Connecting Learning Objects with RSS,Trackback, and Weblogs Alan Levine (Maricopa Community Colleges) Brian Lamb (University of British Columbia) D’Arcy Norman (University of Calgary, CAREO)

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 or… what happens when 3 guys, 2 countries, xml, 3 weblogs, iChat, a wiki, and the rest of the internet all connect up?

Alan Levine Instructional Technologist Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction Maricopa Community Colleges Maricopa Learning eXchange (MLX) CogDogBlog

Brian Lamb Project Coordinator Office of Learning Technology University of British Columbia UBC UBC Object Learning Object LearningObject Learning

D’Arcy Norman Software Developer Learning Commons Learning Commons University of Calgary CAREO Learning Commons Weblog Learning Commons WeblogLearning Commons Weblog

“Explaining RSS is like explaining sex. You just don't get it until you do it.“ -- George Siemens, elearnspace blog elearnspace blogelearnspace blog

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Let’s bypass meta-data, schema, acronym soup and follow A Scenario of Two Teachers … who take an interest in using learning objects

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Meet Lora, Geology faculty Her favorite place to teach is in the field… But she believes in the power of multimedia to teach difficult concepts

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Lora starts to find learning objects by searching CAREO CAREO CAREO search on “Geology rocks” Sample Video object from CAREO

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Nigel & Linda, tech-savvy students, help locate educational technology sites with RSS feeds EduBloggers Stephen Downes Edu_RSS

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 RSS? Simplest of Meta-Data What is RSS? Killer App for Education? Pick an Acronym

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 A desktop RSS aggregator brings many sources to Lora

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Nigel helps Lora create a weblog for learning objects in Geology Lora’s “Geology Objects” blog

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 A great oracle shines the light on RSS and learning objects Stephen’s Web Intro to RSS for Education Designers

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Linda helps Lora add RSS feeds from LO sites to weblog Feeds from LO sites at Maricopa, HUMBUL, CAREO, “MERLOT” Other RSS from NYTimes, About.com, Nature, ITPapers Lora’s “Geology Objects” blog

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Armed with RSS, Lora adds feeds to her WebCT course material Displaying RSS Feeds in WebCT How to Get News Feeds into your WebCT Course

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Meanwhile … just across campus, another faculty member is interested in using learning objects

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Meet Boris, Humanities Professor…

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 On the Humanities-L listserv, Boris reads about learning objects…

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Tina, his technologist, helps him understand RSS and Learning Objects

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 At his desktop, Boris gets RSS feeds from collections with content in the humanities RSS Readers (Abbe Normal)

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Boris creates a weblog on learning objects in the humanities Feeds from Maricopa, HUMBUL, CAREO, “MERLOT”, About.com Boris’ “object humanities” blog

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Putting Amazon.com RSS feed into Blackboard Boris blogs on RSS and Amazon.com RSS To JavaScript demo

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Lora needs a tool for explaining correlation in sedimentology lab

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Lora discovers a useful correlation tool in the MLX. Maricopa Learning eXchange Correlation Meter MLX packing slip Correlation Meter object

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Lora's blog describes context for her use of this object, sends Trackback to MLX Lora’s blogs correlation meter How Trackback works Beginners Guide to Trackback

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Lora downloads the object and uses it in her own lesson

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Boris ponders how he can help students understand correlation coefficient in research journals

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Boris discovers the same MLX object that Lora has found Correlation Meter MLX packing slip Correlation Meter object

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Object is used in new context Draft Activity in Boris’ weblog

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 With blog tools he writes about the found object (MT pings the MLX) Correlation Meter MLX packing slip Boris blogs the object

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 The Object can TrackBack to different contexts Correlation Meter MLX packing slip Correlation Meter Trackback About MLX Trackback MLX Trackack Summary

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 The Missing Last (huge) Mile We have collections of objects We have RSS to help in discovery We have weblogs for writing contexts What is missing? Intuitive authoring tools to transfer LOs from collections to instructional environments (and that could ping back their new usage)

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 The events and characters depicted in this scenario are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. No faculty members were harmed in the production of this presentation.

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 Credits! Boris….. John Arle, Biology Faculty, (Maricopa Community Colleges) Lora….. Michelle Lamberson, Director, Office of Learning Technologies (University of British Columbia) Tina Technologist….. Tina Emmons, Admin Assistant (Maricopa Community Colleges) Students Nigel & Linda….. Geoff Horner & Catherine Paul (University of British Columbia)

Learning Objects and RSS…. NMC Online Conference 2003 More Stuff What’s the Fuss about RSS? (wiki) CogDogBlog (Alan Levine weblog) Learning Commons Weblog (D’Arcy Norman weblog) Object Learning (Brian Lamb weblog)