Team Facebook

From ETS

TeamFacebook Final Synthesis Page

Podcasting

Affordances it provides:
Podcasts are oral, so you get the sense of tone and the pace and emphasis that would be lacking in text alone. They can be used to teach the effects of voice and speech, especially in a drama lesson. You could have the class write the script and do the radio performance to hear the differences. If you want to teach about episodic writing, and the continuation of characters, they can create podcasts which are quick, easy, and don't cost anything. Podcasts are already saved and stored, providing continual availability. They provide a snapshot of a moment...more of a human quality than many of the other technologies we've reviewed.

Relation to community:


Podcasts can be used as brokers, allowing new perspective from the outside to enter the community. They can also connect with community members who happen to be away from the physical community.

Relation to identity:


Your podcast will reveal information about your personal identity. It can be faceless, perfect for people with faces for radio, or faces can be attached, allowing the listeners to link the voices with images.

Relation to design:


It is a one way tool for dissemination. Lectures or discussions can be podcasted, allowing listeners to hear one person or several people, but not be able to talk to them. It can be considered an advance of talk radio because continual availability allows people to access it at any time. The ability to download to an iPod increases portability. At the same time, it does not permit realtime interaction. A microphone and storage device are all one needs to create a podcast. Podcasts inherently have an "outside listening in" feel, a cyber-eavesdropping if you will.

How to use in Teaching & Learning:


Podcasts can be used to draw on the expertise of others when you are lacking. They function as great references. Teachers can use podcasts as outside of the classroom tools, providing students with material that may have been cut from the lecture in the interest of time. Podcasts don't have to be academic. How-to podcasts are available for people looking to learn a new process or skill. You can even listen to a podcast on how to create a podcast. [1]







Wikis


Affordances they provide:
Wikis allow group collaboration. They provide one space for entry and editing, eliminating the need to send a Word document back and forth constantly. While podcasts are usually created at once, wikis can be created by many people in many places. Such multi-authorship allows quick feedback and revision.


Relation to community:


Wikis are open for editing by members of the community. They can be locked or closed to the outside public if the administrators so choose, but many are left open to the general public. They provide space for group discussion which can be organized in to a coherent document. Such discussion is interaction among community members.



Relation to identity:


A wiki generates a public image. It gives an impression of the topic at hand and an impression of the people who contributed to it. The wording and grammar could give a professional appearance, suggesting the authors were educated and informed. Identity could also be masked by editing anonymously and not caring about the quality of the work.



Relation to design:


Wikis are designed to be constantly evolving. They are based on a uniform template which, provided one understands the code, can be easily used and modified from one wiki to another. The negative is that subversion is possible. Wikis can have moderators to combat such hacking. Works in progress are visible, making it imperative to start with a good, clean initial version. We did not figure out how to hide this wiki from public view while we created it.



How to use in Teaching & Learning:


Wikis can be used in the classroom to create knowledge bases. They can also be used to create organized central repositories for information. People can access wikis to find out information and discover peer-reviewed sources, with wikipedia being the prime example.





YouTube


Affordances it provides:
YouTube allows users to post videos for the world to see. Viewers can comment on the videos, rate them, and see related videos without clicking to another page. It is a good way to distribute instructional videos, entertainment, shameless self promotion. Videos have the potential to become viral and create "internet stars". A YouTube video sends information only one way.


Relation to community:


YouTube grants access to the world. Commenting creates a reciprocal dialogue as well as copycats and reifications.



Relation to identity:


If the group will accept the idea that identity is (at least partially) formed by the external impression that one has of an individual, then the video posts can be used to form and mold one's own identity.



Relation to design:


A YouTube page contains a video, links to related videos, space for comments, space to rate, and links for featured videos. These featured videos with related topical advertisements allow the service to be free to the general public.



How to use in Teaching & Learning:


There are tons of ways to use YouTube in the context of teaching and learning. Only a few are listed here. One can show footage of things that cannot be done in the classroom. High energy chemical reactions are an excellent example. [2] One can also show video of places that you cannot take a field trip to visit. One can also show clips of performances that a class could not attend. The videos also allow students a platform for self publication. They may create a video related to a classroom topic and share it with the world.











Facebook


Affordances it provides:
Facebook is a social networking site that allows people to create profiles that are visible to the people/groups of people of their choice. It allows people to keep their friends up to date on their lives and let new friends find out more about them. The site has many applications that permit various types of sharing and interactions. Users can share photos and information with others. They can communicate by short messages, instant messages, or wall posts. New applications allow users to play games with each other within the social network. Scrabulous[3], Chess[4], and WordTwist[5] are three great examples.


Relation to community:


Communities are reified through Facebook through the creation of groups that serve as documentation of events, space for discussion of issues, notification of events and sharing of information.



Relation to identity:


Facebook allows individuals to explore and reveal aspects of their identity by creating personal profiles featuring as much or as little information about themselves that the choose to post. Joining and participating in groups through discussion, photo sharing, and blogging reveals more about an individual's identity.



Relation to design:


Facebook can be used as a launch pad for a community of practice. Sharing photos and conversing through the IM application can help foster community. There is a standard template which users can choose to modify. The network opened itself up to outside programmers to allow the creation of aforementioned applications. One of the consistent design issues in these technologies has been the ability to modify and improve upon the existing versions. Foresight has allowed new additions to be made seamlessly.



How to use in Teaching & Learning:


Facebook has the potential to be an efficient communication tool between teacher and student. Students, however, seem to be against professors using Facebook, considering it to be their space online. The groups application seems best suited for classes. Given its overwhelming popularity with students, Facebook may also serve as a catalyst for discussions of privacy and appropriate content.










Twitter


Affordances it provides:
With Twitter, one can instantly update his status. This is a hybrid of an away message and an sms message because you let people know what you are doing while keeping within a preset character limit.


Relation to community:


Microblogging allows for short requests/responses to situations. The abbreviated nature allows for the creation/expression of inside jokes which reify the communities of practice.



Relation to identity:


The service provides a window into someone's identity/situation for the immediate moment.



Relation to design:


Twitter itself is a no frills application. You update your status as you see fit in 140 characters or less. Applications have been created to enhance Twitter by aggregating material and isolating tweets. Hashtags[6], TwitterLocal[7], and Quotably[8] are just three examples of such applications. The design of Twitter was flexible enough to permit the creation of such applications.



How to use in Teaching & Learning:


Twitter enables students to submit questions to the teacher without disrupting the classroom. It also allows for back channel communication which can be good or bad. In the context of our CI597C course[9], it extended the walls of the classroom and gave the members of the class a look into their outside lives. This in turn increased the feeling of community and promoted social learning.