Reflective Summary 1
A community is a “multigenerational group of people at work or play, whose identities are defined in large part by the role they play and relationships they share in that group or activity”. (Riel & Polin, 2004, p. 18) A community is a group of people who share the same hobbies or common interests. Within that community, each person has their own role. They must conform to the rules and regulations of the community in order to remain an active member. Individuals can choose to join or remove themselves from a community at any time. The success of a community depends greatly on the level of participation of the various members over time.
A virtual community is “a social group in which learning is an intentional, explicit goal”. (Riel & Polin, 2004, p. 17) A virtual community is one that is formed in an online environment. The environment can be a social network or be an educational network. Members of this group can join for a variety of reasons from trying to find a future mate to wanting to learn about a certain subject. Virtual communities provide a safe environment for like minded individuals to communicate, share ideas, and interact with others with common goals or intentions.
The key characteristics of a virtual community are that they share a common goal. This goal is dependent on which type of environment you are a member of. If it is online dating, the goal is to find a mate. For educational environments, the goal is to learn the material. There are also rules that must be followed. Many virtual communities have terms of service which outline rules for the community. The terms of service often indicate membership requirements, rules of interaction, and how to report issues and problems. In general, rude language is not allowed in any community. Members must be courteous to each other. If members ever have issues with other members, they have the ability to report them.
To build a learning community, you must first have enough people interested in a subject to make it worthwhile. There must also be an “expert” or someone who knows enough about the subject in order to be a facilitator or instructor for that subject. Together, there should be enough people to make the interactions more than a conversation between two or three people. A learning community could provide a common place for individuals to go as a resource for information, communication with “experts” on a topic, or even to share ideas and get potential insight from other community members. This type of forum often leads to sharing of information and groups learning best practices or practical ways of accomplishing shared goals. A virtual learning community could be related to the learning process in many ways including sharing ideas, providing information to those who are less knowledgeable, developing common practices in the best interest of all involved.
There are many factors that influence the success or failure of an online learning community. Knowledge of the community would be a primary factor of whether or not a learning community is successful. Individuals who would be interested in an online learning community would need to know that it existed and how to access the learning community initially. Advertising is always a possible way to insure people know about a specific community or service. However, depending on the goals of the community and funding options, this may or may not be possible. Second, level of interest is important as well. Community members need to be interested and involved in the topic at hand. Without involvement of the members, the community is likely to have decreased traffic and eventually lack of activity in relation to the subject matter. This will ultimately lead to non-usage or failure of the community. We see this in the example of MediaMOO. (Bruckman & Jenson, 2002)
Some of the practical considerations for the context when designing and building a virtual learning community include financial issues, potential community members, how to reach the intended audiences, security issues, and maintenance of the community. Financial issues could range from cost of building/start up of the community, or whether or not a membership fee will be required, to website maintenance and administration fees. Security issues of a virtual community would depend on content and whether or not the community requires password access to requiring firewalls and other secure internet features to provide a safe environment for the learning community. Maintenance and oversight of the community will be required to some extent. At the very least, a webmaster to build and accommodate changes of the virtual community as determined by the members of the community would be necessary. Depending on the group, moderators to monitor discussion boards or facilitate interactions may be needed to get started.
References
Bruckman, A., & Jenson, C. (2002). The mystery of the death of mediamoo seven years of evolution of an online community. In K. A. Renninger & W. Shumar (Eds.), Building Virtual Communities (pp. 21-33). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Riel, M., & Polin, L. (2004). Online Learning communities Common ground and critical differences in designing technical environments. In S. A. Barab, R. Kling, & J. H. Gray (Eds.), Designing for virtual communities in the service of learning (pp. 16-50). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
CSCL ch 2,3 and 7,8
This weeks readings were interesting. One issue they talked about was taking a computer supported intentional learning environment and first presenting it to western learners. Then they took the same program to Japan. The study showed that there were some parts of the program that had to be modified. My first thought was that this is only logical. Western culture and Japanese culture are alot different. There would have to be modification in several different areas. One in how the questions were asked or sentence structure. Plus expectations are different. Are they more literal learners or are they more abstract learners. All these issues have to be considered not only between east and west cultures. Sometimes you see this difference from northern and southern states or the east and west of the US.
Ch 3 Knowledge forum. The study was to take university students and vocational students and their learning. Both groups were enthusiastic with the program. Each group had a little different needs from the online community though. The vocational students needed a little more coaching than the university students. Yes the instructors need to monitor and occasionally steer the group. The students did like the collaboration they received in the forum. They felt like this can not be done as effectively in a classroom setting. In a classroom setting, collaboration is not encouraged like it is in an online setting. Collaboration has been a major learning tool for online learning. This is seen with ALL of my online classes that I have taken in my graduate learning. Not only collaboration but in sharing personal experiences when appropriate.
Ch 7 Lave and Wenger discuss legitimate peripheral participation. They believe learning online is first done peripherally. The learner's first experience is very limited. They are more likely to sit back and observe in the beginning. Gradually they will start doing more in the community and eventually gain full membership. I feel that this can be seen in any community online or not. Most people are a little timid and will sit back and observe the rules (spoken and unspoken) of the community before they jump in. (they put their toe in the water to test it out first) Once they feel more familiar with the community, then they will do more and more in the community until they are full members.
Ch 8. Views on learning. The first view is that learning is an individual process that can be encouraged or discouraged depending on the interaction of others. Another way to put this is positive or negative reinforcement. The second view is that individual learning and social interactions are different aspects of learning. Vygotsky believes there are two steps in acquiring new knowledge or a new ability. 1 is that learning emerges as it is distributed among others. (see one, do one, teach one) 2. learning is mastered by individuals. I feel that learning is a combination of all the above. Learning is an individual process. If someone really doesn't want to learn something, they won't. The see one, do one, teach one. When you have to teach something, you learn it inside and out. That also implies mastering the subject.
de Jong, F.P.C.M., Veldhuis-Diermanse, E., & Lutgens, G. (2001). Computer-supported collaborataive learning in uniersity and vocational education. In T. Koschmann, R. Hall, & N. Miyake (Eds.), CSCL2: Carrying Forward the Conversation (pp. 111-127). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc
Kaptelinin, V. & Cole, M. (2001). Individual and collective activities in educational computer game playing. In T. Koschmann, R. Hall & N. Miyake (Eds.) CSCL2: Carrying Forward the Conversation (pp. 297-346). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc
Oshima, J., & Oshima, R. (2001). Cooridination of asynchronous and synchronous communication: differences in qualities of knowledge advancement discourse between experts and novices. In T. Koschmann, R. Hall, & N. Miyake (Eds.), CSCL2: Carrying Forward the Conversation (pp. 55-109). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc
Suzuki, H., & Kato, H. (2001). Identity formation/transformation as a process of collaborataive learning of programming using algoarena. In T. Koschmann, R. Hall, and N. Miyake (Eds.) CSCL2: Carrying Forward the Conversation (pp. 275-296). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc
Ch 3 Knowledge forum. The study was to take university students and vocational students and their learning. Both groups were enthusiastic with the program. Each group had a little different needs from the online community though. The vocational students needed a little more coaching than the university students. Yes the instructors need to monitor and occasionally steer the group. The students did like the collaboration they received in the forum. They felt like this can not be done as effectively in a classroom setting. In a classroom setting, collaboration is not encouraged like it is in an online setting. Collaboration has been a major learning tool for online learning. This is seen with ALL of my online classes that I have taken in my graduate learning. Not only collaboration but in sharing personal experiences when appropriate.
Ch 7 Lave and Wenger discuss legitimate peripheral participation. They believe learning online is first done peripherally. The learner's first experience is very limited. They are more likely to sit back and observe in the beginning. Gradually they will start doing more in the community and eventually gain full membership. I feel that this can be seen in any community online or not. Most people are a little timid and will sit back and observe the rules (spoken and unspoken) of the community before they jump in. (they put their toe in the water to test it out first) Once they feel more familiar with the community, then they will do more and more in the community until they are full members.
Ch 8. Views on learning. The first view is that learning is an individual process that can be encouraged or discouraged depending on the interaction of others. Another way to put this is positive or negative reinforcement. The second view is that individual learning and social interactions are different aspects of learning. Vygotsky believes there are two steps in acquiring new knowledge or a new ability. 1 is that learning emerges as it is distributed among others. (see one, do one, teach one) 2. learning is mastered by individuals. I feel that learning is a combination of all the above. Learning is an individual process. If someone really doesn't want to learn something, they won't. The see one, do one, teach one. When you have to teach something, you learn it inside and out. That also implies mastering the subject.
de Jong, F.P.C.M., Veldhuis-Diermanse, E., & Lutgens, G. (2001). Computer-supported collaborataive learning in uniersity and vocational education. In T. Koschmann, R. Hall, & N. Miyake (Eds.), CSCL2: Carrying Forward the Conversation (pp. 111-127). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc
Kaptelinin, V. & Cole, M. (2001). Individual and collective activities in educational computer game playing. In T. Koschmann, R. Hall & N. Miyake (Eds.) CSCL2: Carrying Forward the Conversation (pp. 297-346). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc
Oshima, J., & Oshima, R. (2001). Cooridination of asynchronous and synchronous communication: differences in qualities of knowledge advancement discourse between experts and novices. In T. Koschmann, R. Hall, & N. Miyake (Eds.), CSCL2: Carrying Forward the Conversation (pp. 55-109). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc
Suzuki, H., & Kato, H. (2001). Identity formation/transformation as a process of collaborataive learning of programming using algoarena. In T. Koschmann, R. Hall, and N. Miyake (Eds.) CSCL2: Carrying Forward the Conversation (pp. 275-296). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc
Saturday, February 13, 2010
TappedIN
The website I observed was Tappedin. There is a definition on the opening page of who are in the community. There is a link for those who are not familiar with this online community. There are also links to past newsletters, events calendar and a help page as well as a member or guest login. As I logged in, I found it interesting that it logs your IP address and you have to verify you are over the age of 18. You also have the option to enable live chat.
Once you are granted access, it takes you to the reception desk. It tells you the hours the help desk staff is there and if you have any questions, this is the place to ask them. This is very helpful when you are going into an area you are unfamiliar with. You can search “In this building”, “on this floor”, disussions, etc. I looked “in the building”. This area has different areas of learning broken down. For example, there are discussions for different subjects like art, language, math, science as well as subjects taught in technology and vocational schools. You can go into one of these areas and see personal members offices. There is also a section listed as featured passageways. These are areas of interest that members can go into to see references or look at discussion links.
This is an example of a knowledge-based learning community. The members are teachers/instructors or those studying to be a teacher/instructor. The teachers have the opportunity to communicate with other teachers. It is not limited to one subject. They can communicate with all teachers. The area I went into was titled “Teacher in training”. This area has a link section that are recommended for those interested in reading/learning more. There is also an introduction area where you can post a little bit about yourself. There is an administrator over this discussion board. She posts a brief welcome to those that post here. Some of the posts go back to 2007. There is not a lot of action in this particular discussion board. However, the goal is to introduce yourself and tell a little bit about where you want to study.
The structure of the community is that there is an “owner”. You are able to click on the owners name and you are able to see their profile. It states where they are from, what their experience is from and how long they have been a member of Tappedin. It also lists the other groups they are owners or members of. People can send messages directly to the owner or post to the discussion board. At the bottom of the screen you can see if there are any other members on line. You then have the opportunity to chat with who ever is in the “room”.
The identity of the group depends on which group you are entered in. When you look at the members in the room with you, you can see behind their name what role they play in the group. For instance, in the room I am in, there is one person that is working in the reception desk that is present as well as one member that has an office in TappedIn. Since I have been signed on as a quest, I have noticed no activity at all in a room.
From what I have been able to ascertain, the members of TappedIn have been members for several years. They are also active in more than one group. They are also from several different countries. The learning is done by several different ways, by online chatting, posting on discussion boards and also responding to others posts on the discussion boards. The owner of the discussion board responds to all those that post a comment. She answers questions as well as asks questions. This allows for dialog between the two and allows others to ask their own questions. The most helpful thing I have noticed is the links that are listed. These can be helpful resources in the forms of websites or documents.
I don’t know if I just got on at the wrong time. For me, I didn’t get a lot out of this group. However, I didn’t have anyone else on where I was looking. I looked in several different areas but only wrote about one. I would have thought that since this was an international community that there would be more activity around the clock. One suggestion I could make is when you sign on as a guest, they should have the next information on what to expect as far as how to get information instead of leaving it for someone to go into the FAQ’s. When I did go into the FAQ’s, is talks about those that are already members and their problems of forgetting their log in name and password. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information on how to use the site effectively.
Once you are granted access, it takes you to the reception desk. It tells you the hours the help desk staff is there and if you have any questions, this is the place to ask them. This is very helpful when you are going into an area you are unfamiliar with. You can search “In this building”, “on this floor”, disussions, etc. I looked “in the building”. This area has different areas of learning broken down. For example, there are discussions for different subjects like art, language, math, science as well as subjects taught in technology and vocational schools. You can go into one of these areas and see personal members offices. There is also a section listed as featured passageways. These are areas of interest that members can go into to see references or look at discussion links.
This is an example of a knowledge-based learning community. The members are teachers/instructors or those studying to be a teacher/instructor. The teachers have the opportunity to communicate with other teachers. It is not limited to one subject. They can communicate with all teachers. The area I went into was titled “Teacher in training”. This area has a link section that are recommended for those interested in reading/learning more. There is also an introduction area where you can post a little bit about yourself. There is an administrator over this discussion board. She posts a brief welcome to those that post here. Some of the posts go back to 2007. There is not a lot of action in this particular discussion board. However, the goal is to introduce yourself and tell a little bit about where you want to study.
The structure of the community is that there is an “owner”. You are able to click on the owners name and you are able to see their profile. It states where they are from, what their experience is from and how long they have been a member of Tappedin. It also lists the other groups they are owners or members of. People can send messages directly to the owner or post to the discussion board. At the bottom of the screen you can see if there are any other members on line. You then have the opportunity to chat with who ever is in the “room”.
The identity of the group depends on which group you are entered in. When you look at the members in the room with you, you can see behind their name what role they play in the group. For instance, in the room I am in, there is one person that is working in the reception desk that is present as well as one member that has an office in TappedIn. Since I have been signed on as a quest, I have noticed no activity at all in a room.
From what I have been able to ascertain, the members of TappedIn have been members for several years. They are also active in more than one group. They are also from several different countries. The learning is done by several different ways, by online chatting, posting on discussion boards and also responding to others posts on the discussion boards. The owner of the discussion board responds to all those that post a comment. She answers questions as well as asks questions. This allows for dialog between the two and allows others to ask their own questions. The most helpful thing I have noticed is the links that are listed. These can be helpful resources in the forms of websites or documents.
I don’t know if I just got on at the wrong time. For me, I didn’t get a lot out of this group. However, I didn’t have anyone else on where I was looking. I looked in several different areas but only wrote about one. I would have thought that since this was an international community that there would be more activity around the clock. One suggestion I could make is when you sign on as a guest, they should have the next information on what to expect as far as how to get information instead of leaving it for someone to go into the FAQ’s. When I did go into the FAQ’s, is talks about those that are already members and their problems of forgetting their log in name and password. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information on how to use the site effectively.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Week 3 Readings ch 5,7, 8 and 11, 12
I am going to wrap all of these chapters up in one big discussion instead of breaking each down and having several long discussions. I feel that these chapters all go together as far as the ideas that came to my mind.
I feel that to be a professional, it would be nice to have the time and resources at work to be able to connect with other professionals and ask questions and have informational sharing. In the real world(nursing), we do not have that luxury. We also don't have the equipment. We hardly have enough equipment(computers) to do our required work. We do most of the learning on our own time on our own equipment. Like I have said in other posts, I would hope that, as professionals, we are honest with one another. We are telling the truth and stating facts. It is nice when we are presented with information that makes us think. In nursing, at least for me, every patient is a puzzle. No two symptoms are exactly the same so no two treatments are exactly the same. It keeps the mind stimulated. This is what a professional site should be able to do as well as answer any questions you have.
In reqard to online learning, I like how the WISE program allows students the opportunity to work on a problem and when they get stuck, they can ask for hints. This allows students to use critical thinking skills to try to work out the issue on their own. If they get stuck, instead of getting frustrated, they can use the hints.
In online learning, since there is such a diverse group, or can be, we can all learn from each other. Collaboration is essential. Why should we reinvent the wheel when someone out there has already tried everything we have. We need to gain knowledge from those out there who have been doing this longer than we have. In health care, sometimes you never see certain diseases or conditions. Then, one day you have a patient come in with something you have read about in nursing school 15 years ago. I would turn to someone who deals with the disease on more frequently and knows the ins and outs. You don't learn everything from books. Experience is a great teacher and if you can learn from another, why not?
I know that online community involvement comes and goes as far as members are concerned. However, it is there when you need it. There are also others on there that if they know something about your question, or someone who can answer your question, they can get in touch with them. Then they can get your answer. Sometimes it's not what you know but who you know. Sometimes that will get you far. Sometimes you just need to be directed to the right people to gain the best information.
Again, I tried to condense all the information because I felt like I rattled on too much last week.
I feel that to be a professional, it would be nice to have the time and resources at work to be able to connect with other professionals and ask questions and have informational sharing. In the real world(nursing), we do not have that luxury. We also don't have the equipment. We hardly have enough equipment(computers) to do our required work. We do most of the learning on our own time on our own equipment. Like I have said in other posts, I would hope that, as professionals, we are honest with one another. We are telling the truth and stating facts. It is nice when we are presented with information that makes us think. In nursing, at least for me, every patient is a puzzle. No two symptoms are exactly the same so no two treatments are exactly the same. It keeps the mind stimulated. This is what a professional site should be able to do as well as answer any questions you have.
In reqard to online learning, I like how the WISE program allows students the opportunity to work on a problem and when they get stuck, they can ask for hints. This allows students to use critical thinking skills to try to work out the issue on their own. If they get stuck, instead of getting frustrated, they can use the hints.
In online learning, since there is such a diverse group, or can be, we can all learn from each other. Collaboration is essential. Why should we reinvent the wheel when someone out there has already tried everything we have. We need to gain knowledge from those out there who have been doing this longer than we have. In health care, sometimes you never see certain diseases or conditions. Then, one day you have a patient come in with something you have read about in nursing school 15 years ago. I would turn to someone who deals with the disease on more frequently and knows the ins and outs. You don't learn everything from books. Experience is a great teacher and if you can learn from another, why not?
I know that online community involvement comes and goes as far as members are concerned. However, it is there when you need it. There are also others on there that if they know something about your question, or someone who can answer your question, they can get in touch with them. Then they can get your answer. Sometimes it's not what you know but who you know. Sometimes that will get you far. Sometimes you just need to be directed to the right people to gain the best information.
Again, I tried to condense all the information because I felt like I rattled on too much last week.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Ch 1-3/Times reflections
Times article -- implications to eduction
Unfortunately, since the web is such a huge entity, there is no way to accurately evaluate and insure that all the information that is presented is correct and used for educational purposes. Also, some people us the web just for fun. Sometimes the information presented is from personal experience. We all know that personal experience can taint what truly happens. Does that make that person wrong? Personally I think it is too great a task to regulate all postings that are in virtual communities. Whose responsibility would it be? What about freedom of speech? (within the confines of the rules of the web to profanity, etc)
Question 2 All experts???
Definitely not. Have you heard the saying a little bit of knowledge is dangerous? Unfortunately there is a lot of information out there that people can access. Not all of it is accurate. Also, sometimes people only look at the general information and not look any deeper. For example, if you were to google an autoimmune disorder, at one time or another, everyone would say they have that. If you look just look at the general description, you are not getting to the heart of the matter. You really have to do your research to find out all the differences. Most people are not willing to do that. They want the quick information. Usually that is not the information they really need. If we (the health care providers) listen to what the patient/family wants for their treatment, that is not always the right information. That is why we go to school and study and take a national test. Another thinkg is that eevn if you had the knowledge, can you also perform the duties required for that profession in a safe and accurate manner. Book smart is one thing. Being able to also perform those duties is the real factor.
Question 3 - Education and structure change
As we have all seen in the last few years, education is going away from classrooms and more to internet or online learning. Like we do for this class, we all sign on to a digital classroom instead of meeting in a lecture hall. We all post on blogs or discussion boards in order to communicate with each other. This benefits a lot of people. We have first hand evidence of this since one of the class is in the middle east. This brings alot of those unable to attend structured classes educational opportunities and allows them to better themselves. It is bringing education closer to the masses.
As we see in the reading about the math forum, having this as an educational tool would help alleviate the shortage of teachers if we could utilize this in a little different capacity. Having web sites like this one for every subject for every class level would lead to all students having the same education nation wide. This would hopefully lead to better test scores and a higher rate of graduates. Yes this would be a huge undertaking but it is possible.
Question 4 - future of nursing education
I believe all classes that do not require skills labs or clinicals will eventually end up going digital. That how it is now with the graduate courses. I believe that it will trickle down and start being used in the bachelor programs for those classes as well. This allows for more students to be enrolled since there is no restriction on how many students can fit into an actual classroom. One thing that I find funny is that OU has a nursing program in San Diego. This allows students the opportunity to go to any university no matter where they live. They can just get online and attend the university. This leads to more competition between the schools and that is better for students.
Unfortunately, since the web is such a huge entity, there is no way to accurately evaluate and insure that all the information that is presented is correct and used for educational purposes. Also, some people us the web just for fun. Sometimes the information presented is from personal experience. We all know that personal experience can taint what truly happens. Does that make that person wrong? Personally I think it is too great a task to regulate all postings that are in virtual communities. Whose responsibility would it be? What about freedom of speech? (within the confines of the rules of the web to profanity, etc)
Question 2 All experts???
Definitely not. Have you heard the saying a little bit of knowledge is dangerous? Unfortunately there is a lot of information out there that people can access. Not all of it is accurate. Also, sometimes people only look at the general information and not look any deeper. For example, if you were to google an autoimmune disorder, at one time or another, everyone would say they have that. If you look just look at the general description, you are not getting to the heart of the matter. You really have to do your research to find out all the differences. Most people are not willing to do that. They want the quick information. Usually that is not the information they really need. If we (the health care providers) listen to what the patient/family wants for their treatment, that is not always the right information. That is why we go to school and study and take a national test. Another thinkg is that eevn if you had the knowledge, can you also perform the duties required for that profession in a safe and accurate manner. Book smart is one thing. Being able to also perform those duties is the real factor.
Question 3 - Education and structure change
As we have all seen in the last few years, education is going away from classrooms and more to internet or online learning. Like we do for this class, we all sign on to a digital classroom instead of meeting in a lecture hall. We all post on blogs or discussion boards in order to communicate with each other. This benefits a lot of people. We have first hand evidence of this since one of the class is in the middle east. This brings alot of those unable to attend structured classes educational opportunities and allows them to better themselves. It is bringing education closer to the masses.
As we see in the reading about the math forum, having this as an educational tool would help alleviate the shortage of teachers if we could utilize this in a little different capacity. Having web sites like this one for every subject for every class level would lead to all students having the same education nation wide. This would hopefully lead to better test scores and a higher rate of graduates. Yes this would be a huge undertaking but it is possible.
Question 4 - future of nursing education
I believe all classes that do not require skills labs or clinicals will eventually end up going digital. That how it is now with the graduate courses. I believe that it will trickle down and start being used in the bachelor programs for those classes as well. This allows for more students to be enrolled since there is no restriction on how many students can fit into an actual classroom. One thing that I find funny is that OU has a nursing program in San Diego. This allows students the opportunity to go to any university no matter where they live. They can just get online and attend the university. This leads to more competition between the schools and that is better for students.
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