1. How can 3-D technologies be used to create online social environment and support social interactions among community members? What are the theoretical rationales underlying the pedagogies of using 3-D environment for the benefits of learning and to achieve educational goals? (Ch. 5 - required for all)
• The development and design of the 3-D technologies create a space that allows a multitude of people (participants) to engage and interact in activities that are important to them. The technology can create a virtual space that allows individuals/groups a simulation of the real-world. Due to the design of the 3-D technologies, the learner’s knowledge is scaffold to that individual. The benefit of this is that learners can grow and develop at their own pace. Vygotsky called this the “zone of proximal development.” The experiences that people bring with them will only enhance the level of learning that takes place within this learning community. What I particularly like in collaborative learning is that as a learner, you get to decide which style of learning best fits you and who that comes from. Since there are many people sharing thought, ideas and reflections, you have the ability choose.
• Pedagogies:
o Social Constructivist – supports reflective thinking and problem solving.
o Sociocultural theory - Allows the examination of the external social world in which a learner has developed. Vygotsky thought is that, “deep learning in a predictable cycle: first, on a social level and second on an individual one.”
o Situated Learning - I see situated learning as more of an adult learning principle, which would then be classified as andragogy versus pedagogy. However, the 3-D technology provides the context of putting the learners in a space that provide a real-world context.
o Piagetian Constructivism – the environment establishes grounded knowledge acquisition that allows the learners to build higher-level representations from lower-level ones.
o Cognitive Apprenticeship - this is student-centered learning where a master of a skill teaches that skill to an apprentice.
2. How was the game “Reliving the Revolution” designed and PDA used to support collaborative problem solving activities? (Ch. 13)
• First, the individual that designed this game sought after technology that was already proven to work. With the AR game editor from MIT, Reliving History was a possibility. Essentially, they took the parts that worked and designed new content in a new context. The PDA was then used so that the students could “interact” within the created virtual experience. The PDA provides the students an opportunity to engage in collaborative learning by giving them the freedom to walk around and work with other students as they are interacting in the virtual world trying to seek out (inquire) (problem-solve) the answer to who fired the first shot. Additionally, one of the key elements in this instruction was the understanding of the cyclical process of the design. They used a level of formative evaluations to continue evolving the learning experience. Perhaps that is the key to every instructional design, not just the designs that include technology.
• One of the key words that were used in this chapter was the word “encouragement.” I think designing games such as Reliving the Revolution provides another avenue for learning but does not force the students to learn or do anything they are not comfortable with.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Reflection I Summary
The model of my virtual learning community is designed using Moodle software. This free, open-source software allows me to scaffold the knowledge (Renninger & Shumar, 2002) of supervisory level and above staff at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS). The learners will range from Nursing Supervisors to Directors of Facilities. The learners are located in multiple locations across the state of Oklahoma. The learning community will be discussing leadership topics that they can apply in the context of their own facilities. Since each of these supervisors have a mandatory requirement of fulfilling 12 hours of supervisory credit annually, their motivation for participating will be high. In addition to their forced motivation, the supervisors are excited for the launch of the online community so that they do not have to travel to the training center in Oklahoma City.
The virtual learning community will include web-based trainings on specific supervisory topics. Asynchronous discussion (Renninger & Shumar, 2002) forums will be added to each of the topics for the purpose of creating on-going, collaborative learning. The discussion forums will also allow learners to make connections with the material that they may not have made during the web-based training. Although the initial web-based training will be done synchronously (Renninger & Shumar, 2002), the learners have different work schedules that do not allow for the synchronous communication. Overall, the asynchronous communication assists the learners who need more flexibility in their communication and due to my target learner group; this was the most practical solution.
I have a great start to the construction of my virtual learning community. A lot of what I have learned over the course of these last few weeks has assisted in my ability to create a level of substance to the scaffolding I am designing within the ODMHSAS supervisory virtual learning community.
The virtual learning community will include web-based trainings on specific supervisory topics. Asynchronous discussion (Renninger & Shumar, 2002) forums will be added to each of the topics for the purpose of creating on-going, collaborative learning. The discussion forums will also allow learners to make connections with the material that they may not have made during the web-based training. Although the initial web-based training will be done synchronously (Renninger & Shumar, 2002), the learners have different work schedules that do not allow for the synchronous communication. Overall, the asynchronous communication assists the learners who need more flexibility in their communication and due to my target learner group; this was the most practical solution.
I have a great start to the construction of my virtual learning community. A lot of what I have learned over the course of these last few weeks has assisted in my ability to create a level of substance to the scaffolding I am designing within the ODMHSAS supervisory virtual learning community.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Case Study 1: Part A
While I was in Digg, I watched some of the videos and navigated to all of the categories and subcategories listed on the front page. When I first came to the website, my first thoughts were that it was going to be all entertainment videos and I use the word entertainment lightly as everyone has their own opinion of what they consider entertainment. However, Digg also has specific categories and subcategories that will direct the community members in their desired interest; such as the categories New, Videos, Images and Podcasts. These categories are then separated into subcategories: technology, world and business, science, gaming lifestyle, entertainment, sports and offbeat. This “front-end loading” (Renninger & Shumar, 2002, p.314) provides members with a quick snapshot of the learning within the site. As a guest in this community, I found it very straightforward and my interest could have been easily identified. In addition, I think that by categorizing the virtual learning community in the categories and subcategories, I feel that finding the subgroup of community members that want to further discuss the topic(s) that individuals are interested in is easily identifiable. From that design, individuals do not have to observe and search for people that want to discuss the same topics they want to discuss. Overall, I found that people who are looking for a good laugh and some form of community entertainment will utilize Digg. I found myself sharing a number of the video clips with friends as well.
The purpose of the social networking website is to provide a community where individuals can come together and share their outside experiences. Renninger & Shumar (2002) state that “a virtual community is defined as a group of people who interact with each other, learn from each other’s work, and provide knowledge and information resources to the group related to certain agreed-upon topics of shared interest” (p.96). In essence, they are bringing their external worlds, to an internal community called Digg. The primary goal of the community is to provide an interactive space that is polysychronous to the individuals seeking some form of entertainment and community. The secondary goal would then be to retain and attract new individuals to the community, which in turn would lead to the goal of financial support. In order to maintain some level of control over the community, the design structure would include professionals that maintain at the very least the content. The community needs to be given new information frequently, hence that is why they are attracted to the site in the first place. The need is a desire to constantly have new information in whatever form they desire, to be taken in and processed. As part of that information processing, the individuals seek other like individuals online to share and explore their experiences with the topic they choose to be most appealing.
The identity of the community members is related to their interest and the topics/categories of information they seek when participating in the virtual community. Although some of the individuals uploaded pictures of themselves, their true identity still seems to be associated with their interest. The individuals who are attracted to this community seem to have a desire to stretch their imagination and witness unfound video from every day people like you and I. Their imagination is stretched and fulfilled with each clip that they take in and with each conversation that have with other community members. The “interaction is a design feature” (Renninger & Shumar, 2002, p.62) that has proved to be successful for Digg. If it was boring, there would be no point in returning.
The major opportunity that I see in this social networking community is the development of relationships. In addition, due to the intentional design of the community, the members have a voice in deciding on the videos that get to come to the forefront. That alone is a motivational factor that provides members the opportunity to have a voice and be heard. I guess the best word to describe that is empowerment. In an overall sense, these community members have an opportunity to make someone fairly famous from their submitted videos, they have the opportunity to make decisions on content, they have the opportunity to share thoughts, ideas and reflection on the information provided and lastly, they have the opportunity to be noone else but themselves. I will always argue that there is a wall of security in communicating through something rather than communicating face-to-face. Renninger & Shumar (2002) discuss how important it is for the participants (members) to feel safe to ask questions and seek new information without judgment. For a lot of people, this community is the opportunity to be their authentic self since they have this security of believing and feeling that they will not be judged in the same way you would in a face-to-face setting. The possibilities of this community are endless. They can create and integrate whatever interests them. It is that level of autonomy that fuels the innovation and creativity of the members to participate and interact with the website. What other place in the world can you go to or join that allows that level of freedom? For the members, this virtual community is what I would call their utopia.
The structure of Digg is set up with categories and subcategories for easy navigation. Individuals can see what is most recent to information that was shared many weeks out. As a new user, it was easy for me to navigate to topics that I would find interesting. For instance, I clicked Podcast as a category and then business as the subcategory and one of the podcast that you can download is on management tools. I found that to be very appealing as I can download this and get weekly communication on management tools that I could apply in my own context. On a more entertaining note, as mentioned before, I did watch a number of the videos that were uploaded on the website.
Digg has designed the websites so that the community members interact with the content, whether that is text, video or polysychronous communication with other members. As part of the interaction, Digg has also designed the feature to allow the community to decide on what is posted on the front page of the website. The design provides the community with a level of control which as I said before empowers the community members to feel a part of the Digg community. When you reflect on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Ormrod, 2008), Digg has created an environment that provides safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs and a need for self-actualization. I am not sure if I would call these salient design features but they are an important part of the overarching design.
Overall, the Digg learning community was a helpful experience in shedding my own personal biases on virtual learning communities that are not sharing scholarly content. Digg is entertaining and provides information suitable for a wide array of individuals. One of the most important features I found is that it is just not for the teenage population who just likes to view videos; instead, you can utilize this site to learn about world news and find out what is going on in multiple areas of interest. It is my opinion that Digg will sustain the peaks and valleys of the social networking communities due to the level of control they give to their members. After all, it is still a customer service world and Digg developed this website with having a clear understanding the importance of balancing service to the customer, innovation, and a degree of motivation that will retain and attract the members back on a consistent basis.
Case Study I: Part B
The virtual community from the online repositories that I studied was Wisc-Online. As I navigated through each of the listed options listed, I felt that Wisc-Online would be practical for me to know seeing that I am not in K-12 education. The front page included a partner called WIDS (Worldwide Instructional Design System) that motivated me to continue navigating this virtual community. Since my interest is in Instructional Design, I figured this online site could prove to be a useful tool in the future. In trying to gain a solid understanding of what exactly Wisc-Online provided, I clicked on every available link and radio button that was available. I did this by creating a user account so that I was able to access more of the information than without a user ID. Individuals without an ID are kept at the home page without access to any substantial content. The first impression I had seemed to carry on throughout my experience in Wisc-Online, which was not favorable. This is more of a service to professionals versus a tool for designing instruction. The beneficiaries of this site are individuals working at Fox Valley Technical College. It is my opinion that students, faculty and administration of this college make up the virtual community.
Wisc-Online is a practice-based learning community. Riel & Polin (2004) describe a practice-based learning community as a community that “…arises around a profession, discipline, or field of endeavor” (p.26). At Wisc-Online, the foundation of the community is to build interactive web-based instruction for internal use at Fox Valley Technical College as well as for external distribution at a cost. In addition, this site will also allow interested members to purchase workshops and consultation services. The purpose of the community provides a service to individuals interested in web-based learning and instructional design as well as providing a data storage for the designs already created. The goal then becomes two-fold. I see the primary goal as the desire to generate funding and the secondary goal as the pure desire to share knowledge. The unique aspect of Wisc-Online is that the sharing of knowledge is really a first hand look at what the technical college is creating for their own learners. As a business, it is an ideal snapshot of how the customer can utilize and apply these instructional designs. I was initially excited to see that there was an option to create a template web site creator; however, it was a generic template that would not allow much creativity or practical utilization. More specifically, it only allowed me to input information on one page and the radio buttons were preset for you. Adding the name of a design and the description of the content was the extent of the template creator they list.
It is my opinion that this community internally, Fox Valley Technical College, utilize this stored information every day. This site fulfills a need to provide access to shared data storage with the ability to create and communicate asynchronously with users of the instructional designs and external members viewing the designs.
There seems to be an opportunity that has yet arrived for Wisc-Online. I see more opportunity in creating links for external members that is more user friendly and offer greater information about designing online instruction. I also see that this internal learning community, Fox Valley Technical College, will partner with other colleges and institutions regionally and nationally. Their idea of sharing internal information to the outside world for a price is exceptionally intelligent. The possibility for this community is endless, as an educational institution, they can create a separate empire that will not only help the school financially but also offer experiential learning to their students. This is truly a creation of a new kind business for educational institutions.
I find that the structure is more about showcasing the designs of the web-based instruction and providing small amounts of information on the added services they offer. There is little structure on asynchronous or synchronous communication for external members. Without having the ability to be a part of the internal community, it is hard to understand why a communication tool was not a salient design feature. The idea of co-creating knowledge within this community seems to be non-existent. There is no real tool for the dialog to happen. On a more positive note, I was able to review some of the web-based designs and construct ideas from their creations.
The internal community defines and refines their identity based on the topics they have an interest. For instance, the site offers a library of content that ranges in subject topics from Biomolecules, The Carbohydrates to Professional Development. Although not a part of the internal community, my outside perspective includes their identity being based on again subject interest, their roles in the college and their practice of utilizing this site to enrich their learning environments. It is the community’s end user (students) who benefit from the designs and creation of the web-based learning tools. The knowledge that is constructed and the application of the material that the student takes away from the learning environment ultimately shape the community. For instance, if multiple students take these web-based instructions and they did not walk away with a level of understanding, then this community as we know it would not continue to exist. So the mere fact that it is still in existence with a wide variety of subjects tells us that the community’s efforts are useful and practical. I would also venture to say that as time progressed, the designs will evolve with the target audience. What I mean by that is, I viewed a design on Optical Encoders and as I was viewing this instruction the thought that came to mind was “entertainment.” I watched a shaft rotate and found that to be entertaining but yet my level of understanding was not questioned. I think that as the learners begin to apply what they learned or did not learn from these web-based instructions that they will eventually incorporate a test for knowledge spots throughout the instruction.
The design features of Wisc-Online leads a member right to the library of web-based instructional designs. Perhaps the funding that is generated from external members purchasing these designs will allow for the site to stay active. If this is the case, the salient design of the community is ideal; it leads member’s right to their product. In addition, by providing snapshots of the instructional designs, it give potential buyers a level of comfort in knowing exactly what they are buying and who they are buying it from. The wide array of subjects illustrates the community’s development over the lifespan of this site. I believe that they will be able to sustain through the constant development of instructional designs and from the motivation of the faculty at Fox Valley Technical College. Since there is dual purpose for this virtual community, the external factor does not seem to play an important role in the sustainability of this community.
The level of scaffolding in Wisc-Online is a far stretch from constructing cognitive learning skills in the pedagogy that is apparent in the other listed virtual learning communities. Ormrod (2008) describes scaffolding as “…a highly effective way of helping learners acquire complex reasoning, metacognitive, and problem-solving skills” (p.335). However, I can make a connection in scaffolding in the skill of instructional design. If members purchase their consulting and workshop offerings and utilize those learned skills to construct meaningful web-based instruction, then I could confidently say that scaffolding has occurred. Aside from that example, scaffolding is not apparent in this virtual community.
Overall, I found Wisc-Online to be only helpful to the internal learning community of the college that supports the website. For the external members who navigate through this community, it would be helpful to have web-based training on instructional design as the external members of this community are trainers, instructional designers and educators looking to create web-based instruction. I would also add video components to this learning community, such as video footage of students and faculty who work with these web-based designs. In addition, I would create a chat room for open dialog for internal and external members to share thoughts, ideas and reflections. This community seems fairly basic without a lot of learning elements in the design for external members. I would suggest making the internal member and external member benefits fluid so that Wisc-Online would attract and retain a greater number of community members.
The virtual community from the online repositories that I studied was Wisc-Online. As I navigated through each of the listed options listed, I felt that Wisc-Online would be practical for me to know seeing that I am not in K-12 education. The front page included a partner called WIDS (Worldwide Instructional Design System) that motivated me to continue navigating this virtual community. Since my interest is in Instructional Design, I figured this online site could prove to be a useful tool in the future. In trying to gain a solid understanding of what exactly Wisc-Online provided, I clicked on every available link and radio button that was available. I did this by creating a user account so that I was able to access more of the information than without a user ID. Individuals without an ID are kept at the home page without access to any substantial content. The first impression I had seemed to carry on throughout my experience in Wisc-Online, which was not favorable. This is more of a service to professionals versus a tool for designing instruction. The beneficiaries of this site are individuals working at Fox Valley Technical College. It is my opinion that students, faculty and administration of this college make up the virtual community.
Wisc-Online is a practice-based learning community. Riel & Polin (2004) describe a practice-based learning community as a community that “…arises around a profession, discipline, or field of endeavor” (p.26). At Wisc-Online, the foundation of the community is to build interactive web-based instruction for internal use at Fox Valley Technical College as well as for external distribution at a cost. In addition, this site will also allow interested members to purchase workshops and consultation services. The purpose of the community provides a service to individuals interested in web-based learning and instructional design as well as providing a data storage for the designs already created. The goal then becomes two-fold. I see the primary goal as the desire to generate funding and the secondary goal as the pure desire to share knowledge. The unique aspect of Wisc-Online is that the sharing of knowledge is really a first hand look at what the technical college is creating for their own learners. As a business, it is an ideal snapshot of how the customer can utilize and apply these instructional designs. I was initially excited to see that there was an option to create a template web site creator; however, it was a generic template that would not allow much creativity or practical utilization. More specifically, it only allowed me to input information on one page and the radio buttons were preset for you. Adding the name of a design and the description of the content was the extent of the template creator they list.
It is my opinion that this community internally, Fox Valley Technical College, utilize this stored information every day. This site fulfills a need to provide access to shared data storage with the ability to create and communicate asynchronously with users of the instructional designs and external members viewing the designs.
There seems to be an opportunity that has yet arrived for Wisc-Online. I see more opportunity in creating links for external members that is more user friendly and offer greater information about designing online instruction. I also see that this internal learning community, Fox Valley Technical College, will partner with other colleges and institutions regionally and nationally. Their idea of sharing internal information to the outside world for a price is exceptionally intelligent. The possibility for this community is endless, as an educational institution, they can create a separate empire that will not only help the school financially but also offer experiential learning to their students. This is truly a creation of a new kind business for educational institutions.
I find that the structure is more about showcasing the designs of the web-based instruction and providing small amounts of information on the added services they offer. There is little structure on asynchronous or synchronous communication for external members. Without having the ability to be a part of the internal community, it is hard to understand why a communication tool was not a salient design feature. The idea of co-creating knowledge within this community seems to be non-existent. There is no real tool for the dialog to happen. On a more positive note, I was able to review some of the web-based designs and construct ideas from their creations.
The internal community defines and refines their identity based on the topics they have an interest. For instance, the site offers a library of content that ranges in subject topics from Biomolecules, The Carbohydrates to Professional Development. Although not a part of the internal community, my outside perspective includes their identity being based on again subject interest, their roles in the college and their practice of utilizing this site to enrich their learning environments. It is the community’s end user (students) who benefit from the designs and creation of the web-based learning tools. The knowledge that is constructed and the application of the material that the student takes away from the learning environment ultimately shape the community. For instance, if multiple students take these web-based instructions and they did not walk away with a level of understanding, then this community as we know it would not continue to exist. So the mere fact that it is still in existence with a wide variety of subjects tells us that the community’s efforts are useful and practical. I would also venture to say that as time progressed, the designs will evolve with the target audience. What I mean by that is, I viewed a design on Optical Encoders and as I was viewing this instruction the thought that came to mind was “entertainment.” I watched a shaft rotate and found that to be entertaining but yet my level of understanding was not questioned. I think that as the learners begin to apply what they learned or did not learn from these web-based instructions that they will eventually incorporate a test for knowledge spots throughout the instruction.
The design features of Wisc-Online leads a member right to the library of web-based instructional designs. Perhaps the funding that is generated from external members purchasing these designs will allow for the site to stay active. If this is the case, the salient design of the community is ideal; it leads member’s right to their product. In addition, by providing snapshots of the instructional designs, it give potential buyers a level of comfort in knowing exactly what they are buying and who they are buying it from. The wide array of subjects illustrates the community’s development over the lifespan of this site. I believe that they will be able to sustain through the constant development of instructional designs and from the motivation of the faculty at Fox Valley Technical College. Since there is dual purpose for this virtual community, the external factor does not seem to play an important role in the sustainability of this community.
The level of scaffolding in Wisc-Online is a far stretch from constructing cognitive learning skills in the pedagogy that is apparent in the other listed virtual learning communities. Ormrod (2008) describes scaffolding as “…a highly effective way of helping learners acquire complex reasoning, metacognitive, and problem-solving skills” (p.335). However, I can make a connection in scaffolding in the skill of instructional design. If members purchase their consulting and workshop offerings and utilize those learned skills to construct meaningful web-based instruction, then I could confidently say that scaffolding has occurred. Aside from that example, scaffolding is not apparent in this virtual community.
Overall, I found Wisc-Online to be only helpful to the internal learning community of the college that supports the website. For the external members who navigate through this community, it would be helpful to have web-based training on instructional design as the external members of this community are trainers, instructional designers and educators looking to create web-based instruction. I would also add video components to this learning community, such as video footage of students and faculty who work with these web-based designs. In addition, I would create a chat room for open dialog for internal and external members to share thoughts, ideas and reflections. This community seems fairly basic without a lot of learning elements in the design for external members. I would suggest making the internal member and external member benefits fluid so that Wisc-Online would attract and retain a greater number of community members.
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