Week 3b Activity 5 Vicarious Learning

Vicarious Learning as defined by Cox "is the notion that people can and will learn through being given access to the learning experiences of others". In other words, while one student has the direct attention of the tutor or is practising the skills in front of other students, the observing students will also learn. So those students who are too shy to talk up in class, learn from those who do talk up so that is why it's important for people to say when they're stuck so that everyone learns from it (ie discussion forums!)

Cox, R. (2006) Vicarious Learning and Case-based Teaching of Clinical Reasoning Skills (2004-2006) [online], http://routes.open.ac.uk/ ixbin/ hixclient.exe?_IXDB_=routes&_IXSPFX_=g&submit-button=summary&%24+with+res_id+is+res18635 (accessed 26 February 2009).

Vicarious reinforcement (Bandura 1977) occurs when one person sees another person postiveily reinforced or punished for a behaviour and responds positively to that reinforcement/punishment- learning from that person's experiences about the consequences of those actions/behaviours. It's linked to imitation where complex skills acquisition is through observational learning.

Many researchers found that the experience of over-hearing is also useful, students who listened to tutor-student dialogues - asked more deep-level questions than those who listened to tutorial discourse. Vicariously overhearing dialogue that included questioning resulted in higher quality student engagement with the learning materials.

A prerequisite of VL is that the observer must identify with the person they are observing - they must be representative of their community of similar to themselves so peers can be more effective learning models than experts.

Students working collaboratively tends to focus on mental states of each other, such as "I don't know what to do" and it is reassuring to others to know that they are not alone in having knowledge gaps or feelings of uncertainty. (Refleciton - This is happening on our course, I was the first to show a level of uncertainty but others are coming out of the woodwork, ok I've not learnt anything from them but it gives me the confidence to continue trying to understand. I think if we had more elluminate sessions or other realtime discussions we could help each other ceonceptualise the module, if nothing else talking something through even if you don't get any tangible outcomes, helps your thought processes).

Mayes (1995) propsed a 3 stage learning model for VL in educational contexts- 1. expository materials is absorbed and conceptualised. 2. interactive learning environments such as simulations support activity and mental reconstruction 3. discussions with peers and tutors about issues that have arisen in stages 1 and 2. (This is certainly a model that this course seems to be taking, especially now with the elluminate discussions to enhance the asynchronous forums) A learner confronted by his misconceptions in stage 3, may revisit stages 1 and 2.
Studies by Lee et al (1998) found that students exposed to online notes and video/audio clips of VL material did better than those with course notes alone.

PATsy - an established online learning resource for use in conjuntion with more traditional methods of clinical training, professional education and academic teaching about medical disorders. The multimedia database contains video, audio and pictures . Students can see virtual patient information, videos, assessments and medical histories. Students can administer various tests to the virtual patients - students can practice clinical reasoning and gives them practice with a far wider range of cases than they would in their placements. PATsy enables students to repeatedly address the same case and share experiences with students across the sector as this is used by many universities, which is unlike real patient contact. PATsy can also be used for inter-professional practice.

PATsy can help students acquire a crtical mass of case experience and it is difficult to teach clinical reasoning by instruction so professions are turning towards case based teaching.
Logs of student activities and decisions made in PATsy can be used in future tutorials. PATsy's features are said to embody all of Maye's 3 stages - exposition, interactive simulation and educational dialogue.

Results showed that online interactions with PATsy were positively correlated with end of term assessments.

PATsy included videos of students interacting with each other on task-directed discussion. They showed students explaining to each other, explaining to themselves, and collaborative learning (The Participation Metaphor linking very closely with the Acquisition Metaphor)
Students who took part knew they were being filmed so they did alter their approach to consider the audience and the future use of the resources but this would help them to develop their professional language that they would need in practice. (Identity change). This awareness encouraged them to engage in other directed explaining.

These videos would be incorporated into the PATsy database to help other students when they meet an impasse.
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This article shows how there is distinct blurring between AM, PM and IC. The individual learner learns and participates vicariously in the learning of others - this kind of learning combines social, individual, participatory and acquisitive learning.

As the students learn vicariously they get better at their profession and therefore changing their identity.

Activity Theory: Division of labour Who is the role of the teacher? The students are the teachers of each other, but the tutor is required to create the tasks and select suitable examples for others to learn from. Everyone using PATsy is part of a wider community as the results of individual reasoning tests can be used to help tutors frame future tutorials.

Week 3b – Elluminate Session

1. What were your experiences and feelings during the session?
As the tutorial only had 5 people it was a nice number of people to manage us all being able to say something and to keep up with the discussion. We did not use any formal “hands up” protocol and just spoke when we were ready. Somehow this worked despite us not being able to see each other.

I think the use of Elluminate for a discussion encouraged active listening. In face to face discussions most people are busy thinking about what they want to say and when they can say it rather than really listening to the person who is talking. I found last night that we were all listening to each other really closely and the following speaker was able to link to what previous speakers had said rather than just speaking their own mind.

The fact that no-one really understood the articles or the questions about them helped in that you didn’t have anyone ready with a predetermined answer who wanted to get their point across. The conversation developed organically from Lesley’s starting point and to Kathy’s first input.

I was positively surprised that we all engaged happily with the audio function and used it; there is something about listening to and concentrating on one person that I found really valuable.
Sometimes we were text chatting at the same time. The benefits of this were that – you could comment on what people were saying while they were talking or if you thought of something you could write it down in case your forgot it. Lesley said she prefers synchronous conversations by text and that it means she can scroll back up and re-read things as she needs. However, I would say that the disadvantage of the texting alongside someone speaking is that while you’re typing/reading you’re not really listening to the speaker. I would also say that you could end up with lots of people typing the same thing at the same time rather than letting one person speak/type one response, and then forming your response on the basis of that first response and so on.

I think the combination of both was good. The text gives those who were nervous of speaking or without a microphone chance to contribute.

One of the Simon’s, at the end, said how by the end he was much more comfortable at hitting the microphone key than he was at the start.

Lesley also said that she doesn’t like to impose any protocols on a group and likes to see it develop naturally. Does this mean that as a group we should set our own protocols? I wonder what everyone else thinks. The discussion last night flowed really smoothly, we even ran out of time, but we did not have a nominated or self-selected chair to keep things moving and keep us to the point, we did not have a speaking order until towards the end when we did start to raise hands to dictate the order of speaking. In f2f discussions body language tends to dictate the natural leaders unless a tutor delegates.

In one of her forum postings Lesley said that Lyceum was less democratic than Elluminate. I have no idea what this means, however by having no leader in yesterday’s discussion it did feel very democratic. We moved forward at a nice pace, we were able to gauge ourselves when to move on but I still think there is a role for a chair just to ensure we keep to the time limits and reach the desired outcomes.

I did notice that the person’s name appeared just above my microphone button when they were speaking so this is a good way of knowing who is speaking, the name goes when they switch their microphone off so you know they’ve finished as you don’t necessarily have the visual clues of someone pausing v. Someone finishing.

2. What did you learn about the Bayne chapter itself?
That everyone was confused by the high level of academic writing in the article and no one was sure how it fitted into e-learning or our roles. It was a very abstract article, with little way of understanding how the cyber identity issue was relevant. However, I was by the end of the discussion able to see how I had changed my cyber identity over the years and how I do have different identities in different forums. Interestingly I didn’t think I was different when we began the discussion. I realised that I used to use a nickname, e.g. for my eBay screen name, but when I started using formal social networking and learning forums I have since signed up to everything as Emma Nugent. After all that’s who I am.

However, in the online diet forums I partake in, I am Livia’smum and not Emma Nugent, this must say something about my need to be professional/formal in some contexts, and informal and “not me” in others. I am labelling myself by my associations with others/priorities in life and not by who I am. But then this has nothing to do with cyber space – I always think it’s strange that when we introduce ourselves and say a bit about ourselves it’s always what we do for a living that comes first, generally, and not WHO we really are.

Were some parts of the session more useful than others?
The discussion about cyber identity really helped me to realise how it applies to me over the years.

3. Can you come to any views about the pros and cons of using Elluminate for this task?
Pros – able to discuss it with others, find out how others think, get support, feel less isolated, help develop understanding through participation, will stimulate further discussion in the forums, whiteboards helped focus our attention and give us a visual stimulus to concentrate on, verbal and text chatting added to the participation, making you feel part of a community more than the forums, breaking down another barrier of distance.

Cons – not having everyone there, now the discussions in the forums are going to move forward at different paces and the session on Sunday will probably be quite different to the one last night. Time limited.

Compared to online forums – I think that these live sessions will add value to the forums, by having “met” people in real-time it breaks down the barriers and may make conversation in the forums more lucid. Hmmm, on our courses we are saying that there is no need for the f2f induction day for the DL MBA students – what does it really add. Perhaps I’m wrong at work, perhaps it does add a lot, if it gets the students more comfortable and confident at communicating online

6. How do you use these tools in your context?
We are already using a similar tool and my experiences as a student using Elluminate on this course certainly feed into me developing more types of sessions with our tool. We’ve only had our tool a year, and only used it for intro and revision sessions, I would not say that it’s been used for learning yet.

Week 3b AM and PM Metaphors – my thoughts

Having read about the Acquisition and Participation Metaphors and the Activity Theory I've got the following thoughts and key points
Sfard does not claim that AM and PM are muturally exclusive, in fact, PM rarely exists without some AM first. A combincation of AM and PM bring to forward the advantages of both and pushes back the limitations of each.
There should be more metaphors such as the knowledge-creation metaphor and to crudely categorise things as simply AM or PM was unsatisfactory.
Activity Theory - in elearning control is lost by the teacher to the student. In face to face practice teachers have control over their excellence in teaching. The outcome of the activity system is a change in the learner. In elearning technology the excellence in teaching is limited by the software, which is limited by the norms, skills, etc of the developers. The content developers become involved and have further norms and rules to follow.
However, this does not concur with the findings of Bayne where she found that students felt a lack of control and teachers felt more control over the learners from the perspective of cyber identities.
Activity Theory hlps us to understand how in elearning the activity control is lost by the teacher to the student. In face to face practice teachers have control over their excellence in teaching. The outcome of the activity system is a change in the learner. In elearning technology the excellence in teaching is limited by the software, which is limited by the norms, skills, etc of the developers. The content developers become involved and have further norms and rules to follow.
The author doesn't mention the influence of the students. I feel that in discussion forums a lot of the control over how stable the objective remains is down to the students and the route that their discussion take. In H808 discussions were given more freedom and time to develop and explore different avenues, so far on H800 this has been difficult due to the overloaded nature of the activities. There is no time for deep learning.
Comparing the metaphors to my own learning experiences (from wk 1)a) do all of my examples of learning refer to learning in terms of either acquisition or participation? Learning how to use captivate was acquisition because I just read the instructions, but it was participation in terms of action as in order to establish the learning I had to practice it. Most have a combination of both AM and PM. Surely, how can you learn through PM if you don't have the knowledge acquisition either before or during the Participatory period.
b) Any instances that do not fit into either AM or PM?No.
c) Is your learning process more oriented to you as an individual or to you within a social context? Social. I prefer to learn from doing, sharing and discussing than from reading/listening. It helps to reinforce my learning. Even blogging to me is PM, I'm participating with myself because I don't have a class to "talk" to about what we're learning. I've always learnt more from vocalising what I'm learning, eg explaining to others or simply discussing or sharing information.
Emma Nugent : Yesterday 15:07 Tags: Acquisition Activity Theory Bayne Metaphors My Thoughts Participation Sfard Week 3 Comments (0) Close comments Edit Write follow-up Report a problem
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Week 3b – further thoughts in the Activity Theory and AM and PM
I was having trouble grasping the concepts in the Sfard Articile and the Activity Theory that was introduced in the course notes and in preparation for the online tutorial we have tonight I've done some further research to try and develop my understanding better.
Articles found
James, M and Brown, S(2005)'Grasping the TLRP nettle: preliminary analysis and some enduring issues surrounding the improvement of learning outcomes',Curriculum Journal,16:1,7 — 30 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0958517042000336782
and
Robertson, I. (2007) "E-Learning Practices: Exploring the Potential of Pedagogic Space, Activity Theory and the Pedagogic Device," Learning and Socio-cultural Theory: Exploring Modern Vygotskian Perspectives International Workshop 2007: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 5. Available at: http://ro.uow.edu.au/llrg/vol1/iss1/5
J&B state that it's important to think in terms of relationships between teaching input and learning output.
They state how metaphors are used in how people theorize about learning and learning processes. They explain Sfard's Acquisition and Participation metaphors more. Learning as acquisition is the dominant view. The PM is a "linguistic turn" where the dynamic activity of doing gives way to the static concept of having. Sfard suggests that "the learner should be viewed as a person interested in participation in activities" as opposed to just collecting possessions of knowledge.
Learning activities are "embedded in contexts" so learning is about "situatedness, cultural embeddedness and social mediation". The emphasis of PM is on discussion, activity, interaction and being part of a community.
In J&B's research, the AM was more prevalent that the PM metaphor, in most cases there were dual approaches and in only 1 was there PM only.
J&B suggest that there should be more metaphors such as the knowledge-creation metaphor and to crudely categorise things as simply AM or PM was unsatisfactory. The theoreiical perspectives that fitted into the AM were extremely varied - constructivist as well as social-constructivist views.
Part of Robertson's article looked at the Activity Theory in relation to elearning and compared how it can be used for F2F and e-teaching.
It has helped me to understand the Activity Theory (AT) better. "Activity is seen as dynamic, contextually bound and the based unit of analysis. Activities are distinguished from one another by the tangible or intangible objects achieved. If the object changes then so does the activity." Tools... mediate between the subject and object... such as physical tools, language and symbols which are created or transformed in the course of the activity" The tools and other factors in the AT are both enabling and limited.
Em's Comment: So we can use the AT to look at what parts of the learning process we need to do an assessment of when reviewing or writing elearning activities.
2nd generation Activity Theory diagram showing the different elements. This shows the theory at a collective level, rules may be explicit or implicit; division of labour refers to the explicit and implicit organisation of the community. Third generation Activity Theory brings in the concept of boundaries and where two of more activity systems come into contact there may be tensions.
In f2f teaching the teacher is mostly responsible for the development and delievery of the teaching programme and it is adapted to some extent based on the responses of the learners behaviours and is adapted by the teacher. The teaching is influenced by the text books used and the cultural norms of the institution and the discipline they work in.
F2F annotated AT diagram

In elearning activities control is shared by many groups involved in design and delivery of the teaching. The norms and behaviours of the software developers is influential and that of content developers. The division of labour in elearning activities is divided between many people. Here is the diagram annotated with the elearning activity.
Based on the elements of generation two Activity Theory Mwanza and Engestrom (2003) describe an eight step model to guide researchers using Activity Theory.
1. Activity: What sort of activity am I interested in?2. Object(ive): Why is the activity taking place?3. Subjects: Who is involved in carrying out the activity?4. Tools: By what means are the subjects performing the activity?5. Rules and regulations: Are there any cultural norms, rules or regulations governing the performance of the activity?6. Division of labour: Who are responsible for what, when carrying out activity and how are those roles organised?7. Community: What is the environment in which this activity is being carried out?8. Outcomes: What is the desired outcome from carrying out this activity? (Mwanza & Engestrom, 2003)
The author helps us to understand how in elearning the activity control is lost by the teacher to the student. In face to face practice teachers have control over their excellence in teaching. The outcome of the activity system is a change in the learner. In elearning technology the excellence in teaching is limited by the software, which is limited by the norms, skills, etc of the developers. The content developers become involved and have further norms and rules to follow.
Em's Comment: the author doesn't mention the influence of the students. I feel that in discussion forums a lot of the control over how stable the objective remains is down to the students and the route that their discussion take. In H808 discussions were given more freedom and time to develop and explore different avenues, so far on H800 this has been difficult due to the overloaded nature of the activities. There is no time for deep learning.

Week 3b Students' Conceptions of Lear...

Week 3b Students' Conceptions of Learning

My thoughts on this activity

I have found these articles and theories very hard to understand. They are written in a very academic language which I do not understand. We are expected have an understanding of these theories in time for an online discussion on Wednesday night. I am hoping that the elluminate session will illuminate me.

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Research shown that students' conceptions of learning as they develop as students changes , and at the end of their studies they were different people to what they were at the start. Being more or being different.

Learning involves identity.

The activity theory framework is helpful for TEL, it embeds tools within the activity relationships rather than as an add on.

Pedagogy and technogy are intertwined, even the flip chart - what came first the flip chart or the pedagogy of brainstorming, Powerpoint or the pedagogy of bullet points (revealing point by point). (Cousin 2005)

A3 Identity in Cyberspace - Bayne

Sian Bayne writes about identity in cyberspace and differences in power between students and teachers in the online environment. The possibility of presenting oneselve to others differently to the f2f you.

The students interviewed in this research felt that cyber identities left them dangerous, personality split and deceitful.

Danger - to a student it feels like self betrayal. Danger that you create a picture of tyourself and then find it hard to maintain the gap between the virtual and real persona. Loss of control - the constructed persona gains control over the real self.

Personality Split - People say things they wouldn't normally say f2f.

Deceit and perversion - virtual identities - lying about oneself, and depends on perceptions of others over which you have no control.

Students felt that there is a tensio between their real self that goes to f2f tutorials and their less authentic selves which emerge online.

The teachers found the online environment as a chance to have more time and space to be a better teacher, to prepare responses, be more authoritarian and remain in control (in direct opposite to the student's fears). However some teachers expressed concerns that the real them doesn't come across online, for example their fun side, they felt them came across stuffy in the online environment.

1. Are your views similar? Yes I would agree from both viewpoints. As a student (web user) i want to be honest, I do not want to pretend to be something I am not however saying that I do find that the online working environment allows me to be me even more than my real self. I am someone who is happy to talk up in class but I do find that I am more willing to put myself out of my comfort zone and say contentious things or things that might make me look stupid online. As someone who supports students I also concur with the teachers' views, the online environment and email messages give me more time to create a better response for students and as they never meet me or see me my actions aren't effected by my perception of what other peoples' perceptions of me are.

2. Do you feel uneasy around the uncertainties in relation to how you project your own identity online, or interpret that of others? Having read this I may now be more aware of possible deceit. I am honest so I expect others to be honest too, I can't relate to the need to be different (perversly different at all).

3. By contrast, have you found it liberating to experience with your own identity online? I have been dabbling in twitter recently, and now have a public blog and it is odd knowing that anyone can read and access your thoughts. It is liberating as one of the students said, you might say things you wouldn't normally say face to face and as a result you may learn stuff you wouldn't say face to face.

4. Have your own reactions to the mutable subject online changed with experience in using online interaction? (mutable means prone to change). I don't think I've had any experience I can draw upon for this.

5. Do you now feel differently about your own identity relationships? No

6. Why do you think Bayne found differences between students and teachers? Mainly because teachers are used to performing and taking on different roles as teachers; the students have only been students and children and are mabybe more concerned about what others think. At WBS lecturers are nervous about lecturing using the virtual classroom or through recorded videos - this is akin to what the teachers said in this article about their online identity motivating them to be a better teacher - are our lecturers fearful that delivering teaching through video or video conferencing makes them susceptible to critique more than in a lecture theatre. The teachers seem to care about being good at their jobs when devliering online, whereas the students are more concerned about being themselves.

7. Can you draw upon the activity theory model to help interpret these differences? Taking the explanation of Engrestrom's activity theory below, we can interpret these differences because the students and teachers have diffrent motives (objects) they are different subjects, using different tools to reach the outcomes. The effects of rules and community and division of labour effects how they practice. As Rajkumar says beloe, as all the parts in the theory are constantly changing, the outcomes and beliefs will also be changing.

Notes:

"An activity is undertaken by a human agent (subject) who is motivated toward the solution of a problem or purpose (object), and mediated by tools (artifacts) in collaboration with others (community). The structure of the activity is shaped and constrained by cultural factors including conventions (rules) and social divisions (division of labor) within the context. Engeström emphasizes the mediational role of the community and that of social structures including the division of labor and established procedures.

All the elements of this system are continuously changing. The human beings not only use instruments, they also continuously adapt them, consciously or otherwise. They obey rules, but also transform them. They follow rules of division of labor but in doing so constantly help evolve them as well. Transformation is then crucial to this model – and the interplay between the various elements constantly leads to the various new outcomes being created. " Rajkumar, S (no date) Activity Theory http://mcs.open.ac.uk/yr258/act_theory/ accessed 24th February 2009

8. Would the different subject positions of teachers in the learning activity system help to explain their reactions and feelings of control? The teacher is part of the community or even one of the instruments in helping the subject get to their outcome so they can influence the other subjects.

9. Does a teacher's position in authority within the community mean that they feel more confidently able to exert a particular teacherly persona using online contributions?> Yes

Week 3b What it means to learn - metaphors and practices

Week 3b What is means to learn - metaphors and practices
You need to think about what learning means and to question whether collaboration and active participation are all there is to learning. Your assumptions about learning drive what you do to bring learning to yourself or others. Two core metaphors underpin learning - the acquisition metaphor (AM) and the participation metaphor (PM).

Metaphors and approaches to learning
Often educationalists concentrate on how learning happens as opposed to what learning is because it is difficult to define. Kolb learning cycle 1984 introduced the concept that reflection on concrete experience plays a role in the learning process, and not just abstract knowledge and thinking. Kolb draws on the ideas of both participation and acquisition in his work on learning. A metaphor asserts one thing is the same as another, thus the quality of one known thing are used to say something about another. Sfard (1998) argues that metaphors play a key role in thinking and shape approaches to research and the development of theory. Technologies impact on the meaning of learning. When you explore what learning means, you have to see how TEL affects this. You need to test out the metaphors against your experience of TEL.

Sfard, A. (1998) On two metaphors for Learning and the Dangers of Choosing Just one in Educational Researcher, Vol 27 No 2 (March 1998). American Educational Research Association.

- about how humans conceptualise learning, and the role that the two dominant metaphors for learning have played.
Read Sfard - 1. How Sfard defines the A and P metaphors
2. How she distinguishes between them
3. The significance of Table 1 and the difference between questions of what learning is v. how learning happens.

The AM is more likely to be present in older texts, the PM is more prominent in more recent studies.
AM - Human learning is conceived as an acquisition of something, growth of knowledge, concept development. Basic units of knowledge (concepts) that can be accumulated, refined and form ever richer cognitive structures. Human mind as a container to be filled with certain materials and about the learner as becoming an owner of these materials.AM is learning as an acquisition of goods, implying gaining ownership.

PM Knowledge is replaced with the noun knowing, which implies action - having gives way to doing. AM implies that there is a clear end point to the process of learning, PM states that there is no end to learning. PM is linked to practice, reflection, discourse, communicating and that the learner is a person interested in participation in activities rather than in accumulating private possessions. Learning is seen as a process of becoming a part of a community. Learners contribute to the very existence of the group.
AM stresses the individual mind and what goes into it, PM shifts the focus to the evolving bonds between the individual and others.

Most learning theories cannot be regarded as purely AM or PM, the act of Acquisition is often tantamount to the act of becoming a participant. Each has something to offer that the other does not. Metaphorical pluralism leads to better research and more satisfactory practice. No two students have the same needs and no two teachers arrive at their best performance in the same way, theoretical exclusivity and didactic single mindedness should be avoided.

The most powerful research is that research which depends on more than one metaphor.A combination of AM and PM would bring fore the advantages of both of them and keeping their respective drawbacks at bay. Dictatorship of a single metaphor may lead to theories that serve the interest of certain groups and disadvantages others.

But this plurality does not imply the anything goes and theory/practice should still be based on sound research.

The metaphorical mappings (table from Sfard 1998)

AM		PM
Individual Enrichment	Goal of learning	Community building
Acquisition of something	Learning	Becoming a participant
Recipient	Student	Peripheral participant, apprentice
Provider, facilitator, mediator	Teacher	Expert participant, preserver of practice/discourse
Property, possession, commodity	Knowledge, concept	Aspect of practice/discourse/activity
Having, possessing	Knowing	Belonging, participating and communicating

Comparing the metaphors to my own learning experiences (from wk 1)
a) do all of them refer to learning in terms of either acquisition or participation?
Learning how to use captivate was acquisition because I just read the instructions, but it was participation in terms of action as in order to establish the learning I had to practice it.

b) Any instances that do not fit into either AM or PM? No - all involve AM, most involve PM.

c) Is your learning process more oriented to you as an individual or to you within a social context? Social. I prefer to learn from doing, sharing and discussing than from reading/listening.

Wk 2d - Brazil Act 10

"Distance educations as a shadow of conventional education"
Personally I've never felt that DL was substandard to f2f learning, perhaps it's my generation, growing up more openly about different educational styles, but I am very aware of the different opinions on it.

I support the MBA programme at Warwick BUsiness School. We run three open MBA programmes - the full time, the executive (parttime) and the distance learning MBA (DLMBA). When I meet potential students around the world (such as last November in Sofia, Bulgaria) I am often asked what will be on their certificate. Their worry is that they do not want it to say MBA by Distance Learning because of the negative opinions of DL that either exist or they perceive to exist in their cultures/elsewhere. We reassure students that the certificate will say the Warwick MBA - only, mainly because so many students choose electives from the different modes of MBA that it becomes a very personalised and hybrid MBA anyway, but initially this decision was taken when the DLMBA began in 1986 when DL probably did have a negative image - but I was too young to know then I'm afraid.

A discussion forum of current students erupted recently when one student seemed to think that it would say Distance Learning on his certificate. The following panic that ensued was interesting. Reassurances from several members of staff and links to our websites later, and it seems to have settled down. but I have no doubt it will continue to be an annual cause for concern.

How can critics of DL be answered? The best way, in my book, is to experience DL or at least be involved closely with people who are studying by DL. As Sharon said, this changed her opinion. We all know, however far we are into the MAODE - H800 as our first or last course, how much hard work it is and will all have renewed respect for the PT/DL students we support.

We always maintain the view here that DL is the hardest way to do the MBA, we do not hide this fact, due to the need for self motivation, the isolation from other students and from their friends and family while they are studying, and discipline and family support and the time it takes, harder assessment processes etc.

"My own views of distance education have been changed by meeting with distance education students and seeing first hand what they are doing and how hard they work to achieve their goals. I obtained my first degree via a conventional 'campus university' sense, and comparing what I did to earn that qualification with what a friend did to earn an OU degree, she definitely worked far harder and over a much longer time than I did. This is certainly one way in which the criticism can be answered - get people to actually understand and see what is involved" Sharon Clark, W2 A9A10 17th February 2009 20.14

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My notes from reading the course notes and article for the Brazil DE benchmarks are here. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfjp86bs_98hdzvtkfs

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We were asked to think of better definitions of Distance Education. I would say that Eckart really sums it up here. You can also see Anthony's offering below, I'd agree with Eckart's comments.

"Although technology is used in distance education, I can't see why it should be part of the definition. Distance education is simply education in which learner and teacher are not in the same place." Eckart Stoermer, W2 A9A10 19 February 2009 18.35

Anthony Berry, W2 A9A10 18 February 2009 11:19
"A flexible form of teaching/learning environment where a physical and/or time-bound separation exists between the teacher and learner which (separation) is bridged by the use of technology to provide an interactive, accessible, cost-efficient learning experience in both formal and informal learning settings"

Wk 2d - Brazil Act 8

Reflections on Vignette - factors unpinning DL/OL practices

Pitagoras University - fictional Vignette about a students' experience of an Business Admin UG degree in the blended learning mode.

1. How do these practices compare to f2f teaching? - the main differences in my untrained opinion is that there is more onus on the student for self study and that the expectation is that you will have read something before the lecture, the lecture enhances what you've read and then you discuss it. In my experience from my UG degree which was traditional f2f, you would often find that the lecture comes first, then the reading and then the seminar. The course design also expects students to discuss the lectures further in their own time (via the VLE) rather than just in the seminar which, again, on my UG was generally the only time you saw colleagues from your course.

2. How does the vignette illustrate the benchmarks in practice?
1. Concept of education and curriculum design in the process of t&l - the course design has considered the types and location of students the course is offered to, the vignette claims satisfactory levels of flexibility, although I would question their claim for flexibility based on the rigidity of the twice-weekly lectures. They have used a range of ICTs, web based material and printed material to suit a range of learning styles. Is the process student centred? Can't really say from this vignette with my basic knowledge, what would any teachers out there think?
2. Communication systems - the students can communicate f2f at the regional centre, have facilitators at the regional centres and can communicate with each other and the centre using the VLE. There is no evidence of the communication systems between tutors and faculty.
3. Course material
I don't think we have enough information for this, and like Sharon am struggling with some of the technical language (in terms of teaching and pedagogy). It does show evidence of different types of media.
4. Assessment
Learning processes - No information
Evaluation - No information but continuous formative assessment at least seems to be in place.
5. Course team
In terms of the TV broadcast, they explain that there is a specialist subject tutor, a facilitator and a production technician and support in the regional centres.
6. Support infrastructure
Students have access to library and other student services at the regional centre, and support via the VLE. Students gather to watch the broadcasts together - is this so as not to exclude people without TVs - how much of a problem is access to TVs in Brazil?
7. Management - no information
8. Financial stability - no information

3. Which quality benchmarks embedded in their course design and teaching approach can you identify? - like Sharon I've never studied teaching styles so would appreciate learning from others.

When reflecting...write about....TMA

The TMA asks us to:
From Block 1, choose three activities that have helped you to develop your understanding of technology-enhanced learning.

For each activity, explain to your tutor:

what the activity has enabled you to understand in relation to aspects of your own or others’ use of technology for learning. Give examples of this use, to illustrate your argument. These examples may come from your personal or family life, and you may interpret ‘learning’ broadly. The examples may also come from your professional life if you teach; interpret ‘teach’ broadly to include any aspect of supporting others in their learning.

how you would change your chosen H800 activity – in terms of its use of media and the tasks that you were asked to carry out – to make it more relevant to you (your professional or personal situation) and more engaging as a learning activity.

Wk 2c Audi oRadio Canada and SA

I found it really hard to engage with this activity, 1 because I've not been very well, and 2 I've just had the energy and both articles were quite long. I did read the article about the Canadian Rail introduction to radio to it's trains which lead to the introduction of open education. The motive behind it was mainly philanthropic and commercial (it was a government owned railway company but it wanted to find a way to compete with it's main competitor, a privately owned railway company)

• Now that you have had the opportunity to consider the two case studies, what have you learned about why and how audio has been used for educational purposes?

In Canada, the impetus came from a commercial drive for one Rail Company to make the experience of using their trains better to compete with another company providing the same service. It soon struck them that they had the potential to use the radio on the trains for educational purposes and it became a philanthropic motivation. The design was mainly passive, listening and writing into the broadcasters.

In South Africa, the impetus was purely educational and to help achieve the aims of universal education and universal literacy and numeracy. The Audio project was used to develop the teachers and the students. The design was active and interative, teachers facilitated the learning in the audio lessons with print, posters and activities.

• Do you think that it is possible to generalise your findings to other educational developments or innovations involving the use of technologies?

Of course, different teachers/departments/institutions will see different uses for the same technology appropriate to the current circumstances.

• To what extent were there similarities between the advantages or benefits that you noted for each case study?

Widening access to education

New technology for the time and place at the time

• To what extent were there similarities between the disadvantages or limitations that you noted for each case study?

Lack of support

Keeping funding and engagement in the resources

• What do you think were the primary reasons for using audio in the two cases?

Canada – competition

SA- Widening access to education, other ICTs were not readily available

• What assumptions about (or models of) teaching and learning underpinned each of the cases?

Canada - unsure

SA – constructivist, mulitchannel

---

• Note any implications for you as a teacher or as somebody who uses technologies to support learning (e.g. does it make you think differently about what you do?).

In supporting academics to adopt technologies I have learnt that you need to make sure they have good support in implementing a new style of teaching – as in the SA case. Mulitchannel support to make it most effective.

I also liked the idea of the Interactive radio lesson design and I could see this working with podcasts and course materials on the DL MBA.

---
Here are some quotes from the forum to help me understand these cases more:

"Support is required at all levels, on all sides: government, teacher training, teacher and learner, family and community.
Both implementations recognised that there were lessons to be learned: that the learning process needs to be interactive, which the medium of radio is readily open to – but can be adapted; that the teaching process is as, if not more, important as the learning process.
The primary drivers for each implementation were different: Canada – commercial and philanthropic; SA – educationally driven, raising standards.
The major difference between the two teaching/learning models was that the SA recognised that their initial model needed to change; to move from distance learning being included, to open learning being the basis of the programme." Anthony Berry, 17 February 2009 13.32 H800 Forum W2 A8.

"In Canada the educational aspects seemed to be a byproduct of a commercial interest in promoting the use of railways. In South Africa, by contrast, the initial aim was to meet educational goals" Sharon Clark, 17/02/09 19:44 W2 A8

Wk 2b A5 Nepal, Bhutan & Nigeria

Here are my notes on the article which outlined the technological and socio-cultural barriers to distributed learning and TEL in Nepal and Bhutan. The technology is the easy bit, it is changing the attitudes towards participative and self directed education that is the bigger challenge.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfjp86bs_96dw5336gj

I'm not sure I fully understood the activities instructions "Look on the Web for information about another country with low resource and infrastructure that has adopted a different pedagogy and consider an explanation of the differences.." Different pedagogy to what? To Bhutan and Nepal or different to the UK or what....

Anyway, I found an article about ODL in Nigeria ( Ojo and Olakulehin, 2006).
Their study was looking at perceptions of ODL by Nigerian students in both a traditional and DL setting. It appears Nigeria, being colonial, was lucky enough to benefit from distritbued learning a long time ago. They were recipients of many a correspondance course from the UK. The National Open University Of Nigeria (NOUN) is the first exclusively ODL mode of education. Blended learning is the more typical approach to distance education in other Nigerian Universities.
The authors state that the dynamics of globalisation and the introduction of ICTs resulted in radical changes in the educational needs of individuals and society. They go onto say that "because the world of work is more complex and fluid, newer appracohes to working and learning are in demand, more than ever, educational institutions are required to imbue their students with functional lifelong learning skills they need to surive...." Evidence showed that conventional educational is hard pressed to meet these demands especially in developing nations.
NOUN brought about a way of satifying a need for high quality education; and gave credence to ODL's acceptability in Nigeria.
The learning is through self directed learner centred instructional materials, with optional tutorial support at study centres around the country (A bit like the OU here).
The conclusions of the study into the perceptions of distance learners in Nigeria were that learners are favourably disposed to ODL - due to the features such as open access, flexible learning, provision of quality learning materials and the use of mulitmedia and ICTs. However, the use of ICT in education is still sparce which is a reflection of the whole education system in Nigeria. There still exists a digital divide - access to instructional technology and the capacity to use such technology is negligble.
To achieve the opportunties for ODL in Nigeria they need to "take measures to adopt instructional technology for DL and expand provision of quality assurance in design, ensure timely development and delivery of quality course materials, and continue to enhance student support services..."

Ojo, D.O., and Olakulehin, F.K. (2006) Attitudes and Perceptions of Students to Open and Distance Learning in Nigeria in the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. Vol 7, No 1

Week 2a - Activities 1 and 2

Activity 1 and 2 notes are here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfjp86bs_89txxt3fcv

Activity 1 - watched a web cast by John Seeley Brown http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?whichevent=1063&s=31

Debate about participation being the most successful way of learning. Very engaging webcast. I get the message from Brown that group work is about helping the learner to understand the knowledge that has been given to them before the group learning takes place; so having only watched to 13 minutes I would say that no he doesn’t devalue reading/viewing/listening alone, the message I am receiving is that you need both. I liked the iceberg metaphor, the tip being the explicit learning (reading, listening etc) but the mass of the iceberg under the water is the social learning where you become to understand the knowledge in your own context.
This extract of the video has really helped me to understand better why we encourage our students to be members of study groups and use the discussion boards. I could use this information to help in the process of encouraging this to take place more. I can transfer the ideas about the architects lab and you learn by teaching, to the discussion forums for the DLMBA. We are also looking at moving away from a face to face induction for the DLMBA so the idea of using Second Life for the social side of the induction day is interesting to me.
found his style very easy to watch and listen too. Much more engaging to me than the Rowlands screencast from Wk 1 Activity 6. The use of video in this presentation really did add something to the experience – but when you have a more engaging and lively presenter that is bound to happen.

Actiivity 2
Learnt about citizen science and citizen journalism.
Citizen science is a term used for projects or ongoing program of scientific work in which individual volunteers or networks of volunteers, many of whom may have no specific scientific training, perform or manage research-related tasks such as observation, measurement or computation. The use of citizen-science networks often allows scientists to accomplish research objectives more feasibly than would otherwise be possible. In addition, these projects aim to promote public engagement with the research, as well as with science in general. Some programs provide materials specifically for use by primary or secondary school students. As such, citizen science is one approach to informal science education.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_science)
Citizen journalism, also known as public or participatory journalism or democratic journalism[1], is the act of non-professionals "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information,"
Heat magazine gets people to send in "spotted" messages when they spot a celebrity in public, these are then printed in the gossip pages.
BBC news often ask people to send in photographs of their local area to contribute to the delivery of news stories (E.g. pictures of snow, floods, etc)
Mark Glasser, a longtime freelance journalist who frequently writes on new media issues, gets to the heart of it:
The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube.

Wk 1 - that was the week that was

Week 1 expored getting to know the tutor group, material from the UK and Australia about the google generation debate, discussed our own experiences and preferences for learning technology and realised why we need to be aware of the debate because of pracitioners beliefs about what learners need.

The Learning outcomes for wk1 were:
Knowledge and understanding of choices that learners make about their own learning - we looked age divides and seeking information, Australian students' use of technologies and found out about the preferences of the different people in your tutor group.

Knowledge and understanding of a range of conventional and innovative technologies, drawing from own experience and experience of others. - I've used the web, forum, webcasts, audio files and search engines.

Your ability to locate, read critically and extract value from a wide range of formal and informal sources - I've read and discussed a newspaper article and a report, a research paper, an audio interview and webcast.

Your ability to articulate your ideas - you've started to build your learning community

Your ability to participate in online networks and communities to enrich your personal and prof develop

Wk 1 A11 - Patterns of internet use in Britain

I read the report, Dutton, W.H. and Helsper, E. (2007) Oxford Internet Survey 2007 Report: The Internet in Britain (Oxford Internet Institute)

My notes from reading the executive summary are here. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfjp86bs_88dq9ntsgs

Some of the patterns of internet use I would like to comment on are:
The most popular information seeking activities are making travel plans, looking for local events and news - I use the internet for this alot. In fact, most of my time is spent doing this. However I find that the internet does severely lack in local information, unless you live in a city.
Use of internet for everyday learning has increased - I think I learn something new everyday on the internet and think it's great when you are thinking or talking about something and you need more information, you can just go online there and then if you have mobile access, and get the answers or information you want.
First port of call for majority of internet users - Yes, I always start with the internet for information, if I can't find it there, then I go elsewhere. I get frustrated if it's not on the interne especially if I don't know where else to look.
Information about purchases is a common use but still doubts over the lack of face to face contact with the product/retailed - and as a result peopel depend on online reviews much more.
TV watching has reduced as a result - I've seen this in my life and friends of ours. People are spending more time using resources on the internet and socialising via the internet. In an indirect way, the internet created the role I am working in now, which created my ambition to do this course, which has meant I watch less TV.
Less than 1/5 use social networking profiles - althought I'm a self confessed internet addict, I hate social network sites and can't yet see they're benefit to me. Perhaps it's just an issue of time and I am becoming more selective in how I spend my time.
People do not feel that the internet intrudes on the time they spend with friends and families - I think it does intrude on this time, but it also increases the time you spend with friends and families. Without the internet my parents could not see their granddaughter as regularly as they do - we have regular Skype chats with them with the web cam since she was born; there are friends I am still in touch with, who I would not be without the internet. People are reunited over the internet too.
It increases contact with others, esp those at a distance *** See above
Civic participation is low - eg signing online petitions - but is that because we are quite an apathetic nation?
e-gov't services have increased - I've used the internet for ordering tax discs, it's so much easier than going to the post office and trying to find all those documents you have to take and queueing on a Saturday morning. One simple online form, no evidence required, it arrives in the post within a couple of days.

Implications for learning and teaching activities
Learners come from all ages and all background so not all will have the same experience, confidence or preferneces for using the internet. The study said that there are people who do not use the internet (Digital divides exist - men, students, Higher Ed'd and higher income individuals more likey to use than women, retired, disabled, lower education and lower income.) and these are people who study too so we have to consider their abilities when integrating technology into the learning.


I wonder if the gap that women show in this research is not down to confidence but to time (those in a traditional family arrangement of course). I'd love to learn more about this gender divide and the reasons behind it.

Simon's comments:
Given the discussion that has been ongoing about lurking, the statement that says, "Internet users tend to consider themselves more extroverted and social than non-users" seemed pertinent. Acknowledging that some people prefer to learn alone suggests that the context of Internet use has a bearing on user confidence. This has implications for designing online learning activities for students when our own experience is different to the experiences of others. (Simon Allan, 12-02-09 12.39 Wk 1 A11)

Wk 1 A8,9 &10

These activities combined had me thinking about my experiences of learning from different perspectives - my own experience as a student after leaving school; my experience of informal learning and my experience in supporting learning. We had to think about what resources we had been given/used to support our learning, which we enjoyed using and gained most benefit from, how own experiences have effected how you support others' learning and how your practices may have changed over time.
1 To what extent have the teaching practices you encountered and your ways of behaving as a learner influenced the ways in which you now support the learning of others?
- My UG degree was my first experience of formal learning after school. The resources/technologies used were - lectures (with powerpoint slides), seminars (with group work, exercises, presentations), set reading (text books), library resources - books, journals, databases, statistical information (Print and CDROM). Seminars may have used video too but I can't quite remember. They did involve quizes, discussion and comparisons with others. The internet was not a source of information at all during my time at University, computers were used as word processors - that's all, for essays and powerpoints. I remember the University introduced an internal email system in my final year (1997) but no one knew how to use it - we weren't the google generation, we couldn't work it out.
In 1998 I remember using the internet for the first time; but this was after finishing my degree and it was used for social things - I do remember using it for booking train tickets and holidays then. In my UG degree most of the control over what we used came from faculty; when it came to assessments it was down to us to do our own information searches using the library. No other physical sources of information were used then.
I enjoyed most the seminars, where we had group activity to help us to establish our understanding of what had been lecturered and we had read about. I least enjoyed the lectures - they were boring, powerpoint presentations regurgitating the text books and you spent the time trying to write everything down rather than really listening. I remember one lecturer I gave up on quickly as it really was taken directly from the text book, she had little personality and no sense of audience - poor thing she had over 300 UGs to lecture to. It must have been hard. But then I remember a marketing lecturer who was actually an advertising consultant; his lectures were great - but then the nature of the beasts who are advertising executives tend to be good at PR, presenting and engaging their audiences. I can't remember specifically what it was, but maybe it was a combination of an interesting subject, with case studies that we related to easily and the personality of the lecturer that did it.

2. Informal learning - eg an example of some learning you've done for yourself, to keep up to date, develop knowledge or skills - not just acquiring information. I chose the example of the learning I did while I was pregnant. I read books, magazines, websites, took part in forums, watched movie clips and listened to audio tracks on the internet and CD rom that came from Pampers babyclub etc. I determined my own objectives - I wanted to know each week what the baby inside me was doing, it was intriguing and very relevant and current. The books were recommended by friends, the magazines were leant to me by friends and the internet searches were initiated by me using Google. I gained most from the internet, having a wealth of information available to me at my fingertips, and free of charge. The forums were particuarly useful, I could read comments by people experiencing and feeling the same things as me, which helped me through the time and helped me find clarity to a lot of the mysteries of child birth and babies. So learning from othe people seems to be a pattern here.

3. Supporting the learning of others.
I haven't done much in this, I am not a teacher but support students. I am responsible for making sure students understand the systems and expectations of themselves and their tutors so I provide web-based guidance on this to the distance learning students, I also provide face to face presentations when they are on campus, supprted with video clips, animated demos, printed support and forum support. I am providing a range of learning support options to suit different people.


Pattern - I like learning in groups where I can learn from others and by helping other people to understand things, I learn more too.

My own experiences have taught me that we have to give students variety and choice and that anything we provide must add value to their learning. A lecture which is a carbon copy of the text book is not enhancing learning, it's just delivering the same information through a different medium. In H808, I really enjoyed the learning design whereby the topic was introduced and you were basically left to search for more information to form an opinion yourself. I really liked this freedom and flexibility which gave me ownership of my learning. If I'm told to read chapter X, I tend to resist that. I want to read what interests me (and of course is relevant to the course) and my job in this professional course.

Here is a comment from Kim on the forum that is a similar view to mine:
A law lecturer from another university says that he doesn't give traditional lectures but tries to organise his "large group sessions" in a way which does require some student involvement (pair work, quizzes etc).
Is the traditional lecture dying - and would it be a bad thing? I remember some marvellous lectures during my first degree - and one series which consisted of the leading mind in his subject reading word for word from his leading book. When I did my masters' degree another "reader" popped up, this time not a leading mind nor a leading book. As I was a more assertive 35 year old, I complained and he was replaced in fairly short order! " (Kim Silver, 13-02-09, 21.46 Week 1 A9-A10)

Paul Kenney said about how relevant technology can be in archaelogy teaching - he said earlier that things like GPS have improved the sector but "
Is anything lost in the learning experience by using e-technology?
Personally I think so, but I also think that it is inevitable, and at the level taught many aspects are really just being introduced so they are very useful, yet I feel that in the case of Archaeology it is best to get out and get grubby. " (Paul Kenney, 12-02-09 11.42 Week 1 A9-A10)

And this comment by Simon really summed up my feelings:

I agree too, there is a tendency to offer online equivalents of traditional teaching modes. However, the difference for me receiving these resources online is the activities and group learning that is associated with them. I can only cite my experience on this and two other MAODE courses, but I feel that a greater sense of communality when using resources online. My recollection of face-to-face lectures was that, other than a brief opportunity to pose questions at the end of the session, the knowledge passed on to me was left for individual digestion, often only externalized in written form (lecture notes or an essay). By contrast, the podcasts and webcasts offered to me online make the most of the social environment they are delivered in, encouraging me to reflect and talk about them. One of the reasons why I think this works better is the asynchronous nature of distance learning. Everyone has longer to digest, respond and reflect on content. (Simon Allan, 12-02-09 10.15, Week 1 A9-A10)


Jonathon Campbell 2 writes: (14-02-09, 10.56)
When I want to try something new I've got to be sure to start somewhere familiar and then take very small steps. They need a lot of support to get away from the only style of education they've known.

I recall though my A level teaching (yr 11-12) was more student centred, perhaps to help prepare us for independent study at University. Secondary education Yr 7-10) was certainly very teacher centred. The introduction of more vocational qualifications at secondary school instead of formal GCSEs for those students that it suits better has to be a good thing in moving away from the formal classroom.

Wk 1 A 9- reflections on my experiences of learning

To what extent have the teaching practices you encountered and your own ways of behaving as a learner influenced the ways in which you now support the learning of others?

I believe I like to give students as much choice as possible based on my desire to have choice over how I learn something, and my awareness of different preferences.

How have your practices (as a learner and/or as a supporter of learning) changed over time, particularly in terms of your use of various digital technologies and resources?
Very much, simply due to the availability of digital technologies I have embraced the information revolution and because it is so accessible, I do not need to leave the house/office etc to find what I need I generally use e-resources much more than other types of resource.

Can you derive any useful lessons from your personal experiences about the impact of technologies upon teaching and learning practices?
Give more variety to students, ensure it is enjoyable. Don't think everyone likes what I like.

I found this exercise revealing in that during undergraduate study, I found the resources to be prescriptive to an extent, and as Sharon said, expectations went as far as the use the physical library books, journals and databases.

What is interesting is that when I have undertaken informal learning and had the choice over what resources to use, I've obviously picked resources that suit me such as the internet.

So, as I now develop support tools for MBA students I like to create a range of media to help them and for example, am in the process of converted our print based VLE guides into video demonstrations so students have the choice of - trial and error, printed guide, animated guide and a face-to-face guide, thus giving them choice.

Some comments from the forum that interested me:

Frauke -
Both my formal study experience and my initial teaching experience in adult education and HE were very much tutor-led with very little self-determination on the part of the learner.
Observing my son in his first year at primary school, I am learning that it is beneficial to make available materials in a variety of ways but technology isn't everything.

Paul -
I'm not convinced that we actually needed to "see" the lecture in order to to get the required result.

Simon A -
I agree too, there is a tendency to offer online equivalents of traditional teaching modes. However, the difference for me receiving these resources online is the activities and group learning that is associated with them. I can only cite my experience on this and two other MAODE courses, but I feel that a greater sense of communality when using resources online. My recollection of face-to-face lectures was that, other than a brief opportunity to pose questions at the end of the session, the knowledge passed on to me was left for individual digestion, often only externalized in written form (lecture notes or an essay). By contrast, the podcasts and webcasts offered to me online make the most of the social environment they are delivered in, encouraging me to reflect and talk about them. One of the reasons why I think this works better is the asynchronous nature of distance learning. Everyone has longer to digest, respond and reflect on content.

Sharon -
My formal learning was very teacher-focused - lots of lectures with minimal student interaction.
As an undergraduate student, we were required to use printed library resources as the source for essays. The first student to the library would inevitably take everything out on loan, leaving the rest of us stuck without resources

The internet has put an end to that frustration thanks to online libraries and electronic resources.

Too often we end up simply offering an online equivalent of a lecture, especially with the current trend for podcasting.

A6 - Information literacy crisis - screen cast, Ian Rowlands

Screen cast is here - http://stadium.open.ac.uk/ stadia/ preview.php?s=31&whichevent=1173.

My notes on this are here - http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfjp86bs_87cn3pzvgr

Comments:

Conclusions

There is a continuum of ICT comfort across all generations, the google generation is not entirely different to older generations. There is diversity within that generation, educators need to segment that group and respond to their differing needs. Librarians need to bring back the skills of information literacy. We've got to take information skills more seriously.


Which part(s) of the argument are most relevant to you as a reader and a student?

As someone with a background in marketing his conclusions about segmenting the generation for targeting your approach to information literacy, education etc was perfectly sensible. I also was pleased that he recognised the diversity at all ages and that in fact age isn't the key digital divide. Ultimately I think the divide is access, age is an obvious thing to plump for as older people have an obvious difference in their access to ICTs as compared to the under 20s who have always had a computer at home, have mobile technology and do a lot of their everyday tasks by ICTs.

Which part(s) of the argument are most relevant to you as a teacher, trainer or other practitioner or potential practitioner?

That the pre-google generation are very adaptable and can retrain into these new ways easily - as long as they are open to it and being aware that not all of this generation want to or engage with ICTs that much so choices must be made available.I had not considered the issue of information literacy before (not having a teaching/academic background) and will admit to being one of those people who search with sentences and not key words and have lost my information search skills due to becoming used to using sentence based searching for websites and then transferring this searching skill to my academic searches. I'm also guilty of the brand associations made with the terms library being linked to print and search to online. I have experienced using libraries online and using digital resources in an physical library but have developed a preference for searching online rather than physically.

What for you are the strengths and weaknesses of each form of presentation – reading from the report in Activity 4, and listening to a webcast lecture now? We will return to this issue in Week 5.
The written report gives the student/reader critical statistical information to help them understand the paper; the screencast gives you the chance to hear things from the horses mouth in a much more informal and understandable way.

H800 - Week1 Act 5 - Digital Natives

Activity A5 - teaching/reaching the net generation
Introducing us to debates about the net generation / digital Natives (DNs). Gregor Kennedy interview and paper about their research into Marc Prensky's claims/assumptions about the DNs.
Interview by John Pettit from OU and research paper

Some of the assumptions about the DNs is that they are highly skilled with ICTs, grew up with digital tools all around them, good at multitasking with technology, create and consume web content and are practised at social networking and other web 2 tools.

This is research into how different this generation is to the rest of the generations, is it really an age thing. Many debaters are saying yes they are different. Prensky wrote about the DN in 2001 and he suggested that these people had spent their whole lives surrounded by technology and as a result changed the way they think, with the implications that we therefore have to change the way we teach. Prensky also claimed that students want technology in their education. Prensky's papers, according to Kennedy shocked the educational sector. Kennedy aimed to gather evidence to support or not.

Prensky also labelled the educators as digital immigrants, aliens in the DN environment facing a big challenge, and that the biggest gap in education today is the gap between DI and DN, and that pedagogical models need to change to suit a new kind of learner. Prensky's claims assume uniformity in the generation, that they are all "blessed" with the characteristics of the net generation.

Evidence based understanding of students' technical experiences is vital for informing HE policy and practice and if preferences in their own lives regarding technology are also preferences in their education.

Pilot study in 2006, 2000 1st year students at one Australian University (Uni of Melbourne) (Oxbridge style uni). Survey into their access to, uses of, skills and preferences for technology at university. (Paper linked above is results of this survey).

Followed up with research and three very different universities, Melbourne, Charles Sturt (mostly DL students) and Wollongong University (modern university).

Survey, interviews and focus groups to be able to ascertain process issues and feelings in more depth. The different collection methods garnered a different level of inquiry. Focus groups did have negatives in that not everyone would speak (either because they agree or too scared to disagree). They also gathered information from the support staff and academics (The so called digital immigrants).

Research found that many 1st year students were tech-savvy but it was not uniform or homogeneous.

Students showed a mixture of reactions to whether certain technologies should be used in their education. Kennedy looked at the relationship between frequency of use of technologies and students' desire to have them used in their education and found weak connections for some technologies.

Results - a lack of homogeneity and a digital divide within just this one year group. Countering Prensky's assumptions, so warn educators that overhauling curriculum to suit a homogeneous DN is dangerous. Challenge for educators is how to cater for this broad range of students' levels of access to, familiarity with and preferences for technology based tools.

This study negates a one size fits all approach to integration of ICT in education and supports the argument that integration should also be pedagogically driven.

Educators and educational developments who have expertise in existing and emerging technologies need be proactive against the evidence and assumptions of what DNs students have access to and have preferences for. Evidence should inform policy and practice.

Student equity is an issue, e.g. increase use of podcasts but what if students are unfamiliar with MP3 players, don't have one, have never downloaded or used podcasts then the key benefit of being able to download and listen when you like is lost.

At end of interview Kennedy does not discount the terms ND or DN totally and says there is a lot more research to be done but that we should be more focused on what students' experiences of technology are and not just take the concept of the DN as read.

H800-Week 1 - blog 1

Hi World
I learnt about keeping a journal or portfolio of work in H808 and plan to do so for H800 which started on 7th Feb 09. I think this shows a significant piece of reflective learning as I have had 2 weeks off since H808 and starting H800 and I've realised how useful it was keeping a portfoliop/blog for the assessments and TMA 1 in H800 is also evidence based so here I go.

Week 1a
First impressions - a bit scared. The course is designed around learning objects and a list of tasks I have to do. Although it's just as much commitment as H808 it seems more rigid and makes me feel I've taken on too much. My tutor group also make me scared, there are all a lot older and wiser than I and in general are lecturers/teachers so have a completely different take on elearning to me and are all VERY active on the discussion boards making even me seem inactive. Looking at it more positively I can see that I am going to learn alot from these people and in particular learn alot about their viewpoints which will help me in my working with academics. Maybe I've misinterpreted them, so far though they are all a lovely group of people - well they'd better be, we've got 32 hard weeks together ahead of us.
A1: Meeting fellow students and tutor. We had to send a message to the group introducing ourselves and saying something unusual about yourself and one learning technology that we enjoy using. We were also asked to reply to interesting points in other people's messages. I enjoyed this activity, there was a lot to do as I don't like to see anyone left out so wanted to reply to everyone and what I found that everyone made a point of picking up something in each other's messages to actually have a conversation about. This was rare in H808, which tended to be just a collected of postings, no real discussions as I would define them. I think we've done a good job of starting to get to know each other. I also note from the level of activity that I may be able to enjoy being a follower rather than the followed which I will enjoy. I don't have time for too much leadership. I look forward to discussions with the group.
Despite the high levels of interaction, there are a few group members who claim not to enjoy group study and love to be buried in books; quite the opposite to me. It'll be interesting to see how their views change, or mine of course! I think H800 is quite a different kettle of fish than H800 - I think it's stepped up a notch.
A2: Sharing your reactions to the courses themes. We were asked to tell the group about something that interested you about the course themes and the learning outcomes, to compare reactions. I posted that I was particularly interested in 2 of the learning outcomes, number 2. choices that learners make about their own learning, in terms of which technologies they use, why and how and 8. draw on a wide range of experience, accounts and formal research evidence to recommend appropriate ways of using technologies in specific contexts. Eddy at least had the same reasons as me, I think there were more. A lot of people were keen to learn about how they could use technology in their teaching.
A3: How much changed when printing arrived - see article here. about the first law of technology "THE FIRST Law of Technology says we invariably overestimate the short-term impact of new technologies while underestimating their longer-term effects." and how the invention of printing had such a huge impact on society that was not expected. We discussed other examples that upheld this view, such as the invention of the car (Eckart's post) and how Mr Ford can't have realised how much impact his invention would have.
A4: Generations of information seekers. This started off the debate about the Google generation or the supposed age based digital divide. A comparison of students of different ages in terms of how dependent they were on five methods of finding articles was shared with us (CIBER/UCL 2008). It showed that 17-21 mostly used online sources, and older generations were less dependent on these but more dependent on a range of sources including more traidtional ones. We compared the sources of information to our own preferences and I said that "
"My preferences are for Personal recommendations, which I include reference lists in course materials, and then Google Scholar to explore the reading further. I haven't the time for browsing libraries and find them difficult to use/find what I want, so prefer the online route. Like Simon this is also a reflection of how I shop!" Keith has also posted similar, and we three are all in the 26-35 age bracket which is showing a pattern already.
They tried to prove or disprove some of the myths of the Google Generation such as The need to feel constantly connected to the internet, the cut and paste generation, picking up computer skills by trial and error and expert researchers. This is what I thought about those 4 statements and me:
"1. ‘They [the Google Generation] need to feel constantly connected to the web’
Well you tell me, 6 months ago we went Wifi, 1 month ago I bought a phone with 3G and unlimited web surfing, this week I received a laptop. I do EVERYTHING online, it's scary. Shop, plan travel, talk to my friends, (i hardly ever phone anyone), do academic research, look for and apply for jobs, read the news, rent DVDs, the list goes on, study! If it's online I'm there. If it's not online I generally don't do it, or do it under duress, to my own disadvantage I know! I get really frustrated about services who do have websites and email addresses but don't respond to them. Another piece of evidence to prove this is me, as if I need it, is that when I go to Kazakhstan in a few weeks just for 3 days, I've already sussed out where the internet cafes are!
2. ‘They are the "cut-and-paste" generation’
I hope that this doesn't apply to me, but I have just cut-and-pasted Frauke's message and deleted her entries to save me typing the structure out again! Is that the same or is that me just being efficient?
3. ‘They pick up computer skills by trial and error’
I think I'm a partly this one, I start off with trial and error but then refer to the experts when I get stuck.I learned to use a computer early because we always had a computer in the house growing up for office tasks, not for games, so was exposed to it very early. I am a self taught touch typist and self taught at MS office. However, this only goes so far; I need to consult "online" manuals and attend training when things get more advanced and tend to refer to forums a lot for technological guidance. The drawback of trial and error learning is that you probably miss out on so much functionality.
4. ‘They are expert searchers’
There are so many legitimate sources online now that you can be an expert searcher online. It certainly helps to be digitally literate to help in your ability to be an expert searcher of online resources, so I partly disagree with the researchers, and as Frauke said, it's the ability to identify what to look for, how to find it and show you've made good research choices that make you an expert searcher, not simply being able to use a digital source of information. Whether you find the information in a physical library or an online library doesn't matter as long as the information is valid."
The same article explains a lot about the myths and truths of the google generation and it's potential impact on education in the future. There is an argument to say that even though the characteristics of the Google Gen exist, it's not restricted to the 17-21 age group, in fact it is the 30-50 age group who creates much of the content that the younger gen enjoys in social networking/web 2.0 stuff.
" But there is no evidence in the serious literature that young people are expert searchers, nor that the search skills of young people has improved with time . Studies pre-dating the widespread public use of the Internet have reported that young searchers often display difficulty in selecting appropriate search terms, and research into Internet use has consistently found similar difficulties."
However concerns are that young people are not questionning the validity of information as well as they should, and taking what they read on the web as true so one of the challenges in education is to unteach that.
The authors warn educators that: the internet is fading into the background in that it is being taken for granted and educational bodies are not keeping up with this and are not present enough in the environment. Educators need to be "more e-consumer friendly and less stodgy and intellectual". Educators also have to be wary of being decoupled, ie students finding information elsewhere that you have no links with or knowledge of and cutting you out of the process altogether eg making libraries obsolete.