Session 5: Twitter Or Wiki?

How do you achieve discussions on an online course setting? There are many ways and many web services available to establish this type of online interaction. There are two types of telecommunications technology specifically design for online conversations, blogs and wikis.

A blog is a kind of website where you can write about something and post it on the web for others to see. Readers can then leave a comment or opinions on your written topic. Twitter is a type of a mini blog because it limits the user to a 140 character post. Twitter will permit you to receive messages via computer (when you are logged on to your Twitter account) or your cell phone (when you set your Twitter account to send you alerts through your SMS).

Twitters can be set to private so only those you authorize can have access. If your cell phone is set-up to receive alerts, you do not have to be logged on to your Twitter account to check your messages. Twitter would be useful if you have quick questions because of its character limitations. Because many of those who take online classes sometimes do not have time for lengthy discussions, Twitter is ideal because it forces you to have short and straight to the point conversations.

The immediacy of feedback makes Twitter rich in media and social presence (Dennis & Kinney, 1998). It can be both asynchronous and synchronous. Twitter can be asynchronous because the author and the reader do not have be interacting simultaneously. Twitter can be synchronous when both are logged in, similar to instant messaging.

Wiki is a derived from an Hawaiian term wiki wiki is translated as “to hurry”. Similar to a blog, wiki is a type of a web site. Wikis also have the functionality of it being set to private so only certain users have access. Wikis are more open and flexible because characters can be more than 140 and contents / posts are editable for anyone who has access; however, it does not have the capability of the messages being sent via cell phone.

Wikis would be useful when you want others to review your paper or other documents. The good thing about wikis is it keeps track of the updates and allows you to go back to the previous version. Wiki pages can include texts, images and links which increases richness of the media. Social presence is also increased because of the amount of interaction between the users.

After comparing these two very different technologies (Twitter and wiki) to use as a means for online discussions in education, I found that they can be both very useful in different ways. Twitter can be used for a quick question and answer tool. While on the other hand, wikis are more suitable for longer and complicated discussions. All and all both technologies can accomplish the task of having discussions online.

References

Dennis, A. R., & Kinney, S. T. (1998). Testing media richness theory in the new media: The effects of cues, feedback, and task equivocality. Information Systems Research, 9(3).

Session 5: Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography 1
Citation:
Essex, C. (2007). Web 2.0 new tools for distance learning. Distance learning...for educators, trainers, and leaders, 4(3), 47-53.

Summary:
With various technological innovations, online educators find it challenging keep up. Essex discussed how the widely used Learning Management Systems (LMS), Blackboard and WebCT, provided features such as: gradebooks, quizzing, testing, communication tools, etc..., but it was teacher-centered structured. He then talked about how Web 2.0 can change the way online education is going. Instead of the course being led by one author (teacher/instructor), “Web 2.0 tools allow everyone access to the means of knowledge production” (p.48).

The most widely used web services in education he mentioned are: podcasts, blogs and wikis. Podcasts are digital audio or video files. They are inexpensive and easy to create. Audacity provides free software for podcast creation. Blogging is a kind of website where a user can write about a certain topic and allow readers to comment on their thoughts. Class Blogmeister is a specific blog developed around educational use that was provided from the article. Finally, wikis. They “are collaborative environments by definition, allowing multiple usrs to work on the same documents, though not a t precisely the same time” (p.51).

Review:
I found this article very informative in providing the various types of technology that can be used for educational purposes. The author presented useful websites on where to actually require these types of tools so you can try it out yourself. He also provided blogging and podcasting websites that specifically contain educational contents. The only downside to the article is that the author failed to offer the readers the negative side of these types of web services.

All in all, I found the article very informative in keeping up with the latest technology available for use in distance education. I would recommend others to read it to get a brief description of web services being offered.

Annotated Bibliography 2
Citation:
Galagan, P. (2008). Second that. T & D, 62(1), 34-37.

Summary:
The article talks about online classrooms in a virtual world through the use of a program called Second Life. “Second Life a digital chimera that is visited by million of people daily, is a virtual world where almost anything can happen, including new ways to learn and engage people in extended workplace” (p. 35).

Galagan talked about how many universities, colleges and even corporations use this virtual world in interacting with others. “It’s a collaborative environment where you really feel like you’re physically with other people” (p.35). You can conversed with other students from your class and even your instructor if they are at the same you are at. Because Second Lifes’ contents are user-crated, users can build their own world for their specific needs.

Review:
The article provided useful insights on how far can we go with technology. I did not even know this type of technology existed and is being widely used. Virtual worlds were created for training new employees, international corporate meetings are being held virtually and college campuses built for educational use.

Although the article was an interesting read in terms of the possibility of building virtual worlds, it failed to discuss how Second Life actually works, requirements and costs. If you would like to find out more about Second Life, you could visit the actual site: http://secondlife.com/whatis/. I recommend this article for those who want to know a brief overview of what Second Life is and its possibilities.

Session 4: Skype

My Skype experience was successful! First, I used it to call my house phone to see if it actually does work. I can't believe how clear the sound was, it sounds better than the calls I make with my cell phone. Second, I used it to call one of my friends from church. He was so amazed that this type of technology even exists! Then, I tried sending a file, but for the file to start sending, that person has to be online to accept it before it even starts transferring over. Once that person logs on, he/she could needs to accept the file and it will start downloading. The download time depends on the speed of your Internet.

All in all, I think this tool is useful for distance education. Some might experience technical difficulties, but when taking online course, I think it is important for a person to become familiar with these types of technologies. Here's a link that provides comparisons of other VoIP available: http://www.voip-sol.com/get-free-voip-a-comparison-of-your-best-options/.

Session 3: Technologies in Distance Education

There are several telecommunications used in distance education: streaming, podcasting, forums/bulletin board, threaded discussion, VOIP and chat/instant messaging. These types of telecommunications vary in the richness of the media and interactions as mentioned in one of Dr. Newberry’s articles: http://learngen.org/resources/module/lgend101_norm1/200/210/211_3.html.

First, streaming multimedia can be audio, video and/or slideshow presentations. You do not have to wait for it to completely download before it begins playing. Streaming media can be both live or on demand. On demand media streams are stored on servers and become available at a users' request (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media). An example of an on demand audio and video stream can be found here: http://www.imeem.com (audio and video) and http://youtube.com (video). Live streaming is real-time. For example http://www.air1.com (audio) and http://www.chris.pirillo.com/live (video). This type of interaction is instructor-student and is asynchronous because both parties do not have to interacting simultaneously.

I use streaming media daily at my work and home. I like listening to music while I work and I use imeem.com. You could find almost any song you could think of, make your own playlist and listen to it as much as you want. Also, it gives you the option to purchase the songs. I like going to youtube.com to watch tutorials for Photoshop (photo editing software) and Dreamweaver (website developing software).

The downside, as Dr. Newberry mentioned, it is not portable and cost efficient. On the other hand, podcasting (http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2005/07/20/WhatIsPodcasting.html), which is the next technology I am going to talk about, is portable. The types of media and interaction are similar to streaming. The only downside is you have to wait for it to completely download before you could hear or view it. Personally, I do not mind the wait because the benefit of its portability outweighs the negative side of podcasting. You could easily save and transfer the audio and/or video on to your mp3 player, giving you the ability to gain access to it anywhere and anytime. For purposes of learning, I think podcasting is a better choice than streaming because of portability and cost.

Forums/bulletin boards (http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2007/papers/1035.pdf) and threaded discussions (http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2005/papers/1062.pdf) are both text based media. It is asynchronous and involves instructor-student and student-student interaction. These text based discussion are made public; thus, allowing view for all students in the class. Advantages of forums/bulletin boards are the uploading of images (increasing media richness) and directly quoting other people (increasing personalization). A major disadvantage of forums/bulletin boards is many universities do not support them. The instructor will need to find the means to implement and maintain them. Threaded discussions' output structure is a disadvantage because it makes it difficult to follow. I had experience with both forums/bulletin boards and threaded discussions, mainly for educational purposes. I do prefer forums over threaded discussions. I took a WebCT class a year ago and we were required to participate on threaded discussions 2-3 times a week and it was really confusing and tedious.

Lastly, VoIP (http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~madl/voip.pdf) and chat/instant messaging (http://www.ncsu.edu/it/essentials/email_messaging/messaging/) are synchronous, very rich and personalized media. It allows for all parties to participate simultaneously; therefore, it reduces ambiguity on the subject at hand. The downfall to it is coordinating the time to talk or chat online and installation. In the past, I have used MSN and Yahoo Messenger and GoogleTalk for instant messaging. I found it useful for keeping in touch with friends and work purposes (http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/iminwork.htm). VoIP (Skype - http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~salman/skype/Skype_Analysis_1_3.pdf), on the other hand, I have no previous experience with. I assume most would prefer this over instant messaging because you do not have to type. You just talk to each other through your computer instead of the telephone.

All in all, I feel these technologies are useful in an online environment. Although some are more difficult to implement than others, I think using it in class and gaining hands-on experience is good practice.