A presentation about an ongoing exploratory study around learner engagement in participatory learning environments. This presentation was presented at EDEN 2010 (a trimmed down version) and the Sloan C Emerging Technology for Online Education 2010 conferences.

1. "We used it the way we wanted to":
Research on Learner Self-Engagement
in Web 2.0 Participatory Environments
Deborah Everhart & Erin Knight
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nswlearnscope/2053289691/

2. About Us
Dr. Deborah Everhart
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown University
Chief Architect, Blackboard Inc.
Research Associate, Blackboard Institute
Erin Knight
Research Director
Center for Next Generation Teaching and Learning
School of Information, UC Berkeley

3. Background
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nswlearnscope/2053289691/

4. Participatory Media?
• Social media, Web 2.0, “pMedia”
• Tools that foster participation
online
• Blogs, wikis, forums, chat, social
bookmarking, social networking
• Key Principles:
- network effects
- low barrier to entry
- rich user experiences
- openness http://www.flickr.com/photos/exlibris/2221270885/

5. Old School Ed.
Perspectives
• Piaget: Constructivism
(1920s)
• Vygotsky: Social
Constructivism, Zone of
Proximal Development
(1920s)
• Papert: Constructivism and
computers (1970s)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035821186@N01/2645006348/

6. More Recent
Research
• Distance education
• Human motivation
• Learning sciences
• Brain-based research
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91499534@N00/466547709/

7. pMedia for
Education
Key Assumptions:
• Learners learn more
when they can socially
construct their
understanding.
• Student-centered learning environments can facilitate
deeper learning than teacher-centered approaches.
• Participatory media can be used to foster student-centered
and socially constructed learning.
http://lowery.tamu.edu/Teaming/Morgan1/sld023.htm

8. Existing Literature
• Emerging, inconclusive
• Tool-focused, typically a single-
tool
• Attempts to prove
“effectiveness” or profess “The
Right Way” to use the tool
• Contextually bound, often not
generalizable
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jannem/3312116875/

9. Research: Blogs (+)
• effective interactive knowledge-exchange tools
• support unique voices
• empower learners to assert their
ideas and opinions
• encouraging to think critically
• foster reflection, facilitate deeper
connection
• richer understanding due to
hyperlinks, contextual information
and revisiting concepts
(Herring et al., 2004; Oravec, 2002; Ferdig & Trammel, 2004, Koschmann at al., 1996)

10. Research: Blogs (-)
• benefits not same for all
users
• open nature can intimidate
learners and discourage use
• must be kept active and
maintained
• require a high level of learner
and instructor motivation to
participate
(Saeed et al., 2008; Raymond Tri-Dang
Firpo et al., 2009; Mason & Rennie, 2008)

11. Other Tools Forums
Chat
Wikis
Social Bookmarking

12. Summary
• Research is not broadly
conclusive
• Too tool-focused
• Learning environments are
nuanced!
• Need to step back, get broader
understandings of use,
perceptions, motivations, etc.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fatboyke/2668411239/

13. Our Research
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nswlearnscope/2053289691/

14. Our Research
• Observe usage across many tools,
across courses
• Explore the complexities and
nuances within each learning
environment
• Discover trends or patterns across
courses
• Understand student and
instructor perceptions,
expectations and motivations
• Inform future research
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11445550@N00/986296861/

15. Our Research
Avoids
• Claiming effectiveness
• Implying that different types or
levels of use are necessarily
better
• Assuming that patterns of use
in these environments are
applicable to different
environments
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11445550@N00/986296813/

16. Social Media Classroom
• “SMC”
• Open source course site
solution built around
embedded social media tools
• Originally developed by
Howard Rheingold, adapted
by I School
• Early adoption = unique
opportunity to observe usage
across courses and interview
instructors and students

17. Howard’s Course
• Developed the SMC to support his
own course on digital media
• Taught the course 9 times now
• Claims he finally has “gotten it right”,
although continues to innovate
• Tells students upfront that usage is
required
• Also tells them the type of use
expected in each tool Screenshot from Howard’s Course

18. Reality Check
• Most instructors are not
Howard
• Many are using technology or
social media for the first time
• Most cannot take as many
risks
• Most do not have the time to
do trial-and-error
• Not all course content has
such as direct tie to the tools
Adapted from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/intenteffect/4263014185/

19. Back to Our Research
• Instructors were first time users of these tools
• All early adopters of the
SMC in the 2009-2010
school year
• It is important to understand
these newer, ‘messier’,
perhaps more common
environments

20. Methods
• Observation of usage patterns
in 4 courses using the SMC (8
instructors, 150 students)
• Pre/Post surveys on
expectations and perspectives
(79/73 Pre/Post responses)
• Student interviews
• Faculty interviews
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smiling_da_vinci/14785644/

21. Discussion of Findings
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nswlearnscope/2053289691/

22. pMedia for
Education
KEY ASSUMPTIONS:
• Learners learn more when
they can socially construct
their understanding.
?
• Student-centered learning environments can facilitate
deeper learning than teacher-centered approaches. ?
• Participatory media can be used to foster the
student-centered and socially constructed learning. ?
http://lowery.tamu.edu/Teaming/Morgan1/sld023.htm

23. No “one-tool-fits-all”
• Each course used the SMC
differently
Course Tool Used
• Usage was focused around one
tool and that tool differed across Course 1 Blog
courses Course 2 Wiki
• Instructors used the tools Course 3 Blog
differently Course 4 Forums
• Differences in use across students
within a course
• Many different types of influence

25. Instructor Influence
ASSIGNMENT #1:
• Directives - instructions, 1. Find a news story
modeling
2. Blog about it and tag it
• Participation - instructor posts 3. Add the link as a Social
or comments Bookmark and tag it
• Grading - grading usage on the
site
“I commented on posts. I made blog
posts. That's important because it let‟s
them know that I read them and you
have to be credible.”

26. Other Influences “It‟s a different style of reading...At
some point I have to be like, I
cannot spend anymore time on
this class. ”
• Course Attributes
• Social Norms “I felt like the concepts were
more difficult to grasp in
Course 1 and lent
• Student Familiarity or themselves more to
Preference discussions and stories on
the blog.”
• Interplay
between!!
“Since no one was using it, I
didn't use it. You don't want to
“Blogging is something I do waste your time writing
anyway so it‟s just a natural something that no one is going
form for me to kick around to look at.”
ideas.”

27. Self-Directed Learning
“Once it became a habit, no
• In some cases, students ‘took grading incentives were
over’ tool needed.”
• Used it to self-direct learning
“Since it wasn't clear
• Extremely valuable about how we needed to
use it or if it was graded,
observation to explore we used it the way that we
further wanted to.”
“I think the more that I would
go in there and read the posts
and try to put in my own two
cents, the more I liked it and
the more I wanted to use it. ”

28. Learning Activities
• Much of existing literature is tool-
focused
• Align certain learning activities with
certain tools
• We saw each tool used for wide
range of learning activities
• No “one-use-fits-each-tool”
• Convergence of tools OR evidence
of student’s adapting tool to their
needs

29. Learning Activity Focus
• Call for switch of focus
• Start with underlying goal or
objective, then apply
technology
• Multiple tools could do the job
• Easier for instructors to
approach, integrate, evaluate

30. Challenges / “Some call it „fun' and it‟s like, no
it‟s actually work. Staying on top
Takeaways of what people are posting,
commenting and finding your own
stuff is actually a lot of work.”
• Students struggled with work-load
balance
• Instructors faced many social, I haven‟t used it much
pedagogical and technical because I hate passwords,
and I forget them and cannot
challenges access the site.
• Were able to overcome social and
pedagogical, but technical was a
I would devote 15 minutes of
show stopper each lecture to talk about the
blog. That says: I did read this
• Instructors said that they would stuff, I‟m going to give you credit
for figuring out a good thing, and
use the system again, but with I‟ll give you some air time.
adaptations

31. Conclusions and Next Steps
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nswlearnscope/2053289691/

32. Preliminary Conclusions
• Learner-centered approach is important to most,
but an adjustment for many
“ ”
• Learning environments are nuanced social systems
• Activities and adoption vary among courses
• Many factors can influence use
• In some cases, learners can use the tool(s) to self-direct learning
• Tools can support many different learning activities

33. Preliminary Recommendations
• Lead with the learning activity or goal first, then apply technology
• Provide “self-service” pMedia in courses where collaborative activities may
or may not be scaffolded
- Always on
- Easy to access from other online course materials
- Notifications with RSS or other feeds for quick attention
• Scaffold use of pMedia outside of courses to provide models and set
expectations for use within courses
- Include in orientation, intro courses, other required activities
- Structure learning cohorts
- Teach pMedia “rules of engagement” and leadership skills
• Facilitate community-building
- Require identity (name and avatar, not anonymous)
- Allow commenting
- Continue participation after and across courses

34. Implications, Future Research
• Observe more courses, conduct interviews with more
students and instructors, broaden survey results
• Map learning activities to learners’ tool choices
• Analyze interplay and weighting of varying influences on
use
• Illuminate motivations and factors behind self-directed
learning
• Investigate social issues (privacy, identity, ongoing
relationships, etc.)
• Observe use of other participatory tools (video, mind
maps, etc.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdm/54246114/

35. Thank You!
• Center for Next Generation Teaching and Learning:
http://ngtl.ischool.berkeley.edu
• Blackboard Institute: http://blackboardinstitute.com/
• Contribute to the next phase of research:
http://ngtl.ischool.berkeley.edu/learner-engagement
• eknight@ischool.berkeley.edu
deverhart@blackboard.com