DE Oracle @ UMUC

Creating a Bundle of Shared RSS Items Using Google Reader

With Google Reader you can group specific articles into a tagged bundle than can be embedded into your WebTycho classroom.

This tutorial assumes you have a Google Reader account and you have subscribed to at least one RSS feed. If you have not done so, you will want to follow the How to Set up and Use Google Reader tutorial before completing this one.

1. Log into your Goggle Reader Account and select one of your subscription links.

2.Ensure you are publicly sharing the article then select the Add tags link.

3. Type in a title for the tag.

Do this step for each article you want to include in the tag bundle.

4. Once you have added tags to all the articles you want to bundle, select the Manage subscriptions link.

5. Ensure the tag bundle is publicly available. If its not, click on the grayed-out private RSS icon .

6. Select the add a clip to your site link.

7. Copy the embed code by highlighting the code then select Ctrl+C on the keyboard (Command+C on the MAC).

7. Navigate to your WebTycho classroom and create a new content item (Faculty Center--Create Text). (NOTE: You can put your tag bundle in Conferences as well).

9. Add a title of your content in the Link Text box, then select View--HTML View from the Text Formatting Editor menu bar.

10a. Paste (Ctrl+V or Command+V) in the embed code that you copied earlier.

10b. Click the Submit button.

11. Click the link of your newly created item to ensure the feed is working correctly.

12. If your RSS feed is working correctly you will see the embedded feed in your document.

If your RSS feed does not appear to be functioning it is recommend that you return to Google Reader and copy the embed code again. Then return to your course content item and paste in the code you just copied.

Adding an RSS Feed to Your WebTycho Classroom Using Google Reader

1. Log into your Goggle Reader Account and select one of your subscription links.

2. Locate the article you would like to share and click the Share link. (NOTE: You will need to do this for each of the article that you want to share with your class.)

3. Once you have selected all the articles you want to share, click the Sharing settings link.

4. Navigate to the bottom of the page and click the Add a Clip link.

5. Copy the embeded code by highlighting all the code in the box, then pressign Ctrl+C on your keyboard (Mac users press Command+C).

6. Navigate to your WebTycho classroom and create a new Course Content item (Faculty Center--Create Text.) (Note: You can put your RSS Feed in Conferences as well).

7. Add a title of your content in the Link Text box, then select View--HTML View from the Text Formatting Editor menu bar.

8a. Paste (Ctrl+V or Command+V) in the Google embed code that you copied earlier into the text box.

8b. Click on the Submit button.

9. Click the link of your newly created item to ensure the RSS feed is working correctly.

10. If your RSS feed is working correctly you will see the embedded feed in your document.

If your RSS feed does not appear to be functioning properly, it is recommend that you return to Google Reader and copy the embed code again. Then return to your Course Content item and paste in the code you just copied.

Adding an RSS Feed to Your WebTycho Classroom Using Grazr

1. Navigate to a site that contains an RSS feed so that you can copy the URL of the feed. (Note: If you see the RSS iconon the Web page, the Web site offers an RSS feed).

SomeWeb sites may not post the RSS icon on their Web pages; however, if you look at the browsers toolbar, you will see the RSS feed icon in the URL locater.

2. To get the URL of the feed, you can click on the RSS feed icon. Clicking on the RSS feed icon will open the RSS feed in another Web page. (NOTE: It does not matter if the RSS icon is located on the page or in the URL location bar.)

Copy the URL by highlighting the URL, then pressing Ctrl+C on the keyboard. (Mac users press Command+C.)

3.Navigate to theGrazr RSS widget creator.

4. Paste the URL that you copied into the Enter the URL of a feed or OPML file field (located below Create your FREE widget Now!) by pressing Ctrl+V on your keyboard (Mac users press Command+V).

5. Click the Create Widget button.

Your newly created RSS widget will open in a new screen.

You can customize the look of your widget by changing the widget settings in the Customize Your Widget area of the screen.

6. Copy the widgets embed code by highlighting the embed code in the Publish Your Widget area of the screen, then pressingCtrl+C or Command+C.

7. Navigate to your WebTycho classroom and create a new Course Content item (Faculty Center--Create Text). (NOTE: You can put your RSS feed in Conferences as well.)

8. Add a title for your content in the Link Text field, then select View--HTML View from the Text Formatting Editor menu bar.

9a. Paste (Ctrl+V or Command+V) the Grazr widget embed code that you copied earlier into the text box.

9b. Click the Submit button.

10. Click the link of your newly created item to ensure that the RSS feed widget is working correctly.

11. If your RSS feed widget is working correctly, you will see the embedded feed in your document.

If your RSS feed widget does not appear to be functioning properly,it is recommend that you return to Grazr and copy the embed code again. Then return to your Course Content item and paste in the code you just copied.

Using Social Software in the MDE Program

As with the delivery of instruction, student support is also an area that requires a change in perspective from that used in traditional higher-education settings. These become even more significant, when we consider the fact that online students tend to demonstrate feelings of isolation and lack of a supporting network when studying at a distance. It has always been evident that providing MDE students with supporting services that go beyond the classroom is key to the success of the students and therefore of the program. With the steady progress of the so-called web 2.0 technologies empowering users to become generators of content and manage information on the web, online educators and students have slowly started to include such tools for instruction as well as for learner support functions. The goal was to create an integrated MDE program-wide community and set of initiatives, which would enable unstructured interaction, sharing of information, and creation of an ongoing and long-lasting common knowledge base. The rise of social media technologies has provided the perfect platform to address such challenge, creating enormous synergy among all MDE stakeholders.

Archived Recording:

Launcher Link:

http://67.202.210.31/launcher.cgi?room=deoracle_2010_0202_1003_53

Wizard Link:

http://67.202.210.31/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=wms

Powerpoint Presentation:

Printable Version: PDF

Stella Portos MDE Social Media Suite list

Social Media and Distance Education

Social media is probably not a new term to you if you are a distance educator. To me, I heard of social media, social networking technologies, social learning, and other similar terms at various educators conferences, educational technology Webinars, Web 2.0 training sessions, and more. Presenters normally name some examples when talking about social mediasuch as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Docs. However, I found that my understanding of the concept of social media was still vague.This article attempts to clarify the concept and help yougain ideas on how you can use social media tools to enhance youronline teaching.

What Is Social Media?

Social refers to the interactions among people, and media refers to the Web-based technologies that store and transfer electronic data or information. Combined together, social media can be definedas Web-based technologies that facilitate information sharing and user interaction.

Web-based technologies have been developing and growing for years, and they are becoming more mature. It is the social element that differentiates social media from conventional media technologies. Social media efficiently bridges connections among users. It offers platforms for online users to find others who share the same interests and build virtual communities based on those shared interests. Users no longer review content in a passive or isolated way. Instead, they can easily create, share, and publish content, and they can review and comment on other users products. With the prevalence of social media technologies and services, content sharing and user interaction has become relatively easy and efficient.

Typical Social Media Tools

There are hundreds of social media tools on the Web, and more are emerging every day. Social media tools take various forms, such as blogging, social networking, social bookmarking and multimedia sharing. Here are some of the most popular and well-known examples of social media tools:

Blogging/micro-blogging - Blogger, WordPress, Twitter
Social networking - Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Ning
Social bookmarking - Delicious, Diggo
Collaborative authoring - Wikipedia, Google Docs, Zoho Office Suite
Multimedia sharing - Flickr, YouTube, Qik
Web conferencing - WebEx, GoToMeeting, DimDim

Most people connected to the Internet today have used or come acrossa social media tool orservice.

Features of Social Media

Social media services encourage user contributions and participation, and the services are more user oriented instead of content oriented. The services allow users to participate in online activities in a proactive way. With social media services, users easily share information, vote,comment, and even modify other user-created content. The open atmosphere greatly encourages content sharing and allows users to get feedback on content they have created. Compared to traditional media, social media promotes two-way communication among users.

Social media also facilitates community building for users of similar interests. In a user group community, users can stay focused on relevant content and topics that everyone is interested in, and with the connections to other users, they can easily keep up on what is happening in a particular field. All of these features not only benefit professionals and computer geeks, but they are also valuable to distance educators and learners.

Implications for Learning

When appropriately integrated into the online classroom, social media can offer innovative learning experiences and enhanced learner engagement. With the prevalence of various social media tools, faculty can design creative online learning activities by asking students to use one or more tools to work on their learning tasks and achieve their learning objectives.

Online collaboration becomes much easier when it is facilitated by social media technologies. For instance, students can collaborate on team project documents. Students in the same study group can co-draft documents, spreadsheets, presentation slides, andmore with Google Docs. Each study group can also create a presentation through a Web conferencing tool such as Wimba.

With the popularity of blogging and micro-blogging, it is not uncommon for faculty to use blogs as additional teaching/learning resources. Faculty may publish academic journals or articles on his/her own blog and students may post discussion comments on them in the threaded comments area. Many professors use Twitter to have students tweet all their academic-related activities. The word limits in micro-blogginghelp students stay focused on a topicin a concise way when they are tweeting. Discussions can become an extension of learning in theonlineclassroom, andthey can help students keep up with what is happening in the real world. Some faculty have even used Twitter to remind students of homework, upcoming events, and other important items. Students can immediately receive these reminders through their mobile phones if they have the correct setup in their Twitter accounts.

Academic research can also benefit from using social media tools. In particular, social bookmarking is extremely useful for literature reviews and collaborative research. Many professors teaching graduate-level classes found that Diggo, a research tool and knowledge-sharing community,is an attractive tool to assist students with their own research projects.By using the highlighting and sticky notes features of Diggo, online reading becomes much easier. Students can review and respond to the reading notes from their classmates and the instructor. As a result, reflective thinking and collaborative learning are highly encouraged with this tool. Diggo also allows studentsto build or join communities to connect with people who share the same academic interests,leading them toeasily share and locate more resources that are relevant to their research topics.

Itcan also be a good idea to use more than one social media tools in a class. At Duke University, a professor incorporated a few social media tools into his online teaching of an introductory film class. The professor asked students to watch relevant video clips, tweet lecture topics for discussion, make weekly postings on blogs, and comment on each others work. With creative integration of social media tools in a class like this, students can participate more and be more engaged in the learning process.

In addition to online teaching, many universities use social media to showcase their educational projects. For instance, Stanford University showcases faculty and student projects on its Facebook page by publishing videos, pictures, and other relevant information. Current students can search, access, and gain inspiration from these posted projects for their own work.

Summary

In summary, there are clear advantages to using social media in distance education. With social media services, online teachers and learners can experience new and better types of communication and interaction, and they canbe more connected to each other than ever before. Social media tools help online learners feel less isolated. With social media technologies advancing, distance education will continuously evolve with the trend.

NOTE: This article mentions only a few examples of social media technologies. These references should not be taken as an endorsement of any particular tool, technology, or company. If you are thinking of implementing any of these tools into your course, check with your academic administrator for suitability. CSI team members are available for consultation on the use of some of these tools if you have questions or concerns.

Resources

Best Online Universities LLC. (2009, August 11). 13 enlightening case studies of social media in the classroom.Message posted to http://web20teach.blogspot.com/2007/08/twitter-tweets-for-higher-education.html.

Mayfield, A. (2008). What is social media? Retrieved December 20, 2009, from http://www.icrossing.co.uk/fileadmin/uploads/eBooks/What_is_Social_Media_iCrossing_ebook.pdf.

Michigan State University Center for Teaching and Learning. (2009, April 16). Social media in the classroom. Message posted to http://ctt.educ.msu.edu/2009/04/16/twitter-in-the-classroom/.

Social media. (2009, June 12). Retrieved December 23, 2009, from http://onlineanddistancelearning.com/social-media.

Instructional Technology Council Grants Awards to CSI, MBA Program

The Instructional Technology Council (ITC) recently named UMUCs Center for Support of Instruction (CSI) and the MBA program among the recipients of its 2010 Awards for Excellence in eLearning. CSI won the award for Outstanding Technical Support and Service, and the MBA program was named Outstanding eLearning Program. The awards will be presented to the recipients at ITCs annual conference, eLearning 2010, in Forth Worth, Texas, in February 2010.

The Awards for Excellence in eLearning recognize exemplary individuals and institutions in distance education nationally. Winners are selected on the basis of their nomination forms, which are reviewed by a panel of judges from the ITC board of directors. The award judges reviewed numerous applications for seven award categories and selected as winners those which exemplified the highest, best-practice standards in eLearning.

CSIs nomination detailed how it has established significant value in UMUC for delivering quality service and support to faculty and other constituents within the university community, including providing online and off-line assistance and maintenance, contributing to improved student retention, supporting online course delivery, and continuously improving services and support.

The Center for Support of Instruction is committed to supporting the universitys educational goals. Im proud thatourteam has been honored for its innovative and effective efforts in advocating and supporting best practices with instructional technologies,said Kathleen Puckett Ford, Director of the unit.I amespecially pleased that the ITC has recognized the importance of technical service and support in contributing to a successful online educational experience for both faculty and students.CSI will continue to provide and promote activities that distinguish UMUC as a leader in distance education.

The MBA programs win was basedonfactors such as its course development, innovation, student services, faculty development, and use of educational technologies.

We are delighted that the MBA program has received yet another award recognizing the quality of the program, said Robert Goodwin, Chair, Business and Executive Programs.Last year we were honored by the Maryland Distance Learning Association with the award as the Distance Program of the Year and in 2005 we received the Sloan award for the best online MBA program.This recent award from the Instructional Technology Council confirms the continuing high quality and national reputation of the UMUC MBA Program and we are very proud to be associated with it.

The ITC represents higher education institutions in the United States and Canada and helps advance distance education by advocating, collaborating, researching, and sharing exemplary, innovative practices and potential in learning technologies. Congratulations to all!

UMUC 111 Virtual Meet & Greet Wins WOW Award

UMUC 111 Virtual Meet Greet was named a recipient of a2009 WCET Outstanding Work (WOW) Award in October for its efforts in improving interactionsamong online students and facultyin Computer Information Systems and Technology (CITE) programs.

WOW awards are given to organizationalmembersof the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) through an annual competition that recognizes innovation and best practicesin implementing educational technology in higher education.

UMUC 111 is the brainchild of Dr. S. K. Bhaskar, Assistant Dean of CITE, and Kimberly Chung, Director of Strategic Enrollment Initiatives.Dr. Bhaskar sought to create a virtual community where he could proactively reach out to all current CITE students. He wanted a space where students could develop relationships with their peers, learn about program offerings, and get advice on course selections from program advisors. Ms. Chung was instrumental in planning, setting up, and organizing the virtual space where the interactions and information sharing could occur.

The UMUC 111 development team hoped that when they offered the first Virtual Meet Greet in Fall 2008,they would get about 20 to 30 CITE students to enroll. Much to their surprise, over 100 students signed up. One of the conference activities asked students who had been in the program to share some advice that would help new students succeed at UMUC. One student shared, My advice to new students is to give it your all, do not slack off, and enjoy the amount of resources you have at your fingertips with UMUC. I am currently serving in the Army and UMUC has been my home school since 1997. The standards are high, and the awards are many. You need to stay on top of the postings, do your homework, take responsibility for your actions, and learn, but do not be discouraged from any setbacks made. All can be overcome!

A survey of the students who participated in the UMUC 111 Virtual Meet and Greet indicated that they found the session of value and were pleased to have been able to participate. Below are a few comments that students anonymously provided:

I would recommend this class as a supplement to take for anyone taking their first Web Tyco class. Thanks for all the great info; I look forward to learning more in the future.

Thanks so much for creating this session. It helped me see the distinctions among the various majors. Particularly the emphasis on Java in CMSC and all the TechKNOW modules.

Ifound UMUC111 very interesting and was able to come away with a better understanding of the courses and the direction that they take. I would have like to have seen a chat on Graduate programs for those of us going on that path after obtaining our degrees to answer questions in that arena. Thank you once again for this experience in the two plus years Ihave attended UMUConline this is the first one of these sessions that I was aware of and completely enjoyed it.

UMUC 111 was very helpful after a prolonged absence from taking on-line courses. I will be taking 2 courses this coming spring semester, and taking UMUC 111 was instrumental in getting the rust off so to speak and to prepare me for the rigors on the on-line curriculum. Thanks to the instructor and other students for their feedback, it really helped. Ill see everyone in the spring!

UMUC 111 will be offered each fall and spring, with the hope that student participation will continue to increase. Congratulations to Dr. Bhaskar and Ms. Chung on their accomplishments with UMUC 111!

Mapping Web 2.0 Benefits to Known Best Practices in Distance Education

Introduction

The last several years have been filled with enthusiastic discussion regarding Web 2.0 technologies and their positive, dynamic enhancements to a users experience on the Internet.This same wave has somewhat belatedly crashed over the realm of online education, and it has been a much-mulled subject ever since.The reason is for this is simple: The potential positive impact of Web 2.0 tools on the online learning experience is believed to be myriad and vast.

Recent research has confirmed and identified benefits to the use of Web 2.0 technologies within the online classroom.Such benefits can be mapped to known best practices from the distance education literature to help enhance and optimize their potential positive effects within the online classroom. This article outlines the suspected and documented benefits of Web 2.0 technologies and links them to known bestbest practices in distance education.

Potential Benefits of Web 2.0 Technologies

The benefits of using Web 2.0 tools and technologies in the online classroom reaches far and wide. This section looks at both documented and undocumented advantages.

Undocumented/Presumed Potential Benefits

Since their inception, Web 2.0 tools have widely been believed to produce several positive impacts:

They provide a constructivist-friendly toolkit. Constructivist theory is generally acknowledged and utilized in online education as an effective roadmap towards successful, deep learning outcomes for students. The requirements of a successful constructivist approach include encouraging the students own role in the continuing process of constructing knowledge and deep learning. Prior to Web 2.0, one of the key assumptions was that online classrooms would serve well as platforms for creating constructivist learning environments, but they actually often proved to simply act as transmission models of education (Allen Long, 2009) usually due to the high expertise levels required of earlier technologies. More recently, the surge in user-friendly Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, blogs, video sharing services, social networks, and other collaborative tools have lent support to a key component of constructivist practice: the promotion of collaborative learning, capable of helping to create an entire constructivist learning environment (Seitzinger, 2006, p.13) within an online class.

They create a connection to todays students (and our own) real world. Web 2.0 has also already proven valuable in various corporate, government, and institutional settings, and its adoption has been quite rapid compared to other IT technologies (Bughin, 2008). As such, implementing thse tools in the educational arena can help prepare students to use them in real-world venues.

They allow for authentic assessment. The effects of Web 2.0 simply cannot be ignored today. It is now a nearly unavoidable aspect within the daily lives of most students and even some instructors these days. Some have argued that it must now be accounted for in creating an authentic assessment of learning objectives, and of the formal and informal learning going on inside and outside the classroom. Allen (2009) goes so far as to note that developments in assessment using the Internet will only be authentic if they take account of the way the Internet functions outside of higher education, rather than seeing it as an educational technology divorced from its own authenticity (p. 1). Allen goes even further to state:

Since this kind of knowledge work is becoming the norm, without a social media / Web 2.0 approach to assessment, traditional approaches (essays, tests, student-centred discussions and presentations) will begin to appear inauthentic if they do not, to some extent at least, recognize and embrace Internet-enabled knowledge networking. (p. 4)

They can be repurposed for multiple stakeholder levels within an organization. The same Google Apps for Education tools used for student collaborations can also be used by an instructor to share documents with a colleague, possibly allowing them to co-author research in a much simpler and efficient manner than ever before. The administration can also benefit from use of such tools for the same reasons.

They are cost efficient. An institution making use of Web 2.0 tools will see efficiencies of scale due to savings in cost (usually free) and resources expended to create the tools (virtually none). These are ample savings potentials compared to the usually large fixed costs required to produce similar proprietary materials. Web 2.0 tools are proving beneficial to institutions seeking affordable, scalable solutions for course content.

Some institutions are using Web 2.0 technologies for course management (Rienzo Han, 2009). It would seem such institutions must examine these tools now, when considering the threat of a truly Web 2.0 style service such as Ududtu.com, which offers a free method of not only creating learning objects but also a means of creating a standalone LMS within the confines of Facebook, a popular social networking site. The user can upload interactive content made at Udutu and then track a students graded progress within the LMS app. Some of the more hyperbolic enthusiasts of Web 2.0 applications such as this have claimed that it brings a transformation of learning (Selwyn, 2009, p. 1). While there is ample room for skepticism of such lofty claimsand some of it well deservedrecent research has discerned and noted definitive benefits to using Web 2.0 technologies in the online classroom.

Documented Benefits

While there seems to be a general paucity of directly measurable data on the benefits of Web 2.0 technology for online education, there is some relatively fresh evidentiary research that can be referenced. A recent research report funded by Becta, a British government agency charged with effective use of innovative technology in learning, recently released a major report on the impact of Web 2.0 technology on secondary schools (Crook, Fisher, Graber, Harrison, Lewin., 2009). The report is based on evidence gathered from field studies, guided surveys of 2600 students, and interviews and online surveys conducted with instructors, technical staff, administration, and parents.

The report contains many fascinating findings regarding usage of Web 2.0 technologies, challenges to implementation, policy, and more. It also explicitly cites four potential benefits of Web 2.0 on teaching and learning:

It stimulates new modes of inquiry.
It creates new opportunities for collaborative learning.
It allows students to engage with new literacies and express themselves in different media.
It encourages a proficiency in the publication of content, which creates a sense of ownership, audience engagement, peer assessment, and informal learning.

These documented benefits lend much support to the undocumented benefits being on the right track in terms of how Web 2.0 technologies can positively impact the teaching and learning process. But how do these benefits play out against the most commonly known and agreed-upon best practices in online education?

Mapping Benefits to Best Practices

Much has been written in the literature regarding best practices in distance educationfrom Chickering and Gamsons seven principles (1987) to Hacker and Niederhauser (2000) to Berge (2002) and many others. Throughout the literature, four common themes are reiterated as being best practices for online/distance education. In short, faculty need to:

Facilitate learning
Foster interaction
Use collaborative problem solving
Provide prompt feedback

The examples below discuss these four best practices in more detail and examine where Web 2.0 technologies align with them.

Facilitate Learning

In pursuit of Lewis and Al-Hamids (2006) notion of the importance of facilitating learning in online education, the authors note that [t]he use of learning objects such as video clips and other digital resources was another strategy for some of the exemplary faculty (p.12). One of the richest Web 2.0 veins to be mined is learning objects. Users of such sites may simply access and utilize the pre-authored content on a site, or may, in the true spirit of Web 2.0, create and share their own content with the community. Additionally, the user may collaborate with others in this creation and sharing of content.

If an instructor or student is not interested in authoring his or her own content, thousands of free videos are available from services such as YouTube, Hulu, and dozens of other lesser-known video-sharing sites. Pertinent videos on virtually any imaginable subject can now be found online, and they can be embedded directly within an online classroom via auto-generated HTML code supplied by the servicescreating a highly contextualized, engaging experience for the learner. Video services continue to develop additional features, making the content even more beneficial to learning via functions such as Hulus ability to select and embed only a segment of a video and YouTubes new automated closed-captioning service.

Other types of learning objects abound, like those found in repositories of pre-authored interactive learning objects such as Merlot, where objects are freely shared. Learning objects themselves may actually be authored and then shared within a Web 2.0 service community such as Flickr for pictures, ZohoShare for presentations, or Google Docs for collaboration on various types of documents. Students themselves may then participate in the selection (or outright creation) and sharing of such learning objects within a class, supporting Anderson and Warks (2004) vision of a classroom that is populated with student-supplied content and their conclusion that

an instructional design based on student construction and sharing of knowledge in a web based portal is perceived to be a valued and worthwhile learning experience. Students report this design provides as much or more learning, challenge and skill acquisition as other courses in the program do. (Conclusion section, paragraph 2)

Not only does this sort of model enable constructivist learning to occur, but the content itself, which is located or created by the students, can also save instructors the time investment required to locate or create such materials themselves.

Foster Interaction

The importance of interaction between the online instructor, students, and peers has been noted numerous times in the literature, due to a sense that isolation can arise in the online learning experience (Lewis Al-Hamid, 2006). While attempting to meet online learners expectations of the instructors constant presence, or at least the appearance of a constant presence, the already heavy workload of the instructor can be increased. Various strategies, which are supported by Web 2.0 technologies, are available to the instructor to lessen the strain of maintaining a high degree of interaction, including the use of a synchronous peer tutoring mechanism (Westera, De Bakker, Wagemans, 2009).

Web 2.0 technologies and services are by their very nature about interaction, some more specifically than others. Internet phone services such as Skype and instant messaging services such as AIM enable synchronous interactions; blogs and microblogs, wikis, and social networks all offer ample asynchronous interaction opportunities. Googles highly anticipated Wave tool promises to take interaction to a whole new level (Devaney, 2009).

Use Collaborative Problem Solving

Theorists and practitioners alike have often flagged collaborative activities as a best practice for enhancing online learning. Research (Gokhale, 1995) has also shown this to be true. However, the Internet prior to Web 2.0 could not offer a great variety or very dynamic modesof collaboration. This situation has been transformed by the possibilities that Web 2.0 technologies can offer. Powerful new tools abound to enable enhanced collaborative learning opportunities. One such class of tools involves Web conferencing environments. At one time, Web conferencing was a technically challenging and expensive resource of the elite. Even a short time ago, a proprietary Web conferencing system would require large sums of money and time to support it. Now, with the availability of Web 2.0 versions of this class of tool, the door has been opened to all. Tools such as Mikogo offer a large array of collaborative features, such as desktop and application sharing, remote keyboard and mouse control, meeting recording and playback, whiteboards, file exchange, and more for free.

Other sorts of Web 2.0 tools for collaboration include the document sharing class of tools. Web 2.0 versions of office suites are numerous, but perhaps the most notable is Google Docs and its sister project, Google Apps for Education. Google Docs is free and available to anyone with Internet access. It allows one to use the Internet cloud as a new sort of desktop, with all the functionality of a users local computer. The key difference is that the documents created in Google Docs are available to the user from any computer in the world that has an Internet connectionand they also allow for synchronous or asynchronous collaboration.

For synchronous usage, a user could overlay the use of Skype to collaboratively examine, review, and discuss a particular phrase in a document, a formula in a spreadsheet cell, or the images included in a PowerPoint presentation. An asynchronous approach could involve a user simply making edits and then inviting the collaborator to visit and review automatically tracked changes at his/her convenience. Other services related to these initiatives include Google Groups, which creates interest groups, and Google Sites, which allows collaborative creation of Web sites and related files. All of these tools are examples of Web 2.0 technology that encourage publishing proficiency.

Provide Prompt Feedback

There seems to be nearly unanimous agreement in the literature on the need for prompt feedback in the online classroom. This task is also acknowledged as being time-intensive for the instructor. It is possible that the creative use of some Web 2.0 tools could help eliminate this burden.

In an earlier age, the notion of using voice-based feedback to reduce the writing load and speed up the feedback process was technically difficult and required ownership of software to create and edit the recordings. The instructor would then be responsible for sending the file to the student. In a Web 2.0 world, the whole process becomes much simpler, with a free service offering the entire process from a single location in the cloud. Services such VoiceThread, for example, can create a sort of voice thread (not surprising then, its choice of name) that goes one step further in that it can enable asynchronous comments and feedback from students and tutors alike around pieces of media such as video clips, images and presentations (Burden Atkinson, 2008, p. 2).

Conclusion

While it has been believed for some time that Web 2.0 technologies held strong promise to benefit online classrooms, there is now also corroborating evidence from recent research that testifies to Web 2.0s positive impact on teaching and learning. These benefits can be directly aligned to key existing best practices in online education, which serves to further substantiate the validity of these tools for the educational environment.

NOTE: The references to specific tools, technologies,or companiesmentioned in this article should not be taken an an endorsement.

References

Allen, M., Long, J. (2009, October). Learning as knowledge networking: Conceptual foundations for revised uses of the Internet in higher education. Paper presented at the World Congress on Engineering Computer Science 2009, San Francisco. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://netcrit.net/content/wcecslearningasknet2009.pdf

Allen, M. (2009, October). Authentic assessment and the Internet: Contributions within knowledge networks. Paper presented at the E-Learn 2009 conference of the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, Vancouver, Canada. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://netcrit.net/content/aaceauthenticassessment2009.pdf

Anderson, T., Wark, N. (2004). Why do teachers get to learn the most? E-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, 7(2). Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://www.usq.edu.au/electpub/e-jist/docs/Vol7_no2/FullPapers/WhyDoTeachers.htm

Berge, Z. L. (2002). Active, interactive, and reective e-learning. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 3, 181190.

Burden, K., Atkinson, S. (2008). Evaluating pedagogical affordances of media sharing Web 2.0 technologies: A case study. In Hello! Where are you in the landscape of educational technology? Proceedings ascilite Melbourne 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/burden-2.pdf

Bughin, J. (2008). The rise of enterprise 2.0. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 9(3), 251259. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from https://secure.palgrave-journals.com/dddmp/journal/v9/n3/full/4350100a.html

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Crook, C., Fisher, T., Graber, R., Harrison, C., Lewin , C. (2008, September). Implementing Web 2.0 in secondary schools: Impacts, barriers and issues. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from Becta website: http://partners.becta.org.uk/upload-dir/downloads/page_documents/research/web2_benefits_barriers.pdf

Devaney, L. (2009, June 8). Google Wave has great potential for education. New online collaborative tool combines eMail, instant messaging, and file sharing in a dynamic environment. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=59086

Gokhale, A., (1995). Collaborative learning enhances critical thinking. Journal of Technology Education, 7(1), 22-30. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.3.6959rep=rep1type=pdf

Hacker, D. J., Niederhauser, D. S. (2000). Promoting deep and durable learning in the online classroom. In R. E. Weiss, D. S. Knowlton, B. W. Speck (Eds.), Principles of effective teaching in the online classroom (pp. 5364). San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass.

Lewis, C. C., Abdul-Hamid, H. (2006, May). Implementing effective online teaching practices: Voices of exemplary faculty. Innovative Higher Education, 31(2), 83-98. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=5hid=7sid=5b9203bc-2b39-4c7d-93ba-0ba274a26c67%40sessionmgr11

Rienzo, T., Han, B. (2009, Summer). Microsoft or Google Web 2.0 tools for course management. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 123-127. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4041/is_200907/ai_n32128804/?tag=content;col1

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New One-Stop Access to Faculty and Student Research and Scholarship: Faculty and Student Research @ UMUC

The new Faculty and Student Research @ UMUC Web page from Information and Library Services provides one-stop access to the growing body of research-related materials produced by UMUC faculty,students, and visiting scholars. The resource allows for the systematic collection, accessibility, and preservation of scholarly materials created at UMUCand also provides records of academic and scholarly activities at the university.

From this researchpage,you can gain access to dissertations from UMUCs Doctor of Management program, discussion and working papers, and presentations from visiting scholars and UMUC faculty. You can also learn about upcoming events such as presentations by visiting scholars, Lunch and Learn Faculty Research Seminars, and the Orkand Chair Distinguished Lecture Series. Future planned enhancements will include more immediate access to all of UMUCs Doctor of Management Dissertations, integrated searching across resources, and materials related to UMUCs history.

Visit Faculty and Student Research @ UMUC today for more information.

Success with Wimba Classroom Application Share - December 16, 2009

Success with Wimba Classroom Application Share

The Application Share (AppShare) feature of Wimba Classroom is a great resource for showing processes to your students or participants. It is invaluable for demonstrating step-by-step instructions for a variety of programs from Excel and Word to online applications like WebTycho, etc. Unfortunately, some may find it challenging to master smooth application sharing without practice. Jen Thies discusses a few tips on how you can improve your use of Wimbas AppShare.

Archived Recording:

Launcher Link:

http://67.202.210.31/launcher.cgi?room=deoracle_2009_1216_1409_01

Wizard Link:

http://67.202.210.31/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=wms

Slide Presentation:

Printable Version: PDF