Update: Slightly Off Topic: Crowdsourcing Class Discussions

An update. While two people signed on to participate, I confess my students (and I) were still figuring out the technology and how the flow of the course would go. Things are up to speed now as we cruise into week 3. So, I’m looking for some folks to drop in an visit for Week 4, beginning this Wednesday and running until next Tuesday. The topic? Software and data licensing.  (See the old posts for how I’d like you to participate.)

—- original post 7/6/10—-

With the support of the both the folks I work for at Directions Media and the folks I work for at Penn State, I’m trying an experiment this semester that involves you, readers of this blog.

I am teaching a course in the MGIS program at Penn State called “Trends in Geospatial Technology.” (It’s released under an open license.) It’s a seminar style course that each week looks at one or two, related or unrelated, trends in our space. There are readings, short “research” assignments and, most importantly, discussions.

These do not occur synchronously (that is, we don’t all meet at the same time) but rather asynchronously (whenever participants choose to login and participate). That makes it really easy for almost anyone, anywhere, to join in on a topic of interest. And, that’s what I am inviting readers to do! Each week I will post the topic(s) for the week and if you are interested in joining our discussion (using some new technology called VoiceThread) I will invite you to join us! The commitment is not huge - come visit at least twice and add your perspective, insights, questions.

Each new lesson begins on a Wednesday, so each Monday (well this week it’s Tuesday due to the holiday) I’ll share the topic. If you want to be a guest of the class just shoot me an e-mail at my school address (abs15(at)psu.edu).

The topic for Week 1, beginning July 7: Data Storage and Trends in Data Storage.

Thanks for your consideration!