Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUC... - 22 views
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Erika Impagliatelli on 16 May 13As a huge fan of Amazon and NetFlix, these examples were especially appreciated. NetFlix's variety of films including many excellent not-mainstream flicks has allowed the service to fulfill many consumers' entertainment needs without a DirecTV, Blockbuster, or RedBox. These are fantastic analogies for not-mainstream educational artifacts reaching learners thanks to the Internet. -
Phil Tietjen on 16 May 13David Wiley is pretty well known, especially in the area of "Open Learning" In fact, he spoke at PSU's Teaching & Learning with Tech Symposium in 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcRctjvIeyQ
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While the lectures are being played on a monitor (which is often powered by a battery, since many participating schools also lack reliable electricity), a “mediator,” who could be a local teacher or simply a bright student, periodically pauses the video and encourages engagement among the students by asking questions or initiating discussions about the material they are watching.
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This is very typical of the "Flipping the Classroom" technique and can just as easily be done without the use of technology, though it does make it a little more interesting. It is interesting to me that we have such a hard time convincing faculty to try this method when schools with little to no resources will try just about anything. -
This concept is also not new, as video conferencing has been used in distance education for decades. Although electricity and a cable or satellite hook-up is necessary for video conferencing, mobile phones can allow for this type interaction in more rural areas. A 2010 study that I read for another course looked at the use of mobile phones to teach rural women in India about setting up small enterprises in sheep and goat farming. While much of the technology was used for content delivery, it also allowed for some participation by the women. Balasubramanian, K., Thamizoli, P., Umar, A., & Kanwar, A. (2010). Using mobile phones to promote lifelong learning among rural women in Southern India. Distance Education, 31(2), 193-209. doi: 10.1080/01587919.2010.502555 -
Hannah--I also love "flipping the classroom", as it saves precious in class time for interaction as opposed to delivery. I think I would do much more of it, but my lecture size is between 96-120 for most of my classes. The students feel very afraid to ask questions and engage in that size of a class.
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Melissa: Do you think using a system like the above Terra Incognita for small group discussions would be beneficial to your large classes? Have you used anything like that before now? -
Karen--I'm not sure as currently discussion works better in the smaller group labs. I have all of the students from my large lecture in a small group lab once a week so that helps. We are looking at doing some "flipping the classroom" types of activities to save lecture time and allow more time for discussion. I don't teach the large size class until September so there is definitely time to change some of the format.
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Melissa--That reminds me of one of my professors who gives a lecture to more than 100 students. I am not sure what your subject is and whether you have tried below before. But he uses his website where anyone in classroom ask any questions. His students post their questions a few minutes before break time and during break time, professor checks the comments and pick some questions which is highly ranked. -
Amii, Melissa- to engage students in large class you can use back-channels (twitter hash tags, clickers, Blackboard has a feature to collect SMS) that the instructor can flash on a screen -
I have colleagues that use clickers, but many of us are not willing to require clickers due to the additional cost. And using something through a cell phone is also difficult as not everyone has one or doesn't have a smartphone that allows for the use of many of these tools. It is definitely a different world in community colleges as we are trying to do the best we can with limited resources. We also have a very different pool of students--from traditional to returning adult. Some of my 50 year old students don't even like to or know how to email.
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These comments remind me of an article posted on Wired (http://www.wired.com/2013/10/free-thinkers/all/----same). It is about a school teacher in Mexico that was tired of the standarize testing and teaching. In one year, he took a class of 5th graders that performed badly on the standarized test to having some of the highest scores in the country, including one girl who scored the highest in the country in math. The teacher was inspired by Sugta Mitra's TED Talk titled, "Build a School in the Cloud". -
I also love the flipped classroom! We have 2 teachers who flip this year, and I'll be joining the adventure next year. I think it's a great idea to have students learn the basic facts at home. Then while in school, they can complete the reinforcing activities. The teacher can spend class time reinforcing the material, and also pulling small groups to help those in need and give enrichment to those who can gain from it. Too much time is spent in class memorizing facts. I can't wait to use my class time to reinforce what they learned the night before.
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The Cartesian perspective assumes that knowledge is a kind of substance and that pedagogy concerns the best way to transfer this substance from teachers to students. By contrast, instead of starting from the Cartesian premise of “I think, therefore I am,” and from the assumption that knowledge is something that is transferred to the student via various pedagogical strategies, the social view of learning says, “We participate, therefore we are.”
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I was especially struck with this idea of a shift in pedagogical strategies since in laboratory science teaching there is always a participatory element. The lecture setting does still work to present and transfer knowledge, but the lab setting allows for social interaction in student groups to apply the content. However, in online classes, I have not found a similar way to form lab groups in the laboratory simulation environment.
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This reminds me of the old saying "Tell me, I'll forget. Show me, I'll remember. Involve me, I'll understand." The traditional "sage on stage" approach to learning is very one way and treats knowledge as an article to be passed from one person to another. I think the social view of learning has more value in that it involves experimentation and trial and error to learn. However, I completely agree with you, Michelle, in that recreating these social/lab groups is something that is lacking in Web 2.0 learning. -
Referring to 'We participate, therefore we are" it is fantastic that students can take responsibility for their own learning through the affordances provided by Web 2.0 technology.
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I wish I could take information about this approach to my administration. I believe that this selection directly relates to education in America. We have created a "norm" for learning which looks like a single teacher standing in the front of the classroom, lecturing to students who are sitting and listening in nice straight rows of desks. Having the administration come in to classrooms looking for "order" is against this philosophy that in order to create a social/interactive classroom, it may look chaotic! -
Another saying that I find relates to this is "Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime." It highlights that by teaching the man to fish, he will be able to fish on his own every day after to feed his family and survive.
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Nor is it likely that the current methods of teaching and learning will suffice to prepare students for the lives that they will lead in the twenty-first century.
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I see evidence of this now when I'm on hiring committees and we are drawn to folks that can provide a portfolio of evidence of learning. Its not enough to list your college and grade point average, we want to see that you are agile in your learning process and willing to explore new concepts.
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Hannah - I completely agree. It's crucial for candidates to demonstrate these skills, but for better or worse the system still requires the more tangible credentials like a degree. I don't know if we'll ever get to a point where most job interviews are "demonstrate what you know" rather than "tell me what you know," but I think seeing that portfolio of actual work is far more telling that a candidates GPA.
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Regarding job interviews, I was just on a hiring committee and one of the important issues that was raised was related to continuing professional development and lifelong learning. I think it is important that a candidate can show that they want to continue learning even if they are not currently pursuing a degree.
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I agree witht his point but I have found that person indicate and say so many lovely things during interviews but once they land the job then they seem to forget what is said. SI I think we need to go further and work professional development as a requirement for job security and pay increase. This is a big challenge in my country some teacher have the mentality once trained always trained, -
These are all great points and I agree. I am involved in the badging movement at Penn State and I see badging as a viable new option that could and eventually will replace the way we learn and acquire knowledge.
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This is definitely an issue at my school. Many of the teachers are quite set in their ways and refuse to try and add any kind of technology to their curriculum. They need to continue to seek out professional development, especially in Technology areas where they have no experience. -
I would go a step further and point out that is not just teachers who are set in their ways, but also school policy and administration who prevent the modern application of many devices.
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For the past few years, he points out, incoming students have been bringing along their online social networks, allowing them to stay in touch with their old friends and former classmates through tools like SMS, IM, Facebook, and MySpace. Through these continuing connections, the University of Michigan students can extend the discussions, debates, bull sessions, and study groups that naturally arise on campus to include their broader networks. Even though these extended connections were not developed to serve educational purposes, they amplify the impact that the university is having while also benefiting students on campus.14
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Although some of my colleagues have created Facebook course sites, I have been worried about requiring my students to use this as a tool. However, this semester, several of my students created their own study group on Facebook and used it to share helpful videos, websites, and tips with each other. I suppose I should take the giant leap if they are already doing it for themselves!
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IMHO: I like teachers not worrying about requiring it, or not requiring it. I think a key take-away from Seely is that the students are doing it themselves, they're engaging in self-directed learning behaviors, rather than relying on the teacher as the sole source
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This was a discussion today at work as we were deciding on a textbook for a course for the next academic year. Some instructors really like some of the tools used by a particular textbook and I was noting that sometimes certain tools might not help some types of learners so I don't like to require them to complete those tasks. I know some instructors utilize different assessments that a student can chose based on their own learning style--making a portfolio for instance instead of taking a traditional test.
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I like that there are tools out there like Facebook that are more educationally organized to help facilitate this type of learning environment. One example that I was introduced to is Edmodo. This website mimic's Facebook but allows teacher's to take responsibility of their class page. Again, I like the idea of this tool but finding a way to implement this in the primary setting is frustrating. Hopefully throughout this course, I will be able to learn more about how to do that!
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Engaging students in any matter is positive. Whether it be social media or in the classroom, the more students continue to talk about what they learn, they more they actually learn.
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We are entering a world in which we all will have to acquire new knowledge and skills on an almost continuous basis.
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This is an interesting thought. Education/knowledge is becoming immediately accessible to nearly anyone who wants it, but if we are entering a time where we "need" to acquire all this new knowledge quickly then we must come up with an infrastructure to support not just the distribution of that knowledge but also what to do with the educated masses.
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Good point. What kinds of new professions, occupations are being created by these new knowledge opportunities?
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In relation to Jordan's comment, I'm not sure we've figured out what to do with the educated masses as there are plenty of people looking for jobs who have graduate degrees but can not gain employment. Instead they find themselves working in wage payroll jobs to pay the bills. Certainly within the library fields, new positions have been created or renamed (example: Emerging Technology Librarian) to stay ahead of technology use in the community.
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New kinds of online resources—such as social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and virtual communities—have allowed people with common interests to meet, share ideas, and collaborate in innovative ways
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Web 2.0 resources are great for bringing people together, but how do they allow for exchanges of diverse ideas? If people are only connecting with others who have "common interests," are there limitations to how knowledge can be transformed, rather than simply perpetuated?
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Yep, we can't let the algorithm-based social networks do all the work for us, or we indeed end up with nothing more than self-validating echo chambers. It can start by intentionally incorporating divergent perspectives into your social feeds (e.g., Twitter, Tumblr)
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I love Web 2.0 for creation of projects. I'll be interested to see what we can do with exchanges of ideas.
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I love the these Web 2.0 tools allow us to communicate. Fostering communication between peers is the best way to learn. Although I like the blogs and wikis for this collaborative purpose, I struggle with finding a way to make it manageable for primary grades. The value of collaboration on material covered can only enhance student learning but the hoops we need to jump through as primary educators is far more difficult then implementing the actual tool!
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I am a huge fan of two-way/interactive web learning.But it is sometimes hard for me to keep up with class activities to organize contents we discuss and exchange. Web 2.0 is very active learning tool if I can find the way I organize all the thing I need to remember with my own file. For example, I read some interesting comments yesterday, and now I don't see and remember his or her comments..
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I am new to the blogging/social learning way we are experiencing here. As a result of that, I am so overwhelmed with trying to keep up. -
A great virtual community that my class experimented with last semester was Google+ Hangouts. It provides a facebook feel yet has a "private group" where anyone in the group can post to the timeline. It keeps a running timeline of the class, which is pretty cool. I especially love Web 2.0 tools and social networking. In a sense, my generation grew up with it, so it almost feels second nature to me. I'm super curious and excited to see how learning and the world will look like in 10-15 years, when the generation in college and graduating high school starts overtaking the workforce in numbers.
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In this open environment, both the content and the process by which it is created are equally visible, thereby enabling a new kind of critical reading—almost a new form of literacy—that invites the reader to join in the consideration of what information is reliable and/or important.
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People often knock Wikipedia, but it's an amazing (and I think wonderfully executed) example of knowledge sharing. Thinking about not only how easily it can be accessed to find information, but also how easily it can open pathways to explore other topics. I would never pick up an encyclopedia for one topic and then when I'm finished reading, flip the pages to another random topic to learn more. But on Wikipedia, I constantly click through to other articles to learn more about related (or even unrelated) topics. I'm not sure if it's just the novelty of the tool, but it makes it feel more like knowledge exploration than "learning."
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It is true that this open environment invites readers to consider what information is reliable - I wonder if most people just grab the information they find and use it without checking if the content is accurate either due to ignorance or the pressure of time to submit a writing. This open environment should force us to be critical consumers of information.
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I believe as educators, we fall short in seeing and expressing the good intentions of open sources. I know that when I was in high school, Wikipedia was deemed "bad!" We were to never use Wikipedia for information, references, etc. when doing research for papers. I think that this article allows us to think about Wikipedia in a new context. Being able to evaluate the credibility of information before relying on it is essential. But the real value is in the collaboration that can go into a Wikipedia page to provide accurate, advance, and up-to-date information. We need to start teaching how to properly use these tools instead of scaring people away!
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I like my students to use wikipedia. Often, I will find an article that I know has a bit of misleading information just for the student's to use as an analytical piece.
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We construct knowledge as people. I use the same principle with my students. They appeal to me, albeit in vain, for the answer, but when using the Socrative method, I remind my students that they must come to a consensus on an answer. -
Although I cannot find the reference at this moment, I recently read that Wikipedia was as statistically correct as most encyclopedias (maybe it was in my stats class).
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There's been quite a bit of empirical research into the teams of people who contribute, edit, etc. Wikipedia entries. For example, one of my favorites looks at how some contributors become a "Wikipedian" http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/papers/bryant_forte_bruckman_group05.html
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I agree that the perception of the validity of Wikipedia has improved over time! When I was studying for my Master of Library and Information Science, we found that wikipedia was more accurate than encyclopedias in some cases. However, when working with K-12 students who are looking for the fastest 'information grab'. I still encourage teachers to only allow them to use the references at the end of the article as sources. -
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From the customers’ standpoint, online enterprises offering unprecedented choice are able to cater much more efficiently to individual tastes and interests than any brick-and-mortar store.
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It's easy to see how the long tail concept can apply to Web 2.0 learning. As it provides more choices and ways to access information, it becomes easier for the learning to develop and take control of their own education.
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Especially with different styles of learners, Web 2.0 tools can allow us to tap into all of the different ways that students learn.
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We need to construct shared, distributed, reflective practicums in which experiences are collected, vetted, clustered, commented on, and tried out in new contexts.
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This new form of learning begins with the knowledge and practices acquired in school but is equally suited for continuous, lifelong learning that extends beyond formal schooling. Indeed, such an environment might encourage students to readily and happily pick up new knowledge and skills as the world shifts beneath them.
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This would illustrate a shift in how we view learning, and I think it'd be a great one. Most students view learning as a task, as a means to an end (like getting a job). But as information becomes more easily accessible and life-long learning can easily be done, learning can be viewed more positively.
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I agree with you Jordan. When learning is viewed in a more positive light, it occurs more regularly and is not seen as simply a "task". My dad used to always tell me, "learning lasts a lifetime" and it has sort of turned into a family joke. He calls it our "family motto". We laugh about it since he says it so often, but it is quite true. Web 2.0 supports this and who knows how what we learn and how we do it will change and adapt within the coming years. -
The problem is that business leaders and politicians are now constantly releasing statements and publishing articles talking about how learning anything that isn't directly related to employment is a waste of time and money.
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Learning for its own sake is highly valuable. We should voraciously pursue it. As Shelby quoted her Dad, learning is one of the best investments you can make in yourself, especially because you will have it for pretty much your whole life.
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Fortunately, various initiatives launched over the past few years have created a series of building blocks that could provide the means for transforming the ways in which we provide education and support learning. Much of this activity has been enabled and inspired by the growth and evolution of the Internet, which has created a global “platform” that has vastly expanded access to all sorts of resources, including formal and informal educational materials. The Internet has also fostered a new culture of sharing, one in which content is freely contributed and distributed with few restrictions or costs.
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It was only in Oct'12 that I heard of the term 'open education' which is made possible by internet Web 2.0 technologies and the power of volunteers such that education is no more accessible to those who can afford it. Indeed Coursera, Audacity, etc are platforms for global education - what do you think will happen to future higher ed after watching epic2020.org and witnessing the tsunami of open courses/education
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Ivy League schools opening their doors to the world through their open online courses is a very bid deal. I don't really have an answer to your question at all. I just think it is an interesting experiment in democratic education. Some scientific journals are going all-access electronically as well in an effort to improve communication between researchers in the field, and I think one R&D researcher's question (when discussing it on FB) is valid... how is all this being funded, and will it impact the scholarly validity of the research?
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This is interesting statement in light of the recent debate over net neutrality. Currently, users gain access to all search results, but if the FCC has their way then it would be more of a pay per view Internet. This would drastically impact schools and libraries.
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@kmlambert - yes, this is definitely something to keep an eye on. One would hope that at the very least libraries would be given some kind of special "public interest" exemption if some type of tiered pricing model comes about
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If this is true, our world is in for a rude awakening. I'm teaching of the reasons for social class stratification right now in my sociology course. Uneducated population will simply add to this strain.
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It is a rude awakening and it seems the solution is open education where good universities make their courses available on the internet, making education accessible to all.
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I'd be cursious to see what this number is now, seeing how this article was written in 2008 and it is six years later, almost a decade.
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Agreed. I feel like the progression has made things a lot more accessible and there has to be a lower number 6 years later. Then again...I could be wrong. -
So this quote from Sir John Daniel was made in 1996? This was my senior year in high school so I suppose I fit into this population. Assuming again that the quote was made about the world in 1996, what do you think the numbers would look like today?
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In this system, students work together in a common space and peripherally participate in each other’s design process; hence they can benefit from their instructors’ comments on and critiques of other students’ projects and not just from comments on their own work.
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This method is great because it allows for schema reformation at a whole different level. A person may have a misconception in relation to some area and may never know until they have the opportunity to represent they idea. In this environment the tutor if realligning misconceptions that of not only the student he corrects but also of the other student who may have the same unrepresented misconception.
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I like this idea. I would really enjoy being able to see the comments on others work - it helps me when I create my own projects.
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To add to this: Not only would seeing comments and critiques of other students projects be beneficial, it would also be beneficial for classmates to be able to critique their peers projects. When I did my student teaching, we had "author's circle" where every child got a chance to read their writing to their classmates. At the conclusion of their reading, they would call on two classmates to give them feedback. As a teacher, I noticed that the students took their peers feedback very seriously and they wanted to improve their writing with the help of their peers (not only the teacher).
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I also had experience with this in a creative writing enlgish course in my undergraduate studies. Each writing assignment was also critiqued by several other classmates before the professor would even take a look at it. This way, we were able to hand in a well-round piece of writing that had other people's eyes check it out too.l
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This ties in with another comment I made above. My students use Google Docs for writing assignments and share with each other to proofread and edit their writing. They love being able to receive feedback from their peers!
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ocial learning is based on the premise that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions. The focus is not so much on what we are learning but on how we are learning.5
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I engage in social learning everyday, but most of the time it id done through formal or informal meetings. It is a beautifl tool to utilise when engaging in problem solving, the ability to bounce ideas off of another colleague or here another perspective. Web 2.0 tool magnify the opportunities for social learning as it removes the barrier of persons having to be in the same location at the same time. It also allows for artifacts to be created that can be viewed over time.
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This is a great point and a great example of this would be Google Docs. Google Docs has become a super powerful tool in my education as well as my personal and professional lives. I can create a document and share it with whoever I want, and that person can add or edit. This is great for distant learning where students can work on the same document at the same time, from different ends of the world.
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I have tended to think that learning is a individual process. Want to learn how to knit, to drive, to ski, or to solve math problems? While each activity must be completed by an individual, it is usually only mastered through social learning.
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In my middle school language arts class, we use GoogleDrive/Docs all the time to share and collaborate on writing projects. The kids love to proofread each other's work and comment on how their peers can improve their writing. After implementing the writing process in two ways (traditional pencil/paper and using GoogleDrive) the students definitely put more time and effort into doing their work on the computer!
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I feel that this statement on Social Learning best describes my learning style. Reading texts or listening to lectures does not always bring important information into context for me. Instead, I find myself learning more from my peers who are able to "teach" the information in new way/context with added commentary and reflection.
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Light discovered that one of the strongest determinants of students’ success in higher education—more important than the details of their instructors’ teaching styles—was their ability to form or participate in small study groups.
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This contradicts most of what research as shown for a while. I'll be interested to see where this pans out.
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This never worked for me either. And I don't believe this is entirely accurate for all people. A great video to watch is Susan Cain's TED talk, "The Power of Introverts". There is a great part in there in which she talks about how the world is designed for extroverts. Group work in schools favor extroverts. How the classroom is arranged favors extroverts. What about the introverts that do better by themselves or need that extra time to think by themselves. http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts
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Greatly enjoyed Cain's TED talk, and started (but not finished her book, Quiet). As a shy, quiet, insecure K-12 student I hated having to talk in front of others, especially other students I didn't know. Are moving towards a framework where group work will be more prominent than self-directed work in educational and professional situations?
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The demand-pull approach is based on providing students with access to rich (sometimes virtual) learning communities built around a practice. It is passion-based learning, motivated by the student either wanting to become a member of a particular community of practice or just wanting to learn about, make, or perform something.
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Some great learning communities can be found on Google+ and Reddit. You can search for all sorts of topics and they are filled with a wealth of scholars, professionals, or passionate people. Reddit is more on the fun/entertainment side, but there are some great, informative subredits out there. Google+ is designed more for the eudcational realm and has a ton of great educational learning communites that anyone can join.
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I like the phrase passion-based learning. After attending a workshop based on the book "Strengths Finder 2.0" by Tom Rath, I discovered that I am a learner. I can pinpoint many previous experiences where I sought out learning opportunities . If this passion-based learning was encouraged more during K-12 settings, it would be more enjoyable for students and teachers.
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Knowledge is expected in todays world. Because of the amount of information at our fingertips, literally, we are expected for find answers before new problems arise. Students need to be taught in this manner to live in a web-based society.
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That's why information literacy is so important. Learners need to be able to instantly evaluate new materials on their own without depending on anyone else to tell them what to think. There is so much available, and we have to be able to think critically about anything we come across on or off the Internet.
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Sometimes I think research literacy is as important as information literacy.
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Perhaps the best known example is Wikipedia, the online “open source” encyclopedia that has challenged the supremacy of commercial encyclopedias
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As a librarian, people expect me to slam Wikipedia and other such crowd sourced materials, but I don't. Use the references at the bottom of the page, people! Don't cite the Wikipedia article; click through to the actual source and use that. They are finding your research for you.
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Few of us today will have a fixed, single career; instead, we are likely to follow a trajectory that encompasses multiple careers
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Many high school students are unsure of what to pursue in college. Many college students are unsure what to pursue as a major. Even when they graduate with a degree, they might do something completely unrelated to their area of training. Field-specific training is important, but generalizable learning such as critical thinking, communication, and interpersonal skills might prove more effective in raising the adaptability of today's workers as they navigator several careers.
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I am definitely not doing what I originally thought I would do or what I did do immediately after graduation. I would also argue that some educational programs don't train you for what you typically end up doing. For instance, most Ph.D. programs in the sciences prepare students to do research in their field, although many end up being teachers with little to no training in teaching. This is beginning to change from what I have seen with some programs adding teaching options or doctoral programs becoming completely dedicated to teaching.
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I wonder if the "respect level" or "prestige level" is different for professors who dedicate themselves to teaching when compared to those who dedicate themselves to research.
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Last I heard, many people will change careers seven times over their working lifetime. While there is some componenents that overlap, I am not in a field related to my undergraduate degree.
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I as well am not in a field related to my undergraduate degree. However, my undergrad degree is quite broad, Communications. My full time job is an Education Program Assistant at Penn State, but I do film weddings as a freelance videographer which coincides directly with my undergraduate degree. Filming weddings and videography is more of a hobby and passion of mine, which I probably would not have picked up if it was not for my undergrad degree. I think it is funny that my passion lies within my undergrad degree, but I can't make a solid income with that specific work just yet. Who knows what the future holds though!
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Open Educational Resources (OER) movement, which has provided free access to a wide range of courses and other educational materials to anyone who wants to use them
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iTunesU offers Ivy-league caliber courses free of charge. From worksheets to lesson videos and assignments, these courses are available to anyone with an iOS device and Internet connection.
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Yes indeed Open Yale Courses, Harvard Open Courses, etc are sharing their resources freely however the videos are too long (recording lectures) - thus requiring deep linking to specific contents
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OER are free, and widely available, but I'm curious about their measured impact on learning. Learning includes assessments, scope, sequencing, and other curricular and standards-based alignnments; the internet is overflowing with information resources but we don't always know how effectively they are being used for student learning.
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An interesting side note, Centre County, PA is developing their own OER, called CrowdCourse. Developed with local partners in collaboration with Centre County Libraries. See: here: http://centrecounty.crowdcourse.com/
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@kristin - good question. B/c this phenomenon is relatively new, there's not a whole lot out there to my knowledge. However, David Wiley is considered one of the leaders in researching this area. He also spoke at a Penn State Teaching Learning & Tech symposium several years ago. http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=M47HR7IAAAAJ
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It seems as though some of the MOOCS are courses that used to be offered at a University but then became a free course for anyone to take. Does anyone know how this is decided? Is there a new version the universities are offering/charging for?
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This encourages the practice of what John Dewey called “productive inquiry”—that is, the process of seeking the knowledge when it is needed in order to carry out a particular situated task
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The e-Science movement is providing students with access to expensive and scarce high-level tools, giving them the opportunity to engage in the kinds of research conducted by professional scientists
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This initiative accomplishes the learning need of real-world relevant as well as training on tools similar to those used on the work world.
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NASA, Jet Propulsion Lab, and the Santa Fe Institute are doing some interesting work on this front, e.g., collaborations with schools that involve applied, authentic learning projects of one sort or another
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‘playful’ learning
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Learning and play go very well together, especially because in play mode, there's no fear of failure. Encouragement to explore and try out new things is the expectation.
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Since "everything I needed to learn, I learned in Kindergarten", I think playful learning can be added to the list.
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I love playful learning and if you follow gamification, you can see it becoming very big, espeically with badging. I hope to see elementary and middle schools adopt more of a playful learning style as there is no fear of failure, yet our standarize testing system has "punishments" for getting worng answers.
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Agreed. The form of play is the basis of all learning. We can see this in the animal kingdom and with human children. Lion cubs learn to pounce on each other, as they would on prey. Human children play with blocks, and legos to learn various forms of developmental skills.
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The power of peer review had been brought to bear on the assignments.
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Finding and joining a community that ignites a student’s passion can set the stage for the student to acquire both deep knowledge about a subject (“learning about”) and the ability to participate in the practice of a field through productive inquiry and peer-based learning (“learning to be”)
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Often the learning that transpires is informal rather than formally conducted in a structured setting
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Teaching how to be self learners is essential from an early age to accomplish this goal. Traits include internal locus of control for motivation and self discipline for things such as time management and task completion.
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world has become increasingly “flat,”
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Our world has also flattened by our lack of knowledge depth. We are expected to know a little about a lot and what we don't know be able to find by technological means. Is it enough to have a knowledge base that is a mile wide and an inch deep?
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This reminds me of the quote "To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge" -Copernicus Information being readily available provides us with opportunity to seek diverse as well as in depth knowledge and as a result connections can be made and we are able to grow holistically as individuals. When it comes to long term lasting development, I think it's important to weigh options with a broad perspective; however, I feel as though in depth knowledge that is trade specific aims to assure quality, safety, and efficiency by individuals who have practiced, observed, shared, and as a result improved on their trade which is also essential. Just like a formal learning environment, I feel as though there is a need for unique individuals that rely on each other as a key aspect of enrichment and success in the workforce alike.
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well-educated workforce with the requisite competitive skills
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I wonder how this though impacts enrollment in technological school. I ask only because of a recent conversation with an electrician that came to install a new light fixture for me who commented that it is harder to find younger people interested in the vocational trades. In fact, the average age for the company he worked for was around 38.
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This also makes me question many of the technology based policies of school districts. Use of devices within my school is limited severely. Isn't this hindering our ability to prepare students to compete in the modern workforce?
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The latest evolution of the Internet, the so-called Web 2.0, has blurred the line between producers and consumers of content and has shifted attention from access to information toward access to other people
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Steve Case, of early AOL fame, was the commencement speaker for UNC's graduation where he tweeted a picture of the class standing after he finished his speech (cool use of social networking especially since he sent it to Duke). Here he commented that people have multiple jobs and multiple careers so they should keep learning and be flexible. He also recently gave an interview about the internet and its future and offers interesting insight into the potential of Web 2.0 in education. The article discusses that the only thing holding back the 2.0 revolution is issues with the infrastructure. His interview can be found here: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/05/29/2nd-great-internet-revolution-is-coming-aol-founder-says/
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active, passion-based learning
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When passion is injected into learning it no longer becomes a chore or a job but an experience.
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I totally agree. One of my favorite quotes, which I have featured on every page of my digital portfolio is from William Butler Yeats. "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
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I like the idea of "passion-based learning" since this kind of internal exigency produces really strong work from students. -
I do too! When anyone is passionate about something it makes it less of a chore and more enjoyable!
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While the internet has provided us with a wealth of information, the internet is not always correct. Let us remember that anyone can enter information on the internet whether they are qualified or not. -
This is true, but it is also becoming easier to check online sources. Take Wikipedia as an example. I use Wikipedia quite often for personal as well as school use. However, I ususally check the sources at the bottom of the page and check that source as well. I do agree that the internet is not always correct, but I think a sense of accountability comes with using the interenet.
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If King is right, it makes sense for colleges and universities to consider how they can leverage these new connections through the variety of social software platforms that are being established for other reasons.
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leverage
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If King is right, it makes sense for colleges and universities to consider how they can leverage these new connections through the variety of social software platforms that are being established for other reasons.
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While it makes sense for colleges and universities to use social media and social software platforms, it makes me wonder how this can be incorporated into the elementary setting. Young students can also benefit from social learning but the cost of the technology is often the sticking point for most districts.
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By enabling students to collaborate with working scientists, this movement provides a platform for the “learning to be” aspect of social learning. For example, the Faulkes Telescope Project, sponsored by the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, provides students in the United Kingdom with free access to two high-powered robotic telescopes, one in Hawaii and the other in Australia, which the students are able to use remotely to carry out their own scientific investigations (http://faulkes-telescope.com/).
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I love the fact that students are able to see and connect with the real world through social technology. This gives a student who is pondering their future a chance to see various paths they can take to have a successful career.
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online social networks that have attracted millions of young people
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I find this interesting. I work with very young children...8 years old and they are already using the social networking devices to talk to their friends. I set up a kidsblog in my classroom and I found them using it daily to discuss their homework, etc. with one another. Start early and the future will be brighter.
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This is quite interesting that the children are using blogs to discuss their homework with another. I find that facinating. I think cloud schooling is the future, although the brick and mortar school will never go away, schools will look completely different in 20 years.
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This perspective shifts the focus of our attention from the content of a subject to the learning activities and human interactions around which that content is situated. This perspective also helps to explain the effectiveness of study groups
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This is the same as running centers in an elementary classroom. The students interact and learn from each other.
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A current example of an attempt to harness the power of study groups in a virtual environment is the Terra Incognita project of the University of Southern Queensland (Australia), which has built a classroom in Second Life, the online virtual world that has attracted millions of users.
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Last semester in Design Studio, we experimented with having a "virtual class" in Second Life. It was rather interesting. We all created avatars and met in a building. There was a screen in the building that could be used as a web browser, or to play videos or PowerPoints.This way, students could attend Design Studio in person in a real classroom (and join the virtual classroom) and students from a distance could join the virtual classroom and everyone could be in the same classroom. Having avatars gave a sense of personality to a person, which created a different online learning experience.
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This sounds like an awesome course! You met in an actual building? Was this a resident course or is it offered online?
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Although about 40,000 students are enrolled in classes on the university’s campus in Ann Arbor, King believes that the actual number of students being reached by the school today is closer to 250,000.
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Another great example of this at Penn State is World in Conversation. World in Conversation has classes and projects set up where students on campus sit in a room with a television and video conference students at another university on the other side of the world and have a discussion, usually about controversial topics such as race and poverty.
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Tools such as blogs, wikis, social networks, tagging systems, mashups, and content-sharing sites
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Another great tool not mentioned here is Twitter and the use of hash-tag conversations. I've participated in a number of these and have also found that I discovered other hash tag conversations and weighed in, not knowing the full context. This is a very cool concept because anyone who has a twitter account, which is a lot of people, can find your conversation and join by using the specified hash tag.
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The recorded lectures provide the educational content, and the local mediators stimulate the interaction that actively engages the students and increases the likelihood that they will develop a real understanding of the lecture material through focused conversation.
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The school where I work is doing something almost identical with a product purchased from the private company Edgenuity -- recorded lectures and online learning facilitated by classroom teachers in all subject areas -- piloted this year with a small group and next year will be rolled out school-wide.
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Learning to Be through e-Science and e-Humanities
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can take on the role of teacher to help other group members benefit from their understanding
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participatory medium that is ideal for supporting multiple modes of learning
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I think this is key. Web 2.0 can allow for visual learners to succeed, sure, but the participatory part probably helps many students.
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I like the use of infographs/cartoons here. A "practice-what-you-teach" kind of moment.
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Becoming a trusted contributor to Wikipedia involves a process of legitimate peripheral participation that is similar to the process in open source software communities. Any reader can modify the text of an entry or contribute new entries. But only more experienced and more trusted individuals are invited to become “administrators” who have access to higher-level editing tools.
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One of the better descriptions of how the Wikipedia contributor process works. Although, I wonder how much it has changed.
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This experiment suggests one way that the social life of Internet-based virtual education can coexist with and extend traditional education.
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This model seems more tenable than other MOOCs, especially one's that require proctors.
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Being able to (practically) instantly communicate to faculty and students in the virtual world is inviting, in comparison to many of the forums that MOOCs offer. Certainly, forums are a valuable tool for asking and responding to questions and ideas, but the reduction of steps and time it takes to communicate is inviting to me. Interacting with a virtual, on-screen character also seems more involving than responding to a 50x50 icon, too (not to knock on forums and blogs, of course; rather, to comment on how this use of a virtual world is an evolution of the practice.)
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Students can send to Illinois any insects (or other small creatures) that they have captured, then log on with their computers to control the microscope in real time and view their specimens (
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Since I come from the Humanities, it is interesting to see how the sciences can use the interactive element of the internet.
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I love this idea! even though I don't teach science, I feel like young lower-elementary students would really enjoy watching whatever little creature they caught. It's like having a class pet without having to actually care for it!
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The demand-pull approach is based on providing students with access to rich (sometimes virtual) learning communities built around a practice. It is passion-based learning, motivated by the student either wanting to become a member of a particular community of practice or just wanting to learn about, make, or perform something.
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earning might appear to be extremely resource-intensive
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Certainly a smart observation by Brown, but it is probably more complicated than he makes it out to be. There are various levels of paywalls for certain Web 2.0 tools.
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it has also become “spikier”: the places that are globally competitive are those that have robust local ecosystems of resources supporting innovation and productiveness.2
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"Spikier" produces a great image, but would be curious to know which countries or major cities have the greatest spikes then and now.
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Typically, 20 percent of titles generate 80 percent of all sales, which means that most revenue comes from the “fat” part of the tail and that most of the costs of operation come from maintaining the inventory in the “long” part of the tail.
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I found this to be an interesting analogy. Currently, my library is purchasing more of the bestselling titles, and fewer of the educationally interesting titles because patron demand is driving it.
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Demand-pull learning shifts the focus to enabling participation in flows of action, where the focus is both on “learning to be” through enculturation into a practice as well as on collateral learning.
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In addition to supporting lecture-style teaching, Terra Incognita includes the capability for small groups of students who want to work together to easily “break off” from the central classroom before rejoining the entire class. Instructors can “visit” or send messages to any of the breakout groups and can summon them to rejoin the larger group.
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This opportunity to network makes me wonder about language barriers/education/voice translation technologies.
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In addition to supporting lecture-style teaching, Terra Incognita includes the capability for small groups of students who want to work together to easily “break off” from the central classroom before rejoining the entire class. Instructors can “visit” or send messages to any of the breakout groups and can summon them to rejoin the larger group.
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In addition to supporting lecture-style teaching, Terra Incognita includes the capability for small groups of students who want to work together to easily “break off” from the central classroom before rejoining the entire class. Instructors can “visit” or send messages to any of the breakout groups and can summon them to rejoin the larger group.
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In addition to supporting lecture-style teaching, Terra Incognita includes the capability for small groups of students who want to work together to easily “break off” from the central classroom before rejoining the entire class. Instructors can “visit” or send messages to any of the breakout groups and can summon them to rejoin the larger group.
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Whereas traditional schools offer a finite number of courses of study, the “catalog” of subjects that can be learned online is almost unlimited.
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Penn State's " Certificate in Educational Technology Integration" is one such course which I wasn't available to in my physical environment.
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They are able to maintain inventories of products—books, movies, and music—that are many times greater than can be offered by any conventional store.
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I notice Wal-Mart and Sears online offering products from other online stores in their store.
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Learning 2.0
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The most profound impact of the Internet, an impact that has yet to be fully realized, is its ability to support and expand the various aspects of social learning.
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It is amazing to read this 2008 article for the first time and see how much has transpired in the global educational landscape with regards to open education. Where Web 1.0 expanded access to information, Web 2.0 transformed learning with these affordances: participation, interaction, collaboration, social learning... If Web 3.0 is coming - what will it be? The motivation for Coursera.org is very touching - I stumbled into this YouTube video - Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education (http://youtu.be/U6FvJ6jMGHU)
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