Snow in Victoria

Here's a picture I took this morning of the snowy street in front of our house.

I've always loved snow and think it's great; however, you can well imagine the havoc the storm is bringing in terms of traffic.

Unfortunately drivers here don't get much practice in these conditions and it shows.

Post Composition

I'm back with some observations about my learning this week in CTL 1608: Constructive Learning and Design of Online Environments, but first a little background.

The interface we use for the course is called Knowledge Forum. It's been developed at OISE/UT for use in courses and is primarily as a space for participants to add to threaded discussions with new posts or build-ons. Because the interface is web-based, it's been suggested that we compose posts in a word processor and then "copy/paste/post" to contribute to the discussion.

What I've learned this week is that my posts are "different" if I use this method. I struggle to describe just how, but the lack of spontaneity hurts the post. The more considering and editing of the post I did, the less I liked it. Normally editing/revising is a good thing, but in this instance, I don't think it improved things.

My sense is that the more I worked on my "Bio" post for our class, the more clinical, convoluted and impersonal it became. In other words, pretty much the opposite of what I'd intended.

I think I'm left with two choices when it comes to my posts to KF-based "knowledge communities" @ OISE/UT:

1. Revert to browser-based posts (and accept the fact that compositions will "go away" if the connection to the server is lost)
2. Force myself to be more spontaneous, and "web-like" (i.e., warts and all) with my posts...even if they've been prepared in advance

While there's no question that posts need be informative and well-considered, I think it's just as true that online knowledge building needs spirit and personality to work. I'll suggest that the more "human" (those warts again ;-) the composition--be it a KF post or a picture, or a chat post or a video--the better.

Three Years' of Blogging

Today marks the third anniversary of this blog. I've learned enough over the last three years not to make any pronouncements about what the future holds for this forum, but I do know that I enjoy posting text and pictures and look forward to continuing.

Happy New Year

Best Wishes for a Happy New Year and special wishes to the many the world over who have been affected by last week's tsunami in Asia.

As the scope of the tragedy becomes increasingly apparent more and more aid is being sent from around the world. By all accounts, cash donations are most needed.

The gang at Google have put together a list of agencies helping those afflicted.

Visit their tsunami relief page for links and more information.

Bounded Communities

Back with another reference to readings from CTL 1608.

Bounded Community: Designing and Facilitating Learning Communities in Formal Courses from the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning is a very interesting article that provides a blueprint -- for both instructors and students engaged in online learning.

Bounded Learning Communities (BLC) are: "groups that form within a structured teaching or training setting, typically a course.... Teachers contribute to BLCs by establishing a sense of teaching presence, including an atmosphere of trust and reciprocal concern." (p.1)

The authors assert that "in contrast to classic communities-of-practice formulations, substantial supports for course-based communities can and should be designed ahead of time by the instructor, anticipating the learning and collaborative needs of students. They cite the work of Ludwig-Hardman (2003) and suggest that "seven features that seem to facilitate course based communities":(p 4-7)

1. Shared Goals


2. Safe and Supporting Conditions


3. Community Identity


4. Collaboration


5. Respectful Inclusion


6. Progressive Discourse Toward Knowledge Building


7. Mutual Appropriation

N.B.: Ludwig-Hardman is one of the authors of the article the first reference --Case Study: Instrcutional Design strategies that contribute to the development of online learning community -- is cited as an "unpublished doctoral disseration, University of Colorado, Denver"; however, Learner support services for online students:scaffolding for success is available online.

The authors go on to assert that a "sense of community" and the notion of closure (i.e., the end of the class/semester) are key components of BLCs (p. 15-16).

The article also includes an instrument ("not yet validated") for measuring the "sense of community" in a given instance.

It mirrors the seven characteristics listed above and is essentially a checklist for ensuring that each of the "components for success" is present. The authors indicate that the instrument is "designed for routine use in e-learning and face-to-face classes" (p.16) and point to "Roval, Lucking, and Cristol, 2001, for a more rigorous measure."

Very interesting stuff. I look forward to tracking the progress of CTL 1608 as it evolves and grows as a BLC.