Author: Chantal Drolet

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Reflection: E-learning toolkit

Reflections: E-Learning Toolkit experimentation

E-Learning Toolkit: Reflections

Write an entry for your course weblog about your experience here (on your “Home” page and posting a new entry). 

Note: I was not sure how to interpret the above instructions. Therefore, I added comments on the “home page”, while also creating this special posting for all my toolkit experimentation reflections.

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E-Learning toolkit: Web design and HTML authoring

Write an entry for your course weblog about your experience here (on your “Home” page and posting a new entry). How labor intensive was the process? What worked well? What was challenging? What surprised you?

My experience:

I was intrigued by the story boarding guidelines. As a film teacher, I use storyboarding, but in a different way. However, it was easy to relate to the various suggestions because I have often come across badly designed web sites in the past:

  • Avoid too much information; not too little either
  • Be consistent in the way it is structured; designed
  • Use relevant images
  • Clear print
  • Easy to follow numbering system
  • Good overall design

Embedding video and audio:

  • It can be a tricky experience. On YouTube, it can be easy to do. However, the size of the film may cause some problems with the loading process.

WebCT vs.  Moodle:

I played with the WebCT platform that was created in addition to our ETEC 565 course. After formatting Moodle for the course assignment, I found WebCT more appropriate for higher learning. The presentation seems more organized. In Moodle, one must use a very strict approach to avoid piling too much information in one section.

As an exercise, I ended up creating a website for my student’s films using Google sites: http://sites.google.com/site/cdstudentfilms/Than-Tun-Win (it is password protected for safety reasons. If you would like to view the site, please contact me.)

It is always a challenge to construct such a webpage. I had to decide which films to include; in what order; with what kinds of titles and fonts… In the end, it helped to use the “what sucks” check list. This was a worthwhile exercise. I had wanted to do this for a very long time, but had not yet selected the right platform. I had initially tried a blog, but found that after only a few additions, they were asking me to pay.

This platform allows me to store my students’ films without having to worry about the price or the storage space. I can embed the films if they have been uploaded on my student’s e-portfolio, on YouTube (most have, except for the ones who were too long or experienced some uploading complications).

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Synchronous Communication Tools

My experience with Skype

For the evaluation rubric that we produced in a group, we communicated on WebCT, by email, on Google docs and finally, on Skype. I tried to participate, but unfortunately, my system did not allow me to connect. So, I managed to contribute to the conversation by following the changes on Google docs. In the end, I took on the responsibility of finalizing the rubric’s presentation.

This kind of systematic problem has happened to me more than once when trying to chat online with colleagues or students. The issues seem to mainly come from the system’s safety settings. At school especially, it can be extremely difficult to disable these settings because so many people use the network. Usually, these precautions are in place to avoid unwanted emails, for example.

This is an activity that I will have to pursue in the future.

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Social Media

My experience with Facebook

Write an entry for your course weblog about your experiences (on your “Home” page and posting a new entry).

  • Who “owns” materials posted by members?
    • It belongs to FaceBook
  • For what purposes can these materials be used?
    • Date can be used to steal information or sell products
  • Would using each site be appropriate with your students?
    • Another question might be: since students are using these platforms, how can we inform them on the way to use them safely?
  • In your opinion, how well are the privacy interests of members represented?
    • With the recent changes on Facebook, it has been a challenge to decide whether or not to keep the account. I am aware of the fact that some schools do not allow teachers to use Facebook with their students. In my case, it is the main reason why I use Facebook: to be able to easily contact my family, friends and old students.
    • Of course, this leads me to ponder quite extensively about what I post in my messages. For one thing, I usually use abusive language neither in person, nor in writing. So that was not an issue for me. However, I am aware of the possible abuse of pictures from strangers, for instance.
  • How would this inform my own participation in these social network sites?
    • When I first create my account, I accepted almost everyone who asked to be my friend (they were usually my students). Now I have become more careful. I also know that Facebook analyses what we write and sends publicity related to our conversations, etc. So, I minimize my interaction on this medium. For me, it is a place to connect briefly. For more in depth conversations, there is always the email option and the old fashioned and very personal telephone call.
  • What did you discover? What surprised you? What are the implications for education?
    • This might be interesting to share with students in the future. There is a lot of backlash lately about Facebook’s privacy settings and people are developing tools and ideas…

1. http://www.quitfacebookday.com/ May 31 is Quit Facebook Day

2. http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/facebook will scan your Facebook page and alert you to improper privacy settings

3. http://www3.untangle.com/saveface will set your Facebook privacy to Friends Only (automatically)

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Weblogs

My experience with weblogs

Write an entry for your course weblog about your experience here (on your “Home” page and posting a new entry). How labor intensive was the process? What worked well? What was challenging? What surprised you?

I love weblogs. This is the platform I chose for my e-portfolio (ETEC 590). In my course about indigeneity (ETEC 521) a weblog was also created. It encouraged me to find various interesting sites that pertained to native culture and issues. I found the experience very rich on an individual basis and even more so in a collective way, since student could share their blogs and compare our findings.

It is one of the invaluable technological tools that I have learned to use in my classes. In the film class, all my students have e-portfolios and we use wikis and blogs to embed their films and archive them for university applications. In Spanish, I intend to do the same.

 Live Journals:

I had a negative experience with Live Journals. One of my students, a while ago (this technology was in its infancy) created a live journal and became quite popular in China. She documented her weight loss (about 100 pounds). It was an emotional experience for her not only because she revealed her inner thoughts online (which we don’t encourage students to do presently) but she created “friends” and “enemies”. In the end, I think that it did not make her objective easier to reach.

Like all public spaces, I always recommend extreme caution.

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Wikis

My experience with wikis

Write an entry for your course weblog about your experience here (on your “Home” page and posting a new entry). How labor intensive was the process? What worked well? What was challenging? What surprised you?

As an exercise, I ended up creating a website for my student’s films using Google sites: http://sites.google.com/site/cdstudentfilms/Than-Tun-Win (it is password protected for safety reasons. If you would like to view the site, please contact me.)

It is always a challenge to construct such a webpage. I had to decide which films to include; in what order; with what kinds of titles and fonts… In the end, it helped to use the “what sucks” check list. This was a worthwhile exercise. I had wanted to do this for a very long time, but had not yet selected the right platform. I had initially tried a blog, but found that after only a few additions, they were asking me to pay.

This platform allows me to store my students’ films without having to worry about the price or the storage space. I can embed the films if they have been uploaded on my student’s e-portfolio, on YouTube (most have, except for the ones who were too long or experienced some uploading complications).

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Adaptive technologies

Adaptive technologies that people with disabilities use when online. These include:

  • Screen reading software
  • Braille printers
  • Screen magnifiers
  • single click mice

It’s important to realize that while many people with disabilities have access to these technologies, in my school very few do. Therefore, I usually build my online resources with a minimal need for such technologies.

I think that the most important technological adaptation would be auditory. It may not be due to a disability, but rather because some people learn better by hearing rather than visually. This is often the case with language students (and teachers too!).

I once had a student who was almost blind. We had to use magnifiers; enlarge photocopies, etc. It is not an inconvenience at all, but it is rare in my environment.

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Mobile e-learning

Write an entry for your course weblog about mLearning as both an end user and course designer (on your “Home” page and posting a new entry).

Phones have become so useful and so powerful! I now often receive email from my students with “sent from my iPod” written at the bottom.

  • What is the rationale for implementing mobile learning technologies?
    • Accessible to all and less expensive than say, cameras and microphones.
    • Behaviorist – activities that promote learning as a change in learners’ observable actions
    • Constructivist – activities in which learners actively construct new ideas or concepts based on both their previous and current knowledge
    • Situated – activities that promote learning within an authentic context and culture
    • Collaborative – activities that promote learning through social interaction
    • Informal and lifelong – activities that support learning outside a dedicated learning environment and formal curriculum
    • Learning and teaching support – activities that assist in the coordination of learners and resources for learning activities
  • How does ubiquitous access to a wireless network change the dynamics of learning both in and out of the classroom & what are best practices for using mobile learning?
    • Using portable computing devices (such as laptops, PDAs, smart phones, and tablet PCs) with wireless networks enables mobile learning; teaching and learning extends to spaces beyond the traditional classroom.
    • Within the classroom, mobile learning gives instructors and learners increased flexibility and new opportunities for interaction. Mobile technologies support learning experiences that are collaborative, accessible.
    • New forms of learning are emerging. Information literacy may change as students expand their multitasking, mobile, learning-on-demand habits.
  • What end-user support is important for mobile learning? How can it best be provided?
    • Example:
      • University of California, San Diego: UCSD Active Campus
        The ActiveCampus project aims to provide location-based services for educational networks and to understand how such systems are used. ActiveClass enables collaboration between students and professors by serving as a visual moderator for classroom interaction. ActiveCampus Explorer uses context (such as location) to help engage students in campus life.

References

Educause: http://www.educause.edu/ELI/Archives/MobilityandMobileLearning/5527

The Hidden Dangers of Social Networks: You can log-on but you cannot hide: http://www.slideshare.net/lisbk/the-hidden-dangers-of-social-networks-you-can-logon-but-you-cannot-hide

Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning: http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/lit_reviews/Mobile_Review.pdf

Categories
Discussion #4a: The Wisdom of the Crowd

Reflections: The wisdom of the crowd

The Wisdom of the crowd

Discussion:

The Wisdom of the crowd / weblogs

In terms of having student work take place in public or private spaces,

Some thoughts about weblogs:

  • Weblogs may be online journals (text, images, and hyperlinks)
  • Dynamic environment that facilitates reflection.
  • Strategy to get students motivated; to participate actively in the writing construction and encourage critical thinking
  • Allows active learning, get feedback
  • Access to a variety of resources and blogging & providing a form of online asynchronous discussion.
  • Possibility of customizing blogs by adding images, graphics, videos, pictures and many other features
  • Enables connecting and integrating technology to a traditional field of study to form a new method to understand the subject

Issues of ownership or responsibility in weblogs; potential benefits or drawbacks to having people who are not within the classroom space participating or engaging with student material? 

  • Self-publishing encourages ownership and responsibility on the part of students, who may be more thoughtful (in content and structure) if they know they are writing for a real audience.
  • In the video made my Karl Fisch, students seem to be mainly positive about their experience.
    • They seem to be at ease in the blogsphere.
    • Interconnectivity is certainly an element of their lives not only found on blogs, but also on many other devices.
    • I think that when we talk of strangers (or collaborators) having access to their work, we must really decide which audience we are referring to:
      • elementary school children
      • high school students
      • university students
      • … should be treated differently.

References:

Blogs and Wikis: Environments for On-line Collaboration

http://cursa.ihmc.us/rid=1131480053328_1801720929_4296/godwin.pdf

Categories
Discussion #4: Public or private spaces for learning

Reflections: Wiki space & group collaboration

RE: collaboration and discussion within the wiki space

Reflecting on my participation:

I initated this wiki activity at the beginning of the week.

  1. First, I a added a “sighting”.
  2. Then, I thought that it might be useful to add a structure in the “discussion” area of the wiki, to ensure some type of organization to the conversations.
  3. As time passed, and few entries were appearing, I thought that perhaps there was a need for clear objectives. So I added an area where 5 challenges and 5 strategies would be selected by the class.
  4. After reading some of the comments, I decided to activate this area by adding a suggestion and finding a way to elicit participation.
  5. I therefore added a suggestion in the strategies section, my name and asked people who agreed to also write their names. I replicated this model to the challenges section.

General impressions:

  • The wiki discussion area is very different from an LMS standard threaded discussion space. 
    • For one, HTML is necessary in order to organize the writing. Without it, comments soon become a big soup of ideas.
    • I found that some of the students followed the bullet structure that was initiated, but some did not.
  • Advantages in using wikis for group collaboration? 
    • It’s a change and it certainly triggers interest.
    • It is useful to know how wikipedia works.
    • HTML is also important to review once in while. I found most of my questions on the web (lists; bold; italics; etc.)
  • Challenges of working with others in a collaborative wiki space?
    • Too many comments in one place.
    • Hard to distinguish between one author and another.
    • Challenging to keep some kind of order in the discussion.
    • Challenging to “discuss” and come to a decision when too many people are involved.
    • Hence, my quest for an operational structure.
Categories
Discussion #4: Public or private spaces for learning

Reflections: Wiki activity (sighting: presence of social media)

Sighting

Examples of the ways in which the presence of social media is apparent in the lives of my students:

  • They use e-portolios to publish their scripts and films in the digital film class.
  • In Spanish, they are also starting to use e-portolios to gather their artifacts (PowerPoint presentations, etc.). Issues and challenges to be discussed (in the discussion area): How to assess e-portfolios; safety of online publishing; how to avoid palgiarism.
  • In Moodle, we are exploring the use of forums and chats in Spanish. Issues and challenges to be discussed (in the discussion area): What is the idea teacher’s level of participation (intervention); ethics & web communication conventions.

Discussion:

Stategies and Challenges

Challenges:

  • how to assess e-portfolios
  • safety of online publishing
  • how to avoid palgiarism
  • what is the idea teacher’s level of participation (intervention)
  • ethics & web communication conventions

Stategies:

  • start with clear course conventions and assessment guidelines.
  • take in consideration the time needed for instructor’s feedback.
Categories
Discussion #3c: Assessment challenges and opportunities

Reflections: Feedback

How to manage your feedback?

In their article, Gibbs & Simpson wrote extensively about “feedback”. They look at quantity as well as quality.

This is what I find:

  • In Spanish, I give many quizzes, tests, essays and projects. It allows me to see where students are positioned in terms of their linguistic proficiency. Feedback is offered in the form of marks, one to one discussions, peer assessments and self-assessment (which gives me some feedback from the student’s point of view).
  • In the film program, which is oriented towards the much more challenging to pin point art of “communication”, I also provide feedback, but it is a very different kind of feedback.
    • This type of retroaction is offered in the formative phase of the creative process much more than at the end.
    • One of the reasons for this is that students are more receptive and willing to change or alter their films when they are in the process of editing it.
    • However, when the end product is done, it becomes their “baby” and they are attached to every decision, every image, every cut. It becomes much more challenging to “critique” the product.
    • This is why I use “public” assessments. The judges assess the product without really worrying about how difficult it was to produce it!
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Discussion #3b: Synchronous and asynchronous communication

Reflections: Communication online

Communicating Online

One of them most practical things I learned in the MET program is how to discuss online.

At first, I was writing dissertations and I didn’t know how to use the HTML, so my comments were big blocks of words!

At one point, in one of the courses, we touched on:

  • the importance of changing the label of your discussion (easier to retrieve)
  • the necessity of being brief, clear and informative
  • the delicate nature of communicating with written words only… hence the positive use of emoticons (they help make people feel more at ease) 🙂
  • KISS (Keep it simple and … “something”!!) – just learned this one recently.

It is sometimes a challenge to feel “connected”… but when I think of our community of practice, I see professionals who are interested in learning and developing their competence.

Categories
Discussion #3a: What would Trinh do?

Reflections: Trinh & teacher / student ratio

teacher / student ratio

How do you manage hundreds of students? Even online…

  • Some people say that numbers don’t matter…
  • I disagree with passion on that one.
  • I feel that teacher / student ratio should be limited.
Categories
Discussion #3c: Assessment challenges and opportunities

Reflections: Assessment challenges and opportunities

Assessment challenges and opportunities

Planning assessment in a cooperative setting (such as the production of digital films) presents interesting challenges. To implement effective evaluation strategies, one must be:

  • clear on what tasks will be assessed,
    • what procedures will be used,
    • and how the tasks and assessment procedures will correspond.

Three types of assessment are typically used:

  1. Diagnostic assessment (pre-testing… often dismissed): refers to student’s actual level of knowledge and skills
  2. Formative assessment: monitors students’ progress toward learning goals
  3. Summative assessment: provides data to judge the final level of students’ learning

Evaluation tactics in situated learning, including constructivism, are characterized by assessment being an intrinsic part of the learning process.

When assessment is well designed, it provides a potent motivation for students and fosters study habits correlated with the educational goals of the course.

Spanish:

  • In my Spanish classes, students constantly refer to personal experiences when talking and writing about various themes. They are also invited to create oral presentations for which they select the topics.

Film:

  • In the film classes, I use self, peer, group and public assessments to verify the knowledge acquisition & learning process.

UBC Moodle: Assessment & technology

  • In my Moodle tool assessment project, I created a quiz which combined formative and summative assessment questions.
    • As a rule, I only use multiple choice exercises to practice linguistic skills. Assessments are usually in the form of more substantial written and oral tasks.
    • For learning Spanish, if the whole course is done online, the need for chats and forums is much greater than if the course is a combination of face to face and online strategies.
    • For digital film making, since the medium must be distributed somehow in order to be viewed, an online e-portfolio with the various components of the film production process is a sound idea. However, due to student confidentiality, I would not put the assessment results online.
Categories
Discussion #3b: Synchronous and asynchronous communication

Reflections: Chat on Moodle

RE: Chat on Moodle

I am basically new at Moodle… so for some of you this may not be interesting! ¡Ay caramba!

  • I explore the chat activity and added one to my UBC Spanish Moodle site.
  • I wrote an introduction.

You must choose a news that interest you and that comes from Latin America or Spain. Explain what happened… and give your opinion. You must chat for at least 5 minutes and talk to more that one person.

  • This is linked with a part of the course in which news about the Hispanic world are presented by students (via the web) every day. This chat would happen at the end of the term, let’s say, when everyone has presented a news.
  • My rationale:
    • Our language program is focused on communication and culture
    • By chatting, students are empowered to present their personal interest and it has been proven that some students, who tend to be more quiet in the classroom, communicate more via this type of tools.
Categories
Discussion #3b: Synchronous and asynchronous communication

Reflections: Synchronous or not?

RE: Synchronous or not?

To tell the truth, this whole online learning experience has been possible for me due to the asynchronous learning / communication. As a professional, without this aspect of the MET program, I would not have been able to participate.

One of the drawbacks listed in our course material is that “students may not feel as connected”… In my experience, we feel as connected as we connect ourselves. It is very similar to f2f. Some students are there (physically & the rest), while some are only there physically :-)… I exaggerate to make a point.

On the other hand, some of the experiences I had using chats were really fun! A bit chaotic, but a riot! That’s where I learned the meaning of LOL (really!!!).

I do miss the voice option, as a multimedia teacher, but it is really complicated to organize times to meet… so I guess this is a serious limitation to the use of these tools.

I have enjoyed making and watching videos of people presenting their work, ideas. When we produce this kind of document, there is a lot of thought that goes into it. Editing insures that the films are tight and informative.

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