From my personal perspective: Online courses (and online components of courses) evolved as a delivery system over several generations, moving from mail (snail mail) correspondence schools, to audio cassette lectures, to courses on video, etc. - and to more sophisticated package systems that allow multiple interactions with a student working in an online environment. The earliest models fit very nicely into a traditional, assembly line system system where an individual progressed at a pre-determined pace with a structured start and end point. Unfortunately, the assembly line model for both K-12 and higher-ed are showing cracks around the edges as a system needing a serious overhaul.

The following quote provides a great summary of Dr. Batson's direction for a new era of digital interaction:

Education is about change. Students learn to think like a physicist or an historian over the course of a few years. With digital tools, both faculty and students can gather more evidence of the change. With evidence of change, whole new perspectives open. The most memorable part of a course may be seeing how you yourself have changed during that course.

We now have the luxury of being imaginative in design of assignments. Let’s take this one small step."

Vicki Davis, author-in-chief of The Cool Cat Teacher Blog created this video. I recommend her blog and entrepreneurial spirit to anyone interested in instructional technology.

My favorite quote from the end of this video, "...technology is our friend. Ignorance is our enemy. Instead we should fear more the releasing of millions of ignorant students into the shark infested waters of the Internet. They are but guppies in an ocean full of sharks.

Disclaimer: This post does not imply an endorsement of Accredited Online Universities or the various underlying linked institutions.

In my years (and years) in the classroom, I have witnessed some of the the best and some of the worst examples of learning environments that involve this profession. I have experienced great teachers and value what I gained from them. I have experienced great educators and value what I gained from them as well. Granted, I consider the best of this profession to be great teachers and great educators.

What I believe is missing in this formula is great students.

The video ends with a quote from Socrates, "Education is the kindling of a flame not the filling of a vessel." I would contend that the challenges of today deal with fire-resistant kindling and lidded vessels...great students are not born, they are incubated in environments where a learning lifestyle is encouraged and modeled.

One of my classmates sent me a link to a Macon Telegraph video yesterday. The last of Lanier Senior High School's buildings (now Macon Central ), the old gym and JROTC area, are being demolished. Symbolically, I am fine with the demolition of a facility that was part of Macon's sordid, segregationist past. There is part of me that would have preferred that instead of erasing this old symbol, named for the boy poet of the confederacy (Sydney Lanier), that some historical acknowledgment of the good and bad of that historical era remain in some tangible form. Perhaps, this demolition is part of a healing process. If that is indeed the case, then expunging the old facilities and what they represented is the right thing to do...oh, but the stories those walls could tell.

• She can prescribe a medication that she feels best suited to address an illness and have that decision over-ridden by an insurance company, 'That drug is too expensive, we won't cover that at the same level we cover a (supposedly) generic equivalent'...the patient is forced to trust the company rather than the doctor..and/or pay more
• She runs a risk/threat of higher premiums every time she makes a decision involving surgery...even minor surgery. Every patient pays more, indirectly, for those premiums.
• She pays a full time staff of two whose sole job is to deal with the paperwork and headaches generated by the insurance companies...none of that expense improves the quality of delivvered medical services...and the patient pays for that staff.
• She has patients who have to wait until a new premium cycle begins to re-visit her because of restrictions in insurance coverage...time that can result in worsening conditions, and the patient pays in poorer health
• If a patient wants to pay cash for services, she cannot tell that patient what the costs will be without referring to insurance regulations/requirements/contracts first.
• She plays a constant balancing act with testing labs...too few tests and malpractice liability exposure increases, too many tests and the insurance company may deny/delay claim payments. The patient pays more either way.

In the meantime, if I need to have a physical exam, my doctor tells me that my insurance will cover it and it will only be six months before the earliest possible scheduled appointment...and I count myself 'blessed' to have medical insurance that I can afford.

Disclaimer
Before I describe the characteristics of this subculture, I want to be clear that there are individuals who are seriously engaged with a large number of friends/followers/constituents and 'fans' because of celebrity/organization status, their contributions to 'interesting-ness' within their online communities, or their proven professional status as an expert. I do not consider the majority of these individuals collectors.

The Rationale Behind Connecting/Collecting
Collectors seem to be obsessed with acquiring the most friends/followers or network connections (depending upon the terminology within a particular online site). I know many of these individuals from several years of participation and research within online communities. Their rationale for connecting (their term) varies but tends to follow one of several patterns:

• The individual with the most connections is somehow the best person you should connect to (quantity trumps quality)
• The perception that an individual's ranking (by quantity of connections) equates to brand value within the community (quantity equals name recognition)
• Competitive team power is derived from the size of one's list of connections (my team is bigger than your team)
• Huge following numbers can translate into increased 'sucker-link' traffic to other sites and financial gain (playing the percentages)
• Social Network Gamers who could actually care less about the intended purpose for a site but simply get a thrill by figuring out how to game the highest scores/rankings/numbers.

• On sites like Twitter, collectors will have a skewed ratio of following-followers-posts (high following, low followers, even lower posts).
• Collectors are more likely to post links to blog posts like "How to Get NN,NNN Connections"
• Collectors will frequently post their numeric status within the community
• Collectors know where to find the apps that will automatically follow people and send messages to encourage connections
• Collectors on sites like Facebook.com with have extremely large lists of friends (in every city?), groups, applications, and fan pages
• Collectors are more likely to re-post links from the posts of others rather than contribute original materials
• Collectors tend to be among the first to connect with you...particularly if a site enables users to identify new members.
• Collectors tend to use more lengthy, boilerplate introductions or cut/paste personal notes
• Collectors may start with a product push rather than a handshake/conversation

So, What?
My original premise stands... the "Collector" phenomena warrants exploration. There are numerous subcultures and patterns that have evolved in the short history of social networks...this is one. You may choose to join the ranks of collectors. You may choose to ignore the piper's flute. You may choose to chuckle (as I do) at those who manage to acquire wealth (mostly in ego currency...some, for short-term financial gains) via time and energy on social networking sites. My preference would be to classify collectors as part of the background noise and spam that runs counter to the potential for productive online community building...but that is just me.

Full Disclosure
My personal collection of over 500 LinkedIn connections was part of personal research in patterns within social networking communities. I will be housekeeping that number over the next several months to improve the quality of my connectedness...I seriously doubt that any of the connections that I drop will even notice.

Great questions and well conceived answers were the order of the evening for Belmont University's panel discussion, Facebook to Twitter: Rights, Rules and Realities. This YouTube video of the late evening news package is the work of WKRN News 2's Tiani Jones.

The actual video coverage of the panel discussion can be found on a student blog, Practicum Pioneers, linked here (from that page click OnDemand and then click on the Captioned Video frame).

The event, moderated by Dr. Sybril Bennett, lasted about an hour and included a number of learning opportunities:

1. Belmont students used the event to experiment with mogulus.com and CoverItLive.com to broadcast text and video as well as interact with an external audience
2. Convocation attendees heard legal professionals and higher education officials talk about cases and experiences with social media that were eye-opening for many
3. Several college administrators from area universities observed both the panel and the student broadcast work and left feeling that similar events are needed at their respective universities.
4. We all learned that there are challenges in being part of the production of a special event AND being part of the electronic coverage of the same event

Special thanks to Tiani Jones and NewsChannel2 for the coverage of the event.

Login to your facebook.com account and let us know if you will be there. It might just keep you from standing rather than sitting comfortably in the Maddox Grand Atrium at the Curb Event Center.

Even if you cannot make the event, Belmont Media Studies students are polling and making plans to broadcast the event using Mogulus and CoverItLive. I will make sure that details for access get posted here. Belmont's own Multimediai Maven, Dr. Sybril Bennett, will moderate the panel of attorneys, social media advocates, and higher-ed leaders.

Garage parking is free at Belmont and the garage is attached to the Curb Event Center (See Campus Map).

If you happen to be anywhere near Belmont University's campus this week, be sure to stop by the Leu Center for the Visual Arts (the Art Department) and walk through the "Art from Anywhere" exhibit. This first time show for university alumni is part of Belmont's 2009 Homecoming week.

Margaret Elliott, a 2005 Belmont graduate is featured in this short video. Margaret talks about one particular class that influenced her unique painting style. Other artists featured in this year's show are: Bob Schatz ('77), Matt Chenoweth ('07), and Ann Street (Ward Belmont '45).

I am a bit weary of the gloom-and-doom coming from the print industry although I sympathize with so many great people who have been displaced by this century's declines. This is an exciting time for entrepreneurial journalism. Delivery systems are evolving every day now and there are opportunities for critical thinkers to meet and match market demands with relatively low start-up costs. New business models are bound to evolve around changing patterns of users and advertisers...those conversations are happening already.

We are at an odd time when it comes to generational expectations for the delivery of news and information. I hear more and more often that experienced, print journalists are re-learning to play and experiment with new media. I encourage that mix of maturity and child-like curiosity from both older and younger generations...and I have to admit some disbelief that resistance to 'play' may be greater among the young. We all have learning to do. We all need to take a more active role and more responsibility for our own, personal learning.

I am back. I am learning. Let's talk!

Here are the facts:
50 Tennessee House Republicans* voted for a Republican candidate to become Speaker of the House.
49 Tennessee House Democrats voted for a Republican candidate to become Speaker of the House.
Not surprising from the above two facts, a Tennessee Republican was elected Speaker of the House and thus gaining control of both legislative bodies since Civil War Reconstruction (we might revisit that period in Republican legislation success later)..

But Something Went Awry
In the eyes of House Republicans, something went wrong. Rep. Kent Williams (R*) voted for himself instead of the 'nominee of the Republican caucus', Jason Mumford (R), thus electing a man who chose to vote for himself rather than in lockstep with his party. In fairness, one might note that Representative Mumford voted for himself (not that there was any personal ambition involved), following the rest of the Republican caucus Representatives.

1. 98 Members of the House voted in blocks along political party lines. Sad...and I fully expect this to be a harbinger of 'politics as usual' where duly elected representatives will vote along party lines instead of working together in a bipartisan spirit to do what is best for Tennessee. Shame on both House political parties.

2. TN House Republicans 'pledged' to "vote for a Republican for Speaker of the House.." From this, one might garner that House Republicans are not expected to think critically for themselves, vote for the best candidate (regardless of party affiliation), or to represent ALL of the people of their respective districts...just do what the party leadership tells them to do, or vote whichever way will help them get re-elected (I may barf any minute here, excuse me).. According to Bill Hobbs, "Williams put personal ambition ahead of honor and lied his way into the Speaker's chair". Shame on Tennessee House Republicans! Double shame on Williams! And I am glad that I am sitting down when I hear Bill Hobbs criticizing a Republican*.

3. To Tennessee House Democrats, the back room shenanigans that succeeded in electing Kent Williams seem to follow the "Good Ole Boy" politics that have been a detriment to the reputation of the Tennessee Democratic Party and an embarrassment to many Tennesseans (me included). I'll not itemize the legal entanglements, arrests, and charges that speak to this, those are well documented. For the lack of openness in yesterday's action: Shame on you Tennessee House Democrats!

If it is not obvious from my soapbox, that I am not pleased with what transpired yesterday, I must add that there is a bright side. The democratic (lower case 'd') process to elect a Speaker of the House worked without violence, police intervention, international election observers, or UN Peace Keeping forces (I'll ignore the whining part...that is to be expected in politics). On the darker side, Tennessee House Democrats and Republicans are at a crossroad in Tennessee political history...they will either work together for a new era of bipartisan cooperation to tackle the mountain of recession related challenges facing the people of Tennessee, or, they will waste the months and years until the next election expending vast amounts of energy on re-election campaigns, anti-opposing party campaigns, and litmus tests for party loyalty. Tennesseans deserve better!

* There is a challenge as to whether or not Rep. Williams is a bona fide Republican.

For a good, aggregated round-up of the chatter across the blogosphere, check out Tennessee ConBloggers weigh in on Kent Williams