James Williams e: eTutor Project SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS for 2 Pilot studies of the

Purpose of the 2 Pilot studies 1.was to explore the idea that online learning could be delivered through freely available Web 2.0 services; and 2.that learning content could be sourced for free online.

Web 2.0 Evaluation There are many freely available Web 2.0 services that can be used to create a learning environment; The application chosen for the pilot studies was Ning. Ning is a free online social networking environment; It is easy to use and manage, it has free support, is continually being upgraded; It requires no technical knowledge to set-up; And it can easily be extended with widgets; As a result Ning has already had rapid adoption in the education sector.

2 Social LearNING Environments were created: for an ICT module at Glamorgan University. for the Web & Mobile Games module at SMU.

Ning has a dashboard style interface, all key features such as blogs, forums, events, members list, notes, info boxes, applications etc.. are located on the front-page. Each member of the learning network has their own ‘My Page’ to store their resources. Front-page of the eTutor environment

Front-page of WebGamez Ning also allows you to organise students into Groups to collaborate on learning activities.

Groups, Teams & Collaborative learning

The Buddypoke application added a fun and social element to the learning environment; Buddypoke is an interactive friend communication tool, that enables users to customize their own 3D avatars; Learners can interact with other users avatars, there is a huge selection of interactive poking features, each with game-like animation and interactivity.

The Community e-learning strategy Involved the students posting a weekly: 1)self-reflective blog entry; & (Reflective learning) 2)a community forum post. (Collaborative learning) Ning offers an array of communication tools to support the Students during the learning process, a tutor can comment on blog posts, forum posts, send private messages and wall comments.

e-learning Maps Online Mind mapping software was used to organise learning activities. There are many online mapping solutions available such as Mindomo and Mindmeister; Mindmeister was chosen for it’s ease of use and real- time collaboration ability (synchronous).

Learning Activity Map The Mapping software was used to organise the lesson plan into Subject areas and learning activities. The learner can click on each learning activity node to discover relevant learning resources.

Refined Search Strings After testing and refining the search criteria for each learning activity: And inserted onto each learning activity node of the Map: The Google URL search string is copied from the Web Browser:

Refined Search Strings Each of the ‘learning activity nodes’ include an arrow icon: When clicked presents the user with online resources to complete the learning activity.

Discovery e-learning methods Search Engine Test Relevant links (out of 10) Analysis 1: standard Google Search 2Using key words from a learning activity only 2 (out of 10) sites were relevant to the la. Many links guided the user to commercial sites and advertisements. 2: CSE: Custom Search Engine 8Using the same search string with a Custom Search Engine 8 (out of 10) results were relevant. However several links were from the same tutorial websites specified in the CSE. 3: Refined Search String 7Using a refined search string 7 (out of 10) results were relevant to the la. There was only one repeat learning resource. 4: CSE & refined string 10Using a refined search string with a CSE Custom Search Engine 10 (out of 10) search results were relevant to the la. Also a greater variety of relevant learning resources were presented to the user. 4 discovery e-learning methods were tested: As a result ‘Custom Search’ Engines were also added to the Map nodes and community dashboard.

Google CSE Custom Search Engine It is easy to create a Custom Search Engine using the Google CSE wizard, by simply inserting relevant web address. When published Google will search the selected web addresses for relevant web pages first before searching the wider web.

CSEs within Ning & Map CSEs can be added any level of the e-learning map and anywhere on the Ning network:

e-learning Resource Map Maps can be used to recommend websites and provide handouts to learners, and store multimedia files (such as mp3s, videos).

There are many uses of Maps The ability to structure and store documents using the Mapping greatly increases the usefulness of this little Web 2.0 tool. Maps can be used to structure and present learning and teaching resources in many areas, for example: Tutor / Community Map: Organise Lesson plans; and Learning Activities Handouts and other resources Web links & CSEs. Tutor Feedback Map (Module) Course Map (Map for each Year 1, 2, 3 with corresponding modules) Student Learning Map: Blog Learning resource depository e-Portfolio Interactive Learning Maps give administrators, tutors and learners the ability to organize their academic lives. Academic Administration: Learning & Teaching: Course / Module planning Administration: Committees / Meetings (e.g. take and store minutes) Organising Research Projects (Team or Individual research).

Example: Module Map A Tutor can create a central Community Map for a module that include Course documents, Structured lesson and activity plan:

Example: Student Map Students can use Maps to organize their academic lives:

Map Notes Using Mindmeister you can add notes to map nodes. This can be used to insert lesson notes, learning activity guidelines, reflective learning logs or minutes for a meeting etc..

Student Map on Ning ‘MyPage’

e-learning Maps & VLEs Maps can also be inserted into Virtual Learning Environments:

Conclusion Web 2.0 Community networks can make learning experiences more sociable, interactive and stimulating; Community networks create ‘open group-sharing cultures’; Learners can help each other throughout the learning process by leaving comments on forums, blogs, private messaging and personal wall space; Incorporating the ‘self-reflective blog’ resulted in a large increase in ‘independent learning’; Online Maps can be used to organize learning resources in one interactive graphical interface; The use of Custom Search Engines and refined search strings can dramatically increase the quality of the search results received by the learner.

The Overall Solution is a Web 2.0 mashup application using: Google CSE as the Discovery e-learning method; MindMeister for learning activities and resources; Ning for the learning environment. Ning and Mindmeister is a Free, Easy and Effective Web 2.0 solution for Technology and Community enhanced learning. The creation of a Ning Network & Learning Map only takes a few minutes; and is ideal for educators to easily and rapidly create a Learning environment. This solution is suitable for any project that requires electronic collaboration and information management. DEMO MAP 2 Tony

More information & Instructions A detailed report with instructions on how to set-up and use this technology is available at: or In addition for a copy of the report please me at: