injenuity

When I began researching virtual worlds a year ago, I had difficulty finding the value for educators. In all my research, the best examples I could find, were those involving social activities and communications studies, such as Sarah Robbins’ rhetoric classes. While there were stellar examples of scientific simulations, I couldn’t see the pedagogical value in them. I have struggled to support education in virtual worlds, made even more difficult when people realize I wrote the trends analysis they frequently reference.

In the last few weeks, I have discovered a side of Second Life (SL) I had not previously explored. In all my research, I never used it as a place to meet with people I already know and associate with outside SL. Our State Board has purchased an island in SL and I have volunteered to participate in the development and management. I have held back, not wanting to give a harsh opinion or influence the potential growth. We have attempted a few chaotic meetings, but nothing I would consider a success. This week we will be running a workshop for faculty and I’ve offered to help facilitate. At the same time, Alec Couros will be introducing his grad students to SL and conducting a tour.

With so many familiar participants, I jumped back into SL and was suddenly struck by the difference in my perception while experiencing the virtual world with others. I’ve met with a few other network friends in SL, but usually it was a short meeting with a particular purpose. The recent activities have all centered around exploring and learning. I have been amazed at how quickly we have been able to share our SL knowledge and ramp up our in-world skills. Cindy picked it up and became a pro in one day! I think the new voice features have helped me transition my opinion and realize there is potential value in SL for learning.

One of the greatest things I have found is that it continues to strengthen the bonds between the members of my network. Rob Wall began examining these connections and I proposed that part of the development of these connections was our link to others who have met in person. I also believe our connections are strengthened when we connect with others through multiple media. Last night George Siemens invited the network to join him in a new tool, Chatterous. We had a light hearted conversation about how this was another dimension strengthening the network bonds.

I truly feel our connections are reinforced when we participate with the other members of our network on multiple planes. While I initially struggled with the idea of having to log into several platforms to communicate with an individual, I now recognize that these different tools allow us to learn more about our online colleagues and discover additional connection points. So many of us are isolated in our physical work environments, with very little connection to others performing the same work. I’ve previously likened Twitter to working in cubicles. Adding in richer tools, such as SL, seesmic, utterz, Chatterous, photophlow, dimdim, ustream and others helps to create a better simulation of a traditional work environment.

Now we are more than just cube-mates. We’ve had water cooler conversations, attended meetings together, gone to the company picnic, shared in the white-elephant giving at holiday parties, commiserated over management and infrastructure and celebrated our success stories. I can now add Second Life to my pool of social tools that add value to the professional relationships I have worked to create in my online network. I will give it a second chance and try to explore and publish more options for learners.

I have a confession to make.  I am guilty of encouraging instructors to avoid synchronous communications in online courses and focus on asynchronous discussion boards and other means of communication.  I think this started when I was a WebCT administrator and the synchronous tools never worked. It continued as I moved to another institution and faced the same challenges.  With a background in Workforce Education, I have respected the lives of the students and their need to access and engage with materials on their own time line.

Something has changed recently and I am beginning to see the value in synchronous communications.  For two months, I have been participating in informal tests, and formal course delivery through various communication platforms with members of the Twitter educator community. I believe it began with Alec Couros testing solutions for his graduate class.  I don’t recall how I became involved, but I’m sure I was looking for a fun way to put off something important!  Most recently, Alan Levine jumped into one of our jam sessions and was interested enough to post a reflection on the experience.

Initially, I was hesitant about being on camera.  I thought there was no reason for anyone to see me and anything I have to say could be posted in text form.  Text is accessible, can be searched, skimmed and studied, mixed up, cut and pasted and rewritten if necessary.  I did not see a  purpose for adding synchronous video to a course.  Now that I have seen tools that include video, audio, text chat, file and application sharing, white boards and moderator functions, I’ve made a change of heart.

I have witnessed engaged learners who stay late in sessions wanting to extend the experience.  I’ve participated in tests that have continued long past the time needed to evaluate the tool and discover applications for learning.  I have seen discussions that enhance the text-based media and provide depth and texture to a flat world of learning.  And now I know one of the secrets.

I should have thought of this right away, as I have taught customer service, management and feedback essentials.  I finally recognize the importance of a smile in learning engagement.  I am not saying it is essential, but it makes a difference and I believe it provides the type of feedback needed to explore metacognition and knowledge retention.  I found that when I was able to communicate successfully, even when using challenging tools, viewers would smile to acknowledge understanding.  I was also able to observe my own image and noted the times I smiled the most, were the times I was most engaged in the discussion and open to viewing and hearing new ideas.  I found great pleasure in communicating in a way that would elicit a smile from other participants.

I have yet to determine the best way to include live video in technical college education. For now, I will continue to model the tools by using ustream whenever I conduct professional development.  I am also hosting virtual office hours to support instructors.  I must give my usual disclaimer that I am not a research scientist, just an observer and incubator of ideas. I need to think of ways to incorporate these tools successfully with adult learners with schedule challenges.  I think I will be able to initially start by replacing a few face to face sessions by scheduling the online synchronous sessions at their typical classroom time.

Thank you to everyone who attended our session today, and especially to Cable for such an insightful look into the opportunities and challenges of Open Educational Resources.  Here are some useful links for those who wish to review or didn’t have a chance to attend the session. I have received some great responses on the evaluation and will share them on the wiki after everyone has had a chance to respond.

Session Recording

Continue the Conversation Wiki

Session Evaluation

BTC eLearning is delighted to host Dr. Cable Green presenting on
Developing a Culture of Sharing and Receiving: Open Educational
Resources.

When: February 11, 2008 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM PST
Where: Online via Elluminate

Instructions for setting up your computer.

Several organizations will be projecting the session for multiple viewers. We encourage all participants to Continue the Conversation after the event on our wiki.

Cable Green will lead a discussion on how the Washington Community and
Technical Colleges can actively participate in and contribute to the
Open Educational Resources (OER) movement.

He doesn’t have the answers but brings a host of questions that higher
education needs to wrestle with to increase learning opportunities,
lower costs, and form a more perfect global learning space.

* How do we educate all stakeholders about open educational resources
(software, content, standards, publishing) and why they are an important
part of our system’s future?
* How do we make it easy to share learning materials, courses and
degrees?
* What are the policy implications of sharing content? Are we all so
unique that we can’t use one another’s courses? How many different
Algebra 101 courses do we need?
* Under what circumstances will faculty “receive” what has been built by
others? How do we collectively get past the issue of “I need to build it
myself?”
* Is content is a strategic advantage? Or do walled gardens wither and
die without the winds of collective input and continuous iteration?
* How much longer can our students afford traditional textbooks? Why
can’t we develop open textbooks?
* How much longer can our libraries afford buying access to articles our
faculty published? What is stopping us from an open publishing movement
for academic journal articles?

——————————————-

Bio:

Dr. Cable Green is the Director of eLearning for the Washington State
Board for Community and Technical Colleges. The eLearning director
provides visionary leadership for the college system on issues related
to improving online education and implementing pioneering learning
technologies and practices.

Returning to the Northwest, Green earned his BS in international affairs
from Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. He holds a MPC from Westminster
College in Salt Lake City, a MA in communication from Ohio State, and a
PhD in educational technology from Ohio State University.

Dr. Green is a nationally recognized speaker on technology and education
issues and has more than eight years of online teaching experience. He
has a targeted interest in how educational technologies and connectivist
pedagogies can be successfully combined to help learners create, manage,
and contribute their work through open knowledge initiatives.

What if we established global peer partnerships for conducting and evaluating pre-service teacher observations? We use peer coaching. We use technology to enhance the observation process. Why not extend the reach and partner with pre-service teachers in other programs?

Yesterday I observed a class here at our technical college, with the intent to evaluate the structure, content, teaching style and student engagement to propose solutions to re-developing the course for online delivery. I brought a laptop and inexpensive web-cam and ustreamed the class.  The instructor notified the class in advance and provided release forms, although they were never handed out.  I posted a few times on Twitter inviting people to come join the chat.

Though the chat backchannel was an afterthought, if provided a valuable experience for the participants and gave me insight I would not have recognized on my own.  The chat participants arrived from all over the globe and from a range of perspectives, including students, administrators, professors and those simply curious about our activity.

I began to reflect on my experiences in a pre-service teacher training program, several years ago.  Our grant funded a professor to video tape the pre-service practicum experiences.  The students would then convert the tape to digital format and edit in iMovie.  This took forever and I just could not see the value.  They ended up spending very little time on their observations, as most of the time was spent figuring out the technology.

Times have changed and it is now common to digitally record and observe remotely.  What I began to see yesterday, was the value of including others outside the teaching college.  The conversation flowed and I learned much.  Some participants shared links and researched solutions live while the session was streaming.  We made observations on the students, instructor and technology and debated our proposed solutions.  I wondered how much more valuable it could have been if I had been prepared to guide the discussion, and spent more time promoting the activity.  What if we were able to stream student observations and create a global peer backchannel  to instantly provide feedback to the pre-service teacher?  I’ve attached the chat transcript and here is a link to a portion of the recording.  I may take these down soon, if I don’t receive permission to publish them, so look while you can!

Chat Transcript

Lately, I have been posting in other forums about Viral Professional Development (VPD). I have been speaking to folks responsible for PD in both K-12 and higher-ed about the inherent frustrations in transitioning faculty to eLearning. We all have unique programs, challenges and strategies. I am not a scientific researcher, but I have found a strategy that is working well and keeping pace with my goals, expectations and work load. I call my strategy, “Viral Professional Development,” or “VPD,” because it is based on the popular definition of “viral,” that refers to a technology, tool, or teaching strategy that is quickly spread from one person to another.

Characteristics of VPD:

• The most important characteristic of VPD is that the instructors learn to use the technology largely on their own and with support from each other as the enthusiasm spreads through the institution. Much of the success happens in informal learning spaces.
• You do not need a large staff to implement this. I am currently the only person responsible for eLearning at our institution, but I partner with other stakeholders to get the work done.
• You do need at least a few instructors who are early adopters, enthusiastic about learning and testing new technology and willing to share their knowledge, experience, and materials.
• You cannot spend time worrying about the instructors who refuse to adopt instructional technology. Just let it go. It’s not worth the time in the beginning of the program to try and convince them of the advantages of instructional technology. They need to see success from their peers first.
• You MUST build a network for your instructors. This can be developed on any platform you wish, but should have the ability for participants to create profiles, contribute to conversation and share media files. I use Ning because of the ease of use, flexibility, and stability. You could also use a blog or wiki.
• You must participate in external networking. There is absolutely no other way you can keep up with the technology and quickly find solutions for your instructors. My primary networking source is Twitter.
• Workshops are NOT the foundation of a successful VPD program. Although they may be one component, you can’t spend a great deal of time planning for workshops, scheduling resources, developing materials and dragging in folks who will just never use the technology.
• Open. Open. Open. Expect to share everything. Plan to blog, podcast, tag, post and push out useful tips you learn from your personal network. Invite outsiders to participate in your network. Collaborate!
• Celebrate every success. Spread the word. Pass it up the chain. Let the administration know what you are doing and who’s doing well.

How to get started:

• Set up an online home for your network.
• Seed the network with short pieces of relevant content that can have an instant effect. To quickly add content, insert your del.icio.us tag cloud, RSS feeds, youtube videos and other content that is readily available. Reply to every post your instructors make.
• Invite all your instructors, as well as people from your personal network and outside your system.
• Start joining in when people in your personal network post they are testing tools. Any time I can jump in on someone else’s test saves me a lot of time searching for a tool and people to try it with me.
• Model the tools and techniques you would like your instructors to use. If someone has a “how-to,” question, send them a screencast with the instructions and add on a little about how you made the screencast. If someone wants to talk about webconferencing tools, try one of them when you meet with the instructor to discuss it.
• Find out what software and hardware you have that is not being used. Get it in the hands of people who will use it.
• When instructors implement something new, ask them to share it with the network. Each time you meet with an instructor, share something another instructor is doing.
• Communicate at their comfort level. You may find you have many lurkers who don’t actively participate in the network, but send you email or call you with questions. That’s fine. There will be multiple levels of engagement and you can indulge them to keep the instructors active within their comfort zone.
• Every time you discover a new tool, think about the instructional purpose and either find an instructor who may be interested, or push it out to the whole network in the form of a screencast or blog post.
• Don’t forget about the learning. Don’t let enthusiasm over a new tool get in the way of the ultimate goal of transfer of learning. The “e” in eLearning should represent, “enhanced!”
• Iteratively evaluate your program. After a few months, you should be contributing less and instructors more.
• Have fun and let others see that you are having fun!

This is only a brief introduction and I anticipate many more blog posts about this concept as I grow the program here at BTC. eLearning is a major institutional priority right now and I am fortunate to have top-down support. Please feel free to respond with your particular challenges with this type of PD program and I will attempt to help you modify and revise to suit your needs.

Attribution:

Although I came up with this idea on my own, I thought I would Google and see if others had come to the same conclusion. I found this blog post by Steven Maher with the same title and an interesting activity for K-12 educators. This is the type of thinking that will get you going in the right direction.

This morning a few of my IT instructors and I tested dimdim, a free web conferencing tool now in beta.  I should start by saying that I don’t even remember when I applied for the beta.  It must have been quite some time ago, but I received credentials this morning.  It took me about 20 minutes to get it set up properly, with all the Firefox ad-ons.  I don’t know what browsers the others were using, but I will find out.  I also invited another attendee, who was unable to log in.

The UI is sleek and fairly easy to understand. When I set up the conference, I had options for audio and video, connection speed, etc.  My web cam and mic worked great.  We were also able to hear the instructor with a mic.  The chat room functioned well, as did the whiteboard.  I was unable to launch desktop sharing, application sharing or file upload.  I received an error with the desktop/app sharing and the entire session closed when I tried to upload a PPT.

I enabled camera and mic for all participants, but was unable to locate a way to access the other cameras. I was able to mute mine, but not share another.  There is a Feedback link at the top of the page, which we hoped would send feedback to dimdim. Unfortunately, it just sent the comments to the presenter. We performed two tests and they were consistent in terms of the challenges we faced.