Hybrid presence an emerging format #OEB16

Last week I had the pleasure of being part of a virtual connecting meeting at OnlineEducaBerlin. The initiative came from the VConnecting group. For this session, onsite buddies Christian Friedrich, Hoda Mostafa, and I spoke with guests Jeanine Reutemann (Jeanine researches the affordances of video and has great insights on it!). Ilona Buchem (Ilona has a long standing tech record, her latest research looks at open badges) and Aziza Ellozy (Aziza is a leader in faculty development, and making learning visible). The recording can be seen below (it was a hangout).

For those who are not familiar with the concept of Virtually Connecting through online buddies, have a look at the website. During Online Educa Berlin 2016 there were four virtual connecting meetings (I only could attend one, as I was chairing or speaking at the other moments), and it really provides an additional layer of interest to conferences. I had a previous experience with Whitney Kilgore at eMOOCs2015 which I blogged about here, and which worked inspiring as well.

The format has a basic idea behind it: connecting people with similar interests across conference boundaries (so those who can attend a conference, share knowledge that is provided within the conference to others who are unable to attend the venue).

Although the idea is simple enough, what is interesting is the emerging layer of knowledge that is transmitted. In some way those who attend get a meta layer going. Or at least that was what I felt when joining one of the virtual connecting sessions. When reflecting on why this extra - and to me meaningful layer of learning emerges - I had the idea that it might come from the available expertise in all who entered the conversation. The shared yet complementary expertise gave spice to the conversation, sparking new ideas and links to previous experiences on topic. And I think it was also related to similar interests that come together at that point, and drive the conversation forward. 

In the session that I was in, the conversation covered the plenary keynotes, some ideas coming from the keynote speakers and how we (participants in the virtual meeting) agreed or disagreed, the overall feeling of the conference, the formats and the consequent results of the sessions...

#Phd journey and shifts in punk identity

Learning is a constant journey, a lifelong journey and that is a true fact when I look at my life. But what I did not realize, was that learning - and the internal/external growth that comes with it - can push identity shifts. My current identity shift, together with my recent  job quest, has led me to rethink who I am, and who I would like to be. If I get my PhD, then who am I?

For years I felt I was the one that "had no diploma" and yet (somewhat against the odds) was "doing stuff with innovative tech in difficult settings", so in my minds eye that was me. No more, no less. 

Practically, that meant that I was the one who you could give a tech challenge, which would evoke enthusiasm instantly: "hei Inge, I want to build a really, really low cost solution for setting up patient records with basic cell phones in sparsely connected areas, any thoughts?" or "how do we hack current MOOCs to use them in non-English speaking high school classrooms?" or "do you have ideas on how to build a MOOC for highly experienced tech people that can be used both internally and publicly while using varied pedagogical options for high-end learners?"... Ah, a challenge! Gimme just a minute......*brain excited and filled with joy of exploration* 

But, my identity was ... (elearning) punk. The others had the degree, I had the solution against the odds. That was who I was. But now this (if I get the degree) will be different. Getting a master three years ago, allowed me to still ignore having a degree. It simply did not dawn on me that I was 'formally certified'. Once I go across the Phd threshold... would that mean I would no longer be an elearning Punk? Will I have succumbed to the system? Which identities did I have? I was at times a truly bad secretary, a moody waitress. I was (and I hope I still am) an activist! I fought for LGBT marriage, for gender equality, for education for all, I was (and am) part of the informal, outsider feminist movement... but it was all DIY, at every stage I was punk... so, who am I becoming, who am I now? Where is my place on this new earth? This might sound funny, but honestly, when looking for a job I just freeze... I do not feel I can charge forward like some lunatic Donna Quichotta, battling all the usual suspects/job seekers by mowing them down with my lack of formal education, and most of all raw energy. Being punk made me fearless. Now I am formal... or am I? 

Two days ago, a twitter friend called me a MOOC ninja. I could honestly have kissed her with oodles of gratitude. Can I still be considered a ninja? When I talked to Stephen Downes at Online Educa Berlin a month ago, he said "now you will be higher qualified then me"... I fell into the abyss when he told me. Completely impossible. Stephen Downes is the one to have several honorary doctorates at the same time, I am just me. I felt as if the ground beneath me was about to devour me for being unreal. It really shook me to the bone, like I was betraying my (old?) self. And for weeks it haunted me, this illusive new me to be.  

So, yesterday I needed to get out of this idea, holding me back. Holding me back from getting my chapters written (no, I do not want to leave my punk status), and keeping me from energetic job hunting. I need to understand the new me, and add her to the identities I have had in the past. I somehow need to find a way to merge this new me with my old one's. 

At this point in time I have been around for 48 years. I have used learning at a distance since 1999, which gives me about 17 years on that field. So quite a bit of time, using technology for learning purposes (either for myself, or with others). The learning technology I have been working with was/is used in low resource settings (eg. Sub-Saharan Africa; rural Latin America) and high resource settings (eg. Northern Europe/America). It spans high school settings and continued professional development (medical field, train-the-trainer options). It spans corporate, academic and NGO's. Financially, budgets of on average 100.000 EUR/Y to get new, sustainable projects, with sustainability and scalability at their core). On a technological side, the learning solutions varied from developing tech solutions for wap-enabled basic phones to smartphones, to mobile MOOC for any type of device, and embracing major MOOC platforms like FutureLearn right now as well. I worked with diverse target audiences from all continents (no, not the antarctic) and I am lucky to be friends with many of the people I work/ed with. The last couple of years I have written articles (academic and corporate style), I have authored one book on MOOC (in the process of another more philosophical/sci-fi) and co-authored one (thank you David Hopkins), and set up MOOCs, eg. MobiMOOC (low-fi), MOOCs on the Internet of Things (high-fi), used by iMinds, one of the top 5 business incubation programs out there. 

Looking back I am quite surprised, it looks like quite a bit of work... so I cannot ignore that I do something. At least I can still have 'I do stuff' in my identity. Maybe that is enough. The fact that I will keep on doing stuff... just doing, not thinking first, but doing ... immediately. No matter what the boundaries look like, just go out there, and make it happen. Just like I did before, but soon with another piece of paper in my backpack. But I cannot ignore that piece of paper. I asked Ellen Wagner whether having a PhD makes a difference. She said very clearly "yes!" and added "when I am stuck in an important meeting with high power people, I just throw my title in and it shifts the balance in the discussion". So, okay, if it is a tool for her, it can be a useful tool for me as well. 

So this is what I came up with (up to now, any suggestions welcomed): I need to ignore the side of me that is scared about getting a degree, and realize it will not destroy the punk in me. I need to set a new, ridiculous goal. That always worked in the past. I need to embrace this new phd reality. Why not set out to become the Susan Sontag of eLearning? Or a futurist, but with a twist?Maybe a bit like Audrey Waters (but, admittedly I am more positive minded). And I need to find a job that will enable me to keep up online shares (looking at the cost that Stephen Downes and the Brain Pickings site have... I need to built in a safety net for punk online activities), as well as looking for a job that will be utterly inspiring due to its many challenges. 

Now, just find an institute, university, or someone that wants to hire me... a love-to-do-and-write-stuff punk with a phd in online education and lots of solution-finding experience.... where art thou ye mind-blowing new job?! 

Blogphilosophy: #education needs to shift, creating meaningful #identities

This post builds upon the idea that education must be rethought, but not in terms of the disrupted higher education (higher ed under pressure with online learning – MOOCs etc, global educational market stressing smaller universities and colleges), but in terms of reshaping all of our identities and self-esteems for each one of us. This post is a synopsis of an upcoming position paper on the subject (paper is more elaborate).
Future and current education should provide a valued identity – person-centered, social-centered.

Turn education from job formation to meaningful identity supporter

The real challenge of education, and where I think it should be rethought comes from the idea that the first priority of education should no longer be focused on finding a job, but on creating a meaningful identity for people no matter which job (or no job) they have. Only by shifting towards a different educational goal, can education support our future, global society. Jobs are increasingly being automated, at the same time more workers than ever before take to the job market (globalisation, delocalisation). No matter how we redesign education, it will no longer be able to get everyone a job. So all the talk on improving education to better fit the job needs of companies is just humbug. The jobs shift to other parts of the world, there is more automation and new technologies that trim down job needs (e.g. 3D printing: just print your furniture or material, you do not have to ask a carpenter nor go to IKEA or any other store – bye bye stores and employees; another example is a teacher: assessments are automated, self-learning is promoted… less teachers will do). A UK report looking at the job future from a month ago underpins this statement in pointing towards job loss by 2030. So creating jobs for everyone in the future is a big impossibility, an idea from the past that lives on in the minds of many but is no longer – even today - reality. This however means that each of our ‘having work is good’ identities are under stress. Having a job should no longer be at the core of our self-esteem, our meaning of life. If we want people to feel valued and meaningful, education must be reshaped to support and create purposeful identities build on creativity and ‘keeping yourself busy is ok’.
Online learning to provide new identities in a changed less job oriented society

And I think online learning will be able to create and disseminate these new identities, and support a framework of new societal laws that can provide us with an identity. In fact, I can see how new identities are provided and taken up through online resources. Yet the current new identities are not always supportive for a global, equal, open society.

I also thoroughly belief this shift in societal – shaped by education – identities must be built with the utmost haste. As it is clear to see that the loss of meaning felt by many human beings (in many cases teenagers and youngsters not being able to find a job, and hence at a loss with their societal identity and future prospects) is showing an urgent need for replacing job meaning with non-job-related identities. To me extreme thoughts and actions only (or for the most part) become attractive, because they provide new meaning in a society that has lost the capacity to provide meaning to everyone.

The discussions that lead up to this post: disruptive higher ed talks

Dave Cormier (learning first principle post here and response to Stephen Downes here) , Stephen Downes and Matt Crosslin have been engaging in a discussion looking at where education is heading in 2015: the disruption, the reorganisation, predictions on the verge of this new year. Their asynchronous dialogue got to me as I think we must look further than the institutional educational system.

Industrial age: purpose of education was to get a job

During the Industrial Age education seemed the best way forward to shape people for jobs in production. Ford paved the way, different industries followed and new types of jobs were created. As jobs and industry were growing, the hope and trust in this way of life where grew. The job growth (thanks to wars?) was booming and as a result even women started to be picked up in this work stream, or march towards universal employment. The laws of society were adapted (universal human rights), the prospects sounded wonderful and the welfare state was deemed a possibility driven by politics in combination with economic growth.

Job as major societal identity

The educational system was tuned to these new jobs, creating a scaffold towards these jobs. Once in a job, you might want to climb the ladder or follow a career path, but it was equally possible to simple stick to the job your whole life.

As such a whole set of societal values was anchored to having a job. Having a job meant you were a ‘good father’, a keeper of the family. Later on a good job was equally useful for women. Having a job provided a stamp of societal approval: you supported your own family, you were a meaningful member of society and economy, you were paying taxes to create the welfare state. Your actions had meaning both to yourself and to others. Your life was meaningful if you had a job. You got an identity. This identity took shape as you went through all (however many or few) educational steps.

Stigma for those not being able to get a job

But with every crisis these job related values affected those without a job as well. Those who weren’t able to find a job got stigmatised. If you were not able to get a job, you were and are not a valuable member of society. You are not a good provider, you are not a valuable citizen, in fact you are worthless. Not only that, society will even look at you as an economic and social loss, someone that can be scorned for his/her unwilling responsibility towards society.

Why do I think online learning will be able to provide new, less job oriented societal meanings?

Identity is strengthened through MOOC

If you look at cMOOC, there was always a sense of meaning for those learners having gone through those courses. Self-worth, personal growth, in some cases professional growth. In my own research the same pointers towards identity pop up in those learners engaged in big sized online courses. I have seen it happen from the first MOOC I followed, through the MOOCs I organised, and now by watching the feedback from MOOC’rs taking action in one of the major MOOC platforms. But it seems only little attention is paid to that particular identity bonus that comes along with MOOCs. It is mostly related to jobs, but not to personal satisfaction and meaning.

A small leap from learner-centered to personal identity support

MOOCs – at best – are learner-centered. As such personal identity is easily supported by MOOCs, as they provide a wide range of interests, and possible networks. And all of us need networks to have a sense of meaning. And more.

Conclusion

Education should step away from its century long idea that it’s priority is to get people into jobs. It should instead start to provide a lifelong learning path towards supporting a personal identity, letting people find what makes them tick in a peaceful way, creating multiple paths of meaning in a social learning world.
Well, I hope I have put my point across in some clear way, and if not tell me where I forget to add some basic arguments for this is an obvious draft. This post is one of the results of my past reflections on where I want to go with my future one’s I get my PhD, adding to the eLearning and mobile projects I have been engaged with in the past (working with budgets up to 100.00 EUR). And I came to the conclusion that I would love to set out my job along these lines. So if you know of any position that might just fit that train of thought, let me know. In the meantime, I will create an identity based on the above, hopefully giving me the meaning I need to lead a peaceful, content life until the next job comes along (money wise… yes, economy also needs to shift to enable less job based societies). Educational philosophy, here I come!

New free #research articles #IRRODL lots of interesting papers

IRRODL has a new issue out, gathering papers from across the globe. Did not have time to read it yet, but I put many papers in my 'to read' folder based on interesting titles and related abstracts. The wonderful bonus of IRRODL is that they deliver each paper in a variety of digital formats and they are OPEN to all.

Copying from the wonderful editorial accompanying this issue and which is written by Dianne Conrad:
Several topics emerged in this issue’s selection of articles. The first, in pieces from Canada, the UK, Korea, and Saudi Arabia, considers aspects of open and distributed learning on culture, learning, and knowledge. E.g. Hamdan from Saudi Arabia approaches her cultural study through the gender lens, considering the impact of ODL on female learners in that country.

A second topic, the increasingly popular open movement, is further explored by Mtebe and Raisamo as they look at African instructors’ use and adoption of OER. And from Katy Jordan comes a wide-ranging study that presents the results of a study that draws together MOOC enrolment and completion data from courses across the major MOOC platforms. 

Thirdly, and not surprisingly in any ODL journal, South African, Balkan, Chinese, and Taiwanese researchers give us the results of their investigations into the use of specific distance learning tools. 

Finally, reflecting our evolving field’s continuing interest in the critical issue of what constitutes effective teaching and learning at a distance, several writers offer their answers to that question from a variety of perspectives. One of the most popular approaches to “what works” over the years has been the measure of student satisfaction. The relationship of satisfaction to learning is, of course, its own topic, also often researched. With examples from Canada, Spain, Russia and China.

So from four continents, multiple researchers using a variety of methods ... this sure makes one perfect mid-week read.  

The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

Vol 15, No 1 (2014)

Table of Contents

Editorial

Editorial: Volume 15, Number 1	HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Dianne Conrad

Research Articles

Post-secondary distance education in a contemporary colonial context: Experiences of students in a rural First Nation in Canada	HTML PDFMP3 EPUB
Jesse Simon, Kevin Burton, Emily Lockhart, Susan O'Donnell

Roles and student identities in online large course forums: Implications for practice	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
Jacqueline Aundree Baxter, Jo Haycock

A cultural-historical activity theory investigation of contradictions in open and distance higher education among alienated adult learners in Korea National Open University	HTMLPDF MP3EPUB
K. P. Joo

Benchmarking the habits and behaviours of successful students: A case study of academic-business collaboration	HTML PDFMP3 EPUB
Elizabeth Archer, Yuraisha Bianca Chetty, Paul Prinsloo

Multi-country experience in delivering a joint course on software engineering – numerical results	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
Zoran Budimac, Zoran Putnik, Mirjana Ivanović, Klaus Bothe, Katerina Zdravkova, Boro Jakimovski

An exploratory study of effective online learning: Assessing satisfaction levels of graduate students of mathematics education associated with human and design factors of an online course	HTMLPDFMP3EPUB
Joohi Lee

Initial trends in enrolment and completion of massive open online courses	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
Katy Jordan

A case study of integrating Interwise: Interaction, internet self-efficacy, and satisfaction in synchronous online learning environments	HTML PDFMP3 EPUB
Yu-Chun Kuo, Andrew E. Walker, Brian R. Belland, Kerstin E. E. Schroder, Yu-Tung Kuo

Student satisfaction with a web-based dissertation course: Findings from an international distance learning master's programme in public health	HTML PDFMP3 EPUB
Roger Harrison, Isla Gemmell, Katie Reed

Design and implementation of a simulation-based learning system for international trade	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
Guo-Heng Luo, Eric Zhi-Feng Liu, Hung-Wei Kuo, Shyan-Ming Yuan

How well do Canadian distance education students understand plagiarism?	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
Cheryl Ann Kier

Challenges and instructors’ intention to adopt and use open educational resources in higher education in Tanzania	HTML PDFMP3 EPUB
Joel Samson Mtebe, Roope Raisamo

Introducing a learning management system at a Russian university: Students' and teachers' perceptions	HTML PDFMP3 EPUB
Natalya Emelyanova, Elena Voronina

Rethinking dropout in online higher education: The case of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya	HTML PDF MP3EPUB
Josep Grau-Valldosera, Julià Minguillón

The reciprocal and correlative relationship between learning culture and online education: A case from Saudi Arabia

HTML PDFMP3 EPUB

Amani K Hamdan

#emoocs2014 solutions to including vulnerable learners in #MOOC

This is the brief overview of the talk that I give at eMOOCs2014 on the subject of challenges for conceptualising EU MOOC for vulnerable learner groups. The full paper can be viewed here (it has the full argumentation and possible solutions. With this paper the authors wanted to push the discussion on the topic of including vulnerable learner groups.

Just followed a session on MOOC and collaborations with developing regions. Can the diversity existing in MOOC be distilled from looking at the speaker picture shared here? (I know, it is easy to use the panel for doubting the reach of solutions based on inclusion... but I cannot help but add it).

Please share your ideas, possible solutions you have used/build or would like to see happen in MOOC.

possible solutions to include vulnerable learners in MOOC from Inge Ignatia de Waard

Breaking the silence coming from juggling too much

Juggling too much is getting to me, and where my initial action is to cloak myself with silence, I feel it is better to do just the opposite. Ever since I started my PhD it felt as though my identity was undergoing changes as well. All of a sudden I am no longer a researcher that is out there in the field, or an active player, but a simple student digging into unknown territory, trying to gather some interest... I no longer have a budget that I can manage and direct towards goals that need to be achieved (including getting myself out there in the open, at conferences, physically among peers I learn from). So, it really feels as though my identity is changing and to be honest I do not know what to do with it ... yet.

On another note it is hard to juggle all the administration and organization that comes along with starting/doing a PhD in a foreign country, certainly as I feel responsible for my whole family (which my partner tells me not to do, for we are indeed a team, but still... it is me who is the asking party in this endeavor). Practically I am juggling to meet schedules and to keep everyone happy... and looking at the silence on my blog, it tells me that time wise I am not doing a great job. To me, my blog is a representation of good time management. If it keeps having a balanced flow, I am good... if it falls flat, I need to take a look at what I am doing and how.

I am of course fully aware of the luxury position I am in: being able to investigate something I am curious about is simply fantastic, even though less money is coming in. But I simply was not aware of the multitude of organizational elements that need to be sorted, and that takes a bit of a toll.

The only option to take in times of pressure is ... to read. Luckily there are always books ... so digging into the Flow creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Aaron Silvers directed me towards Pema Chodron on living beautifully with uncertainty and change. If any of you have books that might help to refind focus ... feel free to share.

#LAK11 what about #privacy when using #data analytics to create #knowledge?

Learning Analytics: EDUCAUSE

View more presentations from gsiemens.

LAK11, the course on learning analytics and knowledge has started and immediately discussions touch a sensitive and complex issue: privacy. While talking about educational data mining, the issue of privacy was raised by many participants.

First a quick note on educational data mining: data mining, also called Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD), is the field of discovering novel and potentially useful information from large amounts of data. And with many social media apps gathering massive amounts of data, this field is of growing interests to companies as well as researchers. Educational data mining has a different aim, not to make money, but to map/increase/analyse educational knowledge creation and awareness. What makes educational data mining so interesting, is that it is increasingly using models drawn from the psychometrics literature in education.

The idea behind EDM is a great one: modeling student individual differences in these areas enables software to respond to those individual differences, significantly improving student learning for example. Another key area of application of EDM methods has been in studying pedagogical support (both in learning software, and in other domains, such as collaborative learning behaviors), towards discovering which types of pedagogical support are most effective, either overall or for different groups of students or in different situations. The only thing is, how do you cope with the privacy issues?

Privacy can be good or bad
Gathered data – just like anything else – can be used for the good or the bad. An early form of data gathering was getting all the Jews registered in Germany. Once that was done – for purely administrative purposes at first – it was a small step to gather the Jews themselves for … processing. There is also a recent initiative: in Nepal the third sex has been added to Nepal's next demographic surveys. This is a wonderful thing (I for one do not apply for many 'either/or' categories), but it makes abuse possible.

To me privacy is more relevant to minorities and vulnerable groups, then any other groups in society. If facebook sells gay related data to the Ugandan government, I would not like to be a gay person in Uganda, for you risk being seriously harassed if not killed (at this point in time). No matter when, privacy should be an option that is respected, disconnected from your own online identity, certainly you – as a user – should be able to use a ‘non-traceable’ account for certain reasons?

For instance by using disconnect(ere).

Out of the crowdsourcing cloud, out of the real world?
A way forward to keep your own data private is via: disconnect. But then if all of the people from a specific group use disconnect, their data will no longer be in the crowd, and as such 'non-existent', which makes vulnerable groups even more invisible and less catered to.

perspective of a LAK11 participant
Sarah Haavind, a participant of LAK11, mentions two interesting points on privacy as well:
First: the FB and twitter users no longer clutch to privacy (is this really true and has anyone researched this or the reasons behind it? I do mind and I adjust my privacy settings)
Secondly she adds to the privacy-commercial link: “What if the data-mining marketers know what I like? Isn't it a positive to be bombarded with ads for products I'm interested in rather than a random assortment, given their presence in our lives?”.
She has a point there, but… how can small, very targeted businesses come up through the data analytics that is available?
If I had to choose, I would also like smaller companies to be able to take part in this ad-data-world. I am not interested in starbucks, I am interested in the local coffeeshop burning its own coffee beans, just because I like a variety of tastes. If I go to Ethiopia, I want to listen to local contemporary music, I am not interested in the hashed music that can be found everywhere. So to that effect, I would like it better if I could choose localized data from my profile of ‘local business’ then the big mainstream stuff. But do I need to open up my private life to get access to such time-saving and potentially interesting stuff?

Having said this, gathering and mining educational data might help us a long way to get quick access to some sustainable outcomes (learner preferences, learner critical thinking skills…). But of course, like all data mining, the proof is in the algorithm. If the algorithm is based on a wrong hypothesis, will the results then still be useful? And if data is sold to the highest bidder, then the ethics of that highest bidder better be in sync with my interpretation of ethics.

Identity: personal marketing (2) getting your eLearning papers and articles published

Today I am building on previous posts on personal marketing and how to write papers in order to motivate myself to write more and enhance my chances on being published. Yes, I believe in the power of the written word.

Some paper submission possibilities:

Interdisciplinary Journal of eLearning and learning objects

Actapress, this is a scientific publication company that has a couple of relevant journals
Advanced Technology for Learning
Technology for Education and Learning
If you want to submit the paper at Actapress, you can do it here (if the server does not run out).

European Journal of Open, Distance and eLearning

In my case I like to write articles ones and a while, leaving me more freedom, so here are a few eLearning magazines I like:
The magnificent eLearning Guild
The ever interesting eLearn magazine
United States Distance Learning Association

While I was searching for others, suddenly I struck a goldmine! Thanks to Christine .H. Olgren from the University of Wisconsin-Madison I got a whole list of possible Journals and Magazines,

so look around and see what could be useful to you.After reading the great list of Christine Olgren, I have nothing more to add… unless you know about extra journals or magazines to be published in?

Identity (3) - getting your profile out

Back on my blogposting track after a marvelous holiday in Canada and a bit of relaxation in and around Belgium.

Before I went on holiday I started thinking about my identity (personal marketing and identity open and everywhere). My virtual friend emapey (who just did a great job on redesigning his Online Sapiens blog) pointed a finger at a small inefficiency on my blog: my profile. My profile was nothing more then a couple of words without too much meaning. Although my longterm virtual colleagues might know who I am, a clear profile is necessary for any short time visitors.

I also noticed that my resume was completely out of date, reflecting the speed with which eLearning is changing and growing. This fall I will follow some modules from the master course on distance education at the Athabasca University, so I was in need of an updated resume as well.

But what a job this is! I had forgotten projects, misplaced abstracts... my mind forgot things I did... it was hard work to get the puzzle back together again and mold it into something useful. The result still is not as thrilling as I would love to see it, but at least it gives a clear idea on the things I have been working on recently.

So thanks emapey for kicking me in the behind and push me to update my profile.

For those who might be interested, look at the right hand side of my blog or simply push this button

(javascript)

Suggestions welcomed. Happy to be active again in the virtual realm.

7 places teachers can turn your expertise into cash online today

So building upon the previous post on identity and personal marketing I am adding this very practical way to earn some extra bucks while exploring social media sites and getting cracking with your expertise and softwares for audio/video teaching.

WiZiQ offers public sessions about a lot of topics (basics of Linux, basic German…) and one of the latest public sessions that can be viewed for free (after registering for free as well) is this session:
“7 places teachers can turn your expertise into cash online today” by Meri Aaron Walker (English spoken).

The core of the presentation is to be ‘Thinking seriously while imaging wildly’ as to get new ideas on how to take advantage of the global marketplace as a teacher. Teachers have always added value to a lot of learners, but with the new international connections, teachers are starting to sell their services worldwide. Meri takes the viewer on a tour and points out some of the opportunities teachers can dive into nowadays. Although there are a lot of new opportunities time is a constraint in many cases.

A lot of learners are increasing their online learning time. To prove this dictum, Meri asked the learners from a session to give examples of their number 1 favorite online knowledge marketplace? These were some of the examples that were given (and take a look at these great! Resources):
Learning times
Curriki
WiZiQ
Nicenet
Verbalplanet
LearningPlanet

Here are the 7 organisations that Meri mentions to make money from as an online teacher. If you register yourself for these 7 places you can take start offering your services and start to make money for yourself. These sites are set-up with teachers in mind = people that sell learning products.
If you are an adept of written reports, you can get a copy of the report on which this presentation is based at Meri’s blog. Where you can send your hottest educational question on Web2.0 and you will get a copy of the report for free (38 p report = ok deal):

freeIQ
Social networking site on which people sell the information they know something about. (like DVD’s on how to train for basketball, how to repare your car …). It works also by putting up your profile (only a profile, you do not need a website or similar). You can post audio, video, pdf-files and you can give them for free or ask money for them.

LivePerson (used to be Kasamba)
Give advice in all areas of expertise, to give counseling/tutoring/technical programs...
With an interesting profiling section: you chose your area of expertise and your profile connects immediately to a per minute charge if people want to connect to you. This is based on a rigourous process. With a widget to put on your social networking pages. (23% for livePerson).

Mindbites
Especially focussed on tiny video lessons, so mainly a self-publishing portal connected to a social market place. The videos are linked to credits (1 credit is 1 $ 60). Membership for mindbites is free and they have a great training program on how to edit a 60 seconds promo video. The first 60 seconds of your video lesson is free for all learners, so that interested parties can check out what the video will be like. (a bit like the incomparable Lynda.com videos).
What is interesting on this site is that you can give the mindbites the possibility to donate your money to your favorite sharity.

Current
A video site (Al Gore site J ) More educational content than youtube. Content that is posted in Current is linked to direct.tv, warner… so what current offers all users is if you start posting your videos, if you express your views on camera, current gives you instruments to improve your audio and video. If you video is chosen by the current-editors, you will get money for them.

Revver.com
This site pays you per person that is watching your video. So this can add a bit to your income.

Metacafe.com
This site also pays you per person that is watching your video.

Skype prime
A special division of skype, that allows people to connect to you through skype (paid by the minute) to get access to your expertise.
(similar is Wengo (more European and Middle East))

Teachers pay teachers
Free membership. You can search and buy or sell materials that are based on your specialist topics. 30 day free trial period for you selling. So you can see if there is (29 dollar annual fee to become a member). Paid out on a quarterly basis. This site is being used extensively by home teaching parents.

We are teachers
Free social profiling with a knowledge market place (video, audio…). Teachers that are sharing their expertise and that exchange specialist knowledge. Nice stuff: pageturning widget.

Of course what gets to me is whether or not I should ask money for any expertise I might have. Some days I feel like I should, at other days I feel that knowledge should be free to all and should be dispersed to all at no cost. Most of the time I am promoting the second option, but now and again I see what my bank account look like and I am in trouble with my ethical principles.
Thank you very much Meri Aaron Walker!

Identity (2) – personal marketing

In the blogosphere Darren Rowse (Problogger.net) is one of the prime people that knows how to market his person; and he does it through blogging. In May 2008 his book “ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income” came out and it is a success. I try to follow his tips and tricks, but sometimes I forget them again (darn!). Darren recently got interviewed by Dan Shawbell who is an expert in personal branding.

As the world becomes smaller recognition on the basis of a clear identity (or personal brand if you like, I know it is not exactly the same, maybe I should not call it identity but persona?) and a clear profile is crucial to become more visible. Some of us are really good in personal marketing and we get our names posted everywhere. Others – with equal knowledge in our own field of expertise – are not that good at marketing our own name and expertise. So I have been dabbling with my online professional identity and especially what I can do to make it more visible and stronger (meaning reliable/trustworthy or linked to the expertise I would like to be known for).

Now I know I am not good in personal marketing, but I want to get better at it, keeping ProBlogger in mind, but having to search for my own niche. So help me with any ideas you might have on this topic, I wrote down what I can think off.

So my plan for the next few months is to:

• Write: get some articles out there (magazines both peer-magazines and magazines that are interested to focus on either mobile learning, social media…);
• Get into media in general: I always start thinking from the written media, but there is more media out there (why do I forget this simple fact, I am into social media for crying out loud!);
• Connect whenever possible (and relevant);
• Get my profile up-to-date: adding the latest information and also focussing more clearly on the topics I really want to dive into (especially the focussing is rather difficult for me, I have a tendency to like the holistic approach to eLearning);
• Dive into relevant knowledge exchange sites (more in a later post): so getting the expertise that I think I have out there, for others to comment on and maybe buy;
• Get my stars out there: engaging in advisary boards (reviewing papers/articles for conferences, expert advisary boards…);
• Speaking at peer conferences (online and face-2-face);
• Adding my personal accomplishments to the blog that I have (articles, presentations… I write or I delivered);
• And of course replying with more zest on different blogs, communities or forums that are linked to eLearning;

Any other ideas? Feel free to share. Someone who is getting his stars out is Fred Stutzman (a great Web2.0 researcher), still reading up on his articles.

Identity (1) - Open and Everywhere

As digitalization makes the world a smaller place, having a recognizable identity becomes increasingly important. Especially if you are a social media evangelist, you better dive into openID possibilities. There are two sides to a digital identity:

• The technical side (openID) which allows you to develop an ID that you can use whenever you register for a (new) social app (as long as that social app accepts openID’s).
  
• The marketing side of an identity. If you have a recognizable identity you will be picked up more rapidly in Communities of Practice (I will blog on this tomorrow)
  
  
  

Go for an openID
An openID allows you to build a profile in a central location and registering all over the internet with that identity/profile. The advantages of an openID are apparent as soon as you subscribe to more than just a couple of social media apps. You no longer have to put in extra time to writing about yourself (profile) and you can keep your profile up to date easily (single sign-on).

If you feel one profile is not covering your persona, you can add other personae if you like and link them to the same identity. For each persona you will be asked to give some information. The openID idea is based on the open license model which wants to include everyone (the best concept of all). For this reason the OpenID Foundation was formed to assist the open source model by providing a legal entity to be the steward for the community by providing needed infrastructure and generally helping to promote and support expanded adoption of OpenID (pasted from the openID website)

Or as Brad Fitzpatrick (the father of OpenID) said: “Nobody should own this. Nobody’s planning on making any money from this. The goal is to release every part of this under the most liberal licenses possible, so there’s no money or licensing or registering required to play. It benefits the community as a whole if something like this exists, and we’re all a part of the community.”

The sooner you corner a digital identity, the bigger the chance no one else gets hold of your (preferred) identity. And let’s face it; identity is a very sensitive issue for everyone. I try to corner my chosen identity wherever and whenever I can, but sometimes I am beaten to the punch.

If you want to get really into openID, watch this video from Google tech talks, with Simon Willison as your MD. The movie is about 51 minutes long, but it gives a very accurate idea of what you can and cannot do with an openID and it also gives you some technical background information.

If you have not gotten an openID yet, try one of these sites to corner it:
openID
claimID
MyOpenID
Or pick one of your choice from this extensive wiki list.