The document presents an overview of online learning, highlighting its definition, instructional design strategies, and methods to engage distance learners. It emphasizes the importance of creating meaningful, memorable, and motivational learning experiences and addresses common myths surrounding online education. The context of UNIPR Co-Lab as a collaborative research center is also discussed, alongside various technologies and approaches to enhance online learning experiences.

1. #colabunipr
#onlinelearning
online learning definition in
140 – 28 = 112 characters?
@thuridilla (my Twitter account)

2. Online Learning Myths &
Engaging Distance Learners
Presented by Sara Valla
virtual intern at UNCG Libraries
Digital Library Learning (DILL) Master’s student
Instructional Design & E-learning Consultant
at UniPR Co-Lab Research Center,
University of Parma, Italy
UNCG Libraries, 17th December 2013

3. Outline
✓ online learning
✓ the context: UniPR Co-Lab collaboratory
✓ bridge the gaps: strategy, instructional design
✓ online experiences (to engage learners)

4. Let’s clarify the terms
ONLINE LEARNING
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovietuk/2132551511/

5. Google search trends 2004-2013
8th December 2013

6. o
n
l
i
n
e
Summary from literature review in Moore, J. L., Dickson-Deane, C., & Galyen, K. (2011). e-Learning, online
learning, and distance learning environments: are they the same? Internet and Higher Education, 14, 129–
135.
l
e
a
r
n
i
n
g

7. University of Parma (Italy)
32.050 students
1882 scholars
(including visiting scholars)
(November 2013)
C
o
n
t
e
x
t

8. Learn
Share
Collaborate
c
o
l
a
b

9. COLLABORATORY
[. . .] a center without walls, in which [. . .]
researchers can perform their research
without regard to geographical location –
interacting with colleagues, accessing
instrumentation, sharing data and
computational resource[s], and accessing
information in the digital library.
Wulf, W.A. (1989)
c
o
l
a
b

10. c
o
l
a
b
Learn
Share
Collaborate
Research Center

11. BRIDGE the GAP
Mackinac Bridge is the dividing line between lake Michigan and Lake Huronhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/odalaigh/2197628927/

12. INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
as we see it at UniPR Co-Lab
4

13. INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
designing TOGETHER
efficient, effective and motivating
learning experiences
(technologies are tools, not the starting point)
to reach learning objectives and increase learning quality
Pedagogic needs drive the design or learning
4

14. What online learning is...
NOT?!
(or… online learning myths)
9

15. repository of learning content?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canonsnapper/3095326809/

16. TV-only course ?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/399455258/

17. http://www.flickr.com/photos/9682
9830@N04/9094534826/
blablablaquiz experience
Learning objects for self-learning &
quiz to assess learning?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/giesenbauer/5809411906/

18. ...OR?

19. Interview to Michael Allen: Down with Boring E-Learning!
E-learning is often boring
for the same reasons much
traditional instruction is
boring: it focuses on
content presentation
rather than the learning
experience.
PhD in educational psychology from The Ohio State University
adjunct associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
He received ASTD's Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and
Performance Award in May 2011.

20. Learning experience has to be (3M pillars):
Meaningful
Memorable
Motivational
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64225828@N03/5853869410/

21. STARTING POINT(S)
...or
seem
may
as it
looks
mple
as it
i
ated
not s
mplic
ot co
n
Our tautology of the
“necessity of needs”
dialogue and listening
Just in time Vs Just in case
from learning (noun)
to learn (verb)
http://www.flickr.comp / hotos/visentico/3957570708/
task
activity
8

22. ONLINE LEARNING
EXPERIENCES
LEARNING OUTCOMES 
OBJECTIVES  LABORATORIES

23. Learning
Community
Area
Instructional
backbone
(content)
Activities
Blog
Topic
Forum
Topic
Laboratory 1
Chat
Wiki
Topic
other collaborative tool
Topic
Laboratory 2
Topic
Laboratory 3
re-interpretation of learning platforms as hubs
facilitate online learning design in the form of path-oriented
and self-directed walkthroughs
sketched using PeTEX@Work Projectas a reference
Wulf, V. (2013). Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning at the Workplace: CSCL@Work. Springer.
...
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24. Can social bookmarking
proposed as a learning activity
foster active and
participatory learning
supported by IT,
And help add meaning
and associate information to resources?
E
X
P
E
R
I
E
N
C
E
S

25. SOCIAL BOOKMARKING definition
form of collaborative tagging (online)
to apply keywords
to insert comments
to add descriptions
to
web pages
documents
Smith, G. (2007)
that users can retrieve online
Heymann, P., Koutrika, G., Garcia-Molina, H. (2008)
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26. social bookmarking for German language
E
X
P
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R
I
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N
C
E
Social bookmarking with Del.icio.us as an alternative S
to static lists of relevant resources

27. social bookmarking to share useful web resources
with the class
Diigo for assignments: search web links to videos
and articles (English translation)
E
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P
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N
C
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S

28. social bookmarking for teachers’ updating
#uniprtfa2013diding
Social bookmarking with Del.icio.us to share links to
useful teaching web site in a refresher course
organized for English teachers
E
X
P
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S

29. social bookmarking for reference management
Social Reference Management
(Digital Publishing course)
E
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C
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S

30. SOCIAL READING
activity of reading
on a computer screen
or a mobile device
and share highlights and comments
inside an online group

31. social reading in text analysis
English language and translation
Concordance Analysis
Contrastive Analysis
Informationization analysis
http://highlighter.com/r
eader/sample
Spanish Language
and Translation
Phraseology
Read, highlight, comment, share,
reflect upon...
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32. social reading of textbooks
Digital Publishing
Re-elaboration and
re-publishing of
textbooks
E
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N
C
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S
11

33. observations
Possible barriers:
familiarity with the technology
Lack of functionalities
in open source / free software
(e.g. single sign-on)
Lack of support other than the technician
involved in the research, given the
experimental nature of the activities
E
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34. observations
Strength points
preparation work done by the scholar
Tutoring online and helpdesk
time and resource demanding...
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11

35. creation of (online) electronic books
as a result and as part of the activities
after seminars and workshops
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13

36. INVOLVEMENT OF STUDENTS
Web conferences, webinars
organized by and with students
meetings for assessment, organization
online seminars (webinars)
to support international and remotely located students
for their Master’s thesis
online interaction with remote visiting scholars
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P
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S
14

37. INVOLVEMENT OF STUDENTS
E
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P
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N
C
blogs, active participation in Wikipedia, E
S
lecture recording
15

38. Instructional Toolkit
on a just in
time basis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilt/2517652/

39. Instructional Design Toolkit
Visual Quick Guides
Channels including
micro videos
16

40. OER: Open Educational Resources
http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/6554315179/

41. POLL: What is OER?
A.
I have no idea!
B.
Is it a MOOC?
C.
Open education resources
D.
Other (type your answer in chat!)
A
Answer Poll

42. "digitised materials offered freely and openly
for educators, students, and self-learners to
use and reuse for teaching, learning, and research.
OER includes learning content, software tools to
develop, use, and distribute content, and
implementation resources such as open licences."
(UNESCO, 2002)

43. Massive Open Online Courses

44. Project management - Timeline

45. blog as a diary

48. Future research: card sorting

49. Future research: navigation check / navigation menu
testing

50. Future research: user needs perceptions

51. Conclusions & Tips
Online Learning as “awareness raising”
Use technology as a part of learning
Interdisciplinary, cross-discipline communities
Meaningful, memorable, motivational learning
experiences
Collaborative, active learning
Attention to user needs (teachers, students)

52. References
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Heymann, P., Koutrika, G., & Garcia-Molina, H. (2008). Can social bookmarking improve web
search? In Proceedings of the international conference on Web search and web data mining (pp.
195–206). New York, NY, USA: ACM. doi:10.1145/1341531.1341558
Moore, J. L., Dickson-Deane, C., & Galyen, K. (2011). e-Learning, online learning, and distance
learning enviroments: Are they the same? Internet and Higher Education, 14, 129–135.
Smith, G. (2007). Tagging: People-powered Metadata for the Social Web (1st ed.). New Riders.
Tabak, I., & Reiser, B. J. (1997). Domain-specific inquiry support: Permeating discussions with
scientifi c conceptions . In Proceedings of From Misconceptions to Constructed Understanding,
Ithaca, NY
Valla, S (2013) "Parma Co-Lab: organizational challenge for research and learning", New Library
World, Vol. 114 Iss: 7/8, pp.326 - 341
Wenger, E. (2008). Communities of Practice - Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Wulf, W.A. (1989), “The national collaboratory”, Towards a National Collaboratory: Unpublished
Report, The National Science Foundation Invitational Workshop, Rockefeller University,
New York, NY.
Wulf, V. (2013). Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning at the Workplace: CSCL@Work.
Springer.

53. Thanks for Your Attention!
Questions?
Suggestions?
Sara Valla - Università di Parma
UniPR Co-Lab
E-mail sara.valla@unipr.it
twitter: @thuridilla
Skype: saraunipr
UniPR Co-Lab Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/colabunipr
http://www.slideshare.net/thuridilla/