Gaming the system

Originally published to eBridge on Thursday 19 July 2012

I've come across an interesting blog post which actually touches on some of the concerns that were raised in the case study of the Engage gamification app. Radick (2012) talks about his concern that Salesforce (the very company that Engage was primarily developed for) are starting to embed social media scoring tools within their enterprise systems to try to monitor influence scores. What these tools do is actually to ultimately kill off engagement in the long term, because some people figure out how to game the system to get the higher scores, and the little guys realise that they can't make any progress and give up. With this, all the commenting and discussions (peer feedback in a way) quickly disappears, and the leadership only listens to the people with higher scores. If you really want to see a network benefit emerge, you have to encourage everyone to take part - because it's the amplification effect, whereby a little guy's idea gets heard - that you really want.

Reference:

• Radick, S. (2012). Klout for Enterpise 2.0 Networks is a Bad Idea. Social Media Strategery [blog] 19 July. Available at: <http://steveradick.com/2012/07/19/klout-for-enterprise-2-0-networks-is-a-bad-idea/> [Accessed 19 July 2012]

End of the line?

Originally published to eBridge on Friday 13 July 2012

I'm feeling what's becoming a customary post-submission blues. No matter how much I 'plan' an assignment, I always end up rushing at the last minute, and I'm never entirely happy with the result. In this case I've already realised a gaping hole with references for one portion of the negotiated assignment, and another section feels seriously disjointed. I'm hoping there's enough quality in the rest of my writing to pull it up...

The poster I think/hope is somewhat better, although I realise I forgot to finish my 'score bar' motif which looks distinctly forlorn at the bottom.

I think what I hate most is the idea that the conversation ends here - anyone care to connect on social media beyond the course to keep the knowledge in play?

Making the world your classroom

Originally published to eBridge on Friday 6 July 2012

Using social bookmarks to share articles that we find interesting helps us to become part of modern technological communities of practice, where the ability to locate relevant information at need to solve problems has become critical (Johnson & Johnson, 1996), and any information that does not become embedded into such communities effectively becomes lost (Smith & MacGregor, 1992).

When I originally cited these references in one of my first reflective assignments for the FOLT module, I must confess they were somewhat abstract terms to me! I was still new to the constructivist philosophy of learning and teaching, and bewildered by the Twitter feed of the Learning Technologies conference. After my initial trepidation of engaging with this community I have been progressively changing my approach to learning to fit with the ethos of co-creating knowledge (McLoughlin & Lee, 2007).

To really appreciate the benefits of this way of learning and working in this way, freeing up bookmarks and knowledge to take out of the classroom is a logical step, particularly now that the technology finally fits with a more natural way of integrating work and learning - if we are ready to break out of old habits.

• Johnson, D. W. & Johnson, R. T. (1996). Cooperation and the use of technology. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of research for educational communications and technology (pp.1017-1044). New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan.
• McLoughlin, C. and M.J.W. Lee. (2007) Social software and participatory learning: Pedagogical choices with technology affordances in the Web 2.0 era. in Ascilite. 2007. Singapore. Available at: <http://www.dlc-ubc.ca/wordpress_dlc_mu/educ500/files/2011/07/mcloughlin.pdf> [Accessed 6 July 2012]
• Smith, B. L., and MacGregor, J. T., (1992). “What Is Collaborative Learning?". National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment at Pennsylvania State University. Available online at: <http://learningcommons.evergreen.edu/pdf/collab.pdf> [Accessed February 2011]

Redemption

Originally published to eBridge on Saturday 30 June 2012

I'm really wishing that I'd watched this video (Beith, 2011) before everything else, because it's helped me to see more value in the concept of ePortfolios as an assessment tool.

Seeing a personal account of the reasons behind use of ePortfolios helps me to see ways that they can improve the assessment process. Getting insights into students' learning processes and using this in a non-judgemental way helps to take a lot of the uncomfortable scrutiny off teaching staff when it comes to reviewing the design of curricula. For my own background, I have to wonder if these kind of insights will matter to a government obsessed with numerical data and norm-referenced assessment. Or is that more the fault of society as a whole for not questioning their own expectations and behaviours? But that's an axe to grind another day!

Actually, I take back that comment about wishing I'd seen the video first, because then this little learning experience wouldn't have occurred and been recorded. Hope you readers take note....

Reference

• Beith, L. (2011). Using ePortfolios for Assessment. [video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FUL1TYzG-w&feature=youtu.be> [Accessed 30 June 2012]

Confession time

Originally published to eBridge on Thursday 28 June 2012

OK, I really need to get this off my chest in some way so I can start to do something about it.... I hate ePortfolios right now!  Or should I say I hate talking about them without feeling empowered to actually do something with them? That's probably a bit closer to the truth actually! A quote from Jane Bozarth (2012) in one of the Learning & Skills Group yesterday was: 'Learning isn't learning until you can do something with it', and I honestly still don't feel confident in my ability to use ePortfolios productively within my own professional context, so anything I write about them is liable to be way out of context, and not conducive to further learning.

So how can I fix this? A little late to fix it for the purposes of this workshop, but some Professional Development Planning is overdue, plus I could ask my line manager at work about using an ePortfolio in conjunction with our Performance and Talent Management reviews. Having something that is constructed for a specific purpose like this might help me to put things in perspective and feel like I am building towards something of benefit to myself. I'm happy with current employer - they are after all funding me to do this course, and my line manager is supportive of my progression. She will need to be able to take some kind of evidence to senior management if I am to be recognised (and rewarded) for skills development, so perhaps an ePortfolio will help here.

OK, feeling a little better now....

Reference:

• Bozarth, J. (2012). The truth about social learning, Learning & Skills Group Conference 2012.  [webinar] June 2012. Available at: <http://learningandskillsgroup.ning.com/forum/topics/june-27th-the-truth-about-social-learning-jane-bozarth> [Accessed 28 June 2012]

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Discussion:

Query:

Or should I say I hate talking about them without feeling empowered to actually do something with them? 

I was hoping that the experience of keeping an e-portfolio in Pebblepad during the workshop would give you some sense of 'doing something'...or do you feel frustrated because it doesn't fit into your professional context at the moment? I've never used e-portfolios in my work and it doesn't look likely to be implemented in my department in the near future - for reasons I'm hoping to explore in my e-poster. 

I think your idea of using one to evidence your professional development is a great idea, and there seems to be a movement at the moment for e-portfolios to belong to the student / employee, not the institution / employer. For example, my college has just made Mahara available to students and their Mahara account is theirs for as long as they want it. So this would mean the e-portfolio you develop for your manager could also be used to highlight your skills should you ever look for another job.

However - this does end up sounding like a glorified CV, rather than a 'learning process'...I think in the end e-portfolios are slippery little buggers and hard to pin down!

Response:

I think part of my frustration stems from the fact that we're using ePortfolios in a way that's somewhere between that of a blog and a wiki. Without the time bound element of a blog I sometimes find it hard to pick up strands of thought effectively - I sometimes feel like I end up with disjointed bits that I've written whilst reading different source materials, and I'm not sure how to join them up into a coherent piece. For writing up my reflective assignment I'll try dropping in my blog posts & forum articles with a 'time stamp' on them so I can remember a little better where I was coming from!

With regards to using ePortfolios like CVs, I also feel a bit of frustration because I'm absolutely rotten at self-promotion like this.

The split between inner and outer experience

Originally published to eBridge on Sunday 24 June 2012

How much of what we hear is truly an auditory experience alone? Through our absorption, since childhood, of the alphabet and its detached, abstract, visual representation of sounds, we cannot help but interpret that which we hear in visual terms. So ingrained is our use of this representation of sound that we would be hard-pressed to recognise that we do it at all. 'Prolonged mimesis of the alphabet and its fragmenting properties produced a new dominant mode of perception and then of culture' (McLuhan & McLuhan, 1988).

Aside from the concept of 'meshing' which Pashler et al. (2008) have disproved, it seems to me that the whole concept of splitting learners into visual, audio and kinaesthetic styles may have been inherently flawed. Since most people are not even aware of their visual bias, any attempt to ascertain from them which senses they prefer to use in learning will be inherently inaccurate. We may state that we like to hear a voice when we engage in learning, or interacting with learning materials, but is that truly where our cognitive attention lies?

References:

• McLuhan, M. and McLuhan, E. (1988). Laws of Media: The New Science. University of Toronto Press
• Pashler, H, McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D. and Bjork, R. (2008).  Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence. Science in the Public Interest, 9 (3), pp. 106-119 

Social evolution - past, present, and future

Originally published to eBridge on Thursday 21 June 2012

As a result of taking part in Harold Jarche's PKM course and connecting with him on Google+, I came across this fascinating video by David Ronfeldt (2012). He describes how our complex society can be regarded as being composed of four distinct forms of organisation: Tribes, Institutions, Markets and Networks (T-I-M-N). Each form brings benefits for survival and cultural development, but can lead to its own problems.

It got me thinking about the current problems in the education sector, and how recent suspensions of examiners (Orr, 2011) seem to imply that market pressures are leading some education providers to indulge in unfair and illegal practices. Whilst I can comfortably (I hope!) say that no faults are to be found within my organisation, it's an ongoing concern. As a matter of fact my current project is to produce anti-bribery e-learning to complement our policies.

Earlier today I noticed an article on MSN news (link here - the story is evolving as I write this!) which initially disclosed details about a leaked document, in which Michael Gove was apparently laying out plans to axe GCSEs, re-institute something similar to the old O-levels, and bring all secondary education under a single exam board. Now apart from my concern for my own (and my colleagues') future employment, it struck me as being very much counter to the progression that Ronfeldt describes. Here we have problems caused by market being fixed by institutions? I'm glad to see that the Liberal Democrats have reacted angrily to this document, hopefully shooting it down in flames before it can take hold!

So what next? I came across this concept by participating in a network, so perhaps the answers are out there waiting....

References:

• Orr, J. (2011).  Exam boards: examiners suspended in 'corrupt practices' row.  The Telegraph Online  [online] 8 December.  Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/8943300/Exam-boards-examiners-suspended-in-corrupt-practices-row.html> [Accessed 21 June 2012]
• Ronfeldt, D. (2012).  TIMN in 20 minutes: social evolution — past, present, and future.  [video online]  Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBulH9_04vc&feature=player_embedded> [Accessed 21 June 2012