Hello World, i have a blog now.

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Ich glaube, wir sind alle Microlearner. Der österreichische Forscher Martin Lindner erklärt es uns.
via Scope

This are some the topics for this block:

• Educators as leaders
• How a super networked world will change the education system
• Motivation and learning
• Creativity and learning
• Microlearning

Most of the block will be videos I found profuond and I will like to share on this topics!

Micro content, micro learning, micro blogging und dank @Karli jetzt auch micro recording! Wir werden noch rauskriegen was man damit anfangen kann und wie Twitsay die Welt regieren wird. Ich fang jetzt mal mit ein paar Fussballzitaten an. Passend zur Jahreszeit.

Si vous possédez un compte Twitter où votre GSM est activé, vous pouvez suivre aboksmot en activant la notification par SMS pour recevoir tous les jours un mot et sa définition par SMS. Si vous n’en possédez pas, l’inscription est gratuite et il faut envoyer un code (au prix d’un SMS international) pour activer son téléphone portable.

Ce projet est en fait l’initiative du site Aboks (pas encore réouvert à l’heure qu’il est) dont je suis co-webmaster avec Damian. Il allie le microlearning à l’apprentissage 2.0 en ce sens qu’il utilise les téléphones portables.

En guise d’exemple, aujourd’hui le mot était “vilipender” et hier “une grosse”. En maximum 140 caractères et quelques secondes par jour, on peut accroître son vocabulaire. Même pas besoin de faire quelque chose tel qu’aller sur un site web puisque c’est le site web qui vient à vous en envoyant le contenu par SMS directement dans votre poche.

Qu’est-ce que le microlearning ? C’est en fait une technique de formation par laquelle vous apprennez par scéances très courtes. Les informations sont fragmentées en petites unités. L’effort est donc assez court et le microlearning permet d’apprendre à un meilleur rendement dans certain cas. Il existe une petite présentation en 90 secondes ainsi qu’un site si vous désirez en savoir plus.

N’hésitez pas à suivre aboksmot sur Twitter (ça nous motivera si il y a des gens qui suivent ), d’autres thèmes pourraient être traités dans ce genre de démarche. Quelques idées en vrac : un mot en anglais, apprentissage juridique, un événement historique, une particularité d’une plante au hasard, …

Pensez-vous que cela soit utile voire efficace ? Si oui, dans quelles conditions et à propos de quel(s) sujet(s) ?

C’est une nouvelle approche de formation bâtie sur l’apprentissage par petites « doses », au jour le jour et en réseau. C’est un changement total de paradigme dans lequel il ne s’agit plus de mettre en œuvre des sessions de formations massives sur deux ou trois jours où on bombarde littéralement les stagiaires d’informations et de connaissances lourdes à assimiler et qui, une fois leur stage terminé, ne seront pas capables de réaliser tout ce qu’ils ont appris.

Pour Frédéric Soussin (consultant TIC & Web 2.0), la formation vient désormais de gens “comme moi”, de mon réseau, de personnes qui ne sont pas forcément des experts ni vraiment de grands formateurs pédagogues mais de gens qui ont le savoir-faire nécessaire. Le microlearning c’est le réseau, c’est l’abonnement à des flux RSS, c’est la formation par petits bouts mais au quotidien et surtout qui répondent à des besoins. J’ai confiance, j’ai envie, je prends ce qui m’intéresse et ce faisant, je suis d’autant plus apte à réutiliser les notions que j’apprends.

Bref, on sort de l’approche top-down (expert à apprenants) pour entrer dans une logique peer to peer reposant sur un réel processus de transfert.

Voir la vidéo du consultant Frédéric Soussin sur Slideo

Voir aussi le site Microlearning

FernUni booth, TV interview with Andreas, Mobile Learning lectures and the Mobile Learning Arena.

This year, for the first time, I was at the Learntec as a visitor and not as an exhibitor. I got a free ticket from Andreas Bischoff (the man behind pediaphon), so I just couldn’t resist to stop by for some hours. I visited the FernUniversität booth and the Mobile Learning Arena. It was nice to meet some ‘old’ Mobile Learning friends like Oliver Pincus from afelio GmbH, Karsten Meier from Handylearn Projects as well as Uwe Weinreich and Nadine Hüllbrock from Mobile Coaching - Weinreich UB GmbH. I definitely have to intensify my work at the Mobile Education Center of Excellence on Microlearning and Mobile Learning )

Unfortunately I didn’t have time for all of the lectures at the Mobile Learning Arena this year, but the program was quite promising:

• Mobiles Lernen in Deutschland – State of the Art
  Nadine Hüllbrock, Mobile Coaching – Weinreich UB GmbH
• Praxisbericht: Mobiles Lernen in der betrieblichen Praxis
  Bernd Semmler, Leiter Michelin Center für Training + Information, Michelin Reifenwerke KGaA
• mooleemoo.de – Mobile Lernmodule erstellen, veröffentlichen und tauschen
  Oliver Pincus, afelio GmbH
• Lernen mit dem Handy: wie es funktioniert
  Karsten Meier, Handylearn Projects H2H e.K.
• Messaging und Streaming
  Lars Müller, Fraunhofer-Einrichtung für Systeme der Kommunikationstechnik ESK
• New Generation Mobile Learning Content Management Solutions for Media Based Learning Personalization
  Robert Jaksch, Lerneffekt, Gianfranco Congiu, Giunti Labs
• Das Pediaphon: Bei Wikipedia anrufen – ortsbezogenes mobiles Lernen mit Mobiltelefonen und PDA
  Dr.-Ing. Andreas Bischoff, Lehrgebiet Prozesssteuerung und Regelungstechnik, FernUniversität in Hagen

Am busy putting together a brief presentation about Media Snacking and Micro learning. The point I am going to make is that Micro learning and Media Snacking is basically the same, but viewed from a different perspective: Media Snackers are considered media junkies, micro learners have the much more positive image of sustainable learners who have developed strategies for informal learning, using new media gadgets and who have learned to cope with the handicap of their short attention span

In that process I came across this perfectly senseless, yet endearing viral video: The two talking cats, currently #4 in the viral video chart.

Quizá por el trabajo que se me acumula y el poco tiempo disponible para mi propia formación, me empieza a interesar el tema del “microlearning”. Hace poco se ha desarrollado una conferencia sobre el tema en Innsbruck.
Me ha llamado poderosamente la atención una de las contribuciones a las actas por su proximidad/aplicabilidad al ámbito de las lenguas extranjeras. Se trata del artículo de Berverly Olivier titulado “Mobile blogging, ‘Skyping’ and podcasting: Targetting undergraduates’ communication skills in transnational learning contexts”. El proyecto para intergar tecnología móvil en el aprendizaje es interesante, pero más interesante para el profesor de lenguas son las cuestiones interculturales que Oliver relaciona con la implantación de tecnologías emergentes. Un artículo de seis páginas, muy, muy recomendable…
Las actas del encuentro están en línea y prometen.

I’m in the middle of the microlearning conference, and believe it or not: I am a convert. Twitter DOES actually work, in particular in environments like these. While the first two keynotes were presented, people commented on what was being said by the speakers – only that you couldn’t hear them. But the comments offered different views on the talk, maybe views that otherwise would not have been expressed, publicly. Of course it only works if you have a certain community of people who share interests – they have to have at least one thing in common. Obvious disadvantage: It also draws attention away from the speakers, as – even if multi-tasking – you cannot divide your attention between different things. You’re either writing or reading a twitter message or listening to the talk. That may lead to semi-attentive audiences – so as a presenter, you have to be prepared for that (and not be offended if that happens).

Btw, when we were on the train this morning, my two colleagues and I made jokes about how we would immediately take pictures and upload them to our blogs – and that’s what I am doing right now. Harr! (Pictures taken with iSight; my MacBook stopped making those velcro noises).

From 4 till 6 today I went to a public lecture of Dom Krautler, bishop of Xingu in Transamazonia in Brazil. Hailing from Vorarlberg, he is known as Bischof Erwin Kräutler here in Austria. His niece is a social work student here in Dornburn, and it seems as if she helped arrange this lecture (but he’s revered wherever he goes here in Vorarlberg). There was an article in the SPIEGEL about him a while ago – he has two bodyguards now, as being a Bishop who advocates the cause of indigenous people doesn’t exactly make him a favourite of those who have economic or political power.

But his talk was interesting (unfortunately, fresh air was running out quickly), in particular the bits and pieces that he shared with us about the pope’s speeches in Brazil during his latest visit. It seems as if the media picked in particular on one of the pope’s comments about the Indians’ ‘longing to be christianized’ that’s not what the pope said, but how it was understood) – according to Dom Krautler this was another statement that would only be understood by the theologian who knows a bit about Augustinian theology. The pope’s statement was, according to Krautler, Augustinian, meaning that there is a longing within the human for the divine. Of course the only way that a catholic pope can express this longing for the divine is by saying that someone longs for christ – but given the gory history of forced christianization in Latin America, this comment wasn’t so well received.

Dom Krautler said that he himself was quite happy with the pope’s other statements – e.g. he said that we need to devote our attention and concern to Amazonia (or Transamazonia? In any case:), the vast regions where the indigenous tribes live who are still badly threatened by extinction. If Dom Erwin liked it, I suppose this means that he didn’t interpret the pope’s word as a plan to christen them all:-)

It seems the pope also said something nice about the Church of Liberation – the reason why I am unable to reproduce it is that, once again, only the theologian would have been able to identify the comment as such. The pope is a professor of theology more than anything, there’s no doubt about it.

So that’s how I got my share of do-good celebrities today:-)

Tomorrow in the early morning I am leaving to go to Innsbruck to attend the Microlearning conference – and to present my paper in repeated 7 minute ’speed-geeking sessions’ (elsewhere this called poster-session). Hopefully I won’t have to repeat my gig more than three times. Arf.

I received an invite today to join the Twitter group for the upcoming Microlearning Conference.

hello,

for the conference we set up a little live experiment in microcontent.
don’t forget to bring your wifi-enabled laptop and your mobile phone!

if you subscribe to “Twitter” (it is free), you will not only be able to
get the latest conference announcements ‘live’, in real time, but also
to share with the other “twittering” participants your thoughts &
impressions throughout the conference.
we are sure this will add to the atmosphere, and it is a quite
instructive experience in real microcontent too!

it takes only 5 minutes. just have a look at this visual micro-tutorial:

http://www.slideshare.net/MicrolearningOrg/ml2007-twitter-shorttutorial-v2

then wait for your first twitter messages to come in from the Conference
Channel at

http://www.twitter.com/micro2007

Twitter messages will be sent to your mobile phone too (for free!), if
you choose this option on your twitter-website!
you can turn this on and off anytime …

(the few participants who are using twitter already may want to create a
new twitter-ID just for the conference.)

cheers

xxx
ConferenceChair

Sounds like fun, huh?

Before I leave I wanted to raise your interest in the already mentioned Microlearning Conference in Innsbruck towards the end of June this year. Maybe we can meet there! And I thought that one possible way of raising your interest could be by presenting bits and pieces of my paper – the conclusion (sorry, Greg, it still has one quote in it that you recommended me to get rid of, and I can see now why, but I couldn’t let go…). This also explains how the Phaedrus quote fits in:

I have argued above that the emergence of microplagiarism and of the increase of plagiarism in student assignments in general have to be assigned to the contradictions between the rules of the academic and the digital world. If the promise of the Semantic Web comes true, as was suggested in the original article from 2001, it will “better [enable] computers and people to work in cooperation.”

The benefits this holds for the world of academia are indeed alluring: Individuals doing research online could harvest all metadata associated with a document using Semantic Web browsers. This information – and for our purpose: in particular bibliographic information, such as provided by Dublin Core – could be reused to generate references and reference lists.

Anybody who copies from a Semantic Web compliant website would not merely copy words, but automatically import all the information and meaning that she or he – in order to avoid plagiarism – was required to extract manually in the past. Writing essays and articles that meet the requirements of different style guides would be an easy task for everyone. If this scenario were to come true, the mere possibility of plagiarism would cease to exist.

Of course this would change the customs and traditions of the academic world fundamentally and would not be embraced by everyone. Certainly for a transitional period, and probably much longer, some educators might insist that students continue to write the reference lists manually, just as there are some today that insist that students refrain from using calculators.

The propensity of media technology to serve as an extension to human cognitive abilities has always been greeted with skepticism. One can find a great deal of the criticism that some students’ use of web resources attracts, preempted in Plato’s Phaedrus’ conclusion about writing, one of the first media technologies to fundamentally transform human knowledge and discourse:

Once any account has been written down, you find it all over the place, hobnob-bing with completely inappropriate people no less than with those who under-stand it, and completely failing to know who it should and shouldn’t talk to.

The opportunities for the circulation of content and for informal learning have never been greater than now, in the web-supported knowledge society. Microplagiarism draws our attention to the ‘Dark Side of the Force’ of microlearning, to the flip side of a socio-technological constellation in which the pragmatic opportunities for copying, using and editing someone else’s work are greater than ever.

The problem of microplagiarism will only cease to exist, if we manage to close the gap between the technological and the academic sphere and their diverging rules for the circulation and continuation of information. If ‘copy and paste‘ technically meant to not only copy alphanumeric characters, but also the semantic relations of a particular item of microcontent, then we would know that the gap has been closed.

The Semantic Web, the first stirrings of which are already visible in the development of ontologies and Semantic Browser extensions like Piggy-Bank, will be able to solve this problem and bridge the gap between human knowledge and computer data. Admittedly, the Semantic Web solution does not address the problem of learning and effective learning strategies, but it can help to raise student awareness of plagiarism and of ways to avoid it.

For the time being, the best strategy for dealing with the situation seems to be in setting students tasks that rule out or reduce the possibility of plagiarism in general.

P.S. I’ve got piggy bank on my browser now, it only works with Firefox, but I think it’s kinda neat. Wasn’t able to put it to any use yet, but hope to be able to do so in the future. Continuing to drop coins. Clickety-Clank, Clickety-Clank, your data go into my piggy bank.

Hey! This morning I got a notification that my proposal for the microlearning conference in Innsbruck has been accepted. I also got some very encouraging feedback from them – yay! yay! yay!

paper id 60: The Dark Side of the Force: The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning
has been accepted.
——————————————————————————————————————
The review comments are following, please consider them carefully when preparing the final version of your paper.

*Very well written paper and easy to read.
*Being an academic myself I have seen this problem a number of times
of the last years.
*Something missing in my opinion from the paper is how the moral
side of the problem. How does students react if you tell them not to
copy. Do they still do it but more carefully?

*Also, the semantic web is mentioned several time as the solution
but readers that are not that familiar with that name might benefit
from a discussion of how the semantic web would solve the problem!!
I strongly urge you to ad this!!!

*Some more minor things:
– Please connect the figures into the text. I.e. write in the text
“see figure 2″ etc.
– It is always nice to see the heading “conclusions” at the end of
the paper. I didn’t realize I was reading the conclusions until I
reached the references
– What does footnote 18 mean???
Good work!

——————————————————————————
P.S. Here is a link to the older post that contains the microplagiarism abstract

How annoying! The Microlearning folks have just announced on their website that they extened the deadline until the 28th of February – meaning I’ll have to wait even longer until I learn whether they’ve accepted the paper or not… Time for some excessive use of evil smileys

Das könnte auch gut zum Thema informelles Lernen passen. Zack und zum Thema microconten/microlearning was wiederum mit social Software und e-Learning zusammenhängt.

Soviel zum ersten…

Surprise! At the end of the day, I manage to crank out another post, as I, even more surprisingly, managed to crank out a paper before the day ended.

It’s a proposal for the Microlearning conference in Innsbruck this summer. An old school mate pointed me to it, and its going to be nice to attend the conference with him. Provided they accept us.

The last conference (no surprise) was fairly male and age-dominated, even if they managed to push the lady on the left into the frame a couple of times.

Anyhow, here is the abstract of my proposal:

The Dark Side of the Force:
The Issue of Microplagiarism in Microlearning

Based on the analysis of authentic examples of plagiarism in student assignments, this article proposes the term ‘microplagiarism’ to describe a new kind of plagiarism which uses relatively short sections of arbitrary sources and combines them to form a bigger, seemingly unified text. The authors examine to which extent learning through plagiarizing may be an effective strategy in some areas of language learning and discuss the difficulties in separating microlearning from microplagiarism. The current gap between the digital and the academic sphere and their methods of circulating and continuing knowledge is identified as a cause for the increase of plagiarism. While the hope is expressed that the Semantic Web will take care of this issue, it is suggested for the time being to minimize the risk by setting students tasks that don’t encourage plagiarism.