e-Mergent learning from an online conference (original) (raw)
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The electronic conference, Bits and Bytes: An Online Symposium on the Evolution of Technology in Education, was a joint initiative of the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Centre for Advanced Placement Education at Discovery Collegiate. The format of this electronic conference (e-conference) was similar to that of an on-site conference, with a call for submissions, a peer-reviewed processing of these proposals, and a presentation of the accepted proposals. However, the participants of this e-conference never met in a specific locale in a synchronous time frame, as is the case with traditional conferences. The authors and participants interacted in a virtual sense, with presentations, commentary and feedback taking place in an asynchronous time frame.
Disturbances and Contradictions in an Online Conference
2017
1.0 INTRODUCTIONOnline conferences are complex socio-technical systems. Designers of online conferences are both convenors (Cashman, Linehan, Purcell, Rosser, Schultz, & Skalski, 2014; Neal and & Neal, 2011) with a primary focus on design of social systems, and technology stewards (Wenger, White, and & Smith, 2009), with a primary focus on the effective use of online environments to support authentic and productive communication and learning across a conference. Both aspects require a subtle understanding of the constraints and opportunities presented by tensions within the activity system of the conference. The research setting for this article is the e/merge series of online conferences on the use of educational technology in African universities which were offered in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2012 by the Centre for Educational Technology (2008) at the University of Cape Town.This article uses theoretical resources of cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to make sense of some of ...
Conferencing: An Exploration into Connectivity, Content, and Community
International Electronic Journal For Leadership in Learning, 2004
The electronic conference, Bits and Bytes: An Online Symposium on the Evolution of Technology in Education, was a joint initiative of the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Centre for Advanced Placement Education at Discovery Collegiate. The format of this electronic conference (e-conference) was similar to that of an on-site conference, with a call for submissions, a peer-reviewed processing of these proposals, and a presentation of the accepted proposals. However, the participants of this econference never met in a specific locale in a synchronous time frame, as is the case with traditional conferences. The authors and participants interacted in a virtual sense, with presentations, commentary and feedback taking place in an asynchronous time frame. University of Newfoundland and the Centre for Advanced Placement Education at Discovery Collegiate. It was co-chaired by Marc Glassman, a professor in the Faculty of Education, and Michael Barbour, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia in Athens (although at the time of the e-conference a teacher at Discovery Collegiate).
Communities of Practice: guidelines for the design of online seminars in higher education
Education, Communication & Information, 2001
This paper focuses on the Community of Practice (CoP) concept and its implications for designing online seminars in the university context. Student learning in seminars at universities is seen as peripheral participation in a particular scientific community -one of the many knowledge-creating CoPs that constitute a university. Introducing information technology into university education thus should be measured by the degree to which these new ways of teaching enhance students' access to scientific communities. This framing view of university education is connected to a social theory of learning where learning is seen as an essentially social, situated phenomenon. The concept of 'legitimate peripheral participation' in a community of practice is used to derive a design framework for online seminars. Using this framework, we implemented an online seminar on the topic of organizational knowledge management at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria. The GroupWare platform BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work) was used for the exclusively asynchronous communication during the ten-week course. Of particular interest were the ways in which students, invited guest experts and the instructor interacted without ever meeting face-to-face.
Designing online conferences to promote professional development in Africa
This article considers how online conferences can support professional development across Africa and reviews elements of the literatures of social learning, online professional development and online conferences. The e/merge online conference is then described in terms of design features and participation metrics. This sets context for discussion of the results of a qualitative analysis of statements by engaged online conference participants concerning the affordances of the online conference and their experiences of learning during the conference. Online conferences have become an increasingly well-accepted mode of delivery and interaction for professional development processes. This is partly driven by changing online conference designs, improved bandwidth and increasing take-up of internet services globally. The growth of online conferences is also in part a response to the travel costs, security fears, and ecological impacts related to traditional face-to-face conferences. The e/merge online conference series on the use of educational technology in Africa is an example of how online conferences can enhance professional networking and development of practitioners and researchers. Such conferences can bring together professionals with shared practices, facilitate learning at the boundaries of overlapping communities of practice and bring African and global experiences into a shared conversation about new opportunities and local contexts.
A Discussion by Any Other Name: disentangling words and practice in online conferencing
E-Learning and Digital Media, 2011
It is possible that the pedagogical benefits of a discussion board or any asynchronous communicative tool may not be realised as inscribed in terms like 'collaborative learning environment' or 'discussion board' due to two things: first, as instructors, we focus on what the technology can do and should do and ignore what is done when the technology is used in practice; and second, as researchers, we focus on coding messages into categories and mapping online activities into models that causes us, again, instead of seeing what is done, to try to fit our practices in situ into codes. As both instructors and researchers, we try to adhere to a constructivist view of teaching and learning. This article is about what is happening -the practice of blended/online learning and communication environment and tool (i.e. discussion board) as the technology-in-situ. It disentangles the word 'collaborative' from 'technology' and, in particular, the word 'discussion' from 'board'. Our very notions of discussion or collaboration and our understanding of the so-called collaborative learning environments define the ways in which we plan for an online activity. The author argues that constructivism has become a byword influencing pedagogy, its methodologies including designing socalled learning environments in ways that hide what is really happening when we are online. The case of the discussion board is described to illustrate that the board online can be other things too.
2002
A group of graduate students and an instructor at the University of Saskatchewan experimented with the use of synchronous communication (chat) and asynchronous communication (bulletin board) in a theory course in Educational Communications and Technology for an eight-month period. Synchronous communication contributed dramatically to the continuity and convenience of the class, and promoted a strong sense of community. At the same time, it was viewed as less effective than asynchronous communication for dealing with content and issues deeply, and it introduced a number of pedagogical and intellectual limitations. We concluded that synchronous and asynchronous strategies were suitable for different types of learning, and what we experienced was a balancing act between content and community in our group. A combination of synchronous and asynchronous experiences seems to be necessary to promote the kind of engagement and depth required in a graduate seminar. Résumé Un groupe d'étudiants de second cycle universitaire et un chargé de cours de l'université du Saskatchewan ont procédé à une expérience portant sur l'utilisation des communications synchrones (cyberbavardage) et des communications asynchrones (babillard électronique) dans un cours de théorie sur les communications et la technologie pédagogiques sur une période de huit mois. Les communications synchrones ont contribué de façon spectaculaire à la continuité de la classe, à son aspect pratique et ont favorisé un sens fort de la communauté. Cependant, elles ont été jugées moins efficaces que les communications asynchrones en ce qui concerne le traitement approfondi du contenu et des questions, et elles ont introduit un certain nombre de limites tant pédagogiques qu'intellectuelles. Nous en avons conclu que les stratégies synchrone et asynchrone pouvaient convenir à différents types d'apprentissage et que notre expérience avait été une façon de jongler avec le contenu et l'aspect communautaire du groupe. La combinaison d'expériences synchrones et asynchrones semble être nécessaire afin de promouvoir le type d'engagement et d'approfondissement requis au niveau d'un séminaire de second cycle universitaire.
2008
"In today's rapidly changing world of educational technology, faculty and staff struggle to keep up with new developments and the application of these technologies into the teaching and learning environment. Online conferences, workshops, and other events, held on the Internet since 1996, provide ample and affordable opportunities for faculty development to reduce this ambiguity. Today's online events are held primarily in a synchronous or in an asynchronous mode. They serve as ubiquitous learning opportunities for all participants. They provide content that is generally reflective of current developments in the application of technology for teaching and learning. These high quality events also feature peer-reviewed presentation proposals and paper proceedings. This paper describes the nature of synchronous online events and in particular, the online conference, how it works and what benefits and disadvantages it brings to its participants. The Teaching, Colleges & Communities (TCC) Worldwide Online Conference will serve as the model for this discussion. "