Blog 5

What have you learned about analyzing learning task and objectives? How can you plan to apply this new information (new to some of you who have not taken an instructional design course) to your design project?

Identifying a need should be carefully considered before jumping into the design process. You have to consider your learner and the learner’s needs. When delivering instructional content you have to make a task analysis for every aspect that you provide instruction for. When considering instructional objectives I found I approached this task by creating objectives for my site rather than objectives for the learner or VLC member. I am struggling with this a bit as my site is designed primarily as a place for members to collaborate and provide the learning experiences for each other. I have expanded on my objectives to have both 1) site or project objectives and then 2 ) individual learner objectives.

Given the learning objectives/tasks you have identified, what instructional strategies or activities you have identified from Bonk and Zhang’s book are useful for your target community members (or learners) to achieve their goals/objectives? The VLC that I have proposed is designed as to facilitate collaboration between community college instructors on how to use technology in the classroom. I have objectives for the VLC as a whole and objectives for the learners. The objectives for the site are:

1. Stimulate discussion about the uses, needs, and experiences of web 2.0 tools and applications in the classroom.
2. Provide a platform for members to share successful experiences with web 2.0 tools with CoP members.
3. Experience web 2.0 tools in a manner that will facilitate the construction of sound learning activities.
4. Develop a network of instructors and IT staff that can serve as resource for each other.

The members for the learners are:

1. Discuss strategies for using Web 2.0 technology to enhance learning in the classroom.
2. Identify strengths, and weaknesses of technology tools available for teaching.
3. Identify instructional needs that might be met through web 2.0 technologies.
4. Share with others, examples of instructional uses of web 2.0 technologies.

Examples of strategies that could work with in this site that come from the Bonk and Zhang

FAQ and Course Announcement Feedback Navigational structure is going to be very important in this community. p. 36 and 37. (Read)

Online Discussion Forums and Group Discussion Discourse between members will be a key component of this community. p. 86 and 87. (Reflect)

Virtual Tours Created by members to showcase successful learning activities developed with Web 2.0 tools. (Display)

Course Resource Wiki Site Members work together to develop are a member repository of web 2.0 tools. p. 218-19. (Do)

Case Study II

For this project I learned to use Google docs.  I helped a group that had a need to collaborate on a spreadsheet. 

 
 

You can approach collaboration in Google docs three ways

1)  You can set read/write privileges and the users could login to Google docs

2) You can set read/write privileges and email the link.

3) You can set read/write privileges and then paste the link in the website.

 
 

In this case it was determined that the web site approach would work best.  I set up a Google site that anyone who wants to see how collaboration through a link on a website works. Go to http://sites.google.com/site/eipt6143/ to view.  Feel free to open the document, spreadsheet, or presentation and practice editing.

The World is Open

We began reading The Word is Open by Curtis Bonk. These articles were refreshingly engaging, written from a practitioner's point of view rather than a theorist's point of view. I read chapter 6 and 7 which provided multiple examples of innovation collaboration and practical applications of web 2.0 tools. I look forward to listening to Dr. Bonk speak tomorrow at OU.

Digital Identities and Zombies in Education

I recently attended the Instructional Technology Council Conference in Fort Worth. Much of the conference was centered around respecting that students have digital identities before they enter school and ways schools can promote true collaboration. There was suggestion that the LMS should do more to allow students to publish from the Web 2.0 tools that they use before they become a student and that may have more value than the tools ion the LMS.

The opening keynote speech was well done. It was presented in the format of the Late Show and had several clips. The presentation as streamed and can be accessed at http://salesdemo.mediasite.com/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=1c13bc753bfe4040aec4a67aba5f01f1 If you do decide to watch this make sure you get to the segment at the end that has a description of the three types of zombies that exist in higher ed. It is one that people trying to deliver truly collaborative learning situation should know about.

Connections

I think I am starting to make some connections about the purpose of some of our assignments and the objectives of the class. Maybe all of my peer's have understood the need to look at the articles from a theorist's perspective, but until recently I have been looking at them in a more pragmatic manner and attempted to find immediate clinical value.

This week we picked two articles from the Carrying Forward the Conversation textbook.

The first article I read was titled Participatory Simulations: Building Collaborative Understanding Through Immersive Dynamic Modeling. It was written by Vanessa Colella. In this study the student the student's participated in what is called Participatory Simulation. The Simulation was carried out and then studied to see if it met John Dewey's principles of experience. Dewey's principle stated that learning occurs through continuity and interaction.

The simulation consisted of 10^th grade students wearing small computerized badges to participate in a simulation that involved scientific inquiry. The badges were used to simulate the spread of disease. The badge kept track of how many people the student came in contact with and indicated if the student had the disease or not. The simulation was carried out 6 times. The students worked together to determine how the virus was being spread.

Data was collected through video tape and was then analyzed to identify the presence of immersion in the simulation, identification and analysis of evidence, experimental design and predication, and negation about scientific vocabulary. The immersion of simulation this compared to Dewey's terms of continuity and interaction. This was met as participants felt as if they actually had or did not have the virus. The date indicated a high level of emersion and interaction.

 

The Second Article I read was titled Using Mobile Computing to Enhance Field Study by Gay, Rieger, and Bennington. In this study students use hand held computers to supplement field activities. This study examined the initiation of technology through Activity Theory which we studied this week during our live session and in an article titled Activity Theory as a Framework for Designing Constructivist Learning Environments by Jonassen and Ronrer-Murphy. Within activity theory you, understand the motivation of the participants, understand the context of the activity, define the subject, define the relevant community, define the object, define the activity, and then analysis and application. Activity theory has been used to explain human/computer interactions. This study looked specifically at the activity changed with the insertion of PDAs. The lines of authority changes as students did not need to rely on the expertise of the instructor which changed the activity. Participants valued the information provided from the hand held computers but in some cases felt it diminished the hands on experience.

 

Learning in Collaborative Settings

This week's readings centered on learning in collaborative settings. In the 4 studies that I read there are important lessons that can be learned and generated to all virtual learning communities

Theoretical constructs

Collaborative settings are a way to move from a transfer of knowledge model to a constructionist model of learning.

To learn a person must be able to 1), Direct their own work, and two have the ability to work with others.

Collaborative learning communities allow people to develop skills needed to empower them to be successful.

Objectives

Ideally the following things should occur in a collaborative setting

• The learning is understanding focused rather than task focused
  
• Discussion should be generated by the learners rather than a response to teacher generated questions
  
• Participants find meaningful resources to get learning materials rather than reciting from classroom textbooks
  
• The outcome is to develop a deep understanding rather than memorizing facts
  

Challenges

Problems that can occur in online classroom collaborative activities

• Collaboration – discussion content is repeated from the text, students do enough to meet the requirements, but no more
  
• Rather than making reflective comments students make superficial comments such as, good work, I liked that, or pointing out spelling errors
  
• Students are not experts and may not provide helpful feedback
  
• Students sometimes start out with underdeveloped ideas that are more like a list of topics than a true question that can be researched and collaborated on.
  

Strategies

How teachers can help facilitate discussion that meets the objectives of what should occur in a collaborative online setting

• Provide guidance with the construction of the initial portion of the project to make sure the discussion begins in the right direction
  
• Encourage students to ask questions and then gather the resources to discuss and make conclusion before looking at the research materials.
  
• Provide guidelines for the expectations of the finished product
  
• Provide guidelines for the expectations of collaborative comments
  
• Stress to students the importance of understanding
  
• Recognize that novices to the subject matter are going to need more scaffolding than more advanced groups
  

Online learning communities offer a medium for learning that has benefits that cannot be achieved in other mediums. Developing a meaningful online learning community takes a special skill set.

Responses to Week 2 Blogs

Power of Virtual Communities
The Times articles talk about Web 2.0 tools. Educators who teach in the online environment need to be aware of all of the tools as well as the positives and negatives of each one of them. Awareness of technology allows an instructor to design engaging content. Educators have to use technology wisely. Using tools for the sake of using technology without sound pedagogy is probably not a good way to master content and frustrating to students. Keeping up with tools is a part of being an effective online instructor.

Everyone is an Expert?
I don't know that reading things on the Internet can ever be a substitute for actual experience. The Internet can be a great way to stay informed and to engage and support education.

What will Education Look Like in the Future?
I think education will continue to evolve with more flexibility in how and when courses are offered. Blended courses are becoming more popular. Colleges are working on rolling start and end dates, Students will be expected to be more active in the pursuit of knowledge. Assessment is going more towards portfolio and competency based assessment rather than traditional exams at regular intervals.

Learning in Cyberspace and Finding the Tools for A Knowledge Building Community

One of the most interesting things about these two articles was the discussion of how learning occurs and how this relates to learning online. "Further, there has been a growing awareness that information does not necessarily lead to knowledge. Until information has been comprehended and interrupted to the point that it can be applied is not knowledge." The example that supports this is the study of the copy machine technicians that demonstrated that the most effective training they received was talking to other technicians informally. To me this illustrates the need for sound curriculum design. Students must be presented with information that they can apply or they probably will not retain. Cyber learning and collaboration can be a powerful tool but the collaboration has to go beyond the superficial. Participants must be active members of the learning community. Exchanges must be a give and take. It takes skill to design a course that facilitates this type of learning.

Building Social Networks Via Computer Networks

My how things change! This article was written eight to ten years ago and I it really shows. Socially networking has exploded in the last 5 years. The article in the textbook seems to be looking at social interactions in an online class as a type of social network. According to Wikipedia, "A social network is a social structure made of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige". In today's world I don't think communication in an online courses in a college course is considered a social network. Online courses often attempt to develop a sense of community, but they are not what I would consider a social network. The article does explain the concept of nodes. The tem nodes is also included in the Wikipedia definition. This just means people or organizations tied together by a social network. It appears the concept of nodes and relations are still viable, it is just funny to me that the examples in the text apply these to online classes rather than to social networks that are in place where participation is not tied to getting a grade.

Social network. (2010, January 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:03, February 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_network&oldid=340301206

Evolution of Online Education Community of Practice

A CoP is a Community of Practice. Tapped In is a virtual community that went online in 1997 through a grant from the National Science Foundation. It is still in existence today and would probably be another good source for the case study project in this class. May of the original features of Tapped in that were in pace when the initial article was written are still in place today including teacher office space, meeting rooms, new, a place to find resources, and a place to collaborate with other professionals. The emphasis of the project was built on Teacher Professional Development (TPD). I think this project was successful as the staff analyzed the needs and values of the users. Personally I can relate to the concept of CoP. One of my primary means for getting information about the LMS that I support and ideas for online pedagogy is through an electronic mailing list. I am part of a very active community that shares resources. I get many emails a day. Some I have immediate interest in, most I delete knowing that if I do need the knowledge I can search the archives and go back to the threads. I do agree that virtual communities work only if you have groups of people who are willing too to take the time to contribute to the body of knowledge. I believe that professionals will commit to a virtual CoP that they can find useful and validating.

Learning in the Virtual Community Depends on Changes in Local Communities

This article was particularly interesting to me. I began working for Tulsa Community College in 1996. Somewhere around 1998 I got the opportunity to go and learn more about the Internet, computers, and how to use these tools in the classroom. The center I went to was called the 8^th floor. It was located on the 8^th floor of the administrative offices of Tulsa Community College and Tulsa Technology Center. All of the local colleges and school districts could send x number of teachers per month for training. I am not sure about the names of the two workshops I participated in but one involved basic skills such as PowerPoint, Photoshop, Netscape Composer, and maybe some Word tips. There was also some pedagogical training. The second workshop I went to was more advanced. It might have been called Lead Teacher training. In this workshop you learned more advanced ways to use the Internet to enhance you teaching. All of the participants made a Unit of Practice. We developed a web page for students to access the materials. The page was hosted on the server of the 8^th floor center. The second training was part of a telecommunications grant. After I completed my unit of practice a representative from the 8^th floor came to my classroom and observed me explaining it to my students. It does seem like there may have been an emphasis on sharing content with outsiders. Reading this article made me think back to this experience. I think I was one of the teachers who were targeted to learn new ways to teach. It is very interesting to know that the initial goals and thoughts about teacher training were centered on collaboration. Like the majority of the people in the article I think was an early adopter of technology; I did not jump right into using the internet to collaborate but I did find lots of ways to improve my teaching and empower students to use the Internet to learn. The 8^th floor still exists today. I went on the website and the 8^th Floor now has 39 member schools. I think these schools pay money to support the center. I know the grant expired many years ago. I would like to know more about what grant it was that allowed me to have my initial training that in many ways put in motion my career change to instructional design.

Week II

This semester I am going to learn all that I can about Virtual Communities as a part of my EIPT 6433 course. This week we had readings from a textbook readings and reading articles in Time Magazine. The textbook we are using is Building Virtual Communities Learning and Change in Cyberspace edited by K. Ann Renninger and Wesley Shumar. In this first post I am going to talk about the textbook readings.

You can listen to my podcast by clicking on this link or read the reviews below

Community Building with and for Teachers at the Math Forum

The 3rd article is titled Community Building with and for Teachers at the Math Forum by the authors of the text. This one is interesting as this site exists and seems to be thriving today. I have reviewed the site and can see why it is thriving as a virtual community. It has purpose. It would appeal to teachers, students, parents. The user interface is easy to navigate, the site is inviting to new members and assumes users will stop using the site when they stop teaching or stop taking math classes. It has a large number of individuals listed in the staff section and is affiliated with a major university. A weekly newsletter is available. The problem of the week keeps teachers coming back as they find value in the information and can easily use the problem with students. Up until this point I had thought of virtual communities as a social activity. This site is more of a problem based, professional development community. It seems to be worthwhile and may be a good choice for a case study as it content and interaction that I can see has value.

Female Voices in Virtual Reality - Drawing Young Girls into an Online World.

The 2nd article in the text is titled Female Voices in Virtual Reality - Drawing Young Girls into an Online World. This article featured a project that was conducted on technology that would be considered old by today’s standards. The article implied that girls avoided online communication and technical challenges. To me 10 years of evolvement has changed the overall picture. In today’s world females are well represented in virtual communities. The difference that I see is today’s virtual communities are application based and are so easy to use that I am not sure if females have gotten better at taking on technical challenges or if the user interfaces are now so easy that females are well represented in virtual communities but still lag behind in computer sciences.

The Mystery and Death of MediaMOO

The first chapter in the text is titled The Mystery and Death of MediaMOO by Amy Bruckman and Carol Jensen. This article is about a virtual community that thrived between the years 1993 and 1996 but was essentially extinct by 1998. The first thing I wanted to know about is what a MOO is. In the text a MOO is defined as a Multi Object Oriented environment which is a type of MUD. This did not clarify my conception of what a MOO is so I looked online for more information. The definition in the text was confirmed by Wikipedia where it was written that a ” A MOO is a type of MUD. Which is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users (players) are connected at the same time.” Although I am not sure I have a good functional knowledge I can tell it uses old technology and interaction is conducted through the Internet through text exchanges. The interesting things about this article was the fact that someone had studied a group that had come and gone and analyzed what makes people return or leave a virtual community. The findings show that
· People leave groups to form new groups with a more specific focus.
· People leave virtual groups when technology becomes outdated
· To have a thriving group you have to have a plan to recruit new members when existing members leave. It is normal for people to move through life stages and outgrow the need to be a part of a virtual community that has a specific focus.
· The leadership of the group must be rotated or the leaders lose enthusiasm over time and the group suffers.
All of these lessons learned through MediaMoo can probably be applied to any virtual or non-virtual group in my opinion.

Time Magazine Dec 25th 2006

I enjoyed the article's in Time Magazine.

After we read that we were the person of the year in the article titled "Enough About You," we were advised that maybe we weren't so interesting after all and that we need to stop being so self absorbed and that need to pay attention to what is going on around us. Power to the People was particularly enjoyable as it summarized an everyday person's experience with one of the web 2.0 technologies that people have today. I will be emailing myself these articles to reference.