New Zealand Copyright Legislation

It's happening in New Zealand, and I suspect only a matter of time before we get this same idiotic legislation here in Australia...

Katrina Shanks, a member of New Zealand's National Party, obviously has no idea what she is talking about. To equate all file sharing with illegal activity/copyright infringement is just plain lunacy. For example, the Khan Academy has recently announced that they will now distribute their educational videos via peer-to-peer networks. TED are also now using BitTorrent for distibuting videos of their amazing talks.



I'd love to hear what you think about this idiotic speech?

"If you prefer not to, then please do!"

I'm confused (and amused)!
Spotted on a bus shelter outside Monash University...

P.S. It's genuine!

Give students a REAL reason to attend

In this recent article in The Australian, Jim Barber (Vice Chancellor of UNE) suggests that universities are quickly becoming irrelevant, particularly those that don't understand that there is now no reason for students to attend traditional "lectures".

As I have said previously, universities have to find new ways to deliver value to students, delivering an experience that they can't obtain from Wikipedia. As Jim Barber argues, we should be building more places to hang out (informal learning spaces), as opposed to big empty lecture theatres.

In the Hotseat!

I want this...

More information about Hotseat is available from the Purdue University website.

What do you think?

Is Twitter useful in education?

Earlier this semester I decided to add a Twitter widget to my Blackboard site, after an enthusiastic student began tweeting during one of my first-year lectures. I saw this as a great oppotunity to engage the students - beginning conversations during the class, and continuing them throughout the week.

At first, I would often display the widget on screen during the lecture, and discuss any tweets as they came through. But after a while the tweets slowed down. There were only half a dozen or so eager students using the service, and the novelty of this tool soon died.

Maybe I was just too early with this trial. Are there enough users of Twitter amongst our undergraduate student population yet?

Have you used Twitter in your teaching or learning? Do you think it could be a good educational tool? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Google Wave has arrived...

... well, for some people it has. I'm still waiting for my invitation!

Google Wave is going to be brilliant for teaching and learning. Here's why:

• It's designed for collaboration - good teaching practice encourages learners to work together.
• Conversations (waves) are place and time independent - you can invite new participants into a wave at any time, and they can replay the conversation to "catch up". Flexible learning (time and place) will be well-supported!
• It will grow - Google will allow third-party developers to extend Wave beyond its initial design. After personally experiencing the power of open source educational tools (such as Moodle), I am convinced that innovative educators will find amazing ways to build learning experiences in Wave.
• And most importantly, it takes the best Web 2.0 tools and combines them together into one application: wikis, multimedia, email, instant messaging, online applications, and more.

Here's a great little video from the creative team at epipheo studios explaining how Google Wave will change the way that we communicate online...

So, what do you think? Will it help you to teach or learn?

(And can somebody please send me an invitation?)

UPDATE (10 November 2009): I'm now on Wave (thanks Sid)! Add (and ping) me if you want to explore: peter.wagstaff@googlewave.com

Exams on PC?

Shadow of a Writing Hand
Originally uploaded by lowjumpingfrog

When was the last time you wrote the "old-fashioned" way - pen and paper - for three hours straight?

Think about that last big report, academic paper, or letter that you wrote, and it's likely that it all happened on a keyboard and screen, not on paper. And the younger you are, the less likely you hand-write much these days - except for exams! We still expect our students to do something very unnatural when it comes time to sit an exam - up to three hours of handwriting. But that looks like changing...

The NSW Board of Studies has indicated that, by 2012, computers will be used in exams. This gives us three years to work out some of the complex issues that are inevitable with such a change - cheating, collusion, and invigilation to name a few.

So, is this a good idea, or do you mourn the loss of an important skill - the ability to use a traditional writing implement? What do you think?