A guide to blended Learning in the knowledge era…
Blended learning, a principle that has been around longer than e-learning or the Internet, has a simple definition of employing multiple approaches when teaching or learning. Yet with the advent of the Learning Management Systems (LMS), in practice many institutions have adopted the term to imply a combination of face-to-face activities and structured activities within an LMS environment.
Learning Management Systems (LMS) are often viewed as being the starting point (or critical component) of any elearning or blended learning program. This perspective is valid from a management and control standpoint, but antithetical to the way in which most people learn today.
With this understanding many educators on the frontier of online learning are experimenting with the use of more learner-centred tools such as blogs, wikis and news aggregators together with activities focusing on the active construction of the learner’s knowledge – empowering the learner. Yet these new tools can seem inaccessible to many facilitators and learners due simply to the different nature of the tools and a lack of established ideas for using them within learning activities. Even worse, facilitators can venture to try blogging in class but be turned off because of a negative experience (low student involvement). Even those of us who are familiar with the tools often struggle to use them in ways that engage our learners in the active construction of learning (well, I do anyway!).
Wouldn’t it be great to provide a dynamic resource for facilitators who are used to centralised information sources to ease their transition towards the distribution of free tools available now and in the future?
The idea:
To set up an infrastructure for a collaboratively-built online resource called “A guide to Blended Learning in the Knowledge Era.” (ideas for better names!?) This resource will be aimed at providing an easy transition for facilitators who might be wary of using the new tools (such as blogs, wikis and news aggregators), enabling them to have fun learning the new tools themselves while also suggesting lots of fun ideas for using the tools with their students. As facilitators become more confident using the distributed tools currently available they will hopefully become less dependent on this centralised resource (having established their own distributed feeds for learning). Yet at the same time these facilitators will be in a position to contribute back to the resource for those yet to make the transition - updating it with the new tools and strategies that they have gone on to discover!
With the fast-changing landscape of available tools this resource will only be worthwhile if it is able to keep pace with the changes - and this itself will only be possible if it is developed collaboratively from a wealth of experience larger than any one organisation can provide. Furthermore, for educators throughout the industry to see it as worthwhile to contribute some time and effort to such a free resource, I think the material contributed would have to be published under a Free For Education or Creative Commons license so that contributors can be certain that they will always have access to the resource that they helped to build.
The underlying technology…
The technologies that this resource could be based on include open-source Content Management Systems such as Drupal, Mambo or CivicSpace that all allow a wealth of online contributors to create the resource collaboratively. There are other Wiki tools that I’d like to check out, such as Wikipedia’s MediaWiki, but we need to evaluate which CMS is best suited to the task (for example, I think it needs to be easy to update without using special Wiki tags). I noticed that Drupal has a module for collaborative book or documentation writing and looks impressive all-round, so I might install it soon and check it out first.
Aims/Outcomes (incomplete)
My main outcome would be to:
- Implement an infrastructure to support the collaborative generation of “A guide to blended learning in the knowledge era”
Other related outcomes that I’d be happy to be part of, as long as I’m not stepping on anyone else’s turf:
- Collaboratively generate a resource of fun activities based on sound learning strategies for introducing new free tools to learners (both students and facilitators).
- (edited according to Roisin’s comments) building teachers’ capacity to transform their teaching approaches to enable the development of engaging, community driven and technology-rich blended learning environments.
- ensuring that copyright is strictly adhered to.
- Involve users of the resource in the creation of new content as they discover new tools or applications or activities in their area of expertise.
- ??
I’m planning this resource to compliment/support the possible Learnscope team project “Continuous Learning with Evolving Free and Open Source Software” headed by Maria Trevaskis, which is hoping to trial free and open source software in at least 4 industry areas as part of delivery of courses for students in 2005, but I’m hoping it might compliment other projects that people are working on (esp. people in the TALO community, given how formative the discussions there have been!). Hopefully this resource won’t be conflicting with any Learnscope projects - I was told that Learnscope is focused around Professional Development rather than resource development. I’m just keen to set up the infrastructure and get the ball rolling and am happy to support the needs of other projects.
So, what’s your reaction? Why would/wouldn’t you contribute to this resource? Do you know of something like the collaborative resource described that is already setup? Do you think this resource will be valuable in helping facilitators to make the transition to the new tools (and hence help their students to use them too)? Basically, is it worth setting up this infrastructure? Let me know below!
dean gibson Said,
March 23, 2005 @ 11:56 am
Hi Michael
Liegh Blackall, Gary Sewell and myself finished a learnscope project last year and given that the only educational technologies I was using before this was the white board I personally learnt heaps about the benefits of using, blogs, sms, internet as learning tools.
The interesting thing we found was that once we had given training to all students in using the internet, email and how top open an attachments was the completion rate for the work given to do outside of the classroom.
We are now sending all students to the libary to set up email accounts and to offer training in the hope of being able to move toward a more blended mode of learning or making the students more responsible for thier learning at TAFE.
I would make contact with our head teacher Gary Sewell, we would be interested in using this type of resourse, as you would know it is an absolute load of work and a shame to not use these tools once developed.
dean.h.gibson
Leigh Blackall Said,
March 23, 2005 @ 1:56 pm
A sound idea.
I think all it would take is for the various Learnscope projects to put heads together and agree on a couple of formats to document the stories of their pro development projects. Audio interviews with participants, transcribed into text… recordings of workshops and discussions, forums etc. If we can get coordination among the Learnscopes to agree on recording their project stories, in a usable format, under some sort of basic production guidlines, then by the end of the year we should have a bank of crude resources to pull together into a central location such as an OurMedia.org site… a CD something…
For example: To interview participants for MP3 recordings, the key to success is to have 3 good questions that focus on a particular aspect of the PD. TALO could develop a list of good questions for the Learnscope projects to use, and in the end we will have a vast range of recordings on a certain topic.
absoludity Said,
March 23, 2005 @ 2:19 pm
Thanks for the feedback Dean, Leigh. Yeah, it’d be wonderful to use a whole range of media that we can store freely on OurMedia!
Dean, if we do set something up, it’d be great to learn from some of the strategies you used… what worked, what was difficult etc. I will contact Gary when (if) things get going.
I might even try setting up a WikiBook for the moment, so we can start structuring our strategies, stories and experiences etc.
Sean FitzGerald Said,
March 23, 2005 @ 7:57 pm
I think this would be a great idea.
A few observations:
1) I think it’s important to make sure there isn’t already something like this out there so we aren’t re-inventing the wheel. There is already an overwhelming amount of info out there to trawl through.
2) It should be considered whether it is an international resource or focussed on the Australian experience. There is a tendency for a lot of current resources to be USA-centric. Making it about our exerience may be one way of delineating it from existing resources.
3) I think a WIKI is the way to go. I don’t necessarily agree with your view that is should not use WIKI code. Even though there are new wikis coming on board that use a WYSIWYG interface - such as Jotspot - http://www.jot.com/ - it’s worth considering whether regular WIKIs are here to stay for a while, and if that’s the case, then encouraging facilitators to use WIKI tags may still be worthwhile.
4) I think it should be hosted on an independent site that follows open source ideals as much as possible, and not on an institution’s or individual’s server.
5) It would be a great place to collect the sort of web tools I think Jock was asking for on the list.
Jude Said,
March 24, 2005 @ 8:52 am
Sounds great Michael.
Sean’s trawling comment is apt. perhaps Leighs point about getting Learnscopers connected might be a way of getting the trawling done and having a life.
Your comment “Wouldn’t it be great to provide a dynamic resource for facilitators who are used to centralised information sources to ease their transition towards the distribution of free tools available now and in the future?” is right on. Even for those who have some savy. getting comfortable with these tools, accessing which are the most reliable and user friendly, can be quite disheartening. I think for the fainted hearted it is enough to make ‘em run….
Michael Said,
March 24, 2005 @ 9:08 am
Thanks Sean, Jude, for the feedback.
First looking at your points Sean:
1) Yep, definitely needs to be a priority to check whether something like this is already out there… I did find Blogging 101 on Wikibooks, which may be useful to get some ideas… but it just currently looks like a list of links, and isn’t stuctured or complete, nor does it have an educational focus. I’ll spend some time next week looking specifically for related edu resources. Let me know if you find anything similar too.
2) I reckon it would be great to make it about our own experience, give it an Australian flavour without making it Australian-centric (if possible). Do you think that’s possible?
3) Excellent point. It would be great for facilitators who are feeling confident with other online tools to learn to use wikis for the main content of the resource. Although it would also be good if newcomers were able to provide feedback on activities that they try out without having to use WIKI tags. I’m sure that it is possible to have a simple comment system on WIKI pages, just need to look into it.
4) Totally agree. I’ve started toying with a Wikibook just to see what’s possible and what’s not. Anything contributed there is under the GNU Free Documentation License. I think that keeping the resource independent is necessary to get people involved in the first place!
5) Yeah, we could start doing that on the WikiBook as soon as we get the cover page up (working on it). Even if we don’t end up using WikiBooks we can transfer the content because it is in the public domain… how good is Open Source!
Jude, point taken: I’ll spend more time with my family
You expressed what I was thinking but much more clearly!
Thanks again to both of you for your time and feedback
Sean FitzGerald Said,
March 24, 2005 @ 10:36 am
Hi Michael,
Firstly, I think we need to be having this discussion on a mailing list or a wiki - it’s getting a bit unwieldy using your blog comments! Time to set up a Google Group perhaps. I’ve had no experience with WIKIs, so I’m not sure if using WIKIs for collaborative planning will work.
I’m not sure why you are choosing Wikibooks as the host for either the “final product” or the planning site. It looks to me like it’s for textbooks that are in a fairly well-formed and close-to-finished state when they are put up. I expect what we are talking about would be an ever-evolving organic beast.
There are plenty of other WIKI hosts (WIKI Farms, they seem to be called) out there. It would be a good opportunity to do a bit of research to find what’s out there that would fulfill open source principles etc. that could be used in our teaching, with Learnscopers etc. We need to find the Blogspot of WIKIs.
Some starting places:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiFarms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki_farms
I think it is possible to give it an Australian focus - by putting it the name and the mission statement. I’m not absolutely convinced this is the way to go though, and would like more discussion and thought on this.
btw - I didn’t mention: I’d love to help you out with this.
absoludity Said,
March 24, 2005 @ 12:00 pm
OK, created a google group and added everyone here who’d commented. I’ll email TALO later to invite anyone else who’d like to be involved.
Sean, I hadn’t chosen Wikibooks for anything other than to experiment with structure and media content. Although Wikibooks do have this to say:
so they do have some scope for keeping ‘books’ up to date (kinda like wikipedia’s articles that appear the day of the event!), but you’re right, they do want the book to be ‘complete’ before it gets a lot of attention! I’m definitely keen to survey _lots_ of options before we decide on any one, and I’m not leaning towards any particular system yet
.
Lookforward to hearing more on the email group, and glad you’re excited about the possibilities too!
Anyone who wants to join the group can do so at: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/BlendedLearning/
Roisin O'Reilly Said,
March 24, 2005 @ 1:08 pm
Hi All,
First of all I should introduce myself. Leigh brought me into TALO when he took up the position of Courseware Designer with us. I have been a bit slack in posting given this is my first one! But I am definitely interested in your sugestion Michael of co-developing a blended learning resource.
But I would not be keen to promote that we ‘transition learning activities away from LMS’s to the distributed tools of the net…’ simply because I believe that good teachers have always engaged learners through active construction of knowledge regardless of the tool used and because LMS’s have a role here.
Not everything George Siemens say’s in his article is negative towards LMS’s for example he indicates that “Implementing an LMS as part of a holistic learning environment gives the end user flexibility and control to move in various paths (driven by learning needs, not by LMS design).” When a learning environment is created that is driven by good learning design, that utilises a range of software tools like flash, respondus, hot potatoes, some LMS tools etc..and is delivered through an LMS for learning management then the resulting learning experience can be highly engaging.
I guess I would prefer an outcome that wasn’t quite so dismissive of LMS’s, maybe something more like “building a teachers capacity to transform their teaching approaches to enable the development of engaging, community driven and technology-rich blended learning environments”
Leigh and I will be working on a resource for our institution which will seek to build staff capabilities in blended learning. Our resource will focus on:
the broad issues of why there is a need to change approaches,
- how to design learning environments that are flexible and technology rich,
- what to plan for (resourcing and scheduling),
- how to develop learning environments that are flexible and technology rich,
- how to construct and facilitate learning in these learning environments, and
- finally we will showcase what is being done re. the above.
We would be happy to share our work on this as it develops with you and others in TALO and of course to contribute to this resource and link to it from our resource.
Sean FitzGerald Said,
March 24, 2005 @ 2:53 pm
Hi Roisen - glad to have you on board.
And I agree with you - an inclusive approach is the way to go. LMS do have their place alongside distributed tools. Flexible learning also means flexibility in the range of tools used.
Perhaps you can bring this discussion onto the new list - http://groups-beta.google.com/group/BlendedLearning/.
absoludity Said,
March 24, 2005 @ 4:33 pm
Hi Roisen…
I’ll respond on the email group as I saw that you’ve joined, but in short, I agree too
and still use an LMS (Moodle) in conjunction with blogging/rss/ etc., mainly because it provides some great features specific to education (such as organising and aggregating peer assessments)!
Kylie Rowsell Said,
April 19, 2005 @ 8:09 pm
Platform talk is fun!
Should we consider: does a teacher to learn a language like tags? I remember saying myself how anyone who wanted to deliver online would probably need to know HTML. Aaaaah, good old 2000.
But there are so many tools available that don’t need to learn a different language, it would be good to pick something that didn’t require that.
Lots of tech savvy teachers delivering really blended courses using very cool applications wouldn’t have a clue about HTML…
Michael Said,
April 21, 2005 @ 9:37 am
Yeah, it’s an interesting one
Should teachers learn a language like tags?
I think you’re right on the mark when you say:
So, the user shouldn’t have to learn tags or wiki markup, but rather should be able to contribute without any such knowledge. Nonetheless, if they want to do something a bit fancier, they should be able to learn how they can do that, starting with simple HTML for bold or emphasis, then images or links etc.
In this respect, i think learning basic HTML is much more useful than some other language such as wiki tags… as iit’s transferrable to many other applications of online activities.
Again, I really like Drupal in this area (i feel like I’m saying this all the time), as you can allow different users (or user roles) to have access to different input options, such as autoformat (no HTML/tags of any sort, line breaks converted automatically), basic HTML tags, or your own custom set of tags, depending on the users skill (and it’s all very transparent to the user). There are some problems with this though, for example, if I edit a page and add lots of tags such as <div>’s, then someone else comes along and edits this page who does’t have access to those tags, what should happen? (I think Drupal strips out all the tags when the second person saves their edits).