Write-up on new education Drupal site

Posted by kyle_mathews on February 2, 2008 at 5:15am

We recently created a community learning space for a web analytics class at BYU. We directed students to create individual blogs on commercial blogging platforms such as blogspot, wordpress, and elsewhere. We are then using FeedAPI to aggregate the student blogs and comments (see list of student feeds) into the community site. In addition, we're aggregating blogs from prominent web analytic experts (see list of expert feeds). A wiki and spot for announcements round out the list of features.

We choose to aggregate student blogs rather then have students write on Drupal as we wanted students to have a permanent record of their learning that they would take with them.

Design Principles

Our site design was guided by three learning principles.

Learning should be social

You learn best with friends. In a traditional classroom, it is difficult for a teacher to provide opportunities to their students to teach and learn from each other. Drupal made it easy to set up a place where students can share with each other what they're learning about web analytics.

Learn from experts

Learning is as much of learning to be something as learning about something. We wanted this class to be very practical and hands on. What better way to learn how to do web analytics then by looking over the shoulders of experts in the fields via their blogs.

Learning on demand

People learn in response to need. Its important not to force-feed learning but to encourage it by making available learning resources. As information is added to the site via blogs and the wiki, the site becomes an increasingly rich repository of information about web analytics. Students don't have to wait for class to learn but can learn directly from information on the site.

Results

The semester is still early but so far the results are looking promising. Blogging volume is growing and information from students and the expert bloggers are driving much of the conversation in the classroom.

URL to the site:
http://ebiz2.byu.edu/analytics

Also, a big thanks to the FeedAPI crew who made the site possible and to Bill Fitzgerald for providing the inspiration for aggregating student blogs (see here and here)

Thanks,
Kyle Mathews and Clint Rogers

Comments

This is great stuff

Posted by bonobo on February 2, 2008 at 9:20pm

Hello, Kyle,

This is great stuff -- I'm really glad to see these tools used effectively in higher ed --

Has there been any feedback from the students about how this type of learning experience compares to learning inside a more structured LMS?

Cheers,

Bill

FunnyMonkey
Tools for Teachers

FunnyMonkey

not yet

Posted by kyle_mathews on February 2, 2008 at 11:59pm

We haven't got any feedback so far (we really haven't asked for it yet) but we got quite a bit of feedback from our first experiment with this sort of thing last semester. We're in process of compiling and interpreting all the data / feedback we've collected to write some papers on what we've learned. I'll be sure to let you all know about the papers when they're published.

A quick question Bill, it says on your companies website that you train teachers how to use web2.0 tools in the classroom. Have you ever compiled a list of the best learning resources on the subject, e.g. tips, lesson plans, potential pitfalls, etc. that could be shared here? I'm sure many members of this group would be interested in such a list and it'd certainly be helpful in our research.

Thanks,
Kyle Mathews

Kyle Mathews

Hello, Kyle, Generally, I'm

Posted by bonobo on February 4, 2008 at 8:51pm

Hello, Kyle,

Generally, I'm training on systems we have designed, and how to use the web/"web 2.0" tools effectively in blended learning environments. As such, the bulk of what I talk about concerns when and how to use the web to create connections b/w students within courses and to extend the learning environment.

Most of these trainings require some knowledge about the culture of the school, and are tailored to the specific environment. When it comes to best learning resources, to be honest, I haven't found much of anything I consider particularly useful. Many of the people considered "experts" have a pretty superficial knowledge of the available technology, and haven't moved past the gee-whiz! phase. When I run trainings, and talk about using web tools to support learning, I stress that we are looking at evolutionary, as opposed to revolutionary change.

Basically, I focus more on the teaching, and less on the technology. Once we dispense with the notion of technology-as-panacea, we can begin to look at the myriad opportunities offered by a flexible web medium -- for example, things like an RSS-driven knowledgebase :)

I don't know if this is what you were looking for or not -- if not, let me know and I'll take another stab at actually answering the question you are asking :)

Cheers,

Bill

FunnyMonkey
Tools for Teachers

FunnyMonkey

That's exactly what I want

Posted by kyle_mathews on February 12, 2008 at 1:10am

The information you're providing in your training is exactly what I'm interested in. The technology around elearning is (relatively) easy. What is difficult is understanding how to use our gee-whiz Drupal technology effectively in the classroom. To paraphrase Clay Shirky, using elearning tools in the classroom requires the skills of an economist and a politician. I'm guess what I'm looking for is two things: one, solid case-studies that shows in a holistic sense what works doesn't work with social learning software and two, recipes or tips for assignments a teacher can assign to push the use of social learning tools in the classroom. In other words, I'm still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't work.

I have read some case studies on the internet but they are hard to come by and of mixed (read poor mostly) quality. So my hope is that you have a list that either you've compiled or someone else of good case studies / research in using social learning tools such as Drupal.

Thanks,
Kyle Mathews

Kyle Mathews

That's a pretty big question :)

Posted by bonobo on February 12, 2008 at 1:38am

Hello, Kyle,

That's a pretty large topic area --

I'm currently working against a couple deadlines, and have limited free time to dig into this in detail --

Here's a short version, and I actually responded to a post by Clint Rogers on a listserv last week that gets into this a little bit -- On list, Clint mentioned that, as part of the class, he got students passes to a Web Analytics conference -- on the listserv, I asked if he was going to have his students liveblog the conference -- As I see it, the conference presents a pretty unique opportunity to connect the virtual class space with the f2f/meatspace encounters of the students --

And this gets into how to use the tools within a course setting: have a purpose behind their use, and make sure that the initial purpose sparking the use of tech can be explicitly stated to the students -- if it's just a gee-whiz factor, then the tech implementation will go down in flames, or gather virtual dust bunnies from lack of use.

I actually disagree with your paraphrased Shirky quotation, although in fairness it is nearly 5 years old -- use of tech in the classroom doesn't require the skill of an economist and a politician -- teaching requires the skill of an economist and a politician -- the use of tech requires a reason/activity that can only be met (or can be met more effectively) via tech. In other words, the learning goals drive the tech adoption, and not vice versa.

Good teaching is good teaching, and good tech use is as invisible as possible. When people have stopped thinking about online learning as a new element, or an external element, to a course, then we will have achieved a level of success.

RE:

The information you're providing in your training is exactly what I'm interested in

Well, that's reassuring -- It sure beats talking to myself :)

Cheers,

Bill

FunnyMonkey
Tools for Teachers

FunnyMonkey

To be fair to Shirky

Posted by kyle_mathews on February 12, 2008 at 5:18am

To be fair to Shirky (who btw, is coming out with a new book on online group formation which looks fascinating), I mangled my paraphrase a bit. In the quote I paraphrase, he said that the writer of social software needed the skills of an economist and a politician. A writer of social software tries to create an effective online community much as a (good) teacher tries to create an effective classroom community.

Perhaps this is why some teachers take much easier to online education then others. A good teacher has always tried to create a community-like atmosphere where students felt comfortable to share and ask questions. That sort of teacher (and their teaching style) will adapt much better to the online world then a command-and-control type teacher.

Thanks for rest of the response. It'll give me some food for thought. Hopefully you'll have time at some point to delve more deeply into this very important topic :)

Kyle Mathews