Work Sample 5

1. Work Sample 5 Interactive Online Teaching and Learning Model CAF – Sequence 1

2. We were asked to watch the following video: •  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hNZ8LFE5DA

3. Q&A - Consider

4. Question : Is this a plausible position? Have you had experiences that adhere to this position? Do you agree with this position? Zoe Cummings - 14 April 2013 5:53:02 AM CDT • I would say this I a plausible position. I can feel the lack of communication through reading text and find my-self reading everything aloud to gain emotion and perspective to the words. I find a greater understanding from attending the online classes each week where although there is no video, the voice is present. I would say I agree with the statement above and have defiantly noticed this in my levels of learning engagement.

5. Answers from other learners: • I disagree with this as all learners are treated as equal in an online environment. • This is a plausible position and I have had multiple experiences that can adhere to it. A lot of misunderstandings can occur through text base communication as our voices can, in themselves, convey a lot of meaning. For example, sarcasm is not often picked up through text as it involves the use of tone to portray it. The fact that people can mask their real identity online does not only have a negative effect on students learning, but can also be a frightening idea, as you don't know who you are talking to. Therefore, I agree with this position. • I can see two sides of this coin. Firstly, there are people who deliberately use the internet to deceive others, however, in online learning situation it has been my experience that people don't try to be someone they are not. I have found that there are usually on or two people in any given group that I am drawn to because of a)having had similar experiences, b)having similar ideas or c)being on a similar academic level. Thus, as in a face-to-face situation, we 'chum' up with like-minded people and work collaboratively together. • I agree with this position in the sense that you cannot see who that other person is and it would not be safe to actually communicate online to someone who you do not know. Agreeing to meet them can be more dangerous because they (the dog pretended to be a mouse) are not always who they say they are. The absence of non-verbal cues allows someone to say anything and to be able to manipulate anyone to their advantage, it makes it easier to lie and deceive so this can make it possible for anyone to be anybody. Todays digital learning does make it easier to explore and communicate, yet learning does become impersonal and distant. Online learning does have its perks but learning in a physical environment has its many advantages. • This position is plausible, and I have had experiences that adhere to this position. However, I only partially agree with this position. I believe that text based communication can be equally effective as face to face communication in two areas: 1) when discussing facts and statistics, as there is no emotion required to effectively communicate this type of information. And 2) when the two individuals who are communicating via text know each other extremely well in real life, and are therefore able to understand what the other person means or is feeling by the words that they are using. • I believe that this position is plausible. In my work environment, I have experienced people reacting to emails in a particular way as a result of the tone they thought the email was written in, when in fact the intended tone was completely different. Emails and text messages can be easily mis-interpreted due to the lack of non-verbal cues. I believe this could also be possible in online learning. • I think so. Given that all almost all communication within this online learning community is text based and expected to be written academically, there is very little room to express how we feel or the sentiment that is attatched to what is written. Everyone presents as very proper, cold and calculated and I believe tis is because we are all writing 'properly' and not writing how we would say thigs out aloud. • Yes this is a plausable position. It is no revalation that electronic texts do not convey expression and do lack emotional engagement. However, some texts do not require expression or a high level of emotional engagement to communicate effectively. In some instances, for example an opinion piece that conveys emotion and expression read online may be communicated less effectively, where as a maths lesson or a journal article can be read online with minimal expression or emotional engagement and I dont think it would effect the communication. I agree with the position under certain circumstances.

6. Q&A - Consider Position 2: The absence of nonverbal cues does not affect communication in text-based online environments, because people adapt to the environment and include novel stylish and contextual cues to convey attitudes and emotions (i.e. using emoticons). This position rejects ideas of lowered student engagement and restrictions in participants’ abilities to express emotions and exchange information about affective states. Yes, text-based communication has fewer cues and is less rich in information, notably non-verbal, than conventional face-to-face or voice communication. However, social information processing theory (Snowman et al, 2009) suggests that the use of emoticons can and does very effectively communicate emotions in a text-based environment. Hence, text-based online communication does not lower student engagement or student learning outcomes.

7. Question : Is this a plausible position? Have you had experiences that adhere to this position? Do you agree with this position? Zoe Cummings - 14 April 2013 5:58:31 AM CDT • I would have to disagree with the statement above. There are so many emotions that cant be expressed with a simple emoticon. Text based information fails to show me emotion and perspective which are present with face-to-face communication or verbal communication.

8. Answers from other learners: • I agree with this position. • This is a plausible position because with today's online based environment it is very easy to adapt. This is because you can use emoticons to make up for the lack of non verbal cues, therefore it does not lower student engagement or lowers participants abilities to convey emotion. • This position is somewhat less plausible than the previous one. While emoticons are a useful tool for communicating emotions in a text based discussion, they are not a complete substitute for non-verbal cues that are present in real life interactions. Emoticons are limited in their ability to express the full range of human emotions. Not only that, but it is much easier to fake emotions using emoticons than it is to fake non-verbal cues during real life conversations. I do not believe that emoticons very effectively communicate emotions in a text based environment. • I believe that this is a plausible position. I am not a huge fan of emoticons, however I do believe that they are a useful tool in conveying how you are feeling using text-based communication methods. The reason I am not a huge fan is that they are not generally accepted as being "professional" in a business environment. Whilst they may suit students and be acceptable in a learning environment, it is not teaching students, or allowing teachers to teach their students that they are not acceptable in the real world of work. However they may be in the future....? • Somewhat. I agree that a happy/sad face at the end of a sentence can make it clearer as to what the person is feeling, but I also think people overuse emoticons to get away with 'saying' things that are rude or derogetory by hrowing in a cheeky winking face at the end. I am under the impression that we are not encourged to use emoticons in our communication and responses. • Again, this position is plausable. I personally believe the outcome is directly related to the type of text in question. I feel that electronic communucation and texts do lose some expression and perhaps emotional engagement, but I do not believe that emotional engagement is the key to learning and does not necissarily lower learning outcomes. Having grown up with a lot of the recently introduced technologies and the online learning movement, I have had experiences that would support both positions. For personal communications i believe the loss of expression and emotional engagement has a larger effect than in the context of online learning resources. • I do not completely agree with this. I have had experiences that do adhere to this position, however this has only occurred when people have conveyed their idea across to me in a well written and concise matter. Not everyone, when speaking in text-based online environments, use emoticons and present what they are saying in a way that everyone understands and there is room for no misunderstandings. Therefore, I agree with this position however there are faults to it as well. • Once again I can see both sides of the coin. When writing we need to be very careful of our wording especially when using humour or sarcasm as these can come across as being offensive. That is where the use of emoticons comes in handy. For example, when making a joke or saying something tongue-in-cheek, using a smiley face afterward can soften the unintended harshness of what has been said. One difficulty about not meeting people face to face is not understanding there personal sense of humour. For example, I have friends who I can say things to that would sound nasty if I said them to someone else, however, because they are often a continuation of a past joke between us the humour is not lost between friends.

9. Q&A- Interest Question- So, what camp do you belong to or what position do you subscribe to? Provide a short explanation as to why. • Zoe Cummings - 14 April 2013 6:02:06 AM CDT - I belong to camp 1. I believe that text-based learning is effecting 'some' students through the lack of non-verbal clues. I have defiantly noticed this in my levels of learning engagement. • I think the absence of non-verbal cues does not affect communication. In fact, I find that in some cases, the verbal and visual are distractions from the verbal or meaning. • I belong to neither camp. I think that emoticons can be useful, but that it is possible to communicate effectively without them in text based environments, given that you know the other person well. Similarly, emoticons can easily be deceptive. I think that it depends on the context of the interaction. • I belong to the Position 1 camp! I believe that the absence of non-verbal cues has the potential to negatively impact on the learning experience of the student. Teachers/lecturers are not able to pick up on non-verbal signals/communication that they would be able to in a class environment - such as body language. Whilst emoticons can convey simple emotions, this is only when the student chooses to (and a struggling or disengaged student will be unlikely to choose to do so) and can only convey limited meaning. • Position 1. I think so much is lost in the online learning community and the way we are percieved by others all comes down to how well we write. I do not think that the learning content is lacking and in fact I find it useful to have everything explained in detail in a text based form that I can read, re-read and refer to whenever I wish. When it comes to activity responses and peer input for me everyone comes across as very stern and calculated - because this is how we sound when writing academically! Unfortunately this puts me off sharing my work for fear of harsh feedback from people who seem to know so much more about LLiDW. • Neither, I have a foot in both camps. My opinion varies depending on the nature of specific texts. I believe emotional engagement is not key to learning information which would greatly disadvantage learning outcomes. But I do believe in some cases, with some text types loss of expression can have an effect. • I believe that position one is one that is justified. • For me, online communication works as I prefer to write my opinions than to verbalise them. However, I am also very aware of netiquette and the need to read carefully what has been written before submitting it. Often when writing a letter to someone that involves my personal opinion I will get someone else to read it through to judge how it might be accepted. I feel that sometimes emotions get in the way of writing and it is necessary when learning online to respect the opinions of others and to ensure that discussion boards do not become a place of 'arguments'. • The camp that i stand in is position 1 because i believe that the lack of emotions linked to the fact that you could be talking to anyone (who could be dangerous).Communicating online can result in little to no emotions conveyed in the process.

10. Q&A- Interest • Question : If you are an emoticon user, which ones do you use most ...? Please add your creations to the above collection. • Zoe Cummings - 14 April 2013 6:04:36 AM CDT I mostly use emoticon through social media such as facebook and through text. I mostly use the basic :) :/ :( :S ; ( :< ; ) • I use smileys, winks and sad faces. • The emoticons I use the most are:) (happy) :( (negative feelings) :/ (unsure) :P (silly/funny) ;) (hints at another meaning, or joke)x (kiss) • '(^_^)/ Hurrah! • I am limited to a smiling face, sad face and a winking face. These pretty much get me through any sms conversation where my replies/satements/questions might be taken the wrong way. • I am, though I mostly use the pre-generated ones on my iPhone / iPad and even now on Facebook. I cant remember the last time I typed out and emoticon! That would be going back to the days of messenger! ;) - there you go! Winky face, he's always a cutie. I mainly use varying smiles and hearts and faces etc in messages and occasionally use an excessive amount of random emoticons of objects. • I don't use many emoticons, and the ones I do use are pretty basic such as :), :(, :/, ;) and :P • I generally use the smiley face or sad face emoticon but it depends who I am writing to. With close friends I will use sorts - even cheeky ones. In a professional situation I would not use them at all. • ;P ;):D

11. Q&A Interest Question : If you haven't done so already, please tell us briefly how the lack of non-verbal cues in text-based online communication is affecting your learning engagement and learning outcomes ... . Zoe Cummings - 14 April 2013 6:07:06 AM CDT • I feel I cannot experience the verbal cues through text-based learning. I find myself reading all text out loud to gain some perspective, emotion and attitude towards the information. • I don't believe that it really affects my learning engagement or learning outcomes at all. • I am really enjoying the self-paced nature of this learning style, however find that it is easy to let other things take priority because there is no human contact. Tasks provided are straightforward and deadlines stated, however there is no physical indication of how important a particular aspect is or which parts are exciting. The Collaborate sessions add a verbal communication to the experience, at which time our lecturer is able to use some non verbal cues such as silence when a question is asked or hear a confused tone, to gauge the mood and capabilities of students. • I don't feel that the lack of non verbal cues in text based online communication is effecting my learning engagement and or learning outcomes. Online learning platfroms to sometimes frusrtate me but this is not because of lack of expression or emotional engagement, it is becuase I get a headache from looking at the screen for too long. • Without verbal cues I am finding my learning engagement lacking the sort of connection needed to provide good outcomes. As I am not talking to a person about what I am learning, asking questions and engaging in other peoples opinions in a way that allows me to really understand them, my learning outcomes, though good, are lacking to sort of feeling I wish they had. • I do not find that the lack of non-verbal cue affects my learning or engagement in learning at all. • In my opinion, text based communication does not affect learning outcomes because i don't see how it would.

12. From participating in this study I have also learnt about another of the DeBono attention directing ideas called the CAF approach, which ‘pushes’ you gently to engage in deep learning approaches. • The CAF approach invites you to take a stance and to commit to a particular position on a given topic. The topic under investigation here is ‘the value of emoticons in text-based online discussion’. In this activity I was encouraged to think carefully about the two contradictory positions and provide reasoning for my choice.

13. The video attached at the beginning of the activity highlighted the fact that everyone reveals something of their identity when they interact in virtual environments. Similar to the dog and the cat in the video, people may also be tempted to hide their real identity in these environments. However others are more genuine and show their real identity and intentions.  • As an online student, simply by engaging in dialogue with others, I am investing myself emotionally as well as cognitively and intellectually in conversation therefor revealing something about myself to others. 

14. Summary • This activity is the second part of the research that is being conducted as part of the eScholar Program at Curtin University and is a 'proof of concept' study. It was designed to test the procedures and methods of a particular, interactive online teaching and learning model based on the works of Edward de Bono. LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) is an open source online teaching and learning system developed by Macquarie University in 2003. The sequences offer a vehicle for us to engage in deep communication and debate with other students concerning content-specific issues pertaining to the unit we are studying. • Each LAMS activity introduces a particular case (real-world scenario) and asks us to provide our own personal opinions. Links to these sequences are presented in the blackboard notifications when they become available.

15. Reflection • A key focus for this unit is on finding ways to integrate technology effectively to enhance learning and teaching processes. This work sample demonstrates this statement as it shows the effectiveness that this interactive online teaching and learning model has to myself. The cases in the sequences are based on the teaching content of the unit that I am enrolled in assisted in the general studies of the unit content. The study also encouraged engagement with other students' ideas and lead to genuine discussion and debate. This sequence really encouraged me to think about my own opinion and to really express this opinion. • This interactive online teaching and learning model would enhance the learning and teaching process if it were to be incorporated into a classroom. It offers a vehicle for students to engage in deep communication and debate with each other concerning specific content-specific issues pertaining to class or topic.

16. Reference List • Dobozy, E. & Lane, G. (2013). Proof of concept study of the de Bono LAMS model - Information letter for students.