Wk 1 – that was the week that was

Week 1 expored getting to know the tutor group, material from the UK and Australia about the google generation debate, discussed our own experiences and preferences for learning technology and realised why we need to be aware of the debate because of pracitioners beliefs about what learners need.

The Learning outcomes for wk1 were:
Knowledge and understanding of choices that learners make about their own learning – we looked age divides and seeking information, Australian students’ use of technologies and found out about the preferences of the different people in your tutor group.

Knowledge and understanding of a range of conventional and innovative technologies, drawing from own experience and experience of others. – I’ve used the web, forum, webcasts, audio files and search engines.

Your ability to locate, read critically and extract value from a wide range of formal and informal sources – I’ve read and discussed a newspaper article and a report, a research paper, an audio interview and webcast.

Your ability to articulate your ideas – you’ve started to build your learning community

Your ability to participate in online networks and communities to enrich your personal and prof develop

Wk 1 A11 – Patterns of internet use in Britain

I read the report, Dutton, W.H. and Helsper, E. (2007) Oxford Internet Survey 2007 Report: The Internet in Britain (Oxford Internet Institute)

My notes from reading the executive summary are here. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfjp86bs_88dq9ntsgs

Some of the patterns of internet use I would like to comment on are:
The most popular information seeking activities are making travel plans, looking for local events and news - I use the internet for this alot. In fact, most of my time is spent doing this. However I find that the internet does severely lack in local information, unless you live in a city.
Use of internet for everyday learning has increased – I think I learn something new everyday on the internet and think it’s great when you are thinking or talking about something and you need more information, you can just go online there and then if you have mobile access, and get the answers or information you want.
First port of call for majority of internet users - Yes, I always start with the internet for information, if I can’t find it there, then I go elsewhere. I get frustrated if it’s not on the interne especially if I don’t know where else to look.
Information about purchases is a common use but still doubts over the lack of face to face contact with the product/retailed – and as a result peopel depend on online reviews much more.
TV watching has reduced as a result - I’ve seen this in my life and friends of ours. People are spending more time using resources on the internet and socialising via the internet. In an indirect way, the internet created the role I am working in now, which created my ambition to do this course, which has meant I watch less TV.
Less than 1/5 use social networking profiles – althought I’m a self confessed internet addict, I hate social network sites and can’t yet see they’re benefit to me. Perhaps it’s just an issue of time and I am becoming more selective in how I spend my time.
People do not feel that the internet intrudes on the time they spend with friends and families - I think it does intrude on this time, but it also increases the time you spend with friends and families. Without the internet my parents could not see their granddaughter as regularly as they do – we have regular Skype chats with them with the web cam since she was born; there are friends I am still in touch with, who I would not be without the internet. People are reunited over the internet too.
It increases contact with others, esp those at a distance *** See above
Civic participation is low – eg signing online petitions – but is that because we are quite an apathetic nation?
e-gov’t services have increased – I’ve used the internet for ordering tax discs, it’s so much easier than going to the post office and trying to find all those documents you have to take and queueing on a Saturday morning. One simple online form, no evidence required, it arrives in the post within a couple of days.

Implications for learning and teaching activities
Learners come from all ages and all background so not all will have the same experience, confidence or preferneces for using the internet. The study said that there are people who do not use the internet (Digital divides exist – men, students, Higher Ed’d and higher income individuals more likey to use than women, retired, disabled, lower education and lower income.) and these are people who study too so we have to consider their abilities when integrating technology into the learning.

I wonder if the gap that women show in this research is not down to confidence but to time (those in a traditional family arrangement of course). I’d love to learn more about this gender divide and the reasons behind it.

Simon’s comments:
Given the discussion that has been ongoing about lurking, the statement that says, “Internet users tend to consider themselves more extroverted and social than non-users” seemed pertinent. Acknowledging that some people prefer to learn alone suggests that the context of Internet use has a bearing on user confidence. This has implications for designing online learning activities for students when our own experience is different to the experiences of others. (Simon Allan, 12-02-09 12.39 Wk 1 A11)

Wk 1 A8,9 &10

These activities combined had me thinking about my experiences of learning from different perspectives – my own experience as a student after leaving school; my experience of informal learning and my experience in supporting learning. We had to think about what resources we had been given/used to support our learning, which we enjoyed using and gained most benefit from, how own experiences have effected how you support others’ learning and how your practices may have changed over time.
1 To what extent have the teaching practices you encountered and your ways of behaving as a learner influenced the ways in which you now support the learning of others?
- My UG degree was my first experience of formal learning after school. The resources/technologies used were – lectures (with powerpoint slides), seminars (with group work, exercises, presentations), set reading (text books), library resources – books, journals, databases, statistical information (Print and CDROM). Seminars may have used video too but I can’t quite remember. They did involve quizes, discussion and comparisons with others. The internet was not a source of information at all during my time at University, computers were used as word processors – that’s all, for essays and powerpoints. I remember the University introduced an internal email system in my final year (1997) but no one knew how to use it – we weren’t the google generation, we couldn’t work it out.
In 1998 I remember using the internet for the first time; but this was after finishing my degree and it was used for social things – I do remember using it for booking train tickets and holidays then. In my UG degree most of the control over what we used came from faculty; when it came to assessments it was down to us to do our own information searches using the library. No other physical sources of information were used then.
I enjoyed most the seminars, where we had group activity to help us to establish our understanding of what had been lecturered and we had read about. I least enjoyed the lectures – they were boring, powerpoint presentations regurgitating the text books and you spent the time trying to write everything down rather than really listening. I remember one lecturer I gave up on quickly as it really was taken directly from the text book, she had little personality and no sense of audience – poor thing she had over 300 UGs to lecture to. It must have been hard. But then I remember a marketing lecturer who was actually an advertising consultant; his lectures were great – but then the nature of the beasts who are advertising executives tend to be good at PR, presenting and engaging their audiences. I can’t remember specifically what it was, but maybe it was a combination of an interesting subject, with case studies that we related to easily and the personality of the lecturer that did it.

2. Informal learning – eg an example of some learning you’ve done for yourself, to keep up to date, develop knowledge or skills – not just acquiring information. I chose the example of the learning I did while I was pregnant. I read books, magazines, websites, took part in forums, watched movie clips and listened to audio tracks on the internet and CD rom that came from Pampers babyclub etc. I determined my own objectives – I wanted to know each week what the baby inside me was doing, it was intriguing and very relevant and current. The books were recommended by friends, the magazines were leant to me by friends and the internet searches were initiated by me using Google. I gained most from the internet, having a wealth of information available to me at my fingertips, and free of charge. The forums were particuarly useful, I could read comments by people experiencing and feeling the same things as me, which helped me through the time and helped me find clarity to a lot of the mysteries of child birth and babies. So learning from othe people seems to be a pattern here.

3. Supporting the learning of others.
I haven’t done much in this, I am not a teacher but support students. I am responsible for making sure students understand the systems and expectations of themselves and their tutors so I provide web-based guidance on this to the distance learning students, I also provide face to face presentations when they are on campus, supprted with video clips, animated demos, printed support and forum support. I am providing a range of learning support options to suit different people.

Pattern – I like learning in groups where I can learn from others and by helping other people to understand things, I learn more too.

My own experiences have taught me that we have to give students variety and choice and that anything we provide must add value to their learning. A lecture which is a carbon copy of the text book is not enhancing learning, it’s just delivering the same information through a different medium. In H808, I really enjoyed the learning design whereby the topic was introduced and you were basically left to search for more information to form an opinion yourself. I really liked this freedom and flexibility which gave me ownership of my learning. If I’m told to read chapter X, I tend to resist that. I want to read what interests me (and of course is relevant to the course) and my job in this professional course.

Here is a comment from Kim on the forum that is a similar view to mine:
A law lecturer from another university says that he doesn’t give traditional lectures but tries to organise his “large group sessions” in a way which does require some student involvement (pair work, quizzes etc).
Is the traditional lecture dying – and would it be a bad thing? I remember some marvellous lectures during my first degree – and one series which consisted of the leading mind in his subject reading word for word from his leading book. When I did my masters’ degree another “reader” popped up, this time not a leading mind nor a leading book. As I was a more assertive 35 year old, I complained and he was replaced in fairly short order! ” (Kim Silver, 13-02-09, 21.46 Week 1 A9-A10)

Paul Kenney said about how relevant technology can be in archaelogy teaching – he said earlier that things like GPS have improved the sector but “
Is anything lost in the learning experience by using e-technology?
Personally I think so, but I also think that it is inevitable, and at the level taught many aspects are really just being introduced so they are very useful, yet I feel that in the case of Archaeology it is best to get out and get grubby. ” (Paul Kenney, 12-02-09 11.42 Week 1 A9-A10)

And this comment by Simon really summed up my feelings:

I agree too, there is a tendency to offer online equivalents of traditional teaching modes. However, the difference for me receiving these resources online is the activities and group learning that is associated with them. I can only cite my experience on this and two other MAODE courses, but I feel that a greater sense of communality when using resources online. My recollection of face-to-face lectures was that, other than a brief opportunity to pose questions at the end of the session, the knowledge passed on to me was left for individual digestion, often only externalized in written form (lecture notes or an essay). By contrast, the podcasts and webcasts offered to me online make the most of the social environment they are delivered in, encouraging me to reflect and talk about them. One of the reasons why I think this works better is the asynchronous nature of distance learning. Everyone has longer to digest, respond and reflect on content. (Simon Allan, 12-02-09 10.15, Week 1 A9-A10)

Jonathon Campbell 2 writes: (14-02-09, 10.56)
When I want to try something new I’ve got to be sure to start somewhere familiar and then take very small steps. They need a lot of support to get away from the only style of education they’ve known.

I recall though my A level teaching (yr 11-12) was more student centred, perhaps to help prepare us for independent study at University. Secondary education Yr 7-10) was certainly very teacher centred. The introduction of more vocational qualifications at secondary school instead of formal GCSEs for those students that it suits better has to be a good thing in moving away from the formal classroom.

Wk 1 A 9- reflections on my experiences of learning

To what extent have the teaching practices you encountered and your own ways of behaving as a learner influenced the ways in which you now support the learning of others?

I believe I like to give students as much choice as possible based on my desire to have choice over how I learn something, and my awareness of different preferences.

How have your practices (as a learner and/or as a supporter of learning) changed over time, particularly in terms of your use of various digital technologies and resources?
Very much, simply due to the availability of digital technologies I have embraced the information revolution and because it is so accessible, I do not need to leave the house/office etc to find what I need I generally use e-resources much more than other types of resource.

Can you derive any useful lessons from your personal experiences about the impact of technologies upon teaching and learning practices?
Give more variety to students, ensure it is enjoyable. Don’t think everyone likes what I like.

I found this exercise revealing in that during undergraduate study, I found the resources to be prescriptive to an extent, and as Sharon said, expectations went as far as the use the physical library books, journals and databases.

What is interesting is that when I have undertaken informal learning and had the choice over what resources to use, I’ve obviously picked resources that suit me such as the internet.

So, as I now develop support tools for MBA students I like to create a range of media to help them and for example, am in the process of converted our print based VLE guides into video demonstrations so students have the choice of – trial and error, printed guide, animated guide and a face-to-face guide, thus giving them choice.

Some comments from the forum that interested me:

Frauke -
Both my formal study experience and my initial teaching experience in adult education and HE were very much tutor-led with very little self-determination on the part of the learner.
Observing my son in his first year at primary school, I am learning that it is beneficial to make available materials in a variety of ways but technology isn’t everything.

Paul -
I’m not convinced that we actually needed to “see” the lecture in order to to get the required result.

Simon A -
I agree too, there is a tendency to offer online equivalents of traditional teaching modes. However, the difference for me receiving these resources online is the activities and group learning that is associated with them. I can only cite my experience on this and two other MAODE courses, but I feel that a greater sense of communality when using resources online. My recollection of face-to-face lectures was that, other than a brief opportunity to pose questions at the end of the session, the knowledge passed on to me was left for individual digestion, often only externalized in written form (lecture notes or an essay). By contrast, the podcasts and webcasts offered to me online make the most of the social environment they are delivered in, encouraging me to reflect and talk about them. One of the reasons why I think this works better is the asynchronous nature of distance learning. Everyone has longer to digest, respond and reflect on content.

Sharon -
My formal learning was very teacher-focused – lots of lectures with minimal student interaction.
As an undergraduate student, we were required to use printed library resources as the source for essays. The first student to the library would inevitably take everything out on loan, leaving the rest of us stuck without resources

The internet has put an end to that frustration thanks to online libraries and electronic resources.

Too often we end up simply offering an online equivalent of a lecture, especially with the current trend for podcasting.

A6 – Information literacy crisis – screen cast, Ian Rowlands

Screen cast is here – http://stadium.open.ac.uk/ stadia/ preview.php?s=31&whichevent=1173.

My notes on this are here – http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfjp86bs_87cn3pzvgr

Comments:

Conclusions

There is a continuum of ICT comfort across all generations, the google generation is not entirely different to older generations. There is diversity within that generation, educators need to segment that group and respond to their differing needs. Librarians need to bring back the skills of information literacy. We’ve got to take information skills more seriously.

Which part(s) of the argument are most relevant to you as a reader and a student?

As someone with a background in marketing his conclusions about segmenting the generation for targeting your approach to information literacy, education etc was perfectly sensible. I also was pleased that he recognised the diversity at all ages and that in fact age isn’t the key digital divide. Ultimately I think the divide is access, age is an obvious thing to plump for as older people have an obvious difference in their access to ICTs as compared to the under 20s who have always had a computer at home, have mobile technology and do a lot of their everyday tasks by ICTs.

Which part(s) of the argument are most relevant to you as a teacher, trainer or other practitioner or potential practitioner?

That the pre-google generation are very adaptable and can retrain into these new ways easily – as long as they are open to it and being aware that not all of this generation want to or engage with ICTs that much so choices must be made available.I had not considered the issue of information literacy before (not having a teaching/academic background) and will admit to being one of those people who search with sentences and not key words and have lost my information search skills due to becoming used to using sentence based searching for websites and then transferring this searching skill to my academic searches. I’m also guilty of the brand associations made with the terms library being linked to print and search to online. I have experienced using libraries online and using digital resources in an physical library but have developed a preference for searching online rather than physically.

What for you are the strengths and weaknesses of each form of presentation – reading from the report in Activity 4, and listening to a webcast lecture now? We will return to this issue in Week 5.
The written report gives the student/reader critical statistical information to help them understand the paper; the screencast gives you the chance to hear things from the horses mouth in a much more informal and understandable way.

H800 – Week1 Act 5 – Digital Natives

Activity A5 – teaching/reaching the net generation
Introducing us to debates about the net generation / digital Natives (DNs). Gregor Kennedy interview and paper about their research into Marc Prensky’s claims/assumptions about the DNs.
Interview by John Pettit from OU and research paper

Some of the assumptions about the DNs is that they are highly skilled with ICTs, grew up with digital tools all around them, good at multitasking with technology, create and consume web content and are practised at social networking and other web 2 tools.

This is research into how different this generation is to the rest of the generations, is it really an age thing. Many debaters are saying yes they are different. Prensky wrote about the DN in 2001 and he suggested that these people had spent their whole lives surrounded by technology and as a result changed the way they think, with the implications that we therefore have to change the way we teach. Prensky also claimed that students want technology in their education. Prensky’s papers, according to Kennedy shocked the educational sector. Kennedy aimed to gather evidence to support or not.

Prensky also labelled the educators as digital immigrants, aliens in the DN environment facing a big challenge, and that the biggest gap in education today is the gap between DI and DN, and that pedagogical models need to change to suit a new kind of learner. Prensky’s claims assume uniformity in the generation, that they are all “blessed” with the characteristics of the net generation.

Evidence based understanding of students’ technical experiences is vital for informing HE policy and practice and if preferences in their own lives regarding technology are also preferences in their education.

Pilot study in 2006, 2000 1st year students at one Australian University (Uni of Melbourne) (Oxbridge style uni). Survey into their access to, uses of, skills and preferences for technology at university. (Paper linked above is results of this survey).

Followed up with research and three very different universities, Melbourne, Charles Sturt (mostly DL students) and Wollongong University (modern university).

Survey, interviews and focus groups to be able to ascertain process issues and feelings in more depth. The different collection methods garnered a different level of inquiry. Focus groups did have negatives in that not everyone would speak (either because they agree or too scared to disagree). They also gathered information from the support staff and academics (The so called digital immigrants).

Research found that many 1st year students were tech-savvy but it was not uniform or homogeneous.

Students showed a mixture of reactions to whether certain technologies should be used in their education. Kennedy looked at the relationship between frequency of use of technologies and students’ desire to have them used in their education and found weak connections for some technologies.

Results – a lack of homogeneity and a digital divide within just this one year group. Countering Prensky’s assumptions, so warn educators that overhauling curriculum to suit a homogeneous DN is dangerous. Challenge for educators is how to cater for this broad range of students’ levels of access to, familiarity with and preferences for technology based tools.

This study negates a one size fits all approach to integration of ICT in education and supports the argument that integration should also be pedagogically driven.

Educators and educational developments who have expertise in existing and emerging technologies need be proactive against the evidence and assumptions of what DNs students have access to and have preferences for. Evidence should inform policy and practice.

Student equity is an issue, e.g. increase use of podcasts but what if students are unfamiliar with MP3 players, don’t have one, have never downloaded or used podcasts then the key benefit of being able to download and listen when you like is lost.

At end of interview Kennedy does not discount the terms ND or DN totally and says there is a lot more research to be done but that we should be more focused on what students’ experiences of technology are and not just take the concept of the DN as read.

H800-Week 1 – blog 1

Hi World
I learnt about keeping a journal or portfolio of work in H808 and plan to do so for H800 which started on 7th Feb 09. I think this shows a significant piece of reflective learning as I have had 2 weeks off since H808 and starting H800 and I’ve realised how useful it was keeping a portfoliop/blog for the assessments and TMA 1 in H800 is also evidence based so here I go.

Week 1a
First impressions – a bit scared. The course is designed around learning objects and a list of tasks I have to do. Although it’s just as much commitment as H808 it seems more rigid and makes me feel I’ve taken on too much. My tutor group also make me scared, there are all a lot older and wiser than I and in general are lecturers/teachers so have a completely different take on elearning to me and are all VERY active on the discussion boards making even me seem inactive. Looking at it more positively I can see that I am going to learn alot from these people and in particular learn alot about their viewpoints which will help me in my working with academics. Maybe I’ve misinterpreted them, so far though they are all a lovely group of people – well they’d better be, we’ve got 32 hard weeks together ahead of us.
A1: Meeting fellow students and tutor. We had to send a message to the group introducing ourselves and saying something unusual about yourself and one learning technology that we enjoy using. We were also asked to reply to interesting points in other people’s messages. I enjoyed this activity, there was a lot to do as I don’t like to see anyone left out so wanted to reply to everyone and what I found that everyone made a point of picking up something in each other’s messages to actually have a conversation about. This was rare in H808, which tended to be just a collected of postings, no real discussions as I would define them. I think we’ve done a good job of starting to get to know each other. I also note from the level of activity that I may be able to enjoy being a follower rather than the followed which I will enjoy. I don’t have time for too much leadership. I look forward to discussions with the group.
Despite the high levels of interaction, there are a few group members who claim not to enjoy group study and love to be buried in books; quite the opposite to me. It’ll be interesting to see how their views change, or mine of course! I think H800 is quite a different kettle of fish than H800 – I think it’s stepped up a notch.
A2: Sharing your reactions to the courses themes. We were asked to tell the group about something that interested you about the course themes and the learning outcomes, to compare reactions. I posted that I was particularly interested in 2 of the learning outcomes, number 2. choices that learners make about their own learning, in terms of which technologies they use, why and how and 8. draw on a wide range of experience, accounts and formal research evidence to recommend appropriate ways of using technologies in specific contexts. Eddy at least had the same reasons as me, I think there were more. A lot of people were keen to learn about how they could use technology in their teaching.
A3: How much changed when printing arrived – see article here. about the first law of technology “THE FIRST Law of Technology says we invariably overestimate the short-term impact of new technologies while underestimating their longer-term effects.” and how the invention of printing had such a huge impact on society that was not expected. We discussed other examples that upheld this view, such as the invention of the car (Eckart’s post) and how Mr Ford can’t have realised how much impact his invention would have.
A4: Generations of information seekers. This started off the debate about the Google generation or the supposed age based digital divide. A comparison of students of different ages in terms of how dependent they were on five methods of finding articles was shared with us (CIBER/UCL 2008). It showed that 17-21 mostly used online sources, and older generations were less dependent on these but more dependent on a range of sources including more traidtional ones. We compared the sources of information to our own preferences and I said that “
“My preferences are for Personal recommendations, which I include reference lists in course materials, and then Google Scholar to explore the reading further. I haven’t the time for browsing libraries and find them difficult to use/find what I want, so prefer the online route. Like Simon this is also a reflection of how I shop!” Keith has also posted similar, and we three are all in the 26-35 age bracket which is showing a pattern already.
They tried to prove or disprove some of the myths of the Google Generation such as The need to feel constantly connected to the internet, the cut and paste generation, picking up computer skills by trial and error and expert researchers. This is what I thought about those 4 statements and me:
“1. ‘They [the Google Generation] need to feel constantly connected to the web’
Well you tell me, 6 months ago we went Wifi, 1 month ago I bought a phone with 3G and unlimited web surfing, this week I received a laptop. I do EVERYTHING online, it’s scary. Shop, plan travel, talk to my friends, (i hardly ever phone anyone), do academic research, look for and apply for jobs, read the news, rent DVDs, the list goes on, study! If it’s online I’m there. If it’s not online I generally don’t do it, or do it under duress, to my own disadvantage I know! I get really frustrated about services who do have websites and email addresses but don’t respond to them. Another piece of evidence to prove this is me, as if I need it, is that when I go to Kazakhstan in a few weeks just for 3 days, I’ve already sussed out where the internet cafes are!
2. ‘They are the “cut-and-paste” generation’
I hope that this doesn’t apply to me, but I have just cut-and-pasted Frauke’s message and deleted her entries to save me typing the structure out again! Is that the same or is that me just being efficient?
3. ‘They pick up computer skills by trial and error’
I think I’m a partly this one, I start off with trial and error but then refer to the experts when I get stuck.I learned to use a computer early because we always had a computer in the house growing up for office tasks, not for games, so was exposed to it very early. I am a self taught touch typist and self taught at MS office. However, this only goes so far; I need to consult “online” manuals and attend training when things get more advanced and tend to refer to forums a lot for technological guidance. The drawback of trial and error learning is that you probably miss out on so much functionality.
4. ‘They are expert searchers’
There are so many legitimate sources online now that you can be an expert searcher online. It certainly helps to be digitally literate to help in your ability to be an expert searcher of online resources, so I partly disagree with the researchers, and as Frauke said, it’s the ability to identify what to look for, how to find it and show you’ve made good research choices that make you an expert searcher, not simply being able to use a digital source of information. Whether you find the information in a physical library or an online library doesn’t matter as long as the information is valid.”
The same article explains a lot about the myths and truths of the google generation and it’s potential impact on education in the future. There is an argument to say that even though the characteristics of the Google Gen exist, it’s not restricted to the 17-21 age group, in fact it is the 30-50 age group who creates much of the content that the younger gen enjoys in social networking/web 2.0 stuff.
” But there is no evidence in the serious literature that young people are expert searchers, nor that the search skills of young people has improved with time . Studies pre-dating the widespread public use of the Internet have reported that young searchers often display difficulty in selecting appropriate search terms, and research into Internet use has consistently found similar difficulties.”
However concerns are that young people are not questionning the validity of information as well as they should, and taking what they read on the web as true so one of the challenges in education is to unteach that.
The authors warn educators that: the internet is fading into the background in that it is being taken for granted and educational bodies are not keeping up with this and are not present enough in the environment. Educators need to be “more e-consumer friendly and less stodgy and intellectual”. Educators also have to be wary of being decoupled, ie students finding information elsewhere that you have no links with or knowledge of and cutting you out of the process altogether eg making libraries obsolete.