An interesting experience with Twitter

I had never used Twitter prior to EPSY 590 ML SU 11, and really saw no point in using.  After this semester I am a big fan of Twitter and I really enjoy the people and things I am following, I will continue using Twitter well after this class ends.  Upon completing our weekly blogging assignments, I would tag the blog entries and post the links to Facebook and Twitter.  Over the past couple of weeks I wrote about cloud computing and twice about augmented reality.  All three of these postings were mentioned in Twitter and I found that to be nice: I had written something that someone felt they would want to mention in a Tweet or their blog.  Yesterday I wrote a blog entry about augmented reality and I received a notice that I had been mentioned, so I went to see what this was all about.  There was a link to a web site in the mention: http://paper.li/cecipf/1293173569.  The site is called:  HypeReality: Augmented Reality News.  I had never heard of this site before, but it is a blog and it is laid out like a newspaper.  Low and behold, in the education section of the site is my blog posting.  My Tweet about this blog entry mentioned augmented reality so this site must have a search defined to find postings on augmented reality.  So I was flattered to see my posting in their blog, I guess this is an example of a mashup?

Throughout the day yesterday I thought about this experience and a concern started bubbling up in me.  Information I posted to my blog is available and open for the world to see, I did not password protect the site.  What this web site did is a very common practice and I am excited that my work was placed on their site.  But the what if questions began entering into my thoughts.  What if I posted something to my blog that was reused by a site I am opposed to philosophically, politically and ideologically?  Would I have ever known that someone reused my work?  How would I get them to remove my posting from their site?  What could the ramifications be for me if someone saw my work on a site I did not agree with?

While in this case it was a positive experience that my posting was placed on this site, it makes me step back and think about how quickly information can be shared and without me knowing about it.  In an era where people are more open with what they share online, maybe it is important to pause prior to posting information to Facebook or a blog and ask, what are the long-term consequences to making my thoughts available for the world to see?

Summary of Learning For EPSY 590 ML SU 11

For my summary of learning project I recorded a video discussing my learning activities within EPSY 590 ML SU11.  Thank you all for a great semester and it was great working with everyone in the course.  To those in cohort 8 within the GSE program, congratulations on finishing the program and best of luck in the future.

The audio might be a little out of synch with the video, I am not sure why.  I recorded this with QuickTime and uploaded it directly to the blog, but enjoy it nonetheless.  

Week 2 Thoughts on Mobile Learning - Twitter

I started using Twitter this week and found it to be very interesting from the perspective of how easy it is to use, but yet how difficult it is to post a thought in under 140 characters.  I used Twitter on both my laptop and mobile phone; I was traveling to White Plains, NY so I had some opportunities to use it.  I started with a nonsensical posting about being at the airport, just to give it a try.  But later in the day as I was reading through familiar technology blogs I noticed how easy it was to post an article or video to share with those following me; right now that is just 6 other people, maybe that will grow over time?  Now that I have 10 tweets under my belt, including tweets with links to pictures and videos, it is easier for me to understand why Twitter is so popular – it is truly easy to use, but the experience is pretty much the same on my laptop or my Nexus One. 

But that led to my next question, which would pertain to blogs in general: what value I am producing in my blogging and micro-blogging that will attract people to follow me?  I am not particularly witty or all that interesting.  I am sharing interesting content pertaining to mobile learning, e-learning and mobile technologies, but it is not as though I am producing any ground breaking content that I feel is worthy of placing up on Twitter.  Over the course of the semester I hope to do so, but not yet.

In relating my use of Twitter to the Christensen reading, tools like Twitter can be one of many resources for starting down the path of student centered learning.  Maybe Twitter allows teachers to distribute resources they come across to specific students or groups students based on their needs?  I understand Christensen argues for computer-based learning to facilitate student centered learning, but as these systems evolve, maybe a lower tech solutions would be a start down the path to student centered learning where the teacher has more control over the path they are guiding their students by using Twitter as a distribution mechanism?  One of the articles I read this week, which is linked below, discusses faculty having multiple Twitter identities.  Having multiple identities maybe provide teachers the ability distribute appropriate learning materials to students as students follow one of their teacher’s identities?

Over the course of this week I tweeted the following articles I thought I would share on my blog in case you did not see these on Twitter (@bradbeecher).

This video details Stanford University’s use of mobile technologies, the team at Stanford later sold their product to Blackboard and became Blackboard Mobile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRw5TPVZhuw&feature=share

I read the Chronicle of Higher Education quite frequently; this is one blog they run called Prof Hacker – Tips about Teaching, technology and productivity.  I found some interesting postings here:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/

Another article from the Chronicle, University of Western Ontario is a large publisher of case studies. Their business school will be the first major publisher to distribute cases through iTunes and the iBookstore.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/quickwire-canadian-business-school-uses-itunes-to-distribute-its-case-studies/31846?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

This is an innovative use of Twitter for teaching, the entire article is good, but the last couple of sentences are very good:

http://chronicle.com/article/Twitter-Meets-the-Breakfast/127379/

I think augmented reality is pretty interest, but it is a technology still in its infancy.  This posting is not focused on education, but it does show some of AR’s potential:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/22/augmented-reality-app-concept-conjures-movie-scenes-shot-in-your/?a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

This is another article focused on Twitter, it discusses how professors are managing dual identities through Twitter:

http://chronicle.com/article/College-20-Academics-and/127936/

This is a bit more light-hearted, but it reminded me of Christensen’s focus on student centered learning.  If you do not have Xfinity, you can probably find this on Hulu, but once you load the link scroll ahead to 17 minutes and about 35 seconds.  This is where Lisa Simpson meets her new teacher:

http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/tv/The-Simpsons/3745/1642737557/Lisa-Simpson%2C-This-Isn-t-Your-Life/videos?skipTo=0?skipTo=0

I am adding this last link to my blog posting after I wrote the initial post.  I found this site last summer while taking EPSY 415, it is an update to Bloom's taxonomy -> Bloom's Digital Taxonomy.  I found this very interesting to review last year and I come back to this site from time to time:
http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom's+Digital+Taxonomy

Twitter App on my Nexus One...

While waiting for my delayed flight I tried using the Twitter App on my Nexus One.   This post is coming from my mobile phone and later edited once I got to a computer.

Brad Beecher (@bradbeecher) has shared a Tweet with you: "bradbeecher: Leaving DCA http://t.co/XVMnV2n."

I am on my flight now and I think I am sitting next to former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.  Gotta go.  Flight leaving.  After arriving, it was confirmed that I was sitting next to the former Fed Chairman.

Back to mobile learning - the Twitter App on my phone was a breeze to use, in fact it let me share my tweet with my blog - hence the reference to the earlier tweet.  It is pretty interesting how all of these various apps are integrated to provided a more seamless experience for the end user.  I have no idea how an iPhone works as I find Apple's iOS exceedingly confusing to use and Android really quite simple, but Android must have some sharing API utilized by some of their built-in apps and used by 3rd party developers.  It makes sharing photos, videos, tweets, contacts and much more so easy and it appears to be interoperable.  Android is a great mobile platform, I cannot wait to get an Android tablet soon.