Posted 7:54 PM by George Siemens
Change management and blogs
Quote: "I believe that both are change management problems (known as diffusion of innovations in educational domain): we have a new idea, we believe that it will improve our work and we are trying to get others joining us."
Comment: Very nice description of innovation diffusion...and strategies for addressing people at various stages of innovation acceptance. At RRC, we recently initiated Connect!, an informal knowledge management/sharing group - with blogging at the center of our strategy. Things are progressing slowly. It'd be discouraging if I wasn't absolutely convinced that the process we have initiated (blogging + RSS, face to face sessions, monthly email) will benefit both instructor and institution.

Posted 8:35 AM by George Siemens
I attended a "Cyber Plagiarism" session yesterday, delivered by John T. Harwood. Plagiarism is a huge concern for academic institutions...a problem made more complex due to the ease of access to resources via the Internet. For more information see: elearnspace: Plagiarism

Some thoughts from the session:

• Penn State (typical of most institutions) reports a study where 17% of students admit to cheating on tests, and 44% to cheating on assignments.
  
• The real issues are ethical, not technical
  
• Many sites are available to assist students with cheating: LazyStudents.com, schoolsucks.com
  
• Problem: Students don't have a clear definition of what plagiarism is...many schools do not define it clearly
  
• Why do students cheat: cost/benefit, too many options, poor time management skills, too busy (working outside of school), etc.
  
• Tactics: use sites like Turnitin.com, Plagiarism.org, educate faculty about cheating, change the role of writing, require work to be submitted in stages (rather than only a completed product), redesign assignments ("make plagiarism more work than actually doing it"), educate students
  
• Resources: Understanding Plagiarism, Cyber-Plagiarism Detenction and Prevention
  

It's critical to look beyond the act of plagiarism and focus on the conditions that cause it...this is what really needs to be addressed. Certainly detection and prevention is important...but it seems so "reactionary". Ideally, the goal would be to address the problem itself rather than treating only the symptom. For students today, however, this is a real challenge. In every area of their Internet use, they have free access to content (songs, music, information)...and suddenly in an academic environment, they are not supposed to rely on this any more...and instead create their own original thoughts/content. Hard to do if you've come to see the Internet as a source of unlimited information.

Posted 7:50 AM by George Siemens
Top 10 Trends via Techno-News Blog
Comment: Of the items on the list, the one most relevant to education is wireless: "Until now, wireless local area networks have been just another grass roots, hobbyist technology--the purview of home-networking enthusiasts and risk-taking IT managers. But all of that will change in 2003."

Posted 7:39 AM by George Siemens
In a recent article, (The Art of Blogging - Part 1) I made the statement that: "Fostering the fringe - ideas are evaluated based on merit - not on source of origin". Azeem Azhar didn't quite agree...and sent me an email making a solid case why: blogging has developed its own leaders whose voices are heard more loudly than others...and "Right now the emerging social networks, and the commentary around them, is dominated by those who enjoy significant traffic and activity and connectedness. Blogging is one of these networks and is far from the case that the "source of origin" doesn't matter.
What is true is that if you can generate a lot of good ideas consistently and market it well, you can establish yourself as a hub. Once you are a hub, you are a hub, regardless of the quality that you provide. The blogosphere is still to young to establish how quickly a blog loses its reputation. (Especially as reputation is a function of frequency of posting and penetration of other people's blogrolls)."

I agree...and replied: "Ideas are still evaluated largely based on who says it. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that blogging creates a forum where no one can shut out someone else. For example, with newspapers, you have to have a printing press to even compete in the field...rather cost prohibitive for most entrants. In blogging - anyone can start...everyone has the opportunity to have a voice. The only question is how many hear that voice."

Posted 7:28 AM by George Siemens
Navigation: Keep it Simple
Comment: Quick discussion of major navigation formats: main (linear, hierarchical, web) and subtypes (breadcrumbs, sitemap, text)

Posted 7:22 AM by George Siemens
What is RSS?
Quote: "RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it's not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS..."
Comment: Good overview...including a nice chart of various RSS versions. Article moves to technical details and explanations rather quickly (only the first several paragraphs are ideal for beginners...after that, some understanding of XML and Python is needed).