At a social:learn workshop last week, Martin declared that he'd get me interested in the notion of learning design eventually, but he's not going to have it easy!
I can maybe see some utility in using the approach as a protocol for describing the mechanical elements of a learning activity post hoc, but even there, I'm yet to be convinced...
Notwithstanding that, I am looking for some "design patterns" relating to appropriate ways of embedding content in online course materials, or linking between course materials.
For example, using browser tabs to open new links, rather than opening links in a new window, or the same window, would be an example of a pattern I use myself, but which I've yet to see formally described by "proper" educational technologists.
(I'd also be interested to know how the lightbox design pattern compares, because it keeps you in the same browser frame like a "load in same window" technique does, whilst also keeping you in the flow of a page, and without distracting your attention by opening a new window (though opening a new tab is not too distracting either). Page previewers like Cooliris perform a similar function, with a hover I think (not a click?). That said, I have to admit I found the similar acting Snap previewer to be my most hated Web 2.0 function ever!)
Anyway, the pattern I want to note here are some early thoughts around a "quotes in context" pattern, which draws on a couple of earlier posts (Quoting from Books Using Embedded Quotes and Deep Linking 2.0 - What Counts as Fair Use of Online Book Extracts?)
The reason for posting this now is that I want a whole load of different examples to ground a discussion with our Rights department next week about ways forward for embedding content.
So for example, here's something that I could see being used in a game design course:
Drawing on the work of Huizinga (1955, 1998), in which play was likened to ritual, the idea of the "magic circle" has been widely discussed in relation to the study of games. Taking the original idea of a "play-ground", a hallowed area "within which special rules obtain" and within which "an absolute and peculiar order obtains" (Huizinga, page 10), Salen and Zimmerman emphasised the phrase "magic circle", using it to describe "the boundary that defines the game in time and space".So here's the question: how, if at all, does the above differ in a copyrights/rights clearance sense from the following:Further Reading:
Introducing the idea of Huizinga's "play-ground" - quotes in context at Google Books.
Introducing the idea of Salen and Zimmerman's "magic circle" - quotes in context at Google Books.
Drawing on the work of Huizinga (1955, 1998), in which play was likened to ritual, the idea of the "magic circle" has been widely discussed in relation to the study of games. Taking the original idea of a "play-ground", a hallowed area "within which special rules obtain" and within which "an absolute and peculiar order obtains" (Huizinga, page 10), Salen and Zimmerman emphasised the phrase "magic circle", using it to describe "the boundary that defines the game in time and space".Does the deep link in the first example have to meet with any particular Terms and Conditions of the Google BOoks site?Further Reading:
Introducing the idea of Huizinga's "play-ground" - J Huizinga, "Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture", Routledge, ISBN 041517824X, 1998, page 10.
Introducing the idea of Salen and Zimmerman's "magic circle" - K. Salen & E. Zimmermann, "Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals", MIT Press, ISBN 0262240459, 2003, page 94.
In another Google Books example, this time a deep link to an image fragment taken from an out of copyright scanned book, to what extent is the embedding of an image of an original pressing of a now out of copyright text also allowable, as illustrated by the example in Quoting from Books Using Embedded Quotes?
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Tags: rights, elearning, embedding, embedded content
Posted by ajh59 at January 21, 2008 02:54 PMYour mention of the lightbox pattern reminded me of the way that Wired is now using the IFRAME tag to embed other content. I rather like that, and it makes me think that that was, in fact, why the tag was invented in the first place. You can see it in use on this fascinating (if utterly off topic) article about AI researchers: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-02/ff_aimystery?currentPage=all
Posted by: Andy Theyers at January 21, 2008 05:29 PM