This post is designed first to celebrate this multi-journal innovative
and cost effective means to enhance Distance Education (DE) scholarship.
Secondly, I provide a very brief overview and annotation of each of the 7 articles
in the special issue.
Congratulations and thanks to Martine Vidal for pulling off her second
international scholarly collaboration in the field of open and distance
education (see her 2008 DMS earlier collaboration of the Right to
Education. Martine’s idea in designing Seven sister journals – seven international contributions
to distance learning, was to invite the editors of seven internationaly known,
peer reviewed DE journals to select the most important article from their journal
in the past 15 years. The editors were
asked to select a significant contribution either to research, practice or both. The resulting special issue appeared (under Creative
Commons license) this month online.
Of course, I intended to immediately write this post as a
tribute and a review when I saw the issue online. But alas time got in the way,
and I may have negleted the task, as I didn’t really read the complete artciles
until a free paper copy of the journal
arrived in my mailbox. What does that
say about paper vs. electronic journals?
Likely there are readers (including you?) who think this issue might be of interest,
but will you really get around to reading these journal articles??
Hopefully, you can scan through this review and follow a
link to the paper that you think sounds most interesting to your teaching,
learning or researching – or all three.
I should note that
Distance et Médiations des Savoirs
is
usually a French language journal, so additional thanks to the DMS staff and
editors for producing this bilingual
journal.
Like
the other editors, we had to consider what
constituted the “best article” over 15 years of IRRODL production. First, I
went to Open Journal System stats to check out the download numbers. This
provides a pretty good estimate of “crowd sourcing”. However, it is biased towards
older articles that have had longer time period to gain downloads. Next, I
checked some of the top cited articles on Google Scholar and finally, of course, we used our bundle of personal prejudices
and preferences to pick a winner.
We
choose Rovia’s 2002 article because it dug into the conceptual basis for the
growing interest in distance education, not as independent study, but as an
example of community operating at a distance.
Rovai’s article led to a companion piece in which he introduced his 20-item
Classroom Community Scale that provides empirical measurement of the community
experienced by DE learners. In the
introduction I couldn’t help but compare it to the Community of Inquiry model
(developed just a few years earlier by Randy Garrison, Walter Archer and
myself) and speculated on the greater use and citations of the COI model.
The Rovai
article does an excellent job of a overviewing the conceptual base for 7 dimensions
of community- from trust, spirit common expectations to interaction. It goes on
to isolate factors of interaction including transactional distance, social
presence, social equity and actives associated with the learning design.
2. Asian Association of Distance EducationRamesh C. Sharma
Editor
Ramesh Sharma choose two articles from the Asian Journal of DE. The first by
Fred Lockwood provides a ladder model (moving up from seminars and workshops
through chapter and articles to books), to describe the steps necessary to
successfully publish and distribute scholarly research article. It is striking to note the absence of
discussion of open access publishing and its advantages, but then the article
was written in 2003, long before open publishing culture and even Creative
Commons was established.
A bit
strangely, Sharma choose one of his own articles for the second entry. This
article examined the results from tutor marking and assessments of hypothetical
DE students at Indira Gandhi Open University.
This empirical study looked at the nature and quality of the comments
left by tutors after they had engaged in a professional development
“orientation”. It is perhaps unfortunate that the study didn’t look at real assessments
and feedback, rather than those produced to provide feedback on an anonymous
assignment after the workshop – thus detracting from the face validity of the
research.
3. EuropeanJournal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL)
Editor
Uli Bernath choose a great article that overviews the complex issue of
quality in learning. Quality remains a
focus, even though so ill and variously defined by all the educational stakeholders
– including students. Thus, an article that focuses on learners’ perspective is
especially useful. In an era of
increasing opportunity and individual responsibility for life-long learning,
understanding what learners perceive as the most important features of
e-learning experience is invaluable. The article covers both qualitative and
quantitative data to produce 30 dimensions of quality. Generally my head begins
to spin when talking about more than three dimensions – so thirty is a bit
challenging. Fortunately, Ehlerscondenses these to 7 themes. He then presents
data using cluster analysis to try to understand the different criteria for
assessing quality by different crowds (aggregates of interests in a DE course).
Monique Grandbastien,
Pierre Moeglin et Daniel Peraya The host editors of DMS provide
a nice description of how and why they chose this article.
This article discusses the role of the
“trainer” – in this case I think it is like the tutor in a large-scale DE
environment. Unfortunately, my unilingual
handicap meant it was much easier reading this French article through Google
Translate (great improvement on translating the full article since last I
checked!!!). This model presented and
validated, to some extent, (with very small N survey data) the teachers’ role
in a paced DE program with synchronous and asynchronous sessions. The model gives
a picture of the various types of actions encountered and required by trainers
in this context.
5. Open Praxis
Inés Gil Jaurena, editor of Open Praxisintroduces (for a number of well explained reasons) her selection of:
Given
the very long association with DE and openness – a linkage, that continues to
grow to this day, is useful to examine the historical perspective – especially
to us old guys! In their romp from late medieval to modern times, the authors
note the evolving meaning and the various dimensions of openness. They also
“highlight the danger of emphasizing one aspect of openness while backgrounding
others and how unrestricted practices can quickly and repeatedly become
institutionalized”(p. 6) The article is
now over 5 years old but I think there many discussions and technological
innovations yet to come to contribute to our openness knowledge and practice in
DE.
6. International
Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education
Irwin DeVries provides a nice little essay that I couldn’t help but love, as it has“my name all over it” literally. In this selection we see a second reference to the valued perspective of the student, as opposed to the teacher, employer, government or institutional perspective
This work analyzes a survey administered in 2014 to 1002 students enrolled in DEprograms at the University of Tasmania. The analysis of the open-endedquestions reveals what students both like and dislike about DE. As expectedcommon themes for advantages centre on flexibility, self determination,location independence and necessity (the only choice, given life circumstance).Also unsurprisingly, disadvantages include lack of support from theinstitution, isolation and challenges of self-reliance and balancing busy lies.Major suggestions for improvement include more resources, more contact and more communications.
I
confess to be quite out of words to describe this article from the Chinese Journal
Open Education Research. The article is supposedly about how Smart Cities were
designed, planned and implemented in China. However, even after reading the
translated version (twice!), I have no idea how a “smart city” is defined, how
exactly they function, how they are evaluated etc. etc. I did get LOTS of
preaching, politically correct best practices and directions –supposedly for creation
of best smart cities, but nothing that really struck me as scholarly rationale nor
much of any evidence. Typically, the talk on security measures notes the smart
learning organization “is associated with planning, guiding, evaluating,
coordinating, supervising, and securing” But again, I have no idea what Smart
Cities in China actually organize.
I
looked through the titles of Open Educational Research in their archives of 24
years, and I see a lot of interesting titles- related to DE. I also could not
locate this particular article as the reference in the special issue (and
Google scholar) is incorrect- it isn’t in Vol 1 2015, or even volume Vol 19 1
2015. So I may be losing a lot in translation, but this is by far the weakest
article in this special edition.
Conclusion
I
think anyone with a strong interest in improving either practice or theory of
DE will learn from and enjoy this special issue. It is nice to see global
perspectives and to note the commonality of interests that we share. I also really liked the mix of empirical
results, “think pieces” and historical pieces. This is especially fortunate to
get this mix as no one knew before hand what articles would be submitted.
Please see links below for more detailed summaries of the seven articles. – or
better yet – read the articles yourself!
The pack is loaded, done with 3 weeks of walking the Edmonton River Valley daily, wondering what else I should be worried about and then the plane takes off and away you go. Thus, this 10 day hike in the Alps begins with my older brother and hike leader Dennis (71), and younger twin brothers Craig and Kent (66) and me (68). The usual fly-all-night to Europe trip, wondering when to take a sleeping pill, to arrive in a busy Munich airport. Rendezvous here with the brothers, then find a train and next we are emerging in the Tyrol Alps at Innsbruck. From there a bus or tram and you get your first glimpse (below) of the Stubai Valley.
View of the Stubai Valley from our first coffeebreakThe Stubai Valley winds upwards for 40 km from Innsbruck to end with multiple arms of the Stubai Glacier. Along the glacial stream in the middle of the valley and on terraces above, Austrians have been farming for centuries – now augmented by more small town and and tourist facilities. The Stubai Valley hosts 4 ski lifts which provide access for skiers in the winter and hikers in the summer. Austrians have a tremendous passion for mountain culture and especially hiking. All summer long day-hikers frequent the Alms- old farms now serving as rustic restaurants and Alpine Club Huts located high above the highway. These provide a destination and delicious, traditional Austrian soups, meals and strudel after a few hours hiking.
We’ve chosen this location as brother Dennis, bought a guide book in the early 1970’s titled Trekking in the Stubai Alps – Hut-to-Hut walks. Although Dennis had holidayed in the Stubai more than once, he had never tackled the complete RuckSack Trail – a circle route linking 8 Alpine Club of Austria Huts – our goal on this Trek. This was a continuation of our hike on the Tour de Mt Blanc, partially motivated by the injury that prevented brother Kent from joining us last year and partly to get this off of Dennis’s 1970 bucket list!
Our first night we spent a very nice hotel, overlooking the valley and a 5 course DELUXE meal – my first steak tartare for an appetizer. Next morning we use our free bus pass to head up the valley to the Elfer ski lift. Then up on the one free ski lift trip per day provided by the pass. Using a ski lift certainly makes alpine hiking different, but we were to find that there were MANY hills ahead -lacking these mechanical conveniences. The weather (as for almost the whole trip) was beautiful and we enjoyed the walk up and then down and then down to an Alm for soup and beer. As we enjoyed our late lunch we looked up and up at the 810 metre pass that awaited us for after lunch.
Our first glimpse (and not untypical) of the Rucksack Trail
We huffed and puffed our way up the switchbacks to a welcoming beer on the patio deck of Innsbrucker Hut.
Although owned by the Austrian Alpine Club, each Hut is managed and the nearby trails maintained, by different chapters of the German and Austrian Alpine Clubs. Thus the Innsbrucker Hut (built in 1884) is managed and the nearby trails maintained by volunteers from the Innsbruck Chapter of the Alpine Club.
The second day promised to be the longest. The official guide book notes the distance from Innsbrucker to Bremmer Hut is 9km! Now remember that I hd been in ‘training” walking at least 9 km, and many days more, in Edmonton for the past 3 weeks. But we worried about the time – the guide book says 6 hours (but some take longer). Our hike turned out ob close to 12!!! The issue is of course how you measure a kilometer – horizontally or vertically!!. We were reassured by a German hiker on the trail that we were leaving early (8:30 AM) in time to make it easily and to remember that there was three major passes. Unfortunately, once we had huffed and puffed up to the first major hill in the first hour, we weren’t sure (but hoped) that that had counted for number one. What followed was the strangest and perhaps most interesting day of the trip!
We were hiking horizontally above the tree line, and 3 hours later, were at the height of our destination and in site of our Bremner Hut. However, between us and the Hut were three great ravines that we had to go around, or more often go way down then way back up to summit the Col, or pass. On the highest of these we had to scramble up irregular blocks of glacial rock, ever thankful for the Red and White train markers painted on the ‘best route” and the strategically placed rocks, wires or foot braces drilled into the rock. I love volunteer trail maintainers!! When we finally reached the top of the Col- was it number 2, 3 or 4?? I thought it would be a nice view to enjoy our sandwiches purchased that morning at the Hut. Two problems, worst sandwich of days old rye bread and a thin slice of cheese and even thinner slice of ham. But even more insurmountable was our lunch time perch. We were on rather comfortably sitting on a stone a ridge perhaps 3 feet wide, with sheer death on one side and shere death on the other. I couldn’t get comfortable and it was time to move on. It was on this day that we first encountered the cables that are drilled and anchored into the rock, to afford a handhold – or a clip onto – IF you were equipped with a harness. It wasn’t really that bad, but did give us a for-taste of more to come on this trip
Kent descending, while Dennis waits his turn. Note the bolts holding the cable to the rock and the always welcomed red and white flash marking the trail.
After surmounting and scrambling up the last few meters we finally surmounted what we hoped was the final Col. Then part-way down the valley (or Eldewise as Craig kept referring to the Creeks) down to what the guide book referred to as ascent of a “chimney” up to Bremner Hut. Unfortunately it had started to rain and the light was already failing. I started up the chimney but soon realized that it was not safe for old men, with rubbery legs, heavy packs, cold cables, and wet and slippery rocks. We had been told that one could descend perhaps 300 meters and a couple of kilometers and then walk about a much easier route to the hut. Unfortunately, we somehow lost the trail (our only time to do that during the hike) and soon we were bush-wacking down a slope, crossing small streams but wondering (and hoping) that indeed, there was another way up to the Hut. As it began to get darker, I began tantalizing about plan B options- breaking into a shepherds hut we had seen in the distance or walking down to the town lights we could see waydown in the valley – maybe 8 kilometers away. We were RELIEVED to finally regain the trail (marked with the red and white flashes of Austria! It was then a 90 minute hike up to the hut and just as we were about to put on our flashlights, a big Alpine Ipex appeared out of the mist about 30 feet beside us. A great omen and sure enough the Hut also materialized in a few hundred meters.
Bremner Hut
We were welcomed in by the Hostess and explained that there were 2 more following us. Craig changed wet socks and went back out to carry Kent’s pack and make sure they got in. I relaxed with a big Austrian beer. Thirty minutes later the host comes over to tell me the other two have arrived, but not the third one. So off he went with a light and found Craig in 10 minutes or so. Needless to say we enjoyed the dumpling and schnitzel meal that was served later.
The next morning we were ready for hike number 3 from Bremner to Nuremburger Hut – only 5 Km. The walk started with a very steep ascent. As I neared the top, about 45 minutes ahead of Dennis and Kent, Craig told me to come up where he was and check out the trail we were about to ascend. We surveyed the next 100 yards – scrambling up very irregular rocks ‘aided’ by wire cables, which one could clip onto – IF you were equipped with a harness. Of course we didn’t have either that kind of equipment, nor skills, so we made an executive decision, that we really didn’t need this type of adventure, since a mis-step could be fatal. We also soon rationalized that we were old men, and had come for a hike – not for a mountain climb. So back to Bremer Hut and nice day relaxing on the sunny hut patio. The goal of making sure we enjoyed the hike and did if safely, overwhelmed our need to make it around the 8 Huts of the Rucksack trail.
The next morning we had a delightful 8 km hike down to the valley and a nice beer at an Alm where the road began. It turns out the family run Alm had a grandfather who would be pleased to drive us back to Stubia Valley for 80 Euros. It is nice being able to both rationalize and buy our way out of challenges!! Back in the Stubai, we took the bus up to the glacier and bought a ticket for the “midstation” ski lift that let us off at Dresdner Hut. This was the most modern of our huts, really a medium sized hotel, with again two bunk beds in our room but this time with a sink as well and FREE showers.
View from the top of the Stubai Glacier
Close up of the melting glacier
The next morning we took two more ski lifts up to the top of the Stubai Glacier. 2018 has been the warmest summer on record in the Alps and needless to say the heat was assaulting the glacier. The ski lift operators had surrounded each of the lift support towers with hundreds of feet of felt wrapping trying to insure the footings didn’t melt away with the glacier. The view from the top was stunning and we decided to walk down the glacier. This was surprisingly challenging as we were slipping and sliding down the melting slush that was the glacier top. Fortunately, the ski lift people had run one of their tracked packing machines up and down creating a bit of serrated path to follow. We stopped to have a drink from one of the many melt streams and took to wondering about many hundreds? thousands? of years this running water had lain frozen in this massive glacier complex.
Getting back to the ski centre half way down the hill, I realized that neither the Shoe Goop nor the duct tape, I had used to arrest the opening of my leather boot from its sole was keeping the weather out. Thus, with some typical Anderson reluctance, I pulled out the Visa card and bought a pair of nice hiking shoes (on sale, but still 160 Euros!!) Now to finish this hike with a brand new pair of unbroken in shoes. Luckily they worked out great!
We searched for the trails heading both directions from Dresner Hut and had a chat with the two women from Colorado who we had met earlier and who had just arrived. They suggest there was lots of dicey, cable climbing on our intended destination. So again, we consulted and like old men, decided to take the bus down two stops and then hike up to the Sulzenau Hut – rather than go up and over the Col.
This turned out to be one of the nicest days of our trip. We hiked up along side the beautiful Grawa Waterfall. This is the widest and one of the highest waterfalls in Austria. At the base is a sunning deck where Austrians love to sit and wonder at the falls while soaking up both sunshine and the plentiful negative ions produced by the Falls. It is said that an afternoon ingesting both the mist and the ions, especially if coupled with a 2 hour hike to the Alm at the top of the waterfall, is a sure promise of health and happiness. One thing for sure, it was a beautiful hike up, though some of the stairways from logs notched to accept 2 by 8 treads were a bit slippery.
In any case we arrived at the Alm for a beer and gawking at the gothic carvings that filled both the restaurant and the sun deck. Each chair and most of the tables was carved with some mythical Australian wood creature. From the Alm we could see our
Suzenau Hut , perched on the top – right of the waterfall
destination Suzenau Hut on the cliff above us. Craig and I actually made it in the 90 minutes promised by the way-sign. As Craig said you just get into a pace and don’t stop. We arrived around 2:00 PM at the hut and were welcomed with bowl of dumpling soup.
We really enjoyed this Hut – both for the atmosphere and the friendliness of the hosts. It was a Saturday night so there was several families in the Hut – full nearly to capacity with about 30 guests. The food however was great and we easily got our 48 Euros each worth (private room for 4 with bunk beds, supper and breakfast included). The next morning we hiked up to Blue Lake and again saw the retreating glaciers that once filled this plateau. Then back down the trial to the bus.
Obviously our trip was no longer going according to circular route of the RuckSack trail, so we opted to take another ski lift and then a 4 hour hike up to Starkenberger Hut. This was a great hike, again high above the tree line but with spectacular views of the Stubai Valley below. The trail was fairly easy as we walked over and around the huge avalanche fences that protected the towns below.
The Hut proved to be the least welcoming in our tour (not withstanding the rainbow that greeted arrival). We were forced to sleep in a very tiny room (2 bunkbeds and not even room to change your mind between the beds!). No showers and the food was as mediocre as the reaction by the Hut managers.
We had intended to do day hikes and spend a second night at this Hut, but changed our minds, based upon the atmosphere of the Hut and the raging snow and wind storm that hit during the night.
Our last morning hiking through a skiff of snow and fog
Fortunately, Dennis had plan B. After hiking back down to the Valley, we took the bus to a very cushy Spa/Hotel. Here we enjoyed the hot tub and other delights which we “had not been accustomed to thus far in the hike.” The next day we headed back to our original hotel, but first stopped at another ski lift to take the steel toboggan ride down. This was a bit bone shaking for me – clinging to this metal sled as it screeched around and down the mountain side.
You can’t go to Europe without visiting a Church – Here at the tomb of Maximilian in Innsbruck
Our hike was now pretty well done. We spent the next day as tourists in Innsbruck and also noting the bikes, competitors and tourists here for World Junior Bike race championships.
For our final day we decided to rent a car and drive 2 hours to Hitler’s summer home at the Eagle’s Nest. After a nice morning drive through the Austrian countryside and then into Germany we arrived at Berchtesgaden. Here we went through the Nazi museum that documented the arrival of Hitler and many of his top commanders to this rural retreat. The Nazi’s confiscated or bought many of the farms and built homes for themselves, with of course numerous barracks for SS guards. The museum was packed with tourists – almost all German speaking. The photos and film clips of people fawning over Hitler as he emerged from his home, were sickening and reminded me of the adulation by some of the current US president.
To get to the actual “Eagles Nest” one buys a bus ticket for the 7km one way road up to the mountain top. Turns out the building itself was used more
Original 1936 elevator leading to the Eagle’s Nest
for receptions and high powered meetings by the nazis than as Hitler’s residence. The original 1936 elevator takes visitors up for the final ascent to the Eagle’s Nest (silhouetted at top in photo to the left). The scenery no doubt served to impress visitors. However our visit was a bit strange in that you can’t actually go into the “Nest” it is now a large kitchen surrounded by patios filled with lunching and beer drinking Germans!
Eagle’s Nest surrounded by restaurant tables
Our trip back to Innsbruck was uneventful, but we avoided the Autobahn and drove through Austrian valleys. It is amazing how many ski lifts (all operating during the summer) there are in Austria. Makes we wonder no more, how they win so many Olympic downhill medals. The next day we were up early to catch the bus to Innsbruck, then Craig and Dennis split to do the BMW museum and enjoy a day of Octoberfest in Munich, while I headed home.
Thus ended the second and likely last Alpian hike by the Anderson brothers.
Footnote – Total cost, all in, was about $1,330, not counting airfare for this 12 day adventure.
Part B in which Elder brother and leader Dennis provides a detailed account of this trek.
The Stubai Adventure September 2018Day 1
September 17 was our meeting day in Munich Germany. We were all scheduled to arrive in the early to mid-morning and surprisingly, all of the flights were basically on time and one by one we managed to find each other, made our greetings, and found our way through the airport to the train station where we joined the throngs milling around the ticket machines and trying to figure out how to purchase our fare to Munich and on-going ticket to Innsbruck. We were not having any success and a ‘local’ woman who we couldn’t seem to get rid of persisted in trying to help us and then finally said, come with me, just follow me (was she a travel Angel in disguise?). The 4 Anderson sheep followed quickly in her foot steps and she lead us onto a train and to some empty seats where she proceeded to say that she had a group ticket and it was available to us for 20E (which was about 1/3 the cost of individual fares). At this point, we were pretty well committed, and so all 5 of us settled in for the hour long ride into Munich.
At the train terminal our ‘hostess’ pointed out the train ticket info office and we thanked her (with a tip) and she headed for another train! We pulled a number and eventually made it to the front of the line where we were sold another group fare for the 12:30 departure for Innsbruck (which we just made). This was the slow scenic train and we enjoyed (despite the fact that we missed grabbing some eats in Munich) every minute of the spectacular run into Austria and the Alps. At 3:00 we met Peter – our host from the Bergkranz Hotel, “in front of the buses”. This innocuous description can be interpreted at least 2 ways and after a quick phone call we determine which of the 2 was correct. The hotel was just like it was 2 years ago – snappy, and full.
We sat outside on our deck for an hour soaking in the sunshine and +27 degree weather (both Calgary and Edmonton had snow when the boys left) and listening to the cow bells in the distance as we waited for the Church bell to toll 6PM. We then moved to the hotel patio to enjoy a beer along with the stunning view over the valley. At 7:15 we moved inside for a spectacular 6 course meal – none of us could remember our last one (or if there even was one) but we were all sure that there wasn’t one in the Anderson boy’s home days, that was for sure! Four exhausted gents hit their respective beds at 9:00PM.
Day 2:Mieders to Innsbrucker Hutte
After some drug induced sleep we awoke refreshed and ready for the challenge of the day. A ragged start at breakfast – with half arriving at 7:30 and the other at 8:00 – but to a wonderful full European breakfast buffet which included just about anything one could possibly consider for breakfast, and all gorgeously presented, which nicely set the stage for the day.
We walked down the hill to catch the bus at 9:30 and had enough time for Dennis to get a knee support and the others some snacks at the local SPAR before we boarded the bus to the Elfer Lift and the first phase of our hiking adventure. A 1000M rise via the gondola and then a 30 minute switch back trail led us to the Elfer Hutte and the beginning of the Panoramaweg, a nice Interpretive trail that featured plaques on the flora and fauna of the area during the first part of the walk and then, at the halfway point where the broad trail deteriorated, on geology. This section wasn’t as interesting and the footing continued to deteriorate as we made our descent to the Karalm for our lunch stop
From the Alm we could see the top of the Col which was our PM objective. It featured a well-defined ascent trail and then finished off with some long switchbacks which traversed the face of the cliff just below the summit. After an hour’s walk and arriving at the first of the switchbacks, we could see a fluttering flag which was our target. When we arrived at the Col we saw the most spectacular site of the day – the Innsbrucker Hutte basking in the late afternoon sunshine at 2360m.
We arrived with enough time to share beers on the deck with 2 women from Colorado before the sun dropped below the peaks and we checked into Room 7 for the evening. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the small dining area which featured an enclosed portion of the original Hutte build in 1885. We did some route planning and then had showers before hitting the sack at a very respectable hour (we paid 1E for a .5M – the M standing for minute, of hot water!!!) This would not be the first incident of not being familiar with the German signs and terminology! Notes from the day:
Craig and Terry make up our A team (Kent and I call them the jack rabbits)
The B team is composed of a guy with a 75% pumper and another who is carrying the equivalent of a 50LB bag of cement – but no complaining; we made it!
We did notice that we missed just about all of the posted STB times on the way-points. The locals must run these trails!!! For the B Team our rule of thumb became: add an additional ½ of the posted time to get a total realistic time estimate.
At dinner we had a ‘Toast to Ethel’ as we celebrated the anniversary of her birthday.
Distance: 11.59KM; Hiking Time: 6hr 26min; Elevation Gain 1327m Loss 816
Day 3: The Creaky Bed and the Hike from Hell
The night was jet lag time for the overseas travelers and there was lots of unrest associated with not being able to get to sleep and hence the creaking noises coming from the wooden bunk beds. Breakfast was very basic and the sandwich which we opted to buy for lunch was probably one of the most uninspired efforts that I have ever bought. We didn’t eat most of them.
The day presented at least 3 of us with the greatest alpine challenges of our lives – three steep ascents aided by fixed supports – Via Ferrate (Italian for Metal Road!!!) of cables and steps. We left Innsbrucker under a full sun just after 8:00AM and hiked up and over 3 incredibly steep passes guarded by glacier boulder fields both up and down, and one Col across a narrow ridge with a steep drop-off on both sides – however the trail was incredibly well marked with new red and white flashes. We walked all day with only short stops and arrived at Dresdner Hutte 2308m at 8:30PM.
At the end of the day we faced light showers and then once we lost daylight a drizzle and bank of fog. For our final ascent we sent the A Team ahead to ask the Hutte folks to save us some dinner while the B Team plodded along – however we weren’t too far behind and our hostess provided a wonderful meal when we finally did arrive. Our American friends had told them that we were on our way, and we did have a reservation, however they were a little ticked off at our scattered arrival.
The last hour of our walk was done with the aid of lights following the ‘friendly’ flashes illuminated by our headlights. What a welcome site to see the spot light of the maintenance shop and then the inviting lights of the Hutte. Somehow we had managed to get off of the trail. There were three routes to the Hutte but only 2 described in our book. Terry had checked out the Chimney option that in the rain was not really an option and the alternate mentioned in the book was the high route which was a significant way back on the trail that we had climbed down. We had an idea of where to go for the third option – the Lake option – mentioned by a fellow hiker going the opposite way, and we saw this alternative route for most of the afternoon from across the valley. We used our bushwhacking skills to finally find the access we had spotted from across the valley on high. We still don’t know exactly where or how we missed the trail to the access route up from the lake to the Hutte and our detour did add considerable hours to our day – the longest and hardest day of our hiking lives for most if not all of us!
Distance: 16.5KM; Hiking Time: 12hr 30min; Elevation Gain 1997m Loss 1950m
Day 4: “This is a Hut not a Hotel!”
Last evening, when we apologized for the disruption of our late arrival, Anni, our hostess replied, “no problem, this is a hut”. In the morning when we were a tad late for breakfast and requested a bit more time, she said “this is not a hotel.”
We departed at 9:00 seeking our 4 hour traverse of the Col to the Nurnberger Hutte, and it was a push to the top – which our Jack Rabbits made. However, what they discovered was a very daunting looking Via Ferrate which they determined was probably more than we would like to handle – the B Team still had a few hundred meters of ascent to go before we got a look see, however it was not difficult to provide consent to the A Team recommendation that we abort the day. We returned to the Bremer Hutte and found out they had space for us for the night so we decided to stay and hatched a plan for the morrow – down to Gschnitz and then taxi or public transport back to the Stubai and, hopefully, in enough time to make it up to the Dresdner Hutte for a couple of nights.
For the afternoon we cleaned up ourselves and our clothes, caught up on emails, enjoyed a nap, and then the wonderful sunshine on the Hutte veranda and ‘gravel deck’ – which faced the mountains with their towering peaks. At 6:00 we went into the dining room with about 20 other folks for another substantial meal “the hikers menu” – that none of us could actually finish (a hearty soup; salad; and tonight mash potatoes and “spam-like” Schnitzel). Many folks add Strudel to what always seems the substantial “hikers menu” however, it was more than we could contemplate. Distance: 3.21KM; Hiking Time: 2hr and 37min; Elevation Gain 504m Loss 507m (For the B Team)
Day 5: Bremer Hutte To Dresdner Hutte
We are all sleeping more comfortably with each passing day – the snoring isn’t even keeping anyone awake! After a basic European breakfast we broke camp and were heading down the trail at just after 8:00 – we were getting into the idea and realizing the necessity of early starts. We said good bye to Anni – our travel Angel – who had made all of the telephone calls straightening out reservations on our behalf, and headed off down the hill for the Laponesalm at the end of a road and beginning of the foot path. We actually enjoyed the steep walk down and did the trip in the posted Austrian STD – that included a number of strategic stops to see if we could figure out our arrival path and other options for getting to the Bremer Hutte from Innsbrucker. We could see ‘specks’ traversing the high hills, bits of trail; and other clues but no definitive options that showed how we might have missed a turn – other than the sign post we followed before Terry hit the “chimney” and then bushwhacked our way down to the lake and up the far side – adding a couple of hours to our trip. Anyway, the walk down was steep in places but offered no technical challenges and eventually lead us into the trees and down to the valley floor where we celebrated with beers and Raddlers before our server assisted us with arranging a very reasonable taxi ride back to the Stubai – we had actually crossed into the Oschnitzal Valley and were right up at its very end.
Our trip in the taxi took about 40 minutes (back to Mieders); was a scenic marvel; and was one of the best 80E spent on the trip. The Alps were at their best with farms, villages amuck with houses and buildings beautifully overgrown with blooming flower boxes.
At Mieders we hit a bank machine and caught the bus up to Mutterberg and the Stubai Gletscher for a ride up the Gondola to the Dresdner Hutte. We arrived at about 2:30, checked-in; had showers; did laundry; and soaked up some sunshine on the veranda. At 6:00 we headed down to the restaurant with the other dozen or so quests for another first rate 4 course Austrian meal that featured a mixed meat skewer in a tasty sauce served with Frites, along with a wonderful salad (more veggies than lettuce); hearty soup; and spectacularly presented Kunken dessert. It was amazing that the place is more like a hotel than a Hutte – and that it is virtually empty (now). This was actually another German Alpine “Hutte” but definitely more like a mountain 4 star hotel!
After dinner we once again did some planning – taking into consideration the pending forecast and looking at our various options. We were now very flexible and had a good idea about our limitations and requirements for ‘hiking’ rather than ‘mountaineering’ in this part of the Alps!
Distance: 4.94km; Hiking Time: 2hr 47min; Elevation Gain 174m Loss 1001m
Day 6: “Out of Our Demographic”
We spent another very relaxing night – each of us becoming more familiar with our ‘situation’ – four snorers sharing a room. After a substantial breakfast – second best so far, we headed for the Stubaier Gletscher Gondola to Bergstation Eisgrat and the transfer up the Schaufeljoch to the Top of the Tyrol at 3210 meters that featured an outstanding 360 degree view of this section of the Eastern Alps. The deck was well posted and we enjoyed picking out the peaks under a bright blue sky. After 40 minutes on the top we returned to the station and did the Gletscherpfad – a wet and slushy (at this point in the season) marked route down the face of the glacier back to the Bergstation. This was one of the warmest years on record and the glacier has taken a beating. Interesting to see the measures they are taking to keep the bases for a number of the 47 lifts on the ice/rock secure and stable – covering them with thick pads of felt, and it seems to be working as the base mounds are at least 6 – 10 feet higher than the snow and rock that surrounds them. After our ‘slush walk’ we returned to the Mid Station and Dresdner Hutte to get rid of our cold weather gear and prepare for our “waterfall” walk from the Hutte. It was a great little walk and we scrapped the possible walk for tomorrow (after viewing it on the opposite side of the valley from our resting spots) and decided that “We Are Out Of Our Demographic” for the Hutte to Hutte Rucksack Route in the Stubai. Our demographic is doing day hikes from the tops of the lifts or from the valley floors to the Alms/Huttes. We are now comfortable with this reality and we planned accordingly.
When we arrived back at the Hutte we met the 2 women from Colorado, whom we hadn’t seen since day one at Innsbrucker, but they had just done our proposed route for the next day and confirmed for us the decision that we had made – it was more than we would ever have wanted to contemplate! We had a great hour on the deck with them and a father/son team from Holland, and the day concluded with another superb 4 course dinner!
Day 7: Dresdner Hutte to Sulzenauhutte Hutte
We had breakfast with the Colorado trekkers – Mary and JC and then made the short walk down to the Mittelstation Fernau and hopped the Gondola down to Muttenburg for the bus to the Sulzenau stop – which the driver roared right by, so we got off at the Grawa Alm stop. Not really a bad stop because it featured the second of the spectacular falls that make up ”Wilder Waserway”. We made the short side trip to the base of the falls with its “Ion spray”, and then began the trek to the hut on the falls trail that runs right up beside the thundering falls on some pretty amazing board works for about 45 minutes before it joins the lower grade trail from the Hutte bus stop. This part of the trail was heavily improved by various forms of planking and walkways so it provided us with another new walking experience! After about an hour and a half we broke the crest of the hill onto a valley that featured the Sulzenaualm – a flat area that is no longer farmed and where the original buildings had been turned into a rest stop that featured some very impressive Austrian wood carvings on the furniture, buildings, and signposts. The breakthrough also provided spectacular views of the Cirque shaped valley with extremely steep sides, the 200 meter upper falls – tallest in the Eastern Alps – and crowning the falls, a glimpse of the Sulzenauhutte (2196m) perched right at the top of the falls back-dropped by glimpses of the high peaks behind it.
After a brief stop we made our way up the steep, but wide and easy to maneuver in, switch backs to the top of the falls and the Hutte. The A Team managed to make the ascent in the STB Austrian posted time. The B Team hit the target of 1.5 times the posted number.
The Hutte was another example of German architecture and efficiency. We had dumpling soup for lunch (2 spinach and 2 bacon, which we shared) and were again most impressed with the Austrian dumplings – a tad different from what Ethel used to make out of Bisquick!
This was the final of our two days of overcast and we were only treated to the occasional sucker hole to show us glimpses of the towering peaks, valleys, and glaciers that surrounded us. It was definitely cooler and for the first time on the trip we had hiked for most of the day in our light outerwear – not bad for the final couple of weeks of the season in this area.
Before dinner we did a walk around to take in the trail signs, the Via Ferrate, Flying Fox, climbing wall, and of course safety lines to tie into for traversing steep rock faces. After some dice games we had the Hiker’s Special – wonderful soup and Lasagna served with a non-lettuce salad. Another feature of the day was the butchering of the ‘Hutte Hog’ who had probably done well on all of the left-over food scraps from the past 4 months but hit the end of the road with the season ending in the near future – too heavy to take down by cable car and too valuable to loose!
The end of another good day with great food; interesting talks with folks on the trail; terrific scenery; enough work to not kill our bodies; and ending up in a very nice Hutte with an amicable host and hostess – whose family has been running the place since 1926!
Distance: 5.85km; Hiking Time: 4.5hr; Elevation Gain 1022m Loss 327m
Day 8: Sulzenauhutte to Starkenburger Hutte
We arose early to a spectacular day with all of the substantial peaks in full view along with the tongues of the icefield that comprises the remains of the Stubai Icefield. We enjoyed a plain but sufficient breakfast – unlimited coffee – and then we packed up and went for a short walk to ‘Bleau’ Lake – a very nice glacier pond at the foot of a peak. We returned to the Hutte, hefted our packs and enjoyed our walk back down to the valley and the Sulzenau bus stop – which proved to be a more leisurely and moderate grade for the descent. Just about the entire trip from the Alm down to the valley was through the trees on a broad trail that was not overly difficult. We then caught the bus down the valley to Fulpmers and the Schlick 2000 lift. We grabbed a wonderful bowl of Goulash at a local hotel on our way through town to the lift, and were amazed at how hot it was in the valley. When we were in the valley we were shedding our clothing, however, when we got to the top of the lift it was considerably cooler and a much more comfortable temperature to walk in. Our goal was the 2 hour trek to the Starkenburger Hutte. The walk was a real treat and totally different from anything that we had experienced thus far. The trail was wide and had a nice grade for the first hour. The second hour was a traverse across a face with rocky spires that towered above us on one side and then a drop down of hundreds of feet just off of the path on the other side. Another interesting part of the walk was that the path was composed almost exclusively of “white stone” and about 3-4 feet wide. The photo-ops were stunning!
The walk finished with a run through the avalanche prevention structures that we had viewed from across the valley at the Elfer Hutte on our first day.
The Starkenburger Hutte 2237m, was the smallest structure we had come across and the room that we were assigned and shared reflected the size of the structure! We couldn’t talk our way into another or larger or second room, so we were crammed into a space that made either of our bedrooms at 1943 – 48 Ave seem palatial.
Distance: 11km; Hiking Time: 5hr 38min; Elevation Gain 1327m Loss 816m
Hut Cuisine
The ‘Hikers Plate’ is usually 3 courses and generally the least expensive item on the menu. Its 3 courses are usually a soup, salad, and main course. The meal is always filling and in fact about half have been more than at least one of us could handle in a setting. The soups are unique and the dumplings ones are very special. The salads are at the most 25% lettuce and often less, and include carrots, cold slaw, potatoes, and cucs, spread around abundantly.
Hut Culture
Each Hutte is unique and they have their own personalities and culture largely determined by the hostess and host. All of them are over 100 years old but are totally modern facilities. Some have Wi-Fi and some don’t; some have hot water and some don’t; some have showers (from free to incredibly expensive); large public areas outside to soak up the sunshine, enjoy a drink or have a meal; and large to no public areas inside – aside from the dining areas.
Our least pleasant experience – Starkenburger Hutte. Our hostess had limited English, the place was rule bound and there didn’t seem to be any flexibility – however it was one of the least expensive of our stays. Dresdner was our most opulent – own sink in the room, lots of space in a large room; internet; great food – actually more hotel than Hutte. The Bremer Hutte staff were most accommodating. The Innsbrucker our most anticipated and welcomed (first one and after a long day). The Starkenburger for the most spectacular approach walk. Best overall: Sulzenauhutte for hostess, food, scenery, accommodation and showers. Least inspiring breakfast Innsbrucker; best non-Hutte Hutte, Dresdner.
Interesting Fact: Each of the huts has maintenance and trail work done by volunteers from different Alpine Clubs – hence the names of the Huttes. By and large the trails are exceptionally well marked and in superb condition. There are over 1,100,000 members of the German Alpine Club! Most of the Huttes that we stayed in were GAC facilities and hence their German names.
Craig noted a picture of a Hutte taken on the same day in 1900 and again in 1920. At the pre WW1 event there were hundreds in the photo in the 1920 shot there were only about 20. The post WW1 effect on mountaineering in Austria?
Day 9: Starkenburger Hutte to Hotel Almhof
In the middle of the night (in our very cramped room) the window blew open as a result of a ferocious gust of wind. The window was secured but the howling wind continued until daylight when we discovered a totally socked in day with a light dusting of snow covering the Hutte and everything above it. After a basic breakfast with great coffee, we donned our warm clothing options, and headed out the door. We were fortunate to have the wind at our backs and we made excellent time back to the Schlick 2000. We realized how fortunate we were to have had the spectacular weather and visibility of yesterday. As the day progressed the clouds did give way to a dappled sky with periodic sunny periods but it was definitely glove and toque weather and just over 1 degree Celsius. We made the ascent/descent in posted STD time and were only too happy 2.5 hrs later to be sitting in a small bake shop enjoying coffee and strudel in Fulpmers.
Plan B (as opposed to a tentative plan of heading across the valley and to the Elfer Lift and the Elferhutte – which we had already been too) – was hatched. A call to the Hotel Almhof secured us 2 half board rooms in their 4 Star hotel section (we deserved a treat!). We were warmly welcomed and had no difficulty what-so-ever in settling in for the afternoon. This was followed by a brief walk down to the local SPAR for chocolate and peanuts, and a spectacular 5 course dinner. After dinner we headed for ‘Spa Time’ consisting of a coolish, ‘warm tub’ followed by a steam bath; another plunge; and then a sauna. The day couldn’t really have unfolded much better than it had!
Distance: 7.88km; Hiking Time: 2 hr 32 min;
Day 10: Hotel Almhop to Hotel Bergkranz
After another substantial breakfast we bid adieu to the Almhof and walked down the hill for the bus back to the Hotel Bergkranz where we deposited our packs and headed into downtown Innsbruck to book train tickets and look around. We then headed for the main square – now taken over by the 2018 European Youth Cycling Competition. We passed by the blocked finish line to the Court Church and Monumental tomb of the Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian, with its 28 larger than life bronze statues of the Emperor’s relatives and ancestors – including King Arthur. Quite a building and interesting 45 minutes.
We then waited for the Fulpmes Tram – which was rerouted and never came because of the races, and finally took the bus back to the Stubai Valley and the Serles Lift where we rode the gondola to the top and then on the rail bob sled, came shooting back down. It was a hoot and because we had Stubai passes for the day from both hotels, we did it again to improve our technique!
Descent: 620m at 15.34km/hr; in 4.42 minutes
The day finally came to an end with a glass of wine on our deck overlooking the valley following another interesting and more than adequate evening meal that we stretched out to well over 90 minutes.
Interesting little thing about the train tickets we had purchased for our departure: Kent was out early in the morning – the three of us were on a later and slower more scenic train. His ticket cost just a little less than the ‘group’ ticket for the 3 of us. Group tickets (for 2) are cheaper than 2 individual tickets!
Day 11: The Eagles Nest
Today we explored a wee bit of Bavaria. We had an early breakfast before our 9:00AM appointment to pick-up a rental car for a trip east towards Strasburg and to the Eagles Nest – Hitler’s retreat centre in the Alps. Right off the bat we got caught in the Euro Road Race changes and detours but managed to get a taxi to our rental car agency. They provided us with a little Ford Focus that even with the four of us, we managed to keep up to traffic on the freeways and secondary highways to the Nest.
The drive was interesting – from the rugged mountains down to tree covered hills through the foothills and then back into the Alps in Germany. After 2 hours we made the Eagles Nest parking area and Documentation Centre which provide an interesting overview of the Third Reich: The Fuhrer; National Community; Terror Apparatus; Racial Policy; and the transformation (making over by force) of the rural Obersalzberg area – including the construction of the military complex and its 3 miles of tunnels inside the mountain, and its eventual destruction by the Allied bombers – for the Nest.
After spending 90 minutes in the Centre we rode the bus and then took the elevator to the top of ‘The Nest’ – at an elevation of considerably less than what we had physically climbed above on more than one occasion over the last 10 days! The view however, was spectacular.
This is Germany’s only Alpine National Park and the views were stunning. The whole area is crisscrossed with marked hiking trails and plentiful ski lifts and runs. It is an amazing and physically very appealing area!
We didn’t need to linger at the top as it wasn’t any more spectacular that what we had been experiencing in the Stubai so we returned to Innsbruck via a nice drive on an alternative route outlined by the GPS. We made good time and found the tram to Fulpmes – but this time waited on it for 45 minutes only to arrive at the Banhof after the last convenient bus had left for down the valley and our hotel. We found a cab and made the quick ride right to the door of the hotel in time for a final and another wonderful dinner.
After Terry did our financial tally for the trip ($1330 each for the days we were together) we headed to our respective rooms to pack and get ready for our early departures on the 11th day of our Stubai adventure!
The Trip Stats:Total KM walked: 60.97 Ascent in M 6731 Descent in M 5817 Moving Time 36 Hours
I am getting pretty exited about the summer solstice and the 40th ANNUAL North Country Fair. The North Country Fair is celebrated along the shores of the Lesser Slave Lake – the largest lake in Alberta. I moved there in 1971 with 6 dear friends and a $600 investment to be a “one seventh equal and undivided owner” of a 160 Acres (65 Hcts.) of Northern Alberta bush, meadows and a 4 bedroom house! We were “back to the land.”
We always made an effort to reclaim the Summer Solstice as a focal celebration of the gift of being able to spend a summer in the Boreal Forest. We had great ‘bush (and hiding from rain) parties’ before the Fair. In 1979, we decided to do a ‘real folk festival’. We first partnered with the Joussard Sports Association to charge a few bucks at the gate, hire some bands, talked our friends into doing something ‘alternative’ – AND add fireworks, sports events and of course new and emerging musicians. The Fair became known by the some of the locals as ‘Hippy Daze” and generations of kids have grown up camping at the Fair.We never lost money in the early days – but never made much either! Later the North Country School added its own benefits and obligations!
Lesser Slave Lake 40 KM North of Edmonton
The most incredible story of the NCF must be the purchase of the land. 1400 acres of the Driftpile River Valley and adjacent slopes. Now the Fair had a permanent home. Every year I look across the North Saskatchewan River at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and much as I love the music, the staggering number of volunteers and heavy equipment needed to move them in and out every year (for a weekend affair), makes me VERY grateful for a permanent site.
As a 40th Fair celebration/archive I created the shell of TikiWiki at northcountryfair.ab.ca. I thought that generations of North Country Folks – including kids and grandkids, (being net-savy) would be dying to upload all their photos and stories – NOT. I should have learned the lesson that it a lot easier to set up a ‘new tech’ solution than to populate it!. Wikipedia shines as the great exemplar, but alas, the number of special purpose or spin off Wikis that match its breadth and participation are VERY few – like none!.
But I don’t feel badly though. I learned how to set up and then move a wiki site and even the skeleton Wiki that I have created at northcountryfair.ab.ca has lots of interesting stuff.
On top of that I get to go and work the ‘History” tent at the Fair and hear about (and maybe tell a few) amazing stories that have evolved over 40 annual celebrations of the Solstice in the Northern Alberta bush.
I was pleased to receive in the post a hard copy of a new book in the Issues in Distance Education book series, for which I continue to serve as the series editor. Now of course you can read all of the books in this series as they are available for download under Creative Commons licensing. But it is nice to hold paper copy and a purchase ($39.95 Can.) makes the press and the authors happy (think $$$).
An Online Doctorate for Researching Professionals: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation by Swapna Kumar and Kara Dawson is a great book on a very hot topic. I would characterize this monograph as a scholarly case study. This means that it is in large part a detailed explanation of a 5 year old Education Doctorate (EdD) program from the University of Florida. The book begins with a historical review of function and form of the doctorate program in Universities. I was surprised to hear that the very first Doctor of Education program was begun here in Canada at the University of Toronto. But it was soon followed by many doctorate programs – in professional subjects such as medicine, dentistry, law and of course education.
Kumar and Dawson make the point that a professional degree(s) exists to train professionals to make contribution and conduct research into the profession and to the citizens that they serve. It was not then, and is not now, designed to train students to be full time researcher scholars nor faculty members at Universities – this is what the PhD is designed for. This all makes sense EXCEPT that the public and many students perceive the PhD to be a “better’ degree, so the pressure from students, the public and the Universities to move towards offering PhD programs- regardless of the need of either the academy or the profession.
I note the topic is hot, not only for this contention of what a professional doctorate is, how it differs from a PhD but also because of degree inflation. Many professionals desire (or are required) to have the advanced training and the status of a doctoral title. As noted the professional doctorate in education is hardly a new degree, but at least when I began doctoral studies in 1987, there were no EdD or PhD programs available in Canada that one could complete without ‘residence’ attendance on campus. The EdD program that I worked in and helped design at Athabasca University was one of the first to enter this domain, but it was soon followed by many other programs including the subject of this case study.
The first thing I did after opening the book was jump to the chapter “Dissertations in the Online Environment” The dissertation is a defining characteristic of any doctoral program and the most challenging to deliver, to support and to complete. It is not particularly difficult to design a program of courses that are delivered online or that use some blended approach. But the dissertation process is individualized. This not only challenges the student to design and undertake quality, original research but also challenges the faculty as a great deal of one-to-one support and mentoring is required of the supervisor and then a committee of examiners. The economy of scale of courseware all of a sudden disappears and faculty can be overwhelmed with the work- especially as the number of candidates/faculty creeps into two digits.
The book is chock full of examples of ‘good practices” and a description of the research tools used to validate them that emerged and were implemented in the UF program. I should be pleased to note that the pedagogical approach is grounded in Randy Garrison, Walter Archer and my- Community of Inquiry model – with the addition of Shea’s ‘learner presence’. In addition the program focuses on building community (and measuring it using Rovai’s (2002) community instrument. However, these days I am more intrigued with ways to develop self-directed and self-driven learning programs. But perhaps that is too much to hope for, given the intense context and content to be mastered and the high expectations of doctoral studies. Indeed, the authors provide a quote from one student who notes that they were prepared for the intellectual rigour of the program, but blown away by the “opportunity to work alongside such incredible peers that has been more rewarding and fulfilling than I could have imagined.” This intense community benefits (and is nurtured) in an entry ‘boot camp’, annual F2F meetings and regular synchronous and asynchronous classes. Perhaps the search for of a recognized, self directed, self-managed, MOOC-like doctorate is Quixotic!
To summarize, this a great text and I am proud to see it added to the AUPress Issues in Distance Education Series. It is a scholarly exposition of an innovative doctoral program and as importantly it validates the findings with survey, completion data and examples from the cohorts. It also serves as fine example of the type of study and reflection that should accompany all new educational innovations.
For the past two months, I’ve been occupied with a qualitative study of teachers’ use of digital technology in Alberta Schools. The study is sponsored by the Alberta Teachers’ Association. It has been very useful for me to get down to actually doing a full scale qualitative study after years of teaching grad students research methods courses and advising and supervising graduate students.
This post is to highlight (and celebrate) two great tools that we have used that I think have almost revolutionary, or at least potentially disruptive effect on interview based research.
For this study we conducted 19 interviews mostly via Skype or Google Hangout, but also face-to-face and two on the old-fashioned telephone. We recorded the interviews using a variety of digital tools included with Skype or Hangout or recording apps on our machines. We also used a portable digital recorder as backup. The MP3 recordings were then uploaded to new tool – Trint.com
Trint is an automatic transcription tool, which converts the audio track to text. We uploaded the approx. 50 minute recordings and received notification about 15 minutes later when they had been transcribed to English texts. As expected, the transcription failed (and sometimes comically) at transcribing proper nouns and other slang or colloquial terms relevant only to specialized audiences. The genius of the system is the editor within which the new text transcription is then displayed. This specialized editor has an audio track at the bottom, that reads aloud the audio track. You can vary the audio playback speed that then highlights on the screen the first draft transcription. This editor allowed us to add speaker’s name, insert or delete paragraph breaks, search and replace, delete extraneous chatter and of course has a built-in spell checker. The initial editing took us about the same length of time as the recording runs. So, we went from an Mp3 Audio recording of 50 minutes of clean text in about an hour.
We did however notice significant variation in the accuracy of the transcription and thus the length of time needed to manually edit the transcription. The recordings that were done through Skype or Hangout, were very accurate and required minimal editing. Those we recorded on the phone, produced much worse transcription, requiring us to edit and re edit as we listened to the actual interview. Thus, as Trint notes on their home page, the quality of the recording is critical to success.
Trint has an interesting pricing system, that after the first $10 free credit, charges are based upon the length of the transcription submitted. The cost is $15 US per hour, but we were pleasantly surprised that the cost was significantly lower than the actual length of our recordings. So this was money very well spent compared to shipping the transcripts to India or hiring professionals here in Canada. I’ve heard that professional cost for transcription can easy mount to over $300 per hour.
Once we had the text transcript, we uploaded to the cloud-based analysis program Dedoose. Dedoose.com, is not a new program, but has some interesting features that are certainly an improvement on my earlier work with Atlas and NVivo.
First, Dedoose is designed for coding teams. It has extensive tools for training and then testing inter-coder reliability. Next, is the general ease (not too bad a learning curve) of the coding itself. We were quite easily able to code, create new codes, arrange them in families and other functions of high quality qualitative analysis tool set. Finally, Dedoose’s has an integrated suite of quantitive tools. These allow you to look at any significant differences between subjects based on a host of ‘descriptors’ such as gender, school size or whatever variables the research chooses to associate with each of the interviewees. Of course, such quantitative analysis is only meaningful if the coding is done systematically and reliably – a challenge to the very epistemological validity of the subjective experience of qualitative coding. Nonetheless, Dedoose worked as advertised and the coding was straight forward. Retrieval of the code excerpts to a Word file was also quite easy.
Dedoose also has an interesting pricing system. An account is billed (after the free trial) at $14.95 (US)/month – BUT only for the months in which the program is used. I was pleased to see the system remembered my account from over 2 years ago- and I am awaiting to see my monthly charge appear on my credit card.
Now I am looking for a program that writes up the research, recommendations and implications for practice and further research.
Both academics and administrators love to argue about the value (impact) of their academic work. The old adage of “Publish or Perish” still has currency. Despite the many distribution opportunities besides and beyond publishing in scholarly journals, the bean counters (myself included) love citation indexes. The basic idea is that the more your work is cited or used by other scholars, the more impact it has had on the field. Especially since the onslote of predatory open-access journals that support themselves through publishing fees with minimal peer -review, the decision as to where to send one’s work and the prestige, value and exposure involved in its publication, depends a great deal on the Journal. Work published in prestigious journals is distributed more widely – but of course, these journals also get more submissions, so acceptance is usually more difficult.
Thus, the better authors, submit better work, to better journals – creating a lockin of prestige that favours the older and more established journals. Given this landscape, how does a new journal both attract quality submissions and then see that the work is widely distributed, such that it is cited by other researchers?
In this post I highlight some of the factors that lead to the success of the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL)
In our case, it was helpful that the discipline is relatively new and expanding – certainly the context of distance, open and online education has expanded since 2001 when IRRODL was founded. It turns out that being an early adopter of online (only) and open access were also critical decisions. Being online only, meant that our distribution and production costs were significantly lower than paper only or dual media publications. Secondly, by allowing free and open access, we allowed scholars from around the world to read our publications, without needing subscription purchases, going to physical libraries or finding our work through proprietary indexes or scholarly database systems. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we had a sponsor (in our case Athabasca University) who felt that the focus of the journal matched well and supported the strategic mission of this relatively new and totally online university.
During the ten years that I served as Editor, we fought many battles with funders, authors, software systems and ourselves!, but we managed to attract a growing numbers of subscribers, authors and reviewers. A very significant move was as early adopters of Canada’s Open Journal System (OJS), that coordinates review and publication processes. OJS has come to be, by a wide margin, the world’s most widely used journal publication system – offering open access systems for free in many languages.
So, where are in 2018?
The major commercial journal publishers (notably Scopus and Social Science Citation Index) provide listings of the citation metrics from major scholarly journals in all fields. These are used as a numeric indicator quality of the journal and the articles published. These ratings are calculated using a variety of metrics but basically they count the average number of times an article published in a journal is referenced or cited by others (now including automated systems). These indexes can be modified to discount self publications, to include a measure of the annual number of publications and the prestige of the journals in which the work is cited and other factors designed to enhance the validity of the count – thus the different column headings in the table below.
The current co-editor of IRRODL Rory McGreal has gathered recent (2017) data from Scopius to produce the table below see .
International Review of Open and Distributed Learning
IRRODL
2.5
1.034
1.632
4
Open Access
Educational Technology and Society
ETS
2.47
1.103
1.719
4
Distance Education
DE
2.36
1.001
1.632
6
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
AJET
1.42
0.854
1.035
7
Technology Pedagogy and Education
TPE
1.4
0.844
1.412
8
International Journal of Technology in Higher Education
IJTHE
1.33
0.425
0.928
9
Open Access
American Journal of Distance Education
AJDE
0.9
0.522
0.72
10
Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education
TOJDE
0.36
0.233
0.559
11
Open Access
International Journal of Distance Education Technologies
IJDET
0.47
0.157
0.328
11
Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology
TOJET
0.32
0.218
0.514
11
Open Access
At one time, is was useful to discount comparison with educational technology journals as the focus of learning design, technology used and delivery was quite distinct between campus and distributed contexts. Today, in an era of blended and extensive technology use both on and off campus, these distinctions are much less meaningful. By this old distinction, IROODL (followed closely by Australia’s Distance Education) is the most widely cited (of about 20 – not listed here) distance education journals. The table shows that IRRODL continues to gain ground on the older and more established educational technology journals.
Also of interest is to note that 3 of the 14 journals offer their products freely to all. – giving evidence that publication in an open journal does not result in lower citations.
However it isn’t all that simple. Rory McGreal has informed me that TOJET is not open access in that their freely READABLE articles carry an “all rights reserved” tag. This of course begs the question of how ‘open’ does ‘open’ have to be?
The gold seal that is supported by the DOAJ calls for journal articles to “using Creative Commons Attribute (CCA) only. Adding restrictions such as Non Commercial (CCNC) or non derivative (CCND) means that anyone can still read and cite the work but they can’t change or sell it and there may be other restrictions on re-use. David Wiley argues that we need to clarify the definition of OER to allow for “free access to the resource” which at least from an end user’s perspective amounts to open access – though it may NOT allow for reuse, re-sale or other purposes. However, Stephen Downs notes “It’s a clever argument but has the unpalatable consequence that a resource might not be available to anyone and yet still, by this definition, be classified as an OER.”
I’ll not resolve this issue in this post, but I’ve always favoured the rights and convenience to use a product over those seeking to re-use or benefit commercially. From my pragmatic perspective and much as I think that re-use and repurposing of digital media is a major problem in education, serving the needs of end users (students, actual teachers) shouldn’t be compromised by endless debates over ownership. However, I’ve been in enough useless arguments over software ownership by academic developers to know that CC licensing is a game changer for collaborative production. That is why there are a number of licences. Let’s not limit the right for anyone to benefit from the work in order to protect all possible rights of the creator.
Finally, let me address the now old argument (first made to me by my PhD supervisor) that publishing only online, will limit the distribution of the work. Open publication results in the work being more widely distributed- especially to practitioners and research audiences from developing worlds or in industry or K12 schools where journal access is often restricted due to costs.
Finally, It should be noted that a growing number of the proprietary journals publishers (some in the table above) allow individual authors to “free” their work by submitting a publication fee – often around $2,000. This isn’t of too much value to educational researchers who rarely have an extra $2,000 lying around – or needing to be spent from a research grant!
So congrats again to IRRODL, to OJS and to Athabasca University for helping open quality scholarship to the world!
Our long time friends Ted and Joanne Koopmans invited us to come along and house-sit a house that a friend of theirs had made available for 4 weeks in February. The prospect (and reality) of -30 weather in Edmonton in February, was but one reason we accepted their invitation. We also hoped we would learn and perhaps contribute a bit to our NGO host.
Ted and Joanne were Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) volunteers in Indonesia in the late 1980’s and still maintained contacts with MCC. Our host, Mark Richard had lived for many years in Guatemala and had started a wheelchair factory in association with the Christian, US based NGO Hope Haven International who has distributed over 130,000 wheel chairs globally . (Check out their impressive Google Earth graphic). He was in the United States for a few weeks in February and invited Ted to house sit.
We arrived in Guatemala City and were met by the regional manager from MCC who drove us to an MCC guest house for the evening. The next morning we had a great visit with MCC staff member and a walk to the MCC offices. There we were introduced to the 15 or so projects they were involved with here and in El Salvadore. Each project was managed by a partner organization and was typically related to agricultural production, education, or handicraft coops. They also showed us slides of the challenges and opportunities in Guatemala which is plagued with near obscene levels of wealth disparity, very high unemployment, corruption and narco gangs . We learned that the biggest source of foreign income for the country was remittances from those who have been migrated to Canada or the US. These hard economic facts underscore the challenges of Trumps proposed immigration policies and the need to develop local economic opportunities.
We then were picked up by a young driver from Mark’s organization and headed to Xenacoj and our home for the next 10 days. Mark lives alone but has a large house in a walled compound that also houses a guest house and dormitory for his many visitors. The house came with 3 large dogs (one tail in the picture at left!)
Later that afternoon we headed to the wheelchair factory. We were quite blown away by the scale of the factory- this was no mom and pop shop outfit. The factory manufactures two lines of wheel chairs – both designed to be fully adjustable so as to grow with the occupant and to be repaired with local materials. They also refurbish wheelchairs donated from North America.
The Factory
Hand Cranked Model
Standing Board
Current unmet need for wheelchairs
Workers at the Factory
Ted on a Bumblebee
The following day, we took it easy -enjoying the house. Ted, Susan and I went for a hike to the nearest town of Xenacoj. The town was only about 4 K away – but up and down the equivalent of a 23 story building (according to Google Health). I’ve come to appreciate the challenges of transportation in Guatemala as everywhere we have been thus far has been trough deeply cut ravines, up and down hills. There is lots of agriculture, most of which is one the sides of hills and sometimes gullies.
We enjoyed a pop overlooking the main square market and church and then bought some vegetables and chicken from women at the stalls dressed in bright traditional clothing. I bought an (expensive) bottle of wine to celebrate our arrival, but alas Susan slipped and fell on the way home and into a now wine-red ditch beside the road. Rather than attempt
Chicken Buses
the ups and downs of the hike home we jumped on a ‘chicken bus’ and for some reason the drivers helper asked for .20 fare from all of the others in the crowded bus- but not from us. Likely the three who could most afford it rode for free! The chicken buses are used school buses imported from the US – some still bearing the name of the school division on the side. Soon after their arrival though most are re decorated with metres of chrome- running on all sides, as well as flashing lights and various insignia and religious statues – quote colorful, bu always crowded and zooming up and down the hills
We spend the evening watching the Olympics via CBC streaming video and Marks hi dev screen. We had assumed we’d be without such creature comforts, but we were able to cheer the Canadians on to a few medals.
The next day our young driver Josue, arrived early for an overnight trip north. We were
Religious Procession
heading for ChiChiCastenango, a town about 60 kms north. ChiChi holds one the largest markets in Central America. The streets in the centre of the town were closed and the locals set up temporary stalls. These sold everything from vegetables and treats, to shovels, pails and of course at least 20 varieties of corn which became tortillas- the staple food of Guatemala. It was also Sunday so we watched a couple of processions with relics and statues paraded around to the accompaniment of a drum, oboe like flute and fire crackers. We only bought a few things – but not for lack of invitations to purchase from the vendors.
At six o’clock the roads finally opened and we were able to get to our 2 star hotel. On a final walk around town, I found a smart phone on the street and with Josue’s help we were able to text the owners friends and 30 minutes later a very grateful owner appeared to reclaim the phone.
The next day we were up early to head to Lake Atitlan. one of the most picturesque and popular tourist sites in Guatemala. The road down to the coastal town of Panachel was unbelievably steep and twisty – we were very glad to not be driving. Heading for the lake front we took a wrong turn and ended up on a very narrow street with barely room for one vehicle and of course we met a car coming the opposite way- necessitating a nerve-racking reversal of 500 metres or so!
Lake Atitlan
The lake is surrounded by about 7 small villages- a few of which are only accessible by boat. With a fair bit of bargaining, we hired one of the 20 passenger, fibreglass water taxis and were soon heading across the lake to Santiago Atitlan. The wind had come up and the boat ride was a bit nerve racking as we rode up and over whitecaps and came crashing down on the far side. If we had of known that the return trip would be even rougher, we might have enjoyed the ride there a bit more. It is quite amazing that the fibreglass boats can stand the abuse.
Saiago, is a beautiful town on the lakeside with a host of tourist related craft booths lining the main street. The aggressive sales were a bit much. We stumbled upon a house
Maximon pauses for a smoke
with a preChristian cult (Maximon) in which a 400 year old (supposedly) idol could intercede with various gods for any request. Fortunately Maximon speaks EVERY language and for $4.00 allows his picture to be taken.
Next we hopped aboard a couple of Tuktuks (3 wheeled taxis) for a short trip to the Peace Park. This small park was a memorial to the 14 people killed when the Army open fire on a crowd of between over 1,000 civilians, who were protesting the Armies drunken abuse of San Diago citizens. This event was a turning point in both national and international resistance to the Army abuses of civilians during the guerilla wars. As results the Army is prohibited from entering the region, except to guard specific visiting public figures.
Next to the park we visited ANADESA the New Dawn Association of Santiago Atitlan. This
Ted Translating at ANADESA
Cool building at COOP
cooperative was formed after the MCC had been involved in relief work following a devastating mud slide that killed over 1,000 people following Hurricane Stan in 2005. MCC stayed on the support a Cooperative that focused on supporting women, providing education for children and youth and providing a centre for handicraft production. The members of the coop gave us an impromptu talk (with Ted translating). We bought a few handicrafts. It occurred to me that a visit from a volunteer artist type might be very useful in inspiring the manufacture of different handicrafts than those sold throughout the town.
We returned that night to our ‘home’ grateful to have seen a lot, survived the traffic. However, without Ted’s Spanish (acquired mostly through 4 years of study – much with Duolingo App on his iPad) this trip would have been MUCH more challenging. Maybe time for me to get a bit multi-lingual! We have a few more days here. Time to visit the museums in the capital and to put in a day or so of volunteer work at the wheelchair factory.
Although I’m still quite liking the current dulcimer I am playing that I bought off Ebay, I was curious how much time and effort is required to build one from a kit. As a previous post notes, I crafted a 16/15 dulcimer from ‘scratch’ a couple of years ago, but found that although it sounds LOUD, it is very heavy and has some string spacing issues. I guess it is more of a parlour dulcimer but I want one that I can take to gatherings and jams. I also thought by building a kit, I would be able to absorb the skills from another craftsperson, save some money and have some fun with a new project.
I ordered two kits from Music Makers from Minessota:
a Reverie Harp kit – ($269 US) sells assembled and finished for $599 US
a 16/17 Dulcimer ($475 US) sells assembled and finished for $950 US
The kits arrived as expected with no damage. On initial exploration I was impressed by three things:
The instruction booklet was very detailed and when I followed it EXACTLY I didn’t really have any problems – when I did the usual man thing and didn’t read the instructions carefully, I had to redo a couple of small details – but no major mistakes.
There was no knots or imperfections in the wood- something I had to deal with when making the last one from rough lumber.
The side pin blocks, which has to withstand the tension of all the strings, are best made out of laminated hard maple – and they were in the kit. But they were slotted into the walnut sides producing a nice dark effect and still highest quality. It took me some time to figure out how I could replicate the joinery if I make another with a similar design.
The glue up went pretty well as expected – but as always you never have enough clamps (as evidenced by the hodge podge connection of clamps I used). Both the back (3/16 hardwood plywood) and the top (solid mahogany) were oversized so I had to either sand or
use a trim bit on the router to cut them to exact size after gluing. I likely should have taken the router out of the router table (given the size of the glued up dulcimer) and perhaps scored the cut, but I managed to trim it down, with only one small run out. This run out into the top caused me to have to round the edge more than I had originally intended but it looks fine now.
The sanding and finishing went well. My 30 year old finishing sander finally died (29 years after it sanded well). Giving me a good excuse to purchase a new oscillating hand sander ($100). I didn’t stain it – as the mahogany and walnut look fine and I put on about 6 coats of rub-on polyethylene.
The kit didn’t come with the usual hitch pins, but with stainless steel screws to hold the strings at the end of the strings without the tuning pin. This made it easier to hook strings on and drill receiving holes but doesn’t look as traditional as most hammer dulcimers. However, I didn’t want to wait for an order of hitch pins and so used the screws.
The stringing and tuning went as expected, but didn’t take as long as my last one as a single string was used, wrapped from the tuning peg to the screw hitch pin and then back to a second tuning pin to create a double string for each of the 33 courses. As expected the strings stretched after installation and the treble bridge had to be shifted back and forth to get the right position to give it tuned on both sides, but it worked out!
And most importantly it sounds pretty good!
Now my last problem is finding out what to do with my 5th hammer dulcimer!! Anyone want to buy a brand new 16/17 dulcimer??
We were hiking horizontally above the tree line, and 3 hours later, were at the height of our destination and in site of our Bremner Hut. However, between us and the Hut were three great ravines that we had to go around, or more often go way down then way back up to summit the Col, or pass. On the highest of these we had to scramble up irregular blocks of glacial rock, ever thankful for the Red and White train markers painted on the ‘best route” and the strategically placed rocks, wires or foot braces drilled into the rock. I love volunteer trail maintainers!! When we finally reached the top of the Col- was it number 2, 3 or 4?? I thought it would be a nice view to enjoy our sandwiches purchased that morning at the Hut. Two problems, worst sandwich of days old rye bread and a thin slice of cheese and even thinner slice of ham. But even more insurmountable was our lunch time perch. We were on rather comfortably sitting on a stone a ridge perhaps 3 feet wide, with sheer death on one side and shere death on the other. I couldn’t get comfortable and it was time to move on. It was on this day that we first encountered the cables that are drilled and anchored into the rock, to afford a handhold – or a clip onto – IF you were equipped with a harness. It wasn’t really that bad, but did give us a for-taste of more to come on this trip
After surmounting and scrambling up the last few meters we finally surmounted what we hoped was the final Col. Then part-way down the valley (or Eldewise as Craig kept referring to the Creeks) down to what the guide book referred to as ascent of a “chimney” up to Bremner Hut. Unfortunately it had started to rain and the light was already failing. I started up the chimney but soon realized that it was not safe for old men, with rubbery legs, heavy packs, cold cables, and wet and slippery rocks. We had been told that one could descend perhaps 300 meters and a couple of kilometers and then walk about a much easier route to the hut. Unfortunately, we somehow lost the trail (our only time to do that during the hike) and soon we were bush-wacking down a slope, crossing small streams but wondering (and hoping) that indeed, there was another way up to the Hut. As it began to get darker, I began tantalizing about plan B options- breaking into a shepherds hut we had seen in the distance or walking down to the town lights we could see waydown in the valley – maybe 8 kilometers away. We were RELIEVED to finally regain the trail (marked with the red and white flashes of Austria! It was then a 90 minute hike up to the hut and just as we were about to put on our flashlights, a big Alpine Ipex appeared out of the mist about 30 feet beside us. A great omen and sure enough the Hut also materialized in a few hundred meters.
uros!!) Now to finish this hike with a brand new pair of unbroken in shoes. Luckily they worked out great!
We searched for the trails heading both directions from Dresner Hut and had a chat with the two women from Colorado who we had met earlier and who had just arrived. They suggest there was lots of dicey, cable climbing on our intended destination. So again, we consulted and like old men, decided to take the bus down two stops and then hike up to the Sulzenau Hut – rather than go up and over the Col.
This turned out to be one of the nicest days of our trip. We hiked up along side the beautiful Grawa Waterfall. This is the widest and one of the highest waterfalls in Austria. At the base is a sunning deck where Austrians love to sit and wonder at the falls while soaking up both sunshine and the plentiful negative ions produced by the Falls. It is said that an afternoon ingesting both the mist and the ions, especially if coupled with a 2 hour hike to the Alm 
at the top of the waterfall, is a sure promise of health and happiness. One thing for sure, it was a beautiful hike up, though some of the stairways from logs notched to accept 2 by 8 treads were a bit slippery.
In any case we arrived at the Alm for a beer and gawking at the gothic carvings that filled both the restaurant and the sun deck. Each chair and most of the tables was carved with some mythical Australian wood creature. From the Alm we could see our
We really enjoyed this Hut – both for the atmosphere and the friendliness of the hosts. It was a Saturday night so there was several families in the Hut – full nearly to capacity with about 30 guests. The food however was great and we easily got our 48 Euros each worth (private room for 4 with bunk beds, supper and breakfast included). The next morning we hiked up to Blue Lake and again saw the retreating glaciers that once filled this plateau. Then back down the trial to the bus.
Obviously our trip was no longer going according to circular route of the RuckSack trail, so we opted to take another ski lift and then a 4 hour hike up to Starkenberger Hut. This was a great hike, again high above the tree line but with spectacular views of the Stubai Valley below. The trail was fairly easy as we walked over and around the huge avalanche fences that protected the towns below.
The Hut proved to be the least welcoming in our tour (not withstanding the rainbow that greeted arrival). We were forced to sleep in a very tiny room (2 bunkbeds and
not even room to change your mind between the beds!). No showers and the food was as mediocre as the reaction by the Hut managers.
We had intended to do day hikes and spend a second night at this Hut, but changed our minds, based upon the atmosphere of the Hut and the raging snow and wind storm that hit during the night.
se. 
nd our home for the next 10 days. Mark lives alone but has a large house in a walled compound that also houses a guest house and dormitory for his many visitors. The house came with 3 large dogs (one tail in the picture at left!)
the tension of all the strings, are best made out of laminated hard maple – and they were in the kit. But they were slotted into the walnut sides producing a nice dark effect and still highest quality. It took me some time to figure out how I could replicate the joinery if I make another with a similar design.
And most importantly it sounds pretty good!