Actividades a partir de 2 REA's

No âmbito da UC Materiais e Recursos para e-learning, desenvolvi 2 actividades dirigidas a futuros tutores de cursos de EaD, a partir de 2 REA's.

As actividades estão disponíveis nesta wiki.

Espero que possam ser, de algum modo, úteis!

Learning Object on Transparency in online education

Are the web 2.0 tools the cornerstone for transparency in online education?

Or…

Is transparency the cornerstone for cooperation in online education in the web 2.0 era?

are the starting questions to my learning object on the theme Transparency in online education.

Annotated Bibliography on Transparency in Online Education

“Teaching as transparent Learning”, George Siemens (link)

In this post, the author makes an approach to transparency in online education, as a potential to learning and peer-to-peer learning. Rather then an overview on the post, I’ll reproduce some of his affirmations, the ones I think the best reproduce the idea George Siemens desires to transmit.

Putting ideas out for discussion contrasts with formal “reach a conclusion and publish” model.

Watching others learn is an act of learning.

Social technology – such as Twitter, blogs, Facebook – opens the door to sharing the process of learning, not only the final product.

…individuals who share similar cognitive architectures (novices with novices and experts with experts) have greater capacity to communicate.

…when we make our learning transparent, we become teachers.

Transparency in expressing our understanding, our frustrations, and our insights helps others who are at a similar stage.


"Transparency in Cooperative Online Education", Christian Dalsgaard and Morten Flate Paulsen ( link)

In this article the authors relate the concepts of transparency and cooperation in online education and the role of social networks in these ones. For the authors, transparency promotes cooperation, once it allows students to have access to others personal information and works, and also promotes quality, by enabling Preventive quality improvement, Constructive quality improvement and Reactive quality improvement. The authors present some examples of how a system can promote quality, recurring to NKI’s practice. One of these practices is the “learning partner” service.



"Colaboração e Cooperação na Educação Online / Cooperative Freedom and Transparency in Online Education" (Futuralia, 12th March 2010), Morten Flate Paulsen (link)

In this presentation, Professor Morten Paulsen presents and compares NKI and Universidade Aberta’s models as online teaching and learning course providers. What I underline from this presentation to the theme “Transparency in online education” is the fact that Professor MFP includes freedom of transparency as a plus concept of the (no longer) hexagon of cooperative freedom. This is, the idea that transparency must be voluntary. So, online students should also be free to choose were they want to stand in the transparency-privacy spectrum.


"Social networking sites: Transparency in online Education", Christian Dalsgaard (link)

In this article, Chirstian Dalsgaard discusses the importance of social networking to the promotion of transparency in online education. The author focuces on the university’s reality, were students are often engaged in they’re own and individual process of learning. Social networking is an engine for cooperation, once it allows the sharing of thoughts, processes and products of leraning. Wile sharing this components, students became available to each other as resources for learning. In social networking the starting point is the individual, unlike foruns, typical from LMS’s, were the focus is on groups.


Cartoon “Transparency for Cooperation”, by Morten Flate Paulsen

In this cartoon, Professor MFP explains, in a very simple way, how transparency can be placed in practice, through the sharing of information about the students. Professor MFP also underlines the importance of the level of the shared information: one must be able to choose what information to share and to whom.


A final summary...
Transparency is a means to achieve cooperation. Social networking and profiling online students are two means to promote transparency in online education. In online education students are often engaged in they’re own process of learning so transparency plays a special role in this learning environment, once it allows students to access each others thoughts, prcesses and products of learning. Transparency is also an engine to promote quality because by accessing other work, one tends to improve the quality of is work, one may receive constructive feedback and one may learn from other’s work

What about a guideline for Online Teaching Techniques?

What about a guideline for Online Teaching Techniques? is the starting question for my LO on this subject.

Please find it on this link.

Hope you find it useful!

AB on Online Teaching Techniques

I started this AB with a new challenge: improving the first AB with the tips and experience of Professor Paulsen and my colleagues on the first one. Secondly, I directed my research to the directives provided by Professor Morten F. Paulsen: including the approach of the web 2.0 in the theme “teaching techniques”.

Online Teaching Techniques, by Morten Flate Paulsen.

In this article, the author elaborates a framework for Online Teaching techniques, based, initially, on a bibliographic review on adult teaching techniques, whether FTF or online.

This framework is organized according to the “four communication paradigms used in computer-mediated-communication (CMC): information retrieval, electronic mail, bulletin boards and computer conferencing and it results on four classes on techniques:

The author finishes listing some techniques that, not being used nowadays in CMC, are, for him, suitable for this type of communication: in-basket exercises, panels, committee hearings, cognitive networks and jigsaws.

Please access the article to complete description of each technique.

Regarding the same article, Helena Prieto, student form MPEL'03 class, guides us through the online teaching techniques presented by professor Morten F. Paulsen, in a very pleasant vídeo.


Online Teaching Activity Index (from the Illinois Online Network)

Through this link we can access a list of 50 Online teaching activities. For each activity, one can consult: description of lesson, appropriate content areas, examples, goals and objectives, prerequisites, materials and resources, guiding questions, lesson outline and procedure, teaching strategies, accommodations, timeline and ideas for lesson evaluations and teacher reflection.


The State of Social Learning Today and Some Thoughts for the Future of L&D in 2010, by Jane Hart


In this article Jane Hart presents and discusses the urged need to include, promote, encourage, support and allow informal learning (as a learning technique) in enterprises.

For this, employers must be aware that in informal learning monitoring is difficult (or even impossible) to manage, like in formal learning environments, so this kind of learning must be understood as a way of facilitating communication, collaboration and information sharing within the organization.

Even for the more sceptical, findings point out that informal learning should be promoted more everyday: promotes grater conceptual understanding, once it is driven through autonomous motivation (Dan Pink).

Jane Hart organizes her research on social media tools/tools for learning in 5 categories, taking in account different concepts of learning. With Harold Jarche’s help, Jane Hart organized the 5 learning categories taking in account 4 spectrums. Please find this organization in the table below:

Vídeo – Social networks and the web 2.0 revolution

In this video, the author, Nik Peachey, explains, in a very clear and focused way, what is the Web 2.0 and its implications and power to the teaching and learning practice.






Final reflection:
Although I tried to improve the process of “ABing”, I still found it difficult to manage the “infinite” information one can find in the web. I’m still working on the “being able to effectively select web information” skill. Also, the limited time doesn’t help and my “objectiveness” skill is still “in progress”. Ufff…

One Question Interview (1QI)

I decided to do the 1QI regarding the theme "Cooperative Freedom" to a colleague of mine, Diana Gonçalves.

Diana is a Pedagogical Coordinator and Instructional Designer of online courses directed to adults. One can consider she is not an expert on cooperative freedom (and correctly), but she is a professional that faces the challenges of the characteristics of online students in her daily work. When designing online courses, assuring the courses follow-up (that includes monitoring students and tutors) and evaluating courses, she faces the challenges described on the theory of cooperative freedom. Thus, I asked someone that has “the field” experience to reflect on her daily work regarding the theory of cooperative freedom, and tell us two strategies she came up with in a certain context to answer online students needs.

Question
Based on the theory of cooperative freedom and the six facets of flexibility presented through the hexagon of cooperative freedom, please identify two difficult situations and its respective resolution strategies, that you at some moment found as an Instructional Designer/Pedagogical Coordinator of online courses directed to adults.

Answer
The Theory of Freedom Cooperative places the learner in a central position and gives him freedom of choice in the various components that involve the study / training. It is an ambitious theory both for those who design and monitor the courses and for the trainees themselves. For the trainees the challenge is enormous, for they are accountable for their path and at the same time involved in the pathway of group they are inserted in. For those who design and monitor online learning courses this "freedom" can be difficult to manage. We can work hard towards offering various "possibilities" to trainees, but these, sometimes, and this way, get harder orientation work, choosing from a wide range of choices, and at this point we, instructional designers, have even more demanding work, guiding paths that can be very distinct.

From my experience with online courses follow-up, I remember, for instance, being repeatedly confronted with the same questions from the trainees, who had the freedom to request the clarifications needed when it would be more appropriate for them (freedom of time and freedom of pace). To avoid repeating the same explanations systematically, and also in order to foster the relationship between learners (cooperative work), I decided to start asking the trainees who were already clarified about the subject/question, to support the colleague that was now in the same situation with the same questions. Thus, trainees are not only involved in training, but they also feel valued and empowered by being able to help in the resolution of a situation that is now familiar to them and to witch they already found resolution strategies.

The cooperative work challenge also reminds me of situations where I had to monitor discussion forums with relatively small groups (consequence of free cooperation and freedom of pace and freedom of time) and where only one or two trainees actively participated. These are challenging situations for tutors and coordinators, who feel the weight of responsibility to give back and encourage debates and cooperation. For these situations it is necessary to have different strategies prepared in advance, in order not to discourage those who are actively participating. These strategies include, for instance, having different and various material prepared, such as case studies, helpful links, supporting documentation, among others. For this matter, I subscribe the expression “cooperation should be voluntary, but also attractive, appealing, and alluring”, which means that we are accountable to ensure the interest and will for the trainees to cooperate.

Unit 1 - AB review

António Pedro presents us with two chapters: the Annotated Bibliography, and the Illustrated Annotated Bibliography. For me, this is a original idea to organize the AB. The chosen material, in the first “chapter”, includes 3 references: 2 articles and a very practical web page. In the Illustrated Annotated Bibliography, António Pedro presents a set of videos, cartoons, diagram, all produced like learning objects to explain the theory of cooperative freedom. He finishes both chapters with some personal notes, as conclusions.

António Pedro’s AB is clear, very well structured and easy to read.

A point for improvement would be the presentation format of the AB: maybe António Pedro could have always used the same font and colour font, in order to make it more “design friendly”. But it is just a detail!