Using Emerging Technologies to Create Collaborative Learning Environments

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Purpose & Objectives How can innovative technologies change the way we do things in education? Emerging technologies aren’t just exciting because they’re new, they can provide unique opportunities to engage learners through collaboration and discovery. This session will focus on using innovative technology to foster collaborative learning environments. Collaboration engages learners and promotes higher-order thinking skills by encouraging students to work with one another on a common task. Environments that foster this process can exist in face-to-face, distance or virtual spaces either synchronously or asynchronously. Web 2.0 has released the collaborative process from time and geographic limitations. Presenters will share their first-hand experience using Web 2.0 tools and services to engage university students in collaborative learning activities. Presenters will share faculty and student perspectives about the integration of innovative tools for learning, and they will discuss the opportunities and challenges that exist for using Web 2.0 higher education and K-12 learning environments. To enrich the experience for session participants, the presenters will access most of the presentation materials through a resource wiki. This wiki will include hyperlinks to all of the resources discussed as well as additional supporting resources (i.e. videos, tutorials, sample student work, case-studies, and related research). Participants will be encouraged to contribute their own ideas to the wiki space during and following the presentation. By the end of the sessions, participants will be able to: = Describe characteristics of collaborative learning environments; = Cite examples of innovative technologies that can engage students through interactive activities;= Explain pedagogical advantages of using Web 2.0 to support learning= Share curricular integration ideas that pertain to their classroom= Discuss Web 2.0 challenges related to personal safety, privacy and/or school policy= Access the presentation wiki to explore additional resources and contribute their own ideas throughout the year. Outline (for BYOL) Accessing the resource wiki through a web browser, participants will explore: = foundations for collaborative learning environments (5 min)= examples of student collaboration and the reflections of students and teachers (15 min)= solutions for promoting collaboration among learners, including: (20 min)=== wikis=== blogs / micro- blogs=== document sharing services (e.g. Google Notebook, Google Docs, Zoho,)=== social networking/bookmarking=== emerging information-based services (e.g. Google Earth, mash-ups)= case studies that illustrate opportunities and challenges associated with online collaboration (10 min)= questions and discussion (10 min) A resource wiki will be used throughout the session to facilitate the navigation of our collection of web-based resources. This wiki will be designed to attend to a variety of participant‚s needs. It will provide easy access for the novices as well as provide a depth of additional supporting links for those who „follow along easily.‰ Any laptop should work because the Web will be our platform.

Participants will begin by exploring the foundations of collaborative learning environments. Presenters will share their own experiences with integrating collaborative tools and encourage participants to explore student work samples. A variety of web-based solutions will be navigated. Implementation discussions will be prompted by visiting case studies and appreciating their implementations. These will also serve as the basis for discussion about the opportunities and challenges associated with Web 2.0 technologies. Finally, participants will be encouraged to discuss their questions and contribute to the session resource wiki. http://drzreflects.com

Just go to http://www.coveritlive.com to create a free account and create new events.

Can have up to 25 users into a stream. Moderators can approve or disapprove comments in the backstream.

Online student response system. Can embed various apps. into it. Live chat an event. Ability to archive and save.

One thing to be aware of is the distraction element. PPT will be posted on Dr. Z blog.

K12 Horizon (?) report on futures and trends in education. Google apps for education. http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/index.html

Google Collaborative Apps. Google Sites

Google Forms Google Custom Search engine

Can determine what sites you want students to search. Can post to classroom blog or wiki. Can determine what sites to include and exclude. Can invite others into the custom search to contribute to custom search (i.e. team of teachers). Social Bookmarking: Delicious; Diigo; StumbleUpon; edutagger; reddit

Check out the video Social Bookmarking in Plain English on YouTube. Delicious: can tag links to follow others, not just access your own. Tags can be set up for RSS feeds. Diigo can add highlights or sticky notes to tags.

Zoho: http://www.zoho.com Similar to Google docs/apps. All integrate with each other.

Zoho notebook (needs to be downloaded. Add on for Firefox) Txt page is similar to word doc.

Blank page can inserts any type of media on it. Classroom blogging: www.21classes.com