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Alicia Fernandez

Preparing the Academy of Today for the Learner of Tomorrow | EDUCAUSE.edu - 0 views

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    Predicted to be America's first generation to exceed 100 million persons,1 the wave of Net Geners entering colleges and universities brings a blend of behaviors, attitudes, and expectations that creates opportunities-as well as challenges-for higher education.
alexandra m. pickett

Transformation via Online Learning - 4 views

  • original target audience,
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      who is your target?
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      Nontraditional, commuter, reentry are terms assigned to my target student population, which I refer to as adult learners. Adult learners are difficult to categorize, as the determinants are often arbitrary. Their demographic variables cut across a wide swath of the population.  Ross Gordon (2011) refers to a set of shared characteristics which include: delayed entry or reentry to college, employment, and family and community responsibilities. They are also primarily part-time students. The group is typically described to be between the ages of 25-64.  Reference  Ross-Gordon, J. (2011). Research on adult learners: supporting the needs of a student population that longer nontraditional. Association of American Colleges and Universities.  (Previously bookmarked in Diigo)
  • adult online students
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      what assumptions are you making about this population?
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      I am assuming that adult online learners meet the six assumptions of Knowles' Andragogy learning theory. Traditional college students are often still formulating self-concepts and are involved in much more socialization on campus. Adult students are usually not seeking the social component and are driven by the immediate application of acquired skills and knowledge to life outside of the classroom.  The University of Central Florida (UCF) drilled down into the age demographics of their adult student population and extrapolated generational data. Hartmann et al. (2005) reported results of a survey of nearly 1,500 online learners at UCF that shed light on generational differences in attitudes and expectations among students born during 1946- 1964 (the cohort authors nicknamed 'Baby Boomers'), students born during 1965-1980('Generation X') and others born during 1981-1994 (the so-called 'NetGen' students). The results noted that there were substantial differences between the cohorts as far as learning engagement, interaction value, and whether they changed their approach to learning as a result of their online experience.  Hartmann, J., Patsy, M. & Chuck, D. (2005). Preparing the academy of today for the learner of tomorrow. In D. G. Oblinger & J. L. Oblinger (Eds.), Educating the Net Generation, pp. 6.1-6.15. Washington, DC: EDUCAUSE. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/books/educating-net-generation/preparing-academy-today-learner-tomorrow  (Bookmarked in Diigo)
  • students who attend fully online
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      not sure what you mean. these numbers are fully online students.
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      Are these students that solely attend online classes?  Do they attend classes on campus as well?
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  • traditional and non-traditional students i
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      This perspective/distinction is very interesting/curious to me. I don't distinguish. I guess you mean traditional age college students vs. older "adult" students. In my mind they are all adults and they are all online students. Just an observation of my own perspective. : )
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      The literature I have reviewed indicates that younger age college students may not like the lack of social interaction and find the online classroom's demands of extensive writing too laborious.  I have also found a distance difference between the two groups in my own experience. Of course this is a broad generalization and there are exceptions.  
  • If undergrads enroll in online courses and do not actively participate, this will impact the development of critical thinking skills and meaningful learning outcomes for all students
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      in my experience this "undergrad" or age variable is not significant. : )
    • Alicia Fernandez
       
      I think the maturity of the student matters greatly as far as motivation and level of participation. This would impact lower level undergrad courses much more. However, your experience proves that andragogy is not always defined by age. 
  • Jun 12th, 2014
  • Aug17
  • Satisfied. I am thrilled that I persevered and was able to complete the course. My Moodle course is far from stellar but I am pretty happy with the results of my maiden voyage.
  • I know that I have learned that social presence and teaching presences are as important as cognitive presence. More to the point, I learned that as an online student my reluctance to focus on the social aspects of the online classroom may have inhibited community building.
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Hi Alicia! Nice blog! don't forget to self assess each post!
  • Morrison, D. (2014, February 28). Best methods and tools for online educators to give students helpful and meaningful feedback. Online Learning Insights. Retrieved from http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/best-methods-and-tools-for-online-educators-to-give-students-helpful-and-meaningful-feedback/
Irene Watts-Politza

Three generations of distance education pedagogy | Anderson | The International Review ... - 0 views

  • Another notable trend is towards more object-based, contextual, or activity-based models of learning. It is not so much a question of building and sustaining networks as of finding the appropriate sets of things and people
  • and activities. CloudWorks, a product of the OU-UK, is an example of this new trend, in which objects of discourse are more important than, or at least distinct from, the networks that enable them (Galley, Conole, Dalziel, & Ghiglione, 2010).
  • The next step in this cycle would seem to be, logically, to enable those sets to talk back to us: to find us, guide us, and influence our learning journeys. This represents a new and different form of communication, one in which the crowd, composed of multiple intelligences, behaves as an intentional single entity.
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  • PageRank algorithm behind a Google search works in exactly this way, taking multiple intelligent choices and combining them to provide ranked search results (Brin & Page, 2000).
  • it is not individuals, groups, or networks that help us to learn but a faceless intelligence that is partly made of human actions, partly of a machine’s.
  • We and others have described these entities in the past as collectives (Segaran, 2007).
  • Despite the ubiquity of such systems, what still remains unclear is how best to exploit them in learning. However, it seems at least possible that the next generation of distance education pedagogy will be enabled by technologies that make effective use of collectives.
  • learners and teacher collaborate to create the content of study, and in the process re-create that content for future use by others. Assessment in connectivist pedagogy combines self-reflection with teacher assessment of the contributions to the current and future courses. These contributions may be reflections, critical comments, learning objects and resources, and other digital artifacts of knowledge creation, dissemination, and problem solving.
  • Teaching presence in connectivist learning environments also focuses on teaching by example. The teachers’ construction of learning artifacts, critical contributions to class and external discussion, capacity to make connections across discipline and context boundaries, and the sum of their net presence serve to model connectivist presence and learning.
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    Special Issue - Connectivism: Design and Delivery of Social Networked Learning Terry Anderson and Jon Dron Athabasca University, Canada Abstract. This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy.
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    Connectivism: Design and Delivery of Social Networked Learning Terry Anderson and Jon Dron Athabasca University, This paper defines and examines three generations of distance education pedagogy.
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    Three Generations of Distance Education Pedagogy [Print Version] Special Issue - Connectivism: Design and Delivery of Social Networked Learning Terry Anderson and Jon Dron Athabasca University, Canada
Teresa Dobler

Using Technology as a Learning Tool, Not Just the Cool New Thing | EDUCAUSE.edu - 1 views

  • Interactivity—whether it is with a computer, a professor, or a classmate.
  • They want it; they crave it.
  • cond, studen
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  • Second, students need to be able to use the technology
  • Third, technology must be relevant and interactive to the coursework
  • Fourth, technology must be used for a practical purpose—that is, taking the fundamentals and technology learned over a semester and applying it to a final project, where creativity and uniqueness is required and rewarded
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      Absolutely!!! Make it relevant, creative - apply not regurgitate!
  • Distance education and online courses don't work well with Net Geners—the social component of learning is required.
  • How the Net Gen Learns
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      What we need to know in order to teach our students...
  • taught himself
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      These individuals all have talents and expertise in multiple areas, and are often self-taught in at least some of them.
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      They learn by doing the work themselves, not being told about it.
  • wide range of interests
  • not locked into one thing
  • when challenged, they excel in creative and innovative ways
    • Teresa Dobler
       
      We need to challenge our students in this way!!!
  • doing hands-on work and working in groups,
  • Using technology only enhances the hands-on experience; it does not—and cannot—replace human interaction.
Alicia Fernandez

Digital natives: Everyday life versus academic stud y - 0 views

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    Access to and use of technology by 'digital native' students studying in our universities has been an area of much speculation, though relatively little empirical research. This has led some pundits to call for a radical rethink of how higher education uses technology to deliver education. Others are more circumspect and think it is necessary to hear directly from these 'digital natives' about their actual technology practices before jumping to such conclusions. This paper reports on a study that aimed to do just that; the study comprised a survey of the technology access and practices in both everyday life and for academic study of first year university students. The findings suggest that, for the participants of this study, access and usage of technology does not neatly fit into the stereotype of the 'digital native'. Access to and use of some technologies was found to be quite high whilst others have significant levels of non-adoption. A comparison was made between technologies and activities undertaken as part of students' everyday life in contrast to their academic study and it was found that the usage rates were generally lower for academic study. Access to and use of different technologies for different purposes is variable and university teachers and policymakers need to take this variability into account when making changes at the course or institution levels. What is also required is more in-depth investigation of the technology practices of these 'digital natives' to understand how technology is transforming their social and academic lives and, importantly, how they are shaping technology to suit their lives.
Irene Watts-Politza

Teachers' Invisible Presence in Net-based Distance Education | Hult | The International... - 0 views

  • The stance taken in this paper, then, is constructivist – that conversation is learning in the making.
  • Any conversation, that is, draws on heteroglossia (Bakhtin’s neologism) – pools of different ideas whose elements, when exchanged, foster learning. According to Bakhtin, every utterance has a double significance. It is an expression of a 'unitary [common] language' used to conduct the conversation and, at the same time, it builds on the 'social and historical' differences embedded in the heteroglossia (1981, p. 272).
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      This is what happens in a discussion thread.
  • Yuri Lotman,
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  • described conversations as multi-authored texts rather than as multi-voiced heteroglossia (see Bakhtin, 1994,
  • texts “fulfill at least two basic functions:
  • fulfilled best when the codes of the speaker and the listener most completely coincide and, consequently, when the text has the maximum degree of univocality” (1988, p. 34). The generation of new meanings occurs when there are differences between the speaker and the listener. Texts used in educational exchanges cease:
  • online adult education is not the delivery of texts but, rather, the creation and insertion of ‘thinking devices’ into conversation.
  • For this article we have concentrated on teacher and student views of teachers’ role orientations in online courses.
  • our intention has been to identify and clarify teaching ‘saliences’ that have emerged in online adult education in Sweden. In a wider sense, however, our analysis is also a response to the question: ‘Whatever happened to teaching in the learning society?’
  • the posting data support the claim that the teachers adopted an initiating role.
  • Greater activity:
  • Greater influence on topic:
  • Faster response times:
  • When asked about their views, all students felt that teachers played a central role in supporting Net-based learning. Indeed, some of them suggested that moderation in online settings of adult education is more important than in face-to-face settings.
  • Orientations to Teaching
  • Activity Orientation
  • In this perspective, teachers gave students tasks that activated them and, thereby, fostered their understanding of subject matter.
  • offered students tips about articles, books and Internet sites
  • Some students spoke about being activated by stimulating tasks that led them to engage with the Web and libraries, with one of them adding ‘seeking by your self is a pre-condition for learning.’ Active searching also meant that students came into contact with information which extended their learning beyond the task itself.
  • None of the teachers, however, was entirely satisfied with their dialogic or conference practice. Levels of engagement, dialogue, and initiative-taking were not as high as they had hoped. In response, they tried to promote conversation by encouraging students to react to each other’s postings, by organising tasks where cooperation and interaction was needed, or by introducing new aspects and questions when discussion faltered.
  • Further, teachers reported that they also tried to act as models of good behaviour by giving swift replies to student postings and by making their own postings appropriate yet concise.
  • In contrast to the teachers most of the student group were satisfied with the course conversations.
  • A few
  • felt that sharing different aspects of the subject matter with the teacher and fellow students raised fresh questions. It made them reach beyond the book, evoking learning and thinking along new pathways. Even if they thought that well-chosen tasks were the most effective way of fostering dialogue, they also expected the course leader to participate fully, developing new themes if student postings declined, and remaining alert to student proposals that might enhance the interchange of ideas and knowledge.
  • Many students emphasised the importance of teaching that corroborated or validated their learning.
  • None of the teachers, however, spontaneously offered this view as their primary role or orientation. Nevertheless, when asked whether they had any correspondence with students through private mailboxes rather than ‘conferences’ and ‘cafes,’ some of them said that they occasionally responded privately to correct misinterpretations.
  • This task raises many questions about teaching, highlighting the difference, for example, between instructionist and constructionist paradigms for learning (Wilensky, 1991). Would a too well-planned course be instructionist, thus constraining student influence and the pursuit of democracy? In their postings, teachers in this study felt that there was no necessary contradiction – that well-planned courses could, indeed, strengthen student influence. Nevertheless, busy distance education students, according to the teachers, often appreciate instructionist courses with clearly stated activities and tasks, even if the students are left with limited opportunities to ‘construct their own relationships with the objects of knowledge’ (Wilensky, 1991, p. 202).
  • Teacher’s invisible presence is exemplified in taking a stand-by role and/ or being reluctant to intervene. ‘The [teachers’] silence should be deafening,’ one teacher recommended. Although most of the teachers agreed that well-planned courses do not inhibit course dialogue, the fact that in their own online course deliberations they set aside time to discuss this issue may reflect ambivalence in their stance. The question of when and how teachers should intervene remains impossible to resolve, except in practice.
  • three different aspects of teaching,
  • a second conclusion – that the promotion of learning in an open environment requires an animating or steering presence. Such teaching, however, is not a process of instruction. And for this reason the word teacher may no longer be appropriate. In English, the word tutor is commonly used in adult education, because it has connotations of ‘supervision’ and ‘guardianship’ as well as ‘instruction’ (see Oxford English Dictionary). More recently, Salmon has suggested ‘e-moderating,’ but even moderation carries instructionist connotations – to exercise a controlling influence over; to regulate, restrain, control, rule (OED) – that may not be appropriate to all forms of liberal education. In the context of mainland Europe, the word pedagogue may be appropriate since, etymologically, pedagogue denotes someone engaged in 'drawing out.'
  • Intellectual development, however, can be an intra- as well as an inter-personal phenomenon. That is, learning may not come directly from teachers but rather from their absent or invisible presence. Online pedagogues, therefore, can be present in different ways. They may be present in person, participating in learning conversations. They may constitute an absent presence that, nonetheless, is embodied in the learning resources directed towards students (e.g., the selected readings or activities). Or pedagogues may exist merely as inner voices, inherited from the language of others, that (invisibly) steer the desires, self-regulation, and self-direction of learners. Indeed, this last pedagogic position ‘auto-didacticism,’ has always been central to the post-Enlightenment ideals of liberal adult education.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      Here's the money.
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    Swedish study of university student and professor attitudes toward satisfaction with and definition of teacher presence in online adult learning. Implications for course design with respect to knowing one's audience.
Joan McCabe

Social Networking - Create Online Identity - 0 views

  • Online Profile Tips for Students Managing Online Identity is a key digital literacy, and an important thing to discuss with students when using online tools for learning and teaching. Additional to the tips above, it's worth considering the following when discussing online profiles with your students - particularly if you are working with young people who are under 18 years old: Using Real Names: In general, younger students should be taught to protect their privacy online by avoiding publication of their full name and other personal details. Using first names and/or aliases can be a good way of managing this. Ensure that you discuss privacy and the implications of publishing personal details online with your students.Choose appropriate profile pictures: Younger students should be encouraged not to publish identifying images online. Rather, they can be engaged in a range of activities to create representational avatars and profile images.Students should only share only information that is safe for the Internet. Establish a classroom policy that teaches students to avoid publishing a specific addresses or names that a reader might use to locate them.Ensure students understand how to respect the privacy of others by obtaining permission before publishing images of and information about their friends or family.Discuss the issues around internet safety and ensure students do not provide personal details to others online. There are lots of Internet Safety resources available - check out our Social Networking Safety for further information . Consider holding a class discussion or online activity to assist students in understanding the issues around publishing personal details online and online profiles. Creating Codes of Conduct or Rules of Engagement with your students can be an effective way of establishing appropriate classroom policies which provide them with a clear framework.
  • 3. Etiquette - Using Your Online Manners!


    Online Etiquette is important whenever you are sharing comments, information or feedback online, and of course this applies to social networking sites as well. Practicing good manners and respect when communicating and collaborating with others online will also enhance your online identity, demonstrating digital literacy skills and strong online communication skills.

    Consider the following etiquette tips when using social networking sites:

    • Introduce yourself when offering friendship: If you are using social networking sites for professional or personal networking, making 'friends' with other users can be an effective way of extending your connections. However, don't offer friendship without also offering an introduction and some information about you and why you are following. For example, if connecting to another educator who you know via their work online, but not personally you could try an introduction like 'Hi, I'm a regular reader of your blog, and have enjoyed your work. I teach in a similar field and would appreciate being able to connect with you in the future'. Include links to your personal identity online - eg. your blog, wiki or preferred online profile page so that person receiving the friendship request can identify you.
    • Respond to 'friendship' or 'connect' requests: Ensure you respond to request from others for friendship. If you choose not to make friends, offer an alternative or reason. Eg. "Thanks for your friendship request but I only use facebook to connect to my family members. Feel free to connect with me via my blog, or you can follow me on [insert your preferred social networking tool here]."
    • Don't abuse group or games invites: It's fine to invite your friends to join in on a group or online game via social networks. However - one is enough! Don't send repetitive requests or invites as they are annoying to other users and can be considered spam.
    • Respect the privacy of others: Respect the privacy of others. If your friend is using an alias online, don't share their real identity or post content which could 'out' them. Remember that all users of social networking sites make different decisions about how they manage their privacy online.
    • Use good tags: Apply tags to text, images and video appropriately. Tagging other people in unflattering pictures can create lots of tension with friends or family members, so remember to consider the implications when tagging content which is associated with or depicts others. If someone requests to be untagged in an image or page, ensure you act swiftly and respect their wishes.
    • Leave good comments: One of the best ways to connect with others via social networking sites is to make comments. Ensure your comments are clear, respectful and well written. Don't use inappropriate, sexist, racist or foul language. Provide constructive criticism when appropriate and respect the opinions of others. Robust debate is wonderful - abusive tirades are not! When leaving comments on blogs or fan pages, ensure to check for 'rules of engagement' or site policies about commenting.
    • Private conversations should stay private: Don't republish a private conversation or exchange (via email, instant messaging or other private communication channels) without permission.
    • Share appropriately: Don't share any information online (including text, images, audio and video) that you wouldn't be happy to share with distant relatives, friends, work colleagues and your immediate family. A good rule of thumb - if it's ok to say it to your Grandma and your Boss, it's ok to share it online!
    • Connect and Engage: Don't use social networks as a one-way announcement tool. Remember to engage with your 'friends' and follow-up on comments and feedback.
    • Balance Personal Vs. Private: If you are using social networking sites for professional purposes, make sure you balance your personal comments, images and messages with useful professional information. Consider your audience and share information that is useful to your networks.

    Watch this humorous take on social networking etiquette. Although it focuses on Facebook, many of the points it raises are relevant to all social networking sites.

    Consider how you will address social networking etiquette in your learning communities. What strategies will you put in place to ensure students understand the 'rules of engagement' on social networking sites.
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    Helpful tips on creating an online identity for students and in the work field. Also tips on netiquette.
Sue Rappazzo

Tools for the TEKS: Integrating Technology in the Classroom - 0 views

  • Until recently, asynchronous online discussions have been largely limited to text-based interactions. The continued development of “web 2.0” technologies, or “read/write web” tools, is changing the online interactive landscape, however. Free web services like YackPack (www.yackpack.net) and Vaestro (www.vaestro.com) permit users to engage in audio-based discussions with others using only a computer microphone and a web browser. The audio recordings are immediately stored to a server on the Internet, rather than being saved on local hard drives and then subsequently uploaded to a server. The process is amazingly easy and straightforward, providing multiple benefits for users as well as instructional possiblities for educators.
  • The respective slogans of both YackPack and Vaestro succinctly communicate their similar goals of empowering users to engage in web-based discussions via audio recordings.
  • These interactive podcasting tools are admittedly examples of potentially “disruptive technologies” which may strike fear into the hearts of some school administrators and classroom teachers. The basic reason for this boils down to issues of control. Could students make poor choices and choose to record offensive or inappropriate comments using these tools? Of course. But as educators, shouldn’t we strive to provide environments where students can make REAL decisions of import and value, so they can learn how to behave appropriately in different contexts? The virtual world is here to stay, and educators at all levels need to get more serious about helping student learn to safely and effectively navigate that environment. An analogy to swimming may be appropriate here. If students are living on the coast, and are exposed daily to the dangers as well as opportunities of the ocean, shouldn’t any responsible caretaker strive to help those students learn to swim? Our answer must be “yes.” Interactive podcasting is one read/write web technology that can be used to help achieve this goal in the virtual enviornment.
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  • udioBlogger (www.audioblogger.com) is a free service which permits users to create audio podcasts using their cell phone, which are directly saved to the Internet and “subscribable” via an automatically generated RSS feed. Just as AudioBlogger permits anyone with a cell phone and access to the Internet to create a free online account to become an international podcaster, services like YackPack and Vaestro are likely to continue maturing and offer increasingly powerful ways for people to interactively podcast. These tools are powerful and rich in their educational potential.
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    interactive podcast tools
ian august

Can YouTube enhance student nurse learning? - 0 views

  • is
  • Constraints
  • Constraint
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  • students becoming powerful consumers of education and demanding up-to-date interesting and interactive models of teaching and support.
  • Hall (2010) acknowledges that there are benefits to technological approaches in teaching and learning, but rejects the idea that technology is a “panacea” for the netgen (net generation). Skiba (2007, p.100), however, strongly argues that these emerging technologies “will transform the way nursing education is offered” in the future.
  • Today's students are experienced in digital interaction from an increasingly early age
  • The first benefit to using YouTube in teaching and learning is that it is a recognised tool from the digital environment of the netgen
  • already being used as both an informal and formal learning tool by many
  • it can be accessed anywhere at any time.
  • students can engage with their learning at a time and place to suit them.
  • YouTube as a tool in the classroom can lead to increased engagement in several key ways.
  • keeps students' attention focused. This is especially pertinent in the digital era with the reducing attention span
  • visual methods of delivery is an established method of keeping material ‘memorable’
  • Therefore our students no longer need to trudge to the library and join a waiting list to access a suitable supporting material.
  • Kellner and Kim 2009 Kellner, D., Kim, G., 2009. YouTube, Critical Pedagogy and Media Activism: An Articulation. Accessed online at http://gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/2009_essays.html.Kellner and Kim (2009) confirm that UTers (YouTube users) who responded to a video either through text comments or video responses showed higher motivation in the discussion.
  • ouTube offers a medium to provide multiple viewpoints to provoke comparison within the lecture environment .
  • YouTube opens the door to find alternative representations of anything you might want to say
  • Freeman and Chapman, 2007 B. Freeman and S. Chapman, Is “YouTube” telling or selling you something? Tobacco content on the YouTube video-sharing website, Tobacco Control 16 (2007), pp. 207–210. Full Text via CrossRef | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (27)Freeman and Chapman (2007) point to the risk of YouTube being used as a mode of subversive advertising and report on a wide range of underhand tactics used by tobacco companies to sponsor their products.
  • Kellner and Kim 2009 Kellner, D., Kim, G., 2009. YouTube, Critical Pedagogy and Media Activism: An Articulation. Accessed online at http://gseis.ucla
  • Therefore the role of the lecturer is to stimulate discussion
  • They describe this as the: ‘process of video postings as self education, UTers thus practice the pedagogy of learning-by-doing as “performative pedagogy” that they effectively engage in their everyday lives as a fundamental process of meaning-making’ (Kellner and Kim, 2009, p. 15).
  • Good techniques to use are presenting alternative sides of arguments and allowing discussions about the appropriateness of choices.
  • YouTube is a resource of user-generated content with no quality regulation
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    benefits of using youtube to learn, and some constraints
Diane Gusa

Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media - 0 views

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    this article intends to provide some clarification on social media. We begin by describing the concept of Social Media, and discuss how it differs from related concepts such as Web 2.0 and User Generated Content. Based on this definition, we then provide a classification of Social Media which groups applications currently subsumed under the generalized term into more specific categories by characteristic: collaborative projects, blogs, content communities, social networking sites, virtual game worlds, and virtual social worlds. Finally, we present 10 pieces of advice for companies which decide to utilize Social Media.
Irene Watts-Politza

Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Pl... - 1 views

  • As universities shift toward competency and institutions cater more closely to learners’ specific needs, the distinctions between high school, undergraduate college, and graduate programs will dissolve. “Incentives will be given to students and institutions to move students through at a faster rate [and] the home school movement will lead to a home-college movement” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37). As leaders in the effort to cater to learners’ needs, distance education programs may be a dominant influence in this trend.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      P-20 pipeline
  • Accreditation and program approval will be based more on educational outcomes. Testing programs will be put in place by discipline organizations, federal and state governments, corporations, and testing companies. Large corporations will develop their own approval systems. By 2025, there will not be one national accreditation system, although the U.S. Department of Education will provide a basic safety net for quality. (p. 37; see also Pond, 2003) Distance educators must plan to accommodate this emphasis on accountability if they are to maintain accreditation and meet consumer demands.
  • Much of distance education programs’ success or failure can be attributed to how it is organized.
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  • the academically decentralized/administratively centralized model
  • Changes in the institutional landscape may magnify competition among educational providers and allow new models and leaders to emerge.
  • Knowledge proliferation may increase content-breadth demands on higher education, spreading distance education resources ever thinner and complicating development decisions.
  • An NEA survey reported that faculty members’ top concern about distance education was that they will do more work for the same amount of pay, apparently a merited concern.
  • As long as distance education contributions are not considered in tenure and promotion decisions, and as long as professors have their own, traditional ways of delivering their courses, many faculty members will be reluctant to participate in online courses (Oravec, 2003). Concerning this reluctance, Dunn has predicted that many faculty members will revolt against technological course delivery and the emerging expectations their institutions will have of faculty members. Dunn forecast that some of the resistance will even be manifest through unionization and strikes (Dunn, 2000). Some have suggested the labor-intensive and time-consuming demands required to develop online modules as reasons for faculty resistance (Brogden, 2002).
  • The results of de Alva’s 2000 survey support this trend: governors rated “maintaining traditional faculty roles and tenure” as the least desirable characteristic of a twenty-first century university (p. 34).
  • Faculty members tend initially to try to use their conventional classroom methods to teach at a distance and then become frustrated when attempts are unsuccessful (Dasher-Alston & Patton, p. 14). In Green’s (2002) survey of the role
  • Distance education teams include administrators, instructional designers, technologists, and instructors/facilitators (Miller, 2001; Williams, 2003). The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor, coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison” (Riffee, 2003, p. 1; see also Roberson, 2002; Scagnoli, 2001). The role of faculty members in distance education requires “some specialized skills and strategies. Distance education instructors must plan ahead, be highly organized, and communicate with learners in new ways. They need to be accessible to students [and] work in teams when appropriate” (PSU, 1998, p. 4). Distance faculty members must be experts in maintaining communication, because there is increased demand for student interaction in distance learning (NEA, 2000). Finally, they may have to assume more administrative responsibilities than is true in a residential model (PSU, 1998).
  • “Rather than incorporating the responsibility for all technology- and competency-based functions into a single concept of ‘faculty member,’ universities are disaggregating faculty instructional activities and [assigning] them to distinct professionals” (Paulson, 2002, p. 124). Doing this involves a “deliberate division of labor among the faculty, creating new kinds of instructional staff, or deploying nontenure-track instructional staff (such as adjunct faculty, graduate teaching assistants, or undergraduate assistants) in new ways” (Paulson, 2002, p. 126
  • Online students are becoming an entirely new subpopulation of higher-education learners. They are “generally older, have completed more college credit hours and more degree programs, and have a higher all-college GPA than their traditional counterparts” (Diaz, 2002, pp. 1-2). For example, Diaz has noted that online students received twice as many A’s as traditional students and half as many D’s and F’s.
  • One result of the highly competitive e-learning market will be institutions that specialize in meeting particular niches in the market (Gallagher, 2003). Morrison and Barone (2003, p. 4) observed, “We can see the beginnings of the trend toward the unbundling of courses, credits, services, and fee structures.” Dunn foresaw a similar trend, predicting that “courseware producers will sell courses and award credits directly to the end user and thus, through intermediation, bypass the institutional middleman” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37). The transition may also blur the distinction between two- and four-year colleges and universities (Carr, 1999). In this context of greater “portability,” more educational “brokers” (e.g., Western Governor’s University, Excelsior College, Charter Oak State College, etc.) will exist (Pond, 2003). Further, as de Alva has asserted, “Institutional success for any higher education enterprise will depend more on successful marketing, solid quality-assurance and control systems, and effective use of the new media than on production and communication of knowledge” (de Alva, 2000, p. 40).
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    Trends that affect distance education. The part that shows how different online students are now is very interesting.
Sue Rappazzo

Teaching at an Internet Distance-----MERLOT - 1 views

  • Several of our speakers were able to shed light on the cause of this rising tide of faculty opposition to computer mediated instruction. Andrew Feenberg of San Diego State University summarizes the situation in the opening paragraph of his "Distance Learning: Promise or Threat" (1999) article: "Once the stepchild of the academy, distance learning is finally taken seriously. But not in precisely the way early innovators like myself had hoped. It is not faculty who are in the forefront of the movement to network education. Instead politicians, university administrations and computer and telecommunications companies have decided there is money in it. But proposals for a radical "retooling" of the university emanating from these sources are guaranteed to provoke instant faculty hostility."
    • Kelly Hermann
       
      As a red-head, I'm just glad they didn't use the phrase "red-headed stepchild." LOL
  • The implementation of online education shows both promise and peril. Computer mediated instruction may indeed introduce new and highly effective teaching paradigms, but high-quality teaching is not always assured. Administrative decisions made without due consideration to pedagogy, or worse, with policies or technology that hampers quality, may cause much wasted time, money and effort of both faculty and students.
  • In training, a particular package of knowledge is imparted to an individual so that he or she can assume work within a system, as the firefighters do for example. According to Noble, training and education are appropriately distinguished in terms of autonomy (Noble, 1999). In becoming trained, an individual relinquishes autonomy. The purpose of education, as compared to training, is to impart autonomy to the student. In teaching students to think critically, we say in effect "Student, know thyself." Education is not just the transmission of knowledge, important as that is, but also has to do with the transformation of persons (and the development of critical thinking skills).
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  • Does good teaching in the classroom translate to good teaching online? If so, what elements can be translated and which ones can't or shouldn't?
  • "The shared mantra of the faculty and staff during the development of this document was that "good teaching is good teaching!" An Emerging Set of Guiding Principles... is less about distance education and more about what makes for an effective educational experience, regardless of where or when it is delivered."
  • Good practice encourages student-faculty contact. Good practice encourages cooperation among students. Good practice encourages active learning. Good practice gives prompt feedback. Good practice emphasizes time on task. Good practice communicates high expectations. Good practice respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
  • Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of class is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students' intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.
  • At first glance, teaching a class without the ability to see and hear the students in person appears daunting. The enlightened, quizzical, or stony facial expressions, the sighs of distress or gasps of wonder, and even the less-than-subtle raised hands or interjected queries that constitute immediate feedback to a lecture, discussion, or clinical situation are absent. Yet the proponents of online instruction will argue that these obstacles can be overcome, and that the online format has its own advantages. In the online experiences documented in the "Net.Learning" (www.pbs.org/netlearning/home.html) videotape, which our seminar viewed early in the year, Peggy Lant of the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo presented a striking example that occurred in her class' online discussion of civil war. One student's comments were especially gripping as she had just survived a civil war in her home country. Shy students who have trouble participating in a classroom discussion are said to feel more comfortable in an online setting. The ability to sit and think as one composes a question or comment also can raise the quality of the discussion. Susan Montgomery at the University of Michigan has developed an interactive website that addresses diverse learning styles through the use of multimedia (Montgomery, 1998).
  • Teachers, trainers, and professors with years of experience in classrooms report that computer networking encourages the high-quality interaction and sharing that is at the heart of education. ...(The) characteristics of online classes... generally result in students' contributing material that is much better than something they would say off the top of their heads in a face-to-face class. There is a converse side, however. Just after the passage above, Harasim cautions (Harasim et al. 1995) On the other hand, unless the teacher facilitates the networking activities skillfully, serious problems may develop. A conference may turn into a monologue of lecture-type material to which very few responses are made. It may become a disorganized mountain of information that is confusing and overwhelming for the participants. It may even break down socially into name calling rather than building a sense of community.
  • At what cost is this high degree of interaction, the need for which we suspect is student motivation and the professor's (online) attentiveness, achieved? In the previous section it was noted that charismatic professors of large (several hundred student) classes might indeed reach and motivate the students in the back row by intangible displays of attentiveness. Online, attentiveness must be tangible, and may involve more effort than in a face-to-face setting. These considerations imply an inherent limitation of online class size; size is determined by the amount of effort required to form a "community of learners."
  • Small class sizes and the linear dependence of effort on student numbers are indicative of the high level of interaction needed for high quality online teaching
  • The best way to maintain the connection [between online education and the values of traditional education] is through ensuring that distance learning is 'delivered' not just by CD ROMs, but by living teachers, fully qualified and interested in doing so online ... [P]repackaged material will be seen to replace not the teacher as a mentor and guide but the lecture and the textbook. Interaction with the professor will continue to be the centerpiece of education, no matter what the medium.
  • and Ronald Owston, who points out (Owston, 1997) "...we cannot simply ask 'Do students learn better with the Web as compared to traditional classroom instruction?' We have to realize that no medium, in and of itself, will likely improve learning in a significant way when it is used to deliver instruction. Nor is it realistic to expect the Web, when used as a tool, to develop in students any unique skills."
  • Facilitating Online Courses: A Checklist for Action The key concept in network teaching is to facilitate collaborative learning, not to deliver a course in a fixed and rigid, one-way format. Do not lecture. Be clear about expectations of the participants. Be flexible and patient. Be responsive. Do not overload. Monitor and prompt for participation. For assignments, set up small groups and assign tasks to them. Be a process facilitator. Write weaving comments every week or two... Organize the interaction. Set rules and standards for good netiquette (network etiquette)... Establish clear norms for participation and procedures for grading... Assign individuals or small groups to play the role of teacher and of moderator for portions of the course. Close and purge moribund conferences in stages... Adopt a flexible approach toward curriculum integration on global networks.
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    Love the step child reference!
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    Have I not struggled with this throughout this course?!
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    Joy and I talked about this in discussions. I am now struggling with making a project mgr. aware of this at work. The vendor training online was boring so lets deliver it all in person. Junk is Junk online or in person!
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    That body language we mentioned in discussions this week in ETAP687
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    MERLOT-Teaching at internet distance
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    module 4 merlot
Joy Quah Yien-ling

A Vision of Students Today - Some Additional Thoughts from Michael Wesch - Open Education - 1 views

  • What is the relevance of comparing reading books with reading e-mails and Facebook profiles?”
    • Joan Erickson
       
      the relevance is that it involves what human nature prefers. It is in our nature to gravitate toward light-hearted, less taxing mind activities. Also, some people do prefer reading books to reading social websites. Is it right to make such broad generalization?
  • the classroom environment. It speaks directly to those who propose the move from a ’sage on the stage’ teacher style to that of ‘guide on the side
  • I had become convinced that the video was over the top, that things were really not so bad, that the system is not as broken as I thought
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  • Surely it (higher education) can’t be as bad as the video seems to suggest
  • Scanning the room my assistants also saw students cruising Facebook, instant messaging, and texting their friends. The students were undoubtedly engaged, just not with me. “My teaching assistants consoled me by noting that students have learned that they can ‘get by’ without paying attention in their classes.”
  • Last spring I asked my students how many of them did not like school. Over half of them rose their hands. When I asked how many of them did not like learning, no hands were raised. And there’s the rub. We love learning. We hate school. What’s worse is that many of us hate school because we love learning
    • Joy Quah Yien-ling
       
      This was my experience. I loved to learn. But I always felt the learning in school had absolutely no personal relevance to me. Sad. I only began to enjoy school when I entered college, and learning things that were personally meaningful.
  • Some time ago we started taking our walls too seriously – not just the walls of our classrooms, but also the metaphorical walls that we have constructed around our ’subjects,’ ‘disciplines,’ and ‘courses.’ McLuhan’s statement about the bewildered child ….. still holds true in most classrooms today. The walls have become so prominent that they are even reflected in our language, so that today there is something called ‘the real world’ which is foreign and set apart from our schools
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    this article tracks Michael Wesch's progress with his media work and his teaching, after the "students today" gained popularity
ian august

Net Generation - Shaping the Workplace Through Web 2.0 Technologies - 0 views

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    defense industry using web 2.o technologies in the workplace
Diane Gusa

ETAP640amp2011: Search results - 0 views

  • In my f2f General Psychology class I plan on having students submit a draft of their paper, everyone exchange in class, and then together we go through the rubric. My self-regulation professor, Dr. Heidi Andrade suggested going through the rubric with student in class and having them use different colored pencils to underline sections in the paper that meet or do not meet specific rubric requirements.
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