Great clip about how to fairly use videos from online with great examples..

Wired Campus: American U. Researchers Publish Guidelines for Fair Use in Web Videos - Chronicle.com

As more students and professors experiment with making short videos to post to YouTube or other video-sharing Web sites, many run up against concerns against potential copyright violations--especially if they want to use a clip from a Hollywood movie or other copyrighted work.

New guidelines released this week by researchers at American University's Center for Social Media hope to help nonlawyers navigate the confusing world of U.S. copyright law and its "fair use" provision. They're part of a guide called the "Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video."

Update: More info from the study here.

The study points to a wide variety of practices--satire, parody, negative and positive commentary, discussion-triggers, illustration, diaries, archiving and of course, pastiche or collage (remixes and mashups)--all of which could be legal in some circumstances.

This article shared by a Facebook friend reinforces an idea I've had that No Child Left Behind testing has created a delusional view of what's going on in schools today. Thus I give you to use or ignore: The Bell Line--all kids are now above average.Education Week: NCLB Testing Said to Give 'Illusions of Progress'

rampantly inflated standardized test scores are giving the misbegotten impression that, as in the fictional town made famous by radio personality Garrison Keillor, all children are above average.

Well, I've said before and I'll say it again, The School of Rock changed how I teach forever. It's a very dumb reason to have for such a change, but that film made me realize that everything a student does should have real-world, embedded application. But what about liberal arts and theory? Well, if you can't include those in the real-world application of the concepts you're teaching what good are they? And who's going to listen?

Dr. Ron Whittaker whose online text I use in Production classes has some interesting ideas in helping to rething curriculum that I really like.

Rethinking Higher Education Curriculum

Consider the full impact of these 17 elements of an essential curriculum.

1. It would be based on the premise that the primary purpose of education is not to pass on knowledge and information.

2. It would teach students how to think rather than what to think.

3. It would be centered on concepts and not subjects.

4. It would provide tools and skills for finding and understanding needed information and data, and teach the ability to synthesize and objectively evaluate both.

5. It would emphasize and reward critical thinking and problem solving while encouraging creativity and independent thinking.

6. It would encourage students to critically reexamine all values and attitudes before they accept them and not to automatically accept yesterday's answers to today's problems.

7. It would advocate and support personal honesty in attitudes, words, and deeds.

8. It would not be designed to support or justify the economic or political goals or status quo of any one country.

9. It would deal openly and honestly with love and sexuality in all their dimensions while at the same time attempting to understand prevailing societal views.

10. It would not be based on competition or "survival of the fittest," but place an equal value on individuals, regardless of race, sex, economic status, or personal predisposition.

11. It would teach total personal responsibility for one's actions, attitudes, and future rather than shifting responsibility to some outside person or agency.

12. It would emphasize tolerance and a nonjudgmental attitude toward people and societies that are "different" or with whom one disagrees.

13. It would emphasize the importance self-discipline and the understanding that personal freedoms must cease or be reevaluated whenever they interfere with the needs and freedoms of others.

14. It would stress adjudication and conflict resolution and not violence as the solution to personal or social problems.

15. It would emphasize the importance and preservation of the environment.

16. It would present the standard subjects (including the three R's, rhetoric, geography, history, humanities and science) within the context of real-life situations that the students can clearly identify with; and, in the process, make use of computer games, and TV and Internet resources.

17. Finally, it would consistently emphasize universal, uniting spiritual concepts, as opposed divisive religious, racial, cultural, or nationalistic concepts.

Good overview/refresher of GTD methods and a pretty good online app for implementation. Just wishing they had an app for iPod Touch, but I guess since the iPhone is always online nobody cares..
WARNING: Productivity can take serious amount of time if you let it. Pick a system and commit to it!

Toodledo :: Getting Things Done (GTD)

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a method for organizing tasks so that you can focus your entire energy and creativity on completing those tasks in a stress free manner.

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving presentation, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.

I will say I've had a deathbed conversion... I just bought a Macintosh.

I really liked his emphasis on enabling the dreams of others. What a great way to go out.

Daily Home - ACCESS lets students take courses not offered at their schools

Additionally, students are taking Advanced Placement courses for college credit through ACCESS from teachers certified to teach AP courses.

In other TN Higher Ed news:
WREG-TV Memphis - Tenn. tech schools shorten schedules to save gas

Some Tennessee community colleges and tech schools are moving to a 4-day school week to help commuting students facing a financial roadblock in rising gasoline prices.

Four Tennessee Technology Centers and three community colleges are adopting the new class schedules after hearing from students that high gas prices could force them to drop out.

That sounds pretty good to me..

The Chronicle talks about this case causing a tipping point for Distance Learning to finally take off:

Wired Campus: Have Gas Prices Pushed Distance-Education Popularity Past a Tipping Point? - Chronicle.com

"It's getting to the point of either gas or class," says Robbie K. Melton, associate vice chancellor for the Tennessee Board of Regents, where this summer the number of students taking online courses spiked 29 percent, in part because of the high cost of buying gas to drive to campus.

Here is a brief bio that I put together for the new UTC Communication Department website.

Chris Willis loves going to school. Having graduated from UTC with bachelor's degrees in Environmental Science and Sociology, he returned for a Master's in Writing, and is now pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Leadership and Learning at UTC. "I'm hoping this last degree will help to pull everything together," Chris says. Having taught as an adjunct professor for the Communication department for nine years, Chris believes that students learn best when given the opportunities and facilities to explore themselves creatively. "I love television and film and I'm focusing more now on teaching students how to tell stories visually--from the initial ideas to a final product that they can share with an audience."

Having worked in a computer lab for The Tennessee Valley Authority as a training specialist, Chris came to UTC full-time as a technology specialist for Continuing Edcucation, focused primarily on distance learning through videoconferencing. Due to a growing interest in developing a campus television studio, Mr. Willis was involved in the grant-writing, design, and implementation of a brand-new facility at UTC, which has been used by the entire campus for video production and editing. Some of the work of the UTC Television Studio can be viewed online, as well as being broadcast on Comcast Cable Channel 3.

More about my life can be seen here or view my vita here.

How Does Distance Education Compare With Classroom Instruction? A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature -- Bernard et al. 74 (3): 379 -- Review of Educational Research

Dividing achievement outcomes into synchronous and asynchronous forms of DE produced a somewhat different impression. In general, mean achievement effect sizes for synchronous applications favored classroom instruction, while effect sizes for asynchronous applications favored DE.

An interesting way to conduct research without travel, plus to get ideas from participants as to what is important.

Delphi method is a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of independent experts. The carefully selected experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds. After each round, a facilitator provides an anonymous summary of the experts’ forecasts from the previous round as well as the reasons they provided for their judgments. Thus, participants are encouraged to revise their earlier answers in light of the replies of other members of the group. It is believed that during this process the range of the answers will decrease and the group will converge towards the "correct" answer. Finally, the process is stopped after a pre-defined stop criterion (e.g. number of rounds, achievement of consensus, stability of results) and the mean or median scores of the final rounds determine the results.

An interesting article from Canadian George Siemens, dealing with how technology supports "off-loading " human knowledge.

Growing Up Digital: How the Web Changes Work, Education, and the Ways People Learn. United States Distance Learning Association. Jan05_01

• Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains. The tools we use define and shape our thinking.

• Many of the processes previously handled by learning theories (especially in cognitive information processing) can now be off-loaded to, or supported by, technology.

• Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where (the understanding of where to find knowledge needed).

A central tenet of most learning theories is that learning occurs inside a person.

Additional concerns arise from the rapid increase in information. In today’s environment, action is often needed without personal learning – that is, we need to act by drawing information outside of our primary knowledge. The ability to synthesize and recognize connections and patterns is a valuable skill.

We can no longer personally experience and acquire learning that we need to act. We derive our competence from forming connections.

Butterfly Effect - “sensitive dependence on initial conditions” profoundly impacts what we learn and how we act based on our learning."

Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories. Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing.

Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical.

Conclusion:

The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today.

Pedagogy First? Whatever. In dealing with faculty and instructional designers, a series of almost default phrases are vocalized once technology is mentioned: "We need to start with pedagogy"..."It's pedagogy first".

Or, whenever I'm in a meeting and someone says "pedagogy first", the apparently genetic instinct to nod viciously is enacted by everyone around the table. "Yes, that is right. We need to have priorities here. Let's tame technology and focus instead on what we already know and are comfortable with. Let’s ensure that technology does not get away from the tried and true method of containing innovation and new approaches.”

Let's abandon the somewhat silly notion of pedagogy first and recognize
that the choice of technology is driven by many contextual factors and
therefore context is what we are evaluating and considering when we
first start talking about possible technology to use. Then, after we
have selected technology, we can start talking about pedagogy. Pedagogy
is just not a practical starting point for deciding the technology we
should use.

I have to say I very much support the International Society for Technology in Education's new definition for the role of teachers.The Future of Instruction: Teacher as 'Co-Learner' : June 2008 : THE Journal

"Now and in the future, effective teachers of digital-age learners will be challenged to move away from models of teaching and learning as isolated endeavors. As they model work and learning that reflects inventive thinking and creativity, teachers must become comfortable as co-learners with their students and with colleagues around the world. Today it is less about staying ahead and more about moving ahead as members of dynamic learning communities. The Digital Age teaching professional must demonstrate a vision of technology infusion and develop the technology skills of others. These are the hallmarks of the new education leader."

Chattanooga Times Free Press | Chattanooga: Professor puts spin on periodic table

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga professor Dr. Hinsdale Bernard has been working on a three-dimensional model of the periodic table of the elements since he was a chemistry teacher in Trinidad in the late 1970s. He recently received a patent for the model he has been developing. His "Periodic Table in Three-Dimensional Form" is meant to be a learning tool that would appeal to youngsters from elemetary school to college age.

Also interesting that you can't embed Chatt Times videos..

Wired Campus: Facial-Recognition Software Could Give Valuable Feedback to Online Professors - Chronicle.com

Many professors who teach online complain that they have no way of seeing whether their far-away students are following the lectures

This new software helps analyze whether or not students are watching, understanding, and engaged in web streaming courses, which is something we are tackling at UTC with my 797 project.

Having just been on a tour of the Office for Students with Disabilities at UTC this week, I was glad to know what this guy was talking about below. This thing is pretty neat, though I wonder how it reacts when webpages are changed..

Awesome Highlighter (online resource) | Free Resources from the Net for (Special) Education

I’m a big fan of Kurzweil 3000, and one feature of the program that I especially appreciate is the way text can be highlighted and then extracted into a new file. This can be an extremely valuable study aid. Another helpful study aid in Kurzweil 3000 is the option of easily adding sticky notes to pages of text. Altogether Kurzweil 3000 contains the best set of tools I know of for helping learners deal with a wide range of challenges that can create barriers to learning.

This article talks about a group of California students learning about ecology by videoconferencing with the marine biologists 100 miles away. Technology and Gas Prices Send Students Of Virtual Field Trips

When seventh graders in Stockton took a field trip this week to see elephant seals, they didn't even step outside their school. Instead, with the help of a projector and a video camera, the students teleconferenced with a state park guide on the California coast.

So this article links to the website of this group, which throws big money at research into life's big questions. It seems like a lot of these deal with reconciling God and Science, but I think that is just the topic for this year, since a lot of the published works deal with economics.. John Templeton Foundation

The Templeton Foundation was started in 1987 in order "to serve as a philanthropic catalyst for discovery in areas engaging life'sbiggest questions". Over the years, these questions have included investigations into the laws of nature and the universe, along with thenature of love, gratitude, forgiveness and creativity.

This is especially interesting to me since I met Templeton at a conference in the Bahamas on Free Enterprise and how it helps (allegedly) the world's social problems (I took this photo). I leaned quite a bit more left in this area before the conference, but I see where a lot of their ideas have merits, so, YAY CAPITALISM! However, does the website remind you of the Hanso Foundation at all?

UTC News Releases » Ed.D. Learning Conference addresses partnerships

With the ultimate objective to realize a “learning region,” participants discussed ways new partnerships could be initiated and structured. They identified groups, institutions and organizations which may have an interest in partnering and how they could be constructively engaged.

Other than being the generic tech-nerd, I was able to participate in breakout sessions and to enjoy some pretty great presentations on web 2.0. Also, we wiki-ed, which was a first for me. If anyone knows where our wiki went (somewhere on pbwiki.com I imagine) please let me know.

..with Google Docs, but definitely not with Powerpoint. Here is a presentation I made for the Tech OVerview EDUC 199 class:

Basic Editing: Inserting videos

This has been coming for a while but I think it will be huge:
WiMax could be successor to Wi-Fi | www.azstarnet.com ®

WiMax technology could be as big a change as the mobile phone revolution.

Film School: To Spice Up Course Work, Professors Make Their Own Videos - Chronicle.com

Good article on using video in the classroom, particularly for assessment.
Techlearning > > Caught on Video > April 22, 2008

Constantly using video (a medium that allows for self-viewing and self-reflection) in the classroom will have a consistent, underlying message: Learning is important enough to be captured, shared, and archived. Video begs for reviewing and rewinding much more than a letter grade could ever hope for. Learning captured by video suggests a continuum in which a letter grade suggests completion.

Posted by cmwillis at 10:57 PM | Assessment , Learning , Technology , photo/videography |

Chris Smith of New Jersey is politicking for new legislation that would make it illegal for companies like Google to censor search results in foreign countries such as China. He also calls for participation in condemning China's human rights records. I recently spoke with Chinese professor who believes that these abuses are overblown and China is making great strides in progress. What is the truth?
Ahead of Olympics, Congressman Pushes 'Global Online Freedom Act' | Threat Level from Wired.com

The gross mistake of allowing China to host the Olympics in light of its horrific human rights record will be significantly compounded if we do not speak up and call attention to the human rights heroes who languish in Chinese jails

Education World ® Technology Channel: Brenda's Blog: Google Goes to School: Google Tools for Educators

# The web application found within Google for Educators allow teachers and students to: collaborate with their colleagues;
# monitor and participate in discussions;
# publish videos;
# create PowerPoint presentation and web sites;
# manage photos; and
# monitor online data.

Posted by cmwillis at 5:39 PM | Instruction , Technology |

Great article on the impact of web 2.0 (everything is interactive) on instructional design.
Is Web 2.0 'Designed for Education?'

Higher education for centuries has worked within a closed world where educators could design physical spaces and learning sequences (the curriculum) based on predictable circumstances. An educational designer could work within a much more restricted set of variables than what we see now.

Posted by cmwillis at 9:18 AM | Instruction , Technology |

Educational Technology
According to this guy iClickers are the new dusty old overhead projectors. Actually, I think he believes they make classrooms TOO interactive. Why engage them at all I say? Just mail out the degrees..

...if you don't plan to buy an iPhone. These things are just too cool to be caught seen owning, if you know what I mean. However, GMail on this thing was wonderful.
Apple - iPhone

Copyright Alliance Proposes Wiki to Help Professors Get Permissions for Classroom Use - Chronicle.com

A professor wants to show Monty Python and the Holy Grail to her class on British humor, and she wants to check with the film studio to get permission. A nonprofit group called the Copyright Alliance, whose members include associations for the motion-picture and recording industries, announced today that it would like to help broker such requests.

Posted by cmwillis at 3:19 PM | History/Enterprise/Ethics , Technology |

Course-Listing Tools Hit Facebook - Chronicle.com

Courses, that lets students use Facebook to track down classmates, share notes, start discussion groups, and keep track of their coursework.

Posted by cmwillis at 3:15 PM | ILLP , Technology |

New Effort Encourages Professors to Share the Research Materials on Their Hard Drives - Chronicle.com

Dan Cohen, director of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, wants scholars to stop keeping their research materials to themselves.

This article highlights attempts to get research faculty to share data online while they are conducting studies and after. This seems contrary to every aspect of academic research in which it seems that we all have to wait around and just be excited about what wonderful reports they will share. Additionally, the intellectual property issue is huge with every faculty member I've spoken with. However, in the day and age we live in, are we going to start to see LESS OWNERSHIP OF INFORMATION? Even though many academics hate it, I think Wikipedia and other shared knowledge efforts might be the start of something revolutionary and new, and research seems like the next logical step in sharing info online.

Posted by cmwillis at 4:28 PM | History/Enterprise/Ethics , Research |

Jott, an awesome new web app lets you call an 800 number and receive your text transcribed as emails, text messages, or entries on your calendar or todo list. Very handy for me, since I still have neither a PDA or an iPhone. But, since I was initially amazed by the success, I later found out that the fancy new way of transcribing is people. JOTT.COM IS PEOPLE!!
Scheduling: Add Items to Gcal with a Phone Call using Jott to Google Calendar

I like Jott, but is anyone else slightly creeped out that they use actual people to do part of the transcription? Whenever I leave myself a message I can't help but think of the poor guy in India who sits around all day proof-reading whatever weird stuff people are Jotting.

So, they're making any money off of web-ads I suppose, since the service is free, but I wonder what those people in India make per diem? Ethical issue: Does my use of this service help or hurt these people? I lean toward help, since some entrepreneur came up with the idea and used the difference in wages to make it happen. But can't these people make a little more?

Chaz suggested I call up and list all the things I don't like about India. That's just mean.

Excellent article about why not to stress about grades.
Twentysomething: Why I regret getting straight A’s in college » Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk

I was told that having a high GPA would open all kinds of doors for me. But you know what? I interviewed with lots of companies, received a total of 14 job offers after graduation, and none of the companies asked about it. They were much more impressed with stuff like serving as Chief of Staff for the student government and starting a radio station run by 200 volunteers.

Posted by cmwillis at 12:09 PM | Assessment , school |

Even more interesting I think is what UTC is doing with The Bright School where we connect to a school and Mexico City and kids talk back and forth.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner » Archive » French students embrace technology

The two spoke to one another over the video link just as any other student and teacher would in any other classroom in the district.

The distance didn’t matter.

Slashdot | The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

Attributing poor performance to a lack of ability depresses motivation more than does the belief that lack of effort is to blame. One theory of what separates the two general classes of learners, helpless versus mastery-oriented, is that these different types of students not only explain their failures differently, but they also hold different "theories" of intelligence. The helpless ones believe that intelligence is a fixed trait: you have only a certain amount. Mistakes crack their self-confidence because they attribute errors to a lack of ability, which they feel powerless to change. Mastery-oriented children think intelligence is malleable and can be developed through education and hard work. Challenges are energizing rather than intimidating offering opportunities to learn.

Posted by cmwillis at 10:37 PM | Learning |

Good article:
7 Habits of Highly Innovative People | Think Simple. Be Decisive.

I’m sure we can all relate to moments when we felt stuck trying to tap into our own creativity. Did you know that this block is merely your mind at work? Your mind is creating all sorts of assumptions, self-imposed constraints and self-limiting inhibitions. I have found that we can remove these assumptions just by being in the moment; start doing, and stop thinking.

Luke: All right, I'll give it a try.
Yoda: No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try.

Posted by cmwillis at 1:26 PM | Leadership |

Schneier on Security: Law Review Article on the Problems with Copyright

The point of the article is how, simply by acting normally, all of us are technically lawbreakers many times over every day. When laws are this far outside the social norms, it's time to change them.

Posted by cmwillis at 9:53 PM | History/Enterprise/Ethics |

Check out more at my screencast channel here: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/channels/ci1VjPnd

Interesting article about "wired" thinking.
Your Outboard Brain Knows All

We're running out of memory. I don't mean computer memory. That stuff's half-price at Costco these days. No, I'm talking about human memory, stored by the gray matter inside our heads.

Posted by cmwillis at 10:39 AM | Technology |

I used Google Docs to create a Powerpoint-like presentation, though, this is the most limited I've felt using Google Docs so far. I couldn't even export a jpg to share, or publish online without sending invites. Not sure how new this is, but has been long-needed in my Google arsenal.
Google Docs Help Center

Great article on what we could be doing online..
EDUCAUSE REVIEW | July/August 2007, Volume 42, Number 4

the mixing of any number of digital media sources

Posted by cmwillis at 9:16 AM | Instruction , Technology |

Good article on basic answers for how tech influences and enhances learning. My biggest argument would be, look how the world changed after the Gutenburg Press.
Techlearning > > Eight More Reasons for Technology in Education > September 1, 2007

So, I'm finally doing something I've dreamt of, which sadly reveals my true nature. We're streaming courses to students all over the world (Canada) for students in UTC's online Engineering Management program. We're using a combination of Windows Media Encoder, Blackboard, Mimio, and other free and cheap apps and products to do what other schools are doing for thousands and even hundreds of thousands of $$. Basically you hear the professor and see whatever they are presenting on the computer or on the Whiteboard. However, in the class running tonight for Dr. Alp you can also see the teacher and students on a webcam. If anyone wants to see a sample let me know..

Other than that, I'm also taking a class that is entirely online from Dr. Adsit, but there isn't any fancy video streaming and probably not any need for it, though the class is a History of Instructional Technology.