Learnadoodledastic

Articulate Presenter: Adding Voiceover Sound

2012-01-29T09:14:00.013Z

In a previous post we looked at how to include voice-over sound in PowerPoint presentations. For those that also have access to the Articulate Presenter PowerPoint Add-In there is the opportunity to add sound to an enhanced presentational format.

This two part series demonstrates how add to add voiceover sound to Articulate presentations and highlights a few basic points about the files and folders that are generated.

Part 1: Adding Voiceover sound to Articulate Presenter - Adding Sound, Previewing and Publishing

Part 2: Adding Voiceover sound to Articulate Presenter - Files, Folders and External Sound

Adding Voiceover Sound to Powerpoint

2011-12-31T12:38:00.004Z

I have created a 4 part series of videos demonstrating and discussing how to include voice-over sound in PowerPoint presentations. For those that are new to PowerPoint, electronic presentations or are slightly technophobic in these matters hopefully these videos will be useful to you.

Part 1: Adding Sounds

Part 2: Summary and Considerations

Part 3: Audacity

Part 4: Adding External Sound Files and Final Summary

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE - PLE's need Teachers

2010-09-23T17:25:00.015Z

Call it a PLE if you like, to me it is connectivist learning. Other terms that i can identify with are Dave Cormier's 'Community as Curriculum' approach and Wendy Drexler's elucidation of Networked learning in the 'Networked student model' (video) .

I agree with Jenny Mackness blog post on Curation and Balance in that it is the process that is of most interest and relevance when trying to explain to staff and students the benefits of 21st century connectivist learning. I think however the terms PLE and PLN are with us to stay and so an appreciation of the differences between the terms is useful. From the various blog posts it would seem that the consensus is that a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is more concerned with tools and technology and that Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are more concerned with connections to people. I agree with these distinctions and I like Vahid Masrour's (PLE, i think i got it (for me, anyways) concise view of their respective functions.

PLE - "My PLE is where I store all my “keys” to the network. The PLE takes me to my PLN through various gates and paths." and later he says "PLE's are nice, and useful, but they're the ticket and ride, not the destination. The destination is the PLN."
PLN - "One of the key concepts for me in a PLN is that learning is a social activity.", "The PLN is then more akin to a community, but with much looser connections, described in the literature as “weak ties”. He also states "The key aspect here are the connections, and what I can do with them, in the sense of doing something with them, not just benefiting from them."

PLE's and PLN's in context
Before I move onto the main theme of this post - The role of the teacher in a PLE, I wish to just talk about the context of PLE and PLN use. I can think of three different contexts where a PLE-PLN will be in use:

Unconsciously - Those who without prior knowledge of the terms PLE and PLN learn from online pursuit of their interests combined with ongoing general social interaction.
True self directed independent learners who have naturally seen the potential of connective technology to enhance their own learning and understanding OR initially teacher supported users who are now confident working and learning autonomously in a self directed way.
Teacher supported PLE's and PLN's

As educators who see the learning benefits in a PLE/PLN approach then i think we need to recognize the importance of teacher supported PLE's and PLN's and the need to educate both teachers and students in order to promote this approach to learning.

Balance and the Teacher as Curator/Facilitator
Jenny Mackness and Wendy Drexler both highlight the issue of balance (in many respects), but notably in the issue of teacher intervention and getting the right balance between supporting and scaffolding the learner experience and letting students independently develop and grow their own PLE's and PLN's.

This excellent post by Leigh Blackhall Regarding George Siemens curators and George's subsequent excellent response breaks down possible roles involved in networked learning that the teacher may be classified as (Expert: Someone with sustained contribution to a field, Teacher: experts with authority, Curator: play the role of interpreting, organizing, and presenting content, Facilitator: able to guide, direct, lead, and assist learners, not necessarily being a subject matter expert.

I note that George in his Networks, Ecologies, and Curatorial Teaching post likes the idea of curator to reflect the role of network administrators/organisers in a networked learning environment. Previously I have always used the term 'teacher as facilitator'. After reading George's definitions i believe curating is probably more apt. In a teacher supported PLE/PLN the teacher will probably do both roles.

Further to this I see the PLE-PLN as part of a learning strategy that runs alongside a more deliberate and social and active learning approach where more contrived learning tasks and activities are instigated to improve connectedness. It's all about context i think, but I note this may go against the grain of leading connectivist thinker Stephen Downes whose views are explored in this blog post - The groups and networks debate (I shall read more on this later).

I see the role of the teacher as curator/facilitator as absolutely critical to helping students to appreciate and then develop the PLE-PLN approach to learning. It seems natural to me that intervention can be gauged on a continuum whereby new PLE-PLN learners are quite heavily supported and this support gradually diminishes as the learners evolve into confident autonomous and self directed learners.

Making PLE's and PLN's work Better

Vahid Masrour finishes his blog post with these questions/observation. "I guess my next question then becomes: why focus on PLEs? Shouldn't we be trying to figure out how to make PLN work better?"

I think he has a good point. Development of your PLE is about working with technology, refining your use of tools to give you more keys or more efficient access to your network of people and resources. This process alone will enhance connectivist learning skills, but it is in addressing how to make PLN's work better that enhanced learning can occur. i.e how to improve connection making and strengthen connections.

We can explore this more at another time, but the main themes worth exploring in this regard are.

Learner centered pedagogic development for teachers
Technological and online skills and practices development for teachers
Technological and online skills and practices development for learners
More use of web conferencing for live interactive synchronous learning activities.

I'' leave you with an excellent book - Helping Students Learn in a Learner-Centered Environment: A Guide to Facilitating Learning in Higher Education, which will serve as a guide for face to face and online facilitating and focus thinking on how this pedagogic approach can be adapted using the online technology available.

#PLENK2010

A Deliberate and Effective PLE

2010-09-17T19:35:00.011Z

Initial reading that has help me to formulate my opinion on this topic is the excellent Developing Personal learning networks for open and social learning article by Alec Courous who explains the rationale for choosing a primary free and open learning environment and describing the course facilitation model to promote an open an social personal learning network, John Mak's Research into the Design and Delivery of MOOC blog post which contains a number of prompts in relation to open and social learning compared with the more structured and traditional way of learning, Dave Cormier's 5 points about PLE'S and PLN'S which gives a good overview of key points on the topic and Scott Leslie's Mother of All PLE Diagram Compilation.

Thinking about my own PLE in relation to the reading led me to developing my own PLE Model. The thinking behind the model is outlined below the following diagram.

Questions that crossed my mind were:

1. Is your PLE Deliberate? By this i mean has your PLE just grown organically by adding and experimenting with different services or have you deliberately organised and designed your PLE to suit your learning Purpose.

2. What is the Purpose of your PLE? which leads onto the question...

3. What model of a PLE fits your purpose? (need to review PLE Models)

When considering Question 2 further questions come to mind such as:

4. What do you do in a PLE?

5. What is learning in a PLE?

Once you have a better understanding of what you do in a PLE, How you learn in a PLE and what the purpose of your PLE is you can in a more informed way address the question

6. What technically do i need to do to make my PLE Effective?

So - What about my PLE, is it Deliberate, does it have a purpose
In asking myself is my PLE deliberate the simple answer thus far is NO. Yes i do have a collection of tools that i use to help with my learning and maintaining personal connections, but previously i have not thought through clearly what i hope to achieve with my PLE. Until now most of my learning is driven by my immediate needs, the galvanising effect of being enrolled on a formal course or involved in informal but Studious and intentional courses such as this MOOC and serendipitous casual learning.

When thinking about the purpose of my PLE it strikes me that i have needs for a number of distinct learning situations, but i shall concern myself with my primary interest which is learning and education and in particular social, active and participatory learning.

Towards a Deliberate and Effective PLE
If we start with the premise that when creating a deliberate and effective PLE you are signed up to the notion you can enhance your learning by learning in an open, social, participatory, sharing way then at the most abstract level I think of what you do in a PLE as the 3x3.

1. Collate, filter/sort and share TOPIC/CONTENT information
2. Collate, filter/sort and share PERSONAL ACTIVITY
3. Collate, filter/sort and share NETWORK ACTIVITY

By actively contributing to these activities you will be contributing to your own and others learning. It can quite a demanding business, but being organised and deliberate will help and being kind to yourself in recognising that you may not have all the time you would like to contribute fully will help as well.

Practically - What do you do in a PLE?
It was interesting perusing the diagrams at Scott Leslie's Mother of All PLE Diagram Compilation, but quite overwhelming at times. Nevertheless it did help me consolidate what i believe occurs in a PLE and consequently has now given me a model to follow in constructing my own deliberate and effective PLE.

To simplify and understand what you do in a PLE I have broken down the key elements to SIX key activities plus your CONTROL center of Choice. We'll call this the CONTROL PLUS SIX model. Linked into this model is the recognition that the web based tools that you use in this model will have multiple uses and can fit in any of the six activities depending on your own learning purpose. The six activities that i have identifed are 1. Data Gathering, 2. Publishing, 3. Communication, 4. Collaboration, 5. Reflection and 6. Planning.

I think most activities can be bracketed under these headings. I welcome any thoughts as to whether these broad categories do indeed capture the range of activity that ensues in a PLE.

The Control Plus Six PLE Model

0. The control centre: Whatever you use to pull together all the collating, sorting and sharing of topic/content information, personal and network activity. May be a combination of tools, not neccessarily just one. For example a Wordpress blog, Integrated Google tools, Personal Blog with Tweetdeck and RSS Feed reader.

1. Data Gathering : (Inbound Activity) - e.g. diigo, delicious social bookmarking, google search, network tweets, network blog posts, facebook links
2. Publishing: (Outbound Activity) - e.g. blogging, creating multimedia, presentations, articles
3. Communication: (Inbound and Outbound Activity) - e.g. discussion forums, tweeting, email, social networking (i.e facebook), web conferencing, instant messaging
4. Collaboration: (Inbound and Outbound Activity) - e.g. wikis, google docs, project collaborations, presentations, research, article writing
5. Reflection: (Neutral - Home Activity) - e.g. blogs, wikis, notes (facebook, diigo)
6. Planning: (Neutral - Home Activity) - e.g. google calendar, project management (i.e basecamp)

#PLENK2010

Digital Participation, Digital Inclusion and Social Learning

2010-07-24T18:58:00.004Z

Digital Participation - Why?

Attended the 'Measuring the Unmeasurable: Digital Participation' Seminar at Birmingham University on Monday 19th July. I was unsure as to what to expect. My motivation to attend stems from my interest in informal online learning and how connectivist methods of online learning can be used to promote digital participation. Also interested in the notion of measuring participation. The purpose of the session was to provide a forum for discussion of the meaning and measurability of digital participation. Key objectives of this initiative from Birmingham City University was to:

To start up a continuing dialogue between researchers, activists and policy-makers about issues of research and measurement.
To identify key concerns about the meaning and value of digital participation.

It would seem and i agree that widespread digital participation is a desirable aim for the government of any country. Desirable if you are a government that wishes to be inclusive and not have certain sections of the nation excluded from modern communication. Indeed here in the UK the topic has attracted interest because the previous government identified a goal of increasing digital participation. The new coalition Government also shares this ambition. More information can be found here at the raceonline2012 website. The importance of digital inclusion and digital participation for the Government are emphasised by Martha Lane Fox, the governments UK Digital champion:

"We need to be ambitious, ‘think internet first’ when we design services, and put the needs of the hardest to reach at the heart of industry, charity and government. There is a social and moral case to make sure more people are online but there is a clear economic case too. We will all be better off when everyone is online." July 2010

Throughout the seminar i kept asking myself why - Why are the Government pushing this, What is their motivation, What is their Vision. Martha Lane Fox offers this:

and the seminar introductory text offers this:

"Lord Carter presented the final Digital Britain report in June 2009 (. The report highlighted the need to engage a wider cross section of the public in going online; identifying that such engagement would result in the efficiencies and economic benefits expected from living and working in the digital age. It is quite a detailed report and i have not had a chance to read it yet. As part of the digital participation agenda the following were identified as important topics to address:

Digital Life Skills
Digital Inclusion and
Digital Media literacy

Overview of Proceedings

Speakers at this event included:

Professor David Macguire Birmingham University, Pro-Vice Chancellor Corporate Development
Paul Watson – Director, Digital Economy Hub for Inclusion through the Digital Economy
Catherine Bunting – Director of Research, Arts Council England
Alison Preston – Senior Research Associate, Ofcom

Proceedings were kicked of by Professor David Macguire who emphasized the point that we are now part of a knowledge sharing economy and that through the development of digital technology their has been an information revolution, but without effort to achieve digital participation throughout the country then we will perpetuate the digital divide that exists, whee currently 12.5 mullion out of the 65-70 million will not be participating.

Keynote Speaker Paul Watson told us about the Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy
. (side) research project that looks at problems of accessibility, connection at home and in society, transport and capitalizing on the emeregence of creative industries through the eyes of technologists, sociologists, business leaders and end users to provide scalable, sustainable and economically viable solutions. This project goes much wider than just ensuring that people have access to the internet, but does encapsulate good practice in promoting a model of joined up thinking on the subject of digital participation. This short video explains the sort of thing Paul Watson and his team are researching:

Alison Pearson outlined what Ofcom who had been commissioned under the Cartrer Report (2009) to collect statistics on digital participation outlined
the approach they have taken to measuring digital participation. This included measuring:

Reach: Who uses the Internet, Where do they use it, How do they access it.
Breadth: The ranges and types of Activity
Depth: User contributions and Content creation.

Part of the role of Ofcom is to them measure the social and economic impact i.e. The extent to which participating online had improved social contact and economically whether savings had been made. Additionally Ofcom looked at the appetite for take up amongst non users and the reasons why some people do not have the internet at home.

Whilst the final speaker Catherine Bunting had some worthwhile incites into using cluster analysis and segmentation research methodologies to get a firm grip on who is participating in arts based events (off line) and lessons can be learned and applied to digital measurement I was much more interested in How do we get people to participate, what does participate mean or simply asking the question why should you/me participate.

Presumably others felt similarly as the afternoon workshop by Jennifer Jones on Depth
was by far and away the most well attended.

Why is participation important? - Some thoughts!
Well too me it depends on who is answering the question, but the bottom line to me is that participating online promotes social learning and learning in all its forms is a strong foundation for progress within a society. There was a strong feeling i got from our discussions on the day that one of the strong motivations was to save the government money by moving services online - which is all fine, dandy, proper and good but whoever is driving this vision must be driving with a passionate belief that being a digital citizen allows the individual and society to develop and improve both from a social and economic point of view.

If we leave the top end knowledge workers to one side, to encourage full digital citizenship there needs to be a social, life benefit to participating which will attract interest from all levels of the community. To the individual if their are benefits to be gained economically or in terms of convenience then this will indeed be one strand of the motivation. If digital participation can have a link to offline activities that foster community and social activities that would be another important and worthwhile strand. Participating online, mixing and socializing will inevitable lead to informal social learning, but there are also fantastic opportunities to support people online who are looking to learn specific skills and competencies.

So underpinning effective and inclusive digital participation will be education and especially education in the new media literacies that are required to function effectively in a wide range of activities on the web. This may require a change in teaching mentality that embraces new media technology in schools. The video below will set the scene for creating digital citizens for the 21st century.

Alison Pearson of Ofcom talked of the importance of media literacy and on that subject here is a fantastic resource from Ruth Howard one of the participants of a recent CritLit2010 worldwide online course pondering the critical literacies required for the online networked learner. A lot of links here to educators around the world that are discussing and debating how the web can foster social and informal learning.

To wrap up i would say obviously that massive investment in kids education from 5 upwards is imperative. Reading and writing would be a good place to start (and overcome the nonsense of kids in the UK not being able to read and write effectively as they move into teenage and adult life), followed by good grounding, good experience and good discussion on how to participate in a social media driven web world. On that theme Howard RheinGold's Participatory Media And The Pedagogy Of Civic Participation presentation is a comprehensive look at participatory media. For existing adults i do believe the learndirect type centers offer good potential to develop digital and community participation. Having worked in a similar drop-in style computer center for Stafford College many years ago - it was very effective in teaching the basic skills of computing and having a focal point in the community.

Development of other online social enterprises such as those run by Stuart Parker at We Share Stuff and Comunity focused Social Media Surgeries whose aim it is to take make it easier to find and run social media surgeries to support community groups, local charities and local active citizens are welcome initiatives..

Another useful website to help in upgrading basic computer skills is Online basics
That's about it from me - i think you can see that my view is that an aim to improve learning for all and develop better educated citizens is the best way to approach the aim of making digital participation inclusive for all.

I leave you finally with some interesting websites from outside of the UK that may help inform thinking on this subject - One from America The Institute of Digital Inclusion and one from Australia education.au whose aim is to build bridges between educators and technology to help make technology accessible, easy to understand and simple to use.

Connectivist Learning #CritLit2010 #CCK09

2010-07-11T10:13:00.001Z

After reading George Siemen's post on Connectivism taxonomy and John Mak's response I compared the points expressed with the critical literacy taxonomy that i had published in my last blog post and with my own views on connectivist learning. I have subsequently created a wiki page to develop a Critical Literacies Taxonomy and a wiki page that looks at Connectivist Taxonomy Linked to Critical Literacies. I'd welcome any input to develop and discuss the issues as a group from interested colleagues.

If we start with some feedback on George's proposed connectivist taxonomy. Firstly I agree with the suggestion from Brad Hodge that metacognition could come in as early as connection forming. Maybe at Praxis level metacognition encapsulates more thought about the network. As John Mak asserts maybe in the "chaos and fuzzy dynamic" connnectivist online environment it is difficult to "measure competency in a discreet manner" with regard to the development of a connectivist learner. I based my subsequent Connectivist Taxonomy Linked to Critical Literacies, on John's further proposal that a dynamic n-dimensional (mxn) model of taxonomy may be more suitable. You'll notice from the model that one further distinction i have drawn is that the connectivist taxonomy appears to progress from individual knowledge development and then move on the network knowledge development and i thought it was important to emphasize that distinction.

The other strong points to emerge for me were the 1) excellent point raised by Avi Charkam and the role of the teacher in the taxonomy of connectivist learning and 2) John Mak's highlighting of the social and emotional elements that contribute to learning e.g. emotional control, self awareness, self confidence, motivation, social skills and interpersonal skills, social elements (social awareness, ethics, intelectual property awareness etc). Perhaps a matrix model may help in this regard

On a side, but equally relevant issue these two points struck a chord with me as my in my masters dissertation i proposed a model of distance learning termed SCORE 2.0. This model was inspired by connectivism, wherby i see not just the fantastic potential of asynchronous communication to aid informal learning, but i see the interactive synchronous classroom sessions as a fantastic medium to connect people much more strongly than asynchronous alone. I see the teacher being very important in this model of distance learning - not just in delivering, but in planning the whole learning experience. Connectivist, active and social learning runs through the heart of the model and the teachers role is to engineer and support development of a connectivist mentality. It would seem that the approach to connectivist learning is that it is strongly self directed learning. I believe that connectivist learning can be viewed along a continuum from heavily supported learning to a fully self directed learning and that the teacher has the important role if giving the appropriate support at various times along this continuum.

The key findings of my masters disseration were that the online synchronous classroom when used in conjunction with varied learning activities can be a motivating and engaging environment in which to build a community of learners. Supporting ‘Web 2.0’ technologies play an important part in supporting the community of learners and in helping to develop learner autonomy. Vital to the successful implementation of the model is an appropriately trained and motivated teacher. For those interested here is my dissertation.

Network Learning: A Taxonomy of Critical Literacies #CritLit 2010

2010-07-04T21:04:00.006Z

From the discussions and reflection so far in the CritLit 2010 course I set out to build on my earlier blog posts and develop my own understanding of critical literacies for the 21st century networked learner. Encouraged by Ruth Howard and John Mak i initially considered developing a taxonomy of literacies in the form of a visual model to capture the elements identified by the Critit2010 group. In considering what to include and how to represent it i started to reflect back on the course materials, presentations and discussions.

Foundational Critical Literacies

Strange as it may seem i have not seen many of the presentations related to the weekly topics, but have worked from the readings and the subsequent blog postings of others. It was good then to work my way through Grainne Conole's presentation on one of the key foundational literacies (as proposed by Stephen Downes) which came in week 1 on Cognition.
Simultaneously i was trying to appreciate the significance of what i would call the other key 'communicative' or 'signifying' foundational literacies of syntactics, semantics and pragmatics and wondering whether these foundational literacies can be worked into my proposed visual model. An example of what i had in mind can be seen is this visual model of Bloom's Taxonomy.

The importance of the other key foundational literacies of 'appreciation of context' and the 'ability to recognise and adapt to change' quickly became apparent in Grainne's presentation. Grainne pointed out that the context of education is itself changing. We have an explosion of new and ever changing technologies, ubiquitous networked access (mobile and broadband) and an abundance of free online tools and applications.Additionally learners themselves are changing - they are growing up 'digital' - i.e technologically immersed, task orientated, group based and just in time mentality and comfortable with multiple representation. This context facilitates new technological approaches that move from a content driven, transmission passive recipient model of learning to a more participative, active and social way of teaching and learning. In this context the six key foundational literacies are going to be much more important for networked learning. Grainne points out that although the technological environment in the 21st century fosters a myriad of affordances (action possibilities) for a learner - the affordances for an individual will be limited to their capabilities - i.e their critical literacies.

Grainne suggests that the technological affordances at all levels (written words and numbers, 1st wave technology - phone, radiot, tape,TV, 2nd wave technology of computer networks, mobiles, the internet) are communication, connection, interactivity and representation and that practices evolve depend on the characteristics of the users (e.g. preferences, interests, skills, context).

We can see for networked learners in the 21st century an example of how critical literacies are important when we consider Grainne's example of using the microblogging service 'Twitter". Examples of use include posting queries, commenting, gathering opinions, sharing ideas, brainstorming, maintaining social presence. We'll just consider some of the issues of using this service that were raised and how they may relate to our foundational critical literacies. Issues identified were:

i) Your 'a-ha' moment (cognition - ability to infer)
ii) is it the right network (context)
iii) your digital voice (syntax, semantics and pragmatics i.e how you communicate)
iv) Inappropriateness (syntax, semantics, pragmatics cognition, context and maybe change)
v) Personal/Private (context and maybe change)
vi) Too much twittering (cognition and maybe change)
vii) Use with other tools (cognition, context and maybe change) and
viii) A passing fad (cognition context and maybe change).

I'd be interested to hear others view on how i have tried to relate these foundational critical literacies to issues raised in twitter. At times i was not sure i could make a clear relationship. Where i feel more comfortable is in trying to align some of the practical (more tangible) literacies identified during this course and positioning these in some sort of schema, taxonomy or model that may inform the inclusion of these critical literacies as part of teaching and learning.

A taxonomy of Critical Literacies (skills) for the networked learner

I have so far collated the information below, i have put it into a semi visual format, but repeated in text format below. Still lots to reflect on, but maybe others would like consider if the top level categories need expanding/changing and what is missing from this taxonomy of critical literacies. Critical thinking skills are considered to be brought to bear on all the critical literacies from 4-7. Final thought as i write this - should these categories be referred to as skills so as not to be confused with our underlying foundational critical literacies.

1. Basic
* i) Reading/Writing
* ii) Numeracy

2. Life
* i) Management of Time, Workload and Prioritising,
* II) Self-Efficacy

3. Computer
* e.g. ECDL - European Computer Driving License

4. Web -
* 1.Managing your Digital Identity - SM
* 2.Recognizing Authenticity and Legitimate Authority - SM
* 3.Emotional and Social Intelligence (Relationship Building and Development inc trust and respect) - JohnM
* 4.Self Expression and Participation - SM
* 5.Wayfinding behaviors and Strategies in Large Virtual Environments – JennyM
* 6.Ask Questions - Think Critically! JohnM

5. Learning
* 1.Interpreting Visual Data RH
* 2.Information management - Network Student Youtube Video
* 3.Self reflection, self-directed learning (with learning agenda, experimentation & practice – JohnM
* 4.Concise, reflective expression and inquiry? . – JohnM
* 5.Appreciating the impact of Complexity Theory? – JennyM
* 6.Literacy of Memory (Storage of data/knowledge/connections –SM
* 7.Storytelling - X28

6. Teaching/ Professional Development
* to explore

7. Research
* to explore

Getting Anchored in My #CritLit 2010 MOOC

2010-06-20T22:55:00.003Z

Consolidation

When I started the Critical Literacy 2010 course, I started late and was not exactly sure what the major focus of the course was. In my mind the dominant thought was that this was a course that was primarily concerned with Critical Thinking Skills. Reflecting back at the outset, the course details did outline that:

"Content for the course is being drawn from the presentation Pedagogical Foundations for Personal Learning This presentation provides a frame for an understanding of the critical literacies required in a networked learning environment. Briefly, the elements are as follows: i) Syntax, ii) Semantics, iii) Pragmatics, iv) Cognition, v) Context and vi) Change."

During the course, discussion has emerged around the topic of critical thinking and many of the participants have gone on to suggest practical critical literacies that learners in a networked learning environment need to develop. The six week course as it suggests in the course details does also indeed follow the course themes weekly and these provide a background to the practical critical literacies which are being discussed on the course. I am much more comfortable discussing the practical critical literacies as i previously have not looked at all deeply at the underpinning elements of communication and thinking that are the bedrock of this course. I have not been able to attend the online synchronous presentations and i have not looked at the recordings (included here) yet either:

Impetus to learn more about Philosophy and Communication

Whilst preparing this blog post it seemed that although i believe i have something to contribute to the course that my main focus should be to ensure that i have good (better) grounding in the main underpinning topics and themes. This was a deviation from my intention which was to peruse various blogs from the CritLit 2010 course, looking for further discussion of literacies that might be deemed critical (as in imperative). Instead inspired by Ruth Howard's Blog post Self as a locus of Learning I linked to the following article on the pros and cons of postmodernism. Ruth was directed to this resource by the industrious, forthcoming and very interesting blog postings of John Mak. John's recent postings relating to the topic of critical litercaies include:

Reading the article on the pros and cons of postmodernism.gave me the impetus to get a brief grounding in Philosophy - A subject that i have not previously explored in any great depth. What i discovered from Wikipedia was that "17th century philosophy in the Western world is generally regarded as being the start of modern philosophy,", generally known as the Age of Reason. I learnt that this era was followed in the 18th Century by the Age of Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightment preceded the 19th Century Modernism philosophy, before the 20th century philosophy of Postmodernism came to the foreground.

Looking at the main themes of the course, communication is the nub of all the critical literacies being considered and therefore an appreciation of Linguistics, the study of natural language is a useful attribute. Important to note that linguistics can be divided between the study of language structure (grammar including syntax) and the study of meaning (semantics and pragmatics). Within the field, linguist is used to describe someone who either studies the field or uses linguistic methodologies to study groups of languages or particular languages. Outside the field, this term is commonly used to refer to people who speak many languages or have a great vocabulary. Wikipedia 2010.

A closely related field concerned with the general study of signs and symbols both in language and outside of it is Semiotics and whilst considering the topic of pragmatics in relation to a networked learner living in a multimedia environment it seems that communicative elements are going to be more than just the written or spoken word.

The Critical Literacy Pyramid

Since the last time i blogged i have perused a few more postings (not as many as i would have liked) and have been considering all the different Critical literacies that have been mooted. In trying to make some coherent sense of them i started to categorize them into top level literacies and categorized them accordingly. This needs thinking through a lot more,but in trying to catalogue them i have been considering a critical literacy pyramid model. Thus far i have captured the following mooted critical literacies and have categorized them thus:

Basic Literacy - Reading and Writing
Life Literacies

Management of Time, Workload and Prioritising –Jenny Mackness

3. Computer Literacy (Digital Literacy - María Fernanda Arenas) – For example Completing an ECDL certificate could be evidence of this
4. Web Literacy - Navigating the Web including use of social media and appreciation of cultural, ethical, social and legal issues

Relationship Building and Development – John Mak
Wayfinding behaviors and Strategies in Large Virtual Environments - Jenny Mackness
Emotional and Social Intelligence – John Mak
Is trust and respect a Literacy by itself? I reckon it is part of the social and emotional literacy. – John Mak
Would another critical literacy be ASKING QUESTIONS? . – John Mak

5. Learning Literacy – Appreciation of how to use Web 2.0 tools and technologies in combination with various learning theories and strategies

I observe data visualisation as an emergent critical literacy - Ruth Howard comment
Information management mentioned as a critical literacy Network Student Youtube Video
Self reflection, self-directed learning (with learning agenda, experimentation & practice), and relationship building (same as 2) John Mak
Would that be the critical literacy that I also aspire to – concise, reflective expression and inquiry? . – John Mak
Is a critical literacy for networked learning to know something about Complexity Theory? - Jenny Mackness
Literacy of Memory –Steve Mackenzie
Would another critical literacy be ASKING QUESTIONS? . – John Mak

6. Teaching Literacy - Appreciation of how to use Web 2.0 tools and technologies to create and foster learning activities

What about Critical thinking? - see below

I intend to turn this into a diagram at some point. If you can imagine this as a pyramid with 1 at the bottom.I envisage perhaps a set of critical litercies that logically build on the preceding literacy. I apreciate that there colud be some overlapping/fuzzy areas especially maybe beween 5 and 6. Missing from the list is critical thinking which i'd have as an external force from level 4 onwards, (maybe earlier?). I need to think a lot more about it. This is my first stab, i am sure there are other top level literacies and many many more sub literacies ( or maybe not - maybe the list needs to be pruned or merged already). The main thing i wanted to do was to identify some top level literacies, so that all those literacies mentioned can much more easily be related to their purpose.

María Fernanda Arenas wrote a very interesting blog post relating pragmatics to digital literacy and along with Ruth set me off on this quest to know more about the underlying principles of communication and also increased my interest in trying to categorize critical literacies as i have never liked the term 'digital literacy' - it just conjures up images of zero's and one's to me.

What about Critical thinking?Again

Note that this blog post has drawn uncritically from Wikipedia for ease of reference. I generally find Wikipedia a reliable place to get initial descriptions, definitions and overviews from which i can delve into more deeply at a later date. I have found that i have used my blogging in this course more as a storage place for useful links for latter reference. By writing a blog post though i feel as though i have engaged much more with the material in trying to weave the links into a coherent written piece and i love the easy accessibility in retrieving this information (my learning) at a later date. Blogging is great for capturing the learning?

Critical Literacy – The Struggle Moves to a Different Arena – My Arena #CritLit2010

2010-06-13T11:26:00.002Z

A snapshot of discussion around the term ‘Critical literacies’

The topic of what is actually meant by Critical Literacy has been raised in a number of places. Heli Nurmi an educationalist with many years experience has some great blog posts around the topic of critical literacy in this course and asks the questions “are we going to learn anything new, will we learn about new knowledge building, new media literacies (yes, but what?) or is it only technology which develops?” Heli’s three initial blog post give plenty of food for thought:

To guide others on the course Ulop O’Taat highlights the following text with this signposting - So Ken, if you and others are struggling with what is meant by critical literacies in this course, re-read the opening moodle page.

“Critical, as the course is not just about finding out how to use the latest technologies for learning, but to look critically at the Web and its underlying structures. Literacies, as it is more about capabilities to be developed than about the acquisition of a set of skills”.

Ken Anderson in his post on Critical Literacy had previously highlighted his struggle to understand what is meant by Critical Literacies in the context of this course. He identifies two themes from the course information:

CL: literacies critical to functioning in a PLE. This definition suggests tool familiarity
CL: abilities related to critical thinking, reading, writing i.e. logic skills, syntax etc. as noted in the course outline

And makes an additional observation about the course

What I have really found interesting is Kop’s statement that the heart of the ‘course’ is about who controls access to information. Is this what this ‘course’ is primarily concerned with? Those that control the means of distribution (of information)… Will this be a course in Marxism?

My own sense-making of the term ‘Critical Literacies’ and my subsequent learning strategy

I more or less identified the same two strands as Ken, which i referred to in an earlier blog post. In trying to establish what is meant by critical literacies in the context of this course I focused on what I considered to be the two most relevant meanings of ‘critical’ that come to mind. These being:

Critical as imperative. i.e. imperative literacies to have
Critical as in being analysed and evaluated i.e. Literacies that analyse and evaluate

Additionally mindful of the stated aims/purposes of the course I also was aware that i need to consider the following element of criticality.

3. Critical as in looking at (analysing and evaluating) the Web and its underlying structures: i.e. sing traditional Critical thinking skills to analyse and evaluate the web and its underlying structures.

It seems to me that there is already a well established set of generally agreed critical thinking skills – therefore in relation to point 2 above I think the question to be pursued is “What technologies will best facilitate traditional critical thinking skills?”.

With regard to point 1, 'critical' as imperative seems to me to be the most important thing to focus on for the self directed learner in a networked personal learning environment and so far on this course the following critical literacies have been offered from the floor or have been found by me in text or video content that i have perused: My intention is to continue to trawl through the CritLit2010 opinions and offerings to add and then to refine the list:

Management of Time, Workload and Prioritising –Jenny Mackness
Relationship Building and Development – John Mak
Wayfinding behaviors and Strategies in Large Virtual Environments - Jenny Mackness
Literacy of Memory –Steve Mackenzie
I observe data visualisation as an emergent critical literacy - Ruth Howard comment
Information management mentioned as a critical literacy Network Student Youtube Video
Emotional and Social Intelligence – John Mak
Self reflection, self-directed learning (with learning agenda, experimentation & practice), and relationship building (same as 2) John Mak

So i plan to continue looking at themes of the week, but ultimately at the end of this course i hoped to have a clear idea of the emerging critical literacies (as in imperative) that a networked learner should develop. Maybe i should put this list in a wiki for all to add to – need to get this blog post finished and then have a rest first J

With regard to point 3 and issues of power and control, i shall leave that until another time.

Critical Literacy Course: An Online Distribued Learning Model adhering to a pedagogy of self directed learning using a PLE–Introducing #CritLit2010

2010-06-11T18:43:00.003Z

Some Background

I became aware of connectivist, networked models of learning whilst completing my MA in the use of interactive and collaborative technology for Adult Distance Learners in 2008. I immediately appreciated the fantastic learning opportunities afforded by web 2.0 or social software and during this time I developed a model, of learning which I termed SCORE 2.0 (Synchronous Community Orientated Reflective and Experiential). A lot more research and development needs to be done but essentially i see this model as a combination of formal learning with the informal self directed connectivist model of learning. I look forward to revisiting and refining the SCORE 2.0 Model to compare with the Online Distributed Model of Learning that drives this course as i am keen to work connectivist learning into formal learning situations. Additionally whilst being a learner on CCK08, the first Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) I became aware of this much larger (Massive J), more open way of learning.

Why I enrolled

I enrolled on the course initially to learn more about critical thinking skills. The course also gives me a focus for learning, a motivation to put the hours to read and think more deeply than if i was just perusing the web for learning opportunities. Although the course is built around self directed learning there is a loose structure and more importantly a simultaneous group effort focused on the same themes at the same time (spread over a 6 week period).

What I found

After reading the course details further I found that the focus of the course whilst embracing critical thinking is primarily focused on the critical literacies that are needed to work with technology in a networked personal learning environment. Perfect – I get to:

· Think more about Critical Thinking Skills
· Think more about Critical Literacy Skills in relation to networked PLE’s
· Practically develop my PLE and Networking skills in this MOOC environment.
· Learn about Learning

First Thoughts

Firstly I needed to get organised – Do not want to miss any possible postings in this distributed environment. Prior to the course my own personal learning environment has revolved around using tweetdeck to monitor twitter activity. The easy setting up of search columns makes this a great application to monitor twitter activity. – John Mak and Irmerli Aro and Michelle Drechsler have recently awoken me to the to the fantastic media rich and connectively sweet environment that is facebook. (I have never fancied using Facebook educationally in a formal class, but adopting it for use as part of your own personal learning network is a WIN WIN WIN situation).

So, for this course I Joined up to the Daily (aggregator of course news), but the best thing at the moment is using Google alerts – a quick and easy notification to my Google mail of anything related to the course using the hash tag #CritLit2010. Started to gather all #CritLit2010 feeds in Google reader, but have reverted back to just working from the alerts in Google Mail.

Found most useful to read the Course details page on the wiki to orientate myself to what this course was all about. The Blog posts of Jenny Mackness, John Mak and Heli Nurmi have initially kept me orientated. I feel; as though I am struggling to catch up, but we’ll see how we go. Mike Bogle’s Warcraft guild for CritLit2010 Blog post and his suggestion of using the gaming arena as a vehicle to facilitate learning seems good to me – I am a strong believer in synchronous online activity to strengthen bonds especially in conjunction with problem or task based learning. Unfortunately have not had time to engage much with other learners yet.

So what is Critical Literacy and what are we (me) to learn about

The Course Introductory page on Moodle states that:

Technology has brought changes to the way people learn and some “critical literacies” are becoming increasingly important. This course is about these critical literacies.

In the context of this course I expect to learn more about Critical Thinking Skills in general and Critical Literacy Skills in relation to networked PLE’s.

Critical Thinking Skills

John Mak posted a link to a useful presentation on the topic of Critical Thinking. The presentation initially asserts that “Thinking is a purposeful, organised, cognitive process that we use to make sense of the world”.

The presentation goes onto explain that there are two types of thinking i)Creative Thinking - left side brain activities that generate new ideas and ii) Critical Thinking – right side brain activities involving for example analysing, evaluating, reasoning. There are a couple of definitions offered revolving around the themes such ash reflecting on the meaning of statements, examining the offered evidence, forming judgments around the facts – ultimately it is about checking facts, making assumptions, drawing conclusions, challenging assertions and exploring other points of view.

To quote from the presentation (Module 1: Introduction to Critical Thinking, Zaid Ali Alsagoff 2007)

Critical thinking is the general term given to a wide range of cognitive and intellectual skills needed to:

Effectively identify, analyse and evaluate arguments
Discover and overcome personal prejudices and biases.
Formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions.
Make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do.

Useful to consider from the presentation also these Critical thinking Standards:

· Clarity - e.g Can you give an example to illustrate your point?
· Accuracy - e.g Is the information source valid and accurate?
· Precision - e.g Could you be more specific?
· Relevance - e.g How is that connected to the question?
· Depth - e.g How are complexities addressed?
· Breadth - e.g Is here another way of looking at the question?
· Logic - e.g You have two contradicting statements - How do you square that :-)
· Fairness - e.g open minded, impartial, free of distorting biases and pre-conceptions.

Suggested Barriers to Critical Thinking Include:

· Egocentrism
· Sociocentrism
· Unwarranted assumptions
· Wishful thinking
· Relativistic thinking

Critical Literacy Skills (in relation to networked PLE’s)

To paraphrase the course designers this course is designed around the notion that to learn effectively in a PLE a certain set of skills and competencies are required. The course has in part been designed to test whether learners can in fact employ these skills to effectively self direct their own learning in a PLE OR whether and additional pedagogy is required prior to the use of a PLE. Note to self: Need to ascertain the role of the facilitators and whether more interventions on their part constitutes an additional pedagogy or whether teacher as facilitator is part of the pedagogy it just depend to what degree they scaffold and assist learning. The competencies identified are drawn from Stephen Downes presentation on the pedagogical foundations of learning. The Critical Literacies required are deemed to be:

Syntax – the ability to recognize and use forms, grammars, patterns and other structural properties of communication. This would include information literacy and ontology of information.

Semantics – the ability to connect communicative elements to underlying purposes, goals, objectives, theories or meaning, denotation, reference, truth and understanding. Including new ways of interpreting information and evaluating media, through aggregation and filtering for instance.
Pragmatics – the capacity to use communicative elements in actions, or to take actions using communication, to express, commit, interrogate, and engage in interactions. Including being active participants in the world and on the Web versus passive consumers.
Cognition – the capacity to infer, or detect faulty inferences, to use communicative elements in order to describe, argue, explain or define. Including the power of reflection, authority of knowledge, stability of knowledge, communication as conversation or as dialogue.
Context – the capacity to locate a communication in a wider environment, to understand the impact of this environment on semantics and pragmatics, and to assemble and understand sets of communications as expressive of frames, world views, or deontological constructs. Including issues of power, control, and ownership; motivational and affective issues.
Change – the capacity to reason dynamically, to detect and comprehend processes and flows, to understand the impact of progressions and differences, to reason employing dynamic events such as games and simulations.

The bullet pointed list above is an Extract from Critical Literacies Online Course Details and Learners in this type of course are expected to exercise the capacities described above.

Course Modus Operandi - Learner Expectations

Four types of activity are expected in this connectivist type course:

Aggregation (of content) e.g access Moodle for recommended readings, google alerts, RSS feeds
Remix e.g. Keep track of what you have read, maybe via a blog, social bookmarking, post in the moodle discussion boards
Repurpose e.g Put your own spin on the content you have aggregated, outline your own understandings
Feed Forward e.g. Share your repurposed work with others - Blog about it tweet about your blog or interesting links, share in a social bookmarking group.

Other points to Consider

Early discussions from course members identified the following critical literacies:

Management of Time, Workload and Prioritising –Jenny Mackness
Relationship Building and Development – John Mak
Wayfinding behaviors and Strategies in Large Virtual Environments
Literacy of Memory – Transliteracy

Other useful documents in relation to critical literacy competencies is Gráinne Conole's 'New Schemas for Mapping Pedagogies and Technologies' document

Final Thoughts

This initial blog post has allowed me to establish a base anchor from which to now consider the themes of the course. I have consolidated here the main competences and working practices initially expected by the course designers and have briefly started the process of collating others view on what critical literacies are important when learning in a networked environment. I can use this blog post as a reference checklist when analysing my own level of critical literacy. I shall also have a good read of this web article Critical Thinking Development: A Stage Theory to help me understand better the development process with regard to critical thinking. As we are well into week two - I'll need to crack on and move swiftly to consider readings and opinions of others on week 1 theme 'cognition' and wekk 2 theme 'change'.

Technology Celebration at DMU and A Triumvirate platform for success

2010-05-06T00:08:00.010Z

Symposium Highlight

Just returned from the typically heartening and uplifting Biennial DMU Technology Enhanced Learning Symposium. Biggest impact for me came not from any of the presenters but the attendance of the recently appointed Manager of ISAS (Information Services & Systems), Michael Robinson. It was obvious to see he had a keen and genuine interest in finding out what technology was important to staff at DMU. I had a very brief chat with Michael, but my impression is that he is not just a technical guy, but appreciates how important technology is to the culture not only of teaching and learning, but also to internal and external organisation communication. I hope my first impressions are correct because it will fit very well with all the excellent technology enhanced learning initiatives that our e-learning co-ordinator Richard Hall has driven through.

DMU TEL 2010 Conference logo/themes

It's the Culture not the Technology

A lot of what has been achieved at DMU in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning has been derived from a culture that has encouraged innovation, self expression, self development and a sense of worth in contributing to organizational aspirations.
The general theme of the conference centered around the importance of culture in driving the technology and not the other way around. Keynote speaker Dave White warned of the dangers of not being clear about what your values and aims are otherwise technology will drive and push you to places that maybe you do not want to go. An interesting read related to culture and the use of new social media is Tribes by Set Godin

Keynote Speaker Dave White and the points that touched a chord

Other key points Dave made where having an appreciation of the types of students (customers) that we have and how this might affect how we deal with them. Using his excellent Visitors and Residents analogy he offered a view of how the student population will range on a continuum from those just visiting web spaces, getting information and retreating offline and those students that see being online in all manner of web spaces as part of there natural normal daily life, just like going to the park and hanging out with friends. I remember previously reading that Dave suggests that different approaches may taken in different area of life i.e. socially with friends, at work and educationally for example. Not totally sure of the implications for me in any teaching that i do, but i will give it some consideration in the future.

VisitorResident on Prezi

It kind of chimes in with another theme of Dave's which is the conflict of what a student wants and what they need. For example Students often take the strategic surface approach to learning in that they just want to learn about the things that will help them pass the assessment, whereas educationally what they might need to enhance their deep learning is group work and reflective work, which they may find an irritant, but is actually beneficial to them. Dave cited some evidence that just giving students what they want in online distance learning is not engaging enough and drop out rates are high. Dave noted that what students need is collaborative (and other deep learning) tasks to foster engagement and i wholeheartedly agree with this.

These observations tie in nicely with a Faculty workshop on plagiarism i attended yesterday and lead me to conclude that assessment strategies may benefit from a change in approach. Much better to have a series of ongoing tasks and assessments over the course of a semester, rather than one final assignment at the end. from a plagiarism and learning perspective progress can be monitored much more effectively resulting in better support and ultimately improved learning, improved work flow management and improved understanding of good academic practice, which should help in alleviating plagiarism issues in the cut and paste society that we now live in.

Another highlight from the conference was Dave's use of kinder eggs as prizes for his mini quizzes. It was not so much the eggs but the irreverent throwing of the eggs (very accurately) a la an America football quarterback to the winners sitting in the audience. Way to go Dave.

More Highlights
Attended an excellent presentation by Malcolm Andrew and Anthony Eland demonstrating two tools that can be used to develop e-learning materials Xerte And Adobe Captivate. Xerte is free and looks to me like a very useful 'rough and ready' ) way for lecturers to easily create interactive learning material for students.

Adobe Captivate looks slightly more complex for non technical lecturers to work with, but it looks very powerful to me and seems to have the upper hand on my favourite dektop screen recording software Camtasia in that there is much more opportunity to also create interactive learning material and with the added bonus that it can be integrated into Blackboard to collate grades in the gradebook center.

Pleased with the turnout for the workshop that myself and Richard Davies ran on Extending Learning through online synchronous classrooms. (embedded presentation is playing up - try link until i can sort it out)

Online Synchronous Classrooms on Prezi

I thought it was good getting a couple of different perspectives on how this technology can be used. Both examples related to distance learners, Richard delivering live lectures offering convenience to distance learning and a level of togetherness and connectedness that improves upon asynchronous activities and myself conducting more interactive participative classes trying to take advantage of the wide and varied learning tools available in the online synchronous classroom. Using Camtasia we managed to produce two videos that showed snippets of how we worked in this environment. There is definite interest in web conferencing technology, i hope we can build on the interest to enhance teaching and learning and professional development oportunities at DMU. One by product of presenting at this workshop was an opportunity to work more extensively with Camtasia, which I used to edit the recordings of the wimba and webex workshops that Richard and i showed as examples of our work and the decision to use prezi rather than powerpoint to present the workshop. I created a pretty basic presentation in the style of a powerpoint, but it has given me a good grounding in the basics of prezi.

A Triumvirate platform for success
And so to a triumvirate platform for success - What do I mean by this, well Dave White pointed out during his presentation how institutionally that there will be innovators and pragmatists and that there often tensions between the two. Tensions also to be found between the IT Hardware and Software guardians and the needs of a variety groups that have cultural and work practices that lend themselves to a wide variety of preferred approaches in how technology is best deployed.

I see Richard as the University e-learning co-ordinator having led strongly on laying the foundations for a positive and progressive culture for development here at DMU, both from a teaching and learning perspective and more widely in other areas of DMU. It seems to me that our new leader at ISAS Michael Robinson brings a positive approach in engaging with staff needs at DMU. This combined with the strong work that is done in Professional Development at DMU - Academically with Jane Clarke and her team and Generally with Vincent Cornelius and his team I believe lays a strong triumvirate platform for success in integrating technology into the DMU culture and not the other way around.

Go DMU Go :-)

One Year of Bikram and I am Still Standing (but is my knee locked)

2010-03-30T21:33:00.003Z

The Anniversary!

I thought I would mark my one year of practice by revealing my thoughts about Bikram Yoga. This post is written with the relatively new or not yet started Bikram Yoga attendee in mind. If you have not attended a Bikram Yoga session I hope to inspire you to take the plunge and for those that have like me been practicing for a while, I hope that some of my observations touch a chord and that my observations and any associated links are beneficial. I am a mere novice, but keen and eager to learn more in relation to Bikram Yoga, Yoga, Health and Well Being so I welcome any comments, counter comments and challenges to my observations and perceptions.

It's So Much More than just Stretching
One year of Bikram and I am still standing, still going strong (started 26th March 2009). Like a lot of devotees i realised early that regular attendance will give a core foundation to maintaining good health and well being and this is the primary reason I consistently attend Bikram Yoga classes. From my very first class I have been consistently attending Bikram Yoga classes three times a week. You can feel this notion of well being after each and every class and it is this feeling combined with the knowledge that Bikram Yoga is a well thought out carefully planned system of self development that makes me love Bikram Yoga! Not that Bikram Yoga is easy, it is a tough 90 minute session that for me acts a catalyst to self development both physically and mentally.

I believe that you owe it to yourself to be the best that you can be and an important part of that is physical development. This is where Bikram Yoga comes in as a core element for your own personal development. Once you commit to Bikram Yoga, you learn not only how to improve your posture, flexibility, agility, strength and balance (through the physical postures), but you take a deeper interest in other aspects of your life that may well influence your health and well being. For example drinking water regularly, re-evaluating your eating habits, the importance of sleeping, the importance of resting and the importance of nasal breathing. Regular attendance at a Bikram Yoga class reinforces good habits that promote health and well being. It keeps you on track.

Where I Practice
I practice at Bikram Yoga Leicester, UK. The teachers are fantastic. Each one delivers consistently the Bikram Yoga Program and all give good advice during the class. Bikram Yoga tends to attract clientele with a good outlook on life. The combination of great teachers, attendees of a good nature and a well thought out program of postures that the teachers and the attendees believe in creates a positive vibe during class and a lovely satisfied afterglow when the class has finished. I think a good description is that it is serious fun. There's me below checking in for a session, that's the fun bit, the serious business is about to begin (check out my serious face in later photographs). Fortunately there is fun to be had in serious hard work and the teachers whilst keeping us focused never lose the opportunity to sprinkle humour throughout the class.

So How has it been for Me?
Initially I attended Bikram Yoga to improve my flexibility. It quickly became apparent that there is more to Yoga and Bikram Yoga in particular than stretching and flexibility. I have found attending Bikram Yoga classes a great stimulus to learn, it has been very educational and made me think more about many other aspects of personal development. My previous blog posts Bikram Yoga and the 'Locked Knee' and Shut your mouth: Nasal Breathing is a snorting good choice give an insight to how Bikram Yoga has made me look deeper into issues that may help my own personal development. The bottom line is that I feel good after a Bikram Yoga session, I am pleased with my progress and am confident I will keep improving on all of the postures, even the three 'impossible' postures that I will mention below.

Firstly I think for all of us that attend Bikram Yoga classes we need to recognize that we all have different body shapes and sizes and that there will be some postures that you are more naturally suited to than others. My motto is to enjoy the postures you are good at and work as hard as you can on those postures that seem difficult. There are many postures that I have thought are near impossible (but i always believe with regular practice I'll get there, even if it takes 5 years or more - the funny thing is i do not expect miracles, but I believe in miracles through hard work and determination). There are some 'impossible' postures where i have in fact made some progress, but i still have a long way to go and generally progress has been slow. I'll expand a bit more and share my experience of my struggle with the three main 'impossible' postures:

Eagle Pose (Twist like Ropes): Initially i just hugged myself. I can now clasp knuckles on the right hand under side and clasp my thumb on the left hand under side. I am trying hard to twist my legs (like ropes :-)), but i cannot get my legs anywhere near the back of my other leg. Still lots of work to do here. In the photo below fellow Bikram Yoga attendee Liza gives a great demonstration on how the legs and arms should twist like ropes in this posture. My effort i think is a true awkward pose :-).

What I know is that to improve on this amongst other things I need to become more flexible in the upper back and the hips and lower back. Tip to myself is be patient.

Standing Head to Knee Pose: For a long time I did not attempt to extend my leg. I can now on occasions extend my leg straight out, keeping a reasonable L shape for the legs. However keeping a straight concrete solid leg which is the essential part of the exercise is something I still have to work hard on. Also i find bending down to clasp the feet in a basket grip and keeping the standing leg straight very difficult. I wish iIhad slightly longer arms :-). Away from Bikram Yoga classes I practice this posture in the swimming pool and lying down on my back (it's a lot easier :-)).

Liza again gives a great demonstration (photo below) on this stage of the posture. As i recall she does a great job on the next stage, actually bending the head down to touch the knee. Can you believe that, actually head touching the knee, for some of us that does sound and look impossible, but as Bikram himself says in his book Bikram's beginning Yoga Class (Copies available at Bikram Yoga Leicester as well) "That's what Yoga is about... Yoga makes things that seem impossible, possible. You can do magic without being a magician.". Bikram also says "I know you won't believe me when I say that in a relatively short time, you will actually consider this one of the easiest poses".

I am pleased with my progress but I need to straighten my back more, get my leg lifted to ninety degrees (and constantly think about locking the knee) before I embark on bending towards my knee. I think the flexibility in my upper and lower back is improving, allowing me to sooner or later get a good clasped hand underneath the foot, which is another key element in this posture. A physically very tough posture, but with improvement in my general posture I can see a chink of light on this posture - it is about 2 or 3 years away though.

Toe Stand Pose: I find this very difficult. I find it very difficult to open my hips to rest the leg on the center of my thigh, consequently when I bend down my leg often slips off my thigh. I pick it back up and put it on once i am down at floor level, but with my arms being slightly shorter than i would like it is very difficult to balance with a straight back and decent posture. Still working on it, but still a million miles away (my ankle and thighs are getting stronger slowly, so eventually my arms can be bypassed and they won't be an issue). No photo's of me in action on this pose - there really would not be much to see, so i have included a picture of the pose from the hotyogadoctor website where many interesting discussions seem to take place. This discussion titled Still can’t do toe stand after 3 years, may be interesting for those like me that struggle with this pose.
For me, I tend to notice a significant improvement in my flexibility, strength and balance around every three months. This will be on a selected few postures and these will vary every quarter. I still have to think hard about 'Locking the Knee'. It seems whilst developing a strong locked knee balance can be affected in standing poses, which leads to a slight give in the knee to stay standing (I was going to say stay in posture, but until the knee is locked the posture has not even begun :-)). I think I have improved, but it is a gradual process to get that leg like concrete and I am not there yet. In my last session I found that concentrating on locking my knees in half moon pose backward bend supported my back much better, but I felt more wobbly on my legs (if you are not a hard core knee locker yet, try this on your next session - see what you think).

Managing Expectations
Fortunately I do not expect miracles and I came to Bikram Yoga with the mindset that I did not expect to see any improvement for a year (this way I would not be disappointed). Nevertheless i have made undoubted improvements over the year and I am satisfied with my progress. I know from others' experiences that some attendees have gained quick, in some cases near instantaneous results in relation to losing weight or managing pain from persistent chronic injuries, but for me having a low expectation in terms of quick results is a valuable psychological tool in ensuring that I do one of the most important things i can do for my own personal development and that is just to turn up at a Bikram Yoga class and practice regularly, giving the best that i can give on any given day.

Practicing with Injuries
I would not want to NOT practice Bikram Yoga for any longer than a week or so. The thought of going backwards and the hard work it takes to get back in the Bikram groove after just a week away compels me to practice regularly. I have had a few injuries over the year, including a sprained ankle, hamstring strains and lower back pain - so what to do when injuries occur. Well although i have found it annoying and frustrating i believe you still need to practice. If you stop practicing you will start to lose benefits and go backwards. You will need to take advice and best decide how to manage your own injuries, but for me I have come to the conclusion that the best thing is to turn up and do the postures that you can and modify or leave out those that aggravate the injury. Generally i have nursed my way through with reduced effort on some postures (I have found concentrating on stretching tall on half moon pose is good if your back is sore and it made me appreciate the importance of stretching tall in this posture) .Occasionally i will miss a practice or two, but i would never leave it longer than a week otherwise I'll be going backwards. Also let your instructor know as they can give advice as to ways of modifying your postures to allow for injuries.

Beyond Bikram Yoga Classes
Outside of class one of the most significant things I have been inspired to do because of my interest in Bikram Yoga is my own home yoga routine which includes some of the Bikram postures (like standing bow pose below), but also other yoga postures such as handstands and headstands. I decided early on that three Bikram classes a week was right for me, both from a logistical point of view, but also to ensure my motivation remains high and that I do not get stale. I do the 45 minute Home Yoga routines on the alternate days between Bikram classes. As I am not in a sauna environment i usually take it a bit easier, but it gives me a chance to reflect a bit more on the postures and what I am trying to achieve.

Although I like my three day a week strategy, i am conscious that ideally Bikram Yoga practice is a daily ritual and that by taking a 30 or 100 day challenge there may well be physical, psychological and emotional gains to be made. This is something i will explore when i can logistically meet the demands of daily practice. Thinking about strategies it would also be interesting to experiment with a fortnight of double sessions (two in one day). This article 'herniated discs' highlights how one Bikram Yoga teacher/attendee found great value in taking double sessions to overcome her injury problem (lot's of good information about Bikram Yoga as well).

The other significant thing to come out of my Bikram Yoga practice is my realisation of the importance of nasal breathing, culminating in my recent purchase of a nose breath mouthpiece from nosebreathe.com. The blog Set Higher Standards has a great blog post about the benefits of nasal breathing (with informative comments) about nose breathing.

Summary
Posture and nasal breathing are key elements to health and well being. Bikram Yoga's carefully thought out sequence combined with great instruction and advice from the rigorously trained Bikram Yoga teachers is a great system to improve these vital elements. Not only that, but apart from developing your musculoskeletal system, the Bikram Yoga postures also address health benefits related to the respiratory,nervous, digestive, immune and endocrine gland systems. Other forms of Yoga, practicing pilates and other conventional fitness training such as running or weightlifting have their place, but I believe Bikram Yoga should be the core anchor of any fitness, health and well being program. It is a solid foundation for personal development. For a great read on the philosophy behind the system read Bikram Yoga by Bikram Choudhury founder of Bikram Yoga and for further information see the Bikram Yoga Website.

Special thanks to Libby, Rachel and Sharan who have been my core teachers during the year. But also to say thanks to Hannah, Harbinder, Nicky and Chris, other teachers at Leicester who have contributed to my development thus far. Thanks to Rachel again for taking the snaps of me whilst practicing at the Bikram Yoga Studio in Leicester. I look forward to what this year brings.

And Finally
Just thought I'd mention this blog ilovesweat - the blogger combines a passion for bikram yoga, healthy living and photography. You might find it of interest as he blogs regularly on his Bikram experience. His photo's have become a bit large of late though :-).

Videoblogging versus Blogging

2010-01-16T13:13:00.003Z

This blog post gives me an initial opportunity to consider the potential of videoblogging compared with straightforward blogging. It is a short initial piece, primarily for me to focus on the video editing technology. I lay the foundations for a deeper more meaningful discussion on the learning potential of both types of blogging with a few observations about both types of blogging (not by a long chalk, full and complete), suggesting that one advantage of videoblogging could be that it is a quicker more productive method of blogging.

My initial conclusions are that for learning purposes, both types of blogging require some thinking through and some preparation and planning. For audience capturing, videoblogging may help in this regard, but both types will need high quality output, be that written text or engaging on-camera presence. I am coming around to the idea that it actually might be a good idea to mix the two approaches. Having a visual stimulus on the blog i think will spark more initial interest.

Video Editing Technology

Although my initial interest was in using videoblogging to produce content more quickly. I actually became more interested in how to make good use of video editing technology and i have made a start here in this blog. What i can say is that Camtasia is an excellent video editing tool, allowing importing and editing of webcam video, video screencasts, camera video, audio files and image files. With creation and editing also of functions such as zoom and panning, captions, on screen text 'callouts', hyperlinking and an option to include flash based quizzes and surveys there are plenty of tools to be creative with your finalized video output. The bottom line is that working in the camtasia editing environment is very easy even for a teacher that has no previous experience of editing video.

For what you get i think camtasia is very well priced (at last time of checking £134 for educational license), however if you are looking for a free video editor then windows movie maker is also a great free bit of software, that can add a bit of variety and interest to a straightforward talking head webcam.

Final Word
If you did not know already text based blogging is a fantastic learning tool (see my earlier blogging posts). However whatever blogging method is used, you the blogger need to find a subject worth blogging about and then invest time in using your blogging weapon of choice to engage and interest your audience in what you have to say. This may be i) Developing your writing style ii) Improving your webcam talking head delivery or iii) Understanding visual media delivery to make best use of the great video editing tools that are at your disposal. In short if you are like me you blog to learn, but also blog to offer something of value to the audience. In offering something of value to the audience it pays to improve the many communication skills at your disposal.

The Three Dubya's - Wimba, Webex and WiZiQ

2009-09-24T21:10:00.012Z

Coming towards the end of a phase of Live Online Learning learning using Wimba Live Classroom. Thought i'd take some time to reflect on the Wimba application and compare it with my previous experiences with Webex (training room) and WiZiQ. These are just my initial comparisons, I intend to go into much more depth on these and other applications at a later time.

Good teaching, Great Passion and a Critical Eye

My great passion for live online learning started when i enrolled on the Synchronous Learning Expert Certificate run by insynctraining. I was taught by great teachers with a great philosophy on how learning online needs to be a participative active learning experience. This effects the way i look at the various web conferencing tools. I am looking very critically to see how best the various applications at our disposal incorporate tools to aid learning and how effective these tools are in facilitating technologically efficient, trouble and interference free learning. With each of the three tools that are the focus of this post i have been involved heavily in design, delivery and support of live online synchronous classes. For each web conferencing application at least 30 participants/students in total have partaken of at least one or more live online synchronous classes.

Example: Interaction during Live Online Webex Class

Note: technology should be like a good football (soccer) referee i.e you don't notice it/them

Context

I have an interest in looking at the most effective tool for teaching and learning but also the most appropriate for integration into a higher education institutional setup, where external services may not be an appropriate solution.

Webex: Agreed a year long trial with Webex at their standard business rates for just a one user licence. A personalised DMU Webex site was created with full admin facilities including the setting up of automatic email reminders and integration with Microsoft Outlook. Can be integrated to Blackboard VLE, but was not for this trial.
Wimba: Wimba are a company that look to agree institutional wide solutions which would involve integration with Blackboard VLE. Agreed a year long trial with a personalised Wimba website. Admin facilities existed but no automatic email reminders and integration with Microsoft Outlook. The Wimba trial was a stans alone classroom outside of Blackboard.
WizIq: Free service available to individual teachers. Teachers can sign up to the service and start delivering live online classes. Participant/students need also to sign up and get account before they can participate in any live online classes. For a monthly fee more services can be added.

Logging on to a live Online Classroom

Webex was by far the least problematic. An email link is created for each session and a listing is available from your main personalised webex site. Most participants could logon satisfactorily.
Wiziq - unfortunately our students had major problems logging into this service. Most problems seemed to occur when clicking a class invitation link, users also often seemed to go around in circles trying to log back in after changing passwords. After a lot of irritating unnecessary time and effort (for myself and other colleagues), students eventually got sorted out and it was ok after a while. Do not know the exact nature of the problem, but something was not quite right and this experience was a big driver to look for other solutions.
Wimba also gave our students lots of logging on problems. Although there is a setup wizard which is a good thing, If there was a problem it was not always clear how to rectify the problem. Different browsers seem to react in different ways during the setup wizard causing various problems.

VOIP Audio Quality

One of the essential features in the live online classroom is the VOIP audio quality, without good quality and reliability the whole exercise becomes pointless. I am pleased to say that all three applications provided a generally good service (although not as good as Skype) . When i first started using Webex, we logged on using an integrated telephone landline (the quality is much better, but will cost extra), which i believe is also available in Wimba. Use of VOIP also costs extra in Webex, but not in Wimba or Wiziq. There are occasionally microphone connection issues for participants which seemed to be most problematic for webex users, but after some effort most people got sorted out ok.

Whiteboard Tools and Feedback Tools

Another important issue is control and access to tools, especially the whiteboard tools. Using the whiteboard to gather opinions or for drawing exercises is a very useful way to promote interaction in a live online class. The Webex environment is top class in that a pointer tool associated with a participant/student is automatically available and can be used to grab screen space, thus easily identifying participant contributions. Importantly the presenter does not have to give the participant presenter rights, which would enable participants to have the potential of clicking on slides and moving the class off in an uncontrolled direction not of the presenters choosing. Also participants can individually erase their own contributions to the whiteboard.

Unfortunately in the Wimba environment participants if given whiteboard control both these things can occur, but i think it probably stems from different views on how these applications should work. The Webex way allows for great group interaction and collaboration, ideal for active participatory learning. I get the feeling that the wimba environment is fundamentally based on the old teacher as presenter philosophy, which is disappointing. I was very involved in the initial design and logging on process for the Wiziq sessions and for a number of reasons extensive use of the whiteboard was ruled out, so i have not worked with it as much as the other two products. It does not include the pointer tool, but the whiteboard tools works adequately and i think there is enough scope to instigate the interactive group work that i described for Webex. - (i have just taken another look - i need to revisit and check more thoroughly - it's looking good). Webex and Wimba both had the appropriate feedback icons the most important of which is yes/no, rasied hand and emoticon icons. WizIq had a raised hand only and with no yes/no icons this is a definite dissapointment in this environment, as they are vital when checking understanding of instructions as well as topic understanding.

General Environmental Look and Feel

Webex by far has the most appealing look and feel for participnats and is easy to work with for teachers.
Wimba also scores strongly on ease of use for teachers. Probably the most easy to use for teachers - With an easy uploading and organisation of files to be used in the lesson - a presenters panel that allows easy navigation from slide to slide, easy to move students to breakout rooms and easy to setup polls.
WiziQ is probably the most clunky looking and does not have the feel of an integrated classroom like the other two applications. Good for free though. Once you start paying then maybe need to compare with many of the other individual monthly web conferencing services that are out there.

Recordings

Need to review this information but my experience was as follows:

Webex: Can download and edit in special editor. Can save files locally or on the webex server. local files initially captured the whole feel of the class - so interactions were an exact copy of what went on in the class. When saving on server this different method did not give exactly the same interactions i.e participant panel was not listed as normal but was accessible. need a webex player to view. Was not easy at the time to then get the recorded file into an mp4 for easy viewing outside of the player, but did manage it.
Wimba: can view directly by linking to a server and can apparently will soon be available as an mp4 file. When downloading a zip file archive of a recording it is not obvious that a media file can be played.
WizIq: access to online recordings, but expire after a month which is not that great and is an obvious inducement to sign up for the monthly fee service where recordings can be downloaded - have not tried the service.

Support

Webex: support was excellent - if need technical support live during a class got it straight away
Wimba: Not quite as hot, seem more keen for participants to check faq's and other info before engaging directly with the participants on the phone.
WiziQ: Did not really engage with anyone on the phone during our troubles logging on - may have swapped some emails, but i have no strong memory of great additional support (it has been a while now)

A Word about Video Conferencing

Video conferencing i think for some in this industry may be tremendously important. I think more so if they are still in the mindset of the lecturer presenting and the students passively taking it all in. That is why the video conferencing element of these applications has no great appeal to me. Because my main focus is promoting interaction between participants i do not use it that much (i am sure there is a time and place for me to use it). To me it is an extra technological problem and due to the nature of interactive sessions there is a lot going on for the presenter, especially if dealing with technological problems of other students, grabbing a cup of tea at an appropriate break in proceedings :-) or generally feeling flustered if something is going wrong then presenting via webcam adds additional pressure to a job that already requires a high degree of concentration (very rewarding though)

A Word about other Web Conferencing Applications

Two other applications that i have experimented with in the past but not to a great extent are Elluminate and Adobe Connect Pro. Both i believe are worth taking a look at and i shall review them again in the forthcoming year. Elluminate is popular in education circles. I favoured Webex over Elluminate when looking at theses products over a year ago. I prefer the Webex interface and the visual appeal of the learning environment and at the time i wanted to have as many simultaneous VOIP connections open at the same time (webex allows 7 and Elluminate 5 (at the time of testing)).

This is important to me as spontaneity of response makes for a more stimulating class, so i have always liked everyone to have immediate access to speak without passing a microphone and thus making the technology invisible. This stems from my early insynch training with everybody on the phone you could hear the hubble bubble excitement in the classroom - it was great. With VOIP bandwidth limitations and the teacher as presenter mentality i have learnt that i sometimes have to compromise and stick with systems that will only allow restricted numbers of people to use voice at the same time. Adobe Connect pro is definitely one of the slickest looking products. I discarded it a couple of years ago due to a particularly bad VOIP experience and the whiteboard control problems that i refereed to earlier. I think it is worth revisiting now, a few years down the line.

Summary

I think the most problems i have encountered have been with initial logging on problems. This is a nuisance as students often may be afraid of technology and do not need additional hurdles put in their way. I have learnt that, although it is time i did not expect to have to allocate, that in a higher eduction setting, it is best to be very proactive in helping students get their logon problems sorted our before they come to their first online class.

All these applications have a lot to offer, but both Wimba and WizIQ have made myself and colleagues work a lot harder than we expected to ensure participant/student access. For less determined teachers and students and for time challenged teachers/students this is going to lead to major disillusionment. Both applications are worth taking a look at though. Once any initial logging on difficulties are overcome they both have their selling points and it will become a case of deciding if it suits your needs and the price is right then it might be for you.

Webex is definitely the pick of the bunch but is primarily aimed at the business market. I think they are missing a massive trick by not developing a distinct educational pricing model. For higher education we need stable, trouble free web conferencing environments and webex does fit the bill save for this lack of creative thinking with regard to educational establishments. I suggest they take a leaf out of Google's book who have just joined forces with my own university DMU to provide a student email service in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

The Way Forward

It is only through trial (and tribulation) that we can iron out any access issues with Wimba and Wiziq. By trialling and learning we can build a clear picture of advice to our students and take advantage of the learning environments that both these applications offer. Elluminate and Adobe Connect Pro are also products that are more than worth a further look. As i have said earlier, maybe you cannot get everything that you want and compromises may have to be made. So i shall continue to explore web conferencing applications and try and establish the best balance between functionality, technological invisibility, the needs of the institution or the individual teacher and of course the price.

Camtasia is King and Live Online Learning is the thing

2009-09-22T23:14:00.011Z

Enjoying Distance Learning

Yes the thing – the thing to bring some emotion and enjoyment to the business of distance learning. Live online learning not only connects people, but is also a powerful aid to learning. How so! Using web conferencing software a teacher/facilitator has a vast array of tools to promote active learning and whether that be face to face or online at a distance there is a vast array of literature that extols the virtues of active learning. What tools say thee! Ok we have voice and video conferencing, text chat, whiteboard text and drawing tools, feedback icons such as 'yes', 'no' and raised hand (to ask a question), web browser sharing, quizzes and polls, file transfers and on the fly uploading of resources.

from a previous study (Mackenzie 2008)

Now with some investment in time to understand how best to use the technology for teaching and learning, you'll soon see how you can transform the hum drum educational experience of the distance learner.

Some Initial Reactions

I write these notes after completing an initial round of live online inductions using Wimba Live Classroom with my colleague Mellissa Phillips on the topic of myDmu and Blackboard, the main online learning services of my university DMU. These first set of month long inductions were not without some initial logging on difficulties which was disappointing as we were desperate to avoid irritating logging on problems. However for those postgraduate students that did logon and participate it appeared to be a welcome and enjoyable experience. Some brief comments (all positive) from those that attended included:

“Very interesting session, i am amazed by what technology is available and i think it will be a very good way of learning and communicating during the remainder of the course.”

“I thought the use of live on line tech was very good and there were no problems. Would like to see it used in discussion boards etc if poss”

Some Broad Lesson Learnt

Some good comments appreciating the value of this form of learning, but we still have work to do to improve this particular live online learning experience. The lessons we are learning are:

1. We have to keep working very hard to change the mindset of the vast majority of programme leaders and students who are unaware of the power of voice technology in distance learning. We hope at the end of this month long series of inductions to have gathered a body of evidence to support the value of this mode of learning and try gradually to move thinking and expectations on in this area.
2. Due to the struggle to get participants live online we are cramming too much into their first live online learning experience. We end up giving them a crash course on how to work in the new environment and then proceed to give the myDMU and Blackboard induction. Currently thinking this should be split due to the need to iron out initial technology problems that some students have.
3. You have to work hard to understand how each particular live online learning environment works. By this I mean that there are a vast array of web conferencing services to use, each one is setup differently - you have to understand how you can smoothly integrate the technology into your teaching aims. Big Big tip – to fully appreciate this whilst developing you should log in on two machines – one as admin/presenter and the other as participant. You can then see the effects of your intended interactions from the participant viewpoint (allowing you to shape and refine your approach).

The Technology Used

Knowing that this was for most students this was their first experience of this type of learning we restricted our use of technology to:

1. Voice conferencing
2. Text chatting
3. Web browser demonstrations
4. Links to web pages that held pre-recorded Camtasia video screencasts.
5. The students also completed some self study tasks during the class.

A Word on Participant Interaction

With regard to the level of participant interaction and use of the technology available on a scale of 1 to 5 I’d rate this just over three. With increased student familiarity and appreciation of the live online environment we can edge this more to 5 when devising classroom activities and interactions in the future.

Headline Grabbing Camtasia

Mentioned as a headline grabber Camtasia is undoubtedly King in the world of e-learning tools. This easy to use moving screen capture software, with brilliant automatic zoom focus technology is a must for any lecturer who spends hours and hours grabbing screenshots for the production of module guides. The video quality is excellent and once saved the source material can be produced in a variety of formats for use in a variety of situations. i.e. web, iPod, DVD. Educational versions can be picked up for £134and in my opinion should be subject to a site licence for any serious learning organization.

More on explanation and discussion on Camtasia and live online learning will follow soon in up and coming blog posts. Look out for them.

Shut your mouth: Nasal Breathing is a snorting good choice

2009-05-18T14:54:00.001Z

In Praise of Bikram Yoga

Having completed around twenty sessions of Bikram Yoga, what i love about this from of yoga is the solid, know where you stand, never to be changed, carefully thought out structure of twenty six postures (and two breathing :-)) exercises. From this solid base in my opinion those that are interested in self improvement and development will be challenged to look further outside of the class, to find answers to the many questions that practicing this yoga brings.

My Struggle to Breath (correctly)

One such question for me was centered around the correct way of breathing. Not sure when it happened but in between reading and practicing i have had a Clickadoodledastic (eureka) moment, which is the realisation that nasal breathing (both in and out) is indeed a mysterious secret, rarely spoken of in mainstream life, which isin fact the key to improved physical well being and hence life and should therefore be broadcast load and clear..

Now i don't know if it's just me or whether i am slow on the uptake but i have purchased pilates CD's, attended pilates classes, have purchased a manual from the enlightening http://breathing.com and have generally been aware that getting to the bottom of correct breathing would be a very useful life enhancing thing to do. I have never been happy that i have cracked it despite meddling with different strategies over the last 2-3 years. My main thinking was that i needed to improve how my diaphragm works, which included exhaling much longer and more forcefully to empty my lungs of stale air. The focus was always on exhaling through the mouth and eventually getting a deep inhale through the nose. I felt this worked reasonably well for me when running and as part of my breathing recovery between sets of not quite 50 meter interval sprints when swimming (40 seconds sprint, 80 seconds recovery * 6).

Clickadoodledastic

My initial clickadoodledastic (might have been clickadicious as well) moment would have straddled the period from Thursday 23 April to Saturday 25 April. Earlier in the week my new found interest in yoga had naturally found its way into the consciousness of my work colleagues and on the back of this, one of my colleagues lent me a book on the principles behind Hatha Yoga, which is the yoga that underpins Bikram Yoga. In this book i read the unequivocal statement that made it plain that the best and most natural way to breath is in and out through the nose. Here is my paraphrased simple statement:

You and me were born to breath in and out through our noses. Our mouths are made for eating. Breathing in and out through the mouth is an emergency response to a distressing situation. Unfortunately because of the development of bad habits, most people have forgotten or are unaware of how to breathe correctly.

Following on from the reading of this book 'Hatha Yoga: The Yogi Philosophy Of Physical Well-Being' (for more information see http://www.metta.org.uk/public/) on the Friday i grasped a quick chat with Libby the owner/teacher at Leicester Bikram Yoga (where i practice), who confirmed that nasal breathing (in and out) is the way to go during the bikram yoga sessions and in general including sporting situations like running. She also alluded to the fact that it helps with the flight/fight phenomenon to keep you more relaxed in stressful situations. I probably made a mental note that i need to investigate that one further and i have (but more of that later). The other question i still need to address is the use and purpose of mouth exhales in the two bikram yoga breathing exercises, as well as other hatha yoga breathing techniques.

Putting knowledge into practice

Life

So from the excellent book mentioned above and some confirmation from the owner/teacher of my bikram yoga center i proceeded on the way home on the train to breathe solely in and out through the nose. Points to note were:

1. I did not inhale or exhale deeply, just gently

2. Their came a point after a short while where after breathing in i desperately felt the need to breathe out from my mouth as i did not seem to have the ability to breathe out through my nose (it was as though i had too much air to exhale and my nose could just not cope quickly enough with the need to exhale). I did somehow suppress the urge to exhale through my mouth and still managed to breathe in and out through my nose.

3. Eventually the pay off came by way off an absolutely wonderful chest expanding inhalation of my lungs from a nasal inhale which felt very satisfying and did indeed feel as though it was a deep breadth.

4. these deep inhales followed fairly frequently. Much quicker than any other technique i had tried in the past.

5. There are many benefits, but the major point is that you are getting more oxygen into your system and oxygen is life.

I do this anywhere i can now, when i remember. Also I breathe like this when going off to sleep. Hopefully i am not breathing with my mouth open in my sleep..

Running

I followed this up on the Saturday morning with an hour long easy jog, where my aim was to breathe through my nose (in and out) for the duration of the session. Points to note were:

1. Initially (first 10-15 mins) breathing was a bit awkward, but doable - quite a number of natural deep inhales occurred just when i needed them.

2. After 15 mins started to have great difficulty breathing in through the nose, just felt blocked up (narrow passageways). Snot was accruing and my main technique to help clear my nasal passageways was to blow my nose into my shirt as i exhaled, this seemed to help, although shirt not too pleasant :-)

3. I did sneak in about 4 or 5 mouth breaths in, which was not too bad.

4. subsequently i have found that if i am struggling with the inhale, i just start exhaling vigorously through one nostril only (the other blocked closed with my finger) and alternate this exhaling on left and right nostrils until a natural inclination for a deep inhale occurs. (this seemed to work effectively)

There's more, There's more

After another shorter run or two, where i was still unsure if this was the right path to go down, i came across this excellent blog post The Importance of Nasal Breathing and this has given me extra conviction to pursue a nasal breathing policy (in and out) whilst doing sporting activities, such as running or weight training. Prior to reading the blog i had also completed a set of chin ups where by working to the rhythm of my breathing i pulled up on my nose inhale and lowered on my exhale. This felt very good. I felt that i was using the energy of my breath most effectively. With all my exercise now i am going to work to the rythm of my nasal breathing and i am hoping in the long term that a return to the natural way of breathing will bring about significant improvements in my overall fitness and conditioning. I have seen (felt) enough from my initial experiences to have confidence that significant improvements will be made. Getting back to the blog post the main messages were:

1. Confirmation that we are made to breath through our nose

2. Breathing through the mouth encourages the flight/fight response, which produces "adrenaline and cortisol which are both degenerative hormones. They contain waste products called free radicals, which are believed to be the leading cause of aging, cancer, disease and death. In addition, the body responds to this stress by Storing Fat and burning sugar. So if we can train our body to handle more stress without responding to it as an emergency (via nasal breathing), we’ll have taken a huge step in the fight against fat, aging and disease." (that's some motivation to breathe through the nose :-))

3. "Breathing through the nose stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which calms the mind and rejuvenates the body" (I have felt this calming effect when i was running.)

4. "Due to the need for longer, deeper breaths, one of the inherent results of nasal breathing is a slower breath rate. There is a direct correlation between breath rate and heart rate so that a slower breath rate will entrain a slower heart rate.... The end result being that during a race, you’d have more in your energy reserves to out-run your competitors!"

Footnote
Have just completed a 45 minute spinning session using nasal breathing. It went well and i was not in control of the changes in pace, but coped ok with a few one nostril exhales. The amazing thing was when jogging back to work, without thinking about it i just used nasal breathing all the way back (5 minutes).

Bikram Yoga and the 'Locked Knee'

2009-04-10T19:10:00.002Z

Having just completed my ninth bikram yoga session, i'd like you to note that these are the initial thoughts of an inexperienced beginner. I have instantly developed a good vibe about this form of vigorous mental and physical (torture -:)) exercise. What we are being told just seems naturally right - i am a believer. I might be a believer, i have the faith, but that does not mean that i am not unquestioning or that i fully understand why i am doing what i am being told to do. I want to fully appreciate the philosophy and reasoning behind the postures as i believe it will make me a better practitioner (yoga, elearning and life).

A key feature of many of the bikram yoga postures (poses) is the locking of the knee (lock the knee, lock the knee, lock the knee :-)). I like the direct forceful manner in which this instruction is confidently asserted by the instructors - there is a conviction in the instruction that they know that this is good for you. Whilst i have always stretched a lot, usually in a sporting context and have always gone for a straight leg, no information prior to my bikram yoga sessions has emphasised the importance of 'locked knee' and flexed foot where appropriate.

An excellent summary of what the locked knee does for you can be found here at http://hubpages.com/hub/bikram-yoga-lock-the-knee. An extract is included here:

"Rather than just straighten the leg in the standing poses, actively engage your quadriceps muscles
and you will never have sore knees, your walk will feel lighter, you will be preventing any future issues - and as a side-benefit, your hamstrings will gain more flexibility and lengthen more easily, which is a boon for many of us with tight hamstrings from sitting at desks all day or from sporting activities!" (hub pages, Roger One - retrieved 11 April 2009)

An article that seems to talk contradictory to this view, but comes across as an authoritative piece is Yoga And Preventing Knee Locks - at http://www.myyogaonline.com/yoga_article_120_Yoga_and_Preventing_Knee_Locks.html

"The ‘knee lock’ presents some useful function and purpose in allowing one to stand without using the quadriceps to hold the legs in a straight position. This creates an energy-efficient mechanism that allows you to maintain the knee in extension over prolonged periods of standing without requiring muscular contraction." (My Yoga Online - retrieved 11 April 2009)

I tend to take the former view that actively engaging your muscles is the right way to go and am wondering whether i have not quite understood the second view as i find it difficult to believe that there could be such a contradiction. Another quote from My Yoga Online that i have mixed views on is:

"The purpose of Yoga poses is to generate physical vitality so one can proceed through life with positive energy flow and with a holistic connection to what brings balance and harmony. Standing Yoga poses offer these benefits when mindfulness and proper intention is applied. Without mindfulness, some standing Yoga poses present a tendency towards knee locks and hyperextension, which can produce chronic problems in the function and health of the knee joint." (My Yoga Online - retrieved 11 April 2009)

I like the idea of mindfulness in that the 'locked knee' is executed with mindfulness and that the knee is not hyperextended. on the other hand this comment still gives the impression that 'locked knee' can lead to injury, which may be the case with hyperextension, but i do not believe this wouLd be the case with a correctly performed 'locked knee'.

Linked into the concept of 'locked knee' is the flexing of the toes. on this point I'd like to say that many of the relevant yoga postures can be performed without flexing and 'locking of the knee', which is an attractive proposition for beginners because it is the easy option. in my opinion new yogis :-) need to build themselves up mentally and physically by working towards a 'locked knee' position and flexing where relevant. The value of flexing is reinforced for me by the comments of Andy Baran in his book 'Gymnastic abs' - where his advice to students is "its; not just the exercises. it's how you do them" and his specific general advice (if that is not a contradictionj in terms :-) is

"Flex everyone of your muscles, not just your abs. I said before but it bears repeating. When you flex all your muscles you are creating connection between all your muscles. The ability to focus on every muscle of your body while you flex them will create that connection and make you incredibly strong." (Andy Baran 2007, Gymnastic Abs, p.7)

For those of you interested there are quite a number of Bikram Yoga centers in London and three outside Leicester, Manchester and Brighton. As i understand it there are centers at various locations throught USA and Europe, but do not have exact details. To now more about Bikram yoga here are a some links:

http://www.bikramyogaleicester.co.uk/
http://www.bikramyoga.com/
http://www.bikramyoga.co.uk/home.html

and finally the issue of maintaining good hydration is covered well in this article:
http://www.bikram-yoga-noosa-australia.com/hot-yoga-facts.htm

Blogged with the Flock Browser

CCK08: Connectivism - How we learn through connectivism?

2008-12-06T12:14:00.006Z

Having an understanding or an interpretation of how connectivism and other learning theories work has led me to devise a concept map that identifies my initial thoughts on how connectivism works, what connectivist learning is good for and what successful connectivist learning depends on.

The concept map below is my initial stab at this task, but it is a starting point and like with many other topics on the CCK08 course i intend to focus more deeply in the new year, when i will have more time.

I have found playing with the technology and understanding the point behind concept maps as the main learning benefit i wanted to achieve at this time. The concepts relating to Connectivism and other learning theories i will address more deeply at a later date.

How we learn through connectivism? - A Concept Map

If you have not been directed there already here is a useful document on the subject of concept maps: Concept Maps: What the heck is this?

(My) Learning Networks: (CCK08 Final Paper)

2008-11-30T22:02:00.006Z

Introduction

This project has given me an opportunity to reflect on my learning networks and also given me a focus to experiment with new technology. My initial conception was to interleave Webcam clips of myself speaking with Camtasia Studio captured interactions
of myself using CMap software. This approach has been good as i have improved my knowledge and understanding of both CMap and Camtasia, making me much better equipped in the future to use both these products much more fluently. I still used this approach in my presentation, but my initial strategy was superceded, once i found out how useful and easy Windows Moviemaker 2 is. Windows Moviemaker 2 is a revelation and with video clips prepared in advance it is easy to add titles, extra narrations and transitions to create a finished product within hours (that is for anyone, who has not even used the package before).

Webcam clips are saved in WMV format, as can Camtasia screen recordings (although this is not automatically available, but easy enough to create a new format based on WMV). Afterr importing all clips into Windows Moviemaker 2, The Final output in WMV format can then be uploaded to Youtube for easy access. The youtube video can can be also embedded directly into blogger. (the file is 25mb Large and the uploading and subsequent processing for both youtube and blogger may take 30-45 mins before the video is available to embed in a blogpost.

[NOTE: Prior to realizING i could achieve all that i needed to in the WMV format, AVS Video Converter 2.6 was used to convert the WMV file to a flash format (9mb), using the following conversion option – SWF best quality and to MPEG 1 format using Create ZEN Vision - Normal Quality (34mb)]

The final output views fine, but is not as polished as I would like. I have had a few retakes on my shots to camera, as I was not at all happy with the way I screwed my mouth up and my general shots to camera demeanour. It will do for now, but I look forward to learning how to speak and deliver better to camera in the future. My presentation now follows on ‘My learning Networks’. Forgive the prologue at the end. I was getting tired at this point and I know really the prologue should be at the beginning. What I wanted to do as a final final word was to expand on a main point in my presentation. Enough talk… On with the show.

Outstanding Questions
I am already a convert to connectivist principles. My outstanding concerns are how best I can convince other teachers that adoption of connectivist principles and attitudes will enhance their teaching and their students learning.

Approaches to adopting Connectivist principles
Once again I am a convert. I need to make sure I d on not get lazy and that I do explore new ideas and new technologies. I am most interested in encouraging other teachers to adopt connectivist principles. I believe this is best done under the umbrella of a course and I have found the formula used in the CCK08 a worthwhile and effective approach. I have also outlined previously the SCORE 2.0 approach which i have used successfully, which I need to expand, develop and improve upon. By running these professional development courses, this will aid my own professional development. Perhaps I learn well in both roles, so I shall look at further courses as a student, as well as teacher. But over the last 2 years I have learnt the value of blogging and this course has reinforced that, so I shall continue to blog also, with renewed enthusiasm to nourish my connectivist learning.

Final Word
I like groups for learning with loose connections feeding in and out as appropriate

Feed and Nourish and the Grass Roots will Flourish (CCK08: Paper 3)

2008-11-16T17:51:00.006Z

and all be well in the land of Ed :-)

Writing this paper i feel incredibly upbeat about new connectivist technology and pedagogy. I've included a musical metaphor to convey my feelings. for Music read 'connection'. It's a bit if a weak tie, but i thought as it is the last paper and the course is coming to a close, we might as well go out in party style. Hope you enjoy it.

There ain’t no stopping us now!
My experience is primarily with higher education and in this arena I believe there are fantastic opportunities to adopt different teaching and learning approaches. By this I am referring to the use of technology because this is where the greatest innovations and benefits can be found. The reason that the greatest benefits can be found, is due to the ability to share and disseminate good practice easily using new technology. I am sure that there are numerous examples of good face to face teaching that occurs, but who knows about that, who learns from that - perhaps a few close colleagues and the lucky students.

Fortunately in higher education, online safety is not such an issue that it need interfere with online teaching and learning strategies. So the most fantastic thing is that there are enough HE institutions playing with and benefiting from innovative new approaches that those that do not join in the game will know about it – via decreasing recruitment figures. Arguments from HE Institutions with regard to safety, security, privacy, guaranteed delivery of service, etc will not be at all strong enough to stop the powerful combination of new technologies and new pedagogies for teaching and learning.

Resistance and barriers to change are 1) HE Institutional leaders and managers that are not sufficiently interested or aware enough to change a learning organisation into an organisation that learns (or to put it another way change a learning organisation into a learning organisation :-)) and 2) Teachers who fail to see the benefits, cannot spare the time or be bothered to see the benefits. Firstly just to say the whole thing with regard to embracing pedagogical and technological change is a no-brainer to me and to be fair to unenlightened colleagues they need exposing to the new ways with formal/informal support and compulsory professional development.

The only thing stopping us is me and you (not for long though)
The no-brainer benefits mentioned previously are primarily around the fact that social and active learning facilitated by new technology is more interesting, enjoyable and enhancing than isolated, incredibly slow feedbackish ways that do not take advantage of new technology. Delivery of education will be enhanced by new pedagogies and new technologies and it will be led from the grass roots and it will be too powerful to ignore.

In the short term there are two difficulties to overcome:

1. Teachers who don’t get it i.e. the benefits and
2. Teachers who give up too easily, when use of new technologies and new ways, do not work instantaneously.

Both can and will be solved by professional development opportunities. In particular I think it is important to remember that good practice in traditional methods of teaching have been built up over many years. It would be wrong to think all new online initiatives are going to work smoothly in any given situation and context. Teachers need support to take some risks. The good thing is teachers can be supported much more easily through the use of new technology and new ways of delivering professional development.

What kinds of opportunities can we embrace if we are able to make fundamental and systemic changes?

A few Ideas:

The widespread dissemination of good practice
The Speed with which this dissemination can occur
The speed of feedback both to learners and for professional development
Much higher levels of enjoyment in learning
Better productivity, by teachers through collaboration
Easier access to influence decision makers (subtly by actions, results, student feedback and promoting the benefits of the new ways publicly

Resistance is Futile?
The tools are phenomenal; people’s imaginations, goodwill and knowledge are phenomenal, what we can learn from voices of resistance is that we can easily overcome their objections by action. If you believe in the tools, use them, promote them, record your success and learn from perceived failures. Help others – good will wipe the floor with resistors. The resistance is futile :-)

We have the power!
We need strong ties, we need to collaborate. We need support, we need to know when we need deep learning to achieve our life, work and social aims. We can do all of this if we choose to strengthen ties and connections

Footnote
As i write this i must add that i think about this primarily from a distance learning perspective. For those face to face teachers that also employ social and active learning techniques i am in total agreement with this. If you are a face to face teacher that thinks that they do not need to bother with new technologies and online pedagogies because you are already doing a great face to face job, then you are doing your students a dis-service

Changing Roles for Educators (CCK08: Paper 2)

2008-11-10T15:33:00.008Z

Background

The field of interest that I work in is teaching and learning. My focus is primarily on distance learning, but I still do some face to face teaching. In the UK new teachers in Higher Education in the last 10 years or so are encouraged to complete a postgraduate teaching certificate on professional and higher education where they are exposed, at the least to the concepts of small group work, experiential learning, reflection, the integration of learning outcomes, learning activities and assessment and the importance of formative as well as summative feedback. I would say that on the whole participants on these courses are much wiser and more aware of teaching methods other than the straightforward unengaging lectures that may have been more the norm twenty years ago.

What a lot of current modern day teachers in higher education may not be aware of is the affordances of modern day social software tools and the powerful learning potential for students when they participate, collaborate, share, create, re-invent and connect. McGee and Diaz (2007) note that:

“applications defined as ‘Web 2.0’ hold the most promise [for teaching and learning] because they are strictly web based and typically free, support collaboration and interaction and are responsive to the user. These applications have great potential to be used in way that is learner-centred, affordable and accessible for teaching and learning purposes.” (McGee and Diaz 2007, p. 32)[i]

Additionally, as a by product of these social software tools there is vastly more knowledge and ways to access this knowledge which means the role of educators do need to change i) to reflect the societal and technological changes that have taken place in recent times and ii) because these new tools can enhance learning.

What to do? – Appropriate Response and overcoming impediments to change

Teacher training has to be at the forefront of any responses. This will be led from the grass roots until such times decision makers finally see the value to the business, the students and the teachers. Once recognised and valued as part of an organisations strategic plan, more official time can be allocated to staff development and help with by easing the pressure on staff to integrate new methods into there already demanding workload, The importance of this approach is underlined in section 3, ‘the value of educator professional development’ in the ‘teaching the teacher’ video from the e-learning for educators Missouri website:

http://www.elearningmo.org/video/index.htm

In short for unenlightened institutions, impediments to change revolves around a lack of understanding of decision makers of the potential of new technologies and new ways of teaching and learning. Additionally a lack of understanding on how new technologies can be employed to change working, communication and dissemination practices means that many cultures within higher education institutions have not evolved to take advantages of new attitudes and new ways of working.

One response that can impact on both cultural change and speed the development of teachers into using new technologies within their own teaching and learning is to adopt IT systems that promote a social networking mentality amongst users, as opposed to the widespread clunky content management systems. Angel LMS is an example of how an institution might like to tie it’s administrative and management objectives to an IT system that is more likely to change the culture of institution to a social learning networked environment:

http://tonysuess.com/2008/02/14/angel-lms-prepare-to-be-impressed/

I have no first hand experience of the system myself but I am suitably impressed with what the author Tony Seuss has to say. Combining the theme of cultural change and teacher training is the Cloudworks project led by Conole (2008)[ii]. Using a social networking principle as a means of communication and interaction Conole (2008) explains:

“Cloudworks allows you to find other people's learning and teaching ideas, designs and experiences as well as sharing your own. You can also get access to many learning design tools and resources to help you create learning designs.” Cloudworks website (2008)[iii]

In terms of actually changing the mindset of reluctant or time poor teachers the most effective way is for teachers to get hands on experience and therefore the proposal of Bowskill (2004) [iv of using informal learning projects as a vehicle for collaborative professional development in online communities is an attractive approach in enabling teachers to swap ideas and get practical hands on experience.

Ripples – combining an existing learning metaphor, that utilises new technology to embrace social and active learning

My own experience and studies into Web 2.0 tools and online synchronous classrooms (web conferencing meeting rooms) is that by the using these tools to run professional development courses on the very subject of ‘web 2.0 (social software) tools for teaching and learning’, a powerful way is found of teachers gaining practical hands on experience and becoming wise to a new mentality of learning i.e. participating, sharing, contributing, collaborating, externalizing.

To combine general good teaching and learning practices with new technologies I have devised and implemented a model of learning for distance learners which is conceptually aligned with Race’s (2001)[v] Ripples model of learning, with an online synchronous class (could be a face to face class) and the facilitating teacher at the core promoting social interaction, practical active online tasks and the notion of a community. Web 2.0 tools are used outside the class to assist the building of community, development of practical skills, reflections on learning, the giving and receiving of feedback and to develop the autonomous learning skills of the learner. The role of the facilitating teacher leading this course or other courses in this style is to simultaneously support and help students whilst developing their ability to work with others and be a confident autonomous self directed learner. The Model has been named the Synchronous Community Orientated Reflective and Experiential 2.0 (SCORE 2.0) Model.

I have initially posted information about this approach on an earlier blog post (SCORE 2.0) and I am working with a colleague to publish more formally on this approach soon. Initial feedback on user engagement and satisfaction with learning has been good.

Conclusion

Methods that give practical experience in the use of social software tools to teachers, administrators and decision makers will speed the process of uptake both in teaching and learning and in developing a learning, participative culture. Institutions slow to recognize and cultivate social networking cultures will eventually suffer a competitive disadvantage.

References

[i] MCGEE, P. & DIAZ, V. (2007) ‘Wikis and Podcasts and Blogs! Oh, My! What Is a Faculty Member Supposed to Do?’ EDUCAUSE Review vol. 42, no. 5 (September/October 2007): 28–41. [Retrieved: 03/08/08] http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/WikisandPodcastsandBlogsO/44993.

[ii] Conole, G. (2008) Cloudworks: a social networking site for collaborative learning design Retrieved [10/011/08] http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/document.cfm?docid=11241

[iii] Cloudworks website(2008) Inspiration for creating new learning activities? [retrieved 10/11/08] http://cloudworks.ac.uk

[iv] Bowskill, N (2004) Informal Learning Projects as a Vehicle for Collaborative Professional Development in Online Communities Retrieved [10/011/08] http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/past/nlc2004/proceedings/individual_papers/bowskill.htm

[v] RACE, P. (2001) The lecturer's toolkit - A practical guide to learning, teaching and assessment (2nd ed) London: Kogan Page [Retrieved: 02/08/08] http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/celt/pgcerttlt/how/how4d.htm.

Connectivism - My Position (CCK08: Paper 1)

2008-10-23T17:47:00.002Z

Is it a new theory of learning? Or is the concept of theory distracting?
In establishing connectivism as a learning theory, the nub of the question becomes does connectivism describe a way of learning or is it more of a prescriptive teaching strategy that embraces other already established learning theories as suggested by Kerr (2007). Prior to the CCK08 2008 MOOC, whether connectivism was a learning theory or not was largely irrelevant for me and was very much a distraction in the early MOOC debates. It has become more important to me to establish that connectivism is indeed a new learning theory as it gives credence to connectivist approaches to learning.

My position at this stage is that connectivism is a new theory of learning for the following reasons:

1) the concept of learning by externalisation of knowledge, ideas and opinions. Externalisation is not emphasised in the three main psychological theories of behaviourism, cognivitism or constructivism to any great extent and although the social learning theories of Bandura (1977) and Vygotsky (1962) recognise the value of social interaction the focus is still on the internal mental processes of learning. The importance of externalizing by either verbal conversations and presentations, writing through blogs, forums, articles, books etc or through a multimedia art form has no primary emphasis, as would be the case in connectivism.

2) The proposed internal mental process of learning would appear to be a new way of understanding how we learn. The network model of learning that underpins the connectivist philosophy of learning can be easily recognised, when used externally in the current Web 2.0 world, where strong networks and random connections facilitate incidental learning. The conversations of Parslow (2008) in the CCKO8 Moodle forum discussion and the paper by Downes (2006) which emphasizes making meaning through connections have helped to convince me that internally that there are mental processes that work in a connective way that enable us to learn. I am not saying the connective way is an exclusive way of learning and I do not discount cognitive or constructivist descriptions of the internal learning process, although I am still to work through the differences between the mental processes.

What are the weaknesses of connectivism as formulated in this course?
I described my view of connectivism in email correspondence with a fellow CCK08 learner as the end game in autonomous, self directed learning. Extrapolating out from this viewpoint I believe the weakness of connectivism could be conceived as: For those learners new to connectivist learning techniques and/or the specific subject matter that connectivist learning could be confusing, bewildering, lonely and frustrating. In the early stages of connectivist learning, students (and teachers) need to be guided and assisted as outlined by Phelps (2003):

“From my reading this semester I know that there is a massive push towards empowering all students to be self-directed learners... I feel that learners need to know how to own their own learning, but that this does not come automatically, and teachers themselves need a lot of help in altering how they teach to achieve this aim”. Phelps (2003, para #34)

What are the strengths?
The undoubted strengths are that the ‘world is your oyster’. With connectivist learning skills and attitudes, learners will become knowledgeable more quickly and with relevance to immediate needs. They will be able to help not only help themselves, but help others also. Just as important as the practical advantage of living in an era where connections via the web is now so very easy (for those in developed countries anyway) is the mentality. Once a learner embraces the value in connecting and externalizing the more opportunities, be that learning, social or career will present themselves. Prior to my awareness of connectivism, I would say “the more doors you knock on the more chances you have of making something happen”.

Does connectivism resonate with your learning experiences? If so, how?

Most definitely. I started an MA by Independent Study in the summer of 2006 and have just completed (successfully J). My focus was the use of Interactive and Collaborative technology to enhance adult distance learning. Prior to the course I was vaguely aware of ‘Web 2.0’ and did not know of connectivism as a learning theory. My study can be characterised by a connectivist approach to learning, I attended no formal lessons and my learning was achieved by connecting to people and resources, through practical experience, reflecting on my experiences and connections and having an interested and approachable supervisor who I could discuss things with on a face to face basis from time to time.

What are your outstanding questions?
Need further reading and connecting to truly convince myself of the validity of connectivism as a learning theory. I need to read up more on other theories to appreciate the differences.

References

DOWNES (2006) Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge Retrieved [23/10/08] http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper92/paper92.html

KERR (2007) a challenge to connectivism Learning Evolves Wiki Retrieved [23/10/08] http://learningevolves.wikispaces.com/kerr

PARSLOW, P. (2008) Re: Social Constructivism vs. Connectivism
by Pat Parslow - Monday, 15 September 2008, 02:34 AM CCK08 Moodle Forum Discussion Retrieved [23/10/08] http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=711#p3885

PHELPS, R. (2003) Developing Online From Simplicity toward Complexity: Going with the Flow of Non-Linear Learning
Retrieved [23/10/08] http://www.unb.ca/naweb/proceedings/2003/PaperPhelps.html

Conversations (Connectivism in Action)

2008-10-11T06:41:00.001Z

To steal a catchphrase from an old famous UK Comedian Max Bygraves, I want to tell you a story….

It all started 48 hours ago and a conversation with the new girl in the coffee shop at the train station on how her real profession was working with adults who have autism. Bang – this simultaneously fired up a couple of synaptic pathways within my mind. I’m thinking “connecting”, trying to connect with people with autism that’s great, maximum respect; I’m thinking “awakenings”, Robin Williams, what a great film that highlights this issue. – I had not seen the film for 15-20 years, but on an emotional, affective level that has been lodged well and truly deep into my memory (or is that a synaptic node).

Fast forward 24 hours, I am on the train now and I bump into an occasional train travelling acquaintance, we always tend to have interesting conversations. I get talking to him about connectivism – he has never heard of it, but likens it to in his words Hagel’s ‘ideological dialectic’ where we learn from a thesis and antithesis, and then a synthesis of the two positions.

I’d explained that connectivism works on two levels; internally in our brains and externally in how we interact with the world. Our conversation continued during which time he brought up the subject of autism and how maybe connectivism as a new learning theory may have something to offer in helping those with autism. After a few questions from me to extrapolate the idea, we settled on the notion of developing some connectivist techniques that could be applied in order to provoke some ‘connection’.

And my point is…

Over the last couple of years through my formal and informal learning, I have come to appreciate the value for learning purposes in connecting, socializing, and externalizing more so than ever. As I grapple with the arguments as to why connectivism may not be a new learning theory, I thought my story above illustrates some noteworthy points about connectivism and gives me a base from which to look more deeply into connectivism as a learning theory.

What have I learnt about connectivism
Well this to me is a powerful example of networks influencing my learning. Previously my view of connectivism was strongly influenced by the Internet as the catalyst that makes connectivism relevant as a learning theory of the digital age and I still believe that to be true. However what these brief encounters have done is to reinforce some underlying principles related to networks and learning. I now realize that I have a very powerful informal network that aids my learning every working day. My informal network of occasional travelling companions includes teachers, lawyers, graphic designers, students, nurses, secretaries, retirees and many more different types and through our conversations, like the one a recanted above I am always learning. I am becoming more aware of strong/ weak networks and strong/weak ties.

Emotional weighting and synaptic nodes
Now to my memory of the film “awakenings”. The way I view this is that if this memory is stored in a synaptic node. Then I believe that stored within this node is not only memory of the node, but that this node also has an emotional ‘weighting’, that keeps this node strong and alive and ready to be called upon when required. Nodes without an emotional ‘weighting’ will wither and die. Need to explore this notion further.

More emotion
Although my travelling acquaintance is in many ways a weak tie in a weak network, I have had a strong personal connection in our conversation and his description of Hagel’s ‘ideological dialectic’, I know already has a strong emotional weighting and will be a strong node .

So this emphasises for me that emotional connectedness is an important part of learning.

Distinguishing Connectivism

2008-09-16T10:45:00.003Z

I have read lots of the fantastic discussions that are going in the CCK08 course, but I needed to break away from the pack and without reference to the wealth of information, think through for myself how connectivism can be distinguished from other learning theories. I would welcome your thoughts and insights in order that I can clarify my understanding. I know that i could go and read this somewhere, but i felt i) it was beneficial for me to think it through and ii) beneficial to get some feedback. thanks in advance

Making sense of Connectivism

Connectivism would not exist without the technological development of modern communication infrastructures (physical pipes) and the advent of social software (facilitating pipes). It would also not exist if there was not a sufficient mindset of participation, externalisation and sharing from individuals. It would appear that over time that individuals in different fields, individuals with different perspectives, individuals with different goals have recognised value in the new facilitating pipes, to indeed lay the foundations for the claim that connectivism is a learning theory for the digital age. Ertmer’s and Newby’s (1993) offer “five definitive questions to distinguish learning theory”. I shall outline my own understanding of how connectivism can answer these questions

A. How does learning occur?
Learners are connected by a variety of informal/formal, weak/strong networks that signpost the Learner to sources of knowledge. Sources of knowledge may be for example an electronic document, a physical event to visit, an online discussion, an online aggregation of resources, an email, a database of information, a video or auditory resource. The network is a network of people.

B. What factors influence learning?
The factors that influence learning will be the scope and quality of the people in the networks, the ability to differentiate between valid sources of knowledge (what constitutes valid knowledge: the authority, credibility of the source, some supporting evidence), the ability to recognize links between prior knowledge or previously unconnected knowledge.

C. What is the role of memory?
Knowledge can be stored in non human appliances. Although I have probably repeated that phrase parrot fashion, the act of thinking about and addressing this issue has made it clear and apparent to me that it makes sense to store knowledge (discussions, electronic resources, communications) in a non human appliance. I finally get it! - the “learning is in the network” (I think, I need confirmation to cement my understanding, can you help?). There is too much to remember, better to remember the connections to get to the knowledge.

D. How does transfer occur?
‘Transfer refers to the application of learned knowledge in new ways or situations, as well as to how prior learning affects’ new learning Ertmer’s and Newby’s (1993). Not sure about this could it possibly be that that transfer occurs through continual connectivity, but then ultimately does this not coincide with either a constructive need to make meaning and understand. I am struggling with differentiating between a connectivism and constructivism in this regard.

E. What types of learning are best explained by this theory
Struggling with this one as well. On the one hand it correlates with the notions of linking together concepts, making sense of patterns or disorganised information, but when an individual embarks on connectivist learning are they not just connecting?

Making a Massive Open Online Course Work (for me)

2008-09-11T11:12:00.003Z

Here we go with some ramblings, ideas and unrefined thoughts on participating in a massive open online course.

Logistically I think the infrastructure is in place and everything is setup nicely for whatever develops or is to come. Some people love the Daily, My favourite is the Connectivism wiki HUB page. This is my anchor, home base. The Daily email is also a valuable connector to keep you in touch with the many things that are going on.

What I Like
So what do I like about participating in this massive open online course. I like the fact that it is an experiment in determining whether such an unwieldy beast can be harnessed for effective learning purposes.

It’s Unworkable
The premise I presume from most people would be that it is unworkable! And they are right (only joking). Well maybe not. The good thing about participating is trying to fathom ways of making it work. I am not exactly sure what I hope to learn or achieve, perhaps this does not help, but here are a few unrefined thoughts on the course so far.

Emotional Connectedness
If the course is attempting to show connectivism in action, at the moment I do not think it is working. For me connectivism has an emotional quality that due to the abundance of people and information and my own external workload is currently missing. The discussions could lead to some emotional connectivity for me, but I have not got deep enough into a conversation yet. I think to get some emotional connectivity out of this course I need to start working with others on an activity, even if it is just one other person. This is a slightly eureka moment in that it has confirmed for me that activity theory and the notion of learning by doing are very important to learning. Putting the idea of working on a practical task aside I have a few other raw thoughts on ways to increase engagement and connectedness for this type of massive open online course

Strategies to improve emotional connectedness
In a massive open online course how can emotional connectedness be best facilitated.

1. People tagging with visual map to identify clusters of interest, controlled by slider to change views. Participants need a quicker method of finding out about people and if there are any mutual interests. On enrolment similar to many sites that ask you to list 5 things that you are interested in, there could be a form that identifies general interest tags, course goal tags, aspiration tags, learning needs tags, service offered tags, I need tags, work experience tag etc etc. Access to this information should be by an interactive visual ‘map’. This type of thing I’ve seen done in flash with slider controls. There was an interesting map to do with the changes in population for the worlds cities as I recall that surfaced on the web 18 months or so ago. I cannot find an example readily to hand at the moment.

2. A Game: The course could be delivered in the style of a game or a competition.

3. Synch Breakout Rooms: Use of breakout rooms for smaller groups in synchronous meetings to discuss issues, a scribe takes notes and back into the massive auditorium  for quick review of small group notes.

Well just a few ideas there. Better out here than stuck in my head. Hopefully this might trigger an insight for other colleagues on the course.

Connectivism Course: First thoughts

2008-09-05T08:32:00.002Z

The course is a wonderful opportunity to interact with a passionate group of people who appreciate the potential of a connectivist mindset. So even though at present I don’t have time to fully enjoy this (yeah, yeah, yeah), I am going to have a good go.

Orientating the learner

I am very clear now that in online courses that employ ‘new’ connectivist, web 2.0 participatory techniques it pays to do as much as possible upfront to orientate the learner to what is required and what to expect.

I enjoyed George’s articulate presentation that included a talking head video introduction. This was followed by voiceover slides explaining about what to expect on the course: the hub, the daily and the moodle area as a central place for discussion. Also the initial schedule outlined the weekly schedule overview and how to participate. The approach to the course was explained to orientate the learner to what is required. The participants were reminded to use the tag CCK08 to aggregate useful resources for all those enrolled on the course. George emphasised that you will find your own comfortable way and reassured participants that it might be slightly uncomfortable in the beginning - explained that tools will be provided to help deal with all the information that will becoming your way and gave some ideas on how to start. Delivered in a conversational style, with a personal touch and emphasising support is always at hand, I felt good as a participant on this course.

Initial Introductions - things that stood out

Vance Stevens quote (we read this one Vance:-)) “the idea of distributed learning networks as opposed to communities or groups”

Jeffrey Keeler’s objectives, which made me think that it would be useful to develop some objectives of my own, rather than just considering participating a success. Here are his objectives:

To consider this course a success, I want three things to happen:

1. Learn one new instructional method for teaching and facilitating online

2. Experience one new technology that I can practically implement in my work.

3. Gain some insight that opens me to a new perspective for me to begin a new thread of research and writing

A Thing I have learnt

Recognition of the use and power of Google alerts

Connectivism Course - Pre Assignment Introduction

2008-09-04T08:29:00.001Z

I am a Distance Learning Developer at De Montfort University, Leicester, England, UK. I am just about to finish my dissertation for a masters degree in the field of interactive and collaborative learning. During the course of my study have been captivated by connectivism and the use of web 2.0 tools to help make connectivism the ‘learning theory for the digital age’ :-)

Connecting, socializing, interacting, collaborating, sharing etc etc make learning enjoyable. I am participating in the course to get a deeper understanding of the theory, to learn from the experiences of others, to be enlightened as to the use of new technologies (as a by product of participating) and to explore ways to facilitate the type of learning mentioned above.

In order for this course to be successful I need to participate. Like Nancy White mentioned, due to other committments it will be a tough ask – (could have done with a month later start to finish off my dissertation), but as Nike say ‘just do it’.

My blog will outline my study over the past year or so - http://learnadoodledastic.blogspot.com/. My prime interest, because I think it is the most beneficial to negating any isolation associated with distance learning is the use of online synchronous classes, supported by social software. In my role of developer I have the opportunity to work with lecturers at my university to explore the best ways to integrate new technologies and principles of connectivism and online community into their teaching and learning.

SCORE 2.0

2008-04-22T18:53:00.006Z

As i come towards the end of my period of study, I have a clear model of how I believe online learning can be successfully delivered to adult distance learners. Having worked successfully through this model with a group of eight lecturers here at my university and around twenty students in separate online courses, i hope to continue to work on the model and its application to further enhance the lot of the adult distance learner and those engaged in professional development.

There are many influences on the model. As a starting point the model embraces the “seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education” as outlined by Chickering and Gamson (1987)¹ At the heart of this teaching model is the use of an online synchronous classroom using web conferencing software, supported by a community orientated learning ethos that utilizes Web 2.0 technology. The underlying theory that drives the model is what can be described as constructo-connectivism, where formal learning activities are driven by a constructivist approach to teaching and learning, whilst a connectivist approach is taken in utilizing web 2.0 technology to facilitate the informal learning that occurs in the learning network and the acquisition of personal knowledge management skills which are invaluable in the digital era of the twenty first century.

To reflect the nature of this teaching model it has subsequently been named as the Synchronous Community Orientated Reflective and Experiential 2.0 model (SCORE 2.0). Conceptually the model is aligned with Race's 'ripples' model of learning². The online synchronous classroom is at the core and is the catalyst to drive the learning. This is where the motivation (the want) is created and reinforced. From here learners participate in intersession tasks (the doing) and then go on to consider what they have learnt through further discussion in a learning network and through posting entries to a reflective blog (the digesting). Throughout the whole process due to the nature of web 2.0 technologies there is opportunity for teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction (the feedback). Note also that the online synchronous class itself is a microcosm of this model of learning. Guiding and shaping the teaching and learning strategy is the community of inquiry model by Garrison and Anderson (2003)³ with the important emphasis on teaching presence, social presence and cognitive presence.

This model of online learning has been developed for the individual lecturer or ideally a programme team that enjoys building rapport with students and values dialogue with students. There are two very simple aims 1) to invigorate the process of online distance learning, making it an enjoyable, engaging and motivating experience and ii) to maximize the learning. Developed with adult distance learners in mind, the model has the potential to be used effectively for staff development purposes both on and off line.

1. Chickering, Arthur and Stephen C. Ehrmann (1996) Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever AAHE Bulletin, October, pp. 3-6.

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/7princip.htm

2. Race, P. (2001) The lecturer's toolkit - A practical guide to learning, teaching and assessment (Second edition) London: Kogan Page.

http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/celt/pgcerttlt/how/how4d.htm

3. Garrison, D. R. and Anderson, Terry (2003) E-Learning in the 21st Century: a framework for research and practice London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Higher Education, Work based learning and Web 2.0

2008-04-20T11:41:00.003Z

After reading David Gray’s (2001)[i] “A Briefing on Work Based Learning” this document picks up on the main points that characterize work based learning (WBL) and briefly explores their relationship with higher education and web 2.0 technology.

Work based learning and its value

Three common understandings of the term work based learning are:

Learning for work e.g. work placements on a sandwich degree programme (may be referred to as work placed learning)
Learning at Work e.g. in house training or personal development programme
Learning through work with formal accreditation

Understanding 1 (even though it as a long history at higher education level) and understanding 2 are not usually assessed or accredited. For higher education (in consultation with employer organizations and the employee) the newer understanding 3 brings with it the role of providing academic rigor by way of i) defining appropriate learning outcomes, ii) effective teaching and learning strategies and iii) valid and reliable assessment.

If these three elements are met then the work based learner will more likely be in a position to reap the satisfying rewards of self fulfillment and self development which will be important in motivating them during the period of a course. For work based learning to be of value to an employer organization, then at the end of the learning process, amongst other things they may like to see that the learner has i) acquired specific skills ii) demonstrated general problem solving skills iii) demonstrated ability to be creative in generating ideas, in addition to iv) a mechanism to identify what level of skills and ability an individual has achieved. With the advent of e-learning in general and web 2.0 technology in particular, Higher education is in a position to take advantage of the ease of use and flexibility of 21^st century learning tools to i) improve communication between all three parties ii) provide opportunities for learners to present and externalize their knowledge iii) engender a dialogic framework that can easily elicit feedback from tutors, employers and the wider world and iv) foster the development of a learners own personal learning environment and personal knowledge management skills to enhance their development as a lifelong learner.

This last point may have additional resonance with employer organizations that have a mindset of a learning organization, as they will be looking to go beyond isolated programmes of learning and look to embed systems which encourage learning and will benefit the whole organization as an ongoing way of being. This sort of organization will ideally have structures in place that encourage individual participation, create opportunities for interaction and create mechanisms to share ideas so that a culture of learning from each other ensues.

Differences between WBL and classroom learning

David Gray refers to Raelin (2000) who argues that work based learning is different to classroom learning in a number of important ways:

Work based learning is centered around reflection on work practices
Work based learning views learning as arising from action and problem solving within a working environment.
Work based learning requires not only the acquisition of knowledge but the acquisition of meta-competence – learning to learn.

For these reasons and the fact that the adult learner is perceived to be self-directed, has personal experience and motivation to bring to the table of learning assessment methods for work based learning need to be reflected in a student-centered, problem-based approach rather than formal examinations that characterize traditional assessment methods. With this in mind assessment methods could include:

Self and peer assessment
Assignments and projects
Portfolio building
Presentations
Practical assessment of professional competence in the workplace

In addition it’s important to note that “the link between a learner’s objectives and the outputs of learning can be bridged through the use of learning contracts”. Gray (2001)1

With employers having an investment in the learning of work based learners and the benefits that this will offer in the future this further “underlines the need for developing the higher level skills of analysis, evaluation and synthesis as well as the ability to be an independent learner”. Gray (2001)1

WBL and Web 2.0

Web 2.0 technology sits nicely within a student centered, problem based approach learning and the socio-constructivist approach that this implies. There are many web 2.0 technologies that can become home for student developed resources; The staple web 2.0 tools will be Blogs for reflection, wikis for collaboration and resource management and e-portfolios for presentation of knowledge, ideas and the products of the learning process. Also in this connectivist age in addition to their own Personal Learning Networks, there should also be a role for an institution or employer initiated web 2.0 based learning network which can help to facilitate the informal and incidental learning that can be so useful.

[1] Gray, D (2001) A Briefing on Work Based Learning LTSN generic centre Learning and Teaching Support Network

More of my Blogging

2008-04-07T11:57:00.000Z

During the course of my study I have also been contributing to the DMU pathfinder blog. The pathfinder research project of which I am a participant is investigating the use of web 2.0 technology throughout the institution. I have made 20 contributions to this blog. My contributions can be found here http://dmupathfinder.blogspot.com/search/label/SM . I have included a list of my blog titles and categorised them in the list below for your reference.

Inspiration

· Another Digital Resource

· Cool CatTeacher Blog

· Passion Based Learning

· Staff Engagment - show them this!! - Thanks Nick Allsop

· Students 2.0

Web 2.0 Tools

· 90 days free use of online Survey Software

· Betty Collis Seminar - "Wikis: Flavour of the month or the tool that can change learning

· Google Calendar

· Reasons to use Ning

· Social Bookmarking - Are you doing it, if not why not?

· YouTube

Web 2.0 Learning and Education

· Bob, weave and procrastinate, but you can't hide

· Britt Watwood's Posts - - College 2.0

· Burnout

· Give me a 'learning' network anyday

· Learnadoodledastic: Community Building, Learning Networks and all that Jazz

· mobilicious

· The most influential blog of the year - Edublog Awards 2007

· Web2.0: Security, Privacy, Safety & Legalities

Research

· Facebook Research

Razzle Dazzle: Converting VHS Video to Digital Format

2008-03-24T07:47:00.006Z

Converting VHS video recordings to a digital format is made easy using the Dazzle video capture device and the bundled Pinnacle V11 software, which is easily obtainable from Maplins the excellent electronics specialists store. In addition to this hardware/software combination you will need a SCART socket with composite video 3 Pin (yellow, red and white, known as 3 Phono (RCA)) male plugs which will connect with the dazzle hardware.

So to recap, what you need to capture the video in a digital format is

Video cassette player connected to a TV with a SCART Socket,
Dazzle video capture device with Pinacle V11 Video editing Software £49.99
SCART socket lead with composite video 3 Pin (yellow, red and white, known as 3 Phono (RCA)) male plugs at the other end of the lead £9.99

(I actually paid £39.99 for the hardware/software combination with a months free trial of the software.I'll need to pay another £20 for a full upgrade.)

You have all you need now to convert VHS Video to a digital format of your choice. The issue now becomes to what digital format and level of quality do you convert the video. Initially i tried to save approx two and half hours into an AVI format in DVD format. I could not quite manage this as i ran out of disk space at 25GB at about the 2 hour mark. I was hoping to edit the end product into manageable chunks at my leisure in front of the computer. In the end i decided to work through the video in real time and saved it to file in chunks of 10, 15 or 20 mins.

I decided in the end to save in an MPEG format at CD ROM quality to save disk space and to make them as easily transferable as possible on a memory stick or CD ROM. Not quite sure what this means for transfer to DVD (Does it need to be in VOB Format? (i think so, but will look into this).

Conversion
The conversion quality options that are available are to DVD, SCVD and CD. The CD quality seemed adequate to me and during the conversion process for all formats i never noticed and it was not indicated at the end that any frames were dropped during the conversion process. In terms of disk space usage i noted that the following disk storage space was used:

Disk Storage space per 1 Minute of video captured:

AVI to DVD: 70MB
MPG to DVD: 46 MB
MPG to SCVD: 19 MB
MPG to CD: 10 MB

For completeness i will look at the other AVI conversions another time and as it stands i am only left with CD Quality originals and i am not sure if they can be transferred onto DVD (I suspect not).

I shall investigate more, when i have time to get the best balance between disk storage and quality of conversion.

Links
Pinnacle V11 + Dazzle Video Creator Combo Pack
Maplins Search for Dazzle
SCART to 3 Phono Plugs

Video: Clive Thompson on blogging « Reportr.net

2008-02-23T15:52:00.001Z

If you have ever wondered "what is the point of blogging", like i did early on in my blogging escapades then this short video clip summarizes nicely why it is good to blog and just gives a rather all round enlightened view of how blogging fits into one's life.

Video: Clive Thompson on blogging « Reportr.net

Live Synchronous Classes: Pencils, Paper and Planning for differing levels of ability

2008-02-20T09:17:00.004Z

The planning of interactive live online synchronous classes in a web based classroom is challenging. One has to have a good knowledge of the tools and the environment, an appreciation of effective instructional design and an appreciation of the subject matter.

in order for a planned session to be useful to others, the plan in the form of a leader guide, should be comprehensive and clear to enable many teachers to use the guide to deliver a lesson. This can be a time consuming process, usually done initially in powerpoint. As you build the slides appropriate notes can be added.

This short blog is a note to self - to say, that as a starting point the plan should be mapped out using pencil on A3 paper. This will be the quickest way to kick start your plan, finding content to suit your teaching and learning objectives will figure in the decisions made. So plans will need to be adjusted according to the content that is available.

How the sessions are conducted will vary with the level of ability and what you hope to achieve. The areas of concern to me are education, learning technology, web design and multimedia. In these fields often Introductory sessions may veer more towards brainstorming of ideas, demonstration and short bursts (5-10 mins) of student self study with sunbequent clarifications.

For intermediate and advanced lessons different strategies will be required which may involve more online discussion between participants, more pre-lesson work in order to facilitate the discussion, more input from participants in terms of recanting their experiences and stories, more in-depth problem solving tasks and more creative tasks.

It’s a Mash-up 2: Capturing the Learning

2008-02-02T08:38:00.000Z

Lesson: PgCert Teacher Training: Online Assessment and Evaluation – Thursday 31st Jan – Groups 2 and 3

Background

Following on from the Wednesday lesson with group 1, on Thursday I again teamed up with Heather Conboy to deliver the PgCert online assessment and evaluation lesson to Groups 2 and 3 of the PgCert teacher training course. We had the interesting situation this time around of having participants with a bit more experience of using online assessments in their current practice.

Participants have a lot to contribute

What was useful to remember is that there is a wealth of insights to be gained from participants on a course and that encouraging participants to share there experiences is very valuable for other participants. We saw this in two ways I) a verbal explanation of how one participant was using wikis formatively in his lessons and ii) with two other lecturers demonstrating and presenting their ideas to the others. The explanations and examples from peers has a much more captivating effect on the rest of the participants rather than the 'detached' overview of how these technologies can work for them from the lecturer in transmission mode.

Socratic Questioning

Although the transmission mode is required and can still be effective in small doses, participant involvement adds greatly to the lesson, both for online synchronous and classroom based lessons. In this situation in my role as a facilitator, it was important to listen to what was being said, follow the discussion and at the appropriate time summarize and highlight the main points that were addressed, add new topics or angles that are relevant but have not been discussed and to perhaps prompt the participants with some supplementary questions to further stimulate debate and discussion. I think I did this reasonably well, but this is something I am keen to improve on as I believe the skills of the Socratic questioning approach are valuable in teasing opinions and insights out of participants and therefore making them think a little deeper about issues.

The group wiki is still great :-)

The practical group wiki exercise once again contributed to the social and active learning approach, but in the sessions with groups 2 and 3, the discussion and debate seemed to be the dominant medium through which participant learning occurred. This was confirmed in participant feedback, where discussion with colleagues was the dominant theme of what was the best aspect of the course.

Teaching and Learning: Online Versus Classroom

Having spent a lot of time facilitating sessions online recently (very enjoyably) in a synchronous web based classroom, I forgot how good it is to get into a classroom and do face to face teaching. I actually believe that my research and practice in developing a suitable online strategy for teaching and learning has had direct benefits that have flowed over into my classroom based teaching. From my research I have developed a model of online learning that I believe takes advantage of theories based on social and active learning to promote the idea of facilitating learning ultimately in a community of practice. The model is geared to adult distance learners and early signs indicate that this model of online learning is effective in improving learning and is effective in engaging and motivating students to want to learn. Setting aside any financial, staffing or political issues the approach of an online synchronous web based classroom linked to the ease of use and usefulness of web 2.0 based technologies for asynchronous out of class tasks is more than a match for the traditional asynchronous only or blended solutions that do not
rely on a synchronous web based classroom to pull together a community of learners.

In the absence of the option of face to face teaching, this type of learning is tailor made for adult distance learners and also has many benefits for busy professionals in pursuit of professional development qualifications. In the UK as the IT policies (and infrastructure) of many government led organisations and some private companies is slow to react to changing developments in IT and the fact that these organisations are struggling with how to regulate the use of web 2.o technologies in the workplace it would seem that the home user is best placed to take advantage of the model of online learning that I propose. With a bit of planning many organisations in the workplace could quite easily adopt this model of online learning to good effect.

There is no denying the warmth and intimacy that can be achieved by connecting face to face with students is a powerful factor in making face to face teaching enjoyable and the ability to delve deeper into problems on a one on one basis is also an attractive feature for both teacher and learner a like. That said learning in the online synchronous web based classroom can offer many advantages, which include:

1. Individuals can be more focused as they are physically isolated from other participants and have to focus on what is going on in the lesson to communicate effectively with other participants and the teacher.
2. Responses to questions are much more easily collated simultaneously from everyone in the lesson ensuring that it is easier for all participants to be heard in the classroom (whether that be via audio or text)
3. The ability for all participants as well as the teacher to quickly and easily become a presenter. This could be via the sharing of a web browser or the sharing of presentations or documents.
4. The sheer easily accessible variety of ways to implement learning activities, thus having a better chance to cater for a diverse range of learning styles.
5. The ability to capture the learning. with the capability to record all the verbal, whiteboard and text chat interactions none of the learning is lost and can always be available for latter review, not only for the participants themselves, but for participants that have to miss a class. In addition the teacher is in a great position to review their own work.

The capturing of the learning is such a useful feature it has got me wondering whether the principles of my model of online learning can be applied to face to face teaching. One thing that is without doubt is that the use of web2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, social bookmarking and educational networking, both in class and for out of class work is a no brainer. These tools give the teacher much more scope to offer interesting and varied in class tasks and are great at encouraging small group work activity (within class). On the face of it the use of the online synchronous web based class may not be workable or required but I am starting to think if the physical environment was set up correctly and everyone was logged into a computer with access to the web based synchronous classroom there are some possibilities. i.e. I) we could still grab everyone's ideas via whiteboard and text chat tools, ii) if everyone had hands free phone with the ability to move around the class, perhaps we could also capture the verbal discussions without chaining participants or the teacher to the desk.

Conclusion

There are undoubtedly some issues to address, aside from the technicalities but in actual fact in a few years time I don't think it will be a problem. With students having lightweight portable computer tablets and wireless mobile phone, hands free headsets we will much better placed to capture the learning

It's a Mash Up: Online Learning meets Classroom Teaching

2008-01-31T10:01:00.000Z

Lesson: PgCert Teacher Training: Online Assessment and Evaluation – Wednesday 30th Jan – Group 1

Background

This was the first group of three, to be taught on this lesson. I was drafted in to help deliver this classroom based 90 minute session on online assessment and evaluation with colleague Heather Conboy. It was an interesting and rewarding experience. Rewarding in that I did feel that the session went well, which was by and large confirmed in feedback from the 10 strong group of PgCert group of tutors.

Leading up to the class there was a little apprehension. Reasons for this: I) I was dual presenting, so delivering and writing a lesson plan for two was a new experience 2) The subject matter I had not delivered a lesson on before and the style of lesson was different in that it was a one-off session for me although for the students it did feed into an ongoing series of lessons. Heather and I agreed a lesson plan, which I am acutely aware of is a great anchor to support you through a lesson. The lesson plan gave us confidence that we had a clear strategy (to deviate from :-), I’ll explain more later).

Preparation

Delivering this lesson emphasised the fact that preparation and a flexible approach are vital to try and make any lesson achieve the intended learning outcomes, ensure the lesson goes smoothly and that the students benefit from the lesson. So in addition to the lesson plan, a series of examples to demonstrate were identified by myself and Heather, as well as additional resources that we could direct the students towards. The approach in actual fact is very similar to the recent online synchronous lessons that I have run which is characterised by a very detailed lesson plan, (which has some flexibility built in for the teacher to deliver in their own style), emphasis on participant activity, discussions and demonstrations. All of which are an important part of teaching in both arenas.

Social and Active Learning

From my reading and practical experience I am ware of the benefits of social and active learning and therefore hoped to take advantage of this by using a wiki in class to promote discussion in small groups, thus enhancing the enjoyment of the session(by adding a social element to the learning), laying the foundations to learn from each other and then using the attributes of the wiki to capture and store the thoughts of the small groups as a record for themselves to return to and reflect on and for myself and heather to also be able to reflect on the participants activities and offer constructive written feedback at an appropriate time outside of the class.

Feedback from the participants seemed to vindicate this approach as when asked about the best part of the session many replied with comments relating to this active and social approach saying for example “using the wiki”, “playing with the computer”, “Community as a group”, “practical hands-on”. Other participants commented that the best parts were general discussion and demonstrations. So the feedback was good to me in that the variety of strategies helped to cater for the needs and enjoyment of a broad spectrum of the audience.

Adapting and being flexible

The initial part of the class was planned around the fact that the participants were to have completed a number of pre session tasks, one of which was identifying any online assessments that they currently used in their practice. It was quickly apparent that the participants had no or minimal experience in using online assessment and the initial task planned for; a small group wiki based task was not going to happen. Recognising this fact, it was obvious that the session needed moving along to give the students an appreciation of what opportunities there were to use online assessment and evaluation in their work, so we preceded to demonstrating examples of various technologies to show what could be achieved. Heather led this part of the lesson and I contributed to the discussion as and when appropriate. In retrospect the time initially allocated to demonstration and discussion was probably too short and that for future lessons and bearing in mind the time constraints, a brief discussion to garner the use of online assessments amongst the participants maybe sufficient, rather than a hands on task. However I am aware that there may be a new batch of tutors with different levels of experience and it may be that a wiki based task early on might be the way to go. So being flexible and prepared to adapt I would say is quite a necessary attitude/ skill to possess.

Participant Perceptions

I believe we actually achieved a lot in the lesson. This group of students came with little knowledge and I sensed a little reluctance to be bothered with online assessment and evaluation. There was an obvious lack of knowledge about what is possible and a questioning of whether there was any value in online assessment in comparison with the traditional ways of doing things. After discussions and demonstrations, myself and heather were able to highlight advantages and possibilities of how online assessment could be useful and emphasised the point that there is not a set prescribed method for using the tools mentioned, but once they have an appreciation of what the tools can do they may recognize opportunities for using them. Also it was pointed out that online assessments don’t necessarily need to replace current practices but are there to aid and assist current learning and assessment strategies.

Off the back of the demonstrations and the discussions, students engaged in a small group wiki based task. With one of the group acting as a scribe they devised an online assessment and recorded this on a wiki page. This further shifted perceptions as to the potential uses of online tools for formative, summative or diagnostic assessment. You could sense that by the end of the lesson with increased knowledge, that participants were overall feeling more favourable towards the use of online assessment and this was reflected in participant feedback where seven of the students indicated that would probably or very probably change some aspect of their practice as a result of the workshop, one would change a little, one was unlikely due to work constraints and the other did not respond.

Conclusions

I think a predominantly social and active learning approach is correct in both online and face to face teaching and learning. The use of the wiki as a tool in the classroom is a good medium to pull together small group discussions, where participants can be benefit from face to face interaction and thereafter ongoing discussion, debate, collaboration and decision making online and out of class if necessary and desirable.

The example demonstrations were most definitely useful in laying the foundations of knowledge to comprehend the possibilities and engage in subsequent discussions, where participants benefited not only from teacher input, but also from fellow participants.

This session was very much an introductory and awareness raising session and with links provided participants have some initial signposts from where to gather deeper knowledge. With a more knowledgeable group, discussions may focus on the success or failure of online assessment approaches and this will emphasise the need to be flexible and adaptable in this type of session.

About Me

2007-12-31T18:58:00.002Z

A Quick Overview
I am a Distance Learning Development Team Leader in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at De Montfort University, previously i have worked in web and multimedia development and i am interested in helping myself and other teachers to take advantage of web 2.0 technology to find new and effective ways to deliver interactive and collaborative learning.

Other Interests
I have recently successfully completed an MA by independent study: e-learning and education where my focus was on using social software and web conferencing technology to enhance adult distance learning. In my spare time i am interested in keeping moderately fit, mainly through Swimming and Spinning Classes.

A discussion of strategies for managing social bookmarking teaching and learning activities (using del.icio.us)

2007-12-02T20:01:00.000Z

Many educational benefits are attributed to the activity known as social bookmarking. Whilst re-iterating these benefits this article will discuss and offer a solution to the task of managing social bookmarking learning activities.

Three reasons why teachers and students should join a social bookmarking site

1. Accelerated Knowledge Acquisition: Through personally tagging, building a network of informed users, through subscribing to specific tags and from connecting with like minded taggers, you will acquire phenomenally fast access to resources of interest. What this means is that your access to knowledge is increased dramatically, your knowledge and understanding will develop more quickly and your awareness of current issues will keep you up to date and at the forefront in your field.

2. Portability and Flexibility: Because social bookmarking websites can be accessed anytime from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection the opportunity to tag bookmarks, retrieve information from saved bookmarks and keep up to date with the tagging activities of your network is increased dramatically compared to the option of saving your bookmarks to a location bound home or office based personal computer.

3. Easy and fast searching and retrieval of Resources: your own bookmarks, your network members bookmarks and the bookmarks of all members of your social bookmarking site can easily be searched by keyword or tag to retrieve previously bookmarked resources or find new resources of interest.

More reasons to join a social bookmarking site

4. Easy organization and categorization of resources means teachers can offer improved support for students. Students have a mechanism to assist themselves in self directed study. Tagging allows bookmarks to be organized in a number of different categories, not just one as is the case in a hierarchical folder type set up. Bundling of tags is an additional organisational tool

5. Connections: Tagging can reveal other individuals that have bookmarked the same resources as you and who may therefore share the same interests. Apart from adding them to your own social bookmarking network it could lead to collaboration, support and access to other knowledge resources external to the social bookmarking activity.

6. Sharing your access to knowledge: For teachers’ resources can be made easily available to students and colleagues either through the social bookmarking site itself, embedding bookmark links into web pages or by using RSS Feeds. Students can do the same and learn these valuable skills for other areas of their life e.g. work, family, hobbies.

Individual Motivation
In my view initially the use of a social bookmarking tool such as ‘del.icio.us’ is essentially a tool for the individual to have a convenient location to store and categorize bookmarks for their own benefit, thus enabling 24/7 access from any internet connected computer. In relation to the wider world of the web, the individual tagging of bookmarks has unwitting, unplanned and uncontrived social and group benefits.

As the concept and features of social bookmarking have evolved it is possible that some individuals develop a collective consciousness and the tagging of bookmarks may become more of a social act as well as just for individual benefit. That said, as there is no overwhelming reason or obligation to conform to a tagging standard, then it would seem that primarily the tagging of bookmarks is for individual gain. Which I guess is how it should be for it to be a genuine folksonomic tagging system (that reflects the true tagging intentions of its members). Tagging habits may change overtime depending how influenced an individual is by the rest of the tagging community.

Social Bookmarking in relation to teaching and learning activities
As part of their definition Phillip Jeffrey and Samia Khan from the Human Communication Technologies Lab describe social bookmarking as a “non-hierarchical and inclusive process of groups cooperating ad hoc to categorise and share information using reader-created (e.g. del.icio.us) tags” They add “This non-hierarchical concept of tagging to classify and share is called a folksonomy.” (Jeffrey and Khan 2005) .

The differences between social tagging and collaborative tagging are highlighted by comparing the definition of collaboration; “to work together, especially in joint intellectual effort” and the definition of social; "living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation" (ASC 2007) to emphasise that collaborative tagging has more purpose and is perhaps a better way to describe the tagging that will occur in a contrived teaching and learning activity.

Whilst informal social bookmarking has all the benefits mentioned previously, more formal teaching and learning social bookmarking activities bring a number of additional issues relating to secondary tasks such as for example reorganisation and retagging of bookmarks, reviewing and critiquing bookmarks or discussion of tagging strategies. The specifics of various teaching and learning tasks are for another time, the focus of this article centres around two main issues; 1) Task management and 2) A single account strategy.

Scenario and Issues to address
The number of students, the intent of the task and the time in which to do the task will all add to how a task is organised and facilitated. As an example we shall use the following scenario, and assume that the task is completed using the ‘del.icio.us’ social bookmarking site.

If we imagine a scenario where a teacher has 150 students to teach. In order for the individuals in a group to develop some kind of bond and to give focus to the learning activities, the group of 150 is split into 15 groups of 10. Tagging, organising, reviewing and critiquing tasks can ensue from here. The two issues of interest are:

1. Activity Management: How can a teacher maintain and control a number of different groups attempting the same social bookmarking activity.
2. Single Account Strategy: How can this group work be achieved without the need for a separate group account being setup.

Perhaps the first issue is more obvious than the second, but I think both issues are closely related in developing a satisfactory strategy for both teacher and student. I’ll take the second issue first as I believe this is at the heart of a potential problem. When social bookmarking moves into the arena of teaching and learning the emphasis moves onto group work, collaboration and the requirement to complete specific tasks. For social bookmarking the formation of a separate group account seems an obvious and easy solution to organize and control the task. But is this either satisfactory or necessary for the student? Should a student have to work with more than just there own personal social bookmarking account? For the student it is a major inconvenience to interrupt their surfing activity to have to switch from one account to another. For the teacher it is not so much of an issue as one way or another they need to isolate the bookmarks into 15 separate groupings rather than one big group,

Solutions

Options include:
1. Separate group account – Students all login and contribute to the group account with bookmarks that are specific to the purpose of the learning activity. (teacher can still view activity without having to log into group account, by subscribing to RSS feed)

2. Tag as Individuals; View in separate group account – teacher to create a network of the users in the group. Teacher and users can tag in their own account, and also view the group network tags through ‘del.icio.us’ or RSS feeds. (bookmarks not relating to the learning activity will also appear)

3. Tag as Individuals View in separate group account - using the ‘FOR’ function students add bookmarks to their own allotted groups whilst tagging in addition to tagging for themselves.(RSS feeds do not appear to be available for this feature)

4. Tag as Individual with unique identifier tag - We can ask the student to include as one of their tags a unique identifier such as the institution name plus a course code and then a group number e.g DMUabcd1234_G1. Then set up a subscription to this tag. (note: there is potential for misspelling, but both teachers and users can access all bookmarks through ‘del.icio.us’ or RSS feeds)

5. Tag as Individual with unique identifier tag. Use a separate group account – Same as four above, but isolates specific learning activities away from other subscriptions teachers or students may have. (So for a teacher that could potentially be capturing many groups subscriptions in one place, they can look at all subscriptions ensuring bookmarks not relating to the learning activity will not appear)

With all of these options (except the FOR function) viewing of contributions would be best achieved by looking at the network, subscriptions or specific tag pages, either
a) Directly within the ‘del.icio.us’ network or
b) By setting up an RSS feed on the ‘del.icio.us’ tag.

Conclusion
If we start from the premise that no extra group accounts are to be setup and that students will only need to tag as individuals using their own ‘del.icio.us’ account then that rules out option 1. We now have to decide what of the remaining four options seems to be the most suitable to manage the activity of fifteen groups of ten. As I would prefer to view any bookmarks via an RSS feed reader this would rule out option 3. Option 2 with the possibility of unrelated bookmarks being included is also ruled out. For similar reasons I would rule out option 4 as this could also include unrelated subscriptions.

Option 5 will allow students to use their own individual account and tag bookmarks with no restriction on how they tag, other than adding a unique identifier tag.
There is no major burden for the teacher by setting up a separate group. The teacher can use the group account and its subscription feature to collate unique identifier subscriptions for all 15 groups, whilst having the flexibility to flick easily to anyone of the smaller subgroups to view specific group unique identifier subscriptions. These benefits can apply to students as well.

What do you think?
Do you agree with the strategy, have you any other ideas in mind? Can you see any problems or inaccuracies with the five options mentioned.

Bonus Point!
For archival purposes bookmarks for each groups subscriptions can be exported to a separate html document.

Food for thought!
Tagging strategies – if you have a blog post on a particular subject that you want to publicize then tag your own blog to circulate to your network and for those people that might subscribe to a particular tag.

Webex Synchronous Environment

2007-11-22T16:45:00.000Z

Having just completed three online Interactive synchronous classes with eight of my teaching colleagues on the subject of Web 2.0 technology I thought it was time to review the environment from a technical point of view. The online communication tools I.E whiteboard text and drawing tools, innovative pointer tool, text chat and feedback icons have been easily adopted by the participants for use in the session. Video conferencing has not been used, but there is a facility to view 6 webcams at once if desired.

Quality of Audio
The key technical issue is the quality of the audio. Using VOIP the system overall seems to have worked very well. The system limits speaking to seven people at one time, which seems to be better than most competitors. The microphone is passed around to those not in possession of a free microphone who wish to speak. This is achieved easily by the facilitator. The facilitator also has the ability to mute participants which is useful. Participants also have the ability to mute themselves as long as they select their own name first on the participant panel. With regard to muting of participants it was obvious that a lot of background noise could be heard at various times and a much stricter outlining of ground rules to highlight no distractions or using the mute if you are aware of the potential of background noise to interfere with the lesson.

It would seem that everyone could hear me clearly, which was obviously very important especially for those participants that were in the unfortunate position of not being able to be heard. It seems that all those that could not be heard were basically suffering from a problem related to how they initially setup, using the webex audio setup wizard. We will address steps that can be taken to minimise problems in this area later in this article. We seem to be able to get through the sessions ok, if only 1 or 2 had a problem as the participants could still follow the conversation and contribute and communicate via text chat. So most participants once sorted out had no problem with hearing or being heard. Occasionally though people could not hear me for patchy moments of 5-10 seconds or so, maybe longer in some cases. I experienced this myself as a participant in a subsequent session. This would appear to be as a result of the use of VOIP and the way data is transferred over the internet leading to occasional delays in voice data being transmitted across the data networks even though webex use their own private network and most others in this industry use public networks (question for self - is that the Internet only?). So overall it seems that webex does provide an effective application for communicating via audio in using VOIP in a web conferencing environment.
VOIP and Teleconferencing
The actual product that I have been working in is 'training center'. This does come at an extra cost. VOIP usage is charged per person per minute for participation in a session. Teleconferencing linked to the session is also available and I know from having participated in many webex sessions conducted using teleconferencing audio that this is a much more reliable and effective method of audio communication. There is a charge again for this and it is higher than VOIP. Currently I have perceived the use of VOIP as the chosen mode of audio communication because with other companies that use VOIP there are no extra costs involved for students or the institutions and ALSO with a microphone and headset attached to the PC it should be less hassle. As I understand it there are no extra charges for companies that use VOIP over public networks. Although participants will be given a toll-free number to use for teleconferencing my understanding is that most if not all will be charging the institutions for this service. From a participants point of view I think the audio will be clearer and they will need a hands free phone so that they can complete whiteboard and text chat tasks easily. So I don't think teleconferencing option should be dismissed out of hand, but it will be a more expensive option for the institution.

Minimizing Technical Problems
To minimize technical problems related to audio for individual students and to minimize disruptions to classes the following measures will help:
1. An online induction session should be arranged for all students to make sure audio setup works ok. They should not be allowed onto a session until audio setup issues are resolved. If the facilitator cannot help, then the individual student should be directed to webex support (who seem to respond quickly to any queries) to clarify the problem.
2. A document or perhaps a webex recording should be available explaining the step by step process of completing the audio setup wizard, highlighting key points such as
* When indicating the audio equipment to be used make sure you select the correct equipment from the list presented. (Note that if you have 3 or 4 audio devices attached to your machine they may not show up automatically and you need to scroll to find them.
* Headset with microphone is the preferred option for audio quality and if you use them participants need to make sure that during the audio setup wizard process that the option for speaker setup is set to ‘headphones’ and not ‘desktop or laptop speakers’. As a temporary measure in a class – if students have set this up incorrectly the CONTROL key on the keyboard when pressed down can toggle to and from headphones as the preferred choice.
3. Also from the START menu of your machine go to >SETTINGS> CONTROL PANEL>SOUNDS AND AUDIO DEVICES>AUDIO TAB to make sure sound playback and recording are set to the correct devices.
4. Finally if a participant experiences patchy audio during a session they could try leaving the session and then coming back in again to get a better connection.

Adobe Connect Report 2: it ain't happening

2007-10-30T19:10:00.000Z

Supposed to start delivering a 6 week course online live synchronous course on Monday Nov 5th. In preparation for my course I am massively behind schedule because i was naive enough to assume that adobe connect and the many other products of this ilk were robust enough in the digital age to handle a bit of true interactivity and not just some talking head in a web conferencing system answering a few text chats and ponderously allowing others to speak because the VOIP systems have massive difficulty dealing with multiple speakers. I believe problems are compounded in adobe Connect because of the craziness of having to give presenter rights to participants to access the voice controls and the same problem applies to whiteboards where participants cannot use a whiteboard without presenter rights, meaning that anyone can move onto the next slide or erase text just like that.

during a couple of trial runs with only two people setting aside intermittent patchy audio, there was terrible echo. After investigating i believe problems could stem from the fact that participants can click on all sorts of options, multiple speakers, mute etc and the true host/ presenter is not sure what is going on.

the presenter rights issue aside, all systems seem to struggle with the VOIP bandwidth issue. At might last investigation Webex allow 7 microphones on at once and elluminate 6. I have worked with 5 in a webex environment and it worked fine. As i want to work with 12 at a time it seems that dialing in on a separate teleconference seems to be the best way to ensure that everyone is free to talk freely. I have participated in many sessions of this nature.

The advantage of VOIP in is that there are no additional phone costs to be incurred by either host or user and it's one less technicality to worry about.

Anyhow i have to come up with solutions for a monday start, but all the extra investigation of problems has seriously effected other complimentary preparation for the class, so i am not a happy bunny.

Community Building, Learning Networks and all thatJazz

2007-10-28T22:00:00.000Z

Sheryl Nussbaum Beach on community building. Sheryl continues to come up with interesting articles. This latest one ties in with my recent thoughts on how best to build an online community of practice/interest. 21st Century Collaborative: Community for Everyone

When i think about DMU, i don't believe there is a mechanism in place that is harnessing to great effect the great knowledge and experience that the people of DMU have to offer. I believe that technologically web 2.0 offers increased options to build a significant online DMU community that will have social and learning benefits.

Currently i love ning networks and their ability to create specialized networks that would be ideal to promote a learning and knowledge community that can spread 'the word' quicker than current methods.

Perdsonally i don't see Blackboard as a unifying force. I have noticed in social networks i have been involved with recently of an example of a move from moodle to a ning network because the environment is percieved to be more conducive to participation. Facebook is i believe to wide and even if a group was setup in this environment it would lack identity and can not be focused to the same degree that a self created ning network offers.

interestingly as i look into to social networks i noticed this article by Mark Hopkins The Real Value of Web 2.0 (Hint: It’s not Facebook), which extols the virtues of twitter and google reader and whilst there is plenty to consider and might be good for the individual i still believe the development of a learning network with social spin offs would be a good thing for DMU.

If it was developed it would be good to debate the pros and cons of the various implementation options available.

Adobe Connect : Interaction and Collaboration

2007-10-28T20:24:00.000Z

My initiation to interactive and collaborative live online learning was using the webex environment. My opinions of other synchronous collaboration software is somewhat clouded by what i perceive to have been an excellent schooling in an excellent webex environment. Three significant influences were the use of an individualized pointer tool for each participant that could be moved easily around the screen to indicate contributions to the white board, the use of whiteboard tools without giving presenter control to the participant and the use of phone dial in as opposed to using VOIP for audio connection to the host and other participants.

This blog discusses some of the issues of implementing a synchronous class in Adobe Connect. First of all please note as a great source of reference and help the excellent Adobe Connect Blog.

In anaylysing Adobe connect i make the following observations

1. For participants to access the class a host has to open the class. This is fine as the class can be opened early, up to 12 hours in advance to allow participants to logon early to check initial audio connections. Adobe Connect seems easier in this respect to logon which is a good thing as we need to keep the technology barriers to a minimum.

2. Using Flash and the vector based system 'pods' that contain whiteboard, chat and other tools automatically adjust to the size of the participants computers, which again is good. However if you woork on high resolution screens like i do, it is still better to reduce the size down to 1028x768.

3. The Interface is easy to organize and has a good feel to it.

4. It is easy to add content and Url's, which are stored on the adobe server for easy retrieval next time around.

5. I am working on the basis of a VOIP connection as this is the least troublesome for students, both technically and from possible additional costs that may be incuurred. My experience is that a phone dial up is preferable for quality and allowing a large number of users to participate at once. I hope i can overcome this issue and be proved wrong during my 10-12 strong synchronous classes.

Useful Links: Adobe Connect Tips

POINTS to Note
1. After logging on participants need to be given enhanced rights to use the camera and Voice pod and the 'Share' pods which will allow them whiteboard tools to annotate powerpoint slides which are the backbone of the class. The host needs to ensure that the camera is off and that multiple speakers are allowed to speak. Note that webcams are not used as part of the course. They are not really necessary and will take up bandwidth which could effect the quality of audio that is broadcast.

2. When working with participants off campus best to use a connection speed at DSL level and advise students to set their own connection to their own level (modem or broadband dsl). The connection status of each participant can be checked in the attendance list options. in the top right hand corner the strength of connection is indicated with either green(best), orange (ok) or red (not good). Similarly the same colour indication is used when a participant speaks in the camera and voice pod. greyed out when not speaking, green when good connection and speaking.

3. Once given the rights to speak participants have the choice of pressing the 'talk' button down and holding or use hands free to keep it permanently available to speak. Keeping it hands free is my preferred option, but after a practice session this morning there may still be a possible problem with bandwidth availability as my connection was distinctly patchy. I will try again and change a few settings, but it may be that in order to best proceed we'll have to take the approach of holding the'talk' button down.

4.Another irritating issue is that due to all participants acting as a presenter, if one was to use the erase (clear) whiteboard objects tool, then all screen objects are lost and not just the individuals contribution. The way around this for individuals to delete their own whiteboard contributions is to select for example a text object by using the selector tool and drag it slightly to reveal the border resize handles and then press the delete key on the keyboard. This seems ok, but is not totally natural and sometimes it does not seem to work on some text objects that are drawn. If it does not work then using the pointer tool to surround the object with a large invisible rectangle will select the object, (providing the complete area of the text object is covered) and then again use the delete key on the keyboard.

5. One advantage is that once the selection tool is mastered text objects can be easily moved around the screen. Drawn objects that use a pencil for example work slightly differently and the only way to select a whole drawing that is the result of a few pencil lines is to use the pointer tool to draw an invisible rectangle around it as in the second method described previously.

6. Recordings can be made, but unless things have changed recently they can only be saved and accessed on the adobe server. No downloads to your own computer to save or distribute for offline viewing is available.

To achieve the fluid interaction and collaboration i want, so that the only thing to worry about is the learning and not awkward technology requires a lot of research and experience in using the various synchronous classroom options. Consideration of the points above is essential for institutions interested in solutions that are aimed at improving learning. straightforward connections with low interactions will be easy to achieve, but institutions need to look deeper than that.

Connect is offering some ease of access plus points. I will work with it in the coming month to see if i can get it to act in a matter befitting a group of people that just want to concentrate on the learning.

Twitter yeah not!

2007-10-14T10:39:00.000Z

As i posted my last blog on Twitter, having still not used it and not knowing that much about it. I decided to take jennifer Jones RSS blog feed and add it to my pageflakes page. The feed dropped straight on top of my translitercay RSS feed and guess what the first article of the transliteracy feed was on the use of twitter for intimacy and empathy.

Apps for intimacy and empathy (PART)

This connection has obviously given me a heads up and further pushed 'Twitter' to the forefront of my mind. So connections with people and resources are nourishing my mind, feeding the connections in my brain and as Stephen Downes has highlighted in his own blog articles - The more a connection is used and strengthened there is a corresponding strengthening of the neural pathways in the brain to ensure that the connections stay strong.

In this connective world of web 2.0, where i now inhabit, i know not yet, my location, i don't know where i am going and unlike the real world, there are is no finite physical map. How best do i build my web2 Home to make best use of the possible connections that are available? Questions Questions Questions.

injenuity » Blog Archive » Twitter is Important

2007-10-13T21:32:00.000Z

I have been looking more deeply into a number of web 2.0 technologies recently. What i conclude is this, if you are a teacher you should make a vow to yourself to try out a new web technology on a regular basis. It should be built into your weekly schedule - just make time to explore the many new technologies that can help to improve your teaching and the learning experience of your students.

I have only scrapped the surface of how web 2.0 can benefit myself as a teacher and subsequently my learners. It is blindly obvious to me that web 2.0 technologies are an essential part of a teachers toolkit if they wish to offer their students a varied and interesting educational experience. AND THE MAIN REASON IS CONNECTION. I'll say no more for now.

This particular blog was inspired by a technology called 'Twitter' which i have never used and have always previously dismissed as an irrelevant chitty chatty frivolous application. After reading the following blog post i realised i need to try things out before passing judgment. injenuity » Blog Archive » Twitter is Important

The Blog is written by Jenifer Jones, who is a member of the College2 online network (community)

I might in the end not value twitter as a major player in my web 2.0 toolkit, but i'll have more of an appreciation of it's potential and may then be able to find a use for it future solutions to learning or connecting with others.

An Exploration of Social Networking

2007-10-03T20:20:00.000Z

This blog is primarily for the benefit of students who are preparing to participate in the forthcoming short Course - Web 2.0 for teaching and Learning: The basics - blogs, wikis and tagging

I guess that we can say the learning has begun.

First of all i believe it is true to say that web 2.0 technology is generally easy and relatively accessible for non-technical teachers to setup and administer. That said tenaciousness in sorting out problems is a good attribute, as is patience and preparing ahead of time.

Our short course will look at a few web 2.0 technologies. These are Blogs, wikis and tagging with the emphasis on social bookmarking. By enrolling you on the web 2.0 learning network i am attempting to use the web 2.0 technology that fosters and encourages 'social networking'.

Social Networking

The most obvious examples of Social Networking sites are 'facebook' and 'myspace' and both are quite obviously about socializing. In an educational situation and in our situation i want to use a social networking' site to support an online community of learners in what can be more accurately described as a 'learning network'. I can see a good argument for the ease with which a participant can float from social to learning interactions on facebook, and subgroups can be setup on facebook with the intention of acting as a group of learners.

The use of the Ning network on the face of it, (once technical difficulties are resolved) is a much better option. A clear distinct learning network (group) can be formed and then managed by the network creator. It is very easy to organize and administer for non-technical users. In my opinion one of the most important factors to foster and stimulate online community participation is the use of email notifications whenever activity (e.g. discussion board postings, announcements) occurs in the network. Ning networks include the web 2.0 learning network that i have created offer this facility.

Whilst Blackboard automatically offers an online community setup, the clunkiness of development (i.e 4 clicks when only 1 is sufficient), the lack of email notifications and not having a full set of features to cater for a smooth running community leads me to look for an external web 2.0 solution.

Another approach that could be taken is the use of google groups, which i have participated in. For aesthetic reasons i did not enjoy working in this environment. but simple and easy to setup and does notify by email of new postings.

Due to the difficulties encountered with ning, i have looked at a number of other social networking solutions - I looked at 'LinkedIn', which is a social network site for professionals which does not appear to add additional functionality for the purposes of our learning group. I have looked at Basecamp, which does have some potential, but is more of a project based setup, but could be customized for our purposes. I found also a competitor to ning networks called ' goingon', which from a presentation and functionality point of view, does not seem quite as good as a ning network. The final item i looked at was not so much a social networking site, but an individual course organizer. This was nuvvo and it seemed simple and easy to setup and could offer a solution to an online home for a group of learners to work together.

If you have any questions or comments about social networking you can comment here for now. I shall keep you up to date with course start dates and details of your first introductory online synchronous session. If we can persevere with ning for now - i think it will be the best option, keep me informed of how you are getting on.

cheers, Steve

Social Networking Tools, Education and Groupwork

2007-10-01T10:49:00.000Z

What is one to do to harness the power of social networking tools for the benefit of your students and there education. Why bother harnessing social networking tools? Connecting to others in your network will offer unexpected nuggets of knowledge, understanding, avenues to explore and camaraderie. The emotional impact on learning can be enhanced for groups of students participating in a programme of study.

The only requirement of the individual is to contribute to the network. As someone pretty famous once said “Give and you shall receive.” There is a massive reward to be gained even if you did not receive, but personally my brief experience is that you will receive ‘nuggets’ galore. By giving to the learning network your thoughts, feelings and understandings you will crystallize and refine your own thoughts and gain deeper understandings and insights to your chosen field of study. This act of externalization has direct benefits for the individual.

Whilst blogs and wikis can be the focus of particular learning activities, it’s a social networking environment that fosters the emotional well being and incidental learning that can be so useful to the morale and learning of individual students.

Facebook and Ning

How can one go about setting up an appropriate social network? Facebook it seems to me has exploded in the last three months and is in pole position to quickly and easily setup a group and as more and more students are using it, an easy transition from a social to a learning situation can be achieved. And although it feels good to use, my feelings are that it does not offer as good a level of organization of personal resources (photo’s, videos) as a ning based social network. In addition a ning based social network will offer email notification to all members of posts on forums, walls etc. This in my opinion is the glue that keeps the online social network abreast of community developments.

For educators ning networks are very easy to setup and student blogging can be self contained within the group. Access to external wikis is made easy from within the network.

‘Ruby on rails’ and Basecamp

For programmer types and organizations that want to take a good look at the customized services they could offer ‘ruby on rails’ an open framework for web development seems to offer a lot for creative organizations prepared to use it. An example application is basecamp. I need to look into this further.

Google Groups

A quick word on google groups – I have not enjoyed participating in them at the moment – but they do also notify by email notification of all new posts to discussions – so they are good for keeping a community abreast of developments. Easy to setup also.

Conclusion

Bottom line is that Ning offers a very easy way to set up a self contained learning network. Facebook will be central to a lot of students already. The choice is yours.

21st Century Collaborative Blog

2007-09-29T11:14:00.000Z

I include the following flake from pageflakes. The 21st Century collaborative is an excellent blog for teachers interested in using web 2.0 technology. Pageflakes which is a personalised RSS feed aggregator allowed me to easily copy the HTML code for the flake and drop it into this blog

On the technicalities: The principle is the same as copying code from a youtube video and pasting this code into a blog, wiki or web page. Note that within the HTML code I can also easily adjust the width and height of the tag.

On the subject matter: The flake includes the 5 most recent articles of the 21st Century blog. The most recent article is about a new research tool. I have not read this article yet, but it sounds as though it could be very useful.

Many thanks to Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach the author of the 21st Century Collaborative for bringing to our attention many interesting developments in this web 2.0 era.

Wiki's For Professional Development

2007-09-26T15:58:00.000Z

It's been a long time. that would appear to be the way it goes when other important elements of study are at the forefront of one's mind:

A link to a blog article i wrote as part of the DMU pathfinder research project i am involvede with:
http://dmupathfinder.blogspot.com/2007/09/betty-collis-seminar-wikis-flavour-of.html

Connectivism - Legitimate Learning theory?

2007-07-01T17:19:00.000Z

Bill Kerr in critiquing connectivism initially offered that a good learning theory should:

contribute to a theory/practice spiral of curriculum / learning reform,provide
a significant new perspective about how we see learning happening
represent historical alternatives accurately

his ongoing views can be read at http://learningevolves.wikispaces.com/kerr

Bijdrage van Pløn Verhagen concluded that the ideas that George Siemens had about connectivism were more to do with a pedagogical approach rather than a theory of learning and as such suggests that his theories should be considered at the curriculum level, rather than at the instructional level, where learning theory should be considered.

In reading through George Siemens response to Bijdrage van Pløn Verhagen's critique i am trying to establish in my own mind the legitimacy of connectivism as a new learning theory. I don't expect to do that at this one sitting, but i shall make a start here.

Firstly to say with regard to Kerr's three points about good learning theory, i am not sure exactly what the first point alludes to, the third point i need to review to see what George Siemens has claimed for alternative learning theories and whether this concurs with others general view in the field. It is the second point that i think i can start an argument in favour of connectivism as a learning theory. NB: I do intend to research what others say that a good learning theory should contain to test the validity of this criteria.

Externalization
With regard point two above, connectivism it would seem does provide a significant new perspective about how we see learning happening.

George Siemens states "We are social beings. Through language, symbols, video, images, and other means, we seek to express our thoughts. Essentially, our need to derive and express meaning, gain and share knowledge, requires externalization."

George Siemens points out that connectivism sees the aim/function of learning to be social. In order to learn, to make meaning we need to socialize, interact and collaborate - to do this we need to externalize our thoughts, feelings and ideas. The process of externalizing will confirm understanding, provide feedback and thus consolidate and confirm the acquisition of knowledge that an individual has constructed.

He goes on to say that " Most existing theories of learning assume the opposite, stating that internalization is the key function of learning (cognitivism assumes we process information internally, constructivism asserts that we assign meaning internally�though the process of deriving meaning may be a function of a social network, i.e. the social dimension assists in learning, rather than the social dimension being the aim of learning)."

The following paragraph from George Siemens offers a view on how externlization fits into the connectivism learning theory

"While the external environment is critical, both Vygotsky and Wittgenstein mistook the environment for the space in which thought gains life, when in reality, the external environment is an additional space for knowledge, thought, expression, and reflection. As an extension of humanity, the external is in itself a space in which we exist�rather than an environment in which our words find existence. When objects and other external entities are viewed as extension of humanity, the notion of learning as a network formation process becomes more palatable. If knowledge exists in external structures of similar nature, as it exists physically within our minds (distributed, neurologically), then it is possible to ascribe knowledge and learning attributes to the distributed nature of networks formed between people."

George Siemens on understanding learning:

"We are growing in our understanding of learning. Research in neuroscience, theories of social-based learning, and developments in learning psychology create new understanding of the act, and process, of learning. As Downes (2006) stated,

Learning�occurs in communities, where the practice of learning is the participation in the community. A learning activity is, in essence, a conversation undertaken between the learner and other members of the community. This conversation, in the web 2.0 era, consists not only of words but of images, video, multimedia and more. This conversation forms a rich tapestry of resources, dynamic and interconnected, created not only by experts but by all members of the community, including learners. (Network Pedagogy section, � 6)"

Important other elements to review from George Siemens article are:

Emerging Philosophy of Knowledge, Learning, and KnowingWhat
What Makes Connectivismvism a Theory?

Connectivism - A learning theory for a digital age

2007-07-01T16:07:00.000Z

Since coming across George Siemens I was immediately taken by his theory of connectivism. Being heavily focused on cognitive and constructive theories of learning as part of my study, I had a gut instinct that there is something in George's theory. I have since enjoyed many of George's articles and the clarity of argument that is contained within them. I find the principles of connectivism outlined on the connectivism wiki very useful in comprehending connectivism and situating learning strategies within this theory of learning. Some principles of connectivism are outlined here: About — Connectivism.

Critiques of the theory include:
Bill Kerr: http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2006/12/challenge-to-connectivism.html
http://learningevolves.wikispaces.com/kerr

Bijdrage van Pløn Verhagen:
http://elearning.surf.nl/e-learning/english/3793

George Siemens response to Pløn Verhagen critique
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism_self-amused.htm

Web 2.0 is Connectivity

2007-07-01T12:12:00.000Z

"Web 2.0 is connectivity - through self expression and technological simplicity."

That was my response to a recent challenge to come up with a snappy one liner to explain what web 2.0 is. In terms of an explanation of web 2.0 it probably does not explain what it is and maybe it is not possible in a snappy one-liner. What it does do i believe is go to the heart and the ethos of web 2.0 technology.

Connectivity is a theme that is figuring strongly in relation to learning, lately for me. In a recent essay i drew attention to the socio-constructivist principles of Vygotsky (1962; 1978) and the view that the higher mental functioning in an individual would not be possible without social interaction (connections) and this social interaction is compatible with brain science theories such as Gee (1992) who suggests that “our capacity for learning can be explained in terms of the brain engaging in this sort of ongoing interaction with the world”.

This was reinforced by the very interesting Stephen Downes half hour blog where he talked about many things including associative learning and how "The result in the brain is strengthening or weakening of a set of neural connections, a relatively slow process." His point is that it's not about content transfer, it's about repeated exposure (preferably where it is highly salient, as this impacts the strength of the neural connection).

He goes on to say that transfer of information via a presentation would not result in knowledge transfer to audiences but it is the "repetition of instances required in order to create a weight of experience on a certain subject." , that will result of an individual acquiring their own knowledge.

The thrust of his blog is that people have to create their own knowledge from their own experiences and that the knowledge becomes stronger through the more connections an individual has exposure to related subject matter. It is the connecting of new experiences/ information which consolidates knowledge acquisition.

George Siemens draws together the ideas of Vygotsky, Gee, web 2.0 technology and the ideas of Downes in his theory of connectivism

What are the implications for teaching?
Teaching staff not conversant with the new technology may well ask, why should i bother with it. Well these web 2.0 technology tools can be used to promote interaction and collaboration amongst students in their own group as a starting point. Connections can be made if desired outside the group to other students and subject experts. Both staff and students can use the new technology to connect easily to resources and contacts to help organize and administer teaching and learning more efficiently. This will improve the opportunity to acquire knowledge.

Synchronous Classroom Models

2007-06-07T09:44:00.000Z

An online synchronous classroom can be a wonderful environment to create engaging and interesting online learning. Deployment of synchronous classroom software at a higher education establishment needs careful consideration of the intended uses and the ability of the synchronous classroom software to provide the necessary tools and features that will facilitate these intended uses.

One problem for universities considering employing this technology is that they may not have a complete picture of how the technology can be used and therefore at this early stage of adoption not sure whether the features of a particular brand will be the most suitable for their needs.

The tools available to participants are primarily whiteboard text and drawing tools, text chat, feedback icons (yes/no, raised hand, emoticons) pointer/identifier tool, audio (teleconference or integrated Voip), Webcam Video link (although I do not see a need to use webcam video for my purposes).

Tools for the facilitator will include the use of whiteboards, imported PowerPoint slides, application sharing, file sharing and granting rights for participants to use the tools available. Various other administrative tools are also available and important for the facilitator.

At Penn State University they identify various models for the use of synchronous classroom software (http://tlt.its.psu.edu/breeze/Models.html)

I intend to build on and refine this list to establish how exactly this type of software can and is being used.

My primary interest is using the synchronous classroom as a genuine classroom where interactive and collaborative activities are taking place online. Needless to say I think that this is the most important and valuable use of the synchronous classroom and should therefore have a high priority when deciding on what particular synchronous classroom solution to adopt. The functionality available to facilitator and participant and it’s exact implementation will vary from software to software. Assuming all the standard features are in place, then ideally to deliver the interactive and collaborative learning which I think best enhances community building and student engagement the following is required:

For Participants:

A uniquely identifiable pointer tool (by colour/ name or both) for use on whiteboards.
Freedom to speak at any time (although we would not want them to all speak at the same time)
Good quality Voip (voice over IP). With a headset and microphone students can be hands free to use whiteboard tools. Teleconferencing adds too many extra setup and admin issues, although the audio is good.
Feedback Icons that ideally include yes/no, I have a question, stepped away and feedback eraser.

For the Facilitator:

Sole control over whiteboards/PowerPoint slides whilst participants simultaneously have use of whiteboard text and drawing tools.
Specific control of the rights of participants to use individual features of the synchronous classroom e.g. audio, chat, whiteboard, whiteboard tools, application sharing and remote control.
Ability to Record presentation
Ability to create breakout rooms for small group work.

In this model, although the lecturer’s role is to facilitate learning they need to have control over the environment and its tools in order to ensure that a structured, well thought out session will achieve the intended learning outcomes. At the same time participants/students need the best possible tools to encourage spontaneity and ease of participation in a lesson.

I don’t believe that video webcam’s are necessary to achieve the interactive and collaborative learning I wish to employ, but recognize that others may see value in the use of the interactive live lecture and the videoconferencing models of use.

Compromises necessarily need to be made, but assuming the reliability and the pricing are more or less equal then it would be prudent to ensure functionality that best meets the requirements outlined above are incorporated into any synchronous classroom solution that is going to be deployed.

I have recently looked into a number of synchronous classroom solutions. I shall reveal my findings shortly in my next blog.

FOE Presentation: Pageflakes - Blogging, Tagging and Aggregating

2007-06-05T22:46:00.000Z

This blog, was originally written quickly on the fly while listening to an elluminate recording of Dave Cormier presenting on the subject of pageflakes, snowclones and memes. My blog really did not make much sense originally as the main purpose at the time was to tag the blog and see how it would appear on a pageflakes page that Dave had created.

I have now had time to visit the pageflakes website and create my own pageflakes page. I now know that the whole purpose of the exercise was to show how an RSS aggregator such as 'Pageflakes' can pull together in a central location RSS Feeds from different blogs. The clever bit was to then ask the blog writer to tag the page using 'social bookmarking' software such as 'del.ic.ous' and this could be all pulled into the RSS aggregator all under the one heading for review by all that our members of this groupcast page.

As regards snowclones and memes - i'll needto look into that further. For me the most important thing was to realize that how combining of aggregators with the tagging of blogs, makes the use ofblogging in education much more interesting and meaningful.

I have scrubbed some of my gibberish from earlier to give this blog more clarity. My first understandings of Dave's presentation are included below:

Using this blog to tag it in delicious and label it in blogger to see where the FOE2007 tag can feed back into the conference or Dave's webpage. (labelling in blogger was not necessary to appear in Dave's pageflake)

So Dave is talking about a distributed conversation and aggregating the responses in one place. A model to have a participatory presentation like this for a further public content using of the content after the presentation. An alternative approach to wiki's or a discussion board. Something to think about. I've got something out of this at the death of the recording. I have something to get my teeth into.

Tagging, it's all becoming clearer. Into the 20th Hour of this wonderful day, best get to kip now or will regret this tomorrow

Essays - The Pain and the Joy

2007-05-29T11:25:00.001Z

I have recently finished my first MA essay with the title "A critique of instructional design models, theories and specific online interactive and collaborative technology related to online adult distance learning".

Quite a lot to fit into a 3’000 word essay, I chose initially to concentrate on 4 models of online learning and critique them. This it seems would have seriously neglected many themes in the essay i.e. adult learning, distance learning, interactive and collaborative technology. Although a lot of useful ground work was done and preliminary feedback from a colleague was positive it felt boring to just take a model in turn, dissecting it and move onto the next one. After discussion with my mentor a suggestion to write the essay around important themes that could draw in various ideas was quite obviously the way to go. The painful decision (because I’d more or less finished my original essay) to rewrite the essay was absolutely the correct thing to do and I feel I have a much better template now for future essays.

Although I have not gone into as much depth on some areas as I would have liked, I felt as though the essay captured my passionate views on how online learning should be conducted. I felt I gave a logical account for the basis of my views and highlighted how an appropriate model of online learning and associated interactive and collaborative technology could and should be used to achieve effective online learning.

Although i personally i feel i have learnt a lot from researching, planning and organising my thoughts for the essay, the essay is perhaps on reflection not as critical as it could be, although i still feel as though I've done a good job. I hope to use my experience of writing this first essay to make improvements in my critical approach for the next MA essay.

Tagging - A leap into the unknown

2007-02-25T20:06:00.000Z

Overview

I have just signed up to a bookmark tagging research experiment using the social bookmarking web application del.ico.us.

I don't know fully what to expect and i have no preconceived idea as to what i will learn from the experiment, but i have a feeling that there is something of value in being a part of the experiment and i am hoping i will learn new insights into the use of tagging in respect of how it can be of use in a teaching and learning context.

Tagging is a relatively new way to categorize web pages on the Internet. Rather than saving web pages in a hierarchical fashion in folders and sub folders, by multiple tagging of a website you can search for tags and therefore web pages in as many different categories as you like (i seem to tag about 4-5 categories). With meaningful tags this should make it easier to find and retrieve.

In addition the use of social bookmarking websites such as del.ico.us, allows you to retrieve any tag (bookmark) from any machine, anywhere as it is a web based system. Websites tagged can also be made available to other world wide web users and a myriad of connections to users and their tags can be viewed.

So my interest in being a part of this research is that this process of social bookmarking (tagging) opens up possibilities for collaboration ,widening your own knowledge base and enhancing learning though group interaction.

Our task will be to tag over fifty web pages in five blocks of 10 pages over a 4-6 week period.

First Reaction
After tagging just the first two websites i have had couple of A-ha moments:

1. From a tagging point of view- i started with two tags stories and memories, after the second site i realized it would be more meaningful to tag with a category enhancement as WW2stories and WW2memories. I also included ww2 as a tag for both websites. I am not sure i need to do this as using the searching mechanism it will take me to any category starting with ww2 anyway.

2. It feels that there are learning activities that can be created from this. By being asked to tag the websites meaningfully, i am having to read the website with a little more detail and interest than i would normally. I think this can be used to get students to tag and then some kind of discussion can occur about the tagging afterwards. A thought that has come to me is that rather than tag descriptively, a group could be asked to tag emotionally and we could subsequently discuss what emotional tags where attached to a website article and the reasons why?

After completing the tagging of 10 websites, it seems that not all my tags seem to appear. I am assuming thee is a time delay before they appear otherwise it seems strange. Need to evaluate my naming strategy once i a more familiar with the tools available to me. For example the bundling of tags may be useful as part of a naming and categorizing strategy.

Wiki’s – The Good, The Bad and the Lovely

2007-02-18T14:36:00.000Z

Well let’s get the lovely bit out of the way. The lovely bit is really the simplicity. With the predefined setup and limited set of commands/ tags it takes a lot of the time wasted over cognitive decisions of design and fretting over technical competence out of the equation, leaving the wiki page author to concentrate on the business in hand, which is the writing.

I’ll address the Good of wiki’s by focusing on the strengths of a wiki. When asked wiki users could come back with many different responses to the question “what are the strengths of a wiki?” I believe the strengths listed below will encapsulate the many responses to this question.

The first three strengths are arguably subjective and could be open to an alternative view. However it is generally accepted through my reading and experience that the following three characteristics of a wiki are indeed it’s strengths in promoting and encouraging group collaboration:

1. Simple technology – only need internet access and a web browser.
2. Simple and easy to use (creating and editing pages, linking to pages and websites, inserting images and documents)
3. Easy to learn how to use

In addition, the following identified strengths are less open to argument, as they are a matter of fact.
4. Easy to rollback and compare with earlier versions (mistakes can be rectified, malicious vandalism can be deleted)
5. All changes are logged and therefore traceable.
6. All members can act as moderators and guardians of the wiki.

So we come to the bad. Bad is really to strong a word for what I want to convey which is that the success or failure of a wiki for all it’s inherent strengths will be determined by how the wiki is used, regulated and valued by it’s users. It is encumbert on the wiki organizers primarily and the wiki participants subsequently to create and maintain a flourishing wiki that achieves it’s purpose.

In order to achieve this wiki organizers need to draw on best research and practice of co-operative/group/ collaborative learning and apply this to wiki teaching and learning activities to gain best results.

How can they do this? Well hopefully I’ll come up with a few ideas in subsequent blog.

I’d rather have a wiki than a Blackboard VLE.

2007-02-08T11:28:00.000Z

If I had a hammer, er no wrong tape responsibility for delivering a distance learning MA or BA Programme I’d rather have a wiki than a blackboard VLE to administer the programme and to co-ordinate learning activities. For argument’s sake I am going to assume the use of the company wikispaces as my wiki space provider as I am familiar with their service. They will host for many different organisations and all are (can be) connected via wikispaces. (alternatives could include hosting your own in house wiki using ‘Mediawiki’)

Starting point for this reasoning is that a very low technical competence is by users is required to use a wiki. This is massively important for staff uptake and enthusiasm in engaging in the promotion of e-learning and to cater for the wide diversity of students that will participate on the programme.
Technically simple to setup and simple to access. As it is primarily text based web pages all users need is internet access and a dial up connection will be adequate in many cases.
Speed and Fluidity. If a student was enrolled on perhaps 8 Modules BANG, they could flick from one module to another just like THAT.
Quick Connections/ Communications. A Message box is available BANG just like THAT to pick up messages related to any other 8 Modules from all students and all tutors involved in the programme and to any external members of the whole wikispaces community. (This could include students and staff on partner programmes in other universities).
If any pages on a wiki are changed for example student announcements, then each students can be notified of a change immediately to their email BANG just like THAT. (probably be able to send a message to a mobile phone as well soon).
Due to the global nature of the wikispaces community many useful contacts with external friends and colleagues in the same field can be made and then easily continued after university life.
The way a wiki is setup and they way the page is structured it makes it very easy to back up all pages in HTML or in original wiki text, which also means a fair amount of future proofing can take place as the text will be saved in a format that is XML compliant and will therefore be easily re purposed in the future for perhaps delivering to mobile phones or PDA’s.
Being fluent in wiki skills will be a good life skill to have both for Staff and Students.

This is a pro wiki article. To Blackboard VLE and other VLE's I say TAKE THAT can you compete, ‘Respondez vous sil vous’ plait with counter arguments.

HE Institutional Strategies for E-learning

2007-02-05T20:29:00.000Z

Well just as higher education embraces the notion of e-learning and start investing heavily financially, strategically and emotionally in commercially driven e-learning VLE’s such as Blackboard along comes those damn pesky web 2.0 technologies. After all the staff and student training that has gone into learning how to make that cumbersome beast (my view) Blackboard be a useful catalyst to promote and develop a sustainable and consistent e-learning strategy it is hard to contemplate that their may be a better way forward other than via Blackboard or similar VLE’s.

Now I am not saying exactly for sure what they way forward is, as I am not privy to the costs involved or the administrative, security and control issues, that said a strategy involving web 2.0 technologies should be piloted and I feel eventually adopted if not totally, but in a dual approach over the next few years because of the simple benefits that web 2.0 technologies can offer both students, but just as importantly to staff.

When one thinks of e-learning, the first thought quite naturally is of learning and probably most people conjure up an image of a wed page or maybe an interactive multimedia application. The crucial thing is from an institutional point of view is that apart from the learning, other very important issues are
• Communication between academic staff-students, administrative staff-students and students to student communication.
• Staff training and development
• Staff enthusiasm for the e-learning technology.

In light of the three points highlighted above it is worth considering what web 2.0 technologies can offer. I shall constrain myself to the use of just one web 2.0 technology which is worth exploring as a significant complimentary or maybe alternative approach to the Blackboard VLE approach and that is a wiki.

For staff they are relatively easy to use and learn how to use, they are for group collaboration either via editable web pages or discussion boards. All group members can send messages to each other within the wiki. All group members can choose to be notified of any changes to pages or replies to discussion board posts straight to their email accounts. Pages can be tagged for easy reference, wiki sites can be very easily backed up in html or wiki text format.

Wiki’s can be used for learning activities, project management, project collaboration or as a course management tool. Wiki’s can allow staff to collaborate on projects and developing module material together. The technology is and it has the potential to be useful, it will be up to individuals and groups how they make best use of it.

To give a comparison example, it would be far easier and save so much time in posting an announcement and associated document in a wiki, rather than in the equivalent announcement function in blackboard, especially if the author has to re-edit the announcement or change the associated document.

Another important consideration is that web 2.0 technologies such as wiki’s and blog’s are now becoming commonplace out there in every day life. They are important life skills that students and staff should develop as these transferable skills will be of great benefit to them personally and to future organizations that they work for.

Although there are many web 2.o services freely available on the internet, possible concerns from an institutional point of view may be security and privacy and delivery of service. As an example if we take wiki services on the web these can be made private and secure, as well as having minimal downtime. If institutions are not satisfied with the offerings of companies that do offer wiki servers they can always use ‘MediaWiki’ software which is wiki server software and can be controlled by the institution on their own servers.

To conclude I believe that over the next year or two HE institutions should most definitely design a web 2.0 delivery strategy and adopt and promote it in parallel with any existing Blackboard VLE setup so that they are in position to take the correct fork in the road if required. Personally with a well thought out implementation and staff training plan I believe that the uptake of web 2.0 technologies will spread quicker than an Aussie bush fire and it might have to be if higher education institutions do not want to lose competitive advantage.

That old Chestnut - Blogging

2007-02-02T20:09:00.000Z

Well here we are and a month has gone by since my last blog. I would love to have included a few more blogs before the end of January 2007 but the reality is that I had a 31 Jan deadline to meet, in relation to the design of a synchronous lesson on the use of wiki’s. So I have not had a wasted month, I have been through the rigour and thought processes of designing for the synchronous classroom and at the same time I have continued with developing my understanding of how wiki’s work/ don’t work both from a technical point of view and from a human point of view.

Ideally I would have wrote this blog entry in the middle of January, but when you are in the heart of battle, it is difficult to break off to give updates when you are on the brink of victory or near the edge of failure.

That said I am here now telling my story and I like the fact that my commitment to blogging draws me back and gets me thinking about the next subject i can usefully blog about. So for me this blogging escapade that I am embarked upon is useful to me in that it helps to:

• Consolidate my knowledge
• Recheck facts that I am not sure of
• Think though the implications of what I am writing and therefore try and understand ideas, concepts and facts that I am writing about.

This is all very well, fine and dandy. As my blogging is in the context of a long haul approach over a two year period and will culminate in a reflective essay on my blogging activities perhaps it is ok that I use my blog to aid my learning as laid out in the three points above.

Practically though on a 12 week module how can reflective blogging be used to benefit the learning of students. Unless some deep thought(learning) is part of the process, then the blog can just become a desperate attempt to get the appropriate number of words, links, images etc etc to meet the assessment criteria. Effective Blog learning strategies – this is a subject for another time....

Further to my recent activities on using wiki’s my next blog will look at the strengths of wiki’s and what teaching/ learning strategies will lead to effective use of a wiki.

Footnote1: As I have just finished writing this blog, it occurs that it is good to give readers an expectation of what to expect in the next blog- hopefully to heighten expectation so that readers will be keen to return and read the next installment.

Footnote 2: I only intended to write a couple of paragraphs just as an update, but it has rekindled my desire to return to the question of “what is the point of blogging?”

Making Sense of Learning

2007-01-03T18:51:00.000Z

Theories of Learning
Precisely because learning is not a universally fixed or agreed concept, learning has been defined in many different ways. In trying to make sense of learning it seems appropriate and proper to establish at the outset that there are in fact different ways of learning, and that humans choose to learn different things in different ways.

The dominant focus on how people learn throughout the 20th century has been derived from psychology where the main theories of learning include behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism. Other major theories of learning are based on a humanistic perspective rather than a psychological view. The humanistic theories are concerned with emotions and feelings and to my mind, can and do work in parallel with the three main psychological theories of learning.

Many other theories of learning have been proposed over the years which predominantly fall within the scope of these four main theories. In some cases due to the complex nature of learning, aspects of many sub theories may crossover the theoretical divisions.

A strong theme that has emerged in recent years has been the influence of social and cultural aspects to the learning process, so amongst the many sub theories of learning, social learning theories are very important in the learning process of humans.

“The social learning theory of Bandura emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others” (Kearsley 2003)

Brian Science is a study of how physically the brain functions and I think it helps inform the debate on how people learn.

So what are you doing when you are learning? What is the result of the learning process?
Once again with this complex business of learning there are no easy answers. I venture to suggest that it would be fair to say that depending on your viewpoint and/ or what you are learning you will be acquiring or creating knowledge. In discussing Driscoll’s (2000) definition of learning Siemens (2005) states that learning as viewed by the three main theories results in a “lasting changed state (emotional, mental, physiological (i.e. skills) brought about as a result of experiences and interactions with content or other people.”

Siemens (2005) highlights that all three major psychological learning theories i.e. Behaviorism, Cognivitism and Constructivism hold the notion that “knowledge is an objective (or a state) that is attainable (if not already innate) through either reasoning or experiences.”

After reading the Siemens (2005) article, the key points for me in differentiating between the different theories of learning was the observation that
• Behaviorism and Cognivitism view knowledge as external to the learner and the learning process as the act of internalizing knowledge.
• Constructivism suggests that learners create knowledge as they attempt to understand their experiences (Driscoll 2000 in Siemens (2005))

Further to the points above:
• The essence of behaviorism can be captured in three assumptions about learning:
o Observable behavior is more important than understanding internal activities.
o Behavior should be focused on simple elements: specific stimuli and responses.
o Learning is about behavior change. (Gredler 2001 in Siemens (2005))
• In cognitivism, knowledge is viewed as symbolic mental constructs in the learner's mind, and the learning process is the means by which these symbolic representations are committed to memory. (Buell in Siemens (2005)))
• Constructivism assumes that learners are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. Instead, learners are actively attempting to create meaning. Siemens (2005))
• Humanists, give primacy to the study of human needs and interests. A central assumption is that human beings behave out of intentionality and values. Huitt (2001)
Theories of learning can be described as explanations and descriptions of how people learn. Terry Mayes and Sara de Freitas (2004) offer the following definition

“Theories of learning provide empirically-based accounts of the variables which influence the learning process, and provide explanations of the ways in which that influence occurs”
What is apparent from reading the literature is that people can learn in a variety of different ways and are influenced by a number of factors. When it comes to learning material for students, awareness of the different learning theories combined with the learning objectives is essential in guiding a teacher in designing appropriate material for the subject and the objective to be learned.

Models of Learning
One of the most infuriating aspects of reading though the literature is trying to establish a clear distinction between a theory of learning and a model of learning. The difficulty lies in the fact that the word “Model” can be used to try and explain how exactly a learning theory works in a descriptive way i.e. modeling way. “Model” can also be used in a prescriptive way to suggest the best approach to take to enhance learning. In order for me to make sense of this contradiction I take the following views:
1. A theory of learning is a description of how people learn.
2. A model of learning is a prescriptive method (can be tightly or loosely prescribed) on how learning should best occur.
3. Models of learning will draw on various theories of learning and give teachers a framework in which to devise teaching strategies to ensure the maximum opportunity for student learning.
4. Models of learning are really models of teaching (see Teaching/ Learning Models)
5. Models of Learning/ Teaching will guide the Instructional Design activities developed for a program of study.

Embrace web 2.0 technology or die - that's an order!

2006-12-22T20:21:00.000Z

It seems a no brainer to me that higher educational establishments offering distance learning courses should embrace web 2.0 technologies quickly otherwise their credibility is an institute of repute will quite frankly be tarnished. Relying on subject expertise will not be enough, the online delivery and communication techniques used will sort out the winners from the losers

It would seem that a lot of higher education institutions may think that by providing a VLE such as Blackboard they have done their bit for distance and e-learning and that is the end of the matter. Many institutions even at this stage may not even be aware of the growing influence of web 2.0 technologies and will bumble along quite merrily, as their customer (student) base dwindles away.

If I can make some sort of an analogy between institutions (and it may not be the best, but hopefully you will get the point) that embrace web 2.0 technologies and those that don’t, it would be like comparing an institution that currently asks for all essays to be handwritten instead of an institution that accepts word processed essays. Most students would find this unacceptable, irritating and a sign of an organization not up with the times. This will probably be the case with web 2.0 technologies and the benefits they offer in communication, community building, learning and teaching 5 years from now.

The only conceivable argument I can see for not embracing web 2.0 technologies are considerations of privacy and security of data. If there are good educational and learning reasons for using web 2.0 technology then a way needs to be found to overcome privacy and security of data issues, which I am sure, can easily be found if the desire is there.

Quite bold statements from a mere novice in the field, however after reading various advocates testimony, briefly reviewing some web 2.o technologies the vibe just feels right. My proviso being that web 2.0 technologies give you the platform to do some very interesting things, but you’ve got to know your technology and use it well.

web 2.0 Adventures

My recent adventures into web 2.0 land that have ignited my fire are the web application ‘basecamp’, which uses wiki technology (only it just does not tell you) for the purpose of project management and it makes it feel so damn easy. I am sure higher education can learn a lot from the ease of use of this product and it seems ideal for use as a course management system. I shall investigate further.

The second vitally important element of the whole web 2.0 phenomenon is the XML feed technology e.g. RSS or Atom and the ability to subscribe to blogs. I’m afraid I’m a busy man, hey maybe I’m a bit lazy – I want the action to come to me. I cannot always remember where all the action is or will be so I want notification by the killer internet application email or I want all the action sucked into my central website base.

So this leads to the beauty of subscription where your favourite blogs can be emailed directly to you, using a subscription service such as feedblitz or alternatively, use a service such as bloglines where all your favourite blogs are brought together at a central website.

Wake up there could be a revolution going on.

Adults learn different to kids! What a load of androgogy

2006-12-13T17:41:00.000Z

Previously I’ve had a look at models of learning that emanate from psychology; lately I have looked at models from adult education. This blog is a summary of information contained in the Tusting and Barton (2003) book ‘Models of Adult Learning: a literature review’.

Many parts of this blog are quoted verbatim from the book, this is not to pass the work off as my own, but so that I have an accurate overview of this literature review of adult education. [As a side note I have found blogging a useful tool in recapping, reflecting on and summarizing the reading that I have done]

The most famous model of adult learning will be Knowles (1973) model of learning called andragogy. A very brief summary is that adult learners are driven by an internal motivation, they bring their own experience to the table of learning and they need to know why the need to learn something as opposed to kids which are told what to learn by their teacher and they have got no choice to learn, it’s compulsory. Its funny that “YOU WILL LEARN!” yes please, can I have some more sir.

Critics of the theory include Brookfield (1994) who suggest it is more of an ideal state for adult learners to be in rather than a descriptive model of how adults learn and Hanson (1996) argues that there is little real evidence of an absolute difference between adults and children in terms of learning.

Knowles draws on humanistic psychology for his model. Humanistic psychology takes human potential and desire for growth as a basic assumption. Maslow (1970) and Rogers (1994) are out of this school and, both assume that people have an intrinsic drive towards growth and self direction.

Important elements of androgogy that have been developed in great depth in the adult education field include:

• Self directed Learning
• Learning how to learn
• Informal learning
• Reflective and experiential learning
• Transformative learning

Self directed learning
Has been represented in a descriptive way i.e that it is a characteristic of adult learners and in a prescriptive way i.e. that this a mode of study that adult learners should pursue. Brockett and Hiemstra (1991) claim that there seems to be a link between self direction and positive self concept, and more tentatively between self direction and life satisfaction. They suggest that strategies to enhance self-direction include:
• Facilitating critical reflection through reading and writing.
• Promoting Rational thinking.
• Developing people’s helping skills.

Candy (1991) demonstrates how the concept of self direction is actually used to gloss over at least four distinct concepts. Two are activities
• Autodidaxy (the independent pursuit of learning outside of formal institutional structures)
• Learner control as a way of organizing instruction

And two are personal attributes or characteristics:
• Autonomy as a personal quality or attribute
• Self Management in learning, the manifestation of independence of mind or purpose in learning situations.

Candy claims that there are important constraints on the extent to which people can or should strive to be self directed, especially when learning formal or technical bodies of knowledge, as opposed to acquiring greater self-knowledge.

Learning how to learn
Through the study of self directed learning, the idea has developed that adults can and should become aware of their own learning processes and how to manage them.

Smith (1983) Suggests there are four distinctive characteristics of adult learners.

1. They have a different orientation to learning than children.
2. They have an accumulation of experience that forms the basis for new learning.
3. Different developmental tasks await adults at different points in their lives and education is sought during periods of transition.
4. Their learning is often characterized by anxiety and ambivalence related to negative experiences of early schooling, the contradictory status of being both an autonomous adult and a dependent student, and other similar emotional challenges.

Smith’S distinctive contribution to this field of study is that he is suggesting that by learning how to learn, adults can learn how to become autonomous learners.

Informal Learning
In their book “Models of adult learning: a literature review” Tusting and Barton (2003) identify that there is some overlap between the literature on self directed learning and that on ‘informal learning’. Informal Learning has been described in a variety of ways including:
• To describe the way adults learn outside formal provision.
• To refer to unplanned or unpremeditated learning.
• Learning which has not been formally structured.
• To refer to provision in the community as opposed to that which is provided by formal educational institutions.
• To refer to any non-accredited provision.

Coffield (2000) underlines the importance of informal learning in the formation of knowledge and skills, describing formal learning in institutions as being merely ‘the tip of the iceberg’. Through his research document ‘The learning society: knowledge and skills for employment’ he found that informal learning is often necessary to do the job, while formal learning is often dispensable.

McGivney(1999) has found that community based informal learning has wide ranging benefits in widening participation in signposting adults to formal learning and improving personal and social skills. Foley (1999) also shows that various forms of incidental learning take place when people become involved in social struggle and political activity.

Reflective and Experiential Learning
Dewey’s (1933) work ‘How we think’ underlies much of the literature on reflective and experiential learning. He identified five stages of thinking involved in the process of moving from an initial state of confusion to a final cleared-up, unified, resolved situation. These are:
1. Suggestions.
2. An intellectualization of the difficulty that has been felt into a problem to be solved, a question for which the answer may be sought.
3. The use of one suggestion after another as a leading idea.
4. The mental elaboration of the idea or supposition as an idea or supposition.
5. Testing the idea by overt or imaginative action.

The thinking is not ordered and simple as in the list above, but he describes the process of reflective thinking as dynamic and messy, and that it is having the clear gradually emerge from the unclear that concepts and ideas are formed and that learning happens.

In more recent years David Kolb is the name most closely associated with reflective and experiential learning. Kolb’s cycle of learning requires the resolution of four conflicting modes of adaptation to the world.
• Concrete Experience (CE)
• Reflective Observation (RO)
• Abstract Conceptualisation (AC)
• Active Experimentation (AE)

According to Kolb (1984) “Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Smith (1983) states that Kolb’s work on learning styles underpins a great deal of contemporary ‘learning to learn’ practice.

Here is the rub with learning styles, Kolb believes that the ‘ideal learner’ far from favouring one particular learning style would develop a balance between all four stages of the cycle and therefore would master all four learning styles as appropriate. This goes slightly against the grain of the opinion that says ‘find a student’s learning style and cater for that style’.

Others who have developed ideas around reflective and experiential experience include Jarvis (1987) whose model of adult learning in social context is based on the idea that learning becomes possible whenever there is a disjuncture between biography and experience. Jarvis believes there are 9 potential responses to this disjuncture:
• 3 non-learning responses.
• 3 non-reflective responses.
• 3 reflective learning responses.

Tennant and Pogson (1995) examined various ways in which experience has been incorporated into learning, the most interesting for me was their view on how Rogers’ and Maslow’s theories stress the emotionally laden nature of the relationship between experience and learning. They point out that in order for learning to occur, the learner must in some way go beyond experience alone. Instead, experience must be mediated, reconstructed or transformed in some way. They therefore ask the crucial question, how and under what conditions can people reconstruct their experience and thereby learn from it. They identify 4 approaches to experiential learning:
• Linking material to prior experiences.
• Relating learning to current experiences.
• Creating new experiences from which to learn, through techniques such as role play and simulation.
• Learning from lived experience through talking about, analyzing, and acting on the implications of the experience.

Transformative Learning
Tusting and Barton (2003) state that critical reflection is central to those models that focus particularly on the transformative potential of adult learning. These theories see learning as primarily as a means of personal or social transformation.

Mezirow is the theorist most closely associated with personal transformational models of learning through his model ‘perspective transformation’. He suggests reflection has three primary purposes:
• To guide action.
• Give coherence to the unfamiliar.
• Reassess the justification of what is already known.

The third purpose is the one that is central to critical reflection and works to examine and potentially transform the structure of assumptions with which we make meaning. This structure of assumptions is acquired through socialization processes, and Mezirow suggests that in adulthood we reassess the assumptions that we acquired during our formative childhood years, often in response to disorienting dilemmas that challenge the notions of reality we had previously taken for granted.

Clark and Wilson (1991) note that Mezirow’s work has been criticized for being too focused on the individual and for not taking into account the social and cultural factors that govern whether transformation can be possible.

An alternative model of transformation is expressed by Paulo Friere (1972), who sees learning as central to transformation at the social level. in his work ‘pedagogy of the oppressed’

Frierian methodologies start from people’s lived experience, eliciting and working with words and concepts that are already familiar to people in their everyday lives. The teacher is expected to transcend the divide between themselves and the students by committing ‘class suicide’ as an educator and being reborn (through an ‘Easter experience’) as a joint educator/educatee with the students. (Taylor 1993)

Friere’s work has been criticized on a variety of front’s. His writing can be dense and unclear and verges in many places on the mystical (see Taylor 1993). Tusting and Barton (2003) note however, that his influence on the development of popular education, literacy education and adult education has been widespread and profound and he is one of the principal inspirations behind the radical and critical tradition of adult education.

An article of interest in relation to transformative learning is the following: Shaheena Abbas ‘Transformative’ models for learning, teaching and Academic Professional Development – A ‘Self-ish’ Approach
http://www.ltu.mmu.ac.uk/ltia/issue5/abbas.shtml.

Hey Wiki! Your so fine you blow my mind. Hey Wiki

2006-11-27T20:53:00.000Z

After setting up a very basic wiki, I have just started to take a look at the use of wiki's in education. My findings are summarized below and are based on reading the following 4 web documents and listening to a skypecast (link below).

1. Naomi Augar, Ruth Raitman and Wanlei (Nov 2004) Zhou “Teaching and learning online with wikis” http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html

2 Joe Grohens and Norma Scagnoli (Spring 2006) . “Uses of Wikis in Teaching”

http://www.cites.uiuc.edu/edtech/teaching_showcase/brown_bag/archive/spring06/grohens_scagnoli.html

3. Chien-min Wang Turner, D. (April 2004) “Extending the wiki paradigm for use in the classroom” http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=1286462

4. Steve Hargadon blogspot (Aug 2006)
“Exploring Wikis in Education with Vicki Davis and Adam Frey”
http://stevehargadon.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_stevehargadon_archive.html including recording of “The uses of wiki’s in education” skypecast
http://educationbridges.net/k12opensource/wp-content/uploads/wikis.mp3

After reading educators feedback on these various websites, seeing how wiki's are currently being employed on the web and listening to an interesting skypecast led by Steve Haregedon it does seem that a wiki in education does indeed have the capability to metaphorically blow your mind. It would appear to be a very powerful tool to engage the students and produce good quality, useful content much more quickly than a student working alone.

Through my reading and skypecast listening I know have a basic understanding of the point of a wiki. With a little more knowledge about the features, functionality and role of wiki’s in education I intend to setup new wikis and collaborate on existing wiki’s to further improve my understanding of the educational uses of a wiki.

Differences between Wikis and Blogs
Before I summarize my findings I’d like to pick up on a couple of interesting points made by Vicki Davis (2006) on the difference between wiki’s and blogs. According to Vicki she explains that the way she looks at it:

1. A wiki is more concerned with facts and a blog is more about opinions and
2. It's easier to contribute to a wiki rather than a blog.

Although I don’t think this will or can be strictly applied, these are two interesting points which may be a nice neat starting point in distinguishing between the uses of the two types of technology.

The Wiki
A wiki is basically a very simple and easy to edit web page. It is designed for group collaboration. Users can either read the content of or add content to a wiki document page.

Vicki Davies (2006) a teacher at Westwood Schools in America and a strong advocator of wikis predicts that wiki’s will become the hub of education in the future. Vicky sees wiki’s as the toolbelt that holds all her technology learning tools together, the central focus of what she teaches. Joe Grohens (2006) supports this view in that he uses wikis as a complete course management system.

Augar, Raitman and Zhou (2004) describe wikis has having 2 different writing modes, or styles of usage:

1. Document mode, where writers create collaborative documents written in the third person and
2. Thread mode, where contributors carry out discussions in the wiki environment by posting signed messages. Others respond leaving the original message in tact and eventually a group of threaded messages evolve.

Pages of wiki can also be described as having two states a ‘read’ state and an ‘edit’ state. To edit a page users click an edit button. Editing a page on most wiki websites is made easy by providers who provide editing toolbars. If no editing toolbar is available then users need to understand wiki language syntax to edit a page (although not too difficult, the edit toolbar makes it a lot simpler for users)

Wiki Features and Functions
The main features and functions that you will find in a wiki include:

1. Authentication – By participants logging into a wiki any addition’s to content can be authenticated providing accountability in terms of who said what and when. [with authentication participants may also have use of a signature tool to move into edit mode automatically inserts the participants wiki username. The signature tool is often hyperlinked to a personal user page which helps students to build an online identity in the wiki environment.
2. Backup and Retrieval of earlier wiki entries.
3. Tracking – Usually in the form of a recent changes page where student participation can be assessed.
4. Notifications by email of any recent updates so that users can check on any new material that is of interest to them and change information if incorrect.
5. Uploading of images and other media

Strengths of Wikis
The basic strengths of a wiki are:

1. Simple and easy to use
2. Easy to learn how to use.
3. Excellent for collaboration and collaboration over time
4. Easy to share.
5. Simple technology – only need internet access and a web browser.
6. Ability to compare two different versions of a wiki

Student Benefits
For students the benefits of a wiki include:

1. It is a student centered environment, students can be involved in the structure and the content.
2. Everyone in a class can access the same version of the work.
3. Previous versions of the work can be recovered
4. Easy to correct mistakes
5. Because it is simple and easy to use, barriers to contributing are removed.
6. Accessible from any computer allowing students to work on assignments at any time.
7. Group work skills can be improved.
8. Steady incremental improvement in both the organization and the content of a document.
9. Social interaction is enhanced. A sense of community can be built up.
10. Information easily disseminated.
11. Information easily stored.
12. Collaborative production of documents. This can build a body of knowledge wider and quicker than an individual. The social and technological interaction can enhance learning. Steve Haragedon (2006) believes that “collaborative efforts are generally better than individual”.

Teacher Benefits
For teachers benefits include:

1. Easy place to post assignment instructions.
2. Easy place organize course material.
3. Wiki’s can be password protected
4. Better than discussion boards, easier to administer according to Joe Grohens
5. Easy for students to submit there work
6. Keeps a log of revisions of student work

Educational Uses
The educational uses of a wiki will be wide and varied some uses that have come to light during my reading include:

1. Summary of Lessons
2. Collaboration of notes i.e. sets of documents that reflect shared knowledge.
3. Dissemination of important information
4. Build up core content and Topic base e.g. creating a book
5. Pre Class planning e.g. Ask students ahead of time what they want to study and shape the content around that.
6. Students can supply feedback to each other
7. frequent revisions and drafts due to the inherent simplicity of wiki technology.
8. Exchange of ideas.
9. Facilitates group interaction. E.g see Auger, Raitman and Zhou’s example idea of an introductory icebreaker.
10. Individual Assessment projects?

Usage Guidelines
An important aspect not to be overlooked is a clear set of usage guidelines, Augar, Raitman and Zhou (2004) advise from their study that these should be short, simple and written in a positive tone. There guidelines “encouraged users to be considerate of others and be active and friendly in their wiki posts”.

Issues
Despite all the positive sounding noises, Scagnoli points out a number of challenges and issues that need addressing. These include plagiarism/ copyright issues, monitoring can be difficult and problems of outside editors should a public wiki site be used.

Conclusion
Hopefully this blog although not capturing everything relevant, touches upon the main aspects of a wiki from an educational point of view. My focus now will be to work and participate in wikis and to identify specific, practical exercises that enhance student learning.

Externalize!! Externalize!!

2006-11-17T20:07:00.000Z

In recent weeks I have been grappling with learning theories and models and trying to create my own mental model of how all the theories relate to each other and how they fit into the timeline of mankind’s understanding of how we learn.

My understanding thus far is that we do learn different things in different ways. There are three well established, recognized and what I’d describe as top level theories of learning that can explain the way that we learn – behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism

Steve's mental map of the development of learning theory

Although not strictly true, mankind has developed its understanding in more or less a linear fashion starting with the stimuli-response approach of behaviorism capturing the essence of lower mental order learning skills, moving through to cognitive and constructivist approaches which attempt to explain the high order mental learning that goes on in the brain.

I have read a number of articles in recent months on models and theories of learning and although I said in an earlier blog that Brenda Mergel (in praise of Brenda Mergel) had quickly and easily explained the difference away, which she did, I still find the use of the terms interchangeable in a lot of texts and I have not fully clarified the difference in my own mind. That said I feel clear that the three main learning theories that have evolved over the previous centuries are as I have stated above behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism.

Currently I am reading an excellent book, “Models
of adult learning: a literature review” published by Niace which summarizes neatly and concisely many models/ theories of learning. I have started on models of psychology and building on our three top level theories, I have briefly looked into developmental theories, activity theory, social constructivism and situated cognition.

I see the developmental theories as a more detailed explanation of how people learn cognitively and through constructivism. The other theories are ways of learning that sit within a particular developmental theory and seem to me to follow a linear progression of mankind’s understanding of learning.

What this means to me is that it has been recognized that people go through stages of individual cognitive development, but have social and cultural influences that impact their learning. Significantly these same learning processes can happen in a classroom (decontextualised) setting and in real life settings which can alter how and what is learnt.

From initial stimuli-response behavior, learning theory has developed to the current mainstream position that learning in people happens internally inside one’s brain. Recent theories seem to be leaning towards the importance of the social aspects of learning, both in socio-cultural influences and in the social interaction and collaboration that people do. Brain Science Research also suggests that social interaction is important part of Brain development.

This leads me nicely into the possibility that a fourth top level learning theory is perhaps starting to emerge. Bang on cue as I am working my way through this material up pops good old George Siemens in his weekly elearnspace email newsletter justifying his theory that 'connectivism' is the new learning theory for the digital age.

I confess two things, one I was immediately impressed with George’s elearnspace newsletter when i first came across it. Quite simply George brings to our attention very current topical issues related to web technology and the whole area of learning. Secondly his theory of connectivism was all a bit too much for me to take in, as I was just about getting my head around the concept of learning being an internal process inside a person as outlined in cognitive and constructivist approaches to learning, when George’s theory is attempting to say that the key focus of learning is not what happens internally, but what happens externally and that the key component of learning is connecting externally with other people and technology to crystallize your learning to the outside world.
As George puts it

"We are social beings. Through language, symbols, video, images, and other means, we seek to express our thoughts. Essentially, our need to derive and express meaning, gain and share knowledge requires externalization.

We externalize ourselves in order to know and be known. As we externalize, we distribute our knowledge across a network perhaps with individuals seated around a conference, readers at a distance, or listeners to podcasts or viewers of a video clip. Most existing theories of learning assume the opposite, stating that internalization is the key function of learning (cognitivism assumes we process information internally, constructivism asserts that we assign meaning internally though the process of deriving meaning may be a function of a social network, i.e. the social dimension assists in learning, rather than the social dimension being the aim of learning).

The externalization of our knowledge is increasingly utilized as a means of coping with information overload. The growth and complexity of knowledge requires that our capacity for learning resides in the connections we form with people and information, often mediated or facilitated with technology." George Siemens (2006) elearnspace blog

Is connectivism and the idea of externalization the next significant development in mankind’s understanding of learning theory. Is it the learning theory of the digital age, of this I am not quite sure as I am not fluent in the language of learners and need to read more on the subject. What does strike me is that it fits nicely into how theories of learning have developed with the fact that socialization has grown to be an important element of recent theories of learning and that connectivism would seem a neat logical next step to describe how learning is occurring now in this modern digital world.

Being a novice in the learning theory arena, I felt that I had insufficient knowledge to think about challenging George’s views in the first place, so I just let it lie. I was delighted to hear of a critical retort to George’s connectivism theory by Bijdrage van Pløn Verhagen (University of Twente)
http://elearning.surf.nl/e-learning/english/3793 11/11/2006). I was equally delighted that George responded to the criticism.
(http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism_self-amused.htm November 12, 2006)

I still have not fully digested the debate, only to say George’s response helped me with my understanding of learning theories and made me think, hey he may have a point here. The other thing to come across is the passion George has in defending his position. I look forward to reading more pro’s and cons of the connectivism theory.