Crossposted from http://www.mfeldstein.com/
Is this our modern course management system?
Sitting at a desk, staring at a screen, and punching buttons in a Pavlovian manner works for educational technology nerds like myself. It's an efficient way to transmit information, but it doesn't provide the rich education that liberal arts colleges promise. A college diploma is more than a set of facts; it is a maturing of the entire person through a conversation with other people, theories, and disciplines.
Studio education is used in many design disciplines as a way to bring students into a discipline. Making learning public, these disciplines give us a model for the next generation of educational technology. Rather than worrying about peer learning "leading" to cheating, why don't we think about its power to engage and inspire?
Social software like blogs and wikis work. Claremont Graduate University has been using Elgg, a social software system, to support courses for the last two years.
We've learned that:
Taking these principles, and building on educational theory, I have developed a design theory on how to build social portfolio software. This design centers around three core principles.
A social portfolio should:
Below is a walkthrough of my eportfolio software. It is currently in its 8th major version, and is used by a wide variety of organizations and schools around the world. While still having a ways to go, it helps to demonstrate some of my beliefs about how a portfolio system should work.
link: http://www.vimeo.com/1258170
Elgg and my plug-in are both licensed under the GPL, meaning that anyone is free to download, use, and modify it as they please. People interested in learning more are encouraged to visit my blog at http://conversation.cgu.edu/garrettn/weblog for updates, or to contact me through email at nathan.garrett@cgu.edu.
Flicker Credits:
• Writeable Walls InQbate CETL in Creativity University of Sussex
• 1975: And the Changes To Come
I posted an overview of my research. It's fairly short, and gives a nice human readable view of what I try to accomplish.
I decided to not migrate over all of my old Blog posts. There's something nice about a clean slate. I put up a few unpublished posts that have been knocking around my drafts box for the past month or two. They are a little dated, but are mostly accurate. More content should come up as I get time to work on my research.
Crossposted from the main Elgg discussion site:
In doing the rewrite on the folio plugin, I came up with some thoughts and guidelines that helped me with its development I am going to include the below in the ReadMe doe included in the zip as well. I would appreciate any input people may have, as this is still very much a” thinking out loud” process for me.
• MVC Framework
o Folio V.7 is the first iteration that has anything like a model / view/ controller design.
o Each table in the database is an object (model). These are stored in mod/folio /object and are all singular in name (page and not pages).
o All object name, aka folio_page, are prefixed with the mod folder name. This could allow for using php’sautoload feature, removing the need to have explicit include statements.
o The model, aka folio_page , has SQL functions for Select, Update, Insert, and Delete.
I kept these using SQL language, aka Update and not edit, to make them easier to remember. I found this made using things very easy. If I wanted to load a User, change their name, and save, then if is the following easy to understand and write 3 lines.
$user = folio_user::SelectWhereIdent(2);
$user->name =”bob”;
$user->Update();
o Selects have multiple forms, but always a SelectWhereIdent(ident) form for easy loading by the table primary key.
o Controls are in the view/ directory. Generic ones are in the names of the object (such as comment.php). More specialized controls are under their main name, e.g. RichEditor.php.
• Html
o Every page hit by a browser is in mod folio html. All Js and css files are in /js and /css . All have a php extension that are turned into js or css thru rewrite rules. This allows a high degree of control over expires headers, using url for full instead of relative paths, and so on.
o The nice thing about this is that we can have standard htaccess rules for all plugins. Anything with /news/title/3 goes to /mod/title/view.php?title=3. Anything with /news/title/3 Bells/edit goes to /mod/title/edit.php?title=3 Bells . Obviously there will still be exceptions, but it would greatly simplify matters.
o Each html page contains as much of the div and layout code that I could factor in there.
• Ajax
o All postbacks go to /ajax folder. As an example, the page edit goes to /mod/folio/ajax/page_update.php . Similar SQL phrases like delete and insert are also used. Part of the Post is a Redirector object. This is used to tell the Ajax page what to do as a result. Standard options include redirecting to another page, echoing a field, and adding a message to display on the next page load.
o The reason I like this setup is that I always know where post backs are being handled, I can have have a high degree of control over the resulting actions, and I can use the save backend for Ajax as well as normal post backs.
• Echo
o The only pages sending non-error output are those in html and ajax . All other are side-effect free to include, all code is safely enclosed in functions.
Welcome to my new blog! I have been avoiding writing for a while now, focusing on using my limited time and problematic wrists to better use. However, if with moving to this new site, l figured that it was high time to start again. I will give a quick recap to bring everyone up to speed.
Over the past year or so, Ire been working on Egg, an open source social software package. We've been using it to support a number of classes offered at CGU. It has proved to be a fairly effective classroom support tool. Now, however, we need to take it several steps beyond the existing well-trodden CMS territory. Improving the effectiveness of our existing tools is valuable, but getting students to voluntarily use a system is the ultimate proof of its effectiveness. How can we generate real community and value to individual students?
Two research avenues are open to my group. The first is intellectual community, and the second is peer learning. The universities' president is quite interested in the first (and a fellow labmate, Peter, is already working on this). There has been plenty of research showing that community is important in education and pedagogy. However, I more interested in the second.
So much of educational software is built with the assumption that learning is a solitary activity. If the option to share work is even built in, it is generally hidden deep in the system's setting, and definitely is not the default. Building a system that supports peer learning, recognizing its primacy to the educational experience, could encourage both students and teachers to learn from each other. Peer learning is not a new concept, and many researchers have been working in this area before. When I think that my contribution will be is in the importance of encouraging ownership in peer-to-peer systems. Furthermore, I believe that encouraging ownership, giving students a sense of control over their online identity and making their work public by default, could be a valuable research contribution.
I've been working on this angle for several years now, but am now finally beginning to make some headway. I have a JISE paper under review at the moment that shows the importance of ownership and community in satisfaction. It also shows that students perceive Elgg as more of a social system than Blackboard, which is what I'd expect given their different design.
I am currently working on getting my dissertation proposal approved. I'll post a short version here soon.
I went ahead and posted a higher resolution version of my demo video on Vimeo. If it doesn't display below, please click on the main link.
I am happy to announce the beta for Folio v.8.
This version makes significant usability improvements over v.7, including removing the whole wiki v. portfolio distinction. It runs on v.91
Code has been re factored so that view and models are now separate. Yah best practice!
Editing is much improved.
Templates are now officially awesome.
I'm pretty happy with it. I was considering calling this v1, the fulfillment of my original vision, but wanted to do some more cleanup in the next version.
Be advised this is a beta, please report errors to me via profgarrett@gmail.com.
Files available at: http://conversation.cgu.edu/garrettn/files/312
I created a walkthru and posted it on Google Video. It's processing still as I write this, but should be up soon.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6897699349828396458&am
Hopefully the quality isn't too bad, I'll post it elsewhere if I have real troubles with the result.
NDG
Sorry for the lack of formal updates, but I've posted Folio version .71 in my files. I'd HIGHLY recommend upgrading, as this solves a security issue that can result in wiki pages being reverted to earlier versions by anonymous (aka search engines) users. My appologies for the error --
In other news, Elgg looks like it'll be undergoing a major redesign for the v1 version. At this point, I'll probably end up updating Folio to be compatable. As a result, I won't be making most of the custom changes that have been requested by various parties. Instead, my focus for the next two months will be on enhancing the tag functionality and working on a page-by-page recommendation engine.
Nathan
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/202463.html
I've updated folio to work with Elgg v.8, as there was a problem with updating file properties. The file, as always, is in my files.http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/202463.html
I've updated folio to work with Elgg v.8, as there was a problem with updating file properties. The file, as always, is in my files.http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/180945.html
Okay, I've updated folio with more minor bug fixes, as well as some minor graphical enhancements.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/files/9579
Thanks to Jason Cormie, Ian Frame, and Martin Dove for the suggestions.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/180945.html
Okay, I've updated folio with more minor bug fixes, as well as some minor graphical enhancements.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/files/9579
Thanks to Jason Cormie, Ian Frame, and Martin Dove for the suggestions.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/179396.html
Okay, thanks to a number of helpful bug reporters, folio has been updated to v.62. Highly recommended update, as it fixes a large number of issues.
Again, after updating from an older version, be sure to run the /mod/folio/html/setupdb.php page when logged in as news to update the db.
I haven't tested it, but am told that folio works fairly well (but not perfectly) with the forum plugin.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/179396.html
Okay, thanks to a number of helpful bug reporters, folio has been updated to v.62. Highly recommended update, as it fixes a large number of issues.
Again, after updating from an older version, be sure to run the /mod/folio/html/setupdb.php page when logged in as news to update the db.
I haven't tested it, but am told that folio works fairly well (but not perfectly) with the forum plugin.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/177284.html
Okay everyone, I've been spending a ton of time getting bug fixes in the folio plug-in implemented. I'd HIGHLY recommend installing this fix, as it corrects a ton of problems (some minor, some major).
I can never seem to post a good .zip file, so here's a link to the tarball version of it. http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/files/
This version includes many more options for the way the folio interacts with the side menu. You can use /mod/folio/config.php to have the folio leave the blog / file sidebars alone, and only add its own link. Other options allow you to add/remove any options on the top or side bar.
As always, please let me know of any problems encountered.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/177284.html
Okay everyone, I've been spending a ton of time getting bug fixes in the folio plug-in implemented. I'd HIGHLY recommend installing this fix, as it corrects a ton of problems (some minor, some major).
I can never seem to post a good .zip file, so here's a link to the tarball version of it. http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/files/
This version includes many more options for the way the folio interacts with the side menu. You can use /mod/folio/config.php to have the folio leave the blog / file sidebars alone, and only add its own link. Other options allow you to add/remove any options on the top or side bar.
As always, please let me know of any problems encountered.
http://nathan.sisatspace.com/2007/05/28/desrist/
Brian & my paper presentation at DESRIST went really well. I made a video of it, and posted it with the powerpoint show. It’s fairly short, only 20 minutes. We had a really big audience, as we were presenting to the entire conference. There were a number of good questions, the audience seemed pretty interesting.
http://nathan.sisatspace.com/2007/05/28/desrist/
Brian & my paper presentation at DESRIST went really well. I made a video of it, and posted it with the powerpoint show. It’s fairly short, only 20 minutes. We had a really big audience, as we were presenting to the entire conference. There were a number of good questions, the audience seemed pretty interesting.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/171604.html
Thanks to feedback and advice from a number of different people, I've started work on the next version of the folio plug-in. After emailing back & forth with Stan a couple of times, I changed the main sidebar. Local administrators can now very easily choose if they want to use the default sidebar or mine. If they don't want to use the sidebar as a 'collasped' entry, then they just leave the default settings on and it only shows the wiki. I also changed it to only display if we're looking at another user's page. Lastly, it expands the wiki entry, making it a much more dynamic & interesting entry. The name of the root homepage is now shown instead of the generic 'wiki page' tag. If the use doesn't have a homepage, then nothing is shown. very clean...
I'm fixing a bunch of bugs & things at the moment, ranging from user icon troubles to linking page titles. I got carried away with the GUI enhancements this weekend, but will be working on the debugging stuff soon as well.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/171604.html
Thanks to feedback and advice from a number of different people, I've started work on the next version of the folio plug-in. After emailing back & forth with Stan a couple of times, I changed the main sidebar. Local administrators can now very easily choose if they want to use the default sidebar or mine. If they don't want to use the sidebar as a 'collasped' entry, then they just leave the default settings on and it only shows the wiki. I also changed it to only display if we're looking at another user's page. Lastly, it expands the wiki entry, making it a much more dynamic & interesting entry. The name of the root homepage is now shown instead of the generic 'wiki page' tag. If the use doesn't have a homepage, then nothing is shown. very clean...
I'm fixing a bunch of bugs & things at the moment, ranging from user icon troubles to linking page titles. I got carried away with the GUI enhancements this weekend, but will be working on the debugging stuff soon as well.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/171342.html
Brian Thoms & I recently presented our claremontconversation.org site at the 2007 DESRIST conference. It's a 20 minute presentation, and I really think that it went well.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/171342.html
Brian Thoms & I recently presented our claremontconversation.org site at the 2007 DESRIST conference. It's a 20 minute presentation, and I really think that it went well.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/167467.html
Okay, this is really annoying. Every time I upload a .zip file, it ends up corrupted after a period of time. It'll work for a while, day / week / month, but eventually it dies again. I'll find some other way of posting the file, maybe on google pages or something.
Update: Okay, I loaded the .zip file off-site here. Hopefully it'll stay okay now.
http://eduspaces.net/garrettn/weblog/167467.html
Okay, this is really annoying. Every time I upload a .zip file, it ends up corrupted after a period of time. It'll work for a while, day / week / month, but eventually it dies again. I'll find some other way of posting the file, maybe on google pages or something.
Update: Okay, I loaded the .zip file off-site here. Hopefully it'll stay okay now.
