Collaboration in an online environment

1. Collaboration in an online environment Kevin Thompson Ultralab, Anglia Ruskin University

2. Society needs: • Collaboration • Technology • Initiative • Ability to find things out

3. Extract from Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) from ‘Gilda Live!’ (1980) Warner Studios. Click me for video clip

4. Productivity v Creativity

5. Four “Cs” of social tools: • Communication: instant messaging, e-mail, Web conferencing, streaming video and voice tools, and other messaging solutions • Coordination: calendaring, task and project management, contact management, and related technologies • Collaboration: file and application sharing, discussion, wikis, blogs and other shared-space technologies • Community: social networking, swarmth (digital reputation, also called karma or whuffie), group decision and other explicit community supports • STOWE BOYD June 2004 • http://www.unmediated.org/archives/2004/06/stowe_on_social.php

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

7. http://www.youtube.com/http://video.google.co.uk

8. Collaborative bookmarks http://www.recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/archive.php http://www.sandaigprimary.co.uk/radio_sandaig/index.php http://www.stephenp.net/~stephenp/blog/ http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki http://www.furl.net/ or http://del.icio.us/keltickev http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/view.php?ArticleID=378 http://www.pandora.comhttp://www.blogmusik.net/ http://123.writeboard.com/http://www.last.fm (use scrobbling)

9.                                  User Generated contentMySpace is an on-line network which enables people to edit their own homepage with their own pictures, music, stories and links to their friends homepages.It is not the only such network. 50 million people use Hi5 and 22 million are on Bebo. 29 million find friends on Friendster. 12 million look for dates on Match.com. Over a third of all internet users have posted something they have created on the web. 700 million videos are viewed on YouTube every week. The size of the blogosphere is doubling every 230 days. One million photos are up-loaded onto Flickr, the on-line photo album, every day. http://www.conservatives.com

10. this new generation has unlimited and unfiltered access to information of all sorts - from the most mainstream to most obscure. Their cultural landscape is "a seamless continuum from high to low, with commercial and amateur content competing equally" for attention. There is no distinction between the mainstream hit movie and the user-generated video, no difference between the award-winning newspaper columnist and the favourite blog site. George Osborne: Politics and Media in the Internet Age 21/11/06

11. http://www.buzztracker.org

12. Collaborative Art http://artpad.art.com/gallery/ http://artpad.art.com/?iv54t2ijyg8 http://artpad.art.com/?iv54xq6q148

13. “The key to successful elearning is the use of technology for communication, dialogue and collaboration. Collaboration, it has been said, may be the single most important concept for online networked learning.” (Paul Leng, “A Learning Experience”, 23.03.06http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/analysis/2152612/learning-experience) In an online course, no one can hear you scream. http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/studevgt/onlinsts/disad.htm

14. Learning with Technology • We are active, not passive learners! • Learning is increasingly collaborative action research ie observing, testing, reflecting and redesigning • The best use of computers is to design and solve problems • Information Communication Technology (ICT) not Information Dissemination technology (IDT) • Asynchronous communication gives us time to reflect, and to contribute in our own time • We thrive when authoring and annotating • See also “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”-Marc Prenskyhttp://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

15. Learning with Technology • “ Teaching in cyberspace involves more than taking traditional models and transferring them to a different medium • Institutions are rushing to get in on the distance learning craze, many for the wrong reasons. • The online environment is conducive to an interactive, collaborative, facilitated approach. • ….is seeking an active approach to learning and more involvement in the learning process itself. Not content with being taught to….(s)he seeks to engage in a more collaborative learning partnership” • See “Lessons from Cyberspace Classroom” - Palloff and Pratthttp://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/01_20.pdf

16. Research challenge • Traditionally, research is carried out by research professionals… • …struggling with scientific objectivity, validity, reliability… • …results are published, later… • …and may beapplied bypractitioners andpolicymakers BUT often too late, particularly with e-learning where technology develops so fast

17. Research could be: • Through community, online • By action enquiry • In the workplace • Shared with other practitioners • Discussed with ‘authorities’ • Communicated directly tostakeholders AND you could acquire a degree qualification

19. Three year degree, part time but full time • 100% online, no face-to-face • Validated at Anglia Ruskin University • Curriculum-free • Full of activity, negotiated learning

20. http://www.frappr.com/ultraversity • Action Researchers as Learning Facilitators • Technical research & development • Administration, support • Majority distributed around UK working from home • Ultralab base in Chelmsford, Essex near London

21. Shared and exhibited • Results shared within community • Experienced experts ‘hot seat’ • Exhibition to stakeholders in third year • First 6 graduates Nov 2005 (APL) • 140 in July 2006 • Does it work?….. 62 with First Class honours (44%) 57 with Upper Second Class classifications. (41%) So 85% with Firsts or 2.1s

22. http://www.aypwip.org/webnote/uvuclt

23. Quotes from students (1) “At first I was very sceptical about the use of community for learning. I did not trust the concept of learning from other ‘ordinary’ people. I wanted my Learning Facilitator to validate all information for me. Soon I realised that these [students] were ‘extraordinary’ people, with a wealth of knowledge and especially experience among them. They were people who were conquering their struggle to juggle home, family, work and study and far from doubting their contribution to my learning I began to be in awe of their expertise.”

24. Quotes from students (4) “I still think this is the best opportunity of higher education I'm ever likely to have and the fact that it ties in with work makes it more interesting and certainly has changed my practice for the better. I find I question situations more and if things aren't working, I feel confident enough to suggest alternatives.”

27. WiFi http://www.free-hotspot.com/index.htm http://jiwire.com/ …today some 3 billion to 5 billion IMs are sent every day, a large proportion of them from teenagers, One major attraction: Unlike blogs or Web sites, they're usually free. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5404762 Most of UK's 3,000 hotspots are in pubs, and analysts estimate there will be over 70,000 across Europe by 2008.

28. eViva

29. Eviva • Pupils use their own mobiles as and when they feel ready to take an assessment • Pupils are motivated and empowered by sharing their work in an online space. Exhibiting their work in an online portfolio appears to give pupils a sense of audience and to lift their expectations. • EVIVA encourages a dialogue about the learning process between teacher and pupil as well as between pupil and pupil • Teachers value having an online portfolio which is easily accessible and supports continuous assessment. • . EVIVA provides pupils with a forum or showcase for their work which helps their confidence. • During an ICT lesson there are lots of technical demands on the teacher which make 1:1 dialogue with pupils difficult. The eVIVA annotation facility offers an additional opportunity for teacher-pupil dialogue

30. mLearning m-Portal Is a learning community portal system designed to cater for potential users who have literacy and numeracy skills needs but who are outside of formal learning and who will exhibit different learning styles and preferences.

31. mLearning • It allows people to create their own microportal and visit the microportals of peers, tutors and mentors within the online community. They can access a range of other resources such as links to useful websites and also m-learning modules, linked to a learning management system and a virtual tutor agent. The range of tools at their disposal includes authoring templates and tools for creating chats, discussions and messages, thereby enabling them to engage in debate on their own terms, and affording opportunities for scaffolding each other's learning. http://www.m-learning.org/vid_part1.shtml

32. Heads Together • Pilot 2002: now Over 2000 Headteacher members • Private community (trust important) • Training given • Used for consultation by HMI etc • Hotseats • LTScotland in-house software now wanted elsewhere 2005 visits • I think Heads Together is one of THE best ways to keep a head teacher in touch with education and the "big picture" • I didn't really expect something so computer-based to have such a human touch. How reassuring and heartening it has been to talk to other heads with similar challenges. • What an impact (Heads Together) has had on some of our professional lives - difficult to see how we would manage without • It's the communication and the sharing of good ideas (as well as a superb set of colleagues!) that makes 'Heads Together' simply indispensable

33. Key issues • Knowledge can come from practitioners • Learners can research & communicate • Community online can work, but must be facilitated • Widening participation is not watering down or devaluing what is learnt.

34. Contact / links • Ultraversity - www.ultraversity.net • Ultralab - www.ultralab.net • Me - Kevin@ultralab.net