Transcript Instructional Intentions and the Realities of Practice

Instructional Intentions and the
Realities of Practice: Faculty
Perspectives of Learning on the Web
Learning Technology Research Group
Center for Teaching Excellence
Virginia Commonwealth University
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Web 2.0 technologies are implemented with
intentions of enriching the teaching and
learning experience. With their adoption
comes a set of implied pedagogical
practices that are often imperfectly
understood by faculty as well as learners:
the realities of practice differ considerably
from intended use.
A few of our classroom vignettes..
Dr. Reardon’s embedded video
Ning
Closed network
Transferred
learning from
other SNS when
participating in
blogs, discussion
board, chat, and
photos
Facilitates
communication
between
students and
instructor and
student to
student
Will community
be maintained
and/or
expanded?
Nin
http://www.assistivetechnology.vcu.edu
T/TAC @ VCU AT Blog
Began in summer of 2006 to reach
practitioners/educators in southern
regions of Virginia
Grew quickly to a recognized national
blog on AT best practices
Viewed by many in the AT field as a #1
AT resource
Reached our 1000th post 11/20/09
Supported by 5 colleagues who post
weekly to this blog – supporting a
post each day
Offers information on best practices
in the field
http://ttactechtuesday.pbworks.com/
• “Technology
Tuesdays” wiki
– Supports Technology Tuesdays
training series
– A collaborative space to
chronicle resources,
presentation materials,
participant comments
– A place to link from another
organization webspace or link
to other resources
– An ongoing and collaborative
digital repository of tools,
resources and best practices
Graduate Course: Universal Design
for Learning (GWU)
• Course blog used as a
container for daily reflective
blog post assignments
• Student blogs offer personal
digital space to offer
reflections on course
discussions/questions
• Course wiki offered as
collaborative area to share
• Step-by-step instructions
provided to scaffold student
learning on “how-to” use a
blog/wiki
Blogging as Reflective
Practice
Designed an instructor blog to model
the process
Experimented with requirements
• Self-determined reflection
• Reflection on specific assignments
• Groups of blog buddies
Realizations
•
Without requirements to do so,
students did not engage by
reading others’ blogs, nor did they
make comments
•
Most effective was required blog
buddy system of exchanging
comments
Collaborative learning
in a class wiki in lieu of
LMS
- posted assignments
- team projects
Students reluctant to
use features enabling
collaborative authoring
1. How are the implied practices that are built into Web 2.0
technologies reshaping ideas about teaching and learning?
2. What Web 2.0 practices do faculty members identify as having the
greatest potential for enhancing learning?
3. How are learners adapting to classroom environments that require
them to collaborate, create, and share in new ways? (barriers,
challenges, enhancers)
4. What are the realities of practice for faculty as they begin to use Web
2.0 technologies in creating collaborative learning environments?
5. How are you assisting learners to adapt to Web 2.0 technologies?
6. How do use of Web 2.0 technologies add value to the student
experience? How can we best facilitate and add value with these
digital media tools?