Virtual Learning & Training: From Classrooms to Communities
Alison miller, Distance Education Research, The Internet Public Library (IPL)
Meredith Farkas, Head, Instructional Initiatives, Norwich University
Online learning needs to include more than just written lecture notes, written assignments, etc. f2f classes include more discussion, questions that can come up during lectures, etc. How do we translate that to an online environment?
Web 2.0 ideas for the classroom
-Age of participation
-The wisdom of crowds (can learn from the students as well as the instructor)
-Social constructivism (the instructor should be more of a facilitator)
Used Drupal an open source resource that can be used as websites, LMS, etc.
Students can blog and they can find it all in one place. The core of the classroom is the conversation between students and teacher
Why Blogs?
-Familiar medium: new types of blogging: in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
-Faculty communication with students
-Builds student sense of ownership over the medium
-Community-building
-Reflective learning
-Discussion and debate
-Writing in public
-Everyone is teacher and learner
Blogs can...
-Promote critical and reflective thinking
-Enable collaboration and knowledge-sharing
-Create an informal environment for student discussion and community-building
-Encourage dialogue and debate
-Encourage students to teach as well as learn and co-construct their learning experience
Lessons Learned on blogging
-Looking good on paper isn't enough
-Take advantage of key moments
-The most exciting technology isn't always the best for users
-Own your disasters
-Define success
-Ill-considered ideas hastily implemented can be a great success
***This session was really good and had some great ideas for me to take back and incorporate in the course that I teach. I already knew that I need to add more interaction within the course, but this session really solidified this.***
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