Jen e-blogger

Designers of e-learning often focus on learning activities for the recall or comprehension levels of thinking, paying little attention to the higher levels in the Bloom’s Taxonomy. Read the following info and participate in the Jabberwocky quiz at the bottom of the post. Good luck!

What has Blooms Taxonomy got to do with it e-learning?

Let’s first look at Blooms taxonomy…

A closer look at how it applies to e-learning

1. KNOWLEDGE (or recall): This level is the lowest level of thinking requiring the least cognitive effort. It is defined as the remembering data learned in the past.  E- learning activities that focus on this level includes those that help students to remember facts and concepts taught earlier or test their ability to recall the facts and concepts taught earlier.

Words often used in knowledge questions include know, who, define, what, name, where, list, and when.

2. COMPREHENSION: This level focuses on students’ ability to comprehend new information presented to them and translate the information from one form into another. E- learning activities that focus on this level includes those that guide students to comprehend the information presented or assess their ability to transform the information in order to demonstrate their understanding.

Words often used in comprehension questions include describe, use your own words, outline, explain, discuss, and compare.

3. APPLICATION: This level requires students to use the new knowledge that was learnt in new or different situations, such as in a simulated or real workplace setting. E- Learning activities that focus on this level includes those that guide students to arrive at a certain concept, rule, principle or method and use the concept, rule, principle or method in a workplace or simulated workplace environment.

Words often used in application questions include apply, manipulate, put to use, employ, dramatize, demonstrate, interpret, and choose.

4. ANALYSIS: This level is defined as the ability to break down material to identify its components and to analyze its organizational structure and content. E- Learning activities that focus on scaffolding thinking at this level includes those that guide students to identify different components of a particular object, to better appreciate the relationships between the parts. It requires students to identify different aspects of a process to appreciate the working principle behind the process.

Words often used in analysis questions include analyze, why, take apart, diagram, draw conclusions, simplify, distinguish, and survey.

5. SYNTHESIS: This level is often seen as the opposite of Analysis. It involves the capability to assemble individual components to create a new product. E- learning activities includes those that require students to construct a new product from the components given or apply different aspects of their prior learning to put together a product.

Words often used in synthesis questions include compose, construct, design, revise, create, formulate, produce, and plan.

6. EVALUATION: This level of thinking requires students to evaluate or review the value or relative worth of ideas or objects based on predetermined criteria. This type of thinking is the highest level, often requiring the other five levels of thinking. E- Learning activities at this level includes those that require students to critic or review materials or ideas.

Words often used in evaluation questions include judge, rate, assess, evaluate, What is the best …, value, criticize, and compare.

More examples of Blooms taxonomy question construction can be found here:

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm

Critical thinking

Using critical thinking will help  your students develop a higher level of learning.

John Dewey defined the nature of reflective thought as:

“active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends” (1938, p.9).

Critical thinking includes the evaluation of the worth, accuracy, or authenticity of various propositions, leading to a supportable decision or direction for action.

1. Critical thinking is a learnable skill with teachers and peers serving as resources.
2. Problems, questions, and issues serve as the source of motivation for the learner.
3. Courses are assignment or decision making centered rather than text or lecture oriented.
4. Goals, methods, and evaluation emphasize using content rather than simply acquiring it.
5. Students need to formulate and justify their ideas in some way.
6. Students collaborate to learn and enhance their thinking (Meyers 1986).

You will find some more info and practical tips on my previous blog post: Information dumping: Is it effective?

An example of how ineffective ‘knowledge’ based questions can be…

Read this excerpt from ‘Jabberwocky’ and answer the following questions.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Questions:

1. What were the slithy toves doing in the wabe?
2. How would you describe the state of the borogoves?
3. What can you say about the mome raths?

Insert your answers here: http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/9F7825945EF6C4A8/

Did you need to understand material in order to answer low level questions directly related to the text?

Most people will be able to answer these questions, without any understanding of the nonsense verse at all.

Now try these questions…

1. Were the borogroves right to feel mimsey?
2. How effective was the mome raths strategy?

OK… they were pretty difficult questions. To answer these particular questions, more data is required (please tell me if I’m wrong!!) but you can see how it requires a higher thought process when the questions are re-phrased.

Conclusion

Knowledge questions are fine at the start but continuing to base your questions at the bottom of Blooms will lead to surface learning. Knowledge questions may be necessary, but they are never sufficient.

Ideas for applying this to your e-learning are welcome… just pop them in the ‘comments’ section.

Now before you cry ‘I don’t have an Apple computer’… I am hoping to review the concept rather than the product… so don’t stop here!

Keynote pretty much does what Powerpoint (PPT) does… and I don’t think I need to tell you what Powerpoint does. Keynote can import a .PPT file and it can be edited without a problem. Keynote is Apple’s answer to Microsoft PPT… in a nutshell.

I have been experimenting with using PPT at a quick and cheap alternative to building e-learning resources, by using icons, text or pictures as hyperlinks, instead of the ’slide show’ option. You navigate your way through the resource, by making choices and clicking on links. The really cool part is… that in Keynote 08 you can export the file to Flash. Now that IS exciting as it makes the file size smaller and creates a neat little resource. I usually shrink the file to the size of a small envelope, add some audio and voila! I then embed it into an html file (which is optional of course).

Here is a little capture of one I completed recently (this is an image and not a Flash file so you can’t interact with it on my blog)…

You can also export Keynote files to ‘Quicktime’, which is a movie file, although this takes the interactivity away.

Using PPT in this way, opens opportunities to create ‘Choose your own adventure’ type scenarios for interactive learning. Just create a hyperlink to a specific slide!

TIP: You need to make sure you adjust the settings so that the slides will only forward with the hyperlinks.

Now for the bad news…The NEW version of Keynote 09 doesn’t have the option of exporting to Flash. I purchased a copy of 08 from Ebay recently quite cheaply and I don’t intend to upgrade unless Apple decide to include the Flash export option in Keynote 09.

What? You don’t have an Apple computer?

No problem… here are some ideas.

1. Design it in PPT and phone a friend who has an Apple with Keynote 08 installed. It will take them 2 minutes to export it to Flash. Just remember… I am not your friend (just kidding)! 2 minutes x 12,000 people is too much for me to add up and my boss wouldn’t be impressed.
2. Try using it as a Powerpoint show. Save as .PPS or .PPSX While this isn’t ideal as the file size is still large, it is an option.
3. Find another program which will export PPT to Flash. I believe there are some out there so if you find a good one please let me know… especially if it’s free!

Some inspiring resources for you…

Use good web design to inspire your own designs and techniques in PowerPoint

Information dumping: Is it effective?

It is disheartening for teachers to know that only a small percent of their ‘lectures’ are absorbed by students. Engaging your students can be even worse with e-learning if the only source of information is via text. Does that make you feel down? Here is the exciting news then… there are dozens of strategies to help engage your students. Today we are going to look at imagery. 

Let’s start with a test. On my recent trip to the zoo, I took a photo of a peacock. I could describe what a peacock looks like, or show you my image. Out of the two items below (a photo or text) what will you remember most?

Most people will remember the image and very little of the text. The text, is describing what is in the photo, so as far as giving information, it serves the same purpose.

Seeing is often taken for granted. Humans have an amazing capacity to remember visual detail. When shown an image, humans will often remember the detail of up to 90%, weeks, months and even years later.

Using images/icons to identify different information

Story one: I had a staff member once, who walked into my office and asked which folder had the meeting minutes in it. He commented that ‘all the folders looked the same’. The fact that the folder with the meeting minutes in it said ‘meeting minutes’ didn’t register to him because I had placed 20 identical blue folders in a row with text labels on them.

Conclusion: Label your information with coloured tabs or images

Story two: A teacher told me once that she had submitted a proposal to her manager 4 times. The proposals were rejected each time. The 5th time, she put the same information into a graph and the proposal was accepted. From then on, she continued to use graphs and had  very positive results. She discovered that her manager was too busy to read all of the text.

Conclusion: Use graphs to explain information where possible

Using an image as a metaphor: Often our language betrays us by promoting perspectives we don’t actually espouse.

Metaphors can be used for creating rapport and for communicating the nature of shared and unshared experience. A symbolic image allows the student to think and draw conclusions, rather than having facts passively fed to them.

Conclusion: Images don’t always need to be portraying the subject matter. They can be in the form of a symbol or metaphor and still be effective in getting the point across.

Not all of us are ‘visual learners’, as such, and yet most people nowadays are busy and demand faster and more effective learning processes.

Are you creating an information dump or a lively place to learn?

This week I spent some time at ConVerge09 conference. I particularly admired Cathy Moore and her ideas and strategies for developing engaging elearning.

Let me ask you this:

What do people learn when you provide them with reading material?

If you answered ‘knowledge’, you are correct. Hooray (you say!).

Is knowledge what we need to learn?

What do people NEED to learn?

If you have studied ‘Blooms Taxonomy’ you will know that knowledge is at the bottom of the cognitive learning ladder.

• We can ‘know’ things without comprehending them.
• We can comprehend things without having the capacity to apply them.
• We can apply things without having the capacity to evaluate, reflect and improve.

We tend to dump content onto our learners without giving them the opportunity to put the knowledge into a meaningful context or to apply it for greater understanding. We are not giving them the opportunity to develop SKILLS.

What people NEED to learn (as content) should be the only thing you add to your course content. Our job is to design an experience, not information. Basing your course on information and following it up with a test of their knowledge doesn’t empower people with skills.

By using scenario based learning, we can ‘ditch the drone’ and give students the opportunity to ‘experience’ learning in a meaningful way. Take a look at Cathy’s slideshow:

2. Use questions and choice making to develop interest in a topic

Let the students make a choice and learn by success or mistakes. E-learning is a great place to make a mistake without being humiliated in front of the class!

Use more visuals than text. My next blog post is going to be on the importance of visuals… watch this space!

More on that note…

How to build more meaningful e-learning

People manage to progress merrily through life, using seemingly archaic  tools such as ‘email’ (good grief remember when that seemed innovative?) without understanding the etiquette involved.

With Web 2 tools being used in teaching and general communication, it is important for teachers to role model good ‘netiquette’ and also to familiarise their students with it as a standard practise.

It is not possible or necessary to cover all social networking areas. In fact, if you look at the Wikopedia list of social networking tools, you will understand why. The list is looonnnggg! I have found some good links to help understand the Web2 netiquette which can be used for any Web 2 tool…

• Twitter etiquette: Like any social environment there is an inherent etiquette involved with using Twitter and a level of  behaviour expected of you if you’re to take part successfully.
• Email etiquette: Dare I suggest… replying to emails is a good start?
• MSN etiquette
• Blog and Wiki etiquette: The 10 commandments of working with Blogs and Wikis.
• Facebook etiquette: Every member of Facebook has a duty to be the best online citizen they can be. Here is a video clip with some tips…

Please add your own etiquette ideas and things that bug you, in the comments section. You go for it… you know you want to!

OR… take this poll:

Recently, I had lunch with a dear friend. While we were chatting, she told me that she would dearly like to enrol into some computer lessons, so that she doesn’t lose touch with technology. I admire her for realising that this is a need in her life. I was thinking about her comments afterwards and felt compelled to compose her a letter. It is really a letter to everyone, including myself.

Dear friend,

You were raised in a time when learning was only valued if it were formalised. In a time when the teacher was the expert and you were a vessel to be filled with knowledge. Where experiential and collaborative learning was not always considered to be a valuable pedagogy.

It is not to say that formal learning doesn’t have a place in life. I have been studying in formal learning continually for 15 years now, but I consider the learning which means most to me, to be the knowledge and skill I gain from experiencing and collaborating. In fact, most of us tech heads have never taken a computer lesson.

Unfortunately, technology (or any learning) cannot be seen as a ’shelf’ which we need to reach. It is more like a very long ladder we climb, that we will never reach the top of. Unfortunately, some of us get stuck on one of the bottom rungs. Moving upwards is a scary feeling. What if I make a mistake? What if I break something? How will I know what to do without someone telling me?

My son can build a computer from scratch in 30 minutes. He doesn’t have a Facebook account, however, because he ‘doesn’t know how to use it’. What does this mean?

1. He taught himself to build a computer and could just as easily teach himself to use other tools.
2. There is no such thing as an ‘expert’.

We all have knowledge of certain areas and not others. Technology is changing so rapidly so we could never know everything. As soon as you learn a piece of software, it is replaced with a new version.

My friend, I have two pieces of advise for you:

1. Push lots of buttons and ask lots of questions
2. Get yourself a Personal Learning Network

So many people are afraid of pushing buttons. Ask yourself: What does this do? What will happen if I press this? Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. We learn from both success and mistakes.

Ask for help when you get stuck. There is nothing like peer learning. This leads me on to point 2… Get yourself a Personal Learning Network! I have written about this before (click the link for further reading). It is a very powerful way to learn. If it wasn’t for my Twitter networks, my learning would have almost stagnated.  Find some blogs to follow with helpful advice on things you want to learn. Comment on blogs, ask your Twitter network for help, join a Wiki.

Ask questions.

Collaborate.

Follow links.

Experiment.

My friend, you are on a journey like the rest of us. It is just that you are not on the ladder rung where you want to be. Keep climbing, that is all that matters. You are reading this blog, you have  a Facebook account and send emails = you are learning.

Keep learning.

With love,

Jen (e-blogger)

If you want a good start, try this self paced ‘23 Things program’ I designed last year. It is unsupported at the moment but still very useable: 23 Things  4 Swin

To finish off… I have included this YouTube video. It might be a little scary, but it highlights the speed in which technology is racing. Best of all… here is a last resort: Tech support cheat sheet.

Watch it and comment if you feel inclined!

Working in an institution gave me foundations!

Kingsbury Training Centre 1978

In a past life, (for 28 years) I worked in the disability field, more specifically, with people with intellectual disability and autism.  In the late 1970’s I left school in the country, arrived in Melbourne and began work in at Kingsbury Training Centre, a new ‘forward thinking’ institution for people with intellectual disability. I was one of 3 staff on shift at any time, with 30 small children aged from 5 to 13 years old. Amongst the concepts, which were futuristic for the times, we ran individual programs, mostly based around life skills for the residents. As time went by, this concept was developed across all disability services. My shift into Educational services for adults, saw the IPP (Individual Program Plan) delivered, by law,  across the state of Victoria. This has since been abolished and replaced by the ‘Person centred planning’ concept. The focus shifted from ‘helping and caring’ to ‘empowering’, although I admit that it is implemented with varying success across organisations. One of my greatest contributions to  the disability field designing the  ‘All about me communication books’ this whilst at EDAR and consequently, winning the Dept of Human Services ‘Best practice award’. These books embraced the concept of individuality and empowerment and have been used across Australia.

Management in the disability services embraced the same philosophy: Management supported Staff from below, as the foundation of the organisation, rather from the top looking down. I particularly experienced this at EDAR, where I eventually became a manager myself. Collaboration and learning come hand in hand in developing an authentic and sustainable organisation which will manage change effectively. By role modeling this to staff, the philosophy flowed through to the clients and became a holistic learning journey for all.

What has this got to do with e-learning?

Be patient, I am getting to it!

I began my career change by teaching Cert 4 in Disability across 4 TAFE organisations. It was a very steep learning curve which flowed into Aged care, Nursing, Business and many other areas. In fact, I taught over 45 different units of Competency in my first year of work as a teacher. It came as a surprise that program delivery was largely focused on students as a group and that personal learning concepts had not been embraced. Content seemed to be delivered at students rather than involving them in collaboration, by providing real world experiences and choice of delivery methods. Teachers from a disability background find it natural to teach in a collaborative style as they tend to utilise the skills they learned in industry. Of course, I am generalising. There are many many amazing and talented teachers out there who are from various backgrounds, who have become that way by both natural means and through trial an error. What I am saying is that it is easier for teachers when this style of teaching does not involve behaviour change or who have had the learner centred approached modeled to them personally.

Recognise and embrace difference

Diversity in the classroom

Some people have struggled their whole school life to ‘fit into the mold’ and only ‘blossom’ when a teacher recognised their strengths and encouraged them to learn by using them.

Many people come to a position in their lives where they disengage with formal school learning, despite the good work of talented and dedicated teachers. Some have learning difficulties, some have the capacity but are not interested.  Either way they separate from learning either physically or in their commitment. The path to re-engagement, if there is such a path, is individual and arises through linking learning to a passion or interest which in turn is linked to work life or purpose.

Perhaps the first requirement is a shared acknowledgement  that not all people learn in the same way.  Some like to  follow an academic path while others learn better by doing and applying skills to practical situations. Some learners succeed through formal study while others succeed through  engaging in work-like learning. Importantly both paths lead to success and should be equally esteemed.

Individual learning and e-learning

Many studies indicate the advantages of blended learning in terms of lower dropout rates and success in  achieving learning goals. There is obviously nothing wrong with blended learning, but its implementation can be even more challenging than the introduction of 100% distance learning. A model appropriate to blended learning must allow for individual path combining contact and distance learning. In practice this is hard to implement because of logistic constraints, especially on contact hours. Careful design is therefore essential.

I am teaching the ‘Design and Research e-learning’  unit in the Diploma of VET program at Swinburne. Most recently I have trialled the use of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework Learning design tool as a first step towards developing programs for online learning. The Learning Design Tool is a FREE online resource which guides you step-by-step through the four essential stages to write high quality, learner-focused course content, and to create your own learning design template. Using this tool has helped teachers to think more seriously about who they are pitching the learning to and how they will design it.

Tips for individual learning online

Encourage your students to develop a Personal Learning Network. EXAMPLE: The majority of my learning is done informally, mostly because I have a huge network of ‘Twitter people’ who are e-learning consultants and teachers. READ: Using Twitter to enhance your personal learning network (PLN)- How can Twitter be useful to educators?

Follow me on Twitter

Don’t try to force feed content to your learners. Give them opportunities to learn collaboratively and experimentally. Use tools such as the discussion or chat tools in your LMS or  Wikis and Nings for collaborative learning.

Find out what skills they already have and allow them to ‘choose their own adventure’ to become competent and skilled at tasks.

Take baby steps:

1. Not all Gen Y are techno whizzes and often students in their advanced years are very computer literate. Gen Y are often fantastic at Facebook and SMS, but have no idea how to use email. Allow for plenty of support and learning.
2. ‘Taking baby steps’ also refers to yourself. You don’t need bells and whistles to be a good online facilitator. Just keep it within your area of skill but keep learning and progressing!

Don’t underestimate peer learning. Quite often students have asked questions in the online discussion forums and another student has answered it for them beautifully. This is meaningful learning for both students. Good facilitation will encourage this, providing they are not left without support or encouragement from the teacher altogether!

Engaging Gen Y

In this video, which is part of a larger project investigating learner-centered teaching with technology, the need for motivation and engagement with technology is highlighted. The use of the technogy advertisements is designed to highlight the engagement produced by technology and media. Part 2 is also available on You Tube if you find it helpful.

I would like to finish with my favourite, thought provoking video…

Your comments are always welcome and I try to reply to them as soon as is humanly possible!

Now that I have got your attention, I will change the heading to:

How to use Facebook safely

I have had 3 conversations this week with people who are ‘afraid of Facebook’ because:

• They don’t want their identity stolen
• They don’t want the world knowing their details
• They think they will be robbed
• They believe their children will be kidnapped (from photos on Facebook)

Lets start by looking at how Facebook works…

If you adjusted your privacy settings correctly, the only people able to see your Facebook info, is your ‘friends’. I say ‘friends’ loosely. Friends = anyone you add to Facebook. YOU have the control over who you add as a friend and what they can see. If you don’t want strangers to see your information, don’t add them. It’s as simple as that. You can group your friends. This way, your students/workmates etc can only see the information that you want them to see. At the bottom of this post you will find some tips for setting your privacy settings.

It would be easier for someone to stalk your house and observe toys in the yard, notice that your car is not in the carport etc, than to see a photo on your private Facebook site and track down your address.

Just recently, I went to Europe for 6 weeks. While I was gone, I left my 25 year old son, who is a martial arts champion, my 23 yo son who is home during the day and 20 year old daughter, who is also home most days, in the house with my over protective dog who goes crazy if a leaf falls off a tree. Here I was away in Europe, posting photos of my trip in Facebook and unbeknown to me, someone could have robbed my house. Really?

Yes… bad things do happen, but lets put on our seat belts before we travel. Take the best precautions and enjoy the benefits of networking with long lost cousins, keeping in touch with friends and facilitating e-learning which reaches people in a more engaging and contemporary manner.

Tips for privacy

There is no point in me recreating the wheel, so I have found some postings from other bloggers about Privacy settings:

1. How to sort your friends into groups with different settings for each group eg: People you work with or your students could be kept from viewing your private photos. How to group privacy settings via the friends list
2. Adjusting your privacy settings
3. 10 Privacy settings every Facebook user should know
4. A guide to Facebook privacy
5. The risky business of using social media for teaching

Comments

Let me know what you think by writing your comments on the comments link.

OK, I admit it, it is addictive and time wasting… but like a lot of Web 2 tools, it has it’s good side.

What is it you ask?

Farm Town is an application in Facebook. My daughter insisted I would love it and she was right.

Farm Town is application that allows users to plow, plant, harvest, and sell crops. It is the latest fad among Facebook users, which I am a great fan of. There is some irony in running a farm because it IS just like running a farm… only cleaner. Not only that, but you can go and work for other people and build up your ‘money’ and experience points (sound familiar?). You can be hired in the marketplace or hire people yourself. I think it’s a great tool for building business skills with students, collaboration, strategic planning and the need for persistence. I wish I had some (Business students I mean) to work with. Instead… I will share my idea.

My farm (below) is currently being re-constructed. I am saving for the ultimate farm house so I am living in a hay barn. Just like real life perhaps? You can see my avatar in the photo, standing in the Sunflower patch… which is 83% ready for harvest.

There is plenty of information on the web about HOW to use Farm Town and tricks and tips for success, so I am not going to bother touching on that subject.

Using Farm Town for Learning

Students will need to create a Facebook account, if they haven’t already and then search for Farm Town and bookmark the application on their home page.

They will need to build a farm from scratch, making purchases from their earnings such as… seeds, houses, buildings, rivers, paths, fences and lawn mowers.

Students can ask other students to be their neighbours and/or buddy, and as neighbours are away from their farms, students will have to tend to their farms as tornadoes strike, crops dry out, and weeds grow. The neighbours can also work on each others farms, earning money and experience as they go. What they grow and harvest, how they manage their money and employ people, will determine their success in the given time frame. Students would need to develop strategies for their business and reflect on them afterwards to cap it off.

This tool works as both a collaborative learning tool as well as a self reflective resource for individuals, which I think has great benefit to teaching and learning.

Now that I have justified my addiction… I am off to harvest my latest crop, or sit back and watch someone else do it.

If you think of any other ideas or student groups who this would benefit… feel free to comment below.

You can have a break from reading my blog until late July as I will be traveling Europe until then. I know, it will be difficult but someone’s gotta it!

If you want to follow me, you can do this on Twitter or on my private blog: http://dishmoptop.wordpress.com

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Jenny_Wood

ciao!