Virtual Learning & Training: From Classrooms to Communities CIL2010 Session

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.***

Staying up to date

Well, I said that I was going to do better at keeping everyone up to date, but I haven't. Everyone should check out my blog at: http://hollithelibrarygirl.blogspot.com/. This blog is updated at least once a week and it allows you to see what I am currently doing in regards to new technologies in the library field. It may be a good idea to keep posted because I am hoping that you will see some of these technologies used here in the near future.

Next week is Spring Break and I am ready for the break. I will be on vacation next week and the library will have shortened hours. They will be posted on the door of the library today, but I will go ahead and post them here first.

Monday the 23rd - Closed
Tuesday the 24th through Thursday the 26th - 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Friday the 27th 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

I hope that you all can make it through this week and have a great Spring Break!

Follow me as I take a class

It is not often that I get to take a class and I am enjoying it. You can follow along with my blog for the class at: http://hollithelibrarygirl.blogspot.com/. I am learning about Library 2.0 or social networking technologies that I can use in the library to communicate with students and also to help teach students.

Today I created an account on Del.icio.us. I am working on saving bookmarks that will be helpful to both students and colleagues. You can see the bookmarks that I have currently by going to: http://delicious.com/hollithelibrarygirl. You can always suggest bookmarks for me to add. Also I would appreciate any other comments you might have.