Wow!

Now I know why Assessment 2.1 was designed as a group project.

Getting some other people’s perspectives I think would have been really useful.

I knew what I had in mind, but a sounding board and further input I think could have made the experience a little more interesting. And who knows how the community design may have evolved.

I’m not usually group work orientated, but I think in this instance, espeically having seen the other group’s presentations, the group process woudl have been rewarding.

Furthermore, having been to the last workshop and looking at Ning, people really have formed some close bonds, and I feel a bit like a lurker, looking in through a window.

I’ve actually really enjoyed this project, and as I said in assessment 2.2 (Reflection) I still think my learning journey, though different from the rest of the class has been beneficial and possibly even more significant.

I just found an article titled ‘Enrichment 2.0’ by Michelle Eckstein which basically uses the framework we’ve used in EMT1 as a means to connect and educate gifted and talented students.
The model Eckstein presents ‘Is an inquiry based learning model where students select a topic, are grouped to work on the topic, and prepare an authentic service or product’ (2009, p. 60).

The tools Eckstein presents to assist in Enrichment 2.0 learning include wikis, social bookmarking, aggregators (RSS), podcasts, collaborative documents and blogs.

Though this article is based on a previous program referred to as Enrichment, and just adds the 2.0 perspective I actually think Enrichment 2.0 is a fitting name for the process no matter what audience, age, genre etc.

To enrich is:

2. to supply with abundance of anything desirable: to enrich the mind with knowledge

3. to add greater value or significance to: Art enriches life” (Dictionary.com, 2009).

Which is achieved through the process of collaboration, the sharing of resources, thoughts, and the discussion of ideas.

As Seely Brown states in ‘Tinkering as a Mode of Knowledge Production in a Digital Age’  these new digital tools allow us to borrow fragments of work from others, create mashups and modifications, to repurpose and perhaps create something out of the originators realm of imagination(2008), and enriching the learning experience of all involved in the process.

‘We must be active participants in the rapidly advancing collaboration, communication, and specialisation of our society. Students need learning that is connected, contextual, relevant and authentic’  (Eckstein, 2009, p. 60). They need Enrichment 2.0!

References

Dictionary.com Unabridged (2009) Enrich.  Based on the Random House Dictionary. Random House Inc. (URL: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=enrich&db=luna)

Echstein, M. (2009) ‘Enrichment 2.0’ in Gifted Child Today, Winter 2009, vol. 32, No. 1. Prufrock Press Inc.

Seely Brown, J. (2008) Tinkering as a Mode of Knowledge Production in a Digital Age: John Seely Brown. Convening held at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Stanford, California. October 23-25, 2008. Video. (URL http://vimeo.com/2183356).

Hardware, software and Internet capabilities are rapidly expanding and these technologies are swiftly being adopted into all aspects of our life, through work, study and play, and are providing a powerful force for eLearning (Eklund, Kay & Lynch, 2003, p.4).

New social software capabilities are said to be able to ‘reintroduce the social back into the learning equation’ (Mejias, 2005, p.4) based on the premise that people want to create knowledge, share it, challenge it and interact with it in the open forum of the World Wide Web (Downes, 2005). Social Software applications supporting this new knowledge concept include collaborative publishing spaces, such as blogs; podcasts; social bookmarking; social sharing sites; social networking and discussion forums (Bartlett-Bragg, 2006, p. 4).

While these technologies are very exciting, and drastically changing how we experience the world wide web it is important people are reminded of the importance of critical analysis and reflection.

Critical reflection referring to the ability to critique the presuppositions on which one’s beliefs have been built (Mezirow, 1990, p.1).

For instance, how do you know what you find on the Internet is the truth? Who wrote it? How do you know they are who they say they are? What type of credibility have they got? Is credibility important?

‘Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. Anyone with internet access can make changes to Wikipedia articles. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference web sites, attracting around 65 million visitors monthly as of 2009.’ (Wikipedia, 2009).

And while Wikipedia is ranked as the seventeenth most trafficked site on the Internet, Britanica.com, is ranked 5,128^th, this giving more credibility to the anonymous volunteers contributing to Wikipedia than the 100 Nobel Prize winners and 4,000 expert contributors who write and research for Britanica (Keen, 2007, p. 44).

Andrew Keen also claims that instead of taking in information from a wide range of sources ‘we seek out the information that mirrors back our own biases and opinions and conforms with our distorted versions of reality’ (2007, p.83). Therefore not maximising the opportunity presented to us by having such an enormous amount of information available.

As you can see from these two examples critically analysing what we find on the web is essential, and it highlights the importance of everyone pulling their weight in upholding the integrity of the Internet by not hiding behind the anonymity the Internet provides to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes.

References

Bartlett-Bragg, A. (2006) Reflections on Pedagogy: Reframing Practice to Foster Informal Learning With Social Software

http://www.dream.dk/uploads/files/Anne%20Bartlett-Bragg.pdf

Downes, S. (2005) E-Learning 2.0

http://www.downes.ca/post/31741

Eklund, J., Kay, M. and Lynch, H. M. (2003) e-learning: emerging issues and key trends, Australian Flexible Learning Framework.

http://pre2005.flexiblelearning.net.au/research/2003/elearning250903final.pdf

Keen, A. (2007) The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assulting Our Economy. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Mejias, U. (2005) A Nomad’s Guide to Learning and Social Software, The Knowledge Tree, Edition 7, October.

http://knowledgetree.flexiblelearning.net.au/edition07/html/la_mejias.html

Mezirow, J. (1990) ‘How Critical Reflection Triggers Transformative Learning’ in Jack Mezirow and Associates (Eds) Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood’. Jossey Bass Publishing.

Wikipedia (2009) Wikipedia: About. Cited at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About (2^nd June, 2009).

One of the LearnX breakout sessions I attended was titled ‘Engage Gen-Y Using Play’ and we did just that – play! The basic premise of this presentation was to demonstrate how people learn through playing with Lego and with the tables before us buried beneath Lego it was time to get started.

Everyone was asked to build a model which represented characteristics or traits of Generation Y. Once our model was built we were asked to share our models with the group, explaining how our models had represented Gen Y.

We were then asked to build another model representing how Gen Y work best, and this is where I had my epiphany

This time around people were more comfortable with the group. People had incorporated ideas from the first activity into their next models, and had also taken note of some building methods and applied them to their next model. And this is where I realised an ad hoc learning community had formed around me.

Everyone was supportive and encouraging and engaged in the activity. Within half an hour an environment had been created in which people were sharing their ideas, providing feedback and discussing the models and concepts presented.

Though using a different technology, I found similarities between this experience and that which we’ve been doing in EMT1. The activity brought a group of people together to share and learn and have fun! Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?

The main difference I found between the two communities was time. The time taken to forge a sense of community in person was alot less to that which happened online, in fact maintaining interaction in an online environment has been found to be more challenging due to the time and space separation enabled by technology (Angeli, Valanides & Bonk, cited in Woo & Reeves, p.15, 2007) But we are a community none the less.

When looking at online and face to face communities, despite different uses of technology the processes and techniques for building a sense of community are similar. The core element is in building a sense of belonging (Brook & Oliver, 2003, p. 63). In both contexts this was done by asking participants to share their understanding of some terms associated with the topic (in the Lego demo we used model to define Gen Y and in EMT 1 we were asked to discuss what a community is, community of practice, network etc). And in both instances a community formed and engaged.

References

Brook, C. and Oliver, R. (2003) Exploring Online Learning Community Development: The Relative Importance of Influencing Factors. Ascilite.

Woo, Y. and Reeves, T. C. (2007) Meaningful Interaction in Web Based Learning: A Social Constructivist Interpretation in Journal of Internet and Higher Education, Volume 10, pp. 15-25). Elsevier.

For 2 days only the Training Australia Magazine called all training (learning?) professionals to Sydney for LearnX an International Conference for E-Learning & Training Solutions promising ‘Fresh Ideas for your toughest training challenges’.

So, Did it deliver?

Yes. Not only was I amused, enthused and confused, but I have also found a number of things to further research, or incorporate into my current work practices or study. Definitely a thought provoking couple of days.

The conference incorporated a plethora of topics, from playing with lego to using virtual instructors. I’m sure over the next few weeks a number of blogs will appear, stemming from seminars from the conference however in this overview I just wanted to highlight a couple of things which stood out for me.

• Generation Generalisations – as you can imagine Gen Y featured quite a bit at this conference. I found people focused too much on Generation Y, to the point I feel they could have been blocking some of the more seasoned generations by frequently stating how ‘Gen Y grew up with the technology, that Gen X doesn’t like it’. i will be looking more in to Generational use of web technologies for learning. I don’t think it should be ruled out for Gen Y’s alone.
• I was also expecting to see more on collaborating, communicating and communities, but there was a much larger focus on learning management (with the exception of Webex of course).
• Lastly with a large focus on online technologies I found it surprising the venue was unwired! At an Australian Flexible Learning Framework Conference last year everyone came along with their 8″ screen laptops and were contributing, participating and engaging on more than one level all day. However this wasn’t accounted for at this conference and I was quite surprised. Maybe in years to come we will see more interaction from the audience.

Despite these few findings I really did find the conference very enjoyable and got alot out of it. It was great seeing Stephen Downes after referencing him so often in past essays, I even sat in on a talk by ABB (but was too shy to say hi). Great work by the way. You definitely got me thinking!

And lastly, I think the most important lesson for me was ‘When in doubt, route!’. this philosophy looks at organisations who are blocking staff from accessing sites and technologies for their learning and recommending staff find a way around the block, thereby putting their learning first!

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and You Tube have all received alot of bad press, said to be costing businesses in excess of $5 billion a year in lost productivity (Rosendorf, August 20, 2007).

However, a recent study by Melbourne University has found people who surf the net at work for fun are actually 9% more productive than those who don’t (within a limit of less than 20% of their time in the office) (MX, Thursday April 2, 2009).

Speaking as one who suffers severe 2:30itis I strongly believe that this study could have some solid grounding. I find that taking a short break from my work to cruise the Internet actually does pull me out of the afternoon slump sooner so I get get on with the task at hand. However, my organisation has strict Internet parameters and Firewalls and YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are all out of bounds.

Researcher Dr Brent Coker states ‘people need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration, short and unobtrusive breaks enable the mind to rest itself leading to a higher total net concentration for a days work’ (MX, Thursday April 2, 2009). Furthermore, because surfing the net for fun can be an enjoyable activity it is expected to reset a persons concentration back to 100% much faster than other forms of breaks commonly accepted in work settings (ABC NEWS, Posted Thu Apr 2, 2009 9:27pm AEDT).

It will be interesting to see if businesses look into this new theory and start unblocking some of the websites they so readily took away from us.

There is so much business can gain from these sorts of websites, including communication, market research, advertising, ability to appeal to a new market, connecting with clients etc. Furthermore businesses may even start using corporate social networking sites to increase communication channels and resource sharing within the organisation. Will the once tabooed social networking sites become a critical tool for business?

References

ABC News (2009) Facebook ‘good for productivity’, in moderation. Posted Thursday April 2, 2009, 9.27pm. (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/02/2533719.htm)

MX (2009) Net Play Good For Workers: surfing on job helps productivity. Page 1. Thursday April 2, 2009.

Rosendorff, D. (2009) Facebook time-wasters could cost $5 billion a year, Hearld Sun, August 20, 2007, 7:00am. (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22273758-2,00.html)

…well posted!

And not without a little bit of stress.

Last semester I studied Simulations and Games with Elyssebeth Leigh and loved it. And decided I would look at finding a community on games.

The Serious Games Initiative (www.seriousgames.org) ListServ was recommended and looked interesting, however it wouldn’t let me join due to a website fault.

Panicking I started searching the web high and low and just when I was almost giving up hope I decided to take a break. Having just renewed my subscription to an Art Jewelery Magazine I decided to see what the new online community was…and when I got there it struck me it was a learning community.

With videos and galleries and discussion forums and blogs and RSS… people with a common interest had gathered to further expand their knowledge and skill base in designing and making jewellery.

So now, not only have I found a learning community to participate in but I may incidentally learn some useful tips and tricks for jewellery design along the way.

Yippeee

I’m not sure how obvious it is, but I am a bit of a blog skeptic. I’ve always been taught to query the authority of an author, especially when it comes to the Internet and now here I am posting all my own thoughts and views, but who am I that anyone would want to read what I write? Maybe my resistance stems from the fact blogging is quite a public act and I am quite a private person (yes I was the one secretly hoping I could weasel out of the group aspect of assessment 2!) that blogging does go against the grain.

As this is taking me out of my comfort zone I am doing 3 things:

1. writing out a personal contract so I don’t chicken out, this ensuring I make the most of my blog
2. ask myself a number of questions that I’ll hopefully remember to comeback and answer
3. ask that in my vulnerable (and I am dramatising a bit here) state YOU don’t judge me too harshly!

Personal Contract

• Be honest
• Don’t hide
• Make frequent and worthwhile contributions
• Leave profile public
• Accept comments
• Make the most of this blog as you may never do it again!

Questions

Now having maintained a blog for the duration of the subject (optimism!)

1. How well do you feel blogging contributed to your learning?
2. How has your perception of blogging changed?
3. Will you continue to blog?
4. What aspects of the blog did you enjoy, if any?

Hi

Just a little introduction before I get carried off into blog oblivion.

I am currently studying my Masters in Adult Education and with an interest in eLearning signed up for a subject entitled eLearning Experiences, Models and Theories 1. So take this as my disclaimer, I do not profess to know everything (or anything for that matter) about Education, eLearning or otherwise. I am merely putting my 2 cents out there.

This blog (as well as being compulsory!) will guide you through this journey they call learning! So over the next 11 weeks (?) I will jot down my thoughts and ideas, make of them what you will!