Reflection on IT6740 Project - Revisiting Common Instructional Values

Learning

The IT 6740 project was a group project with Sheri and Jenn. I asked to work with them because I seem to always learn more when working with a group rather than in isolation, and they are both really smart! Our project involved re-examining the Common Instructional Values that were developed in our first course in the program. We designed a web site using Weebly.com that provided additional commentary, discussion, and resources on each of the values.

During the project development and implementation process, I learned how to use Voicethread and Weebly, and I reinforced my understanding of the common instructional values.

As I reflect on what might work better next time, I would like to incorporate Joni's ideas on threaded discussion participation from her blog (Three-pronged approach to online discussions for learning):

• relevance - make an explicit connection to personal, professional, and / or academic purposes


• expectations - ask participants to do three things at the end of the discussion:


• summarize the discussion (150 - 250 words);


• share their most important contribution and why they think so;


• describe one other contribution by a classmate that was particularly valuable.


• preparation - attend to the fact that voicethread might be a new tool for some, and provide additional support.

Development Process

The development started with several conversations and brainstorming on what the project would be about. As we brainstormed, the common instructional values from our first cohort course surfaced. We decided we wanted to bring them back into focus, and gain new perspective on these from the other end of the program. We wanted to synthesize our learning experiences, theoretical foundations, and research findings in light of practical applications and Instructional Design principles.

My biggest "Aha!" in the development process came from the Voicethread that Sheri and I put together for the Contextual value. Sheri's suggestion was to use a close-up view of a situation, and then zoom out revealing an unanticipated setting to show the importance of context. I loved this idea, and "context" took on a whole new meaning to me. Based on the comments on the voicethread, I think it resonated with several of the participants, too.

Implementation Process

Implementing the project required sharing the link to the website with our classmates, and then watching for and responding to comments made in the Voicethreads. We ended up with more participation than I anticipated, which was a relief. It took awhile to get the conversation going, and I think many waited until the end to participate. Had points been attached to participation, I would have liked to use Joni's suggestions for summary posts - some kind of final reflection by participants on their thinking.

Learning Processes

Participants engaged in several learning processes, including reflection, social interaction, and interaction with images/visuals. We included these processes intentionally; the project was designed to help participants do something with the instructional values. As Smith points out, we wanted to engage participants in active testing of ideas, which is a requirement of learning. We also provided support for participants in the eCollege course shell.

My individual learning process included reflection, social interaction, and support.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed working with Sheri and Jenn, and I have a new perspective on the importance of the Common Instructional Values in instructional design.

View the project

IT 6740: Review of Diigo

What is Diigo?
Diigo is a social bookmarking and social annotation tool. According to the Diigo website, “If you browse or read a lot on the web, we believe you will find Diigo indispensable. Diigo is two services in one -- it is a research and collaborative research tool on the one hand, and a knowledge-sharing community and social content site on the other.” Diigo is an acronym for “Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff.”

Why am I interested in Diigo?
Diigo interests me because I am one who browses and reads a lot on the web. In the past, I have had difficulty organizing websites that are important to me. In an effort to keep a record of important internet files, I used to resort to lots of printing and filing. I’ve also had long lists of bookmarks stored in my browser windows which are tricky and cumbersome to organize.

What is Diigo used for?
Diigo resolves many of these organizational challenges. With Diigo, I can tag websites, annotate them with my own comments, highlight important sections on the web, and retrieve this information from any computer with internet access. And, others can see this information and add their own comments.

How do you use Diigo?
There are lots of excellent tutorials and “how to” demos available on the web. Visit this Jennifer Dorman site for a guide to various Diigo resources.

Has Diigo been used in educational applications? How? Is it effective?
Diigo is being used in educational applications. In fact, Diigo has a special account option for educators (K-12 and college/university). The educator account provides educators with additional account features, like setting up class accounts and groups with added privacy settings.

Educators are discovering the advantages afforded by the use of Diigo in learning situations. As Michael Wesch of Kansas State University points out, “Diigo turns reading and research into a social activity. Conversations emerge right on the page and spill over into the classroom. Students love it. They not only engage with the material, they engage with each other.” (Dorman, 2009)

To read more about how educators are using Diigo in their classrooms, read the Diigo Education Forum in Classroom 2.0.

What learning processes are involved — specifically?
My top five learning processes list includes visual engagement; social interaction; experience, practice and support; and reflection. Diigo directly involves all four of these learning processes (the fifth one on my list is making mistakes – I could argue that Diigo might be used to foster opportunities for students to capitalize on their mistakes through collaboration and social research projects).

Visual engagement – The highlighting and sticky note feature allow users to visually note important areas of text. Text coding – a reading comprehension strategy – could effectively be used with Diigo.

Social interaction – Diigo is designed to foster social interaction in an online environment. See Michael Wesch’s quote above.

Experience, practice, and support – Through Diigo’s group format, users have the ability to practice asking questions of others, and putting us in the company of others who have similar interests and mindsets.

Reflection – Diigo provides a format that allows for and encourages individual reflection. As I reflect on articles and website, I can add sticky notes, highlights, and comments to them, which will be available to me whenever I return to that article to think some more.

References
Dorman, J. (2009). Grazing for Digital Natives Wiki. Retrieved April 5, 2009, from http://jdorman.wikispaces.com/diigo

IT 6740: Course Planning Podcast

IT 6740: First Podcast

It is time to try podcasting. This test is pretty simple - it is just me reading a paragraph from the book at the top of my stack: In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms (Brooks, J. & Broooks, M, 1993).

First Podcast