Closing summaries: Patsy

Here are my reflections as a contribution to a closing summary for the
online course. We have kept the course 'open' for the promised extra week
to enable final reflections to be submitted despite the downtime of
Brookes Virtual. In fact I extended this though will be closing off the
interaction this coming weekend so it will be 'read only' thereafter
though still accessible if you want to retrieve any material or
discussions until 31 July.

Lou and I do appreciate all your contributions to the course processes and
products as well as to the final reflections. I am attaching a word cloud
of the final reflections as a visual summary of participant summaries.
'Time' /'demands' 'pressure' are there reflecting some of the difficulties
that were faced in the short course with the presentation of a range of
new tools as is 'group' to represent that aspect of the course activity
across time zones and regions. There too are 'learning', 'useful', 'like'
and 'thanks' which we hope reflect the value that you take forward into
your practice.

From a tutor's perspective this course also throws up some challenges. One
is that much of the activity and exploration takes place outside of
Brookes Virtual in the online social spaces of blogs, wikis, Twitter etc.
Thus one is at times uncertain if participants are busy 'out there' or may
have left the course altogether (!) Also sometimes negotiating a balance
between providing encouragement for climbing the learning curve vs. being
too intrusive for those who simply want to be left to get on in their own
style can be tricky ;-) However it was rewarding to see the enthusiasm
expressed despite some of the hurdles encountered.

It seems that there was agreement that for your own practice that you
would focus on fewer tools with clarification of purpose and
appropriateness for the task e.g. blogs for individual reflections, wikis
for collaborative or co-operative work, Twitter for quick access to links
and comments. Learning and managing so many new tools in this short course
certainly reminds us of the need and importance of careful design of
learning activities.

Using social software in the public domain comes with its own challenges
in terms of privacy and security issues. As a result some of you have
decided for the time being to keep with the social software tools
available within your institutions' preferred virtual learning environment
applications.

Then there is also the - often frustrating/time-consuming - need to
register for different applications and the resultant mushrooming of
passwords and having to remember them all.

I was excited to see some potential solutions of this aspect while
watching the (some parts quite 'techie' but nevertheless most interesting)
demo of the introduction of Google WAVE that will be released later this
year . This is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web-
if you want to see the full 1 hour 20 mins demo it is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ

What I appreciated of Google WAVE- apart from the concept - was that
everything takes place within the browser, with flexible and comprehensive
inclusion of different activities e.g. email, instant messages,
collaborative writing, photo sharing, instant ' as you type' translation
(40 languages) etc etc . With the whole more than the sum of its parts
plus it looks like ONE login - dare we hope? -
plus the capacity to change access rights on the fly as to who can see
what within a 'conversation'. Now THAT's smart technology and with
potential as a tool for use in learning and teaching scenarios.

Another issue with Web 2.0 technologies in that new applications are being
introduced on a regular basis making it quite a challenge to keep up with
what is out there. Think how much time we spent on only the few that we
incorporated within this course. It is one reason I like to follow certain
practitioners in the field of learning with new technology on e.g.
Twitter. They are keeping an eye on new developments and thus saving me
time by providing short links there that I can quickly access and check
out linked reviews, related blogs etc. All helps to lighten the load!

Quite a few of you referred to the value of experiencing the course in a
'student' role as a reminder of what your own students experience. Always
a useful reminder! I think for some of you this was not an easy role to
adopt as there was some reluctance to admit and share difficulties
encountered with some preferring to do that in emails outside of the
course. There was also very little activity in the Cafe discussion space
despite that this is usually quite a busy discussion area where
participants share interests and swap emails and other contact details for
post-course follow up and communication. I suspect that the course timing
in terms of your work commitments and scheduling deadlines made this type
of engagement more difficult in terms of available time.

Despite the time factor it is very rewarding to see that some of you are
keeping up with your blogging about learning issues. I look forward to
keeping up with your postings.

For those who would prefer to provide shorter and anonymous feedback on
the course there is a questionnaire about the course available from the
course 'Assessments' menu. All feedback is appreciated and helps us to
make adjustments to future course presentations.

Thank you all for your participation in the course. I wish you well in
your learning and teaching practice and hope we meet again in the future
either online or face to face.

kind regards
--p@ c

Closing summaries: Lou

http://beingnothingness.blogspot.com/2009/07/engaging-learning-with-social-software.html

Closing summaries: me

Hi all,

First of all, a big thanks to the course coordinators and all those that I shared my exploration of social learning with.

Looking at others' final reflections, I would agree about the time element. Sometimes it could take a while to get to grips with an application and then there is the reading and commenting on postings.

The organisation of 'dripfeed' learning modules worked well and the support materials for each application were useful. The tutor support was excellent, and keen and enthusiastic responses were always forthcoming.

In some ways I'm not sure how far we got, for example on pirvacy.

I would have liked a stronger emphasis on taking something from the course. I think the group project had the potential for this. Potentially a clear discussion at the start about participant's teaching and learning areas and how they would adopt certain applications for certain contexts. This could then include a really solid statement/resource (like the group project asked for) - in this way we might be able to leave the course with a bank of materials.

I'm not sure how effective distance learning is for this. It was made clear at the start that 6 hours was needed, but this was seemed difficult to coordinate in terms of group work. I had a recent institutional event on e-learning and through a talk and hands-on workshops I was able to comfortably get to grips with wikis and blogs in a short amount of time.

The same would probably have gone for the group project (having a conversation rather than dispersed bullet points). This may mean forgoing the international aspect, but I didn't get a strong sense of it anyway.

Overall, the beginning weeks were very exciting with a flurry of activity. This was a really interesting time and a lot of the discussion points, links, etc. will be I imagine very helpful in my future work.

Cheers and best wishes for the future

Dan

Idea to Develop:

Situating Social Software: An Induction Week Group Research Activity

Red Group

Introduction:

An
induction week groupwork research exercise for students that helps
orientate them to Higher Education in terms of social software
tools they may use during their studies.

The
groupwork element is part of the induction week 'getting to know you'
process.  Importantly, as this is an induction week activity it will be
'across disciplines'. Similarly, the research element also works to
introduce students to what they can expect over the course of their
studies. Mick Healey (University of Gloucestershire)
in his 'Mainstreaming research and enquiry through the Curriculum'
paper as pointed to the value that research exercises can have for
animating students during induction week. This induction week research
exercise will focus on the 'digital divide'.

Addressing
the 'digital divide' will present students with opportunities to
reflect on their own opportunities in relation to social software and
how this connects with global access (and non access) to ICT and
education. A key aim is to foster critical, reflective thinkers within
the HE context from the first week.

 

Target Group of Learners:

Undergraduate students across disciplines. 

This would be organised on an institutional basis.

Context of Use:

 Two sets of documentation will be needed. Firstly, on the use of blogs, and secondly, on the digital divide.

1. A blog is a web-based log and using existing suitable blog applications (blogger; word press), students will develop a blog in response to a specific question/theme.

The
blog will be set up by students within a group and group members will post
materials and ideas on the site. Blogs are often used as a way to
disseminate research and to maintain a discussion. In this respect,
students will use the blog as a research platform, as a hub during the
presentation if appropriate, and a post-presentation forum for other
groups to post comments. This is a crucial way to move beyond a 'final
output' approach and to encourage ongoing debate and peer review.

The peer review element is crucial. Jill Walker Retteberg in Blogging has suggested that "blogging is as much about reading other blogs as about writing your own" (2008: 1). This exercise is crucial for understanding blogs as a social and collaborative tool, and for carefully exploring the research findings of others and commenting.

2.In terms of the digital divide, the following points will underpin the discussion.

Students would look at OECD website (www.oecd.org) and look for countries with reduced access to ICT and lower participation in home computer ownership and broadband access.

The following questions are starting points:

Which countries are they?

Choose 1 country (not your own home country) from the lower end of the list and research the following:

Why is this country towards the bottom of the list?

What are the implications for:

• 
  

  the economic development

  
  
• 
  

  education of the people

  
  
• 
  

  employment opportunities for the people of the country?

Is the government trying to improve the situation? Either way, why?

If
the government is working towards improvement in this area what
measures are they taking and/or programs are they putting in place?

Intended Learning Outcomes:

1. Develop understanding of different social software tools and how these can be used within a collaborative research project.

2. Reflect on the implications of the digital divide.

3. Work blog materials/discussion into a 5-10 minute presentation.

4. Present presentation to other groups and use blog as means to extend the discussion beyond the presentation.

5. Work in groups to provide and receive peer review (via postings to other groups blogs)

6. Present a final 'report' including peer review comments.

 

Feedback and Assessment:

The blog offers a place for others to post feedback, (one
group feeding back to another group after viewing one another's
collaboratively created resource). Thus, peer feedback would replace
tutor feedback and be delivered via a blog.

 

Motivations and Expected Benefits:

1. Developing friendships during the induction week period

2. Familiarising oneself with specific skills within HE context (social software, groupwork, research, peer review)

3. Engagement with a contemporary global issue

 

Activity 4: Group project

I worked through ideas from the Red Group and came up with the following. Now subject to group editing:

Idea to Develop:

An induction week groupwork research exercise for students that helps orientate them to Higher Education in terms of social software toolsthey may use during their studies.

The groupwork element is part of the induction week 'getting to know you' process. Importantly, as this is an induction week activity it will be 'across disciplines'. Similarly, the research element also works to introduce students to what they can expect over the course of their studies. Mick Healey (University of Gloucestershire) in his 'Mainstreaming research and enquiry through the Curriculum' paper as pointed to the value that research exercises can have for animating students during induction week. This induction week research exercise will focus on the 'digital divide'.

Addressing the 'digital divide' will present students with opportunities to reflect on their own opportunities in relation to social software and how this connects with global access (and non access) to ICT and education. A key aim is to foster critical, reflective thinkers within the HE context from the first week.

Target Group of Learners:

Undergraduate students across disciplines.

This would be organised on an institutional basis.

Context of Use:

Two sets of documentation will be needed. Firstly, on the use of blogs, and secondly, on the digital divide.

The blog will be set up by students within a group and students will post materials and ideas on the site. Blogs are often used as a way to disseminate research and to maintain a discussion. In this respect, students will use the blog as a research platform, as a hub during the presentation if appropriate, and a post-presentation forum for other groups to post comments. This is a crucial way to move beyond a 'final output' approach and to encourage ongoing debate and peer review.

In terms of the digital divide, the following points will underpin the discussion.

Students look at OECD website (www.oecd.org) and look for countries with reduced access to ICT.

Students look at countries have a lower participation in home computer ownership and broadband access.

Which countries are they?

Choose 1 country (not your own home country) from the lower end of the list and research the following:

Why is this country towards the bottom of the list?

What are the implications for:

• the economic development

• education of the people

• employment opportunities for the people

of the country?

Is the government trying to improve the situation? Either way, why?

If the government is working towards improvement in this area what measures are they taking and/or programs are they putting in place?

Intended Learning Outcomes:

1. Develop understanding of different social software tools and how these can be used within a collaborative research project.

2. Reflect on the implications of the digital divide

3. Work blog materials/discussion into

4. Present presentation to other groups and use blog as means to extend the discussion beyond the presentation

5. Work in groups to provide and receive peer review (via postings to other groups blogs)

6. Present a final 'report' including peer review comments.

Feedback and Assessment:

The blog offers a place for others to post feedback, (one group feeding back to another group after viewing one another's collaboratively created resource). Thus, peer feedback would replace tutor feedback and be delivered via a blog.

Motivations and Expected Benefits:

1. Developing friendships during the induction week period

2. Familiarising oneself with specific skills within HE context (social software, groupwork, research, peer review)

3. Engagement with a contemporary global issue

Journal reflections: Group Work

Red Group discussions are going well and some really interesting suggestions are emerging.

Journal reflections: Group Work

The difficulties that Red Group have faced mirror the difficulties that students may face and report.