4.3 Social Media and Professional Networks

Although it is painful to admit, I am a latecomer to the whole "social media" landscape. Do not misunderstand, I love technology, and understood its power waayyyy back in the 1970's. I just have a difficult time understanding how anyone can be interested -- much less has the time -- to post inane information such as how many eggs they cooked for breakfast, or that they were now "headed to the office." Though as time passed and technology kept getting more portable, and the growth of the social media sphere grew ever wider, I finally understood it. And actually, that really isn't a fair statement. I can see the value and apply it to different aspects of my life, but it is not all consuming. Whether Tweeting, tagging, pinning, chatting, Facebooking or whatever, the *value* of these social media tools lie fully in the user.

I have found the most useful social media sites for my professional use to be Twitter and LinkedIn. I have found both to be valuable for my own professional development and in developing personal networks of people with the same interests. In addition, I use Twitter to help keep my colleagues informed of events such as conferences, special events and professional development opportunities. My most recent use of Twitter was during our National Commission on Adult Basic Education (COABE) conference held in New Orleans. And yes, there was tweets about Beignets and Cafe du Monde, but the real power, and the real connections made with like minded people (and especially technology minded!) was invaluable.

Using Twitter as a learning tool came a bit by accident. I was in desperate need of information for a project I was working on, and could not find sufficient information through my usual search efforts. I turned to Twitter and was amazed at the speed and depth of the responses. Had I sent my query to Twitter FIRST, I would have completed my project in record time!

The challenge still lies with the distraction factor - you simply cannot (in my opinion) go to your social media site and just read the news feed, or watch a single thread of information. No matter how hard to try to stay focused and on task there is the inevitable "Squirrel!!" moment! Something catches your eye and off you go.... merrily down a bunny trail!

With adult learners, it is more of a challenge to overcome their concerns and fears about using social media. A concern and fear I believe is warranted. They have concerns about privacy, social awkwardness, fears of embarrassment and/or harassment. Most adult I've worked with find themselves being forced into the social network sphere because of their children. Either for connecting with them, or for tracking them! Although I have never tried this with students, but I could imagine a 'social media' lesson where they used a tool like Twitter to teach themselves about a specific skill or to acquire direct knowledge about a topic they were interested in. So far, I have found the "Twitterverse" and "Tweeples" to be extraordinarily responsive, helpful and sincere.

3.3 Reflection: Using Web 2.0 Tools

Due March 11.

Reflect upon what an activity in your classroom might look like using one or more of these Web 2.0 tools. Think about:

• what the experience looks like for students.
• types of outcomes students might have.
• how the outcome is tied to curriculum objectives.
• what Web 2.0 tools are aligned to the outcomes and lead to higher order thinking skills.
• kinds of directions or guidelines you will provide in order to ensure success.

Write a post that briefly describes the activity you would create and how you might minimize possible challenges students and the teacher might have to address. Make sure that your activity is aligned to a learning objective and uses verbs from the top three levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. In a later module, this activity may be one component of a larger unit you create.

Web 2.0 Tools and Student Use: (Revised Post - One tool only)
My first post was not specific enough, therefore I'll add this information regarding using Web 2.0 tools for adult learners. I can only choose one tool, so I'll choose a relatively new one to me: BrainShark. When I first learned about BrainShark, I was looking at it as a tool for classroom teachers to use to their current teaching materials (in PowerPoint) and 'convert them' into a narrated presentation for learners. Most classroom teachers use PowerPoint to help deliver content to their students in one form or another. However, in my experience, many of them do not use PowerPoint to its fullest potential (i.e. use of slide notes to guide a learner to understand the content beyond the simple bullets or images on a slide; narrating the presentation with a voice lecture in addition to the bullets and/or images on the slide; basically, they used the simpliest form of presentation tools). In addition, teachers did not post them to a class web site or within a learning management system so students could access the materials at any time.

To help teachers seeking to learn more about blended/online teaching, BrainShark was explored as a way for teachers to not only 'repurpose' materials they had created, but to also engage their adult learners to use the tool as well. In a nutshell, the 'freemium' version of BrainShark allows a user to create an account, upload a PowerPoint presentation and narrate it via the web using a microphone, or via a cell phone. In either case, BrainShark proved to be an easy and effective tool for teachers to create a voice-narrated presentation, embed the presentation within their courses and/or web sites, and track the number of views of that presentation.

To use with learners, teachers quickly learned the value from several angles: Career Tech Education, English Language learners and adult basic education teachers, all found ways to include BrainShark in not only their teaching of materials, but also in helping their students gain necessary skills. An example from ELL:

English Language Learners:
Language learners need a lot of experience speaking, listening and reading English. Using PowerPoint along with BrainShark allows students to compose a short introduction to themselves and their families and create a 3 or 4 slide presentation (with all necessary technology skills included such as writing, uploading images, revising and editing their content). The lesson would include a written "script" of what the student would say in relation to each slide and the information it contained.

Once the presentation was complete, the script written and revised, learners would then learn how to upload the file to BrainShark, and using either their computer with a microphone, or their own mobile phones, they would narrate each slide using the script they wrote. Learners could re-record their audio, upload their own audio file (such as music). In addition, learners can share their presentations via social media, embedded into a learning management system or other web site.

Teachers can further the lesson by requiring students to view and summarize other learner presentations including posting comments online, or creating an in-class activity to seek out other students and have a conversation about their presentations. In all, the use of BrainShark and PowerPoint can provide powerful learning experiences beyond language learning - it requires technology skills, (navigating the web, creating and managing accounts, file management, editing, ) reading and writing skills, conversation, review and analysis of materials presented by other learners.  Additional value for teachers include the ability to view and comment on learner presentations, or if used for teaching, they can track how many views their presentation received.

Although BrainShark is a tool designed for business use, it can be a useful tool for teachers and learners. To see a sample presentation from BrainShark (uploaded music, recorded audio and uploaded PowerPoint) this presentation was created in a very short time.

 

2.2 Reflection: Methodologies of the Online Instructor (Pass / No Pass)

My instructional methodologies can always use some tweaking and revisions. Although I have not had a teaching assignment for several years, I can see areas that would need changes in order to fully support my students. First a very explicit description of when they could expect online assignments to be graded and messages responded to. As someone pretty much constantly connected in one way or another, it would be difficult for me to "un-plug" without some rules in place. 

I would also prefer to give more control over to students on how, what and when they complete their work. In my case, it does not matter if the work is completed in a brick & mortar classroom, or in the privacy of their own home. As long as they master the materials I give them, then I would be pleased with their progress. In my class I instituted a "100% Proficiency" policy. It did not matter how long students took to master the material - however, before they could move on to the next level, they had to   prove that mastery to me by completing all assigned performance-based tasks at 100% proficient. If they missed something, I provided additional materials and practice projects to help them reach that 100% proficiency. This proved frustrating for my students {they just wanted to get done!} but it only took one or two students returning to class and announcing how THEY got the job based on their own higher level skills to help motivate other learners to continue with their learning.

An area I would like to expand to my students is providing more synchronous time together. I'm learning that it takes a long time to help teachers understand synchronous tools like Google Hangouts, Skype and Adobe Connect. But once they do, they love it. Not only does it allow us as a group to come together "in real time," it also allows everyone to share their work, discuss their challenges and successes in their own online and blended teaching, it also provides a great connection between myself as teacher and my students. Although it is hard to get a large group of people together, when it happens there always seem to be really good thing happening among the group. 

Personal Learning Goal -LEC

Posting for Leading Edge certification course

1.2 Reflection: Personal Learning Goal (Pass / No Pass)

I'm taking the LEC course purely for information. I'm a life long learner and I also working on distance learning projects for my work (OTAN). One of my projects involve helping teachers learn more about online teaching, and how they might incorporate it into their practice. Most teachers in adult education do not have the support of a full instructional technology team, but through collaboration, mentoring and continued support from us, we have managed to start several cadres of like-minded teachers who want to reach their students and provide instruction any time, any place, any path and any pace (with credit to Florida Virtual School - I believe they have that phrase trademarked). 

I'm really seeking to see how other organizations and teachers approach blended teaching -- although I'm most interested in how teachers teach adults, it is not likely I will get an opportunity to work with those teachers in a course like this. In the past, I have seen these courses geared to either teachers within the K12 system (and target that curriculum) or the college system. Adult educators as a whole are blessed with finding materials on both sides of this educational fence, but they must do far more work to find appropriate materials for their learners. If I can find anything that helps them meet that goal, I'll be happy. 

Additionally, I was interested in seeing another learning management system. I've heard of Haiku, but never used it. I must admit at this early date I'm a bit befuddled at all the text, all the linking and jumping from the course (at least I think its the course) to the text book (a different site) to the blog (another site) to the use of a Google site (another site). At the moment, this is NOT an environment I could see my adult education teachers using with their students. It is too complex for technical newbies. 

As for the online assessment, it could be a useful tool but I didn't see any specific recommendations to move a teacher from point A to point B in their desire to learn more about teaching online. I like this one from Penn State "Faculty Self-Assessment: Preparing for Online Teaching." What I was particularly impressed with was the feedback this tool provides teachers. By providing guidance to teachers on what they need to understand to be an effective online teacher (good communication skills, willingness to engage students outside of "class time," good file management and technology skills and much more) it can help teachers define how well prepared they are to dive into the online teaching realm. Personally, any tool that can inform someone of their strengths and weaknesses has value. Another tool that helps teachers learn more about what it takes to be a distance education teacher AND build a professional learning portfolio is available through Adult Ed Learning Online. Unfortunately,  the site is fairly dated and there are no funds to keep the professional development and research materials up to date.