Teaching with Technology

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Teaching with Technology

Teaching about online teaching online: A Peer Teaching Proposal

February 15th, 2010 · No Comments · Jonathan

One of our challenges in supporting the development and introduction of more online courses is the time spent working with each faculty member one-on-one after they initiate contact and express interest in learning about the process. Despite attempts to organize group sessions, it seems impossible to do so and I eventually devote several hours to each faculty member going through identical tutoring sessions.

After considering the problems, another school administrator and I discussed using the technology itself to teach faculty how to use it. I will use screen capture and recording software to develop short tutorials to step the faculty through the material that I cover in my sessions. Concepts to be covered include configuration and basic use of Blackboard, asynchronous and synchronous delivery models, course development for each model, methods for engaging students and evaluating such engagement, the use of technology to enhance the active learning process, available resources, and other questions identified as the project evolves.

As the entire project will consist of self-paced tutorials, I think this project should meet several requirements, both articulated and implied, for this course. The use of the technology to deliver the material will force its use, development of the material will serve a real business need, and use of this technology will allow the students in our course to engage in the peer teaching independently, eliminating the need to use more class time. This in itself will reinforce the time and place independent nature of distance learning.

Jonathan

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Motivation for Critical Reasoning in Online Discussions

February 15th, 2010 · No Comments · Jonathan

From one perspective, online courses are a modern incarnation of the old-time correspondence classes advertised in comic books and on matchbook covers. Students study a subject with complete time and place independence of their instructor or other students. The old style program provided readings and accompanying assessments to be returned for grading.  Current models leverage technology in an attempt to replicate the learning opportunities found in a live classroom.

In current jargon, distance education has two distinct models: synchronous, in which students attend class online with a “live” lecturer and other students with technology to support some level of immediate interaction, and asynchronous, whose students typically listen to recorded lecture “chunks” and then complete assignments to help internalize the lecture material and assess their learning success. Both models can also include the use of online discussion threads to further foster a “community of learning” as students engage in threaded, delayed response discussions. An instructor’s challenge is to motivate the students to participate in these discussions such that students develop the desired critical thinking skills as they would in a live classroom with the immediate feedback from the instructor and their peers.

“The Development of the Motivation for Critical Reasoning in Online Discussions Inventory”, published in the Fall 2009 issue of the American Journal of Distance Education, discusses a study of graduate and undergrad students at two universities in which students were surveyed in an attempt to identify what types of motivation was most effective.  The article discusses the difference between surface and in-depth discussion and suggests that students engaged in in-depth discussions will tend to clarify information, make inferences and judgments, and will propose solutions.  The authors suggest that on line discussions offer students more time to think and respond, but also mention studies that show that, in many cases, the opposite happens.

Potential student goals may affect discussion quality as well. Some students write for self-validation, that is, to make themselves feel good. Others are interested in a positive outcome (grades) from their contributions and that is their motivation. Other goals are competitiveness, a desire to be seen as better than their classmates, and an actual desire to for greater learning for its own sake.

The study determined that only three factors from the couple dozen evaluated actually had a substantial effect on student motivation: interest and enjoyment, normative (competitiveness), and the desire for positive outcomes. The authors suggest that further studies could refine these findings to help instructors better motivate their students towards higher quality contributions in their online discussions. As a student in some courses that have utilized this model with minimal success, I look forward to seeing more work in this area.

Zhang, T., Koehler, M. J., & Spatariu, A. (2009). The Development of the Motivation for Critical Reasoning in Online Discussions Inventory (MCRODI). American Journal of Distance Education, 23(4), 194. doi: 10.1080/08923640903294411

Jonathan Goldman

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Synthesis: It’s a Hybrid World & the Sandwich Generation

February 15th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Uncategorized

Lynn Barnsback

I saw a teen use white out today on a receipt- he said it was a great product but can’t believe what we used to do with it. (“How hard was it to do a paper back then?”) The orthodontist uses a date book for appointments. My 80 year old aunt in Arizona sends me newspaper clippings in the mail. I just sent a video of the “snowmagedden” to all my face book friends. I will send the aunt photos of the snow. I still write and send almost 100 Christmas letter and photos. The Boy Scout den leader still calls with updates, even though we e-mail too.

 

It’s a hybrid world out there where we use technology, don’t use technology and use it in different ways than it was intended. I am not a native in this world, but I live there now. I also work with the “old ways” with the aunt and the receptionist, and that Christmas letter I will not let go of. This seems to give new meaning to the phrase “Sandwich Generation”. I am finding my way with the technologies my “communities” use most often. I am not a willing participant. Necessity makes me join, I want to see the party photos (face book), receive the information about the class party (e-mail), hear about the early school closing while away from home (twitter) or complete my class assignment (blog). While I could not conceive of functioning without e-mail (“How hard was it to organize a volunteer committee without it?” Phone chain anyone?) this technology will pass my students/children by. They will probably adapt/adopt something else to fill the need. 

 

That is the point for me. People always made due and find ways to fill the need. We do not however need to do all of it all the time. In order for technology to “be our friend” it must fit into our lives, and into our classrooms. This is where I get worried about what I referred to in our first class as “Gratuitous Technology”, using the technology for its own sake. The video in JohnD’s  Synthesis Exercise” highlights this in a humorous manner. What do we use and how do we use it so it makes sense? If we put the cart before the horse and have the technology drive the lessons then the lessons are lost. Students are in our classes primarily to learn the subject, ideally with the assistance of technology. We also need to keep in mind that technology changes rapidly, and we do not want our lessons to become obsolete simply because the technology has. The adaptation of our subjects to be enhanced by the use of technology, this appears to me to be the goal. Different departments, levels of courses and professors will integrate at different rates with various media products, hopefully that will meet their particular needs. Students will drive some of these needs. We will make mistakes.

 

As a ‘sandwich generation” we are extraordinarily equipped to grasp the potential uses of the “new” media’s to enhance the traditional methods of teaching. Of course this is a moment in time when this is our reality. There will come a time sooner than we probably like to acknowledge when the professors will not be familiar with the use of white out as an aid in writing a paper. They will never have owned a typewriter, and these “natives” will be running our schools. Hopefully they can draw some inspiration from their college days when technology was integrated in an intelligent manner and the bedrock lessons of higher education were taught with knowledge, passion and integrity. (By people who still send Christmas Letters.)

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The Case Method Goes Digital

February 15th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Gil

This is a synopsis and review of the article “The Narrative Case Study Meets Hypertext: Case Studies in the Digital Age” appearing in the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. The article contrasts traditional case study pedagogy with new modalities made possible by the internet, and identifies features of the latter that alter the nature of the learning experience and appear to enhance certain learning opportunities.

The “case method” of instruction was introduced in Harvard in the 1920’s and has since been widely adopted as a method for teaching business students. Traditional or “cooked” case studies are designed to provide a form of “real world” experience to students by presenting partial information about actual situations and guiding students through the process of evaluating and synthesizing these data. The typical traditional case consists of many pages of narrative describing the circumstances surrounding a set of management, policy or business decisions. Working in teams, students examine and discuss various perspectives on the case. The faculty member is normally equipped with superior knowledge of the actual outcomes of the case and guides discussion around the seemingly disconnected pieces of information provided in the narrative. In their preparations students examine data underlying the parameters set forth in the case narrative. Ultimately students are guided through the process of making judgments and learn from both the experience and the actual success or failure of events that transpired in the real world case.

The digital case method described in this article provides “raw” information resources to students, typically consisting of numerous links that provide information about the case. Those links in turn typically lead to other data resources, making the digital case study an expansive, associative process of relating increasing amounts of information. The hypertext environment, layered with inter-related links, is conducive to the nuanced study of diverse perspectives on cases as well as collaboration in the evaluation and assessment of large quantities of information. Utilizing digital sources, students reviewed many times the amount of information as provided in traditional cases. Finally, in the “raw” real world digital case studies students may discover information not known to the faculty member and so during discussion of the case the faculty member becomes a co-learner in the digital case study.

Though this article does not describe them as such, there are “hybrid” forms of the “cooked” and “raw” case studies whereby a predefined and limited set of hypertext links are provided, within a controlled environment, or date limitations established on a specific case to disallow the introduction of information beyond the point of relevance to the instructional purpose of the case. While the “raw” case seems to better reflect the complexity and inter-relatedness of real world business situations, and so to equip students with the tools needed to work effectively in a digital world, it is not yet known whether this approach yields more efficacious business and management decision-making than the traditional case method.

Source: Meghan Griffin, “The Narrative Case Student Meets Hypertext: Case Studies in the Digital Age,” MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 5, No. 4 (December 2009): 703-708.

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JohnW: Synthesis Excercise – Are students really ready for technology in the classroom?

February 15th, 2010 · 3 Comments · John

     Students existing expertise as information communication technology (ICT) learners and communicators is varied and questionable.  It is true that the majority of today’s college students have grown up in a world immersed in technology – computers, electronic media, cell phones, internet-phones (i-phones), and more (Ratliff, 2009).  For a generation of young people, technology, particularly the Internet, has assumed a substantial stake in their social and educational lives (NCREL, 2005).  In 2008, the Pew Internet & American Life Project conducted a survey that showed 94 percent of all American teenagers, 12- to 17-year olds, now use the internet.  It also showed that 89 percent have Internet access in the home (Sims, 2008).  Students are becoming a participatory culture with regard to technology.  They are shifting from a focus on individual expression to community involvement.  Many are already a part of this process through affiliations in online communities, expressions like digital sampling and video making, collaborative problem-solving through Wikipedia and alternative reality gaming, and circulations such as podcasting and blogging (Jenkins et al., 2008).
     At the same time, higher education has become dependent upon technology to deliver and enhance course offerings at all levels from the community college to the graduate level.  An effective technology-rich learning environment generally includes the use of computers, software, Internet connections, projectors, and a variety of other high-tech devices, as well as an online course management system and student information system.  With this growing pervasiveness of technology in society, educators often expect students to have a certain amount of competency in computer and software use needed to perform in an academic environment (Ratliff, 2009).  Unfortunately, this is often a misconception.   A short-term study on technology readiness of students at a rural community college located in the Southeastern region of the United States showed some startling results for student technological preparation.  The study surveyed 331 freshmen with 145 of them not meeting the minimum pass rate of 75 percent.  Nearly 44% of them required remediation (Ratliff, 2009).  Students are ill prepared to function above a social use level with the technology.  Most of the students in this survey reported that they use a computer on a regular basis, but it was unclear if they realize there are differences in academic use and social networking.   Few of the freshmen have experience using word processing programs and even fewer have used spreadsheet or presentation software prior to college.  Their reports of “regular computer use” are from a personal and/or social aspect (Ratliff, 2009).  Teachers need to know upfront if their students are prepared when implementing technological tools into the curriculum.
     There may be expectations that technology will solve all the school’s problems with student learning and achievement.  To be effective, however, technology must be used to promote new learning goals and teaching strategies that are student-centered, collaborative, engaging, authentic, self-directed, and based on development of higher-order thinking skills (NCREL, 2005).  However, when new technologies are adopted, learning how to use the technology may take precedence over learning through the technology.  Effective content integration takes time.  As a result, teachers’ first technology projects generate excitement, but often little content learning.  It often takes a few years until teachers can use technology effectively in core subject areas (NCREL, 2005).  Research on successfully developing, evaluating, studying, and implementing a wide range of technology-based educational programs suggests that the value of technology for students will not be realized unless attention is paid to several important considerations that support the effective use of technology.  These considerations include specific educational goals and a vision of learning through technology, ongoing professional development, structural changes in the school day, a robust technical infrastructure and technical support, and ongoing evaluations (NCREL, 2005).
     Teachers can maximize transferability of what students learn to enhance all aspects of their lives.  They must determine the purpose of using technology in the classroom based on the specific educational goals.  These goals could be to support inquiry, enhance communication, extend access to resources, guide students to analyze and visualize data, enable product development, or encourage expression of ideas.  After the purpose is determined, the teacher must select the appropriate technology and develop the curricula.  Create a plan for evaluating students’ work and assessing the impact of the technology (NCREL, 2005).
     Teachers must coordinate technology implementation efforts with core learning goals, such as improving students’ writing skills, reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning, and problem-solving skills.  Collaboration with colleagues is important to design curricula that involve students in meaningful learning activities in which technology is used for research, data analysis, synthesis, and communication (NCREL, 2005).
     While incorporating technology into classes and courses, teachers should be encouraging their students.  They can start by promoting the use of  learning circles, which offer opportunities for students to exchange ideas with other students, teachers, and professionals across the world.  All along they must encourage students to broaden their horizons with technology by means of global connections, electronic visualizations, electronic field trips, and online research and publishing.  While this is occurring, they should ensure that students have equitable access to various technologies (such as presentation software, video production, web page production, word processing, modeling software, and desktop publishing software) to produce projects that demonstrate what they have learned in particular areas of the curriculum (NCREL, 2005).  It is more than this though.  Teachers must ensure that the students can use and think with the technology.  They have to help close the digital divide by promoting the skills and content that is most beneficial (Jenkins et al., 2008).  Additionally, they should encourage students to collaborate on projects and to use peer assessment to critique each other’s work (NCREL, 2005).  
     In addition to testing, teachers should consider using alternative assessment strategies that are based on students’ performance of authentic tasks like electronic portfolios.  Teachers must ensure that technology-rich student products can be evaluated directly in relation to the goals for student outcomes, rather than according to students’ level of skill with the technology (NCREL, 2005).
     Teachers should participate in professional development activities to gain experience with various types of educational technology and learn how to integrate this technology into the curriculum.  This will aid in their learning how various technologies are used today in the world of work which will prepare them to help students see the value of technology applications (NCREL, 2005).
     Consequently, when implementing technological tools into the curriculum, it would be advantageous for faculty to know upfront if their students are prepared for this environment.  It is the responsibility of higher education to assess the skills of incoming students before expecting them to perform in a technology-rich learning environment.  Many higher education institutions are missing the mark and ignoring a fundamental element of student success.  Colleges and universities should no longer limit their focus to the traditional three R’s of readiness, reading, writing, and arithmetic, but should take into consideration technology readiness levels (Ratliff, 2009).  In the end, the correct and competent use of technology in the classroom relies on both faculty and students.  Faculty and students both are hungry for the use of technology, but its use should aid learning not hinder it (u-tube video.)

References:

Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Clinton, K., Weigel, M., and Robinson, A. J.  (2008).  Confronting the challenges of participatory culture:  Media education for the 21st century.  Chicago:  The MacArthur Foundation.  Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/63pmfm

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL).  (2005).  Critical Issue: Using  Technology to Improve Student Achievement.  [Adapted from a Center for Children and Technology manuscript Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement by M. Honey, K. M. Culp, and R. Spielvogel, 1999].  Retrieved from http://www.ncrel.org 

Ratliff, V.  (2009).  Are college students prepared for a technology-rich learning environment?   MERLOT Journal of On-line Learning and Teaching, 5 (4), 698-702.  Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org

Sims, C.  (2008).  Media Ecologies:  Quantitative perspectives.  Digital youth research project Hanging out, messing around, geeking out:  Living and learning with new media.  Retrieved from http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu

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Real World Experience, Virtual World Environment:

February 15th, 2010 · No Comments · Uncategorized

The Design and Execution of Marketing Plans in Second Life

By Tracy Tuten East Carolina University

 Marketing Education Review, Volume 19 Number 1

 BLOG: Lynn Barnsback

 This article demonstrates a meaningful way to bring technology to the corner stone of the   Principles of Marketing course the Marketing Plan Project. This project is based on the leading theory “Principles of Authentic Assessment”, whereby “learning opportunities are infused with authenticity, students are immersed in real-life activities with the opportunity to apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate concepts.” Students must use the knowledge they have to work through the different stages of a marketing plan. The authentic learning environment helps students gain experience and improve their digital age literacy, inventive thinking, effective communications and productivity. In order to make the marketing plan an “authentic learning” experience the author introduced three components:  (a) a simulated real world experience was added which helps with the authenticity of task. (b) The tasks were “chunked”; arranged in groups due in a series of installments with assigned team members responsible. (c) Rubrics were used to help with performance and feed back. 

 

The Simulated Real World experience seems to be the most important of the three changes and the most groundbreaking. Students are asked to “Create a marketing plan for a product which is or will be marketed” in a virtual world. According to the author virtual worlds are “three-dimensional communities that mimic the real world without its physical limitations.” She chose to use one called “Second Life” but like most other “worlds” out in cyberspace participants can shop, work, drive, fly, date, own a house, volunteer etc. The importance of using a virtual world is the ability to have a “simulated economy with which to examine marketing principles.” It is an “online consumer society” with entrepreneurs playing an important part of the experience. It has the advantage of being very accessible for students and is a place where all aspects of the plan can actually be implemented and tested. This is a huge advantage over the more theoretical approach usually taken they get to actually practice the art of marketing. Students also receive feed back from an “authentic audience” rather than just from the limited class exposure. Historically projects were lacking this aspect. The audience also makes the project so much more real for students and allows for a more dynamic learning experience. 

 

The use of the Rubric allows the teacher to include an authentic assessment component to the project.  It helps provide a “work plan” for the students and establishes clear expectations. By providing a scoring scale students can effectively focus on the important components of the project.

 

The author also writes about the use of “chunking” in the project; “breaking the project into small manageable components due over the semester”. While this seems like another aid for students, to help guide them through a semester long and avoid some of the inherent stress of a project she takes it a step further by assigning an individual team member to each “chunk”. This member does not have to do this work but is responsible for it getting completed. This strategy has the advantage of making each team member accountable at a certain time throughout the semester and cuts down on one of the problems with group work, social loafing. The chunking also allows for review and revisions of each piece throughout the semester and results in an improved final product.         

 

The author provides some details and examples on how to incorporate the Second Life project:

  • A detailed marketing plan should be provided.
  • Examples of successful companies given for student review.
  •  The teacher can provide business willing to work with students or they can recruit their own.
  • A Tip Sheet for operating In World can be provided (add confidence)   
  • She also suggests that students could choose to learn some programming and create their own product to market, as opposed to helping market an existing product
  • Check for University’s policies on operating in a virtual world

 

 

The article concludes with the evaluations which were an interesting insight into the students’ experience. Surprisingly the rubric was very popular. This is good to note since it can be used in almost any class or environment. Students also appreciated the chunking and the opportunity to evaluate and revise submissions. The real-world experience of completing the project in world was of course thrilling to many, and made the course stand out. The most apprehensions for dealing in world came from the author, however she indicated that the actual time “in-world” was the students and once they were set up properly it was not a problem for her. She wisely reinforces that the virtual world is a “teaching tool”; the objective is the mastery of principles of marketing not Second Life.  

 

While I found the use of a virtual word compelling as an aid to increasing the effectiveness of the traditional marketing plan, and see the clear benefits, the substantial impact of the Rubric and Chunking cannot be denied. I found this article extremely insightful and feel I will incorporate one if not all of these changes when I develop a marketing plan project for my class.     

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Teaching Ideas: Kim Yi and Jenny Lapple

February 15th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Jennifer, Kim

As Kim and I come from musical backgrounds, we wanted to team up and figure out a way to collaborate together for this project.  I am currently in a digital storytelling class as well this semester and wanted to see if there was a way we could combine music with digital storytelling.  It seems the perfect fit considering both revolve around the art of storytelling!

We have been brainstorming a few ideas and have come up with a few below. 

1.  “What’s Your Story?

In this option, we considered teaching the class how to turn images from the Internet into a short (15 – 30 seconds) video that tell a story.   This type of exercise reflects a form of digital media called digital storytelling.  While it can mean many things, essentially digital storytelling is a way for people to tell their stories in a digital format.  You don’t’ have to be a skilled video technician; you just have to have a story to tell.  Through the use of images, videos, narration, and music you can bring your story to life.  Some good reference points are: http://www.storycenter.org/index1.html , and http://digitales.us/ .  As a creative outlet for self-exploration, digital storytelling lends itself to a wealth of educational benefits.  The in-class exercise would walk students through the steps of thinking about the story they wish to tell, how to search images that reflect this story, and how to create a video from these images.  A final discussion question might explore how this process can help students cultivate a sense of individuality by using their stories to enhance their educational experiences.

 2. “Tell a Story in 5 Photographs”

For this option, we would use more class time to discuss the components of storytelling, such as the story arc, tension and release, compelling introductions and other similar topics.  Students would then take a few minutes to brainstorm some ideas or themes that might help generate a story.  We would introduce students to Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/fivephotos/ which features a section called “Tell a Story in 5 Photographs” and search its database for images that reflect the components of everyone’s individual stories.  A final sharing and discussion would generate a conversation on how these types of visual stories might help students start to process information  sequentially, or as a series of meaningful connections similar to a storytelling format, rather than just isolated events and facts. 

 3.  “Musical Stories”Or most viable option yet has to do with taking the element of storytelling and weaving into a musical setting.  For this option, we are considering playing a musical selection for the class and discussing with the students the various components of the music, including rhythm, melody, etc and how these components translate into a story.  Students will then restructure the musical story into a visual one.  Using examples from Flickr’s “Tell a Story in 5 Pictures” as a starting point, students can search Google images to create a story reflective of the musical selection.  Using Microsoft Word, students can easily paste the photos directly into a document for sharing with the class.  A final discussion might center on ways in which teachers can combine different disciplines in the classroom to enhance the teaching and learning in ways that engage students on many levels, including creative, critical and practical.

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Synthesis

February 14th, 2010 · No Comments · Kim, Uncategorized

Some say that developing technologically literate students is prime in our expanding Internet age. And some would argue that technology does not need to be considered as a significant component in teaching and learning, and it should not come before the face to face human interaction in classroom. No matter what the age group you speak about collaborating technology in education, you will always be encountered with different reactions from the people.

A few weeks ago, I read an article about Twitter collaboration in college teaching, and the 50 ideas the author suggested surprised me positively. Not knowing Twitter has caught eyes of some educators (since its birth), I used Twitter last semester as one of my teaching tools for my undergraduate and graduate Keyboard Skills courses in addition to blogging and working their composition project using music notation software. Among the other ways to communicate with students, Twitter was selected due to its effortless way in to post video clips, to receive instant responses, and to share musical thoughts and creative ideas, and certainly more, on the web. To be honest, I was not a Twitter user until I made my course syllabi. I have read and watched news reports about the “new phenomenon” of the 21st century and began to think of its potentials and academic benefits for my students. It took some time to initiate its value in the beginning due to students’ lack of trust or understanding, as majority of the students had to work “extra hours” to open an account that they did not seem to care about. In fact, I thought most of the students already “Tweet” and would be enthusiastic about it. It also took some time to substantiate its validation due to some of the students were still measuring Twitter only as “social networking” website. According to the author of ’50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom’, it has caught fire across many professional fields as well as personally, but it seems to be in the beginning stages in the realm of higher education. The author continues that the creative ways Twitter users have incorporated microblogging has become inspirational, so the recent trend of using Twitter at college is sure to keep evolving into an ever more impressive tool. But I had to take gradual steps in order to make these students “believe” and trust that Twitter can be used with academic intention.

I would say that my teaching experience with Twitter collaboration was affirmative and hopeful. But I have no doubt that I would have to go through the same (and somewhat) painful process if I decide to use it again in the future because there still would be students (or faculty) with unconvinced view on Twitter collaboration in the classroom. In this case, Twitter is not the problem. It is about the different social aspect of the “app” that everyone loves to hate, as Clive Thompson describes in his article, ‘How Twitter Creates a Social Sixth Sense’.

Today, technology is simply 21st Century life tool, which will access information effectively and efficiently, and evaluating information critically and competently for the issue or problem at hand. It is critical for educators to introduce and address its academic value and benefit. It is also significant that teachers and students need to be unprejudiced to collaborating technology in teaching and learning. Educators may need to prepare for its sore process, but it is more important to be able to reprocess its academic challenge in positive and productive way. After all, Twitter is just Twitter. Don’t be bothered by this little bird.

’50 Ways to use twitter in the college classroom’. Retrieved from
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/06/08/50-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-college-classroom/

Thomson, C. (2007). Clive Thompson on how twitter creates a social sixth sense.
Wired Magazine. Retrieved from
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-07/st_thompson

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February 14th, 2010 · No Comments · Hannan

Synthesis Exercise:

I had expressed earlier that my interest is to enhance communication and collaboration between individuals from different nations and cultures to support international commerce. I see that global education is a formidable venue to support such endeavors. I view education through networking and collaboration will be an effective tool that will help us bridge cultural and political differences and allow us to better understand each other. Educators will be able to harness more elements of global education when they design their courses with elements that encourage participatory activities among their students as well as among other groups that have interests in the same issues. Interaction among interested individuals cultivates better understanding of the issues and allows more sensitivity to views of others.

Collaboration among participants allows them to develop better meaning of the issues they are working on and provides an opportunity to harness a deeper and clearer meaning of the issues. Effective participatory educational exercises provide and opportunity for the participants to develop new skills or hone existing skills in meaning creation through the “new literacies” that Jenkins outlined such as “Distributive Cognition, Collective Intelligence, and Networking” These skills are the elements that support collaborative learning where those engaged are encouraged to learn with the learning tools that will improve their abilities, to work with others in a peer-to-peer environment where they learn from each other and achieve common goals of learning as well as to have the ability to analyze and share beneficial information with others to enhance their learning experience.

Continued advancements in ICT that are available to students and teachers would support a strong participatory learning environment. Blackboards, webcasts, and video conferencing are some of the many tools that can be used to support collaborative learning among students. Students can work together to integrate their knowledge they acquired from different sources, participate in interactive critical thinking process that allows them to collectively examine accessed information. These efforts enhance the value and results of meaning creation that provides an opportunity for deeper understanding of the materials that are being studied while encouraging the participants to be more sensitive to the different perceptions of others, very important treats of global education.

Participatory collaborative efforts among students should be encouraged and rewarded by teachers. Jenkins had indicated that “affinity spaces” such as facebook or other blogs which address specific topics “allow engagement of participants with different skill levels” which encourages peer-peer teaching. Such mediums provide its participants the opportunity to learn with out the intimidation of f2f environment like the class room. Teachers should encourage free-form brainstorming and participation through a dedicated balckboard, blog or even an open blog dedicated class topics that may simulate affinity spaces.

Webcasts can be useful if they are used to exchange information among different participants in a lecture format that can provide some of the foundational knowledge to direct and frame the participatory exercise. This method is currently being used in the market place to introduce efforts of some organization and to solicit participation of others that have common interests. An example of this is webcast that uses Power Point presentations with voice of the presenter. If you visit the website http://www.us-sabc.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=3649 , (2009), you will hear the voice of “Kayani, Amer a senior commercial officer U.S. describing business opportunities in Saudi Arabia. This web site is sponsored by the U. S. Saudi Arabian Business Council, USSABC-USDOC Webinar on Saudi Business Opportunities. As one of our classmates, Jonathan G. argued that a simple webcast showing a lecturer providing a lecture is actually more distractive and is similar to watching a television program where the viewers will be easily distracted while a Power Point presentation with a voice of the lectures keeps the focus of the participating students and enhance the level of participation.

Collaborative efforts between students and scholars utilizing ICT such as webcasts, blogs and blackboards are good examples of “technology enriched” educational activities. 

Jenckins, H., Purushotma, R., Clinton, K., & Robison, A. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: media education for the 21st century. Digital media and learning,

Kayani, A. (2009). Ussabc-usdoc wiebinar on saudi business opportunities. Retrieved from http://www.us-sabc.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=3649
Teaching Assignment:

We need to develop a learner-centered teaching assignment that utilizes the available communication technologies and enhancing the learning outcomes. I am conceptualizing a site that will introduce the learner to specific information and then test their understanding of the topics by answering some questions. This approach will improve the learning outcomes. We can find websites that provide educational information and tests to help users achieve the desired learning outcomes. One website that I have visited is http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ is an example where a learner can navigate the site for topics of interest and can take tests that are associated with the presented topic. Other sites such as http://www.eduplace.com/math/hmm/ are good example of sites that can be used to enhance its user’s knowledge. Although this website is for young children, the same methods can be used with topics that are for higher education topics.

Hanan Alkibsi

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Teaching Assignment

February 13th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Valerie

Familiarize your L2 learners with websites and activities that will strengthen their communicative skills.  This is a good teaching idea because it helps everyone in the class with technical language and helps those that are visual learners.   Using the internet as a pedagogical resource will allow student to become connected to other users.  Also, introduce  students to some instructional technology such as: “What are Web Widgets?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRAmQ_m2asg&feature=player_embedded, Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, or show them  “How to Build a Website”  using WordPress http://wordpress.com/

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