Improving the Social Nature of OnLine Learning Tap into what students are already doing Tap into what students are already doing Educause SWRC07 Copyright James Laffey, Paul W. Turner, Beth Chancellor, This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of at least two of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

University of Missouri-Columbia James Laffey, SISLT Paul Turner, SISLT Beth Chancellor, ITS

A turn to the Social ‣ Social Networking ‣ Social Learning ‣ Social Computing Theory Practice Research "social" is derived from the Latin word "socius" a bond between people or central to their collective or connected existence

Social networking Making Connections Bringing People Together

Social Networking ‣ Increasingly this is why students log into the Web (daily, hourly, 24/7) ‣ The websites that draw people back again and again are those that connect them with friends, colleagues, or even total strangers who have a shared interest. The Horizon Report, 2007 Edition, pp

Social networking ‣ Social networking may represent a key way to increase student access to and participation in online course activities. ‣ Truly engaging social networking offers an opportunity to contribute, share, communicate, and collaborate. ‣ Harness the power of social networking to build rich, interactive, robust learning communities.

Social learning ‣ Learning is a social activity ‣ Learning happens through observing others and through shared experiences ‣ Lack of social interaction causes dissatisfaction and impedes learning ‣ Existing online learning systems suffer from lack of paying attention to the “social”-- too much focus on task ‣ Learning is a social activity ‣ Learning happens through observing others and through shared experiences ‣ Lack of social interaction causes dissatisfaction and impedes learning ‣ Existing online learning systems suffer from lack of paying attention to the “social”-- too much focus on task

Social learning ‣ In traditional classes students are physically present, they are there with others, and they benefit from observing what others do (social navigation). ‣ Can we support cues to these attributes (presence, co-presence, and social navigation) to help online students: ‣ feel socially engaged and capable of influencing others ‣ feel more confident about what to do ‣ feel more connected to instructor, fellow students and the content

Awareness ‣ Understanding the activity of others, which provides a context for your own activity. ‣ How does the online “system” allow individuals to represent themselves? or their actions? ‣ Information systems as “places” for social interaction as well as “spaces” for data collection or delivery.

Awareness Gutwin presents a set of basic elements that are central to awareness

Context ‣ Context aware computers and applications can interact with the user to produce responses appropriate to the situation, or “context” ‣ Context changes often depending on roles, activity, time, membership, task ‣ Notification systems are one example of context aware applications

Social Computing ‣ Via computers and networks, information can now be easily shared user to user, or group to group. Social Computing ‣ The study of Social Computing examines how this works, why it works, and how to integrate this knowledge into technological advances for improved learning or work performance.

Social Computing ‣ Use of for maintaining social relationships ‣ Instant Messaging for daily coordination and presence awareness ‣ Blogs or Wikis as community building tools

RESEARCH Communities ‣ CSCW ‣ Computer Supported Cooperative Work ‣ ACM, since 1986 ‣ CSCL ‣ Computer Supported Collaborative Learning ‣ Since 1995 ‣ International Journal CSCL

‣ C ontext A ware N otification S ystem ‣ CANS is based on the importance of social context and user preferences ‣ A notification “engine” ‣ Events data collection tool ‣ A research tool -- allows for exploration, analysis, and visualization of user actions in online learning systems

EXISTING CMS

People Time Activity Objects Context(s) Tasks The Problem: Activity is Complex

Sakai + CANS

What is everyone doing?

What is my team doing?

How do I compare?

How are students doing?

history or trajectory

Micro-ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITY Thread Sub-Thread

peak performers

CANS research support ‣ Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) ‣ U.S. Department of Education ‣ 1) Develop a software system for context awareness that is integrated with the Sakai course management system and is easy for faculty and students to use. ‣ 2) Evaluate its impact on teaching and learning, producing new knowledge about the contextual and social implications of online learning. ‣ University of Missouri - Columbia ‣ Partners: University of Michigan and Virginia Tech ‣ FY FY 2008

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