Syndicating Learning Objects with RSS and Trackback

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Syndicating Learning Objects with RSS and
Trackback

• Alan Levine
• (Maricopa Community Colleges)
• Brian Lamb
• (University of British Columbia)
• DArcy Norman
• (University of Calgary, CAREO)

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orwhat happens when 3 guys, 2 countries, xml,
3 weblogs, iChat, a wiki, and the rest of the
internet all connect up?
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Explaining RSS is like explaining sex. You just
don't get it until you do it.

• -- George Siemens, elearnspace blog

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Lets bypass meta-data, schema, acronym soup and
followA Scenario of Two Teachers who take an
interest in using learning objects
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Meet Lora, Geology faculty

• Her favorite place to teach is in the field
• But she believes in the power of multimedia to
  teach difficult concepts

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Lora starts to find learning objects by searching
CAREO
CAREO
CAREO search on Geology rocks
Sample Video object from CAREO
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Nigel Linda, tech-savvy students, help locate
educational technology sites with RSS feeds
EduBloggers
Stephen Downes Edu_RSS
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RSS? Simplest of Meta-Data
What is RSS?
Pick an Acronym
Killer App for Education?
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A desktop RSS aggregator brings many sources to
Lora
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Nigel helps Lora create a weblog for learning
objects in Geology
Loras Geology Objects blog
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A great oracle shines the light on RSS and
learning objects
Stephens Web
Intro to RSS for Education Designers
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Linda helps Lora add RSS feeds from LO sites to
weblog
Feeds from LO sites at Maricopa, HUMBUL, CAREO,
MERLOT
Loras Geology Objects blog
Other RSS from NYTimes, About.com, Nature,
ITPapers
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Armed with RSS, Lora adds feeds to her WebCT
course material
Displaying RSS Feeds in WebCT
How to Get a News Feeds into your WebCT Course
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Meanwhile just across campus, another faculty
member is interested in using learning objects
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Meet Boris, Humanities Professor
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On the Humanities-L listserv, Boris reads about
learning objects
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Tina, his technologist, helps him understand RSS
and Learning Objects
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At his desktop, Boris gets RSS feeds from
collections with content in the humanities
RSS Readers (Abbe Normal)
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Boris creates a weblog on learning objects in the
humanities
Boris object humanities blog
Feeds from Maricopa, HUMBUL, CAREO, MERLOT,
About.com
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Putting Amazon.com RSS feed into Blackboard
Boris blogs on RSS and Amazon.com
RSS To JavaScript demo
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Lora needs a tool for explaining correlation in
sedimentology lab
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Lora discovers a useful correlation tool in the
MLX.
Maricopa Learning eXchange
Correlation Meter MLX packing slip
Correlation Meter object
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Lora's blog describes context for her use of this
object, sends Trackback to MLX
Loras blogs correlation meter
How Trackback works
Beginners Guide to Trackback
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Lora downloads the object and uses it in her own
lesson
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Boris ponders how he can help students understand
correlation coefficient in research journals
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Boris discovers the same MLX object that Lora has
found
Correlation Meter MLX packing slip
Correlation Meter object
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Object is used in new context
Draft Activity in Boris weblog
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With blog tools he writes about the found object
(MT pings the MLX)
Correlation Meter MLX packing slip
Boris blogs the object
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The Object can TrackBack to different contexts
Correlation Meter MLX packing slip
Correlation Meter Trackback
About MLX Trackback
MLX Trackack Summary
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The Missing Last (huge) Mile

• We have collections of objects
• We have RSS to help in discovery
• We have weblogs for writing contexts
• What is missing?
• Intuitive authoring tools to transfer LOs from
  collections to instructional environments (and
  that could ping back their new usage)

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The events and characters depicted in this
scenario are fictitious. Any similarity to actual
persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No faculty members were harmed in the
production of this presentation.
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Credits!

• Boris.. John Arle, Biology Faculty, (Maricopa
  Community Colleges)
• Lora.. Michelle Lamberson, Director, Office of
  Learning Technologies (University of British
  Columbia)
• Tina Technologist.. Tina Emmons, Admin Assistant
  (Maricopa Community Colleges)
• Students Nigel Linda.. Geoff Horner
  Catherine Paul (University of British Columbia)

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More Stuff

• Whats the Fuss about RSS? (wiki)
• http//a-mtype.apsc.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?TheFuss
  
• CogDogBlog (Alan Levine weblog)
• http//jade.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/alan/
• Learning Commons Weblog (DArcy Norman weblog)
• http//commons.ucalgary.ca/weblogs/dnorman/
• Object Learning (Brian Lamb weblog)
• http//www.reusability.org/blogs/brian/