Email and Prof/Student Relationships

An interesting little article from the NY Times about the shift in the relationship between professors and students now that email is used abundantly is posted here.

the Indian Coconut Development Board

A little something I find funny: India has a Coconut Development Board. Hum.

I have been working on my paper. It is going smoothly. I found the UNESCO website to be helpful, with statistics on every country in the world, here. Also, the Indira Gandhi National Open University website offers a very interesting hint about culture, the more if you compare it to the British Open University website. Different target populations, different communication and advertising cultures... it is fascinating.

Finally, a random statistics that I won't use in my paper, but that I certainly think is interesting: in some countries, the financial resources necessary to put a single student in a traditional university setting are the equivalent of putting 60 children in elementary school. Thus the appeal of distance education. The paperless education ideal... Interesting...

une petite synthèse...

... de mon travail, ou plutôt de ce qu'il en est en ce moment, est affichée sur histoirelise en français.

Sur la photo: comptez combien de jeunes portent des tuques Nike... eurk.

brief survey of the literature

I contacted Ms. Kennedy re: my topic, and she thinks it makes sense to talk about distance education in India. I think I will emphasize the differences in the local Indian discourse pre- and post- Internet. Is the Internet seen as a panacea by Indian scholars of distance higher education?

I started my research, found a few books Thursday, and am now at Robarts with a bunch of them, which I think are interesting. Here, a quick list of the books, their bibliographic info, and a few lines on what they are about.

Pre-1995

Faith, Karlene Ed. (1988) Toward new horizons for women in distance education - International Perspectives, Routledge, New York.
This book is the Western, feminist perspective into distance education. I hope to find the "utopian" vision of the possibilities opened by distance education. This book will also allow me to identify certain gaps in other writers' analyses, in terms of women issues. It includes a case-study of India, written by Indian scholars.

Mohsini, S.R. (1993) History of adult education in India - From literacy to diversified educational programme, Anmol Publications, New Delhi.
This book will be helpful to understand the development of adult and distance education in India, as it tries to underline the rationale behind the implementation of adult education programs. It obviously does not talk about the Internet, but does mention audio-visual media, infrastructure, etc.

Sahoo, P.K. (1993) Higher education at-a-distance, Sanchar Publishing House, New Delhi.
Just like Mohsini's book, this book will be interesting to understand the bases on which distance education were laid. The theme of technology is evaluated.

Post-1995

Daniel, Sir John (1996) Mega-Universities and Knowledge Media - Technology Strategies for Higher Education, Kogan Page, London.
This book was written by a past Vice-Chancellor of the Open University. really early after the Internet became "real". It will be interesting as a forecast of what is coming up next, what is to be expected of the new technological advances.

Manjulika, S. and Reddy, V.V. (1999) Unexplored dimensions of open universities, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi.
The book is a survey of the different open universities projects in the world. It focuses on India. There seems to be very little mention of the Internet, regardless of the fact that it is a book about distance higher education.

Sondhi, M.L. and Tyagi, K.G. Eds. (2001) India in the New Asia-Pacific, Manas Publications, New Delhi.
This book is written by scholars who are wondering about the future of India in a "globalized" world. The whole first part is written about ICTs, and how they should be put to use in India's favour. It focuses on knowledge creation, innovation, scholarship and education. Highly pertinent.

Dikshit, H.P., Garg, Suresh, Panda, Santosh and Vijayshri (2002) Access and equity - Challenges for open and distance learning, Kogan Page India, New Delhi.
The book offers a very nice survey of different issues in distance education as experienced in India. Issues of technology and technological determinism are raised. Very pertinent.

Reddy, V.V. and Manjulika, S. Eds. (2002) Towards virtualization - Open and Distance Learning, Kogan Page India, New Delhi.
The book is a collection of case studies about virtual, dual mode and open universities. A few are written about India. It tries to refocus the attention on ICTs. Seems very pertinent.

Shafi, Zeenat S. and Powar, K.B. Eds. (2002) Networking of universities, research institutions and industry, Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.
This book is a collection of short papers questioning the possibilities and advantages of networking between teh different institutions creating knowledge in the Indian society. One of the studies is about open education. ICTs are not a main feature of the discourse.

Assie-Lumumba, N'Dri T. Ed. (2004) Cyberspace, Distance Learning, and Higher Education in developing countries - Old and emergent issues of access, pedagogy, and knowledge production, Brill, Boston (MA).
Most of the essays in this edited volume are about Africa, but the issues that are raised are very important in my analysis of the Indian case.

Merh-Ashraf, Sushama (2004) Adult education in India - Search for a paradigm, Sunrise Publications, New Delhi.
The book tries to put higher education in the Indian context, and hopes to suggest avenues for broadening the literacy base in India. There is very little talk of distance education, the open universities, and about the role of technologies for education. Strange, given it is a very recent publication.

wikiville

Just a quick note on a project that I find really cool: the WikiVille project. What the project aims to do is to provide a portal where school-aged children around the world can come and share their perception of their city, region, country, and discuss what life is about over there.

My sister is a pre-service teacher, and I think this could be something interesting for her to do in her classroom. Wikis are easy to manage, co-edited, and a good first attempt at contributing to the global commons of the WWW. Best, edited essays by students can be put online, as a good introduction to "life in Wikiville."

We had a wiki project in HIS 389 in first year (spring 2003, with Matt Price), and I loved it (Jeremy told me Friday that he did too). I'll certainly send the link to my computer-enthusiastic friends. ;)

bloggin' your brains out in higher ed

Blogs and higher education? First, a few lines about my own teaching experience of blogging at a high school in Québec.
Second, comments on blogs in higher education. Then, general comments on the significance of the study of blogs in a sociology of the internet class. I could write a 50-pages essay on this... I'll try to be succinct. (I said TRY.)

PROTIC (click here for their website)

When I was 20, I started a project with high school students in my city, project called "Le Portfolio de A à Z". I went every week to Les Compagnons de Cartier, a large-size high school in Sainte-Foy, and discussed with 15-16 y.o. their life projects, carreer goals, etc. Students had to use a sort of pre-blog technology to track their evolution through the project. They were evaluated both on the process (blog-like traces) and on the final product (a final artefact and a presentation in front of a panel).

Generally, projects were good. For the very strong students, blogging was very useful, allowing them to plan, discuss, get feedback, evolve, and then reflect back on their learning process. For weaker students, though, blogs added to a task that was already overwhelming to them. They were not able to write regularly on it, and found it useless and painstaking. It certainly did not improve their learning experience, but rather increased their frustration with school. Bad news for high school kids.

Higher-Ed Blogs

I have been to a few educational conferences where professors and researchers discussed projects including blog or forum components analysis. Very few were bringing positive results: students were rarely participating at the minimum required level, showed little enthusiasm, and the most vocal students "monopolized" the space (they were either extremely forward or prolific, which shied away the more timid ones).

Education blogs, which display information on educational content, have an altogether different purpose, and consequently very different stories to tell. One of my past employers has one that is very (inter)active, very up-to-date, and quite thought-provoking. There is a fast link to it in the left-side bar (Remolino). I visit and contribute sporadically. My own "histoirelise" blog also discusses issues of education once in a while (I am going to study International Comparative Education next year...). As suggested, I visited http://weblogg-ed.com, and found it very interesting. Clearly, this blog is put together by someone who is really passionate about learning and freeware. I share the enthusiasm, and will visit regularly. I quickly glanced through http://www.educause.edu/, a website to which I will indubitably return to for my paper (it doesn't really look like a blog to me... more an NGO website, no??). I added both it to my webroll.

As for the actual use of blogs in classroom settings, in higher ed. I do think it is a marvellous idea, because:

I am comfortable with the technology;

I am used to doing it, and have used a blog for research planning before;

I love to write, and to have an audience;

They help me clarify my thoughts, share them with others, and get feedback on it.

In this light, the whole blogging experience is totally worth it for me. I appreciate to take the time to write these entries. They force me to think, and express myself in a coherent manner. I understand, however, why some students might be "allergic" to mandatory blogging. My sister, for example, HATES to sit in front of a computer. She LOVES the feel of paper. Therefore she would hate to have to do such a thing as blogging. Blogging IS time consuming. And for many, it is nothing but a drop of water in the ocean. Aren't we, ALREADY, flooded by useless information online? Why yet ANOTHER non-reliable source?

Why bother bloggin' about bloggin'?

Yes! Why bother about blogging at all?

Blogging is a growing phenomenon. From what we have seen in class, the number of blogs has been increasing exponentially since 1999. Youth from all over the world has been bloggin' their way to the net, sharing their lives, beliefs, learning experience. (Note: I include online journals in my definition of blog here...) Blogging is then, clearly, a social phenomenon, just as much as the Internet is.

More importantly, blogs are self-publishing tools that have the possibility to be subversive to mainstream media or (more or less) authoritarian governments (see this article, hinted at on the class blog, and this story from the New York Times about blogging control failures in China, as referenced by http://weblogg-ed.com.) Remember the publication ban on the Gomery report, and how a US blogger made it know to Canadian citizens? They are a new means of letting one express herself about whatever happens to be on her mind, of crucial importance to her, or even of democratic appeal. (Let us remember, however, all the issues of differentiated access to ICTs...)

Ok, Folks. This is WAY enough.
Time for some serious stuff: ODEs! Yessssssssssssss!

je suis "in"

Et oui! Je suis "in".

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Details here.

at the virtual hotel

Interesting stuff, this Habbo hotel? Not really, in my humble opinion. The experience, first, and then some further analysis.

The experience

The visual is impressive, the interface quite easy to use. But the people who hang out there are... bizarre? I had a few encounters. Here is a summary.

The first person I "spoke to" was a man "working" at the counter of the Adidas gym, offering me a great deal: buy a pair of sneakers, get free movie passes. As if I cared. I went on with my quest for a meaningful discussion to talk with a girl, sitting at a table in that same "gym". We started talking about why I was here - a class -, who she was - a 12 grader bored with studying for exams -, and about what to do next. We agreed to visit the MTV space.

That new room was packed... with people who did not want to talk. I was told to "go away" by a really friendly woman "sitting on a couch" with a man. Other people just basically ignored me, or offered to have sex. I decided to go away to the McDonald lunch room (even though I haven't had McDonald's in more than 5 years and just finished reading "Fast Food Nation"), where I found a bunch of people talking incomprehensible jargon:

"...e. l... ..i..e. a..."
"...l.. o..l.. ....e ..p"

I thought this was a very interesting conversation indeed, all the more when it was interrupted by advertising for BigMacs and Diet Cokes, and finally decided to I try to meet my kind - the nerdy type - at the library, where I finally found a guy polite enough to answer my questions. So, I asked: What is this place about? "It is a place to meet with your friends." "You meet your friends here?" "Yes, otherwise this place is packed with weirdos." Thanks, Dude! And sorry if I forget your name. :s

Further Analysis

To me, this place seemed like a new advertising strategy from "hip" companies like McDonalds, Coke, Adidas, and MTV, who want to get special access to teenagers. Otherwise, teens using the website seemed to be close to illiterate, extremely rude, and none of the conversations I could "see" - because I was not able to follow any of them - seemed to have any depth to them.

The credit purchasing business seems really odd to me, probably because I am somewhat of pop-culturally illiterate. Why would anyone buy virtual "furni", or decorate these spaces? Again, yet another way to turn teenagers into consumers.

As a meeting place, it is awkward, unless you go there with a bunch of friends and "pretend" to hang out. I don't understand why, however, one would prefer the habbo setting to any MSN chat - more private, fits more easily on the screen while you are doing something else, allows the use of a digital camera, permits fonts, etc. - or to plain email. You won't see me there ever again: this corporate haven for teens is not my thing.

(Image taken here, on the Habbo Hotel Canada website.)