The Twitter Top 5, PLN 3-Point Reflections, The Great Debate, and Deconstructing Monument Valley: Innovative Activities in Online and Blended Graduate Courses
Julia Parra
New Mexico State University
United States
Helping the modern educator navigate the ever-changing landscape of learning design and technology is challenging but fun! In this paper, I share three time-tested and effective teaching strategies, The Twitter Top 5, PLN 3-Point Reflections, and The Great Debate. Additionally, I share a new teaching strategy, Deconstructing Monument Valley that I will continue to use because it was so successful in Fall 2015. Thus, with this paper, you access four new teaching strategies that you can modify for your classrooms! Full access to the instructional materials for these activities is available via Google Docs and the URLs are embedded in this paper.
Goo.gl Link for this document available online: https://goo.gl/pkr87B
Keywords: Effective Teaching Strategies, Twitter, Personal Learning Networks, Reflection, Discussion Forums, Games and Learning
Effective Activities and Teaching Strategies in Online and Blended Graduate Courses
The four activities in this paper were designed and implemented as part of coursework in graduate level learning design and technology courses. Many of the graduate students who take these courses are educators.
The Twitter Top 5
Twitter, a microblogging and social network tool, has been voted the #1 tool for learning in every year since 2009 by the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies (Hart, 2015). Twitter has its pros and cons along with its supporters and critics, but overall, more and more educators are turning to Twitter for its ease of use and as a quick way to network with other like-minded educators from around the world. Boss (2008) shares one teacher’s professional development experience with Twitter:
According to Cosand, using Twitter for professional development is a good model for twenty-first-century learning. He's found it especially useful for learning how to integrate podcasting, blogs, wikis, and other tools in his classroom. And if he runs into a challenge, he knows right where to turn for help. "I can watch and learn from people who jump out and try things early," he says. "Once I gather information from observing, then I'm ready to apply it myself in my situation. Watch, observe, apply. It's been great." (para. 16)
Jane Hart (2014) discusses Twitter in the context of how the Web has changed the way we learn and how important professional social networking has become. She notes that someone will usually point out to her that, “you can’t learn to become a doctor using Twitter,” which of course, is, “actually missing the point.” Twitter helps us become better at what we do, it helps the doctor “become a better doctor-or certainly a better-informed doctor,” helping said doctor and us keep up to date with “what’s new” in our fields. She calls this, “learning the new.”
Learning the newis, however, a very different learning experience from learning in a traditional training (or e-learning) event – where the content has been organised, structured, and “packaged” up for delivery in a very prescribed way. Learning the new involves being in the flow of new ideas and “joining the dots” between unstructured pieces of knowledge that are encountered.So for those who have been using the Web – and particularly the Social Web for many years – learning will never be the same again. (2014, para. 7)
To support “learning the new,” I integrate Twitter in most of my courses. When entering the course, students encounter the Twitter widget on the course home page that uses the related course hashtag. For example, the course titled, EDLT 581 Emerging Technology Tools and Strategies is assigned the hashtag #EDLT581. I also use Twitter to support some course learning objectives and activities that are common to most of my courses.
Most of my online and blended courses include a module for getting started. This “Getting Started” module often includes group work wherein an engaging, low risk group activity promotes the development of collaboration and technology skills along with an in-depth understanding of Twitter as a tool for developing Personal Learning Networks (PLNs discussed in the next section). “The Twitter Top 5” is the title for this low risk activity completed by groups.
I designed the Twitter Top 5 to address two key areas that I am always searching to improve-1) helping students with cloud-based collaborative group work skill development, and 2) helping students understand and develop their professional learning networks. Additionally, I wanted it to be a model activity that others could adapt for their own courses. With all of this in mind, I created the “Twitter Top 5” activity wherein student groups explore Twitter resources, hashtags, professional relevance, and they collaboratively complete a virtual worksheet using Google Docs. The Overview, Learning Objectives, and Instructions for this activity are as follows.
Twitter is not just a tool to talk about Justin Bieber! No offense Beliebers :)
Twitter can also be a powerful tool for building your professional and personal learning network and being on top of current information in the areas that are meaningful to you. Jane Hart calls this, “learning the new.” One of the most important things to understand when using Twitter is that it all starts with “who” you follow. Eventually, maybe, who follows you becomes important. Additionally, some will argue that it is the topics you follow, via hashtags that are key. Don’t worry, you will learn about hashtags in this activity.
In this collaborative group activity, you will:
1. Communicate and collaborate (using collaborative tools like Google Docs and Skype) to complete this learning activity.
2. Search for and analyse online resources with concepts, and strategies related to microblogging, specifically, for the tool Twitter, and identify the 5 best resources.
3. Participate in the Twitter global community and collaborate to create top five lists of who to follow in Twitter.
4. Collaborate to identify the one best account in each of your top five lists to follow based on your top 5 lists.
5. Reflect on and share learning by creating a minimum of two reflective tweets.
6. Expand your opportunities for continuous professional development and lifelong learning by developing your personal learning network.
Instructions
1. Groups should already be created by completing the Group Work module.
2. One group member needs to use Canvas Collaborations (see course menu on the left), to create the group Google Doc and add group members and the instructor, to the document.
3. One group member needs to use the Twitter Top 5 Group Worksheet Template, and the instructions at the top of that template, to create the group's Worksheet in the collaborative document created in Canvas Collaborations. Basically, you copy what is in the template into your group's collaborative document.
4. Upon completion of this activity, have one group member use this activity's submission feature to make a note that the activity is completed. Make sure that I am included in your Collaboration document so that I can view your work and confirm completion.
5. Full points upon completion of the worksheet.
I developed a learning technology integrated learning plan as a model for my students that can be accessed online at http://bit.ly/twittop5. Additionally, I have found that providing students with content scaffolds is supportive for their development of both cloud-based collaboration skills (Cho & Jonassen, 2002; Su & Klein, 2010). Thus, I developed a virtual worksheet template in Google Docs (see Appendix 1), fully accessible at https://goo.gl/WtiqMv.
Personal Learning Network (PLN) 3-Point Reflections
Most of my online and blended courses include the PLN 3-Point Reflections with Resources module. Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) have always existed. At a basic level, a PLN includes the people and the resources that help inform one’s interests and profession. Specific tools that support PLN development include online tools and social networks such as Twitter, Google Search, Google Scholar, Google+, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. (Joosten, 2012; Pacansky-Brock, 2012; Solomon & Schrum, 2010; Utecht, 2010). These technologies and their mechanics comprise one’s personal learning environment (PLE). When combined with the people, collaborations, and relationships involved with these tools, a PLN is developed. For the purposes of this paper, the term used will be PLN tools. Currently, there is increased investigation of using PLN tools for supplementing and even replacing traditional teacher professional development. For example, a web search with the terms of PLN, Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest in relation to teacher professional development provides numerous resources and articles. Garland (2012) noted:
Twitter and Facebook might soon replace traditional professional development for teachers. Instead of enduring hours-long workshops a few times a year, teachers could reach out to peers on the Internet in real time for advice on things like planning a lesson (or salvaging a lesson that’s going wrong), overcoming classroom management problems, or helping students with disabilities. (para. 1)
To support PLN development with my students, I developed “PLN 3-Point Reflections.” With the “PLN 3-Point Reflections,” graduate students are given the space to create and reflect on PLNs as a source for personalized, continuous, and just-in-time learning. This is an individual activity that aligns well with the “Twitter Top 5.” Full modularly developed content for this activity can be accessed online at https://goo.gl/McVOpO. The Overview and Learning objectives for this activity are as follows:
As we take this technology adventure together, I'd like you to always be thinking about how the new tools you learn about can contribute and build upon your Personal Learning Network (PLN). Sometimes, I like to refer to this as both Personal AND Professional Learning Network (PPLN).
You have always had a personal learning network. It includes the people and the resources that help inform you about your interests and profession. The way we access those people and resources has changed or can change based on the new technologies available to use. You have an opportunity in this course to think about this and perhaps expand your PLN. My favorite PLN tools include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, and how can I forget YouTube!
The activities in this PLN Module help you explore the concepts of PLN. However, all the activities in this course can relate to your PLN, including the Twitter Top 5.
In this module you will:
1. Reflect to pre-assess your knowledge about PLNSs. Post PLN Reflection 1 - Hmm, what does this mean? You don't need to know anything about PLN to post. Reply to 3 others. For full points this must be done in a timely manner, by the due date.
2. Explore the PLN Resources provided in this module and recommended PLN tools that can support your PLN development.
3. Use http://scholar.google.com to research the terms - personal learning network, personal learning environment, etc. to find some research articles that interest you.
4. Reflect to assess midpoint progress. Post PLN Reflection 2 - Am I getting this? Include at least one citation/reference from your research. Reply to three others. For full points this must be done in a timely manner, by the due date.
5. Reflect to assess final learning outcomes. Post PLN Reflection 3 - Final thoughts? Include at least 2 citations/references, and reply to three others. For full points this must be done in a timely manner, by the due date.
The Great Debate
I teach a course, Fostering Online Learning Communities and part of the course is designed to address the barriers and challenges of fostering online learning community. In the book, Building Online Learning Communities (Palloff & Pratt, 2007), the authors say that research supports the notion that, "the key to successful online learning is the formation of an effective learning community as the vehicle through which learning occurs online (p. 4)." However, it is important to recognize and acknowledge that some students and some teachers are not going to believe in this notion. It could be that social interaction in online learning communities does not fit someone's learning style or it could be that problems encountered in online learning communities created negative experiences for teachers and learners. Whatever the situation, we need to be able to discuss both sides of this concept. And whenever there are two sides to a story, there is an opportunity for academic debate.
Debate is an example of a discussion activity along with role-playing, fish bowl, and many other types of discussion activities (Pallof & Pratt, 2010). Of note, most activities you like to do or can do in a face-to-face classroom, like a debate, you can do online. Thus, “The Great Debate” was created to address 1) the two sides of online community and interaction and 2) model that a debate can be conducted using online discussions. This activity generates critical conversations where students identify challenges and barriers with fostering online community and interaction and then strategize solutions for each other. This activity occurs in three parts, 1) students post to the related discussion and take the position that a course concept is a negative (identifying the cons/barriers/etc., 2) students choose two of their colleagues’ negative posts to debate with and provide a positive response, solutions, research, etc., and 3) students review “The Great Debate” and create a summarization discussion post that helps them solidify their learning and better able to recall what they learned at a later time (Brookfield & Preskill, 1999). Full modularly developed content for this activity can be accessed online at https://goo.gl/Iemfaj. The Overview and Learning Objectives for this activity are as follows.