The Little Library Beta 1 Release

The Beta 1 version of the Little Library application was release earlier today (to mild applause by my family). You can check it out here:

https://github.com/rwadholm/The-Little-Library-Beta

Follow the instructions on that page, and you too can be the proud owner of a test library! You’ll be doing the world a service by breaking things now so they don’t have to later. Please send any comments and feedback my way.

Some new features include syncing with other libraries (actually works now!), automatic creation of an online library, a three page End User License Agreement that quotes Patrick Henry, file validation (to avoid loading those pesky malware files onto your computer and in the cloud), optimized iOS page sizes, automatic thumbnails for any items that have images in them, and the ability to upload and view multiple files for every item in your library. This last feature allows you to use your library as a private Web server. You could host every file of a website you’ve made in one item, and when users click on the item–BING!! (not really “BING”, I actually prefer non-microsoft products), they’re at your hosted Web site. So you could share your library with them, they could make changes, share with you, and you can have a dynamic Website between friends. How lovely.

Beyond Web sites, you could include all of the Word documents, books, videos, audio and images you wanted to all in the same library item, so that you can serve up a college course, a series of videos, a compilation of songs, etc. all packaged together nicely. You’ve just got to make sure the content is owned by you (as in, you created it, or you found it with a Creative Commons license that allows you to share it). That’s because the End User License Agreement requires you to only upload and share Creative Commons or Public Domain or other similarly licensed content.

So you can think of the Little Library not as a file repository, but as a multi-device, peer-to-peer, distributed online/offline open content bazaar based on bleeding-edge technologies like JQuery Mobile, HTML5 WebStorage, and CouchDB. Although that is a bit wordy…

More to come.

Learning to Blog, Blogging to Learn

Last summer I finished an E-learning solution for highschool and college teachers who would like to learn how to use blogs as a part of their instruction. Videos, links to online resources, and walk-throughs are provided in this extensive (2-3 hour) self-directed tutorial website. Feel free to use these materials in any way you want (think of the content as open source, as well as the code).

Blended Learning

What is blended learning exactly? It seems that it means many different things to many different people. Meanings range from using any technology in learning to using internet technologies for learning alongside more traditional methods of teaching (such as lecture). Let us take the later meaning as our own, and go from there. The class is called “Web 2.0 and Participatory e-Learning” isn’t it? Here is an example of a possibility for blended learning in a religious college environment: http://mypage.iu.edu/~rwadholm/onesmallvoice/chapter1Past.html. I created this piece of a site in an earlier class at IU for an assignment. Within the site are a video related to the theme, a wiki worked into the materials, an online quiz, and links to references. The site is very incomplete, and lacks any actual wiki, but was mainly an idea for instruction using a Web site.

Blended learning can occur outside of formal education as well. And this is the promise of the internet for learning (or as my Professor Bonk refers to it, the “Web of learning”). Check out MIT’s online courses for a preview of what is to come around the globe as teaching and learning becomes more open and free, and learning objects become freely shared among teachers and learners. Learners become the driving force behind their own education. The boundaries between formal and informal learning are blurred. Learners take responsibility for their own learning, and seek learning, not merely paper accredidation (although, a degree from MIT would look nice on my resume).

One question though: is open and free online learning sustainable long-term? Can qualified educators continue to offer their expertise online for reduced or no cost? Can learning continue if no direct accountability occurs for the student? Education is expensive in time, money, and resources. Can the lowered cost of online or blended learning lower the cost of education itself? Can blended learning help tuition go down (or not go up several thousand dollars each year)? Will learners and educators get more bang for their buck with open learning options? Is there sustainable funding for such ventures? In a knowledge-based economy, would government grants be appropriate for subsidizing open education options in order to boost the knowledge base of the population and hopefully stimulate the economy long-term?