SWOT Analysis: Websites

Strengths	Weaknesses
- Encourages creativity  - Encourages students to take control of their learning environment  -  Can be a collaborative tool for group work  -  Cannot be edited by visitors  -  Can link to other websites	- No collaboration  - Time consuming to set up
Opportunities	Threats
- Creates a great resource for the class  - Good links can be easily accessible  - Can continue to grow  - A way for students to keep in the loop	- Misinformation  - May lead to other inappropriate websites

SWOT Analysis: WikiSpaces

Strengths	Weaknesses
- Tool for collaboration - Easy to contribute – ease of editing  - Encourages combined sense of achievement - Open ended - Time saving through direct manipulation - Open-endedness - Free to set up	- Chance for repetition  - May be banned in some schools - Difficult to set up and a challenge to edit - Open-endedness may lead to lengthy blabs - Can become messy reducing participation
Opportunities	Threats
- Provides a sense of ownership - Involves everyone - Increases opportunity to share knowledge and combine ideas - Learn about dealing with the internet	- Backup. What happens to your wiki if the host goes down? - Possibility for irresponsible, disinterested students to delete all work (minus or vandalism of site) - Security issues

SWOT Analysis : Blogs and Blogging

Strengths	Weaknesses
- visitors can give comments/feedback or opinions under each article creating a sense of community/teamwork -provides the opportunity to learn about responsibilities of publishing and assessing reliability and ethics of other online sources - can also be a positive way to receive feedback - focuses on content as posting an article is almost effortless - informs everyone - develops stronger relationships - a way of sharing knowledge - collaboration	- potential security risks - open to public running the risk of damage or corruption to the blog and its data - the need to deal with spam - not all visitors will be nice and helpful. Potential for visitors who are not genuine to visit and spam the blog, just like junk email. - mistakes are live and immediate - offline backups might be required - easy to set up but difficult to maintain therefore may loose focus or interest quickly - better posts requires drafts for posts increasing time required
Opportunities	Threats
- increases the opportunity to share knowledge - collaboration - easy to scaffold - improve writing ability	- spamming - unreliable host - lack of time to blog worthwhile, well thought out post

Conclusion: Assignment 1

Prensky (2001) asks, ‘Should the digital native students learn the old ways, or should their digital immigrant educators learn the new?’ Digital natives represent those born and bred in the world of technology, while those like myself, not born into the digital world and fascinated by the aspects of new technology represent digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001). The answer is obvious, there’s no going back. It is through technology that 21^st century learners are engaged, so if that is how they best learn, then that is how we must teach. And so, the last three weeks brought the discovery of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for learning design.

Digital pedagogy incorporates contemporary teaching and learning strategies, aiming to engage the digital generation (Education Queensland, 2008). However, although all students are of the same generation, each learner has a unique combination of prior experience, prior knowledge, perceptions and attitudes, learning style, intelligence and personality (CQUniversity 2011). When considering prior experience and knowledge it is important to remember not all students are digitally active.  Thrupp (2009) identifies research that indicates a divide exists that actually increases diversity in a classroom. Additionally, further diversities within the classroom emerge when considering Felder and Solomon’s (1991) learning styles as well Gardner’s (1975) multiple intelligences. The diversity between learners indicates that no two learn in the same way. Therefore, the design of learning experiences needs to consider the increasing range of diversity within the classroom. ICT is well positioned to cater to all learners, tech-savvy or not, when the infinite combinations available of individual and collaborative work, visual, auditory, and interactive resources, colour and multiple formatting opportunities is considered (CQUniversity 2011). All work towards enhancing the experience of all learners.

So, for those digital immigrant educators, reality hits, with ICT’s being discovered to be the best way to engage the diverse range of learners in this 21^st century. The question that then arose was how could this be done? Merely introducing technology to the educational process is not enough; the primary focus is how the technology is used (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Introduced is the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) framework, which adds Technology (ICT) to the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) framework of Shulman (1986). The PCK framework acknowledges that subject area experts know their content, and teachers of this content have specific pedagogies that they use to support its learning, but knowing how to use technology in pedagogically sound ways for the learning of specific content is the basis of the TPACK framework (CQUniversity 2011).

Online course activities were structured within a wiki, enabling an introduction to eLearning spaces, online sites that enable the creation of formal and informal spaces to design, create, innovate, share and learn (Education Queensland, 2008). The online learning space wiki, is a fully editable website where any user can read, edit or add content. Therefore, wikis have two states, read and edit. The read state enables the user to gain knowledge and information posted by other users, while the edit state permits the user to contribute their own ideas to the forum for others to read. This functionality means that wikis are an excellent tool for collaboration and communication in an online environment (Augar, Raitman & Zhou, 2004). They can initiate conversation and discussion to exchange ideas, seek assistance, negotiate problems and discuss solutions (Parker & Chao, 2007). It is here where the increasing relevance of the constructivist learning theory in designing eLearning became evident. In the Constructivist school of thought, learners take an active role in the learning process, acquiring information for themselves and processing that information in a subjective way, leading to deeper understanding of the material (CQUniversity, 2011). Merrill, 1991 raises multiple assumptions of constructivism, one of which indicates that conceptual growth comes from the sharing of multiple perspectives through collaborative learning. Therefore, online collaboration tools such as wikis, blogs and discussion forums, also web-conferencing (Vyew) and other communication tools, are valuable in constructivist learning (CQUniversity 2011). The collaborative features of a wiki make the eLearning tool particularly well suited for cooperative learning (Schaffert, Bischof, et al., 2006 as cited in Parker & Chao, 2007), which can lead to positive interdependence of group members, individual accountability and appropriate use of collaborative skills (Schaffert, Bischof, et al., 2006, as cited in Parker & Chao, 2007).  It has been found that cooperative teams achieve higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who do their work individually (blog ref). Furthermore, tasks demanding high levels of processing are frequently learned with strategies advanced by the constructivist perspective (Ertmer & Newby, 1993). Constructivism informs most of our online design for learning.

Online learning spaces also enhance collaborative construction of knowledge through the use of networking strategies. The first of the activities, the profile wiki unearthed the importance of the networked student. Although the online space, where fellow students share aspects of themselves and their experiences so other students could match likenesses, encouraged collaborative learning, it also prompted the beginning of network development. As each student has knowledge and skills in a range of different areas, one could begin to develop a network by seeking assistance from those with more expertise and experience in areas of weakness. People love to share knowledge and expertise, and as a result may provide vital assistance to the learning of others. Learning, knowledge and understanding through the extension of a personal network is the heart of connectivism (Siemens 2004). We derive our competence from forming connections. Online spaces such as wikis and blogs can open students to a range of networks. Siemens (2004) stated that it is no longer possible to know everything, it is more important to identify how and where to find knowledge. The 21^st century student network includes a wide range of connections each one a new learning opportunity.

Course activities slightly revealed the learning theory of Behaviourism in action. Behaviourism indicates that students learn through external stimuli, for example practice and positive or negative reinforcement (CQUniversity 2011). As each activity incorporated the use of a wiki, the opportunity to practice and master its use was provided. On first attempt at use of a wiki, it was necessary to follow the step-by-step instructions, which were repeated at each contribution to the multiple wikis. So, learning through behaviourism was reflected through practice and in receiving feedback each time any part of the process succeeded, or failed (what worked, what went wrong, what can be changed for next time?). Therefore, the behaviourism approach to eLearning can become particularly relevant when learning to use new technologies, by the process or repetition and practice. Additionally use of a wiki allowed the user to receive feedback by allowing other users to edit topics directly (Parker & Chao, 2007).

Meanwhile, the implementation of cognitive theories in eLearning often involves the use of schema, or mental maps to help organise the learning content (CQUniversity, 2011). Therefore, cognitivism in action was also seen throughout the activities, particularly through analytical thinking routines such as PMI and De Bonos (1985) six hats. Also, the information in the wiki can be used as a schema to help organise the content.

It can be seen that adopting digital pedagogies to facilitate learning can be beneficial, but appropriate learning approaches must be taken (CQUniversity 2011). Through course activities, the importance of scaffolding eLearning spaces appropriately for planned learning outcomes was clear. Scaffolding directs learning, it lead can the student to think in pre-determined ways and ensures that different perspectives are being considered. Lipscomb et al. (2004) as cited in Hardjito (2010), defined scaffolding as ‘a bridge used to build upon what students already know to arrive at something they do not’. When students’ gradually develop their mastery, teachers start the process of gradual removal of the temporary support (Hardjito, 2010). Using this approach, students are encouraged to discover the knowledge and to gain the skills by themselves (Hardjito, 2010). Through guided activities, students express characteristics of self-efficiency and self-confidence after acquiring some knowledge by themselves providing a sense of ownership. Over the three weeks, course activities were scaffolded online using analytical thinking routines including PMI and De Bonos (1985) six thinking hats which lead to analytical and evaluative thinking in pre-determined ways, ensuring that different perspectives were being considered. Additionally, scaffolding provides students with a sense of direction and a clearer understanding of what is required. It may increase motivation, reduce task complexity, provide structure and reduce a lot of frustration.

The participation in the course activities over the three weeks was provided an invaluable learning experience, where some things worked, and others didn’t. Therefore, learning may be problematic, it can often be messy and ill defined (CQUniversity 2011), this can be part of the lesson, problem-solving and overcoming barriers in order to reach a final result and successfully do the job. It can be concluded that, it is important to select appropriate content knowledge and processes for the purpose of student learning, know what pedagogies will best support great learning, and consider the ICT and digital tools that will best combine with the pedagogy and content to transform learning.

References

Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou, W. (2004). Teaching and learning online with wikis. Proceedings of the 21st Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) Conference, Perth: December 5-8, 95-104. Retrieved March 2011 from

http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/pdf/augar.pdf 

CQUniversity. (2011). Week 1 readings: active learning, learning diversity and the theory. Retrieved March 2011 from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491 ICTs for Learning Design. http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=17135

De Bono, E. (1985). Six Thinking Hats: An Essential Approach to Business Management. Retrieved March 2011 from CQUniversity Course Resources Online EDED20491 http://www.kurwongbss.eq.edu.au/thinking/Hats/hats.htmesources

Education Queensland - eLearning for Smart Classrooms. (2008) Smart Bytes, 1-12. Retrieved March 2011 from CQUniversity Course Resources Online EDED20491 http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/pdf/scbyte-elearning.pdf

Ertmer, P. & Newby, T. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6 (4), 50-70.

Felder, R, & Soloman, B. (1991). Learning Styles and Strategies. Retrieved March 2011 from CQUniversity Course Resources Online EDED20491 http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind. Retrieved March 2011 from
http://www.howardgardner.com/Papers/papers.html

Hardjito, D. (2010). The use of scaffolding approach to enhance students’ engagement in learning structural analysis.

Merrill, M. (1991). Constructivism and instructional design. Educational Technology, 45-53.

Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108 (6), 1017-1054. Retrieved March 2011 from CQUniversity Course Resources Online EDED20491

http://site.aace.org/pubs/sigs/sig-Mishra-Koehler-TCR.pdf

Parker, K. & Chao, J. (2007). Wiki as a teaching tool. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, 3, 57-72.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, MCB University Press, 9(5).

Shulman, L. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14.

Siemens, G (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved March 2011 from CQUniversity Course Resources Online EDED20491 http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Thrupp, R. (2010). ICT created diversity in the classroom: the contemporary learner. Retrieved March 2011 from CQUniversity Course Resources Online EDED20491.

Reflection: The purpose of a wiki – Support Learning?

Once the idea and purpose of a wiki is understood and the process of its use is mastered, the utilisation of a wiki to support learning is an excellent tool to promote collaborative content creation and editing in an online environment. The collaborative features (constructivism) of wikis make them particularly well suited for cooperative learning environments. It has been suggested that cooperative teams achieve higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who do their work individually.

Reflection: Scaffolding the blog reflections

At the beginning of this whole process, the majority of students were so lost and confused about what needed to be done in the blog reflections and in the conclusion. Some of these feelings subsided when all students were provided with a scaffold to support reflections in the blog. This may be because the scaffold provided students with a sense of direction and a clearer understanding of what was required. For me, scaffolding of the blog reflections in this way motivated me, reduced task complexity, provided structure and reduced a lot of frustration.

Reflection: Blog Reflections as a journal

After each activity recording my own thoughts and feelings as reflections on the learning experience and learning theories, in a journal format, I found to be useful in sparking deeper thought and further developing my understanding of concepts such as the scaffolding online, collaborative and networked learning, ad relating them to the learning theories. As a result, I have been able to reflect on my own learning and the potential for my students. Reflections in a public blog, however, I am not so keen on. I preferred to keep my reflections private up until it was required to synthesise my ideas into a conclusion. The reason being, I believe a public blog encourages other students to read and use ideas that have been developed by others. Encouraging collaborative learning through a blog can still be achieved by posting the blog addresses after the due date of the assignment. This way, other students can still read and use other ideas to add to their own learning, just not get credit for the additional ideas that were not originally their own.

Reflection: Mobile Phones Wiki

After experiencing a few very frustrating technical difficulties with the previous wiki’s, I was extremely hesitant to even attempt this one. Still, I persevered. In the end and to my surprise, I actually enjoyed participating in it. By this stage, I actually found myself to be confident and competent in using and contributing to a wiki, which may display aspects of Behaviourism - in learning how to use a wiki I continued to follow the step-by-step instructions, which were repeated each time I contributed to multiple wikis while receiving feedback each time when things went right, or wrong.

The mobile phones wiki was scaffolded by De Bonos hats, a powerful tool used to take views from a number of important perspectives, forcing you to move outside your habitual thinking style, and helping to get a more rounded view of the situation. Considering the topic, mobile phones in the classroom, my immediate reaction was ‘are you crazy?’ without a second consideration of any other viewpoints. Afterwards however, with multiple approaches considered, I developed a more informed approach towards the idea. Therefore, the six thinking hats concept as a scaffold design, I believe, was an immense benefit to learning. Additionally, each participant was able to extend their understanding and opinion from the contributed ideas of others through the form of public wiki. The only issue with this kind of design would be the chance of repetition among contributors, however the notion of a wiki combats this, in that all text can be edited and all individual ideas can be merged into one big idea making this forum reflective of constructivism. It provided the ability to generate new theories individually and then share those ideas with the group. The focus of one perspective at a time to finish with an overall collaborative perspective reflects constructivism while encouraging levels of higher order thinking by justifying a decision through critiquing (ie. evaluating) to generating new ideas or ways of viewing things (creating), both of which are at the top end of Blooms Taxonomy. Evidence of the learning theory cognitivism can also be seen in this wiki design through the shaping of thinking via de bonos thinking hats.

This kind of approach is definitely one that has supported my own learning in positive ways. It encouraged me to look at all sides of an issue before making a judgement. It supports a diverse range of learners as its creative for those visual, kinesthetic and musical kind of smart while still highly critical and analytical for the logical and linguistic. Also, the wiki provides aspects of group work for those of more interpersonal MI.

Reflection: Learning Theories Wiki

After an initial struggle in understanding what was required for this task and eventually discovering the topics that appeared hidden, I finally found the wiki, understood its structure and therefore could begin to actually contribute. By this time however, most others had already contributed and all topics were taken. So I chose to simply add onto what had already been discussed. The experience had for this wiki was quite stressful as it was often not viewable due to its settings, which could only be changed by the instructor. Ultimately, this activity didn’t necessarily run as smoothly as it could have. From that, however, a valuable lesson was learnt – learning may be problematic, it can often be messy and ill-defined, this can be part of the lesson, problem-solving and overcoming barriers in order to reach a final result and successfully do the job.

Being a wiki, it again provided the opportunity for collaborative learning (constructivism). The scaffolding of the wiki was through the use of the learning strategy PMI (plus, minus, interesting), a method used for stimulating lateral and creative thinking. Its purpose is to make the student see both sides of the argument, to think broadly and suspend judgement in order to make informed decisions. This strategy is an excellent one that can be used in the classroom to support learning as it stimulates higher order thinking. Each outlook is dealt with one at a time creating like a mind map for students (cognitivism). In this particular wiki, pairs were asked to select one of many topics resulting in students being more informed in their chosen topics and less informed in the others. Although the PMI’s of other the topics were accessible to all students, if the need for further explanation was required the opportunity to approach others that studied that area was possible (connectivism).
The design of this activity supports a diverse range of students as it can be used working individually, in pairs or as a group and can be used in all areas of learning, for any topic.

Reflection: Profile Wiki

With no previous exposure or experience, the concept of a ‘wiki’ was very intimidating. I found myself to be apprehensive in approaching the task required, possibly due to my limited understanding of its use and purpose.  After one or two drawbacks in uploading my own profile to the wiki and discovering the ability to see others, I was able appreciate how it all worked and what it was all about. As each student uploaded their own personal profile, I could learn details about them such as age, hobbies, skills, and learning style, all of which I could match to my own. This allowed me the opportunity to approach students with likenesses to myself in order to work collaboratively, drawing upon the learning theory constructivism. As I continued to discover that each student has knowledge and skills in a range of different areas, I could begin to develop a network (connectivism), whereby I could call upon those with more expertise and experience in areas that I am not quite developed in, and as a result provide vital assistance to learning. In developing personal profiles, the use of an online wiki was helpful as all students could view all profiles at anytime. With the information readily accessible, it can be used to support collaborative learning and networking, not just now but into the future as well.

Additionally, the profile wiki became an invaluable experience to me as a learner, as it was my very first encounter with the ‘wiki world’. Being such a basic activity (filling in details about yourself), it was a good first step to becoming more able and confident with continuing to practise and utilise this e-learning tool of a wiki. I think introducing this kind of basic activity as a first wiki, to my own students would be beneficial for the same reasons. However, I would prefer this not be the first and only introductory/get to know you activity of my class. I would prefer they initially learn details about each other through face-to-face communication, contribution to discussion and public speaking. I believe 21^st century learners spend enough time getting to know each other through technologies external to the classroom, such as facebook and MSN instant messaging. Therefore, I would prefer to encourage students to introduce and explore differences face to face within the classroom or school environment. This would contribute to forming stronger positive relationships and bonds through social interaction.

The structure of this activity was provided in a scaffold, where specific questions were asked in order to provide, in each answer, enough information necessary for its purpose. If this scaffold had not been provided, it is possible that some may have written excessive amounts of unnecessary information about themselves and others may have had very limited responses. Additionally, the questions asked were fairly broad and not overly personal, therefore, I believe there was much less anxiety and distress in sharing such basic information about oneself.

Multiple Intelligences

After taking the test, it indicated that I more nature, intrapersonal and body smart. With word smart and music smart being my weaker point. However, I believe that this test can vary from day to day depending on how you feel. I have done the test multiple times, and results do change just not too dramatically. Generally nature and body smart are right up there, while word and number smarts are low (this might predict my results in Literacy and Numeracy for this semester, hope not!).  There are many ways of informing learning design through the knowledge and understanding of where you may sit in the MI test. An example of each smart is matched with a possible strategy below.

Kinesthetic – regular movement breaks, and hands on experiances
Linguistic – discussions, debates
Logical – problem solving, numbers, calculations, logic
Interpersonal – group work/group study (cooperative learning)
Intrapersonal – give choices, evoke personal feelings
Musical – learn things to a beat or through song
Visual/Spatial – use visual organisers and visual aids and colour to display information
Naturalistic – study outside

Learning Styles

1. What is your learning style? What sorts of learning experiences would suit you best with your learning style?
   

Learning Styles Questionnaire – Results

Active vs Reflective           =           Active (scale 1)

Considered to be an active learner indicates that I retain information best through discussion or explanation, although I am almost on the borderline between the two, which suggests that I do like to think it through first too.

Sensing vs Intuitive                   =          Sensing (scale 7)

A strong sensing learner indicates that I am more comfortable to learn facts as opposed to theories, could explain my choice of education (a Bach. of Exercise Science, as opposed to an Arts degree, for example). I’m good at memorizing things and prefer doing hands on work

Visual vs Verbal      =     Visual (scale 7)

Considered to be a visual learner, it is assumed that I digest information best through visual representation such as pictures/photos, diagrams, charts etc. I have found my attention is definitely drawn straight to the visual parts and I much prefer to look than listen (may be due to a short attention span).

Sequential vs Global    =     Sequential (scale 5)

Results indicate that I am more a sequential learner, which could explain why I love taking smaller steps towards the larger goal. I’m also big on details so this way I find it easier to not miss crucial aspects of the process.

It can be assumed that there are particular learning experiences that would best suit my own individual learning styles, which were discovered from the results of the learning styles questionnaire. Taking these into consideration, I would be best suited to factual learning where there is opportunity to discuss and reflect. For me, presented information is processed best when it is visual and delivered in a sequential and logical manner.

2. In a traditional classroom of 25 students, how would you support the range of learning styles each lesson?

Providing variety of modes in which to present a lesson as well as providing choice in which to present work/assignments would help support the range of learning styles.

3. With your current knowledge of ICT, how could your design and digital pedagogy support your learners better?

As students in school have been exposed to a range of technologies since birth it only makes sense to use modern practises.

4. What sorts of profiling questions would you be asking about your learners to ensure you cater for everyone's preferences?

-       Are all students engaged?

-       What aspects of the lesson are increasing/decreasing each students interest?

-       How are the students approaching the material?

-       Is there a variety of ways the message is conveyed, in order to suit each learning style?

-       What parts of the lesson were most effective for each student?

5. How does ICT support differences in learning styles?

ICT incorporates a range of experiences that suit each learning style. It can assist in offering the same information in a variety of ways

Questions?

-       Why is a seat furthest away from the front avoided and how can this be changed?