week 5 some thoughts :)

         
       

       Another busy week.... I wish I could have 48 hours a day... My little precious is getting bigger and bigger. I enjoy every second with him!  SO  sad that my husband will leave in next week, heading back to California and continue his post doctor career. I will be myself with my two lovely boy and my parents. Even though I wish I could have a longer time with my son and my husband, I still enjoy every second I spend for this course. I found I like doing and thinking creatively.

        I am so embarrassed to admit that I just start to think about the third assignment "produsage project". Time is flying and I feel I am still struggling with the subject. I have too many choices. Elementary education is the field I am familiar with but I want to try subject in higher education. Considering the time limitation, I think a better idea is to do something I am familiar with.

       Second, which web.2.0 tools? There are some of them first coming to my mind: schoology ( learning management system), trello ( as the homework list)  seesaw ( digital portfolio creating tools), youtube (video sharing tool) and so on ( maybe I will use facebook public group as discussion board; voice thread as assessment tool)

      Third, my philosophy should be learner-centered and project based learning. Therefore, I will try to give students the ability to complete the task with the foundational knowledge learned from the class.

      Another thing I want to share is when we are discussing the social media tools in other countries. I feel very difficult to use youtube ( amazing video sharing tools) in China. We have similar video sharing tools such as Tudou. However, I feel youtube is the best because of its user-friendly feature. So sad that my country block the youtube and it makes difficult to promote a world-class community as an instructional designer.
   

   

IFTTT : if this then that

   

 

        IFTTT is amazing ! I have never ever thought about let apps to communicate with each other. IFTTT made it. With IFTTT, people can make life more efficient. What is IFTTT? IFTTT can connect apps and make them notify each other once something you set has happened. For example, when you connect to Facebook and Gmail. You can create the "program" like "send me an email when I have a message on Facebook". As the result, you can be notified when something you want happened on Facebook.

      There are some other "program" or they called "recipe". Some of them are very useful. For example, you can say " save photos you are tagged into google drive". This sentence demonstrates you connect your "photo" app with "google drive" app. Another example can be " share new blogger post on Facebook". After setting this, once you post something on blogger, your facebook also automatically post your article. This command connects blogger with Facebook.

      As the instructional designer or an SME, you can also take advantage of this tool. The IFTTT give users the ability to create their own "recipe". As long as you link your app to IFTTT and choose any two of them. You can make them notify each other. The video about using IFTTT with google onhub is so incredible. They use IFTTT as the trigger to log the door, open the light and so on. The video is so cool, so I will share it here.

 

     One thing I feel confused is the interface on IFTTT is different from the tutorial showing on the class website. It changes directly to the end goal rather than using IF this then that command.

      The last video I want to share is how to use IFTTT in the classroom.

OER commons and Merlot

         Such an amazing experience using OER Commons and Merlot. Both of them are open educational resources. OER definitely a good start point for new teachers who just start their career. A lot of resources available on OER provides guidance, lesson plan, activities and methods of assessment for the new teacher to learn from. The most important function, in my opinion, is the OER commons develops based on educational standards: next generation standards, AASL 21 century learner standards and common core state standards for math.

 The educational level ranges from pre-elementary to adult education.

And you can find all kinds of material types: game, activity, full course, lesson plan and so on.

              OER commons not only known as open educational resources, but also a platform for teachers to generate and share their own teaching materials to the public. As the teacher, you can create and design your course with rich media such as audio, video, graphic and HTML.

        OER common is a collection of many open educational resources including AED PD online,  Khan academic and so on. In my opinion, it can also be seen as a curation tool that curating resources in the educational field. 

         In comparison, even though Meriot is also an open educational resource. The main provider is California State University. Therefore, the most courses or instructional materials are developed and shared by the faculty members at California State University. As the result, the Meriot is best working for higher education settings. 

        

       Moreover, Meriot also provides teachers space to develop their own course. To publish your own course, you have to register a web page through its system. While I am registering my own web page, I feel OER Commons is easier than Meriot. Also, if you are looking for resources from other universities, Meriot may not satisfy your needs. 

         

      

come back to the class with my new precious

           Last week is so crazy for me. Thank god that I born a healthy little creature on July 23rd, right at the time. I have been prayed for a long time for its healthy because my ultrasound shows some weird signs when I came back to China. I was so worried even cannot sleep well and eat well. RIght now, while I am writing this blog, my baby was laying on the bed just beside me. How amazing!
         

           Last week, I tried Edmodo as one of the learning management systems. As I tried some of its features. I feel Edmodo is more appropriate for the k-12 settings that teachers can create quiz, activities, and group works through the system. I took two courses about learning management system from lynda.com before EME6414. Therefore, I knew besides Edmodo, there has other great learning management system, for example, moodle, schoology, desire to learn and so on.

           After trying some of the features of each learning management system, I think Schoology is the one contains the most instructional tools and features. Moreover, it has been designed for three main settings: k-12, higher education, and corporations. Therefore, instructional designers have more flexibility when they working with subject matter experts from each related field.
       
       

         In addition, Schoology using multiple tools and features to ensure various types of activities can be created through its system.

            To be specific, the features are listed above as instructional tools, communication and collaboration, mobile app, data analytics and personal learning, interoperability and assessment management.

            In instructional tools, there are functions for instructor or ISder to add rich media documents, to track and pace students individually, and engage students through the discussion board. The Schoology makes the learning "student-centered" and at the same time use data based tools to track students' progress. This definitely makes the online learning more predictable and reliable. I am starting to think and plan to use schoology for my produsage project. RIght now, I just need to continue forming my idea and decide which topic or subject I want to teach! So exciting!

         

Intellectual Property in the world of e-learning

     

        A great article in e-learning industry explains what is " intellectual property right", "the necessity of having IP in the world of e-learning" and how to correctly use IP to protect your own work. I summarize some of the key points below

       Intellectually property protects the authors who created the online contents. And the authors will also earn benefits through the commercial action. As the result, people are more willingly to create genuine and creative work online. In other words, Intellectual Property promotes the development and growth of initial online resources created by diverse people. According to the article, there are three main mechanisms in intellectual properties: copy right, patent, and trademark ( Renner, 2015)
           

      Copyright: " copyrights are unique inventions that are crucial to the success of many organizations, institutions or businesses" (Renner, 2015). In order to protect the ownership, the e-learning author can apply copy right symbol to their own work inform other people he or she has the authorization of distributing, reproducing and sharing the work.

      Patent: Patent is to protect the new product and special processes that e-learning practitioner and content developer created (Renner, 2015) . Holding the patent prevents the third party takes advantages (use, sell and make) of such new product.

      Trademark: trademark protects the name, company, and marks of the product.The trademark helps the customers distinguish this product from the other (Renner, 2015 ).

 Reference: Renner, J. (2015, January 21). Intellectual Property Rights In eLearning. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from https://elearningindustry.com/intellectual-property-rights-in-elearning

 

   

Introduce Gamification and see my curation through Pinterest and Thinglink!

         

         I started to think about this assignment since this Monday. I feel nervous because of my upcoming due day for the baby (fingers crossed) !!, my another course project and EME 6414 tasks. However, after trying all types of the tools first, I feel so excited about the experience when exploring those web 2.0 tools. Thinglink definitely my favorite !!! And I think as an educator who has the intention to adopt the technology, Thinglink is the one must have! I decide to choose Thinglink and Pinterest as my two selected tools.

          I have been interested in educational technology for a long time which is also my motivation to pursue this degree. I then curate educational technology content from Thinglink and Pinterest. I am glad that I learned so much during the process of curating. I have a better understanding regarding the trends of educational technology, tools needed to construct a technological classroom and so on. I then find another very interesting teaching principle: gamification. And change my direction to the field of gamification in education, business and so on.

         Gamification is not a  "game". Actually, gamification is a set of theories and principle a game usually adopted. " Gamification is the use of mechanics in a non-game context to engage users or solve problems" ( youtube https://youtu.be/-N-jMSymzBM) It is different game or game based learning. For example,  You can play a hide and seek "game" on the playground. This is the "game". You can ask the student to seek people who have a total number of 20 ( each student have an equation without answer write on their clothes) This is the "game based learning". If you asked the student to move to next level of the task only finishing the first one and then one by one until the end. This is the gamification! You are using the component that game usually have called " level". I think you possibly get the basic idea of gamification. However, with "gamification" students are motivated and engaged. And as the result, the learning may reach the best outcomes.

         Here are my channel on Thinglink and my board on Pinterest about gamification. Please do check this out, if you want to adopt this into your working field.

Avatar I created using avatar maker

     Avatar can be used in the class presentation as a demonstrator to guide learners step by step. It will construct a realistic feeling for the learner to follow with. There are many avatar creating tools online. I choose one of them called avatar maker to create a pretty lady. This is also the task I was challenged in the class EME 6414. I submit my design through the new learning management system: Edmodo. I also want to share it here with you. Do you like my design? Don't you think she is pretty !!💖💘😍

 

Edmodo and Thinglink

     I spent the whole afternoon trying out the new tools suggested on the course website. I found two of them are very impressive: Edmodo and Thinglink. I had both of them download in my iPhone as well and played around while laying down with my huge belly. I am so excited about discovering their features.

    Edmodo is a Learning Management System. Compare to Blackboard, it is more suitable for k-12 educational settings. In Edmodo, students not only interact with teachers and peers but also can join the activity, complete assignment and take the test. Edmodo is a user-friendly system. The layout and the functions are already clearly presented on the main page. Teachers can choose from "note, assignment, poll, quiz, and snapshot" to make a new post. Edmodo allows teachers to design their own activities by adopting the given tools. One of my future career options is to be an online instructor teaching Mandarin to the world. I think Edmodo can be employed as my first platform to start. However, I knew there are many great learning management systems available as well such as Moodle, Schoology and etc. After participating the activities of EME 6414, I do like Edmodo's cool functions.

         Thinglink is the coolest tool I had tried ever in EME 6414. With Thinglink, people can make the interactive presentation. I feel Thinglink is similar as Prezi.  The difference is Prezi processing in an animation way. And the Thinglink is a multimedia demonstration. The reader can click to explore any related video, images or text. It will be so cool to employ it in the classroom. Here are some of my ideas. Students can use Thinglink as the "introduction project". With the free "image" media, students can upload their voice, pictures, background, and interest with the right icon.  Second, as the teacher, Thinklink can be a good tool to demonstrate a development process such as the development of a country, the water cycle and the work of human body system. With video, text, and images, students will be able to understand the concept with the holistic view. I can imagine Thinglink can make a huge difference in education. Thinglink is an amazing tool that you cannot miss as an educator !

    

   

Do you like "Medium" ?

          This morning I signed up Medium, a social journalism platform, with my google account. After I join the community, I feel I do like the neat layout and the interface of this website. I then start to explore. As other curation websites, you can scan and choose topics you really interested in, such as digital technology, education, culture, travel and so on. I just very into the technology, education, and design, so I choose those key words and then I am offered some popular authors in above field.

          The Medium website provides you an experience similar to reading a journal or magazine. You scan the stories and read the one you are interested in. Even though on the main page list a lot of articles, I did not feel overwhelmed or overloaded. A cool function of this website is when you deciding to read an article, it even tells you how long it takes, for example, 6 minutes read, 2 minutes read. Therefore, for the long time-consuming article ( more than 30 minutes), I did not open it :P You definitely can share the article on your facebook, twitter or other social media account.

          With the Medium, you can be a journlist,  writing your own story and publish on the board. The good thing is Medium provides a broad platform for you to express yourself to strangers, friends, and people in your PLN. However, after reading a few posts and stories on the Medium, I found it may not be a good place to conduct professional development. Rather, a place people show their unique ideas or perspectives. I did not find a lot of professional articles but may be because I did not read enough. Just my perception after trying it. However, if you have the different experience from mine, welcome to leave a comments and discuss with me:)


     

       

Portfolio Advice

Thank you Dr. Dennen. I don't mean to spread out your video since I am not sure if you want to keep it into private or to the public. I just really really like it, so I want to save it for future review or important guidance!!  Huge thanks !!!💗💗

Reflection

        The third week of EME 6414 😉. So far so good. Even though the class is almost in halfway, I cannot say that I find my niche zone. I still feel overwhelmed of all kinds of media tools, information and new stuff. However, this nervous feeling also makes me realize this course is worthy of the tuition. I use half of other students' time but learn and try double new tools. This weeks' reading and discussion topic remind me some of my unhappy experience at FSU. However, things I had suffered before always teach me new lesson and help me grow. In regard to the intellectual property, I realized how serious it can be in U.S with serious pay.

       I spent a lot of time working on the first assignment for EME 6414. To make my paper reach the expectation, I did a lot of research and tried all the functions on both of my selected media " facebook" and " nuzzel".  Because of this process, I have chance to read all the content on the pages such as "about", "terms ,"privacy" to make sure I am fully understand such media. Those are something I had never read before.....I have a lot of interesting findings

•    Nuzzel is not created for making money. It just wants to help people read efficiently. The CEO said they have enough money, so their intention of designing nuzzel is helping people. 
•    Nuzzel group used humorous ton to write their "privacy and term". For example

•    Both of Facebook and Nuzzel have specific requirement for respecting " intellectual property" 

      Almost to the end of this week, I feel I still have a lot of thing want to do but short in times. I hope next week, I can have more free time. And a lot of "good luck" are needed because next week will be my due day for both of the assignment 2 and my baby. Still feel very nervous.... Fingers Crossed. 

   

My Pinterest

         

      Pinterest is my favorite social media. I checked the new update and resource almost every day. I created a lot of project based learning activities based on the idea from Pinterest. A lot of teachers shared their genuine thoughts and learning outcome on the Pinterest to inspire other. After taking EME6414, I know the circle they want to share to is called PLN  (personal learning network). I had never contributed any ideas to the Pinterest, so I especially thankful for those teachers who are willing to share. I cannot stop thinking that  If China has such powerful social media, I am sure it will definitely make a revolution in education.
         
         I am invited to join class EME 6414 Pinterest page. I am very curious about how to use Pinterest as one of the instructional tools in education. It will be a really cool idea if students "pin" their research resources on a shared Pinterest abroad. This types of activities will not only encourage the individual learning but also promote the group collaboration and knowledge sharing. Taking advantages of such Pinterest broad, students can easily locate the desired material recommended by themselves or other classmates. Because all of the classmates have the same huge database, their final project (no matter what it is) can be evaluated or assessed fairly.

        After using 4years Pinterest using experience, I consider it not only as a social media tool an educational resource, but also a partner help me to grow and a teacher always inspires me!

       Today, I found a very useful material on the group EME 6414 board. This is what I have been looking for for a long time. Here I want to share with you " how to make your portfolio from good to great". Check this out!
   

   

curation tools

        Nuzzel will send its users newsletter through email so you will be automatically received the trending news every day.
This week's topic is curation tools and online intellectual properties. Both of them were in the field that I am unfamiliar with. I start to deeply learn a curation tool from last week, which is a newsletter curation tool called Nuzzel. It basically is developed based on Twitter account. Nuzzel allows users to link their account with facebook and twitter. Once your facebook or twitter friend "like", "comment" or "shared" some news, the Nuzzle will make a number count and post the trending news with most people had commented or shared. It will definitely help people save a lot of time on searching and assessing information. Instead, users' friends had already filtered the information and recommend the most valuable information to you. Moreover,

        I had subscribed New York Times and Washington post before. However, I cannot keep tracking the news because I am overloaded by tons of news. It is also hard to select the most valuable or interesting news among them. Nuzzel changes this situation. Instead of reading and combing the news by yourself. it makes your friends or your PLN to do this. The navigation bar on Nuzzel has the following category to help you locate most valuable news: "News from your friends", "News from friends of friends", "News you may miss" and "recent read stories". Moreover, as the registered member on Nuzzle, you even can create your own newsletter board and attract people shared the same interests as you. You just simply add news you are interested in your newsletter and you will have a personalized newsletter board. Friends or people have similar interests as you will be able to subscribe the newsletter you created. It is very possible that all your friend will discuss with you about the news you liked and shared on your newsletter board.
 
      However, there has another problem on Twitter. If you don't have enough friends on your facebook and twitter linked account, the trending news or popular news you received may not be valuable to you. To have the most interesting and useful feeds, you have to broaden your friends' circle through twitter and facebook.

       Above is my experience of using Nuzzle as my first curation tools. I cannot say that I love Nuzzel because I really don't have big friends circle on both of my facebook and twitter. However, I think in one day, I may find Nuzzel is the best curation tools as other professionals suggested.

   

 

Open Educational Resources

             

     
       Open Educational Resources (OER) are free or low-cost educational resources available online for people to do research, professional development or share knowledge. MIT announced that it starts to provide an OER called Open Course Ware for students, professors or individual learners to access free course materials. In addition to MIT, there are more than 200 universities in the world offer OER. As I read the article, I feel so grateful for this movement because it not only promotes the spontaneous learning but also helps people worldwide access to education in high quality. I would imagine people in poverty can find a way to learn in a group.  Females who are not allowed to go to school in the certain areas are becoming free to learn. Moreover, individual learners like me who seek professional development or skills training opportunities will have the chance to communicate and learn with the best professors.

           Actually, before Open Course Ware, I took courses from Edx, another popular Open Education Resources platform. A lot of top rank universities on Edx dedicated to providing high-quality education for people who want to learn. Before taking Edx, I was wondering what is the education in MIT looks like? What an "online course" look like? After trying feel courses on Edx, I appreciate for educators who share their knowledge on this public learning platform without the intention of earning money. Even though OER are free, the quality of the course is still guaranteed.

        Here is the interface of Edx. Joining Edx, you can access tons of courses. You can watch the video, join the discussion, complete the task. You even can earn a certificate ( which is not free). These Open Educational Resources definitely create a new hope and future for learners. Here is the link to Edx. Check it out!

   

            

Reflection of 2nd week

     
             In the website of elearning industry, there has a good article discussing "why people need to build personal learning network". Before this week, I thought most of our PLN has been built naturally. People have similar interests or same career background want to connect together to share information and save for later. Except for one assignment requiring student to interview an instructional designer, I had never deliberately build my learning network. I don't think I am a "professional" or a " talkative" person in any area. However, I gradually realize that as I enter into this area-"instructional technology", building an dynamic network is the basic and necessity. When I am reading this article, my understanding to "PLN" goes deeper.

            First of all, the article mentioned that our world becomes complex and interconnected because of changes in five ares: technology, globalization, demography and longevity, restructuring of society, and depleting energy resources (Sahana, 2016). All of them require interpersonal connections. And obviously, the trends is moving to "online interpersonal connections". The article makes a great metaphor that "PLN" has a "butterfly effect" which means "A flutter of a butterfly’s wing can literally and metaphorically cause a typhoon halfway round the world'(Sahana,2016). You can imagine how strong a effect is when a researcher win the Nobel prize in a new area. All of the scholars in his or her PLN may change their researching direction and the funding from the university may deliver to that area. If you don't have such "PLN" but you are in the same area with that researcher, you lose the advantages. 

          Following is the diagram showing how many steps people constructing the personal learning network. The first one is explore, and then is collect, review, recreate and share. It seems very easy to follow, but to what degree we are following above steps and cultivate as a habit? When I found one article is very interesting, I usually save (collect ) it or share it, but rarely comment to it. I may worry my comments are not making sense, or maybe ignored and being underestimated. However, as the process you are building the "PLN", no review ( comment) means no continuum. 
   

             I tried many social media and tools in last week and this week. As Professor Vanessa mentioned, I already feel I am "drinking from the firehouse" and overwhelmed. In this article, the author point out that " the effective personal learning network is its diversity". With the connection of various people or groups of people, it will be easier to construct a more complete opinion or get inspired. 

            Last, it even not a simple thing to start when build your personal learning network. Specific skills are required: If I don't take this class, I may never know about "curation". I won't know "reddit", "net vibe", or RSS feed. Moreover, as I start to know blog is another way to build community or PLN, I realize that I need skills to build up my unique blog to attract people. Therefore, all the skills you are learning to use certain "social media", or "online tools" may become the foundational competence to build your strong PLN. 

         Following are lists of suggestions the article provide. I found it is very important, so I want to share it with you!

        

• Sharing useful content. 
• Interacting respectfully. 
• Valuing and expressing gratitude for help received. 
• Reaching out and helping others pro-actively. 
• Not being afraid to be vulnerable.   

   

My PLN: Printerst and Facebook

 
     Yesterday, I am doing the research about "personal learning network". I happened to find a very good resource for educators. It is called edublog  which is a place for teachers to join professional development, share thoughts, spread ideas. It has a good feature that guiding and helping teachers to build their PLN. Through Edublog, you can post educational blogs, viewing other professional's work and conduct your own online lesson. This is really a great platform to start with. It even provides the tasks for learners to build their PLN.
 
      Following is a good video showing what is "PLN" in addition to Professor Dennen's :)

   

 
      It makes clear that PLN may be not limited to Online network, but, the globally online connection makes it special! Because of Pinterest, I start to know a lot of creative teachers who dedicate to create engaging and fun activities for learners. A lot of free printable materials you can only find on Pinterest. Through Pinterest, educators interested in the similar topic have the strong connection. They discuss their thoughts, successful projects they had done before, free materials they can share to others. As a teacher, I enjoy leaving comments or give credits to those creative educators. This is one of my main resource of PLN.

     Another PLN for my future career is building through Facebook. I joined a group called instructional designer. This online public group can be seen as both a forum as well as a professional development site. There are tons of professionals in the field of instructional design provide supports and guidance for future ISDer. For example, there has article teaching "how to use content curation in learning and development strategy", the article introducing " how to use gamification in the instructional design" or news discussing " the development of virtual classroom". Moreover, It also gives a place to post ISDer internship and job opportunities for graduating students. I am not only starting to build personal learning network with professional ISDers but also learn the experiences and obtain advises from them. See, this is my special PLN in two fields related to my previous work in K-12 education and future career in Instructional Design.

      The following picture is also from Edublog. "Why you should begin your PLN'. There are a lot of keywords mentioned I found are very interesting! I hope it can inspire you too!
 
   

   
 

PLN

                                 Personal Learning Network

   In the PLN presentation Professor Dennen shared on the Adobe Spark, she discussed " which PLN is right for you". It really makes sense to me. She said, " if you are a person always want to read everything in detail and don't want to miss anything or stress up when the information overloaded, you may need a smaller PLN". On the other hand, " if you are a skimmer, you don't worry about things you missed and you enjoy a large load of information, you may have larger PLN". I start to think what kind of people I am. I was conservative and hesitate in trying new tech-tools because I am a person don't like to socialize. However, when I am realizing social network can promote learning and spread out knowledge in a more efficient way, I start to feel fascinated by all kinds of social medias. I specifically like Professor Dennen's point that "if I miss something, I don't worry about it. Instead, I will move forward and start where I am". It is really a good philosophy. I will try to adopt it and release some of my anxiety.

   

The Second Week for class EME 6414

      The first week of EME6414 for me is both very long and very fast. Why am I saying that? It requires a lot of work for the learners and I enjoy trying all the new stuff, listening to the audio presentation and do the research online. I am so glad this course can motivate me to write a consistent blog. Most of my blogger only live for several months and died because of all kind of excuse, busy work, sick, travel...  I feel consistency is very important in all professional field. I heard that 23 days can help to build a good habit. Hopefully, I can have.

   Actually, I feel very embarrassed to admit that even though I tried to listen to the tutorial and read some post about how to use the "feed" icon, I still do not get it. It will be this week's goal for me to add other classmates'. I was thinking about the reason. Maybe too much information in the first week excited me and overwhelmed me too. I hope I can find my niches and master the comfortable pace.

   When I realized this is the 2nd week. And this course only has 6 weeks. I feel a little bit upset. I just feel I have too many things I want to learn in depth, but I am sure 6 weeks are certainly not enough. I appreciate that the professor tried all her best to give us as much information as she can. I deeply feel I am so lucky to have this course.

   I went back to the Doctor. In three weeks, it will be my due day. I feel very nervous because of some "not big deal problems of the baby according to the Doctor". However, as a mom, I cannot stop worrying. I know it is not good during the pregnancy. Thanks to this intensive course distracting most of my attention.
 
   I am starting the reading and trying out of the social media provided on Bb course site now, right after the course material had been posted. I feel better....