Best content in Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0

This is another useless comparative study between online and face-to-face teaching, This study looked at 312 undergraduate students in one microeconomics course in one unnamed state university and found that male, Hispanic and low achieving students did worse online than in face-to-face classes. From this the NBER had the cheek to conclude that online learning is not all that it’s cracked up to be.
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online courses in this study were just video recordings of the classroom lectures.
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Will someone please tell universities and colleges in the United States that they need to redesign courses for online teaching?
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‘Good teaching may overcome a poor choice of technology, but technology will never save bad teaching.’ Indeed, it usually makes it worse (the magnifier effect). Merely putting lectures (good or bad) online is bad design.
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There should be a law against any university or college that fails to adopt well tried and tested standards in its teaching, face-to-face or online. This is criminal negligence, no less, and students should sue for fraud. But don’t blame online learning for this. It’s academic laziness and ignorance that’s at fault.
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Dennis OConnor on 13 Jan 11

Tony Bates is one of the original gurus of highly interactive modern e-learning. In this blog he lets off some steam. Just reading this made me feel better.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Tony Bates is one of the original gurus of highly interactive modern e-learning. In this blog he lets off some steam. Just reading this made me feel better. </div>

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ALA | Interview with Keith Curry Lance - 0 views

www.ala.org/...interviewlance.cfm ala 21cif library media specialist library2.0 research

shared by Dennis OConnor on 11 Jan 11 - No Cached

A series of studies that have had a great deal of influence on the research and decision-making discussions concerning school library media programs have grown from the work of a team in Colorado—Keith Curry Lance, Marcia J. Rodney, and Christine Hamilton-Pennell (2000).
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Recent school library impact studies have also identified, and generated some evidence about, potential "interventions" that could be studied. The questions might at first appear rather familiar: How much, and how, are achievement and learning improved when . . . librarians collaborate more fully with other educators? libraries are more flexibly scheduled? administrators choose to support stronger library programs (in a specific way)? library spending (for something specific) increases?
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high priority should be given to reaching teachers, administrators, and public officials as well as school librarians and school library advocates.
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Perhaps the most strategic option, albeit a long-term one, is to infiltrate schools and colleges of education. Most school administrators and teachers never had to take a course, or even part of a course, that introduced them to what constitutes a high-quality school library program.
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Three factors are working against successful advocacy for school libraries: (1) the age demographic of librarians, (2) the lack of institutionalization of librarianship in K–12 schools, and (3) the lack of support from educators due to their lack of education or training about libraries and good experiences with libraries and librarians.
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These vacant positions are highly vulnerable to being downgraded or eliminated in these times of tight budgets, not merely because there is less money to go around, but because superintendents, principals, teachers, and other education decision-makers do not understand the role a school librarian can and should play.
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If we want the school library to be regarded as a central player in fostering academic success, we must do whatever we can to ensure that school library research is not marginalized by other interests.    
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Dennis OConnor on 11 Jan 11

A great overview of Lance's research into the effectiveness of libraries. He answers the question: Do school libraries or librarians make a difference? His answer (A HUGE YES!) is back by 14 years of remarkable research. The point is proved. But this information remains unknown to many principals and superintendents. Anyone interested in 21st century teaching and learning will find this interview fascinating.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">A great overview of Lance's research into the effectiveness of libraries. He answers the question: Do school libraries or librarians make a difference? His answer (A HUGE YES!) is back by 14 years of remarkable research. The point is proved. But this information remains unknown to many principals and superintendents. Anyone interested in 21st century teaching and learning will find this interview fascinating.</div>

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Stephen Downes: 'Connectivism' and Connective Knowledge - 14 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...ism-and-connecti_b_804653.html Social Media connectivism downes siemens knowledge learning educational technology

shared by Michael Johnson on 12 Jan 11 - No Cached

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E-Learning 2.0 ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes - 20 views

www.downes.ca/31741 eLearning social media teaching learning web 2.0 e-learning Downes

shared by Michael Johnson on 12 Jan 11 - Cached

In general, where we are now in the online world is where we were before the beginning of e-learning [1]. Traditional theories of distance learning, of (for example) transactional distance, as described by Michael G. Moore, have been adapted for the online world. Content is organized according to this traditional model and delivered either completely online or in conjunction with more traditional seminars, to cohorts of students, led by an instructor, following a specified curriculum to be completed at a predetermined pace.
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networked markets
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In learning, these trends are manifest in what is sometimes called "learner-centered" or "student-centered" design. This is more than just adapting for different learning styles or allowing the user to change the font size and background color; it is the placing of the control of learning itself into the hands of the learner
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creation, communication and participation playing key roles
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The breaking down of barriers has led to many of the movements and issues we see on today's Internet. File-sharing, for example, evolves not of a sudden criminality among today's youth but rather in their pervasive belief that information is something meant to be shared. This belief is manifest in such things as free and open-source software, Creative Commons licenses for content, and open access to scholarly and other works. Sharing content is not considered unethical; indeed, the hoarding of content is viewed as antisocial [9]. And open content is viewed not merely as nice to have but essential for the creation of the sort of learning network described by Siemens [10].
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"Enter Web 2.0, a vision of the Web in which information is broken up into "microcontent" units that can be distributed over dozens of domains. The Web of documents has morphed into a Web of data. We are no longer just looking to the same old sources for information. Now we're looking to a new set of tools to aggregate and remix microcontent in new and useful ways"
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Web 2.0 is not a technological revolution, it is a social revolution.
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It also begins to look like a personal portfolio tool [18]. The idea here is that students will have their own personal place to create and showcase their own work. Some e-portfolio applications, such as ELGG, have already been created. IMS Global as put together an e-portfolio specification [19]. "The portfolio can provide an opportunity to demonstrate one's ability to collect, organize, interpret and reflect on documents and sources of information. It is also a tool for continuing professional development, encouraging individuals to take responsibility for and demonstrate the results of their own learning" [20].
- Michael Johnson on 12 Jan 11
  
  Also a place to receive and give feedback. I believe that one of the things that learners need to have to be prepared for learning in this space (social media or web 2.0) is the ability to evaluate, to give good feedback. Additionally, to be able to receive feedback constructively.
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Also a place to receive and give feedback. I believe that one of the things that learners need to have to be prepared for learning in this space (social media or web 2.0) is the ability to evaluate, to give good feedback. Additionally, to be able to receive feedback constructively.</div>
  
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In the world of e-learning, the closest thing to a social network is a community of practice, articulated and promoted by people such as Etienne Wenger in the 1990s. According to Wenger, a community of practice is characterized by "a shared domain of interest" where "members interact and learn together" and "develop a shared repertoire of resources."
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Yahoo! Groups
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Blogging is very different from traditionally assigned learning content. It is much less formal. It is written from a personal point of view, in a personal voice. Students' blog posts are often about something from their own range of interests, rather than on a course topic or assigned project. More importantly, what happens when students blog, and read reach others' blogs, is that a network of interactions forms-much like a social network, and much like Wenger's community of practice.
- Michael Johnson on 12 Jan 11
  
  So, I believe he is saying that virtual communities of practice that form naturally are more real and approach what Wenger was talking about better than contrived "communities" put together in classes. That may be true. but does it have to be? If people come together to with a common purpose and the instructor allows the students freedom to explore what is important to them then I would hope that this kind of community can develop even in formal educational settings. Relevance is a key issue here!
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">So, I believe he is saying that virtual communities of practice that form naturally are more real and approach what Wenger was talking about better than contrived "communities" put together in classes. That may be true. but does it have to be? If people come together to with a common purpose and the instructor allows the students freedom to explore what is important to them then I would hope that this kind of community can develop even in formal educational settings. Relevance is a key issue here!</div>
  
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"We're talking to the download generation," said Peter Smith, associate dean, Faculty of Engineering. "Why not have the option to download information about education and careers the same way you can download music? It untethers content from the Web and lets students access us at their convenience." Moreover, using an online service such as Odeo, Blogomatrix Sparks, or even simply off-the-shelf software, students can create their own podcasts.
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The e-learning application, therefore, begins to look very much like a blogging tool. It represents one node in a web of content, connected to other nodes and content creation services used by other students. It becomes, not an institutional or corporate application, but a personal learning center, where content is reused and remixed according to the student's own needs and interests. It becomes, indeed, not a single application, but a collection of interoperating applications—an environment rather than a system.
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Web 2.0 is not a technological revolution, it is a social revolution. "Here's my take on it: Web 2.0 is an attitude not a technology. It's about enabling and encouraging participation through open applications and services. By open I mean technically open with appropriate APIs but also, more importantly, socially open, with rights granted to use the content in new and exciting contexts"
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This approach to learning means that learning content is created and distributed in a very different manner. Rather than being composed, organized and packaged, e-learning content is syndicated, much like a blog post or podcast. It is aggregated by students, using their own personal RSS reader or some similar application. From there, it is remixed and repurposed with the student's own individual application in mind, the finished product being fed forward to become fodder for some other student's reading and use.
- Michael Johnson on 12 Jan 11
  
  I like the idea of students passing on their work to be fodder for someone else's learning. In this way we change to from a learner to a learner/teacher! (See Dillon Inouye's work and Comments from John Seeley Brown)
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I like the idea of students passing on their work to be fodder for someone else's learning. In this way we change to from a learner to a learner/teacher! (See Dillon Inouye's work and Comments from John Seeley Brown)</div>
  
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More formally, instead of using enterprise learning-management systems, educational institutions expect to use an interlocking set of open-source applications. Work on such a set of applications has begun in a number of quarters, with the E-Learning Framework defining a set of common applications and the newly formed e-Framework for Education and Research drawing on an international collaboration. While there is still an element of content delivery in these systems, there is also an increasing recognition that learning is becoming a creative activity and that the appropriate venue is a platform rather than an application.
- Michael Johnson on 12 Jan 11
  
  see http://ineducation.ca/article/open-learning-cms-and-open-learning-network
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">see <a href="http://ineducation.ca/article/open-learning-cms-and-open-learning-network" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://ineducation.ca/article/open-learning-cms-and-open-learning-network</a></div>
  
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- Michael Johnson on 12 Jan 11
  
  Jon Mott has some cool ideas related to this paragraph.
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Jon Mott has some cool ideas related to this paragraph.</div>
  
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he most important learning skills that I see children getting from games are those that support the empowering sense of taking charge of their own learning. And the learner taking charge of learning is antithetical to the dominant ideology of curriculum design
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game "modding" allows players to make the game their own
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Words are only meaningful when they can be related to experiences," said Gee. If I say "I spilled the coffee," this has a different meaning depending on whether I ask for a broom or a mop. You cannot create that context ahead of time— it has to be part of the experience.
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A similar motivation underlies the rapidly rising domain of mobile learning [24]—for after all, were the context in which learning occurs not important, it would not be useful or necessary to make learning mobile. Mobile learning offers not only new opportunities to create but also to connect. As Ellen Wagner and Bryan Alexander note, mobile learning "define(s) new relationships and behaviors among learners, information, personal computing devices, and the world at large"
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"ubiquitous computing."
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what this means is having learning available no matter what you are doing.
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The challenge will not be in how to learn, but in how to use learning to create something more, to communicate.
- Michael Johnson on 12 Jan 11
  
  I still think part of the challenge is how to learn. How to wade through a sea of all that is out there and "learn from the best" that is available. Find, organize, evaluate, analyze, synthesize, as well as create. I agree with Chris Lott (@fncll) that creativity is vital! (I am just not so sure that it is a non-starter to say that we should be moral first...though it could be argued that we should become moral through the creative process).
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">I still think part of the challenge is how to learn. How to wade through a sea of all that is out there and "learn from the best" that is available. Find, organize, evaluate, analyze, synthesize, as well as create. I agree with Chris Lott (@fncll) that creativity is vital! (I am just not so sure that it is a non-starter to say that we should be moral first...though it could be argued that we should become moral through the creative process).</div>
  
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And what people were doing with the Web was not merely reading books, listening to the radio or watching TV, but having a conversation, with a vocabulary consisting not just of words but of images, video, multimedia and whatever they could get their hands on. And this became, and looked like, and behaved like, a network.
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Michael Johnson on 12 Jan 11

Stephen Downes' take on eLearning and what the future holds

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Stephen Downes' take on eLearning and what the future holds</div>

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E-Learning Graduate Certificate Program: Problem solving in an online constructivist cl... - 0 views

elearning-certificate.blogspot.com/...problem-solving-in-online.html e-learning constructivism problem solving graduate

shared by Dennis OConnor on 12 Jan 11 - No Cached

If you come across a question you can't answer, be honest. Don't bluff or portray yourself as an expert when you aren't. Instead model the collaborative skills you've developed and work together with the student to solve problems.
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By sharing power you enhance the learning community. 
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1. Wait time.
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Here are some problem solving tips.
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2. Admit when you're uncertain.
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3. Practicum Interns should consult with your cooperating instructor on anything that might get sticky.
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In an internship,  go to your cooperating cooperating instructor first.  
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When you're teaching online for a company or university use the chain of command.
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4. Use your search skills.
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Problem solving is an ongoing process. 
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See our NEW Checklist for Online Instructors for a comprehensive guide to best practices in e-learning! 
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