Case Study #2

Case Study #2

Blogging

“Anytime information” is a phrase that could be used to describe blogs. Within a virtual learning community supported by blogging, individuals have the ability to interact by posting journal entries, research findings, charts, videos, etc. (Bruckman & Jensen, 2002). In turn, blogs allows members to review, reflect and comment on information asynchronously. Blogging allows for scaffolding of knowledge. If structured and guided well, every member of the learning community is prompted to post their knowledge and comment to other blogs. As in this course, Dr. Ge has guided the blogging topics and structured all postings to revolve around various question prompts for example:

What do you see as the possibilities of virtual communities for learning and change after all the chapters so far? (for all chapters)

The opportunities for learning are endless….

This has proven beneficial for the construction of knowledge among all members as we have read each others postings, commented, asked questions and responded to one another.

Through this experience, I have altered a class I teach at the secondary level, Computer Applications II, and incorporated the use of blogs. By observing my students initially designing and posting to their blogs, it became evident that guided questioning techniques are a must. Students posted messages that were off topic and of no value to the course knowledge construction. In reviewing their postings, their comments mirrored text messaging and MySpace/Face Book blog postings instead of a more formal classroom posting I had anticipated.

So I'm sitting next to Zac in class right? Well I always sit next to Zac in this class. And he's on facebook like always. lol... And now his computer messed up so he's kinda mad!lol... And now he's lookin at me like i'm an idiot for writing this!!! lol... But I guess this is the end till next time!!
Love,
Shaunna Raelynn
posted by Shaunsta Rae at 9:09 AM on Feb 11, 2008

As our month long career project progressed, the student’s postings became more detailed and professional through the use of question prompts. Student’s postings covered the specific content and answered the questions for the day.

I plan on attending East Central University in the fall and getting my major in elementary education. Here lately I have been considering the field of special education. Then I have been planning on getting my masters in speech-pathology. If I major in special education then I do not plan on getting my masters. I think that I would really enjoy speech-pathology. But right now there is such a demand for special education majors that from the time you declare a special education major you will be reembursed for all of your college tuition. That sound real good and it should only take 5 years instead of 7 if I do elementary education and masters in speech pathology. I am very undecided as of right now!!!
posted by jenni lin at 9:01 AM on Feb 19, 2008

For Dr. Ge’s class, the requirement of reading the three blogs below our name is a great strategy for scaffolding knowledge. Each blogging activity has us reviewing the same people allowing a personal connection to develop among us. For me, I find myself valuing what Tracy and Sherry C. have to say. They are highly intelligent women whose perspectives on the readings have greatly influenced me. I look forward to their postings each time. In turn, reading through the comments left on my blog posting allows me to analyze my thinking more due to the questions that are raised by the three individuals “above” my name. This mirrors the functionality of self-help internet sites. Reflective modernization theorizes participants taking an active role within the online community, i.e. blogging activities. There is a sharing and exchanging of ideas, in turn, emerging new perspectives and meanings (Burrows & Nettleton, 2002).

In comparison to our discussion threads, blogging takes more effort on the community members. The locations of individual postings are disconnected from each other. Through Dr. Ge’s effort links to each blog is located on one page but participants must navigate from page to page to review each other’s blogs; whereas, the discussion threads allow a continual building of knowledge on one page. The individual can visually see the progression of knowledge growth in one frame.

In designing my computer supported physics learning community, blogging would be a great way to have student’s journal their daily or weekly activities. Writing is highly influenced at the secondary level. Each subject area is encouraged to incorporate writing into the curriculum. Blogging would allow a familiar medium for students to reflect upon their personal knowledge growth (Dunlap, 2006). Through the use of question prompts tailored to each activity, students would respond allowing the instructor, me, to read through and post comments. I would be able to address areas of concern, clarify information or reteach material if needed. Even though blogging is a public domain and anyone can access the student’s blog site, blogging does provide a sense of one-on-one instruction. As I have experimented with blogs this semester in my class, I have been able to answer specific questions and respond individually to each student.

sport coaching, or management

List a minimum of 10 things that interest you about the career you are researching.
1)I really like sports and am a fairly good teacher.
2)I think I would be good at being a manager.
3)I am patient.
4)I am a good listener.
5)I can handle problems fairly good.
6)I love the game of softball thats what i would be coaching.
7)I like being able to answer qustions.
8)I'm pretty good with parents.
9)I have great dedication.
10)I'm on time most of the time.
posted by Magen at 9:12 AM on Feb 19, 2008
Shelly said...
This is wonderful. Keep in mind if you plan to coach at the high school level you have to also be a teacher of "something". What area of interest do you have? What's your best/favorite subject?
February 20, 2008 4:51 PM

By doing so, I feel a closer connection between my students, then just in class face-to-face. My students have left comments on the blog that they would not say out loud in class.

Stephy Dawn said...
I want to go into Equine or Livestock Vet. Studies, it's what I've wanted to do since I was little. And I got the job at the Grassland Eqine Vet Clinic in Lindsay, all I have to do is make a phone call. So I'm pretty excited about that. And thnk you foe talking to my mom about my college options..it means alot. :)
February 21, 2008 11:03 AM

Blogging has been a great experience not only for me but I believe also for my students. Through the interactions of posting and commenting in this virtual media, the students have engaged in scaffolding of knowledge as viewed by situated learning theorist (Jones & Bronack, 2007). By interacting via text, learning from each other has resulted due to the situated learning setting of blogging.

Webcasting


After visiting Audacity, a podcasting site, Skype, a video conferencing site, iTunes podcasting links, and Podcast Alley, I have chosen to describe my experience with Marratech, a video conferencing site. Through my PhD cohort course work, Marratech has allowed me to stay home and still be an active member of my classes. My first impression of Marratech was “Wow, I can see everyone.” A cohort member led all our classmates to this site. He set up rooms for us to utilize and continually assisted us each time we would access Marratech for class purposes.

Marratech is a desktop videoconferencing system that provides users with a variety of features. Once the software is downloaded and connected, individuals have the control over the audio and video displays and volumes. The whiteboard feature allows participants to view documents, create documents, post images and grab websites. Anyone involved in the video conference can share any application and pass hand control to another user. What I find fascinating is Mike in Fargo, OK can write an entry into the whiteboard; Lance in Howe, OK can go behind him and correct the spelling, while everyone else in the conference is watching this happen. This feature is wonderful for collaboration among remote groups or individuals. The interaction over the Internet replaces the face-to-face in class interaction.

In our cohort courses, I have experienced courses that were provided face-to-face in class, digital delivery via Polycom or Tandberg equipment and also through Marratech only. The convenience of staying home and taking class has been advantageous for me. The video images are very small and when professors display materials “in class” only and not to the Marratech whiteboard, it is almost impossible to see them in virtual world. But that is the trade off to staying home, smaller images. Most of the times, the material would be posted to Desire to Learn or emailed to all class members allowing me to open up additional sites to view the images on a larger scale. By staying at a remote site while other colleagues set in class, I missed out on numerous informal or sidebar conversations that may have been beneficial to my personal knowledge growth. But the ability to multi-task without interrupting the professors out weighed the disadvantages of Marratech.

Additional features Marratech provides is a chat box for all participants to see or private chats one-on-one. Once connected users can record the conference for later playback. The quality of interaction depends on the bandwidth of their Internet connection. High speed DSL allows for smooth audio and video, wireless connection chops up the audio and dial-up is almost impossible. Marratech downloaded onto computers allows user to connect to each other from anywhere. This is great collaboration software for scaffolding of knowledge. This software allows for a computer-mediated community to evolve among the cohort members (Haythornthwaite, 2002). The social and emotional interactions that occur using Marratech provides the users a sense of belonging and connection to the class even though there is a physical distance between them.

Educational Benefit of Webcasting


With the conclusion of a career unit in the class I am currently teaching, I decided to try to videocast, vodcast our final activity. With the use of phones, IPods, and cameras, my students and I used my computer to develop a video we uploaded onto the class’s blog site. Students used their camera phones to capture images of our East Central University trip. They emailed, beamed, or bluetoothed their images to me and I uploaded them to my laptop. I had my laptop connected to a LCD projector for everyone to watch the processes. Images and videos from my camera were uploaded along with my IPod’s .wav file of the panel discussion with the ECU department chairs. Once everything was uploaded, we began to move files around to access them for Windows Movie Maker.

The video of the ECU tour and panel discussion was manipulated and designed by the students. Once completed, we posted the video to the class’ main blog. The manipulation of the files to specific locations and the overlapping of images and sounds was time consuming for novice movie makers. But through this experience the students and I enjoyed our final production. Here is the final result. Warning, this is the first ever video designed by my students or myself.

MHS ECU Tour


Using a videocast would be a great asset in a physics class during lab activities. Students who missed class would be able to experience the lab virtually providing them the knowledge they would need for future class activities. In addition, any student could revisit the videocast when completing the lab write-up to ensure they did not miss any information. Students are already watching videocast displayed on YouTube. Channeling this source of media into an educational setting will spark the interest of students (Grossman, 2006).

As an instructor, video casting would be beneficial for my class. The videocast would enable students to revisit and clarify information and summarize instructional materials. In designing my virtual learning community, the face-to-face and online combination I envision would allow video casting to tie in smoothly. It would be more convenient and efficient for me when students are absent. Instead of taking time before or after school trying to explain material, I could refer the students to the videocast of the instruction/lesson. Students would have access to the material anytime/anyplace as long as they had Internet connection. It would hold me, as the instructor, more accountable for the information, because it is out there for everyone to see.

The question to ask my future physics students is, “Do you have Internet access at home?” I would have to keep this in mind when designing instructional activities that require Internet connection. For the students who can not access Internet from home, I would ensure the classroom or computer lab was accessible before school, after school or at lunch time. Webcasting of any kind, whether a podcast or vodcast, allow any time, any place instruction.

References

Bruckman, A. & Jensen, C. (2002). The mystery of the death of MediaMoo: Seven years of evolution of an online community. In Renninger, K.A. & Shumar, W. (Eds.) Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace (pp. 21-33). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Burrows, R. & Nettleton, S. (2002). Reflexive modernization and the emergence of wired self-help. In Renninger, K.A. & Shumar, W. (Eds.) Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace (pp. 249-268). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Dunlap, J. (2006). Using guided reflective journaling activities to capture students’ changing perceptions. TechTrends 50(6), 20-26.

Grossman, L. (2006, December). Time’s person of the Year: You. Retrieved January 13, 2008, from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

Haythornthwaite, C. (2002). Building social networks via computer networks: Creating and sustaining distributed learning communities. In Renninger, K.A. & Shumar, W. (Eds.), Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace (pp. 157-190). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Jones, J. & Bronack, S. (2007). Rethinking cognition, representations, and processes in 3D online social learning environments. In Gibson, D., Aldrich, C., & Prensky, M. (Eds.), Games and simulations in online learning: Research and development frameworks (pp. 89-114). Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.