Annotated bibliography – web 2.0 tools and teaching techniques online Novembro 27, 2009

In the paper The Online Report on Pedagogical Techniques for Computer-Mediated Communication, Morten Flate Paulsen makes a comprehensive list of online teaching techniques, defining them and pointing out their plus points to the teaching/learning process online. The interesting aspect is that the innovative aspect of many teaching /learning techniques are group based. This can only be possible with CMCs. This article is complemented by Online Educational Terms, an article that explains ( defines) a wide range of educational terms relating them to each other. It also presents a useful mind map with teaching terms.
The Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning? by Brian Alexandre , Director for Research at the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE). In this paper, the author intends to present “a diverse set of digital strategies with powerful implications for higher education.”
You can find the article here http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume41/Web20ANewWaveofInnovationforTe/158042
This article is interesting reading and enhances the fact that most Web2.0 tools imply a new kind of understanding and manipulation of information, always getting updated with the collaboration of many – a community. It presents tips on how researchers, teachers, students, staff can use Web2.0 tools to set up a large variety of tasks involving group work and tracking what other people are doing. It presents a wide range of Web 2.0 tools available that can support teaching/learning activities. It states that Web2.0 also poses a significant challenge to higher education.
In the article E-learning 2.0 (2005) , Stephen Downes from the National Research Council of Canada, points out the pedagogical value of learning communities ( based on blogs for example) to foster both collaborative learning and allow for each individual to pursue his/her own interests. You can read the article here http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=29-1
In the article, Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not© (2004) by Brian Lamb, Wikis are presented as a teaching/ learning tool with great potential because they are able to “break down the barriers between content creators and content consumers”. This article is here

Tom Franklin and Mark van Harmelen in The article Web 2.0 for Content for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education(2007) discuss the changes and challenges in Higher Education(HE) that can be promoted and met with web2.0 tools for everyone involve.
“The introduction of Web 2.0 systems into HE is not without problems, as there are ramifications in the areas of the choice of types of systems for institutional use; external or institutional hosting; integration with institutional systems; accessibility; visibility and privacy; data ownership, IPR and copyright for material created and modified by university members and external contributors; control overcontent; longevity of data; preservation; information literacy; staff and student training; and appropriate teaching and assessment methods” –

This article can be found here
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/digitalrepositories/web2-content-learning-and-teaching.pdf

At http://content.yudu.com/Library/A18dcc/TwelveEssentialsforT/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F59772%2F
Twelve-Essentials-for-Technology-Integration
We can find a digital booklet with hints and practical suggestions of sites and web 2.0 tools to be used in teaching/ learning.
Helena Prieto

Self paced learning versus group paced learning Novembro 16, 2009

Self paced learning means that students are individually in control of their time and rhythm of work and learning. However, self paced learning doesn’t mean independent isolated work but rather the individual contribution to the whole and tacitly assuming that commitment. These features can be very motivating and engaging.
Being in control also brings an added responsibility into the students learning process because they feel implicitly that success – individually or in groups – depends on each one performing his part. However, self paced learning allows for more freedom of time and pace as well as access to the common knowledge or learning pool to which everyone can contribute and use for his own benefit. Knowledge is in the individuals, in the learning communities, and in is stored in non human appliances. Asynchronous communication tools foster self paced learning because it allows for more freedom of time, pace and access. This asynchronous communication tools also allow individuals to work in groups and establish connections between the group members. They support and encourage online learning communities and in my opinion can be as effective as synchronous communication tools and in cases where we need to deal with a lot of information and think about it , they are even more effective.
Group-based learning can be more time demanding because students have to meet talk and discuss working strategies and procedures and agree on them, and use more collaborative tools to make a common product. Group paced learning is not so flexible in time or pace and sometimes in space since everyone must be tuned in.
Individuals are more interdependent, so they have to be able to adjust their time and pace to the time and pace of others, especially if they are using synchronous communication tools or learning platforms such as Second Life.
Also larger groups aren’t as effective as smaller ones, because smaller groups tend to be more cohesive and productive. It’s easier to work in and manage smaller groups.
Group paced learning is more time consuming because groups must negotiate and agree with the methods of work, the communication tools to use (which may not be known to everyone!) and the final product to make. This need for consensus generates a totally different work dynamics in group paced learning. However it can be more motivating and rewarding, because ideally, there is more support from other more able group members.
It’s also more challenging because different work methods and perspectives are discussed. As ideas and learning strategies are discussed, analytical, argumentative and leadership skills are developed.

Self paced learning versus group paced learning Novembro 16, 2009

Self paced learning means that students are individually in control of their time and rhythm of work and learning. However, self paced learning doesn’t mean independent isolated work but rather the individual contribution to the whole and tacitly assuming that commitment. These features can be very motivating and engaging.
Being in control also brings an added responsibility into the students learning process because they feel implicitly that success – individually or in groups – depends on each one performing his part. However, self paced learning allows for more freedom of time and pace as well as access to the common knowledge or learning pool to which everyone can contribute and use for his own benefit. Knowledge is in the individuals, in the learning communities, and in is stored in non human appliances. Asynchronous communication tools foster self paced learning because it allows for more freedom of time, pace and access. This asynchronous communication tools also allow individuals to work in groups and establish connections between the group members. They support and encourage online learning communities and in my opinion can be as effective as synchronous communication tools and in cases where we need to deal with a lot of information and think about it , they are even more effective.
Group-based learning can be more time demanding because students have to meet talk and discuss working strategies and procedures and agree on them, and use more collaborative tools to make a common product. Group paced learning is not so flexible in time or pace and sometimes in space since everyone must be tuned in.
Individuals are more interdependent, so they have to be able to adjust their time and pace to the time and pace of others, especially if they are using synchronous communication tools or learning platforms such as Second Life.
Also larger groups aren’t as effective as smaller ones, because smaller groups tend to be more cohesive and productive. It’s easier to work in and manage smaller groups.
Group paced learning is more time consuming because groups must negotiate and agree with the methods of work, the communication tools to use (which may not be known to everyone!) and the final product to make. This need for consensus generates a totally different work dynamics in group paced learning. However it can be more motivating and rewarding, because ideally, there is more support from other more able group members.
It’s also more challenging because different work methods and perspectives are discussed. As ideas and learning strategies are discussed, analytical, argumentative and leadership skills are developed.

Freedom of content Novembro 13, 2009

My experience and points of view
All the curricular units I’ve done have a programme that was develloped through individual and group work. Both methods of work allowed us great freedom in choosing which themes and work lines we wanted to develop, thus fostering flexibility in content.
As students we were also more or less free to choose the tools we thought were more suitable to develop group work and that was a challenge and a responsability added.
These methology also allow us opportunities for individula projects for future developements.

Freedom of medium Novembro 13, 2009

My experience and point of view
To allw us access to information teachers used a wide range of mediums.The most used was the moodle and through it we used sloodle in second life, we had access to videos, sites on the net with papers and other interesting reference material. We’ve also used many different web2.0 tools such as youtube, flicker, google docs ,blogs, wikis among others to produce our assignments whether in group or individually.

Using all this technology to support our learning, involves in my case developing many technological skills, which I was more or less able to do , so far, with the help of my coursemates. I feel more at ease with the technology now and I found that I can learn quickly on my own and I’m not so affraid of doing things by trial and error.

I’m also more aware of the technological impact and importance in the way people learn and have access to information, especially young people. Most of my students ( ages that go from 14 to 40 years old) are using CMCs to communicate , search and produce their school assignments. However, the younger ones are much more techno savy and they deal with everything technological very easily and feel comfortable with it. They are also able to do many things at the same time and doing it well.

Personally I think it is great to have all these mediums available, especially the free ones!!! because they foster knowledge and learning and allow for different learning styles.

They also have an impact on how knowldge is build and passed on. Nowadays,access to different media enriches our learning ability because the information is more real and up-to-date. We can see things in a video posted just a few minutes ago , talk to people who are interested in the same things as we are but live far away, discuss ideias in group using synchronous or assyncronous communication tools. And the good thing about all this is that we don’t need to be professionals at it. most web2.0 tools are user friendly and accessible to virtuallly everyone, just through a computer and a net connection.

Even f2f learning and teaching is getting more and more technological.

Freedom of pace, space and access Novembro 13, 2009

My experience and points of view
That fact that we can have access to the course curricular units online from virtually everywhere makes this course very appealing. All I have to do is to pick up my comupter and mobile net and take them with me. On weekends, and holidays when I visit my parents I often take them with me and everytime I’ve got I do a little research, read, talk to my friends on the google chat or do some other course activity.

I did most of the final work for Distance Learning Models at my parent’s beach house in August. I took great pleasure in doing it and while I was doing it I realized that it was an extraordinary good thing to have a mobile net link. Access to information is crucial along with the flexibility of accesss in space. This little gadget has made freedom of space possible. Mobile phones are also interesting and useful tools to allow freedom of space and access to information. they have become powerful allies to work and study.

However, I sometimes print the essays to read and take them with me. I have to say that I still prefer to read in paper format than in digital format. But I have to point out that access to digital information is another plus in distance learning. The fact that we can have easy access to digital information makes it more flexible, easier that the old models of access to information through libraries or book banks. We can send information and receive it more easily and faster than before, so we can work faster and more efficiently and without having to physically go to the place.

Freedom of time Novembro 13, 2009

When I first thought about enrolling in school again, I had a very vivide notion that it would take a considerable amount of time and that it would not be easy to coordenate everything – my professional life and my family life – As I’m a teacher in a highschool, my timetable is always changing and the subjects I’m teaching are very demanding in preparation time because i’ve got to do a lot of research to prepare the lessons. Latelly I’ve been teaching some interesting subjects but they are not my speciality. The internet has been a wonderful source of information, but still that information has to be transformed and worked on and all that is time consuming. Furthermore, we have to attend meetings of all kinds, most of which we only know in short notice. On top of all my timetable is not very organized. Lessons are scattered throughout the day and night. To coordinate all this takes an extra effort and every year is different and i’ve got to adjust my rhythms and organize the time accordingly.

Having all this in mind, I thought the best choice was an online course. One that allowed flexibility of time, pace and could also be a challenge.

When I came across this course, I thought to myself that it could be a good thing and I enrolled.

I had already had an experience in distant learning when I took a 50 hour course in Using dictionaries in language teaching. Though this was a different experience. The model of the course was not online and it required that I took an exam at the Open University in Lisbon. But that was OK.

I could study and revise for the exame in my own time, and exchange ideias and talk with another colleague at school. In fact we were both in the same situation – couldn’t enroll in face to face courses because we didn’t have time, we were both teaching in the night shift and most of the formation course are at night too. So, we decided to try this course. It was a nice exerience and worked well. We worked own our ownand when we met we discussed our doubts. And we both did ok in the final exam.

I think freedom of time and space along with pace are a plus in distance learning.

It worked very well for me.

Still when this course started it was a surprise and a challenge. we could work in groups, had the information we needed at our fingertips ( so to say), or could search for it on our own or in a guided manner. It was very motivating and a bigger challenge. But much more rewarding because we could discuss it with other colleagues and share our thoughts and doubts. I’ve learnt a lot about using CMCs to communicate and work online in groups.

Assynchronous communication allows freedom of time and pace because it makes it flexible. All the time I could spare and make I invested in solving the tasks and learning about the technology parts which are integrated. This flexibility was very important to me. I think this is a great advantage in distance learning as compared to f2f learning models.

Learning objects – review Novembro 12, 2009

Learning objects are products made with the help of internet tools and they aim to present a learning content.There are many types of learning objects we can produce. User friendly software applications enable us to be creative and present content in a more appealing and motivating way. Some learning objects can also be created in a collaborative form. I’ve choosen two learning objects:
Marco Freitas and Maria de Lurdes’ learning object:

Pedro Teixeira’s learning object:

Marco Freitas and Maria de Lurdes’ learning object aims to present the advantages and gains in fostering cooperative freedom in learning communities placing particular emphasis on transparency in cooperative learning. They argue in favour of the pedagogical value of transparency as a plus to achieve a high and rewarding level of coopeartive work/learning gains both in social and individual levels, since affinity ( another key word in this presentation) also promotes additional and valuable sources of information which can be very rich and motivating.

Learning partners, cooperative learning catalogues, cooperative learner profile, cooperative assessment , cooperative evaluation and quality barometres and personal tools are instrumental and play a crucial role in supporting and promoting affinity. I Really enjoyed this video and the way the authors organized their presentation. there is a unifying theme – transparency in cooperative learning – and a very well structured and balanced presentation.

The written information helps visualizing and focus attention on the key points and makes it more appealing and easy to follow . I’ve noted one or two things that might be improved though: one is to include the name of the authors in the oral presentation and also the name of the author of the theory of cooperative freedom. the second one is a break in the flow or rhythm of speech. there is an unfinished sentence that sounds a bit strange when introducing the slide referring to cooperative learning catalogues.

Pedro Teixeira’s learning object is also a video through which key aspects of the theory of cooperative freedom are pinpointed.

The words, phrases and whole sentences sellected are emphasized because they apear isolated from their original context. The pictures to match are well chosen and illustrative. They add rhythm to the presentation and help the viewer to focus attention on these key ideas/concepts.

It’s a very “minimal” and clean way of presenting the theory using advertising techniques. I think this video works very well and serves the intentions of the author.

I would change the back ground colours though. Too electric

The changing nature of knowledge Novembro 3, 2009

Knowing Knowledge by George Siemens ( 2006 ) at  www.knowingknowledge.com

I think it is worth reading, because it brings some interesting insights to the way communication and the learning process is changing and how important cooperation and learning networks are in our society today and in the future.

It attempts to redefine the concepts of  information , knowledge, learning and teaching.

” All knowledge is information but not all information is knowledge”

The focus of the book is on knowledge but it has some very interesting points of view regarding theway people communicate and learn in our society today.  Words like sharing, networks, connectivism come hand in hand with individuals, personal, self.

As in the cooperative freedom theory, the role of the CMCs are  of capital importance to make it all possible.

 

Cooperative freedom Novembro 3, 2009

Cooperative freedom is a learning theory by Morten Paulsen. This theory presents the combination of the best parts of  individual  flexility and the advantages of group learning and working. It states that it is possible to engage in group work   without losing the benefits of individual flexibility which apparently are difficult to mix together. However , with the use and improvements of the  internet and the web 2.0 tools it is possible to achive this balance and work productively and cooperatively and at the same time have an acceptable degree of individual flexibility.

In my cartoon, I’ve tried to draw attention for the need of changing learning/ working  habits, particularly for people who are used to work very much on their own and find it difficult to fit in group work. I’ve also drawn attention to the fact that  CMCs are key to make cooperative  freedom possible.

link to the cartoon http://toonlet.com/archive?m=s&i=35296