new options in distance based educational programming

Paul TreadwellMay, 2010

A guiding principle?

The technology and tools we use should be consistent with the underlying principles that guide our work.

Something new under the sun?

What has changed? Greater awareness of the power of

technology to connect:▪ People to people▪ People to resources

Increase in technical facility▪ Deeper penetration of technology into daily

life▪ Necessity of use

Connecting people and resources

2 (plus) tools to discuss today: Moodle:▪ Building social learning opportunities

e-Xtension:▪ Building communities for educators

And a little Twitter:▪ Building connections with 140 characters

What is MOODLE?

Software that allows you to: Build online courses Foster learning communities

Why Moodle?

Facilitates anytime-anywhere learning: Moodle incorporates elements such as:▪ Discussion boards▪ Readings▪ Assignments

That:▪ Encourages learning through social exchange▪ Builds a repository of knowledge

How we use Moodle

Internally: Structured learning As a collaborative tool

Publically: Access to a variety of courses including:▪ Horticulture▪ Agriculture▪ Pesticide Safety Education

Who are Moodle courses for?

(Almost) anyone: Our users range in age from 18-80 Self motivated learners Spanning the globe (though most from

NY State)

Creating courses

Moodle provides the framework and tools: Activities:▪ Discussion forums▪ Quizzes▪ Assigments

Resources:▪ Documents/files▪ Webpages

Creating courses 2

Moodle provides the framework and tools Student management:▪ Usage Logs▪ Reports▪ Grades

Facilitating online learning

Requires: A level of technical familiarity and

comfort:▪ How to create content online▪ How to link to web sites▪ How to embed files▪ And more

Facilitating online learning 2

Requires: An ability to manage an online

community:▪ Moderating discussions▪ Encouraging contributions ▪ Facilitating learning exchanges

What is eXtension

eXtension is an interactive learning environment that: Connects university based extension

faculty and staff across the U.S. Provides tools for collaboration and

development of new content Supports the development of new

information resources, usable by all

More than a web site

eXtension is a model of content creation and distribution: “Walled garden” for extension

professionals▪ Community formation (Communities of

Practice)▪ Content development

“Public market” for the general public▪ Content consumption▪ Feedback, questions

Communities of Practice

eXtension uses a “communities of practice” model for content production: Communities of practice are groups of

people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. ▪ Etienne Wenger

http://www.ewenger.com/theory/

Supporting collaboration

eXtension offers access to tools that support community formation and work: Wikis for creation and shared editing eXtension People for locating

collaborators and colleagues Moodle for structured online course

development

Connecting distributed expertise

eXtension facilitates knowledge networks that draw upon geographically distributed experts to create new content and resources for the Cooperative Extension System. This provides: ▪ greater reach and distribution of content▪ Expertise sharing across boundaries▪ New opportunities for program development

Twitter

140 characters or bust: Microblogging:▪ Connect and share with other like minded

people▪ Instant feedback mechanism▪ Discover new resources, events

Why 140?▪ The limits of a mobile (SMS) message▪ Actually 160 but,20 characters reserved for

username▪ 140 characters for message

Social and Mobile

Social and mobile are the 2 key words for the next year or two: Increasing power of mobile phones is giving

rise to new possibilities for content creation and distribution.

Social media, social networks, social learning are all growing.

We can use these new tools and technologies to further our work, and still maintain fidelity to our core values and principles.

Contact

Paul Treadwell Blog: www.paultreadwell.com Twitter: ptreadwell Email: pt36@cornell.edu eXtension: pt36