Tony Bates take on Web 2.0 in Higher Ed

Tony Bates is an instructional designer from Canada who has conducted research on e-learning within the higher education context. This presentation from his blog discusses the benefits and issues of Web 2.0 applications within higher ed. learning by comparing objectivist and constructivist learning theory on various Web 2.0 tools.

http://tonybates.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/leicester.pdf

Final reflection

Reflection on what creating and maintaining an education weblog

This has been my first experience with maintaining a blog as part of a class assignment, which I consider as my first education blog. Within my blog, I was able to explore aspects of virtual learning, and later, how the digital native distinction fits into information literacy standards. Through researching each topic, my blog led to developing first hand experience in web 2.0 communication skills. Overall, I feel the exercise is pertinent to my web 2.0 communication skills with my career as an instructional designer.

However, as deeper analysis reveals, blogging involves more than improving communication skills – the process is about creating personal connections with materials within“knowledge flow” maintenance of interconnected networks (Hulburt, 2008, p. 2). As I wrote my blog, I kept up to date on current information from other blogs, which was filtered through my developing framework on the topics and classmate comments. This information negotiation involved personal interpretation and presentation of the topic where I acted as a conduit for information I found on other blogs in my information network. This interaction interests me because it makes knowledge more of a negotiated and dynamic product, which I have found best explained through the learning theory of connectivism best espoused in an article by Siemens (2004).

An example of how connectivism relates to creating and maintaining a blog develops from the fact that blog subscriptions are just as important as blogging itself. Blogging involves a process of linking a connection between interrelated interpretations of a concept or issue through personal interpretations and negotiated meaning that contribute to the creation of knowledge. An education blog should then teach learners how to best represent their perspective on knowledge. Through this practice, knowledge creation makes traditional one-way written communication obsolete. Of course there are experts, but it is up to the community to negotiate information meaning.

Educational blogging raises some issues such as avoiding the “complicated way to submit an essay” trap, which demand specific, and yet, open instructions (Hulburt, 2008). Furthermore, blogging should be interactive. However, as in my case, it has been a challenge to understand that as much effort I put into my blog, very few people are actually reading and benefiting from it, making my contribution a small bud within the blogosphere network.

References

Hurlburt, S. (2008). Defining tools for a new learning space: Writing and reading class

blogs. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 4(2). Retrieved September 29, 2008 from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no2/hurlburt0608.htm

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved

December 1, 2008 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Footprint of Instructional Design

An instructional designer is like a footprint in the snow because:

they are effective communicators - leaving an impression

they are expert designers - leaving a boot tread design and pattern in the snow

they are excellent researchers and evaluators - knowing how to judge and navigate the various kinds of snow and whether the wind quickly erodes the impression

they are leaders and innovators - leaving the first impression and setting the path for others to follow

they are excellent collaborators - walking in unison with two feet


Highlighted instructional design competencies (Roberts et. al., 2001)
Competency #1 - "Communicate effectively in visual, oral and written form"

Instructional designers are effective communicators who are able to create messages that apply to a learner's background and knowledge gap content using engaging materials

Competency #2 - "Develop instructional materials"

Instructional designers are able to create subject matter using various technologies to meet learners needed in well designed formats

Competency #3 - "Conducts a needs assessment" and "evaluates and assesses instruction and its impact"

Instructional designers should be able to determine when an instructional intervention is needed and how to evaluate its effectiveness

Competency #4 - "Plan and manage instructional design projects"

Instructional designers must be good managers and leaders spearheading the learning process

Competency #5 - "Promote collaboration, partnership and relationships among the participants in a design project"

Instructional designers should be able to seamlessly collaborate between the content expert and their client

Richey, R.C., Fields, D.C., Foxon, M. (2001). Instructional Design Competencies: The Standards (3rd edition). ERIC Clearinghouse (ED document #453803).

"Discourse of Critique" harbored in information literacy

This week I would like to focus attention on how the information literacy standards help learners be more critically engaged in their interpretation of information. The standard from ACRL states how information literate student should be able to "Evaluate information and its sources critically", which amount to recognizing bias of information and being able to critique the source.

This information literacy standard reflects on my personal view of education within the notion of critical pedagogy. Briefly stated, critical pedagogy is a constructivist learning perspective that engages learners through an education of critical discourse on politics and ethics through analysis of culture, power, and knowledge (Giroux, 2006).

Within Giroux's definition of the critical pedagogy framework is the notion of education as a 'discourse of critique', which involves a "pluaralizing notion of literacy" to harness the new digital technology tools (p. 4).

Giroux, H. (2006). America on the Edge: Henry Giroux on Politics, Culture, and Education. Palgrave: New York.


Information literacy promotes this notion of critique not only through the outcome of being able to detect information bias, but also how to produce media as a critical voice to the various information ideologies learners are bombarded with. Giroux writes about the 'second media age' which combines notions of power, technology and human relations in new ways allowing for learners to contextualize and reconfigure media into a self created identity as social exchange.

As lofty as this might sound, consider how digital natives learn to use technologies to create and share their perspectives and identities within social networking platforms, or even easy to use self publishing websites such as http://www.glogster.com/ to create and share their identity reflections.

My issue with identity creation, and a point that critical education theorist like Giroux stipulate is that even through digital natives have access and capability to manipulate media for their needs, how well are they able to critically critique the cultural influences on their life?

More specifically,
Is a hiphop music fan just embracing the culture with its negative connotations, or critiquing the commercialization of violence some hiphop images portray?

A postive response comes from how some people used Facebook during the recent Presidental election. It seems that plenty of these digital natives advocated their political views, thus demonstrating their heterogeneous and perhaps critical perspectives through a discourse of critique.

My posting this week is a little late. The end of the semester is fast approaching, meaning other projects are taking up more of my time. I still have not abandoed my blogging duties, only put them off.

One of the information literacy standards involves consideration of ethical use of proprietary software. As fun as it might be to download mp3s and software, according to the law it is illegal. I think that if I developed something or wrote a song and someone took it from my without compensation or even credit, I would be a little upset.
Does the digital native designation consider ethical issues? To put it another way, do young people still buy CDs or just download music from somewhere? Do they even consider it a crime?

Here is a slideshow titled "The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education" which discusses this issue.



Link:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/code_for_media_literacy_education

Information Literacy Assessment Strategies

The ACRL 6 information literacy standards mentioned in the previous posting are meant to be instructional design guidelines. Each standard has several performance indicators and outcomes.

Here is a summary of the first standard:

An information literacy learner can determine the type and depth of information needed
Performance indicator	Outcomes
1. Learner knows their need for information	a) Communicates with classmates to identify research information need b) Creates a thesis statement and questions based on information need c) Becomes familiar with topic through general information sources d) Modifies information need into manageable content e) Identifies key search words f) Synthesizes existing information to produce new information
2. Learner can identify various information types and formats as sources	a) Knows the formal and informal types of information organization b) Knows the disciplines of information organization c) Knows the value and differences of various media formats d) Distinguishes audience of resources (popular vs. scholarly) e) Knows the difference between primary and secondary sources f) Realizes the need to at times construct information from raw data
3. Leaner knows cost and benefits of finding information	a) Can broaden search beyond local sources (e.g., interlibrary loan) b) Considers the realistic time involved in finding information
4. Learner can reevaluate the nature and extent of information	a) Revises and refines initial information need b) Articulates how information gathering decisions were made

One of the questions in researching about information literacy that I have had involves determining how to best assess these standards within instruction. In practice, the group project that I am involved in with the IDE 611 class is using information literacy standards to help guide our instructional design. However, a challenge we are facing is how to assess that a learner is indeed, for instance, ‘identifying key search words’. Through this process I am hoping to look at assessment as a way to best design instruction.

Perhaps a checklist such as this one could help with the process:

Communicates with classmates to identify research information need	Does the learner share with classmates and teacher the challenges faced in finding what information is needed?
Creates a thesis statement and questions based on information need	Does the learner’s information need influence research thesis and questions?
Becomes familiar with topic through general information sources	Is the learner exploring general information sources? (e.g., wiki, blog, newspapers)
Modifies information need into manageable content	Is the learner modifying search topics into manageable forms? (e.g., narrowing down search terms and using Boolean operators)
Identifies key search words	Is the learner using appropriate keyword searches?

By using the standards as guidelines, an instructional designer can create ideal learning situations and assess them in a meaningful way. Perhaps then, its not so much a matter of determining who is better at using the technology (digital natives or digital immigrants) but HOW they use the technology.

This week I would like to highlight a couple of videos someone forwarded to me, which relates to the DI/DN debate and its impact on defining why digital literacy is so important.

Michael Wesch, an anthropology professor at Kansas State University made these videos to communicate to educators how things have changed and are changing in the way we access, organize and use information. My interest in developing this awareness, is to argue that no matter if a person considers themselves DI, DN, or somewhere inbetween, the distinction is a mute point within the need for digital literacy. After watching these videos, consider the context of the Information Literacy Standards (digital literacy) listed below.





Information Literacy Standards (2000) from the American Library Association
"An information literate individual is able to:

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally"

Now our job is to figure out ways to design instruction that engages learners in these standards.