| Reflections on Learning: Prompt #5 PART I: From the Web 2.0 applications discussed in class, select two technologies that you plan to apply to your current or future personal or professional practice. Please explain how you would integrate these technologies and provide reasons for your selections. PART II: Based on the webinar experience only, please answer the following questions:
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Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Reflections on Learning #5 - Due April 9
For this week's reflection, you will focus on our two part discussion about the integration of Web 2.0 technologies into instruction. From your experiences in class on March 26 and through our online webinar on April 2, please respond to the prompt below:
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There are two Web 2.0 applications that I will be able to employ in the very near future. I will be leading a national team of fellowship program coordinators in the development of assessment tools for certification in the administration of Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs starting in May:
1. Writeboard: this application would be perfect for multiple collaborators to write, evaluate and edit exam questions as well as the “work product” portion of the certification process. Using Writeboard will decrease or possibly eliminate the need for synchronous meetings and conference calls. This is especially helpful for brining colleagues together from different time zones. It will allow all of the collaborators to contribute at their convenience within defined timelines as well as offer comments, suggestions and edits to others’ work.
2. Blogging: this would be an excellent application for coordinators to use as a “meeting place” and networking opportunity. This application could be used in the mentoring process and could cut down on “wait times” and allow all who want to do participate in the mentoring process instead of strict one on one relationships. Blogging also can be used to keep all coordinators abreast of changes and program administration issues as they arise instead of always waiting for a policy statement or major document to be disseminated – a great way to stay ahead of the curve (proactive vs. reactive).
I enjoyed the webinar much more than I thought I would. It was an interesting experience. I think that one of the most interesting things about it for me was how much easier it was to be focused once I got the hang of how to participate. It also was easier to comment by using the text/chat feature without worrying about interrupting someone else’s train of thought or not having the opportunity to comment at all due to time or flow of the conversation. Like the asynchronous online discussions we have had, it was a good example of a democratic “classroom.” Everyone had an equal opportunity to contribute.
Most of the things that I would like to see improved really are technical in nature and may have been unique to our situation vs. any real problems with the technology itself. It was more difficult to deal with audio issues with four people in the same room (at the Columbia Center) vs. at our own homes/offices where we wouldn’t hear the delays. Also, I couldn’t figure out how to get my chat window to scroll automatically and had to manually scroll down to follow the chat discussion.
I really enjoyed the webinar quite a bit and it was helpful to have a moderator (Amy) who did such a good job and really seemed to know what she was doing. I can see where having a good moderator or not can make or break the experience.
Two Web 2.0 technologies that I plan to use: bubbl.us for helping students organize their thoughts in pre-writing and elluminate or Adobe Connect to conduct webinars as part of professional development, faculty development, or graduate course instruction.
What interested me the most in the webinar was the contrast between raising your hand to receive the mike in order to say something vs. using the chat window. I found it very helpful to listen to the moderator but preferred to use the chat window because it was easier and faster. I didn’t expect to find such a difference between the two means of communication. In the future, I might use the mike mostly for the moderator and have participants use the chat window to communicate.
For future webinars it would helpful to have participants learn more about the tool before the webinar. Almost like a pre-webinar. I thought the time we spent touring the tool was useful, but it cut into valuable time for presentation of the content. I think it would be best to have multiple opportunities for webinars so that participants become familiar with the tool and can receive more content.
From my own experience, I’ve learned less is more in webinars with beginners. I always bite off more than we can all chew. So, even though I think team activities are valuable, as an activity for beginners it’s risky to send folks off by themselves. It’s a tough call.
Reflections on Learning: Prompt #5
PART I:
I used the following Web 2.0 technologies after learning about them in class the following day:
Zohoshow: I introduced it to my client who was about to send a PowerPoint presentation to 4 different individuals for edits & feedback via e-mail. They love it and used it the day I sent them the link with a sample template. Now the PowerPoint presentation is in one place for everyone to give feedback, and make edits versus e-mailing it back and forth. This has saved everyone time as well as saving them from potentially losing the documents latest changes due to e-mailing it.
Wikispaces: I’m a board member of an Association and they tend to hold a lot of meetings via phone & in person for the purpose of giving each other updates on the changes that are taking place (for example a new website design). I set up a wiki so that we could collaborate on-line. I taught them how to navigate in the Wiki during our meeting & everyone was able to get online and use the technology immediately. We were able to cancel the upcoming meetings due to the benefit of using the Wiki.
The technology overall was not cumbersome. It easy to navigate and learn how to use the technology.
It was amazing how quickly we were all able to set it up independently, and be engaged without being tripped up by user errors. I also thought Amy did a great job as a moderator; keeping up with chats, questions, hands in the air :)
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• I would be interested in learning about the moderators role in terms using the technology. I was impressed with how Amy
I definitely plan to integrate Google docs and a Webinar application such as Elluminate. Google docs provides a means of sharing documents/spreadsheets across multiple users, which we need to make our competency checklist interactive in the Pharmacy Department. Webinars will give our department the opportunity to provide continuing education at times and places convenient for busy healthcare practitioners.
I was most interested in how the technology would work, especially the audio portion. Overall, I was trying to be a learner about how to interact in this type of on-line learning. In essence, everything interested me: how to log on, how to be a participant, how the moderator would function, etc.
I think the overall agenda was too ambitious given that we were all new learners to the technology. We really needed the time to “play” with the technology (which we did) and become comfortable as users. I was distracted by the fact that we had an agenda with time allocations which could not really be met. I suggest that any introductory session be planned with the thought in mind that the learners will want to interact with the technology itself and try out the features.
For me, this was a great learning experience. I do think that being the moderator takes a certain skill set, and that Amy was great! I also reflected on how the abilities of a face-to-face educator may be different than an online educator. The fact that we all know each other quite well as classroom colleagues played a major role in the success of the Webinar. If we had not known each other, the interaction would have been completely different in that we would not have chatted as much, perhaps been reluctant to express ourselves via audio, or would not have been invested in the experience.
I loved it!
One of the Web 2.O tools I would use with ESOL students is a Blogger. Students could post their written entries on the topics of e.g. enculturation to a classroom blog and provide feedback to each other. This tool would give me as an instructor an opportunity to monitor students’ written performance without necessary grading.
In case I return to the world of K-12 education, I would like to use FanFiction.Net with my students. On this website, students could submit their fictional writing according to different categories. Their classmates would be able to read and review the content. I think Fan Fiction would be an excellent tool for online peer conferencing. This strategy would cut down on classroom time usually spent on peer conferencing and allow for more instructional time. Another tool useful for students would be Wizlite. Wizlite, which allows for highlighting of passages online, would be great for both individual or collaborative research projects conducted in pairs or small groups. Since I teach research project strategies in steps, students would benefit from using Wizlite when looking for the main ideas in the text. The main ideas would then be paraphrased and used in the actual research paper.
I enjoyed the Webinar experience very much. I like the feature when Amy “pass” the mic to the participants ; however, only one person was allowed to speak. I love this feature because of eliminating interruptions by others. So many times we are ready to jump in and comment on each others’ thoughts and even though having the best intentions, sometimes we do take over while the person is still speaking. I think this feature provides a valuable space for close listening and critical reflection at the same time.
I only agree with Karen and Teresa that we would have benefited from a training session before launching into a team activity, which we did not have time to finish accurately. Amy was an amazing facilitator and helpful when some of us had problems with the Chat room, mic, etc.
The two web 2.0 applications that I would like to employ is writeboard for correctional supervisors and managers to write memos, institutional directives, organize, and share information.
I also would use blogging because it is a a good way to communicate and give feed back from meetings or to simply share pertinent information. I also thought about storing information during the year for newletters. However, since I am looking for a new career it is nice to know that there is a myriad of tools to use.
I really liked enjoyed the webinar experience. Webinar is a good tool to teach online courses. I like that it can be used to communicate, teach, and learn from other agencies around the state.
It reminded me of being online because you can watch a Utube video or chat. Some of the other features I liked about webinar is polling and being able to use raise your hand or talk with a mic. Webinar is great interactive tool.
I think I would like to be the moderator of webinar. Amy did an excellent job of being the moderator and teaching us how to use it. It was a fun class.
The two Web 2.0 tools I plan to use is Zoho Show and an online calendar. I am working with a group of teachers, serving as a pilot group for the school to try out a new program. We recently presented our information at a faculty meeting using a power point presentation. We created it by having everyone send their individual slides to one person, and that person putting it all together, formatting it with a background, and sending it back to us for approval. This task would have been much easier and less time consuming with Zoho Show. Each person would be able to edit that one presentation from their own computer, instead of leaving all the work to one person. I'm sure we will be presenting again, and I will definitely suggest using this tool.
For personal and maybe professional use, I plan to use an online calendar, like google calendar. I usually keep track of job related events and appointments on a paper calendar at work, but when I'm home, I don't have access to this, and have trouble planning ahead. This would definitely be an answer to that problem. I could also link an online calendar to my teaching web page, to inform students and parents of upcoming class/ school events.
Based on the webinar experience, what interested me the most was the ability to talk, text, and share slides all at the same time. This would be a great tool for long distance meetings. For an improvement, in the group chat rooms I would allow more than two people to talk at a time. That seemed to be a problem for our group and kind of hindered us from completing our assignment. Personally, I became distracted with this technical problem. Besides this minor setback, I loved the experience and wouldn't mind having another one of our classes in webinar form.
The two technologies that I would use would be bubbl.us and linked i. I can relate to bubbl.us because of the close features of mindmapping. Students are allowed to just throw their thoughts out there and together we can find the similarities and differences. This feature can also be used on an individual basis to assist a student in organizing his/her thoughts before starting a paper or a project. I like the collaboration that linked in brings amongst peers. Students are able to do more web research as well.
I really enjoyed the webinar experience. I would not mind doing it again. I only wished that I had a mic so that I could have participated verbally.I will be ready the next time. There were so many features that e went over during the webinar but I would like to just point out a few features that I can remember. i really enjoyed the polling and the fact that you could have made the responses anonymous. Chatting being conducted by text or verbally. Your ability to drop a Utube link and we watch it and rejoin the group. Ability to leave the room and the webinar continue until your return, Your patience and quick changes to keep us moving forward despite technical difficulties. The technical glitches you intentionally created to show us that the show must and can go on. The team forums and discussions. In our time together you peaked our interest to want to do more with the tools
Seth: Part One: Q) From the Web 2.0 applications discussed in class, select two technologies that you plan to apply to your current or future personal or professional practice. Please explain how you would integrate these technologies and provide reasons for your selections. A) Blog: I never thought of a blog a "learning community." The idea of blogs, which I had never used prior to this course, was a recreational activity for people at home, and adopted heavily by the news and entertainment industry as a why for people to participate in their programs, and to quite frankly, sell more products. On page 103 of the Web 2.0 text, this sentence really caught my attention: "... situated cognition, which defines learning as a process of participation in communities of practice ...most learning occurs naturally through activities, contexts,and cultures ..." I see a myriad of ways to use blogs professionally, and tied to using the intranet within an organization, for example, as a means for "knowledge transfer" about projects that are happening real time around our health system in different states. This would enable Emergency Department Directors, for example, whom never have met, to share information in about quality improvement initiatives they are implementing, and seeking feedback or assistance. Linked-In: this is a vital tool for me professionally. This is among several internet tools we use to conduct original research on candidates that we are seeking for employment - especially in building and maintaining a "passive" database of candidates that we use to source as referral sources that lead to candidates. Part Two: What interested me most about the experience was the multitude of ways we could communicate with each other. The tool had voice and data working together, in an interactive manner. To date, I had only been exposed to webinars that were more "one-way" in which information flowed to me (data-dump) without an opportunity for real-time interaction. In terms of improvements, I have none for the presentation and experience -but do point out that the voice technology (two-way)can be a bit schizophrenic, and I liked having the text communication as a back-up. Although, just using voice for the moderator can also be very effective. In terms of additional comments - Web 2.0 tools must become part of the curriculum of all courses taught at the School of Education. Instructors must be "made" to use these tools for classroom instruction effectively, not as the sole means of communication, but to help enable learning and to be current in the latest teaching practices. Thank you for allowing us to come to the learning lab to participate in the webinar, as that helped me a lot to better experience this tool for the first time.
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