Online learning communities can mean many different things to different people. For students new to online learning, it might mean adapting to a different form of communication than they might be used to as say a daily Facebook participant.
How do we encourage more informed communication, without hindering students desire to be free form in the away they currently function within their own online communities?
I have two topics developing. The first,is mentioned above. The focus on working with the Facebook format for online learning.
A second topic, came up in my work. I am a librarian (and parent) at a school for students with learning disabilities. Many of the parents who have come into the library over the past nine years, have commented that they learned more about their children, how to work with them, resources for them, and what to expect in the future from the informal chats while processing library materials.
It was suggested recently that we formalize these chats a bit, extending them to a wider audience. Due to my time limitations, I am only willing to participate in this in either a hybrid or completely online environment.
This presents problems within itself in that many of the parents are at the immigrant stage of online participation.
I agree with you that online learning communities have various meanings and can be interpreted differently according to the audience and personal values. For some people, it might refer to traditional educational milieus. For other people it might encompass informal forms of communication such as twitter. I enjoy visiting your blog.
Facebook has been mentioned as a learning tool yet I wonder if we got them on facebook, would students just go to their social pages! E-journaling or blogging is interesting to me for several reasons but probally not as exciting.
I had a note in my chat presentation in 6783 today that ejournals should be kept private and blogs to and that wikis are for more public use. I thought blogs were for more public use, like this one where others enter in comments. I guess there are probably not hard and fast rules at this point in the online world.
I lhave been reviewing other's blogs, with a focus on my team mates. I am intriqued by John Vaca's interest in rentention.
What role can soical capital play in impacting the retention rate of adult online learners?
Although I am most interested in college freshmen, first time line learners, I think that whatever research can be found could apply to either population.
One Merlot article I found (Tyler-Smith, 2006) stated that, "...first time elearners often experience cognitive overload, (as described in Cognitive Load Theory), in the early stages of an online course and it is suggested that this is a likely contributor to high drop out rates, particularly in terms of those withdrawing within the first few weeks of the course start."
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol2no2/tyler-smith.htm
What interventions to build social capital could happen at an early point to help curb this trend?
Fab Four Team process, this has gone quite smooth. Candy and I were a team, she somehow hooked up with Nancy and John and asked me if I was ok with working with them as out larger team, I was.
We all logged on the the Fab Four communications site and all quickly agreed that the discussion board is where we would work together to identify our group project topic.
We each went back to our individual blogs and began posting, we each read and comment on the other teams blogs at least once.
We also went to the individual topic site to read and comment on our team members topics. At this point I noticed that both John and I were suggesting topics that related to first time online learners. John's topic also mention retention, mine did not but my capstone course is on retention so I suggested the ideas of retention and first time online learners to the Fab Four team as a potential topic. Nancy responded that her idea of Swift trust would fit nicely with that and them Candy added that her topic on discussion boards would also work with that as a general topic.
As it turned out we modified the Fab Four topics a few time to get the right wording and settled on the idea that we wanted to remain somewhat general at this point. We each had list out sub topics under the title, so we could clearly see what each of our focus' would be, which helped.
Our group is very responsive to each other. We all seem to log in to the team site about every 24 to 36 hours, which helps keep things going.
I am very please with our Fab Four group and was especially please that Nancy decided to stay with our group, swift trust will be a good contribution.
While we work on our individual projects, I would like to see us begin to work on our group norms for team work, so that when the time come we will not spend time ironing out those details.
I have made no secret that I do not believe in using Facebook as a collaborative tool in online learning. I find the whole premise and structure of this social networking website to be rather distracting. As online instructors, we should institute collaboration and build interactive learning communities without losing sight of our ultimate goal: to construct knowledge. If socialization is part of the process for knowledge attainment it should not be so engrossing that the goal becomes secondary. Facebook is not the medium to encourage focus. - Nicole Christie Malik
Thank you for your comment.I understand your position. However, I do think it is important that we also bring educational learning into a communication format that students are familiar and comfortable with. I do think that knowledge can be developed through the shared experience of Facebook and Twitter. It is sure to be a different learning experience that, say a threaded discussion or virtual chat, but that does not necessarily mean that it is any less valuable.
An additional thought about the Fab Four team as it relates to culture and community and our first assignment. Without articulating each group norm we were able to, clarify a format for working in, reviewed several times the requirements of the assignment, utilized good netiquette, and communicated on a regular basis. These are all noted in Khalsha (2007) article from the weeks readings.
It is fortunate that our working group came to the team with these basic team skills, it could prove to be a real asset as we collaborate on more complicated and in depth material.
Hi Cindy! I was a little confused at your blog at the beginning because I did not see more entries. Then I was amaze at the "comments" type of format. Are you going to maintain your personal comments in this "Discussion Board"?
Midterm writing. I am glad to have the opportunity to write something that might be publishable. It was one of my goals with this program. I did write a blog for a former class on Universal Design that I would like to find a place to submit. I am not sure if we need approvals as students or if the field is open to us too. I would think that after the MS is in hand we are ready to join the ranks of other writers for journals.
The topic for the paper was a bit consumming in the beginning because about ten topics popped into my head. Trying to focus on just one has been a stretch this week. Finally making the decision on developing online learning communities for college freshmen is good, because the topic can feed into the group writing. I just need to remember that I need to keep the focus narrow.
Online learning communities can mean many different things to different people. For students new to online learning, it might mean adapting to a different form of communication than they might be used to as say a daily Facebook participant.
ReplyDeleteHow do we encourage more informed communication, without hindering students desire to be free form in the away they currently function within their own online communities?
I have two topics developing.
ReplyDeleteThe first,is mentioned above. The focus on working with the Facebook format for online learning.
A second topic, came up in my work. I am a librarian (and parent) at a school for students with learning disabilities. Many of the parents who have come into the library over the past nine years, have commented that they learned more about their children, how to work with them, resources for them, and what to expect in the future from the informal chats while processing library materials.
It was suggested recently that we formalize these chats a bit, extending them to a wider audience. Due to my time limitations, I am only willing to participate in this in either a hybrid or completely online environment.
This presents problems within itself in that many of the parents are at the immigrant stage of online participation.
Cindi,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that online learning communities have various meanings and can be interpreted differently according to the audience and personal values. For some people, it might refer to traditional educational milieus. For other people it might encompass informal forms of communication such as twitter. I enjoy visiting your blog.
John V.
Facebook has been mentioned as a learning tool yet I wonder if we got them on facebook, would students just go to their social pages!
ReplyDeleteE-journaling or blogging is interesting to me for several reasons but probally not as exciting.
I had a note in my chat presentation in 6783 today that ejournals should be kept private and blogs to and that wikis are for more public use. I thought blogs were for more public use, like this one where others enter in comments.
ReplyDeleteI guess there are probably not hard and fast rules at this point in the online world.
I lhave been reviewing other's blogs, with a focus on my team mates. I am intriqued by John Vaca's interest in rentention.
ReplyDeleteWhat role can soical capital play in impacting the retention rate of adult online learners?
Although I am most interested in college freshmen, first time line learners, I think that whatever research can be found could apply to either population.
One Merlot article I found (Tyler-Smith, 2006) stated that, "...first time elearners often experience cognitive overload, (as described in Cognitive Load Theory), in the early stages of an online course and it is suggested that this is a likely contributor to high drop out rates, particularly in terms of those withdrawing within the first few weeks of the course start."
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol2no2/tyler-smith.htm
What interventions to build social capital could happen at an early point to help curb this trend?
I came up with a topic for my individual paper.
ReplyDeleteMotivational strategies to build social capital as a means to increase retention rates in first time online learners.
I might change this to first time college freshmen online learners.
A bit wordy, but I can work the details of the title out as I begin to research and write.
My individual topic also fits in with the group project, retention and first time online learners.
ReplyDeleteFab Four Team process, this has gone quite smooth. Candy and I were a team, she somehow hooked up with Nancy and John and asked me if I was ok with working with them as out larger team, I was.
ReplyDeleteWe all logged on the the Fab Four communications site and all quickly agreed that the discussion board is where we would work together to identify our group project topic.
We each went back to our individual blogs and began posting, we each read and comment on the other teams blogs at least once.
We also went to the individual topic site to read and comment on our team members topics. At this point I noticed that both John and I were suggesting topics that related to first time online learners. John's topic also mention retention, mine did not but my capstone course is on retention so I suggested the ideas of retention and first time online learners to the Fab Four team as a potential topic. Nancy responded that her idea of Swift trust would fit nicely with that and them Candy added that her topic on discussion boards would also work with that as a general topic.
As it turned out we modified the Fab Four topics a few time to get the right wording and settled on the idea that we wanted to remain somewhat general at this point. We each had list out sub topics under the title, so we could clearly see what each of our focus' would be, which helped.
Our group is very responsive to each other. We all seem to log in to the team site about every 24 to 36 hours, which helps keep things going.
I am very please with our Fab Four group and was especially please that Nancy decided to stay with our group, swift trust will be a good contribution.
While we work on our individual projects, I would like to see us begin to work on our group norms for team work, so that when the time come we will not spend time ironing out those details.
I have made no secret that I do not believe in using Facebook as a collaborative tool in online learning. I find the whole premise and structure of this social networking website to be rather distracting. As online instructors, we should institute collaboration and build interactive learning communities without losing sight of our ultimate goal: to construct knowledge. If socialization is part of the process for knowledge attainment it should not be so engrossing that the goal becomes secondary. Facebook is not the medium to encourage focus. - Nicole Christie Malik
ReplyDeleteNicole,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment.I understand your position. However, I do think it is important that we also bring educational learning into a communication format that students are familiar and comfortable with. I do think that knowledge can be developed through the shared experience of Facebook and Twitter. It is sure to be a different learning experience that, say a threaded discussion or virtual chat, but that does not necessarily mean that it is any less valuable.
An additional thought about the Fab Four team as it relates to culture and community and our first assignment. Without articulating each group norm we were able to, clarify a format for working in, reviewed several times the requirements of the assignment, utilized good netiquette, and communicated on a regular basis. These are all noted in Khalsha (2007) article from the weeks readings.
ReplyDeleteIt is fortunate that our working group came to the team with these basic team skills, it could prove to be a real asset as we collaborate on more complicated and in depth material.
Hi Cindy! I was a little confused at your blog at the beginning because I did not see more entries. Then I was amaze at the "comments" type of format. Are you going to maintain your personal comments in this "Discussion Board"?
ReplyDeleteMidterm writing. I am glad to have the opportunity to write something that might be publishable. It was one of my goals with this program. I did write a blog for a former class on Universal Design that I would like to find a place to submit. I am not sure if we need approvals as students or if the field is open to us too. I would think that after the MS is in hand we are ready to join the ranks of other writers for journals.
ReplyDeleteThe topic for the paper was a bit consumming in the beginning because about ten topics popped into my head. Trying to focus on just one has been a stretch this week. Finally making the decision on developing online learning communities for college freshmen is good, because the topic can feed into the group writing. I just need to remember that I need to keep the focus narrow.