Using Vle And Web Tools Presentation June 27

Using VLE and web tools Philip Greaney Arts Faculty Conference: Integrating the VLE June 2008

What this presentation is…

a whistle-stop tour of a selection of:

internal, OU VLE tools and an example of use

external, web tools and an example of use

a list of resources that you can access later.

it raises more questions than it answers

descriptive rather than prescriptive.

it is derived from a report for the A210 course team, so it is necessarily biased.

Online resources and RSS

There are thousands of potentially useful resources, including those made by the OU.

My task has been to identify, evaluate and then collect some of the best online literature resources.

Link to these resources as ‘further reading’ or to help provide additional support.

Here are some examples…

OU on iTunes

OpenLearn

The Poetry Archive

RSS (newsfeeds)

An RSS (newsfeed) pushes information out, so you don’t need to go looking for it.

RSS is useful for sites that are constantly updated.

It takes no effort once implemented to deliver these newsfeeds.

You can add an RSS feed to each course homepage, or use an RSS/newsfeed reader.

Guardian book blog

BBC radio RSS feed

Google reader

The OU VLE wiki: user-generated resources

As we’ve seen, there are hundreds of potentially useful online resources.

We can encourage users to add the resources they find online and elsewhere and share them using an editable public resource: a wiki.

Requires minimal implementation and little or no moderation.

Bottom-up, user-generated participation rather than top-down ‘presentation’.

Wikipedia on wikis

Quiz and polling tool: academic conventions

Quizzes are useful when there are objectively correct answers.

Using the correct academic conventions are such an example.

In this case, you can use a quiz to encourage your learners to get the academic conventions right.

The quiz tool

Guidance materials

Each tool can be accompanied be some guidance, instruction and support.

Provide online or electronic note-taking, resource-collecting systems: MyStuff.

Create a space for sharing and collaboration.

Provide the opportunity to create an online identity, for social networking.

Course website guidance

MyStuff

iSkills and HSC resource bank

‘External’ (non-OU) web tools

Use the web as a platform, so there is no need to install software and therefore moves with user.

Often very easy to set up and use, and are often free.

High degree of stability and in perpetual improvement.

‘Open’ platforms talk to each other.

del.icio.us: social bookmarking

A website with a series of weblinks can be created and distributed easily.

In turn, users can contribute and share the weblinks they find useful.

A prefix at the beginning of a tag can help identify useful items to a group of users.

Several alternatives to del.icio.us.

del.icio.us homepage

Citeulike homepage: ‘academic’ social bookmarking

Dipity: creating a timeline

You can create interactive timelines more easily and populate with the content you want, including course materials.

Timelines can be amended by everyone or locked down.

Resources from all over the web – or course resources – can be added.

Integrates several different media resources.

Shakespeare timeline

Google maps: mashups and open platforms

Several applications are being ‘fused’, to make a third. This is called a ‘mashup’.

One option would be to use the timeline we created earlier and link it to Google Maps to help us locate locations.

Free, user friendly, requires only a web connection.

Google map for OU

Facebook: social networking

Developing a community and creating a web presence.

The OU has the largest online community of ‘fans’ for an educational establishment on Facebook. [source: http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2008/06/ou-tops-facebook-universities.html

The OU has two specially written applications for Facebook, ‘My OU Story’ and ‘Courses profile’.

Facebook homepage

A future?

Short to mid-term: SocialLearn.

http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2008/02/the-sociallearn.html

Second Life

Longer term: avatar-based virtual realities: Second Life.

Using VLE and web tools Philip Greaney Arts Faculty Conference: Integrating the VLE June 2008

Links used in this presentation (OU links)

OU VLE resources

Course directory

http:// learn.open.ac.uk /course/

OU on U iTunes [Download iTunes here]

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

OpenLearn

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/

The HSC resource bank

http://learn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4004&m=3

iSkills wiki

http:// conclave.open.ac.uk/iskillswiki/index.php/Main_Page

MyStuff

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/portfolio/index.php/mystuff/overview/1/____display

Links used in this presentation (non-OU links)

‘ External’ [non-OU] web resources

del.icio.us

http://del.icio.us/

Slideshare

http:// www.slideshare.net /

The Poetry Archive

http:// www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do

Citeulike

http://www.citeulike.org/

SocialLearn presentation (Martin Weller)

http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2008/02/the-sociallearn.html

Dipity (timeline software)

http://www.dipity.com/

Google maps

http://maps.google.com/

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com

Resources: glossaries

Glossary of poetic terms

http://www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html

Critical reading: a guide

http://www.brocku.ca/english/jlye/criticalreading.html

Dictionary of literary terms

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/3462/literms.htm

More OU VLE resources

MyStuff blog

http://www.open.ac.uk/mystuff/

OU VLE homepage

http://conclave.open.ac.uk/dev-ouvle/

Example site for VLE

http://learn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3367&m=3

PowerPoint presentation outlining new developments in the VLE (intranet only)

http://intranet.open.ac.uk/ouvle/wp-content/uploads/2007-09-ou-vle-generic-presentation-for-regions.pps

Integrating Library Services and Resources at the Open University (internal only)

http://intranet.open.ac.uk/ouvle/wp-content/uploads/se-new-review-article.doc

iSkills – web-based repository of skills

http://intranet.open.ac.uk/iskills/index.shtml

iSkills wiki

http://conclave.open.ac.uk/iskillswiki/index.php/Main_Page

Mobile Learner Support

http://conclave.open.ac.uk/dev-ouvle/?page_id=142/

Synchronous communication (good example of internal and external tools)

http://conclave.open.ac.uk/dev-ouvle/?page_id=142/

Windows messenger

http://get.live.com/messenger/overview

More ‘external’ resources

Wordsworth rap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXbrSALG684

Wikipedia [We should introduce some discussion on using Wikipedia in A210]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

If you use the internet, it’s likely you use broadband

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7105242.stm

Elearning and literary studies: towards a new culture of teaching? [How the web – and particularly hypertext – might change literary output and criticism.]

http://www.brown.edu/Research/dichtung-digital/2005/1/Castanyer/

The aesthetics of net literature (book)

http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/welcome.jsp?source=rss&isbn=389942493X

LibraryThing [enter your library and share ideas and book recommendations]

http://www.librarything.com/

Timeline of poets and poems [includes links to the more notable poems]

http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/timeline/

Victorian Web [A comprehensive and sophisticated approach, full of resources]

http://www.victorianweb.org/

Early Modern Literary Studies [useful for the LION citation on interactive Shakespeare]

http://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/iemls/reviews/index.htm

Book: A Companion to Digital Literary Studies [get from library]

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/book.asp?ref=9781405148641&site=1

Elearning at Sheffield Hallam

http://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/emlshome.html

Sheffield Hallam guide to writing essays

http://teaching.shu.ac.uk/ds/english/essayguide/central/mainframe.htm

Poetry resources

BBC Poetry out loud – poems to make, watch and hear [audio resource, read by poets]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/index.shtml

DIY poetry kit [make your own poems through an interactive drag-and-drop activity]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/wordplay/

Excellent collection of online poetry resources

http://www.solroed-gym.dk/inger/poetry.htm

Facsimile of Tennyson’s ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ [click on facsimile thumbnails]

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/britpo/tennyson/TenChar.html

Interactive quiz on metre including sound clips [useful as an example of moodle quiz]

http://unix.cc.wmich.edu/~cooneys/tchg/quiz/meter/q2/quiz.html

Schoolsnet [interactive lessons in reading poetry – Carol Ann Duffy]

http://www.schoolsnet.com/pls/hot_school/sn_revision.page_pls_show_revisions?x=16180339&p_subj_id=3

More poetry and academic conventions resources

The Poetry Society [need to research this more thoroughly]

http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/

Poetryclass for children and schools [need to research this more thoroughly – links and resources]

http://www.poetryclass.net/

‘ Dynamic collation’ of Lyrical Ballads [compare changes in text in a user-friendly approach]

http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/LB/html/dcoll/dcoll_index.html

Poetry portal [great many resources collected here]

http://www.poetry-portal.com/

Barbauld poems [good example of early edition facsimiles and hypertext for glossary terms]

http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/contemps/barbauld/poems1773/mrs_rowe.html

Poets on poets: contemporary poets read Romantic-period poems [download MP3]

http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/poets/toc.html

Poetry quiz (useful for an idea of how it might work)

http://www.infoplease.com/quizzes/poems/1.html

Another poetry quiz [a different, more light-hearted approach – useful question types]

http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz70542815f98.html

Academic conventions

Quiz on academic conventions and standards [broader than presentation, this also focuses on the principles underlying academic ‘integrity’]

http://www.academicintegrity.uoguelph.ca/citation_quiz.cfm

Son of Citation Machine [This uses a simple form to construct an accurate bibliographic reference in a variety of conventions (MLA, APA, etc)]

http://citationmachine.net/

Resources on writers

Shakespeare

BBC Interactive broadband Shakespeare [video site with some interaction: not A210 texts]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/shakespeare/interactive.shtml

Virtual Globe Theatre [QTVR-style interactive viewer, with commentary]

http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/enrich/globe_picker.html

Shakespeare online links portal

http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Kristen_McDermott/ssacmu/ssacmu_links.html

Sparknotes Shakespeare [free study guides with themes, plots, synopsis, etc]

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/

Interactive Shakespeare on the history of textual changes[although seemingly directed at school children, it’s still a useful and informative resource]

http://www.ciconline.org/bdp1

Wordsworth

Homepage of UK rsource

http://www.wordsworth.org.uk/

Useful resource with several links

http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/

Focus on the places and history of Wordsworth and his contemporaries

http://www.wordsworthlakes.co.uk/

Education and elearning publications (a selection)

E-learning references, with especial focus on collaborative activities and learning in a VLE

Brown, R. (2001) ‘The process of community-building in distance learning classes’, JALN , vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 18–35; also available online at http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v5n2/index.asp

Carson, S. (2005) MIT OCW 2004 Programme Evaluation Findings Report , Cambridge, MA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; also available online at http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/90C9BC91-7819-48A0-9E9A-D6B2701C1CE5/0/MIT_OCW_2004_Program_Eval.pdf

Castells, M. (2001) The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society (New York: Oxford University Press)

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2002) How Do People Learn? , CIPD

Dalsgaard, C. (2006) ‘Social software: E-learning beyond learning management systems’, European Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning [online], http://www.eurodl.org/materials/contrib/2006/Christian_Dalsgaard.htm

Daradoumis, T and Xhafa, F. ‘Problems and Opportunities of Learning Together in a Virtual Learning Environment’ in Roberts, T. (ed) (2005) (ed) Computer-supported Collaborative Learning in Higher Education (Idea Group: London)

Dirkx, J and Smith, R ‘Learning to Learn in Online Collaborative Groups’ in Roberts, T. (ed) (2004) Online Collaborative Learning: Theory and Practice (Information Science Publishing: London)

Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) (2000) Circular 7/00: MLEs in Further Education: Progress Report . JISC 1 July 2000; also available online at http://www.webarchive.org.uk/pan/13734/20060324/www.jisc.ac.uk/index5a87.html?name=news_circular_7_00

Katzenbach, J.R and Smith, D.K. (1993) 'The Discipline of teams', Harvard Business Review, Mar/Apr 93, vol. 71, no. 2, p.111–20; also available online at http:// libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url =http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct = true&db = bth&AN =9308065089&site= ehost-live&scope =site

Mason, R. and Rennie, F. (2004) The connecticon: learning for the connected generation (Information Age, US)

Paulsen, M.F. (2002) Online Education Systems: Discussion and Definition of Terms [online], http://www.nettskolen.com/forskning/Definition%20of%20Terms.pdf

Roberts, T. (ed) (2004) Online Collaborative Learning: Theory and Practice (Information Science Publishing: London)

Roberts, T. (2005) (ed) Computer-supported Collaborative Learning in Higher Education (Idea Group: London)

Karen Swan and Peter Shea ‘The development of virtual learning communities’ in Hiltz, S. and Goldman, R. (ed) (2005) Learning Together Online: Research on Asynchronous Learning Networks (Lawrence Erlbaum, New Jersey)