Transcript Refined Search String

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS
for 2 Pilot studies of the
eTutor Project
James Williams
e: [email protected]
Purpose of the 2 Pilot studies
1. was to explore the idea that online learning could be
delivered through freely available Web 2.0 services; and
2. that learning content could be sourced for free online.
Web 2.0 Evaluation
• There are many freely available Web 2.0 services that can
be used to create a learning environment;
• The application chosen for the pilot studies was Ning.
• Ning is a free online social networking environment;
• It is easy to use and manage, it has free support, is
continually being upgraded;
• It requires no technical knowledge to set-up;
• And it can easily be extended with widgets;
• As a result Ning has already had rapid adoption in the
education sector.
2 Social LearNING Environments
were created:
• http://etutor.ning.com for an ICT module at Glamorgan
University.
• http://webgamez.ning.com/ for the Web & Mobile Games
module at SMU.
Front-page of the eTutor environment
• Ning has a dashboard style interface, all key features such as blogs,
forums, events, members list, notes, info boxes, applications etc.. are located
on the front-page.
• Each member of the learning network has their own ‘My Page’ to store their
resources.
Front-page of WebGamez
• Ning also allows you to organise students into Groups to collaborate on learning
activities.
Groups, Teams & Collaborative learning
The Buddypoke application
• added a fun and social element to the
learning environment;
• Buddypoke is an interactive friend communication tool,
that enables users to customize their own 3D avatars;
• Learners can interact with other users avatars, there is a huge
selection of interactive poking features, each with game-like
animation and interactivity.
The Community e-learning strategy
Involved the students posting a weekly:
1) self-reflective blog entry; & (Reflective learning)
2) a community forum post. (Collaborative learning)
Ning offers an array of communication tools to support the
Students during the learning process, a tutor can comment on
blog posts, forum posts, send private email messages and wall
comments.
e-learning Maps
• Online Mind mapping software was used to organise
learning activities.
• There are many online mapping solutions available
such as Mindomo and Mindmeister;
• Mindmeister was chosen for it’s ease of use and realtime collaboration ability (synchronous).
Learning Activity Map
• The Mapping software was used to organise the lesson
plan into Subject areas and learning activities.
• The learner can click on each learning activity node to
discover relevant learning resources.
Refined Search Strings
After testing and refining the search criteria for each learning activity:
The Google URL search string is copied from the Web Browser:
And inserted onto each learning activity node of the Map:
Refined Search Strings
• Each of the ‘learning activity nodes’ include an arrow
icon:
• When clicked presents the user with online resources
to complete the learning activity.
Discovery e-learning methods
4 discovery e-learning methods were tested:
Search
Engine
Test
1: standard
Google
Search
2: CSE:
Custom
Search
Engine
3: Refined
Search
String
4: CSE &
refined
string
Relevant
links
Analysis
(out of 10)
2
8
7
10
Using key words from a learning activity only 2 (out of
10) sites were relevant to the la. Many links guided the
user to commercial sites and advertisements.
Using the same search string with a Custom Search
Engine 8 (out of 10) results were relevant. However
several links were from the same tutorial websites
specified in the CSE.
Using a refined search string 7 (out of 10) results were
relevant to the la. There was only one repeat learning
resource.
Using a refined search string with a CSE Custom
Search Engine 10 (out of 10) search results were
relevant to the la. Also a greater variety of relevant
learning resources were presented to the user.
As a result ‘Custom Search’ Engines were also added to the Map nodes
and community dashboard.
Google CSE Custom Search Engine
• It is easy to create a Custom Search Engine using the
Google CSE wizard, by simply inserting relevant web address.
• When published Google will
search the selected web
addresses for relevant web
pages first before searching the
wider web.
CSEs within Ning & Map
CSEs can be added any level of the e-learning map and
anywhere on the Ning network:
e-learning Resource Map
• Maps can be used to recommend websites and provide
handouts to learners, and store multimedia files (such as
mp3s, videos).
There are many uses of Maps
The ability to structure and store documents using the Mapping
greatly increases the usefulness of this little Web 2.0 tool. Maps
can be used to structure and present learning and teaching
resources in many areas, for example:
Tutor / Community Map:
•Organise Lesson plans; and
•Learning Activities
•Handouts and other resources
•Web links & CSEs.
Student Learning Map:
•Blog
•Learning resource depository
•e-Portfolio
Interactive Learning Maps
•Tutor Feedback Map (Module)
give administrators, tutors
• Course Map (Map for each Year 1, 2,
and learners the ability to
3 with corresponding modules)
organize their academic lives.
Academic Administration:
•Learning & Teaching: Course / Module planning
•Administration: Committees / Meetings (e.g. take and store minutes)
•Organising Research Projects (Team or Individual research).
Example: Module Map
• A Tutor can create a central Community Map for a module
that include Course documents, Structured lesson and
activity plan:
Example: Student Map
• Students can use Maps to organize their academic lives:
Map Notes
• Using Mindmeister you can add notes to map nodes. This
can be used to insert lesson notes, learning activity
guidelines, reflective learning logs or minutes for a
meeting etc..
Student Map on Ning ‘MyPage’
e-learning Maps & VLEs
• Maps can also be inserted into Virtual Learning
Environments:
Conclusion
• Web 2.0 Community networks can make learning
experiences more sociable, interactive and stimulating;
• Community networks create ‘open group-sharing cultures’;
• Learners can help each other throughout the learning
process by leaving comments on forums, blogs, private
messaging and personal wall space;
• Incorporating the ‘self-reflective blog’ resulted in a large
increase in ‘independent learning’;
• Online Maps can be used to organize learning resources in
one interactive graphical interface;
• The use of Custom Search Engines and refined search
strings can dramatically increase the quality of the search
results received by the learner.
The Overall Solution
is a Web 2.0 mashup application using:
• Google CSE as the Discovery e-learning method;
• MindMeister for learning activities and resources;
• Ning for the learning environment.
• Ning and Mindmeister is a Free, Easy and Effective Web 2.0
solution for Technology and Community enhanced learning.
• The creation of a Ning Network & Learning Map only takes a
few minutes; and is ideal for educators to easily and rapidly
create a Learning environment.
• This solution is suitable for any project that requires electronic
collaboration and information management.
DEMO MAP
2 Tony