keskiviikko 19. maaliskuuta 2008

How to get started with LeMill?

I have been visited LeMill few months ago and then I was confused about feeling like being alone there. Now I noticed the same thing. I founded a group called Photography as a networking course and asked my friend to join this group but what else can I do to be BOLD? I though that maybe there can be some other persons interested in this subject also but there was not. So – I’m not so surprised after all. I have been trying to have some conversation about this subject before in different spaces but it has been very frustrated until now. But maybe some day…….Now I have one contact from UK but I haven’t heard about him lately. I don’t know if art teachers are interested in OER or not but I hope some day I have some good debate on this subject! : )

LeMill looks very fresh and easy to get in. There is 13 languages to use and areas for content, methods, tools and community. Your can manage your own group for collaborating there and you can have all your teaching materials published and shared there if you wan to. For me LeMill looks like place to find some interesting directions to different OER tools http://lemill.net/tools/tools/lemill_titlecloud. It’s also very nice to notice that there is users instructions how to use LeMill tools. I haven’t published any materials yet but I get interested in!

I like that way LeMill combine collaborating, publishing, sharing and also introducing OTHER OER projects. To get started…I have to learn more and I have to find some groups to join and collaborate. And maybe I’m going to publish some researches studying art with open spaces like Wikispaces and Ning.

tiistai 11. maaliskuuta 2008

Some research into OER spaces


OU –Open University and Open learning space.

This space looks very professional with every tool for communication (chat, flash meeting and knowledge map) and sharing knowledge. There is an also personal space for studying. This space looks very pale and colourless to me. I don’t know if there can manage spaces after registered but in this way it’s too flat for me. I need to make my own space with my own colours to study with great interest.: ) Art studying needs colours!

CONNEXION

I found out some collaborating tools very interesting. Workgroups as a scratch areas could be authored by many or there could be some hierarchy. Those areas contributors roles can be authored many ways also. You can be author, maintainer or copywriter.

Connexion seems to be a publishing and sharing space for real ready materials. Collaborating is hidden and networking tools are based on texts mainly.

MIT (Massachusets Institute of Technology), OCW Open Course Ware

There is very large space with courses freely to study. I was surprised that its not possible to have any degrees or certificate from MIT or OCW by studying in OCW system. This space has also very professional appearance but the only one which have red DONATE now buttons everywhere.

LE MILL

Le Mill was the only one of these learning spaces I know before. I haven’t yet learning to use it very well. I have been visited and registered there but I have not found anything from there to use in art teaching. LeMill has very fresh outlook and it is easy to manage. But NOW I’m going to learn more with next week lesson.

maanantai 10. maaliskuuta 2008

Some OER points for me...

At first I must say that Ilkka Tuomi’s report Open Educational Resources: What they are and why do they matter was really new for me and it was full of abbreviates (I O.K.I, SIF, ELF) and technical details about OER history. One week was too short time to me to adopt all those things but I decided to bring up only those main points for mine purpose.

“One way to describe open resources is to define them as resources that produce service flows that anyone can enjoy, without reducing the enjoyment of others. This definition is related to the concept of public goods.”

That is the main point one with OER for me and Tuomi described it very thoroughly. He has also studied Knowledge as a public good seeing there some problems with copyrights but also many possibilities that the authors and the society can greatly benefit from free copying. He sees common pools more “public good” for everyone than traditional public goods because we can have that knowledge or good without taking it from someone else – only copying and sharing it. How can that be economically profitable – it’s interesting and needs some completely new business models.

It was also good point to me see those criteria (“communalism,” “universality,” “disinterestedness,” “originality,” and “scepticism”) that are compatible with the norms of academic science as a backround to OER philosophy.

Tuomi has found out OER opening exist as tree levels. He has noticed that many courses seems to be open only level 1 or 2. Level 3 let everyone be contributors too. I’ m very interested in to have some students with me as contributors in same level as I in some courses. But I have not that experience yet. We can already publish our blog posts on the same account and we can comment each others works but I’m the one administer. I see learning very much as a social process nowadays. I don’t have very long history in this case and I feel that this new openness and knowledge sharing is going to change my pedagogic thinking and working methods with the network courses and in the class room too.

torstai 6. maaliskuuta 2008

You can call me Mallu!

Hello!

My name is Marjut Siro and I’m teaching art in primary and secondary school in Kotka, Finland. I have been using some social media tools in art teaching since last autumn. I have found Flickr, wiki and Ning as good photo and art sharing areas and also very useful for networking in art courses. This is great opportunity to learn more!