Newsflash: Teacher Provides Inappropriate Access

On a cold, blustery February morning in 2011, a naïve, unsuspecting teacher had unknowingly created a storm of controversy. Unintentionally, this teacher (Mr. B) had set off a series of events that had his principal visiting his classroom, the district itinerant teacher for technology calling, the district supervisor of IT emailing, and the district computer support specialist (E-learning) contacting each of the previously mentioned individuals.

What was it that this particular teacher had done?

It all started out several months before when Mr. B., wanted a better way to share files with his students and for students to be better able to utilize these files in the learning environment. Mr. B. had made contact with a number of his superiors requesting advice on how to best meet his needs. After waiting an appropriate amount of time with little response Mr. B. brought his plight to his principal attention.

At that time, with his principal’s support and permission, he had started a BYOT program in his classroom. Since the school did not have wireless, Mr. B. placed the files he wanted to share on the school’s server. He then proceeded to provide his students with access to these files by having them connect their devices directly into the classroom’s network drops.

Things were going great for Mr. B. and he was quite proud of the success he was having with his new endeavor. He even secured four “new to him” computers for his classroom, which the day before “he got busted” a board IT technician helped him setup.

What Mr. B. did not realize was that it was a “BIG NO, NO” to allow students to tap directly into the school’s network using their own personal devices. How was Mr. B. to know?

Thankfully, all those who were in a kerfuffle were not only willing to accept Mr. B’s apology, but also provide him with some much needed support. Within days, the computer support specialist provided Mr. B. with a Moodle course that was to run off the district’s server, to use with his class so that he could easily share his files with them over the Internet. Also, at the same time, the supervisor of IT was in Mr. B’s classroom installing wireless Internet access to provide the infrastructure his students needed to bypass the school’s server. Soon Mr. B. was singing the praises of Moodle and was moving beyond just file sharing with his students.

So, what is Moodle?

Moodle is an abbreviation for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. It is an e-learning platform, also called Course Management System (CMS), Learning Management System (LMS), or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. To work, it needs to be installed on a web server somewhere, either on one of your own computers or one at a web hosting company (Moodle Home, Wikipedia - Moodle).

Moodle can be used in many types of environments such as in education, training and development, and business settings. Some typical features of Moodle are:

·         Assignment submission

·         Discussion forum

·         Files download

·         Grading

·         Moodle instant messages

·         Online calendar

·         Online news and announcement

·         Online quiz

·         Wiki

(Wikipedia – Moodle)

Developers can extend Moodle’s modular construction by creating plugins for specific new functionality. Moodle’s infrastructure supports many types of plug-ins:

·         Activities (including word and math games)

·         Resource types

·         Question types (multiple choice, true and false, fill in the blank, etc.)

·         Data field types (for the database activity)

·         Graphical themes

·         Authentication methods (can require username and password accessibility)

·         Enrollment methods

·         Content filters

(Wikipedia – Moodle)

Mr. B. jumped quickly on the file sharing features of Moodle. Then, with almost equal speed, he moved on to discussion forums and online quizzes. Soon students were submitting assignment through Moodle. Within a month, Mr. B. was making online news announcements and posting upcoming events on the online calendar. It wasn’t that Mr. B. became a Moodle Master, but Moodle certainly provided many unexpected surprises.

Mr. B. learned a lot from his unintentional mistake. One of the most important things was that he realized how little he actually knew about technology integration and how much there was to learn. It helped to inspire him to become a better teacher, and today he is working towards a Masters in Informational Technology.

We wish Mr. B. the best of luck in his future endeavors.

And remember, every cloud has a silver lining.

References:

Moodle, https://moodle.org, retrieved November 12^th, 2012.

Wikipedia (Moodle), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle, retrieved November 12^th, 2012.

E-Learning 2.012

The following post provides a link to a group website that takes an in-depth look at e-learning in 2012.

E-Learning 2.012

The Migration Towards CSCL and M-Learning

ED 6620

Prof. George Hache

Group Project Members

Terence Ball
Sharon Facey
Roxanne Gibbons
Thomas Hawboldt


Website Address
https://sites.google.com/a/mun.ca/e-learning2-012/our-team

All Hail the Blogger (Conclusion and References)

Conclusion

Blogging is not only a growing trend with the general population, but it also a growing trend in the field of education. The benefits to educational institutions, its employees, and, most importantly, its students, is great. There are certainly hazards, however, with careful planning, appropriate knowledge, and a healthy dose of common sense, these can be minimized or even completely avoided. Not everyone will embrace blogging, but there is no reason to fear it.

List of Blog Providers / Software
Blogger	WordPress
Weebly	TypePad
Movable Type	Drupal

  

References

About.com Guide, Gunelius , S., What is a Blog?, retrieved from http://weblogs.about.com/od/startingablog/p/WhatIsABlog.htm  on Nov. 1^st, 2012.

Beldarrain, Y. (2006), Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration, Distance Education, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 139   – 153.

Berry, M. (2006) , Elgg and Blogging in primary education.

Blog Pros and Cons, retrieved from http://meblog.pbworks.com/w/page/11074182/Blog%20Pros%20and%20Cons on Nov. 6^th, 2012.

Blogger, Blogger Tour, What’s a blog?, retrieved from https://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g  Nov. 1^st, 2012.

Bouwma-Gearhart, J. L., Bess, J. L (2012), The transformative potential of blogs for research in higher education, The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 83, No. 2.

Drexler, W., Dawson, K., Ferdig, R. E. (2007), Collaborative blogging as a means to develop elementary expository writing skills, Electronic Journal for the   Integration of Technology in Education, Vol. 6

eHow tech, What is the origin of blogging?, retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/facts_5369658_origin-blogging.html on Nov. 2^nd, 2012.

Ferdig, R. E., Trammell, K. D. (2004), Content Delivery in the ‘Blogosphere’, T.H.E. Journal, 31 no 7 F.

Kerawall, L. Minocha, S., Conole, G., Kirkup, G., Schencks, M., Sclater, N. (2007), Exploring students’ understanding of how blogs and blogging can support distance learning in Higher Education, Beyond Control: Association of Learning Technologies Conference

Luehmann, A., MacBride, R. (2009), Classroom blogging in the service of student-centered pedagogy: Two high school teachers’ use of blogs, retrieved from http://thenjournal.org/feature/175/ on Nov. 5^th, 2012.

McGann, R. (2005), Blog readership surged 58 percent in 2004, retrieved from http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1696942/blog-readership-surged-58-percent-2004  on Nov. 4^th, 2012.

O’Donnell, M. (2006), Blogging as pedagogic practice: artefact and ecology, Asia Pacific Media Educator, No. 17, Dec. 2006.

ProBlogger, What is a Blog?, retrieved from http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/02/05/what-is-a-blog/  on Nov. 1^st, 2012.

Stock, M. (2006), Blogging to My Advantage, The School Administrator, Number 5, Vol. 63.

The Commoncraft Show, Blogs in Plain English, retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI  (YouTube) on Nov. 1^st, 2012.

The Blog Herald, A short history of bloging, retrieved from http://www.blogherald.com/2005/03/06/a-short-history-of-blogging/  on Nov. 2^nd, 2012.

Walatka, T. (2012), Hub-and-spoke blogging and advantaged for classroom discussion, Teaching Theology and Religion, Volume 15, Issue 4.

Wikipedia, Blog, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog on Nov. 1^st, 2012.

Wikipedia, Microblogging, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microblogging on Nov. 3^rd, 2012.

Wikipedia, Reverse Blog, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_blog on Nov. 3^rd, 2012.

Williams, J. B., Jacobs, J., (2004) Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector, Australasian Journal of Education Technology, 20 (2), 232-247.

Wilson, C., Barbara, H. (2008), Educational Blogging, retrieved from http://sites.wiki.ubc.ca/etec510/Educational_Blogging on Nov. 6th, 2012.

WordPress.com, Types of blogs, retrieved from http://en.wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/ on Nov. 3^rd, 2012.

All Hail the Blogger (Blogging in Education: Concerns {Part 2})

Blogging in Education: Concerns

            The Wiki Blog Pros and Cons also provides a list of disadvantage of blogs that educators should keep in mind when considering using blogging with their students. These are:

·         Takes time to keep a blog updated.

·         It may be difficult to keep the students blogging about subjects relevant to the class.

·         Students may not blog if they are not required to because it takes time.

·         Writing may be more casual than assignments turned in by traditional methods. May encourage sloppy writing habits similar to email and instant messaging.

·         Blogs are not good for questions that require fast answers.

·         Not all college courses have content that is appropriate for discussions and opinion essays.

·         If students are required to blog but they do not have anything they want to say, they will only write the minimum and it may not be relevant or useful.

·         May be difficult for some students who have lower computer skills.

·         It could be difficult to follow a discussion if replies are in individuals’ blogs rather than immediately next to each other.

·         Blogs do not give the feeling of a conversation because there is time delay.

·         Some professors and /or students may not want to learn new technology.

·         Blogs do not offer confidentiality.

·         Blogs may create competition between students.

All Hail the Blogger (Blogging in Education: Concerns {Part 1})

Blogging in Education: Concerns

Despite all of the potential benefits that blogging can bring to the learning environment, there are still numerous concerns revolving around the use of this technology in educational settings. When self-reflecting on his use of blogging with his students at the university level, Walatka (2012) states, “I do not bring in technology for its own sake and the appeal that it may have for students is not central.” The technology is a means to an end, a tool to reach the learning goal. One must ask the question, “For what purpose do I want to integrate blogging into the learning environment and what will the academic benefit be for my students?”

            There have been numerous issues brought forth with regards to blogging in higher education institutions. In the literature review for the 2007 article Exploring Students’ Understandings of How Blogs and Blogging can Support Distance Learning in Higher Education, Lucinda Kerawalla, Shailey Minocha, Grainne Conole, Gill Kirkup, Matt Schencks, and Niall Sclater point out several of these concerns. These include minimal communication between students, poor quality reflections upon course materials, poor compliance, plagiarism, and difficulty managing the tension between publishing private thoughts in a public space. Kerawalla et al conclude that these findings suggest that students are often task-focused and outcome oriented, that often they find it difficult to understand the rationale behind the requirement to blog, and that they are unable to recognise how blogging could enhance pre-existing practices.

            When introducing blogging to students, Walatka (2012) points out that teachers often seem more enthusiastic about blogging than students who frequently view maintaining a blog as just another form of work. The medium of blogging may have some intrinsic appeal to students, but this does not go very far once they realize that they are being asked to do serious academic work. It should be conveyed to students that blogging is another form of work; it is simply an effective form of work. Thus, it is important not to start with the idea that students are going to love blogging because it is blogging; rather, one should choose blogging if it will help one’s students reach central learning goals. One way to increase commitment from students is to explain frankly to them why they will be blogging and how the blogs fit into the structure of the class as a whole. The more students understand the logic behind their blogging and see the way in which their work is directly contributing to the class as a whole, the more buy-in one is likely to get from students.

            Walatka (2012) paper, Hub-and-Spoke Blogging and Advantaged for Classroom Discussion, showed how student blogging can be a powerful tool for supporting one’s efforts to develop and maintain a student and discussion-centered classroom. However, blogging on its own, of course, does not do this. Walatka regularly employed a mixture of discussion, think-pair-share activities, one-minute papers, peer-instruction, and group work in order to promote higher level learning. His ability to do this is strengthened by the use of blogs, but blogging alone does not bring this about. One must have an ongoing commitment to integrating discussion as a central part of one’s pedagogy in addition to using blogs.

            Although the above concerns with blogging can apply to any educational institution, the greatest concern of all is for the safety of those students blogging at the primary / elementary and secondary levels. Due to the accessibility of blogs, it is important that student safety is a priority. Students should be taught Internet safety so they do not inadvertently put themselves at risk from predators. Many school districts do not allow blogs through their firewalls as it is almost impossible to screen blogs for content. Many schools have students write their blogs anonymously, however, this devalues the whole personal experience of blogging. Some blog providers have recognized this problem and found ways to work around it by giving teachers a way to preview work and comments before they are published (Wilson and Barbara, 2008).

All Hail the Blogger (Benefits of Blogging in Education: Part 2)

 Benefits of Blogging in Education

            As at every educational level blogging has been used in a variety of way and for a variety of purposes. In their 2009 paper, Classroom Blogging in the Service of Student-centered Pedagogy: Two High School Teachers’ Use of Blogs, April Luehmann and Robyn MacBride add to the empirical support for blogging at the high school level by providing an in-depth descriptive study of two classroom blogs. This study led the researchers to identify six complementary “blogging practices” that was educational benefits. These are:

1)      Sharing resources – i.e., teachers or students posting information and resources related to the course (including links connecting to such resources) on the blog.

2)      Eliciting and publishing students’ responses to teacher prompts – i.e., teachers posting questions the students are expected to respond to using blog posts or comments.

3)      Recording lesson highlights – i.e., student providing summaries of what took place in class as well as explanations of the concepts explored.

4)      Posting learning challenges – i.e., teachers posting “extra” problems or questions students may choose to engage in if they want a challenge and inviting students to share their answers / solutions, reasoning, and experiences with the challenge.

5)      Reflecting on what was learned – i.e., students posting their reflections on what was learned across a unit as well as how these learning opportunities were experienced (metacognitive reflections)

6)      Engaging in online conversations – i.e., students and teachers engaging in synchronous online informal conversations on-line using chat boxes and often using instant messaging language (not available for viewing).

At the elementary level, blogging has also proven to be an effective educational tool. In their 2007 study, Collaborative Blogging as a Means to Develop Elementary Expository Writing Skills, Wendy Drexler, Kara Dawson, and Richard Ferdig provide evidence of the benefits of blogging. Their study focused on a group of third graders as they completed a five-paragraph essay and online presentation of a Native American tribe. The results supporting blogging indicated that (1) collaborative blogging improved students’ attitudes toward writing; (2) feedback generated from the collaboration, rather than the use of technology itself, increased students’ motivation to write; and (3) collaborative blogging improved students’ writing and supported development of related skills and knowledge.

Other (unintentional) beneficial results from blogging were also noted by Drexler et al. These included students transferred knowledge learned during the collaborative project to other academic and social facets of the classroom; students’ technology skills improved even though official technology-related instruction was not provided; students developed visual literacy skills as they transformed the essays into online presentations; and collaborative blogging enabled differentiated instruction while ensuring success for each student.

            Luehmann and MacBride (2009) in a literature review on classroom blogs recognize that the activity of blogging, due to its context and features, has been argued to offer bloggers access to a number of potentially valuable learning resources. While not all of these benefits may occur for students participating in a classroom blog, a number of authors have written specifically about the educational value of using classroom blogs, suggesting the following teaching and learning affordances:

·         Facilitating reflection and/or revision of one’s work.

·         Extending conversations and interactions outside of the classroom.

·         Increasing exposure, accountability and recognition of one’s work.

·         Facilitating access to resources.

·         Participating in professional discourse.

All Hail the Blogger (Benefits of Blogging in Education: Part 1)

Benefits of Blogging in Education

Over the next several years blogging continued to become increasingly popular with the general population and increasingly more prevalent in education. Higher educational institutions still dominated the blogosphere, however more and more educators were encouraging and experimenting with blogging with younger and younger age groups. Many ‘shout from the rooftops’ of the benefits of blogging and the need to bring this pedagogical tool to the masses.

In their 2012 paper, The Transformative Potential of Blogs for Research in Higher Education, Jana Bouwma-Gearhart and James Bess point out that while the blog is still in its relative infancy with respect to its use for academic research and may have important limitations, such as inviting contestations for authorship or ownership of ideas, it offers great promise for richer collaboration among many informed and interested scholars. The use of the blog for communication of in-process research and ideas may constitute not only an improvement in academic productivity but a significant transformation of the very culture of academic research in other positive respects (p. 250).

            At the university level, blogging has proven its effectiveness with students as a learning tool. In is 2012 article, Hub-and Spoke Student Blogging and Advantages for Classroom Discussion, Todd Walatka investigates the use of blogging as a pedagogical approach. He points out that ‘student-active strategies’ are widely accepted in educational research and that blogging can fulfill two general pedagogical principles. First, learning results from what the students does and thinks and that a focus on what the student does (or what one hopes students will be able to do) should guide course structure, assignments, assessments, and pedagogical strategies. Second, that new knowledge is constructed upon existing knowledge and thus teachers need to pay attention to the incomplete understandings, the false beliefs, and the naïve renditions of concepts that learners bring with them to a given subject. Teachers then need to build on these ideas in ways that help each student achieve a more mature understanding. The heart of this approach is the principle of “Just-in-Time-Teaching”. The main blogging approach used by Walatka is the hub-and-spoke method. In this approach, the professor maintains a central course blog (the “hub”) with links to each student’s blog (the “spokes”). This provides both a central location for distributing course information and assignments and individual spaces for each student to reflect on and begin a conversation about the course material.

            Walatka (2012) acknowledges that one of the central aims of education today is to help students to think critically and express themselves clearly and persuasively. This demands giving students the time and space in which to truly engage the material in dialogue with others. Blogging is a particularly helpful tool in this process. Writing assignments give students the opportunity to explore new ideas and begin engaging with one another. Student development is further supported as the instructor is able to tailor a particular class to the current level of understanding among students. Finally, by integrating student reflections as a fundamental part of in-class time the professor both begins where the students are and provides a space in which their own contributions are the core material from which the class builds. With the public nature of blogging one can also effectively draw more students into discussion in the classroom, affirming their essential role in the learning process.