This website is the primary outcome of the Learning in Networks of Knowledge (LINK) project that formed the basis of my ALTC Teaching Fellowship (2009-2010).
The formal report of this project, that details the aims, approaches, activities and outcomes of LINK, is available at http://www.altc.edu.au/altc-teaching-fellow-matthew-allen. The following sections present a summary of that report focusing on aims, approach and activities. Additional material from this report appears elsewhere on this site.
An overview of the project, as at 2009, is:
And the conclusions of the project are summarised here:
Report summary: aims, approach and activities
Aims
In simple terms, LINK sought to develop, trial and assess new methods of learning via the Internet. The aim was to assist the re-invigoration of university-level online learning by updating techniques and underlying pedagogic approaches to take account of the changing nature of the Internet in society today. The project focused on the way the Internet now easily and with sophistication hosts networks of knowledge and that this capability is its foundation for making learning more effective. To successfully exploit the Internet’s capacity for enhanced student learning, the project focused on the pedagogic challenges of creating a student experience that is centred on knowledge production in a networked environment.
Within this broad objective, LINK focused on two specific goals, which are best phrased as questions in need of answers:
- What are the kinds of Web 2.0 site, applications and services which might enable knowledge networking, and how might these be adapted to the specific ways which might want students learn?
- What are the specific ways in which we might assess the conduct and outcomes of such knowledge networking on the assumption that good assessment practices will greatly assist students in participating in and learning from education when understood as ‘learning in networks of knowledge?’
In concrete terms, then, the aims of Link were to explore and identify web 2.0 applications and tools that can contribute to a teaching and learning approach that is explicitly designed as ‘knowledge networking’ and then test, in the longer term, some of these applications and approaches within an applied research setting at Curtin University, in the Department of Internet Studies.
Approach
The approach to the project changed somewhat, as it developed, to emphasise the creation of this website and the information it contains about Web 2.0 applications. In brief, the approach was:
- First, to develop key concepts which would guide the analysis of Web 2.0 applications and their use in teaching and learning. These key concepts were, first of all, an understanding of Web 2.0; second, knowledge networking; and third, web presence. This research was conducted via a literature review and abstract formation of concepts.Critical to this conceptualisation was seeing the internet, not as an educational technology but, rather as a change of state in society as a whole. While Web 2.0 clearly has applications to education, or might afford us certain new ways of teaching and learning, or provide the capability to realise forms of educational practice hitherto only theoretically possible, Web 2.0 is not itself ‘educational’. If it is to play a role in educational innovation, it must be adapted to that context, as much as being adopted for it.
- Second, the approach involved detailed investigation of several thousand Web 2.0 applications. Drawing on various public listings of these applications, I developed a database of some 6,000 sites and services each including a short description and key words. A brief review of the entire listing identified some 500 sites that held promise for educational adaptation and these were visited and reviewed quickly. Some 100 sites were then identified for detailed investigation, normally by way of creation of a test account, ‘playing’ with the site and its affordances, and the generation of possible scenarios for use in higher education. Key criteria for selection included: ease-of use (to reduce cognitive load external to learning); cost (free so as to ensure usable by all); browser-based (to ensure use on university computers that do not permit downloads); and diversity and difference (applications which do not already have a ‘home’ inside traditional learning systems).
- Third, the fellowship involved the implementation of specific, detailed versions of possible knowledge networking approaches in the ten main units of study which are offered within the BA (Internet Communications) at Curtin University. All academic staff in the department were already engaged in a curriculum review and redevelopment (commenced in 2008) and, during 2009 and 2010, as they developed and taught these reshaped units, they implemented innovations drawn from the project. All staff discussed together the approaches taken, learned from each other’s experiences and insights, and then trialled and redeveloped the approaches each study period. In most cases, surveys were conducted of the student experience to elicit data that, en masse, will serve as the basis for a detailed investigation into the effectiveness and general operation of these innovations.
Activities
The principal activities conducted for the fellowship involved a mix of dissemination and information gathering via a workshop and presentation. The first key activity for the fellowship was a workshop Innovative education online: Ideas for the future of learning and the Internet (Using Web 2.0 Technologies for Online Teaching). This workshop was held at several universities in Australia in 2009. Hosting and participation was arranged through relevant university teaching and learning centres and, while not limited only to attendees from the host university, most participants tended to come from those institutions. A mix of academic developers, academics and teaching and learning researchers attended. The workshop was also held at an international online learning conference later that year. In all, around 250 participants attended in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth (twice), and Vancouver.
The second key activity conducted during my fellowship was the 90-minute presentation, Using Web 2.0 in your teaching: ideas, applications and affordances for enhanced educational outcomes. The presentation focused on the way that a wide array of Web 2.0 / social media applications can be used in higher education, whether in distance or on-campus learning. The presentation summarised the key features of Web 2.0, based on an extensive analysis of many different publicly available, mostly free applications. It then demonstrated the ‘top 10’ innovative applications which exemplify the different ways in which Web 2.0 can make a difference for university learning. Designed to provide practical, usable ideas, the presentation emphasised how the technologies which might be chosen must be understood in terms of their relationship to the content, assessment, outcomes of learning, and the particular context provided by students and the subjects they are studying. This presentation was given in 2010 at 17 universities around Australia to more than 750 attendees. The presentation was also recorded at several universities and made available to staff unable to attend. A fully produced high-quality audio-visual recording was made at the University of New South Wales and has been made available on that university’s website. The presentation was particularly designed to engage academics with the idea that, while we can learn from these key examples, the most important step in developing innovative online learning is for them to explore and analyse individual tools, such as the ones presented, for their specific needs and requirements.
Four additional site-specific workshops were conducted, including the ‘blogshop’ on online tools referred to at various points in this site.
As well as these public activities, the main work undertaken was within the BA (Internet Communications) course at Curtin University. Each of the main units in this course for which I am responsible as Head of Department was the locus for an innovation in online teaching and learning, designed to implement and test the aims and assumptions of the project. The results for this are presented in the examples section.
Some key findings
I have abstracted some key findings from the report in the Examples section of this website.
