etec565

Topic: Interactions to support learning
Author: Leslie Dawes Date: June 13, 2011 7:37 PM

To what extent have you experienced on-line or mixed-mode courses that achieved this kind of learning environment?

My own learning experiences range from traditional face to face in classroom learning, to a blended learning environment during my year of technology experience at SFU to an online learning course through U.B.C. MET program. In each situation I have found positive attributes to what the learning environment offered. If I was to do a rubric as to which learning environment affords me the ideal learning, I would predict that each served me well for the time I spent. According to Anderson, “Online learning neither advantages or disadvantages knowledge centred learning in comparison to campus-based learning.” This is a very interactive course that involves many discussion posts interactions. Also, John is an involved instructor who offers input about the overall general comments of a specific scenario, sends video and e-mail comments. For me this has taken a basic online course to a more interactive knowledge-centered learning.

How might you use the learning technologies tools you have at your disposal to help you to create meaningful interactions?
Teaching Grade One has different challenges and needs than those teachers instructing high school or adult education courses. First of all, technology is introduced in a very basis way. Logging on is one of the first learning activities that can be very challenging. When I look at the various tools I have to help me create meaningful interactions within my classroom, I am surprised at how much exposure I have managed to provide for my inquiring classroom of Grade One learners.

We practiced with synchronous communication with Voice Thread discussing pictures about friends. We made a Photostory of our Favourite Place at School, where students took pictures, wrote and recorded their words and presented at a student-led conference.( multimedia). Discussion posts, virtual classroom and home reading response served as our social software.

This is a great start at an very primary level. Learning is constructed in a multi way with knowledge being scaffold at each level and stage.

My goal for my class is to demonstrate basis skills with technological applications, as well as using various software and Internet sites to build knowledge.

Leslie

References:

Anderson, T. (2008 a). Towards a Theory of Online Learning. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University.

What might be three important questions Raj could ask himself when deciding which multimedia to include?

After considering Bates and Poole’s ‘SECTIONS’ framework and this week’s reading focusing on George Siemens’ ‘Evaluation Media Characteristics’ there is a lot for Raj to consider.

1. Does the media type Raj is considering meet learning outcomes for his grade 5 English Language Arts?

2. Is the selection of media suitable for students? (considering technical requirements for delivery)

3. Does Raj have the budget, time and expertise to design, implement and teach content within the media framework?

Do you think Raj can deliver this in a month? Explain your answer and either: Suggest how Raj approach his website. Offer an alternative to the website, one that will use some of Multimedia already collected.

A month is a short time frame in which to research appropriate media, gather artifacts, compile them into a teaching/learning media presentation, and have time to test for reliability and effectiveness. Not knowing Raj’s level of expertise nor his general thinking of the way he would like to proceed using media, I would suggest that he start to put together what he would eventually use ( maybe for the next term), but in the short term use the 100 + photos and video that he already took and incorporate them into a slide show or a photostory3 or another type of software available. Also, he was inspired by the entire visit, so he might be able to arrange for his class to visit as well. Real life experiences are very valuable teachable moments. He could even have the students take pictures for their own individual photostory3 media presentation. Setting the stage, so to speak and then letting the students collaborate and interact with the learning is more effective than producing a media production that takes hours to do and does not offer as much interaction.

Leslie

References:

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

Siemens, George. (2003). Evaluating Media Characteristics .Using multimedia to achieve learning outcomes. Originally Presented at AMTEC 2002 with Stephen Yurkiw. http:// www.elearnspace.org/Articles/ mediacharacteristics.html.

Dafna’s Music Activity
1. Based on the resources available, how might Dafna organize this activity?

Dafna wants to provide a wonderful, engaging activity that encourages collaboration, innovation, critical thinking and decision making through music literacy, however resources are minimal. There are eight students who need to share five guitars, four iMac computers, her video camera and tripod which she is making available to the students. Ten mini-DV cassettes have been approved by her director. From this information one can assess that she have made this project known to her principal (director). There is no mention that the School Board has been made aware of this project to possible support her with equipment.

The IRPs for Composition and Technology 11 and 12 states, “Teachers who want to offer students experiences with a variety of materials and processes but who are unable to purchase all the necessary equipment may be able to use specialized equipment from other departments in the school or district. Local colleges, television and radio broadcasters or studios, and businesses are other possible sources.”

Dafne should explore these options mentioned in the IRP to hopefully attain more equipment to facilitate her project running as smoothly as it can. If this proves unsuccessful then she will need to enlist the help of the students to problem solve how to share the existing equipment or perhaps, if possible have them bring in their own.

2. How might she disseminate the music videos, once created?
Dafne could have a sharing time in class for the students to present their videos and share comments and thoughts about the process and final product. She could then put the videos on the school web site (virtual classroom). Dafne could also arrange a time to have the students present them to other students, administration, parents, and possibly school trustees and board members. This could prove successful and a reason for the board to invest in more equipment for the success of the music program. Dafne’s initiative could set a precedence for how technology can impact student engagement and participation for future school wide learning activities.

She would have to investigate the privacy aspect before attempting any uploads to youtube.

Leslie

Reference: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/course.php?lang=en&subject=Arts_Education&course=Music_11_and_12:__Composition_and_Technology&year=1997

Looking at the Vista shell was somewhat familiar to me as last term my group in ETEC 510 built a course using Vista as the asynchronous and Adobe Connect as the synchronous form of communication. It is somewhat different than Moodle. Now having had experience with both I think it comes down to which one you feel more comfortable with. A lot of that comes with experience. I worked with Vista in a group. That was a great experience as I learned so much from everyone else who seemed to know a lot about it. With Moodle I worked independently, reading and spending a lot of time experimenting. There is an advantage to both ways of learning. Now that I have had experience with Moodle, I would say that it is more familiar than Vista for me in the creating of a course.

I like the areas to create in Vista. There seems to be more choices as to the activities. The set up is also great. I am more use to seeing it as our courses are built through Vista.

I spent some time exploring and setting up a file. I added a chat room, a discussion link, a Live Classroom and a Module. Either way both LMS offer a good shell for teachers to build online courses.

This is a very interesting exercise as I have not taken time to read the Terms of Service or the Privacy Policies of various social software sites before.
I downloaded the terms of all four softwares and read through them. Linkin was the first one that I assessed as I belong to this site. When you join Linkin you give them permission to copy, publish, remove, use for commercial purposes. That was a bit of a surprise to me. They do not sell personal information, but they collect all information to go into your profile. Linkin belongs to TRUSTe’s Privacy Seal and they participate in the USA EU Safe Harbor Privacy Framework. This Social Software site is for adult professionals who share opinions and information with other professionals. This site is not appropriate for children.

Facebook was the second Social Software site that I looked at. I have a Facebook account that I use to keep in touch with my children, close friends and colleagues. I probably look at it twice a week and seldom make comments. (Too busy). Anyways, reading over their Terms of Service, I was pleasantly surprised that they say that individuals own all content and information and have control with whom to share. Joining Facebook though gives them specific permission to use any photos, videos etc. that is covered by intellectual property rights, subject to one’s privacy and application settings. Once you delete your account, any photos go into the recyling bin, but they do say that removed content may persist in backup copies for a period of time which they did not specify. This Social Software is not appropriate for children 6 and 7 years of age.

The third Social Software I examined was Delicious. I did join it a few years back and have used their services off and on. After reading through their Terms of Service I now know that they claim what’s yours is yours, however by joining you grant them certain rights in your member content. The member content is owned individually but they reserve the right to copy, reproduce, modify, adapt, distribute, etc. any content that is yours. They also have a very strict copyright policy on The Service and Service Content. Also, they will only accept members 13 or older. Many Terms of Service are similar Facebook. I found out that Delicious was just sold to AVOS from Yahoo and they say that if you were a member prior to the sale they will honor all previous agreements.

Picasa owned by Google is interestingly similar to Delicious. In fact their Terms of Service have the exact wording. “By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.”
I didn’t find any reference to the age of members. Since this site involves downloading pictures on a network it wouldn’t be advisable for younger children to participate.

I have already participated in a few Social Software sites so would I join others or continue with the ones I am in? The answer is probably yes. As I read in the introduction the reason people participate in these sites is it supports the desire of individuals to be part of a group and it provides avenues and means to mass amateurization. Each of these sites provides a specialized service that is helpful when using the Internet. When looking at each sites’ Term of Service I was surprised how many terms there were for protecting their rights. Picasa even had a section for helping parents educate their children to safety issues.

Implications for using Social Software sites in education is expanding as teachers are including many opportunities for their classes to engage students in online experiences that include discussion forums, sending emails, and chatting with friends. Social collaboration is a valuable experience that contributes to a meaningful community of knowledge builders. Sharing and learning within social sites can prove to be beneficial. Caution for privacy issues and understanding Terms of Service of Social Software sites is an important aspect to their use.

After reading and going through the section in the toolkit named Web Accessibility I have a new appreciation for how sites and various software accomodate people with disabilities. I learned that there are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Some of the disabilities range from blindness, deafness, dyslexia, colour blindness, hand tremors short term memory loss and cognitive disability. Such affordances that were available were screen reading software, braille printers, screen magnifiers, and single click mice.

I checked out the moodle in terms of 10 quick tips to provide to make it a Universal design- design for all.

The activity that was very useful was the Markup Validation Service. I put my moodle address in it and received back a document saying that it was successfully checked as XHTML 1.o Strict! It said that it performed a formal validation. They used OpenSSP and libxml2. A link was attached that said it could be attached to the site so I have done that. This is a great service as it can check for all the affordances quickly and in that way web designers will be able to properly evaluate the accessibility of their web site and its content. A great service. This was a worthwhile learning activity.

This week I went throught the web design section in the toolkit. I posted a reflection on a new page called E-Learning Toolkit. See reflection on web design.

This week another student and myself experimented with the new voice e-mail. It was a first for both of us! It was really easy and fun to use. Voice adds another dimension to the layers of communication. I would use it again as it offers a different way of asynchronous communication. The personal aspect of voice makes online connections even stronger. It gets a positive recommendation from me.

[[/youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?

http://animoto.com/play/DBtrVv2C5lWZQYUR0eglxA

Leslie’s Digital Story

I was very excited to explore the 50 different options available to tell a story. I connect with digital storytelling as I first encountered it at a Computer Workshop on a Pro D at least 5 years ago. I was impressed at how one could use storytelling in a digital way to support oral literacy in the primary grades. The program I saw demonstrated was Photostory3. I like the set up of Photostory3 and I usually make one after each holiday. When I took a year of TLITE at S.F.U. I did a field study researching the correlation between digital stories and oral literacy. I found through my own research and existing studies that literacy is enhanced and supported through a digital means of delivery. I have been using Photostory 3 with every Grade One class since. The children love it.

I was curious to learn about other digital software programs and what affordances they offered. After looking through and playing with many I selected Animoto. I had seen other digital projects over the last 9 months using Animoto and I was curious.

I like Animoto because like its name it is somewhat animated. The one I choose is called Pandora’s Box. I like the analogy to life and the affordances within the program make it very visual and for me, emotional. Stories that evoke meaning and emotion have an impact. Animoto is attractive to me in that way. I would like to try it with my class and see how they could manage it. We have always made the Photostory together with me managing the program. The children share it with their parents during student-leds. It would be interesting to see how they could challenge themselves to make one individually.

I also looked at Tikatot and thought that would be a great place to start as an introduction to storytelling with my class. They can make they own storybook by using templates and selecting from an array of preloaded pictures. Within the program is the ability to foster innovation and creativity. This program would be ideal for beginning writers as there is not a lot of writing needed to make a story. Whatever the program it should be fairly easy to use for this age group and meet the needs of individual learners.

Animoto was a perfect tool to tell my story. Animoto is fun and easy to use and the end result is very entertaining and pleasing. The ability to be as creative as one wants is a positive attribute, and the creativeness of the program adds the final storybook dimension.

Leslie

Participating in this module’s wiki got me thinking about the advantages/benefits and disadvantages/challenges of working together with other members in this course.
Similar to the activity itself, I set up a list of 5 Benefits and 5 Challenges.

5 Benefits

1. working in a participatory community supports learning and collaboration.

2. the final product of the wiki shows a progression of collective intelligence.

3. sharing ideas means a change in attitude about intellectual property.

4. developing ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of information is a skill.

5. a mentorship becomes evident as experienced students pass on their experience to other students.

5 Challenges

1. contributions may be altered or voided contrary to you thinking that they contributed value.

2. changing or voiding other’s contributions seems hard to do.

3. some people do most of the work while others may feel somewhat shy to contribute, especially if it involves alterating information of others.

4. no verbal or written communication between students concerning the edits and contributions can create some isolating feelings.

5. learning to collaborate with many others to produce one final copy is challenging.

Here is the final copy of our class’ collaborative and collective wiki on the 5 strategies and 5 challenges to engaging students using social media.

5 key Strategies to engaging students using social media # Theme Strategy
1. Teach Responsibility Instead of banning devices, leverage an authoritarian style to teach digital responsibility, cyber ethics and appropriate use of technology.
2. Participation Focus on creating a learner centered environment in which each student has a voice. Make personal contact with each student and encourage participation. Allow students to realize they are not just consumers of information, they are a part of creating it.
3. Expand Learning Provide opportunities for students to meet and become experts in their area of study to encourage authentic learning and extend learning beyond classroom walls. Use social media to foster innovation.
4. Collaboration Encourage collaboration by providing opportunities for students to work together to arrive at solutions to open ended questions.
5. Lifelong Learning Extend learning beyond school hours by inviting students to plan and organize synchronous meeting times for information sharing, problem solving, and progressing with project completion.

5 key Challenges to engaging students using social media # Theme Challenge
1. Privacy There are risks of privacy violations.
2. Preexisting Culture Teachers need to learn how to step back and allow the social media to be learning driven.
3. New Methods of Old Behaviors Social media can be used to facilitate undesirable behaviors such as cyber-bullying and personal attacks.
4. Distraction Students may be distracted by affordances of technology which may detract from the learning objective and disrupt the class.
5. Equitable Access Access to the tools and training required for participation in technology related activities may be inequitable.
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