Comments on: Comments on ETS Talk #28: The Digital Commons

By: dnorman

dnorman — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:45:10 +0000

@Allan – I’ve listened to the Hot Teams podcast, of course. Remember, I’m an ETS Talks fanboy I was meaning more along the lines of logistics for participating remotely. You folks are all in one place, I’m a little northwest of there. Lots of iChatAV? Skype? Google Docs? etc… No worries. I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Thanks!

By: Allan

Allan — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:02:49 +0000

Hey D’Arcy. I’m going to be running the Pligg hot team, starting when I get back from vacation next week. What we typically do is get a group of four to six people who have a variety of backgrounds — faculty, techies, designers, librarians, etc… based on the type of tool. Then we meet a few times over the course of a month and the end result is a one-page white paper that describes the underlying technology, educational applications, licensing issues, a few use cases, and how to get started. Lately, we’ve been using Google Docs to gather the information from various team members in a collaborative manner. We have an old ETS Talk about Hot Teams if you’d like to hear more.

By: dnorman

dnorman — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 02:18:12 +0000

@Chris (and @Cole, and @Alan, and @Brad) – of course I’d love to be on the pligg hot team! I just listened to ETS Talk #29 this afternoon – sorry for the delay! Just lemme know what I need to do. Do we divvy up roles for the hot team? assign tasks for reviews/writeup? How does it work?

By: Cole

Cole — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:12:05 +0000

And, BTW … it is all in good fun. We would LOVE to have you participate on a Hot Team!

By: Cole

Cole — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:49:26 +0000

Number 29 is available … we respond to some of the comments above and invite you into a Hot Team! Jump over and let me know what you think … http://podcasts.psu.edu/ets_talk_29

By: dnorman

dnorman — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:35:22 +0000

Chris, thanks for the update. I’m really interested in the idea of providing high-end production gear for students to use. HD cameras. Lighting. Professional editing software. Even cooler is the provision of professionals to support and instruct the students. That’s awesome. Without that, you’d be hoping that staff members could learn the apps in enough depth and in relevant contexts to be able to teach students how to actually do stuff. Having in-the-field pros helping out should be great! I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with!

The scary thing is that even with 1,000 seats in the labs, there’s an 85:1 ratio of students to workstations. Will that need to scale up even more?

I really need to save up some AirMiles to come visit, and see how it all works out.

By: ETS Talk 28: The Digital Commons at Education Technology Services

ETS Talk 28: The Digital Commons at Education Technology Services — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:11:10 +0000

[...] doesn’t make much sense, but just getting the show out the door is a lot of work. Thanks to D’Arcy Norman for reminding us and for the post! We’ll have answers for you in Number 29 — maybe [...]

By: Chris Millet

Chris Millet — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:04:54 +0000

Actually the software in the Digital Commons studios is probably the least significant aspect of the project. The software on the DC machines is the standard Penn State build. Students can use Final Cut Pro (and many other pro apps they could never afford), on any of a thousand public lab machines in 20 or so labs on campus. You really have to look at the total package to understand why Digital Commons is compelling. The facilities are top-of-the-line – HD video cameras, pro lighting, green screens, etc., but we’re making these things very accessible to everyone that wants to use it. The support that this program is providing faculty, staff, and students is excellent. We’re hiring industry professionals to travel around the PSU system (20 campuses) to directly work with this audience not only understand how to use the equipment and software, but how to effectively integrate digital media in their teaching and learning. As we get up and running, the website will offer lesson plans and templates, sample materials, basically everything a teacher or student would need to get prepared and inspired to express themselves creatively in any subject. The website will also support a community where people care share teaching experiences and outcomes. The “commons” idea is very important in an institution with 85,000+ students – everyone has an equal opportunity to learn, create, and share because they all have access to identical facilities, the community, and platforms for blogging, podcasting, streaming, etc. Digital Commons is really the hub for all this activity.

I hope that gives you a good idea of the bigger picture and the value of what we’re doing. I’d love to chat more about this though!

By: Ernesto Schuetz

Ernesto Schuetz — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:11:40 +0000

I Love my iphone