Monday, February 13, 2012

Social Mobile Activity: ELI2012


Question
Why is the ELI Annual conference the best conference in higher education?

Objective
Develop an argument using content posted to social media to answer the question outlined above. The tasks outlined below will assist you in your data collection, research, and evidence building in order to develop your argument and earn points.  This information gathered on mobile devices will be shared through mobile social media apps (Twitter).  

Complete the following tasks to earn points
Develop and tweet the name of your group and it's members using the hashtag #edusocmedia. Include your group name as a hashtag on all of your posts (e.g., #teamx). 5 points

Find a link to the annual ELI conference session you are most excited to see and share out on Twitter using #edusocmedia #teamx. 10 points*
Find an article or blog by someone reflecting on the annual ELI conference and share out on Twitter using #edusocmedia #teamx. 10 points*
Post an image of something that represents the conference on Twitter #edusocmedia #teamx. 10 points*
Post an image of 5 or more attendees at annual ELI conference on Twitter #edusocmedia #teamx. 20 points*

Post a 30 sec+ video of an individual discussing why they feel ELI is the best conference and share the link to the video on Twitter #edusocmedia #teamx. 20 points*

Post a 30 sec+ video with one EDUCAUSE staff member discussing why they feel ELI is the best conference and share the link to the video on Twitter
#edusocmedia #teamx. 20 points*

Post a 30 sec+ video with a conference attendee on what they are looking forward to doing or viewing this week at ELI and share the link to the video on Twitter #edusocmedia #teamx. 20 points*

*tasks can be done more than once to score additional points

Bonus points:

Each retweet of another team tweet, 5 points
Reply to another team’s tweet, 5 points
Including your location on social media updates, 5 points

The team with the most points wins!

Contest ends at 3:30PM CST. Return to Salon G.

Learning Outcomes
- build conceptual knowledge
- provide an active learning opportunity
- increase interactivity, engagement, and cooperation
- develop 21st century skills

Learning Activity
An experiential learning activity facilitating the use of mobile social, including user generated content (links, images, video) captured and shared on mobile devices, using mobile apps, browsers, and social media


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ELI2012 Workshops

ELI Social Media Workshop 2012
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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Reading is a privilege?

Lately, there has been a lot of information regarding open educational content, e-texts, and open textbook authoring products.  My motivation to explore these solutions rests in my frustration in the price of textbooks making them inaccessible for financial struggling students.

My own experiences have driven a significant amount of my path into educational technology to improve student learning.  As many of you know, I was a first generation college student paying for my tuition through grants and loans (of which I am still repaying today, but that is another blog post).  Many times, I did not have the funds to purchase the very expensive textbooks and reading that was required for my classes.

I resorted to buying books, copying them at the copy shop, and returning them.  I asked the professor to put one on reserve and was limited to studying at 2 hour intervals (reserve time limit) at the library when the book wasn't checked out by someone else.  Or, I borrowed the books when I could from a friend in the class.

It is obvious that my performance in the class could have been greatly improved, if there was free or affordable access to these materials.  In one of my classes I teach, I decided to eliminate using a textbook.  One reason I did this was because the topic was so quickly changing (human communication and technology) textbooks were quickly outdated or no longer relevant.  Also, I did it so my students could simply download, print, or read online the needed materials for class.  Since in PDF format, they were also accessible for the blind.  I received an overhwelmingly positive response from my students.

In another class I teach, I took a few chapters (within copyright guidelines) from an array of books (since there are 4+ possible textbooks for the class, which basically cover the content) and used those in pdf form in lieu of a textbook.

Now, of course, this is more work on my part to identify readings, scan them to a pdf, upload them into the learning management systems, and so forth, but it is well worth it.  I know one or more students in my class will actually have the opportunity to do the reading, learning more, and perform better than if I had them purchase a textbook.

This method, to me, is much better than offer the electronic version of the text.  I did offer this several years ago since it was over half of the price of the hard copy.  However, due to students needing usernames and passwords for publisher sites and publisher sites being unreliable, many times student couldn't access their reading due to forgotten passwords or the functionality of the site being broken.

New advantages of using pdf files of your readings or other forms of digital text is that you can add interactive links to references in the reading and you can insert rich media such as audio, videos, or interactive 3D objects...even augmented reality.

This blog was spurred by my daughter's caretaker, Andrea.  Andrea has been borrowing old versions of textbooks I have for her boyfriend who happens to be majoring in communication.  It saddens, frustrates, and maddens me that we do not do more for these students, for me when I was an undergrad.

At the end of the day, I encourage all educators to consider the price of access to your materials.  Further, I encourage you all to explore open textbook authoring products to produce your own textbooks at low or no cost to your students.

Reading the required materials for a class should not be reserved for the privileged.  All students should have affordable access to course materials, including the text and/or reading.  


Okay -- ranting, over!  ....for now
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