Personal Blogs

Hi All,

I just read the OER article which had a lot of new information for me. I am aware of open educational resources or open source software but haven't thought about legal implications.
I can see advantages for different users like cutting down on costs (Open Office), using open source as a learning tool for IT students, integrate this in web 2.0 applications and so on. However,  I always ask myself the question if the quality is just as good as commercial software. I do have a lot of commercial resources in my class and have to admit that all of it is pretty expensive. I often experience that I would like to change certain parts in the applications but I'm not able to because of restrictions. Maybe someone else has other experiences?

Am looking forward though to the next activity in where we have to explore OER. See if it can take away my doubts.

Activity 3&4 were aquite interesting to me. I developed some skills about software and resources which I was not familiar with. I wrote some notes about the different applications and resources I used, mainly to reflect my own thoughts.

Using Delicious
I have opened up my delicious account since I had to read the O’Reilly Article in week 5 and have used it for a couple of weeks now. I do like the fact that delicious offers an online bookmark solution. I wasn’t familiar with it; it was quite new to me.
I had to get used to the tags though. In Internet Explorer I had all my favourites organized neatly in folders and in Delicious my favourites are organized by Tags. The side menu is a cool little invention and when synchronized with the main software it gives you a good overview of your favourites.

Using the OU Library
I have tagged a couple of interesting papers in Delicious and tagged them with H800_Block2_2009.  OU Library was often very slow, probably due to the amount of users at around 20:00 hrs.

I am very impressed by the amount of articles one can find in the OU library, it is all new to me and I find it very interesting. Activity 4a and 4b helped me using the OU Library although it clearly speaks for itself as well. I got a bit side tracked by the enormous amount of articles and read a couple of interesting articles.

Using Safari
Safari is a software applications which I’m not familiar with. I advise people like me to follow the tutorial as it helped me using it. I found the bit how to use databases very helpful. I have done a crash course in the past and it freshened up some information that was already been buried deep deep in the subconscious.

I have not done all the activities in the tutorial because it takes quite a lot of time, which I had not at the moment. I did the WWW part and again dug up some information in my brain that was  buried a long time ago.  I would say that I find Safari quite helpful in this stage of my study.

Using the Flash Tutorials

Using the Flash tutorials is quite useful. You have to invest a bit of time though as some tutorials lasts approximately 90 minutes. I have watched the introduction of using IEEE Xplore and the strategies for successful searches. Including the little activities it took me a over an hour. Very helpful information.

Hello All,

Here are my thoughts about the article. I have enjoyed reading it. I am not a big fan of Wikipedia, a kind of personal thing. I do like the idea though of having an online open source encyclopedia with contributions from a community. The fact that information is editable by everyone might be a good idea, but I sometimes wonder if that effects the quality and the reliability of the information. 

1. Is there anything new for you in the article?
   Yes there is. I have only used Wikipedia for looking up quick information; who was Berlage, what has he built etc. I haven’t edited anything in Wikipedia (yet).  The Wikipedia bullies caught my attention: people who try to delete or alter articles on purpose. I knew it was an open source application but I didn’t know that editing an article was that easy and that it became a kind of sport for some to delete or destroy it. I have come across many interesting articles and many interesting links, but if it’s that easy to get rid of the article it becomes less reliable for me.
2. Does it make you more or less likely to consult Wikipedia, or does it make no difference?
   I don’t consult Wikipedia as my main resource. I have other resources. However for quick information I sometimes use it. The fact that an article might be altered or might not be correct often puts me off.
3. If you have used Wikipedia in the past few weeks – whether for H800 or for other reasons – review your use of it.
   I hardly used Wikipedia for H800 or other reasons. When I did, I used it for factual research: I had to look up some famous Dutch Architects and wanted to know where and when they were born. I mostly used the search button and typed in what information I needed. For example: I needed to know something about the Rietveld Schröder house in Utrecht, the Netherlands. I used the search field and read through the results. Most of the time I had an immediate hit. I also used the links written in the article for more information about the architect. I often verify the information I have found, just to be sure.
4. Where have you found it most and least valuable? I have found it most usable for verifiable factual information; factual research. I haven’t edited anything yet; don’t feel the need to do that at the moment. I find it least valuable for professional content. Although I have to be fair to say that I hardly used Wikipedia so it is hard to criticise or judge.
5. Are there certain types of topic that you feel happy looking up in Wikipedia? For example, do you consult it for factual information such as names and dates, and/or explanations of technologies, and/or insights into broad topics such as ‘learning’?
   I mainly use it for factual information. Factual information I can verify if necessary.
6. Why is a Wikipedia entry not generally regarded as acceptable as a reference in an academic journal?
   I think because it’s an open source and anyone can just edit information. If I’m looking for information and someone can edit it or vandalise it, how can I be sure the information is correct?
7. For one view on this, you could search on ‘citing Wikipedia’ within Wikipedia itself! And if you are involved in supporting learners in some capacity – interpreting ‘support’ very broadly to include professional and personal contexts – what advice would you give them about how they could use Wikipedia?
   I would advice them to look up factual information and try to verify it with other resources. I have often experienced that my students came up with three different answers for the same factual question. One looked it up in Wikipedia, another on a regular search engine and another one on an online encyclopedia like Encarta (after research it appeared that the Encarta information was correct.)
8. How does your use of Wikipedia compare with, say, your use of Google or GoogleScholar? You may like to think back to your tutor group discussion of the graph in Week 1a
   Activity 4.
   I find Google often leads me to more authentic or more varied resources e.g. information that comes from reliable sources like educational libraries, research articles etc. Information that cannot be edited.
9. And if you haven’t used Wikipedia recently, think about why that is. Are you using other online sources, or books, or…?
   I use other online resources (but still have to double check it) and in class I still use teacher handbooks or other paper resources. I use other resources because I have found them to be more reliable and more authentic than Wikipedia is.

Cheers,

Eugene

Hello All,  I have set up my Blog with my new computer, hooray! Had a major crash last week, apparently one shouldn't tune one's own computer and try to make it faster. Anyway, I hadn't backed up my files and almost lost everything, including all my OU files and docs. Hooked up my HDD to another computer and managed to save all my data. Anyway, I hope everyone had a nice easter. I did and enjoyed some Cadburry's chocolate eggs. I am looking forward working on Blogs this week.