Social Learning 2.0 Eliminating the Loneliness of the Distance Learners

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Social Learning 2.0Eliminating the Loneliness of
the Distance Learner(s)

• Cambridge Distance Teaching and Learning
  Conference
• Terry Anderson

terrya_at_athabascau.ca
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Presentation Overview

• Setting the scene with Robert Frost
• Setting the Context
• Values
• Affordances of the Web
• Emerging Pedagogies
• Granularity of Social Learning 2.0
• Design principles for educational social software
• Adoption context and ways forward
• Demonstration of tools in use

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The Tuft of Flowers Robert Frost (18741963).
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•                    I went to
  turn the grass once after one   Who mowed it in
  the dew before the sun.   The dew was gone that
  made his blade so keen   Before I came to view
  the leveled scene.   I looked for him behind an
  isle of trees     I  listened for his whetstone
  on the breeze.   But he had gone his way, the
  grass all mown,   And I must be, as he had been,
  -alone,
•     As all must be, I said within my
  heart,   Whether they work together or
  apart.                           

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•     But as I said it, swift there passed me
  by    On noiseless wing a wildered
  butterfly,    Seeking with memories grown dim
  oer night    Some resting flower of yesterdays
  delight.    And once I marked his flight go
  round and round,       As where some flower lay
  withering on the ground.    And then he flew as
  far as eye could see,    And then on tremulous
  wing came back to me.   

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•     I thought of questions that have no
  reply,    And would have turned to toss the
  grass to dry        But he turned first, and
  led my eye to look    At a tall tuft of flowers
  beside a brook,    A leaping tongue of bloom
  the scythe had spared    Beside a reedy brook
  the scythe had bared.    I left my place to
  know them by their name,            Finding them
  butterfly weed when I came.

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• And fell a sprit kindred to my own
• So that henceforth I worked no more alone
• But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,
• And weary, sought at noon with him the shade
• And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech
• With one whose thought I had not hoped to
  reach.       
• Men work together, I told him from the heart,
• Whether they work together or apart.

Robert Frost (18741963).
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Values

• We can (and must) continuously improve the
  quality, effectiveness, appeal, cost and time
  efficiency of the learning experience.
• Learner control and freedom is integral to 21st
  Century education and life-long learning.
• Education for elites is not sufficient for
  planetary survival

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Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada
Fastest growing university in Canada 34,000
students, 700 courses 100 distance
education Graduate and Undergraduate
programs Master Doctorate Distance Education
Only US Regionally Accredited University in
Canada
Athabasca University

• Athabasca University

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The Net Changes Everything!

• Affordances of the Net, Social software, Net 2.0
  (user-generated knowledge), e-learning 2.0,
  semantic web and other jargon names
• I assume a world of network ubiquity
• We construct the real uses and applications of
  these technologies
• 94 of 9-17 Americana teenagers use Social
  Software- with education being a major topic
  (National School Board Assoc, 2007)
• 81.6 of USA undergrads use social software
• ECAR EduCause 2007
• New Net Pedagogies connectivism (George Siemens)

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• As digital resources increasingly offer
  opportunities for networked, collaborative and
  distributed learning and interaction, we need to
  challenge the assumption that the easiest and
  most cost effective approach to organizing
  learning is within the walls of the school. or
  within formal distance education packages!
• Towards new learning networks, Futurlab

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Two Solitudes of Distance Education
Collaborative, Distance education 3rd gen.
video, audio and computer conf
Type C Communications Technology
Independent Study 1st gen. correspondence 2nd
gen. telecourses Type I
Information Technology
From Rumble and Hullsman
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Convergence on Social Software
Collaborative, Distance education 3rd gen.
video, audio and computer conf
Type C Communications Technology
Independent Study 1st gen. correspondence 2nd
gen. telecourses Type I
Information Technology
Socially Enhanced Distance Learning Type S
Social Technology
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Type S Social Technology

• Allows users to find, collaborate (either online
  or F2F) and share resources, when needed and when
  desired, for learning
• Uses intelligent processing to filter, control
  and enhance value
• Uses Type I and Type C technologies
• Uses multiple groups, networks and collectives as
  resources for learning

We are now engaged in a grand scheme to augment,
amplify, enhance, and extend the relationships
between all beings and all objects. That is why
the Network Economy is a big deal. (Kelly, 1997,
p. 140).
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Educational Social Software defined

• Networked tools that support and encourage
  learning through face-to-face and online social
  interactions while retaining individual control
  over time, space, presence, activity, identity,
  relationship, and community. (Anderson, 2005)

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Interaction Models of Learning

• Effective interaction between and among learners,
  content and teachers makes authentic learning
  happen.

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Educational Interactions
Learner / learner
Learner
Learner / teacher
Learner / content
Teacher
Content
Teacher / content.
Teacher / teacher
Content / content

• Anderson (2002) Equivalency Theorem

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Group as educational actor Jon Dron, 2007
Educational Interactions
Learner / learner
Learner
Learner / teacher
Learner / content
Teacher
Content
Teacher / content.
Teacher / teacher
Content / content

• Anderson (2002) Equivalency Theorem

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network

Group as educational actor Stephen Downes, 2006
Stephen Downes, 2006
Learner / learner
Learner
Learner / teacher
Learner / content
Teacher
Content
Teacher / content.
Teacher / teacher
Content / content

• Anderson (2002) Equivalency Theorem

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collective

Group as educational actor Anderson Dron, 2007
Dron Anderson
Learner / learner
Learner
Learner / teacher
Learner / content
Teacher
Content
Teacher / content.
Teacher / teacher
Content / content

• Anderson (2002) Equivalency Theorem

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Taxonomy of the ManyDron and Anderson, 2007
Group Conscious membership Leadership and
organization Cohorts and paced Rules and
guidelines Access and privacy controls Focused
and often time limited May be blended F2F
Metaphor Virtual classroom
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Group
Network Shared interest/practice Fluid
membership Friends of friends Reputation and
altruism driven Emergent norms,
structures Activity ebbs and flows Rarely F2F
Metaphor Virtual Community of Practice
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Metaphor Wisdom of Crowds
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Social Learning 2.0
Collective
Dron and Anderson, 2007
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D
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Social Learning 2.0

• Each of us participates in Groups, Networks and
  Collectives.
• Learning is enhanced by exploiting the
  affordances of all three sources of social
  learning.
• Issues, memes, opportunities and learning
  activities arise at all three levels of
  granularity.
• Certain network tools are optimized for each
  level of granularity - Can they be appropriated
  for effective use?

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Social Learning 2.0 Applications in Educational
Contexts
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1. Formal Education in Groups

• Comfortable, classes and cohorts
• Increases
• completion rates,
• achievement
• satisfaction (Jung, Choi, Lim, Leem, 2002)
• Same logistic challenges as for institutional,
  campus -based learning
• Can operate behind the garden wall to allow
  freedom for expression and development
• Refuge for scholarship

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Formal Learning and Groups

• Long history of research and study
• Need to optimize
• Social presence
• Cognitive presence
• Teaching presence (see Communitiesofinquiry.com)
• Established sets of tools
• LMS (VLE) systems
• Synchronous (video net conferencing)
• Email and lists

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Problems with Groups

• Confining in time, space pace, relationship
• Often overly controlled by teacher expectation
  and institutional curriculum control
• Foster learner dependencies
• Isolated from the world of practice

Relationships
Paulsen 1993
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Challenges of using informal social software
tools for formal group tasks

• Control
• Support
• Privacy
• Assessment
• Ownership and perseverance

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Challenge Creating Incentives to Sustain
Meaningful Contribution
The New Yorker September 12, 2005
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Example How are Blogs used in Groups?

• You are required to post at least two messages
  to your blog and respond to the postings of at
  least two other enrolled students in our class.
• Please use your postings to address the issues
  discussed on pages 34-38 of your text.
• Your post and responses will be assessed for 10
  of your final grade
• To protect your privacy, your blog is not
  accessible outside of the VLE and postings will
  be destroyed at the end of the course.

Paraphrased from major UK university graduate
course requirements
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Assessing Reflective writing

• If we dont assess the blog, will students use
  them??
• Only learners should be able to decide on the
  audience - no-one everyone (including Google)
  teacher class program parents etc.)
• Elgg supports this capacity.

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2. Formal Learning with Networks

• Each of us belongs to many networks
• Networks use and create artifacts, that are
  searchable
• Networks can connect self-paced and independent
  learners
• Network leadership arises in multiple formats
• Supported by multiple, mostly free communications
  
• Allows connectivism to flourish (Siemens 2006)
  It is not what you know, but who you
  know to ask.

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http//www.dailymotion.com/leelefever/video/x2ebea
_socialnetworkingplainenglish
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Formal Education and Networks (cont.)

• Provides a commons from which students extract
  and contribute information
• In school one should learn to build, contribute
  to and manage ones networks
• Through exposure, provides application and
  validation of information and skills developed in
  formal learning
• Basis for ongoing support and advise from alumni
  and professional communities

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Network Tools

• Most web 2.0 apps including
• Profiles Finding significant others
• Blogging - outside the garden wall
• Recommendation systems (Slashdot, Diigo, Diig,
  Cite-u-like)
• Scheduling meet-ups for study, debate,
  collaboration
• Connecting people and resources - syndicating

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Unplanned, unanticipated encounters are central
to democracy itself. Such encounters often
involve topics and points of view that people
have not sought out and perhaps find quite
irritating. They are important partly to ensure
against fragmentation and extremism, which are
predictable outcomes of any situation in which
like-minded people speak only with themselves
(Sunstein, 2001, P.8)
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Networks are todays most widely used public
spaces

• Public spaces have many purposes in social life
• they allow people to make sense of the social
  norms that regulate society,
• they let people learn to express themselves and
  learn from the reactions of others, and
• they let people make certain acts or expressions
  real by having witnesses acknowledge them.
• (Arendt 1998) from Danah Boyd 2007
• Group spaces are not public spaces.

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Network Learning Applications

• Examples
• Extract and comment on a themes from last months
  IT Forum blog results
• Create an analysis of the affordances of Second
  Life for educational purposes blog results
• Search and summarize from Technorati the roll-out
  problems in OLPCs 100 laptop program?
• Using quotes from Hansard and Members Blogs,
  define the Conservatives position on global
  warming, and blog your analysis for group and
  network feedback

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Networked Learning example
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Choosing the right tool?
http//www.go2web20.net 1618 apps as of Sept
24, 2007
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3. Formal Education and Collectives

• Personal and collaborative search and filter to
  resolve learning tasks
• Smart retrieval from the universal libraries of
  resources human and learning objects
• Requires high skill and literacy skills to
  effectively exploite
• Requires contribution to the collective (tagging,
  sharing whenever possible, leaving traces)
• (only 16 of users are taggers (Pew, 2005)
• Allows discovery and validation of academic
  norms, values and paradigms

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Collective Application - Amazon
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Example 2 Aggregation of Crowds
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• How do you design effective activities for
  Groups, Networks and Collectives ??

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Design principles for Social Learning 2.0 (Dron,
2007)

• Emergence, Evolution and Complexity
• Principle of Adaptability
• Principle of Evolvability
• Principle of Stigmergy
• Architecture and Design
• Principle of Constraint,
• Principle of Parcellation
• Principle of Scale
• Social Psychology community,
• Principle of Sociability
• Embedded opportunity for building relationships
• Principle of Trust
• personal control
• Networking Theory
• Principle of Connectivity

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Are Social Networking and Collective activities
DisruptiveTechnologies?

• Disruptive technologies
• Start out as not being good enough for the
  established market
• Have scalability, mass production advantages
• Appeal to non traditional consumers
• Not understood by mainstream organizations

Clayton M. Christensen Disruptive Technologies
Catching the Wave, his 1997 book The Innovator's
Dilemma.
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Should you establish a formal institution
presence in FaceBook?

• Is it their space or our space or
  everyones space??
• Where will Facebook be in 12 months?
• We are obliged to explore these contexts as
  responsible professionals

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Dont Expect help from your IT department

• in the bowling alley (pre tornado, rapid
  adoption phase) you are asking a company to adopt
  a new paradigm in advance of the rest of the
  market. This is not in the interest of the IT
  department. It means extra work for them, and it
  exposes their mission-critical systems to
  additional risk. p. 46-47
• Moores 1995 Inside the Tornado

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Great opportunity!

• The Thomson Learning survey, (2007) n677
  professors.
• Significant room for growth in faculty members'
  use of technology
• 59 percent do not have their own web sites
• 82 percent have yet to make a podcast, and
• only ten percent have their own blogs. ...
• key findings indicate "a large opportunity for
  faculty introduction, education, and integration
  of social networking and media tools, for both
  professional and personal use."
• about two-thirds of faculty respondents also said
  they do not feel social networking will have an
  effect on how they teach
• Michael Hotrum

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Strategies for Early Adopter Leadership

• Use the tools you want others to exploit
• Develop formal and informal learning activities
  in new Network and Collective spaces
• Develop an action or design-based research
  program to validate and learn from your
  interventions
• Communicate the results through your networks
• Use a new application in every course you teach

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Conclusion Benefits of Using Social Learning 2.0
tools and concepts

• Essential lifelong learning skill
• Enhances involvement with and awareness of
  learning processes unfreezes old patterns
• Creates legacy and real world artifacts
• Supports collaborative and reflective learning
• Increases integration with institution, teacher,
  other students across the Taxonomy of the Many

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(No Transcript)
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• We need to learn to celebrate and harness
  the winds of change, to learn to sail in vast
  seas of information and knowledge while reaching
  towards the wealth of wonders that hurtle by us
  on our journey. Like those that sail the seas, we
  need to learn to respect the destructive power of
  unfettered wind and to avoid the towering waves
  of distraction and the threatening rocks of
  ignorance.
• Educational technology is no longer about
  automation and control it is about boat
  building, the rules of the sea and the art of
  good seamanship. Jon Dron, 2007

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"He who asks a question is a fool for five
minutes he who does not ask a question remains a
fool forever."-  Chinese Proverb
Your comments and questions most welcomed!
Terry Anderson terrya_at_athabascau.ca Blog
terrya.edubogs.org
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• WHAT do you make of the fact that these
  institutions do not post their materials? I say
  that we should be as suspicious of them as we
  should of an online pharmacy that does not list
  the ingredients of its "medicine."
• nyc answer 3 was no answer
  2007-08-21 183134 CraigsList