ED 2203 – NETWORKED LEARNING EXAMINATION

Question 1: a)      http://classblog4drama.wordpress.com 

b)      Five issues we struggled with to make this project work include:

a.       Motivation was required to ensure the work on-line was not overlooked. In order to ensure that all students would collaborate on-line through the process we added the requirement of a group blog as well as individual blogs, which became part of their log-booking requirements.

b.      To make sure everyone has access to the internet, allocated time is given after school hours in the library where students could use the computers to blog and remain on task.

c.       Those who don’t have the skills to use Web 2.0 were taken into consideration. Therefore only basic use of Web Blogs is required to complete this assessment. This way, those who are more experienced can create whatever their imagination will allow and those with less experience are still able to participate in the process.

d.      The information used for this assignment needed to be 100% accurate and reliable. Therefore, a direct link to the New South Wales Board of Studies was used to ensure a detailed and precise Assessment Outline. This way there would be no errors in communication.

e.       It was hard to make the addition of Web 2.0 technologies relevant and valuable to the students learning. By using blogs, students are able to communicate and work collaboratively even when they are not even at school, let alone in class. This allows more class time for active involvement in physical play-building. 

Question 2:

 a) The key issues involved for the teacher in the way in which they convey new information are constantly being addressed by the ever-emerging Web 2.0 software. Web blogs and wiki pages have quickly taken the place of the old Web 1.0 emailing systems. They provide innovative, interesting and creative ways for teachers to communicate with their students in the technological language they understand.

Resources such as Wetpaint Wiki’s provide teachers with the                                       opportunity to transform the classroom from a dictation-structured environment to an on-line collaborative centre for learning. Here, classes have the opportunity safely and productively engage in the collaborative process in a new tech-savvy way. Wetpaint Wiki even has a Wetpaint Education Ambassador who provides all the help needed for setting up new class pages. These pages allow teachers to communicate with their students and guide them in the direction for self-education and class collaboration within the given learning area.

 Another incredible resource which allows teachers to communicate meaning and messages through the Web 2.0 medium isTeacher Tube is an on-line catalogue of usable, relevant and innovative clips to be used within the classroom to enhance understanding and involvement. Clip such as this one are an invaluable addition to any lesson!    

[flashvideo width=”425″ height=”350″ filename=”http://www.teachertube.com/flvideo/11161.flv” /] 

b) The encouragement of collaboration among students is one of the easiest tasks a teacher faces when dealing with Web 2.0. As seen in a previous post on this blog:

“Web 2.0 is a highly effective classroom resource is because recent studies have shown that 96% of teenagers now use at least one form of on-line social networking (eSchool News Online, 2007). This report has shown that on-line networking within the classroom is a vastly untapped resource and will compare to nothing in engaging students in collaboration within their learning experience. Due to the nature of this on-line phenomenon amongst school age students, teachers are already a step ahead in the process as students are already familiar with the technology…”

They are also already active participants within this on-line communication system and can therefore be easily guided through the world of myspace, facebook or flickr (as chosen per class if needed) for the purpose of classroom collaboration.

c) However, as discussed in the previous post:

“…mutual trust must be engaged in between the teachers and their students to ensure that students remain always on task within the allocated e-learning timeframe. Students will potentially become extremely side-tracked with their own Web 2.0 agendas and must be monitored and allocated specific tasks in order to ensure appropriate use of the internet during classroom hours.”Classroom management is imperative when dealing with this vast on-line resource as there are safety and privacy issues at stake. By developing a lesson structure that is complete with several tasks, involving a different Web 2.0 medium each time, combined with effective and consistent monitoring will ensure the environment needed. 

d)

(Figure 1: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/bloom0405-1)

The collaboration of teacher, student, Web 2.0 and Blooms higher ordered thinking ensures a pedagogical approach to teaching that will inspire and encourage students to delve further into the learning process. By the very nature of Web 2.0, teachers have an even greater opportunity to engage their students in the taxonomical ways of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

In order to ensure that learning occurs at the higher levels of thinking, teacher must scaffold their lessons in a way which encourages students to actively map out their process through the use of Web 2.0 technologies.

Resources such as del.icio.us  provide students with the opportunity to gather and store sites which contain the information required for learning.

WordPress and Wetpaint are tools which allow students to comprehend, analyse, synthesis and evaluate information found on the Web. As a part of this process, posts made on these sites are open for commenting, instruction and guidance from other like-minded readers. This allows for a never-ending process of development and insight to occur on the subject matter.

Finally, tools such as Animoto and SlideShare allow students to apply their gained knowledge in creative slideshows which can be posted on-line. SlideShare is the new Power Point in presentaion tools: