The Argument for Free Classes via iTunes

The Argument for Free Classes via iTunes
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/the-argument-for-free-classes-via-itunes/
The New York Times Business Innovation Technology Society (Bits) Blog recently featured a piece by Brad Stone about the increasingly popular iTunes U, Apple’s catalog of lectures from colleges and universities around the world. Launched two years ago, there are now 600 schools participating. iTunes U makes more than 250,000 individual classes available to the public. Martin Bean, vice-chancellor of Open University, a distance-learning institution based in Britain, states, “‘There are still a lot of universities in the world that define the value of their experience as somehow locking up their content and only giving people access to the content when they enroll in the program….The courage comes from taking the next leap of faith. Universities no longer define themselves by their content but the overall experience: the concept, the student support, the tutoring and mentoring, the teaching and learning they get and the quality of the assessment.’” Open University has “more than 375,000 downloads a week,” and recently had its 10-millionth download.

NMC and UOC Release Call to Action for Open Education

Mara Hancock, the Director of Educational Technologies at UC Berkeley, was one of 40 international participants at the Open EdTech Summit. The Open EdTech Summit was held in Barcelona, from October 19-20, 2009 and was sponsored by the Open University of Catalunya and the New Media Consortium (NMC). “During the small group breakouts, summit attendees generated fifty action items that could be taken right now to help realize the goal of creating an institution truly responsive to the needs of students in the 21st Century.” The summit concluded with  the release of  OET communiqué: Create the University of the Future, which is a call to action for open education. This call to action lists the following  ”major tasks that are perceived as critical to achieving open education:”

1. We must encourage the reuse and remixing of rich media.

2. We must embrace the full promise of mobile devices as learning platforms.

3. We must award credentials based on learning outcomes.

4. We must enable a culture of sharing.

5. We must take care that open resources include the context that will enable its use and understanding.

OKAPI Island News

Over the past two years, OKAPI Island in Second Life has supported the research, teaching, and learning of dozens of scholars. OKAPI Island has also hosted numerous public programs and outreach activities. This post highlights key accomplishments and updates.

Awards
2007 Open Archaeology Prize
2008 NMC Virtual Learning Award

Public Programs
Burning Catalhoyuk Day. December 10, 2008
Presidio Teacher Night. October 1, 2008
iSummit Keynote Webcasts. July 30-31, 2008
Cal Day. April 8, 2008
Remixing Catalhoyuk Day. November 28, 2007

Second Life DeCal Courses
http://www.decal.org/784 (Fall 2008)
http://www.decal.org/930 (Spring 2009)

Anthropology 39B: Serious Games for Archaeology and Imagining the Past (Fall 2009)
http://anthropology.berkeley.edu/programs/courses/course_details.php?id=313

Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (offered for the fourth consecutive semester)
Sharing a Sense of Place: Constructing a Neolithic Village in Second Life
http://research.berkeley.edu/urap/projects/detail.lasso?-Search=Action&-Table=pub_details&-Database=urap_web&-KeyValue=508

Interview: “Second Life as an Archaeological Tool”
An Interview with Berkeley Archaeology Professor Ruth Tringham
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. June 18, 2009.
http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/second-life-as-an-archaeological-tool/

Journal Article
Morgan, Colleen. “(Re)Building Çatalhöyük: Changing Virtual Reality in Archaeology” Archaeologies. July 2009.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/k254u1q4tt357918

More Info
http://okapi.wordpress.com/projects/okapi-island-in-second-life/

Machinima
“Basket Weaving at Catalhoyuk” by Colleen Morgan
more:  http://middlesavagery.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/basket-weaving-at-catalhoyuk/

Globally Engaged, Digitally Enabled

Noah Wittman and Rick Jaffe to lead Social Media and Networking session from 1:15 to 3:30 pm on Thursday, June 9, at the New Media Consoritum conference in Monterey, California.

Title: Globally Engaged, Digitally Enabled:  Harnessing Web-based technologies for Service Learning and Scholarly Networking

Session Description:  How can new web-based technologies be leveraged to support learning, collaboration and scholarly networking? The presenters team with students and practitioners in the Global Poverty and Practice minor at the University of California, Berkeley to provide an online environment that goes beyond traditional learning management systems. As the minor reinvents the classroom in a globally connected society, this project explores the possibilities of the emerging network form for engaged scholarship among educators and students.

Conference Website:
http://www.nmc.org/node/6356

More Info About Project:
http://okapi.wordpress.com/projects/blum-social-networking-platform/

New Collaboration with Blum Center for Developing Economies

We are working the the Blum Center for Developing Economies to develop  a web-based platform for reflective learning, project collaboration, and social networking for scholars and practitioners associated with the Global Poverty and Practice (GPP) minor at the University of California, Berkeley.  The goal of our platform is to enhance and extend the reach and impact of the GPP curriculum by providing a student-empowering online environment more closely fitted to the needs of the minor than the traditional top-down, instructor-centered learning management system.

The GPP minor is transforming undergraduate curriculum to support service learning, social entrepreneurship, and most importantly, the opportunity for learners to creatively and critically reflect upon their experience.  Students in the program engage with global poverty through hands-on projects in developing regions of the world and in their local communities.  The GPP Minor’s approach helps students better understand their place in the world, their role as global citizens, and the contribution they can make in grappling with poverty and inequalities whether they become development practitioners, lawyers, architects or engineers.

Implemented using free and open-source software, our platform provides student portfolio tools and a social networking and communications hub that stays with the students as they progress through their undergraduate education and out into the world.  Features include Facebook-like social networking, blogs and wiki-like writing tools, file storage and sharing, discussion and messaging channels, and access to personal collections and communications maintained on web-based services (e.g., YouTube, Flickr, Twitter) across the Internet.  Mzuri connects students with an interactive network of peers, mentors, and colleagues essential to supporting their development and reflection.  It creates an intellectual commons for continued connection after graduation, which will allow alumni to serve as mentors to the students who succeed them in the minor.

The GPP minor is reinventing the classroom in an increasingly globally networked society.  Our platform explores, with educators and students, both the limits and possibilities of the emerging network form for engaged scholarship.  Our platform addresses not just the technological but the social, cultural, pedagogical and political dimensions of this transformation; it represents not just a one-time tool development effort but a commitment to fostering and sustaining a community of scholars and practitioners.

Link to Working Prototype:
http://gppminor.dreamhosters.com/hub/

Project Website:
http://okapi.wordpress.com/projects/blum-social-networking-platform/

Burning Çatalhöyük

Burning Çatalhöyük: A Virtual Public Archaeology Event hosted by UC Berkeley Students and Faculty
2PM-4:30PM Pacific Standard Time (10PM-12:30AM GMT or Universal Time)
December 10, 2008
Location: Okapi Island
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Okapi/128/128/0
(You must have the free Second Life browser)

Join us for Burning Çatalhöyük, a project developed by OKAPI, the Berkeley Archaeologists at Çatalhöyük, and the UC Berkeley DeCal program. Çatalhöyük on OKAPI Island, in development since 2006, is an exploration of the past and present of a 9,000 year old site located in present-day Turkey.  In this demonstration we intend to burn the existing models down in order to better understand the use of fire in Neolithic settlements.  In consultation with fire experts Karl Harrison and Ruth Tringham, and architecture expert Burcu Tung, a team of undergraduate apprentices have replicated the burning sequence of Building 77, a structure excavated in the summer of 2008.  OKAPI island also hosts reproductions of modern developments present at the site, including a water tower, Sadrettin’s café, the Chicken Shed and the nightly bonfire.

Remixing Activities:

(2-2:15)
Guided Tour of OKAPI Island by Ruth Tringham, (Professor of Anthropology, UC Berkeley, and Principal Investigator of Berkeley Archaeologists at Çatalhöyük) and the Remixing Çatalhöyük team.
(2:15-2:30)
Niema Razavian will introduce the work that the Fall 2008 Decal class has done on the island, and how this fits in with a broader UC Berkeley education.
(2:30-2:45)
Roland Saekow will demonstrate his teleportation system, to guide new visitors around the island.
(2:45-3:00)
Kira O’Connor will show the site datum she has constructed, and talk about how datums are used at archaeological sites in general.
(3:00-3:15)
Clark-Rossi Flores-Beyer will demonstrate the skeleton model he has managed to manipulate into a crouch position, in accordance with how people were buried at Çatalhöyük.  He will briefly discuss burial practices in the settlement.
(3:15-3:45)
Garrett Wagner and Raechal Perez will discuss their own reproductions of the interiors at Çatalhöyük, and how they decided to configure the space on their own.
(3:45-4:00)
Colleen Morgan (UC Berkeley PhD Candidate, excavator at Çatalhöyük) will wrap-up the program with a discussion of why virtual reconstructions of archaeological sites are important, and what Second Life can do to increase our understanding of the past.

What is Second Life?
Second Life is a 3-D virtual world created entirely by its residents. Okapi Island is owned and build by the OKAPI team (that’s us below!) and the Berkeley Archaeologists at Catalhoyuk.

Getting Started
To visit Okapi Island, you will need to create a user account and download the client software–both free.

To create an account, visit www.secondlife.com, click on Join (in the upper right corner) and follow the instructions. Note: You do not need a premium account to use Second Life or visit Okapi Island.

Next, download and install the Second Life client for your computer:
http://secondlife.com/community/downloads.php

Launch the Second Life client and enter your password. You will likely begin in Orientation Island. To visit Okapi Island, click Map, enter “Okapi” in search field and click Search. Alternatively, you can click on the following slurl (second life url) in your browser, and you will be transported there:

SLURL:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Okapi/128/128/0

Student Course Wins Virtual Learning Prize from New Media Consortium

The New Media Consortium recently selected a UC Berkeley student-run class for the 2008 Virtual Learning Prize (US$5000). Designed and run by undergraduate students as part of the Program for Democratic Education at Cal (DeCal), this Fall 2008 course will explore the use of 3d virtual environments  for representing ongoing archaeological investigations. Students will examine questions about real, virtual and imaginary worlds as they learn about Catalhoyuk, a 9000-year-old Neolithic site, located in present-day Turkey. The class will have access to archaeological research data and an international team of scholars led by Berkeley Anthropology professor Ruth Tringham. 
 

This class builds upon several semesters of work by students, faculty, and staff to construct virtual models and public archaeology programs on Okapi Island in Second Life.  Co-managed by Open Knowledge and the Public Interest (OKAPI) and the Berkeley Department of Anthropology, Okapi Island offers 65,000 square meters of virtual real estate for exploring new forms of research, education and public outreach.   
 

DeCal Course Information:

http://www.decal.org/784

Visit Okapi Island:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Okapi/128/128/0

About Okapi Island:

http://okapi.wordpress.com/projects/okapi-island-in-second-life/    

Student Lead: Niema Razavian, nrazavian[at]berkeley.edu
Faculty Sponsor: Ruth Tringham, Department of Anthropology, tringham[at]berkeley.edu
Technical Advisor: Noah Wittman, Open Knowledge and the Public Interest, wittman[at]berkeley.edu

Remixing El Presidio Open House

Please join us on Friday, June 13th at 11:00AM for an open house at the El Presidio of San Francisco.  We will demonstrate the digital interpretive trail created by the University of California, Berkeley class, Digital Documentation and Representation in Archaeology.  We will be walking around the footprint of the 1790 fort and visiting El Polin Springs, home of the famous Juana Briones.  Come and experience San Francisco history at this unique technological event.

When: 11:00 AM

Where: The Officers’ Club at the San Francisco Presidio, 50 Moraga Avenue

More Info

Summer Course: Digital Documentation and Representation of Cultural Heritage

Anthropology 136e

Digital (New Media) Documentation and Representation of Cultural Heritage: Field School-San Francisco Presidio
Instructors: Professor Ruth Tringham, (Anthropology) and Dr. Michael Ashley, (Architect of Media Vault Program and Manager of New Program Development, Office of the Chief Information Officer) 
CCN: 12115
Location: San Francisco Presidio
Maximum number of students: 25

The idea of this field-school has developed as a result of both the design charrette held in August 2007 by the archaeologists of the Presidio Trust to plan their research and public programs of the El Presidio (Spanish and Mexican) fort and the Presidio Trusts new plan for the Main Post including the Anza Esplanade. In addition the UCB Dept of Anthropology is currently administering and sponsoring a large private grant (Shaw Foundation), which includes funding for the new Coordinator of Public Programs for the El Presidio (Levantar) project at the SF Presidio. Finally, during the last two years Dr. Ashley and Professor Ruth Tringham have successfully taught summer session classes at the SF Presidio (Anthropology 136i and Anthropology 136e), establishing a small multimedia center as part of the Presidio Archaeology Lab and thus making contributions to their digital resources. The Presidio archaeologists are very keen for us to continue this educational program.

The course will be on “New Media and Cultural Heritage” and will focus on the real world challenge of creating interpretive walks and other installations for the public that involve wireless technology, digital geomapping, storytelling etc, globally and, specifically, at the El Presidio fort and the de Anza trail (the Levantar Project), which is the current focus of research of the Archaeology Group at the SF Presidio. The course will involve the design, field trial, and documentation of these different formats of representation of cultural heritage places. The aim is to seek alternatives to permanent markers of information about places, leveraging different forms of digital media. The course will take advantage of the many specialists in these technologies in the Bay Area with whom we have contact and who have offered to contribute their help to the course (CyArk, Cultural Heritage Imaging and others). It will also build on our own research in the Remediated Places project at Catalhöyük and the SF Presidio.

Students will participate in all parts of the process of creating these installations, from initial research, through design, development and production. Coursework will include:

• Critical assessment of New Media technologies that are used or potentially useful for the documentation and representation of cultural heritage places, including interpretive walks.
• The development of content for such interpretive walks at El Presidio.
• Each student will be expected to complete a collaborative team project led by one of the instructional team comprising the production of an interpretive walk and its full and detailed digital documentation.

Cal Day (April 12): Bridging Real, Imaginary and Virtual Worlds

A Public Archaeology Program produced by OKAPI and the Berkeley Archaeologists at Catalhoyuk
12-3pm Pacific Time (8-11 pm GMT)

April 12, 2007

Locations

Archaeological Research Facility: http://arf.berkeley.edu/
Okapi Island in Second Life: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Okapi/

Program
12pm – 12:45 Lecture: “Bridging the gap between Real, Imagined and Virtual at the 9000-year old archaeological site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey” by Ruth Tringham, Professor of Anthropology, UC Berkeley, and Principal Investigator of the Berkeley Archaeologists at Catalhoyuk
Room 108, Archaeological Research Facility (Webcast live in Okapi Island)
1pm – 3pm “Immersive 3D Visit to Catalhoyuk”
Visitors to the Archaeology Research Facillity will be guided by life-sized avatars (Cal faculty, students & staff) on a virtual tour of Catalhoyuk. Virtual visitors can join the tour as well.