KNOWLEDGE-MANAGEMENT BY »SOCIAL WRITING«

The Launch and Establishment of an Online-Writing Lab Using the Example of Citavi-Online-Tutorials at the Faculty of Cultural and

Social Sciences of the Distance-University in Hagen Germany

Sabine Siemsen

THE IDEA OF „SOCIAL WRITING“

Distance-University:

Learning Communities in Study-Courses

Great Heterogeneity (Age, Learning Background, Full- and Parttime Students)

Most parts of the study courses take part online (Moodle)

Target Group (Educational Science, Cultural Sciences)

A wide range of themes – numerous of those individual

Supervision and support often individual – lacks exchange, peer-support etc.

KNOWLEDGE-MANAGEMENT IN STUDY COURSES

At the Distance University Students are „supplied“ with written printed study-material each semester (not completely digalisized)

The Target Group of the Writing Lab first takes „class-exercises“ but later predominantly term-papers and a final thesis

One Study-Course – Different fields of teaching – Students „re-meet“ theories/content

In addition to the study material they use lots of scientific discourses – printed and in a raising amount also web-resources

Latest in the final thesis they have to „bring strings together“ – to combine, to compare, to rethink

ACADEMIC WRITING AND COMPETENCES

Students are expected to be familiar

with rules of citation,

and copyright,

and aspects such as an »appealing« formatting, clear structure

to find resources,

to do research on the state of art

and to critically reflect on recent discourses

KNOWLEDGE-MANAGEMENT IN STUDY COURSES

The Software Citavi enables to collect literature, quotations

and to annotate it with own ideas on it on different levels

Enables to „manage“ individually gained and created Knowledge

Enables to share projects (team version)

Citavi is free up to 100 titles per project

A similar open software is Zotero

POTENTIAL AND BARRIER OF TECHNOLOGY AND TOOLS

Self-organized learning requires skills that do not arise just because of the availability of new technological opportunities

The aspect of heterogeneity is widened through the affordance of media-competence

Need of information about preconditions of the participants in regard to knowledge, software- and technological equipment

Need of information about the students “feeling” towards the “tools”

“A good teacher can make up for poor technique, but never technique could save poor teaching”

THE OPEN MOODLE COURSE "WRITING LAB" AS AN STUDY-ACCOMPANYING COURSE FOR ACADEMIC WRITING

Started summer term 2011

“Open” learning environment

help students to gain academic writing-skills while working with study material, and additional literature

provide students with a wide spectrum of tools and techniques

Provide students with competencies to efficiently use those in order to improve their academic working skills

THE OPEN MOODLE COURSE "WRITING LAB" AS AN STUDY-ACCOMPANYING COURSE FOR ACADEMIC WRITING

»Citavi- from the Management of Resources and Literature to Writing a Study-Thesis«

Guided Workshop

Self-paced autonomous learning-environment

Future Plans

»Citavi for Working with study materials and preparing for exams«

»Academic Writing using word processing programs”

THE OPEN MOODLE COURSE "WRITING LAB" AS AN STUDY-ACCOMPANYING COURSE FOR ACADEMIC WRITING

pursued a holistic approach: To offer of an open course that

is not limited to terms, specific courses of studies, or course content,

enables to acquire and exercise academic working;

takes place in the secure and familiar learning-environment of the University Moodle

combines the support of tutors and tutorials with a social community, peer support and collaboration and therefor

uses a broad spectrum of digital media.

THE OPEN MOODLE COURSE "WRITING LAB" AS AN STUDY-ACCOMPANYING COURSE FOR ACADEMIC WRITING

Flexible location and time of learning,

elements that can also be used offline,

discussion forums,

a virtual classroom

where learners and teachers can see and hear each other

But also use text-based elements such as presentations and chats complementary, so that participants who do not have headsets and / or camera, (or do not want or dare to use it) can participate

MOODLE AS A COMMUNICATION AND LEARNING PLATFORM IN ELEARNING COURSES

The Distance University uses Moodle already as LMS

Moodle is an open-source-software which

supports interactions in many different ways (Immediacy of Feedback),

offers efficient and diverse channels for communication (Variety of Symbols),

allows simultaneous communications using different channels (Parallelism),

students can correct their posts (Reversibility)

and the messages and statements that resulted from and through this communication may be followed up and re-used in form of a kind of FAQ (Reusability).

The latter makes it possible to use the tutorials and forums not only as a workshop, but also as a sustainable work of reference.

(compare Boos, M. (2011). Wissenskommunikation in virtuellen (Lern-)Gemeinschaften)

THE CITAVI TUTORIALS: DESIGN AND DIDACTIC CONCEPT

a modular structure for the workshop »Citavi- from the Management of Resources and Literature to Writing a Study-Thesis«. The workshop took place over a period of six weeks and had weekly units.

Each unit included 2 vodcasts, an integrated task, and had a forum of the week

»Plauderecke« (a German term describing a place to have a chat) where the students had the possibility to discuss topics connected to the writing lab and the workshop, and a »news forum«

As the course "Writing Workshop" is neither mandatory nor relevant to the exam, motivational aspects played a particularly important role

EVALUATION OF THE TUTORIALS AND THE ADDITIONAL BENEFIT THROUGH THE

INTEGRATION OF THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOMIn regard to Questions like

Consideration of the participant’s being heterogeneous in regard to requirements, experience, skills and expectations

Enabling cooperation, collaboration and communication

Fostering Peer-Support

Helping to gain competences and practice in academic working

Support of improving self-organized learning, motivation and knowledge-management

EVALUATION OF THE TUTORIALS AND THE ADDITIONAL BENEFIT THROUGH THE

INTEGRATION OF THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOMThe project »Writing Lab«,

the use of a product (Research tool, on the example of Citavi),

and the efficiency of (a combination of) peer- and tutor-support.

Results should improve the offer and the conception of further courses within the Writing Lab.

EVALUATION OF THE TUTORIALS AND THE ADDITIONAL BENEFIT THROUGH THE

INTEGRATION OF THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM

Preconditions ( knowledge, software- and technological equipment)

Moodle’s voting-Tool (questions by using options)

kept open for new participants to enable recent views on changes

EVALUATION OF THE TUTORIALS AND THE ADDITIONAL BENEFIT THROUGH THE

INTEGRATION OF THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOMStudents experiences with and expectations to the implementation of a Virtual Classroom into a Moodle course:

Which aspects of such a combinations are regarded as most important additional benefits (Efficiency? The »social factor«? Motivation and Satisfaction?)

which are regarded as barriers and inhibition thresholds (Technology? Time-Consume? Fear of embarrassing oneself by interaction synchronously and using Camera and Microphone?).

10 closed questions (offering the possibility to give additions) and one open question.

EVALUATION OF THE TUTORIALS AND THE ADDITIONAL BENEFIT THROUGH THE

INTEGRATION OF THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM

Students experiences with and expectations to the implementation of a Virtual Classroom into a Moodle course:

The closed questions were analyzed quantitatively using Excel,

the open question and supplemental free answers qualitatively using MAXqda, a Qualitative Data Analysis Software.

RESULTS

RESULTS

RESULTS

CONCLUSION AND PROSPECTS

The analyses of the discourses (forums)

and

The high demand* for a course which is optional and does not (directly) lead to grades or certificates

There is a need for courses on competencies for academic work and research

The heterogeneity of the students is a resource for peer support

*After opening the Writing Lab, the Moodle course had about 80 participants at the end of the first term (summer term 2011). Recently (end of the winter-term 2014/2015) 2.519 participants have enrolled.

CONCLUSION AND PROSPECTS

fostering media-competence is important but by far not sufficient to compensate a lack in social presence.

Social skills that enable to cooperative and collaborative learning, to give and accept peer account, are equally important.

learners have to be enabled to communicate and interact in a way

that makes them become conscious of the potential

of using different and various tools and approaches to generate and manage learning.

CONCLUSION AND PROSPECTS

social aspects and the question of needs like self-confidenceexperiencing peers as »real persons« are important

high importance of communication in such courses

Approaches like the use of peer-tutoring and a scaffolding of interventions of course-instructors, but also changed roles of learning and teaching

will become more important as questions on how to design a didactically and technologically perfect course.

SABINE SIEMSEN: SOCIAL WRITING - DIE NUTZUNG DES VC IM RAHMEN EINER MOODLE-SCHREIBWERKSTATT LG BILDUNGSTHEORIE UND MEDIENPÄDAGOGIK, FAKULTÄT KSW