Building Online Learning Communities with Multiuser Blogging Environments

Presenter(s)
Michael Wilder (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, US)
Session Information
July 27, 2012 - 9:40am
Track: 
Innovation in Media and Tools
Major Emphasis of Presentation: 
Applied Use (technology or pedagogy); Effective Practice; Emerging Technology (tools or processes)
Institutional Level: 
Universities and Four Year Institutions
Audience Level: 
Intermediate
Session Type: 
Information Session
Location: 
Casanova 603
Session Duration: 
50 Minutes
8
Abstract

This session explains how to combine multiuser blogging environments with contemporary social media and multimedia to develop a fully integrated online learning community.

Files
Final Presentation: 
Extended Abstract

We are currently in the midst of a cultural revolution. With the advent of the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies (such as Weblogs, wikis, and content management systems), we have become a participatory culture. A participatory culture is one with "relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one's creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices" (Jenkins, Purushotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2006). Unlike the one-way flow of information via television or radio of the past, the Internet has transformed us: we now expect to contribute and participate. As a participatory culture in a rapidly changing world, we interact with our knowledge and our contributions become as valuable as the information itself. Education must reflect this change in our culture. Teacher-centered lectures delivered to passive, note-taking students is no longer an effective model for learning. When designing instruction, educators must consciously develop an intelligent and thoughtful framework for student communication and collaboration, become adept at forming groups, cognitively scaffold assignments, identify appropriate technologies, facilitate student interaction, and assess mastery of learning objectives using innovative and authentic methods. Curriculum must be designed that includes discussion, reciprocal teaching, collaborative problem solving, peer evaluation, and teamwork development. When collaborating, students take ownership of the knowledge they have gathered and defend learning through discourse. When learners interact with peers, "they are able to build their own knowledge and to share their knowledge with others - both important aspects of peer-to-peer learning" (Ellison, & Wu, 2008). Blogging offers "useful opportunities for learner-centered feedback and dialogue" (Glogoff, 2005). Such opportunities support community-centered approaches to teaching and learning central to social cognition (Vygotsky, 1978). Online education has brought to light an entirely new set of challenges regarding student collaboration. Traditional online classes do little to foster interaction. Standard implementations of learning management systems, such as Blackboard, WebCT or Moodle, provide little more than e-mail, discussion forums and chat as mechanisms for communication. Students, as a result, report an increased sense of learning isolation and a decrease in their involvement in a community of learning. Web-based tools (such as blogging environments) that encourage a community of learning, on the other hand, have the potential to increase the sense of connectedness and enjoyment that students (and faculty) feel when participating in online learning. Many educational bloggers use the software strictly for individual reflective journaling or curricular content dissemination. Multiuser blogging (where individual members of an educational

Lead Presenter

Destiny has led Michael on a dual career path of both education and technology. The result is a hybrid individual with skills and perspective from both fields. He has worked as teacher and trainer in a variety of environments, serving, among other positions, as instructional designer, learning technologies specialist, Blackboard administrator, journalist, magazine editor, and college faculty (Web design, Web-based multimedia, networking, programming, desktop publishing, essential computer applications, and much more). Michael specializes in Web-based education and the educational use of Web 2.0 technologies. He has presented at many major conferences, and has consulted to schools districts and colleges. Michael received his B.A. in English from UCLA, and received his master's degree in Educational Leadership, with emphasis on computer-based education, from Gonzaga University. He is currently completing his doctoral program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Educational Psychology.