week 14

Robert Mayben, Sharon Nichols, & Vivian Wright (2003, Fall). Distance Technologies in Collaborative Research: Analyzing the Successes and Barriers. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 2(2)

** Summary or outline of an article:
I. introduction
A. purpose of study: to investigate uses of distance technologies to support collaborative research among groups of teacher educators using online instruction to enhance their instructional practices
(to examine the successes and barriers for the use of distance technologies for collaborative research among groups of teacher educators)
B. conceptual framework
‘Collaborative technologies’
· Definition of: “those technologies enabling individuals and groups to communicate, collaborate, and interact to share knowledge and information (Sole & Applegate, 2000)”
· Samples: E-mail, videoconferencing, discussion boards, and traditional methods such as teleconferencing
‘Virtual collaborative team’
· Definition: ‘a group of people who interact through interdependent tasks guided by a common purpose that works across space, time, and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technologies (Lipnack & Stamps, 1997)’
→ Collaborators must have a shared understanding of the communication technologies (Mulder, 2000)
II. Literature review : Tools of collaboration via distance
(Advantages and disadvantages of each tool)
A. Email
Advantages
Disadvantages
· universal platform
· cost effectiveness
· accessibility
· easy learning curve for research team members
· succinct messaging
· being able to send attachments quickly and efficiently
· lack of timeliness leads to poor communication or the undermining of the collaborative relationship
· low context nature of the communication

B. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
· Files can be any size, contain text, graphics, audio, or video
· An integral part of Web site design
· FTP transfers files between disparate operating systems and its support of basic, Unix-derived file commands

C. Videoconferencing
· Provides an alternative to face-to-face meetings
· Cost has been reduced, technology has been improved
· Without a broadband infrastructure, it remains very poor in quality and reliability.
D. Discussion Boards
E. Electronic Mailing Lists
F. Instant Messaging Programs
G. Digital Imaging
H. Web Sites
I. Telephone/Teleconferencing
J. Word Processing Editing Tools

III. Research Methods
· Cross-sectional survey ( to measure participants’ practices and perspectives at a particular point in time)
· Convenience sampling from members that had been assembled into research teams during the ‘2002 National Center for Online Learning Research (NCOLR) Conference’
· Participants were formed into teams based on shared interest
· The collaborative work of the teams varied in terms of the level of interaction
· Content of survey:
ü Which tools team members used frequently to collaborate via distance?
ü Which tools were best facilitators or hindrances to their collaborative endeavors via distance?
ü What they perceived to be individual strengths that they brought to the research team?
ü What collaborative research experience they have?
ü What issues do they think concerning time as an aspect of using collaborative technologies to support the teams’ teaching and research activities?
· Completed by 18 of the 27

IV. Results
* Which tools team members used frequently to collaborate via distance?
- E-mail (100%)/ Telephone (66%)/ Word processing editing tools (61%)/ Web site (56%)
- 11%: electronic mailing lists/ instant messaging/ FTP
- 0%: digital discussion boards, streaming audio, video
* Which tools were best facilitators or hindrances to their collaborative endeavors via distance?
- Email/ Telephone/ Videoconferencing
→ “uses of collaborative technologies in research collaborations via distance are influenced by a variety of needs and conditions”
* What they perceived to be individual strengths that they brought to the research team?
- teaching > innovation (lowest skill: technology)
* What collaborative research experience they have?
- Prior experience to participate in a collaborative research activity: 91% (but only 56% were involved in research for collaboration via distance)
* What issues do they think concerning time as an aspect of using collaborative technologies to support the teams’ teaching and research activities?
- Timeliness of their research was enhanced by distance collaboration (66.7%)
* What metaphor do they use to describe their collaborative research experience via distance?
- “frustrating”, “challenging”, “interesting and rewarding”, evolving”, “an infant growing rapidly”, and so on.


A. Strengths within the collaborative relationships
· Areas of strengths: teaching > innovation (lowest skill: technology)
· Prior experience to participate in a collaborative research activity: 91% (but only 56% were involved in research for collaboration via distance)
· ‘strength of the team is a collective quality’
B. Tool use and constraints
· E-mail (100%)/ Telephone (66%)/ Word processing editing tools (61%)/ Web site (56%)
→ Lack of skill with these tools could hinder the collaboration process
· 11%: electronic mailing lists/ instant messaging/ FTP
· 0%: digital discussion boards, streaming audio, video
· Videoconferencing: one of the best facilitator of collaboration via a distance but undermined due to infrastructure limitations
→ “uses of collaborative technologies in research collaborations via distance are influenced by a variety of needs and conditions”
C. Portraitures of collaborative work via distance
· Timeliness of their research was enhanced by distance collaboration (66.7%)
· Metaphor to describe their collaborative research experience via distance: “frustrating”, “challenging”, “interesting and rewarding”, evolving”, “an infant growing rapidly”, and so on.



** important points
- email/telephone are still best facilitators for collaborative endeavors via distance.
- there are still limitations of equipment and lack of quality technological infrastructure.
- usage of collaborative technologies in research collaborations via distance are influenced by a variety of needs and conditions.
- collaborators must have a shared understanding of the communication technologies.

Online Learning Strategies for Thinking and Learning Styles

I. Auditory or verbal idea
- Task or activity: "word connecting" - student write what he/she learned or what was curious in ‘one sentence’. And then others should start to write a sentence using the last word of the previous person’s sentence.
- Goal: engagement/ cognition
- Target: K-12 ~ higher education

II. Visual learning idea
- Task or activity: “situated simulation or game” – each group has a problem to solve together. They have to solve it with given materials or clues through the web.
- Goal: motivation/problem solving/ collaboration
- Target: k-12

III. reflective or observational idea
- Task or activity: “peer-developed assessment” – 2 students develop an assessment to evaluate themselves.
- Goal: self-efficacy/ motivation/ collaboration
- Target: higher education

IV. hands-on or kinesthetic idea

- Task or activity: “building a concept map” – group develops a concept map together or a chapter or a reading.
- Goal: collaboration/ metacognition
- Target: hierarchical contents/ k-12 ~ higher education

Learning Community

In class we discussed about Learning Community. We think

Learning Community

Must haves:

• Common or shared goals/purpose
• Member contribution/sharing
• Identity
• Trust/feelings of safety and comfort
• A space in which to form the community
• Guidance
• Challenging, interesting, stimulating dialog
• Sense of belonging
• Ownership in the process
• Investment in the process (i.e., time, energy, and commitment)
• Interactive communication (must travel both ways)

Maybes:

• Shared history
• Group work with common outcomes
• Autonomy and choice
• Conflict
  

Blogs for the class and other blog information

Here are Blog URLs for this class:

• Chris Bezzy: http://chrisr685.blogspot.com/
• Curt Bonk: http://travelinedman.blogspot.com/
• Molly Chamberlin: http://iloveclass.blogspot.com/
• Jingli Cheng: http://cjllearn.blogspot.com/
• Chris Essex: http://teachwtech.blogspot.com/
• Frank Guthrie: http://nakedmanrun.blogspot.com
• Ja-Ok Hwang: http://r685jaok.blogspot.com
• Chung-Yi Lin: http://yi-online.blogspot.com
• William Ramos: http://yi-online.blogspot.com
• Angela Schnick: http://r685.blogspot.com/

* Example of Podcasting:Learning 2005: http://www.learning2005.com/university/

*Some blogging tools:
1. http://www.blogger.com/start
2. http://www.xanga.com/
3. http://www.pitas.com/signup/
4. http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/ (includes LiveJournal and Movable Type—only one you must pay for)
5. http://www.diaryland.com/signup/
6. http://www.free-conversant.com/
7. http://www.bloglines.com/
8. http://www.myblogsite.com/index.shtml
9. http://spaces.msn.com/
10. http://hometown.aol.com/

* Blog research related:
BlogTalk 2.0 (Blogging Conference): http://www.blogtalk.net/
Blogosphere: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/
Susan Herring - The (We)blog Research on Genre Project http://www.blogninja.com/
David Wiley: http://opencontent.org/blog/

Week5: Online Student Role and stategies

Simply, I just want list the key roles or strategies for online students after exploring some of the student readiness checklist resources that Dr. Bonk posted.
- be self-motivated and self-disciplined
- have good communication skills (written communication skills, be polite ...)
- select the right online course that matches personal education needs and learning style
- become familiar with format of the course
- identify all equipment & tools for the course
- be an active participant
- elicit the help of support system
- be open minded about sharing
- create a peer-learning group

Below link includes that some of the student readiness checklist resources to explore.
https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/jahwang/week5_student_readiness.doc

Week 4 Small Group Notes: Online Teacher

This is the summarized notes of group discussion for Week 4.
(Week 4 Small Group Notes)

A. Our group felt that the two most pressing issues for an instructor online were

• The time it takes to effectively prepare the materials and other resources, facilitate discussions and collaborations, integration of technology into course
• The level of technical expertise that is required of the instructor and also the support and resources needed to learn existing technology available and ability to keep us with the current trends
• Degree of teacher participation in the online course
• When to intervene. Time to intervene.
• How to motivate students to keep them engaged
• Changing role of the teacher—tension between traditional instructional expectations and learner-centered ones
• Incentives needed to teach online
• How to confront pedagogical issues online
• readiness
  - willingness/ role change/balance between student-centeredness & course goals
• Online academic authenticity: how to deal with inauthentic work by students?
  
  
  B. The roles of the instructor that all of us felt were important we
• Teacher as learner
• Teacher as facilitator
• The instructor providing the infrastructure required for students to have an optimal learning environment.
• Roles are changing
• Teacher as parent
• Teacher as assister or guide to learning
• Teacher as facilitator to individualize learning
• Teacher facilitates student collaboration
• How to establish conditions for an online learning community
• The instructor providing the infrastructure required for students to have an optimal learning environment.
• community builder

C. Incentives we all felt would be important to consider were

• Release time, recognition and tenure
• The opportunity to use technology that might not other been available, instance laptops or PDAs
• Intrinsic motivators—the desire to improve the learning environment for students
• Internal things like satisfaction
• External things like rewards
• Real world activities and connections
• Newness—just to have a chance to do this
• Recognize and reward regularly
• More teaching stuff at one’s fingertips—
• New skills, new competencies, new learning
• Possible research publications
• learning new technology
• innovation & adaptability
• meeting different learner needs
• future employability
• flexible work
• promotion
  
  D. Support that instructors would find valuable
• Communities of learning
• Instructional Designers as resources to help instructors design online courses.
• Self-help if not getting support from organization
• Training
• Private consulting
• Mentoring and tutoring
• Course assessment development support
• Administrative support
• technical
• pedagogical
  
  E. Expectations
• Adequate funding, support and resources for technology should be available to help design and facilitate online classes.
• Students expect you to be available 24 hours a day.
• Technology would decrease the amount of time required to facilitate class
• Online 24 hours X 7 days X 52 weeks
• Technology will work
  Unrealistic expectatio
• Can develop a healthy learning community online
• Flexibility will be there
• Expect to try some new things
• get information quickly
• better quality of instruction
• students need to be prepared

Week 4: Teacher Issues, Roles, Incentives, Supports, and Expectations

Dr. Bonk asked: "As you complete your readings for the week, compile some notecards of teacher issues (I), roles (R), incentives (I), supports (S), and expectations (E) (acronym is I-RISE) in online environments."

Here are my opinions about this:
* Teahcher Issues (I):
- teacher roles/learner roles
- percentage of teacher's participation
- time for preparation
- effort
- funding
- mindset change

*Roles (R)
(I think the roles might be vary based on the particular circumstances of a specific event and prior knowledge, skills, or attitudes of learners.)
- establish the conditions for communication
- provide & organize information & resources
- organize the communication mechanisms
- facilitate student's learning: enhance students' motivation/engagement/ collaborative interaction (as a moderator)
- update the course materials effectively/ quickly
- provide dynamic teaching & learning activities
- support technologies (provide assitance of system)
- be a participant as a peer
- demonstrate & emphasize how to critically evaluate the quality of recourses/ information

*Incentives (I)
- internal incentives: satisfaction of learner-centered learning/ more active communication/ more students' engagement
- external incentives: faculty rewarding system

* Supports (S)
- technology (institutional support)
- training for both technology and mindset change (about technology and learner-centered)
- more time to integrate technology
- policy development
- funding

* Expectations (E)
- builds learning communities among faculty
- creats lifelong learners
- provides greatere flexibitiy for busy faculty
- transforms all teaching for more active learning
- collaborates among teachers/instutions

Week 3:Blended learning

As the readings indicated, I can’t say what a good definition of blended learning is: mixing of instructional delivery media? Mixing instructional methods? Just mixing of F2F and online?
Last spring, I took an IST course that provided students opportunities to write their own research proposals and short research papers for preparing their dissertations. We met biweekly or once three weeks in F2F to check our progress and get some valuable information such as research methods or inquiry strategies. In other times, students posted their own paper and the revised version continuously on the SSF and the instructor and students interacted through discussion forum of the SSF as asking questions or providing feedbacks. I think, unlike traditional instruction, this course was learner-centered and increased accesses and flexibility of peer feedbacks. Differences with today are the course didn’t provide multiple options (such as providing different tasks or roles) based on different learning styles or personal learning pace. This means today’s blended learning has more flexibility than before, I think.

I can’t say what certain percent of a course should be blended. I think it depends on the content of course, characteristics of learners (such as age, fluency level of computer skills, learning paces, or learning methods preferences), environment, and so on. I think there still are issues: What is the blended learning? Is the blended learning appropriate to all of the learning settings? How to design effective blended learning settings?

(I would like to see the figures of the readings on Handbook of Blended Learning soon. ^^ )

Week 2: Framework

Actually, I don't have much knowledge of online learning or distance education… but I have thought they have lots of anecdotal evidences but not enough theoretical bases. (Am I right?)
I particularly liked the critical inquiry framework. This framework describes the community of inquiry with the three elements - social, cognitive, and teaching presence. The focusing on higher-order learning, in particular, critical thinking is more attractive.
Last semester, I took some of SLIS courses and learned Information system success. When I learned DeLone & McLean (1992)’s a taxonomy that has six major dimensions or categories of Information system success – system quality, information quality, use, user satisfaction, individual impact, and organizational impact. I thought it was a wonderful taxonomy to evaluate online learning system because I regard online learning system could be one of information systems. Actually, I tried to assess an online course based on this taxonomy. However, I realized the taxonomy was not enough to assess any online learning or distance learning system because it doesn’t cover pedagogical issues. In this context, I think the critical inquiry framework that regards not only technical issues but also pedagogical issues and organizational issues is useful for distance education.