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Tarmo Toikkanen

Maintaining and Extending Social Networks in IRC-galleria - 0 views

oa.doria.fi/...7282

research irc-galleria social networks

shared by Tarmo Toikkanen on 04 Sep 09 - No Cached
  • Tarmo Toikkanen on 04 Sep 09
     
    Article abstract: The photo galleries of the internet have raised quite a lot of public discussion, but academic research is just beginning to pay attention to the issue. This research grabs the subject by finding out the meanings given to IRC-galleria concerning its members' social networks. The theoretical framework consists of theories of social networks and communities applied to the context of the internet. Moreover, in analysing the construction of social networks, the research material is analyzed through the concepts of ritual and performance. The research material was generated with 13 semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The interviewees were registered members of IRC-galleria, aged 12-25. Participant observation was conducted by acting as a registered member of IRC-galleria during the course of the research. The interview material was analyzed with theory-bound qualitative content analysis. Meanings given to IRC-galleria were understood as interpretations the interviewees give to their subjective experiences, and therefore also bounded to cultural meaning structures. The rituals of maintaining social networks were approached from a social constructionistic perspective: the interest was on how the social networks are reconstructed in social interaction. The central finding of the research was that already established, "offline" networks play a significant role in being a member of IRC-galleria. IRC-galleria can be interpreted as a way to maintain both local and dispersed networks in a society where group identities are not self-evident. New friendships can be established in IRC-galleria, but personal interests are significant in this, not the possibility to act anonymously, which instead was the claim of previous research. Different interaction rituals are performed for reconstructing the established social networks. IRC-galleria should not therefore be seen solely as a stage for self-promotion, but also as a medium for promoting s
Tarmo Toikkanen

What is the Future of Teaching? - 0 views

mashable.com/...online-education-teachers

education teaching e-learning future trends sometu futurelearning online learning onlinelearning

shared by Tarmo Toikkanen on 10 Sep 09 - Cached
  • According to the New York Times Bits blog, a recent study funded by the US Department of Education (PDF) found that on the whole, online learning environments actually led to higher tested performance than face-to-face learning environments.
  • “In many of the studies showing an advantage for online learning, the online and classroom conditions differed in terms of time spent, curriculum and pedagogy. It was the combination of elements in the treatment conditions (which was likely to have included additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration) that produced the observed learning advantages,” writes the authors of the report (emphasis theirs). “At the same time, one should note that online learning is much more conducive to the expansion of learning time than is face-to-face instruction.”
  • We can conclude that those in online learning environments tested better, but not necessarily why.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Researchers warned that “various online learning implementation practices may have differing effectiveness for K–12 learners than they do for older students,” which seems plausible.
  • The word education, after all, comes from the Latin educare, which means, “to lead out.” I.e., think Socrates. Anyone can absorb information from a book or video, but good teachers will always be necessary to draw out that knowledge and help students develop the skills needed to think critically about the information they consume. In other words, online learning tools are just like any other tools in a teacher’s bag of tricks: what matters is how they’re applied. The instruction of good teachers will be made better by the proper application of web tools, while bad teachers won’t necessarily be made better by utilizing online education methods.
  • It comes down to knowing how to best use the tools at your disposal to maximize the impact of education for students, which has always been what separates good teachers from bad ones. The major difference between teachers of today and teachers of the future is that in the future educators will have better online tools and will require better specialized training to learn how to utilize them properly.
    • Tarmo Toikkanen
      Tarmo Toikkanen on 10 Sep 09
       
      Exactly. The tools are not the point, it's the learning results that matter. And they stem from the learning activities, which in turn are supported by the tools that are employed.
  • Teachers will certainly need to adapt in order to use new tools and methods, but that’s nothing new. Online education may never completely replace face-to-face learning, though as the Department of Education study shows, with enough time and under the guidance of a good teacher, online learning environments can produce results that are just as good or better than classroom learning. Online learning is likely to be used more often to enhance face-to-face learning in the future, however, and in communities where classroom learning is infeasible due to lack of funds, online learning is an adequate stand-in.
  • Tarmo Toikkanen on 10 Sep 09
     
    Good analysis on the impact of new tools, and the need for great teachers.
Tarmo Toikkanen

The Golden Ratio of OER « iterating toward openness - 0 views

opencontent.org/...1146

oer ecology

shared by Tarmo Toikkanen on 09 Dec 09 - Cached
  • The more people I talk to, the more convinced I am that OER has failed to establish a digestible value proposition for formal education.
  • That gives us a golden ratio of OER that looks something like: change in performance (as standard deviation) : change in money spent on curriculum (as percentage)
  • Tarmo Toikkanen on 09 Dec 09
     
    Analysis on OERs in formal education.
Tarmo Toikkanen

TeachPaperless: Why Teachers Should Blog - 0 views

teachpaperless.blogspot.com/...why-teachers-should-blog.html

shared by Tarmo Toikkanen on 12 Sep 09 - Cached
  • And so, we should teach this new generation to move beyond embarrassment and fear. This is not to condone manifestly insolent behavior online, rather in teaching the qualities -- the unique qualities -- of the globally connected public square, we should be instilling in students both a strident determination to take part in the unadulterated public debate and yet have humility.I think both are achieved through the crucial practice of critical thinking and earnest self-analysis. And no where, if sincerely met with daily conviction, can both be better employed than in the practice of blogging.
  • And so, I firmly believe that all teachers should be bloggers. Because if Descartes is wrong, then the thrust of our identity is determined not by our inalienable and essential state of being but by the differences in idea and sense that we demonstrate through our interactions with others.
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