Your guide to social e-learning – User guide

User guide


	User guide: print version (.doc 430 kB). Click on the link to open or save the print version of this guide.

Navigating this resource
Accessing the resource ‘take-aways’
Self-pacing through this resource
Peer collaboration using this resource
Sample workshop activities
Innovation and networking resources

Navigating this resource

To browse the guides for strategies, tools and activities

There are two ways you can navigate to the guides on strategies, tools and activities:

1. Use the interactive tool at ‘Your guide’.

When you roll your mouse over an item a link icon appears. Click on the icon to open the guide for that item. The guide will open in a new window – close the window if you want to return to ‘Your guide’.

A section from the interactive tool at ‘Your guide’. Shows a link icon next to the name of a list item. Callouts read: ‘Click on the icon to open the guide.’ and ‘Click on the name to reveal useful tools or strategies.’

2. Click on the left menu items: ‘Strategies’, ‘Tools’, ‘Activities’.

The left menu of this resource. The ‘Activities’ menu item has been clicked and there is a sub-menu revealed. A callout reads: ‘When you click on a section name in the left menu a sub-menu will appear. For example, the activities are grouped under tool names. Click on ‘Blogs’ to go to sample activities that use blogs.’

Browsing within a guide

At the top of a ‘Tools’ or ‘Activities’ screen you’ll also see a menu for navigating within the guide.

When viewing a tool guide, click on the links in the top menu to navigate to the sections within the tool guide:

Part of a screen showing the menu at the top of Tool guide page. A callout pointing to the links in the menu reads: ‘A tool guide: click on links in the grey menu at the top of pages to navigate around the guide.’

When viewing an activity guide, click on the links in the top menu to navigate to more activities using the same tool.

Part of a screen showing the menu at the top of an Activity page. A callout pointing to the links in the menu reads: ‘An activity page: click on links in the menu at the top of activity pages to navigate to more activities using the same tool.’

To browse the case studies

There are two ways you can navigate to the case studies:

1. Use the interactive map at ‘Case studies’.

When you roll your mouse over a circle on the map a box appears for the case study. Click on the link inside the box to go to the case study. Click on your browser’s Back button if you want to return to the map.

A section of the map of Australia at ‘Case studies’. A box pops up for a case study. Inside the box there is a brief description of the case study and a hyperlink to the case study page.

2. Click on ‘Case studies’ in the left menu.

The left menu of this resource. The ‘Case studies’ menu item has been clicked and there is a sub-menu revealed. A callout reads: ‘When you click on ‘Case studies’ in the left menu a sub-menu will appear. For example, click on ‘Blogs’ to go to case studies of teachers and students using blogs.’

Browsing within a case study group

At the top of each case study screen will see a menu for navigating within a group of case studies. Click on the links in this menu to go to more case studies of teachers and students using the same tool.

Part of a screen showing the menu at the top of a case study page. A callout pointing to the links in the menu reads: ‘A case study page: click on links in the menu at the top of a case study to navigate to more case studies of the same tool.’

Accessing the resource ‘take-aways’

You can easily save copies of the following components within this resource:

Case studies: audio files
Case studies: transcripts (reading documents).

Use the links at the bottom of each case study page, as shown below.

The bottom section of a case study page showing a table with two rows. The first row has a hyperlink named ‘David’s case study’. A callout to this reads ‘Click on this link with the right mouse button. Choose ‘Save target as’ from the pop up menu, and choose the location to save the file. You can then transfer the file to an mp3 player, or double-click the file to play it with the audio software on your PC. The second row has a hyperlink named ‘transcript’. A callout to this reads ‘Click on this link to get an option to either open or save this Word document.’

Self-pacing through this resource

You are encouraged to take your own pathway through this resource or use any of the suggested pathways below – depending on your needs.

Find inspiration and solutions for enhancing flexible and blended delivery


I need…	Where to go
inspiration to try new approaches in my practice.	1. Welcome: Listen to the keynote audio presentation for motivation to empower your learners. 2. Your guide: Use the interactive tool to get a quick overview of social e-learning strategies (roll your mouse over a strategy name to reveal this information). Use the interactive tool to get a quick overview of some social software tools that you can use to implement a strategy, and to find sample activities for a strategy. 3. Case studies: Explore the interactive map of case studies and find a case study in a similar program area to yours. If you like the sound of the tool used in the case study you can listen to more within the case study group. (Use the links at the top of the case study page to find more case studies using the same tool.) 4. Tools: Choose one or more tools to investigate further. Work through a tool guide to find out about what the tool can offer you and your students.
practical solutions for managing flexible or blended delivery.	1. Case studies: Explore the case studies by tool, by going to the case studies via the left menu. You can get a quick overview of a case study by reading the introduction at the top of each case study screen. Look for case studies in a similar delivery mode to the one you use such as face-to-face, online or a mixed mode. 2. Tools: Under ‘Tools’ choose a tool name to go to the tool guide. Go to the second section of the tool guide called ‘Why use it?’. Find out about the ways this tool can support blended and flexible delivery.

Develop skills and knowledge with strategies


I need…	Where to go
to encourage my students to be more active in their learning and develop life-long learning skills.	1. Your guide: Use the interactive tool to find sample activities. Click through the columns to filter activities for different strategies and tools. 2. Strategies: Find out about strategies that interest you by browsing the strategies via the left menu. 3. Case studies: Use the interactive case studies map to find case studies using the strategies you are interested in (see the title of the case study for this information). Listen to the case studies to find out about the approaches and activities the trainers used.

Develop skills and knowledge with tools


I need…	Where to go
to find out what the different tools can offer in terms of enhancing teaching and learning.	1. Tools: Look at the first two sections of the tool guides ‘What is …?’ and ‘Why use it?’ to compare the tools and potential benefits they offer. 2. Case studies: Find relevant case studies by tool, by going to the case studies via the left menu. The case studies will give you more ideas for what the tools offer and how they could be used.
to work out whether a tool will be useful and appropriate to use within my training program.	Tools: Under ‘Tools’ choose a tool name to go to the tool guide. Go to the third section of the tool guide called, for example, ‘Is social bookmarking right for you?’ This is an activity for you – to help you to evaluate whether a tool will suit your purpose and to be aware of some of the typical challenges you may need to resolve.
to start using a particular tool with my students.	Tools: Go to a tool guide and see the sections ‘What steps are involved?’ and ‘Tips for getting started’. These sections provide links and ideas for familiarisation exercises to get started.
to increase my technical understanding of how the technologies work.	Tools: See the ‘More resources’ section within a tool guide for links to web resources that provide technical information and resources related to the tool.

Enhance planning and facilitation skills


I need…	Where to go
ideas for designing engaging learning activities.	Your guide: Use the interactive tool to explore different strategies and find sample activities using your preferred tool. Activities: Browse sample activities either via the ‘Your guide’ interactive tool or via the left menu where you can browse activities by tools. Tools: Go to a tool guide and see the section called ‘Plan and check activities’. This is an activity for you – to help you to plan and check a learning activity you have in mind, or to help you to build an activity from scratch.
practical tips from more experienced trainers – to learn from their experiences.	Tools: Go to a tool guide and see the section ‘Tips for getting started’. These tips come from the collective experience of trainers having success with social e-learning strategies and tools. Case studies: Go to case studies via the left menu to find case studies in your preferred tool. The trainers will give you more tips for how they plan and facilitate learning activities using the tool.

Peer collaboration using this resource

Tapping into networks and collaborative tools

Why not set up your own collaborative website, forum or event for sharing new practice stories, practical tips and samplers amongst a peer group of trainers? This resource (Your guide to social e-learning) could be used as a model – to guide people on the sort of information that may be useful to share – until the community evolves with its own special needs.

Here are some key questions to start inviting contributions to a collaborative site such as a wiki, or to use as discussion starters in a forum or virtual conference.

e-learning strategy guides

Give your new strategy a name and describe it as follows:

Briefly describe the strategy and give one or more examples of useful e-learning tools for the strategy.
What are some typical learning tasks or activities this strategy might involve?
What are the potential benefits of this approach? Why use it?
What teaching/learning problems or needs can it help to address?
What are the limitations or challenges for the teacher or for the students?
Give an example of a student learning activity that demonstrates this strategy and integrates one or more of the e-learning tools.

e-learning tool guides

Identify a new tool that has potential to enhance learning or delivery by supporting, for example, collaboration, sharing, networking or communication amongst students. Create a practical guide, or offer advice, for others to learn more about how to use the tool by addressing some or all of these points:

How does it work?
Why use it? What can it do to improve on current practice?
What technical skills and resources will teachers or students need?
What preconditions do you recommend in order to use and manage the tool successfully, eg in terms of meeting students’ needs, enhancing learning outcomes, your delivery context and policy and IT issues?
What are the steps to access and start using the tool?
What are your tips for planning and facilitating activities that use the tool?
What are some useful websites for more information and resources?

e-learning case studies

Some ways that case studies can be shared are by:

recording them in a format that can be easily uploaded to a site such as a wiki or podcast server – for example audio or video stories (for podcasts/vodcasts)
creating digital stories
presenting in a virtual conference.

Some questions that people could address in their case studies are:

What was the initial need or situation that led to using new strategies and/or new tools with students?
How did you (or students) select or evaluate which tool/s to use, and how to use them?
Give an example of a specific activity and the tasks involved.
What is your role in the learning activity, eg how do you support student tasks and learning?
What facilitation techniques or protocol do you use to help manage online activities?
What are the benefits for you and students in using this strategy and/or tools?
What are the issues you need to improve on or resolve?
What advice or tips would you give other teachers who are thinking of trying out this approach?

Tips for network building

What are we going to get out of this?

Networks evolve around shared purposes, needs or interests and as such rely on voluntary participation. Why should others want to participate and share ideas, skills or work samples? Encourage participation by giving opportunities for people to ‘take away’ as well as ‘give’. For example:

Involve potential participants in the establishment of the networking space or events and what the purpose will be.
Include a forum or messaging facility in the ‘tool kit’ so that people can ask questions or share problems. This can be a way to demonstrate concrete benefits of networking or collaborative problem solving.
Think about other ‘rewards’ that can be built into the network culture.
Listening to the members/community will be critical.

How much time will we need?

Expectations for when and how often people will participate need to be realistic and probably flexible. Asynchronous tools for building content (eg a wiki), communicating (eg forums, commenting) and sharing (eg podcasting) give everyone a chance to participate when it’s convenient – but for some groups it may not be as effective as synchronous events such as face-to-face workshops or virtual conferencing. The schedule and activities that will be intrinsic to building the learning community may depend on the following factors:

Will the network be open and ongoing, comprise of a series of events, come together as needed, or be supported by mixed modes or tools?
Can release time and backfilling be provided for participants so they can fully participate in professional development activities?

Do we need ‘leaders’ to support or mentor participants?

Mentoring is a proven strategy for building new technical skills and practices while learning on-the-job:

For example, get some ‘champions’ to start a wiki and regularly contribute to encourage others.
Can peer support be available just-in-time – as people are familiarising with new tools and preparing new activities?
How can participants tap into the experience and know-how of others more experienced with technologies and new practices? For example, through online support, tutorials, workshops or sharing resources.

How can the outcomes be embedded in our practice?

Keep the learning authentic in terms of the needs of the participants – eg based in actual contexts, programs and targeted for student groups.
Encourage participants to integrate exercises, resources etc within their own practice, and share the outcomes.
Establish challenges or goals so that participants have an undertaking to introducing a new e-learning practice to some degree within a given timeframe.

How will we get to know each other?

Think about a meeting space for participants (if they aren't already members of an online community). Here photos, blogs or chat could help to establish online identities and a sense of community prior to building content or conferencing.

Sample workshop activities

This resource may be useful as a professional learning tool, for organisational programs to promote awareness of new e-learning practices and develop individual capability. Some ideas for guided workshop activities are given below.


Learning focus	Where to go	Activities
Opportunities and challenges for social e-learning practice	Welcome	Listen, discuss and reflect Discussion questions: What learning styles and preferences do your learners have? How can learner-centred activities, collaboration and peer learning enhance projects and learning outcomes? Where are you, as a trainer, on the e-learning continuum? How prepared are you to hand over control to students and change your role from teacher to facilitator/enabler? Are new approaches and e-learning initiatives valued within your organisational culture? What are the inhibitors and opportunities?
Frameworks: Social e-learning strategies	Your guide	Explore and identify useful strategies and tools Discussion questions: Which strategies do you think will suit your student groups or individual students. Why? What tool/s do you think would be appropriate for you and your students to use in learning activities? Why?
Innovation in practice	Case studies	Brainstorm Select three case studies and listen to/read them. Then report back to the group: Describe the solutions that the trainer devised for meeting the needs of their students or training program. What is the role of a) strategies or activities, and b) the technology or software tools? What ideas have inspired you to apply to your own practice, or learn more about? What advice or tips do others in the group have for you?
Evaluating new tools	Tool guides – Is…right for you? Example: Is podcasting right for you?	Identify issues to resolve Try the first activity in any of the Tool guides to rate the fitness of the tool in terms of you, your students and your organisation. Use the summary report to identify which issues you still need to resolve or prepare for to increase your readiness.
Familiarisation with new tools	Tool guides – What steps are involved? Example (Blogs and wikis): What steps are involved? Tool guides – More resources Example (Blogs and wikis): More resources	‘Sand pit’ exercises Set up a new account/site with a web-based service and try out some online software.
Designing engaging activities	Activities – Tool name Example: Activities – Wikis Tool guides – Plan and check activities Example (Blogs and wikis): Plan and check activities	Plan and do an e-learning activity Look at some sample activities for your preferred tool. Use the second activity called ‘Plan and check activities’ in the relevant Tool guide to start preparing for and designing an activity you have in mind. Make a plan to try this activity out in practice, and the steps you need to take to get ready.

Innovation and networking resources

The Innovate and Integrate project website provides a detailed strategy and tools for organisations looking to embed innovative practices in e-learning: http://innovateandintegrate.flexiblelearning.net.au/html/home.html

Keep in touch with the online forums and events, and see examples of how networks are effectively supported, for example the 2007 e-learning Networks project, managed by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/flx/go/home/projects/2007/op/edit/pid/277.

edna Groups is a free service for communication and collaboration between members of the Australian education and training community: http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/