Category Archives: Groupwork

Build the Website Lenora!

Lenora should create the website. The dial-up connection shouldn’t be an issue, people made websites back when everyone was on dial up. The issue with that being that she will have to find a way to work around that limitation. There are different ways she could go around making a site. She could use an online drag-and-drop program, which would be the easiest. If she chooses this method then she will not have to worry about buying a domain or sorting out working with an FTP client (this would simplify things tremendously) however, in her situation, this may not be the best choice as those sort of interfaces would require a faster internet connection. She could check herself out some website coding books from the library and write the page by hand to upload, which would be perfect on a slower connection. Unfortunately, this would represent a large time commitment, which seems like poor choice for Lenora. Therefore I feel that the best choice would be to buy or download a software program that would do the coding for her, like Google Web Designer. Depending on her hardware, she could bring her device to the school to download the program.

This type of web design program would allow her to work to design a site with minimal knowledge of coding and she wouldn’t have to use the internet until she uploaded to her server. Programs like these are usually fairly user friendly and she should be able to work through problems she might have.

When designing though, she really needs to think about what her goals are from the beginning. Cradleboard seems to be a one way transmission of knowledge, very simply constructed. Since this resource helped her, is this style something she wants to mimic? Or does she want something that is more two dimensional/ co-constructed? She says she wants to allow

offers of “support and suggestions from other Aboriginal educators and their allies in addressing the particulars of bullying behaviour in band schools”. I feel like the best way to do this would be to give the information she learned from her PD in static pages with categories, and also form some sort of discussion board where teachers can post about bullying issues at their schools and have a network of peer support to help them to come up with solutions.

In the end, I think that a website is the best way for Lenora to go as it offers all of the functionality that she will need and has the potential to be built off-line or through dial-up. I think that initially there will be a significant amount of time required of Lenora to figure out how to create her website through trial and error. There are many helpful resources online and she will be able to tap into her passion for the project when things get tough. Hopefully though, by planning for her end goals from the start, she will design a website that is user maintained and will significantly reduce her workload in the future. Perhaps as one last piece of advice, Lenora should do the bulk of the work over her summer holiday!

Lenora’s Challenge

Hi Everyone;

Sorry for the late post.

First of all, I have to say that Lenora impresses me. Despite her lack of experience with technology, she is passionate enough about creating culturally-relevant anti-bullying resources for her colleagues that she is willing to consider creating a website from scratch. However, as you have all discussed already, this may not be the best route for Lenora, considering that she is new to the process and has limited bandwidth at home.

The idea of using Cradleboard as a starting point makes the most sense to me. This established learning community would be an excellent springboard for a discussion about bullying in the classroom, especially as there are probably a lot more people interested in this topic than Lenora is yet aware of.

My suggestion would be to create a social media site on Facebook where Aboriginal educators from all over North America could come together to share resources and discuss relevant issues. Ideally, Cradleboard would allow her to have a widget on their site where she could post her Facebook (FB) link and invite members to join. (A simple email request to the site’s creator could get it started.) Lenora is a very busy person and although she is committed to this process, she needs a platform that runs itself.

The other reason that I like the idea of using Facebook, is because of the importance of communication around this topic within the community. Lenora herself is aware of the importance of reflective practice and a FB community would facilitate this. Bullying is a day-to-day issue in the classroom and it would be great if educators could share their challenges and suggestions with some immediacy.

As many of you have already suggested, once Lenora is ready to post learning resources, it may be wise for her to create a wiki. It could start out as a simple text-based site, but as Lenora improves her digital-literacy skills, she could upgrade the learning assets. It would then serve as a place that she could reference on the FB page and direct people to the resources that she, and perhaps others have created. I imagine that in time, her wiki could really take off. However, I don’t think that it would ever preclude taking advantage of the immediacy and convenience of FB’s social medial platform.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Kind regards,

Tanya

Reference

Porto, S. (2015). The uncertain future of Learning Management Systems. The Evolllution: Illuminating the Lifelong Learning Movement. Retrieved from http://evolllution.com/opinions/uncertain-future-learning-management-systems/

If Lenora builds it, they will come.

In short, yes, a website is the way to go.

Lenora has found Indigenous online communities of practice, such as Cradleboard, to be very helpful. In today’s world internet is the most useful to connect to other people, over long distances.

I noticed the Cradleboard Teaching Project Teacher’s Circle (http://www.cradleboard.org), is designed in a way which would work well on low bandwidth or dial-up internet connections. The site used frames, basic formatting, and is not media rich. Taking a simple approach to the anti-bullying website design would make the site more accessible even in remote regions.

The problem still remains, that Lenora does not have the skills to create her own website for the anti-bullying resources. There are a number of ways she could address this:

Lenora could ask others for help and support with her initiative. Since she is already participating in Indigenous online communities, that would be one place where she could ask, outside her regular connections.
She could approach SD 83 (North Okanagan) with her idea and ask if they can host or sponsor such an educational initiative.
Since the web site she needs is very basic, she could sign up to learn how to create basic web pages.
She could pay someone to do this for her.

For her purposes, print or other methods of broadcast communication will not be able to foster the type of connections that she could in an online community.

Lenora Could Use Some Help

After reviewing the scenario, before even evaluating Lenora’s options I think the first step here is to clearly articulate her goals and evaluate her assets and of course her liabilities.

Goal: To create an online anti-bullying resource that is accessible to a specific audience of indigenous educators and an indigenous audience.

Assets:

Experience a Pro-D day that could be used as a model for her program.
Network of peers established through cradleboard.org, including stories for content
Use of cradleboard.org resources
Broadband access at school

Liabilities:

Dial-up web access at home.
Limited time to commit to project
Lack of technical skills to create website to host content.

Any project needs to take these to be able to operate within these parameters in order to be successful for Leonora, but in order to properly assess any solution we also need to determine the same for any of her end users. For the purposes of this project, let us assume that her network is working under the same, or similar, restrictions. I have also made the assumption that Lenora has little to no budget for this project.

Using the SECTIONS framework we can construct the following ideal criteria (Bates, 2014).

Students — Accessible to students with limited internet speeds.
Ease of Use — Accessible to users with limited technical knowledge.
Cost — No cost option.
Teaching and Media Selection — Due to limited internet speeds, limited use of multimedia technology. Some pictures may be possible, but mostly limited to text.
Interaction — Interaction of instructor and students through text.
Organizational Issues — Limited time and resources to deliver training.
Networking — Natural transition to and from existing Cradleboard network.
Security and Privacy — Access is limited to participating individuals.

In terms of a solution for Lenora, I’m not sure I have it. I think that there are a few solutions that I would explore if I was working with her.

Text based website: With minimal tutoring Lenora could establish a wordpress site and create text only content. Privacy settings could have Lenora choose who has access to the site. Initially, she may need to access the site through her school connection, but should then be able to access the site from home.

Email list: This is the least technical option and may be the best both in terms of management and access. It may be difficult to manage the learning experience, however it would not be impossible.

Bulletin Board System (BBS): The original social networks could be a solution for Lenora, but she would have to find a way to create one specific for her, and security could be an issue with such a simple technology.

Ultimately, if she is able to secure some help to get started I would suggest the text based WordPress option. I think that it would provide the best experience for her and her users during her course. I think that even with limited experience either with some help, or through trial and error Lenora could be successful.

References:

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a Digital Age (Chapter 8 on SECTIONS framework). Retrieved January 29, 2016 from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage

A Possible Solution for Lenora

Lenora’s limited experience with developing a website, and her limited online access at home, are two important considerations for determining an option that might best meet her needs and goals. One potential solution for Lenora would be to create a wiki, as this would allow for the sharing of documents and information, as well as offering collaborative opportunities for her colleagues to discuss problems, ideas and resources. According to the Bates SECTIONS framework (2014), the first step in selecting technology is to know your students (or in this case, Lenora’s colleagues), their similarities and differences, what technologies they already have access to, and what digital skills they already possess or lack. Therefore, if Lenora is experiencing difficulties with online access and technical expertise, it seems likely that many of the colleagues with whom she intends to collaborate will be experiencing the same challenges. Lenora will need to bear this in mind when she is selecting and developing her online anti-bullying resources. As her colleagues seemed to have enjoyed utilizing the cradleboard.org resources, perhaps Lenora could get some feedback from them regarding some of the aspects of this website that were positive and beneficial, and other areas that needed to be changed or addressed. This would give her a starting point in determining what her own resource might look like in order to best support and meet the goals of her anti-bullying project.

Creating a wiki requires minimal technical expertise, and the user friendly interface would allow for flexibility in creating the organization and visual layout of the website. These templates would be adaptable to Lenora’s needs as they may change in the near future, and she would be able to design her wiki during the initial stages with opportunities for personalizing the content and design as she becomes more comfortable and clearer with her intentions. According to Coates (2005), an important aspect for consideration is the ability of a given technology to be adaptable to the needs of diverse academic cultures and communities. Google Sites and Wikispaces are two options for creating a wiki that Lenora may wish to explore, as they would provide the flexibility and adaptability needed to address the diverse and changing needs of her community of professionals. Both options offer Lenora a basic starting point from which she can develop her knowledge and level of comfort with designing and maintaining a wiki, and both options offer a user friendly interface from which to work with.

As far as privacy and access are concerned, a wiki would allow Lenora to control and manage the accessibility of the information and discussions contained within. She could decide to share access only amongst colleagues or have the wiki available online publicly, and she would be able to determine the level of permissions for each individual person that has access to the website. Regarding the content of the wiki, different documents, presentations, photos and videos could be incorporated into and shared within the website. Many of these items could be created offline when Lenora is working at home, and she would be able to integrate and upload this content into the wiki when she has better online access, such as during her time at school. This should help support her in maintaining the balance between work and personal time that she is seeking.

References

Bates, J. (2014). Teaching in digital age, Chapter 8. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of learning management systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11,(1), 19-36. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9

Lenora’s Decision

In order to truly decide what option may be best for Lenora we would need additional information. What type of content is she wanting to house? Is it primarily text based with links to resources? Is she developing the resources herself? Will she want multimedia representations i.e. video, podcasts? Does she want the users to respond to the site or is it for their consumption? Does she have access to IT support through her school? Have other teachers at her school designed websites?

It sounds like she does want it to be interactive as well as information storage which will require versatility and accessibility. From this perspective a website is likely a strong choice. It provides a flexible platform and many web design programs are now available. Weebly, for example, has excellent web tutorials and even with limited technology skills, it is fairly intuitive. It is free and has live online support. Using a website allows her to start small and easily adapt and change the site as needed. Whether she wants to make it private or public is also a consideration for her decision. The people she wants to connect with, will likely be familiar with websites, providing a high level of ease of use.

I am wondering if she can combine tasks to reduce her development time. Perhaps designing a website with her students would fit into her curriculum goals. That way, the students are learning a valuable technology skill in a meaningful way alongside her, making learning visible to all. She would be developing her skills during the school day and using the faster internet provided by the school. She could design any number of activities or tasks for website design with her students. As a class they could view and evaluate other websites to address her concern that she doesn’t know where things would go on a website. The class could each design a site or contribute to a group site, beginning with simple text content, links or photos of student work. They could advance by adding communication tools, blogs, video etc. Lenora, then could be doing the same with her site. As she and her students learn new ways of working with the technology, she can gain this expertise and add elements to her site, minimizing her technical skills learning commitment.

I also am wondering since she is interested in this project, would other teachers also be interested? She is already connected to the Cradleboard group. Could she collaborate and possible co-create the site with other teachers from her school or the Cradleboard group? Are there other similar websites to what she would like to create, that she could add or adapt with her resources?

Having a strong plan for platform choice is very wise. Sometimes though, the best thing is simply to jump in and try it. See where it takes you. Be like the students and play. Some of the greatest creativity comes out this way.

Lenora’s anti-bullying resource

I do not feel that creating a website is the way to go for Lenora. In keeping with Bates SECTIONS model, the students needs must be considered. If the material is not culturally relevant to the community it is suppose to service then the content will not help the teachers who in turn will not be helping the students. Secondly, the ease of use of creating the website seems to be barrier for Lenora since she has limited skills in creating a website from scratch. An alternative solution is for link onto the existing Cradleboard resource to create a discussion forum where teachers can share their personal stories and she can reply to them based on the information that she learned from attending the professional development workshop. The discussion can then help to modify the material such that it is more relevant for the community to use. This alternative may be less time consuming and takes advantage of the infrastructure of an existing web resource. If the existing Cradleboard website has been useful to the First Nations community from an access point of view then it makes sense to build upon that resource so that the information is centralized.

Bates, T. (2014). Chapter 8: Choosing and using media in education: the SECTIONS model, Teaching in digital age. (p. 257 – 291). Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Context Is Important

The response I initially thought of for Lenora’s situation was to work with social media as a way to begin to develop a network of like-minded colleagues who could potentially share resources and tips about ways to address bullying in band (aka First Nation) schools in BC. A Facebook page or even a Twitter account could serve as an avenue to reach others in a quick, easy way that would not be dependent on uploading or downloading files with only dial-up access. Most band schools are small schools with few teachers. A networking option through social media site could help Lenora and teachers at her school connect with teachers at other and schools, and might even be useful for the public schools in nearby school districts. A blog might be another option, but this would depend on Lenora’s ease with using (or learning to use) one, as the case study indicates that time is a concern for her.

However, reading Keri’s post changed my mind. She suggested (and I paraphrase – hopefully correctly) that if Lenora could work with a group of other educators, they might be able to jointly develop a website. The collaborative effort could help with Lenore’s limited tech knowledge. Not only would the joint endeavour be valuable pro-d for the team in terms of learning more both about using technology and what might be important to help address bullying in their contexts; in addition, the final product might be richer, with more access points for other colleagues in other band schools. And as Keri notes, it also fits within a framework of the First Peoples’ Principles of Learning.

This of course, would still require some support in terms of one of the team having more access than Lenora to broadband for uploading/downloading (or the time to work at the school), and the potential for learning how to create a website. Even if a collaborative effort to create a website was not an option, the collaborative development of a social media linked community to address the bullying would be valuable.

On a completely different note (but related to the case study parameters) I want to share some thoughts about how challenging it can be for some educators to respond to situations/contexts that they do not understand are quite unlike their own. In the last few years, I have encountered many educators who presume that teaching experiences of educators around this province (and even country at times) are quite similar to their own experiences. I think this comes into play in the area of technology integration quite often. In other ETEC courses I can encountered people who actually disbelieve that some people in some remote First Nations communities for not have broadband. Yes, the tech infrastructure is growing rapidly, but if people don’t know about the jurisdictional challenges that exist when it comes to First Nations communities and First Nations (or band) schools, they don’t realize that services in some communities are not as readily available as people might think. In addition, most BC educators also do not realize that Band schools are not provincial schools and are not funded by the province (they are funded federally according to a completely different funding arrangement) and (except for a couple of schools) are not a part of a school district that can provide many of the supports that public school districts receive (i.e. in-person IT support). I think this is important to keep in mind when we respond to case studies (or potential future real world collaboration) about what people might need – it is important to find out more about the contexts other people are working/living in.

Okay – minor rant over now.

Oddly enough, I will be travelling to the Eliza Archie School in Canim Lake next month for the first time to facilitate a workshop (odd coincidence). I would be greatly surprised if any teachers there now are part of the very American- centered (i.e. not very relevant to BC First Nations) Cradleboard Teaching Project.

Some assumptions for Lenora

My estimate for Lenora would be no, she should not use a website. However, this is solely based on a few assumptions. The case study says nothing about the interactivity of the pro-d environment that Lenora wants to create. So I question as to why she would need to create a website when she can just provide the appropriate materials for the development session as static documents (i.e. PDFs, Word documents, etc)? Having static documents also allows her to cut down on the network bandwidth issue that she has. Although, to be fair, yes, she does technically need some sort of site to host the documents. So for dissemination purposes of whatever content she ends up creating (documents, video, online discussions, blog, website, etc) if she wants people to be able to access this information, she will need a place to store it on the Internet.

My rationale for this response is mostly due to the writings of Tony Bates’ Teaching in a Digital Age, Chapter 8 (2014). His SECTIONS model makes you look at the availability and affordances of various aspects of utilizing technology for instructional purposes. Here is my line of thinking then… if Lenora has no web design experience, very limited bandwidth availability, and no need for user interactivity, she really should go for the easiest possible model of relaying information. That comes down to a document, perhaps even a presentation.

Now, if she does want to build out a community of people focused around this development issue, then yes, she must have a website. In fact there are some very easy ways to make that happen based on her schedule, location, and skill level. For instance, Google Sites is a quick and easy way to create a fully functional website. Using Google Gears also allows Lenora to work in offline mode so that she is able to create the content she needs while at home. Once she goes to work, she can simply sync the changes necessary. So really, it isn`t as big of an issue as the case study makes it out to be. I think it comes down to knowledge about certain toolsets. Google Apps is one as I`m sure there are many others that could fulfill her requirements as well.

Bates, J. (2014). Teaching in digital age, Chapter 8. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Lenora First Person Voice

First let me write that I completely empathize with Lenora. Going to a Pro-D and coming away with ideas that just need to be tweaked “a little” can be a bit of a “hamster-wheel.” Let me give you an example.

When we were doing the rubric assignment for this course, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to sort of do a reverse questionnaire/process of elimination tool where it would lead BCcampus to the choice they needed for an LMS!?” [Note: what I was thinking were those polls that came up during the election, where your political-belief/allegiance would be revealed after a few answered questions]. I hurried over to Google Forms and started creating a questionnaire, then thought ‘wait! maybe, I should do this in Adobe Pro’, and then after an hour or so of making a nickel sized dent in an iceberg, I went off to prep for my real job of teaching the next day.

“Why,” you may ask, “is it always a story with you lady?” To which I will answer (to get us back on track) Lenora has a great idea. She is bursting with enthusiasm, and knows that this resource will potentially be really valuable. However, I think she needs to move this from “Me” to “We” (no © infringement intended). She has a huge resource pool of like-minded educators. Perhaps together they can develop a website with each of them tackling a part of the whole.

I believe there is good reason to pursue the website idea, and there are many options for sites that can be hosted (and self-help for creating) within the myriad of concerns and conditions that one would have for this type of site/scenario. However given the restrictions of her priorities, her internet access, and her unfamiliarity with the process, this endeavour may be best pursued and achieved with a team (but “posse” sounds much more “story”).

To quote the First People’s Principles of Learning: “Learning is holistic,” and “learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community.” (FNESC, 2015) Based on this, it would appear that for First Peoples, an issue such as bullying isn’t handled as a solitary element, nor with a solitary element (such as a website) but rather an opportunity for community to come together and practice ‘community.’ To accurately reflect on this scenario, one needs to remember the crucial piece that their community is based on interconnectedness and on relationship. The Lone Ranger motif is not a fit.

FNESC (2015). First peoples principles of learning. Retrieved from http://www.fnesc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PUB-LFP-POSTER-Principles-of-Learning-First-Peoples-poster-11×17.pdf