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Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

This NLE has two main goals: first to softly teach NLE skills such as wiki, Delicious and Blogging so that teachers will be comfortable with these skills and understand their use for teaching. Second to use NLE applications to collaborate in designing a new Internet Safety Curriculum for our high school students. The three manin connectivism priciples used in this project are 1) that learning rests in the diversity of opinions. A group of teachers will collaborate together sharing their knowledge, research and personal opinion. 2) The ability to nurture and maintain connections. Many times teachers get into their classrooms and operate independantly. This project allows for teachers and administrators to work together toward a common goal and to solve a school wide issue. The third connectivism principal addressed in this project is decision making is a learning process itself. Working as a team to decide what material is appropriate and what activities will work the best to teach Internet safety skills.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

One weakness of this unit is that it was not tested by faculty. The faculty recruited did not complete the test prior to when it needed to be posted. Second, the assessment is difficult to create. The real assessment of how well the curriculum is designed will be what the students take away from the Internet Safety lessons. This project does not get quite that far in the development process. I should have added a student assessment section to the plan. The third weakness is that teachers helping to create this curriculum might not transfer their new knowiedge of NLE to their own lessons. The connection might not be strong enough.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

The strategy I used had to do with training the school on these tools before we could begin talking and demonstarting NLE and PLE. However, I felt that I was able to provide activities that engeged them in connectivist learning principles by having the discover by the process of clicking and trying out.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

One weakness in developing my unit properly was time. But the major weakness has to do with the environment I creted this unit for. Essentially, I am helping a school incorporate Google Apps. They have never used these web 2.0 features so the first part realy had to do with training. My presentation on NLE and PLE could have been developed further and alligned them better with connectivist principles.

One ore thing, my assessment and evaluation tool could be a bit more somprehevensive. This too is weakness.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

I really tried to make these lessons collaborativev and project-based. The success of the learners relies heavily on discussion between the learners and their collaboration as a group and a class. Although I chose some technologies that support the facilitation of discussion and group work (Google Groups and wiki) I feel that I could have chosen some that were more appropriate, such as Diigo annotation. I would also like participants to locate resources to share through Delicious. I was/am worried about overwhelming teachers that have little experience with different tools that I might overwhelm them. Perhaps if this was a more extensive unit I could introduce some of the other tools. The goal of the unit was for teachers to experience the connective nature of social media technologies so that they may better integrate them into their own classroom. Working together they would have the opportunity to create lessons through distributed learning on distributed learning for use in their own classrooms. I hope that I am able to use this unit with teachers in my school to help them find new ways to integrate technology into their lessons. I think that the assessment/evaluation was also a good model of how teachers could create their own when evaluating their own studenst.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

I would have liked to include more NLE tools such as Diigo, Delicious, or Facebook. I didn't include one of these tools because I didn't want the learners to become overwhlemed with multiple sites. I don't have any experience with Google Groups, but I decided to use it as an NLE tool in this unit. The decision was based on keeping Google tools integrated for ease of use. I think that perhaps using Diigo, or another networking site, might have been a better choice for this unit. I think my unit could be utliize more connectivist strategies. It was difficult finding a balance between giving the learners the background they needed to complete the unit and the right amount of connectivist experiences. I would like some ideas on how to make the unit align more to connectivist strategies.

Nasreen, I am sorry I did not share my ideas with you after I reviewed your unit plan. I must apologize for keeping you waiting. The activities in your unit plan are very well balanced and include a variety of techniques for their completion. Nice job! The technology you used (Google Doc) is very user-friendly especially for younger learners (6th graders, for example). You managed to use Google site to host both the course and student discussion. That was great! Navigation is also easy. The main strengths of your unit are the variety of activities planned. These activities also focus on students, which is great. Instructions are crystal clear and focused on connectivism. Titles are captivating and lessons are well sequenced containing different material formats. Overall, the unit has been very well planned, the objectives are also met, and I am confident the unit can be implemented in many contexts. Congratulations!

Thanks for your feedback Moussa!

Wahid. It was a great pleasure for me to go through your unit. It is well planned and and designed, not only for the learning content but also the site design itself. Color strategy, space use and allocation are excellent. I am sure your learners will find your site to be user friendly and appealing to engage in, and explore the great activities that you have set out for them. Navigating your site is a breeze and appropriate for the age of your learners (6th grade) and most probably that is why you have chosen your links for efficiency since kids can easily get confused if their learning environment is complex. Your site makes good use of webcasts, wikis, Googlesites, etc to enhance dialogue and most importantly to enhance connectivism. Discussions create conducive collaborative environment which has helped to enhance constructivist theory of learning. The instructor evaluates learners progress through assignment submissions. Wahid, I really liked your site. Great job!

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

Some of the important strategies for my unit were making sure that the students were able to learn the concepts through researching information on a certain topic, and then posting what has been learned. These kinds of exercises allow students to interact with each other, forming new connections and new information. Students can learn alot from others and especially when allowed to interact in small groups, they can analyze other's opinions and come up with new and interesting ideas. As an example of this, I used the Twitter activity to get them to research, discuss among peers and post their feedback for others to learn from.For the last lesson I should have incorporated a peer review of the research paper and a reflection since only one rubric was used.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

Looking back on my unit, I think I should have taken a different angle in order to really cover connectivism theory and the instructional strategies for a network learning environment. I could have possibly made it a course for teaching instructors how to teach and create an NLE. I also should have added peer reviews, a few more web 2.0 or social networking tools, and more rubrics for evaluation.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

The unit is structured with little instructor guidance. The teachers are shown two tools but then use their own abilities to learn together creating an integrated curriculum lesson. The informal learning from the peers, using Web 2.0 tools, teamwork, and shared results, creates a NLE - one where continued use establishes a stronger learning community at Mansfeld MS. Content centers around a unit of three lessons each designed to require research, critical thinking, and decision making. The first two lessons explore and develop two Web 2.0 tools, iGoogle and Edu-Blogs. The third pulls in current teacher curriculum, requires analysis, and then integrates the two tools into usable lessons. I choose the technologies of network aggregation and blogging because they contain many of the Connectivism principles described by Siemens (2005). iGoogle requires the learner to analyze information resources for applicability. Through this learning process one develops an understanding for types and usefulness of information and the technology to connect to the source. Additionally, the teachers had to use critical thinking skills to choose the information nodes to use for their own class and, from collaboration, see and develop connections to fellow teacher's iGoogle. The use of Edu-Blogging technology furthers the connectivist principle of continual learning. Collaboration is the main learning strategy used in the lessons. Individual research is shared in group discussions. The teachers also presented their reasons for the decisions they made as to why they chose to include a node or blog in their product. Assessments are peer based. This creates further discussion of the purpose and appropriateness of final iGoogle, Blogging, and curriculum integration. It also builds a sense of teamwork through a share vision of why a tool is being used. Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. [online]. Retrieved December 4, 2009 from http:/

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

1) Assessments were left to the participants with out much for guidelines. The unit should have provided more information about what would be a good, better, and best result. 2) The instructional strategies were heavy on collaboration, and while there was work in doing online research, the value of information found was decided in a teamwork fashion. 3) The steps for using iGoogle were left to the instructor's demonstration. It would be better to include the steps in the lesson, especially if a teacher needed to do the lesson later without benefit of an instructor.

I am posting this on behalf of Melissa: Doug, I reviewed your first lesson in your Unit. I really like the way you incorporated the powerpoint into your presentation. It specifically detailed the goals of each activity in Lesson 1. Your lesson is on Web/Social Aggregators such as iGoogle. I like that you allow participants to log into your iGoogle, but I think they would benefit from creating one on their own. Your lesson also has three parts, of which only the first Activity seems to be detailed. Collaboration with others is mentioned, but never specifically detailed on how it will be conducted. The standards are detailed fully in your Unit Plan on task stream, but your implementation is confusing. I like your idea of teaching 21st century skills to teachers, but I think you could have incorporated more collaboration, web 2.0 tools, and assessment. I think you did a great job putting it all together, it just wasn't quite complete. Melissa

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles. The principles I integrated into my unit are: - Learning and knowledge emerges from diverse opinions: The community who is the target audience of my unit are recent graduates of our year-long supervisory core series. The focus of the community will be to identify their diverse needs for lifelong learning (continued learning beyond recent graduation), and finding common ground to explore together. Because they represent a wide range of occupations in the organization, their diverse perspectives in building solutions to supervisory challenges will be harnessed, their ideas improved by one another, and captured for others to refer to. This will be accomplished by exploration of articles through Google Reader, sharing of perspectives in relation to specific needs with the group through Blogger and Go-To-Meeting and bookmarking common interests. - Learning resides in and is accessed in non-human appliances: This target audience for my unit is well-exercised in sharing knowledge, and creating new solutions in a F2F environment (situated learning using constructivist strategies). With the creation of the network learning environment, using Google Reader, Delicious, Blogger and Go-To-Meeting to begin will lead them to discover knowledge in the digital environment, and mash it up with their own knowledge/experience to create a broader, more sophisticated, workable skill set for meeting the challenges of our workplace. - Nurturing connections to facilitate learning: As mentioned the community for whom my unit is designed are a bonded group. However, they have now graduated from their year-long program, and will not interact with one another as frequently as they did while in the program. The network community of graduates in my unit will have the opportunity to continue to expand their personal/professional relationships and continue to meet and learn together. As others graduate from the Supervisory Core Series, they will

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

Common Question II: Weaknesses. 1. The primary weaknesses of my unit is that it is perhaps more structured than true network learning. This weakness is also a strength. I am using the structure to transition a community formed in the classroom to a community outside the classroom (group graduated from year-long supervisory training program at the end of November). My unit creates a network community by introducing the learners to tools for continued learning and networking. Structure was needed to catalyze the transition. 2. There is not forum for a more personalized level of social networking. I feel this is a real weakness, however, it is a planned weakness. In order to transition the community from F2F learning in the workplace environment to network learning, it is important to step them up to network learning (scaffold) gradually. To introduce Facebook or Diigo gadgets in the unit/site in the intial lessons would be distract them from the purpose of network LEARNING and lead them to think it is just SOCIAL networking. As they begin to use the unit/site to learn, I will introduce Diigo, Facebook and Twitter to create a more 'connected' group. The idea is that they will then be ready to use these tools for learning, and not abuse them in a way not allowed by our network policy (i.e., killing time aimlessly surfing and not learning/working). 3. The gadgets are not as robust as similar gadgets on iGoogle. This is a design flaw on my part. I assumed the gadgets available would be the same, and they are not. For instance, the Blogger gadget, doesn't allow one to make a blog post right from the window as the iGoogle Blogger gadget does. Similarly, there was no gadget available for Google Reader; I need to use an RSS Reader gadget built for news and adapt it for the feeds I wanted to include. By contrast the iGoogle gadet for Google Reader is very robust allowing users to go to Google Reader and update, edit, track, and bookmark feeds. Betsy

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

Okay, thank you for the opportunity to answer the questions now. My three main NLE PLE strategies are: 1. Teamwork - using Elluminate to meet as a team in real time, using blog and voicethread for feedback, and using wiki page sites for team creation of product and presentation 2. Research - using Diigo and Delicious to share relevant discoveries and share information- at the same time creating PLE for study 3. Over-all strategy is to teach the principles by demonstrating how within the study and classwork so that they have an effective and powerful model and know how to integrate the technologies into their own lesson developments. The asessments are collaborative in nature and include self and peer assessments with an opportunity to revise work throughout. This allows for maximum learning.

as you can see, I like your style Chih =)

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

Three weaknesses: 1. Some data cannot be stored on the class wiki and will have to be housed separately and shared with students by email, like grades, contact information and so on. An advantage of a CMS is that you can track your personal progress a little easier because not everything is public information. Also the class wiki site could be altered by students or information possibly lost. 2. I needed to develop more evaluation rubrics - some for peer evaluation and map out how that would work a little more clearly. 3. I think 3 general synchronous class meetings would be helpful to clear up questions and demonstrate how to use technologies for those who need a visual example and the opportunity to ask questions in the learning process. (I only developed an example of the first meeting). These would be required (points given for attendance) but recorded for those who miss for unavoidable reasons.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. While the students are all third graders, these students have had a variety of experiences which makes their prior knowledge experiences unique and diverse. Students are working in cooperative groups to generate knowledge together for a common purpose. Sharing their knowledge with one another will result in a more comprehensive and complete prewriting, drafting, and revising experience. The activities incorporate using Google Docs and Webspiration. Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known. This unit focuses on students gaining more knowledge about the elements and processes of writing. The focus is not on what they currently know about writing. The web 2.0 tools utilized in this unit are designed to help the students reflect more on the idea generation and revisions to create a clear and original work. Students will use Google Docs, Webspiration, and Glogster to help facilitate the learning process. The knowledge gained can be through collaboration or individual learning tasks. Learning resides in and is accessed in non-human appliances. This will be a new experience for the learners in this unit as most will be 8 and 9 years old. Sharing and creating knowledge in a network learning environment such as Google Docs will lead them to discover a new way to collaborate. They will begin to use their unique knowledge base to expand and develop new understanding.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

First weakness is perhaps the order of the lessons. After reflecting on the flow of the activities, I think the poster in glogster might be more effective in creating a visual organization of the prewriting instead of summarizing the personal narrative.

Second weakness is that Google Docs requires users to be 13 and older to have an account. I have made this lesson for 9 and 10 year olds. Using another tool that allows students to collaborate legally at that age would be optimal. Also the availability of computers might be an issue. So creating an option for this lesson to be utlized in a center type situation would offer some flexibility in the lessons.

Third weakness could be the assessments. With each particular task, the learner is assessed with a rubric or slef-evaluation. A better explanation of how to use the assessments would help those unfamiliar with those particular assessments.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

My unit just barely made it in my opinion with Connectivism if I understand the theory correctly. One thing that I did fail to integrate in this unit is group activities that led to continued prospectives for learning. One of the things that I did incorporate, however, were peer reviews and response questions on specific assignments. Although mediocre compared to some other tools, the peer review documents I used as assessment in this unit come in two formats. One was reviewing the various information in papers on the various learning theories,which exposes the adult learners to multiple perspectives on similar topics which may increase their learning and approaches to a specific topic/subject. The other document was used to determine if learning had occurred based on student samples. This is quite distinctive because it allows for the adult learner to learn information and perspectives from the students and not fellow colleagues. I have also requested that the adult learners peer review various projects in the module. Not only does this expose the adult learners to the various individual interpretations of the assignments, it also exposes them to the various usages of certain tools. I have also required that the adult learners use Twitter,blogs, wikis,etc to find useful information for papers. Although these are not professional sources, it again exposes the adult learners to the various interpretations of topics, concepts, etc from various individuals in society, not just colleagues. Examples in the Unit *Philosophy of Education Peer Review *Learning Theory Paper utilizing various social networks, blogs, wikis, forums, Delicious, Wikipedia,etc - access to information through various nodes, opinions, examples, interpretations,etc - peer review *Creation of a Social Network using Ning -allows for the adult learners to create an environment where the students can collectively learn from each other -using Twitter t

At first I thought the video of this old guy was kind of different. Then it was interesting in the fact that here was this old guy embracing technology in a way that education has yet to do. It made a powerful point.

Hi, Thanks Mr. Gilbert. I too found this video quite powerful because I know his age cohort probably had no idea that such tools would even exist. Although some of the baby boomers,etc may resist technology, I guess it still doesnt change that we live in a society that is built around a common factor, technology. In my opinion, its no longer an option to know and effectively understand technology, it is a necessity. Thanks. Mary

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

Although my unit is focused on Higher Education professionals, I feel that I failed to provide a strong foundation for the unit. Even though some Higher Education professionals have PhDs,EdDs,etc, when it comes to effectively utilizing technology, you must provide the basics as if the professionals were a "blank slate." Although I expected the professionals to have a high level of computer literacy, there may be some professionals who don't have a high literacy for computers, but may still like to use web-based tools. Access to numerous tutorials for the various accounts I required to be created would have been reasonable since the adult learners would have to effectively use these tools to create the various products in the module. If you can't effectively use the tools, I shouldnt expect for effective products to be created either. Another weakness was the time to complete the assignments. If it takes us students two weeks to complete certain assignments that we have a reasonable background in, for individuals just beginning, two weeks wouldn't be enough to complete all the assignments adequately in each module. The assignments could be rushed, and the assessments may not reflect the true potential of the adult learner. Finally, I feel that I asked the adult learners to utilize too many potentially difficult technology and web-based tools during their stages of learning that could produce many moments of frustration and confusion.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

My unit is developed to enable teachers to integrate technology in learning, especially the new technologies - the web 2.0 - in the online teaching. Therefore, to demonstrate this factor the learners are engaged in learning content which is basically technology, the web 2.0 technology they will be learning to use. Some of these technologies include Diigo, Mywebspiration, Zotero, Google-documents, Delicious, iGoogle among others. Connectivism theory is a major ingredient of the unit. The learners connect and learn from one another in groups; each learner brings his or her understanding of the assignment tasks to share with other group members as well as the resources. Secondly, the learners are engaged in the pursuit of the "the wisdom of the crowds" (though limited to course mates) to advance their learning. To harness the goal of "the wisdom of the crowd" the learners are engaged in "user content generation" to develop their assignments. In fact that that is why there are no specific rubrics for each lesson. Constructivist theory is embedded in the unit in the form collaborative tasks that allow learners to bring their understanding of unit tasks to "the table" for sharing. The learner are not tabila rasa (empty slates) when they begin this unit and as such their understanding and knowledge on the tasks is crucial to successful implementation of the unit goal and lesson objectives. Instructional strategies are directed by unit goal and lesson objectives. The most important strategy in the unit is the implicit understanding that learning is about learner participation, exploration, discovery and creating meaning of their learning process. Assessment in this unit is based on the pretest and post-test of learners based on the unit goal and lesson objectives which can be viewed at the beginning and the end the end of the unit respectively. However, the instructor will review group and individual assignments to offer guidance to the learners (who

Chih, Melissa was unable to post her responses so she asked me to do it for her. My unit is developed to help teachers learn proper ways to instruct students on internet research. To do this, I incorporate many web 2.0 tools, such as GoogleSites, GoogleGroups, GoogleSidewiki, Delicious, Wordle, and more to engage students in learning the content. My content and instruction is developed based on connectivist theory where students must work in groups, or as a team to construct knew knowledge from within themselves, rather than simply reading facts on a page. Each person will bring a unique perspective to the topic at hand, and will learn through discussion. Assessment is not explicitly stated, but is conducted through learner interaction. If students are present and participating, they have completed the requirements for the lesson. Due to the fact this is a professional development workshop, it is up to the participant to formulate their own understandings and seek help if they are confused.

My unit is developed to help teachers learn proper ways to instruct students on internet research. To do this, I incorporate many web 2.0 tools, such as GoogleSites, GoogleGroups, GoogleSidewiki, Delicious, Wordle, and more to engage students in learning the content. My content and instruction is developed based on connectivist theory where students must work in groups, or as a team to construct knew knowledge from within themselves, rather than simply reading facts on a page. Each person will bring a unique perspective to the topic at hand, and will learn through discussion. Assessment is not explicitly stated, but is conducted through learner interaction. If students are present and participating, they have completed the requirements for the lesson. Due to the fact this is a professional development workshop, it is up to the participant to formulate their own understandings and seek help if they are confused.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

Posted on behalf of Melissa: My weakness is definitely in assessment. I formulated rubrics, but for some reason forgot to include them in my unit. I feel I incorporated successful instructional strategies and technology, but I failed to incorporate assessment other than reading the conclusions participants formulate as a team on the discussion boards.

My weakness is definitely in assessment. I formulated rubrics, but for some reason forgot to include them in my unit. I feel I incorporated successful instructional strategies and technology, but I failed to incorporate assessment other than reading the conclusions participants formulate as a team on the discussion boards.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

The first connectivism principle that my Unit plan includes is the opportunity for learners, in this case, in-service teachers to connect with each other with ease using different software applications. More specifically, when they use wiki to collaborate contents is a good strategy to keep learners connected. Another strategy is that building online libraries, using Delicious for example, help learners share useful materials without having to buy books. Learners become actively engaged in social bookmarking process as distributed learning and they become socially networked via social network sites to connect to relevant human learning resources. Next, when they write their lesson plan and use World to visualize their ideas, it is a core principle of connectivism which emphasizes that "utilizing visualization to examine data, such as tag clouds or Wordle Arts" is produces the "ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts." Finally, when learners review each other's lesson plan in groups, this allows them to make contributions to learning content and engage in collaborative and community learning activities for the first principle of connectivism sates: "Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions."

Unit Presentation: I designed this 6-week unit plan to give in-service teachers more opportunities to diversify their lesson delivery and content strategies for a number of reasons. First, commercial materials are very scarce in many schools For example, in my own country there is a ratio of one book for 30 students. The unit also aims at strengthening collaboration between teachers and students for a better outcome. I have included multiple technologies( VoiceThread, Wiki, and Delicious) to allow for connectivism principles to be used throughout the whole six weeks that the training will last. The unit comprises three lessons, one leson for every two weeks, a training outline, and groups space. Lesson 1 is essentially focused on Introductions of students and orientation. During this first lesson all students are required the mandatory training for each tool to be used during the training. Reading and discussions start with Lesson 2. Lesson 3 concludes with a survey at the end of training to ensure that this kind of training is/isn't worthwhile in the future.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

My Unit plan is hypothetical and as such may not be implemented in any context. However, it can fit in many teaching and learning situations. For me, the most challenging aspect in putting together this unit plan is to marry the objectives with strategies and link everything to connectivism principles. I am not sure I have married each goal with an appropriate strategy and this may constitute another handicap. Finally, the course format that I chose may pose difficulty for technology low-skill ability learners in Africa. After I submitted, I thought a hybrid format could solve the problem. Otherwise, everything looks fine for me although I cannot see my back...

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

The three most important strategies of PLE in my unit are first the students manage their own content. The students are responsible for gathering and posting all information they find or learn about their event. When student are able to manage their own learning it becomes more meaningful, which translates to permanent learning. Another strategy I used was to have the students assess their own learning through journaling. The students did their own journaling through Google Forms, rather than blogs because district policies. No blogs are allowed to be unblocked. The nice thing about Google Forms is that it puts the information in an easy ormat to grade. Finally students are able to communicate with others about their learning through commenting on other's events. This enable students to critique others events and add hints or ideas of their own. My unit's guiding Connectivism principal is the idea that learning is the connecting different information sources. Students are encouraged to look for information for their event on other sites, then post the link both on the wiki and on Delicious. Additionally, as this site will hopefully be in use for the following year's science olympiad team, they will have a chance to add to knowledge by creating their own video to share how they created a winning entry. The students can build upon other's knowledge.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

Geneva, The topic of your unit plan is timely and an exciting one: "Science Olympiad". The technology used (wiki) is very user friendly and important in connectivism. Strategies and instructions are also clear. However, the learning objectives need to be stated clearly at the outset and should match each strategy. The lessons are well sequenced. So are the activities and assessment rubrics. However, the site navigation is not easy. For example, you need to change settings so that when you click on a link it opens in a new window. That way, you don't lose your previous page. Principles of connectivism (collaboration, network learning and sharing) are key ingredients in your unit. You did a remarkable job integrating those principles in each lesson. Great job!

One of the weakness in my unit is the accessibilty at my school of technology. This whole unit rests on two assumptions: my students will have sufficent time in the computer lab, and two that my wiki will not be blocked by the filter. Unfortunately, when going to implement this unit I found that my assumption were incorrect. First, I have not been able to get the kids into the computer lab because of new district mandated on-line testing. Second, a new web filter was installed a few weeks ago. It blocks all wikis and blogs, which are essential to my project. I put in for a reconsideration of website blockage but was told it would be a month or more before the committe gets together to review it. Another weakness in the unit is, as Moussa pointed out, the site is difficult to navigate. I am used to being able to create smooth navigation with my web building software, but I am not yet familiar with the wiki so the navigation is not as clean as I would like it. The final weakness is that I did not provide any clear how to directions for my students on how to post, research, or how to add links. That will need to be fixed before I implement it in the classroom.

The unit is very extensive and would be very engaging for middle school science students. The students are given a variety of choices to guide their learning as they create their own content within the collaborative wiki setting. This setting helps students work collaboratively and supports connectivity and constructivism. I feel that there are some steps/instructions missing for this unit. Perhaps these are given face-to-face with the students before they begin, but it would be useful to post them on the wiki for students to refer back to as they work. The evaluation rubrics are clear and help students develop and build their projects and they make use of Google Forms which is so easy to use and organizes answers for the instructor. You might consider creating an example event so that students know what is expected of them when they do their own events. Excellent use of Google Forms (which I love!). I never thought about using it as a journal entry form, I will definitely be using this with my 6th graders! I would love to see how this unit turns out with students! Good luck!

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

|ulie, here's my peer review. Have a great holiday season. Content: Introduction explains Networked Learning Environments and does an excellent job of setting the foundation for the unit. When you state, "It is about the learning that takes place in a vibrant community of people and resources." it sets up the entire unit. The collaboration based learning supports connectivism concepts on several levels. For example, diversity of opinions, learning process of pulling together different Web 2.0 tools, identifying the relationships/connections between the tools, all relate to connectivisim. Good use of graphics and the embedding of YouTube video. It sets the example of using the various tools provided by Web2.0, and the multimedia helps keep the learners awake too. Technology: Wiki, Bloggers, Delicious, Facebook, iGoogle. An excellent diversity in tools showing the unit results in a sound PLE. Instructional Strategies: I tend to think the use of teamwork (collaboration in education) always results in a stronger solution than individual works. The unit is strong on collaboration and communication, including the reflection and sharing. Assessment: Not strong on assessment (I don't think any of us where) . The strongest assessment is from the peer reviews, informal and formal. What others think and share about our work is a great learning process. The unit has this in many locations. Unfortunately, it is difficult to measure and put on a rubric. The reflection goal is a great way for learner to realize how much they have learned - and what they have learned. In teaching computers for several years I have found the students get strength in self confidence if they know what they know. The reflection goal will do that, or rather it will have them do it for themselves (hey, another connectivism and constructivism concept!) Reflection: Great job of pulling together what this course ta

Hi Julie, I love your unit on Teacher Collaboration. It is well organized; your objectives, activities and assessment align well. I really enjoyed your flow charts and models and will refer to these again for my own learning. In addition I love the article about network learning, Thomas Jefferson's description of his dream of the Univ of Virginia as a collection of connected villages. For those of us who are visual, this is a perfect metaphor for network learning. Excellent! I will give you feedback on the 4 areas -- content, integrated tools, strategies and evaluation -- in a separate posting. All the Best, Betsy.

* Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. Process: Discussion, research, and group work. * Learning may reside in non-human appliances. Process: Computers, internet, Web 2.0 Tools. * Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning. Process: Reflection blog, discussion forum, group work, exploring Web 2.0 tools. * Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill. Process: Groups working together to create a Web 2.0 integrated lesson plan. Researching information on Web 2.0 tools and utilizing those tools. * Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities. Process: Research conducted on Connectivism and network learning environments. Exploring current Web 2.0 tools for integration, collaboration, and communication. * Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision. Process: Researching information on a new learning theory and new Web 2.0 tools. Choosing Web 2.0 tools for integration in a lesson plan.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

I should have added more Web 2.0 tools. I didn't because the teachers tend to complain about spending any extra time on workshops. I wanted it to be more relaxed and not so much like a course. I didn't have a rubric for assessing all the elements involved in the webquest. I just made a generic format for each assignment.

* Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. Process: Discussion, research, and group work. * Learning may reside in non-human appliances. Process: Computers, internet, Web 2.0 Tools. * Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning. Process: Reflection blog, discussion forum, group work, exploring Web 2.0 tools. * Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill. Process: Groups working together to create a Web 2.0 integrated lesson plan. Researching information on Web 2.0 tools and utilizing those tools. * Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities. Process: Research conducted on Connectivism and network learning environments. Exploring current Web 2.0 tools for integration, collaboration, and communication. * Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision. Process: Researching information on a new learning theory and new Web 2.0 tools. Choosing Web 2.0 tools for integration in a lesson plan.

I should have added more Web 2.0 tools. I didn't because the teachers tend to complain about spending any extra time on workshops. I wanted it to be more relaxed and not so much like a course. I didn't have a rubric for assessing all the elements involved in the webquest. I just made a generic format for each assignment.

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

* Knowing where to find information; the links provided to learners to engage in unit content were informative and facilitated learning. * Diversity of opinions: Group collaboration within the unit lesson plans supported social networking and enabled learners to share ideas and personal knowledge. * A variety of learning tools; Web 2.0 tools provided allowed learners to collaborate in different forms. Having different approaches to communicate and share information facilitates learning since we all have different learning styles.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

* More than four components of technology integration; may be overwhelming to those learners who are not technology savvy. * Rubric for essay assignment should have included more content; more specific on expectations of assignment. * Video embedded for instructional strategies instead of links to video.

Adrianna, It was a distinct pleasure reviewing your unit. Overall you unit is well organized, easy to follow, contains great instructions and graphics. I do not know anything about dentistry, but I think if I participated in your unit I would learn a great deal. I will comment in individual sticky notes by the 4 categories suggested for giving feedback. Excellent job!!

Common Question I: Aligned Connectivism Principles Please discuss three most important strategies of NLE/PLE in your unit, identify what aligned Connectivism principle(s) are, and discuss the assessments you integrate. Remember NLE/PLE strategies are not your contents or "technologies," such as wiki, discussion board etc. It is the integrated soft technologies. If you don't remember Connectivism principles, please review our Lesson 1 readings. Hint: be sure to include four components of technology integrations: Content; Technology; Instructional Strategies; Assessment.

Content; Overall the content focuses on creating useful and aesthetically pleasing virtual learning objects. language skills will progress though naturalistic engagement in the project (a number of different forms of communication including brainstorming, programming and presenting using different thematically connected language skills). Considering the 2 leels of learning please see my notes on technology below. Technology; The project uses collaborative wiki technology as well as Second life which, being a persistent online world with the ability to embed traditional text based CMC far outweighs many other formats in terms of providing a large variety of interaction methods (see answer to question 2 above). Furthermore the lesson revolves around creating virtual learning object will will also be used by future generations of learners as well as the constructors themselves. Thus we have published student work which contributes to learning and the learning of future students. Instructional Strategies; More linked to socio-cognitivism than connectivism (sorry i still cannot base pedagogy on something which I dont feel has gained a theory level of backing. There is no empirical evidence for connectivism and basing pedagogy on it would only serve to potentially hurt learners). Again we have a group created learning object project here which contibute to learning in their creation and finished project , working on 2 levels. Assessment. Assessment is peer, self and instructor based with a rather heavy weighting to peer based opposed to most classes. Additionally there is an added macro level element of assessment in that future generations of students will also be interacting with and using current student Second Life virtual classroom object creations. This I feel ads a nice level as students' object will be around for the remainder of the class and long after they are gone thus inspiring them to do their best.

Common Question II: Weaknesses Please discuss three weaknesses of your unit. Please specific. Hint: focus on technology, instructional strategies, and assessments.

Overall I would say the weakness in my unit would be given the short amount of time students have to compete it (roughly 1 month) I am not 100% sure they will be able to do this. Naturally I would need to pilot it and be flexible. In terms of language learning, I use a more communicative exposure method. R. Jones publishes a lot on this in interaction research and my own research has found online game mediums to be more linguistically interactive than traditional CMC. Perhpahs my unit would benefit from some direct language instruction, however I would need to base this off of an initial needs assessment done by students undertaking the project.

If one month is too short, how much time do you think your students need?

As I said above , the lesson would need to be properly piloted first (as all lessons generally do). I would estimate no longer than 1.5 months though,