New structures and spaces

So what will a student look like in 10 years? After reading the prescribed text  – New structures and spaces of learning: The systemic impact of connective knowledge, collectivism and networked learning by George Siemens – I can conclude that a student will be a self regulated, knowledge seeking person who uses haptic devices, research, virtual worlds and networks to gain new resources to develop there ideas.  Technological developments will permit students to experience real life events and experiment new approaches linked to the theory of interest.

What would be the role of the educator? How would we teach? The educator would not teach per say – they would guide leaning and connect the learners to experts of interest. The educator or mentor would be available to give advice and would push the learner to be self regulating and self exploring. The educator would teach the learner to become self directed and self reliant and would direct the learner to pockets of knowledge that can connect them to knowledge,

What would be the role of the learner? As mentioned before the learner would have to be self regulated, self directed and willing to participate in collectivism through networks. They would use digital devices and media to collect and create knowledge

How would curriculum be created? Shared? Each context would provide learning that has a structured cohort manner, learning plans and scheduled starting dates. The learner will pursue a structured pathway and engage in learning through research and participatory connections. The educator would provide the curriculum by giving guidelines on what needs to be covered and the learner would share these guidelines and gain and create knowledge through connections made in networks and participatory forums.

How would research be conducted? Students and educators would conduct research though networks and supportive learning ecologies like the internet. Everyone would participate in open and diverse classrooms formed by blogs and virtual learning spaces – students, experts and educators would exchange ideas, make connections and draw conclusions from the shared knowledge present. Students and educators will also use collectives and filters to conduct research and collect relevant knowledge

What would be the role of the university in society? Universities and schools would be facilitator organisation that would provide mentors and technological guidance to the student on how to learn. They would link students to experts and fellow participants and ensure that there is consistent knowledge sharing and creation

What would education “look like”?How would we mark? Accredit? A hard question to answer but I think they will be no physical schools but instead a hub where students can connect to other learners around the world. Educators would mark on participation and understanding of the knowledge gained and created. It would be a peer marking system where the educator and expert would connect to look at the knowledge gained by the student. A very hard question to answer because there are so many way this could be done.

I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this paper and these questions.

References

Dron, J., & Anderson, T. (2014). Teaching crowds: Learning and social media. Athabasca University Press.

Siemens, G. (2008). New structures and spaces of learning: The systemic impact of connective knowledge, connectivism, and networked learning. Actas Do Encontro Sobre Web.

SAMR – Playing the harp and learning about NGL

Like Charmedlearning I wanted to give my insight to SAMR and how I am using it in this course but also how I am using it to develop a new skill i.e. playing the harp.

SAMR is a model used to infuse technology into learning and teaching. As educators we need to move away from the traditional way of learning and use SAMR to promote knowledge creation and collaboration in tomorrows learners. For me this is where I am with SAMR.

For this course: – 

Substitution – I read web sites and notes on how to play the harp. I use interactive tools to play it (I do not own a harp) and I use You Tube, the course notes and social media networks such as twitter to learn about NGL.

Augmentation – I bookmark web pages that help me learn about the harp and playing it. I share notes on NGL, learning and how education is changing via diigo. I also use twitter to share my ideas on education and follow my colleague who writes a lot about learning tools and how they work.

Modification – I download articles shared by David on his blog and others and use the diigo annotate button to write notes on articles. Me downloading diigo onto my toolbar is a BIG step forward. Now I am using it 🙂

Redefinition – sharing my ideas via this blog. Reading the blogs of others on this course and collaborating via comments are all helping me design and create teaching ideas related to NGL.

Me in Gereral

Up until this year I was on the substitution level but because of this course and the demands of teaching in today’s world I think I am now at the Augmentation stage of this model. I regularly use google chrome  bookmarks to link to webpages of interest. I am currently working on a new curriculum design with my work colleagues via google docs.

I do not think I have yet reached the Modification and/or redefinition stage of SAMR but feel that I am gaining great ideas from course readings and fellow students via blogs and interaction.

Just reading the course notes and blogs from this week has made me want to engage in Wiki discussions, virtual learning worlds such as second life and open education projects such as Ted talks – all of which will help me advance (I hope) onto the modification and redefinition stages of SAMR.

Finally I want to share a link I found on SAMR – I found it very useful. It is an interesting read and gives links to many more articles/web pages/interactive tools on SAMR.

Please enjoy – SAMR and Blooms.

Me as a teacher – what I do now.

At the moment my teaching style is a mix of both the behaviorism and the cognitive leaning theories. I plan to extend existing knowledge using existing schema ( the national curriculum and learning resources made by other teachers), previous experiences (I relate learning to real life and my experiences as a learner), rewards and punishments.

In my classroom, learners are provided with a stimulus to respond to . They are given clear objectives for each class and use problem solving skills to respond to the stimulus provided. A lot of the activities presented by me for the learner to engage in are task based. The learners are organised around a task and work intently together for a specified period of time to produce a product and knowledge that benefits them (Riel & Polin, 2004).

Learning in my classroom consists of note taking, listening to lecture styled explanations, interaction with text books and the internet and discussions. At the moment, learners in my classroom do not engage or use participate technologies such as wikis and virtual learning to communicate and collaborate.

As a teacher I collaborate with learners by discussing relevant information and guiding them towards sources that give easily understood information. I create and find questions that are relevant to the topic that is being covered and direct students in completing those questions using information that I have given or helped them find.

I agree with what Rebeccawhite has said about there always being a role for teachers but also agree with Murra Mumma’s suggestion that in the future the teachers role will not be in the classroom but in the virtual world of learning. I then worry how will educators keep up with the extensive network changes that pop up daily. I guess that we as educators will also become learners and collaborate to create new knowledge and connections.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge that learning never stops, it just changes into a different form. At the moment we are leaning towards learning via networks and collaboration with other learners. However, tomorrows learners will create new ways of learning and knowledge creation – a more proficient way of leaning that will create successful and educated people and as educators we must adapt and apply this new way.

Riel, M., & Polin, L. (2004). Online learning communities: Common ground and critical differences in designing technical environments. In S. A. Barab, R. Kling, & J. Gray (Eds.), Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning (pp. 16–50). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Siemens, G. (2008). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. ITFORUM for Discussion, 1-26.

Digital Literacy

So what is digital literacy. After reading the blogs written by Alex, Charmedlearning and David, I can come to the conclusion that digital literacy is effectively using technology to participate in NGL.

When I cam across the blog called Student reflections (forgive me I could not find your name) I was intrigued by the reflection on digital learning.

I totally agree with what is written here about digital literacy. Becoming good at communicating effectively is about developing your craft with the tools of NGL. However, I want to put my swing onto this thread of thinking.

For me, developing the skill to use technology effectively is like learning how to ride a bike – you start off with the training wheels on – you are a bit wobbly and the task of getting your feet moving while watching where you are going and keeping your balance is hard. But you get better as you practice – its all about persisting and practicing. You soon can ride without the training wheels, your free falling down a hill and you start to enjoys the movement of your legs while the wind blows in your face.

If you don’t cycle for a while its easy to get back into it. As they say – once you learn how to ride a bike you will never forget.

For me, using technology has been a bit like learning how to ride a bike – I was very wobbly to start with but soon got into the groove of things. I regularly though I could not do it, I did not have time to do it but somehow I am doing it – I am leaning new things every day about learning and teaching using NGL and digital literacy – things that I though I would never use (back in the day of me hand writing notes while reading journal after journal and not collaborating with others).

As charmed learning said in her blog digital literacy and NGL are connected and seeking, sensing and sharing what you have learned – something you can do using digital literacy and NGL –  is the key to  a successful future learning environment.

That’s all from me for now.

Sharon

NGL for young people

While browsing through the web looking for examples on how students can interact with other students from different parts of the world I found this – Voices of youth (http://www.unicef.org/voy/) It is a website developed by UNICEF to create an appropriate environment for children and adolescents to take part in discussions on current global issues and concerns. Young  people from around the world are asked to discuss relevant topics that are in the news these days. Young people interact with each other and generate knowledge that can be easily understood and portrayed.

They  discuss what is troubling them and give their opinions on what is happening in the world around them

In my opinion this is a very good network and global learning resource as it allows young people to collaborate, learn and grow their opinions.

This is something that I think that I could use in my future teaching practice.

Have a look it’s really good.

Communities in Education

Education has evolved from a rich knowledge based theory to a theory where people participate in activities to understand the knowledge rather than leaning it. These days people work on previously stated ideas/knowledge to gain an understanding and to create new knowledge/practice that initiates interest in a subject. People use learning communities to do this. There are three main types of learning communities outlined in Riel & Polin’s reading – Task based leaning communities, practice based learning communities, knowledge based learning communities and learning organisations.

As a Science teacher I regularly use task based leaning communities within my classroom. The curriculum calls for every student in senior Science to do a extended experimental investigation (EEI).  The students are given a broad topic in which they have to decide what they will investigate – they create a research question, do an investigation around this question and write a report based on their findings once the experimenting is done. They work in groups to do the experiment and write a report about their findings individually. I consider this to be a task based community because students are organised around a task and work intently together for a specified period of time to produce a product.

This practice could be developed on my part by introducing a networking aspect that links the work of my students to that of students in other school. The technologies that I would need to develop include  – a linking system (an email or blog) that every student can access easily, a storage system where participants could store the information gathered/developed and a conformation system that could could confirm the knowledge to be correct and accurate.

Being a teacher I am always on the look out for new ideas and ways to teach different topics. There are a number of practice based leaning communities within my school where teachers get together to discuss teaching ideas and strategies. Group members observe one another and discuss how practice could be improved. They share ideas and resources that can enhance teaching and learning.

This practice could be further improved by linking with other teachers from other schools. From reading Riel & Polin, I can conclude that technical environments like ‘the Math forum’, the Virtual High School and the Global Educator Network would be useful because they provide extensive online contexts for reflection on practice by teachers and educators.

Finally, Knowledge based Learning Communities is the base of project work incorporated by most subjects in schools. Students regularly collect data, organize it into easy readable formats and if its good teachers store it for future reference. This knowledge based learning could be enhanced by linking students to field experts that could give students access to tools that would help them gather the information and read the information collected to confirm or deny that it is valid.

As a teacher I regularly participate in knowledge based leaning communities and use them to help better my practice. I use websites (TES resources), learning forums (BBC bitesize) and online resources (Kahoot) to increase my teaching knowledge and resources.

The future holds a drastic change for schools and learning. In my opinion schools will no longer be physical places – there will be no classrooms and no direct student/teacher interaction. People will learning using, tutorials. forums and information supplied by network technologies. Teachers will become facilitators and students will have to learn how to collaborate and share knowledge over a virtual classroom that is supported by networking technologies and task/practice understanding rather than leaning.

Reference

Riel, M., & Polin, L. (2004). Online learning communities: Common ground and critical differences in designing technical environments. In S. A. Barab, R. Kling, & J. Gray (Eds.), Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning (pp. 16–50). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CLEM

So, after my last post I read weeks 4’s information and decided to categorise how I am leaning  to play the harp using the CLEM framework.

Here goes: –

• Community – http://www.playharp.com gives online lessons on how to play the harp. It teaches the learner what strings refers to what note and how to keep a rhythm/melody. You can ask question and leave comments on forums that will be answered by more experienced players or the creator of the website. I am also connect to music forums and whirpool.net where I can ask questions. Wikihow is also an invaluable source.
• Literature – The playharp website mentioned above contains literature and information on how to play different kinds of music on the harp. I have also used google scholar to look at music journals and websites that contain information on playing the harp
• Examples – the playharp website gives the player a virtual harp to play with. I have also watch numerous you tube videos featuring people playing songs I want to be able to play on the harp.
• Model – The online tutorials provided by the playharp website organises information on how to play the harp into an easy to understand way.

As you can see, I am relaying on the playharp website mostly – If you have any other suggestions please reply to this post.

Thanks, Bye,

Sharon

The Harp – 1

I have been reading (and watching) a lot of information on how to play the harp and I have been meaning (for a while) to write about my progress – here goes.

I received this information from Wikihow, pinterest and various other online communities.

Did you know that there are two main types of harps (Well, there are lots of types but two main types)? They are lever harps and pedal harps (I never knew harps had pedals). Lever harps have sharping levers at the top to change the notes. Pedal harps have seven pedals that can make notes flat, natural or sharp. Other less common styles include wire strung harps, double strung harps and Paraguagan harps.

So which one should I learn how to play on?? I have decided to learn how to play on the lever harp for a number of reasons: –

1. The lever harp gives a softer and warmer tone
2. It is light and can be transported easily
3. It is also suitable to use to play Celtic style music – something that is in my heritage (I am Irish) and I want to be able to play.
4. Cost – a lever harp cost between $900 to $1800 and a pedal harp costs nearly $15,000!!!!!!  (But I don’t think I will buy one until I know how to play it).

Anyway, I will leave it there for now. I will write again soon to keep you all posted on my interaction with online communities and tools to learn the harp. I hope everyone is enjoying using NGL to leaner a new skill – I certainly am.

Bye, Sharon

Week 3 – Groups, networks, sets or collectives.

Are the participants of NGL a group, network, collective or something else?

In one sense the participants of NGL have formed a group. We are cohesive, each participant writes distinct entries but the group can and will exist without the 2015 members. There are formal lines of authority – David is the course leader/teacher and the participants are enrolled as USQ students. There is a schedule that participants must abide by and the modes of interaction are characterised to groups i.e. many to many or one to many.

The participants of NGL could also be classed as a set. Each member of the NGL course are bound together by commonalities i.e. we are mostly teachers,  and /or share interests i.e. how to incorporate networked and global learning into out teaching and everyday lives. We are all learners that seek information about NGL and who take individual and networks into consideration when learning.

What are your experiences of groups, networks and collectives, in learning, teaching or life more generally? 

1. Groups – As a teacher I post PowerPoints, activities and notes on my school moodle page that I want students to access and learn from. As a student and learner I access notes and assignment help on USQ moodle. I can navigate around moodle easily and feel confident in posting and participating in learning on it.
2. Networks – I am an Irish woman who immigrated to Australia 5 years ago. I use facebook regularly to interact with my family and friends. I also use facebook as a channel of knowledge to discover what my friends and family are doing. I also read about what is happening in the world using links and posts on facebook. I am a BIG facebook user.
3. Sets – I do not have much experience in using sets. Since starting my masters I have read many academic journals and books. I have connected with people who have similar thoughts through forums. Because of this course I have joined twitter, something that I now like the thought of but still need to use it a bit more.
4. Collectives – I did not know what collectives were until I read Anderson and Dron but now I know what they are and believe that I use them a lot. I use google and amazon regularly to make sense of things. I even used google earlier in the course to help me set up twitter and a diigo toolbar on my chrome web browser.

Have you experienced sites such as Quora or Reddit? 

Before reading these notes I had not come across Quora or Reddit but now I am a participant/member of both.

Quora is a set and collective that can be linked to a blog, twitter or LinkedIn. I can see myself using this to expand my knowledge, make connections and help others. As a teacher Quora could help me link students to blogs which in turn would help them with their learning of a certain topic.

Reddit is also a set and collective. It engages me in answers to things I am interested in and connects me to other people who have similar interests but different thinking.

At first glance Quora is more refined and educational when compared to Reddit whereas Reddit is a little bit more out there with random posts and information that can lead a person off topic easily.

Which of these conceptions might be useful, which might be challenging or inappropriate, for your context “as teacher”?

Groups and sets would be useful for my context as a teacher. A group would maintain cohesiveness and direct students on what to use for learning.  A group would unite my students and with coordination would lead to student collaboration and restricted practice on the topic in hand.

Sets would encourage me and my students to interact with experts and people who have a shared interest. Sets would allow interaction with likeminded people and they would promote student autonomy and connectedness.

Collective’s would encourage students to join sets that link to the topic in hand and would result in a huge collection of resources that may be useful. However, if not used or filtered correctly, this large amount of information provided by the collective’s may overwhelm the learner and thus be inappropriate.

In my context networks would be inappropriate because they can distract the learners (secondary school students) and involve them in incorrect learning (not on topic learning). Network participation might also eat up time and result in missed time limits thus leading to students not meeting the course schedules.

Reference

Dron, J., & Anderson, T. (2014). Teaching crowds: Learning and social media. Athabasca University Press.

Week 2 activities

At the end of this weeks notes we were asked to complete a few tasks: –

1. Write a blog post that links to another post from another participant.
2. Write a blog post that has a YouTube video embedded in it.

Well here is my attempt in doing both of those activities.

While reading the blogs of the participants of this course I came across a lot of common ground. charmed learning spoke about how networked and global learning is making connections social and other wise and that the web is a useful tool that provides avenues for leaning that weren’t available to most people 20 years ago – this is something that I totally agree with, however, my concern is how will those of us taught in the industrial era (most of us doing this course) get a hold of this networked learning – a concern that I hear echoed in Mussa Mumma blog– how do we keep up with new programs, networked learning and social media that seems to be everywhere nowadays?

It is hard to keep up with new things but I believe that we need to ensure we have filters in place similar to what Clay Shirky suggests in his blog and on his you tube video posted in the week 2’s course notes. We need to use tagging, pinning, bookmarking and highlighting as well as refining out search methods to succeed – something that is introduced to us by Diigo and pinterest – two web tools that have been mentioned a lot in the course discussions and technologies that I am slowly getting my head around.

Finally, I have joined twitter because of this course and to expand my networked connections. I want to finish my blog with a you tube video I found that gives a quick guide on how to navigate around your twitter home page.

I hope I have embedded it correctly and that it helps new users.