The Zhang & Bonk (2008) article was so full of resources! The tables linking Gardner's Multiple Intelligences to Emerging Learning Technologies was so interesting that I found myself checking out various links for hours. It is amazing to see the resources we have at our fingertips on the internet. The problem? Identifying which resource fits any given need best. I've wrestled with whether a Wiki or a GoogleDoc is best for community efforts at writing and editing papers and test reviews and I've found at least 50 wonderful videos on read aloud techniques on You Tube to name a few of my successes turned frustrations. I know that after teaching online for a few semesters and trying out these technolgies, it will become more clear which resources work best with my classes, students, and online course platform.
The other mental tennis match I'm encountering is that I would like my class to be more of an Open Learning Environment (OLE) as described by Hannafin, Land, and Oliver (1999). Although I did not have a word to describe these communities previously, I was excited to read the chapter on Open Learning Environments: Foundations, Methods, and Models. This described the online instructional strategies I've encountered in a variety of VLCs; although they were interest based. From motherhood to knitting, cooking to gardening, I now realize that I've been a member of a wide variety of VLCs and learned a great deal from the content and interactions on these OLE websites. The struggle is how to replicate that type of self-directed, interest-based environment for a course that requires set objectives, assignments, and grades.
The key, I think, lies in the four basic components of OLEs as described in chapter 6: enabling contests, resources, tools, and scaffolding. Another main component that I see in OLEs is choice. The struggle is how to allow students choice while also achieving the goals of the course and covering essential course topics to prepare my students for their subsequent coursework. I don't think I'll get there by the end of this semester, but I will continue to strive toward the type of VLC that replicates OLEs...drawing students to participate because they enjoy spending time there and because they desire to be part of the interaction and the dynamic learning environment.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Week 10 Reflection
Week 10 Reflection
This week’s readings from Morrison, Ross, and Kemp (2007) were so helpful and packed with new insights and information. As I read, I focused on how the text related to our design project…my plans and conceptualization of this project and how it would look from the student perspective.
I was especially interested in the information presented in chapter five, featuring the various methods of determining objectives. I have continued to process how this fits into the way we incorporate objectives at Cameron, by correlating the appropriate standards from governing professional organizations along with our own goals for courses. This weekend I will be revisiting the chart I created for the online course I am developing to assess whether I can make improvements to the course objectives as they relate to the professional standards. Specifically, I would like to examine each piece and its relationship to Bloom’s Taxonomy.
As I read the task analysis information, I considered how specific course assignments will need to be to ensure the outcomes I desire. As I’ve seen in the past, sometimes I am surprised by the assignments students turn in and how they differ from my expectations, but after examining the assignment instructions, I find that they were not clear enough. Another piece that helps with the sometimes “fuzzy” nature of expectations vs. results is a grading rubric. When my students have access to a rubric prior to the assignment due date, it guides their work and results in a better match between expectations and results.
Finally, in chapter six, I was reminded of the importance of student-centered curricula with elements of controlled choice to allow students to pursue individual interests. Choice is a powerful motivator at all ages and is an essential component in online learning as it will keep students engaged in course content as it applies to their own interests and goals. Now, the challenge is how to offer student choice while also meeting my own objectives for the course…
This week’s readings from Morrison, Ross, and Kemp (2007) were so helpful and packed with new insights and information. As I read, I focused on how the text related to our design project…my plans and conceptualization of this project and how it would look from the student perspective.
I was especially interested in the information presented in chapter five, featuring the various methods of determining objectives. I have continued to process how this fits into the way we incorporate objectives at Cameron, by correlating the appropriate standards from governing professional organizations along with our own goals for courses. This weekend I will be revisiting the chart I created for the online course I am developing to assess whether I can make improvements to the course objectives as they relate to the professional standards. Specifically, I would like to examine each piece and its relationship to Bloom’s Taxonomy.
As I read the task analysis information, I considered how specific course assignments will need to be to ensure the outcomes I desire. As I’ve seen in the past, sometimes I am surprised by the assignments students turn in and how they differ from my expectations, but after examining the assignment instructions, I find that they were not clear enough. Another piece that helps with the sometimes “fuzzy” nature of expectations vs. results is a grading rubric. When my students have access to a rubric prior to the assignment due date, it guides their work and results in a better match between expectations and results.
Finally, in chapter six, I was reminded of the importance of student-centered curricula with elements of controlled choice to allow students to pursue individual interests. Choice is a powerful motivator at all ages and is an essential component in online learning as it will keep students engaged in course content as it applies to their own interests and goals. Now, the challenge is how to offer student choice while also meeting my own objectives for the course…
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Reflection 2
Middle school science classes used SenseMaker to make scaffolding, problem-solving, and knowledge acquisition more observable. Modeling expert thinking, providing a process to support individual reflection, and promoting the collaborative exchange and discrimination of ideas were used as instructional strategies to enable students to process information and make learning visible. Instructors encouraged collaborative learning as small groups of students prepared presentations to report back to the class using a webcast created using the templates available in SenseMaker. After each presentation, the audience was allowed to ask clarifying questions.
The process of the lessons can be thought of as a funnel where a big question is proposed, students must problem-solve and clarify the issue and possible solutions, choose a solution, then present it to the class. Throughout this process, the teacher continues to surrender more control of the lesson to the students.
The activity seems very closely matched to the cognitive apprenticeship framework (Renninger & Shumar, 2002). Students were encouraged to use generalized meta-knowledge as well as domain-focused meta-knowledge to support a scientific argument. The teacher played an active role in introducing the activity then stepped back to provide scaffolding as needed while groups completed the steps involved. Student results continued to improve with subsequent use of the program, showing the increase in self-efficacy of the instructor in his or her role as a facilitator and a technology guide.
The instructional strategies used in this case fit closely with those presented in the first chapter of CSCL 2 including a focus on problem-centered collaborations and making student thinking focal (students were presented with a scientific question and instructed to show the scientific thought process to answer the question). These strategies also call for an increased emphasis on understanding, a higher order concept than knowing, which is addressed in students’ presentations. Teaching a concept requires a depth of understanding that does not come with simple answers on a test or a worksheet.
Question 2:
Wikis provide a platform to create Knowledge Building Communities. KBCs are discussed at length in CSCL 2 (2002). These communities encourage the emergence of knowledge as a result of collaboration between community members.
From my writing on Case Study 2:
A wiki allows participants to share and edit a wide range of informational formats, from video, chat functions, text, internet links, slideshows, and more. Editors can change the sidebar and the front page as well as add folders for targeted content. According to their homepage, PBwiki pages are designed to allow “live, evolving documents” to be edited by groups of participants while giving the owner access controls and tracking tools that allow for close monitoring of the virtual document.
Wikis allow more shared control in creating a virtual community as members can actively share documents as well as internet links, podcasts, videos, and participate in chat rooms. Two features that are particularly exciting are the chat room application and the ability to upload and collectively revise and edit documents as these functions are not available on Blackboard, Cameron University’s current online learning program.
According to Bonk and Zhang (2008), discussion boards allow for delayed responses to community members’ questions, which brings depth to discussions as members are able to read and reflect prior to responding. A wiki provides this same opportunity by allowing asynchronous collaboration between students.
Asynchronous discussion, like any other technological tool, has pros and cons. According to Johnson in her review of recent research,
In a survey of educators, asynchronous online discussion was reportedly useful for “encouraging in-depth, more thoughtful discussion; communicating with temporally diverse students; holding ongoing discussions where archiving is required; and allowing all students to respond to a topic” (Branon & Essex,
2001, p. 36). Identified limitations associated with asynchronous discussion included; “lack of immediate feedback, students not checking in often enough, length of time necessary for discussion to mature, and students feeling a sense of isolation” (p. 36). Based on a survey of student preferences, Dede and Kremer (1999) concluded that asynchronous discussion provided “richer, more inclusive types of interchange” (p. 4), but required more time and provided less social interaction than synchronous chat.
In addition, wikis provide a common meeting area, a virtual classroom if you will, where students can link to one another’s blogs, sharing an online journal that makes thought processes visual and available for discussion.
As I wrote in Case Study 2
In addition, blogs allow students to make personal connections in a virtual world. Vygotsky concentrated on social cognition, the social aspects of learning (Vygotsky, 1978). He pointed out that learning occurred within a context of cultural surroundings and an interaction between people. Personal blog pages allow students to create an online identity by uploading photos and customizing their page design, further encouraging social interactions both through the blogs and the discussion boards as students get to know one another.
Both Bonk & Zang (2008) and Renninger & Shumar (2002), share a mindset of individual learning and subsequent knowledge sharing. Blogs allow students to read then reflect (through their written journals), and finally share by reading and responding to classmates’ blogs. Blogging fits perfectly into the R2D2 model, allowing for both reflection and display of visual concept maps, video, and more.
A combination of shared collaboration on a wiki space and a shared blog roll will encourage peer interactions as well as providing specific contexts for community building activities and collaborative learning.
References
Bonk, C. & Zhang, K. (2006). Introducing the R2D2 Model: Online learning for the diverse learners of the world. Distance Education, 27(2), 249-264.
Johnson, G.M., (?). Synchronous and Asynchronous Text-Based CMC in Educationa Contexts: A review of recent research. TechTrends (50,4).
Koschmann, T., & Hall, R. P., Miyake, N. (Eds.). (2002). CSCL 2: Carrying forward the conversation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Renninger, Ann & Shumar, Wesley. (Eds.). (2002). Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace. Cambridge University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
The process of the lessons can be thought of as a funnel where a big question is proposed, students must problem-solve and clarify the issue and possible solutions, choose a solution, then present it to the class. Throughout this process, the teacher continues to surrender more control of the lesson to the students.
The activity seems very closely matched to the cognitive apprenticeship framework (Renninger & Shumar, 2002). Students were encouraged to use generalized meta-knowledge as well as domain-focused meta-knowledge to support a scientific argument. The teacher played an active role in introducing the activity then stepped back to provide scaffolding as needed while groups completed the steps involved. Student results continued to improve with subsequent use of the program, showing the increase in self-efficacy of the instructor in his or her role as a facilitator and a technology guide.
The instructional strategies used in this case fit closely with those presented in the first chapter of CSCL 2 including a focus on problem-centered collaborations and making student thinking focal (students were presented with a scientific question and instructed to show the scientific thought process to answer the question). These strategies also call for an increased emphasis on understanding, a higher order concept than knowing, which is addressed in students’ presentations. Teaching a concept requires a depth of understanding that does not come with simple answers on a test or a worksheet.
Question 2:
Wikis provide a platform to create Knowledge Building Communities. KBCs are discussed at length in CSCL 2 (2002). These communities encourage the emergence of knowledge as a result of collaboration between community members.
From my writing on Case Study 2:
A wiki allows participants to share and edit a wide range of informational formats, from video, chat functions, text, internet links, slideshows, and more. Editors can change the sidebar and the front page as well as add folders for targeted content. According to their homepage, PBwiki pages are designed to allow “live, evolving documents” to be edited by groups of participants while giving the owner access controls and tracking tools that allow for close monitoring of the virtual document.
Wikis allow more shared control in creating a virtual community as members can actively share documents as well as internet links, podcasts, videos, and participate in chat rooms. Two features that are particularly exciting are the chat room application and the ability to upload and collectively revise and edit documents as these functions are not available on Blackboard, Cameron University’s current online learning program.
According to Bonk and Zhang (2008), discussion boards allow for delayed responses to community members’ questions, which brings depth to discussions as members are able to read and reflect prior to responding. A wiki provides this same opportunity by allowing asynchronous collaboration between students.
Asynchronous discussion, like any other technological tool, has pros and cons. According to Johnson in her review of recent research,
In a survey of educators, asynchronous online discussion was reportedly useful for “encouraging in-depth, more thoughtful discussion; communicating with temporally diverse students; holding ongoing discussions where archiving is required; and allowing all students to respond to a topic” (Branon & Essex,
2001, p. 36). Identified limitations associated with asynchronous discussion included; “lack of immediate feedback, students not checking in often enough, length of time necessary for discussion to mature, and students feeling a sense of isolation” (p. 36). Based on a survey of student preferences, Dede and Kremer (1999) concluded that asynchronous discussion provided “richer, more inclusive types of interchange” (p. 4), but required more time and provided less social interaction than synchronous chat.
In addition, wikis provide a common meeting area, a virtual classroom if you will, where students can link to one another’s blogs, sharing an online journal that makes thought processes visual and available for discussion.
As I wrote in Case Study 2
In addition, blogs allow students to make personal connections in a virtual world. Vygotsky concentrated on social cognition, the social aspects of learning (Vygotsky, 1978). He pointed out that learning occurred within a context of cultural surroundings and an interaction between people. Personal blog pages allow students to create an online identity by uploading photos and customizing their page design, further encouraging social interactions both through the blogs and the discussion boards as students get to know one another.
Both Bonk & Zang (2008) and Renninger & Shumar (2002), share a mindset of individual learning and subsequent knowledge sharing. Blogs allow students to read then reflect (through their written journals), and finally share by reading and responding to classmates’ blogs. Blogging fits perfectly into the R2D2 model, allowing for both reflection and display of visual concept maps, video, and more.
A combination of shared collaboration on a wiki space and a shared blog roll will encourage peer interactions as well as providing specific contexts for community building activities and collaborative learning.
References
Bonk, C. & Zhang, K. (2006). Introducing the R2D2 Model: Online learning for the diverse learners of the world. Distance Education, 27(2), 249-264.
Johnson, G.M., (?). Synchronous and Asynchronous Text-Based CMC in Educationa Contexts: A review of recent research. TechTrends (50,4).
Koschmann, T., & Hall, R. P., Miyake, N. (Eds.). (2002). CSCL 2: Carrying forward the conversation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Renninger, Ann & Shumar, Wesley. (Eds.). (2002). Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace. Cambridge University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Synthesizing it all...
Introduction: Context, Subject Matter, and Target Audience
I would like to create an online Children’s Literature course. Cameron University has a high population of non-traditional students who are returning to college with full-time jobs and families. These students often have difficulty creating schedules that allow them to continue to make a living for their families and make sufficient progress toward a degree. Because Children’s Literature is a prerequisite for several reading and methods courses, it will be especially advantageous to offer it as an online course.
Children’s Literature offers an overview of the various genres of literature available for children from birth through completion of elementary school. In addition, the course presents library collection and organization techniques and beginning methods of unit creation for elementary teachers.
Course Concept Map
(Note: I created a visual representation that goes here, but can't get it to cut and paste into the blog...any suggestions, guys? It was created using the drawing canvas in Word.)
Course participants would engage in a circular learning process beginning with individual reading of the textbook and supplemental articles with supporting notes provided by PowerPoint presentations with built in audio tracks. When available, videos will be hyperlinked that compliment the reading and PowerPoints. After exposure to the necessary concepts, students will proceed to the discussion board to answer guiding questions and respond to classmates’ posts. Finally, each student will write a weekly blog entry that summarizes learning, insights, discussions, and outstanding questions and synthesizes the current topics with past information and personal experiences. Each week, this cycle will begin again with individual reading. In addition, each month a Skype conference will give an opportunity for the course instructor to demonstrate read aloud techniques and reemphasize main points.
Strategies
In recognizing the differing needs of learners, the course concept map addresses Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences by offering opportunities for interpersonal and intrapersonal learning through the independent reading and the discussion boards and Skype conferences (Gardner, 1983 & 1999). In addition, linguistic, visual, and auditory learners’ needs are met by utilizing a textbook, PowerPoint presentations, and audio features.
Another learning theorist, Vygotsky, concentrated on the social aspects of learning (Vygotsky, 1978). Personal blog pages allow students to create an online identity by uploading photos and customizing their page design, further encouraging social interactions both through the blogs and the discussion boards as students get to know one another.
During the course, students will also be required to complete a service learning component by volunteering at an elementary school or daycare reading aloud to children. The goal of this assignment is to build a bridge between new knowledge and classroom practices. In addition, read aloud skills are needed in the field experiences students have during their final three semesters in our program. Video hyperlinks and Skype conferences will offer modeling to support this assignment.
In response to the weakness found in the case study I conducted on Ning in Education, where a lack of leadership in the forums led to a lack of involvement and depth in discussion, I will assign discussion leaders each week. This will meet a central goal of the course design, to encourage leadership, ownership, and participation. The discussion leader will be asked to facilitate conversations as needed, pointing out main threads and posing clarification questions as needed.
Influence of Literature in the Framework
In addition to the foundational learning theories discussed in the strategies section above, Renninger & Shumar's Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace, was a heavy influence on this course design. Chapter 12 of the book points out how the shift from modern to post-modern era has influenced today’s knowledge building communities which share a mindset of individual learning and subsequent knowledge sharing. The circular weekly flow of the course reflects this ideology with students individually viewing the resources prior to engaging in discussion then reflection.
Additionally, both asynchronous and synchronous discussions are utilized in order to encourage higher levels of understanding (Koschmann, Hall, & Miyake, 2002). While I’m initially planning for Skype discussions once each month, adjustments will be made in subsequent semesters if additional synchronous interaction is needed to encourage accommodation of knowledge.
References
Gardner, Howard. (1983) Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
Gardner, Howard. (1999) Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York: Basic Books.
Koschmann, T., & Hall, R. P., Miyake, N. (Eds.). (2002). CSCL 2: Carrying forward the conversation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Renninger, Ann & Shumar, Wesley. (Eds.). (2002). Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace. Cambridge University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
I would like to create an online Children’s Literature course. Cameron University has a high population of non-traditional students who are returning to college with full-time jobs and families. These students often have difficulty creating schedules that allow them to continue to make a living for their families and make sufficient progress toward a degree. Because Children’s Literature is a prerequisite for several reading and methods courses, it will be especially advantageous to offer it as an online course.
Children’s Literature offers an overview of the various genres of literature available for children from birth through completion of elementary school. In addition, the course presents library collection and organization techniques and beginning methods of unit creation for elementary teachers.
Course Concept Map
(Note: I created a visual representation that goes here, but can't get it to cut and paste into the blog...any suggestions, guys? It was created using the drawing canvas in Word.)
Course participants would engage in a circular learning process beginning with individual reading of the textbook and supplemental articles with supporting notes provided by PowerPoint presentations with built in audio tracks. When available, videos will be hyperlinked that compliment the reading and PowerPoints. After exposure to the necessary concepts, students will proceed to the discussion board to answer guiding questions and respond to classmates’ posts. Finally, each student will write a weekly blog entry that summarizes learning, insights, discussions, and outstanding questions and synthesizes the current topics with past information and personal experiences. Each week, this cycle will begin again with individual reading. In addition, each month a Skype conference will give an opportunity for the course instructor to demonstrate read aloud techniques and reemphasize main points.
Strategies
In recognizing the differing needs of learners, the course concept map addresses Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences by offering opportunities for interpersonal and intrapersonal learning through the independent reading and the discussion boards and Skype conferences (Gardner, 1983 & 1999). In addition, linguistic, visual, and auditory learners’ needs are met by utilizing a textbook, PowerPoint presentations, and audio features.
Another learning theorist, Vygotsky, concentrated on the social aspects of learning (Vygotsky, 1978). Personal blog pages allow students to create an online identity by uploading photos and customizing their page design, further encouraging social interactions both through the blogs and the discussion boards as students get to know one another.
During the course, students will also be required to complete a service learning component by volunteering at an elementary school or daycare reading aloud to children. The goal of this assignment is to build a bridge between new knowledge and classroom practices. In addition, read aloud skills are needed in the field experiences students have during their final three semesters in our program. Video hyperlinks and Skype conferences will offer modeling to support this assignment.
In response to the weakness found in the case study I conducted on Ning in Education, where a lack of leadership in the forums led to a lack of involvement and depth in discussion, I will assign discussion leaders each week. This will meet a central goal of the course design, to encourage leadership, ownership, and participation. The discussion leader will be asked to facilitate conversations as needed, pointing out main threads and posing clarification questions as needed.
Influence of Literature in the Framework
In addition to the foundational learning theories discussed in the strategies section above, Renninger & Shumar's Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace, was a heavy influence on this course design. Chapter 12 of the book points out how the shift from modern to post-modern era has influenced today’s knowledge building communities which share a mindset of individual learning and subsequent knowledge sharing. The circular weekly flow of the course reflects this ideology with students individually viewing the resources prior to engaging in discussion then reflection.
Additionally, both asynchronous and synchronous discussions are utilized in order to encourage higher levels of understanding (Koschmann, Hall, & Miyake, 2002). While I’m initially planning for Skype discussions once each month, adjustments will be made in subsequent semesters if additional synchronous interaction is needed to encourage accommodation of knowledge.
References
Gardner, Howard. (1983) Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
Gardner, Howard. (1999) Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York: Basic Books.
Koschmann, T., & Hall, R. P., Miyake, N. (Eds.). (2002). CSCL 2: Carrying forward the conversation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Renninger, Ann & Shumar, Wesley. (Eds.). (2002). Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace. Cambridge University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Virtual Communities Case Study 1
CASE STUDY A: MySpace, a Virtual Community
Introduction
I chose to study MySpace because it is the virtual community I use most often; however I have never examined it from the perspectives we are gaining through the readings and discussions of this course. I have used MySpace to stay connected with distant friends and to reconnect with old High School friends. I routinely post comments, send messages (which are more private as the comments are visible to anyone on the individual’s friend list), upload photos of my family and our activities, and update my status so friends can see what is currently going on in my life.
Analysis of the Community
MySpace is a social community site which offers users a completely customizable profile page. On this page, photo slideshows and music players can be created, backgrounds and fonts can be changed, users can share their music, literary, and cinema interests, and store photo albums. The profile page contains a blog feature and a comment wall, along with applications too numerous to mention from bulletin boards to daily bible verses.
Users may set their profiles as private or leave them open to the community at large. Private profiles cannot be viewed until the owner approves a friend request. This is an added safety feature that allows users to more freely post private information and photos; thus increasing activity and membership. While I am often hesitant to upload photos of my children to other websites, we have a family photo album slideshow as well as themed slideshows on MySpace to share our lives and the growth of my girls with distant friends. In turn, I am able to watch my friends’ children grow and change and read about their development in their blogs. Several of my friends have decreased their use of email since we have all been on MySpace and can leave comments and send messages within this community.
Users are also able to search for friends by entering school sites (both public schools and universities) to search existing profiles and scan new members. Another search tool allows participants to search music sites to learn more about musicians and add them to a friends list. In this instance, the participant regularly receives updates about the musician through the new blog updates and bulletin space on the user’s home page.
While I have been a member of the MySpace community, improvements to the system, new functions and applications are consistently made in response to the needs of the community. For instance, when I first joined, members could only have one song on their profile page, but an upgrade was made so members can create a song list that plays continuously.
Conclusion and Implications
MySpace continues to be a force in virtual social communities because of responses to the needs of members and the security of the profile pages. Varied methods of searching for friends and lists of recently added profiles allows users to continue to build friend lists, contacts, and activity levels on the site. The membership shows consistent growth and high levels of participation.
CASE STUDY B: Ning in Education, a Virtual Learning Community
Introduction
I visited the Ning website (http://www.ning.com/). Ning is a site that allows individuals to create their own social networking site for anything. There are Nings for truck drivers, new media job hires, and subsets of religious groups to name a few. I soon found a Ning expressly for educators. The site is Ning in Education (http://education.ning.com/). This is a community of people who are exploring the uses of Nings in Education (NE). I created a profile page for myself, customizing my page to reflect my personality a bit, then dove into the forums seeking answers to the question, “How can I use Nings to enhance my online courses?” In my search, I found a useful thread with several links to offsite information. I also replied to the thread hoping to get further information about how people have used Nings specifically for college courses.
Analysis of the Community
NE is a practice-based learning community. Its members all share the same profession and join voluntarily. Mentoring and apprenticeship behaviors occur as members pose questions in the discussion forum and contribute to the shared group knowledge by posting prior experiences, pedagogical ideals, and suggestions for practice. While any member can set his or her participation level as desired, there do not seem to be identified leaders in the community, such as forum managers, etc.
The site contains a main menu containing the following choices:
Main – This choice takes the member to the main page of the group where he or she will see the latest forum and blog posts along with information on new members.
Invite – This selection allows a participant to invite a colleague into the community.
My Page – The “My Page” button displays the group member’s personal page which contains the member’s latest activity within the Ning, profile information, and a comment wall where other members can leave messages.
Members – This is a directory of members with profile information along with any photos or videos each member has uploaded to the community.
Forum – The forum functions as the discussion board for the community.
Groups – Within NE, members can form subgroups based on shared interest. These groups are listed here.
Blogs – Each member has a NE blog. Unfortunately, the site does not allow a member to connect an existing blog here.
Ning Help – This is a help area with frequently asked questions.
While I was initially excited about the possibilities of a Ning, I noticed that the forums were not especially busy. Posts that were a month old only had two to three replies. As I continued my exploration, I found and requested to join group within NE specifically for college instructors; however, I have not received a confirmation of the acceptance. Since several days have past, I assume this is not an active group.
Within the group forum, a discussion thread exists for users to request new features. Some users are asking for statistical tools that D2L and Blackboard currently have, showing student user’s data and grade book options to name a few. These are useful suggestions if Nings are to be used for educational purposes; however, I did not see a reply from a Ning administrator, only various professionals voicing their wish list of new features. I wondered if this thread was monitored by a site leader who could pass along the requested upgrades. It seemed to only add fuel to the fire, so to speak, to open the thread without monitoring and responding to the requests.
After clicking on the tab for blogs and reading through several pages of blog posts, I found many advertisements for political ideals, fad diets, etc. that were listed as blog posts. I wondered what kind of security measures are available to make a Ning closed to advertising, but later read that educational groups could get ad free sites or users could pay for an upgrade to an ad free Ning.
Conclusion and Implications
The features of the site are comparable to MySpace or Facebook, but on a professional level, allowing more constraints on the shared knowledge and interests of the community members. While the site allows the user to customize a personal page with design features and photo uploads, allowing users to create an online identity, it does not address user suggestions and concerns. Without the personal attention to these aspects, the community participation has decreased and the site is not being utilized to its full potential.
Perhaps removing unwanted advertising in the forums and promoting the most active members to thread administrators would encourage active participation. With thread administrators, threads are monitored more closely and posts receive a greater number of replies as the administrator leads and directs the discussion. Knowing the importance of consistent assessment and meeting the needs of group members, I do not believe this particular Ning will continue to grow and retain active membership.
Introduction
I chose to study MySpace because it is the virtual community I use most often; however I have never examined it from the perspectives we are gaining through the readings and discussions of this course. I have used MySpace to stay connected with distant friends and to reconnect with old High School friends. I routinely post comments, send messages (which are more private as the comments are visible to anyone on the individual’s friend list), upload photos of my family and our activities, and update my status so friends can see what is currently going on in my life.
Analysis of the Community
MySpace is a social community site which offers users a completely customizable profile page. On this page, photo slideshows and music players can be created, backgrounds and fonts can be changed, users can share their music, literary, and cinema interests, and store photo albums. The profile page contains a blog feature and a comment wall, along with applications too numerous to mention from bulletin boards to daily bible verses.
Users may set their profiles as private or leave them open to the community at large. Private profiles cannot be viewed until the owner approves a friend request. This is an added safety feature that allows users to more freely post private information and photos; thus increasing activity and membership. While I am often hesitant to upload photos of my children to other websites, we have a family photo album slideshow as well as themed slideshows on MySpace to share our lives and the growth of my girls with distant friends. In turn, I am able to watch my friends’ children grow and change and read about their development in their blogs. Several of my friends have decreased their use of email since we have all been on MySpace and can leave comments and send messages within this community.
Users are also able to search for friends by entering school sites (both public schools and universities) to search existing profiles and scan new members. Another search tool allows participants to search music sites to learn more about musicians and add them to a friends list. In this instance, the participant regularly receives updates about the musician through the new blog updates and bulletin space on the user’s home page.
While I have been a member of the MySpace community, improvements to the system, new functions and applications are consistently made in response to the needs of the community. For instance, when I first joined, members could only have one song on their profile page, but an upgrade was made so members can create a song list that plays continuously.
Conclusion and Implications
MySpace continues to be a force in virtual social communities because of responses to the needs of members and the security of the profile pages. Varied methods of searching for friends and lists of recently added profiles allows users to continue to build friend lists, contacts, and activity levels on the site. The membership shows consistent growth and high levels of participation.
CASE STUDY B: Ning in Education, a Virtual Learning Community
Introduction
I visited the Ning website (http://www.ning.com/). Ning is a site that allows individuals to create their own social networking site for anything. There are Nings for truck drivers, new media job hires, and subsets of religious groups to name a few. I soon found a Ning expressly for educators. The site is Ning in Education (http://education.ning.com/). This is a community of people who are exploring the uses of Nings in Education (NE). I created a profile page for myself, customizing my page to reflect my personality a bit, then dove into the forums seeking answers to the question, “How can I use Nings to enhance my online courses?” In my search, I found a useful thread with several links to offsite information. I also replied to the thread hoping to get further information about how people have used Nings specifically for college courses.
Analysis of the Community
NE is a practice-based learning community. Its members all share the same profession and join voluntarily. Mentoring and apprenticeship behaviors occur as members pose questions in the discussion forum and contribute to the shared group knowledge by posting prior experiences, pedagogical ideals, and suggestions for practice. While any member can set his or her participation level as desired, there do not seem to be identified leaders in the community, such as forum managers, etc.
The site contains a main menu containing the following choices:
Main – This choice takes the member to the main page of the group where he or she will see the latest forum and blog posts along with information on new members.
Invite – This selection allows a participant to invite a colleague into the community.
My Page – The “My Page” button displays the group member’s personal page which contains the member’s latest activity within the Ning, profile information, and a comment wall where other members can leave messages.
Members – This is a directory of members with profile information along with any photos or videos each member has uploaded to the community.
Forum – The forum functions as the discussion board for the community.
Groups – Within NE, members can form subgroups based on shared interest. These groups are listed here.
Blogs – Each member has a NE blog. Unfortunately, the site does not allow a member to connect an existing blog here.
Ning Help – This is a help area with frequently asked questions.
While I was initially excited about the possibilities of a Ning, I noticed that the forums were not especially busy. Posts that were a month old only had two to three replies. As I continued my exploration, I found and requested to join group within NE specifically for college instructors; however, I have not received a confirmation of the acceptance. Since several days have past, I assume this is not an active group.
Within the group forum, a discussion thread exists for users to request new features. Some users are asking for statistical tools that D2L and Blackboard currently have, showing student user’s data and grade book options to name a few. These are useful suggestions if Nings are to be used for educational purposes; however, I did not see a reply from a Ning administrator, only various professionals voicing their wish list of new features. I wondered if this thread was monitored by a site leader who could pass along the requested upgrades. It seemed to only add fuel to the fire, so to speak, to open the thread without monitoring and responding to the requests.
After clicking on the tab for blogs and reading through several pages of blog posts, I found many advertisements for political ideals, fad diets, etc. that were listed as blog posts. I wondered what kind of security measures are available to make a Ning closed to advertising, but later read that educational groups could get ad free sites or users could pay for an upgrade to an ad free Ning.
Conclusion and Implications
The features of the site are comparable to MySpace or Facebook, but on a professional level, allowing more constraints on the shared knowledge and interests of the community members. While the site allows the user to customize a personal page with design features and photo uploads, allowing users to create an online identity, it does not address user suggestions and concerns. Without the personal attention to these aspects, the community participation has decreased and the site is not being utilized to its full potential.
Perhaps removing unwanted advertising in the forums and promoting the most active members to thread administrators would encourage active participation. With thread administrators, threads are monitored more closely and posts receive a greater number of replies as the administrator leads and directs the discussion. Knowing the importance of consistent assessment and meeting the needs of group members, I do not believe this particular Ning will continue to grow and retain active membership.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Renninger & Shumar, Chapters 11 & 12
In my continued reading of Renninger & Shumar's Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace, I've come to understand both the possibilities virtual communities offer and the rigorous investment needed by their founders to maintain a climate of success.
In Chapter 11: Learning in Cyberspace, the authors point out three types of learning that take place within virtual communities. They are as follows:
In Chapter 11: Learning in Cyberspace, the authors point out three types of learning that take place within virtual communities. They are as follows:
- Curriculum of Initiation and Governance – making the decision to create and maintain a virtual website
- Curriculum of Access – accessing and becoming socialized to a virtual community itself
- Curriculum of Membership –actual interaction within the community including the gains people expect from participation (both traditional learning and affective areas)
It is important to note attendance may be passive, as it is for lurkers. For these participants, learning may be an undetectable act. While these members of the community are not gaining full benefits because of their lack of active participation, they remain as passive learners. Lurkers will continue to learn through reading and processing, but they are not achieving the higher-order thinking and processing skills of Bloom's Taxonomy without active participation.
Chapter 12: Finding the Ties that Bind centers its discussion on building successful online collaborations. The authors follow the changes that occurred in the business world through the modern and post-modern periods, from a hierarchical, top down approach to collaboration to today's knowledge-building communities which share a mindset of individual learning and subsequent knowledge sharing. This gradual shift shows the progression society has witnessed as we grappled with the concept of collaboration. Society as a whole transformed from a centricist ideal toward goals of decentralization throughout this time period.
The authors suggest eight areas of inquiry that help meet the goals of virtual community designers:
- defining learning communities
- examining existing practice
- identifying potential changes to improve practice
- finding ways that technology might effect these changes
- designing and building the technology
- advocating the technology and cultivating a community of use
- understanding the consequences of the technology
- evaluating the community with respect to the original goal
I believe these eight pieces could be used in a linear fashion for my university to examine existing online courses and enact subsequent improvements as they provide a systematic way to assess and suggest proactive changes.
In addition, in this same chapter, I found a nugget of truth that may help support the use of virtual communities in my dissertation. Here is the excerpt, "When using SpeakEasy in a middle school science class, the inclusion of features such as an anonymity option erased the typical significant gender differences in student participation and learning." In my last blog entry, I posed a question about the validity of using a virtual environment to add anonymity to the qualitative data I'd like to collect about my students' experiences with ekphrasis. This nugget of information from the chapter will most likely lead me to look into this study as a piece of data to support my ideas for research.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Possibilities...
I'm thinking about the educational uses of blog rings as a community of learners...seeking to develop knowledge. As we utilize blogs in this way, I hope to further develop this idea, but I think it may be one possible method of data collection for my dissertation.
I hope to tell the story of ekphrasis in action through three different lenses, my own experience, my children's experience, and the experience of students involved in my Arts in Education course. (That's the idea right now, anyway.) Could a blog ring provide a sense of anonymity to my college students? Could it enable them to freely discuss their own reactions and emotions as we explore the interplay between painting and writing? At times it seems that they are hesitant to share these realities in class...perhaps because transparency is so threatening for all of us. We hold our innermost thoughts so close to ourselves that we build boundaries without even realizing it. I'm wondering if setting up blogs where classmates are able to post and respond to one another with "blogger" usernames might reduce some of the risk involved in this process? Hmmmmmm...
I hope to tell the story of ekphrasis in action through three different lenses, my own experience, my children's experience, and the experience of students involved in my Arts in Education course. (That's the idea right now, anyway.) Could a blog ring provide a sense of anonymity to my college students? Could it enable them to freely discuss their own reactions and emotions as we explore the interplay between painting and writing? At times it seems that they are hesitant to share these realities in class...perhaps because transparency is so threatening for all of us. We hold our innermost thoughts so close to ourselves that we build boundaries without even realizing it. I'm wondering if setting up blogs where classmates are able to post and respond to one another with "blogger" usernames might reduce some of the risk involved in this process? Hmmmmmm...
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