Trouble

Trouble!

The ISTUS group have discussed Social Media misuse by students and staff. Here is an example of this:

Review on Facebook by attendee on the Society for Neuroscience conference last week. Unfortunately his review somewhat missed the point of the conference.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/10/19/furor-over-male-scientists-facebook-post-about-female-scientists?CMP=

+ Follow Learning Technology Trends According to Google

Analysis on using Google Trends of some of the hot subjects in elearning.

Learning Technology Trends According to Google from steverayson

The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2012

The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2012 list is revealed

http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/blog/2012/10/01/the-top-100-tools-for-learning-2012-list-is-revealed/

4th ISTUS Meeting in Tampere

The fourth ISTUS meeting was held in Tampere, Finland on 17^th and 18^th JUNE 2012. Our hosts from TAMK University of applied sciences took care of us in a brilliant way!

The first day of the meeting was completely dedicated to brainstorming and sharing ideas for the development of further European cooperations between the partners. The team has worked on different proposals to be presented in the next LLP call and has held very interesting discussions on the topic of social media. In particular, three focus groups were formed in order to elaborate the three previous proposals about mobile learning, evaluation and video tutorials.

In the evening we had 3 hours boat trip on lake enjoing coming into contact with real finnish environment and culture. We all enjoyed the nature and wonderful light, the dinner was also memorable! Three brave project members had a sauna on the boat and bathed in the lake; now they can say:  “we have been to Finland!!”

The second day started with a presentation of the results of the interviews carried out in each country and some reflections on the most interesting findings. The group also decided how to analyse the data and present it in an aggregated way. Some common issues emerged from various presentations of the different institutions, anticipating what could be confirmed by a thorough analysis of the data.

Dissemination and evaluation of the project were also discussed together with the project interim report. 

The partners then visited “Demola”, an interesting applied research centre connected to the Tampere TAMK, which allows students to connect to the real labour market by carrying out different prototype projects required by companies who need their service. 

Decisions were then taken on how to proceed until our next meeting to be held in Italy in October 2012.

Teaching with Twitter

An interesting article about incorporating Twitter into the learning process:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/jun/11/teaching-with-twitter

3rd ISTUS Meeting - Vilnius

The third ISTUS meeting was held in Vilnius, Lithuania on 3^rd and 4^th May. Our hosts at Mykolo Romerio University included Giedre, Viktorija and Jolita. Two busy days were to follow after travel from our partner institutions across Europe.

Day 1 – The group was invited to participate in a conference being held in the university ‘Social Medias: Challenges and Opportunities for Education in Modern society’. This was the first time the group were able to listen and learn about areas of particular interest and research from within the group. A really interesting idea that left the group with much to discuss, throughout the meeting there were frequent references ‘As X mentioned in their presentation....’

The remained of our first day was predominately spent discussing interview results the group had so far managed to record, the direction results might be leading and participants yet to be interviewed.

Preliminary results include those from Students, Teachers and Administrators. The group considered different criteria within the interviews such as stages of social media adoption, critical incidents and stories. Each group applied a different methodology, demonstration that:

• There is a lot of valuable information being recorded; there are many interesting thoughts and contradictions in mindsets, there are valuable policy documents being created by institutions, initial thoughts are that institutions appear to vary a great deal in expectations and adoption of social media.
• As well as; definitions of our own criteria would need to be expanded and final evaluation of the interviews will take time, a planned and agreed evaluation method is required.

On Thursday evening the group toured Vilnius old town in the beautiful warm sunshine. The section of the city we saw was equally as beautiful and interesting. A traditional Lithuanian feast was put on for the hungry group; it included music, dancing, hunting quails and tales of the old days. Thanks to our host for a most memorable evening.

Day 2- Back at the pristine university the group participated in think tank discussion, developing ideas for a follow up Grundtvig proposal for a multilateral project.  With so many valuable findings from our interviews and project work so far, the group can clearly see many strands of further research and project topics around the use of Social Media in Adult Education. Some of the strands discussed include a toolkit, links to career services, mobile learning, assessments and virtual mobility.

As part of the ISTUS project work we have agreed to regularly self evaluate aspects of our work. The afternoon of day 2 went by very quickly, with the time we had the group were able to agree some important points in our work so far. Learning from our now 3 meetings, decisions were made about how to proceed onto our next meeting in Finland. Actions have been recorded and work has now begun.

Our farewell dinner was preceded with a trip to the National Opera and Ballet theatre to watch Coppélia. The music and dancers were spectacular! Although tired from our prior two days, the group enthusiastically made it to our farewell dinner and ‘See you soon’s.

A lot of ground was covered in Vilnius, thanks to our hosts and look forward to seeing everyone in Tampere in June.

IEEE Learning Technology newsletter Special Theme Section: Social Networks and Social Computing in Technology-Enhanced Learning

Hi,

A special issue of the newsletter published by the "IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technology (TCLT)" on  Social Networks and Social Computing in

Technology-Enhanced Learning:

PDF:

http://www.ieeetclt.org/issues/april2012/IEEE-LT-Apr2012.pdf

HTML:

http://www.ieeetclt.org/issues/april2012/IEEE-LT-Apr2012.htm

Ciao

Riccardo

Using Wikis for Learning and Collaboration

Some suggestions and tips on how to use Wikis for educational purposes in companies.

http://theelearningcoach.com/category/elearning2-0/

University of St. Gallen (CH) embraces social media

Since January 2012, the University of St.Gallen (HSG) has officially been active in social media, comprehensively creating a presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for the first time.

The aim is both to convey an overall picture of the HSG, to offer issue-specific access with added value and to enter into a dialogue. This new service will complement and augment the University of St.Gallen’s existing print and online communication vehicles.

http://www.unisg.ch/UeberUns/HSGMediacorner/Aktuell/RssNews/Campus/2012/Februar/Social-Media-HSG-8Februar2012.aspx

Top 100 Tools for Learning

Here there is a list of the Top 100 Tools for Learning in 2011. The list was compiled from a survey conducted by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, which publish a site on the use of new (particularly social) technologies for learning and performance. On the top of the list there is Twitter, followed by YouTube and Google Docs.

http://c4lpt.co.uk/top-100-tools-for-learning-2011/

OER (Open Education Resources), Resources for learning – Experiences from an OER Project in Sweden

Having previously worked with teaching in many developing countries where IT budget is non existence I have been a fan of Open Source resources for a long time. It is refreshing to read European projects whereby OER is being introduced. I think that some lessons and principles from this project can apply to the ISTUS group.

The project aims were to share the experience from the introduction of OER in Higher Education and raise awareness of technology in teaching and learning. When reading the article it is interesting to learn of the project team discovery of the importance of decision makers’ participation in the events and the need for institutional strategies (all be it for open resources).

Please find the full article on the European Journal of open, Distant and e-Learning here:

http://www.eurodl.org/?p=current&article=494

The Use of Social Media in Higher Education for Marketing and Communications: A Guide for Professionals in Higher Education

By Rachel Reuben

Colleges and universities are beginning to embrace social media and realizing the potential power and implications for using it as a component of their overall marketing mix. This guide will introduce you to some of the more popular forms of social media, including Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, blogs, and del.icio.us. 148 colleges and universities responded to a survey in July 2008 answering what social media they are using most, how they are using it to reach their target audiences, and which department(s) at the college are responsible for maintaining it. This guide will review existing literature available in this subject area, identify implications for and against using social media, and discuss best practices, recommendations and considerations for higher education marketers.

Interesting findings: It’s a simple guide to social media and its common uses in education.. The paper show different categories for the online tools adopted in education, statistics and case study.

PDF file http://doteduguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/social-media-in-higher-education.pdf

The Digital Revolution and Higher Education

By Kim Parker, Amanda Lenhart and Kathleen Moore

The report is based on findings from two Pew Research Center surveys: a national poll of the general public, and a survey of college presidents done in association with The Chronicle of Higher Education. It analyzes the perceptions of the public and college presidents about the value of online learning, the prevalence and future of online courses, use of digital textbooks, the internet and plagiarism, and technology use in the classroom, as well as college presidents’ own use of technology.

Key findings: The Value of Online Learning, The Prevalence of Online Courses, Online Students, The Future of Online Learning, Digital Textbooks, The Internet and Plagiarism,
Do Laptops and Smartphones Belong in the Classroom?, College Presidents and Technology, College Presidents and Social Networking

PDF file http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2011/PIP-Online-Learning.pdf

The Tone of life on social networking sites

By Lee Raini, Amanda Lenhart, Aaron Smit


This survey of adults was conducted in order to compare adult experiences on social networking sites to teenagers’ experiences.
As a rule, more adults than teens reported positive results on social networking sites. For instance, a higher proportion of adults than teens say their experience is that people are mostly kind on social networking sites. Significantly smaller proportions of adults have had bad outcomes based on their SNS use such as confrontations, lost friendships, family strife, and fights.

Interesting findings: The paper describes adults tendencies and emotions using social networks. The research highlights the general climate and environment when using social networks, how and why, in the relationships between the users negative and positive situations are generated.

PDF file
http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/Pew_Social%20networking%20climate%202.9.12.pdf

BT is the world’s oldest communication company, once upon a time they provided British households with a landline but today they provide customers so much. Given the company’s relationship with technology, it is logic that they have been innovate in using technologies to assist their own staff train and their CPD (continuing professional development) skills.

This video introduces us to the BT 'Dare2share' project, a Podcasting site for peer to peer learning and training. The site allows short videos, audio files, blogs, RSS feeds, discussion threads as well as documents to be share with BT staff located across the UK.

I really like the idea of how quickly training can be rolled out among teams; it is an interesting and fun way in which to learn. Not all BT engineers will be attracted to the idea of a stuffy classroom, Dare2share gives them that opportunity to learn from different styles and actually contribute themselves.

Have a watch and see what you think for yourself...

Research review: Clay Shirky: How cognitive surplus will change the world

Within the education parameters it is often difficult to grasp what are the benefits from social media or what are the benefits from loose collaboration. Here is a suggestion of the paradigm to keep in mind when thinking of the benefits of social media.

"Clay Shirky looks at "cognitive surplus" -- the shared, online work we do with our spare brain cycles. While we're busy editing Wikipedia, posting to Ushahidi (and yes, making LOLcats), we're building a better, more cooperative world.

Clay Shirky believes that new technologies enabling loose ­collaboration — and taking advantage of “spare” brainpower — will change the way society works."

Research review: Social Media Benefits Studies, Jyväskylä University

Report: Social Media Benefits Studies Jyväskylä University, Kari A. Hintikka

The Civil Society Studies Masters program in Jyväskylä University tried out social media in the implementation of the program. The report from the program shows several benefits from using social media e.g. effective social learning and saving time compared to traditional methods.

More information (in Finnish) http://www.jyu.fi/ajankohtaista/arkisto/2009/03/tiedote-2009-03-11-09-33-54-813840
The report:
http://kans.jyu.fi/tutkimuksia/copy_of_aineistot/esitysaineistoja/JY-Sosiaalinen-media-2008-loppuraportti.pdf/view

An approach to frame Web2.0 (and its tools) for learning

In the ISTUS project, we have a hard time to structure our discussion on social media tools, their distinctive features and their relation to learning as well as to teaching. An article by Matt Bowera, John G. Hedberga and Andreas Kuswaraa describes a systematic approach to social media tools - in relation to their use in learning.

Frederika Gerlanda Kop “Network Connectivity and Adult Learning: Social Media, the Knowledgeable Other and Distance Education” (Doctoral thesis) 2010

A very interesting thesis that investigates effective use of social media in adult learning, the learner’s level of control in comparison to the tutor and the institution and other related aspects. New technologies are seen as fostering communication, engagement and self-direction while, importantly, adult educators are referred as ‘trusted “human filters” of information’.

You can read more here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33459795/Rita-Kop-Thesis-May10

Ruth Reynard “Social Networking: Learning Theory in Action” (US)

In her article, R. Reynard raises several very interesting aspects concerning social networking and learning. According to the author, ‘social networking challenges conventional views of the effective “management” of teaching and learning’. Thus the focus is on two questions raised by R. Reynard: (i) Can social networking both as an instructional concept and user skill be integrated into the conventional approaches to teaching and learning? and (ii) Do the skills developed within a social networking environment have value in the more conventional environments of learning?

There is a reference to another interesting study “Online Social Networking and Education: Study Reports on New Generations Social and Creative Interconnected Lifestyles” by DeRossi that draws its findings from three surveys (online interviews of students (9-17) and parents and telephone interviews with 250 district school leaders). In her article, R. Reynard cites DeRossi: ‘As you may expect, traditional academic institutions have generally resisted the influence and increasingly pervasive presence of social networking activities in the life of their students, but recently the same institutions have had to look with new eyes at all of the aspects and consequences of these new modes of technological socialization sweeping the younger generations.’ (The DeRossi study is available online at http://www.masternewmedia.org/learning_educational_technologies/social-networking/social-networking-in-education-survey-on-new-generations-social-creative-and-interconnected-lifestyles-NSBA-20071109.htm). Though this study is focused on teens, it provides ‘Guidelines and Recommendations for School Board Members that, possibly, can be applied in adult education:

- Explore social networking sites;
- Consider using social networking for staff communications and professional development;
- Re-examine social networking policies;
- Encourage social networking companies to increase educational value, etc.

Interesting finding: R. Reynard claims that ‘the use of the [social networking] tools can change according to the intentions of the user and more complex and learning-related skills can be developed, if the purposes change. Arguably, then, if instructional design intentionally maximizes this kind of skill development, learning could benefit’.

Read full article by R. Reynard at http://campustechnology.com/articles/2008/05/social-networking-learning-theory-in-action.aspx .

Laura Uturytė Vrubliauskienė, Eglė Kvieskaitė “Effective Performance Management: Social Networking in Lithuanian Higher Education Institutions” (2011)

The study analyzes the interconnections between effective performance management, social networking, and higher education institution management. The authors review existing definitions of effective performance management. Social networking is investigated through a case study of a private college and its use of social networking (Facebook). The research results show that the higher education institution uses actively social networking for dissemination of its internal communication; simultaneously, it creates positive presumptions for enabling effective performance management in the organization.

Read more at http://leidykla.vgtu.lt/conferences/CIBME_2011/Articles/Vrubliauskiene.htm
or PDF file http://leidykla.vgtu.lt/conferences/CIBME_2011/pdf/2011-vrubliauskiene_kvieskaite.pdf

Research Review: The Danger of the Downward Spiral: Teachers and Digital Literacy

The Danger of the Downward Spiral: Teachers and Digital Literacy
Caroline Stockman and Fred Truyen, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

The paper that I'm offering for our literature review provides a frame work for thinking about the risks that could jeopardise the adoption of new technology in an educational setting and for monitoring progress towards adoption. The framework described by the authors suggests that progress towards successful adoption (the top of the spiral) is influenced by a variety of factors comprising three ‘inner’ and four ‘outer’ factors. The presence, or absence of these factors influence the successful integration and eventually adoption of technology. This paper adds to the Straub paper (Understanding Technology Adoption: Theory and Future Directions for Informal Learning) which Michael has posted above in that it focuses on risk – the risk of staff taking a downward spiral (away from successful technology integration) and the risk that our efforts to engage staff in new technologies and in associated pedagogic practice could be undermined. The authors of this paper suggest that this could be a useful framework for monitoring progress in institutions and for making context sensitive interventions to support progression up the spiral.
One further thing about this paper – it’s very readable and that’s important to me!
The conference proceedings in which this research was published are not available online, but the paper is available online as follows: Caroline Stockman, Fred Truyen (2011) The Danger of the Downward Spiral: Teachers and Digital Literacyhttps://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/324465/1/TheDownwardSpiral_StockmanTruyen.pdf

Research Review: CBAM in depth

Stephen E. Anderson reviews the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), which may help the ISTUS team to understand the process of facilitating educational change that is leveraged by social media

Among the theories of technology adoption and diffusion, the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM, developed by Hall and colleagues) stands out, since it has been developed and evaluated in education. It is not limited to technology adoption in education. However, in the face of educational change related to technology use, recently the CBAM has received some wider attention.

Research Review: Understanding Technology Adoption in Education

An overview on theories of adoption and diffusion of technology in education by Evan T. Straub

There is quite a lot research targeting the question of how and why individuals and institutions adopt innovations. For the use of ICT in education, theories and models of technology adoption are connect to issues of teacher training, staff development and educational reform. In this paper, Evan T. Straub looks at the most prevalent models of technology adoption: Roger’s innovation diffusion theory, the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (by Hall and colleagues), as well as the Technology Adoption Model and the United Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (by Venkatesh and colleagues).

Research review: How to promote social media uptake in VET and adult training - Project SVEA

Research review: How to promote social media uptake in VET and adult training systems in Europe - practical example of the European project "SVEA".  T. Toole ea (2010), eLearning Papers http://www.elearningeuropa.info/en/article/How-to-promote-social-media-uptake-in-VET-and-adult-training-systems-in-Europe-%E2%80%93-practical-example-of-the-%E2%80%9CSVEA%E2%80%9D-Europea

This article demonstrates the barriers and challenges offered by web 2.0 tools, which currently influencing the European training systems. It is based on the results emerging form the SVEA project following a regional analysis on the uptake of social media in VET and adult training system in Europe.

The most important challenges according to this article are:
- overcoming barriers of acceptance
- overcoming technological barriers
- innovating the management structure of VET institutions

The main benefits this article mentions are:
- the high level of collaboration; learning becoming more interactive and also personalized
- increasing cost effectiveness; not using classrooms and other rescoures

Further, this article outlines some trends that are likely to mark the VET and adult training environment in the next years.

1. Training at work is becoming more important
2. A mixture of face-to-face and online training is important
3. The trainer's role will change to moderator
4. Users of social media will combine the functionalities they require on the same website. 

At final, the very interesting actions the project SVEA has undertaken are:

1. The development of a collaborative online platform offering a range of different web 2.0 tools to be used by learners and learning institutions; http://openatrium.com. The home page of the group space is a dashboard with several customizable mini widgets.
2. The development of short training modules that supports trainers to understand how to use social media for learning purpose and get acquainted with them; http://www.svea-project.eu/svea_training.html

Those two outcomes of the project are very usefull to assist institutions to adapt new online technologies and are well worthy for further exploration!

Second meeting in Glasgow, Scotland

Second meeting in Glasgow, Scotland

ISTUS project partners met up in Glasgow from 23-24 January 2012. The meeting took place in the Mitchell Library in the West End of the city. Some additional project staff were introduced to the group and they kicked off with a summary of the project plan. After that we started working on the research review which involved partners presenting relevant research articles and videos on teaching and learning using social media. 

The workshop continued with the presentation on Concerns-based Adoption Model. This was to allow project members to analyse the key components of technology adoption in education. This work was to form the basis for the development of the questionnaires aimed at different target groups: students, teachers and institutional staff.

On the first evening all members met at a local cooking school and learnt how to make traditional Scottish food.

Mitchell Library

On the second day of the workshop the group discussed project evaluation techniques and how we can measure the success of ISTUS using the most appopriate deliverables. Further work continued on staff capacities in relation to using social media tools in education, as the group further analysed what the key enablers and barriers currently impact on this area.

On the second evening project members saw some Glasgow city sights, before having dinner in Jamie's restaurant.

Research review: Social Media Changes Business

Report: Direct Connection - Social Media Changes Business (Suora yhteys – näin sosiaalinen media muuttaa yritykset) Centre for Finnish Business and Policy Studies, Antti Isokangas and Petteri Kankkunen

Examples of how social media has changed business in Finland and how businesses should gear up for the future. According to the report, social media should not be viewed merely as a marketing medium. Social media is a tool for internal communication and customer service that changes way of thinking and changes the whole culture of business.

Interesting finding: People are used to web tools that they actually find useful in their private lives and expect their employer to be able to provide for them accordingly. If and when companies are not able to produce working (social media) tools, employees turn to resources on the open web. What is interesting they are prepared to brake company policy and brake rules to go online and finding resources that work and fit their needs.

The report (in Finnish) http://www.eva.fi/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Suora-yhteys.pdf