May

ET507: Writing assignment of week 2

Filed Under (Mobile Learning, Social Networking) by icordoba on 26-05-2009 and tagged ET507, Micro-blogs, Mobile Learning, Social Networking, Twitter

I think Twitter would be very effective for delivering elearning on mobile devices. For example, if the target audience was professionals who are taking a course on an emerging field in their practice. We could deliver the core content as small downloadable audio files and at the end of each audio, we could have certain reflection questions to connect with their current practice that they “twit” on. Because they would be able to do this via sms, they might often have reflections whilst they are in their practice and hence would be able to reflect just in time via their cell phone. Furthermore, each student will be able to follow the reflections of other practitioners in the field and be able to extract valuable lessons through threads over time. Another potential benefit might be the building of a small community of practitioners that would continue even after the course.
For private micro-blogs:
- The content is sensitive such as company research and development information, information about patients, etc.
- Some students might feel hesitant in posting their personal reflections and musings if they know it will be public
- Ethical considerations such as cross-culture and cross-gender are easier to deal with
Against private micro-blogs
- The community can expand – one would be able to connect with other people who share similar experiences but are not part of the group or course. That would also potentially allow the community to keep the momentum after the course duration.
- Allows for easier self-correction/moderation due to the “public” aspect
Micro-blogs usage: I had heard about twitter before but had never investigated more into it. I had always thought that it was another social tool like facebook where people go and socialize, gossip and “waste their time” I can see now that if used within a certain structure and with clear goals and policies, it can be quite effective for collaborative projects and assignments and building of a post-course learning community.

4 Responses to “ET507: Writing assignment of week 2”

drkg Says:
May 28th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Interesting post! I’m particularly interested in your comment about public moderation fostering self-correction. I can see pros and cons to this affordance.

Check out these links:
http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2008/10/what-was-privacy/ar/1

http://appletimes.blogspot.com/2009/04/google-disables-uploads-comments-on.html

How might a course culture facilitate or prevent this? What’s the instructor’s role in helping to create this culture? The students’ roles? What, if any, unique challenges might an instructor (and students) in a distance learning course have with creating a culture doesn’t foster “mob mentality” in public moderation?
A.Linjawi Says:
May 30th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I really liked your point about tweeting on questions and reflections on courses. And I agree with you on cross-cultural considerations. Answering Dr. Keysha’s question, I think these technologies are making distance learning more challenged and brings up more cross-cultural issues. At the end, it is in the hand of the organizer or instructor, to set it clear or be open to these issues.
Paola Says:
May 31st, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Dear Ismael,

Congratulations for your beautiful blog!

As to the possible uses of Twitter, I was thinking that we could use it for assessment, too. For example, I would like to assess my students’ writing skills on a given topic. Therefore, I could ask them to write a dialogue, which I will have to be able to read and assess. Twitter might be a useful tool, as it would allow my students to perform their task, while I would be able to evaluate it.
isa Says:
July 10th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I agree that Twitter and other forms of micro communication can facilitae learning if used effectively. The way of the dialogue has to be agreed and then adhered to because at the moment I feel that only now are we starting to learn how we communicate over these mediums. Frequently decends in to the lower forms of “I am tired….” or “Going to eat…”. To take Twitter to the discussional level that facilitates cross pupil dialogue and interaction with the instructor.

This can/should be used in business sense to increase creativity problem solving across the organization.

Nice thoughts.