ongoing integration of digital communications into online courses

THE ONGOING INTEGRATION OF

DIGITAL, COMMUNICATION, AND

VIRTUAL LITERACIES INTO ONLINE K12

SCIENCE EDUCATION . . . WITH POSSIBLE

APPLICATION TO OTHER EDUCATIONAL

VENTURES

Eileen O’Connor, Ph.D.

Eileen.oconnor@esc.edu

March 2013

AGENDA – WITH AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION Review of instructor course evolution, with

increasing digital literacies – The goal—to improve science-teacher education,

especially online; to build communities of learners A cycle with integration, testing, evaluation,

improvement & dissemination – ongoing & generative

Several focusing themes: Needing to map to the emerging world and live of

digital natives; ultimate K12 learners Expanding digital-literacy science teaching – and

assessing via video Helping adult learners in changing times – addressing

uncertainty . . . and making quality, open work Highlighting – YouTube / Wikis / Badging / Virtual

INSTRUCTOR PERSONAL LEARNING CYCLE:

Explore new technology - • Ie. YouTube; digital probes

Integrate into online or f2f• Align w/ course objectives

NOTE: community

building is an objective

Digital ethnography• Holistic study of the course

• IRB - process

Disseminate• Conferences & publications

• Slideshare – hist.

HOW CAN A LIVE PERFORMANCE

IMPROVE TEACHING & LEARNING?

Online can be more than simply text & discussion boards

Visual learning; dual coding theories; multiple intelligences; multi-lingual; information processing (brain based); 21st century skills

EXAMPLE: USING YOUTUBE FOR SCIENCE LESSON SHARING: To close the gap-move beyond writing

proxies (aka lesson plans) in science teacher education

Students were required to demonstrate a tech-in-science use related to their lessons and to share with class

Instructor could review equipment, presentation style, and competency . . . in addition to written planning documentation

Colleagues – learned from and about their peers

You & your online students get to know

each other

View students’

actual work

Students were creative in displaying data & its

use

Value to using YouTube, in general•Accessi

ble to most students

•Useful especially with online; improves student & teacher communication

Easily implemented

•Many facets can be studied

•Richer assessments possible since live materials can be readily reviewed

•Data can be saved, stored, compared over time

“Performance” can now be observed

•New questions arise about what is evidence of learning in the content area

New ways of teaching &

learning emerge

SO, HOW COULD YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM VIDEO? Instruction? Sharing? The “technology” is easy – but how do

you direct and assess a performance?

HOW CAN “WORKING TOWARDS PUBLIC SHARING” IMPROVE TEACHING & LEARNING?

Teams developed support wikis / votes on what to go public . . . and why

Communities of practice; situated learning; Vygotsky & social aspects of learning; 21st century skills

The assignmentprocessPlan & create

wiki w/ team

Anonymous peer

assessment

Instructor evaluation

Peer comments circulated

Some made revisions

Final vote of publication

ready

Instructor Evaluation of wiki

Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4

Coverage & quality

Well covered Adequate coverage

Well covered Well covered

K12 applications or background info

Well explained background info

Poorly explained; little info about

K12

Well explained Well explained

Formatting (not an evaluation criteria)

Excellent: multiple pages;

images used well; internal links

Fair: multiple pages; images used though

some were too large

Good: multiple pages; images

used well

Poor: one long page; infrequent

use of images

Grade given 98% 82% 94% 94%

Students’ comments:

Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4

Clarity & quality 4.4 out of 5 3.9 out of 5 4.5 out of 5 3.8 out of 5

Usefulness 4.5 out of 5 4.5 out of 5 4.8 out of 5 4.2 out of 5

% think public ready

85% 62% 92% 69%

Students comment on team work– some have misgivings % (#)

The team was supportive, in general 77% (10)

Working as a team improved over time 77% (10)

The team provided help with topic 46% (6)

Team provided help with organization of wiki 38% (5)

Would have worked differently alone 31% (4)

Would have worked better if alone 23% (3)

Students who said they were “nervous” about working in this format

23% (3)

“Everyone has different ideas and are working on different ideas so sometimes the page seems disjointed or the team is not working at the same pace.”

“At first, I thought working with a team would be a breeze because I would not have to bear the entire workload and the different perspectives would make the wiki better. As the assignment wore on I realized the difficulties of working with team members.”

•School endorsement? Ongoing updating? Professional presence?

Web issues

•No longer simply content provider

•Orchestrating / managing timetable & process; review liaison

•Involvement in the thinking/learning process

Instructor role shifts

•How do you evaluate the complexities of a process when the standard is “the paper”?

• Do students and institutions truly value this type of work?

Valuing / assessing

•Useful content created; a legacy

•Greater involvement & professionalism

•Incorporating & modeling future ways of learning

HOWEVER

So, how might you use peer-reviewed wikis/websites to improve instruction?

What topics / assignments would you have students share with the public?

How would you ensure quality? Again, the technologies are the easy part –

what do you want to do and how will you manage & assess?

WHAT WAYS CAN SKILLS & LEARNING BE REWARDED?

AND, HOW CAN PEERS HELP?

Establishing peer reviews – with badges – can increase interest &

distributed learning

Motivation theories; Vygotsky & peer support; distributed learning; 21st century skills

Use badges to validate

& have peer-

reviews of work done during K12

projects

Grad course• Create, model, make criteria, require, assess

• Elect which stays

Dean award• Ensure follow-up

Badges: ongoing / generative• for input, continuity, and ownership

Revisions /review• in later Grad course

EXPANDING WITH MORE INNOVATIONS – USINGHIGHER-ED COMPLEX PROJECTS TO GENERATE OPEN RESOURCES

Integrating student ideas &

badging into K12 teacher-prep

courses

Benefits & motivation REAL connections with & support

for science (Cornell; www.globe.gov; www.nasa.gov)

Science literacy; science sharing; extending & creating new knowledge and understanding; helping other nations

For example

Present study underway – with Amy McQuigge as co-researcher During an Emerging Technology course

students award badges to Prezi, Facebook, Websites, YouTubes and such as they are being created to meet course objectives;

Models a new approach that these students might use in their future;

Adapt and adopt as moving through course needs and requirements;

More at SUNY Conference in Instruction & Technology May 2013

SO, HOW COULD BADGES BENEFIT YOUR STUDENTS?

-- Encourage reflection around course criteria?

-- Provide evidence of outside-the-course accomplishments?

-- Ensure learning from others?

Where, how, & why can virtual realities create more engagement, ownership, context, & community?

With infinite applications (you design the environment), immersive learning makes:◦distance more “real”◦the impossible, possible◦caring more apparent

Community of practice; motivation; context & visualizations; simulations; 21st century skills

MAT Science Center – meetings & presentations

and, meeting the Dean

Students across the state give virtual presentations

Posters: presented to the class & to judges (former students) > votes too

Teaching others, across the state or the world

Individual support to faculty members . . . who can now present their areas of expertise to your online students

Before the presentation –

helping with getting ready . . . and any

stage fright

From a development & fun six months with the Mall of the Universe to SER/VE (the project on the next pages) ◦Students developed a shopping mall

economy

Moving to K12

These middle school students created sophisticated interiors

. . . a very mobile environment

Then we moved

to a science project

An animated co-instructor helped with the weekly requirements – AKA, DaddyDarren Denver

For the final presentations

Judges came from the teacher-

education classes

Overall: Many ways to develop, create,

meet, and share in virtual reality; ESC has had virtual holdings

since 2004; NOTE: you can tape a virtual

meeting – machinima

How could you and your students meet, share, and visit? How can seeing an avatar & context make a distance community more real?

In closingDigital closes gaps, preserves

interactions, extends across time and geography, empowers multiple learning styles;

Experiment, experiment, experiment

Assess, assess, assessShare, share, sharePlease contact me for more info – eileen.occonnor@esc.edu

Selected peer-reviewed publications and a book chapterO’Connor, E.A. (2013). Next generation online: advancing learning through dynamic design, virtual and web 2.0 technologies, and instructor attitude. (in press, Journal of Educational Technology Systems).O’Connor, E. A. (2012). Developing effective online collaborative science projects by using course scaffolding, a virtual world, and web 2.0 technologies. In Proceeding of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2012 (pp. 2192-2198). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.Abendroth, M.A., Golzy, J., & O’Connor, E.A. (2012). Self-created YouTube recordings of microteachings: their effects upon candidates’ readiness for teaching and instructors’ assessment. Journal of Educational Technology Systems. 40(2), 141-159.O’Connor, E. A. (2012). A survival guide from an early adopter: how Web 2.0 and the right attitude can enable learning and expansive course design. Journal of Educational Technology Systems. 40(2), 194-209.; O’Connor, E. (2011). Practical considerations when using virtual spaces for learning and collaboration, with minimal setup and support. In H. H. Yang, & S. C. Yuen (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Practices and Outcomes in Virtual Worlds and Environment. Hershey PA: IGI Global.O'Connor, E. (2011). Migrating Towards K12 in Virtual Spaces: Second Life Lessons Learned as Higher Education Meets Middle School Students. In Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2011 (pp. 2192-2198). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.O’Connor, E. A. (2010- 2011) The effect on learning, communication, and assessment when student-created YouTubes of microteaching were used in an online teacher-education course. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 39(2), pp. 135-154. O’Connor, E. (2010). The Use of a Wiki in Teacher Education: How Does Learning and Instruction Change When Work Can Go Public?. In D. Gibson & B. Dodge (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2010 (pp. 2822-2829). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. O'Connor, E. A. (2009). Instructional and Design Elements that Support Effective Use of Virtual Worlds: What Graduate Student Work Reveals about Second Life. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 38(2), 213-234.O’Connor, E. A. and Sakshaug, L. (2009) Preparing for Second Life: Two Teacher Educators Reflect on Their Initial Foray into Virtual Teaching and Learning, Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 37(3), pp. 259-272.O'Connor, E. (2008). Becoming a Virtual Instructor: How Can Higher Education Faculty Prepare for Second Life?. In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2008 (pp. 1144-1149). Chesapeake, VA: AACE; O'Connor, E. A. (2008). Initial Study of Pre-Service Teachers' Comments on a Reality-Based, Urban-Student Video Streamed within an Online Course. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 37(2), 139-157. Oconnor, E. (2007). Using Reality-Based, Authentic Streamed-Videos and Online Conversations to Prepare Pre-Service Teachers for Urban Classrooms: A Pilot Study. In T. Bastiaens & S. Carliner (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2007 (pp. 1179-1184). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. O'Connor, E. A. (2007). A Case Study of the Approach to Teaching and to Technology of Three New Teachers in an Alternative Teacher Certification Program. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 35(3), 357-382.