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J.Randolph Radney

Teaching in Social and Technological Networks « Connectivism - 6 views

  • Technological networks have transformed prominent businesses sectors: music, television, financial, manufacturing. Social networks, driven by technological networks, have similarly transformed communication, news, and personal interactions. Education sits at the social/technological nexus of change – primed for dramatic transformative change. In recent posts, I’ve argued for needed systemic innovation. I’d like focus more specifically on how teaching is impacted by social and technological networks.
  • social and technological networks subvert the classroom-based role of the teacher. Networks thin classroom walls. Experts are no longer “out there” or “over there”. Skype brings anyone, from anywhere, into a classroom. Students are not confined to interacting with only the ideas of a researcher or theorist. Instead, a student can interact directly with researchers through Twitter, blogs, Facebook, and listservs. The largely unitary voice of the traditional teacher is fragmented by the limitless conversation opportunities available in networks. When learners have control of the tools of conversation, they also control the conversations in which they choose to engage.
  • Course content is similarly fragmented. The textbook is now augmented with YouTube videos, online articles, simulations, Second Life builds, virtual museums, Diigo content trails, StumpleUpon reflections, and so on.
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  • Thoughts, ideas, or messages that the teacher amplifies will generally have a greater probability of being seen by course participants.
    • J.Randolph Radney
       
      definition of amplification
  • Views of teaching, of learner roles, of literacies, of expertise, of control, and of pedagogy are knotted together. Untying one requires untying the entire model.
  • The following are roles teacher play in networked learning environments: 1. Amplifying 2. Curating 3. Wayfinding and socially-driven sensemaking 4. Aggregating 5. Filtering 6. Modelling 7. Persistent presence
  • The curator, in a learning context, arranges key elements of a subject in such a manner that learners will “bump into” them throughout the course. Instead of explicitly stating “you must know this”, the curator includes critical course concepts in her dialogue with learners, her comments on blog posts, her in-class discussions, and in her personal reflections.
    • J.Randolph Radney
       
      definition of curating
  • I found my way through personal trial and error. Today’s social web is no different – we find our way through active exploration. Designers can aid the wayfinding process through consistency of design and functionality across various tools, but ultimately, it is the responsibility of the individual to click/fail/recoup and continue.
  • Fortunately, the experience of wayfinding is now augmented by social systems.
  • Sensemaking in complex environments is a social process.
    • J.Randolph Radney
       
      Therefore, the teacher helps with wayfinding, but it is also the province of the learning community.
  • Perhaps we need to spend more time in information abundant environments before we turn to aggregation as a means of making sense of the landscape.
  • magine a course where the fragmented conversations and content are analyzed (monitored) through a similar service. Instead of creating a structure of the course in advance of the students starting (the current model), course structure emerges through numerous fragmented interactions. “Intelligence” is applied after the content and interactions start, not before.
  • Aggregation should do the same – reveal the content and conversation structure of the course as it unfolds, rather than defining it in advance.
  • Filtering resources is an important educator role, but as noted already, effective filtering can be done through a combination of wayfinding, social sensemaking, and aggregation. But expertise still matters. Educators often have years or decades of experience in a field. As such, they are familiar with many of the concepts, pitfalls, confusions, and distractions that learners are likely to encounter.
  • To teach is to model and to demonstrate. To learn is to practice and to reflect.”
  • Apprenticeship learning models are among the most effective in attending to the full breadth of learning.
  • Without an online identity, you can’t connect with others – to know and be known. I don’t think I’m overstating the importance of have a presence in order to participate in networks. To teach well in networks – to weave a narrative of coherence with learners – requires a point of presence. As a course progresses, the teacher provides summary comments, synthesizes discussions, provides critical perspectives, and directs learners to resources they may not have encountered before.
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    This is a discussion of connectivist learning, particularly the teacher's role(s).
J.Randolph Radney

Teaching with Google Wave - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education - 1 views

  • Wave is extremely powerful groupware, designed to facilitate the interactions of groups working together on projects—which turns out to be a pretty good description of many college classes.
  • Class notes project (10%): Over the course of the semester, you will compile a set of collaborative notes for the class, detailing the important issues from our readings, the main threads of our discussions, any questions that we raise that remain open, and so forth. You’ll use a combination of Google Wave and Google Docs for these notes, Wave for the initial notetaking and discussion and Docs for the final product. Each of you will serve as lead notetaker during at least one class session, though you’ll be expected to contribute to the collaborative notes for every class period.
  • A networked teaching lab: I teach most of my classes in a laptop-based lab, one that allows me to pull the computers out whenever I want to use them and tuck them safely away when I don't. This semester, I decided to use them every day, and invited any of my students who had their own laptops to bring them to class if they preferred working on them.
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  • At the end of the semester, in conjunction with my course evaluations, I asked my students to assess their experiences with Wave—and to a person, they liked it. Several said that they appreciated the ways that seeing their classmates' notes as class discussion was happening clarified the discussion in process; a few noted that they liked being able to follow the wave from their dorm rooms if they were out sick; many said that they were grateful to be able to return to the notes in the days and weeks after that class session had ended.
  • What didn't work? I'd had the idea before the semester started that my students would "finalize" their notes in Google Docs and keep them stored for future use in our Google Group space. As yet, however, waves aren't easily exportable, even to other Google platforms; our class notes remain solely accessible in Wave. That said, all of the members of the class will have access to those waves as long as they keep their accounts, and the waves could continue to develop, should their authors be so inspired.
Dr. Nellie Deutsch

Teach Online with Moodle - 3 views

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    Dear Members of IT4ALL, 2012 is going to be a great year for teaching and learning with technology. You are invited to learn how to enhance your class with technology by learning to teach and be the administrator of Moodle course and learning management system. There are many free and low cost workshops on google docs, blended learning, learning to install and use wordpress.org, how to create WebQuests, Writing Academic Papers, creating e-portfolios and how to integrate technology into your classes. You are invited to join our small group (under 20) low cost 6-week workshops for Moodle for Teacher Administrators at the basic ($150) and advanced ($120) levels.The two workshops provide participants with two Moodle labs to practice as administrators of Moodle. One lab is for 1.9 and one for 2.2. Participants learn how to install and manage Moodle as administrators and facilitate their own online courses. Each participant receive individual attention throughout the workshop. For more information, please contact me and the course syllabus: https://docs.google.com/document/d/198FgVeVX26bZatNBNJehHWc_inCV90w2u85TsnYroqk/edit?hl=en_US and https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WtfoGZgPKnMnVg2UDuSbszva2FrPOA4WQRAxy3KJtqA/edit?hl=en_US Have a wonderful holiday season and a great 2012!!! Warm wishes, Nellie Deutsch, Ed.D
J.Randolph Radney

Simply Speaking - Teaching and Learning with Technology - 3 views

  • Simply Speaking is a series of brief videos created by Teaching and Learning with Technology that explain technology topics in everyday language and with a little humor. They are modeled after the "... in plain english" videos that explain more general technologies such as Google Docs.
Dr. Nellie Deutsch

Moodle Mania on Facebook - 4 views

Moodle Mania caters to Moodle users - teachers, administrators, and/or anyone interested in using Moodle for online instruction and learning. MOODLE stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Lea...

Moodle Mania Online Learning Blended

started by Dr. Nellie Deutsch on 21 Apr 13 no follow-up yet
J.Randolph Radney

Don't Confuse Technology With Teaching - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education - 5 views

  • Education is not the transmission of information or ideas. Education is the training needed to make use of information and ideas. As information breaks loose from bookstores and libraries and floods onto computers and mobile devices, that training becomes more important, not less.
  • Educators are coaches, personal trainers in intellectual fitness. The value we add to the media extravaganza is like the value the trainer adds to the gym or the coach adds to the equipment. We provide individualized instruction in how to evaluate and make use of information and ideas, teaching people how to think for themselves.
  • A set of podcasts is the 21st-century equivalent of a textbook, not the 21st-century equivalent of a teacher.
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  • Technology can make education better. It will do so, in part, by forcing us to reflect on what education is, identify what only a person can do, and devote educators' time to that.
J.Randolph Radney

eClassroom News - Strong communication key to online learning - 3 views

  • Teaching in an online environment isn't the same as teaching in a traditional classroom, and online instructors need special skills and approaches to be successful. For example, communication can pose a challenge in online-learning environments, because online educators can't rely on visual cues as their colleagues can in bricks-and-mortar schools. Now, a new research brief from the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) looks at this challenge in greater detail, examining how successful programs and teachers are ensuring effective communication.
  • Teachers must use eMail, frequent telephone conversations, and collaborative tools, such as threaded discussions and synchronous chats, to closely connect with students.
  • Effective online teaching practices must include quickly responding to student and parent inquiries.
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  • Teachers must know, and be skilled at using, web-based technologies that offer students opportunities for collaborative learning.
  • Synchronous instruction brings teachers and students together simultaneously in virtual spaces, which "implies that virtual teachers need to become skillful at using chat room and collaborative software," says the report.
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    This is the beginning of a report on communication needs for online learners.
J.Randolph Radney

The Strength of Weak Ties » No Rows, No Desks - 2 views

  • How does the design of the learning space influence the perception of the type of teaching and learning about to take place?  In other words, how does design inform the intent?
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    "How does the design of the learning space influence the perception of the type of teaching and learning about to take place? In other words, how does design inform the intent?"
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    How does the design of an online learning space influence the perception...?
J.Randolph Radney

Free Social Teaching and Learning Network focused solely on education - 5 views

  • Teach what you know. learn what you don't. Join Sophia, a free social learning community focused solely on education.
Dr. Nellie Deutsch

Moodle for Teachers (M4T) Hands-on Workshops for April & May - 4 views

Spring is a great time to follow old and new dreams. Mine has always been to teach online. Teaching online is a great way to make extra money or earn a living by creating your very own online cours...

Moodle for Teachers M4T Professional Development Integrating Technology

started by Dr. Nellie Deutsch on 09 Apr 12 no follow-up yet
J.Randolph Radney

News @ Illinois Springfield: UIS utilizes Google Wave for online learning and teaching - 1 views

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    Another review of Google Wave in teaching.
J.Randolph Radney

JOLT - Journal of Online Learning and Teaching - 5 views

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    This journal has articles relevant to our use of online tools in teaching f2f and blended courses. There are several articles of interest on this site.
Janet Bianchini

Over 100 ideas for using Twitter in the Classroom | Emerging Internet Technologies for ... - 4 views

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    These resources provide over 110 ideas for incorporating Twitter in the educational/instuctional process.
J.Randolph Radney

YouTube - 007neilsmith's Channel - 2 views

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    This is the link to the YouTube video series called "The Art of Teaching".
J.Randolph Radney

Centre for Teaching Excellence Blog » Constructing a Syllabus: Challenges and... - 3 views

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    Canadian assumptions about syllabi construction as viewed by international students and faculty
J.Randolph Radney

TeachPaperless: 10 Ways to Help Students Ask Better Questions - 10 views

  • The points students bring up are thought-provoking. However, I'm most impressed by the questions they ask one another. They clarify and ask follow-up questions. They make inferences. They ask connecting questions and critical thinking questions. It's a messy process, but it's beautiful messy. It's art.
  • As long as a question is respectful, I want students to question their world. This applies to analyzing mathematical processes, thinking through social issues, making sense out of a text or analyzing the natural world for cause and effect.
  • Three times a week, we do inquiry days, where students begin with their own question in either social studies or science and they research it, summarize it and then ask further questions. While my initial goal involved teaching bias, loaded language and summarization, I soon realized that students were growing the most in their ability to ask critical thinking questions.
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  • I require students to ask questions before, during and after reading.
  • Sometimes I'll ask a really lame question and then say, "Someone tell my why that question sucked?" or I'll ask a deeper question and say, "Why was that a hard question to answer?" The goal is to get them to see deeper questions and to also think about why a question is deep or shallow.
  • Feedback on questions: I highlight their questions in Google Docs and leave comments on their blogs with very specific feedback.
  • Some students have a really hard time with questioning strategies.
  • I teach students about inquiry, clarifying, critical thinking and inference questioning.
  • Students sometimes ask me questions. Other times they ask partners or small group questions. Still other times they ask the questions to the whole class.
  • Technology allows students to take their time in crafting a question while having access to the questions of their peers.
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