Carole Jones's List: EDER 679.29 Annotated Bibliography

Rosen, A. (2009). e-learning 2.0 : Proven practices and emerging technologies to achieve real results.. Saranac Lake, NY, USA : AMACOM Books. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ucalgary/Doc?id=10292217
Summary
Chapter 6, Web 2.0 Trends for e-Learning, details the web trends of e-learning and also describes the application services and technologies that apply to e-learning. The benefits and limitations of each trend are explored. The active involvement of the end user (the learner) is critical for adding value to the training process. Using social networking tools like wikis, newsgroups, student comments and rankings are important components of training. The author states that from "the learner's point of view, all aspects of a course should work transparently." (p 129)
In her work, Rosen has found that when companies want their employees to be trained, e-learning in small learning segments/courses is not only efficient it saves the company money and saves the employees time. The specificity of material to learn is also motivating for the learner. "They can then optimize the classroom sessions and provide the other sessions as e-learning." (p 130)
Author Information
Anita Rosen is a trainer and speaker on mobile Apps for the business market place and e-Learning. She is a guest speaker on business radio programs including appearances on a radio show by Jim Blasingame; Internet shows including: NetLibrary eBook and HomeOfficeMag.com.
Strengths and Limitations
- Case studies add real-life data to the content
- Very specific information regarding the creation of e-learning courses. In some cases this specificity is appropriate and in other cases; screen sizes of phones, whether to imbed test into graphics, etc. are too specific for an overview of e-learning trends
- Descriptions of how to decide which format to use to provide content are very useful to people authoring e-learning course
Up-to-date information in terms of trends
- Recognizes that the "ultimate goal is to get the end user to learn, not to demonstrate handiness with new technologies." (p.144)
- Recognizes learning styles and how the method of delivery needs to be selected carefully - ex. podcasts are trendy and easy to produce, however only 10% of learners are auditory learners
Limitations
- listing specific phone types that support certain test software is too specific when looking at trends
- parts of the chapter sound like advertising for 'ReadyGo' e-learning authoring software.
Related concepts/themes
- Some of the same social networking tools mentioned by Dalgaard as valuable to e-learning are described in this chapter
- By making it easy for students to make and to read comments in a forum, informal learning can be harnessed and shared. This sharing of information adds value to an e-learning course by enriching the users' experiences. (p 133)
Questions
If learning styles contribute to how students approach e-learning:
How do we determine the most significant attributes of students' learning styles?
How do we incorporate what we know about our students into the design of each class/course?
What components of the e-learning course can be developed to support the learning styles of each student?
How do we scaffold students' metacognition of their own learning through the grades and stages of school?

Mizuko, I. (2009). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out: kids living and learning with new media.. Cambridge: MIT Press.Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ucalgary/Doc?id=10347251&ppg=192
Summary:
The book, Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media by Ito Mizuko, delves into how new media impacts kids in the 21st Century. Each chapter: Media Ecologies, Friendship, Intimacy, Families, Gaming, Creative Production and Work, takes a detailed look at how new media impacts the real lives of kids and their families. The chapter on 'Families' examines the choices that parents make involving new media from the numbers of televisions and phones a family uses to the placement of the family computer(s) and sharing of digital cameras. The profiled families vary from a single parent living in a bachelor suite with three children to a family with two teenage boys who are renovating their garage to incorporate a media playroom. The message is that new media impacts all families, regardless of their income level. Parents create frameworks and family rules regarding the use of televisions, computers, mobile phones, etc. based on their values, religion, beliefs in terms of access, time limits, locations, content, etc. With children often putting pressure on their parents for 'more of everything', parents act as the gatekeepers of new media so that their children will not be harmed by exposure to content feared to be dangerous.
Author Information: Mizuko Ito is Research Scientist at the University of California Humanities Research Institute.
Sources of evidence:
- Draws research materials from a wide range of studies, primarily by Sims, Horst, Martinez, Tripp, et al.
- Large quantitative surveys of new media use in the United States.
Strengths:
Families from a very broad spectrum of income levels, education levels and family structures are interviewed. The stories are personal and real. They are a glimpse into the lives of families that have significance now, in our understanding of media use, perspectives, decisions and biases. These interviews could become of historical importance as data that documents family life in the early years of the 21st Century.
Current research is used to support claims. All research is from the year 2000 or later except research that is used to create a historical context for the early use of home computers and media.
Limitations:
Limited geographic range of families represented in interviews and studies. All families interviewed are from southern California; many are from Los Angeles.
Family involvement in communicating with the children’s teachers and/or school is not included in the interviews or the discussions. Parental interest in providing hardware and access to information in order to increase success at school is mentioned but ways that media is used for one-way or two-way communication with the school are non-existent.
Related concepts/themes
“Parents, the guardians of the home and family, take seriously their role as guides and regulators of their children’s participation in this new media ecology. Just as young people engage with new media based on friendship-driven and interest-driven genres of participation, parents and adults’ attitudes toward new media reflect their own motivations and beliefs about parenting as well as their personal histories and interests in media. “(p. 150)
“In effect, a large share of young people’s engagements with new media— using social network sites, instant messaging services, and gaming— occurs in the context of home and family life.” (p. 171)
Home and family environments reflect the values, morals, and aspirations of families as well as beliefs about the importance and effects of new media for learning and communication.
“Parents often frame their purchase of new media in relation to the educational goals and broader aspirations they hold for their children. From this vantage point, computers, video cameras, and digital cameras, as well as related software, education, and training become meaningful to many families because they represent an investment in their child’s future, one that they hope will ensure their children’s success in education, work, and income generation.” (p. 150)
The role of families in the academic success (over the short term and over the long term) is a factor about which schools need to become more informed.
School staff can become very immersed in their own contexts. These interviews and the subsequent analysis can broaden our understandings of family engagement, involvement and attitudes toward school use of new media and the school’s expectations of students’ use of digital technologies.
Emerging Questions:
How can we become aware, informed, empathetic, connected to the impacts of family life on our students and how it connects to their academic success at school?
In what ways can awareness of the implications of family life on media use be meaningful data for schools’ digital citizenship and e-learning programs?

Pachler, N., & Daly, C. (2011). e-assessment, e-portfolios, quality assurance and the student experience. In Key issues in e-learning: Research and practice (pp. 109-126). London, GBR: Continuum International Publishing.
Author Information:
Norbert Pachler: Professor of Education, Institute of Education, University of London
Caroline Daly: PhD, MA, BA, PGCE Senior Lecturer in Education, Faculty of Children and Learning, Dept. of Culture, Communication and Media
Summary: This chapter is concerned with e-assessment, e-portfolios and the role played by technologies in enhancing learner participation in assessment approaches. The authors explore the idea that e-assessment is integral to current literacy and cultural learning practices.
Practitioners of e-learning in Great Britain were asked to recount their experiences with using e-assessment. Their narratives were gathered as case studies to illustrate the "nature, type and scope of the work of tutors in higher education." (p. 128)
Strengths and Limitations:
- Claims are supported by diagrams, examples using varied research sources; very visual
- Book is organized with overview of chapter content at beginning
- Specific examples of assessment in e-learning including the pros and cons as found in actual use, nest steps for improving assessment technique
- Analytical discussion of assessment based on photo-journaling "The process of using images to capture cases also provided feedback to tutors on the students' learning. Tutors reported that observing students' pictures gave them a window on their thinking: what they noticed, where their attention was and where they assigned importance. This was the basis for modifying tutor input and the focus of the tutorial discussion." p 129.
- Assessment tool is not only described it is also de-constructed, authors specifically list questions to be asked by people using these assessment tools for e-learning
- Very specific to e-learning. Not about assessment in general but about e-learning specifically
- Up-to-date
Concepts related to course:
The evaluation strategy that is proposed by the authors is embedded into the course design process. It goes beyond typical evaluations that use satisfaction at particular times, usually at the end of a course. Thinking aloud, responding to stimuli and online group discussions about their learning aims at recognizing e-learning as a social practice. This connects with the work of Dalsgaard (2006) and Baker (2012) which discusses the importance of social learning tools within the e-learning environment.
Questions and connections to e-learning course:
To what extent does technology-enhanced assessment support and foster self-regulation in students?
Can the use of technology-enhanced assessment within an e-learning course lead to increased student academic success?
In what ways can technology-enhanced assessment support metacognition of learning for students?