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TLDR 19

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 19

Published: 2015-10-30 • 📧 Newsletter

Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. Please feel free to share with others you believe would benefit. In TL;DR I'm sharing things that happened during the week in literacy, technology, and education that I think you should know.

Thanks again for the support. :)

This week I worked on the following:

🔖 Key Takeaways

📺 Watch

The video above is the piece I produced and shared for K12 Online 2015, as I documented in the post above. The resultant piece is part documentary, part satire, part critique of the current state of ed tech, and all remix using tons of CC-licensed content. Enjoy. :)

📚 Read

As I spend more time in Medium, I have to admit that I like some of the pieces that the system pops up in my feed. An example of this "serendipity" is this piece by Tim Rayner on how we consume, share, and gift online.

In this post, Tim is discussing the affordances of the online social space, and what behaviors do we want to promote as we connect with others. I've been thinking more and more about this in the context of this newsletter, blogging, teaching, and other activities.

"Sharing is cool, but it's not the potential of the web. The potential of the web as a connective tissue for human beings is gifting — that is, sharing for impact."

Great post by Kathleen Fitzpatrick from the Modern Language Association. This post primarily focuses on the use and development of the MLA Commons to allow scholars to disseminate their work.

The broader perspective in this post focuses on the questions that exist as we share our work out online. Some of my colleagues will share their work and publications out on their website. Many more will post their work to Academia.edu or ResearchGate.

Put simply, when you post your work to these spaces, you to need to consider the motives and purposes of these business and what they'll with, or for your work.

My quick response? Build up your own online space, share out your work, share it everywhere the readers are located.

A thought provoking piece from Will Oremus at Slate. The post discusses the fact that as many educators, researchers and scholars argue about flipping classrooms, MOOCs, project-based learning...publishers are leading the way and reinventing themselves as ed tech companies with the solution.

The thinking is that adaptive software and artificial intelligence might first be able to help students answer problems and pass standardized tests. But, as technology advances, it might be able to make inferences about conceptual understanding.

This week the U.S. Department of Education announced the new regulations to spur the creation, distribution, and use of open educational resources. Open licensed educational resources are learning materials that can be used for teaching, learning, and assessment without cost. They can be modified and redistributed without violating copyright laws.

Specifically, the DOE announced that proposed new regulations would require all copyrightable intellectual property created with Department grant funds to have an open license. :)

Great post by Mia Zamora on DMLCentral examining the consideration of voice, audience, and context as digital tools expand our concepts of "writing."

This post kicks off Digital Writing Month (#DigiWriMo) and focuses on four broad themes:

  1. Writing: The Shifting Notions of Writing;
  2. Visual: Using our Lens to Compose;
  3. Audio: The Story of Sound and Waves; and
  4. Transmedia: Pushing into the Edges of Stories.

I'm grudgingly sharing this out in this week's newsletter. Many of my students and colleagues heard this news on NPR, and were obviously excited. I'll believe it more when I see changes happening.

While we're at it...let's give every student a domain of their own, authentically use tech and digital literacies in schools, and value educators a bit more. :)

🔨 Do

You may consider GIFs (Graphic Interchange Formats) to be annoying/silly/awesome online. You may argue about how to pronounce the term. Whatever your vantage point...start using, sharing, and most of all making animated GIFs to add to publications.

Throughout my blogs, I experiment with the use of GIFs to share information. I often use a mix of still images and videos. In many of these posts, I'm finding that it's far better to include text, and then a short, animated GIF showing while I tell.

I'm also realizing that there is a subtle art in making a GIF, presenting it on the page, and not making it annoying. My current practice involves the use of Recordit, and using the crosshairs to focus on small windows..and small movements. Aim small...miss small.

🤔 Consider

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." — Ernest Hemingway

The Web Literacy Map video became part documentary, part satire, part critique, all remix. I think I spent a bit too much time on it, but CC-licensed content creates possibilities for making meaning through recombination. The remix becomes the message.

Tim Rayner's distinction between sharing and gifting cuts to the heart of what we're doing online. Sharing is cool, but gifting—sharing for impact—is the potential of the web as connective tissue for human beings. This newsletter, blogging, teaching, are all activities where I'm thinking more about gifting versus just distributing content.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick's response to Academia.edu and ResearchGate raises questions about who owns your work when you post to platforms. Consider the motives and purposes of these businesses. My quick response? Build up your own online space, share out your work, share it everywhere the readers are located. Own your infrastructure.

Will Oremus' piece on adaptive learning software reveals an uncomfortable truth: while educators argue about flipping classrooms, MOOCs, project-based learning, publishers are leading the way reinventing themselves as ed tech companies with the solution. AI might first help students pass standardized tests, then make inferences about conceptual understanding. The question is whether understanding can be algorithmically inferred.

The US DOE's GoOpen campaign requiring Department grant-funded intellectual property to have open licenses feels like progress. Open educational resources can be used, modified, redistributed without cost or copyright violation. This is infrastructure for educational equity.

Mia Zamora's Digital Writing Month launch expands concepts of "writing" through voice, audience, context. Four themes: shifting notions of writing, using our lens to compose, the story of sound and waves, pushing into the edges of stories. Writing becomes multimodal thinking.

I'm grudgingly sharing the Obama Administration's testing limits announcement. Students and colleagues are obviously excited. I'll believe it more when I see changes happening. While we're at it—let's give every student a domain of their own, authentically use tech and digital literacies in schools, and value educators a bit more.

Animated GIF creation involves subtle art—presenting on the page without making it annoying. Recordit with crosshairs focused on small windows, small movements. Aim small...miss small. The constraint creates clarity.

Hemingway said writing is sitting down and bleeding. But bleeding isn't enough—you need to gift the blood, share for impact, build your own space, aim small and miss small.

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