• Wordling through language learning

    06Apr
    Author: Katherine Pisana Categories: Educational Technology, Mind Amplifying Tools Comments Off on Wordling through language learning

    picture-1

    Wordle is getting a lot of hype in the educational blogosphere and also within my current study community, but I haven’t added it to my list of recommended techie tools until now because I just wasn’t totally convinced of its value.  It’s basically a tool that allows you to take a chunk of copied text (from an email, a document, etc., from a website url that has an atom feed, or even based on a user’s del.icio.us name) and paste it into a textbox. What comes out on the other end is a word cloud. Here’s an example below of a word cloud I created a second ago by pasting in the text from the ‘About‘ page of Wolfram Mathworld (a comprehensive learning object repository for all things math-related).

    wordle-mathworld

    You can customise how the cloud looks, change colours and fonts and layouts, etc.

    I suppose that it could be interesting to pick out key themes, terms, ideas, etc. out of selected works but how can it be usefully applied in an educational context?

    Well, recently a colleague of mine from Dublin, Karl Duff, shared a really creative example with me of using Wordle within a foreign language context. The teacher creates a word cloud of an article or a short story. Students are then shown the cloud and the teacher explains the premise behind Wordle and the idea behind the bigger vs. the smaller words that are generated. Once students are clear on the concept of Wordle, they are asked to work in groups to create a short story based on what they think the Wordle cloud represents. This is, of course, done in the foreign language they are studying. The students are then asked to share their stories with the rest of the class and to discuss the similarities and differences between each group’s main ideas. Finally, the teacher reads out the article or short story that he/she originally selected to create the word cloud.

    That’s the basic idea of the exercise. You could even go further and have the students create word clouds of their stories and compare with the original cloud. You could also add another level to the exercise and have the students individually write reflective essays about how their group’s story aligned with the key themes and ideas of the piece you selected. It all depends on how in depth you want to get.

    To break down the design of the first part of this activity a bit more, I’ve adapted the Hybrid Learning Model (HLM) created by the Centre for Institutional E-Learning Services at the University of Ulster to outline the learning events that could take place in the example above using their mapping grid (pdf):

    wordle-mapping_grid

    I would be very interested to hear how you’ve used Wordle to support your learning and teaching endeavors.

  • Information Streams

    26Feb
    Author: Katherine Pisana Categories: Technology Comments: 3

    02-26-09 post

    Is learning a series of transactions that combine to pave an evolutionary road of progress? If so, how is the road paved? What materials are used? Is learning the process of aligning bricks over a defined area or pouring gravel in a general direction? Is the purpose of learning to fill in all the holes, or just create enough contact between the solid points to be able to make the next step? Or perhaps, does all of this depend on what we are learning? Is the metaphor of the acquisition of knowledge more applicable to the study of mathematics then it is to the study of educational technology, for example?

    This week, one of the foci of my formal studies is to reflect upon Sfard’s (1998) concept of “the metaphor of learning as acquisition and the metaphor of learning as participation” in an attempt to gain a better grasp of what the intangible process of ‘learning’ means to me. I think that these two metaphors were able to encompass the breadth of the learning experience up until a few years ago, or maybe even up to a decade ago in some cases, but the nature of our information ecology has morphed into something so complex, so intricate and approaching an unanticipated level of artificial intelligence that makes ‘learning as acquisition’ a thing of the past.

    Perhaps learning as participation mixed with learning as connection is a more accurate representation of the modern-day version of learning. Although I sense that the definition of ‘participation’ must also be re-evaluated because what was engagement ten years ago has ballooned into so much more now. Affordances change the nature of everything they impact. In our case, technology has changed learning far beyond just making it more accessible. It’s opened up a great big cupboard of neatly aligned cans of worms.

    When information didn’t sprout as dynamically or as quickly as it does today, it was easier to justify the metaphor of learning as acquisition. We had access to a manageable amount of information and communities could readily interact/engage with that information because it didn’t change very quickly. We talked about skills like shorthand and speed reading that helped us keep up with new information. Today, we talk about power browsing strategies and the transmission of information via video link and other forms of rich media and that just brings a whole new meaning to the truth that a picture tells a thousand words.

    Why don’t I try to use a picture to describe what I mean? Below is a visual representation of Information Streams – the ways in which we connect to information in the current age. If the image below doesn’t load, just go to this link.

    (Note:
    You can click and drag the image to move it around.
    Clicking on the magnifying glasses on the bottom left of the mind map screen enables you to zoom in and out making the font bigger or smaller.
    Clicking on the plus signs next to the nodes will expand the information streams.)

    I purposefully included all of these streams into one visual burp because it more closely reflects our current reality then if I were to separate each flow. For example, who can relate to this image:

    I open my laptop in the morning and Firefox is still active from the day before. I have 12 tabs open in 5 windows (so that my ideas are groups in clusters). I have 4 TextEdit files open with ideas jotted down but not yet ready for publishing. I have two Scrivener files open in which I’m organising my thoughts and preparing answers to this week’s course activities. I also have a Finder window open (MAC user here) in the background that reminds me that I have to clean up some files and expand my file structure to accommodate a couple new projects on which I’m working. After a couple sips of coffee and a practiced attempt at ignoring all the information gushing out at me from my screen, I open Thunderbird to check my mail (for some reason I sleep better knowing I quit my email client before going to bed). I always have my volume set low so that when the alarm notifies me that I have new mail, I don’t get more freaked out than I normally do! After Thunderbird checks my three email accounts, it starts working on all my RSS feeds. I am comforted when I see an email from Continental Airlines or Bank of America because I know that all I have to do is click delete. If I’m brave, I’ll take a look at a new blog entry but that usually results in five or 6 more clicks and usually a new item on my TO DO List ( as per the visual above), so I have to be prepared to spend some time on that tangent if I want to follow it through.

    So, if that’s what a typical day looks like for me, I don’t see how learning can be about acquisition anymore. Our mental pockets aren’t deep enough to acquire information at the rate that it becomes available. Today…I think…it’s more about…connecting the dots…

    If you’ve read through my information streams, you will probably have noticed that none of them ‘end’. They all trickle off into the unknown. Whether I return to those specific streams to continue my research or I pick up somewhere else and new research leads me back to them is to be determined as I continue exploring.

    Adding your information stream

    Now, I invite all of you – veteran Power Browsers and Newbies alike – to help paint a more detailed picture of what information streams look like in our current reality. Think about a recent bit of research you just did, or some casual browsing you did on your lunch break, or even the stream that brought you to this blog entry. Then, add it to this mind map.

    To add your information stream: Click on the mindmeister logo on the bottom right of the mind map. This will open a new window bringing you to the editable version of the map. Click on ‘Edit’ found on the bottom left of the new window to begin adding your stream. Once you’re done, you can just close the window (your changes are automatically saved).

    —
    Sfard, A. (1998) ‘On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one’, Educational Researcher, vol.27, no.2, pp.4–13.

  • Profile of a Learning Technologist

    16Feb
    Author: Katherine Pisana Categories: Educational Technology Comments: 1

    I just read the Key Findings (pdf) of The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2007 and see some really big differences between my relationship with technology compared to that of these American undergraduates. I wanted to share some of my observations with you here.

    And yes, I am conscious that I’m comparing my behavior (as a current postgraduate student of online and distance education with a UK university while living in the US) with that of undergraduate students in the US, but I think that this is still a really useful reflective exercise to see how I am positioned within this group of students. After all, as a learning technologist, I am indirectly affecting their learning experience by working directly with their teachers in developing teaching aids that integrate information technology to varying degrees. Essentially, what I’m say is that I feel it’s important to know your audience. If my job is to work with the teachers who educate undergraduates, then one way to ensure that I’m doing the best job possible is to know how my ICT recommendations relate to the end user.

    So, now for some telling comparisons…

    tech-ownership

    The above comparison explains a bit of my aversion to m-learning: I’m not really that interested in cell phones, and perhaps this makes it more difficult to get excited about mobile learning. On the other hand, my heavy use of electronic music/video devices perhaps also helps explain why I’m an advocate of podcasts and audiobooks as learning tools.

    hrs-online

    How much do those closest to us influence the way we view and use technology? Is developing ICT skills more of a social activity then a solitary act? Do we participate because we want to keep up? …to remain relevant in conversations? …because we see that others’ lives have been enriched? …or does like attract like? Do innovators all ride the techie wave while the laggards collectively dip in one toe at a time? Can an innovator convert a laggard?

    tech-prefOnly 2.8 percent prefer courses that use technology exclusively?! I thought the majority would be in this grouping! I guess if I had to ask myself why I have this perception, it’s probably because I assume that since this generation grew up immersed in a technology-rich environment, they want that environment to extend naturally into their formal learning space.

    I am one of those students who will opt for the 100% technology-based course almost every time! The study notes that 60% of those asked prefer a ‘moderate’ integration of technology into their courses. What does moderate mean to an undergraduate these days? Moderate to me would mean a standard course wiki, student blogs, podcasts, the occasional webcast (not necessarily live) and the obvious course management system. Is that moderate to you?

    Perhaps a key to answering this last question reveals itself in the results from the open-ended questions where students indicated that IT becomes a barrier to learning when its proliferation creates a more complex learning environment. Could this mean that if they knew how to use the technology from the beginning of a course, it would no longer represent a barrier? Does this mean that secondary education isn’t preparing students enough for post-secondary learning? Or are students expected to learn about how to create a blog, contribute to a wiki and subscribe to a podcast in their own time?

    I have to wonder whether evaluating potential candidates for learning technologist / instructional designer jobs in this way would help institutions and private companies better align competencies and interests with job goals and broader organizational targets.

« Previous Page Next Page »