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Enhancing Learning
Capturing Learning Moments Digitally
2/20/2008
To maximize the potential of the technology in the learning process, capturing student comments, evolving ideas, and collaborative thinking, then distributing that to the whole group and archiving it online for future use with the same group or future groups of students means that thinking is not confined to one learning space or group. Thinking becomes both critical and dynamic and is owned by more than one person. Students feel more empowered in the process and their ideas become valued. When students' ideas are valued, then they are more likely to stay active in the learning process.
Tip: Moving Faculty Beyond Central Control
In moving faculty past the PPT projection-only scenarios, encourage faculty to locate one slide in the presentation that generates the most discussion in class. Provide faculty with a preparation sheet that provides opportunity for them to outline the discussion points and how they tie into the learning outcome. Then the faculty member should meet with a technical support or instructional design support person to practice drawing the outline on the designated slide. Then capture and e-mail back to instructor's own e-mail. Once this has been practiced several times, the instructor will feel more comfortable using the same feature in front of a class of students.
If you use white boards to capture discussion, think about other "captures" it could accomplish for you; e.g. concept maps, project designs, production designs.
Note: The more students become "producers" of knowledge, the more they will realize the value of what they are learning and see the application to their own real life contexts, thus supporting transformative learning outcomes in the process (Mezirow, 1997).
Wikis and Blogs
These online tools provide direct access to publishing opportunities for students, both collaboratively and cooperatively. That is, students can actually contribute to a document or content resources via a Wiki, and the results of their work are immediately visible. Cooperatively, students can work within a learning community using a blog. That is, blogs can be used not only as an individual journaling tool, but within the "blog ring" of the whole class, a group within the class, or beyond the class. I have written already on how using blogs in instruction can encourage engagement with students and how the kinds of statements produced can demonstrate learning achieved (Reynard, Campus Technology, 2005).
Tip: Overcoming Obstacles
Faculty usually do not embrace blogs or Wikis immediately because they do not understand exactly what is going on with these tools. Who sees this? How does it work? Will it mean more work for me? Can I edit my posts? These, among other questions, often prevent faculty from moving forward. Once faculty realize that blogs and Wikis can be secured to their student group only, they are more inclined to embrace the technology. Additionally, faculty should be provided with tips on how to evaluate student comments and how to prompt students throughout a course to participate (Reynard, 2005).
Recommended Reading
- IBM Unveils New Software Designed To Streamline eDiscovery
IBM has announced the release of new Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software specifically designed to meet the needs of clients dealing with complex legal discovery requirements. The eDiscovery solutions expand on IBM's ECM platform and are intended to give organizations greater control of digitally stored documents in an effort to reduce costs and streamline the discovery process involved in litigation.
- Microsoft Releases SQL Server 2008 to Manufacturing
Microsoft has released SQL Server 2008 to manufacturing (RTM) and, as an evaluation edition, to subscribers of its Microsoft Development Network and TechNet services, the company announced Wednesday.
- Security Woes Up, as PHP and OSS Make the List
Software vulnerabilities are up this year, especially Web browser-based ones, according to a new report from IBM Internet Security Systems. The X-Force 2008 Mid-Year Trend Statistics Report, released in late July, defined the problem broadly. A vulnerability is anything that results "in a weakening or breakdown of the confidentiality, integrity, or accessibility of the computing system."
- Textbook Publishing in a Flat World
According to the National Association of College Stores in a 2007 survey, the average cost of a new college textbook was $53. The founders of Flat World Knowledge, which launches with its first run of college textbooks this fall, consider that too high--so high, in fact, that they'll be offering textbooks for free, at least in versions that can be read online.
- CourseCast 2.0 Adds Podcasting, Streaming Media Features to Free Lecture Capture System
Panopto has released CourseCast 2.0, an update to the company's classroom capture system that's available free to academic users. CourseCast 2.0 had previously been available as part of Panopto's beta program for educators since June.
- It IS about Technology: Integrating Higher Ed into Knowledge Culture
For more than twenty years, we educational technologists have talked about "integrating information technology into higher education." The implication was that education would stay the same and information technology would benignly slip in and cause no ruckus at all. This rhetoric no longer applies, if it ever did, and does a disservice to us as we work through the intricacies of this age.
