COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITY WIKI

Collaborative Educational Activity (WIKI )

Title of the Activity: Wikis to stimulate research at NNMC

Description of Activity: In a wiki-based activity, participants work to collaboratively construct a document designed to meet educational and research objective.

Introduction
Wiki pages are easy to create, search, edit, view, and access from any location at any time.

Activity Goal and Objectives

Goal
The goal of a wiki activity is to allow participants (in this case: researchers at NNMC) to learn and demonstrate that learning through the collaborative document creation.

Objectives
By the end of this activity, participants will:
1. Be able to create a wiki for research team collaboration
2. Be able to post a document, and format text with a wiki editor (embed links, import images, etc).
3. Work collaboratively with other participants to better understand and succeed at group process (identify and provide quality feedback to discussion postings)
4. Learn more about the selected topic of posted document, express and share ideas, suggest improvements to current processes.
5. Synthesize a collective work into a team project, post it on wiki.

Appropriate Content Areas: All

Prerequisites:
Participants need to have the pre-existing knowledge related to the content on the given topic.

Materials and Resources:
The instructor needs to create a wiki space for the activity.
The participants need Internet access to the wiki space.

Lesson Outline and Procedure:
1. The instructor creates a wiki space for the participants.

2. Within that wiki space, participants collaboratively create a document on a given topic:
• One of the participants (Team Lead) will post a document (wiki page) for a team collaborative work (document editing)
• Participants edit a document /wiki page (please see instructions provided below): click on the edit tab on the green bar at the top of the page ;
make the changes you want to the fields and click the save button.
Detailed instructions on how to create a wiki page are available at http://www.umich.edu/~umctdocs/Wiki.html

3. The completed project (group document) can be shared with a larger group, peer reviewed by the fellow researchers, directly assessed by the instructor, and often serves as a continual resource for the students.

Examples:
From http://nnmcresearch.wikispaces.com/Collaborative+Project_+RCRS+Data

Teaching Strategies:
• Provide clear instructions on wiki use (include exactly what a wiki is)
• For the first wiki assignment, provide a little extra time as participants become used to working with the new tool.
• The instructor contributes directly to the wiki: provides guiding questions within the wiki, adds headings that the participants need to complete with information.

Guiding Questions for this Activity(Collaborative Project_RCRS Data):
What do we already know about research completion during 2006-2008? How does question 1 relate to question 2? If we change some policies (# of IRB revisions required) can the research completion data be improved? How we can promote research at NNMC?

Timeline:
Wiki activities can be ongoing throughout a term of a project. Some activities (post a document) may only take 5 minutes, other activities (edit document) may take 15 min to 24 hours for participants to add to a collective document. Normally, a collaborative project within a wiki may take 2-10 hours to complete (when participants are not obligated with other activities)

Lesson Evaluation:
How did the participants like the activity?
End of activity evaluations should ask the following:
- usefulness and learning accomplished through the wiki activity;
- how the participants are enjoying various aspects of the wiki activity;
- are the participants learning and/or participating.

Participants learning will be verified by completion of activity based on the activity rubric

Participation can be assessed in group exercises or discussion session.

A rubric can also be set up by instructor to understand grading criteria of this activity; Team Work Rubric Generator is available at http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/

Additional Readings:
• Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou, W. (2004). Teaching and learning online with wikis. Paper presented at the ASCILITE Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education 2004 Conference. Perth, WA.
• Educational wikis (2007). Retrieved January 17, 2007, from http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/
• Farmer, J. (2004, June 10). The wide world of wiki: Choosing a wiki for an element of a fully online undergraduate course, Incorporated Subversion, Retrieved January 18, 2007, from http://radio.weblogs.com/0120501/2004/06/10.html
• Giles, J. (2005) Internet encyclopaedias go head to head Nature, 438, 900-901 (15 Dec 2005). Peer Review: Comparison of errors in 50 Britannica and Wikipedia articles
• Lamb, B. (2004). Wide open spaces: Wikis, ready or not. Educause Review, 39(5). pp. 36-48. Retrieved January 18, 2007, from http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp
• Mader, S. (2007). A wiki-based book. Retrieved January 18, 2007, from http://www.wikiineducation.com/display/ikiw/Home
• Mader, S. (2005). OpenSpectrum: A Wiki-based learning tool for Spectroscopy that anyone can edit Paper presented at the Winter 2005 CONFCHEM: Trends and New Ideas in Chemical Education - an online conference Jan-Feb 2005.
• Wiki's wild world Nature, 438, 890 (15 December 2005)

Law Case Brief: Deborah Mayer

Hi there!

Welcome to my blog (especially those living and working overseas)!

If you'd like to leave a comment, please click on "0 comments" underneath this message.

I look forward to staying connected!

Sincerely,
Marina

Assignment #4, Reflection on Learning: Final Thoughts

Prompt #1

What are some specific challenges that you foresee in implementing the initiative you developed? How do you plan to overcome them?

Biggest challenge in stimulating research is Organizational Culture Change.

Organizational Culture Change is difficult because it was formed over years, and people feel very comfortable in the old settings. However, organizational culture change is possible.

Culture change requires understanding, commitment, and tools.
Our organization went through the first two steps, understanding and commitment;
now it’s time to educate about and implement new Web 2.0 tools that allow and support collaborative learning and interdepartmental interaction.

Recourses:
http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/culture_change.htm
http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/culture.htm


Prompt #2

Thinking about all we covered in this course, in addition to implemeting your initiative, how will you continue to develop 21st century literacy skills in the students that you serve.

My plan for continuous development 21st century literacy skills includes the following:
Have clear annual development goals;
have clearly defined task;
provide continuous education, training and implementation of appropriate tools; assess and evaluate annual development;
come up with the improvement steps.

Prompt # 3


What other thoughts and ideas do you have for developing future e-learning initiatives in your teaching and learning environment?


New thoughts and ideas for developing future e-learning initiatives will be selected based on the first year assessment. Participants should not be overwhelmed with new initiatives.

Assignment #4: Reflections on Learning:Team Facilitation Activities:Post #3

Prompt #3:

- Which of the two activities developed by the other team was the most relevant and meaningful to you, and why?

Two activities developed by Team’s Think Tank were the most relevant and meaningful to me:

- Team Activity – Providing Feedback:

This activity taught me how to provide feedback by using Nicholson's Rubric. I have learned that rubric should be shared with the students before they start to work on the activity; and instructor’s feedback ALWAYS should be non-judgmental, positive, encouraging, and stimulating lifelong learning!

- ZOHO Presentation - Providing Feedback in Online Learning Communities:

This presentation introduced new software (ZOHO), and summarized information on Feedback: Quality Feedback, Why is Feedback Important, Types of Feedback, Role of Feedback in Instruction, Tips on Incorporating Peer Feedback. It is a great reference!

Assignment #4: Reflections on Learning:Team Facilitation Activities:Post #2

Prompt #2:

- To what extent did the activities developed by the other team promote engagement and higher order thinking?
- Were their directions clear?
- Was there anything that you thought could have been improved?

Engagement, associated with higher order thinking, derived from the project design:
our team was offered unique opportunity to learn about the feedback process through the use of educational software programs in collaborative environment.
Trough the provided Threaded Discussion Example we were introduced to the team discussion on how technology changes over time. We have learned about different behavioral roles of team members (Instructor of an online writing clas, Student A, Student B, Student C, & Student D), their different styles of response, and assessed students’ work using Nicholson's Rubric.

The directions were absolutely clear.

I would not suggest improving anything: the Team Activity - Providing Feedback - was designed splendidly! I specifically like optional text: Methods of Feedback available at http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/eds/documents/feedback_methods.pdf

Thank you, Team ThinkTank!

Assignment #4: Reflections on Learning:Team Facilitation Activities:Post #1

Propmpt #1:
- To what extent did the team faciliation activities you and your team developed promote engagement? Promote higher order thinking? How do you know?

Answer:

- Purpose of the Team facilitation activities is to make learning experience richer by moving away from didactic forms of teaching. Online technologies and community engagement strategies help to promote higher order thinking, and therefore help to promote learning.
The team facilitation activity is a strategy that helped us to be engaged in course content through activity design. Designing this activity encouraged our team to brainstorm ideas, collect information, research and analyze available resources, assess and create solutions.

This activity taught me a valuable lesson:
- If I would design the Team Facilitation Activity in the future, I will be carefully choosing moderating techniques that provide comfortable environment for students’ participation in online communications and activities.
“ Students will not engage fully unless the environment is non-threatening and they feel it is safe to do so” (Ambrose 2001).

Resources:
- Effective Online Facilitation Guide, available at
http://pre2005.flexiblelearning.net.au/guides/facilitation.html;

- What is Facilitation? by James Neill (2004), available at http://wilderdom.com/facilitation/FacilitationWhatIs.html;

- Priest & Gass' (1997) Six Generations of Facilitation, available at http://wilderdom.com/facilitation/PriestGass1997SixGenerationsFacilitation.html

Assignment #4: Reflections on Learning: Post 3

Prompt 3:
What and how can a traditional school or district learn from how virtual schools deal with issues of online safety, netiquette, and legal issues around social networking, cyberbullying, etc.
(Provide supporting evidence from class discussions, readings and resources)

Part 1: Provide supporting evidence from class discussions

In my opinion, class discussion “Overcoming Barriers” (Session 4: Using Web 2.0 Tools in K-12) was the most interesting. We made 33 follow up posts! Almost all of them were related to the “online safety, netiquette, and legal issues around social networking, cyberbullying, and whether or not teachers should be using social network sites w/ students.”
I think, all of us appreciated input of the legal experts: “In the past year, I have had four sexual child abuse cases involving teachers and students, and they all began with on line communications between teachers and students. It is a real problem. For the most part, we tell teachers to interact with students in a school setting only”

As a result, Ben Alamed, who had students on his Facebook profile, removed them all.

By the end of this discussion, we didn't come up with any solutions, but recognized the importance of online safety, netiquette, and legal issues around social networking.

As a group, we have also came up with the list of online safety resources:
- Kids Get NetWise (safety tips by age)
http://kids.getnetwise.org/safetyguide/ does a good job of breaking down
- YouTube breaks down safety by issue
http://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/request.py?contact_type=abuse&hl=en-US
- Google's Public Policy blog
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/02/safer-social-networking-and-self.html
- The Internet Safety Technical Task Force Report: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/pubrelease/isttf/;
- Raising Children in the Digital Age:
The Internet, Cell Phones, and Safe Parenting Report:
http://www.freecellphonelookups.com/raising_children_digital_age.pdf;
- FBI Safety Guide: http://www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguidee.htm;

Protective software list:
1. Net Nanny (Provides Internet Safety)
http://www.netnanny.com/products/netnanny?pid=10-2;
2. Parental Control Bar (free) http://parentalcontrolbar.org/pcb_features.htm ;
3. Blogs on this topic:
- http://blog.pff.org/

Part 2: Provide supporting evidence from readings and resources

After years of school cell phones ban, there is a movement in school environment: “teachers learn how students can use text-messaging to look up the definitions of words, search currency exchange rates, and find countries on a map. Among the suggested reading is an essay titled, "What Can You Learn From A Cell Phone? - Almost Anything!". Lisa Nielsen, who manages professional development at the Department of Education's Office of Instructional Technology in New York City, NY, views cell phones as "brain extenders" that students should be taught to harness productively. If she ran a school, she said, she would first make sure teachers were comfortable with the educational uses of cell phones, and then incorporate them into the regular curriculum, allowing students to use them as supplementary tools for learning (http://www.nysun.com/new-york/despite-school-cell-phone-ban-course-sees-them-as/76504/)

The administration of Uni High School, Urbana, IL, is thinking of changing the policy on cell phones and mobile devices (http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/og/news/2008/10/can-you-hear-us-now-cell-phone-policy). This policy is an excellent example of a policy that limits inappropriate use of cell phones, while at the same time give classroom teachers the option to use them in their teaching and learning.
The next objectives of cell phones incorporation into curriculum are: teaching mobile etiquette, safety, and training teachers on academic uses for cell phones.

Assignment #4: Reflections on Learning: Post 2

Prompt 2:
Reflect upon our group reserach and discussions in Session 4 (use of Web 2.0 Tools) and Session 5 (Virtual Schools). Did you find it helpful to first learn about the variety of tools out there that can be used for e-learning, before learning about virtual schools, or do you think it would have been more beneficial to have first discussed Virtual Schools, and then moved into Web 2.0 tools that can be used to deliver content, student work, etc.? Explain your thinking.

ANSWER:
I think it’s very beneficial to first learn about the variety of tools out there that can be used for e-learning, before learning about virtual schools because
Web 2.0 Tools are used in different environments: teaching, professional, etc.

In this class we are concentrating on Web 2.0 Teaching Tools that are used by educators from traditional and virtual schools.
At work I am using secure Web 2.0 solutions that are adopted within US Federal, state and municipal government agencies (example:Defense Connect Online (DCO).

Assignment #4: Reflections on Learning: Post 1

Prompt 1:
Compare / Contrast your experience with using Wikis, Blogs, Google Docs, and the ELC discussion forum thus far. What advantages/ disadvantages have you found? For your own learning and style, what tools (and features) appeal to you and why
Provide supporting evidence from class discussions, readings and resources)

ANSWER:
In this class I have used all of the listed Web 2.0 tools: Wikis, Blogs, Google Docs, and the ELC discussion. These tools provide different ways information is managed and distributed within collaboration group. All of them serve one goal: making it easier to collaborate and share information.

What advantages/ disadvantages have you found?
Advantages: all tools are web-based, free or provided for a very low monthly fee, support group communication; two of the tools (Wikis and Google Docs) support Document editing without additional steps
Disadvantages: ELC is not available to the general public; Blogs don’t support document editing; not easy copy and paste a hyperlink to the Google Docs

Personally, I liked two of the listed tools the most:
- Wikis (available to everyone, easy to use, supports document editing);
- ELC (available to education community)

From my class and work experience with Web 2.0 tools I could say that the most important for the successful team collaboration is to agree on using just one tool for all of the activities. It’s very easy to mismanage your communications using more than one tool.

Here are the key things to look for when you're kicking the tires on a Web 2.0 service ((How to Use Web 2.0 Inside Your Company by Susan Kuchinskas at http://www.bnet.com/2403-13241_23-66093.html):
1. It ties in with an application your employees already use and love. This lets you sneak the application into your users' hands while providing a familiar interface.
2. It comes preconfigured with basic templates or structures to guide new users.
3. The vendor provides a human being who can help with tech support (via phone and e-mail):
There's nothing worse than being stuck in the middle of a project and being told to search through pages of forum questions to find solutions to a technical problem.

TURNITIN learning platform

TURNITIN – PLAGIARISM PREVENTION SOFTWARE
www.turnitin.com


The Turnitin team is a group of dedicated professionals that includes award-winning teachers, graphic designers, computer scientists, and business professionals working together to stop the spread of internet plagiarism and promote new technologies in education. Offices are located in the San Francisco Bay area.



History of the platform

iParadigms, the company behind Turnitin, got its start in 1996, when a group of researchers at UC Berkeley created a series of computer programs to monitor the recycling of research papers in their large undergraduate classes. Encouraged by a high level of interest from their peers, the researchers teamed with a group of teachers, mathematicians, and computer scientists to form Plagiarism.org,the world's first internet-based plagiarism detection service. By late 1998, Plagiarism.org had become the center of international media attention, it continued to grow and evolve, and is now recognized around the world as Turnitin and iThenticate, the internet's most widely used and trusted resources for preventing the spread of internet plagiarism.


Intended audience

Intended audience of Turnitin is librarians, educators, students, and researchers



Key features (synchronous and asynchronous)

It is an asynchronous platform, web-based solution for managing writing assignments, via multiple phases of feedback and revisions. Its services greatly accelerate the learning process, involving students in their own development, freeing instructors from the burden of tracking papers, and promoting critical thinking, while maintaining academic integrity. It is a great solution for research resources, plagiarism prevention, peer review, and grading.



Strengths of the platform or application.

The platform is available for Windows, and Mac users;
Firefox 2.0+ or Internet Explorer 7.0+ browsers are recommended;
Broadband Internet connection is recommended



Areas of improvement, from your recommendations

In my opinion, the Helpdesk services should be available 24/7.



Usability – i.e., ease of use and navigation

Turnitin is very easy to learn, use, and navigate. It allows engaging everyone:
"Turnitin allows me to deliver the considerable cognitive benefits of the peer review experience to my introductory class of 1,000 students. Only this brilliant tool allows me to do so without being swamped by administrative overhead."
- Prof. John Mitterer, Brock University (Recipient of the 2003 Brock Distinguished Teaching Award)



Technical support available

Helpdesk is designed to provide respond to the users questions in the most timely manner.
For that the user needs to fill out the form provided online at http://www.turnitin.com/help/helpdesk.asp?



At least two recommendations for use to support a professional development initiative and/or integration into a K-12 environment

Turnitin has integrated with the following learning platforms that are used in K-12 and professional development environments: Moodle, Blackboard, Angel.



Any additional useful information about the platform for your classmates.

I would highly recommend to take a look at the following video links below to help assist educators in using Turnitin's features and functions.
• Log-in and basic set-up for classes and assignments (10min 46sec)
• Turnitin Originality Reporting (5min 34sec)
• GradeMark and Gradebook (7min 23sec)
• Course Management Tools and wrap-up (2min 1sec)
• Spanish Training Video

Two E-learning Platforms: Defence Connect Online (DCO) virtual room, and TURNITIN

DEFENCE CONNECT ONLINE (DCO) VIRTUAL MEETING ROOM
https://www.dco.dod.mil

History of the platform
In June 2007, The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awarded Defense Connect Online (DCO) a two-part Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro solution for collaboration and engagement across Department of Defense (DoD) global operations. Two different systems comprise the Acrobat Connect Pro implementation, one for the unclassified network, and one for the classified network. A pre-release version of DCO was tested over a five-month period and went live in April 2008, enabling deployed troops, supporting personnel, and military leaders to collaborate effortlessly across locations worldwide.


Intended audience
- Around the globe
DCO virtual room project supportis 5.3 million users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
around the globe, including airborne pilots and ship personnel. Since full implementation of DCO, more than 90,000 unclassified and 25,000 classified users in 40 countries have registered. The number of registered users continues to grow, with approximately 1,200 new users registering every week.
- At the local Medical Center
Administrative, medical and non-medical staff of the local medical center, who play different roles in the accomplishment of the research initiative: course instructors, course attendees, research mentors, research mentees, research administrators and coordinators.

Key features (synchronous and asynchronous)
The DCO virtual meeting room supports collaboration of large groups asynchronously as well as synchronously, and therefore encourages collaboration. The Adobe solution is integrated via a web interface that combines web conferencing and IM functions, as well as for fulfilling registration, authentication, and PKI requirements. The VoIP feature used in Acrobat Connect Pro to conduct communications among more than two parties. DCO also is used for small meetings among workgroups of 5 to 50 DoD personnel, as well as larger meetings with hundreds of simultaneous connections. Acrobat Connect Pro holds the record for the largest live web meeting ever held in the DoD. Maximum amount of registered meeting participants was 1,325.

The DCO virtual meeting room enables users to deliver real-time and on-demand training instantly in any bandwidth on many devices.

Strengths of the platform or application
United States military personnel on land, sea, and in the air can collaborate and communicate around the clock using Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro through a single, secure portal.
The DCO Portal provides a single location for registration, authentication, and all resources required for you to use DCO collaborative tools. Complied with security standards.

Areas of improvement, from your recommendations
My recommendation for improvement is based on the following registration requirement: for registration, the user must have a DoD Common Access Card (CAC) and CAC reader.
When the DCO user is outside of DOD environment (CAC or CAC reader are not available), it is not possible to create a new DCO virtual room. I would recommend coming up with the secure solution to overcome this requirement (registration and room creation with CAC only).

Usability – i.e., ease of use and navigation
The system allows instant messaging, text chat, web conferencing and shared white boarding services, including the ability for DoD users to bring non-DoD personnel into collaborative sessions using Adobe® Acrobat®Connect™ Professional and Jabber Extensible Communications Platform™ (Jabber XCP™).

Adobe Connect brings real-world functionality to web conferencing. It enables users to communicate and interact with groups large and small in real-time, using high-impact presentations and essential collaboration tools. Interact with remote partcipants in real time - one on one or in extendedteams. Connect meetings are delivered by Adobe Flash® Player, already installed on more than 97% of computers worldwide, so the audience can access them instantly, without cumbersome softwaredownloads.

Jabber XCP is more than person-to-person communications. The Jabber Extensible Communications Platform™ (Jabber XCP™) is a presence and messaging platform that enables a vast array of applications to exchange information in real-time. It covers all the basics of IM and adds many features, including multi-user text conferencing, to further boost productivity and enrich the user experience. By instantly connecting available users wherever they are, through whatever device they haveon-hand, information moves rapidly to help people make more informed decisions
Technical support available
Technical support is available 24/07.
If the user forgot your password or are having trouble logging in, the help desk is available via e-mail, commercial and toll free phones.

At least two recommendations for use to support a professional development initiative and/or integration into a K-12 environment
I would recommend considering the Adobe system as a reliable solution for professional development initiative with possible integration into a K-12 environment

Any additional useful information about the platform for your classmates
Adobe Solutions for K-12 Education http://www.adobe.com/education/solutions/k12/
Adobe Resources for K-12 Education http://www.adobe.com/education/resources/k12/

Assignment #4: Reflection 1 on Learning Blog

Prompt for the Reflection 1:

- What have you found engaging and helpful to your learning based on your experience so far in this course?
- Where do you need additional support?


What have you found engaging and helpful to your learning based on your experience so far in this course? Where do you need additional support?
I have found very engaging the following activities for Sessions 1 and 2:
My favorite activity was a Getting to Know You Group Activities. Through this exercise we have learned about each other, learned about cool technology tools, and created great profiles “Graphical representation of participants”. I liked Team Discussion activity as well because I got to know better my Team B members (Magellans).

I would say that Community and Collaboration (Whole Group) activity was a little bit confusing due to the chosen format of activity (just discussions). 90% it was summary of readings, and 10% was sharing of opinions. I think it would be more productive if we could have a scheduled chatting time for the group discussion.
In general, I think it was a very productive time (Session 1 and Session 2). All of us worked collaboratively with each other “ to promote trust, camaraderie, and interdependence.”
I am still not comfortable with the assignments organizations. Hope to improve that soon.

Thanks,
Marina

Hello Team B!

Hello Lauren, Regina, and Mike!

This is my Blog.
I would be glad to see your postings.

If you would like to contact me the best way to reach me is via e-mail:
miborovok@yahoo.com (home),
marina.borovok@med.navy.mil

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Marina