applications learning management system links open source QizBox social: education Engagement gamification Online Learning qizbox Social Learning Environment Software Development
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Published Work: “Gamification in a Social Learning Environment”
“Gamification in a Social Learning Environment”
Published in Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology Volume 10, 2013,
Co-Author with David Giannetto and Joseph Chao
Gamification has gained traction in recent years as an effective way of engaging users to perform actions in contexts that would otherwise be considered tedious and undesirable. Education is an area in which user engagement could have the greatest impact on success, with some advantages for students being improved grades or better comprehension. The authors of this paper have designed and implemented a three part system for gamifying a social learning environment designed for use in higher educ ation lecture classrooms. Our goal in doing so is to foster greater user engagement from the students using the system and thereby promote an environment better suited for active learning.
Apple communication FaceTime hardware interface iOS iPad links Messages mobile: apple camera facetime iPad ipad 3 ipad3 messages sxsw
by Anthony
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Predictions for iPad 3
Here are a few of my predictions for the upcoming iPad 3:
- It will debut on March 7th in Austin, TX at SXSW and I’LL BE THERE!
- A thicker iPad makes no sense! I can’t believe the rumors. Thinner!
- Better Cameras – front and back
- FaceTime Messages – with the new release of Messages for OSX, I think Apple has to realize the potential for FaceTime Messages. You can already send videos in Messages on iOS but it isn’t branded as FaceTime. And if you call someone on FaceTime and they don’t answer… There’s no way to leave a FaceTime message. This is bound to change and it looks like there’s no better time than with the release of iPad 3.
blogs elearing links multichronic_classroom social networking Twitter web2.0: education higher education professionals social networking students twitter twitter lists web 2.0
by Anthony
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Twitter for Students
I was thinking about compiling a list of possible use case scenarios for Twitter in education and found some great links that already do that:
There’s one top tip I couldn’t agree with more:
Track a professional: If you’re interested in pursuing a particular career and want to learn more about a certain leader in that field, you can “follow” a professional’s tweets.
For lists of the Tweeters I follow in specific fields, visit:
http://twitter.com/#!/anthonyfontana/lists
I am always willing to find new folks to follow in each of those fields as well. So send any suggestions to @anthonyfontana or comment below.
browser communication links social social networking Twitter: delicious internet tools ling aggregation rss social bookmarking social media twitter
by Anthony
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Twitter tastes Delicious
Yahoo recently announced it was shutting down or selling Delicious. Delicious.com is a social bookmarking tool bought by Yahoo in 2005. Delicious says it will stay open.
I say Twitter should buy Delicious. Talk about a powerhouse combo! So many people use Twitter to aggregate and pass links, often times never saved or seen again (just like the tweets themselves). But wouldn’t it be great if every link you ever tweeted was automatically bookmarked and stored for you? What if every posted by everyone you ever follow was stored too?
What’s even greater is that Delicious does tags (folksonomy), something long missing from Twitter. Could Twitter put that tag system to use, not only for links, but to get rid of this silly hashtag stop-gap measure and get down and dirty with some real taxonomicial mojo?
A few years ago, links were the currency of the web: traded, saved, and stored. Very few of us keep detailed records of links, unless doing research or a paper or something. If we did keep track, we had a myriad of resources to choose from: blogs, wikis, and RSS through sites like Delicious. Today however, we’re still passing links every day, but with Twitter as our aggregator. Where Digg.com succeeded over Delicious was in its community. Where Twitter succeeded over Digg.com was… in its community (and respect for community). Where Twitter fails is in its storage and search for past links and other metadata, i.e. who passed it to who and how.
Twitter is growing up fast and has made only one big purchase: Tweetie, the best Twitter iPhone app at that time. In doing so, it strangled the market for Twitter apps and put a solid stamp on its mobile product. By buying Delicious, Twitter could do the same for the short URL, which was developed entirely on the premise that most links take up too much of the 140 character limit. There are security concerns with such links and where they might land. Giants like Google have stepped into the foray with http://goo.gl/ and Delicious uses http://icio.us. But services like http://bit.ly/ and http://tinyurl.com/ seem to be ruling the day. But for how long? By buying Delicious, Twitter could shore up the shortened URL market and with deeper integration and tools then they currently use now.
#artfail art exhibition links: #artfail #sculpturefail ann arbor art exhibition funny sculpture the gallery project thegalleryproject
by Anthony
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#sculpturefail in Ann Arbor – A Review
My work was recently reviewed by Mark Adams of MadeWithPassion.com:
I can imagine the artist trying to come up with the most absurd piece of modern sculpture to fit the name, finally settling on just grabbing a bunch of unsharpened pencils into a bundle, letting go, and thinking, “Art, lolz.”
Finally, someone who gets me.
The work is on exhibit from Oct. 20th – Nov. 28th at The Gallery Project in Ann Arbor, MI.
Photo courtesy of Mark Adams.
http://www.madewithpassion.com/whats-so-funny-2/
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Synthetic worlds – real community, real money
Synthetic worlds – real community, real money
Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality will be published shortly by Palgrave Macmillan.
“The membrane is allowing not only economic factors to seep through, but social and cultural ones as well. People all over the world are connecting in new ways through the technology moving from a calculation model to one of communication. Our children will grow up knowing people in Africa, Asia and Europe and see it as the norm. They will lose sight of geographical distance and explore cultures and people my grandfather had no chance of meeting. The new world offers limitless expanses of both digital and analog connection and understanding, and brings the world closer together. New social connections can overcome geography, culture, and sometimes even language. Most companies find a team of 25 unruly on a project, but in WoW guilds take part in raids every night creating a sense of group connection and goal achievement. The identities that form in these communities allow people to explore and play with their own identities. The world might not recognize your leadership skills, but you can learn and mature them in a virtual world and then apply them to the real world. All this can create a close, strong bond of friendship and community.”
I think it’s about time that the media began to also cite the usefulness of virtual worlds, besides the usual hype and sensationalism (thanks Mark!).
