PPEL, UNIT 4, TASK 2

UNIT 4, TASK 2: LEARNING MODULE

This is the Learning Module I created from the three learning objects of each Unit: Cooperative Freedom, Online teaching Techniques and Transparency in Online Education.

I used three different tools, and a produced a PowerPoint presentation about Cooperative Freedom, a cartoon related to Online teaching Techniques, and a movie about Transparency in Online Education, and I published them here, on my blog.
I choose these tools from all Web 2.0 tools and services I tested, to develop my Learning Objects and my Learning Module.
I hope you like it.


COOPERATIVE FREEDOM

Theory of Cooperative Freedom
The theory of autonomy and independence

Adult learners perceive themselves as self-directing human beings and define themselves in terms of their personal achievements and experiences.

The Theory of Cooperative Freedom perceives both adult and juvenile distance learners as motivated, self-directing students with a desire to control their learning outcomes.The theory applies to all three categories of Houle’s student motivational orientations: goal oriented, activity oriented, and learning oriented.
• Goal-oriented participants will perceive CMC as a way to “keep the edge” and to use state-of-the-art technology to achieve their goals.
• Activity-oriented students cannot resist the always-available online activity.
• Knowledge-oriented people may be motivated by access to all the up-to-date information and knowledgeable people that CMC provides.

This theory suggests that, independently of motivational orientation, distance students need cooperation as well as individual freedom.


ONLINE TEACHING TECHNIQUES

I created my LO with the aim of teaching a young people' class about Pedagogical Techniques, so I used Walt Disney characters to tried to capture both their interest and attention.

Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC): Transmission and reception of messages using computers as input, storage, output, and routing devices. CMC includes information retrieval, electronic mail, bulletin boards, and computer conferencing.

Pedagogical Technique: Boyle (1981, 213) defined technique as the form used to present material to be learned, for example lecture, panel, and group discussion. In this study, a pedagogical technique is defined as a manner of accomplishing teaching objectives. According to how the techniques prescribe student interaction with learning resources, the techniques are classified as one-alone techniques, one-to-one techniques, one-to-many techniques, and many-to-many techniques.

A pedagogical technique is defined as a manner of accomplishing teaching objectives.

According to how the techniques prescribe student interaction with learning resources, the techniques are classified as one-alone techniques, one-to-one techniques, one-to-many techniques, and many-to-many techniques.

TRANSPARENCY IN ONLINE EDUCATION

I created my LO with the goal of showing transparency in online education benefits.

Transparency improves both quality and cooperation.

In a transparent course, where people can see and follow information about each other, you can look at the good work of your colleagues and try to learn from them.
So, you can improve your work learning from the work of others.
Transparency is also important because it could reduce low quality work.
In a learning environment, you and your interests, ideas, writings, and assignments should be visible to others students and teachers.
This can be achieved by making that kind of information transparent.
Distance students need transparency to work cooperatively.
But, how much transparency should we allow in online education?
Well, students must to be free to choose how much transparency they want for their work, so they feel comfortable about it.

COOPERATIVE FREEDOM

Ppel, unit 4, task 2 distance education theories

View more presentations from ffaria.

ONLINE TEACHING TECHNIQUES
 

TRANSPARENCY IN ONLINE EDUCATION

1QI

I posed Dr. Carlos Vieira Lima, Head of Continuous Training Division in Centro de Estudos e Formação Autárquica (CEFA), the following question:

Dear Carlos Vieira Lima,
I'm a master student at Universidade Aberta who is investigating the impact of Distance Education on workers skills and knowledge.
I hope that you can answer the following question.

How do you think Distance Education can improve workers skills and knowledge, in local governments context?
If it is acceptable for you, I would like to share both my question and your answer in our course forum and in my personal blog at: http://mpelejadores.blogspot.com/.

Answer:
In the universe of local governments, we have witnessed, in recent years, a huge increase in production of legislation and the introduction of new techniques and methodologies, in virtually all sectors of activity.
These facts create an urgent need for training, so that professionals in each field can keep updated on the latest developments and changes.
Moreover, with the increasing volume of new training needs, people have less and less time available to attend it.
Thus, distance learning is emerging as an effective solution able to fulfill these training needs, respecting the limitations and constraints referred above, enabling the frequency of training which, if taken out the traditional way, in face-to-face courses, people could not attend.
Another advantage of capital importance of this form of teaching/learning lies in the lower financial and social costs, both for organizations that promote training, and for the learners.
However, this process can only be effective and produce satisfactory outcomes if properly organized and implemented in accordance with proper positioning for the learners, with appropriate contents and properly assessed.
Carlos Vieira Lima

PPEL, UNIT 4, TASK 1

 
UNIT 4, TASK 1: FINAL REPORT

I produced this comprehensive annotated bibliography compiling, refining and expanding the annotated bibliographies I have written so far in this course.
It was my goal to improve and finalize my previous ABs, according to the feedback I received from Prof. Morten about first and second Unit and others aspects I have learned from this course. I hope I have managed to achieve this goal.
 

COOPERATIVE FREEDOM

These are the articles I found most interesting related to Collaborative Learning and Cooperative Learning.
I believe they are very useful to understand the meaning of these two concepts.

An article that caught my attention was the one of Ted Panitz, "A Definition of Collaborative vs Cooperative Learning", (Panitz, 1996), retrieved March 9, 2010 from http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/deliberations/collaborative-learning/panitz-paper.cfm, where we can read:

"Collaborative Learning is a personal philosophy, not just a classroom technique. In all situations where people come together in groups, it suggests a way of dealing with people which respects and highlights individual group members' abilities and contributions. There is a sharing of authority and acceptance of responsibility among group members for the groups actions. The underlying premise of collaborative learning is based upon consensus building through cooperation by group members, in contrast to competition in which individuals best other group members. CL practitioners apply this philosophy in the classroom, at committee meetings, with community groups, within their families and generally as a way of living with and dealing with other people.
Cooperative Learning is defined by a set of processes which help people interact together in order to accomplish a specific goal or develop an end product which is usually content specific. It is more directive than a collaborative system of governance and closely controlled by the teacher. While there are many mechanisms for group analysis and introspection the fundamental approach is teacher centered whereas collaborative learning is more student centered."

Another article which I also found very interesting was "What are Cooperative and Collaborative Learning?", retrieved March 9, 2010 from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/coopcollab/index.html, which states that:

"Collaborative Learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students team together to explore a significant question or create a meaningful project. A group of students discussing a lecture or students from different schools working together over the Internet on a shared assignment are both examples of collaborative learning.
Cooperative Learning, which will be the primary focus of this workshop, is a specific kind of collaborative learning. In cooperative learning, students work together in small groups on a structured activity. They are individually accountable for their work, and the work of the group as a whole is also assessed. Cooperative groups work face-to-face and learn to work as a team."

Finally, I will also mention the article of Stephen Balkcom, "Cooperative Learning", (Balkcom, June, 1992), retrieved March 9, 2010 from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuides/cooplear.html, where he explains this concept:

"Cooperative Learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Documented results include improved academic achievement, improved behavior and attendance, increased self-confidence and motivation, and increased liking of school and classmates. Cooperative learning is also relatively easy to implement and is inexpensive."

However, I used Prof. Morten's articles "Cooperative Freedom: An Online Education Theory", (Paulsen, 1992) and "Cooperative Online Education", (Paulsen, 2008) to search for clues that allowed me to seek answers to the questions raised by this Unit.

The first step was to understand the Theory of Cooperative Freedom and the difficulty in reconciling individual independence, flexibility and freedom with group collaboration, the necessity to contribute in a learning community, and social unity.

Also the definitions of individual, collaborative and cooperative learning were important for me to understand this theory. Quoting Prof. Morten in his interview by Michael F. Shaughnessy and Susan M. Fulgham:

"Individual learning provides superior individual flexibility, but very limited affinity to a learning community.
It has a strong position in online education delivered by institutions with a tradition in distance education.
Individual learning is conducted alone.

Collaborative learning requires participation in a learning community, but limits individual flexibility.
One may say that collaborative learning requires that students sink or swim together.
Collaborative learning is common in online education offered by traditional face-to-face institutions.
Collaborative learning depends on groups.

Cooperative learning focuses on opportunities to encourage both individual flexibility and affinity to a learning community. Cooperative learning seeks to foster some benefits from individual freedom and other benefits from cooperation in online learning communities.
It thrives in virtual learning environments that emphasize individual freedom within online learning communities.
Cooperative learning takes place in networks."

Finally, another concept that was essential for me to know was the set of dimensions of special importance to distance education: time, space, pace, medium, access, and content.

I believe that in this course we will need both individual and cooperative learning, giving preference to cooperative learning, since we are in an online learning community.

The fact that we know that our freedom in all dimensions spelled out in the hexagon of cooperative freedom will be respected is the best way to ensure our dedication and commitment, empowering and rewarding our efforts.
For so, thank you Professor Morten.


ONLINE TEACHING TECHNIQUES

The next articles and eBooks are the result of my research of Online Teaching Techniques:

Ebook "Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning Online", Linda Marie Harasim, 1995, chapter 6, Teaching Online, (p. 173), retrieved April 8, 2010 from http://www.google.com/books?hl=pt-PT&lr=&id=I3afczci0OYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=online+teaching+techniques&ots=hpCluJcWNu&sig=8Gd53MKT-X6cZF2lrrf__kiZTaE#v=onepage&q=online%20teaching%20techniques&f=false

According to the author's own words, teaching online is a genuinely enjoyable intellectual experience and may be a rich and enjoyable intellectual and social experience for all the participants:

"Teaching online is a genuinely enjoyable intellectual experience. (...) This chapter explores techniques that can be used to improve the probability that using CMC will result in a rich and enjoyable intellectual and social experience for all the participants and to decrease the probability that problems will arise. These techniques apply to online teaching regardless of the course design that is chosen and regardless of the level or type of education."

"Modelling New Skills for Online Teaching", Salter, G. and Hansen, S., 1999, retrieved April 8, 2010 from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane99/papers/salterhansen.pdf

In this article, G. Salter and S. Hansen write about the need to model new teaching strategies and skills required for teaching successfully, and the need to provide a clear structure for activities, in an online environment:

"Methods for teaching online include:
• Asynchronous Computer Mediated Communication (eg. email, discussion groups)
• Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication (eg. chats, desktop videoconferencing, groupware)
• Online Assessment
• Learning Resources
• Documents (eg. lecture notes, readings)
• Multimedia (interactive or otherwise)
• Links to external resources
• Student Prepared Material."

"Methods to structure online activities include:
• Requiring a deliverable (eg. plans, designs, papers, portfolios etc)
• Limiting the scope of activities in terms of size and/or time
• Providing closure to activities
• Actively moderating discussions
• Conducting collaborative projects
• Interacting with guest speakers
• Debates & role plays
• Surveys & polls
• Formation of learning teams
• Brainstorming."

However, Prof. Morten provides a wider range of pedagogical techniques for CMC in his article "The Online Report on Pedagogical Techniques for Computer-Mediated Communication", (Paulsen, 1995):

Ebook "Tools for Teaching", Barbara Davis, 2009, Selecting textbooks, readings, and course materials (p. 12) , retrieved April 8, 2010 http://books.google.com/books?id=VuwN_tnazNkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Tools+for+Teaching+Barbara+Gross+Davis&source=bl&ots=aO9LvTHcQd&sig=C-ks0qNoQ1VxdJ1YI2DsYWQQR0w&hl=pt-PT&ei=L1a3S5IryLHhBvnh0OIO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

In the chapter "Selecting Textbooks, Readings, and Course Materials" of her ebook "Tools for Teaching", Barbara Davis demonstrates a lot of care choosing materials for online teaching.
She gives us a set of very wise and practical suggestions, such as:

• Choose textbooks and reading assignments that reflect your learning outcomes
• Avoid requiring students to purchase a textbook you have authored
• Consider a range of criteria in selecting textbooks
• Assign a mix of texts and articles, including some current items
• Be mindful of the high cost of textbooks
• Compare the costs and benefits of electronic and paper textbooks
• Consider coursepacks
• Plan how to handle errors in the textbook
• Prepare a set of tips for students on how to use the textbook and readings
• Be aware of your students’ workload

Given the high cost of books at present, these suggestions prove to be very useful, particularly the possibility of respecting copyright, students can access the Web to get eBooks and articles for their research or their study.
Another issue that the author considers in this set of suggestions concerns the management of students' workload, which in a university like Universidade Aberta, where most students have family and professional obligations that take them a lot of time, is an important issue to take in consideration.


TRANSPARENCY IN ONLINE EDUCATION

Searching materials related to transparency in online education, I found some articles that I want to share with you.

First, we have the articles provided by Prof. Morten in this activity's resources:

Morten F. Paulsen (2009, October 1), "Profiling Online Students", retrieved May 5, 2010 from EDEN President's blog: http://www.eden-online.org/blog/2008/10/01/profiling-online-students/

Shaughnessy, M. F. (2009, December 12), "An Interview with Morten Flate Paulsen: Transparency in Online Education", retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.educationnews.org/michael-f-shaughnessy/8076.html

Siemens, G. (2009, April 28), "Teaching as Transparent Learning", retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122

These articles are very useful for the understanding of the concepts about transparency in online education, such as:

"Transparency improves both quality and cooperation in online education.
Transparency entails that people can see information about each other. It is however difficult to decide how much information they should be allowed to see. Transparency is also an important driver for improved quality. Transparency has the following three positive effects on quality:
- Preventive quality improvement, because we are prone to provide better quality when we know that others have access to our work.
- Constructive quality improvement, because we may learn from others when we have access to their work.
- Reactive quality improvement, because we may receive feedback from others when they have access to our work.
Transparency could reduce the amount of low quality contributions and make high quality work more accessible as paragons for others. In transparent online learning environments, poor teachers and course designers cannot easily hide their work behind closed doors."

These are the principles that Prof. Paulsen puts into practice in our course.
The fact that we have been asked to create a blog where we publish our work is the best example of it.
Thus, our participation will be seen by everyone who has Internet access, including our colleagues, teachers, family and friends.
This is an incentive to improve our work and allows us to see what our colleagues have been doing, enabling us to learn from them.
Prof. Morten also has asked us to comment the ABs and the LOs created by our colleagues, with the same purpose.
For me, transparency in online education has been very helpful, since I have learned a lot, not only from the teacher and from my individual study, but also with my colleagues. For example, I had the chance to know some interesting Web 2.0 tools that my colleagues used in their Learning Objects.

Then, I read three more articles, also very elucidative in this issue:

Dalsgaard, C., & Paulsen, M. F. (2009, June). "Transparency in Cooperative Online Education", International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Volume 10, Number 3; ISSN: 1492-3831, retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/download/671/1301/671-5807-1-PB.pdf

Dalsgaard, C. (2008), "Social Networking Sites: Transparency in Online Education", Institute of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark, retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://eunis.dk/papers/p41.pdf

Dalsgaard, C. (2009), "Supporting Transparency Between Students", The International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace 2009, retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://person.au.dk/fil/16581515/Dalsgaard_Supporting_Transparency.pdf

By reading these articles, I believe that the following concepts are the most important:

"We understand transparency as students’ and teachers’ insight into each other’s activities and resources. Transparency means that you and your doings are visible to fellow students and teachers within a learning environment. For instance, transparency could mean that students and teachers are made aware of and have access to each other’s interests, thoughts, concerns, ideas, writings, references, and assignments.
The purpose of transparency is to enable students and teachers to see and follow the work of fellow students and teachers within a learning environment and in that sense to make participants available to each other as resources for their learning activities.
Transparency is important to online education.
Transparency is a prerequisite for distance students to work cooperatively.
Transparency enables students to be visible to each other as potential partners and resources.
Following the outlined theory of cooperative freedom and the socio-cultural approach, an important objective is to support an individual’s consciousness and awareness of the activities of others. This can be achieved by making a variety of information transparent.
This kind of sharing can provide students with insights into the workings of other students, and, thus, give them an increased consciousness and awareness of the activities of other students.
The pedagogical potential lies within developing social networks in which students’ activities are visible to other students. The potential is to support transparency through a combination of personalization and socialization and through sharing personal information and tools within social networks.
The potential of social networking lies within transparency and the ability to create awareness among students."

In fact, transparency becomes even more important in distance learning, contributing to eliminate the effects of the lack of face-to-face contact and increasing sense of belonging to a learning community.
Making our information transparent to others and being able to access their work creates awareness among students, which is very important in the distance learning.
This can be seen in our course, where our work has been so transparent.

Finally, I found two interesting articles about transparency :

Christopher Hill, (October 20, 2009), "Principles for Improving Online Transparency, Quality", retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/principles-for-improving-online-transparency-quality/

This article is about an initiative based on the premise that an informed student brings benefits to everyone, the Transparency by Design.

"Transparency by Design, an initiative from a consortium of adult-serving educational institutions with significant commitments to distance education, is based on the premise that a well-informed student - or prospective student - benefits everyone. A key focus of the plan is providing program-specific outcomes data that allows students to make informed decisions about their education investment.
Merle Harris, president of Charter Oaks State College, and her associates concluded that there were a few basic principles for institutions that really want to be transparent:
1. Make distance education a central element of your mission: Distance learning really has to be central to what the institution is doing. If it is viewed as an add-on and not part of the central mission then very often it doesn’t get the resources that are needed to carry out a quality program.
2. Accountability to stakeholders: Who are the primary stakeholders in a transparent institution? The prospective student and the enrolled student. “One of the reasons we feel it’s important to have accountability measures and to report on those regularly is because prospective students who are making a decision about where they want to go to school, where they want to take courses should have information,” Harris says.
Accountability to prospective students includes providing adequate information about the program, what it contains, and who’s teaching it. But it also includes measuring what happens to students who go through the program. Harris’ group looks at things like graduation rates, retention rates, what alumni say about the program, and measures of student engagement, with the aim of making this information readily available to prospective students.
3. Responsiveness: In practice this means nothing more or less than good customer service, so that when there are issues and questions students can get quick answers. Responsiveness in the academic process means that faculty respond quickly to a student, so that a student who’s learning online can get an answer to a question or feedback on an assignment within 24 to 48 hours, depending on the institution’s policy. Administratively, responsiveness means that if there are questions about grades going out, about registration, about fees being paid the student will get very quick response either by email or by telephone."

Here, transparency will allow students to make correct decisions. If a student who is searching a school or a university gets enough and accurate information, he will be able to make the right choice for him.
And if that student feels that he did the best choice, he will be the best ambassador of that university.

Michelle Bowles, (September 28, 2009), "5 Twitter Tips for Staying Authentic and Transparent", retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/09/twitter-tips-authentic-transparent/

Although this article is about transparency in Twitter and not about transparency in online education, I thought these rules were very correct and relevant.

"One of the most basic and critical rules for brands on Twitter? Be authentic and transparent in all you do.
1. Reveal who’s behind the Tweets
It doesn’t necessarily matter who it is - the CEO, the social media manager or a marketing intern. It just matters that the person is in fact a person. Putting a face and name behind your Tweets through a photo and brief bio can help followers relate to and connect with your brand.
2. Show some personality
3. Admit when you’re wrong
4. Get to know your followers
5. Don’t get carried away by your accomplishments."

The main issue here is authenticity. Reveal who’s behind the tweets through a photo and brief biography is very important to act with transparency, which is necessary to succeed and please your followers.

PPEL, UNIT 3, TASK 4

UNIT 3: TRANSPARENCY IN ONLINE EDUCATION

Activity 4: Taking part in a debate on Transparency versus Privacy in online education

Dear colleagues

Before I begin my argumentation, I would like to call your attention to the fact that this debate is about Transparency vs. Privacy in online education, NOT about Transparency vs. Privacy in our private lives.

So, I think that there is no point in defending thesis 2, by Túlio Vianna, "The right to privacy, conceived as a triad of rights - the right not to be monitored, right not to be registered and right not to be recognized (right not to have personal records published) - transcends, in the informational society, the limits of mere right of private interest to become a ground of democratic rule of law", because as students, Universidade Aberta and our teachers have the right and the obligation to monitor us, register us and recognize us.

So, let's debate.

I belong to Team 3, so I must argue in favour of more privacy in online education.
First of all, I think that each one of us should be able to decide the level of transparency we want for this course, but in our case it was not possible to decide so, because we could not choose if we wanted (or not) to publish our work in a blog that everybody around the world can read. We just were told to do so.

I quote Activity 3A from "Módulo de Ambientação": "A ferramenta que iremos utilizar para o desenvolvimento desta actividade é o blogue. (...) Este blogue deverá ser utilizado para publicar conteúdos das unidades curriculares do curso que o exijam", which means: "The tool that we will use for the development of this activity is the blog. This blog will be used to publish the content of curricular units that require it".

Personally, I see no harm in doing so, and I publish most of my activities on my blog and on Facebook, but in defense of privacy in online education, I think we should have been asked.

Privacy on the Internet is something that no one can guarantee for us. We must ensure it ourselves. And we can do so by posting our work in pdf files that not allow copy/paste, not revealing aspects of our private life in our publications, and asking permission to the teacher to deliver our work strictly to him, if we don't want that someone else can read or see our work.

I think a student should have the right to do so.

Like Prof. Morten said on MPEL Conference, "Are we supposed to teach everybody around the world?"


Dear Cecília

Of course I understand what you mean by quoting Prof. Túlio Lima Vianna. However, I still believe that the main issue of this debate should be focused on privacy related to online education and not on privacy related to our private life.

About your question "what must transpire (for all) and what should be just in private", I think we can't speak in the name of others, but each one of us should decide what he feels comfortable to reveal.

Anyway, I think that I should be arguing with our Team 2 opponents and not with our dear chairer.

A big hug, Cecília


Dear colleagues

I would like to make one thing clear: transparency and privacy do not eliminate each other. They can and they must cohabit on online education and students should be free to decide which one they prefer. In many cases, the same student chooses transparency in one particular context and privacy on another. And he must be free to do so.

I believe that we do not have to know many details about our fellow colleagues to work with them. I don't need to know their age, or if they are married or not, how many children they have got, or where they leave.
Nowadays, there is an excess of voyeurism about other people's lives.

I believe also that I will not learn less if I decide to keep my privacy. Even so, it's still possible to belong to a learning community and to develop a successful work.

I believe that citizens should have the right to choose whatever they want to. So, I cannot accept that someone imposes transparency if I do not want it, saying that otherwise I wouldn't give it a chance. I have the right to say NO. Perhaps, later I would change my mind, but in that particular moment, I should be free to make my own decision.

"We can't discuss transparency or privacy just thinking about ourselves." Yes, we can, Margarida.
If I am very shy, I do not want that other people can see my work.
If I am very competitive, I do not want that other people can learn from my work.
If my work has been plagiarized, I do not want that it happens again.
If I've been hampered by revealing my ideas or my personal details in my work, I will not let it happen again.
And this must be respected.

That's all I claim: freedom of choice and respect for that decision.

PPEL, UNIT 3, TASK 3

Transparency in Online Education

Writing a review in the forum on one annotated bibliography and one learning object published by colleagues.

Review of Juliana Antunes's AB and LO about Transparency in Online Education

I've reviewed Juliana Antunes's AB. She wrote about 3 articles and 1 PowerPoint:

1) Social networking sites: Transparency in Online Education, Christian Dalsgaard, Institute of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Juliana began posing the central question of the article: What is the educational potential of social networking sites?
Then, she described the characteristics of social networks and how they can be used in online education.
At last, she explained how transparency encourages cooperative work and creates awareness among students: transparency allows everyone to view the work, progress and difficulties of each other and to be aware of the activity of other students.
Those are, in fact, the main issues about Transparency in Online Education.
Thus, Juliana correctly interpreted the contents of the article and summed up the essence of it.


2) Visualizing Student Profiles through NKI’s Online Catalogue and Student Network, Morten Paulsen, September, 2009

In this review, Juliana mentioned NKI's philosophy on online learning as a facilitator of individual freedom within a learning community in which online students serve as mutual resources without relying on others.
Then, she refers the flexibility to engage students so they can start whenever they want to, the tool to monitor individual progress of the students, and the continuous enrolment and examination.
Maybe last three paragraphs could be removed, since they are repeated in relation to previous article.


3) Transparency in Cooperative Online Education, Christian Dalsgaard and Morten Paulsen, for International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, June, 2009, viewed May 12, 2010

Once again, Juliana begins her review posing a question: What is the potential for cooperation of social networks in education online?
She answers this question saying that when transparency is applied in distance education, it gives us an overview of the share of each student, giving the example of the NKI Distance Education's model.
She concludes referring that the educational potential of social networking lies on the transparency and the ability to motivate students and social networking sites are not new learning management systems; they are considered as a supplement to other tools.
The review of this article is a little bit confused but it seems to me that these are the main aspects of it.


4) Transparency in online education Key Idea, Rosalina Manuela, January 18, 2010

Here, Juliana should quote the key idea of transparency in online education, referred by Rosalina in her video: "Social technology - such as Twitter, blogs, Facebook - opens the door to sharing the process of learning, not only the final product." (Siemens, 2009)
However, I think she got that key idea.
Once again, maybe last paragraphs should be removed, since they are repeated in relation to previous article.


5) Transparency in Development cooperation? Use Web 2.0

Sorry, Juliana. I didn't find that article, from that link.


Despite these details, I liked Juliana's AB and I sure learnt a lot by reading it and its articles.


I've reviewed also Juliana Antunes's LO, the quiz "Know your transparency's level".

In a simple way, Juliana poses 15 questions that present some of the Transparency in Cooperative Online Education main issues.
It's funny to answer to that quiz and that makes you think about those subjects.
In order to improve this LO, I think that Juliana could have done an introduction to this theory's concepts, with the aim of better contextualize the answers.

PPEL, UNIT 3, TASK 2

LEARNING OBJECT: Transparency in online education

I created my LO with the aim of showing transparency in online education benefits.
Hope you like it.
Best regards.

PPEL, UNIT 3, TASK 1

TRANSPARENCY IN ONLINE EDUCATION

Task: Finding, studying and sharing materials related to transparency in online education and organizing it together with ideas and thoughts in an annotated bibliography on your blog.


Searching materials related to transparency in online education, I found some articles that I want to share with you.

First, we have de articles provided by Prof. Paulsen on this activity's resources:

Morten F. Paulsen (2009, October 1). Profiling online students. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from EDEN President’s Blog: http://www.eden-online.org/blog/2008/10/01/profiling-online-students/
Shaughnessy, M. F. (2009, December 12). An Interview with Morten Flate Paulsen: Transparency in Online Education. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.educationnews.org/michael-f-shaughnessy/8076.html

Siemens, G. (2009, April 28). Teaching as transparent learning. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122

These articles are very useful for the understanding of the concepts about transparency in online education, such as:

"Transparency improves both quality and cooperation in online education.
Transparency entails that people can see information about each other. It is however difficult to decide how much information they should be allowed to see. Transparency is also an important driver for improved quality. Transparency has the following three positive effects on quality:
- Preventive quality improvement, because we are prone to provide better quality when we know that others have access to our work.
- Constructive quality improvement, because we may learn from others when we have access to their work.
- Reactive quality improvement, because we may receive feedback from others when they have access to our work.
Transparency could reduce the amount of low quality contributions and make high quality work more accessible as paragons for others. In transparent online learning environments, poor teachers and course designers cannot easily hide their work behind closed doors."

These are the principles that Prof. Paulsen puts into practice in our course. The fact that we have been asked to create a blog where we publish our work is the best example of it.
Thus, our participation will be seen by everyone who has Internet access, including our colleagues and teachers.
This is an incentive to improve our work and allows us to see what our colleagues have been doing, enabling us to learn from them.
Prof. Paulsen also has asked us to comment the ABs and the LOs created by our colleagues, with the same purpose.
For me, transparency in online education has been very helpful, since I have learned a lot, not only from the teacher and from my individual study, but also with my colleagues.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Then, I read three more articles, also very elucidative in this issue:

Dalsgaard, C., & Paulsen, M. F. (2009, June). Transparency in Cooperative Online Education. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Volume 10, Number 3; ISSN: 1492-3831. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/download/671/1301/671-5807-1-PB.pdf

Christian Dalsgaard (2008), Social networking sites: Transparency in online education; Institute of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark, Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://eunis.dk/papers/p41.pdf

Dalsgaard, C. (2009). Supporting Transparency Between Students. The International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace 2009. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://person.au.dk/fil/16581515/Dalsgaard_Supporting_Transparency.pdf

Of the reading of these articles, I think that the following concepts are the most important:

"We understand transparency as students’ and teachers’ insight into each other’s activities and resources. Transparency means that you and your doings are visible to fellow students and teachers within a learning environment. For instance, transparency could mean that students and teachers are made aware of and have access to each other’s interests, thoughts, concerns, ideas, writings, references, and assignments.
The purpose of transparency is to enable students and teachers to see and follow the work of fellow students and teachers within a learning environment and in that sense to make participants available to each other as resources for their learning activities.

Transparency is important to online education.
Transparency is a prerequisite for distance students to work cooperatively.
Transparency enables students to be visible to each other as potential partners and resources.
Following the outlined theory of cooperative freedom and the socio-cultural approach, an important objective is to support an individual’s consciousness and awareness of the activities of others. This can be achieved by making a variety of information transparent.
This kind of sharing can provide students with insights into the workings of other students, and, thus, give them an increased consciousness and awareness of the activities of other students.
The pedagogical potential lies within developing social networks in which students’ activities are visible to other students. The potential is to support transparency through a combination of personalization and socialization and through sharing personal information and tools within social networks.
The potential of social networking lies within transparency and the ability to create awareness among students."

In fact, transparency becomes even more important in distance learning, contributing to eliminate the effects of the lack of face-to-face contact and increasing sense of belonging to a learning community.
Making our information transparent to others and being able to access their work creates awareness among students, which is very important in the distance learning.
This can be seen in our course, where our work as been so transparent.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

At last, I found two more articles about transparencyvery interesting :

Christopher Hill, (October 20, 2009), Principles for Improving Online Transparency, Quality. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/principles-for-improving-online-transparency-quality/

This article talks about an initiative based on the premise that an informed student brings benefits to everyone, the Transparency by Design.

"Transparency by Design, an initiative from a consortium of adult-serving educational institutions with significant commitments to distance education, is based on the premise that a well-informed student - or prospective student - benefits everyone. A key focus of the plan is providing program-specific outcomes data that allows students to make informed decisions about their education investment.
Merle Harris, president of Charter Oaks State College, and her associates concluded that there were a few basic principles for institutions that really want to be transparent:
1 Make distance education a central element of your mission: Distance learning really has to be central to what the institution is doing. If it is viewed as an add-on and not part of the central mission then very often it doesn’t get the resources that are needed to carry out a quality program.
2 Accountability to stakeholders: Who are the primary stakeholders in a transparent institution? The prospective student and the enrolled student. “One of the reasons we feel it’s important to have accountability measures and to report on those regularly is because prospective students who are making a decision about where they want to go to school, where they want to take courses should have information,” Harris says.
Accountability to prospective students includes providing adequate information about the program, what it contains, and who’s teaching it. But it also includes measuring what happens to students who go through the program. Harris’ group looks at things like graduation rates, retention rates, what alumni say about the program, and measures of student engagement, with the aim of making this information readily available to prospective students.
3 Responsiveness: In practice this means nothing more or less than good customer service, so that when there are issues and questions students can get quick answers. Responsiveness in the academic process means that faculty respond quickly to a student, so that a student who’s learning online can get an answer to a question or feedback on an assignment within 24 to 48 hours, depending on the institution’s policy. Administratively, responsiveness means that if there are questions about grades going out, about registration, about fees being paid the student will get very quick response either by email or by telephone."

Here, transparency will allow students to make correct decisions. If a student who is searching a school or a university gets enough and accurate information, he will be able to make the right choice for him.
And if that student feels that he did the best choice, he will be the best ambassador of that university.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________


Michelle Bowles, (September 28, 2009), 5 Twitter Tips for Staying Authentic and Transparent. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/09/twitter-tips-authentic-transparent/

Although this article is about transparency in Twitter and not about transparency in online education, I thought these rules were very correct and relevant.

"One of the most basic and critical rules for brands on Twitter? Be authentic and transparent in all you do.
1. Reveal who’s behind the Tweets
It doesn’t necessarily matter who it is - the CEO, the social media manager or a marketing intern. It just matters that the person is in fact a person. Putting a face and name behind your Tweets through a photo and brief bio can help followers relate to and connect with your brand.
2. Show some personality
3. Admit when you’re wrong
4. Get to know your followers
5. Don’t get carried away by your accomplishments."

The main issue here is authenticity. Reveal who’s behind the tweets through a photo and brief bio is very important to act with transparency, which is necessary to succeed and please your followers.

PPEL, Unit 2, Task 4

RolePlay discussion


ONLINE TEACHING TECHNIQUES

Hello,
I am Jorge Forhilde, I’m 46 years old and I live in Coimbra, Portugal.
I have a 15 years old daughter, Sara.

I am programming languages teacher at the Institution of Engineering and Technology of Coimbra.
I also teach Programming Techniques and Software Engineering as an online teacher.
I teach both face-to-face and at the distance, which does not give me much space and time freedom.
Simultaneously, I have to provide feedback on students' performance and develop e-learning material.
Thus, my biggest challenge is to manage my time the best possible way.
I have to use some techniques to reduce my workload. Here are a couple of them, taught by a Norwegian friend of mine: I created and maintain a large database of answers to my students' FAQs and I use the forums instead of individual e-mails, so others students can find answers to a lot of questions already asked.
I use also several templates of reports, assessments, standard letters and messages, and a lot of spreadsheets and data bases, in order to organize my data and save time.
However, the key of my workload reduction is the organization of my work and the preparation in advance of my tasks. Without it my life would be chaotic.
I will stay tuned to new methods that I may learn from your communications.

Best regards
Jorge Forhilde

PPEL, Unit 2, Task 3

Review of António Pedro's AB and LO about Online Teaching Techniques

I've reviewed António Pedro's AB.
It's a very well done piece of work. He chose two books and two websites:

1) The Theory and Practice of Online Learning, Terry Anderson and others, second edition, May 2008, Athabasca University Press.

António Pedro refers this book as "necessary to know what is behind the distance learning".
I agree with him. It was a very good choice.
This book tells us about "theory, administration, tools, and methods of designing and delivering learning online".
In his AB, our colleague focuses chapters 2 and 11, in particular, where the subjects "Toward a Theory of Online Learning" and "Teaching in an Online Learning Context" are developed.
I think the objective of learning about online teaching would be achieved by reading this book.


2) Paulsen, M. F. 2003. Online Education and Learning Management Systems Global E-learning in a Scandinavian Perspective, 58 - 84/131. Nki Forlaget. Norway.

Here, António Pedro presents four online teaching methods and several teaching techniques and devices, according Prof. Morten Paulsen.
This AB could be even better if it had developed a little bit further this subject, exploring this book's contents.


3) The website Illinois Online Network, http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/
ION seeks to promote the effective use of networked on information technologies, to enhance traditional classroom instruction, and to build the foundation for developing, delivering, and supporting online education throughout the world.

A. Pedro had the merit of choosing and sharing with us this website as a good example of what an University can do for his students and teachers.


4) The website Teachers.tv, http://www.teachers.tv/
Through engaging videos, practical resources and an active online community, Teachers TV supports the professional development of anyone working in school, enabling them to widen their skills, develop their practice, and connect with others in the field.

António Pedro picked up an excellent website to provide videos and many others practical resources that teachers can use in their LO's.
I would recommend this website to all teachers, not only in UK, but all over the world.


Overall, I really enjoyed this AB and I sure learnt a lot by reading it.



I've reviewed also António Pedro's LO.
Using Wix, António Pedro did a wonderful job.
In a very simple but practical LO, he managed to give us an idea about Online Teaching Techniques.
The graphics are very suitable and appellative for a children's class, but they can work as well in an adult's class.
I really enjoy António Pedro’s presentation. However, I would like to see in his LO the definition of Online Teaching Techniques.

PPEL, Unit 2, Task 2

UNIT 2: LEARNING OBJECT: ONLINE TEACHING TECHNIQUES

Pedagogical Technique: Boyle (1981, 213) defined technique as the form used to present material to be learned, for example lecture, panel, and group discussion.
In this study, a pedagogical technique is defined as a manner of accomplishing teaching objectives.
According to how the techniques prescribe student interaction with learning resources, the techniques are classified as one-alone techniques, one-to-one techniques, one-to-many techniques, and many-to-many techniques.

I created my LO with the aim of teaching a young people' class about Pedagogical Techniques, so I used Walt Disney characters to tried to capture both their interest and attention.

PPEL, Unit 2, Task 1

UNIT 2: ONLINE TEACHING TECHNIQUES


Annotated Bibliography to “Online Teaching Techniques":

Finding, studying and sharing materials related to online teaching techniques and organizing it together with ideas and thoughts in an annotated bibliography on your blog.


The next three articles are the result of my research of Online Teaching Techniques.


• ebook Learning networks: A field guide to teaching and learning online, Linda Marie Harasim, 1995, chapter 6, Teaching Online, (p. 173)

According to the author's own words: "Teaching online is a genuinely enjoyable intellectual experience. (...) This chapter explores techniques that can be used to improve the probability that using CMC will result in a rich and enjoyable intellectual and social experience for all the participants and to decrease the probability that problems will arise. These techniques apply to online teaching regardless of the course design that is chosen and regardless of the level or type of education".
This chapter includes issues such as:
• Role of the Teacher
• Setting the Stage
• Forming Groups
• Assigning Role Responsibilities
• Moderating and Facilitating Group Processes
-- Meta-Communication
-- Weaving
-- Ending Conferences
-- Socio-Emotional Issues
• Moving from Teacher to Facilitator
• The Problem of Laboratories



• Modelling New Skills for Online Teaching, Salter, G. and Hansen, S., 1999

In this article, G. Salter and S. Hansen write about the need to model new teaching strategies and skills required for teaching successfully, and the need to provide a clear structure for activities, in an online environment:

Methods for teaching online include:
• Asynchronous Computer Mediated Communication (eg. email, discussion groups)
• Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication (eg. chats, desktop videoconferencing, groupware)
• Online Assessment
• Learning Resources
• Documents (eg. lecture notes, readings)
• Multimedia (interactive or otherwise)
• Links to external resources
• Student Prepared Material

Methods to structure online activities include:
• Requiring a deliverable (eg. plans, designs, papers, portfolios etc)
• Limiting the scope of activities in terms of size and/or time
• Providing closure to activities
• Actively moderating discussions
• Conducting collaborative projects
• Interacting with guest speakers
• Debates & role plays
• Surveys & polls
• Formation of learning teams
• Brainstorming

However, Prof. Morten Paulsen provides a wider range of pedagogical techniques for CMC in his article "The Online Report on Pedagogical Techniques for Computer-Mediated Communication":




• ebook Tools for Teaching, Barbara Davis, 2009, Selecting textbooks, readings, and course materials (p. 12)

In the chapter "Selecting textbooks, readings, and course materials" of her ebook Tools for Teaching, Barbara Davis demonstrates a lot of care choosing materials for online teaching. She gives us a set of very wise and practical suggestions, such as:
• Choose textbooks and reading assignments that reflect your learning outcomes
• Avoid requiring students to purchase a textbook you have authored
• Consider a range of criteria in selecting textbooks
• Assign a mix of texts and articles, including some current items
• Be mindful of the high cost of textbooks
• Compare the costs and benefits of electronic and paper textbooks
• Consider coursepacks
• Plan how to handle errors in the textbook
• Prepare a set of tips for students on how to use the textbook and readings
• Be aware of your students’ workload
Given the high cost of books at present, these suggestions prove to be very useful, particularly the possibility of respecting copyright, students can access the Web to get ebooks and articles for their research or their study.
Another issue that the author considers in this set of suggestions concerns the management of students' workload, which in a university like UAb, where most students have family and professional obligations that take them a lot of time, is an important issue to take in consideration.

PPEL, Unit 1, Task 3

I've reviewed Isabel Manteigas's AB: http://isabelmanteigas-elearning.blogspot.com/2010/03/cooperative-freedom-annotated.html
Isabel did a wonderful job.
First, she looked into the dictionary for the meaning of booth cooperate and collaborate meaning, which was very useful for the understanding of her work.
Then, Isabel presented two articles: Ted Panitz's, Collaborative versus Cooperative Learning, and Prof. Morten Paulsen's Cooperative Freedom: an online Education Theory in Online Education.
At last, Isabel presented some conclusions of the authors.
Isabel reveals a good capacity of syntheses. Her annotations and notes are accurate and clear.
I really enjoy Isabel’s Annotated Bibliography.
However, I would like to read her own conclusion, beside the referred author's conclusions.

I've reviewed Isabel Manteigas's LO: http://toonlet.com/creator/isamant
It's a very well done piece of work.
Her cartoon really caught the meaning of the Distance Education.
In a funny way, Isabel showed the advantages of Distance Education and Learning Partnership.
With this example, she demonstrated that, despite our family and work commitments, we can continue our studies and improve our education level and achieve further knowledge and skills.

PPEL, Unit 1, Task 2

COOPERATIVE FREEDOM

You can access my PPEL, UNIT 1, Task 2 about Cooperative Freedom here:
http://www.slideshare.net/ffaria/ppel-unit-1-task-2-distance-education-theories

Hope you like it.

Ppel, Unit 1, Task 2 Distance Education Theories

View more presentations from ffaria.

COOPERATIVE FREEDOM

Theory of Cooperative Freedom
The theory of autonomy and independence

Adult learners perceive themselves as self-directing human beings and define themselves in terms of their personal achievements and experiences.

 The Theory of Cooperative Freedom perceives both adult and juvenile distance learners as motivated, self-directing students with a desire to control their learning outcomes.The theory applies to all three categories of Houle’s student motivational orientations: goal oriented, activity oriented, and learning oriented.

• Goal-oriented participants will perceive CMC as a way to “keep the edge” and to use state-of-the-art technology to achieve their goals.
• Activity-oriented students cannot resist the always-available online activity.
• Knowledge-oriented people may be motivated by access to all the up-to-date information and knowledgeable people that CMC provides.

This theory suggests that, independently of motivational orientation, distance students need cooperation as well as individual freedom.

PPEL, Unit 1, Task 1

Find, study and share materials related to cooperative freedom and organizing it together with ideas and thoughts.

Having taken a long time to find, select and read material related to "cooperative freedom", I was confronted with the fact that the best material has already been cited by my colleagues in their annotated bibliography.
I tried other search engines other than Google, but in vain.
So I decided to refer to the articles I found most interesting, though none will be presented for the first time.

The article that most caught my attention was that of Ted Panitz (1996), A Definition of Collaborative vs Cooperative Learning http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/deliberations/collaborative-learning/panitz-paper.cfm Retrieved March 2010

Another article which I also found interesting was Thirteen Ed Online Team (2004) What are cooperative and collaborative learning? http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/coopcollab/index.html Retrieved March 2010

Finally, I will also mention the article of Stephen Balkcom (1992), Cooperative Learning http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuides/cooplear.htmlRetrieved March 2010

From these articles we can learn some tips that can help us answer the questions raised by this Unit:
1. How much freedom should online students have?
2. Is online collaboration really worth or just a waste of time?
3. How can we facilitate cooperation in paced and unpaced learning environments?

However, I used the articles of prof. Morten Paulsen "Cooperative Freedom: An Online Education Theory" and "Cooperative online education" to search for clues that allowed us to seek answers to these questions.

The first step was to understand the Theory of Cooperative Freedom and the difficulty in reconciling individual independence, flexibility and freedom with group collaboration, the necessity to contribute in a learning community, and social unity.

Also the definitions of individual, collaborative and cooperative learning were important for me to understand this theory. Quoting Prof. Paulsen in his interview by Michael F. Shaughnessy and Susan M. Fulgham:

"Individual learning provides superior individual flexibility, but very limited affinity to a learning community.
It has a strong position in online education delivered by institutions with a tradition in distance education.
Individual learning is conducted alone.

Collaborative learning requires participation in a learning community, but limits individual flexibility.
One may say that collaborative learning requires that students sink or swim together.
Collaborative learning is common in online education offered by traditional face-to-face institutions.
Collaborative learning depends on groups.

Cooperative learning focuses on opportunities to encourage both individual flexibility and affinity to a learning community. Cooperative learning seeks to foster some benefits from individual freedom and other benefits from cooperation in online learning communities.
It thrives in virtual learning environments that emphasize individual freedom within online learning communities.
Cooperative learning takes place in networks."

Finally, another concept that was essential for me to know was the set of facets of special importance to distance education: time, space, pace, medium, access and content.

I think that in this course we will need all of them, individual, collaborative and cooperative learning, giving preference to the cooperative learning, since we are in an online learning community.

The fact that we know that all our freedoms spelled out in the hexagon of cooperative freedom will be respected is the best way to ensure our dedication and commitment, empowering and rewarding our efforts.
For so, thanks Professor Paulsen.