Midwest Educause 2006

The Midwest Educause is held this March in Chicago, Il.

On March 13th, I will be co-presenting with Terry McCammon and Lana Lytle on Little Red Schoolhouse on the Virtual Prairie.

On March 14th, I will be co-presenting with Nicholas Farha on the Future of Learning Objects.

I'll post more AFTER the event.

PBWiki

I've found a new resource that I'm using in my Small Business Management class, called PBwiki. The students are divided into teams. Each team is using the wiki to coordinate the writing of a business plan. I can't believe how easy it was for me and the students! I would encourage you to consider using a wiki for collaborative projects in your classes and expect amazing results. For more information, try these links below!





Check out the PBwiki tour!

Get a free wiki at PBwiki.com.

Windows 2003 Server Lab 1-2 Active Directory & DNS

After plugging into the network each page looks exactly like what is in the lab manual - SWEET. Interesting info at the DNS Registration Diagnostics. Interesting - it gives an error message on the first one that you get to. It says the primary DNS server tested was dns.cp.msft.net (207.46.138.10) but of course gives an error. Selected the second one (Install and configure DNS server on this computer...) and it appears to work as expected. Actually the most difficult thing to do was read the text on the screen (since I'm using VNC, it is even smaller!).

For lab purposes, we are using a dynamically assigned IP address, but the Domain Controller works best was static IP.

Windows Server 2003 Lab Configuration

Student computers (where XX is the unique number assigned to students)

Computer name: ServerXX
Windows domain name: Contosoxx
Internet domain name: Contosoxx.com
Fully qualified domain name (FQDN): Serverxx.Contosoxx.com
--------------------
For the Instructor
Computer name: HALSERVES
Windows domain name: Contoso
Internet domain name: contoso.com
FQDN: HALSERVES.contoso.com

IP Address: 10.1.1.xx
Subnet Mask: 255-255.0.0
Default Gateway: get from network admn.
Preferred DNS Server: IP address of DNS server
Alternative DNS Server: IP address of another DNS server

Windows 2003 Server NAT/Firewall Device

What I discovered in this process is that unless you are hooked into a network, you will not see the server role list. It skips that step and goes to the Active Directory. This means that I will certainly need to connect into a network in some way. According to the class notes, the best way for this to work is to isolate the classroom from the rest of the campus network. According to the Lab Setup Guide, the best way to do this is to use a Network Address Transaltion (ANT) or firewall device. This will prevent IP addressing and name resolution issues with the rest of the campus. I will check with Mike and Eric to see if this will cause problems with other systems. The best bet is to configure a NAT/Firewall device or to set up IP addresses as 10.2.2.1 as the IP range. and Subnet mask as 255.255.0.0

Windows Server 2003 and VNC

This starts my blog on the Windows Server 2003 class. To begin with, I installed using the 180 day valuation package on HAL, my older computer from many years ago. I call him HAL because he has a blue light.

Anyway, HAL had Windows XP Professional on it, so I started the computer and then put the CD in it and then restarted it. It went through the process quite normally, although I could have used the Quick NTFS, but chose the normal selection since it checks the drives, etc. Yikes it really did take some time (37 minutes) and I suspect it will be even longer on the student machines. HAL has 256 MB of ram (the minimum required) and the student boxes only have 128MB on at least 4 of them. I put in a request for a ram bump, but time will tell if that can happen or not.

I was installing MS2003 in the design room of XCaliber, and David's music was not agreeing with me, so Daniel helped me set up UltraVNC. Ultra VNC allows me to set HAL about anywhere and use my own keyboard and mouse in my office - SWEET... Changed the display settings so it works for me and my HAL is talking at 192.168.1.55 - again, SWEET. Think to remember, plugging the network cord in the bottom port game me a different IP address - go figure.

I'm thinking this would be a good thing to show the students too, but I doubt that Mike will give me more machines for play. I may need my students to come out to XCaliber to work with a network unless the school will let me close off HH20.

In Windows 2003 Server, you use Ctrl-Alt-Delete to begin. I almost made that mistake and then realized the with VNC, I would be restarting my machine if I used that command. You use CAD on Ultra VNC to send that command to the machine.

My first podcast I attribute to a flood in my office...

On October 7, 2005, my office at SMWC was flooded. Three inches of water, rug floating, and smoke seeping out from under my desk where the surge protector was melting. Sounds like a bad thing, right? At the time, I thought so. However, several weeks later, with equipment replacement a possibility, I did some researching to find the best equipment to help me podcast my lectures - more like PROFCAST. I'm a novice, so I went for a podcasting kit and watched Carl Franklin's hands as he put together the kit. I have NOT been disappointed. It was easy.

It took me two minutes to record my first podcast. I kept it (just so I have the first one). I feel I'm a better podcaster now since I've worked on slowing down, adding inflection, working on the "ummms" and other distracting sounds. So here is my first podcast!

This is my FIRST podcast.

Academic 2005

At Academic 2005, faculty could sign up for one of four topics: 1) Using the smartboards; 2) Fundamentals of Turnitin.com; 3) Library Databases + Wireless Laptops; or 4) Lectora and CamStudio. Dr. Golding and I used the same materials from the Teaching & Learning Conference workshop for our own faculty. Not a full house, but everyone had a good time!

21st Annual Distance & Learning Conference

On August 3, 2005, Dr. Golding and this author presented a workshop entitled, "Visual objects in a visual society - Creating a hook"at the 21st Annual Distance Teaching and Learning Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Joanne covered the approach to writing a learning objective for a learning object and Camstudio. I covered the Lectora section of it and had them use the avi file that they created in the Camstudio section. I truly wish some of these conferences were earlier in the summer. This late in August makes it hard to go back and try new things.

I also enjoyed attending several of the sessions. I picked up some great ideas form "Dying to learn: Instructional design and MMORPGs." I also enjoyed the "Creating and using learning objexts with open source tools." Even writing about it makes me want to pull out the bag and try some things!

More about this later.

InSITE 2005 Conference

I've been working on the chapter, "Syntax and Semantics of Learning Object Meta-data" to present Sunday, June 19 from 9:00-10:30 in Room D. The InSITE Conference is in Flagstaff, AZ starting June 16 and ending Sunday evening. Alex Koohang is the session chair and also serves as editor of the book, Learning Objects (my chapter to be included). This book has contributors from around the world. In fact, just during the 9-10:30 timeslot, there will be presenters from USA, Norway, Sweden, UK, and Italy. I'm looking forward to meeting some of the other authors and sharing notes and resources as well.

Working on Chapter

I've been doing quite a bit of research into the semantic and syntactic interoperability of learning object metadata and asked Judy Tribble, the SMWC Library Director, if she could get the actual standard 1484.12.1-2002. I am actually able to access the draft standard which came out July 15, 2002 (the final standard was published in September 2002). Judy was able to get the standard for me. When I received it, the notice on the standard makes me concerned that I should even quote it!! I'm going to check other articles on the same subject and see if anyone is actually quoting the FINAL standard or if they are using the draft standard. The FINAL standard costs money, but it may be more of an issue of making sure a rule isn't violated than the cost of purchasing the standard. I have until June 15 to get this done, but my goal is to get this chapter done by June 7 so that Nicholas and I can check each others work. I love teaching summer school, but it has certainly dipped into my writing time.

And this is not an easy write. I want to write in non-technical language in a way that conveys the information in enough depth that the students "get it" without overwhelming them. Oh well, the same old question we all face.

More to come soon.

To present at InSITE - Informing Science & IT Education Conference

Alex Koohang, Editor-in-Chief of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects has worked with the InSITE Conference organizers to submit our abstracts. This conference will be in beautiful Flagstaff, AZ June 16 through the 19th. The conference information is located at http:/2005.informingscience.org. Since our book chapter deadline is June 15th for the Learning Object Book, this is a perfect opportunity to share information as well as meet and work with the other chapter authors of the Learning Object Book. In addition, Alex arranged for a conference fee reduction.

I am working again with Nicholas Farha at Indiana State University. He is co-authoring my book chapter, Learning Object Standards, Metadata, Repositories, and LCMS and I am co-authoring his book chapter, The Future of Learning Objects. I originally submitted a chapter under a slightly different area, but this was the area of acceptance.

The next few months will be busy ones...

FlashLite 1.1

As I work on editing and completing the seven chapters, I still find myself reviewing new innovative products which I hope to still sneak into the book. FlashLite 1.1 is such a product. You have proably head about Flash. Well, FlashLite 1.1 is a version that allows you to author a version that will play on phones and other mobile devices. If you already know Flash, this is a product that you want to review. The presentation is an archived version of a Breeze presentation made March 29, 2005 by Bill Perry from Macromedia. This is a 50 minute presentation, so set aside a block of time!

I can find uses for this even in Terre Haute, Indiana! Illianatech made a great map of the hotspots along Wabash Avenue. I can see a tour guide product of hotspots that works on a mobile phone that has internet access. Or how about a handset that works to interact with a museum? Yikes, the examples are endless.

The presentation shows some gaming applications and then best practices using FlashLite 1.1. The action script commands are a piece of cake. For example:

.on (keyPress"") = select keypress
etc - easy
The CDK is great since SWF files are provided that you can try on your handset. An excellent way to see what navigation matches with a specific handset.

The presentation provides very specific directions. Example - use bitmaps instead of vectors, avoid screen wipes.

Next, Bill showed a sample application creation. Steps abbrieviated here - I will add more later after I take his example and try it myself.

Flash MX Professional 2004 - select Mobile, Nokia 3650 Template, Delete the layers that show the phone image, then select Version 1.1 on settings, and save file. Now you are ready to add some layers - background, buttons, text, backing, AS (for action script layer). Application to create - a screen where user has to press a button, that will load a webserver application.

Chapter Proposal Accepted!

I just received word from Alex Koohang that my abstract has been accepted for a chapter in the book, Learning Object, in the category Learning Object Standards, Metadata, Repositories & LCMS. The book is planned for release in December of 2005 by Informing Science Press. The 20 to 30 page chapter is due by June 15th. I was pleased with this comment, "Your chapter proposal was among the highest rated proposals." That certainly made me feel pretty good!

Getting ready for Educause

The slides are ready and checked for the Midwest Educause Event. The presentation is Tuesday March 22 at 8:30 in the Empire Ballroom (Seventh Floor). Learning Objects, Wikis, & Blogs - Oh My! should appeal to any faculty member interested in seeing some examples of learning objects, our WIKI (Digitizing Inspiration) that we used to work on this project, or looking at how blogs are being used in our courses.

Although we removed some slides and don't plan to visit all the links, our practice presentation was right at 43 minutes (and we have 45 minutes tops!). Oh well, so much for questions. Nicholas and I plan to announce that we will be located in the hallway for awhile if anyone has other questions (at least we hope we can do this). Not sure where Lana is - since her daughter delivered a child this week. Hoping we hear from her soon!

Workshop Proposal Accepted!

A colleague at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Sister Joanne Golding, asked if I was interested in co-presenting with her at the 21st Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison, Wisconsin. After we started looking through the objectives of the conference, we decided to submit a workshop idea. If you submit a workshop, the conference registration fee is paid for two presenters and with the budget constraints at our institution – this just seemed like the way to go!

This year’s conference will reflect on lessons learned and how to apply them to improve the design, delivery, and support of distance teaching and learning. The conference is held August 3-5 and I believe we present on the 3rd. Both of us have taught online courses at our campus since 1996, but our latest passion is creating learning objects. We plan to demonstrate a variety of software packages that support the creationof learning objects. I’ll add another post soon that outlines our workshop, but I just wanted to share this with all my blog readers!

RSS Feed into Web Page

This was a very productive early morning (4:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.). Blogger.com uses atom instead of RSS and regardless of the reasons, it just wasn't working with my pluck or feeding into my web page. So, I used the feedburner (feedburner.com) to make my blog friendly regardless of the reader that someone uses. This assumes that you used the setting at blogger to use site feed and that you are on a free blog account). Anyway, I used the step-by-step process to take my XML (http://jlmitchell.blogspot.com/atom.xml) in Atom format and convert it. That generates a new address from the feedburner site that you can successfully use in pluck or any other RSS Agregator. Next, I used that addess in my JavaScript (see http://accounting.smwc.edu and go to Blogs) to pull in five or so of my postings. I also pulled in some late breaking business news just to see how it would work. I will warn you - on a slow SMWC account, it took awhile to pull it the first time, but future visits seemed quicker.

I noticed that feedburner also has a mobile feed reader for select handheld devices. I want to try that next. That would mean that I could read my favorite blogs on my handheld! I could go for that.

I will post a complete tutorial of this soon AFTER it gets included in THE book.

Auditing Blogs at Woodsonline!

Today, I'm working the Auditing AF website to incorporate the blogs of everyone. We may want to use this site in our presentation at the EDUCAUSE conference so I'm trying to spruce it up a little. I'm going to test the theory of incorporating an "RSS" reader into WebCT, to see how well it will pull in the blogs as they change.

Site Feed Added & Learning Object Using FARS

Today, I added a site feed to The Ramblings mostly so that I can show my students how to do this. Now that I have more than a dozen students blogging, I want to get it organized. The students in BU327AF are using blogging to reflect on ethical cases, readings, and their journey through the audit case. Only one student in the AF class had a blog and she said it wasn't current. Well, I hope this changes things for them - I want them to take the time to reflect on some of the hard ethical issues using this technique.

I also created a Learning Object today on FARS for both the Auditing students and the Intermediate Accounting II students. I used Camtasia Studio 2 to record the screen while I looked up the most current information on Earnings Per Share. This required capturing me entering the FARS site, clicking on "Current Text," changing to the JAVA option, and drilling down to Earnings Per Share. I added a screen image made from a PowerPoint slide for the introduction and then added some callouts to point out the alphabetical order and that you open the folder by clicking on the "+" key. I saved the production as raw .avi, wmf, and swf. I wanted to see how each of them worked. I found out that .wmf files don't do well when I used a zoom feature in Camtasia Studio - so I'm learning as I go.

Camtasia also lets you use options for SCORM - basically adding metatags, but also making it possible to zip up all you need to export it to an e-Learning environment (like WebCT, Blackboard, etc). I haven't tried that yet, but I will soon.

I received an email from SmartMeeting. They've extended my trial version and are requesting that I update my version to try it. I think I'll give it one more chance!

SmartMeeting & WIKI

SmartMeeting did not work for us on the 9th of February! Instead, we talked some on the phone and worked on the Wiki. The WIKI is set up for our paper that we plan to present at Educause. The WIKI is called Digitizing Inspiration3 (for the three of us) and is housed at SeedWiki.

We plan to get together again to discuss some of the learning objects, support for learning objects, etc. BUT, we have not set a meeting date yet - shall we try SmartMeeting? I guess we will give it another chance...