On using various web technologies to follow ALT-C 2009

This week I've been enjoying following the ALT-C 2009 conference in Manchester from the comfort of my home in Adelaide using a range of web technologies. I watched some of the keynotes using Elluminate such as the ones by Michael Wesch and Martin Bean, with the one by Terry Anderson still on my 'to do' list. These sessions and others were recorded and made available for free viewing within minutes of them concluding.

Another interesting experience was to follow the various feeds on Twitter using the TweetDeck client - probably the official '#altc2009' hashtag was the most useful means of doing this. The Twitter postings gave me an interesting perspective on what participants at the conference and those observing it remotely were thinking about the various presentations. It was a very interesting and challenging experience to simultaneously follow the Keynote by Michael Wesch live on Elluminate as well as monitor the 'backchannel' commentary on Twitter! Challenging because the amount of comment via Twitter was quite high volume, so I was constantly flicking between the two applications, but somehow I managed to keep up. I think this kind of backchannel comment adds a very interesting dimension to the traditional model of a presenter conveying their ideas to an audience because the flow of information is no longer simply from the presenter to the audience but involves more of a sense of a collective discussion amongst those who also are following the presentation via this channel.

Following ALT-C 2009 on Twitter has also led me to increase the number of people that I am following using this service from what might loosely be called 'the elearning community'. The Twitter posts also included a lot of useful links to more detailed blog postings by some of the conference participants. A particular highlight I think a lot of people will enjoy watching is the 'VLE is dead' session recorded on video by James Clay and now uploaded on his blog. It was also interesting to see how the Cloudworks website was used to aggregrate relevant material on various topics discussed at ALT-C such as the VLE is dead debate. The use of these technologies has enabled me to access a range of ideas and opinions that would otherwise have not been possible. In this sense my experience lends support to the arguments in the recent posting by Martin Weller relating to the 'Technology isn't important' argument. Without utilising these various technologies, I would not have been able to interact and learn in the way that I was able to over the past few days. Actually attending the conference would no doubt have led to a different set of learning experiences, but the ability to get a sense of some of the ideas that were in circulation at this conference as well as expand my social network was very valuable as well as inspiring.

Making judgement calls as part of effective online facilitation

A fascinating issue has been raised in a short online course that I am currently facilitating. The course is to do with the effective facilitation of online discussions. The issue concerns how should facilitators respond when participants in an online course interpret a learning activity in a different way from what was originally intended? My response would be that it partly depends on the stakes involved. If it is a "high stakes" assessment-related activity, then I would agree that there is a reason for steering participants back to the expected track; particularly if the track they are heading down will impact negatively on their marks. However, if it is a low stakes activity, then I think there is scope for facilitators to exercise some flexibility and judgement, particularly if the discussion activity that is happening is consistent with the intended learning outcomes. A further issue is if students are interpreting the activity differently from the instructions, then perhaps this indicates the need for a possible redesign of the activity or the instructions given to students for future offerings. No simple answers here, but certainly these are issues worth pondering if course designers and facilitators want to avoid being Lost in translation (see previous posting).

eSlick review on YouTube

Thanks to my brother Dave for emailing me this link to this great video review of the eSlick on YouTube. I actually have one of these devices, and they are very handy for reading PDFs. I still think there is scope for improving and refining this technology, but I like the idea of ebooks and the 'reflow' functionality is fantastic. The eSlick is great for travelling and it has reduced the amount of paper I need to lug around with me. It has also reduced the amount of printing that I am doing - so maybe my carbon footprint is smaller.

Article review - 'Lost in translation: Importance of effective communication in online education'

You might have seen the movie, well now it's time to read an interesting article about online education with the same title!

In a recent article published in the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Kristen Betts has written an excellent article about the importance of effective online communication. Betts highlights the importance of effective communication in online education in order to maximise student engagement. In addition, she also cites statistical evidence indicating that around 12% of students who dropped out of a particular university program did so because of poor communication with their instructor. This leads Betts to refer to the term 'Lost in translation', which she defines as follows:

'the misinterpretation or communication breakdown of the message or stimuli between the sender/receiver (Communicator 1) and the receiver/sender (Communicator 2). Within an educational setting, the role of sender/receiver and receiver/sender can change regularly and frequently between students, faculty, administrators, administrative staff, technical support staff, and academic advisors. Therefore, as communication increases, simultaneously there is a greater opportunity for the message to be lost in translation due to technical or semantic interference'. (Betts, 2009).

In the remainder of the article, Betts proceeds to provide a review of the research on different types of communication (both face-to-face) and (online). She also offers some suggestions for achieving more effective online communication.

In this article, Betts has come up with a very clever means of highlighting a real problem in online education - how to ensure effective online communication. As she notes in the article, the growth rate of online education is booming, so this issue is one that needs the attention of educators. The suggestions that she offers are a step in the right direction.

Reference
Betts, K (2009) ‘Lost in translation: importance of effective communication in online education’, Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume XII, Number II, Summer 2009, [online] http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer122/betts122.html (accessed 31 August 2009)

Twitter Feeds gadget

Have just added a gadget for my  Twitter feeds to this blog. I'm still making my mind up about Twitter, but I have found it to be a very interesting tool to use. At the moment the balance is probably leaning towards using it for fun and recreation. For example, I got a lot of enjoyment following 'bumblecricket' and 'aggerscricket' on Twitter during the Ashes Test cricket series, but I can see how it can simultaneously be a very useful social networking and communication tool. In this sense it is one of those Web 2.0 tools that blurs the boundaries between work and play.

Another aspect of my use of Twitter is that I found it much more useful to use once I set up Tweetdeck on my deskop computer so that I could track a range of different search feeds simultaneously. On my Windows mobile, I have tried a number of different clients, but have so far settled on pocketwit as the best option.

ClustrMaps

It is interesting to see the ClustrMaps gadget working on this blog. It gives one a sense of how the potential exists to connect with other learners throughout the world.

My evolving PLE

In recent times, there has been a lot of discussion about Personal Learning Environments as opposed to the Virtual Learning Environments provided by educational institutions. Following the initial example set by Martin Weller, and others such as Lesley Boyd and John Haren, I have created a model of my current personal learning environment using the Compendium software. In preparing this model, I have tried to present it as a combination of both the hardware devices and software that I use as part of my learning and work practice. It doesn't include all of the elements of my PLE, but it is a start. I have also tried to include start dates where relevant to give a sense of how new devices and software have been coming into my personal learning environment. Looking at the last couple of years, one noticeable trend that is apparent to me is the shift towards devices that enable mobile learning and software that enables communication using web 2.0 technologies. It will be interesting to revisit this map in a year or two from now and see if the elements of my PLE have developed further.

Philip.

Welcome

Hi,

Welcome to my blog.

Philip.