zaterdag 11 augustus 2007

Madison Impression




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Workshop: Web 2.0 Sampler

I have attended Web 2.0 Sampler workshop at at the 23rd Annual Distance Teaching and Learning Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.

The presenters were:

Deb Antoine, Instructional Designer/Web Developer
Emily Welch, Instructional Designer/Web Developer
Ray Schroeder, Professor Emeritus/Director of OTEL
University of Illinois at Springfield

It was a full-day workshop for faculty, instructional technologists, designers, and others interested in Web 2.0, showcasing innovative uses of technology and innovative approaches to pedagogy in distance teaching and learning. We will focus on identifying principles of good practice in the application of these technologies. Hands-on work with the Web 2.0 applications will be emphasized. This session will be highly interactive. Participants will gain an in-depth understanding of a variety of new and emerging technologies and their application to the online learning environment.

Some interesting introductions of you tube:

The Web Is Us/ing Us!
Web 2.0 Big App on Campus!
Did You know?
Tim Berners-Lee on Web 3.0 (the Semantic Web)



What Is Web 2.0?

Originated in a conference between O'Reilly Publishers and MediaLive International, the term was coined in 2004 to described a whole new class of interactive applications that emerged after the dot-com bubble burst in 2001.

Important tools

What is RSS?

RSS stands for really simple syndication (or rich site summary). It is the tool that enables instant sharing, notification and syndication of new and / or updated materials.

Blogs - Blogger

Web Logs or "blogs" are web pages that are generated with software that commonly puts postings in reverse chronological order. One common software program to create blogs is http://blogger.com - owned by Google. (a new blog is created every half second)
  • Sample application:
    Journal blog - to collect and present student journal entries
    Filter blog - to post a collection of items such as news stories, or as in this case, technologies

Links

RSS Aggregators

Yahoo! lists a plethora of RSS Aggregators, but increasingly they are built into browsers and other regular software.

Examples:

  • Internet Explorer 7
  • Firefox
  • Opera
  • Safari

Sample applications:

  • In classes with current events applications, students may gather relevant news reports and post comments, etc.
  • Faculty members may track new and emerging developments in their discipline.

Links

Google Reader


Online Polling - PollPub.com


Create your own polls using text, images, audio, and/or video. Polls are useful for giving your students another avenue to engage in your course.

  • Organize group work by having students vote on topics or meeting times
  • Discover student interests on course topics (What would they like to explore further?)
  • Rate presentations
  • Mimic Gallop or other polls covered on the news
  • PollPub.com automatically creates a hyperlink and the code for embed polls in your blog, course site, Web site, or MySpace page.

Doodle, another online polling site, is designed specifically to assist in scheduling meeting times.

As of July 27, 2007, Blogger has an integrated polling feature that allows you to add a poll to the side bar of your blog.

PollPub.com Free Polls

Interactive Online Maps - Frappr! Maps

Frappr! Maps allow you and your students a unique (and simple) method to visualize one another. Anyone can add their name, photo and message directly on a Web page, blog, or course site embedded with Frappr!--no account creation is required. As the owner, you can find information on where and how frequently your students visit the map.In online learning, Frappr! Maps could be used for:

  • Icebreaker - have your students enter their locations, pictures, and short introduction to help them get to know one another.
  • Use the map to create a visualization of your course material. Even better, have your students work collaboratively to create this learning resource for the class!
    --> Have your students build a map of the works or theories they are studying. Load book covers, works of art, pictures, event names, significant dates.
    --> Use the map to mark the locations of specific battles, peace treaties, etc. You could load photos of the individuals involved and enter specific dates or names.

According to Frappr.com, they are "the fourth largest map service behind Mapquest, Yahoo! Maps and Google Maps".


Wiki - PBwiki
One of the most versatile Web 2.0 applications is the Wiki.

  • Type of web site
  • Multiple people can easily add, remove, or edit the content
  • Uses versioning to track changes
  • Some require registration or a password for editing
  • Editing can be done through simplified HTML markup language or a WYSIWYG editor
  • Nice list of educational uses of wikis is hosted by Wikispaces
  • Largest and best-known wiki is Wikipedia
  • An edited and reviewed version of Wikipedia is emerging at Citizendium

Wiki uses:

  • Collaborate with colleagues on professional projects
  • Group projects, essays and reports
  • Space for free writing or journaling
  • Share resources – web sites, annotated bibliographies, models for assignments
  • Create a compendium of terms and concepts for the course to use as a study guide

PBwiki is representative of many wiki sites - offering free hosting for educational uses. It includes several templates: classroom, syllabus, and group project. PBwiki also offers ideas for instructional uses of wikis, as well as "how-to" videos for your students. In addition to basic wiki features, you can add widgets for spreadsheets and calendars, videos, and voice chat.
Try it out at our Web 2.0 Sampler Blog: http://madison23.pbwiki.com/

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) - Skype

Skype. This one of several Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software programs that enables high quality audio computer-to-computer over the Internet.

  • Students may conference using Skype. One interesting feature is Skype-out that enables long distance calls to traditional phone numbers in many countries at a rate of less than three cents a minute.
  • Using utilities such as powergramo http://www.powergramo.com/, one may record conversations such as interviews over Skype for playback in classes.
    -->Just open powergramo and Skype simultaneously. Make a call in Skype and powergramo automatically records the call!
  • With the Firefox Skype extension, phone numbers on Web sites turn into buttons which you can click to call from Skype.

Web Conferencing - VRoom

Synchronous communication through web conferencing is a powerful tool for distance teaching and learning. It can be used many ways:

  • Electronic office hours
  • Planning sessions
  • Discussion sessions

Shared whiteboard, typed chat room, and other features add value to this free Web 2.0 application.

Virtual Worlds

There are more than three dozen virtual worlds that are in used in educational applications. Best known for Education is

Google Applications

Google provides a wide range of online Web 2.0 applications.

  • Google Docs is a suite of applications that provide shared word processing, spreadsheet, and (soon) presentations (ppt-like).-->Export to PDF, import documents
  • Google Calendar provides a great shared calendaring application.-->Upload calendar events in the iCal or .csv format (Add > Import Calendar)-->View one, two, or more calendars at a time
  • Google Page Creator offers WYSIWYG editing to an instantly-hosted web site
  • Google Scholar is a great way to search for peer-reviewed publications.

Zoho Suite of Applications

Zoho provides a great suite of applications from word processing to projects and many more. Most are available at no charge.

  • Zoho Writer
  • Zoho Sheet
  • Zoho Meeting
  • Zoho Notebook
  • Zoho Planner
  • Zoho Creator - online forms linked to online databases
  • Zoho Chat

Online Storage - XDrive

A helpful application is to store information online behind password protection.

  • Handouts for students - a virtual electronic reserve
  • Shared documents in progress

Visual Search Engine - Kartoo

A different approach to displaying metasearches. Kartoo draws links among sites and provides a dynamic graphical display.

Podcasting - Podomatic

Photo Sharing - Flicker

Photo sharing online is a great way to distribute examples of artwork and geographic locations.

Flickr Related Tag Browser

Shared Bookmarks - del.icio.us

A great tool for sharing lists of web sites. For example, see this List of Top 100 Tools for Learning!

  • Keep track of bookmarks for yourself
  • Create lists of relevant links for your students (and share them!)
  • See what other people are bookmarking

del.icio.us uses folksonomy, or tagging, for tracking, grouping, and searching bookmarks. Folksonomy is a user-generated taxonomy used to categorize and retrieve Web pages, photographs, Web links and other web content using open ended labels called tags. It improves searches by allowing users to label information with their own language.

Electronic Portfolios (e-portfolios)

According to Wikipedia:"An electronic portfolio, also known as an e-portfolio or digital portfolio, is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web. Such electronic evidence may include inputted text, electronic files, i mages, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. E-portfolios are both demonstrations of the user's abilities and platforms for self-expression, and, if they are online, they can be maintained dynamically over time. Some e-portfolio applications permit varying degrees of audience access, so the same portfolio might be used for multiple purposes."

Additional Resources

Here are additional readings and related resources that may be useful:

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My Space is not YourSpace: The promise and pitfalls of Online social Networking

Presenters:

Alan Foley
Hal Meeks

links:

http://www.halmeeks.net/
http://www.alan-foley.net/

Summary

Online social construct such as Flickr, You tube, MySpace, blogs, and wikis represent forms of socil computing that are wildliy popular, but perhaps seem out of place in a distance education course. There are attractive aspects of these constructs: the level of engagement of the participants, the occasional deep discussion, the mixture of forms of literacy, and the simplicity of publication.

Do they fit in a learning environment?
Are online coursework systems "just as good"?
Social Constructs are not only a LMS
What can we learn about this.

Teaching and learning environment.
Tension between instruction designers and games.
Standard teaching models are based on "scientific" practices.
Models fail to consider social and cultural aspects of technology within society.

Teaching systems assume student learning interactions.
Distance education: once used to overcome phusical separation, now refers to the tools that are used. Shift is to the term "online education"

Style of learing - how technology shapes physical learning spaces
For example: Power Point (Classic form of education)
Tools reflect the student teacher relationship.
Roles in standard e-learing tools (e.g. LMS) often are static and defined.
Chat fomums outside of a course settings tend to be much more effective.
Online social constructs are disruptive both pedagogically and conceptually.
Disruption is a recurring theme in the study of the impact of the appication of technology on a field.
How do we fulfil the promise of not as good as , but superior?
We have to learn from the social dynamic.
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Issues in Delivering a Multi-Continental Graduate Seminar

Presenter:

Jandelyn Plane (University of Maryland College Park Computer Science Department)

The Project Summary

Kabul University Computer Science Department

  • Kabul, Afghanistan
  • Curriculum Development and Improvement of Pedagogy
  • Faculty Capacity Building; Better Preparing Them to Teach
  • Improving the Faculty Subject Area Credentials

Activities Required and Problems to be Solved

  • Acivities Required (Multy Site High Quality Audio, Multi Site Live Video, text chat, other internet based communication)
  • Scheduling Problems (time difference, students are most of the professors from the department)
  • Internet Access problems (unstable connection in Afghanistan, limited access to location with stable connection)
  • Cost and outside support had to be kept minimal

Master's Degrees

  • Degree Granting Institution: The University of the Western Cape - Cape Town, South Africa.
  • Thesis Only Master's Degree
  • Thess Requirements (in a computer science area, evaluated by external reviewers, written in English)

Graduate Seminar through Desktop video Conferencing

  • Weekly Seminar on Thursday Afternoon (Kabul Time) (discussions of thesis writing skills, computer science content, schedule and events, presentations by all participants)
  • Branches Created Later (Weekly Seminar for English language Development, Weekly Meetings with Thesis Supervisor and Individual Student)

Different Types of Communication Protocols

  • Client Server (Diferent Levels for differet tasks, MCU - Multipoint Conferencing Unit)
  • Peer to Peer (Basic, Supernode)

Software Examples and How They work

  • AOL- Instant Messenger (AIM) for the text
  • Skype - for audio and text chat
  • Sightspeed- for video

Lessons Learned

  • Video helps in many different ways (keeps conversation goingj all people involved and accountable, alternative way to identify difficulties)
  • Have alternative communications methods available and arranged ahead of time
  • Things are similar to Face to Face but diferent in some ways (It helps to know the personalities of the group members, it takes a lot of my time planning, More indicating who should speak when, More translating and restating of the last idea, Use text window instead of whte board for remembering ideas longer term)
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The Teacher-Scholar model in online higher education

Presenter:
Sarah Stebbins

Summary

the division of labor model

Cost effective
Any instructor can use it

Teacher-Scholar model

The model is course centric, content centered and faculty centered
The teacher has the freedom to design his model.
The teacher owns his course.
The one who designs the course is also the one who teaches the course.
Not cost effective.
Use simple tools
Invest in the teachers who are good in their field.

Example 1: Course The problem of Evil

Dropbox instead of a discussion board

The student has to write an in depth comment on a paper personally only accessible for teacher and students.

Each week had a different theme and philosopher
In the course was a blog in which the students had to present a paper and bring up discussion questions.

Example 2: Great Migrations

Personal style
Papers made personally.
Bring the materials to the level of ordinary life.
Visual aids

Students feel free to bring in to bring in their own ideas.
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Case study: Blended learning through interuniversity collaborative interaction

Presenters:

Dr. Beatriz Fainhole &
Dr. Norma Scagnoli

website: http://www.cediproe.org.ar/

Objectives
  • To present the blended learning initiative
  • To describe the design and implementation processes
  • To discuss the strengths and weaknesses of vertual collaboration
  • To reflect and discuss the lessons learned.

Blended learning

  • Blended learning defined as a planned combination of teaching approaches that include a diversity of media, online and face-to-face teaching strategies, in order to improve the teaching and learning mediated processes.

Details of Collaboration

  • Yr 1 Upload unmodified content to CMS (Moodle)
    Strategy that served familiarization and socialization process with system and among collaborators
  • Yr 2 New curriculum by competences, changes in Inst Design
    Guide to instructionaldesign of blended learning
    New content and new strategies
  • Yr 3 Pedagogical practices for blended learning.
    Deepen collaborative exchange
    Enhance cognitive and meta cognitive skills
    Help knowledge building (distributed and situated aproaches)
    Technology was not the focus of this year's work however it was not invisible and its presence could not be ignored.

Strengths and weaknesses tools for virtual collaboration

  • Communicative rationale based on respect and negotiation processes
  • Communication: Weekly at the beginning, once or twice a month as project progressed
  • Systems (Synch) MSN messenger / Skype / phone; (Asynch) e-mail, discussion forum.
  • Strengths: easy access, user friendly, freee voice and video enabled.
  • Weaknesses: personal limitations, technology literacy, hw. and sw. issues, broadband issues.

Reflection and lessons learned (collaboration)

From the remote collaboration process:

Positive findings

  • Inter-institutional dialogue and common framework
  • International social and academic interaction
  • Shift to open dialogue (Importance of social, cultural and linguistic features)
  • Understanding of lack of unified definitions for b-learning
  • Facility ot overcome misunderstandings in communication

Limitations

  • Contiuous availability of research prtners in the 4 yr period
  • Demands of log term projects without institutional support
  • Multiple interpretations of the concept of b-learning.

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Building Virtual Communities: technique that works!

Presenters:

Rena Palloff
Keith Pratt (Fielding Graduate University)

Summary

Reseach on the learning community. Research continues to show that the construction of a learning community. with the instructuo participating. People love to speak about themselves. This is important in the beginning and helps them to stay in the course.

Necessity to teach learners how to learn.
Teaching students how to inquire and construct knowledge.

Competencies of online Instuctors (Davidson, 2006)

  • Create a learning community that is intellecutally exciting and challenging
  • Encourage learners to perform to the best of their ablilities in all aspests.
  • Consistently use process-oriented instructional methods and keep the learning communitiy centered
  • Demonstrate effective use of group dynamisc and dialogue techniques
  • Use a variety of learning activities and demonstrate instructional methds other than lecturing
  • Stress the interrelatedness of the complete curriculum and the value
  • Know workplace trends and perspectives related to the subject matter being taught
  • Establish objectives and impart learners to achieve them.
  • Draw out creativity, innovativeness, and ideas in a collaborative manner
  • Integrate curriculum designed to provide learners with a learning environment that is expeientially based and in a learning style that is collaborative and supportive

The Role of Presence

  • Social presence - The ability to portray oneself as a "real" person in the online environment.
  • Presence is a key correlate in the development of a learning community online
  • When there is a high degree of interaction between the participants, the degre of social presence is also high and vici versa (Stein and Wanstreet, 2003)

Social Presence Online Correlates with:

  • Increased learner satisfaction
  • Greater depth of learning
  • Increased perception of learning
  • The sense of belonging to a learning community

Techniques for Developing and Sustaining Community Online

Begin the course by focusing on the development of social presence (but don't tell them this is your purpose)

Posting Biographies and Introductions and enhanced through the use of ice breaker actvities that are fun and designed to hep students get to know one another. Use the first week of the course for these activities and delay real engagement with content.The content can be used as a basis for ice-breakers, however.

Establish guidelines for engagement

This can be achieved by posting a set of guidelines developed by the instructor and asking for a response to them by students or students can be given a set of parameters within which they can develop their own guidelines.

Establish minimal participartion guidelines.

The minimum pariticpation expected should be included in the guidelines with an understanding that more is better.

Allow students to disagree

Professional disagreement on issues is healthy ad should be encouraged. Hopefully, as the community develops, students will jump in and mediate if things get heated.

Develop a course that is exciting, challenging, and incorporates collaborative activity and opportunities.

Elements of Community Building

Community

three elements:

  • People (Interaction Communitation Presence)
  • Process (Refletion, Transformative learning, Social Construtivist, Context)
  • Purpose (Mutuality, Negotiated Guideines, Practical Considerations)

Outcomes

  • Co-created knowledge/meaning
  • Reflection
  • transformation
  • Increased self direction
  • Reinforcement of Presence
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