Becoming a Millennial

164. Blackboard e-Portfolios (An Interview)

Bill Vilberg, Assoc. Director of Instructional Advancement at Miami University (FL), contacted me the other day.  A mutual friend from Blackboard had given him my name.  Bill is the chief Blackboard person at Miami University and is doing something creative with his Blackboard Faculty Support Group blog.  Each week he records an interview and posts it to his blog. 

We set up a time last week and he interviewed me for 45 minutes over the phone.  He used Skype on his end (so the phone call was free) and I used my office phone.  In places it is a bit scratchy but overall the recording quality is pretty good.

Click on the above link to his blog if you would like to listen to our conversation.  We talked about the Bb e-portfolios that we have set up for every student at Taylor, as well as some of the Web 2.0 technologies that are impacting the teaching and learning environment. 

You can browse the Taylor e-portfolio catalog by going to http://courses.taylor.edu ... login using username=guest and password=welcome ... select the Courses tab ... and choose the appropriate category (e.g. 2006 Senior Portfolios).  We are still a year or two away from fully facilitating this to the point where every graduating senior will have completed his/her portfolio.  The infrastructure, however, is all in place supported by our Educational Technology Center and Career Development Office.

If you want to take a peak at a student portfolio, click on the link below.  My son, Neal, graduated in January 2006 with a Communications Degree and a Digital Graphics Minor.  Use the same guest login as described above:  https://courses.taylor.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=%2Fbin%2Fcommon%2Fcourse.pl%3Fcourse_id%3D_3593_1

157. I Revamped my Blog

You may notice that my blog has changed in appearance.  I'm not sure what to say about you if you didn't notice! -- kind of like the husband who never noticed his wife dyed her hair blonde.

I had to upgrade from Typepad "Basic" ($4.95/month) to Typepad "Plus" ($8.95/month) in order to get the customize features to do this.  I think it was worth it.  What do you think?

If nothing else, if I can't think of anything to write about I can now spend a couple hours tweaking colors and fonts.

111. 4th Thursday Faculty Workshop

For the past three years we have scheduled each month a 4th Thursday "Successful Teaching" Workshop for our faculty, from 8-10 am.  It includes breakfast followed by a 90-minute workshop on technologies related to teaching & learning.
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This week's topics are:
1. Demo (Leon Amstutz) -- 66" SmartBoard installed in the newly rennovated Ayres Conference Room.
2. Demo (Rich Parker) -- Rich's fully online Blackboard course, "Music and World Cultures", loaded with multimedia content.
3. Discussion/Presentation (Gary Friesen, Jeremy Case) -- Blogs & Wikis for Classroom and Personal/Professional Use
______________________________________________________________________

Samples of TU faculty blogs:
Win Corduan -- informal style ... frequent postings ... combination of personal, professional, devotional
Andy Rowell -- formal style ... less frequent postings ... professional, church leadership topics
Chris Bade -- using TU's MoveableType blog tool ... combination of personal, professional
Mark West -- using TU's MoveableType blog tool ... I don't know what it is -- it's all in French!

Examples of TU faculty using Blackboard Journal (essentially a blog):
Ron Benbow in his MAT 262 course -- you'll need a TU Bb login to access these courses
Jeremy Case in his IAS 110 course

Example of TU faculty using Blackboard Teams (essentially a wiki):
Jeremy Case in his IAS 495 course

Search sites that help you find blogs:
BlogPulse -- general seach
Technorati -- general search
CyberJournalist -- journalist blogs
eTalkingHead -- political blogs
Rhetorica -- professors who blog

Wikis to explore:
WikiUniversity -- hosts and develops free content for teachers
WikiBooks -- free open-content text books that you can edit
Wiki How -- the how-to manual that anyone can write or edit

Sample classroom assignment:
1. Create and maintain a blog using any free blog tool of your choice (or Bb Journal could be used)
2.  Select five "professional" blogs that you will read on a regular basis
3.  Create a daily entry in your blog commenting on the five blogs, including quotations, links, graphics when appropriate, and your own opinions and analysis

110. Promoting Volleyball Using a Blog

I just learned that the Taylor University volleyball team has been using a blog to promote it's games and activities.  I have a special interest in this, as my daughter Arlene plays (pictured here). 

104. Encouragement for my Artist Brother

Can a blog sell art?  It looks like it can.  USA Today published an article on Aug 23, 2006 titled Artists take paintings to masses. For the past eighteen months, Duane Keiser from Richmond VA has sold a painting a day through his blog.  "Every day he makes a postcard-size oil painting of something he sees around town or of a still life he arranges here in his studio ... Then he posts an image of the painting on his daily blog ..."

Loren, you'll have to check this out. 

101. Site Meter Stats

Here are the Site Meter statistics for the past month.  A typical day sees about 30 visitors to my blog.  Twice this past month I have sent out notices to some email distribution lists which caused some major spikes in visits.

According to Site Meter the average visitor is spending 5:05 minutes on the blog.

You can see that there are less visits on the weekends.

99. Blended Edu

A colleague just sent me the link to Blended Edu: Social Media Resources for Learning in the Digital Age.  I have only had time to briefly scan the contents, but there are two years of postings similar in nature to what I have been researching this summer!

This is an excellent example of the power of social media.  I start a blog ... Linda is reading my blog and sends me the link to Blended Edu ... I include the link in my blog so that my readers have access to all of this additional content ... maybe Blended Edu will include my link in one of their postings?  ... all of a sudden both of our blogs are communicating with a far wider audience ...

97. The Read/Write Web

Will Richardson in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms writes: "In and of itself the ‘old’ read-only web was a transformative technology. It has changed the way we work, the way we learn, and the way we communicate. I would argue that historians may look back on these past 10 years the same way we look back on the early days of the printing press, the steam engine, or the automobile. The Web has changed our lives.”

Janet and I are at the tail end of a 10-day trip through Canada, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Every motel we have stayed in has had internet access, either in the room or at least wireless in the lobby. In fact, right now Janet is catching a few extra winks and I’m lounging in bed with my ETC laptop writing this blog entry.

The fact that the web has changed our lives is not news to you. What might be news to you is Will Richardson’s next statement: "This 'new' Read/Write Web will change it even more." Yes, what's new is that people can now write to the web using tools that are as easy to use as email. For years it has been possible to publish on the web, but you had to be a techie. You had to be able to navigate Frontpage or some such web editor to create your web site. But with blogs, wikis, and social networking software one can literally sign up and within minutes begin sharing ideas with the world.

Richardson writes, “The bad news is the Read/Write Web threatens to make the differences between teachers and learners even more acute. Whereas students are open to the ways of new technologies, schools by and large are not.” 

What if our writing teachers would encourage their students to write their essays on a blog where they could easily be read by the rest of the class … or their parents, friends … or the world at large? Would their motivation be greater knowing they are really publishing as opposed to generating what they perceive to be busy work that gets graded and thrown away?

We have a success story. This spring I spent a couple days in English Methods (as I have done for the past 4-5 years) teaching these education majors how to use Publisher to make a website to which they would post their group semester projects – lesson plans, course units, links to resources, etc. For the first time we announced that the site would be posted on an external server, linked to the English Dept web site, and kept live for the world to see (including participants at a conference the professor was going to present at later on in the summer). It was amazing to see the difference in motivation as the students attacked a project that was genuine and not just an “assignment”.

86. Where the Visitors Are Coming From

Not only does Site Meter record the number of visits to one's blog, it also tracks the location of the visitors. 

Today there were more than 130 visitors.  The dots show where they came from.  It looks like I got one from Canada.  There was also one from Portugal (not pictured here).

83. Site Meter Statistics

July 10 I switched my blog from Xanga to Typepad.  I added the Site Meter widget which accurately (I think) tracks the number of visitors to my site. 

Xanga has a "footprints" feature that is a little misleading.  I was thinking early on that I was having 100+ visitors a day.  Actually, these were "page views" which is different than visits.  A single visit will generally result in multiple page views.

My misunderstanding of footprints was probably a blessing.  My perceived notoriety provided a lot of incentive to keep posting! It makes a difference when you think one hundred people are reading your blog as opposed to ten.

Today was actually a very good day in terms of traffic to the site.  There were over 100 visitors and several left some excellent comments. 

71. TU Blackboard Also Has a Blog

Campus Pack also has a blog module, called Journal LX, that is great for student journaling. 

This will be ideal for programs that require students to keep journals: Education majors, business practicums, social work field experiences, etc.

68. Three Ways to Keep Up With a Blog

1.  Bookmark the blog in your Internet Explorer Favorites.

2.  If you're a Taylor faculty/staff member you can add the blog to your Bookmarks channel. How do I do this?

3.  You can subscribe to the blog.  Find the FeedBlitz widget at the bottom of the side panel ... enter your email address ... click Get email updates ... on the Feedblitz page that comes up fill in the displayed security text ... click Subscribe me. That's it.  Now, whenever the blog is updated you will receive an email message with the new blog entry.  You can unsubscribe at any time if you decide you don't like the extra email traffic.

For you who are writing your own blogs these Widgets are pretty neat.  They snap right in with a minimum of fuss.  You don't have to know any HTML.

63. Site Meter

Switching to Typepad was a great move for me.  I feel the quality of my blog has improved about 100%.  However, I missed the visitor counter that Xanga provided. 

In looking through the Typepad design options I noticed one named Widget Gallery.  I opened this area up and saw all kinds of options that could be added to my site.  One was called Site Meter.

I went to the Site Meter site, registered (it's free), and then chose the option to add the counter to my Typepad site.  Bingo, it was there.  This service enables accurate tracking of visitors to your site.  Someday, if I start getting a million hits a day, I might consider selling some advertising on my blog.  Pop-ups anybody?  No, I don't think I'll do that ...

Go ahead and click on the Site Meter button (you'll have to scroll down and look over to the left) to see the current stats for my site.  Unfortunately you'll have to tolerate quite a few ads on the Site Meter site -- that's how they can offer their little widget for free.

BTW, I could have started the Site Meter counter at any number I wanted.  So don't believe every website's visitor counter.  In fact, don't believe a lot of stuff you find on the web.

64. Typepad is Not Free

There are some exceptions, but just about anything of value has a cost.  Typepad is not free.  It costs $4.95 per month -- about the cost of a trip to Ivanhoes.  Upland is a town of 3,000 people.  People far and wide know about Ivanhoes.  Sometimes we get the comment, "Oh, there's a university there, too?"

Typepad does offer you a 30-day free trial.  You will be required to supply your credit information up front, but if you cancel during the 30-day period you won't be charged anything.

60. Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Well, my fast and furious fling with Xanga is over.  It was a good 35 days.  There was the quick attraction, communication was straight-forward and easy, and from day one we just clicked. However, in recent days I found my eyes wandering a bit, not feeling quite satisfied, looking at what else was out there. 

Yesterday I fell in love with Typepad -- I had to swallow a bit leaving "Xanga" for "Typepad", but I guess a name is not that big of a deal.  I spent the evening hours pouring out my content to Typepad who effortlessly took it all in.  And she looked great! I went to bed feeling like a million dollars, excited about what lay ahead ...

Don't misunderstand me.  There's nothing wrong with Xanga.  She's actually a pretty good choice -- perfect for a starter relationship.  But I'm ready to move on.  From here on out it is me and Typeface, I mean Typepad.  My new URL is http://grfriesen.typepad.com       

59. Xanga vs. TypePad -- A Major Experiment Today

Xanga has been a great tool, very easy to use, with a lot of features.  However, I have discovered that it has three major deficiencies:

1. It doesn't allow you to categorize your entries (so that the user can search by topic).
2. It doesn't allow you to link to previous posts.
3. It requires users to register with Xanga before they can post comments to your blog.

This weekend I have been playing with several other blog tools including Blogger, WordPress, Moveable Type, and TypePad.  I spent 4-5 hours today copying all my Xanga postings over to TypePad, and categorizing each entry.  Check it out and let me know what you think:  Gary's TypePad Blog

58. It Wasn't Long Ago That I Read My First Blog

You are undoubtedly aware of the tragic April 26 accident in which four Taylor students and one staff member lost their lives.  For years we have been close friends with the Cerak family.  Newell and Colleen, Janet and I, all worked with the high school youth group at the Upland Community Church back in the early 1980's. 

For several years now I have been aware of blogs, but never felt inclined to make the effort to read one.  After the accident I began to follow the VanRyn family blog which journaled the recovery of (who they thought was) their daughter.  Following the unimaginable turn of events when the mistaken identify was discovered, the Cerak family picked up the blog on behalf of their daughter, Whitney. 

Two days before the accident Whitney had emailed Janet and me to see if she could store some things in our basement for the summer.  We had done this for her older sister, Carly, for a couple of summers. (Our home is one block off Taylor's campus.)

You may be interested in following the Cerak blog as Newell writes about his daughter's recovery.  Your continued prayers would be greatly appreciated.

56. The Threshold is Low

Here is further encouragement to those who may have been slow to get on board with technology; for whom Excel and PowerPoint are still applications that "everybody else is using".  The "Millennial Tools" are very easy to use. 

It's not like Excel where you really do need to sit in some workshops to learn the several dozen tricks to get a spreadsheet to work.  Once somebody points you in the right direction to get your blog started ... all you need to be able to do is type, browse for your picture (you can all do this because it is the same process as emailing an attachment), and click submit.  This might be a bit of an exaggeration in terms of simplicity, but not much.  Blogs, wikis, iTunes, Facebook are all really easy to use -- even for the non-Millennial.

To help Taylor faculty make this transition we've purchased from Learning Objects the Campus Pack modules that snap right into Blackboard.  There is a Journal (blog), Team (wiki), Search (allows for easy search of Bb content), and Expo (for external publishing of content).  Our Aug 21 & 22 "Technology for Teaching" Conference will include a couple sessions on the use of these tools.

48. Can New Blog Entries be Delivered Via Email

Information in a blog is not "pushed" to you.  You have to make the effort to go to the site.  If you are like most people this means you will forget about the blog for days ... and maybe miss something important  :)

If you want new entries "pushed" via an email message you can subscribe to the blog.  Give it a try.  In the left panel simply click "Subscribe to grfriesen".  Whenever there is a new posting you will receive an email displaying that entry.

By the way it is easy to "unsubscribe" at any time if you don't like this delivery method.

47. Can a Blog Sell Art?

My brother Loren is a gifted artist.  His many years in Japan (we grew up there) influenced his artistic style, as well as left him fluent in Japanese.

Recently he has begun to look into the possibility of selling his art on eBay.  Last night I suggested he create a blog to complement his eBay account.  The blog could feature his paintings, provide a forum for him to write about his artwork, and exponentially increase the "social network" connections it requires to sell art.

I'll keep you posted ...

46. Footprints

This past week showed a lot of activity on my blog site. Monday I sent out an email to the CCCU technology listserve and also one to TU faculty providing people the blog URL.  It will be interesting to see to what degree word of mouth will continue to increase the traffic.

The blog has prompted a number of people to send me resources to help in my research and investigations.  This would include information about Freecorder, MP3 Splitter, Web 2.0, RSS feeds, and Windows Media Player 10.  I think I'm experiencing just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the collaborative potential of this tool.  Keep the ideas and information flowing ...

Wondering how I got the bar graph into my blog?  It's that little utility Irfanview.  I created the bar graph in Excel ... hit <Print Scrn> ... pasted into Irfanview ... cropped ... resized .... saved ... and then posted in my blog.  See entry 26 for the details.

43. And You Thought Blogs Were Long Text Ramblings

Emily is one of the three Taylor students
eating lunch with us on a Sunday afternoon
back in June when I announced that I was
going to become a Millennial (see entry 3). 
Of course they all thought that was hilarious. 
I asked the girls what blog tool I should use
and two out of the three suggested Xanga.

Check out what Emily has done with her blog,
Through Bluegreen Eyes.

38. Blogging by Colleagues

You might be interested in reading the blogs of a couple of my Taylor colleagues.  They illustrate other blogging tools that are available, as well as very different styles of writing:

Win Corduan:   http://clik.to/wincorduan
Andy Rowell:    http://firstmovethyself.blogspot.com/

29. Let's Have a Discussion

Question:  Do you think it is possible today to be an effective teacher (let's say at the college level) and not use technology?  Post your thoughts in the comments area.

Note -- you will have to create a Xanga account (takes about a minute) in order for your comment to be posted.  I checked with people who are using other blog tools and this seems to be standard practice.  Will this generate spam?  You will get an email message from Xanga as a follow up.  My wife was quick to report this to me, but I assured her that one email message is not spam.  To be honest, I'm not sure to what degree signing up for an account like this will add to your overall volume of spam and spyware.

23. What Keeps a Blogger Going?

Last week Mary came running up to me in the Student Union, "Gary, I'm having a great time reading your blog!"  Today in church Tim told me he has been keeping up with it, even checked that morning to see if there was a new posting.  I felt the creative juices flowing. If there are two people reading, I'll keep on writing!

Actually, the numbers have been gratifying to watch.  The first week, June 4-10, my site had 265 "footprints" (people visiting).  Last week, June 11-17, there were 375 "footprints". 

A blog is an interesting type of publication.  In one sense it isn't so different than writing a book that the whole world can read.  But it includes the element of journaling -- you don't have to finish the whole thing before you publish; you can add to it on a regular basis (as long as you have something to say).  It also can function as an editorial column -- you can expound on what you think is important.

As you read my blog you'll see that technology is important to me, as is teaching and learning, my family, and my faith.  And, I like having fun, so there will be some goofiness sprinkled throughout.

9. Why Am I Doing This?

My initial purpose in starting this Xanga blog was for ME.  To effectively function as a technology leader on our campus I realized I needed to immerse myself in the kind of digital world that our children and students live in. 

But then, as I've gotten started I've realized that my blog might help other 40, 50, 60-year old educator types to vicariously experience my journey ... and to actually use a "Millennial" tool to receive information, catch a vision, and have some fun as well.  For that purpose I've sent my URL to the Taylor faculty and also the CCCU technology listserve.

3. Music All Day With iTunes

Yesterday we had three Taylor students over for Sunday lunch.  I asked them what they used for their blogs.  Two out of the three were posting on Xanga.  So, I decided that's what I would use also.

Today, Monday, I was in my office and I cranked up iTunes and listened to music just about the whole day.  It was "Blues" at the office, then "Classical Guitar" here at home (as I write these blog entries).  You know ... I can multi-task!  One of these days I'll open a couple IM windows and see if I can do three things at once.