Tuesday, 18 December 2007
Issues regarding use of blogs with students
Some questions to think about when planning to use blogs with students:
- What is the purpose of the blog – make sure it is clear – is it linked to assessment? If it isn’t assessed will they bother to use it – probably not?
- Do you use a class group blog or individual blogs? Perhaps you only need one blog in wwhich you as tutor post the questions and assignments etc., and the students merely respond via comments.
- Will they have a choice which blog to use and whether or not to make it or bits of it public?
- What if they already have a blog and prefer to use the same blog, perhaps with a specific tag to make it easier for you and anyone else to read? otherwise they may end up with many blogs, e.g., for each class plus private ones – which is difficult to manage.
- If you specify what blog tool they use, will you use an internal blog provided by the institution or an external one, with all the disadvantages of hosting off-site?
- Do you insist they have a “professional” identity – do they need guidance in the tone and theme of the blog? Can they use a pseudonym or other less formal identity?
- Will the tutor be reading the blog or will everyone in the class be expected to read one another’s? Will students be expected to comment on one another’s posts?
Labels: academic blogs, blog network, blogging, blogs, collaborative working, reflective learning, writing
posted by Helen Whitehead 12:02 PM
Friday, 16 November 2007
Do you use Salmon's 5-stage model or E-tivities framework?
Do you use e-learning or learning technologies such as discussion forums etc. in teaching?
Have you used or adapted Salmon's 5-stage model or e-tivities framework in your teaching? Or have you used it at any time in the past few years?Gilly Salmon's 5-stage model and e-tivities framework have been used successfully to support learning in a variety of contexts, courses, disciplines, types and levels of education from schools to Masters to continuing professional development.
References
I am doing some research to find out how they have been applied in learning and teaching across the world in the last ten years. We know that teachers have used them in a variety of different ways, adapting and developing the models to suit their own purposes. As part of the background to a new book, we would like to find out about the models in practice. The general results of this research will be made available to all practitioners.
If you have any good examples of using the 5-stage model or e-tivities,
please would you take my survey?
http://www2.le.ac.uk/.../smeltsurvey
E-moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online
Gilly Salmon, (2004) Routledge Falmer
ISBN: 0415335442
lifelong learning, m-learning, mobile learning, online courses, online learning, online tutoring, technology, universities, wiki-tivities, wikitivities
E-tivities: The Key to Active Online Learning
Gilly Salmon, (2002) Routledge Falmer,
ISBN: 0749431105Labels: collaborative working, e-facilitation, e-learning, e-learning tools, e-moderating, education, elearning, learning and teaching, learning design, learning technologies
posted by Helen Whitehead 12:48 PM
Friday, 14 September 2007
The wiki way
Here's an interesting article on "the wiki way" from the Guardian.
"Don Tapscott, the author of an eye-opening new book called Wikinomics, says that we have barely begun to imagine how the internet will change the way we live and work. He tells Oliver Burkeman how everything from gold mining to motorcycle manufacturing is being transformed - and why huge companies as we know them may simply cease to exist."
Hmm. I suppose if you're selling a book you have to make big claims. But having seen how many wiki projects fail, I am more cynical...Labels: collaborative working, learning futures, media, Web 2.0, wiki, wikis
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:27 AM
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Google pitching to Higher Education
According to this story on the BBC today, Google is expanding its empire into universities - with entire campus e-mail networks switching over to using Google's e-mail service. Apparently Trinity College Dublin has switched over entirely to Google's e-mail.
The new Google-based e-mail addresses (which can still be applied to a university domain name, but which can be accessed from any online computer) can be kept by students when they leave. I'm not sure this is a good idea. There are all sorts of reasons (e.g., authenticity and identity) why a university email address should be limited to those actually studying or working in them. Surely it would be better if university email accounts simply automatically redirected once a student leaves, with a notification that "this student has left".
Google says its higher education tools, hosted by them, allow students to work on files from any internet-connected computer, to engage in collaborative work - working together in real-time on the same document - and to use online timetables and calendars.
What's next - the Google VLE?
I would have serious doubts about privacy and security of data by entrusting all to Google - but it's certainly true that Universities can no longer ignore the rise of Web 2.0 applications.
As Michael Nowlan, director of information systems services at Trinity College Dublin, is quoted as saying, "The digital natives will find their own way, make their own discoveries."Labels: collaborative working, email, Google, HE, learning futures, universities
posted by Helen Whitehead 9:56 AM
