Week 4 Educational Applications of Web 2.0 (RT)

The Web 2.0 Technologies table in the Hsu et al. chapter is very helpful for viewing the different levels of cognitive processing possible with the classification of Web 2.0 applications. I agree with and find the prescribed classification useful.

Base on my brief knowledge of tagging as a learning / cognitive activity, I think the use of a location-aware learning app can make ‘tagging’ a knowledge construction activity as Hsu et al suggested:
“Students associated newly learned and existing vocabulary with the animals or plants [objects] they logged, thus tying it to prior knowledge. Since they made the associations themselves, the students thought and made decisions that made sense to them. This personal decision making requires higher levels of processing, thereby promoting deeper understanding, as opposed to being told associations to remember. The process of tagging allowed the students to construct a rough structure for their knowledge base about nature. Students also reflected, compared, and contrasted their tagging with those of others, which helped bring on further learning—by reexamining and reconsidering the appropriateness of their tags and the reasoning behind them.”

Users can save and tag geographical location information, data, photos, and videos onto a map that can be shared with others for review and evaluation. A free iOS app, mGeo, is available here http://www.appstore.com/niemgeo

In this class, the use of Diigo and RSS really stood out for me.

This chapter by Hsu et al offers not only clear explanations of key concepts in Web 2.0 technologies and good examples for application in education, but also recommendations for implementation.

  • As instructional designers are required to promote the use of Web 2.0 tools we need to “become familiar with the technologies and research its use” before we make that recommendation. I plan to explore the use of Edmodo for creating a discussion forum to facilitate learning through peer feedback and compare its affordances with the use of Facebook Page. The DF will be an added feature for the self-paced open course titled “The Heart of Teaching: Philosophical Foundations,” that will be launched in Sep’13 via iTunes U.

  • It is so important to “start small and be realistic.” For the first time in my study life, I had to make a very difficult decision (2008) to withdraw from a class when the professor overwhelmed the students with too many new concepts and recommendation of too many new tools I am very thankful for this course where the instructor walks the talk by introducing carefully selected tools for students to dabble with so that we can have more than just a head knowledge of what Web 2.0 is about

  • When introducing anything new, it is necessary to “provide scaffolding in using the tool.” The only example I can give is with regards to learning in iTunes U. This platform can be very loose in structure, hence to guide learning, a course structure is provided and learners are provided with instructions on how to navigate the course.

  • Table 1 (p.357) is a good reference that can help adopters of Web 2.0 technologies “design the lesson that calls for the appropriate and desired cognitive activities.”

  • As instructional designers we support faculty by creating awareness of Web 2.0 technologies and design workshops to facilitate the use, but truly, it is the faculty who has to “make it a big deal” and increase students’ motivation to use Web 2.0 technologies in learning. But honestly speaking as a student, I find it intimidating to have real audiences from outside of class – hence I could not really start a personal blog as I felt I do not have something worth sharing. I think this fear can be diminished as I become more familiar with the subject matter.  

5 thoughts on “Week 4 Educational Applications of Web 2.0 (RT)

  1. Pingback: Group 3 Blog Curation | Emerging Learning Technologies

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  3. Rachel H Tan Post author

    Dear Shelby
    Thank you for your question. Yes students can download iTunes U courses on PC. However some of the affordances on iPad / iPhone would not be available on PC, e.g. posting their own notes at the respective resources when students watch a video or presentation. If you paste this url http://bit.ly/nie-itunesu on PC, it will open up on a iTunes in the PC. However, the experience in navigation on iOS and PC is quite different. In our channel, currently only 2 courses are from academic staff, Dr Kenneth Lim on Disciplinary Intuitation and … Dr Chang Chew Hung on Intro to the Global Atmospheric….
    Yes iTunes U is easy to use, the structure is loose. But we can create a structure for the course by providing instructions on how to engage with the learning resources. Providing assessment questions / worksheets will help subscribers to your course think more deeply.

    I appreciate Melissa’s sharing on geo-tagging. I’ve not searched the web for this facility as I’m focusing on the app which I need to request access to try out.

    Thanks all, Rachel … preparing to start the work day

  4. Melissa Glenn

    Shelby,
    Our college has an iTunesU site at http://itunes.sunybroome.edu/. I have very little experience with it, although it has been helpful on occasion to view videos of college activities and seminars.

    I also wanted to comment on Rachel’s post about geographic tagging. I have spoken to instructors who have used this in science classes to geographically tag rocks or trees of interest. It can also be used to collect data from multiple institutions in a type of citizen science type project. I watched a presentation about this a couple of weeks ago where a college had incorporated geotagging in a blog environment. For an online class, this was a cool icebreaker to see where all the students were from. At the end of the presentation, they did say they had run into technical and financial issues with maintaining the site. Everyone in the room wanted to use it themselves, but seems that we need to wait a little longer! I’m open to suggestions if anyone knows a site/app that does this well.

  5. Shelby Nelson

    Rachel,

    Thank you for your post! I had never been exposed to iTunesU before reading your post this week. Have you created a course using iTunesU? I am very interested in learning more about this app. You say that it is a very structured way to guide learning, and after doing a little research on the Apple site, it seems that it would be a very user-friendly way to create your very own course. It seems to be very convenient for students to have access to all of that information all in one spot. It is my guess that courses in iTunesU are primarily used at the collegiate level, or possibly high school. The concern I have is the availability of iPads or MacBooks for students. Can you access an iTunesU course from a PC? (Like you would access iTunes using a regular PC)
    My school is receiving a classroom kit of iPads for the 2013-2014 school year. I think using iTunesU as a supplement- possibly sharing resources, videos, or for a specific project could be a great addition to the curriculum.

    Shelby

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