PPEL - Unit 3: Task 3

Comment on Hugo Domingos' Annotated bibliography and Margarida Marmeleira's LO.

Bearing in mind the Annotated Bibliography…

Regarding this Annotated Bibliography I decided to review Hugo Domingos’ work. I have accompanied the work of this colleague and I find it significant, interesting and very pertinent.

Hugo Domingos’ Annotated Bibliography consists of:

1. An animated video made by José Carlos and Paulo Simões on Transparency in Cooperative Education;

2. A document written by Sónia Valente and Telma Jesus on Transparency in Online Education;

3. An article made by Christian Dalsgaard on E-learning Beyond Learning Management Systems;

4. A slideshow made by Professor Morten Flate Paulsen on Visualizing Student Profiles Through NKI’s Online Catalogue.

Taking into consideration the first one…

1. Figueiredo, José Carlos e Simões, Paulo. Transparency in Cooperative Online Education. Flv. Go! Animate, 2010. http://goanimate.com/movie/0t WqQCZr6m8.

Source - http://goanimate.com/movie/0t_WqQCZr6m8?utm_source=embed

This interesting and animated presentation in excellent for it shows in a very lighthearted and accessible way what transparency is and the importance that feedback has for transparency and online education whether it is from colleagues or other web users.

This video illustrates and compares the two methods of teaching – the traditional one of a classroom and the online one – and it presents the advantages of the last one. The final message is that with online education and with transparency we gain “openness in sharing” pertinent “self made resources” that provide feedback which leads to a huge improvement in terms of “quality and cooperative learning between students.”

Im my opinion this reading was excellent!

Having in mind the idea of transparency, Hugo Domingos prepares us for his second choice…

2. Valente, Sónia e Telma Jesus. Transparency in Online Education. Janeiro, 2010. Issuu.

Source: http://issuu.com/telmaesonia/docs/transparency%20work%20soniatelma1

This extraordinary choice is also a very successful one taking into consideration the importance of transparency in online education presented by its authors, which Hugo synthesizes with the following statement:

“Individuals (students and teachers) sharing knowledge and feedback in an open learning environment.”

And regarding the statement of the authors…

“Transparency brings the opportunity to improve knowledge quality with less effort, because exist many people to work and sharing for the same goal: learn more, learn better, in less time!”

I share Hugo’s perspective regarding the disagreement of the statement “in less time” as he well points out “when you spend more time connecting with others, you have more efficiency in producing new knowledge.” That is, while I am working in “Networking” I have learnt done so many things that I had never dreamed of…and in this sense, as Hugo well mentions: “Networking gives you more information, more critical analysis, more quality, more efficiency and more motivation in the overall learning experience.”

A good point of view! Very well stated! Well done if I may say!

This article leads us leads us to Hugo’s third choice of readings.

3. Dalsgaard, Christian. Social Software: E-Learning Beyond Learning Manaement Systems. Institute of Information and Media Studies – University of Aarhus.

Source: http://www.eurodl.org/materials/contrib/2006/Christian_Da_%20Isgaard.htm

In this very well written and relevant article the author guides the reader in a journey where it is suggested the integration of a social software, namely weblogs, wikis and others, within an LMS. This innovative perspective brings significant changes to the field of modern education, because with it students “not only learn a specific topic, but they are equipped with tools to navigate and make active use of the web to solve future problems”…once the course ends, networking prevails with fresh, and in some cases, re-adapted and challenging resources to which a huge variety of net users has access and is able to contribute making the learning process always alive.

In my opinion this theory is innovative and it was good to find it so well dealt!

Bearing in mind this theory, Hugo Domingos puts it into practice by presenting us his fourth and last reading…

4. Paulsen, Morten Flate. Visualizing Student Profiles Through NKI’ s Online Catalogue and Student Networks. Cambridge International Conference on Open Distance Learning, September 23, 2009.

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/MortenFP/visualizing-student-profiles-through-nkis-online-catalogue-and-student-network

This last and amazing slideshow provides us a real context where the previous suggestion id implemented – the NKI Model for Online Education. Also a very good choice because this presentation allows us to see the importance that a “public profile” has in terms of transparency in an online educational environment.

“By allowing students to develop a public profile and decide their privacy levels, students can involve with each other by connecting as learning partners.” (slide 15)

Thanks to the use of this strategy, where transparency plays a significant role, individual flexibility and cooperative learning at different levels are allowed and students become able to make decisions regarding their work, their learning-partners if they have and even about their future…

I found this reading extraordinary, useful and very pertinent for it provides us an overall perspective of the impact that transparency has in online cooperative learning.

Hugo Domingos also suggests “other related bibliographies” which I also consider important regarding the Annotated Bibliographies of unit 1 – Theory of Cooperative Freedom for Online Education – and unit 2 – Online Teaching Techniques.

My conclusion…

Finally, I feel Hugo Domingos’ choice of readings regarding content and pertinence was a very skillful one and the way in which he organized his work was also excellent. I just have one thing to point out…while doing quotations a different style could be used, perhaps italic.

So, regarding his work I suggest the following equation:

Excellent choices + Good approaches = An excellent work!


Bearing in mind the LO…

Open publication - Free publishing - More ppel

I decided to comment Margarida Marmeleira’s work because I consider it concise, straightforward and objective. Regarding the content and the language used I found it very easy to read and an excellent example for it clearly defines what transparency is, what it implies and its enormous contribute in terms of quality to online education.

As the colleague well points in emphasis in the introduction to her work:

“Transparency is very important in online education, because it promotes cooperation and quality.”

Margarida Marmeleira also brings light to the question of the level of transparency, which I feel is very important. Yet, in my opinion, she could have developed it a little more, but in general she did an excellent work! Well done!

1ª Conferência do Mestrado Pedagogia do Elearning

"Quando alguém quer alguma coisa, todo o universo

conspira para que se realize esse seu desejo."

in, O Alquimista, Paulo Coelho.

Olá a todos!!!

No passado dia 14 de Maio teve lugar a 1ª Conferência do Mestrado de Pedagogia do Elearning, na Fundação Portuguesa das Comunicações em Lisboa.

Devo dizer-vos que este encontro que promove o contacto dos mestrandos do Mestrado em Pedagogia do Elearning desde a 1ª versão, até a actual - 4ª versão - relativa a 2010-2012, com professores e outros entusiastas destes assuntos foi excelente, motivador e revigorante.

O programa era ambicioso, mas foi muito agradável ouvir as intervenções e apresentações dos professores António-Quintas Mendes, Alda Pereira, António Teixeira, Morten Paulsen, José Carlos Mota, Angelina Macedo, Mª Balsemão Mendes e Luís Tinoca, bem como a apresentação jovial e única dos colegas do Mpel 3, e ainda as impressões e outras experiências de mestrandos. Destaco ainda aintervenção da nossa coordenadora a professora Lina Morgado que traçou um percurso deste jovem e promissor mestrado e das alterações que este tem vindo a sofrer para acompanhar as necessidades do nosso quotidiano, do nosso mercado de trabalho e, mais do que tudo,do nosso enriquecimento pessoal!

Foi muito agradável rever as caras que vi pela 1ª vez na Futurália, este ano na Expo, e outras que fiquei a conhecer e acredito que os colegas partilham do mesmo sentimento! Espero que estes encontros continuem e que o contacto perdure!...

Obrigada à coordenação e obrigada a todos por terem estado presentes!

MREL - Temática II: Fase 2

Selecção de Recursos Educacionais Abertos e sua utilização numa actividade de aprendizagem.

Através deste link está toda a descrição da actividade:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7148781/MREL%20-%20Planifica%C3%A7%C3%A3o%20de%20uma%20actividade%20com%20dois%20REA.docx

Boa consulta e votos de bom trabalho!

PPEL - Unit 3: Task 2 LO

Publication of the Learning Object regarding Unit 3, Task 2.

This LO was created using GOANIMATE.COM.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I had in doing it!

It is about transparency and cooperative learning in online teaching environments.


GoAnimate.com: Transparency and cooperative learning by marinampel04



Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!



I would like to add that the making of this LO is based on the readings described and commented in the Annotated Bibliography regarding Transparency in Online Education also published on this Blog.

Thank you all and keep up the good work! :-)

Educação e Sociedade em Rede

Síntese do debate em equipa subordinado a autenticidade e transparência na rede.

Tendo em conta o debate desenvolvido, este foi dividido em 2 partes. Cada parte continha 2 perguntas. Na primeira parte o professor colocou as seguintes questões:

1. Em que medida a nossa identidade digital é um prolongamento da nossa identidade pública ou um campo alternativo de expressão de uma dimensão escondida da nossa personalidade íntima?
2. O perigo da fraude intelectual (ex.: plágio) aumentou com o advento da internet?

Tendo em conta a primeira questão, esta centrou-se na problemática e na controvérsia em torno da noção de identidade digital. Uma das colegas enumerou o modo como alguns de nos tratamos os nossos dados com alguma leviandade e foi nesse sentido que elaborei a minha intervenção. Pois, considero importante o estar alertado para o modo como tratamos a informação que é sobre a nossa pessoa, visto se por um lado é devemos tratar os assuntos com alguma transparência, por o outro, há que estabelecer limites, como diz o seguinte excerto:

"I don't need to know everything about you, and you don't need to know everything about me. In fact we think some things should be private (like Social Security numbers and bank account numbers). What we REALLY need is the pertinent information AND to get to know each other. (...) BE AUTHENTIC."*

O que somos e como somos é um reflexo da nossa forma de estar e quer esta seja presencial ou online é igualmente o reflexo da nossa vivência em sociedade. Os subterfúgios e/ou estratégias a que recorremos para nos apresentarmos são igualmente um espelho do que somos. É verdade que a internet tem uma componente experimental, porém até mesmo as experiências devem ser lidadas com alguma prudência, visto que passos em falso podem conduzir a areias movediças e é sempre aconselhável saber quem está do outro lado de modo, a interagir, esperemos, de modo transparente.

*"Missing the point: Transparency without Authenticity." in http://allenjfuller.com/2010/02/missing-the-point-transparency-without-authenticity/

Relativamente à segunda questão:

Esta questão era sobre o perigo da fraude intelectual, nomeadamente plágio, e do seu crescimento com o advento da internet. Penso que nos tempos que correm, e pela experiência que tenho, os alunos estão cada vez mais habituados ao “copy & paste” e muitas das vezes nem reparam na origem do texto, no seu autor e na sua inserção na pesquisa em causa, conferindo depois ao trabalho final, em muitos casos, uma total falta de adaptação ao tema em questão. É necessário desenvolver sensibilidade e apetências para que os alunos ultrapassem esta barreira…e, creio que uma das figuras de 1ª linha para o fazer é o professor, pois este deve auxiliar os alunos a entrar no trilho certo! A internet e a sua multiplicidade de recursos é, sem dúvida, na minha opinião, um grande facilitador do plágio, repare-se que até obras completas podemos encontrar…cabe ao professor auxiliar o aluno a libertar-se da ideia do plágio e da “ilusória facilidade” que este confere para a criação de um texto seu e posterior publicação num blog. Com esta estratégia, o aluno torna-se autor e começa a ganhar a “sensibilidade” desejada pois o seu trabalho ao ser publicado e objecto de referência é partilhado por outros colegas, gerando novas publicações onde a ideia de uma cadeia de partilha de conhecimentos autênticos está subjacente.

Na segunda parte foram abordados os seguintes assuntos:

1. É possvel alguma entidade particular ou alguém (e se sim, qual ou quem) controlar a rede?
2. Em que medida a rede é segura e em que medida a informação nela partilhada é confiável? Quem o pode garantir?

Tendo em conta a primeira pergunta sobre a possibilidade de alguém controlar a rede, creio que esse controlo não é viável, pois acho que a internet é “um espaço aberto”, que Lévy descreve como “um universo aberto sem totalidade” onde todos os seus utilizadores têm a liberdade de publicar tudo o que desejarem, desde o mais interessante ao mais “inadequado”.

Relativamente à segunda pergunta, sobre a segurança da rede e sobre a viabilidade da informação que ela comporta, referi que efectivamente deve existir uma entidade, que acredito ser humana apesar de a componente virtual auxiliar muito, que analisa e que separa “o trigo do joio” conferindo à informação organização segundo áreas temáticas, de acordo com autores. Isto porque quando é efectuada uma pesquisa aparecem ligações a outros documentos, estabelecendo pontos de convergência de informação que culminando com uma apresentação de vários tópicos onde são abordadas as temáticas e/ou palavras usadas nos motores de busca. É certo, porém, que se nos dirigirmos a entidades institucionais a viabilidade e autenticidade da informação se torna mais segura, pois estas entidades conferem-lhe esse estatuto e são palpáveis e reais.

PPEL: Unit 3 - Task 1

Here is my Annotated Bibliography on Transparency in Online Education:

“What we REALLY need is the pertinent information to the situation AND to get to know each other."

in Missing the Point: Transparency without Authenticity. (http://allenjfuller.com/2010/02/missing-the-point-transparency-without-authenticity/

· Paulsen, Morten Flate et Dalsgaard, Christian. Transparency in Cooperative Online Education. June 2009.

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/rt/printerFriendly/671/1267

This is a very interesting and pertinent article when dealing with transparency in online teaching education for it is about the impact and the pedagogical potential that social networking has as a facilitator of transparency and awareness among students. Bearing in mind that the aim 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” it is quite understandable why, according to its authors, it has such a vital role in social networking. The authors throughout the article point out the importance of “being able to see and to be seen” because it is very significant that in an online teaching environment where cooperation is the basis of it that the information that students give about themselves and their work is as transparent as possible for eventual future sharing situations. Bearing in mind the term cooperative, the authors distinguish the existence of three types of learning, being the last one their choice of election:

- Individual learning, which as the name indicates is conducted alone with no interaction of a learning community;

- Collaborative learning, which happens in face-to-face meetings and online education and that requires the input of a group and consequently limits the individual;

- Cooperative learning, which seeks to foster some of the benefits of individual freedom and the benefits of cooperation in online learning communities and that takes place in networks.

Nevertheless being as authentic as possible also raises other controversial questions which are also dealt the level of authenticity and of privacy. Regarding these two questions the authors create a “Transparency Barometer” to analyze them and later in the part dedicated to Cooperative Student Catalogues they point out what they consider essential to be authentic in order to facilitate cooperation: “e-mail address, telephone numbers, chatting identities, information regarding geographical location (e.g. zip-codes) for eventual face-to-face meetings and progress plan information so that students can identify peers who are working with in the same study unit.” But even for these elements the authors also call attention that this private information must be handled carefully and an authorization to make them public is always needed.

In my opinion, the choice of this article is very important for it cleared my mind regarding transparency in online teaching education. I found it also enriching to see how the two authors dealt with the question of authenticity, its impact in the course’s development and in teachers and students’ interactions during the studies.

· Bowles, Michelle. 5 Twitter Tips for Staying Authentic and Transparent. 2009 (28th September)

http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/09/twitter-tips-authentic-transparent/

In 5 Twitter Tips for Staying Authentic and Transparent, Michelle Bowles presents in a very straightforward way five tips on how to be authentic and transparent, which I will start to explain:

1. The first one deals with the placing of a photo and a name for this helps to establish connections with the ones that look at our work or that wish to interact with us, for in fact: “Putting a face and a name behind your Tweets through a photo and brief bio can help followers relate to and connect with your brand.”

2. The second one is regarding personality and it is in favor of showing that in fact we are “real individuals” with feelings and humor for “It doesn’t have to be all business all the time. Have some fun with your Tweets by telling humorous stories or poking a little fun at yourself now and then.”

3. Regarding the third one it is important that you admit when you are wrong, not only because with mistakes we learn, but also because it is part of our nature and people make mistakes and they must also know how to cope with them.

4. On the fourth one, it deals with “Get to know your followers” it is important to be known but it is also important to know who you are dealing with, so this fourth tip is about asking questions simple questions about themselves, such as name, age, interests (nothing too personal).

5. The last one is “Don’t get carried away by your accomplishments” and the tip is that you should not let your success get to your head for it were your followers that gave it to you and that have largely contributed for it. So remember…be modest!

I found this text interesting, easy to read and with good tips regarding our present in Online Teaching Education and one of the sentences that exemplifies what is presented is “Be authentic and transparent in all you do.”

· Hill, Christopher. Principles for improving Online Transparency. 2008 (1st April).

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/principles-for-improving-online-transparency-quality/

The reading of this article gives emphasis to the idea that a “well-informed student or prospective student – benefits everyone.” In addition, this article depicts the theory that everybody, universities and colleagues only have to gain with transparency and to defend this thought three principles are mentioned and explained for the institutions that seek and want transparency.

1. Make distance education a central element of your mission – if you are dealing in fact with distance learning make sure that you are ready for it and be prepared, so that your students may have access to all resources online in order to carry out a good quality program;

2. Accountability to stakeholders – deals with giving adequate information to students about the content of the course-study, who teaches it and who is present for future questions that any prospective students may have related to the course itself;

3. Responsiveness – means that an educational institution must be prepared to respond quickly to an online-student so that he may have feedback as soon as possible within 24 to 48 hours;

I feel this article points out several aspects that need to be taken into account when we are confronted with the problem of being and of creating transparency in online teaching. According to Michael Offerman, president of Capella University: “To meet the education needs of adult students, we must provide them with trustworthy and transparent ways to choose among many available options and to gauge the potential of each one to further their careers. The goal of the program is to lead universities and colleges toward greater accountability and transparency.”

· Dalsgaard, Christian. Social Networking Sites: Transparency in Online Education.

http://content.yutu.com/Library/A1mvrs/TransparencyinOnline/resources/32.htm

An excellent approach on the pedagogical potentials of networking sites bearing in mind the fact that these sites are a combination of personalization and socialization regarding those that in a transparent way truly take part in them. According to this study when students take part in these networking sites and publish their thinking, aims, works and share it with others they are being transparent, that is they “have insight into each other’s work, thoughts, and productions.” Taking into account this idea student’s personal information becomes known to others through the process of sharing in a larger scale – a social network – and in this sense the notion of a social group with similar interests and relations emerges. Through this scenario we can observe the immense potential of these “social networking sites”, which the author reveals as “a supplement to other tools” for according to him “the potential of social networking lies within transparency and the ability to create awareness between students – potentially across institutions and nations.”

This challenging and amazing reading delves into the impact of social networking sites and the transparency that they involve when dealing with online teaching.

· Paulsen, Morten Flate. Profiling Online Students.

http://content.yutu.com/Library/A1mvrs/TransparencyinOnline/resources/43.htm

This interesting article aims to the use of transparency in Online Teaching and describes one of the strategies used to develop this idea of transparency at NKI Distance Education and the impact they had in it.
In order to develop, promote transparency and future situations with it, a profile was created where students are given the choice to do their presentations and t publish them in an “open catalogue”, by clicking the “global visibility checkbox” in their profile. Later, when analyzed the impact of this measure, the following conclusions were achieved:1. “… most presentations act as favorable homepages that focus on the students’ achievements.”

2. “The users are excellent ambassadors for NKI when they share their presentation with others. They provide a lot of relevant information for prospective students and key words for the search engines.”

3. “…the fact that so many serious, hard-working and successful students are willing to share achievements and experiences in an open, online catalogue is valuable for the field of online education.”

In my opinion this was truly an amazing finding to promote transparency among online teaching.

· Siemens, George. Teaching as Transparent Learning.

http://content.yutu.com/Library/A1mvrs/TransparencyinOnline/resources/55.htm

“I’ve gained much from being a transparent learner.”

George Siemens, the author, describes his path, experiences and progress as a transparent learner. According to him transparency is an important and significant requisite in online teaching for “when we make our learning transparent, we become teachers” and “watching others learn is an act of learning” for as he clearly point out:

“When someone decides to share their thoughts and ideas in a transparent manner, they become a teacher to those who are observing. Social technology - such as Twitter, blogs, Facebook – opens the door to sharing the process of learning, not only the final product.”

I found this reading encouraging and appealing for it deals with the experience of a “transparent learner” and his personal sharing of it.

· Paulsen, Morten Flate. Transparency for Quality. Toonlet.

http://toonlet.com/creator/MortenFP

This comic strip is a very clear and presents a very objective approach on the importance that transparency has in order to improve the quality of online teaching for if others see what we publish, incorrect information becomes easily detected, feedback on it is given and errors are corrected. Clear, concise and stick to the point!

· Paulsen, Morten Flate. Transparency for Cooperation. Toonlet.

http://toonlet.com/archive?i=11245

This comic strip deals with matters related to the cooperation that the use of transparency promotes in online teaching. When students give personal and transparent information about themselves other students interact more and a sense of cooperation is established between them. Nevertheless, an essential point is also presented - students’ transparency is to be handled carefully regarding their privacy and in this way students themselves should be the ones to choose the level of transparency to be allowed.

· Welcome to my PLE! - A Personal Tour by a 7th Grade Science Student.
(Youtube Presentation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEls3tq5wIY

I choose this Youtube Presentation because I found it a good example of transparency. Although it was created by a young student, matters such as organization and transparency are very clear and were carefully dealt and are now presented in a very objective way. This “PLE” – Personal Learning Environment - is the culminate of a research and intense work on networking sites, for as the student clearly points out he “spent some time since the beginning of the school year learning how to find information online and how to pull it out together on a personal page”, which we can observe thanks to its publication.