'The 21st Century Learner: Blended Learning tools and the use of social networks

'THE 21ST CENTURY LEARNER: BLENDED LEARNING TOOLS AND THE USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS’ Dr Bex Lewis [email_address] 26 th March 2010

http://johnwilborn.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/the-digital-natives-are-here/

A Digital Native: Jake’s Story
“ Jake told the executive that he never goes directly to a brand like this man’s newspaper or even to blogs he likes. ... he reads a lot of news – far more than I did at his age. But he goes to that news only via the links from Digg, friends’ blogs, and Twitter. He travels all around the internet that is edited by his peers because he trusts them and knows they share his interests . The web of trust is built at eye-level, peer-to-peer.” (Jarvis, p.86, my emphasis )

Discuss (15 min discussion)
Similarities
People will still be people, same fears, etc.
Development like printing, new comms
Naivety + suspicious
Guidance required to enable good use
Distinctions – space to meet
Implicit credibility
Differences
Worse cyber-bullying/just made it public? Direct abuse
Longevity
Scale/ massive
Accessibility
Think it’s “our world”
We know too much about students outside?
Community vs indiv
Laziness, not past LEN
Upcoming career paths

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8577272.stm (20th March 2010)
The current financial squeeze, which is set to continue for the next decade, will accelerate a transformation that has begun in many universities.
Already more than one in three students studies part-time and one in six is from overseas .
There will be more mature students , more studying part-time, more living in their own or their parents' homes , and many more studying online.
There will be more tailor-made vocational courses, operated in partnership with individual companies and employers.
There will be more "pick-and-mix" degrees , with students accumulating course credits at different universities, even across different countries, and with gaps for employment in between.
Students will increasingly become "consumers" as we reach the tipping-point where their contribution to the cost of the degree is greater than that made by the government.
Private providers will take over an increasing share of the university market.
The all-round university will increasingly lose out to more specialised institutions.
Finally, universities will become more global.

http://bit.ly/9NoI1Z
Instead of trying to mass-produce children who are good at taking tests and memorizing things, schools should emphasize personal development, Robinson said. Not all kids are good at the same things, and the education system shouldn't pretend they should all turn out the same, he said.
Why teaching is 'not like making motorcars’, by John D. Sutter , CNN, March 17, 2010 7:00 a.m. EDT Sir Ken Robinson

SOME VISUAL STATS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasdhaliwal/3796862307/in/set-72157619503976393/

Informal Learning
“ This book offers advice on how to support, nurture, and leverage informal learning and helps trainers to go beyond their typical classes and programs in order to widen and deepen heir reach. The author reminds us that we live in a new, radically different, constantly changing, and often distracting workplace. He guides us through the plethora of digital learning tools that workers are now accessing through their computers, PDAs, and cell phones.”
Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance Jay Cross, 2006

http://www.clex.org.uk/
Government Report by Sir David Melville, published March 2009
The impact on their experiences and expectations
Their use of social networking
Their adoption of new technologies
Developments at schools, colleges, campuses, including institutional developments.
Read Summary: http://digital-fingerprint.co.uk/2009/11/jisc-e-learning-fair/

Some Highlights:
A 2007 Study and a 2008 Report found that most students had been exposed to “push” technologies (i.e. top-down), and especially valued face-to-face contact.
Late adopters are learning first, knowing that they have to be ‘equipped for the real world’.
There is evidence that students ARE using social networking for L&T, especially for enhancing group work. A key question is what is the nature of that space, and who controls that space.
There was a strong feeling that Facebook was a “private space”, that these shouldn’t be used formally, that students could set up their own Facebook groups if they desired, and that staff could only be invited in by the students.

Some Findings:
Use of Web 2.0 is ubiquitous from the age of 12.
New technology is different, but is it better?
There’s been a patchy take-up from staff even when there is a strong drive from management (tools can take a long time to use properly, and VLEs don’t always help)
Students are not yet demanding change, but note not yet .
Critical/evaluative skills are a deficit area and likely to get worse (e.g. “The 10 Second Researcher”: Google/Wikipedia facilitate “shallow research”. ) It’s hugely important that we find ways to impact deep research.
New skills that technology can foster for future workplace demands.
Staff time and support issues are critical.
It’s not just familiarity with the technology, but where they fit strategically.

Learning Network: Choices

2020 and beyond, June 2007 http://bit.ly/9PuIu4
To what extent are we prepared, as a society and as educators, for the massive changes in human capabilities that digital technologies are likely to enable in the next 13 years?
To what extent are our future visions for education based upon assumptions about humanity, society and technology that are no longer valid?
To what extent can we, as educators, help to shape the developments of technology in order to enhance human development?
“ the best way to predict the future is to build it” . (Douglas Adams)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/webbehaviour

Which do you think you are?
Web Bear?
Web Elephant?
Web Fox?
Web Hedgehog?
Web Leopard?
Web Elk?
Web Octopus?
Web Ostrich?
Which do you think your students are?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/webbehaviour/articles/eightanimals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkxdn7LsQH0

Bex: You are a Web Fox
Fast-moving – Web Foxes like you are great at finding information quickly, just as real-world foxes are always ready to pounce on an opportunity.
Sociable – Foxes are highly social animals, maintaining complex relationships with the other members of their social group. When you browse the web you are also a social creature, often using social networks, or other sites whose content is created by its users, as sources of information.
Adaptable – Web Foxes are highly adaptable multitaskers, able to do several things at the same time – just like real-world foxes who can rapidly change their behaviour to suit their environments.

Impacting the Student Experience

What is Blended Learning?
“ The term is commonly associated with the introduction of online media into a course or programme, whilst at the same time recognising that there is merit in retaining face-to-face contact and other traditional approaches to supporting students. It is also used where asynchronous media such as email, forums, blogs or wikis are deployed in conjunction with synchronous technologies , commonly text chat or audio.”
Janet Macdonald Blended Learning and Online Tutoring: Planning Learning Support and Activity Design , 2008, p2

Learning/Pedagogy http://www.slideshare.net/redmagma/elearning-sucks?src=embed

Student Expectations?
Global (Used creating their own YouTube videos, and expecting a quick response – from anywhere in the world!)
Responsive (Used to rapid response/feedback, 3 week guarantee “too long”)
Flexible (Used to having more than one starting point)
Interactive (Looking for a relationship of trust, staff/student partnership: The teacher has a role of leader, but needs ‘distributed leadership’)
Often facile or trivial

Web 2.0: Characteristics
User-centred design
Crowd-sourcing
Web as Platform
Collaboration
Power Decentralisation
Dynamic Content
Software as a Service/ Cloud Computing
Rich User Experience

What do Teachers/Lecturers need to know with Web 2.0?
Determine the appropriate reach of a forum.
Establish protocols for partnership.
Security/Safeguarding
Inclusion (not everyone can afford the technology, so minimise it’s impact)
Identify the quality of the information.
Insist on nobility of purpose (not a space for compliance)
In using the space, students become better contributors to society (NOT just a box of skills), and live it better.

What’s important for institutions to know?
Encourage staff involvement
Invest in awareness/equipment
Security/safeguarding
Monitoring ( not primary purpose)
Inclusion.

With the web you can... http://digital-fingerprint.co.uk/2009/09/fully-convergent/

The 21 st Century Learner http://mscofino.edublogs.org/2008/11/30/a-meeting-of-minds/

But how can we use it?
Technology is just a tool? http://www.camb-ed-us.com/school/standards-assessment.asp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zQgEqDdvuo

THIS IS THE POINT WE REACHED IN THE SESSION

http://bit.ly/buZ0mM , September 2009

What is Twitter?
140 Characters (based on SMS) known as “Tweets”
Displayed on author’s profile page
Read by subscribers (known as “Followers”)
Different from Facebook
More interest/thematic based
Not time/geographically dependent
Not as “personal” ‘I had toast’ does not cut it!
Twitter is about relationship building, you can’t just “broadcast” announcements out, you need to engage with your followers.
Retweets (a mark of approval)

@stephenfry

http://www.slideshare.net/drbexl/twitter-for-jisc-1-march-2009

http://blog.twingly.com/2009/08/19/guest-post-social-media-adresses-the-hierarchy-of-needs/

http://theterracottawarriors.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/blogging1.jpg

http://ww2poster.co.uk

What is the purpose of this?
Three factors in all those empty wikis:
“ There is insufficient purpose to the e-intervention; it is solving a problem that does not exist;
It is not built into the regular face-to-face teaching of the course or its assessment structures;
Insufficient time is available to set up and then diligently maintain the activities.”
Fry, H., Ketteridge, S., Marshall, S., Enhancing Academic Practice: A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education , 2009 (3 rd Edn), p.91

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=115165817309&ref=ts

Synchronous Conferencing http://www.elluminate.com/ ; http://www.wimba.com/ ; http://www.webex.co.uk/

Wireless Presenter with Laser Pointer

Personal Response Systems (Clickers)

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

Plagiarism Checking
“ Turnitin Originality Checking allows educators to check students' work for improper citation or potential plagiarism by comparing it against continuously updated databases. Every Originality Report provides instructors with the opportunity to teach their students proper citation methods as well as to safeguard their students' academic integrity.”
Ask ITS for a Tii password
Go to: http://www.submit.ac.uk/
Register a class & ask students to upload their assignments
(or use the ‘Quick Submit’ facility)
See Eric Bodger’s report ‘Critique of Electronic Submission’ on the Learning Network

Blended Learning Pages on the Learning Network: http://learn.winchester.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1203

What do you feel about digital tools in education?
Excitement
Fears

What issues are you facing?

What other tools are you (considering) using?

http://cte319.pbworks.com	225
http://kristinaweb20.pbworks.com	63
http://www.slideshare.net	43
http://digital-fingerprint.co.uk	15
https://elearn.eq.edu.au	9
http://dlb.sa.edu.au	4
http://www.schoolportal.com.au	2
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	2
http://elearn.eq.edu.au	1
http://blended-bearning.wikispaces.com	1
http://ltinpractice.blogspot.com	1

'The 21st Century Learner: Blended Learning tools and the use of social networks

by Bex Lewis on Mar 26, 2010

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