Computers & Society

UCF IST research - participation

2011-04-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

University of Central Florida Institute for Simulation & Training (IST) is an internationally recognized research institute that focuses on advancing modeling and simulation technology and increasing our understanding of simulation's role in training and education. http://www.ist.ucf.edu/index.htm

We would greatly appreciate participation in our ongoing efforts to enhance learning. If you would like to participate please choose a link from the list below and fill out the appropriate information. http://instructional-technology.info/ist/studies/

If you have any questions please contact us at: aquire.ucf@gmail.com

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chapter notes and study guide

2010-07-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

My notes are in the form of questions. This is to get you to think about what you are reading and look for important points - the answers to the questions. These are intended to guide your learning.

Your personal notes can be a summary of the text if that is what works for you.

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Predicting consequences

2010-07-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

There has been lots of discussion and some misunderstanding about predicting consequences. There is a difference between "predicting the future" and "predicting consequences".

Consequences - if this happens, then that might/should happen. It is about thinking ahead. Sometimes simple actions have important and often unintended consequences - good or bad.

In one student's example - predicting a car accident (a future event) is impossible. But if I am in a minor fender-bender car accident (both cars drivable), I need to check that no one was hurt, get to the side of the road safely and exchange driver, car and insurance information, and notify my insurance company. There are serious consequences for failing to do all of these things. All drivers should know this and be able to "predict the consequences" of their actions.

Would this keep you from driving? Probably not, but you understand that it is a possibility - there are consequences. If you never think about being in a car accident, you would have no idea what to do in that situation.

Thinking about the consequences does not mean you won't do something - just that you thought about it and made an informed decision. In fact, you may be encouraged to try new things as you see that the reward outweigh the risks so go ahead and just do it! That's the difference, and that's the point.

discussion grading

2010-07-03T18:03:00.000-07:00

Discussions have morphed from a course add-on to a major component of the course communication. Some discussion topics are "assignments" posted to the discussions so there is more visibility for your work and an opportunity for class discussion about important topics that are highlighted in your work.

There are multiple discussion topics within the Discussion forum for each module in the course. Your discussion participation grade for the week is the sum of the individual topic posting grades.
Each week, there are points for the quantity and quality of your posts. If you have participated in all the discussions as outlined in the Assignments, and your posts are on-time, thoughtful, and expressed in college level writing, your discussion participation grade for the week will be recorded as the maximum for the week's discussion participation.

As there are several ways to gain and deduct points, your total may be greater than the maximum, but you can't get more than the maximum. You will not get full points for any of the following reasons.

You do not include all the required elements
There are significant writing problems
The submissions are late

There are usually more points possible than the maximum recorded. This means that you could get full points, even though you missed some points in one or more of the discussion topics. And some posts are not graded, so even if you post in every topic, you may not get maximum points.

For example - if there are 4 topics in the forum and the total for the forum is 10, each discussion topic maximum may be 1-5 depending on the amount of work. If you contribute to all the topics you might have 3/10, 2/10, 4/10, and 3/10, the sum is 12 but your grade total for the forum will be 10/10 - the maximum.

This is a pretty general overview, so if you have specific questions about a discussion grade, please ask.

Online teamwork

2010-06-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

A student brought up the subject of groups and team work. In CIS2 we have a couple of group projects. As this is an online class with NO on-campus meetings, everyone is encouraged to complete the projects online - yes, this can be more difficult and time consuming. However, that's the point.

The world is changing and being able to work collaboratively online is a big challenge. So it is appropriate that you have an opportunity to learn these important life skills in this class.

Quizzes - Submit all and finish

2010-06-30T10:16:00.001-07:00

Some of you should be wondering why you don't have a grade for the Chapter 1 review quiz.

Catalyst allows you to submit answers for individual questions and save your answers without completing the quiz or submitting it for grading. This is a nice feature but...

In order for you quiz to be graded - either manually by me if it contains "essay" questions or automatically by Catalyst, you MUST submit the quiz for grading by clicking the "Submit all and finish" button at the end of the quiz.

If you do not click the "Submit all and finish" the quiz remains in the "open" status - you can answer the questions or change your answers if you wish.

10m Summer 2010 : Welcome to CIS2!

2010-06-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome to CIS2!

It is nice to see that you are here bright and early on the first day of the Summer semester. That is great because we will be moving very quickly through all the information in only 6 weeks.

Please read through all of the introductory material - links in the top section of the CIS2 main page. Then start on the activities outlined for the first topic - Introductions.

Look at your Profile - in the left Navigation menu. The settings for controlling emails from CIS2 are located there. This is where you determine how much information comes to you by email from the course.

If you have any questions, please ask. You can post your questions to the Questions forum or use the internal email within Catalyst or regular email to contact me directly.

I am looking forward to working with you and your classmates for this action-packed 6-week session.

All the best,
..vt

changes

2010-03-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

add mini group project - plan, schedule, communicate, collaborate, deliverable - low stakes, fun activity - WE scavenger hunt and pick best 3 OERs
rethink scenarios - process, products
community service learning - extend personal choice options
change open textbook review activity - move to Catalyst discussion
Millennials quiz http://pewresearch.org/millennials/quiz/index.php
Taking a close look at Facebook http://brasschecktv.com/page/603.html Somewhat alarmist but a reminder about the potential for good and evil

Final project process

2010-03-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

The final project is about process - actually using collaborative technology in a scenario that represents the real world (society).

You can read about this and do any number of individual projects, but you won't have first hand experience (good or bad) with the essential theme of the course if you don't participate.

All the projects this semester went reasonably well. Not all go as smoothly, but the experience is important regardless. Once the final projects are completed and you do the peer reviews, I hope that you will see the value of the project process and its applicability beyond the scope of this course.
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11. Peer Review and Wrap-up

2010-03-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

The Final Projects were well done. The "clients" - WikiEducators from around the world will be viewing your work!

We are coming to the end of the semester. The last assignments provide an opportunity to review the work of the other groups. There is also a chance to take some time to think about what you have learned in the class, as well.

Please review your grades. I will be grading past dues assignment until 11:30pm Tuesday.

It has been a great class. I really appreciate all your contributions to the discussions and the projects.

All the best,
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10. Final Project

2010-03-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

For the Final Project, you should now be working collaboratively in small groups to research and create a final presentation. Planning is essential - you need an outline, a project schedule and assignment of roles and responsibilities.

Working collaboratively at a distance is challenging. This project is intended to give you an opportunity to use skills and technology to work through the process to produce a web-delivered presentation that demonstrates application of technology and computers to a social task. That is the course objective. We have been working up to this throughout the semester.

Scenario: You work for Global Public Relations Inc. WikiEducator.org is your client.

research and develop a wiki page outlining work on the WikiEducator global initiatives and provide examples of projects that are addressing the initiatives. These examples should include a range of projects by governments, non-profits and individuals that show work done and progress. Try to include examples can be adapted for use in other locations with similar needs.
worldwide promotion of the WikiEducator awareness program. Your page should be informative and interesting as well as factual. You are promoting the projects that are underway and encouraging others to see the value of the work and join in.
Recommendations - list things that the client, WikiEducator.org can do to help promoting and recruiting - if these existed, your PR job would be easier.
Strategy section - outline the assumptions you made for your presentation - audience, what they want to know. Describe your strategy for encouraging educators in your presentation. What was the thinking behind the presentation?

Ask questions if you need clarification.

Use the wiki

2010-03-06T06:01:00.001-08:00

You need to be using the wiki for planning and developing. Two teams have made a start, but by now you should have your project outlines and timelines in the wiki page.

It is important to use the wiki for a couple of reasons.

You need to practice writing and editing in the wiki - don't leave this until the end. The wiki is a tool and it takes a bit of getting used to. New this semester - the rich text editor. It was just installed in WikiEducator and it is a big help.
Get used to working together on the same document - this is collaborative writing. Once you get some experience, the project really improves dramatically - that is why we are doing this.
Staying organized using the wiki is much easier - no lost documents, no confusion over the current status of the work. It is all right there to see and work on.

The teams that start using the wiki early are the ones that produce the best results. There are so many things you can add to the wiki page once you gain some experience. That is when it gets really interesting. Small changes in formatting, adding images, including links to resources are small additions that greatly improve the project page.

There are wiki tutorials and help pages available - see project information for links.

If you have specific questions, please ask.

WikiEducator

2010-03-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

if a wikieducator page (and its links) is suitable as a kind of classroom website, where uploading material about courses
and resources for other classrooms and teachers as well
if so, where can i find examples of other WE pages for this goal ?

Absolutely -- uploading material and resources for
classrooms and teachers is what WikiEducator is all about -- we're a
community of Educators around the world who are committed to sharing
knowledge and teaching materials freely.

Our only requirement is that the teaching materials we create and upload
must be licensed under a free content license (for example Creative Commons
Attribution or Sharealike licenses.

There are a number of schools starting to create portal pages for uploading
and sharing their teaching materials. Consider for example

- Warrington Primary is an inspirational example of a primary school here
in New Zealand who are dedicated to open education -- see:
http://wikieducator.org/Warrington_School
- Ort Gutman High School in Israel are working on a few OER projects see:
http://wikieducator.org/Ort_Gutman_High_School
- St Michaels College in Vermont run the Biology for Elementary Schools
Project see: http://wikieducator.org/Biology_in_elementary_schools
- There are country initiatives aimed at developing national repositories
of free content, see for example New Zealand (
http://wikieducator.org/OERNZ ), Uganda (http://wikieducator.org/OERUG),
India (http://wikieducator.org/India), Israel (
http://wikieducator.org/Israel)

We can help you -- the OER Foundation provides free training for educators
around the world who want to learn how to do this. We offer at least one
free online training workshop every month under the Learning4Content project
(see: http://wikieducator.org/L4C) . Feel free to sign up and tell your
friends and colleagues about our free training opportunities.

Cheers
Wayne

kick-off ...

2010-03-03T14:14:00.001-08:00

How are you funding your operation? Maintenance?

Much of the WikiEducator funding comes from contributions from member institutions. There is some grant support from foundations such as the Hewlett Foundation for specific projects. There is a small paid administrative and technical staff to oversee the work of the hundreds of volunteers responsible for operation and maintenance.

What is your community criteria based on? Is it effective in providing "facts" and valid information?

The WikiEducator community consists of interested educators, academic institutions and educational organizations. The primary basis is the acceptance of developing, collaborating and making content available under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License.

WikiEducator is effective in providing "facts" and valid information because the content is open. Everyone is encouraged to comment and collaborate on information.

Is there any concurrent challenges you are facing right now?

Like any not-for-profit organizations, WikiEducator has big ideas and less money than they would need to do everything. Sustainable funding sources need to be found and expanded. There are many areas of curriculum materials that are being solicited. One way to create more content, is to have more WikiEducators contributing and collaborating, and WikiEducator is working to increase educator participation. Finally, the primary beneficiaries of WikiEducator are learners. There is a significant need to connect millions of learners worldwide with the educational resources available through adoption, re-distibution and re-use of WikiEducator content.
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9. Professional Ethics and Responsibilities

2010-03-01T21:14:00.001-08:00

This week, we will be considering Professional Ethics and Responsibilities.

People who work in the computer field view themselves as professionals. In addition to requiring skills to create communications networks or write programs to control access to sensitive personal information, these people recognize that they have a responsibility for their actions like other professionals in legal and healthcare professions.

They understand that there are ethical issues that they must respect and handle appropriately. Having professional qualifications and a code of ethics are considered by many to be important to safeguard society in a computing environment.

FINAL PROJECT

You and your group should be developing an outline and a timeline for your client presentation wiki page. Everyone in the group should have several tasks to complete - research, writing, reviewing, editing, project management. Work collaboratively is a new experience for everyone.

If you have questions, please ask.

kick-off 3

2010-02-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

This is part of the problem for WikiEducator - there are lots of great resources and contributors, but some answers to these questions are difficult to find. That's why WikiEducator needs your help with this project.

Which universities or institutions are currently your major contributors?

Otago Polytechnic, Athabasca Open University, St Michael's College

And countries - India has a significant participation
http://wikieducator.org/India

There are many great individual contributors as well. A few who have received recognition in the User Page Expo are listed
http://wikieducator.org/UPE

What are some of your more popular projects? How about the lesser known?

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content - this is a tutorial for using wikis in education
Summary of participants
http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/L4C_Online_participation_by_country#Number_of_L4C_Online_Participants_by_Region_and_Gender

http://wikieducator.org/Open_Educational_Content

http://wikieducator.org/Special:PopularPages
http://wikieducator.org/Initiatives

Is there any statistical data of how many unique visitors come to the site?

There is a wonderful reference page that automatically records all the WikiEducator statistics
http://wikieducator.org/Special:Statistics

kick-off - 2

2010-02-28T06:03:00.001-08:00

How did all this began? What was it that started WikiEducator?

There is a nice history of WikiEducator in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikieducator

Goal: WikiEducator aims to build a thriving and sustainable global community dedicated to the design, development and delivery of free content for learning in realization of a free version of the education curriculum by 2015.

Could it be done before 2015?

Possibly - there have been several recent collaborations established that have significantly increased the breadth of curriculum covered.

Will it really be accomplished by 2015?

Projects like WikiEducator are never really "complete" because there is always more that could be done. Education, teaching and learning, technology are changing rapidly so there are new possibilities that are changing the goal and the deliverables. But that's ok. WikiEducator is very much on the leading edge of this evolution, and that is the objective.

How will WikiEducator spread the word? How will they advertise to get more people aware/interested?

WikiEducator already has a significant community of users who can be reached via email, and various groups. These users are themselves involved in other educational organizations and can help spread the word. Many of the significant leaders in global education who present to broad audiences are including references to WikiEducator and promoting WikiEducator, as well.

It is important to have fresh new promotional information available so that these users and supports have something to say and distribute to potential new users. There are lots of people all over the world who can influence others. But they need to have interesting material to distribute.

That's where you come in. These WikiEducator promotional pages that your groups are creating will be available to everyone for public relations outreach and reference.

virtual kick-off meeting

2010-02-26T06:06:00.000-08:00

Which colleges and universities do you see as being potential contributors?

WikiEducator was initial a project of the Commonwealth of Learning for colleges and universities in the British Commonwealth. However the audience/community has been extended to include any institutions and educator who are interested in participating in this open collaborative environment available under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License. For example, the contributors listed for this conference is representative of the range of WikiEducators.

What other types of institutions and teaching associations could also be contributors? Do you consider the Wiki Educator community to be mainly for academic instructors or would you consider vocational instructors?

There has always been considerable interest in Vocational programs. Some of the earliest WikiEducator contributors are associated with the vocational programs at Otago Polytechnic. Eg. conference session PCF5:CYP - Open Schools: Expanding access to pre tertiary and vocational education and training

Would WikiEducator be willing to work with other professionals such as librarians? While not strictly educators, Librarians hold masters degrees in library science. It would seem that their specialized knowledge on conducting research for example, might make some interesting and valuable contributions.

Yes, certainly. Librarians are already some of the most innovative WikiEducator users. WikiEducators really appreciate the contributions Librarians make. Librarians are an important educational resource! For example, Wiki as an online presentation tool demonstrated by Meredith Gorran Farkas, a distance education librarian.

Would WikiEducator consider setting up customized pages for potential contributors as templates they can use ? If you know someone’s field of study or expertise, offering them a basic course outline to complete might be helpful.

Yes, there are tools already available for customization. There is a very active technical support group who are ready to help.

Customization for an Institution - Biology Educator Declan' McCabe's pioneering and innovative model to engage student teacher in OER Content Development

Quickstart guide/pedagogical templates are used when authoring teaching content in WikiEducator. A number of templates are predesigned to save you time with more complex layouts Wikieducator tutorial/Pedagogical Templates/Examples

Educators love to teach and share with other educators, Have you considered asking them to contribute? Would WikiEducator consider a targeted mailing of brochures with links where these potential contributors could see examples of the type of material available for them to access and contribute?

What you come up with for this project will the basis for promotions and outreach that WikiEducator has planned in the coming months. We need examples and stories about WikiEducator that will inspire more educators to access WikiEducator, contribute and become active members of our community of practice. That is our goal. We want you to help us achieve it with your creativity.

8. Errors, Failures, and Risks

2010-02-23T07:43:00.001-08:00

Errors, Failures, and Risks is the topic for this week. There are uses of computers where they have very direct personal implications for our health and safety. Computers have capabilities to apply information according to millions of rules defined by programmers over decades.

What happens when there are conflicts within the rules or data and something goes wrong? Who is responsible for the use and abuse that can result from these relationships and interactions? Lots to think about.

FINAL PROJECT
The final project groups are forming and starting to exchange ideas. In addition to your outline, workout a schedule with checkpoints. This is important for keeping the project on track.
Communicate often. Let everyone know how you are doing. Ask questions.

LATE SUBMISSIONS
Past due assignments will be graded for partial credit. The grading will be done the last week of the quarter.

EXTRA CREDIT
There are several extra credit assignments listed at the bottom of the main CIS2 page. You can complete any of these at anytime during the semester to earn additional points.

important points

2010-02-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

What are the main points or ideas you want to be prominent?

WikiEducator is a resource for educators and a community of practice where educators can learn and share educational materials and teaching skills with other educators. The idea of wikis, online authoring and collaboration, open education, adoption and re-use are new to many educators who would benefit from them. The point is to highlight some of these benefits and showcase the lessons, articles and collaboration available through WikiEducator.

What are your future plans or goals for WikiEducator?

WikiEducator is currently fulfilling its intended function for a relatively small number of educators. It is now ready to expand to provide the same resources and opportunities to a much broader audience of educators worldwide.

How will this be different than the About page?

We hope that your group will come up with new and exciting ways to present WikiEducator, the educational materials and the participating educators. There is a lot of great educational material in WikiEducator. There is training available for educators so they can make use of the wiki for content creation, collaboration and adapting information for their needs. We want to get the word out. We want to attract many more educators to share and benefit. This is active marketing rather than the static "facts" usually associated with About pages.

Scenario - startup

2010-02-21T06:11:00.000-08:00

Read the Final project description - Final Projects - Public Relations for client : WikiEducator.org

Kick-off meeting - everyone is invited to participate in the virtual "client meeting" for the project. This will be held in the Catalyst discussion - Final Project discussion - Virtual Kick-off Meeting topic.

For the scenario project Public Relations for client : WikiEducator.org, there is a virtual project kick-off meeting. Representatives from the "client" and the "account reps" from your company are available to answer your questions and guide the discussion of how the PR project should progress.

Scenario: You work for a public relations (PR) company - What are some examples of public relations companies? What does a public relations company do for their clients? What do the employees do?

Client: WikiEducator.org - What is WikiEducator.org? What public relations does WikiEducator have? What can a PR company do for them?

Deliverable: A "presentation" in the WikiEducator.org wiki. What information about WikiEducator can be presented in a wiki? How will this address the public relations needs of the "client" - WikiEducator?

Resources: What support and information will you need to great a great presentation for the client?

Assumptions: Because this is a scenario, you will not have access to all the information that you might have in "real life" but you can make assumptions about the situation, so you can finish your project. What assumptions are you making? Is there any information that helped you make these assumptions? Will your project presentation depend in these assumptions?

Additional resources for Scenario-Based Learning

Scenario: You work for Global Public Relations Inc. WikiEducator.org is your client.

2010-02-20T06:07:00.000-08:00

Scenario: You work for Global Public Relations Inc. WikiEducator.org is your client.

You and your team are assigned to research and develop a wiki page outlining work on the WikiEducator global initiatives and provide examples of projects that are addressing the initiatives. These examples should include a range of projects by governments, non-profits and individuals that show work done and progress. Try to include examples can be adapted for use in other locations with similar needs.

Your team's work will be part of a worldwide promotion of the WikiEducator awareness program. Your page should be informative and interesting as well as factual. You are promoting the projects that are underway and encouraging others to see the value of the work and join in.

http://www.wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:About - general information about WikiEducator

http://www.wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:OER_Foundation/FAQs - information about the host organization OER Foundation, and their initiatives to encourage participation and membership

Many WikiEducators are working on courses to address and resolve specific societal issues. Even if these are just proposals or course outlines, they are examples of how WikiEducator can play a role in addressing the underlying issues. Some general questions to think about... How can computers and the internet contribute to resolving societal issues? What is being done now? What is planned for the future? What can interested individuals do to help? WikiEducator is a collaborative community work in progress, so good ideas can eventually result in significant changes.

Include a section of Recommendations listing things that the client, WikiEducator.org can do to help promoting and recruiting - if these existed, your PR job would be easier.
Also, provide a Strategy section, outlining the assumptions you made for your presentation - audience, what they want to know. Describe your strategy for encouraging educators in your presentation. What was the thinking behind the presentation?

Global Public Relations Inc. management and the client will need to know how your project is progressing. Be sure to develop a timeline for your project work with deadlines, activities, responsibilities and deliverables. Update your project Status and Timeline section weekly for review.

7. Evaluating and Controlling Technology

2010-02-16T06:03:00.000-08:00

7. Evaluating and Controlling Technology

The Community Service Learning summaries are wonderful! Several students worked with their communities of interest - youth groups, sustainable farming, the California History Center. Others worked on the suggested projects - Project Gutenberg, Tar Heel Reader and Lingro dictionary.

Sorry, I forgot to ask earlier. Please post a brief summary of your project work to the Community Service Learning discussion - there is a wrap-up topic. The projects are great. It is really important for everyone to know what others have been doing. You worked hard on your project with your community partner. Now lets' celebrate and tell your classmates!

These projects give you first-hand experience working with the power of computers and the internet to benefit society in many different ways. Some of you worked directly with the community who would benefit. For others, you don't get to see who is benefiting from your work, but you are part of a large group of thousands of volunteers who are making something amazing happen that will benefit people all over the world for many years to come.

This week we will be looking at some broader issues. There are many issues that are less well defined than some we have explored. What are the implications for a global society when a very small percentage of the world population has access to computers and computing, while most other people do not? Will this imbalance lead to unrest or encourage the have-not's to work harder to close the gap? There are people who have no interest in the benefits of computers in society and believe that we, as a society, are better off without the technology.

There are lots of interesting topics to think about, but they are less specific. This may be more difficult, but it is an opportunity to think about the future of technology and society too. They work together to produce big changes but will these changes be good, bad or both.

Please post a brief summary of your project work to the Community Service Learning discussion - there is a wrap-up topic.
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community service learning project options

2010-02-14T16:10:00.001-08:00

A couple of students commented about the limited number of community partner project options. This is an ongoing "problem" - if there are too many choices, students are overwhelmed by the choices. With limited choices, some students feel they don't have choices that interest them.

Also included in the guidelines, is the option of local community organizations - if you are currently volunteering for community organization, continue your work by adding a community service learning component.

The emphasis on online community service fits with the course and its objectives - flexible, web-based, not limited by location or time to do the work.For many students, this is the only option they have for community service learning work.

Although not explicitly stated, you are always welcome to ask about other organizations, either online or local.

I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. Online community service learning is evolving and we are learning new ways to work with community partners where ever they are.
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WikiEducator page editing

2010-02-13T07:05:00.001-08:00

The proposal (assignment) and summary (quiz) are submitted in Catalyst.

However, the bulk of your work - your research findings, sites of interest, a description of the important links - these go into the WikiEducator page that is already set up.

Log in to your WikiEducator account and open the Californian History Center that you want to add information to, then click on the "edit" link in the row of tabs near the top of the page. This will open the edit window. Make your changes and additions, then click "save" near the bottom of the edit page.

You probably want to click on [Rich Editor] link - this gives you some additional editing capabilities.

Learning to use the WikiEducator tools may take a bit of time. However, we will be using WikiEducator for more projects and assignments, so you will get some practice here too.

community service learning - getting started

2010-01-29T17:15:00.001-08:00

Once you have selected the Community partner to work with with, and have looked through the information about the actual projects that you will be working on, you can complete and submit your proposal.

The outline for the proposal is provided as a series of prompt questions in the Proposal section of the Community Service guidelines. Answer the questions as they apply to your community partner and the work you will be doing for your project.

The proposal is submitted as assignment - Community Service Learning project PROPOSAL.

If you select the California History Center as your Community partner, there are a couple of projects already outlined and in progress. You may decide to continue the work that has already been started. You can add to and expand the resources for any of these projects. Wiki pages already exist for each of these projects. You will be adding to what is there already.

If you have another idea that is appropriate to the California History Center, but not specifically identified as a project, please let me know. Some additional review, wiki page set up and direction from California History center staff will be needed.
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more about discussion grading

2010-01-27T17:35:00.001-08:00

A student asked about missing some discussion points. Here is my reply. Other students missed points for the same reasons.

Discussions 2
Privacy and Personal Information
- Additional points were awarded if your initial post started a discussion. No one replied to your question, probably because it was posted so close to the deadline. [after 10pm Sunday night]

You are expected to participate in the course throughout the week. Discussions are the primary learning activity and only work if students post and reply throughout the week.

Discussion 3
Wikipedia and Trust
- Your posting was Incomplete - There is no mention of having looked at the history or the discussion associated with the Wikipedia article you posted. The activity required that you describe your further investigation of how Wikipedia articles are written so that you would understand that there is more oversight, editing and review of Wikipedia articles than many people realize.
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Wikipedia and Trust

2010-01-27T07:10:00.000-08:00

But can we trust other people? Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/ is an online encyclopedia with articles written and edited by site visitors. This experiment in creating an open-source reference "book" hosts millions of articles contributed by thousands of volunteers and is growing daily. Wikipedia receives 60 million visitors a day. Although Wikipedia's success has been tarnished a little by vandalism, some misinformation, and fights over certain controversial topics, the wiki concept of an open site maintained by its users, has been a hit.

Look in Wikipedia for a topic that interests you or read the daily feature on the front page. Look at the history and discussion for the topic you select. Find a contributor with a profile and read their profile. See if there is any controversy in the discussion. Some topics have caused considerable discussion as there are a broad range of views. For some topics, there is even conflicting scientific data to support opposing views. In the Wikipedia and Trust discussion provide the link to page you reviewed and a brief summary of the story behind the story.

Note: The activity requires that you describe your further investigation of how Wikipedia articles are written so that you would understand that there is more oversight, editing and review of Wikipedia articles than many people realize.

discussion grading

2010-01-22T08:25:00.001-08:00

Discussions have morphed from a course add-on to a major component of the course communication. Some discussion topics are "assignments" posted to the discussions so there is more visibility for your work and an opportunity for class discussion about important topics that are highlighted in your research.

The ratings = grades for content and participation. The total grade for a discussion is the sum of all the "ratings". Because all the discussion topics are grouped in the Discussion forum for the week, there is one total for the discussion (usually 10) comprised of several topic/thread specific ratings (usually 1-3).

There is more information about discussion participation and grading in Welcome to CIS2 - link in the top section of the CIS2 main page. The Discussion participation information is near the bottom.

The information is also available here
http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Vtaylor/Computers_and_Society/Welcome_to_CIS_2#Discussion_Participation

This is a pretty general overview, so if you have specific questions about a discussion grade, please ask.
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3. Freedom of Speech

2010-01-18T10:29:00.001-08:00

Privacy - last week's topic is always a great learning experience! Thanks to everyone for your contributions to the discussions. It is always sad to hear about your personal experiences with privacy and identity theft, but everyone has a much better understanding of the potential problems. Sharing your experience may save others from having similar problems.

The WikiEducator assignment provides great feedback to WikiEducator.org. This is a very ambitious project to make education open and free. Everyone involved is learning as they go, so suggestions and feedback are greatly appreciated. It is nice to know that you are part of the ongoing development and improvement of this wonderful resource.

Blogging is a whole new form of communication and publishing that was not possible without the web. These are greatly changing the whole news publishing business.

The topic for the coming week is 3. Freedom of Speech.

Freedom of speech takes on important new meaning in cyberspace. While it is possible for repressive regimes to control print and broadcast media, it is much more difficult to control online publication.This is especially true when the source of the information is outside the jurisdiction of those endeavoring to control speech.

This text in the notes was written before Google and the Chinese government were involved in negotiations that failed to resolve their differences. I plan to update the text but it may be weeks or months before we see where this goes. This just demonstrates how quickly the world is changing, especially where advanced innovative technologies, hackers, corporate interests and government intervention meet.

A reminder to everyone that distance learning courses require considerable personal commitment and time management to complete successfully. The assignments and due dates are intended to help you stay on top of the course work and provide flexibility. However, if you get behind, it is really difficult to catch up. So make every effort to stay current. Please let me know - in advance, if possible - that you can not complete some assignments on schedule. Otherwise points will be deduced to late submissions. Late submissions are better than no submissions - some points are better than none. However, if you are serious about your work in this course, please keep to the course schedule.

There are lots of new issues and ideas to explore this week. Freedom of Speech has never been more important, now that the internet and other communications technologies have allowed hundreds of millions of people to speak up and be heard around the world. Some of these people have never been outside their village or their country, and now they are communicating with people they could only imagine existed. It is pretty amazing when you think about it!
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Quiz results

2010-01-08T05:49:00.001-08:00

For this discussion, please take the "quizzes" for learning styles and brain color as explained in the Assignments page for Module 1. Then report your scores and your thoughts about those scores here in the discussion.

It is interesting to compare the results when everyone reports their scores on both quizzes. The way the class goes varies depending on the mix of learning styles and brain colors. It is just for fun, but it does make a difference.
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Aural learners

2010-01-08T05:47:00.000-08:00

By college, everyone has pretty good learning skills in all areas. You may have a preference and that comes out in the learning styles quiz.

Aural learners have to work a bit harder in this course because there aren't many "hearing" activities. I would really appreciate your feedback and suggestions for pre-recorded podcasts and videos for each module.
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Shy people

2010-01-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

Shy people often do really well in online classes. You can take as long as you want to reply to a discussion. You can ask questions without being concerned what other are thinking. You can even do class work in you pajamas if you wish.

I really encourage everyone, but particularly people who think of themselves as shy, to actively participate in the discussions. This is a great way to put yourself out there and challenge yourself to try something that is difficult for you in a face-to-face class.

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final project topics

2009-11-03T06:44:00.000-08:00

This semester, the "list of topics" has just one entry -
http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Fall_2009#Final_Projects

Each group will come up with their own presentation page. Each group will determine what they think should be promoted and what makes the best "story" to encourage educators from around the world to become WikiEducators.

Scenario: You work for Global Public Relations Inc. WikiEducator.org is your client.
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7. Evaluating and Controlling Technology

2009-11-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

This week we will be looking at some broader issues.
What are the implications for a global society when a very small percentage of the world population has access to computers and computing, while most other people do not? Will this imbalance lead to unrest or encourage the have-not's to work harder to close the gap? There are people who have no interest in the benefits of computers in society and believe that we, as a society, are better off without the technology.

Community Service Learning

You should have completed your community service learning project. Be sure to complete the Summary quiz - this is the learning part of community service learning. This is an opportunity to show that you and the community partner were able to learn from one another.

Final group projects

Now it is time to start moving toward the final group project. Use the Final project "choice" to form groups. Then start working in the group to come up with ideas about how you will do the project work. Come up with an outline for the work and a schedule. Be sure to include time at the end for editing, formatting and adding pictures, audio and video. Discuss roles and responsibilities. There should be interesting work for everyone in the group.

If you have questions, please ask.
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students with disabilities

2009-10-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

There have been a couple of students with disabilities take this class. The DeAnza Special Ed folks have been very helpful.

For one assignment, Ralph who is deaf, posted a video of someone telling a really funny joke in sign language. Ralph thought this was great - no one else in the class got it. Now we all know how he feels, at least a little. Thanks, Ralph, that was a good joke on us.
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5. Crime

2009-10-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

This week we will be looking at Crime - always a popular topic. There are many new ways to commit crimes, and to detect and prevent crime, as well.

Thanks for your feedback from last week's I think assignment.

Study notes

The study notes are intended to be a "summary" with key ideas in question format. The study questions include the important ideas for the chapter. Try reading the notes before you read the chapter in the textbook.

Unfortunately, the "best" way to address the needs of all students is by providing detailed instructions. This way, the information is there whenever you need it. It is consistent, even if it is long. Learning to learn in an online environment is hard.

Copyright

Copyright law is complex and really difficult to enforce. This is a good introduction, but any more depth is beyond the scope of this course.

There seems to be some confusion about "open" software (which may be free but that is not the same thing). There are very specific types of copyright for open, sharable, reuseable work.
http://creativecommons.org/

There were a lot of specific questions. There are many resources that address these concerns. For example, if you want to know about the legal issues associated with uploading concert video to YouTube, consult the YouTube web site. There is a lot of information there if you are interested.

Pictures may be copyright as well. There are lots of sites that offer pictures that you are permitted to copy.
http://www.wikieducator.org/Images#Image_libraries_and_repositories

It is important that everyone understand how copyright infringement has long-term wide-spread consequences.
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3. Freedom of speech

2009-10-26T14:12:00.001-07:00

This week, we are talking about freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech takes on important new meaning in cyberspace. While it is possible for repressive regimes to control print and broadcast media, it is much more difficult to control online publication. This is especially true when the source of the information is outside the jurisdiction of those endeavoring to control speech.

We will be looking at HAVING freedom of speech and NOT having freedom of speech.

Remember, discussion participation is an important part of this course. Please ensure that you contribute to the discussions.
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6. Work

2009-10-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

Computers and technology are having a significant impact on work and the workplace. Thousands of people are working in jobs that did not exist ten years ago. Other jobs have changed dramatically.

The workplace has changed as well. Some jobs have moved to other countries - programming and call center support, without customers being aware of the shift in many cases. Some of these changes are for the better, some not.

MidTerm - we are at the half-way point for the semester. Be sure to check your grades - click the Grades link in the left navigation menu on the main CIS2 page. If you have questions, please let me know.

You should be working on your community service learning project this week, as well. The proposal and summary assignments are the link between your community service learning and the course. This is the MidTerm for this course. You must complete the 12 hours of community service learning in order to get credit for the MidTerm.
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course format and credit

2009-10-26T14:09:00.001-07:00

The whole point of Distance learning classes is to receive the same credit as on-campus classes.

There was some discussion that distance learning should be less demanding because students are too busy to come to campus. Sorry - it doesn't work like that.

If you want the credit, you have to spend the time and do the work. Distance learning allows more flexibility about when and where you do the work.
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dealing with crazy schedules

2009-10-19T12:02:00.001-07:00

I know that startup jobs are pretty crazy. There is some flexibility in a distance learning class to accommodate your needs, but you still need to participate regularly.

Do the current work first - discussions, assignments - everything that is due this week. The discussions are most interesting to you and others in the class during the week.

Then do all the past due assignments and quizzes.

Participating in discussions is an important part of the class. However, there isn't much point in the past due discussions - everyone else has moved on. Nobody will see your posts or respond. This only happens in the current week.
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catching up

2009-10-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

You need to do all the activities described in the Assignment each week. The specific requirements for posting in each topic are stated in the instructions. These will vary - there is no set rule. However the instructions are very specific.

Remember, as there are no class meetings, the course work is set up to cover the same work that you would get in 4 hours of lectures plus textbook reading, assignments, discussions and preparations quizzes each week. Yes that is a lot of work.

However, the assignments are listed and can be completed in any order to provide the flexibility distance learning students need. The instructions are specific and should contain most, if not all the information to complete each activity.

If you have any questions, please ask. Asking in the Questions forum is good - then everyone in the class finds out what the answer is. If you would prefer to send a message or an email to me with your questions, please do.

Learning to learn online is not easy. However, distance learning does provide flexibility and some other options that are not available in an on-campus class.
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Community Service Learning - update

2009-10-19T08:04:00.001-07:00

There was some confusion about the Community Service Learning assignment but thanks to all the questions, most of you are starting do work for the community partner organizations.

Not sure where to find the details? Look in Module 3 for the Community Service Learning discussion forum. There is a discussion topic for each community partner project. These are not group projects, but there are several students in the class working on each community project.

Yes, the proposal was due in week 3. However, there was some confusion, so there will be no late deduction.

If you have questions about the community service learning assignment, please ask.
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copyright

2009-10-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Copyright law is complex and really difficult to enforce. This is a good introduction, but any more depth is beyond the scope of this course.

There seems to be some confusion about "open" software (which may be free but that is not the same thing). There are very specific types of copyright for open, sharable, reuseable work.
Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/

There were a lot of specific questions. There are many resources that address these concerns. For example, if you want to know about the legal issues associated with uploading concert video to YouTube, consult the YouTube web site. There is a lot of information there if you are interested.

Pictures may be copyright as well. There are lots of sites that offer pictures that you are permitted to copy.
WikiEducator Image Hub
http://www.wikieducator.org/Images#Image_libraries_and_repositories

It is important that everyone understand how copyright infringement has long-term wide-spread consequences.
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sample books

2009-10-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

Tar Heel Reader http://tarheelreader.org/

This is a very ambitious list of books. I'm sure they will be greatly appreciated.

Did you check to see if there are any books on these subjects already in the Tar Heel Reader collection?

I suggest that you do one or two complete books first. That way you see the whole process start to finish.

A couple of things to watch out for when you do your sample books:

words per page - there isn't room for many words before they fall off the page.
finding pictures to match words - allow some flexibility on pictures. It can be really time consuming to find a specific picture that you need to accompany pre-written text.
start with pictures - it may be easier to find a series of pictures on a theme, then write or arrange the text to go with the pictures.

If your sample books work out like you plan, then you know how many you can complete.
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written assignments

2009-10-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

Q: For writing assignments, how long should it be? Please help me to understand what I should do.

A: Most of the written submitted assignments should be a couple of
paragraphs - long enough to demonstrate good writing and thoughtful
ideas and comments.

The projects require additional work, but requirements are described
in detail for each.
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discussion grading

2009-10-08T12:38:00.001-07:00

I posted this in the Introductions forum, but here it is again...

Your discussion grade is the sum of the points you receive for your participation in all the topics within the week's discussion forum.

There is a maximum total for the discussion forum each week. There are multiple topics each week. In some cases your total of the topic ratings may be greater than the discussion total. Your grade will be the discussion maximum.

For example - if there are 4 topics in the forum and the total for the forum is 10, the topic maximum may be 2,3 or 4 depending on the amount of work. If you contribute to all the topics you might have 3/10, 2/10, 4/10, and 3/10 but your total for the forum will be 10/10.

If you have any other questions about discussion participation and grading, please ask.
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Quizzes

2009-09-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

Quizzes are not timed.

You can retake quizzes to improve your score. The highest one counts.

Many quizzes are auto-graded by Catalyst so you get the results right away.

Although it doesn't apply to this quiz, some of the later quizzes have essay questions that are not automatically graded. You will get a partial score for the auto-graded questions. The instructor-graded essay questions are normally graded within the week.
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Catalyst "feature"

2009-09-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

This is a learning experience - learning some of the features of Catalyst.

There were some recent upgrades to Catalyst. Looks like this is an "improvement". Click on the Edit my submission button and you should get the input dialog box where you can input your response.

Your student profile has some options for setting how this text box works. Depending on your browser, and your text edit profile setting, you can have plain text of full WYSIWYG text input.

Submit your response before the due date for full points. Late submissions will be accepted but late submission deductions will apply.
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"Open" quizzes can not be graded

2009-07-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

There is a Catalyst feature that allows students to answer quiz questions and save the answers, without submitting the quiz for grading. This is good and bad. It means that you can finish the quiz questions at different times.

However, it also means that you can complete all the quiz questions without submitting it for grading. To submit the quiz, be sure to select this option at the very bottom of the quiz, once you have completed all the questions.

NOTE: Please check that your quizzes are graded. If not, check that they are submitted. If a quiz id still in the "open" status, it can not be graded. There are several students who have quizzes in the "open" status.

Final project wiki work

2009-07-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Final Project Group 3 for starting up your project wiki page.

http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Summer_2009/Group_3

I strongly recommend that all groups start working in the wiki page provided for your group - see links provided at
http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Summer_2009

This is where you will "deliver" your final project so it really helps to start working here now. Trying to figure this out within hours of the project due date is a bad idea. Start now. Find someone on your team who can coordinate the group page and help others in the group.

The wiki is key to collaborative writing. That is the primary objective of the final project - working as a team in an online collaborative writing project.

Be sure to use the discussion forums too. This provided better tracking of group communication than email or messages. This is important.

Please ask questions if you need clarification or help. But try to get everyone in your group involved. Remember - this is a group project. The process is as important as the product. Let me know if someone isn't participating - we can work something out. This is a group project - not the work of one or two students.

Hope this gets you going.
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learning activities

2009-07-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Q: for the computer and society question, it would be perfect if you can tell use more directions or examples, the area is too large, i didn't know if i was doing what you were expecting.

The objective was to figure out that the area is large, and to be successful in this course, you need to learn to work with that. There are millions of web articles that satisfy the assignment. Your job was to pick one and say why you thought it was applicable - as described in the Assignment activity instructions.
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Topics, activities and due dates

2009-07-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

The course is set up in topics, each based on a textbook chapter. For each there is

Assignments page - lists all the activities for the topic
Notes - questions to guide your textbook reading
discussions, quizzes, assignments - specific descriptions and instructions are included in the Assignment page - you have to follow the instructions provided for full points
due date - all the activities listed in the topic Assignment page are due on the specified due date for the topic. There is also an entry in the Events list in the right navigation menu for at least one assignment within the topic as a reminder of the due date for the topic

In regular semesters, the topics correspond to weeks. However, in Summer session the topics are due on Thursday and Sunday through the 6 weeks.

So to answer your question, the information for completing the I think 2 assignment is provided in the associated topic activity description in Assignment 2.

The expectation is that most students will be working on the "current" topic for the next due date. You are welcome to work ahead if you wish. However, your discussion participation grade will include points for interaction with other students as they work on the topic up to the due date.
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online orientation and getting started

2009-06-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

There is NO on-campus orientation for CIS2 Computers and the Internet in Society

The orientation is online and can be completed at any time. It includes useful information about distance learning and the Catalyst course management system. It is most helpful if completed as soon as possible.
http://deanza.edu/distance/show_orientation.html?class=3554&p=0

The course has started. Students should log in as per information provided in the email that went out to all registered students this morning.

Other important information for getting started is provided in the CIS2 course - Welcome, Syllabus, Getting Started and Assignment 1.

Assignments for topic 1 are due Thursday July 2 at 11:30pm.

Please let me know if you have questions.

college-level reading and writing

2009-06-30T15:45:00.001-07:00

Advisory: English Writing 100B and Reading 100 (or Language Arts 100), or English as a Second Language 24 and 72 (or English as a Second Language 4).

There is a lot of writing required for this course. Your work is expected to demonstrate college-level research, analysis, writing and paper formatting and will be graded accordingly.

This is an ONLINE course. There are NO on-campus meetings. The course is based around the textbook which contains a lot of important information that is technical and complex. Because so much of the information is written, it is essential that your reading, as well as writing skills meet or exceed the level acceptable for completion of the writing classes in the advisory.

If your reading and writing are not college-level, your will not be able to complete the assignments. You will not be able to demonstrate your knowledge of course information to pass the course.

real-time communication

2009-06-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

Several students were frustrated by the delays in communication.

There is a 1 hour delay from the time you post to the discussion until it is emailed or available to others. This is a "feature" so you can change your post before anyone else sees it. However, it is a big problem for the Final Group project as the deadline approaches.

Other suggestions

Catalyst chat
Instant messages (IM)
Twitter
Wiki edits
Google docs
CCC Confer conferencing

Be sure to try some of these alternatives.

coming to the end

2009-06-18T06:17:00.001-07:00

As we are approaching the end of the quarter, I want to thank everyone for their participation. The course works because everyone contributes. I hope that you enjoyed the experience and learned a lot. I encourage you to spend some time thinking about the whole course - Computers and the Internet in Society, and how you learned as well as on what you learned.

All the assignments will be graded in the next few days. Reviewing all the final projects is a BIG job and takes time to ensure that everyone's work is appropriately considered.

If you have outstanding assignments, do them now. Even though late penalties may apply, some points are better than no points. More importantly, you will have a more complete understanding of that portion of the course topics.

Please let me know if you have questions.

When good project teams go bad

2009-06-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

When good project teams go bad

It happens. Some teams just don't work out. So long as you make a reasonable effort to identify and resolve the problems - usually through discussion, flexibility and hard work - the team work can get completed satisfactorily.

Some things to remember

This is a distance learning class. Most students take online classes because they don't have time to get to on-campus classes. It stands to reason that they don't have a whole lot of time for this course work. Some students with a lot of time may expect and unreasonable commitment from other team members. This can lead to conflict and frustration. Be sure that your expectations of other team members and their time are appropriate.
Many students tend to wait until the very last minute to complete their work. If this working style is not yours, pick a group with other early contributors. Big differences in work style and time seem to be the leading cause of group project problems.
Project grades as structured so that team members get grades appropriate to their contribution. If someone is not doing their part, missing deadlines or otherwise causing problems for other members, the other students can report this in the project summary.
Please inform the instructor. This is a learning experience. Too often, students will try to solve the problem themselves or do the work of the problem team member. This is not necessary - just keep me informed. I may be able to help.

I see that you are doing a terrific job on the project. I know that the others have language issues. Please remember, it is about group collaboration. I strongly suggest that you let the others contribute to the best of their ability. Encourage them, but don't do their work. They need to step up and contribute. You can help them by helping them do better. The project grade is based on the team work demonstrated.

You are doing a great job in very difficult circumstances. The assignment is to work as a group to the extent possible. Sometimes this doesn't work out because other problems come up. Do what you can and ensure that the others can contribute too. I would expect to see an outline for the entire project. You should then complete only your part of that. It should be clear to the others what they need to do. If they do it, great. However, as long as you have made an effort on the collaboration, and encouraged the others, you will have done your part. Continue to encourage the others, help them do their work, but they need to do their part, too. If there is an opportunity to do some final editing when all the sections are completed, that would be appropriate.

changes

2009-06-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

Oops. I was moving some things around in WikiEducator and moved too much.

Sorry about that. Let me know if you have any problems finding things. Everything is still there ... someplace.

From WikiEducator

"DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work" has been moved to "DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009"

The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Community leadership development has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Community leadership development.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Computer Crimes has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Computer Crimes.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Crime and criminals has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Crime and criminals.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Global leadership development has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Global leadership development.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Illustration has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Illustration.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Mobile learning has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Mobile learning.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Online language learning has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Online language learning.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Online literacy has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Online literacy.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Project Gutenberg has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Project Gutenberg.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/1. Encourage student-faculty contact has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/1. Encourage student-faculty contact.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/2. Encourage cooperation among students has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/2. Encourage cooperation among students.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/3. Encourage active/engaged learning has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/3. Encourage active/engaged learning.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/4. Give prompt feedback has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/4. Give prompt feedback.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/5. Emphasize time on task has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/5. Emphasize time on task.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/6. Communicate high expectations has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/6. Communicate high expectations.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/7. Respect diverse talents and ways of learning has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/7. Respect diverse talents and ways of learning.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Translation has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Translation.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Virtual community service has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Virtual community service.
The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/WikiEducator projects has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/WikiEducator projects.
The page Talk:DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work has been moved to Talk:DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009.
The page Talk:DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/1. Encourage student-faculty contact has been moved to Talk:DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/1. Encourage student-faculty contact.

late assignments

2009-06-08T17:09:00.001-07:00

Be sure to look through your grades and check for missing assignments.

You can still turn them in late for partial points. Some points are better than no points.
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wiki instructions

2009-06-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

New to using a wiki?

There is help
http://wikieducator.org/Help:Contents

There is also a series of tutorials that explain at the major functions in detail
http://wikieducator.org/Wikieducator_Tutorials

Print this handy reference page
http://www.wikieducator.org/images/0/05/Cheatsheet-en.pdf
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final project progress

2009-06-04T11:54:00.001-07:00

It is great to see that some groups are making progress on the final projects.

Using the discussions in Catalyst and writing directly to the wiki usually work best. Creating the presentation in the wiki saves having to copy, reformat and edit the information, and learn to use the wiki all when the pressure of the final due date is near.

This assignment is about working together in a group online and using the technologies available for collaboration. This is most important. Yes, you might write a "better paper" if you worked on your own, but you wouldn't have learned much about the future of communication, strategies for team work or about the group topic.

This assignment is about producing a group project in a limited time with co-workers you don't see in person using the resources available.

Be sure to ask questions if you need help.
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which wiki

2009-05-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

This assignment is about the wiki encyclopedia Wikipedia. This is the big famous online encyclopedia that some instructors love and others don't trust. This assignment is to have you look around and understand the process of creating and editing these entries. By looking at these articles and the history, you can begin to understand the process and decide if your think the entries are valuable and trustworthy.

There is a huge group of volunteer editors who work very hard to ensure that Wikipedia entries are accurate and reliable. They note any problems or inconsistencies. The encourage authors to provide links to "better" authenticated sources. It is a very impressive process.

WikiEducator is also pblic but it is more for students and instructors to use to write and "publish" course related information. Student projects like the CIS2 final group projects are pretty typical of the information presented in WikiEducator. For the final project your group will be creating a page on a different wiki - WikiEducator. Links to the appropriate WikiEducator page and template pages have been set up.
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Half way

2009-05-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

The community service summaries that have been submitted are great! Thanks to everyone for all the effort on behalf of the community partner organizations.

The Global Fellows are really pleased with the contributions made by DeAnza students. The Tech is very appreciative of the volunteering by CIS2 students. I don't have personal contact with Project Gutenberg but they regularly express their thanks for their volunteers in public forums.

So we are at the half-way point in the course. The topics become more theoretical. There are several very interesting activities and discussions coming up that will help you appreciate the impact of computers and the internet on society. I hope that you will enjoy the reading and the coursework about these complex issues.
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Community service project due

2009-05-17T07:09:00.000-07:00

How is your community service project going?

Have you completed your 12 hours of service work? Have you logged your time and what you worked on?

Have you completed and submitted your proposal outlining the work that you were planning to do?

When you have completed the work, complete and submit the Community service SUMMARY quiz. This is how your community "service" ties in with "learning" about the impact on society. Think about what you did as just one person. Your work and the work of hundreds of thousands of others has a huge benefit to society.

Look around the Global Fellows wiki pages.
http://thetechvirtual.org/global-fellows/wiki-home-page/

Several CIS2 student have already added to the wiki pages, either through direct edits or as comments. The information from the comments is being added to the wiki page as the pages are written and edited collaboratively.

This is exciting work that is being done. It will benefit others beyond the class and the community partners. This is important work you are doing for the global community.
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Community service - Summary

2009-05-14T05:54:00.000-07:00

The deliverable for the community service project is the "quiz"
Community service SUMMARY QUIZ- instructor graded

Look through the quiz and see what you need to complete your response.

There are a number of questions to answer to summarize and analyze your experience. Your log of your work hours is required and is included as part of this submission.
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Community service and work

2009-05-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who is making progress on their community service projects. We are starting to see some things happening. I really appreciate the time and effort from several folks who had to struggle with new procedures, instructions needing clarifications, and access restrictions. Things are getting better but they could be better still. So thanks for your questions and suggestions. I really appreciate all your help.

Several students have selected Project Gutenberg. This is a good project that benefits people all over the world. It isn't as creative or collaborative as the Global Fellows of The Tech Virtual projects, but that's ok.

The discussions about the Crime topic last week were very interesting. I hope that you are more aware of the "opportunities" for crimes and criminals as well as for law enforcement.

This week we will be looking at many different aspects of work and jobs that can be impacted by computers and the internet. The book emphasizes the negative effects. Keep a more balanced view and think about all the positive indirect effects as well. It is more difficult to see these secondary benefits, but they are very important when considering the impact on society as a whole.
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online group projects

2009-05-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

Q: This is serious question that I have been asking you continously. I do not see my group to do work together, in my case , I think it is individual work. So, how can you grade the credit.?

A: And I have answered this question each time you ask it.

The whole point is that you can do group work without meeting! Many very interesting and important projects are being done by people who never meet in person and never even communicate "live" in chats or instant messaging.

You track your own time working on the community service project. It is an "honor system" - I have to trust that you record your time and tell me the truth about the time you work.

When you complete the community service learning summary quiz, you will include the log of your community service hours, along with other information about the project and your work. I grade this quiz.
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community service learning - weekly status reports

2009-05-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Add your weekly status report as a comment.

Provide your initials, the partner organization and project, a description of the work you have done, and the number of hours worked.
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podcast search

2009-05-06T07:04:00.001-07:00

You have been searching for text articles by topic - and everyone is doing a great job finding interesting and relevant information.

There are thousands of audio "articles" or podcasts available on the internet as well. Many are really interesting and address a broad range of issues. Finding podcasts is similar to finding web sites.

Search for podcasts by topic. For this assignment, the topic is "issues of teaching and learning" and select one. Listen to it, and post your comments about it to the discussion.
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Politics and the Internet

2009-05-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

The articulation agreement for CIS2 as a transfer credit requires that the impact of computers and the internet on politics be addressed in the course material. So we are looking at political web sites.

When you access a political site, what do you see? What information is provided? How is it provided? Images? Media? Interactivity? What information would you expect to find on a political site - contact information? News updates? These are very subjective evaluations. That is precisely the point. What is YOUR impression?

These sites are now part of the political process, as was clearly demonstrated in the last Presidential election. Whether you vote or not, you can be informed and persuaded or not by the messages on these site. These sites provide what organizers think voters should know. By comparing two, you are thinking about many complex issues associated with the evolution of the political process facilitated by the the internet.

Please note that the assignment has been expanded to include some explicit prompt questions to guide the activity.

Search the web for 2 political web sites - political party, candidate, ballot initiative, etc. Does the site provide useful and interesting information? Is the web site design attractive? Does this site contribute to the political process in a way that was not possible without the internet? Rate the effectiveness of each site on a scale of 1-5. Then provide pros and cons (total of 5) to explain your rating. For example, if you rate one of the sites as a 4, then provide 4 reasons why the site works that well and 1 reason why it didn't get 5 out of 5. Do this for both sites you select. Find one effective political site (4-5) and one that isn't very good (2 or less). Provide your rating and reasons for both sites along with the web addresses, and post your evaluations to the Politics and the web discussion forum.

Catalyst technical support

2009-05-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

This information is also available at http://catalyst.deanza.edu

A couple of students have experienced technical issues with Catalyst this semester. If you have a technical problem - can't access Catalyst, delayed response display of discussions... try this

Step 1: Read the short Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

Answers to 95% of all questions can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.) pages.

Step 2: Choose appropriate submission method.

* For questions about your course, please refer to the course syllabus. Your instructor's contact information will be listed there.
* For general questions about Distance Learning and mediated instruction, please contact the Distance Learning office at 408.864.8969
* For other technical support questions, refer to the directions below

Step 3: Contact Technical Support

Choose one of the following methods:
* De Anza Catalyst Online Learning Support Center
* Access the De Anza Catalyst (Moodle) Knowledge base (left menu links)
* Submit a Ticket (email support)
* Browse more FAQs
* Call Us - phone support for the De Anza Catalyst Help Desk: 1-866-518-3953

If you are submitting a Ticket or using phone support, please provide the following information to the representative to better assist them in serving you:
* Your email address
* Your student ID (NOT your SSN!!!)
* Your Name
* Your Operating System
* Your Web Browser
* The course you are trying to access
* Your Question/Problem

Project Gutenberg

2009-05-03T06:29:00.001-07:00

If you aren't working on your community service learning project now, you need to get started.

Complete a total of 12 hours of service for the community partner organization.
In addition to the project work for the community partner, submit a proposal following the outline in the Guidelines.
When you have completed the service hours (12 hours minimum), complete the "quiz" as the summary and analysis of your work.
Weekly status reports are submitted as well.

Still confused? Can't figure out how to get going on community service learning with either The Tech Virtual or Global Fellows projects?

How about this - a nice straight forward, robust online community service project used by 10,000s to digitize public domain texts for free and open distribution via the internet.

Project Gutenberg

http://www.gutenberg.org

There are over 25,000 free books in the Project Gutenberg Online Book Catalog. The Project Gutenberg collection was produced by tens of thousands of volunteers. You can help. Distributed Proofreaders provides a web-based method to ease the conversion of Public Domain books into e-books. By dividing the workload into individual pages, many volunteers can work on a book at the same time, which significantly speeds up the creation process.

During proofreading, volunteers are presented with a scanned page image and the corresponding OCR text on a single web page. This allows the text to be easily compared to the image, proofread, and sent back to the site. A second volunteer is then presented with the first volunteer's work and the same page image, verifies and corrects the work as necessary, and submits it back to the site. The book then similarly progresses through two formatting rounds using the same web interface.

Once all the pages have completed these steps, a post-processor carefully assembles them into an e-book, optionally makes it available to interested parties for 'smooth reading', and submits it to the Project Gutenberg archive.

Register with the site as a volunteer.
Read the introductory email you receive and the Beginning Proofreader's FAQ.
Confirm your registration, sign in, choose a project, and try proofreading a page or two!

community service progress 2009.04.29

2009-04-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

We are off to a slow start but things are picking up. So much is new for all of us, but we are quick learners...

It is always challenging when launching a new program with lots of new elements, especially when the process is complex. Collaborating online is new for pretty much everyone. Now we have made it even more interesting - adding two new community partners - The Tech Virtual and Santa Clara University.

We are also using additional web functionality that is new to us. The Tech Virtual site management http://thetechvirtual.org/ is similar to Catalyst, but different in many respects.

Oh yes, and the projects are unlike anything that anyone has worked on in the past. Lots of new learning experience for students and the community partners and the instructor. But this is very real in life.

In the end, this will be so worth it. We are getting close to having the structure and communications in place to really get rolling on the project work. There is plent to do and time to do it. However, everyone really needs to get involved and get busy.

This has been somewhat frustrating for all, but it will be worth it. The projects will deliver considerable information and benefits to others around the world. This is how computers and the internet can contribute to society in a very big and positive way. And, you will have been part of it from the very beginning. That's exciting community service learning.

..link

4. Intellectual Property

2009-04-27T06:33:00.001-07:00

This week, we are looking at intellectual property rights - what they are, who has them, and what can be protected.

With computers and particularly with web technology, there has been a significant increase in attention to intellectual property. Because of the ease of access to information and the ability to duplicate and store vast amounts of data, more people have concerns about their rights to it.

All the information and online workspaces have been set up for the Community Service Learning projects. Everyone should create an account at The Tech Virtual, select a project, post to the Check-In discussion forum for the project partner and get busy making contact and starting project work.

Just for fun - read the article. How many of these terms were new to you?
Gadget jargon still confuses many - WAP, dongle, and cookie are some of the least understood words by the British public, according to a survey.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8017178.stm

Community Service MidTerm project

2009-04-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

The Community Service Learning project has replaced the course Midterm project. In the past students spent at least 12 hours on their Midterm project. By replacing that with community service learning, all the effort and learning benefits the community as well as the student.

Many transfer colleges are now requiring or requesting the Community Service Learning credit which will be added to your transcript when you successfully complete your project. See the DeAnza Course Catalog for details - CIS2 is listed as one of the courses participating in the Civic Engagement program.

All the projects are online. Once the initial contact and coordination are established, you can do the project work on your own schedule - just like the rest of the course work for CIS.
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where are you?

2009-04-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

Q: i really need help on the online volunteering im a lil confused about it and would really appreciate it if u can help me because i don't want to fall behind

I know that there is a lot to this online community service learning assignment. All the information is provided. And this is part of the problem - there is a lot of information, so that the requirements and resources and process are clear.

However, you really have to read the information and take some action. Just telling me that you are confused doesn't help either of us.

What don't you understand?

Did you read the instructions?
http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Community_service_learning_student_guidelines

Have you looked at the list of partner projects? Which one do you want to work on. There are lots to chose from.
http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Community_service_learning_student_guidelines/SPRING_2009

Have you accessed The Tech Virtual Museum?
http://thetechvirtual.org

Have you accessed the Global Fellows area within The Tech Virtual?
http://thetechvirtual.org/global-fellows

Have you signed up for The Tech Virtual?
http://thetechvirtual.org/createMember

Global Fellows projects

Your SCU Global Fellows (SCU.GF) partners are coming online there. There are discussion forums setup so you can ask specific project related questions for the SCU.GF to respond and collaborate.
http://thetechvirtual.org/global-fellows

The Tech Museum projects

You need to sign up as a Tech volunteer (online form) as well as creating a Tech Virtual account.
http://www.thetech.org/about/volunteer/
Bob Ketner, Virtual Community Manager, The Tech Virtual rketner@thetech.org is waiting to hear from you.

Now, do you have questions?
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about us...

2009-04-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

Each semester I ask students to provide a bit of information about themselves by selecting one of several choices that best describes some personal characteristic.

VARK Learning styles - W09, S09, F09

Visual - 3, 7, 3
Aural - 0, 6, 3
Read/write - 2, 3, 9
Kinesthetic - 0, 6, 2
Multimodal - 10, 9, 11

Brain Color - W09, S09, F09

Blue - 6, 15, 8
Gold - 5, 6, 9
Green - 3, 6, 9
Orange - 1, 4, 0

Online Learning - W09, S09, F09

This is my first online class - 6, 7, 17
Catalyst / Moodle - 3, 4, 3
Other - 0, 3, 0
More than one - 8, 18, 7

Handed-ness - S09, F09

very left-handed - 3, 1
somewhat left-handed - 1, 1
truly ambidextrous - 0, 0
somewhat right-handed - 11, 6
very right-handed - 19, 18

Birth order - S09, F09

First born - oldest child - 7, 7
Middle child - not oldest or youngest child - 6, 6
Last born - youngest child - 7, 10
Only child - no other children - 5, 4

MidTerm Student Evaluation Survey - S09, F09

Good - Interesting and I'm learning a lot - 6, 4
OK - I understand the directions and I can complete the work - 10, 2
Could Be Better - Assignments are not clear - 5, 2
Problems - I need help to be successful - 2, 0

Ideal Breakfast - S09, F09, M10

something light like fruit, toast, cereal, milk and/or yogurt - 9, 13, 22
eggs, bacon or sausage, hash browns, toast - 9, 7, 6
sticky bun or donut - sweet - 1, 2, 1
no breakfast - 5, 5, 0

Snacks - S09, F09

salty - potato chips, pretzels - 8, 10
sweet - cookie, dessert, chocolate - 5, 8
crunchy - fruit, raw vegetables - 4, 2
coffee drink (latte) or tea drink (pearl tea) - 4, 2

Free Time - S09, F09

Watch TV, movie - 2, 4
Active - sports, walking - 4, 4
Use your computer/ surf the internet - 10, 7
Play a computer/ video game - 3, 2
Read a book - 3, 2

Brains are weird - S09, F09

Clockwise only - 4, 7
Counter-clockwise only - 4, 3
Both direction sometimes - 16, 9

Video length

3 minutes or less
4-7 minutes
8-25 minutes
more than 25 minutes

blog of interest

2009-04-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

Some of the suggestions from the Blogs of interest assignment

Tech Crunch and associated Mobile Crunch
consumerist.com
spywarebizblog
Good Morning Silicon Valley
Cake Wrecks
CSU Chico Teaching and Learning
San Jose History
Pitchfork - music
onemansblog.com
ourbestbites.com
Slashdot
lifehacker.com
blog.hubspot.com
The Internet, Computers and Society
PerezHilton.com
rfidblog.org - RFID : Radio Frequency Indentification
bloggapedia.com

privacy and signup profiles

2009-04-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

Students are joining The Tech Visual Museum as volunteers to collaborate on community service learning projects. There is a form for creating a user profile. Interesting that we are also working on the topic of Privacy this week.

My advice when completing a signup form like this - provide as little information as is necessary. It is always a good idea to provide less, rather than more personal information. Honest and ethical organizations should respect your privacy and not require anything beyond some basic identification information.

In your profile, you filled in more information than is necessary. I suggest that you go back and take out any extra information.

A few items in the profile are required - they have an orange dot next to them. These are just enough to uniquely identify you without causing a serious privacy risk.

As a rule, I never fill out anything beyond the absolute minimum. I can always provide more information later, if there is a good reason to do so. This actually happened to me - I wasn't able to join one of the groups in Linked In because I hadn't provided enough information about my qualifications to be eligible to join the group. I had to make a choice - provide the information or be excluded. I chose the later. :o)
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2. Privacy

2009-04-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

Privacy represents an important area of society that is being impacted by computers. Just Google for your favorite recording artist or movie star. They don't have much privacy - there are pictures of them everywhere. Their personal information is very public.Your personal information may not be so public, but it could be.

In this module, we will look at issues surrounding privacy and how to protect your personal information. The "worst case" is identity theft - a growing problem that is extremely hard for the victim to recover from. Being aware of these issues is an important first step.

We will be doing several group activities. We have a small group project to discuss community service, especially looking at opportunities for virtual volunteering. This is an online course with a community service learning project. So the community service has to provide the same flexibility to students.

It isn't too early to start thinking about extra credit. There are several extra credit assignments listed that can be completed at any time during the course.

Your participation in the discussions is an important part of the course work. Be sure to read the Assignments page for specific instructions for each of the discussion topics listed in the discussion forum.

If you have questions, please ask. There is a Questions forum - this is the best place to ask your questions, as other students likely have the same questions.
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second life

2009-04-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

We are looking into working on a Second Life project. I want some general student feedback about Second Life use. This is a very informal survey.

Do you have an experience using Second Life? Do you visit Second Life regularly? Do you have any interest in developing simulations of places or displays? Do you meet up with others and interact with others in SL? Do you explore on your own?

If you haven't used Second Life, I still need your feedback. What do you know about Second Life? Does it sound interesting to you?

Do you think that activities in Second Life could be appropriate for this course? Should they be required or optional?

If you have never heard about Second Life, that's ok - I need to hear from you too.

Update:
The first student response referenced a commercial graphic design site - not the official Second Life site. So the initial response gave an erroneous account of the capabilities and understandably, dismissed the potential usefulness of Second Life to the course. Clearly more explanation is required before we can have a meaningful discussion about Second Life ans its relevance to education in general, and CIS2 in particular.

This misunderstanding is good information - Second Life is not so well known. I'm sorry, I should have included more specific reference information.

The official Second Life site is http://secondlife.com

Second Life is a free online virtual world imagined and created by its Residents. Second Life is a fast-growing digital world. There are some interesting experiments and simulations and educational experiences being developed. We can't all go to distant countries or inside unsafe buildings or restricted-access medical facilities. We can't imagine what the world looks like to a schizophrenic. But we can observe, touch and interact with people and places like these in Second Life virtual worlds.

There is a description at http://secondlife.com/whatis/

and the Wikipedia entry is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life

There is a lot of interest in using Second Life in education. http://secondlifegrid.net/slfe/education-use-virtual-world

Are we ready for SL yet?
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confused

2009-04-10T19:49:00.001-07:00

First of all, it is not too late, but it is good to ask for help. However, this student is hard to help because I have no idea where to start. The student doesn't provide any information about the "confusion" - is it the instructions? the assignments? the Catalyst software? I have no way to know that. So here is my response.

Let's try to get you going right away. Do you have specific questions?

Were you able to log into Catalyst and access the CIS2 course?

Did you read through the introduction information - links near the top of the course main page in the center section? Did you access the Help that pops up when you are asked for input in the Catalyst forms?

Did you access the "Assignments" for the first topic - this will open in a small separate window. It is a list of activities for the week. It looks like a lot, but most are fairly short. These will help you learn to use the Catalyst tools as well as learn about Computers and the Internet in Society.

Let me know how far you get. Ask specific questions. Tell me what is happening when you get stuck or confused.

I understand that students who are new to distance learning and Catalyst will need some help getting started. Some of your classmates probably have the same questions. Some of your classmates have already taken several courses in Catalyst. Some of your classmates will be able to help too.
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graded assignments

2009-04-10T19:47:00.001-07:00

As you work through the activities in the Assignments for the week's topic, there are usually discussions and assignments and quizzes. There are points for each. Your total score is the sum of all the possible points.

Quizzes and assignments are pretty straight forward. For discussions, the points awarded vary. Some times points are awarded for specific postings. Other times, points are awarded for the quality of the initial posting and additional points for replys to the posts of others in the class. The requirements are outlined in the Assignments. The scoring varies. If you do everything that is described in the Assignment, you will get full points.

You may not get full points for several reasons. College level writing and demonstration of analysis and critial thinking are required. In some cases there are a required number of responses to class posts. Some weeks, points are awarded to only one of several discussions - you need to participate in all discussions assigned for each topic, even if they aren't all graded.

All assignment activities are required. Most but not all are graded.

textbook reading

2009-04-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

This comes up every semester.

The book makes a big deal about the definitions for negative and positive rights, or liberty and claim rights. All you need to know is that there are lots of rules about rights. Unless you plan to become a lawyer, this is enough. Don't get stuck in the specific little details.

There is lots of really good, important information in the book. Keep reading, look for the big issues and enjoy the stories.
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time management

2009-04-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

You can do really well in this course if you take the time to read all the instructions and do all the assignments. Most of the assignments are not very difficult, but there are a lot of them.

Taking an online course requires that you manage your time and work on assignments several times each week. You don't have regular class meetings, so you will have to organize your time to get your assignments done on time.
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brain color

2009-04-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

The "brain color" quiz is not very scientific but it gets people thinking about how they work and interact with others - both are important in an online class.

Everyone at this level learns in all styles, but you may have a preference that is identified based on your responses to the questions. The questions are broad, so the results are general. However, they do give you something to consider if you need suggestions for changing your study habits.

If you are interested in learning more about the ideas behind the quiz, it is best to look at the links from the quiz site. The color descriptions use terms that have a specific psychological reference. This is more information about Gold.

Gold Organized; conventional; orderly; procedural; practical; responsible; tradition; loyal.

Judging Prefer to plan ahead to avoid stresses/changes at the last minute; Organized,

Conventional Prefer organizing, detail, accuracy math, data, management, work well in corporations; value stability,

Organizing Organizing the work of others; managing and monitoring financial performance.

http://www.truecolorscareer.com/Research.htm
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too many emails?

2009-04-08T06:44:00.001-07:00

If you are getting a lot of emails from the CIS2 course discussions, you can adjust your profile setting to turn these off or to get one email per day with all the messages or just summaries of each post (digest).

Be sure to ask questions if you need help.

1. Unwrapping the Gift

2009-04-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who has already logged into the CIS2 Computers and the Internet in Society course web site. This is where you will find all the information about the course, instructions for the assignments, discussion forums and more.

Chapter 1. Unwrapping the Gift covers the key concepts of Computers and the Internet in Society. What impact have computers had on society in general? Is this good or bad? Who has been affected? Where are computers now?

so-ci-e-ty

The totality of social relationships among humans.
A group of humans broadly distinguished from other groups by mutual interests, participation in characteristic relationships, shared institutions, and a common culture.

In addition to the usual introductions, we will be looking at ways that computers and the internet, in particular are changing society and how society is having an impact on the development of technologies.

Some reminders...

This is an ONLINE course. There are NO on-campus meetings. We may have a couple of optional web meetings and community partners event.

There is a lot of writing required for this course. Your work is expected to demonstrate college-level research, analysis, writing and paper formatting and will be graded accordingly.

Participation in the online class activities such as discussions and group project work in addition to doing the weekly individual assignments, is required. You must be able to access and participate several times per week. Daily access to the course is strongly recommended.

Missing assignments and discussion participation are considered unexcused absences and may result in being dropped from the class. If you need credit for this course - keep this in mind.

If you have problems or need help, please let me know so we can discuss individual situations. I know that you have a lot of other things going on in your life. Keep me informed. It helps to have an explanation and a plan.

This is a very interesting and active group of students. I look forward to working with everyone.
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eTextbook now available

2009-04-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

If you don't keep your textbooks and you can read books from your computer, you can save some money with an eTextbook

A Gift of Fire, Baase http://www.coursesmart.com/9780136008859 - the text for CIS2 is available as a 180 day subscription to online version

The regular paper textbook is still available, but it it is more expensive.

Textbook:
A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal and Ethical Issues for Computers and the Internet
- Third Edition
by Sara Baase

De Anza College Bookstore
Phone: 408-864-8907 or 864-8949
http://deanza.edu/bookstore/
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Grades - confusion

2009-03-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

Q: I was viewing the grades through the catalyst under user report. The "Course total" for this class was showing 328.40 85.52%. I thought that that I did much better.

A: Thanks for telling me where you got the number. That is the average grade of everyone in the class - not YOUR grade.

Several others asked similar questions, so this is a problem for a lot of people.
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Making Contact

2009-03-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

Making Contact, produced by National Radio Project, is an award-winning, 29-minute weekly magazine/documentary-style public affairs program heard on over 200 radio stations in the USA, Canada, South Africa and Ireland.

Making Contact is committed to in-depth critical analysis that goes beyond the breaking news. Showcasing voices and perspectives rarely heard in mainstream media, Making Contact focuses on the human realities of politics and the connections between local and global events, emphasizing positive and creative ways to solve problems. Making Contact is FREE to noncommercial stations.

ASSIGNMENT

What program did you choose? Why did you select this program? What issues are addressed? Do you think the coverage fairly represents multiple points of view on the subject?

STUDENT RESPONSES -- Winter 2009

Re: National Radio Project
http://music.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/nrproject/sound/2005/MakingCon_051221.mp3

I chose this program on clear channel because I had business dalings with them a few years back...it wasn't pleasant.
So Clear Channel is basically evil.

In 1996 the government allowed radio stations congolmerates to own more than 40 individual radio satations. That is when clear channel, whose CEO had very close ties to George W Bush, bought up every radiosation it could/can. Now radio is diluted, and is the megaphone of a media giant, not an indivual public forum which it was meant to be.
The FCC needs to step in a regulate this monoploy and make sure CC is serving the public interest!

War Made Easy
http://radioproject.org/archive/2003/4003.html

This program is about the use of propaganda to mold the public mind to accept certain 'facts' and ways of dealing with them. Specifically, it has to do with the Iraq War, and the fact that the Pentagon payed people to use news networks to disseminate false information. I selected this program because i think the reason our country is in such a dismal state is that the masses are poorly educated and easily gullible. The coverage definitely represents both sides of the spectrum, though it was obvious that one side broke into the mainstream more often.

The First-Half Amendment: Freedom of the Press and War
http://radioproject.org/archive/2002/3202.html

I have chose this topic because it kind of sparked my interest talking about our rights. The issue being addressed was about the freedom of speech, our first amendment, especially at time of "war." The fight against terrorists restricted a part of our rights given by the first amendment. The coverage was very well thought out, it may not have a wide variety of view points but it does have more than one. I would just like to ask the speaker if this is still constitutional? Is it constitutional that our rights are taken away from us and the denial of the first amendment?

Re: National Radio Project

Yes, this information was less bias and more accurate information about
World News. This site represented multiple points of view about our current
economy and the new stimulus package.

http://radioproject.org/archive/2003/4003.html

I choose the program: "Different Kind of Information War". I selected this program because there were many important information that I didn't know before about the Septemeber 11 attack and the invasion of Iraq. I was also interested in how the Bush Administration made such decisions and why. I think what happened on 9/11 is a historic event that no one will ever forget. I still remember waking up that day and my mom telling me what was happening while sounding terribly upset. I still went to school that day and in every class I was in, we just listened to the radio or watched the news. There's no doubt that day affected everyone around the world. The program addressed the fact that the U.S. wanted to invade Iraq way even before the attack but wasn't able to get the aid they needed until after. It even addressed the issue of whether Saddam should continue to use the weapon of mass destruction or not. Overall, I do think the coverage fairly represented multiple points of view on the subject.

Re: National Radio Project

I chose Women Rising XII: International Change Makers - Journalists in the Crosshairs as the program I wanted to listen to because women are not usually classified as international change makers. This program discussed three women journalists from different countries who stood up for things they believed in and how they made a difference. The radio address was of these three women discussing what they went through and the changes that resulted from their experience.

http://radioproject.org/archive/2007/2107.html

Re: National Radio Project

Year in Review 2008 - http://radioproject.org/archive/2008/5208.html

I chose this broadcast because I thought it will have interesting information and reminders on what has happened in the past year because many interesting and important things did indeed happen in 2008. Some issues discussed were, Proposition 8 in California, War in Iraq, The new Obama administration, earthquake in China, the small War in Georgia, Gas Prices, Immigration issues, Mumbai terrorist attacks, and of course the Obama election, plus many more. I think that the coverage showed different points of views and did a decent job of covering the most important news events from 2008 in the short time allocated.

Re: National Radio Project

You are so right! My husband and I have a vegetable garden along with are bee hives; soon we will have are own chickens! We share with are neighbors the fresh produce and honey that we harvest we have started a trend in are neighbor hood in regards to how to take care of yourself by growing and harvesting your food even a little bit helps. A person does not need a big lot to grow a little food. You are only limited to your own imagination.

Re: Politics and Healthcare Re: National Radio Project

I am right with you on concerns for the future health care! It is my opinion that the basic needs for people should always be available, Health care, Food, and Shelter. It is pretty sad when a person can show up at a hospital in this day and age and be ignored to the point that they die in the waiting room, while others who have health care get taken ahead of them simply because they are poor and have no health coverage. Let’s just pray that Obama gets support enough to fix this horrible mess we are in.

http://radioproject.org/archive/2008/4808.html
Food for Thoughts

This program is talking Food. I choose this program is because everyone need to eat and I love to eat so this subject stand out to me. Any issue has to do with food will effect the society one way or the other. Some effects can be price of food, demand for a certain food, or even shortage of food. Any of these issues can impact our society greatly.

The issue is talking about some of the way that we can farm our food. In this program, they talk about farming or growing food on sky scraper, backyard and farm in an urban area. Even though people are able to farm at those area, people are still health conscious, and keeping fresh and good vegetable is hard. The reason is because people are so busy with their everyday life with family, and work, thus leaving no time to take care of the farming.

People are worried about food shortage and food prices going up, so they are taking the matter into their own hands by farming food themselves and feeding themselves anywhere and anyway they can.

I think the program covered multiple point of the issues. They cover from the why they farm to how they farm and the method use for farming in urban area. They also talked about urban area farm will help feed local food banks, and many people in the city. Even though only a few type of vegetable can be grown, it will be enough to feed many people.

This is a great deal to society because we all need food. If the price is going up at an economic recession, many families can't support their family with their situation. Instead of sitting, and waiting for help, I think people are taking measure themselves is the best thing to do. Finding alternative to survive is essential because to human, it's all about survival. Urban farming is a good option and might be the solution to food prices going up or food shortage. It give relief and piece of mind to many

Re:All African Americans Will Be Happy From Now On
Black History Month 2007

On being asked what the implications of Barack Obama being elected the President of the United States will have on the African American community one of my African American classmates said " Now they will say you have an African American President, what else do you want?"
The media showed an overwhelming number of images showing a sense of jubilation and triumph in the African American community after the election of President Obama. The question remains, is the dream achieved? Many will agree, yet there will be others who disagree.
On the brink of Black History Month 2009, I selected the program from this time in 2007. It is more of a documentary rather than being a program that represents views.

http://radioproject.org/archive/2007/0507.html

http://radioproject.org/archive/2000/0002.html
“Hidden Truths: The Mass Media and Poverty”

I chose this program because it is something that has always bothered me! Poverty and hunger in the United States! It is bad enough that we have other countries around the world starving. We need the media and programs like these; to educate and help people understand that we need to help each other and not turn a blind eye to what is happening around use. We need to love and take care of each other! no one should go hungry or homeless! Below is information I took from the front page of the program to give an idea of what the program addresses. And yes I believe that this program fairly represents multiple points of view.

“The mass media under-report or ignore many issues vital to the welfare of the public. Among them: root causes of poverty and hunger in the United States . On this program, we take a look at two independent media projects that are working to change this situation.”

Re: National Radio Project
http://radioproject.org/archive/2007/0407.html

Most of the audio clips seem to have left leaning topics and summaries, but some look to at least try to be unbiased or neutral.
I chose "
Civil War in Burma, Karen Women in Exile"
because the Karen state and in general Myanmar is a major international "issue" (To put it lightly) that needs fixing. So many bad things happen in the Karen state and Myanmar, that the world just sits by and lets happen, it is very saddening. It describes the Karen history, and they're struggle for survival. The coverage I think is fairly accurate, but of course it isn't "balanced" as there is no other points of view shown, from the Burmese government.

Re: War Made Easy
http://radioproject.org/archive/2007/3107.html

This is the topic that I chose because it is interesting to me. This discusses the US going to war in Iraq and some of the reasons why. Since it is intended to stop the war, the viewpoints were not fairly represented. I might ask the author how they would have resolved the conflict in Iraq.

Politics and Healthcare Re: National Radio Project
http://radioproject.org/archive/2008/4308.html

I chose the program "Election '08: Can Politics and Health care Mix?" because I am very concerned about health care in the United States.

The program talks about Obama and talking about his concerns, promises and issues about health care. The speaker has a "belief that extends a promise to recognize and implement the human right". There was arguments about Medicare but Medicare now is established by using politics to provide health care for people.

I think the coverage represents the topic well because he emphasizes the need for health care and the fact parents can't afford it for their children. He also talks about the struggles and how he is encouraging health care for all US citizens. He is PRO for this matter and feels that it is "insanity" that some people think people should not have health care. He does not discuss both sides fairly.

The question I would ask is the speaker is: In the US, if someone was sick and needed 3 doctors 24/7 who would be responsible for the the doctors' salaries and how does the US afford this?

The impact of this topic on society is highly controversial today. Many people can not afford health care and become in debt because of it. Hopefully we can find a affordable solution soon.

Final project submission

2009-03-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

The objective for the Final Project is to write collaboratively as a group and publish interesting research and critical thinking on these practices from a students' perspective.

You aren't finished until your final submission is "published" in the space set up for the purpose, and exhibits collaborative writing and editing through the wiki tools provided.

http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Students_work/Seven_Principles_for_Good_Practice/

We are building a community space and repository of student work that can be maintained over time. This is different from your personal user account page.

Part of your grade will be based on evidence of collaborative writing - the history and discussion pages associated with your designated project page. If no work is done here, then you are not actually doing one of the tasks within the project requirements. Anyone can write a couple of paragraphs and paste them into a wiki page - this project is about so much more than that.

I strongly suggest that you place any and all content that you have written so far and place it on your assigned wiki space. Then work collaborative - everyone working on developing and improving the shared work.
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Grades - check yours now

2009-03-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

This is the time in the semester when I remind everyone to check your Grades. There is a link to Grades in the left navigation menu. You can check your grades at anytime. Do it NOW!

You can submit work late but points may be deducted. Some points are better than no points! If you have submitted late work that hasn't been graded, it will be graded before the end of the semester. I check all assignments during the last week of the semester and grade anything that is submitted and not yet graded.

Be sure that you save and submit quizzes - this is the biggest reason for missed points. If you don't release a quiz for grading, Catalyst prevents a grade from being assigned. This is especially important for the Final Project "quiz" because this accounts for a significant portion of your course grade.

There are several Extra Credit assignments - listed at the very bottom of the course main page. You can earn a few more points here.

Thanks Stefan, for your extra credit submission in X. Catalyst features and guidelines

Grades Section

When I took my first online course last semester I was unaware of the "Grades" section of catalyst until about 3/4ths of the semester was over. It turned out that I had missed a couple of assignments somehow because either some instruction was written uncleanly or I was not able to find the assignment itself. After viewing the Grades section, I was able to see all the assignments and be able to keep track of what I had done and most importantly what had to be done for the class. Since then it is one of the most visited pages for me because I can see exactly what the instructor needs to be turned in and when. For this course I was also able to take advantage of this feature by seeing how assignments needed to be submitted, what assignments in particular and was able to also keep work organized so that there was no confusion about what had to be submitted for grading.

If you have questions or concerns about your grades, ask now.
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your opportunity to change education

2009-03-04T05:44:00.000-08:00

As a learner in a flexible higher education course, you have a unique perspective on the principles of good practice. You also use many technologies in your daily life outside class. Most of your education has kept these separate.

Now I want you to really think about how education would work better in the future with more and better use of technology.

We looked at some future developments and how they might impact society. Think about how these might apply to education and learning.

One of the aspects of education that needs to be changed is determining what has been learned. Tests only confirm that you know a little bit of information - usually facts about the topic. Are there other things that can be measured, assessed or evaluated that would be a better indicator that learning is happening?

You have a lot to contribute to the future of education. The final project is one opportunity to get your ideas out to the world. That's a bit scary but it is also really exciting. Make the most of it!
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collaborative writing

2009-02-22T03:36:00.000-08:00

Still stuck on how the theme topic you pick relates to the final project prompt questions?

Aleida suggested these for the topic encourage cooperation among students

Example:
what will be the important global social and technology issues in the next 3-5 years? That would, encourage cooperation among students?

What role will computer and internet technology play? To encourages cooperation among students?

Yes, this is the idea. You can change the questions to suit your topic better, but this is a good start. The point being, there are plenty of global social issues and technology issues around each of the theme topics that you can explore, analyze and report.

There are examples of new technologies and how they are being included to benefit learners. There are many uses of technologies in education that have their critics too. There is an opportunity to provide a student perspective on the future of technology and teaching and learning.

The Final Project is a collaborative writing activity. This is pretty leading edge - project-based learning to deliver globally accessible open educational resources (OERs) in a recognized public educational forum - WikiEducator. So there is a good deal of freedom to explore some of these ideas in new and interesting ways. That also means that you and your team will have to figure this out, as you are some of the first students to ever do something like this.

Ask questions if you need to, but you may come up with better ideas within your group. If you are really frustrated, please ask. This is an interesting and important learning opportunity. Enjoy.
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Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education

2009-02-21T03:40:00.000-08:00

Final Project Theme for Winter 2009 :

Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education

In 1987 Chickering & Gamson published the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. These principles are based on the perspective that the goal of a proper undergraduate education should be active, cooperative, and challenging.

For the final project, each project group will address one of the Principles listed. In addition to the general global social and technology issues described in the Final Project guidelines, consider these theme-specific questions. How can computers and the internet be used for including the Principles in college education? Include examples of assignments, activities and technologies to support your recommendations.

1. encourage student-faculty contact
2. encourage cooperation among students
3. encourage active/engaged learning
4. give prompt feedback
5. emphasize time on task
6. communicate high expectations
7. respect diverse talents and ways of learning

Community Service learning projects

2009-02-18T04:20:00.000-08:00

On behalf of all the community partner organizations, thanks to everyone for your community service learning work.

The range of service work reflects interests and community engagement in person - daycare assistance, special projects in kids' schools, coaching high school athletes, and online - books for young adult new readers, illustrations for a not-for-profit worldwide training program.

I put together a list of links to student work online. These are public sites and will benefit partner organizations and visitors everywhere. Your contribution also helps promote the important work of these partner organizations in their global communities.

http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Students_work#MidTerm_projects

If I missed links to your work, please let me know as I would like to keep this as a record of all the work contributed to these online community partners.

Thanks to everyone. Great work that is really appreciated. I hope that it made you feel good too.

Bound by Law - comic book

2009-02-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

This comic book explains the complexities of copyright law.

http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/comics/zoomcomic.html

“Bound by Law translates law into plain English and abstract ideas into ‘visual metaphors.’ So the comic's heroine, Akiko, brandishes a laser gun as she fends off a cyclopean 'Rights Monster' - all the while learning copyright law basics, including the line between fair use and copyright infringement.” -Brandt Goldstein, The Wall Street Journal online
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eTextbooks

2009-02-08T17:23:00.001-08:00

A Gift of Fire, Baase http://www.coursesmart.com/9780136008859 - the text for CIS2 is available as a 180 day subscription to online version for $37.50

The bookstore regular purchase $75.00
Amazon - new $67.50

Would you consider subscribing to the eTextbook rather than buying the book?