Virtual Learning Environments

I have had many a discussion with friends about Twitter and its usefulness vs. uselessness.

I went to do see a panel in early June called “The Future of Media” that included Nick Denton of Gawker Media, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Bonnie Fuller of Bonnie Fuller Media, Wall Street Journal deputy managing editor Alan Murray, and Craigslist founder Craig Newark. All of them were talking about what a huge deal Twitter was becoming and would continue to be, what a powerful tool it is, etc. I wrote a blog about this talk, which inspired a 25+ message exchange on Facebook about the Twitter phenomenon between myself and a friend from undergrad who was in my Film and Media Studies program with me.

So the following is from said friend on my Facebook in response to my status update that said “The Future of the Media is, apparently, all about Twitter” and then linked to my blog on the topic. Please note that I’ve changed all of the places where he’s decided to use an offensive term for Twitter (take away the “i” and replace it with an “a”) with a more PG version of the term:

Must everything be shortened to one sentence in order to be consumed in milliseconds? I don’t see the purpose of this site other than to give one sentence, and therefore poor, recaps of other stories from other sources…Self-indulgence is still very much a part of the [Twitter] universe it’s just now you can get some news updates I guess while you’re being self-indulgent. They can slap some polish on the turd but I’m still not impressed. I think it’s a horrible symptom of a larger disease that is the breakdown of our communication masked as the evolution of our communication. Dumb down everything. Reduce everything to a headline or a soundbite. One sentence is all we need. The phone call has already been replaced with the text. We’ve sacrificed in-depth analysis with the one-sentence [tweet] and people think it’s great because it’s easily accessible.

While I think some of what he says has validity, he has obviously not spent much time exploring the site or taking advantage of the @replies functionality or the search engine, which causes him to think it’s “largely the narcissistic updates every 5 minutes of the minutiae going on in people’s lives” as well as just being “a poor man’s Google News”.

I think that writers using Twitter is a way of journalism adjusting to the way that their information is presented to the public and is in no way destroying communication. If anything, it is opening up new, different avenues of connectivity.

What do you all think? I have started going to several new sites to obtain my news that I never looked at before because of Twitter and think of it as a very useful tool…but then again, I am a student of media and tend to be on the more accepting side of the “our world is changing” coin. I have also heard from all of my job-seeking friends that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a job as a writer or a PR individual if you aren’t an active tweeter.

This is hard for me to say, but I was wrong. I always had a very negative view of twitter (maybe it’s the name). I haven’t completely embraced it and connected to any prospective industry contacts with it, but I have signed up for twitter updates from some of my favorite news sources, and I’ve looked through some of the tweets the rest of you have put on your tweeter rolls on the wiki. I guess my issue with twitter was always that I didn’t like the constant dumbing down of communication. The trend from Newspapers to Blogging to Micro-blogging put me in a state of fear that soon ideas would be communicated in the most basic sense. What I mean is complex or iconic events being condensed into simple contextless statements instead of informative reports “michael jackson dead.” “Iran oppresses people”. The more I looked through twitter and even used it I realized that I was absolutely right, but that’s not a bad thing. I signed up to BBC world news and CNN breaking news because I looked through their tweets and saw headlines of stories  I wanted to read, I realized that it wasn’t much different than looking at newspaper headlines at news stands, but as a bonus I can do it in my underwear and not have frightened people staring at me in disgust. Oh, and I comment on the story and allow people who follow me to see ideas and help spread that story (theoretically speaking, I don’t have many followers yet). I see this as potentially as a strong tool in industry as well, granted I have no connections, I can see how after becoming part of a twitter network getting my ideas out or even just getting my name known would be easier than if twitter were never introduced.

I thought I’d post this link if anyone wants to join in a conversation on Seesmic about how we engage students online. I have had a couple of responses from people not related to our class which I find really neat. I have also posted the actual video conversation in the comment section on my post about Moodle vs. Wiki.

olysha

seesmic conversation

Ok. I have something to admit. I love open source programs. Before I even looked at Moodle I knew I was going to have a positive opinion of it. I knew that because I saw the “open source” on their website. Unlike commercial LMS’s like Blackboard which make a business (or a monopoly) out of their educational tools, Moodle makes a community out of its educational tools. The greatest asset that open source programs like Moodle have is its users; when users find Moodle to be lacking a specific tool they only need create it or to bring it up to the right people and that tool can be created and distributed freely amongst the educational community. With Blackboard and similar LMS companies, an educator, company, or school must pay for the license of the program, then once the program is upgraded with new feature, they need to acquire a new license that covers those new features. For instance, The New School recently upgraded its Blackboard system, although they had a relatively new version of blackboard already, it did not have the new features such as class blogs and smartphone access which were becoming more in demand. With open source programs like Moodle it is often the users who create new features and it is the core company that collects and incorporates those at a later time. After looking over the various Moodle sites I noticed two things; first, Moodle really does allows a great deal of customization for those who need it; second, the need to customize and create their own format can be a hinderance for some. Yes that’s right, Moodle has a drawback. The administrator themselves who sets up their sites don’t always know what their doing. The problem isn’t always with the tools or the content, but rather the design and the layouts. Students only need the tools to get the job done, but it is still important to keep students stimulated. Several of the sites I looked at were simple black and white sites with blue links to content, this can seem dull and although organized the ultra plain formats like that can seem less organized because it becomes difficult to differentiate between links, sections and modules making it harder to navigate. This is one time I would say commercial LMS’s are better, one thing people pay for in the programs fees is the paychecks of designers who have set up their programs for ease of use and navigation.

So, as a quick recap: Moodle, you’re not perfect.

Moodle: First Impressions

Moodle has a nicely structured platform and has my vote over Blackboard.  In the Film Studies demo, I appreciated the emphasis on lesson sequence and the capacity to break each lesson/class into a separate page.  The use of modules- particularly, quizzes and surveys -also helped to streamline the discussion process.  [Note: I appreciate the freedom blogs give everyone to expound on their views and arguments, but having a limit imposed on initiating forum threads can go a long way towards focusing the class when dozens or more are participating.  The Moodle discussion topic we are currently having is a perfect example –four or five of us have started separate threads on the same topic.]  Additionally, the ability to customize language settings is also critical as the New School and others try to push beyond the American-centric classroom.  Finally, like Nag, I agree that Moodle’s ability to suit industry and government as much as academia is imperative.  In my own work environment, my boss consistently pushes our in-house online strategy team to attend digital tech and social media conferences; it would be nice if we could participate in post-conference classes with the speakers (many who are already in academia).

All these benefits aside, Moodle’s aesthetic experience proved a huge drawback.  Personally, I would rather log into an LMS with Ning-like aesthetics, profile markers, homepage videos, etc.  Hopefully, a Moodle redesign is under consideration?   Even if a redesign is not in the cards, Moodle does seem to have an impressive list of registered sites.  I noticed two well-known U.S. high schools – Culver Academy and Brooklyn Tech – are using Moodle as well as the 1st infantry division to train new troops. My old high school in New Jersey is reportedly running on StudyWiz Spark (see demo).  I’m not sure if anyone else used StudyWiz or another LMS at their respective high schools – it is a new venture for my own.  We didn’t have cell phones let alone school email accounts when I was student (10 years ago).
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To answer Katharine’s question (below) about Moodle: I would argue that if students are not appreciating the benefits of Moodle it is because Moodle like the LMSes mentioned above do not target students where they already are (i.e. established social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Ning, Twitter).  As we wrap up our analysis for the semester, I am concerned that we are creating too many platforms that compete for students’ attention.  We need to start integrating the LMS or VLE model into existing platforms so that we can give students interactions that are meaningful, personal and consistent with their daily behavior as digital natives.  As noted on its website, StudyWiz prides itself on being able to seamlessly integrate with the iPod.  My response:  so what?  iPod interoperability is old news when teens today are using all-in-one iPhones that provide seamless access to not only their favorite music but Facebook, YouTube, Tweetdeck, etc.
In his analysis, Siemens argues that the “management” aspect of LMS’ creates a problem: “The underlying assumption is that if we just expose students to the content, learning will happen.”  He goes on to write that “our real-life manner of learning is at odds with the design and implementations of most LMS’” and that “most LMS platforms are attempting to shape the future of learning to fit into the structure of their systems, even though most learning today is informal and connectionist in nature.”
Informal and connectionist are key.
A few weeks ago WIRED ran a feature on the Great Wall of Facebook (I just reposted it on del.icio.us and Twitter).  The article largely addresses Google’s approach to information sourcing and the competing vision of Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg.  Per Wired: “Zuckerberg envisions a more personalized, humanized Web, where our network of friends, colleagues, peers, and family is our primary source of information, just as it is offline. In Zuckerberg’s vision, users will query this “social graph” to find a doctor, the best camera, or someone to hire—rather than tapping the cold mathematics of a Google search. It is a complete rethinking of how we navigate the online world, one that places Facebook right at the center.”

I’m not a huge fan of Zuckerberg (Andreesen and Bianchini’s Ning has more dynamic potential), but I believe he has the right vision- and one that can be adapted for educational purposes.  When I was in high school, most of the facts and theories I learned in the classroom didn’t take on meaning until later in the day:  during conversations with peers or dinner table chatter with my siblings and parents.  I think the same goes for today’s high school students only they now have virtual social networks for feedback and analysis at their disposal.  Facebook would do its “student” members well if it launched classroom networks (much like a Ning network) where teachers could customize modules (like Moodle) and updates on assignments, readings, quizzes, etc. appeared in profile newsfeeds or sidebars.  From there, students could share materials with friends in their broader networks – and “learning” could actually go viral.

I’m being idealistic, and I can already hear the legions screaming that they don’t want to friend teachers on Facebook.  But I refuse to buy the argument that integrating a VLE into Facebook, Ning or any other social network would dumb down learning for students.  Privacy settings are available.  And if anything, such interoperability would elevate the debate and dialogue currently taking place among digital natives on those platforms.

I think that ease of navigation with an LMS or VLE, like Moodle is only half the battle when it comes to engaging students online.  When the face-to-face interaction of an actual classroom is removed it is extremely difficult to stay maintain the sense of connection in the virtual.  I find personally, while working in VLE’s, it can become extremely difficult to manage all of the requirements and expectations of the class. I find that I check the syllabus several times a week to confirm that I have not missed any assignments or let anything slip through the cracks. This is where I think a website like Moodle is effective, in that it centralizes all of the learning materials and allows for greater ease of navigation.

I think its possible to be comfortable with the medium of computers and online games but still be hesitant when it comes to an online learning environment, mainly because they are still so new.  In addition many of the VLE’s fail to actually engage the student in the material, confusing that with basic levels of interactivity.  Just because we are reading the material and participating in a basic level discussion about it does not mean we are being engaged or challenged as learners.  This is where I feel a system like blackboard fails due to the fact that its very one dimensional and where it seems like sites like Moodle might be able to expand upon.  However, I think George Siemens in his article Learning Management Systems: The wrong place to start learning puts it best when he says “The more feature-rich an individual tool becomes, the more it loses its usefulness to the average user.” Couldn’t agree more.  Sometimes all of the bells and whistles do nothing more but create an obstacle between the student and the program.

Another problem, which one of the other posts spoke to, was the social nature involved with learning.  So much of what we learn is through the interaction with other students and I feel that sometimes VLE’s can make the student feel very isolated. This can be combated with sites such as seismic and twitter which helps to remind the student that they are not alone.  For me this semester, the use of Twitter has been extremely helpful with putting a face and personality behind the blog discussions.

I think that it is very important to see people begin to produce and collaborate in virtual environments because otherwise participants end up just using the options provided by the software or the network and they can not work productively and creatively because of the limitations of the virtual platform just like in Metaplace or SL. We have to create our own game that works with the notions of social constructivist education approach where the users of the virtual environment including the instructors and the students work collaboratively and creatively with each other and learn from each other by facilitating imaginative and creative art projects.
In many ways what we do in metaplace is very much like playing exquisite corps and the wiki and blogs are very much that way as well. We all contribute to the virtual space, network or platform and form a literal, visual and audio environment where participants learn by doing research and by working with each other. It is the same in equisite corps. People can share and learn more from this creative process than you might imagine. The concepts of our project assignment which are games, news and activism fit very well with the idea of exquisite corps and also the written version of the game as well where people write a  piece of literature like a poem, story or book collectively. That is why I thought that it would be good game structure for our project purposes.
We can also introduce another game where we would teach about what we as individuals in the virtual  platform know the most about or we can share our knowledge on a specific subject so the virtual environment we are participating in would become an educational environment where people can learn about different subjects and that is absolutely the basis of activism.
For example I would teach about art and film and each person would teach about whatever they are most knowledgeable about or what they are interested in.
One more idea for an educational game is presenting an image and the one who looks at it responds with a word or a sentence so by exchanging images and writing about the images we can create a virtual reflective learning environment or a blog.
As I was reading about teaching and learning, especially about distance learning it became clear to me that entertainment and fun are supposed to be a part of the learning process just like in the example of the Sesame Street series. By incorporating creativity and imagination into our virtual presence and virtual learning environment I think we can maximize the level of educational quality and keep the attention of the participants without making the experience boring which means that the interaction and the visual elements that are exchanged would contribute to the over all social, collective, collaborative and constructivist learning experience in our creative educational environment.

I spent a good deal of time on Moodle.org today and am quite impressed by its breadth of functionality and ease of use.  As Nag writes, the program is very simple and straight-forward, and suited for students and teachers who might not have extensive experience with technology or computer programming.  That being said, I am a bit perplexed as to why I haven’t heard of the site before, especially because it seems to have caught on with a huge number of teaching institutions. I even asked around to fellow students to see if they’ve had any experience with Moodle and didn’t find one person who even heard of it.  Additionally, I’m a bit surprised that The New School hasn’t experimented with the site considering Blackboard has a fairly limited and outdated virtual learning format.  In comparison, the open-source format of Moodle seems to point users in the direction of the future of Web 2.0 programming, and allows us, as students, to create and edit the program as we see fit.  I checked the list of registered Moodle sites, and the record of countries that participate is astonishingly long.  Even more impressive is the amount of sites located in the United States, with a list almost too long to scroll down.    

While Blackboard is certainly effective at hosting virtual classes, from what I saw of Moodle during the demo it seems like it’s an all-inclusive platform that keeps pace with the changing demands of educators and students.  The article by Nag was written about 4 years ago, and even then she cited many impressive features of the service that have only been improved upon since that time.  One specific feature that I loved (and was horrified of as a student) was the ability for Moodle to host online quizzes for students.  Can Blackboard do this?  I have taken two semesters of online classes and have yet to take a quiz on Blackboard.  It seems that this alone would be an attractive feature to push educators to adopt this program over alternatives, and especially since it’s free (which, these days, is a huge help for underfunded schools and teaching institutions).

It seems to me that applications like Moodle are a first step to a more comprehensive, interactive, and all-inclusive virtual learning format that will be the dominant model in the future.  That being said, I’d probably have to enroll in an actual Moodle-based class to see how effective it really is.  But from what I saw in the demo and in Nag’s article, I am fairly impressed with the application at first glance.

Thinking a lot about the applications of VLEs and LCMS in the HS CLSRM… There is definitely a huge paradigm shift going on here and it is going to redefine the roles of consultants in the classroom and in the boardroom more than for anyone else right now.

My father in law teaches accounting classes to bankers–almost remedial courses for people with promise but little actualy education in the area so that they can get up to speed. I think of a course model like LCMS that he can sell to the banks at a reduced cost to them, and a reduced outlay of time and physical effort to be in the classroom. It is a value add for everyone. I’m going to bring it up with him when I am back stateside.

I also consider them in the classroom, especially with IEP-requiring students. ILCMSs could really help certain students deal with the difficulties they have… and allow for the teacher to automate/simplify the type of individualized education they provide–and allow both teacher and student the capacity to do it outside of the classroom.

If the new paradigm of education is skills-based training, then this will fit well. I would imagine that it will be dificult for it to tak ethe place of ethics and philosophical training–look at what weird places Second Life and Metaplace are right now… not to mention the whole Twitter thing (which kids don’t use… the article about the 15 year old Morgan Stanley intern was hilarious–as though it was actually news! Twitter is a business networking tool, not a social network in teenage sense of the word.

As an avid computer gamer and a previous player of WoW, the readings for this week are especially interesting for me.  I first read the brief news.com article by Terdiman, in which the future of collective gaming is discussed regarding its application to education and learning.  I think that since the beginning of education-based computer games like Reader Rabbit, Number Munchers, etc., people have always thought “the future” of education would be built around games.  What’s new, which I found fascinating, is how collaborative/collective gaming might help to finally realize the potential for computer games in education.  The Terdiman article cited a pretty simple game that brought together hundreds of thousands of players from around the world to try and solve a problem by creating inventive solutions.  Ultimately, the players broke down into smaller, manageable groups to brain storm the solution and it was a huge success.  And it immediately reminded me of WoW, even before I saw that we had the WoW piece to read.  I found this study to be extremely interesting from both a gaming an academic prospective.  It’s fascinating to read an ethnography of sorts about a virtual culture and identify many of the same social and cultural elements that exist in the real world.  From what I know of the game, WoW is a fully functional social environment with norms, close personal connections, social groups, and warring factions.  What’s more, WoW even has a detailed capitalist/bartering economy in place for all players.  With a platform this developed and complex, why couldn’t we apply this model to education?  As they state in the reading:

“We can envision designing mixed collaboration spaces for elder care, other groups with limited mobility, and corporate team building and training. Loneliness, lack of social support, and increased immobility have been shown to lead to depression in the elderly [22]. A game such as World of Warcraft tailored to the interests of various segments of the elderly population would enable them to make new friends online from their own homes, in the context of an exciting, challenging game with rich content. The game would provide mental stimulation and topics of mutual interest. Mental stimulation and social engagement reduce the risk of dementia [32]”

Clearly, there is limitless application for collective/collaborative games in virtual learning and education.  What’s more, the ability to engage lonely or at-risk people using the virtual networks like those found in WoW can have a dramatically positive impact on people’s lives.  By design, collaborative games promote sharing knowledge and helping others both altruistically and so that they will help you in return.  This greatly expands the amount and quality of resources available to people who are plugged into this virtual environment.  As the researchers state, games like WoW are very effective at teaching complex skill sets without too much explicit instruction.  Rather, players learn from each other and improve upon current techniques by experimenting with their own solutions.  The environment that ensues is as rich in activity as it is in learning and innovation.