4/27_Class Participation

A. presentation for 5/4 brainstorming

eliminate and compromise 6 ideas into one

* purpose for presentation:

(1) to get feedback to enhance

(2) to inform others what you are working on

*conclusion

(1) small-group oriented

(2) materials available online

a. before presentation abstract

(deadline Monday 5/4 noon, on 627 blackboard)

b. after presentation note and whatever

(3) break the class into online and offline group

a. online part has all the online components and due by 5/6(Wed)

b. offline part attends the classroom and presents due by 5/4(Mon)

B. Assessment discussion

(1) being a teacher, Teaching assistant, trainer who wants to access students learning in social computing context?

what are the missing part

g1: practical tools: rubric, instrument, how to apply, bridge the gap between the theory and the practice

g2: holistic framework to use online communities, make more connection to instructional, learning theories; add in more practical components

g3: teachers want something tangible, like a rubric. The missing part is the culture component. For example, the Chinese the disciplinary learning

Instructor: the absence of social component as a part/foundation to contribute to learning productivity

g4: give more specific context or tool description to strengthen the validity of a survey to access social ability in online learning.

g5: contexts like different disciplines or subjects are missing in the research articles

(2) Comments & Feedback

a. Instructor: compare and contrast Laffey & Lin and Ke & Hoadley

Laffey & Lin: individual learning component

Ke & Hoadley: social learning component, cover more large levels/ types of learning contexts/ schooling

b. Instructor: Environment change can affect the social dynamic and bring a different conducive to the learning individual or the group

Assessment_2 questions

1: Inconsistency found in data collected in mix method evaluation
In Ke & Hoadley's article, it gives a overview of literatures related to On-line Learning Communities (OLC) evaluation. It also presents a conceptual framework for evaluating OLC. I found this article is trying to combine many dichotomies in the discussion and the framework.
First of all, I questioned about how to mix them together. Then I thought, different methods referring to solve specific problems or questions. So if the evaluation purposes can be better answered by which way or mix ways, then it's natural to combine the two

Usually for Combing different/diverse methods, evaluators or researchers tend to see the consistency among data. When there is an inconsistency among like the qualitative and the quantitative data? How does this conflict and inconsistency remind us? What will you do when you face the inconsistency (I mean if you use mix methods to collect data for evaluation, but you found for one questions, there are on-poles feedback from like the survey and open-ended interview)

2. Context difference and validity of a survey of assessing social ability
When I am reading the Assessing Social Ability in online learning environment (Laffey, Lin, and Lin, 2006), I noticed the specific context in which this research was conducted- a formal schooling for graduates and some high-level undergraduates in college level. My question if this survey is applied to other contexts like informal learning, different learning levels or groups, will the validity of the survey be consistent? Probably, the researchers need to include this perspective to strengthen the validity of this instrument.

Quesitons: Health & Social Support

Social isolation and Coping mechanism from social spaces: real-life and virtual.

In the conclusion of HutchWorld article, it mentioned that Internet access and ... had a meaningful impact on the quality of people's lives under circumstances of stress and social isolation.

I found this is quite true for being an international student who studies abroad and during the transition stage of culture shock. The new technology like instant message, skype, blog, facebook or online photo albums have helped a lot for me and many IS to keep connection with family and friends back in the home town.

On the other hand, one article by Kraut et al. suggested that "Internet use is associated with decreases in face-to-face interactions, and increases in loneliness and depression (Farnham et al.)"

I also agree with this point. In EDCI615, we have a chance to observe people's interaction on campus. The class was divided into about 10 groups and went to diverse locations of the Purdue campus to observe how people behave in a certain location. In the end, we found a similarity in all the cases is that people are highly engaged with technology like mp3, cell phone, and laptop. There was very little social interaction among people/acquaintance. And the instructor shared us her observation that in her time, it's easily to see couples walking hand in hand on campus. Now, it's not so common. Technology seems to reduce the face-to-face contact and bring more physical distance.


So I am just wondering. For reducing the isolation and depression, people nowadays are wondering to seek comforts among the real and virtual spaces. How can we wisely/healthily balance our involving between them? Or the question should go back to the more fundamental one that is when and how an individual feel social-isolated and depressed? What features or functions/mechanism in a social space or community that can bring supports and comforts to each other?

What are the people supports and scaffolding mechanism in computer-mediated social support in health domain?

In the CHESS article, I found a lot of connection from that. Recently, my mother is during the therapy of skull bone cancer. It's a big challenge and turning point to our family. Our family is more tight to each other to face the critical moment in our lives. We want to get more information about how to decrease the pain from the chemo- and radiant- therapy process. But the information we gain from the medical doctor is very limited. We feel helpless. Then we tend to seek supports from other resources like published books or friends' supports. The internet becomes a good resource for patient empowerment. So far when I googled the website in Taiwan, I found most of the cancer websites are static text-based and one-way communication. In the US, there seem to provide more some online social support community who publish information or forum for patients and caregivers to exchange emotions and tacit knowledge under the careful supports from a certain medical or research groups.

In the CHESS article, the text-based and anonymous computer-mediated communication gave the participants a sense of "unconditional acceptance" which free them from the social context cues. It's something I believe during a stage of healing process will help the participants a lot to process emotions, retrieve energy and recollect confident to come in back the real life after the recovery.
Compare the CHESS article and the HutchWorld, the research method and report writing styles is very different. I found more connection from the CHESS and recognize that the technology functions well in this case is actually supported by many people supports rather than relying solely on technology. My question is what are the key components of the people supports or the scaffolding design that make the CHESS workable?

Social Presence_ questions

Emoticons and making connections
"even when no direct information exchange is taking place, people want to maintain connection with others, outside the content of specific events of information exchange (Nardi, et al, 2000, p79, from Rettie, p3"

At the Rettie's paragraph, it used Nardi's et al's research of IM information exchange to address that people use IM is more than its original functions, not just simply a quick tool to exchange information. Moreover, people used it to making social connection. What example can you think when you just communication tool like IM to making social or emotional connection? One example is the emoticons; it's not just for change practical data. It helps to share emotion and make fun of communication. What other tools or what way you use communication tools is beyond or more than its original function?

PS sorry I didn't finish other readings, so I will post the second question later. :-)