Category Archives: Blog Posts

Reflection 1.2 – OLTD 506

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During my teacher training I was exposed to many social media “horror stories” including one where vacation photos of a teacher holding alcohol and another of her sipping where the cause of a forced resignation (Daily Mail Reporter, 2011). In fact, I vividly remember an assignment where my classmates and I were to search each other’s public Facebook pages and report to each other what we could see.

Before taking this course I was aware of my digital footprint because I had tried to lock it down – ostrich behaviour (Hengstler, 2011). During my last placement term of teacher training, students had found the Facebook page of someone with my name, who wasn’t me, and I had been put in an awkward position. This issue was eventually resolved; but provides a clear example of “no presence” online not being an option for teachers.

Ostrich by James Preston

Ostrich by James Preston. CC BY 2.0.
Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/7XGJgW.

Hengstler (2012) talks about 3 types of digital footprints – passive, active and second-hand. I think the most important type of digital footprint for teachers is the second-hand digital footprint where others can curate your presence, with or without your knowledge. The best way to manage your digital footprint is actively, so the presence you have online is one of your own design – and one you can easily direct others to explore if there are questions about it.

I have taken more steps toward actively managing my digital presence in the last few years– including creating a professional account on Twitter and being more active on work and personal blogs. I am not sure I am an Eagle just yet, but I do feel I am at least an Ostrich that has taken their head out the sand.

References

Daily Mail Reporter. (2011, February 7). Teacher sacked for posting picture of herself holding glass of wine and mug of beer on Facebook. The Daily Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354515/Teacher-sacked-posting-picture-holding-glass-wine-mug-beer-Facebook.html

Hengstler, J. (2011). Managing your digital footprint: Ostriches v. Eagles. In S. Hirtz & K. Kelly (Eds.), Education for a Digital World 2.0 (2nd ed.) (Vol. 1, Part One: Emerging technologies and practices). Open School/Crown Publications: Queen’s Printer for British Columbia, Canada. Retreived from http://www.viu.ca/education/faculty_publications/hengstler/EducationforDigitalWorld2.0_1_jh89.pdf

Hengstler, J. (April 2012). “Digital professionalism and digital footprints”. Document prepared for training session with Vancouver Island University’s Administrative Assistants, April 2012.Retrieved from https://d2l.viu.ca/content/enforced/56545-EDUC_OLTD506_W70_F2014/foundations_boundaries/Social%20Media%20Digital%20Footprints%202013_v3.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=C1D6uwH0jYfN3u2OJmmAp9NBQ&ou=56545

 

Reflection 1.1 – OLTD 506

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For the prior learning survey, I defined social media from the context of my previous OLTD course on open educational resources. I spoke about social media as media created or shared in social contexts, but left out the big piece of social networking software and applications in relation to social media (“Social Media”, n.d.).

Throughout the readings on social networking services, there were references to the creation or development of trust systems within social networks, which was something I had not thought about previously (“Social Networking Systems”, n.d.). Social media and networking rely heavily on trust between those who are interacting online. In the context of educational use of these systems, there is an additional layer of trust as well – trust that the educator is protecting the interests of the students interacting online.

Trust in the social network itself and how it collects and uses personal data is another layer educators must be consider. As Hengstler (2013) explains, social media services are not free – you are trading your data (or your students’ data) for the service they provide. At this point in the course, I would have a difficult time deciding to what extent I would be willing to trade students’ data for services, but I hope to explore that further as the course continues.

References

J Hengstler. (2013, May 24). What Parents Should Know Part 1: Basic Understanding of Social Media & Digital Communications. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://jhengstler.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/what-parents-should-know-part-1-basic-understanding-of-social-media-digital-communications/

Social Media. (n.d.). Retrieved September 06, 2014 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

Social Networking Service. (n.d.). Retrieved September 07, 2014 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_service

Summary of Learning for OLTD 505 – Week 6 Blog Post

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For my summary of learning, I have remixed a series of video clips from our course readings. Throughout my video clips, I integrated selected quotations from my cohort members, which I feel anchor my main points. I also chose to use a visual metaphor – driving a car – to frame my presentation. The video clips I used for my driving framework are from a 1943 Disney cartoon, “Donald’s Tire Trouble”. I chose to use copyright material to illustrate my points about copyright and remixing. I also chose to use Creative Common’s licensed music in the background of my presentation, to show that I am committed to the ideals of creative commons.

I also set myself a challenge when creating my summary of learning – I did not allow myself to use paid software. Much of the material I have produced for this course has been with the aid of paid software I have access to through my workplace. I felt that it was important to use free software because it is more accessible for future uses, and it provides another resource the rest of the cohort can use as well. If I use materials and software accessible to everyone, it also increases my ability to share and contribute to the cohort.

Please use the link below to view my summary of learning:
https://viutube.viu.ca/public/media/OLTD+505+Summary+of+Learning+Stephanie+Boychuk/0_t3m3mp87

Fans, Free Materials, Copyright and Profit

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Something very interesting (and relevant to OLTD 505) happened a few hours ago on Twitter that hit very close to my heart.

Some of you may be familiar with the stellar podcast Welcome to Nightvale (WTNV) (http://commonplacebooks.com/) created and co-written by Joseph Fink (@PlanetofFinks on Twitter). If you aren’t familiar, I won’t go into details, but the podcast is (in my opinion) and exceptionally well written and well produced story in a style reminiscent of H. P. Lovecraft. The podcast is free to download, with no commercials except for plugs for their donation page, plugs for their guest musicians, and plugs for their merchandise at the beginning and sometimes end of the show. I’ve been a big fan for well over a year.

A few hours ago, Joseph Fink posted this on Twitter (edited for language):Joseph_Fink_01

This is interesting for a few reasons. First, the initial reactions of fans:

Joseph_Fink_01a(especially that last one).

Secondly, the conversations the fans of the podcast had after the initial reaction phase was over. I’ve selected a snipet below (orange boxes on the comments I found most engaging):Joseph_Fink_02I really, really like the comment by @alecballin above. I think that this encapsulates my ideas about remixing and read-write culture pretty well. I also really like @PlanetofFinks response – he agrees. This is a case of someone creating something and being perfectly happy for fans to engage with it through art and remixes. He just doesn’t want other people to “cash in” or sell things based on his creation. Which makes the following comment all the more aggravating:Joseph_Fink_02a@PlanetofFinks is not “acting like a movie studio”. I’m not sure if the above fan had read the rest of the conversation, so I’ll resist the urge to make a comment on his reply to the thread. Instead, I wanted to comment on the spirit of his post – content creators engaging with the craft community. WTNV features a grassroots level musician EVERY episode in a special segment called “The Weather”. They have also have guest voices and guest writers (some of which, to my understanding, were fan scripts). I’m not sure who designs their merchandise, but I would be surprised if none of it was designed by their fans. WTNV, and other fan supported podcasts (“We’re Alive” [http://www.zombiepodcast.com/] is another remarkable example) generally take special care to engage with their fans and fan products, or they wouldn’t get the support they do. That doesn’t mean that fans should be allowed to create something and then sell it for profit at conventions or over the internet however. Unless of course …Joseph_Fink_03… they have permission and kick some of the profit back to the creator.

This is where my feelings toward remixing and fan creations get complicated. Do I believe that fans of a free service, who are inspired and create something new, should profit off of it? No … and yes. When I contrast the above example to that of Girl Talk (http://illegal-art.net/girltalk/) from RIP: A Remix Manifesto (http://vimeo.com/8040182), I get myself into murky waters. Girl Talk remixes songs, without clearing copyright. Is that really all that different to fans profiting from their art or other products based on WTNV? In my heart, I don’t think so.

My difference of opinion comes from a feeling more of what is reasonable, versus what is necessarily “right”. If Girl Talk were to pay to clear copyright on his album, he is looking at a bill of about $4.2 billion according to RIP. Is that reasonable? I don’t think so. If the rights holders (and in this specific example, record labels) dropped the cost of sampling, I would be much less divided on Girl Talk. If it was economically reasonable to sample, I would want those samples to be cleared before I considered calling myself a fan (which I am).

On the other hand, companies who create apps or fans who create products based on WTNV and profit from them don’t have to pay ridiculous copyright fees. There are no fees associated with accessing WTNV (unlike music), and some people are taking that to mean it is open to use for commercial purposes.

This brings to mind the conversations we have had on “free” versus “open” material. I am fully aware what I’m talking about in the case of WTNV is “free” and NOT “open” content, but it is interesting to note how blurred those lines can be in the minds of media consumers today. I believe that blurring is due, in large part, to people beginning to dismiss the unreasonable barriers to the use of media, and applying those attitudes to all media – not just commercial media.

It must very be difficult to be a creator of new media today. Clearly, I have mixed feelings about all of this, and much like the registrar of copyrights said in RIP “it depends on whose it is an how upset they are”. In the case of the fans of WTNV, the fact that content is free gives those of us who are fans (and those of us who donate to the show) a small sense of ownership as well – and we will support the creators as much as possible. Much like @NilliliMamboNo5 said above “I think the most us fans can do is ask people to stop.”

Global Accessibility Awareness Day – May 15th

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"web accessibility word cloud" by Jil Wright.

“web accessibility word cloud” by Jil Wright. Size changed to fit screen. (CC BY 2.0)

May 15th was Global Accessibility Awareness Day. As someone who spends a lot of time in online courses personally and professionally, I decided to take advantage of a free webinar entitled “Web Accessibility Tools in Action: Awesome Tools to Build The Web For All” offered by Desire2Learn. Sean Yo (@seanyo or seanyo.ca for more information on him) presented the webinar, as was a very engaging speaker.

Although I expected the webinar to focus more specifically on accessibility in Desire2Learn, Sean spoke more generally about accessible design. There was a discussion about how to think about accessibility that I really enjoyed. Nothing is ever 100% accessible, and you should expect to make continual improvements to the accessibility of your material, the same way you would refresh your content year after year. I feel that thinking of accessibility that way puts up less of a barrier to tackling accessible design – you don’t have to be perfect, you just need to be willing to continually improve.

The presentation was geared towards tools and resources, many of which are new to me. I collected most of the resources and tools mentioned in the webinar into a Diigo list here: https://www.diigo.com/user/boychuks/accessibility?type=all&sort=updated if you are interested in reviewing it. There are tools that emulate screen readers, tools to check the readability of your text and tools to review your webpages for accessibility. There are also a couple of suggested books.

Sean also wrote a blog post about Global Accessibility Awareness Day here: http://www.desire2learn.com/blog/make-global-accessibility-awareness-day/. The biggest take-away from both his presentation and blog, I think, is empathy. It is easy to forget how challenging accessing the online world can be for people with disabilities.

My breakthrough moment came later last year when a student who uses a screen reader came into the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL) office for support. They were experiencing a complicated issue, further complicated by having to scroll through their own system and the online course using a screen reader. This experience really opened my eyes (so to speak) to how the web “looks” for people with visual impairments.

Using some of the tools presented at the webinar, I have gone back and looked over some of the things I have created personally and as a member of the CIEL team. There is plenty of room for improvement, and I will be doing my best to adapt and change my work, now and in the future.

Why I’m Not Good At Sharing (And How I’m Trying To Get Better) – Week 4 Blog Post

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I have a privileged perspective of the world. I was able to complete a Bachelor of Science at a research-based university – the University of Alberta. The worlds of academics and research have been a big part of my life for over 7 years. My experiences in these worlds, however, have left me gun-shy of sharing and being open for a number of reasons.

1) My data isn’t my own – I stand on the shoulders of giants

Standing upon the shoulders of giants by Mushon Zer-Aviv via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Most of the data I produced as a research technician did not belong to me. It belonged to the research group, an in all technicality belonged the agencies funding the research. I needed to be extremely careful to keep any research data under lock and key (including digital locks) at all times. There was a highly competitive air to data production – especially because multiple groups were “racing” to publish on certain topics.

Now that I am working at VIU, I still struggle with “ownership” issues. The course materials I am producing are not my own – they belong to my department. At least once in the OLTD program I have walked a fine line between what is mine and what belongs to the department. It is a fuzzy, gray line but I worry about what happens if it is crossed too far.

I’m also a copyright criminal at heart – remixing and reusing materials seemingly without regard (although usually with a proper citation). I generally don’t feel any ownership over my material – so I don’t feel like I can share it.

How I’m getting better:

I’m learning to search using creative commons and open repositories first, instead of as an afterthought, and pay attention to remixing rights. If I create something totally new (however rare that is) I will try and include a CC license, so someone else can reuse it or make it better. When I remix materials, I will try and ask myself if I’ve personalized something or improved it. If I’ve just personalized it, I don’t really feel that is enough change to share it again as my own. If I feel I’ve made an improvement, I will try and share with the correct attributions.

I’m also working on my “sharing” workflow, inspired by this resource: http://www.gliffy.com/publish/4239236/?buffer_share=287e1. The tools I like to use are Twitter, G+, and Diigo. I also have a tendency to save things into a folder on my desktop (which isn’t very helpful). I try and share work-related resources on Diigo, and more general things on Twitter. G+ is just for my coursework right now, but that may change in the future.

2) I’m too young to have anything significant to say

I’ve been the youngest person in a role multiple times in my life. I was the youngest technician in my research position by 4 years, and one of the only members of the group without at least one other advanced degree (meaning I had a sever deficit in practical lab work). There was a glut of experience in our lab group, and understandably, no one had the time or inclination to listen to what I had to say.

Now, I am the youngest person in my department at VIU by nearly 6 years. Most other members of my department have years of teaching experience, or an advanced degree, or both. I think that I know what I am doing, and that I do it well, but I still find it intimidating to share anything I do with the group. It is difficult to imagine anything I do on equal footing to what other members of the group produce.

When interacting with the rest of my OLTD cohort, I see people with years of experience, people who are doing amazing things in their classrooms or at their schools, and people with a depth of thought that is truly astounding to me. I have struggled throughout this program with what my niche is and if (and how) I can contribute to the learning of the rest of the cohort.

How I’m getting better:

By Share Maroc via WikiMeida Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Share Maroc via WikiMeida Commons
(CC BY-SA 3.0)

I’m trying to take the lessons from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcmI5SSQLmE to heart. I have a pretty unique background (if I do say so myself) and I tend to be very analytic when approaching educational issues. I have a strong interest in research-based practice, even if I don’t have the experience to back it up. Sometimes, that can lead me down unrealistic paths, but other times it means I have a stronger foundation to build from then others expect.

In my current role, being open about my projects and sharing resources I create is necessary for the office to run efficiently. It is one of the biggest ways everyone supports each other – I put resources up on our wiki or add them to our shared drive weekly. I’m still working on translating that process to my personal life, but I am getting better.

MERLOT Review – Week 3 Blog Post

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MERLOT_logo

MERLOT Review: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm

MERLOT II (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) is a repository of peer reviewed online teaching and learning materials, mainly focused on higher education. MERLOT is built as a community – registered members can participate in the community through peer reviewing materials, becoming a member of an editorial board for a specific subject or by contributing material to the site. It is free to register for an account, and creating an account comes with the added bonus of allowing you to cultivate your own personal collection of resources from those available on the site.

The MERLOT site was readily accessible on my iPad, which is a selling feature in my books. The unfortunate thing is some resources require Flash to run, so although the site is accessible on iOS, the resources may not be, which can be frustrating when searching through the lists of resources.

I really liked their advanced search features. MERLOT has so many resources available; you can afford to be a little choosy. Under your advanced search options, you can limit your search by accessibility information, creative commons licensing information, or any costs involved with use. You can also search specifically for mobile apps – and limit your search by mobile OS. There are a lot of language options available to filter by, but it doesn’t appear that there are many resources in languages that are uncommon in North America. While the advanced search is great, you can limit your search too much if you aren’t careful. Once you find a resource you like you are taken to an information page, where the author’s contact information is available along with a description of the resource. From there, you can choose to follow a link to the resource or return to your search.

MERLOT_Screenshot

An example of a MERLOT material page.

The search function in MERLOT that I think is really unique is the ability to search not just materials, but learning exercises as well. You can choose your general student level (they break up PSE levels into lower, upper, graduate and professional) and what type of activity you are looking for (for example: student-centred, group or supplemental). I poked around the learning exercises collection, which is not as extensive as the materials collection. Most learning exercises exist as a plain HTML page describing an activity, but link back to materials they were utilized in.

Like many online learning object repositories, there is a strong bias toward Science and Technology resources, of which there are nearly triple the number of any other discipline. There is, however, a wide range of resource types – from video tutorials to full-blown course websites.

Given the functionality to filter searches by creative commons licensing and create your own personal collections, coupled with the ability to break out PSE into four different levels, I feel MERLOT is an excellent place to start looking for open resources, especially because many resource materials are actually other aggregated sites. That means that although an item many be a single hit in MERLOT, it is actually an entire website of resources (like the Science simulations available on the PhET site: http://phet.colorado.edu/).The only danger is that many resources are not “open” they are simply “free” and do not allow remixing or derivatives, so check licences carefully and contact contributors when necessary.

Remix of “RIP: A Remixer’s Manifesto” – Week 2 Blog Post

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Opening Comment: I appear to be having issues with my oEmbed code. I’ve added the link to the video below, hopefully the embed code will start working soon.

My Week 2 Blog post (a video remix)!

https://viutube.viu.ca/public/media/Remix+of+%22RIPA+A+Remixer%E2%80%99s+Manifesto%22/0_yvulwg64
Creative Commons License

I decided to remix the “RIP: A Remixer’s Manifesto” after watching it. The video above is a 3 minute selection and remix of my favorite points from the documentary.

I would really appreciate any feedback you might have for me!

Reference Media:

 

Disruption and Cultural Content – Week 1 Blog Post

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Point of Clarification: Upon re-reading my post I realize the tone of some sections may be too open to interpretation. I don’t support illegal download and distribution of materials. I simply feel that the illegal downloading and distribution material has increased, in part, to restrictions on content access.

I was hoping to make some time to podcast with my fiancé for my blog post this week, but the timing just didn’t work out. He was one of the reviewers for one of the potential BC Open Textbooks for Chemistry, is writing two chapters for the Open Textbook Project this summer, and may be contributing some videos and other media as well. Hopefully I will be able to sit down with him and record some of his thoughts and experiences being part of this project soon.

Since I won’t be talking about the BC Open Textbook Project, I thought I would talk about some more general thoughts on the free culture movement and copyright.

Instructables LogoI have noticed a shift happening in how people my age think about what and how they contribute to the world at large. I feel that the rise of DIY culture, Maker (sub)culture and the free culture movement are all linked in a mutually supportive way. Without people being willing, and excited about, creating or prototyping and then sharing freely and openly, DIY and Maker culture as movements fall apart. For an example, the website Instructables (1) contains thousands of video and image instructions people have generated. On some instructions there are lively comments thinking of better ways to do things, and many “instructables” build on what others have done. There is truly a growth in networked and open learning happening on the Internet – I just don’t think we are seeing it manifest in the PSE sector in a substantial way. I do feel that this way of looking at learning and creating is a true disruption of education, and that disruption will begin to reveal itself soon.

In a society where people are getting more used to networked, free, sharable and editable products and ideas it is no surprise copyright stakeholders are digging in their heels. The ongoing saga of the music industry is easy to point to as an example. Canada doesn’t have the breadth or depth of the music services and content that is accessible in other countries, in part because we are view as “pirates and thieves”(2) that can’t be trusted with cultural content. The content allowed on Canadian Netflix is another example of restrictions places on content in Canada (I’m reasonably certain I am the only one in the country not using a proxy to get the American content).

As a consumer of cultural content, it drives me crazy that even when I am willing to pay a fee to access content I can’t, just because of where I live. The copyright holders have created a self-fulfilling prophesy, in my opinion. Princess Leia told Governor Tarkin in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope: “The more you tighten your grip the more star systems will slip through your fingers” which is a message very applicable to the cultural copyright holders today. People will find a way to get the content they want, so why don’t you give it to them (even if you have to charge them a fee)?shutupandtakemymoney_zps3bbbd52eThe plus side of the seemingly endless copyright legislation issues, is that there are more and more cases of people doing things a little differently. “Indie” creators, makers and artists are fan and crowd funded projects (3). Some artists are even giving things away for free (4) or implementing pay-what-you-can models (5). While this doesn’t represent a true, networked and content-creating open model, it represents another disruption in the way we have been doing things – hopefully leading to bigger and better horizons.

I believe that the world is ready for open and networked learning and creating, and I believe we are starting to move in that direction. I also know there is a lot of disruption happening right now, and the tables have yet to truly turn. I just hope that educators and the PSE industry have the ability to change and thrive when the world shifts.

Links:

(1) http://www.instructables.com

(2) http://ajournalofmusicalthings.com/us-claims-nation-pirates-thieves/ (strong language used!)

(3) Pledge Music http://www.pledgemusic.com/, IndieGoGo https://www.indiegogo.com/, and Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/ are good examples of sites where this is happening

(4) http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/03/15/us-free-idUSN1543936020080315

(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Rainbows