Learning is Inherently Social

My experience with online communities has grown steadily over the past few years. It started simply enough with my teenage daughter encouraging me to start a Facebook account (of course, she refused to be my friend on Facebook at first). A colleague suggested using LinkedIn when I was looking for a new job and I have found that to be a valuable professional networking resource. Since starting at my current job as administrator for a virtual charter school, I have been inextricably linked to the online school community. And since starting the M Ed in Instruction Technology program at Cardinal Stritch University, I have expanded by online community repertoire to include forays into Twitter, Diggo, Delicious, Flickr, YouTube and Blogger. 


I believe the biggest benefit of collaborative groups is that it reflects the social nature of life. Human beings are naturally social animals. Even in today's increasingly digital, connected society, human interaction is required and inevitable. The traditional school model may have students together in a classroom, but the paradigm is for them to sit quietly at their own desk, listen to the teacher, read the textbook on your own, do their own homework (which is usually only viewed by the teacher), then take a test on which each student supplies their own answers. That is completely unnatural. I can't think of a single work environment that operates that way. So how does learning that way prepare students for what they will encounter after graduation? 


The greatest challenge about working in collaborative groups is conflict resolution. Every person is unique, so by it's very nature, group interaction is bound to involve conflict. Conflict of opinion, conflict of background/experience, conflict of culture... all kinds of conflict. The question is what do we do about it? Conflict actually can be healthy as it can lead to discussion and debate and encourage group members to examine a problem or situation from a variety of viewpoints. But it can also be destructive if group members are unable or unwilling to cooperate and compromise.


If human beings are indeed social animals and learning is inherently a social activity, then it stands to reason that social development and socialization skills are essential in education and in life. However, I take serious issue with the widely held belief that students need to go to traditional face to face schools in order to learn socialization skills. If that were true, where did young people learn social skills before there were schools? Just as learning does not take place exclusively in the classroom, neither does the development of social skills. And just because a student does not attend a traditional face to face school does not necessarily mean they can't develop good, healthy social skills. Many parents object to the kind of socialization skills children can learn in traditional schools and embrace the opportunity to exercise a greater degree of influence over the kinds of social situations to which their children are exposed.

Challenges of Online Teaching

While I have not actually taught a class online (or offline for that matter) yet, I have facilitated many online parent information sessions and new student orientation sessions using the Elluminate web conference tool. Some of the challenges I have encountered include:

1. Preparation: I have found that that more you can prepare and practice ahead of time, the easier it is to facilitate an online presentation. It is also very important to practice using the online tools so you are comfortable and don't have long delays in moving between presentation elements.
2. Technology: Whenever you are using technology tools, things rarely go off without a hitch. You have to be prepared for the unexpected and have a back-up plan in case things don't work the way you envisioned. This goes for the participants as well. I have found it useful when dealing with people who may be unfamiliar with the program to have an extra person available to help participants with technical support questions while another starts the presentation. You can then utilize a break out room to get the inevitable late-comers up to speed without inconveniencing those who arrived on time and prepared.
3. Multi-tasking: I find it a real challenge to keep up with everything that is going on during a synchronous online presentation. It is difficult to focus on what you are trying to communicate while simultaneously watching the chat area for questions/comments, keeping track of participants who are entering/leaving the room and making sure the presentation/discussion stays on time and on task.

I suspect those will be the same obstacles I will encounter when I get my turn to teach my segment in this class. I think it will be important to remain focused on the learning objectives of the lesson to ensure that at the end of the session, the participants achieved the intended results.

I chose my topic, Cyberbullying, after attending a town hall meeting on the subject in Chicago. I did some more research and found out that the problem is much more pervasive than I previously thought. Anyone who works with young people in an online educational environment is likely to encounter students who have been victims of cyberbullies or have bullied others and I think it is important that educators understand the problem and know how to help students in that situation. 

http://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm

I must admit that I was skeptical about rubrics when I started this program. Not having a teaching background, I considered them to be a pretentious product of educratic idealogues and a nuisance for busy teachers (or busy grad students). That was before I started creating my own and came to a fuller appreciation of their value both for the teacher and the student. I modeled my rubric for the asynchronous discussion on the one used for participants in this class. For the synchronous discussion, I created one from scratch using a free online tool at iRubric. I found it to be very easy to use and intuitive for novice rubric creators like myself. 

Getting Started With Online Teaching

I may never get the opportunity to teach an online class, but part of my job at iQ Academy Wisconsin is to engage students in the online environment both to help them be successful in their virtual studies and to help them feel like they are a part of the online school community. Why? Because successful students who enjoy their online school experience are more likely to stay with the school and tell their friends about the opportunity. That's good for the students and for the school.

Since virtual school students are used to experiencing school both synchronously and asynchronously, engagement activities should utilize both approaches as well. I use Elluminate and Skype to communicate with students in real time. Several iQ Academy teachers use an instant messaging tool called Meebo. 

Asynchronous tools include a lot of email, a discussion board application we call iQ Commons and a school-sponsored Facebook page. Another asynchronous tool that I have used in the past and would like to incorporate again in the future is a closed social networking site. I used one based on the Ning platform that we called iQuad but we had to abandon it when Ning started charging schools to host the site.

I use a variety of activities to engage and retain virtual students. I get them together in Elluminate to play "iGames" like Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit or Would You Rather. I use Google Forms to administer interest surveys, YouTube to post orientation and social event videos and UStream to broadcast our graduation ceremony. I would like to use MicroMobs to host online discussion boards for virtual clubs. I also plan to host parent information sessions and guest speakers in Elluminate.

One program that I started to give prospective new students a taste of the virtual education experience is something we call Test Drive iQ. Before students start their sample class I send them a welcome/introductory email. I try to make the tone of the email warm and inviting so students will see the class as a fun opportunity to experience virtual learning rather than another class they have to take. I also employ the email merge function of Microsoft Word and Outlook so I can personalize the emails and provide the students and parents with their usernames and passwords. I use simple word processing techniques like bold, underline and hyperlinks to make the email instructions clear and concise and I always include my name and contact information to make it easy for students and/or parents to get a hold of me if they have any questions.

All Online Learning All the Time

It has been suggested that in the not too distant future the lines between "school" and "work" and "personal" activities will become indistinguishable; that our increasingly connected, digital world will allow/require people to move seamlessly between what were once highly segmented aspects of their lives. I see this happening already with the start of this class on Facilitating Online Learning, since virtual learning is something I deal with all day at iQ Academy.

This is a challenge for me as sometimes I feel like the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is log on to the computer. When I get home, I usually want to unplug, not plug in - especially when the subject matter is the same as what I have been thinking about all day. On the other hand, studying online learning from the curriculum development and teaching point of view does provide an opportunity for me, a non-teacher, to examine my professional life from a slightly different and very enlightening perspective.


The discussion of The Virtual Classroom highlighted for me that there are many misconceptions out there surrounding virtual education, even among well-intentioned classroom teachers. Examining the strengths and weaknesses of online learning from the student, teacher and parent perspectives provides insights that virtual schools can use in formulating mission and vision statements and marketing campaigns. 


What I really found valuable was looking at examples of online class lessons because for all of my work at a virtual school, I have not spent much time really looking at the curriculum. Taking this class online has helped me relate to some of the challenges and experiences my students deal with, and looking at specific online lessons has helped me appreciate some of the options that are available to online course designers in terms of lesson elements.

Digital Overload

I think I am suffering from digital overload. I mean really, how much technology is too much? I manage a virtual charter school which means I spend my entire work day in front of a computer. I typically have so many programs and windows and tabs open that I need two large monitors to see it all. When I'm not on my my computer, I'm on my smart phone tapping out a text message or recording a voice memo. And now my head is spinning with all of the Web 2.0 tools I have investigated in the past few weeks. Let's make a quick list, shall we?

Image courtesy of i/8681/i02/digital-overload-stress-101109-02.jpg?1296144628

Blogger, edmodo, ThinkQuest, EduBlogs, Xanga, WikiSpaces, WetPaint, PB Works, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, Google reader, Bloglines, Google Sites, Screenr, ScreenJelly, EyeJot, Jing, Ning, Diigo, Delicious, micromobs and Facebook. And that is just the very tippy top of the iceberg when it comes to what is all available out there. How does one make sense of it all?

I know, I'll create an RSS feed to organize it all in one convenient location. Except that now I have 729 articles in my aggregator waiting for me to read them.
Wait, I have a better idea. I'll start following some Web 2.0 experts on Twitter so that I can keep up to date on the latest and greatest tools. I mean that's got to be easier right? How long can it take to read a 140-character tweet? Hold on now, each one of these tweets contains a link to another blog or website to read. And half these things look like they are written in a foreign language. What's with all the @'s and #'s? I'm following 40 people and they are all posting 10 times a day so that's, ummm, 400 tweets! No time for that.
OK, I've got it. I will just friend everyone and like every website and organization I'm interested in on Facebook so I can keep up with what's happening that way. Only now my newsfeed is so clogged up I can't find out what my second cousin needs for Farmville...

Time For Virtual Schools To Practice What They Preach

This week I had an opportunity to spend a few days with my virtual school colleagues from all over the country at a school leaders summit meeting in Virginia. I always enjoy getting together with this group because they are some of the best and the brightest people working in K-12 virtual education today. For two days, I heard about plans and visions for improving student achievement, new curriculum initiatives, teacher training programs, pilot projects, political and regulatory challenges, new management systems and how virtual schools are making education opportunities available to all students regardless of geography or socio-economic conditions. All good things to be sure.
But what I didn't hear, was any mention of how virtual schools are incorporating Web 2.0 tools to help individualize the educational experience and prepare students for the challenges they will likely face in a global, digital workplace of the near future. No talk about classroom blogs, wikis or websites, no creative uses of video, audio podcasts or mobile devices, no Eyejot, Edmoto, Flickr, Jing, Ning, Twitter, Oovoo, ThinkQuest, Facebook, Posterous, WetPaint, RSS Feeds, Google Sites, etc., etc. What they were describing for the most part, are ways to take the classroom experience and put it online, rather than taking the online experience and bringing it into the classroom. I found this dichotomy curious and disappointing.
It seems to me that we are missing a golden opportunity. We have a platform that is tailor-made for using digital tools to improve the educational experience for thousands of students and engage them in new and creative ways, but that doesn't seem to be happening. And I think part of the problem is that there is a disconnect between curriculum and systems development and teaching.
Imagine what would happen if hundreds of virtual teachers were connected in a social learning network where they could share ideas and best practices for using digital tools in the virtual learning environment. That information could be used to inform and direct the efforts of the systems and product development teams. There is an article in eSchool News this week about a project to try and standardize metadata for e-learning resources to make them easier for teachers to search out and find. Applying that same concept could allow teachers to locate learning assets specifically suited for an individual student's needs at the precise time that students needs it. That is the true potential of virtual schools - the ability to provide a truly personalized learning program for each child.
We've taken an important first step in eliminating the classroom walls that limit students' opportunities and imagination. Now we have to figure out how to take the next step.

Adding to My Ever-Expanding Web 2.0 Toolbox

I used to consider myself relatively well-versed in the use of tech tools. I mean, I send/receive 100 emails a day, work at a virtual school, participate in web conferences, IM, text, have 5 pages of apps on my iPhone (although I still have a 3GS and Apple is introducing the iPhone 5 today), and I even have a Facebook account. However, I am beginning to realize that when it comes to Web 2.0, I don't even know enough to know what I don't know yet. Part of the problem is that before I can catch up on the latest new thing, something newer is being invented. Another challenge for me has been that even the tools I am more or less familiar with have additional features and benefits that I haven't fully explored yet.
Some examples from this past week:

RSS Feeds
I set up an RSS Feed in Outlook about a year ago at the suggestion of my school principal to track news reports related to some virtual school bills that were making their way through the state legislature. Articles were delivered right to my inbox and I was able to keep up with the latest developments. I was able to take advantage of this tool even though I didn't fully understand how it worked.
This week I did a deeper dive into what RSS Feeds are, how they work and the benefits of using them. I set up a Google Reader account and in a few minutes, my aggregator was loaded with useful and interesting websites, new articles and blogs. This information would have taken my hours to accumulate if I had to search each site and I most certainly would have missed something. I am still a novice at using RSS Feeds but I am confident my skill level will improve and I will continue to discover more features that will make this technology even more useful. Will Richardson in his book Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts regards utilizing RSS Feeds to manage web content as a must-have skill for educators and students and know I can see why.

Photo Sharing
Photo Sharing is another Web 2.0 tool that is not new to me, but one that I discovered new applications and features for this week. Professionally, I have shared photos on Snapfish and Flickr many times. This works well in a virtual school where students are geographically separated from one another. I was able to upload pictures from prom and graduation for example, email the link and password to a closed Snapfish account and allow families to copy or print photos from those events. We have a link to our Flickr page on our school web page so that visitors or prospective new families can see some of the things we are doing. Personally, I have been known to share photos on Facebook (much to my daughter's chagrin), but creating an account on Flickr allows me to back up all my digital photos and share them with friends and family (even those who are not on Facebook). I also had no idea that I could link my Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and Blogger accounts together and share digital media across platforms. I'm sure I have only scratched the surface here as well.