Blurring Boundaries: Taking Advantage of Society Online

Blurring Boundaries: Taking Advantage of Society Online
David White – Manager – Technology Assisted Lifelong Learning

TALL
Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning
Founded 1996
10 full time specialists
Focussed on online learning for lifelong learners at HE level
Attempt to replicate the best of the Oxford experience online
Undertake elearning related research

Current subject areas
Mixture of traditional academic subjects and continuing professional development programmes
Ethics
Local history
Health sciences
Law
Nanotechnology
Philosophy
Statistics
Study skills
Archaeology
Art history
Bioremediation
Biosciences
Computing
Electronics
Economics
English literature
Lifelong Learners – At a Distance

Students Use of The Web
More experienced
Use the web as a matter of course
Use the web to learn all the time
Use more sophisticated methods than our courses provide?

Ern-Flickr

JISC funded ‘Isthmus’ project
Bridging the gap between institutional provision and the wider web
Not creating any new software
We have enough technology!
Trying to take advantage of services that exist on the web
Pedagogy, Management, Legal, Technical
2 years until March 2009

Google: ‘ real data on web2.0 use’ Social Networking

Informal Communication

Wikipedia

Types of Use

Pilots
Persistent Community
Persistent Identity
Informal/Further Communication
Mobile
New Media Literacy

Facebook
Community – Social Networking
Forums
Break course silos
Community beyond single course run
Cross selling?
Market research

FaceBook Discussion I think that the group should be overseen by a member of the Department, ideally from the Online courses office, and should continue to be in the future. By someone from the Department being involved and visible it shows that we are just as interested in building the community as everyone else. Otherwise, if we don't seem to be bothered about it, why should the students? The only reason for them staying in the space that we create rather than ones that they create themselves is precisely that - that we create it and that we can offer a centralised space with additional features and possibly content that they won't get elsewhere. We need to be able to offer them extra benefits and lend it some authority. (Comments added - Deborah Goodbody 07/11) I agree with what Deb's saying, but this will need to be included in the discussions with Ox legal, because the questions I have been asking were based around us being very hands off. By adding someone from the Department as an administrator I would view them as a moderator - I'm not sure though anyone is going to know the answer to this and we might just have to announce it clearly somewhere in the group. (Comments added - Matt 07/11) I have just discussed this with Claire (our courses administrator) she is happy to be a gate keeper but would be concerned about the level of work involved if she had to 'moderate' the group. Also, I think that a member of staff effectively moderating the group may put us in a tenuous legal situation. I will check this with Ox legal as Matt suggests. Claire mentioned that she could identify a possible student administrator before we launch the group to make sure that it wasn't just her as an admin as people arrive. The problem we have here is that most of the actions we could take to improve the groups chance of success cut across legal and practical issues (tying up staff etc). If the form of the gruop doen't work this time round then we may have to adjust it next term. I'd prefer to go for a stripped down group launch this term and then adjust rather than wait at this point (Comments added - DaveW 08/11) The FaceBook group will initially contain a number of discussion forums representing each major discipline our courses cover. We will also create a general forum for cross discipline discussions/chat. I think that there needs to be a plan for how these discussion forums will work - certainly to start with I think that the forums probably need to be seeded with suggestions to kick-start discussions. I think it's going to be difficult to maintain subject specific forums when you don't have a course to support the students ongoing learning. I'll be interested to see how much the discussion forums actually get used. (Comments added - Deborah Goodbody 07/11) I suspect that actually the more shallow communication aspects of FaceBook will be the elements which get more use and we should think about using some of these as well, because not all community exists around discussion forums. Some people will just want to keep up with other students socially and won't be interested in continuing subject specific discussions. Others will want to know what new courses are in development. Others will want to discuss the news. We need to make sure that whatever we set up is flexible enough to be able to cater for what the students want. Also we should make sure that there is an email address which they can contact to offer feedback, suggest improvements etc. whilst the pilot is ongoing because that will also help to develop the community. Finally, enthusiastic users should be rewarded, whether that's through being spotlighted, or through their suggestions being taken on board because that will encourage their loyalty to the community and also encourage others to become involved as well. (Comments added - Deborah Goodbody 07/11) Again visibility in the group versus hands off I think here - I do like the idea of 'rewarding' users! One aspect of this that hasn't been thought through is regarding the collection of feedback, from both the users that actually use facebook, but also the users that don't. I think this needs a lot of thought...(Comments added - Matt 07/11) For practical reasons I think that these kind of ideas should go via the student admin. He/she could 'reward' individuals and switch on/off FaceBook features. I agree that many students may use the more social networky aspects of FaceBook . I hope they do. I think we should include the 'wall' as part of the default set-up for the group to encourage this kind of very informal communication. I've asked Ged to contact tutors on what inital posting would work for the forums so that they arn't blank when people arrive. (Comments added - DaveW 08/11)

Facebook Posts “ An infinite series is easier to envisage than an infinite distance or time. For example, imagine a circle cut in half, then one of the halves cut in half again, and so on. Each time one cuts away half of what remains, there is still a slice left ... I am somewhat less impressed than you with Descartes assertion that the only thing one can be certain of is one's own mind. It seems to me that 'Existence is possible' is a better, and less arrogant inference than 'I am'. Particularly given the uncertainty about what is meant by personhood. Are you taking another course in the new year?”

Facebook Posts “ not sure if this is the right place to ask, but do you know how long we wait after the course has finished before getting the assignment results back? Or do we not get them back at all? The Victorian fiction course is the first one I've done here so don't know how it works.”

Facebook Posts “ That's a great idea...I'd be happy to post my final essay. I did a comparison of Le Concert Champêtre with Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe. I agee with you that the site vanished too quickly. I did manage to print off the course contents before the shutdown, and I have all the postings in my email inbox. ”

Facebook Activity (First Term)

Research Challenges

Groups

Categorising Students Relationship with the Web?
Visitor:
Specific Tasks
No aspects of identity online (concern)
Can be sophisticated in use of services
Augmentation?
Resident:
A portion of their life managed online
Aspects of identity online
Immersion?
Tourist:
A visitor on one of our courses?

www.openhabitat.org

Thoughts
Institutional boundaries are blurring
‘ Visitors’ work very differently to ‘Residents’ even if they use many of the same services
Institutions can’t be ‘islands’
Need the ‘formal’ – structured for the informal to flourish
Need to be clear about the balance between ‘socialising’ & ‘learning’
“ Life is what happens while you are making other plans” Lennon “ Learning is what happens between assignments” White [email_address] - isthmus.conted.ox.ac.uk – tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk

Blurring Boundaries: Taking Advantage of Society Online

by David White: University of Oxford

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