
The 6th. Conference on Imagination and Education was held in Canberra, Australia from Jan. 29th. To Jan. 31st. 2008. Participants came from more than a dozen countries. It was a lively and excellent event. Sean Blenkinsop, Tannis Calder, Kieran Egan, Mark Fettes, Kathryn Ricketts, Kym Stewart, and Jean Warburton came from the IERG at SFU. The Dean of Education at SFU, Dr. Paul Shaker also attended, and graciously introduced Kieran Egan’s talk.The conference theme was "Imaginative practice, imaginative inquiry" and it aimed to connect a cross-section of educators and administrators from elementary & high schools, universities, professional organizations and work-place settings in a dialogue and exploration of imaginative and creative ways of teaching, learning and conducting educational inquiry.Miranda Armstrong, long a user of IERG ideas in Australia, gave one of the most generally appreciated talks. Sean Blenkinsop, Tannis Calder, Mark Fettes, and Kym Stewart each gave well-attended and appreciated talks. Kathryn Ricketts led a significant group in a dance workshop. Noel Gogh and Bernie Neville, from LaTrobe University, were also prominent speakers. The organizers of the conference were IERG’s long-time and valued associate Thomas Neilson and Robert Fitzgerald seen here. After the conference a group gathered at the University of Canberra to discuss future steps for IERG-Australia and began the tasks involved in seeking grants and setting the new group on its feet.

Two years after first announcing that Garmin would support the Macintosh within the year, more software (still in beta) was announced at San Francisco MacWorld this week.

Codednamed Bobcat, the software "allows you to transfer waypoints, tracks, and routes between your Mac and Garmin device and manage your data using your Garmin maps". Garmin maps still aren't available in Macintosh format (you have to convert your Garmin PC maps with MapConverter for Windows, then use MapManager on the Macintosh to make them accessible to Bobcat).

If I have a few spare moments I'll fire it all up and see how it goes. Will only work with Garmin USB devices.