Active and Collaborative Learning

through a Blog Network

SAIS 2013

Jack Zheng, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Information Technology Department

Updated in May 2014 to include results from IT 6753

To cite: http://aisel.aisnet.org/sais2013/42/

Change of Learning Environment

Closed learning environment

• Classroom

• Instructor centered

• Learning materials designated by instructors: textbook, lab, etc.

• Traditional LMS: course based, registration required, access limited, time limited

Open learning environment

• Learner centered

• Open and public learning resources

• A greater level of interactions and broader perspectives

• A comprehensive and continuing experience

Enabler: Web 2.0

Social Learning Network (SLN)

– A social network created specifically for the purpose of learning

– An open online learning community for resource sharing, collaboration and discussion

• Major features– Open

– Recognized contribution and learning

– Organize and keep all learning experience and materials with users

– Keep in touch with people who have common interests

– Increased exposure to distinct point of views

Blog

As of 4/1/2013

http://en.wordpress.com/stats/

• A major Web 2.0 tool that facilitates people participation in online content generation and publication

• Easy online writing and instant publishing with little technical skill required

• Used widely by professionals for information and knowledge sharing

• One of the major resources of problem solving and learning

• With the help of search engines, these contents are publicly available and relatively easy to access.

The Educational Affordances of Blogs

• Deng, L. and Yuen, A. H. K. (2011). Towards a framework for educational affordances of blogs, Computers & Education 56(2): 441–451.

Facilitate student

engagement and

active learning

Create a sense of

community and

encourage students to

participate in peer

learning.

Blog Use in Teaching

Facilitate student engagement and active learning

• useful for students to reflect and publish their understanding and opinions

• requires students to actively explore and organize their thoughts

• helps students identify what they have learned and what they need to improve

• promotes continuous learning

Create a sense of community and encourage students to participate in peer learning

• providing a convenient and effective way for sustained and informal discussion - simpler and easier to follow than emails or discussion forums

• providing opportunities for diverse perspectives

• writing for a bigger audience and leaves digital footprints

• potentially developing an online presence and getting recognition.

Blog Advancement

• Two features of blog have been advanced

– Social networking

– Blog site development framework

• Blog has been meshed into a bigger system

together with other tools to help create a

learner centered social learning

environment.

Course Information

• CIS 8020 System Integration (fall 2009)– http://cis8020.blogspot.com/

– Information systems integration in organizations• How to enable different computing systems and software applications to work

together?

• Concepts, principles, strategies, methods, technologies, tools, management practices

– a graduate level course of the computer information systems degree program in GSU

– one of the required foundation courses to prepare graduate students for a general understanding of the information systems domain

• IT 6753 Advanced Web Concepts and Applications (spring 2014)– http://it6753.blogspot.com/

– a graduate level course for the MSIT program at SPSU.

– This course covers advanced web concepts, applications, technologies, tools, development and management practices.

– The course goes beyond just development or programming, and tries to give a more complete picture of the world of the web from different aspects.

– In spring 2014, the focus was on web 2.0 but added more coverage on mobile web development.

Quick Stats

CIS 8020 IT 6753

Total number of students 31 14

Total number of blog sites 11 5

Total number of blog entries 195 43

Total number of comments 200

The most comments left by an individual 23

Average number of comments per person 13

Average number of comments per post 4.7

Student Work and Grading

• Three major aspects of the student work in this project – Blogging (informal writing)

– Social interaction

– Blog website development

• Blogging– Focus on the selected topics.

– Everyone in the group needed to contribute.

– Each group was required to post at least 2 blog entries per month and at least 10 entries for the whole semester.

– The Blogger of the Class was voted and rewarded at the end of the project.

• Example blog content– Introducing concepts, practices, and technologies.

– Sharing personal or professional real life experiences.

– Presenting questions and seeking other people’s comment.

– Reviewing and recommending websites, books, articles, or blogs.

– Summarizing class presentations and posting presentation files.

Student Work: Social Interaction

Social connection and interaction

• All contributors’ names were listed on the team blog site.

• A public profile page for each blogger.

• Follow others using a tool provided by the platform.

• Use RSS gadget to dynamically display live posts from other sites in and outside the network.

• Read blogs on all member sites and write relevant comments.

• At least 10 meaningful comments from each student.

• Sign-in was required for making a comment, so student contributions can be tracked.

• The blog owner was encouraged to respond to comments promptly.

Student Work: Blog website development

Blog website development

• Blogger.com is a leading blog website building platform and provides comprehensive features and tools for website development and hosting.

• Many useful mashup gadgets are provided.

• Custom scripts are accepted to integrate external applications and resources.

• Students would gain some hands-on experience of web-based integration and mash-up.

• The best blog website was voted and rewarded at the end of the project.

Survey

• Google forms

– https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_EAbcJVB_4h

zY0psfkzUs0rmJYYBDfCaFl1qELT9ct4/viewfor

m

• Used a 5-point scale to evaluate how much

they agree to a set of statements, ranging

from “1 - Strongly Disagree” to “5 - Strongly

Agree”.

Survey Results – IT 6753

Survey item (statement) Average

Active learning (self-expression)Writing blogs helps do my own research and organize my thoughts. 4.4

The blogging network encourages student participation. 4.1

Peer learning (social connection)I got a lot of good information and resources from reading other groups’ blogs. 4.6

The blogging network expands my learning beyond course materials. 4.6

Sense of community (social interaction)Commenting on other blogs is a good way of discussion and idea sharing. 4.1

I enjoy reading comments as well as blogs. 4.1

The blog network facilitates communication and information exchange. 4.5

OverallOverall, I like blogging as part of an educational experience. 4.3

Overall, I think the project takes me reasonable time and effort. 4.3

Discussion - Purpose

Blogging (writing and commenting)

• to engage students in the learning process by active student contribution and interaction with peers.

Hands-on integration practices

• the development of the blog website enabled student to have hands-on practices on integration technologies and tools.

Learning Approaches Promoted

Active learning

Collaborative learning

Peer learning

Challenges/Lessons

• Majority of the students did not have blogging experience.– did not know what to blog about and how to blog.

– It was a slow start to get them into a habit of public and informal writing.

• Diverse feelings about the concept of peer learning– On one hand, some students welcomed this project and thought it

brought new perspectives, experiences, and skills. • excited to read other’s blog and make public comments.

– On the other hand, some students felt frustrated as readings were not structured, and they were not comfortable at learning from peers.

• The project focused more on student participation and experience, but less on learning efficiency.

• some posts were of low quality and did not contribute much to the class learning.

Future Improvements

Provide more blogging guidance and examples

Narrow down topic scope to be more related to course content

Offer more blog quality guidance.

Connect blogs to classroom activities, e.g., used for in-class discussion.

Best for These Courses

Online classesGraduate classes

Subject survey classes

The hands-on exercise part

applies to some technology

oriented courses

Conclusion

Open

Social

Learning

Web 2.0 has brought us many useful

technologies that extend the learning beyond

the classroom and courses.

A blog project is not only a way to engage

students in active and collaborative learning,

but also to bring students to the world of

open knowledge publishing and sharing.