Assignment 4 – Hyper Collaborative Learning
For the final assignment I knew I really wanted to focus on word processing, writing, literacy, and how cloud based products/services are changing how students write, collaborate, and share their ideas online. I was interested when reading about hypertext and the tools used to construct writing. I focused on word processors as a starting point for digital literacy, and touched on topics such as websites e-Portfolios, and social media being used to share ideas. My Rip-Mix-Feed project gathered online cloud based tools, including productivity suites which really have evolved from the software installed word processor/slide presentation tool, and have gone into the cloud and become web enabled tools such as Office 365, Google Apps, that are built around the familiar, but are now very collaboration friendly in the classroom for sharing text, presentation, and multimedia. Many schools are moving from standalone productivity software for the cloud based solutions which really make working together a lot easier.
I decided to present my material online I wanted to use a tool which could have a visually appealing design, be cloud based, and have online collaboration built in as a feature. I’ve used some different website builders before, and wanted to challenge myself to learn something new. I found Sway easy to use once getting around the learning curve. The focus is very text, and media centric, and it’s able to easily display on a wide range of platforms. Sway is part of the new Office Online set of tools and it seemed perfect for my needs. Students are able to easily insert content using the built in search with content that is tagged with Creative Commons licenses. Sway projects can be designed in different layouts, navigation, fonts, colours, and shared for display online, and worked on collaboratively.
Here is the link to my Multimedia Project Hyper Collaborative Learning which included some themes I’ve become interested in, aspects of collaborative online learning, and quotes that related to current text and media technologies available today.
Daniel, I think Sway is a great tool. The UX is really nice and I like how you were able to differentiate topics with those large image / photo banners. The movement in the banners was really cool.
Also thought your resources page on popplet.com was well done.
Hello Daniel,
Great job on your project. I have never heard of Sway and so I will have to check it out because your project is quite sharp looking.
One theme that plays throughout your entire project is how new forms of text, media, and communication come from the old forms. Writing became easier with processors but the structures remained the same. Editing and reorganization were facilitated, not revolutionized. Websites and blogs offered new possibilities, but were recognizable as organizational structures. The linear was made 3D with hyperlinks. The page became the web. Multimedia is the conglomeration of existing media, again, with different organization and orientation. Bolter refers to it as the late age of print, signifying that we are still in a recognizable era. Social media is where we begin to enter the realm of newness, although one could argue that even before the ancient Greeks, we were gathering in the agoras and marketplaces to see, be seen and get the news of their friends and neighbours. Perhaps social media is only different in its scope and reach.
Cloud services are where all of these advances and tools come together and are compounded with the multiplier of collaboration. We can do word processing, but on the same document, at the same time. We can share the same pool of multimedia resources, interact in real time with partners worldwide, and store vast amounts of information safely. Furthermore, the relative cheapness and accessibility are combating inequalities. Just google “School Chromebooks” and see how many schools are turning to these cloud-based laptops instead of iPads and tablets. Perhaps we are seeing a sea-change in the way we compute, or at least a willingness to invest in the promise and ease of collaborative cloud computing.
Thanks for the post.