Searching for "discussion"
A Blend-Online listserv thread regarding the choice of LMS and the future of LMS
Schoology HEd – Digital Learning Ecosystem (March 2015) (PDF document)
From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Robert Tousignant
Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2015 1:41 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection
I’ve been reviewing this thread and thought I’d introduce a new player… Schoology is getting the attention of the analyst community and gobbling up the SIIA Codie awards for best learning platform the last couple of years. (Please note, I am not an impartial observer and I do a horse in the race)
The attached document includes information that will explain a new paradigm for evaluating an LMS that we see being adopted more and more – a move from a focus on utility (features and functions) to one focused standards, interoperability and the user experience (UI/UX).
Feel free to reach out directly if I can be of assistance.
Robert Tousignant
Sr. Director
Schoology Higher Education
O: (212)213-8333 x69
M: (617)838-1366
rtousignant@schoology.com
Colorado State University’s Global Campus Announces Strategic Partnership with Schoology
From: Edward Garay <garay@UIC.EDU>
Reply-To: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2015 at 2:27 PM
To: “BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU” <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection
These days, I tend to favor LMS Review/Selection initiatives that take one to two years to complete, but as always, it depends on the institution, its readiness to spec the needs of their faculty/students and evaluate viable options, as well as the campus resources available to nurture a possible smooth LMS platform transition. I like pointing out to the well-executed recent LMS selection initiatives carried out by UCF, Northwestern, Indiana, Harvard and Dartmouth, although there are many others.
I am also fond of Educause Review 2014 article on Selecting a Learning Management System: Advice from an Academic Perspective available at http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/selecting-learning-management-system-advice-academic-perspective
—
— Ed Garay
University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC School of Public Health
http://www.twitter.com/garay
*** Attend the FACULTY SUMMER INSTITUTE :: Wed-Fri May 27-29 at Urbana-Champaign
#pedagogy #BlendedLearning #classroom #teaching #OnlineLearning #EdTech
http://go.illinois.edu/facultysummerinstitute
_____________________________
From: Hap Aziz <hapaziz@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2015 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection
To: <blend-online@listserv.educause.edu>
That’s sounds like a similar timeframe to what we had at UB when we moved from Blackboard to Canvas. While LTI didn’t not play a large role in the decision-making process as we changed our LMS, it is now a central consideration as we look to acquire any new app functionality for our learning environment.
I’m setting up an area in the IMS forum area for LTI policy discussion. I’ll share that location with the group shortly so we can take some of the in-the-weeds discussion offline here.
Hap Aziz
Associate Vice President
University of Bridgeport
http://bridgeport.edu
Connected Learning Innovation Community
IMS Global Learning Consortium
http://imsglobal.org
On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 3:25 PM, Sam Bachert <BachertS@sanjuancollege.edu> wrote:
Hap,
The selection process started in January of 2013 and the task force voted at the end of May of 2013 unanimously for Canvas so about 5 months. By October we started training faculty in preparation for the Spring 2014 semester what was amazing about our transition to Canvas was that we had everyone moved out of ANGEL by start of Summer 14 so we only had 1 semester where we were supporting both ANGEL and Canvas. The use of LTI integrations and Canvas makes our jobs a lot easier to support the various tools that faculty are adopting for their classes – it also makes it a lot easier for faculty to integrate other technologies and keep them in the LMS or have single sign on so it is more seamless for students.
Thanks, Sam
Samuel R. Bachert
Manager, Online Services
ellucian®
San Juan College
4601 College Boulevard
Farmington, NM 87402
Voice: 505.566.3310 Mobile: 505.609.0573 Fax: 505.566.3570
bacherts@sanjuancollege.edu * samuel.bachert@ellucian.com
http://www.ellucian.com
Follow us:
CONFIDENTIALITY: This email (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this email from your system. Thank you.
From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Hap Aziz
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2015 7:09 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection
Hey, Sam, long time no see! Do you know about how long your whole selection process took? Also, does LTI conformance make your job with academic technology more straightforward to deal with?
Hap Aziz
Associate Vice President
University of Bridgeport
http://bridgeport.edu
Connected Learning Innovation Community
IMS Global Learning Consortium
http://imsglobal.org
On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 1:27 PM, Sam Bachert <BachertS@sanjuancollege.edu> wrote:
JeJe,
I am at San Juan College and we also recently went through the selection process for a new LMS and like others who have commented switched to Canvas (from ANGEL). We ended up with a selection team that was primarily faculty, a couple students, and a handful of technology staff that reviewed the various LMSs and then made our final decision. If you would like I can get you the contact information for the faculty who assisted on the selection team.
Thanks,
Sam
Samuel R. Bachert
Director of Academic Technology
ellucian®
San Juan College
4601 College Boulevard
Farmington, NM 87402
Voice: 505.566.3310 Mobile: 505.609.0573 Fax: 505.566.3570
bacherts@sanjuancollege.edu * samuel.bachert@ellucian.com
http://www.ellucian.com
Follow us:
CONFIDENTIALITY: This email (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this email from your system. Thank you.
From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Noval, JeJe (LLU)
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2015 9:25 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection
Hello Colleagues,
Were any of you, faculty members, involved in the learning management selection process of your educational institution? If so, would it be possible to interview you in the future for a research study?
Best,
JeJe Noval, MS, RD
Assistant Professor
Loma Linda University
802.11AC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ac
Campus Technology Whitepaper
Dear Plamen,
In the mobile era we live in, your students expect more from their institution’s wireless capabilities.
In this informative whitepaper, you’ll learn how deploying the first wireless standard (802.11 AC) where the speed of wireless is faster than a wired connection can empower your institution to meet the growing, technology driven landscape of today’s higher education environment.
My Note: Campuses are gearing up to the challenges of the Millennials and Gen Z. So do, allegedly, the SCSU IT. BOYD is now a term, which (finally, after 3 years of IMS proposing it to CETL) is waved forth and back at the SCSU campus in a lipservice attempt to convince stakeholders and public how much SCSU is with the times.
Once details transpire, however, one can see that 802.11AC allows 1GB connection and for the last 15 years, the SCSU IT never made it transparent (discussion? forget it), when 1 GB LAN will come to the campus. How can SCSU IT wave the BYOD flag, if older and more important issues are not resolved? Even if they are resolved, how does SCSU IT expect faculty to embrace the technology, if it is sold by the IT people? The sound pedagogical approach to new technologies must be done by faculty not by IT folks.
In order for BYOD, for that matter any other technology on campus to work (work means to a very large degree “accepted by educators,” the second most important stakeholder after the students – faculty – must be on board. Are they really on board controlled and dimmed by the SCSU IT?
LITA discussion (attached below) on how one can easily do real-time but also big-data like estimate of patrons’ attendance in the library.
GitHub https://github.com/ and listuser@chillco.com Cary, for wifi connected counter
From: Cary Gordon [mailto:listuser@chillco.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2015 9:35 AM
To: lita-l@lists.ala.org
Subject: [lita-l] Re: patron/door counter
I am not an expert on door counters, but I think that it would be pretty simple — no, really — to make your own system using a small, inexpensive computer like a Raspberry Pi with a wifi adapter and connect it to your current counter. It would take a little programming, but the result could be something that the community could share.
If you are interested in this, we could create a project on GitHub. I would be happy to help.
Cary
On Mar 28, 2015, at 2:49 PM, Mason Yang <hyang@marymount.edu> wrote:
Hi,
We have a old door counter which can only be checked manually. We are looking for a new door counter system which can help us to find out how many patrons come in during certain hours. I found a couple systems online and would like know if some libraries recently installed any door counter systems and what’s your experience with them. I made a short list of questions below. If you can take a few minutes to answer those questions or just drop a line or two of your comments to reply to this email, I will really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance for your time and inputs!
- what’s the model and the brand of the door counter system?
- Wired to your network or wireless connected to the internet?
- Does the system count the number of entries/exists hourly?
- Dose the system generate reports,if any, automatically?
- What’s your general experience of the system?
- Will you recommend the system to other libraries?
Thanks,
—
Mason Yang
Electronic Services Librarian
Library & Learning Services
Marymount University
Phone: 703-526-6844
Fax: 703-284-1685
mason.yang@marymount.edu
5 Essential Insights About Mobile Learning
http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/15/5-essential-insights-about-mobile-learning/
1. Set goals and expectations for teaching and learning with mobile devices before worrying about the device itself.
St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado,
Mooresville Graded School District
Consolidated High School District 230
2. Develop a strong community of support for the initiative early and keep up transparent communication with parents and community members throughout the process.
Forsyth County Schools in Georgia.
3. Think about equity, but don’t let it stop forward motion.
includes both urban and rural areas,
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile learning initiative based on the goals set at the beginning of the rollout.
5. Some of the biggest lessons learned include giving up control and trusting students.
included students in the discussions
STAY NIMBLE
While these mobile learning pioneers have seen some of the pitfalls and can help districts new to the game avoid the same stumbles, this space is changing quickly and every community’s needs will be different.
“It’s no longer just something you implement; it’s evolving and it’s unique in each location,” Bjerede said. “If you try to be cookie cutter about it you won’t meet the needs of every kid in every classroom.”
The technology will change, students will surprise their teachers and the best advice to district leaders is to stay open to all the possibilities and allow students to take control of the tremendous learning opportunity that having a device at all times could offer them.
=====================================
My note: Kathrina Schwartz offers an opinion, which reflects the second wave (withdrawl) in the 3 steps of innovation
The Struggles and Realities of Student-Driven Learning and BYOD
http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/07/the-struggles-and-realities-of-student-driven-learning-and-byod/
A 2013 Pew study revealed that only 35 percent of teachers at the lowest income schools allow their students to look up information on their mobile devices, as compared to 52 percent of teachers at wealthier schools.
Many advocates of using mobile technologies say the often cited issues of student distraction are just excuses not to try something new.
“The way you discourage it is engage them in the activity so they don’t even think of sending a text. You’ve got to jump in and play their game or you’re going to lose them.”
Angela Crawford has heard all the arguments of BYOD evangelists, but doesn’t see how they match the reality of her classroom. “BYOD is very problematic in many schools, mine included, because we have a prominent engagement problem,” Crawford said.
Tactics to improve engagement like making work relevant to her students’ lives or letting them use their phones in class to look up information, haven’t worked for Crawford, although she’s tried.
When she first started, Crawford was enthusiastic about jumping into collaborative, project-based learning. “I thought my colleagues were monsters because of how they were teaching,” she said of a school where she previously worked and where teachers lectured all the time. She tried to teach students through projects, but found it was a disaster. To her students’ parents, her efforts to make the classroom “student-centered” looked like she wasn’t teaching. “There is a different perception of what a teacher should be in different cultures,” Crawford said. “And in the African-American community in the South the teacher is supposed to do direct instruction.”
“What works best for each student is really the heart of student-centered learning,” Crawford said. “Sometimes what the student needs best is direct instruction. They need that authoritative, in-control figure who is directing their learning and will get them where they need to go.” Many of Crawford’s students come from homes run by single mothers who rule with an iron hand. She tries to replicate that attitude and presence. “They respond to that; they like it,” Crawford said. “It’s comforting to them.”
Still, Crawford will not be experimenting with a bring-your-own-device program. “My problem with education innovation is we tend to want to take a new technology or a new idea and go forth with it as if it’s the silver bullet,” Crawford said. “What happens is that teachers who teach in my type of environment realize this would be a disaster in my classroom.”
Crawford is skeptical that kids in higher income areas aren’t misusing technology too. Her children attend school in a more affluent district and they tell her that kids are constantly messing around on their devices. They just switch screens when a teacher comes by. They get away with it because their teachers trust them to do their work.
“I think kids in middle class or upper middle class schools are equally distracted as low-income students,” said Bob Lenz, director of innovation at Envision Schools, a small charter network that’s part of the deeper learning movement. “It’s just that because of the privilege of their background the content and the skills that they need to gain in school — they’re coming with a lot of those skills already– so it’s not as urgently needed.”
Library Makerspaces: From Dream to Reality
Instructor: Melissa Robinson
Dates: April 6 to May 1st, 2015
Credits: 1.5 CEUs
Price: $175
http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/114-makerspaces.php
Designing a makerspace for your library is an ambitious project that requires significant staff time and energy. The economic, educational and inspirational rewards for your community and your library, however, will make it all worthwhile. This class will make the task of starting a makerspace less daunting by taking librarians step by step through the planning process. Using readings, online resources, discussions and hands-on exercises, participants will create a plan to bring a makerspace or maker activities to their libraries. Topics covered will include tools, programs, space, funding, partnerships and community outreach. This is a unique opportunity to learn in depth about one public library’s experience creating a fully-functioning makerspace, while also exploring other models for engaging libraries in the maker movement.
Melissa S. Robinson is the Senior Branch Librarian at the Peabody Institute Library’s West Branch in Peabody, Massachusetts. Melissa has over twelve years of experience in public libraries. She has a BA in political science from Merrimack College, a graduate certificate in Women in Politics and Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a MLIS from Southern Connecticut State University. She is the co-author of Transforming Libraries, Building Communities (Scarecrow Press, 2013).
Read an interview with Melissa about this class:
http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/news/?p=733
Course Structure
This is an online class that is taught asynchronously, meaning that participants do the work on their own time as their schedules allow. The class does not meet together at any particular times, although the instructor may set up optional sychronous chat sessions. Instruction includes readings and assignments in one-week segments. Class participation is in an online forum environment.
Payment Info
You can register in this course through the first week of instruction. The “Register” button on the website goes to our credit card payment gateway, which may be used with personal or institutional credit cards. (Be sure to use the appropriate billing address). If your institution wants to pay using a purchase order, please contact us to make arrangements.
==============================
Making, Collaboration, and Community: fostering lifelong learning and innovation in a library makerspace
Tuesday, April 7, 2015 10AM-11:30AM PDT
Registration link: http://www.cla-net.org/?855
Travis Good will share insights garnered from having visited different makerspaces and Maker Faires across the country. He will explain why “making” is fundamentally important, what its affecting and why libraries are natural place to house makerspaces. Uyen Tran will discuss how without funding, she was able to turn a study room with two 3D printers into a simple makerspace that is funded and supported by the community. She will also provide strategies for working with community partners to provide free and innovative maker programs and creating a low cost/no cost library maker environment. Resources and programming ideas will also be provided for libraries with varying budgets and staffing. Upon completing this webinar, every attendee should be able to start implementing “maker” programs at their library.
Social Homework Platform Aims to Boost Student Engagement
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/02/25/social-homework-platform-aims-to-boost-student-engagement.aspx
Another step ahead/afar from CMS?
Koondis works in traditional large introductory lecture classrooms, blended classes and fully online courses that often are filled with students enrolled from various disciplines who are required to be there for their majors.
Described as a “social homework system,” a “discussion forum that puts students in small groups” and even a replacement for the campus learning management system, Koondis is showing great promise as a pill for student satisfaction.
The idea is that Koondis eliminates the need for teachers to read all of the posts. The program even counts posts for the instructor for grading purposes, and alerts the faculty member to do follow-up when a student isn’t participating.
1. A profile picture that won’t get you hired.
Do yourself a favour and click the “People you may know” button and pick something you like that has a little more respectability to it. The same applies for avatars and pictures with someone else other than you in them.
2. A professional headline that is anything but.
Use a description that is both accurate and related to either the benefit you provide or your title within your company. Either way, this is guaranteed to return your profile in some searches.
3. Shameless friend collecting.
It’s a bad first impression. Give people a reason to connect with you and start off on the right foot.
4. Not even really wanting to be friends.
What do you do with all those connections? Do you actively keep in touch? What do you do when you get a message from a contact about business? Do you tut, sigh and ignore them? Fly into a rant about people contacting you on LinkedIn to talk business opportunities?
5. Going all “selly sell” right off the bat.
Do you send spam messages? The LinkedIn inbox delivers into your recipient’s inbox. It might be a warmer and softer way to get noticed but there is no relationship. Better to create rapport by asking questions, sharing content, joining the same group and showing your expertise and counselling side there.
6. Joining groups and not getting involved.
If you join groups and then don’t contribute, you’re partially responsible for the failure of the group. Quickest remedy is to set your group digest emails to once weekly and comment on a few discussions once a week when your email lands.
7. Liking and commenting on absolutely everything.
Liking and commenting on everything works well on Facebook and gives your friends a vanity boost but on LinkedIn less so. Think of it as being at that networking event and you’re the loud self absorbed guy no-one wants to talk to. Not quite so appealing?
8. Sending tweets directly into LinkedIn.
The automatic #in from Twitter was removed several years ago but it doesn’t stop the socially savvy copying and pasting or using a third party like Hootsuite to update multiple platforms at the same time. I do this but do try to tailor the messages to not include @ and #. Are your tweets even relevant to your LinkedIn audience? You’ll see they might jar after a while.
9. Asking people you barely know for endorsements and testimonials.
It’s a bit like asking your Facebook page to be liked but actually more vulgar because they haven’t presumably sampled your expertise yet.
10. Insharing Richard Branson’s (and other influencer) updates.
OK, it’s not Richard’s fault, but my point is, I often get to see what Richard and many others have to see a hundred times in my feed thanks to this piece of functionality. It’s got to Facebook like proportions.
When hundreds of people do the obvious, have the bottle to stay true to yourself and go your own way.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-signs-youre-using-linkedin-like-facebook-how-stop-ren%C3%A9-power?trk=prof-post
Gender, Identity, and Video Games
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Northrop — Best Buy Theater
Video game demos: 3-4:15pm
Discussion: 4:15-5:30pm
Join us for a discussion about the structural inequalities and prejudices present within the video games culture and industry from a variety of viewpoints. We will explore the ways underrepresented genders and races historically have been treated in technological sectors and how they are specifically manifested in video game culture. We will hear from scholars, students, and members of the broader community in the Twin Cities. Before the event, participate in a social exhibition of games made by students and local developers. Light refreshments will be provided.
http://ias.umn.edu/2015/02/19/games/
—
Amy Elizabeth Neeser
Research Services & Plant Sciences Librarian
Experts@Minnesota Communications Lead
University of Minnesota
85 Magrath Library
1984 Buford Ave | Saint Paul, MN 55108
(612) 624-7899
https://www.libraryjuiceacademy.com/moodle/login/index.php
Eva Dodsworth
Since the emergence of easily accessible dynamic online mapping tools, there has been a drastic increase in geographic interest and awareness. Whether for personal, social, professional or academic uses, people are using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to communicate information in a map format. Whether it’s using Google Earth to study urban change, or creating Google Map Mashups to deliver library resources, more and more members of society are turning to mapping programs for their visualization needs. With so many using GIS technology in their daily lives, library staff are now more than ever assisting library clients with their mapping queries.
This course will introduce students to a variety of mapping tools and GIS technologies such Google Earth and the creation of dynamic KML files; ArcGIS Online and webmap publishing; Google Fusion Tables and geocoding; and GIS fundamentals with geospatial data creation. Students will be able to apply their GIS skills in their reference work, in digitization projects, in webpages, in library instruction, and more. Through hands-on exercises, pre-recorded demonstrations and lectures, students will receive a thorough overview of mapping resources that will enhance and expose their library’s resources.
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekOne_2014.wmv
http://www.placingliterature.com/map?modal=1
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekTwo.wmv
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekThree_Part_One.mov
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekThree_Part2.mov
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/WeekFour.mov
– How to enable offline maps in your Google Maps app – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/map-happy/how-to-enable-offline-maps_b_6525832.html
– Huge news – Google Earth Pro, which used to cost the public $400 is now free! What does that mean for you? Extra features! You can import GIS files, tables, and export animated movie files! http://google-latlong.blogspot.com.es/2015/01/google-earth-pro-is-now-free.html
– Don’t live in Canada? Too bad! Google Maps plots best tobagonning hills in Canada!http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/google-map-plots-canada-s-best-tobogganing-hills-1.2218207
– a map of 19 countries that were named after specific people – http://www.vox.com/2015/2/1/7954179/map-countries-pe
By Paul KerleyBBC News Magazine
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30840318
Content for Week Two – February 9th – February 15th
Week Two:
Podcast includes:
- Citizen Mapping
- OpenStreetMap – crowdsourcing
more heads are better then one
NYPL geomapping volunteers.
http://www.openstreetmap.org/
citizen crime reporting app for NYPD http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/crime_mapping/nyc_crime_map_introduction.shtml
when the jet disappeared, crowdsourcing for parts on the satellite maps of the ocean
potholes map
maps of the threes. emerald bug in Mnpls
http://www.fuf.net/
how does foursquare and checkins in FB and Google +fit it
Podcast and Powerpoint can be accessed from:http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/JuicyLibrarianMaterial.html
Tutorials: Google Earth
Assignments:
1. Discussion question:
Discover some citizen mapping projects that you are interested in OR
Contribute your local knowledge to Google Map Maker AND Share with the class online
2. Google Earth Map
Please complete the tutorial and then create a map in Google Earth with the following components:
- A title
- A written introduction to your project
- At least five placemarks, embedded with html tags, and images, if possible.
- Imported KML file(s) file format by GEarth, but other apps is using it. using notepad or MS Word, one can create KML file.
screen overlay, can be text, image, anything. legend. HTML code.
- A screen overlay (i.e. a legend)
areal photography.
history.
images from the library, Google is willing to buy them. citizen mapping. scanning and uploading.
geographical and societal awareness.
Gallery: 360Cities.
google street view – historical views
Google Earth Mapping
Submit online as a KML/KMZ file
I had the opportunity to experience a gizmo that can be used to display a variety of mapping projects, including citizen mapping: Science on a Sphere. It is a sphere on which you can project static maps or animations. The one I saw, in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s facility on Ford Island in Honolulu, displayed animations showing the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2011 tsunami in Japan, as well as airline flight paths, ocean currents, polar ice cap change over time, and many other types of geospatial data.
The Great Backyard Bird Count actually starts today and runs through Monday, February 16th. At a minimum, it only requires 15 minutes of observation on any or all the days: http://gbbc.birdcount.org/
Happy Cow is a site well-known to many vegetarians/vegans for finding restaurants which I’ve used when travelling. Users can submit reviews and/or restaurants that they’d like profiled (although the site reserves the right to approve or not the listing). http://www.happycow.net/search.html
———————————–
One of the impediments to citizen mapping is the line-of-sight cell tower limitations of mobile phones, or the wifi requirements for other mobile devices. Citizen mapping in urban and suburban environments is well-served by mobile devices, but what about natural areas, dense leaf cover, or extreme topography? Even if obtaining absolute mapping coordinates isn’t the issue, much crowdsourcing assumes an ability to connect back to a central data repository (e.g., a web database, ‘the cloud’). Equipment that can interact with GPS satellites and support data capture is typically expensive and generally requires proprietary software.
wq (https://wq.io/) is a framework that is ‘device first’ and ‘offline-enabled’. It attempts to leverage several open source technologies to build an entire mobile solution that can support citizen science data collection work, and then synchronize with a central repository once the device (and operator) return to an area served by cellular or wifi networks.
I’m stretching here, so if I get stuff wrong, please don’t yell. Still, I’ll take a pass at generally describing the framework and its related technology stack.
wq relies upon python, and a web framework called django for building offline-capable web apps that can run on iOS and Android devices. These web apps, then, rely very heavily upon javascript, particularly requirejs (http://requirejs.org/) and mustache (https://mustache.github.io/), for the templates that permit quick and (somewhat) painless web application development. Data visualization relies upon d3.js (http://d3js.org/), and geography makes heavy use of Leaflet (http://leafletjs.com/) — maybe the most pertinent layer of the stack for those of us in this course. If you’re not familiar withLeaflet.js, check it out!
Finally, wq extends several other open source technologies to enable synchronizing between a central data repository and multiple mobile devices in the hands of citizen mappers. Lastly, wq employs a set of tools to more easily build and distribute customized mapping apps that can be served from Apple’s app store, Google Play, etc.
What wq intends is to allow highly specialized citizen science/citizen mapping apps to be more easily and quickly built, based upon a solid collection of aligned F/OSS tools. Ideally, an app can spin up quickly to respond to a particular need (e.g., a pipeline spill), or a specialized audience (the run up to a public comment period for a development project), or even something like a high school field trip or higher ed service learning project.
Some examples of citizen mapping projects already built upon wq are here:
https://wq.io/examples/
—————–
Creating a walking tour map with Google Earth_2014
————-
Week 3
Podcast includes:
- Geocoding
- Georeferencing
- Spatial Data Formats
- Geospatial Data Online
- Discussion Question
Podcast and Powerpoint available from: http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/JuicyLibrarianMaterial.html
Tutorials: BatchGeo (optional); Google Fusion (optional)
https://en.batchgeo.com/
enter Xcel data, and export KLM file ready for google map and/or google earth
https://support.google.com/fusiontables/answer/2571232
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fusion_Tables
store maps online, no latitude needed.
visualize geospatial data by map
spatial analysis by mapping different layers together
showing data by map, graph or chart
e.g. how many cars cross specific point
crowdsourcing: spotting butterflies, using fusion tables to map the spices and sightings
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/mar/31/deprivation-map-indices-multiple
students: journalism, history, geography.
Georeferencing (geocoding – data, geo referencing – image)
historical air maps or photos are much more useful when they are georeferenced.
Photos from different year is difficult to lay over one another without referencing. the only reference might be the river. usually reference the four corners, but sometimes river. Using GIS program to determine the longitute/latitude for each corner. sometimes only farmland and it is impossible
Doctoral Cohorts and Research using Social Media
Explore social media sites to find out what is the most pertinent “talk” in your scientific community. What are the latest trends and discussions, topics of research and interests. Most prominent social media sites, such as
LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/
Twitter, https://twitter.com/
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/
Instagram, http://instagram.com/
use hashtags.
LinkedIn has “professional groups.”
Identify your hashtag strategy similarly to your keyword strategy when searching peer-reviewed articles
E.g., if your interest is #principalship, you can seek channels and conversations by using it as a hashtag
Search and subscribe to LinkedIn “Interests/Groups” and lurk or actively participate in the conversations.
Consider start and maintenance of your own blog with your daily reflections on your research progress
E.g., LinkedIn can be very much used as a blog, although you can subscribe for a free one such as Edublog
p. 141. Chapter 8 “Using Social Media in Research.”
Bell, J. (1999). Doing your research project: A guide for first-time researchers in education and social science (3rd ed.). Buckingham [England] ; Philadelphia: Open University Press. (Available on Google and at SCSU Library through ILL)
Crowdsourcing, social networking. Consider the following questions:
- What are your goals?
- Who do you want to reach?
- Why do you want to reach them?
- Which digital tool or platform will be most effective in enabling you to reach your goals?
- If you already spend time each day using social media for personal reasons, how much time are you able to set aside each day to use social media for research?
- at what time of day will you engage in social media? (time differences, if you are communicating globally)
the value of social media: Community, Content, Conversations.
Davis III, C.H.F., Deil-Amen, R., Rios-Aguilar, C., & González Canché, M.S. Social media and higher education: A literature review and research directions. Report printed by the University of Arizona and Claremont Graduate University. Accessed January 27, 2015 http://works.bepress.com/hfdavis/2/