Activity Reflection (week 3)

Please post a reflection that addresses what you did this week, why you did what you did, and what you would do differently in the future. Your reflection will be framed by three broad questions: What? So what? What now?

1. What?
   1. Briefly describe what you did.
      This week’s subject on making learners connect to each other has made me consider the application of audio and web 2.0 technologies like Voicethread, to discussion forums. If we establish rules for making posts of this type, I believe it can work. There is little research on this area yet, but I think the evidence is building up on the usefulness of these technologies in online teaching.
2. So what?
   1. Describe why you did what you did. What are your feelings about what you did?
      I got curious after Dr. Farmakis presentation when I asked if she had used audio for discussion forums, then came a series of posts in the chat from some other attendees that leaned on the drawbacks of using the technology in the discussion setting. It got me curious because I thought that maybe this is just some kind of resistance to the use of new technology or maybe there is indeed no foundation on the usefulness of this system in online learning. So, I think I have found a problem I liked to explore possible solutions to, that has really excited me.
   2. How will this help you?
      The use of web 2.0 technologies for online learning is developing fast and I want to be a part of this inquiry. This new task is going to help hone my research skills in education research, which requires different methods than the ones I have used in engineering.
   3. What did you learn from the experience?
      That I should not be afraid of using new technologies for creating engaging and interactive activities in the discussion sections of my course. I also learned that there is still little research on the use of these technologies in online learning, maybe this research is being conducted now, but there a few papers out there already published. This is a fertile area for research, which I am hoping to conduct at some point later in my career.
3. What now?
   1. What changes did you make?
      I will start making some activities that include the use of presentation tools such as Voicethread. One way we can implement this is by letting the students use a different identity if they choose to. They can also choose the using of the audio system only, we will have to create netiquette rules so that the postings do not get confusing to other students.
   2. What will you do differently in the future?
      I think I will start considering using web 2.0 tools, even though there is not enough research to support the effectiveness of many of these tools. Since I am interested in doing research later on, I think I might be able to find a topic here. I guess the big questions is whether discussion forums gain anything from implementing audio threads, here at UF there is no guidelines on how students use the tool, I think this time I will spend some effort on creating these guides to help students create a truly engaging community through voice and text.
   3. What do you still have to learn?
      I think I need to work on the guidelines and instructions for conducting audio postings for discussion forums. This is basically uncharted territory for me but I am excited about this possibility. In addition, there are other web 2.0 tools that I think can be used for online learning. I am especially interested in finding a good use of that app called Vine, maybe it could work for creative activities related to the arts and social sciences. The roadblock here is that this App is not integrating on any LMS so far, but I think this is going to change soon.