Proposta de modelo de avaliação de um curso online (Turma)

Surge agora outra etapa:
Discussão no grupo turma, tendo em vista elaborar uma proposta única, partindo do conjunto de contributos dados pelos diferentes grupos e definição do modelo proposto pela turma.

A proposta de Modelo de Avaliação de cursos online surgiu na sequência dos contributos dados pelos vários grupos, em que integraram e articularam as diferentes propostas apresentadas pelos grupos.

Esta fase foi realizada num Wiki criado por um dos colegas de modo a que todos pudessem colaborar nesta tarefa.

Daqui surgiu a nossa proposta:

Activity 4 - one question interview

My one-question-interview with Dr Graeme Salter
Head of Program - Bachelor of Information and Communications Technology
Head of Program - Bachelor of Computing (Information Systems)

University of Western Sydney - Australia

Question

data: 10 de Dezembro de 2009 21:15
assunto: online discussion groups

Dear Dr. Graeme Salter
My name is Teresa Fernandes. I’m a Portuguese teacher and an eLearning
student taking a master on Pedagogy of eLearning.
During one of the activities proposed “finding, studying and sharing
materials related to online teaching techniques”, I read some of your
papers “Modeling new skills for online teaching” and “Online
discussion groups: Strategies to enhance participation and
collaboration”.
I considered especially interesting this last one, because I also
consider online discussion groups a powerful many-to-many technique to
increase interaction, reflection and collaboration.
But I have some questions related to online discussion groups that I
would like to share with you and maybe you could give me your point of
view.
As an online teacher what I must think before I start an online
discussion groups? What makes a good online discussion? How can I
evaluate an online discussion?

Thank you and if possible I would like to post this questions and your
answer in the class forum so that the other students may benefit from
it.
Teresa Fernandes

Answer

data 11 de Dezembro de 2009 02:26
assunto RE: online discussion groups

Teresa,

I could write an essay in relation to the questions, but I will keep my answers brief.

1. Before starting an online discussion
a. pedagogy
What is the purpose of the discussion? Is it aimed to help student achieve the learning outcomes of the unit?
b. logisitics
How will I structure the discussion? (eg. starting date, end date, moderated or not, assessible or not, will students be required to respond to others etc).

2. What makes a good online discussion
A topic that is relevant and interesting. If it would motivate lots of students to participate without being assessed then it is a good topic. Sometimes this involves setting a controversial topic (although the rules of netiquette must be made clear). Another pointer to a good discussion is where students actually get involved in online conversations (rather than making a single post).

It can be difficult to find such topics and often we need to include an assessible component to encourage students to participate fully.

3. Evaluating a discussion
Can use standard data collection methods (eg. survey, interview, focus groups). Can also use the discussion data itself. Measurements can be qualitative (eg. what is the level of critique in the discussions?) or quantitative (eg. how many posts/responses are there).

Qualitative can be time-consuming so may want to sample (or get students to self-select their best posts).

A number of researchers are developing tools to analyse the quantitive side in more detail (eg. who are the leaders, who are the followers) - for more information you could contact Dr Shane Dawson at the University of Wollongong http://www.uow.edu.au/gsm/staff/UOW049821.html. He has developed software which graphs the interactions in a visual way.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Graeme

Activity 3 - Reviews of learning objects (Sandra & Mónica)

Sandra and Mónica created a group on Facebook "online teaching".

Facebook is a social network. It's a site where everyone can have their profile, this means that we can have personal information, photos, videos, links, notes, etc…

The members can interact with each other by visiting the profiles, making friends, establishing contacts, leaving comments, sending messages to each other, …

So, by having the online teaching group on Facebook we have another way to communicate.

Activity 3 - Reviews of learning objects (Paulo & José)

Paulo Simões & José Carlos Figueiredo developed, in the social bookmarking website Diigo, a social bookmark group “ Mestrado Pedagogia do E-Learning” which allows to bookmark and tag web pages.
It’s very interesting because it allows users to share, with a group within Diigo, special links, and for instance attach notes to specific highlights of a part of a web page or to a whole page.
With a social bookmarking website it’s:
• possible to access these bookmarks from any computer connected to the Internet
• possible to organize the bookmarks by tags (one or more)
• possible to share bookmarks with friends
• easier to find similar sites to a particular site
• allowed to access to the most popular sites / most of the added time

Activity 2 - Learning object

Developed by: Teresa, Marco & Maria de Lurdes, using ISSUU

Role Play Weakenesses

Role play strengths

Proposta de modelo de avaliação de um curso online

Trabalho desenvolvido em grupo.

Online Teaching Techniques - Annotated bibliography

This annotated bibliography aims to bring together a set of ideas that result from a survey about "online teaching techniques”, conducted in the UC Processos Pedagógicos em e-learning.
It isn’t alphabetically organized.


Paulsen, M.; “Teaching methods and techniques for computer-mediated communication”. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from http://www.nettskolen.com/forskning/22/icdepenn.htm

“Teaching takes place in a system that defines opportunities and constraints and within a system environment that influences the teaching process. The system could be more or less flexible with regard to the teaching methods and techniques that could be applied.”
It’s described the Paulsen’s Theory that argues that "adult students will seek individual flexibility and freedom. At the same time, they need group collaboration and social unity. Computer conferencing, when integrated with other media, can be the means of joining freedom and unity into truly flexible, cooperative distance education programs."
The author refers that “there are no quick, definite, or ready-made answers to the question of how much flexibility a course or program should provide. Nevertheless, teachers and program planners who address the issue of system flexibility are likely to provide better teachingsystems.”

Are referred three components constituting the process of adult education, discussed by Verner(1964, 35): "There are three basic components inherentin the establishment of [a relationship for learning between an educational agent and a learner]: organizing people for learning,helping the participants to learn, and selecting from the multitude of devices available ... to facilitate the operation of the first two. These three components are identified as methods, techniques,and devices."

Methods
Verner (1964, 36) distinguished between individual methods and group methods. This paper suggest that the methods are related to the four communication paradigms often used in CMC. The paradigms are information retrieval, electronic mail, bulletin boards, and computer conferencing. And so the framework comprises the four methods: one-alone , one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many.
Techniques
“A pedagogical technique is a manner of accomplishing teaching objectives. The techniques introduced here are organized according to the four communication paradigms used in computer-mediated communication.”
The techniques classified as one-alone are characterized by retrieval of information from online resources and the fact that a student can perform the learning task without communication with the teacher or other students.
The techniques classified as one-to-one can be conducted via e-mail applications.
The techniques discussed as one-to-many will typically be conducted via World Wide Web, bulletin boards or distribution lists for e-mail.
The techniques presented as many-to-many can be organized within computer conferencing systems, bulletin board systems, or distribution lists for e-mail.

Devices
Using the CMC-classification derived from Rapaport (1991), there are four major CMC-devices: information retrieval systems, electronic mail systems, bulletin board systems, and computer conferencing systems. These four CMC-devices correspond primary to the four methods: one-alone, one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many.

The System Environment
Teaching takes place in a system environment that influences the teaching process. Focusing on adult education, Donaldson discussed the environment in view of constraints, demands, and choices.



Paulsen, M. (1995); “The Online Report on Pedagogical Techniques for Computer-Mediated Communication”. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from http://www.nettskolen.com/forskning/19/cmcped.html#g

In this online report are given the definitions of Computer-Mediated Communication (Cmc) and Pedagogical Technique.
It’s made a brief review of the literature describing techniques that can be used to facilitate adult learning and an overview of possible pedagogical CMC techniques:
McCreary and Van Duren (1987)
1.The notice board
2.The public tutorial
3.The individual project
4.Free flow discussion
5.The structured seminar
6.Peer counselling
7.Collective database
8.Group product
9.Community decision making
10.Inter-community networking
Harasim (1991 and 1992)
1.Seminars
2.Small group discussions
3.Learning partnerships and dyads
4.Small working groups
5.Team presentations/moderating by the learners
6.Simulations or role plays
7.Debating teams
8.Peer learning groups
9.Informal socializing: the online cafe
10.Mutual assist for help
11.Access to additional educational resources
Rekkedal and Paulsen (1989)
1.Distribution of information
2.Two-way communication between tutor/counsellor/administration and student
3.An alternative to face-to-face teaching, introduction of group discussion and
4.project work
5.The public tutorial
6.Peer counselling
7.Free flow discussion
8.The library
Kaye (1992)
1.The virtual seminar
2.The online classroom
3.Online games and simulations
4.Computer-supported writing and language learning
5.Multi-media distance education adjunct
6.Lecture-room adjunct
7.The education utility

A pedagogical technique is a manner of accomplishing teaching objectives. The techniques are organized according to the four communication paradigms used in computer-mediated communication: The Online Resource Paradigm, The E-mail Paradigm, The Bulletin Board Paradigm and The Conferencing Paradigm. And each
paradigm correspond to one the four methods: one-online, one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many.
So, in this article the techniques are organized according to the four communication paradigms used in CMC

1.One-alone Techniques: The Online Resource Paradigm
Online journals, online databases, interviews, online interest groups.
2.One-to-one Techniques: The E-mail Paradigm
Learning contracts, internships, apprenticeships.
3.One-to-many Techniques: The Bulletin Board Paradigm
Lectures, symposiums, skits.
4.Many-to-many Techniques: The Conferencing Paradigm
Debates, simulations, games, case studies, discussion groups, brainstorming, Delphi techniques, nominal group process, forums, group projects.


“Quizz on Online Teaching Techniques”. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from http://www.studymentor.com/Quizzes/Online_Teaching_Techniques.htm

In this quiz we can associate the Teaching Techniques to the four techniques by dragging and dropping the 24 Teaching Techniques under the correct categories.


Salter, G. & .Hansen, S., “MODELLING NEW SKILLS FOR ONLINE TEACHING”. Retrieved November 18, 2009, from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane99/papers/salterhansen.pdf

This article considered important to model the new teaching strategies and skills required for teaching successfully in an online environment
It’s listed the following Methods for teaching online:
• Asynchronous Computer Mediated Communication (eg. email, discussion groups)
• Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication (eg.chats, desktop videoconferencing, groupware)
• Online Assessment
• Learning Resources
• Documents (eg. lecture notes, readings)
• Multimedia (interactive or otherwise)
• Links to external resources
• Student Prepared Material
And the following Methods to structure online activities:
• Requiring a deliverable (eg. plans, designs, papers, portfolios etc)
• Limiting the scope of activities in terms of size and/or time
• Providing closure to activities
• Actively moderating discussions
• Conducting collaborative projects
• Interacting with guest speakers
• Debates & role plays
• Surveys & polls
• Formation of learning teams
• Brainstorming


“List of online databases”. Retrieved November 20, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_databases

This is a list of online databases accessible via the internet


Brogan , C. (2008); “50 Online Applications and Sites to Consider”, posted in the blog “Community and Social Media”. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-online-applications-and-sites-to-consider/

This is a list of things that we might check out a little bit at a time to see what appeals, what fits into our workflow, and what we can dismiss as unnecessary for our needs.


“Software libraries” posted in the site “Free Software Directory”. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://directory.fsf.org/category/libs/

In this post we can check the Categories within Software libraries and Projects within Software libraries.


“Online Interest Groups” article posted in the site “Infopool by computer Partners”. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://www.compar.com/infopool/Online-Interest-Groups/

Give a list of articles and information about specific interest topics and groups that we can find online.


Gangel, K.;” 24 Ways to Improve Your Teaching” , posted in “Bible.org” site. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://bible.org/series/24-ways-improve-your-teaching

Provide the links to several teaching techniques.


Gangel, K.;“The Interview as a Teaching Technique”, posted in “Bible.org” site. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://bible.org/seriespage/interview-teaching-technique

“The objective of the interview is to solicit information about a specific topic so that the class may have the opportunity of responding to this information.”
This article highlights the positive points of the interview:
• Student’s participation: “the student who interviews must be involved right from the point of assignment, through the securing of the information, to the presentation, discussion, and evaluation in the class.”
• Opportunity to plug in a vast amount of information to the classroom setting
It also clarifies that are Problems in Interview Teaching like the need to motivate the students or the student’s incompetence to formulate satisfactory interview questions; and the principles for effective interview teaching.


Gangel, K.;“Teaching with Case Studies” , posted in “Bible.org” site. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://bible.org/seriespage/teaching-case-studies

“We can bring case studies into class in printed form and use them as the content of a discussion, or we can actually send our students out to do the field work of observation, analysis, and reporting on the thoughts and behavior of real, live people.”
Values of the Case Study Approach:
• confront the student with a real life situation
• of great interest to students
• it’s geared to teach problem-solving methods
• by using live case studies instead of printed ones, we take a big step forward in the development of maturity on the part of our students.
Problems with Case Study Teaching
• “If we fail to present meaningful contemporary cases for our students to deal with, we have diminished the value of the approach”
• Immaturity of the students
• The teacher’s inability to write satisfactory cases
Are also listed the principles for effective case study teaching



“Learning Contracts”, posted in the site “Best Practice: Pieces of the Puzzle”. “Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://www.centralischool.ca/~bestpractice/contract/index.html

Gives a description of a learning contract


Erdogan, F.;“What is an Internship? “, posted in “The International Educational Site”. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from http://www.intstudy.com/articles/nusinter.htm



DeRosa, T. (2009); “Creating skits to teach Math and Science”, posted in blog “I want to teach forever”. Retrieved November 21, 2009, from
http://www.teachforever.com/2009/09/creating-skits-to-teach-math-and.html

This post suggests that a skit should be:
1.Brief
2.Humorous
3.Written in a conversational tone
It’s given an example for a math´s skit.
And suggest that is positive to have the students writing skits.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009

View more documents from Jane Hart.

Tema 2: Directrizes de qualidade no desenvolvimento/avaliação de cursos online

A Actividade 2 tem como objectivo caracterizar diferentes modelos de desenvolvimento/avaliação da qualidade de cursos online, tendo em vista propor um modelo de avaliação que resulte dessa análise e da discussão gerada.

Leitura e análise do texto escolhido, tendo em vista realizar uma síntese que foque os seus principais aspectos, caracterizando a proposta de modelo/avaliação da qualidade de cursos online.
Neste sentido, o grupo optou por elaborar um documento word complementando-o com uma apresentação de slides:

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Quality Guidelines Herrington Et Al

View more presentations from tefernandes.

Tema 1

Ainda no tema 1 da UC Concepção e Avaliação em e-Learning, foi pedido que se identificassem factores responsáveis pelo sucesso/qualidade dos cursos online.

Assim, a partir da leitura dos textos sugeridos pela docente, da pesquisa que realizei na internet e do contributo dos colegas no fórum de trabalho na plataforma moodle, considero que estes factores centram-se em: o aluno; o professor os conteúdos do curso; as tecnologias.

O aluno:
Disponibilidade on-line do aluno;
Perfil do aluno on-line;
Nível de disponibilidade dos alunos on-line;
Motivação para a aprendizagem;
Percepções do aluno;
Auto-eficácia do aluno;
Autonomia do aluno;

O professor:
Nível do manuseamento e da navegação
Promotor do espírito crítico
Organizador da discussão on-line
Gerente/administrador
Fornecer uma estrutura para o desenvolvimento e independência dos estudantes online
Cuidado por parte do professor na apresentação/criação os conteúdos e das metodologias utilizadas;

Os conteúdos:
Material didáctico;
Qualidade da informação;
O conteúdo do estudo;
O projecto pedagógico

As tecnologias
Facilidade de uso do site on-line para aceder aos recursos;
Acessibilidade e estruturação
Design de interface do curso
Qualidade do sistema

Activity 4 - Role Play

Those of us who did not volunteer for the debate on activity 4, could choose to take part in a simple role play which intended to give more insight in the facets of freedom presented in the readings.
So I decided to create a bed time story:
Once upon a time there was a boy that was different of all the boys of his age: he couldn´t run like his friends did, he didn´t play football like his friends did, he didn’t climb trees like his friends did, …
He peered through his room’s window and dreamed he was like his friends and had the same opportunities.
And like all the boys of his age he loved to learn more and more every day, but once again he was different of his friends, he wasn’t able to further studies because of his disability.
That boy grew up and became a EaD student, allowing him to choose some of the deadlines of the activities, the time to study, the location from where he want to study; allowing him to access to several media or sources of information providing different learning styles; giving him the possibility to structure the curriculum appropriate to his interests.
And his biggest dream became true because now he has the freedom to decide whether or not he is able to attend and further studies.
And for that boy, now a man, that's equal to have the freedom to decide whether or not he is able to run like his friends did, to play football like his friends did, to climb trees like his friends did,…
And for that boy, now a man, this is the biggest conquest of all: “the freedom of access”.

Sweet dreams

Tema 1: A qualidade no ensino aprendizagem em contexto online: uma teia de factores

Começa uma nova aventura: UC @Concepção e Avaliação em e-Learning

E começa em grande com o tema: A qualidade no ensino aprendizagem em contexto online: uma teia de factores



A Actividade 1 tinha como objectivo a análise de perspectivas sobre a qualidade em e-Learning.
Em que se pretendia clarificar conceitos correlacionados com a qualidade em e-learning; fazer o levantamento do conjunto de factores que determinam a qualidade dos cursos online.
Numa 1ª fase realizámos a leitura dos textos:
PENNA, Maria Pietronilla & STARA, Vera (2008) "Approaches to E-learning quality Assessment". http://isdm.univ-tln.fr/PDF/isdm32/isdm_pietronilla.pdf
WISENBERG, Faye & STACEY, Elizabeth (2005) "Reflections on teaching and Learning Online:Quality program design, delivery and support issues from a cross-global perspective". Distance Education Vol.26, Nº3, (385-404). http://casat.unr.edu/docs/Weisenberg2005.pdf
Ao que se seguiu a divisão dos textos pela turma para que fossem traduzidos.
Nesta fase fiquei incumbida de traduzir: Critical Support Issues that Emerged / Quality Teaching Support: pp 397 – 399
Esta fase não foi fácil uma vez que as Línguas não são a minha área, mas penso que me safei.
O trabalho de tradução foi colocado numa wiki http://cael.pbworks.com/ que foi criada para o efeito, permitindo que toda a turma procedesse a uma revisão global, dando origem à versão final da tradução dos textos (3ª fase) colocada no fórum da moodle.

Cartoon: cooperative and Freedom

I made this cartoon.
There I (Teresa)try to understand the Theory of Cooperative Freedom and my teachers are Mrs. Education, Miss Cooperative and Miss Freedom.

Cooperative Learning - Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography aims to bring together a set of ideas that result from a survey about "cooperative freedom”, conducted in the UC Processos Pedagógicos em e-learning.
I´ve organized this annotated bibliography according to categories that show the route I chose to perform this activity.
So, I tried to understand:
- The concept “Cooperative Learning”;
- “Cooperative learning” versus “Collaborative learning”;
- The Cooperative Freedom Theory
- Problems & benefits

Cooperative Learning

• “ Cooperative Learning”; in the site of Kennesaw State University. Retrieved October 22, 2009, from http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/intech/cooperativelearning.htm#why
  This paper defines Cooperative learning as “a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject”. And for that success contributes the cooperative learning techniques that promote student learning and academic achievement; increase student retention; enhance student satisfaction with their learning experience; help students develop skills in oral communication; develop students' social skills; promote student self-esteem; help to promote positive race relations.
  Conditions required:
  1. Positive Interdependence
  2. Face-to-Face Interaction
  3. Individual & Group Accountability
  4. Interpersonal & Small-Group Skills
  5. Group Processing
  Finally, are given examples of class activities that use Cooperative Learning, for instance: Think-Pair-Share, which involves a three step cooperative structure. During the first step individuals think silently about a question posed by the instructor. Individuals pair up during the second step and exchange thoughts. In the third step, the pairs share their responses with other pairs, other teams, or the entire group.

• Johnson, Roger and David (1997), “Cooperative Learning and Conflict Resolution”. Retrieved October 21, 2009, from http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/cooperative/johnson.htm The authors describe Cooperative Learning as “the instructional use of small groups so that student work together to achieve shared goals”. The students are responsible “to learn the assigned material and to make sure that all other group members do likewise”.
  The cooperative Learning can be used to teach specific content formal – described as cooperative learning groups; to ensure active cognitive processing information during lectures – informal cooperative learning groups; and to provide long-term support and assistance for academic progress – cooperative base groups.
  It´s refereed that teachers need proper training before they structured cooperatively any assignment in any curriculum for any age student, so that students believe they
  (a) sink or swim together,
  (b) assist and encourage others to achieve,
  (c) are individually accountable for doing their part of the group's work,
  (d) have to master the required interpersonal and small group skills to be an effective group member,
  and,
  (e) should discuss how well the group is working and what could be done to improve the group work.
  According to studies, that have been conducted, “Cooperative learning consistently improves achievement and retention, creates more positive relationships among students, and promotes students' psychological health and self-esteem.”
  

“Cooperative learning” versus “Collaborative learning

• Panitz, Ted (2003), “Collaborative versus cooperative learning – a comparison of the two concepts which will help us understand the underlying nature of interactive learning”. Retrieved October 22, 2009, from http://home.capecod.net/~tpanitz/tedsarticles/coopdefinition.htm
  In this article the author has as goal clarify the definitions of collaborative and cooperative learning. He intends to do that by giving his definitions of the two terms and reviewing the definitions of other authors and by presenting and analyzing the educational benefits of collaborative/cooperative learning techniques.
  It’s given a basic definition of the terms collaborative and cooperative, reduced to their simplest terms:
  “Collaboration is a philosophy of interaction and personal lifestyle where individuals are responsible for their actions, including learning and respect the abilities and contributions of their peers;
  Cooperation is a structure of interaction designed to facilitate the accomplishment of a specific end product or goal through people working together in groups.”

The Cooperative Freedom Theory

• Paulsen, Morten (2003); “Cooperative Freedom: An Online Education Theory”. Retrieved October 22, 2009, from
  http://www.studymentor.com/cooperative_freedom.pdf
  Paulsen refers the three theoretical positions on distance education, identified by Keegan (1998): Theories of autonomy and independence; Theories of industrialization, and Theories of interaction and communication.
  Paulsen developed the theory of cooperative freedom from some of the perspectives mentioned above, included in the group of Theories of Autonomy and Independence.
  In this article, Paulsen claims that one of the targets in a distance education course it’s to achieve the high level of freedom for the students and suggests the use of 6-axis of the Theory of Freedom Cooperative as a possible guide for implementing a distance education course: Time, Space, Pace, Medium, Access and Content.
  Freedom of time
  A course of EAD should permit a high degree of freedom so that communication can occur whenever it is appropriate and should be a minimum waiting time of the response.
  The CMC can be completely independent of time (available, ideally 24 / day, 365 days / year) providing instant access to information and a system of asynchronous communication between partners, may, however, the matter also to systems that support synchronous communication.
  Freedom of space
  EAD must allow students to choose the location from which you want to study. Paulsen emphasizes the potential of CMC can be from anywhere in the world, whether in formal or informal, where there is a telephone line or a data network.
  Freedom of pace
  “Wells (1992) identifies three pacing techniques available with CMC. The first is group assignments that urge coherent pacing within groups. The second is gating, a technique that denies students access to information before they have completed all prerequisite assignments. The third technique is limited time access to services such as conferences, databases, and guest speakers.”
  The existence of a time plan a course of distance education, with starting dates and terminus, including timelines for the moments of evaluation, etc., can be considered a negative constraint for the establishment of individual patterns of progression. To get around this, different courses have a more flexible organizational structure, allowing students to choose some of the terms, or by setting different deadlines for the same event or not setting any deadlines, in the case of correspondence teaching.
  Freedom of medium
  Nipper (1989) argues that there are three generations of distance education: the first, correspondence teaching based on written and printed material. Then come distance education courses based on broadcast media (radio and television, video tape or audio).The third generation have been using CMC systems. Paulsen argues that “Programs with a high level of freedom provide students with access to several media or sources of information: print, video, face-to-face meetings, computer conferencing, etc. This approach will support different learning styles and prevent exclusion of students lacking access to or knowledge of high technology media.”
  Such approach will make possible different learning styles, avoiding the exclusion of participants due to lack of access or lack of knowledge of the use of media technology advanced.
  Freedom of Access
  Paulsen says “programs that aspire to a high level of freedom must eliminate discrimination on the basis of social class, entry qualifications, gender, age, ethnicity, or occupation.”
  Should be students decide whether or not they are able to attend and conduct the studies.
  Freedom of Content
  The students should have the possibility to structure the curriculum appropriate to their needs / interests from a wide range of disciplinary options and to transfer credit between programs and universities. So it is necessary to intensify cooperation between the institutions.
  Aware of the difficulties that may arise from implementing this theory, in particular, the acceptance of different individual learning rhythms, that might influence the evolution of collective learning, the author proposes the co-teaching, that is, the involvement of several teachers in the system in order to reduce the dependency between students and teacher and, of course, the response time in teacher-student communication.

• Paulsen, Morten (2008); “Cooperative Online Education”, in Seminar.net - International journal of media, technology and lifelong learning Vol. N – Issue N – 20NN. Retrieved October 21, 2009, from http://www.seminar.net/current-issue/cooperative-online-education
  In this article, the author presents experiences and situations in which positive results were obtained when relating cooperative learning with issues like web 2.0, transparency, learning partners and individual progression plans.

• Dalsgaard, Christian & Paulsen, Morten (2009); “Transparency in Cooperative Online Education”. Retrieved October 23, 2009, from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/671/1267
  In this article the authors are confident that transparency supports quality and cooperation.
  “Transparency is important for cooperative online education. People can only cooperate if they know about each other and have access to some common information and services. Cooperation will benefit when general and personal information related to the learning and the learners is available directly or indirectly to the learning community. This transparent information may include personal information about the users and statistics related to the users’ deployment of the online tools. It may further include work students and teachers provide in online notebooks, blogs, and discussion forums as well as results from quizzes, surveys, and assignments.”

And also,

Problems & benefits

• Bafile, C. (2005); “Cooperative Learning Saves the Day: One Teacher's Story”. Retrieved October 23, 2009, from http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr287a.shtml
  This is the story of the Math Teacher Theodore Panitz, who found in the cooperative learning the solution for his problem: give his students the necessary skills to solve problems.
  Also shows the benefits of cooperative learning identified by Dr. Panitz:
  - Promotes critical thinking skills
  - Involves students actively in the learning process
  - Improves classroom results
  - Models appropriate student problem-solving techniques
  - Personalizes large lectures
  - Motivates students in specific curriculum
  - Develops a social support system for students
  - Builds diversity understanding among students and staff
  - Establishes a positive atmosphere for modeling and practicing cooperation
  - Develops learning communities
  - Raises students' self-esteem
  - Reduces anxiety
  - Develops positive attitudes towards teachers
  - Utilizes a variety of assessment techniques
  The article indicates Panitz´s favorite cooperative-learning activities that he uses regularly in his classroom: Pair Reading; Math Olympics and Factoring Jigsaw.

• Eckersley, C. (2003); “Self-paced, e-learning – what value to universities?”. Retrieved October 24, 2009, from
  http://surveys.canterbury.ac.nz/herdsa03/pdfsnon/N1048.pdf
  This article reports an experience, in 2001, when the Education Faculty, at the University of Newcastle, decided to use self-paced e-learning as a means of skilling and assessing students in the computing competencies as required by the Dept of Education and Training (New South Wales).
  In this article, the author concludes that “resources will not easily replace face-to-face instruction in the university environment unless they offer flexibility and relevance to the student learner before they will be ready to commit time to e-learning. They must also give teaching staff the flexibility to customize the learning material no matter how “complete and self-contained” the modules may seem. Making self-paced e-learning resources available to students is like putting a library on a university campus with no teachers. Only the most motivated learners will use them”.
  This article focus important issues related to autonomy and student motivation, and how these aspects can compromise a self-paced e-learning.
  


• Gokhale, A. (1995); “Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking” in Jornal of Technology Education, V. 7, N. 1. Retrieved October 25, 2009, from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/jte-v7n1/gokhale.jte-v7n1.html
  This article describes a study with the purpose to examine the effectiveness of individual learning versus collaborative learning in enhancing drill-and-practice skills and critical-thinking skills.
  The author identifies the research questions; the Methodology and the research design.
  The principal finding of this study was:
  - students who participated in collaborative learning had performed significantly better on the critical- thinking test than students who studied individually
  This result is consistent with the learning theories proposed by advocates of collaborative learning: Vygotsky (1978), advocates students are capable of performing at higher intellectual levels when asked to work in collaborative situations than when asked to work individually; Bruner (1985) maintains that cooperative learning methods improve problem- solving strategies because the students are confronted with different interpretations of the given situation.
  So, Collaborative learning develop critical thinking through discussion and clarification of ideas, and develop problem solving skills.The teacher's role is not to transmit information but to create and manage learning experiences and stimulating students' thinking.
  The article calls for the conduct studies that focus on "the effect of different variables in the process of collaborative learning."

• Hayden, K. (2008); "Make Cooperative Learning Projects Successful", posted in "suite101.com". Retrieved October 25, 2009, from http://middlehighschool.suite101.com/article.cfm/successful_cooperative_learning_projects While there are some identified problems associated to the Cooperative Learning, in particular the evaluation that is common to all elements of the group being impossible to distinguish between students who worked more, it is considered that is necessary to focus on the cooperative Learning in order to achieve success student. They are given advice in order to avoid this problem: “keep groups small to help with individual accountability, randomly call on students to explain the group’s work, keep a close eye on individual work during class time by recording work completed and give each group member a separate task.”
  

• Kimber, D. (2001); “Collaborative Learning in Management Education: Issues, benefits, problems and solutions: A literature review”. Retrieved October 25, 2009, from http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/june96/kimbe1.htm
  This article reviews the literature on collaborative learning. Identifying in this review the following:
  - learning being centred on student based activities rather than being teacher focused,
  - an emphasis on students assisting each other to find answers to areas of common inquiry rather than seeking answers from teachers
  - learning being based on the solving of problems by data gathering, analysis and discussion by student groups.
  The author presents a historical review of education collaborative, starting by identifying that “CL was first established in Greek and Roman schools and coincides with the philosophy of Socratic learning”; a set of different collaborative learning applications, proposed by Sheridan et al. (1989); and 10 research outcomes relating to Cooperative Learning.
  This article presents problems with Collaborative Learning (CL) identified by Sheridan et al (1989) in their survey:
  - CL requires staff to be able to provide a more individualised reaction to students
  - CL best suits students who have well developed social skills
  - A slow transition from traditional to collaborative mode may be necessary when students are unused to the approach.
  - The ambiguity of being a mentor rather than a didactic influence can cause insecurity for both staff and students.
  - Resistance from academics who place high value on traditional, empirically based (i.e. independent and supposedly objective) means of assessment or evaluation.
  - Research findings indicate that alternative approaches to assessment are an integral aspect of CL and are perhaps one of the major hurdles to its wider acceptance in education. Kimber presents 5 reasons for successful CL programs: Clear definition of activities; Recognition of student needs; Academic honesty; Group management; Matching assessment with the teaching methodology.

The Hexagon of Cooperative freedom

The Hexagon of Cooperative Freedom

Recursos Educacionais Abertos (REAs) em Portugal

No sentido em que os REAs se destinam a contribuir para aumentar o acesso ao conhecimento, é importante que tenhamos conhecimento das potencialidades dos REAs, de forma a sermos capazes de tomar decisões informadas sobre se e como os REAs podem ser usados na nossa realidade local.
Pelo que é importante que se aumente as acções de sensibilização sobre os REAs.

• De que forma é que Portugal se está a envolver em todo este processo?

No post, em baixo, é apresentada a 3ª CONFERÊNCIA SOBRE O ACESSO LIVRE AO CONHECIMENTO, que se realizou na Universidade do Minho, nos dias 15 e 16 de Dezembro de 2008, que visou aprofundar o conhecimento, a reflexão, o debate e a troca de experiências sobre o Acesso Livre e em que foram discutidas problemáticas relacionadas com o acesso livre: o reconhecimento e acreditação dos data que são produzidos e disponibilizados em repositórios de acesso livre e a sua sustentabilidade.

Este post começa por definir “Open Access” como um espaço na internet que permite ler, descarregar, copiar, distribuir, imprimir, pesquisar ou referenciar o texto integral dos documentos. Descreve que, na sequência de outras duas conferências sobre o tema, a 3ª conferência visa aprofundar o conhecimento, a reflexão o debate e a troca de experiências sobre o Acesso Livre, contando com a participação de dirigentes universitários, investigadores e académicos, bibliotecários, gestores de repositórios e outros interessados nesta temática.
Esta preocupação pela partilha do conhecimento, pela concepção de que a inclusão científica leva a uma maior inclusão social e a um maior acesso à informação não é de hoje, mas de facto o acesso livre e os repositórios digitais, que o adoptam, viabilizam o livre fluxo de informação e a sua distribuição para um público ampliado.

• Qual é a realidade portuguesa no que diz respeito à utilização de Recursos Educativos Abertos?


• Existem, em Portugal, à semelhança de outros países, nomeadamente o Brasil, repositórios de REAs?

Responder a estas questões relevou-se uma tarefa difícil, uma vez que, na pesquisa que realizei, encontrei essencialmente posts reflexivos sobre os prós e contras da utilização de REAs, enquanto que o que tinha em mente passava pela parte prática deste movimento. Por esta razão, considero o post, em baixo, muito interessante, pois permite acesso a um repositório português, o Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP), que, neste momento, conta com 20.000 documentos académicos e científicos referenciados.

Este post descreve os objectivos do projecto RCAAP: aumentar a visibilidade, acessibilidade e difusão dos resultados da actividade académica e de investigação científica nacional e facilitar o acesso à informação sobre a produção científica nacional em regime de “open access”, bem como integrar Portugal num conjunto de iniciativas internacionais neste domínio. Descreve, também, a evolução do projecto RCAAP que, num espaço de quatro meses, aumentou em cerca de 50% o número de documentos. Este resultado, como é mencionado no post, é impressionante e revelador da importância e da necessidade da criação de espaços que permitam o acesso livre a recursos.

• De de que forma, em Portugal, se procuram, partilham e adaptam OERs?

Finalmente, e enquanto professora do ensino básico, procurei, também, posts que facultassem materiais de livre acesso que possam ser compartilhados, adaptados e disponibilizados aos alunos. E também aqui a tarefa se revelou difícil, porque embora existam muitos materiais disponíveis on-line, grande parte deles não permite a adaptação. No post, em baixo, é referenciado o Projecto do GAVE “Banco itens” que , no âmbito do Plano de Acção para a Matemática, disponibiliza um banco com mais de 2500 itens de Matemática, para todos os níveis de ensino. Sendo que, neste momento, já foi estendido a outras disciplinas do ensino básico.

Embora, seja possível copiar, distribuir, exibir e executar a obra, só é possível fazê-lo sob as seguintes condições: Atribuição — deve dar-se crédito ao autor original, da forma especificada pelo autor ou licenciante; Uso Não-Comercial — não se pode utilizar esta obra com finalidades comerciais; Vedada a Criação de Obras Derivadas — não se pode alterar, transformar ou criar outra obra com base nesta.

Na página electrónica do GAVE, os alunos têm a possibilidade de testar os seus conhecimentos, respondendo aos itens. Na área reservada aos professores é possível a criação, com base nos itens disponíveis, de trabalhos para casa, fichas para aulas de substituição, entre outros. Desta forma professores e alunos encontram aqui uma ferramenta de apoio ao ensino e à aprendizagem.

Apesar da produção e utilização de Recursos Educacionais Abertos estar a expandir-se rapidamente, existem poucas utilizações reais. Como é referido numa publicação da UNESCO, Open Educational Resources: The Way Forward, “The academic community has always shared knowledge, and the scientific method and peer review processes are based upon this approach. However, the availability of content in digital format facilitates significantly its sharing and the ease of adaptation, localization and translation, should it have an open license”.

Assim, é importante que exista, não só, uma reflexão por parte da comunidade portuguesa da importância dos REAs, enquanto instrumentos para a difusão e universalização do conhecimento, mas também é necessário passar-se à práctica, ou seja, aglomerar esforços no sentido de permitir criar, utilizar e adaptar recursos educacionais abertos, que poderá passar pela criação de mais repositórios de REAs e por uma maior divulgação dos diversos aspectos envolvidos num REA, nomeadamente:

• Deve ter-se em conta o objectivo a que nos propomos alcançar com o nosso REA, assim como as características do nosso público-alvo;
• Saber encontrar e conhecer as ferramentas correctas para as aplicar no processo e saber construir o conteúdo adequado para aplicar no tempo exacto da aprendizagem.
• Saber conciliar um REA com o processo de ensino / aprendizagem.
• Conhecer os diversos tipos de licença que podem ser atribuídos ao recurso criado.
• Ter consciência de que a partilha depende da forma de publicação do REA.
• Saber adaptar um REA, que poderá passar por inserir e/ou remover um item, alterar a sequência das actividades, editar e misturar imagens, textos, áudio e vídeo, de modo a adaptar o REA ao estilo do educador e às necessidades dos alunos.

Mas esta minha incursão pelos REAs de e em Portugal deixou-me uma questão: o RAACP é disponibilizado gratuitamente às instituições científicas e do ensino superior na FCCN (Fundação para a Computação Científica Nacional) e, para o Ensino Básico e Secundário existem projectos deste tipo?

Figuras de referência no EaD - II

Uma vez que a palavra “figura” tem tantos sinónimos, um dos quais: “símbolo”, escolhi como segunda referência não uma pessoa mas uma instituição que iniciou a sua actividade, em Portugal, em 1989 – a CEAC.
Esta escolha assenta na lembrança (não muito longínqua!) da minha infância, quando a caixa de correio era inundada com panfletos dos cursos oferecidos por esta instituição e quando eu nem sonhava o que era isto de ensino à distância!
A CEAC é um dos líderes mundiais no ensino à distância, com 60 anos de experiência em todo o mundo e com a missão de promover a cultura e oferecer uma formação de qualidade, ao maior número de pessoas possível.
Actualmente lecciona mais de 20 cursos divididos por diversas áreas (línguas, informática, beleza, …). No site da CEAC, é dada a informação de como são elaborados cada um dos Programas de Formação, desde o nascimento da ideia, através de estudos de mercado onde se capta a necessidade de formação, até à edição do curso, e das parcerias, que tem vindo a desenvolver, com diversas instituições, dando como exemplos o ISLA e o Grupo Novabase.
Os conteúdos de cada um dos cursos encontram-se agrupados em unidades didácticas modulares, em suportes que vão desde o papel, aos meios audio-visuais e multimédia.
Não é minha intenção analisar ou avaliar a qualidade dos cursos, apenas reflectir sobre esta oportunidade de ensino à distância, que proporciona que mais pessoas possam adquirir formação.

Devo dizer que esta actividade foi bastante proveitosa, no sentido que atentei sobre a dimensão e expansão deste modelo de ensino e dei conta que esta metodologia não é assim tão nova como pensava, isto porque já vai na 3ª geração, como é defendido por alguns estudiosos (Moore, Garrison), sendo, agora, baseada em redes de conferência por computador e estações de trabalho multimédia, enquanto que inicialmente se realizava por correspondência postal (1ª geração).

Figura de referência no EaD - I

Devo confessar que não fazia ideia de como é que tudo começou, pelo que iniciei uma pesquisa.

Assim, e após alguma investigação sobre a história do Ensino à Distância, constatei que esta modalidade de ensino deu os seus primeiros passos por volta de 1800, coincidindo com a melhoria das comunicações, que permitiu o aparecimento e a consolidação do ensino por correspondência (como se chamava então).

Um dos impulsionadores desta forma de ensino foi Sir Isaac Pitman que, por volta de 1840, iniciou uma nova forma de transmissão de conhecimentos, com o objectivo de dar formação a pessoas que não se podiam deslocar aos locais de ensino.

Criou o Stenographic Sound Hand (1837) e fundou a sua própria escola (1843), começando a oferecer cursos de instrução de taquigrafia (estenografia) via correspondência, por intercâmbio postal, com os seus alunos.

Nasceu assim uma das primeiras formas de ensino à distância, o ensino por correspondência, que, embora, estivesse especialmente voltado para o ensino básico e ensino técnico e limitado didacticamente à forma escrita, conheceu a sua expansão e importância significativas em países anglo-saxônicos e nórdicos.

Considero Sir Isaac Pitman um visionário, uma vez que viu no desenvolvimento dos meios de comunicação, nomeadamente os serviços postais, uma oportunidade de levar a educação a quem que, por motivos geográficos, económicos e sociais, não conseguia aceder-lhe, sendo este, a meu ver, um dos maiores propósitos do Ensino à Distância.

O que é para mim o Ensino à distância?

A UC Modelos de Ensino à Distância propõe, como actividade preparatória explorar as nossas ideias pessoais relativamente ao que é o Ensino a Distância.
Assim, para mim o Ensino à distância é…
Um tipo de ensino em que as relações existentes entre professor/aluno e aluno/aluno se cumprem através da utilização didáctica da tecnologia de informação e comunicação (a Internet, por exemplo) e em que existe uma distância temporal e/ ou espacial.
É uma oportunidade, para quem resida em regiões em que o acesso ao ensino é remoto ou para quem tenha um horário incompatível com a disposição horária inerente a um modelo de ensino convencional, aceder a um ensino de qualidade.
Um modelo de ensino à distância permite desenvolver a curiosidade, o espírito crítico, as capacidades de inovação e de iniciativa, uma vez que o aluno é envolvido num processo de auto-aprendizagem.

A Teresa na universidade (outra vez!)

Aqui estou eu, no início de mais uma aventura.
Iniciei no mês passado o Mestrado em Pedagogia do e-learning, na Universidade Aberta, e tem sido uma loucura! Tanta coisa nova, tanta coisa gira!
Hoje é só mais um dia!