Annotated Bib 2.5

DeWert, Marjorie, Leslie Babinski, and Brett Jones. “Safe Passages. Providing Online Support to Beginning Teachers.” Journal of Teacher Education 54 (2003) : 311-320

This article really shows the importance of building some sort of community for first year teachers. This article was written about a study that brought together inexperienced first year teachers with experienced teachers and university faculty in an online community that allowed them to share experiences and raise questions about issues they were facing in their classrooms. The questions and concerns that the teachers are raising have a correlation to many of the issues first year teachers at a community college face. Unlike other articles I read this article focused on a smaller project and showed strong results.


Ardichvili, Alexader, Vaughn Page, and Tim Wentling. “Motivation and Barriers to Participation in Virtual Knowledge-Sharing Communities of Practice.” Journal of Knowledge Management 7.1 (2003) : 64-77.

This article looked at reasons why people do and don’t contribute and take part in online knowledge sharing communities. They studied an online community at Caterpillar Inc. to determine how and why the online community was being used. The article gave me great insight into motivations for using an online community. Both the good and bad and some topics I have been hearing from my peers. Some of the most interesting points brought up were that if a person viewed knowledge as a public good they were more likely to share knowledge with a community. An interesting barrier to sharing knowledge was the fear of looking bad to your peers. The idea being if you post a question or problem you’re having that people will look down on you for not knowing it. This is exactly the same things I have heard from people when I ask them to post writings to my initial online community blog.

Brown, John, and Paul Duguid. “Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation.” Organization Science 2.1 (1992) : 40-57.

I choose this article to try and gain a better understanding behind the concept of communities of practice. The idea behind this paper was to examine the communities people create in jobs outside of the structured hierarchy that is on company flow charts. The overall idea is that companies must respect these communities that work outside the normal flow of information because these communities could be sharing and creating knowledge that needs to be shared with the company as a whole and if their communities are not valued this information and their practices could be buried.


Barab, Sasha, et al. “Designing and Building an On-Line Community: The Struggle to Support Sociability in the Inquiry Learning Forum.” Education Technology Research & Development 49.4 (2001) : 71-96.

This is a deeper explanation of how the ILF community was laid out. The previous article I read focused more on the later stages of the community while this paper laid out the entire history of the process, from design to implementation to redesign. It shares the success and struggles of this implementation and makes me realize the nightmare that I am up against. This is just an outstanding article, packed with useful information that is based on both research and real life experiences of building an online community.



Treacy, Barbara, Glenn Kleiman, and Kirsten Peterson. “Successful Online Professional Development.” Learning and Leading with Technology 30.1 (2002) 1-4.

A simple article that covers some of the basics of online professional development. It mainly reiterates main ideas and points I have come across before. The importance of face to face meetings in an online environment, the importance of having motivated and knowledgeable people participating and creating the online enviroment.

Progress report.

After a rough patch I am very excited about what I am finding out and what I am reading. My research project connects to a much larger project that I am implementing at JCC and the readings I am finding are helping me greatly as I begin to shape this project in my head and gather more data about it around my college. I have been looking for articles that approach online professional development from a lot of different areas. I have been looking for viewpoints on it from different schools that have worked on it. I have been looking for articles on how to create good communities of practice. I have also been looking for articles that relate to constructivist teaching methods in online environments. I feel like if I get a good idea about these concepts I will be able to lay the groundwork for JCC's online professional development model. I am a bit worried how I am going to get all of this to translate into a paper but I am sure I will figure it all out. I am off to read the new articles I found and be my bib up for them.

Dave

Annotated Bib 2: electric boogaloo (1st 5)

Vrasidas, Charalambos, and Michalinos Zembylas. “Online Professional Development: Lessons From the Field.” Education + Training 46.6/7 (2004) : 326-334.

This article starts with the theoretical approaches to online professional development by first looking at how interaction occurs online and breaking that down into three dimensions of interactions that happen online, Personal and social constructivism, situated and distributed cognition/knowledge, and local and non-local communities of practice. The article then goes on to give examples of e-learning projects that were put together and one of the main issues it raises from that is the importance of collaboration in an online environment and connection to practical things that teachers and
students are doing in their classes.

Brazelton, Jessica, and Anthony Gorry. “Creating a Knowledge-Sharing Community: If you Build It, Will They Come?” Communications of the ACM 46.2 (2003) : 23-25.

The strongest part of this idea is their creation of a title called “knowledge stewards.” These are the people that are both interested in using technology and have a good deal of knowledge about a particular area that they frequently share with the community. These stewards are the ones that drive the online community as others look to them for information. It also stresses the importance of face to face interaction amongst the learners in order for them to learn more about the technology and for them also to learn more about each other.

Barab, Sasha, James MaKinster, and Rebecca Scheckler. “Designing System Dualities: Characterizing An Online Professional Development Community.” Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning. Ed. Barab, S.A., Kling, R., & Gray, J. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

This book chapter gives a strong layout on how an online community was laid out for pre-service mathematics and science teachers. The commuity was designed to allow them to share, improve, and create new lesson ideas and teaching methods. This chapter shares some of the struggles and the success that came from putting his project together. The main issue that the chapter comes back to is the importance of creating an online space that is minimalist and allows for personal touches. It also deals with the struggles between developers and teachers on how those spaces are created.


Gibson, Susan, and Bonnie Skaalid. “Teacher Professional Development to Promote Constructivist Uses of the Internet: A Study of One Graduate-Level Course.” Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 12.4 (2004) : 577-592.

This article focuses mainly on how teachers in a graduate level class were trained in different ways on how to merge constructivist teaching methods and internet websites into their classrooms. I think the strongest part for me comes from a teacher who said that she was beginning to look at the internet in a new way and that the class changed how she viewed using the internet in her class. She stressed that she learned how important it is for her to be clear about how she is using the internet and making sure her objectives for what she wants her students to do is clear.

Finley, Laura, and David Hartman. “Institutional Change and Resistance: Teacher Preparatory Faculty and Technology Integration.” Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 12.3 (2004) : 319-337.

This was an outstanding article that dealt with issues facing colleges as they try and get their departments to include more technology in their classroom environments. The article feels that one of the issues that teachers have about technology is that its being pushed on them without any connection to pedagogy. Teachers are being told to use technology in their classrooms but they are not being told how or why. Another issue that was raised by teachers is that schools tend to focus on the “cool” technologies and not functional ones. The suggestions are that the increase in technology is directly tied into content-specific purposes. It also suggests that teacher preparation in technology not be limited to “one shot sessions” (329) but a more detailed and ongoing program of technology professional development be created. It also suggested like many other readings I have come across that one on one sessions that allow for more personal interaction be available.

Bib Part 2

This was in seperate file. Forgot to upload it.

Sherer, Pamela. Timothy Shea, Eric Kristensen. “Online Communities of Practice: A Catalyst for Faculty Development.” Innovative Higher Education. 27.3 (2003). 183-194.

This article reiterates a concept that I am seeing as I read more articles and as I gain personal experience through my regular work of creating communities. The concept that these online communities, must first begin offline in real situations where relationships are developed. It also breaks down what faculty learning communities tend to focus on. Student/Classroom issues, faculty self-development (portfolios, technology training), and school wide focus (things designed to improve the overall campus). I’ve realized it’s important to not limit my online community to one topic or idea, such as lesson sharing. But seeing it as a multi sectioned piece in which different aspects of professional development can be sampled by the community.

Salomon, Kenneth. “Copyright Considerations in Distance Education and Technology-Mediated Instruction.” DOW-LOHNES & Alberstson, PLLC. 5 Jul. 2000.

This is a document better read by a school’s lawyer then a English teacher. It’s a white paper written to “explain” the laws on the books in regards to copyright issues and how they affect colleges. It takes the stunningly confusing text of the laws and explains them in the mostly confusing text of lawyerese. This document could be very helpful to refer back to as I find specific examples or questions about copyright issues. The date on it concerns me as I am sure the laws have changed somewhat.

Ascough, Richard. “Designing for Online Distance Education: Putting Pedagogy before Technology.” Teaching Theology and Religion. 5.1 (2002). 17-29.

I choose a couple of articles about online pedagogy to look for ways in which learning is different or structured online versus real world. This article doesn’t go in too deep or give me anything new that I haven’t read in previous articles, but it does help me to see what some of my problems might be down the line. It cites a study that shows that people remember 70% of what they discuss with others. It then uses this to discuss the importance of having a good online discussion. It seems that most of the learning that is going online is discussion based, which is going to be a problem with busy adjuncts, teaching 5 classes at two different colleges. I want to encourage online discussion, but it hasn’t gone over so well in the past on campus and it seems time consuming.

Annotated Bib Part 1

Axelson, Mary. “Education as Commodity” Electronic School.com. Jun. 2001. .

This article raises some examples and issues of what is happening when it comes to the rights for the materials that teachers are producing for their classes, both online and brick and mortar. It raises issues that I had not yet considered such as how far do you go to say who owns what and who gets paid for what. A quote from Hal Resnick who works for a company that designs teacher-training materials sums up the issues in this article quite nicely, “Where would it end? Do you throw money into a kitty when somebody opens their mouth at a meeting?” (Axelson 31)

Ubell Robert. “Who Owns What? Unbundling Web Course Property Rights.” Educase Quarterly 1 NOV 2001.

The concept of “unbundling” when it comes to who owns what for a class helps to break down the larger idea of who owns what into a smaller one. Unbundling was first mentioned by a consortium put together by several universities in California and New York. The idea is that when something is created for a classroom that it has many different uses and parts and how those parts are being used determines who owns them.

Twigg Carol. “Who owns Online Courses and Course Materials? Intellectual Property Policies for a New Learning Environment.” The National Center for Academic Transformation. 2000. .

This was an article that grew out of a symposium in Florida where participants discussed and debated different area when it came to how online materials are being used on campuses and who owns them. The article presents four different case studies revolving around different issues facing creating online courses. Each case study is presented and at the end comments and questions are given. It also looks at two big questions, are colleges sitting on a goldmine when it comes to online classes and is it possible for a teacher to create an online class and then have their job eliminated because the class can be taught by anyone.

Ruth, Lester. “Converting My Course Converted ME: How Reinventing an On-Campus Course for an Online Environment Reinvigorated My Teaching.” Teaching Theology and Religion 9.4 (2006) : 234-242

This is an article written by a teacher at a theological seminary and he discusses how when he was forced to teach his pastoral liturgy class online it changed how he thought about teaching. He began to look at his lessons as modules instead of topics he wanted to lecture about. The online portion of the class also forced him away from the safe way he taught the class before, by lecturing and the student’s taking objective tests. Since he couldn’t lecture in an online environment, he worked to discover what should lead into what and how students learn a concept.


Holzer, Elie. “Professional Development of Teacher Educators in Asynchronous Electronic Environment: Challenges, Opportunities and Preliminary Insights from Practice.” Education Media International. 41.1 (2004) 81-89

This article looks at a teacher’s experience in creating an online class for graduate students studying professional development. The teacher found that the students began to model the same line of questioning the teacher was taking. Early on in the process the teacher of would ask probing questions of the students responses. This probing aspect began to appear after the students had posted essentially their rough drafts of data they had been collecting during an observation. The writer felt that the student’s comments changed in an online environment from judging the work of their peers to offering suggestions for revision and improvement. None of this seems shocking to me. Perhaps the culture of the school was highly competitive and this was a new thing, but it seems to me that students (in general) are always offering critique and advice to their peers on how to improve their writing.

Solomon, Gwen. “E-Communications 101.” Technology & Learning. June 2004. Techlearning.com

This is truly a 101 guide to online communications. It reads as if it was published in 1997 as opposed to 2004. The guide is filled with “insightful” comments like “Keep your emails short.” Not an effective article for how to create anything innovative when it comes to connecting faculty on a campus. It would make a good handout for people who are just starting to work online or have no idea how the online world functions.

Salpeter, Judy. “Professional Development: 21st Century Models” Technology & Learning. 24.1 (2003)

This article has many interesting examples, suggestions, and lessons from various online professional development sources. As with other articles I am finding, they seem to show that online professional development is not being done by the school, but by outside companies coming in with pre-packaged online development systems. I think the most important thing I have learned from this is “Don’t rush online learning.” I tend to want to show the adjuncts something once online and expect them to fall in love with it.

Research Project

I plan on doing my research project on the broad subject of using technology and the internet to help share lesson plans, teaching ideas, and philosophy among faculty. My vision is somehow creating a sort of online faculty lounge. One where ideas can be traded and shared about how to handle everything from in class lessons to ideas on how to deal with motivating students.

This idea grows out of a need we have at Jackson Community College to improve our adjuncts connection to the college and to give them opportunities for professional development. This idea wouldn’t be limited to sharing lesson plans and teaching philosophies. I would also like it if an adjunct could post information about a conference they went to or something they are learning in a class they are taking.

The simple thing would be to have people write up papers and throw them online. But it needs to be organized in some way and it needs to be overseen. Since time is money, that over sight needs to be limited to short spurts of time. It also needs to be user friendly and easy to access or our campus won’t go near it.

Wikis will be the first place I look and I need to get a better understanding of how they function and work. If wikis don’t seem like the way to go, I will then have to look for alternative methods and ways of making it come together.

From there I feel like I need to look at some of the underlying issues with something like this, such copyrights and can someone own a lesson plan. I think this is an important issue to bring up because I will take a photo or perhaps a set of discussion questions from online. I usually don’t cite them in my handouts to my students or I did at one point, but the questions have been changed and altered so much that I stopped. I also get a little tinge of anger when I spot one of my lesson plans or ideas left on the copier. I’ve even seen some of these in the hands of people I didn’t even know. It gets passed from one person to another. So I wonder about issues relating to this. I am not sure 100% how I feel putting the lessons I’ve worked hard on redid again and again and tweaked.

I would like to do some research and see how (or if) other colleges are doing this and in what ways. Some of the issues I’ve looked at may have been already worked through at the college level in some way.

My goal at the end is to have done the research and developed a good plan for implementing this. If I can come up with a way to make this work, I will then over the summer work on developing the basic outline and using the faculty around in the spring and summer as a test case and then launching it campus wide at the start of Fall 2007. So this project will be more then just research, it will be research with actual application.

My first post

I am sitting in the new student center here at Eastern and I just got done doing (I HOPE) all of the first weeks work, except for the make your own technology project. Which has me completely stumped. Perhaps my creativity will be flowing after I enjoy some nice panda express.