Upon completion of an investigation of virtual worlds, I was able to draw together these main ideas. Virtual Worlds are new to many of us. It was agreed that virtual worlds, like any web tool, needs to be based in sound pedagogy. Collaboration was discovered to be one of the benefits available in virtual worlds, as well as, creating places for experiment. 

Our best suggestions for the use of Virtual Worlds include:

• Avatars being immersed in storytelling allowing for more creative expression that could fuel creative expression and higher order thinking skills that are then injected into one’s own writing.
• Virtual science labs where experiments that cannot be replicated in a secondary school lab are available to young scientists.
• A virtual museum provides students, not in proximity of the great museums, to meet the great painters, to view their artwork, to learn from them, and to paint beside them.
• History comes alive as students involve themselves in virtual games designed to teach history by living it.
• Learning languages by actively participating in discussion.
• Virtual staff meetings that involve web tools such as PowerPoint and Video to enhance the sharing of ideas, allowing for an asynchronous and blended work environment.
• Incorporating Moodle and Virtual Worlds through a product known as Sloodle.
• Opportunity to visit a jungle and learn about the animals that live there.

Virtual Worlds were recognized to have difficulties or drawbacks that need to be considered.

• They can be expensive and there is lack of funding.
• They can take time to master.
• Privacy issues need to be considered, particularly with younger students.
• Social networking could be difficult as some people use a different alter-ego in a virtual world.
• Bullying can occur in virtual worlds so proper support for victims and bullies need to be integrated into any learning situation.
• The training of teachers would be a big consideration in the implementation of such technology.

Finally, experts in the field were referenced, and will be included in the summary exemplifying the collaborative thinking of participants and experts in considering the use of virtual worlds. 

• Dreher, C., Reiners, T., Dreher, N., & Dreher, H. (2009) hold the view that Virtual Worlds are of particular pedagogical relevance because in such environments students are prone to explore, participate, discover new knowledge, and develop industry relevant skills with greater intrinsic motivation and autonomy.
• Virtual worlds can provide the participant with a sense of self and presence that supports socialization and collaborative learning through this immersion (Girvan & Savage, 2010).
• Presence - the subjective experience of being in one place or environment, even when one is physically situated in another (Dreher, C., Reiners, T., Dreher, N., & Dreher, H., 2009).
• Dreher, C., Reiners, T., Dreher, N., & Dreher, H. (2009) recommend mixed learning environments that integrate real life learning contexts and Virtual Worlds
• IBM has around fifty facilities in 'Second Life' and uses this to simulate project management, develop employee skills and customer interactions (MOE, 2010).
• An article by Stanney, Mourant & Kennedy (1998) poses interesting questions about the ‘human factor’ in virtual worlds, and suggests considerations such as health and safety, human performance efficiency and social implications need to be reviewed.

CMC, better known as ‘computer-mediated communication’ is a new area of research. Information exchange is only one aspect to online communication.  People can find social support and a sense of belonging through interaction among groups online, even with people they hardly know (Wellman et al., 1996). 

Salmon (2000) points out that much has been written about the potential of technology but not much about what teachers and students do online. Sociologists suggest that computer networks are social networks (Wellman, et al., 1996).  These social networks are sustained by the exchange of information and the interaction among the members.  Zhu (2006) considers online discussion messages as artifacts of learning that demonstrate student behaviors during the learning process.

The behavior of ‘lurking’ online refers to never sending contributions to the discussion but actively listening and observing communication (Riva, 2002). In a text-based environment, if a user writes nothing it is as if that person doesn’t exist.  A online user noted, “I post, therefore I am” (Riva, 2002). The more involved I become in social online groups, the more aware I am of the need and the benefit of creating a positive social online presence. Gulati (2004, April) argues that some individuals may best learn informally and silently. Lurkers may manage information and participation differently depending on the priorities in the lives of online learners (Rovai, 2007).

Unwanted behaviors in online environments occur.  Net groups have established norms of network usage, known as netiquette, to address how a user can write and post messages (Riva, 2002). As a blogger, I have the ability to control the messages that are posted on my blog and can block anyone that posts inappropriate comments.  In a recent University course online discussion forum, one member continued to post negative and opinionated comments not entirely related to the forum topics.  It was interesting to ‘watch’ the reaction from peers.  Some avoided any dialogue with that person while others tried to offer alternative viewpoints.  Others found the situation stressful as the benefits of positive discussion were missing as time and space were used for negative and unwanted comments.  It is important to establish netiquette norms and to work towards keeping those in place to ensure positive healthy online communities.

The behavior of congregating near the ‘water cooler’ for informal and social bonding is found in face-to-face situations in the workplace.  Online forums have found that this is also beneficial to promote community building a social presence.  It is important to have separate discussion forums available where workers or students can meet electronically and discuss topics of mutual interest (Rovai, 2007).  This allows for more personal relationships to be developed.  In my experience with online learning, I have found theses social forums very helpful to establishing informal and relevant connections with peers.

CMC is a new form of communication that is different from non-electronic written communication and face-to-face communication (Riva, 2002). Virtual communities are changing the ways that people socialize.  Technology will continue to advance.  Sociologists and psychologists will be busy observing and researching all the interactions that socially occur in online work and learning environments to better help us understand this new phenomenon.

References

Gulati, S. (2004, April). Constructivism and emerging online learning pedagogy: A discussion for formal to acknowledge and promote the informal. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Universities Association for Continuing Education - Regional Futures: Formal and Informal Learning Perspectives, Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Glamorgan.

Riva, G. (2002). The sociocognitive psychology of computer-mediated communication: The present and future of technology based interactions. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 5(6), 591-598.

Rovai, A. P. (2007). Facilitating online discussions effectively. The Internet and Higher Education, 10(1), 77-88.

Salmon, G. (2000). E-Moderating: The key to teaching and learning online. London: Taylor & Francis Books Ltd.

Wellman, B., Salaff, J., Dimitrova, D., Garton, L., Gulia, M., & Haythornthwaite, C. (1996). Computer networks as social networks: Collaborative work, telework, and virtual community. Annual Reveiw Sociology, 22, 213-238.

Zhu, E. (2006). Interaction and cogitive engagement: An analysis of four asynchronous online discussions. Instructional Science, 34, 451-480. doi: DOI 10.1007/s11251-006-0004-0

I regularly look at the user-generated list, 100 Top Tools.  It is a good idea to look into one’s Toolbox and determine if there are tools that need to be added. Recent discussions in an online seminar prompted me to have a close look into my toolbox.  

I am currently using, on a regular basis: Twitter, YouTube, Skype, WordPress, DropBox, Facebook, Google Scholar, Google Search, iAnnotate, Word, PowerPoint, iTunes, Mahara Portfolio, Kindle, and HootSuite.  These allow me to collaborate with others, organize my information, and share that information.

These tools are necessary features of my Toolbox, although they are not used as regularly: Jing, Screencast, LinkenIn (including the forums), Wikispaces, Audacity, Articulate, TedTalks, and Excel.

The recent discussion in the online seminar I participated in has prompted me to investigate these tools as possible additions to my toolbox: Prezi, SecondLife, Sloodle, Curio, Wallwisher, Ning, and Weebly.

The conversations and discussions in online forums have prompted me to investigate these tools: Diigo, Scoopit, TweetDeck, MindMeister, Storybird, and iMovie.

I have voted for the Top 100 Tools for 2012.  Each year my toolbox grows and thanks to the online community I am able to find useful tools to test and use.  Have you voted yet?  Vote now for the Top 100 Tools for 2012. 

Blogs are a useful knowledge sharing tools that assist in managing knowledge (Chai & Kim, 2010) and can be used to support lifelong learning.  A year and a half ago, I started blogging as a way to put some structure to the research that I was doing as part of the University courses I was completing.  The Internet is full of an abundance of information that we often get lost in.  Blogging prompted me to formulate the ideas I was reading, integrate that knowledge with personal experience, and contain those ideas in a written journal entry that I published online as a blog post.  Cameron & Anderson (2006) found that learners can record thoughts and experiences over time, compile resources, post useful memos and create a body of knowledge representative of personal growth and achievement by blogging.

With available web tools today it is easy to expand a blog from being just a written journal entry to incorporate voice and video as exemplars of a learning journey.  Experimenting with different web tools I was able to create podcast recordings and add them to my blog.  Passing on knowledge through voice is particularly effective for second language learners and the visually impaired. Screencast videos are easily created.  Voice over to PowerPoint presentations adds a visual graphic element to sharing knowledge.  As well, screencast videos are quickly and easily made allowing for the sharing of tips helpful to learning new web tool applications.

A developed and updated blog is a positive way to develop social online presence.  It is becoming more common that one is not only asked for an email address but also a website or blog address.  I often search blog author’s websites to get a better understanding of who they are.  In an online way, it puts a ‘face to a name’.  Chai & Kim (2010) pointed out that trust among people was a critical element for fostering knowledge sharing in networks.  Developing a positive online presence is important in the formation of trust.  One way to do that is by using blogs as a knowledge-sharing tool that incorporates one’s personal insights and experiences.

References

Cameron, D., & Anderson, T. (2006). Comparing weblogs to threaded discussion tools in online educational contexts. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 3, 3-17.

Chai, S., & Kim, M. (2010). What makes bloggers share knowledge? An investigation on the role of trust. International Journal of Information Management, 30(408-415).

This morning I listened to a podcast given by Dr. John Buchanan, (2011) Director of the Workplace Research Centre at The University of Sydney. In my ponderings on how we can learn smarter and work smarter, John offered insight into how eLearning affects workforce development. I was most interested that John approaches this topic as a labour market researcher and a historian.

Workforce development is complex and is not just a commodity. When an employee is hired what is ‘bought’ is the capacity to perform. Actual performance is different from the capacity to perform. Businesses know all to well that employees are hired but that some under-perform from the initial expectation. The question becomes, “how can businesses get more out of an employee once hired?” This is the complexity of workforce development.

eLearning can help to manage workforce development. However, it is important to identify what eLearning CAN and CANNOT do in regards to up skilling employees. Some businesses hope that eLearning will offer the magic pill that trains the workforce in a more cost effective and efficient way. eLearning, if not managed effectively, can create more problems then once addressed. According to John, the key issues for eLearning that need to be managed include access, motivation and overcoming negative experiences.

Research has shown that eLearning flourishes when there is a very clear ‘driver’ to get employees on board. A competent eLearning champion, with good leadership skills, can make eLearning within an organization fly by empowering the workers.

Educators that work as eLearning Specialists within a company need to be mindful that they come from an education perspective. Educators often come from the point of view that we educate for the good of humanity. It is important to appreciate that those in the work force can feel exploited and used, therefore, they may not have that trust factor when it comes to sharing ideas, knowledge and skills. Skill workers traditionally resist sharing knowledge.

As educators, we see the benefits of collaborative learning, blogging, and communities of practice. But educators involved in training in the business environment need to understand individual workplace culture when introducing eLearning systems into the work force. Managers need to create an environment of trust to share knowledge and expertise. eLearning specialists cannot magically create this trust if the work environment is not conducive to it. If employees feel as though their pay scale is linked only to their individual performance then they will not see the benefit of collaborative learning or the development of communities of practice. Effective eLearning in such a situation will be very difficult if not impossible.

Current work trends affect how eLearning will be developed within an organization.
Today, only 50% of workers are full time employees. The other 50% are part time and casual. Most work places are understaffed as businesses try to streamline costs. Micro-businesses exist where there is a large business with a limited number of employees. For example, the dairy industry involves large farms with only 3 – 4 staff in total.

eLearning can be one of the ingredients for creating a more capable workforce. For example, in the grocery industry there may be weeks that are slower resulting in downtime for employees. During these opportunities, eLearning can be integrated to up-skill employees or to offer career advancement opportunities through further training. eLearning can also assist in the skills and knowledge training for shift workers that are often not available during scheduled training times. In many countries we see the implementation of National Standards and an effective eLearning system can assist in bringing all employees up-to-date with current regulations and practices. Apprenticeships are becoming more advantageous in training new employees. Virtual media allows experts to share knowledge and tools, allowing the training to be more relevant to current job practices.

Training in the workplace needs to move from competencies to capabilities. There is not a non-eLearning and and an eLearning setting. For proper workplace training, an ensemble of capabilities is needed to engage workers in real world practical ways.

Reference

Buchanan, J. (Keynote Speaker) (2011, December 13). Enabling Workforce Development [Show 3]. eLearning11. Podcast retrieved from http://itunes.apple.com/nz/podcast/elearning11/id488685560

As humans we are social and we learn through being social.  For knowledge to have value it needs to be shared.  Today there are an increasing number of social tools that assist us in sharing knowledge in online environments by establishing collaborative learning relationships.

With the arrival of ultra-fast broadband to New Zealand by 2016, it is certain that we will all have an online presence as we learn and collaborate virtually. Researchers have shown, in varying degrees, that social presence increases student satisfaction and assists in the development of a community of learners. We can choose to be proactive and manage this presence and ensure that our students take advantage of the increasing number of new learning tools available online.  As educators we can be instrumental in modeling and supporting the online presence in our youth.

Social online presence refers to the ability of learners to project their personal characteristics into the community of inquiry, thereby presenting themselves as ‘real people.’ As we, and our students, share knowledge and collaborate we build a positive social presence online. As we look towards the future we see on the horizon greater involvement in virtual worlds through environments such as Second Life.  It is imperative that we become instrumental in positively affecting this change in how and where we learn.

As part of a collaborative online activity, cultivating online presence was considered and below are our suggestions:

• Relating what is being learned with personal and professional experiences.  By doing this the other members of the course become more 'real' and 'human'. Ensure that this is included in the design of the activities. - Lorraine
• Make reference to other people's comments by 'agreeing' or 'disagreeing' or offering another perspective.  By doing this there is a feeling of interaction amongst others instead of just 'posting to the wind.' - Lorraine
• Accepting that there will be disagreements or conflict and finding positive ways to work through the issues to come to a consensus.  This gives the sense that it is a 'real'' social experience and that people can be encouraged to have their own viewpoints. - Lorraine
• Ensure that in designing tasks and activities that interaction and dialogue are significant parts of the experience. - Lorraine
• Invite input from others. This makes tasks community based (collaborative) - George
• Cultivating social presence falls in the hands of the teachers, instructional designers and participants (students). These three groups should work together to face the challenges of creating social presence in the virtual world. - Kaushal
• Participants (students)  play a critical role in shaping the social presence of online learning environment. As key players in the equation of community building, participants (students) must be able to negotiate their interactions between the teacher, fellow classmates and the technology used to create the online learning course. - Kaushal
• Use 'loose language' to make people comfortable in forums/chats. Specialised, Academic or technical language makes novices hesitate to contribute in chats. - George
• Ensure that all participants have the skills to participate in any activties and discussions set for them, and the support if they don't. - Kristin
• Be organised and encourage participants to manage their time effectively as well. Otherwise, some students will miss out on contributing to discussions or having other students repond to their postings. - Elle
• Make opportunities for visual cues, such as a profile picture and a place to 'chat' off topic if desired among particpants. - Kristin
• Do not hesitate to contribute controversial ideas or to oppose others perspectives but do it politely - George
• As designers of online courses we need to be aware of social software communication tools and their potential to achieve a social presence with the particular group we are working with. eg. young students might favour live chat that is less formal and more personal.- Colleen
• Provide quick feedback and regular updates-Colleen
• Add tone to the conversation in order to "humanise" the interaction. Adding tone can help to clarify the context of text based communication.eg.mmmm... I need some clarification here.or.... I'm being a little syncial here but don't you think.....  -Colleen
• Offer personal support beyond course content and provide more private forums where participants feel safe to communicate other issues which might be impacting on their participation. eg cultural differences, health, personal wellbeing etc - Colleen
• Ensuring that the time allocated for completing activities takes into account everyones "other committments" like work, family etc, will assist in increasing social presence (Having completed other online papers before, I believe this course has done it well - Mumtaz

• The emotional element comes into play with social presence,as positive constructive interactions can be achieved by active respectful participants.Consequently, building positive emotions in new participants and helping them to become more positively socially present in the learning community. - Justin

• Account for a variance in communication skills amongst participants, from novice to expert, and encourage experts to model skills to novices. - Hillary
• Give clear guidelines for what you want participants to include in each posting. The guidelines will act as a framework for people who are reluctant or unsure about what to say about themselves in an introduction.  - Alison

As I progress through my studies and research I find it helpful to locate job postings of positions that I would like to take on in the future.  I recently came across this posting:

• To design and develop training programs that will assist in equipping faculty with the necessary skills and competencies to become online faculty members and which will reflect sound instructional design strategies, practices and tactics.

Dialogue is an essential ingredient in online learning environments.  The issue of how online technologies can be integrated into teaching when not all staff enthusiastically embrace the change that new technologies bring can be challenging (Wilson & Stacey, 2004). It is necessary to find effective ways to encourage social constructivist learning (Stacey, 2002) that requires an interactive online discussion element (Wilson & Stacey, 2004). Online discussion and dialogue can take on different forms in online learning including email, bulletin boards, asynchronous chat, group discussions, debate (Coomey, 2001) and video-conferencing (Bonk, Cummings, & Jacobs, 1999). In my experience of teaching students and adults, it is always best to start with the familiar.  Introducing dialogue in a medium that the learners are familiar with is often most effective.  Perhaps email or a private Facebook page would be two initial options to start.

In my experience as an online learner, participation is enhanced when the online discussion element is related to a task that will be assessed (Coomey, 2001; Funaro, 1999). In a current Project Management class, the online discussions, of which there are three, each represent 5% of the final mark.   This I saw as an encouragement to course members to participate in the discussion, as many had not previously participated in online forums.  It was clearly revealed through the discussion that the conversations that ensued were helpful in completing a much larger weighted assignment. As part of the scaffolding of integrating discussion and dialogue into online courses, it is worth investigating whether novice students are more apt to participate initially if assessment marks are allocated to discussion tasks. 

I have found in my teaching experience that it is often human nature not to want to try new things.  In regards to technology, there can by varying levels of interest and capability with technologies.  Wilson & Stacey (2004) suggest ‘show and tell’ activities, exemplars and short seminars to provoke interest and initial success.  I have started experimenting with producing short screencasts, ‘how-to’ instructions and podcasts when adults, teenagers or co-learners ask me for information.  The more I complete the easier it gets and I am able to experiment with diverse ways of presenting information and encouraging participation in using technology to learn and teach. The next phase is to allow the learner, or in the case of the fore mentioned job description, the staff members to take on a ‘teacher role’ and to create their own online instructional screencasts and podcasts. 

In conclusion and with reference to the above job description, I would approach such a situation by starting with the known technological tools and build upon those.  Staff would be encouraged to structure the online tasks carefully into the overall learning design so that it was an integral part of the learning and assessment.  In the case of a faculty there would be a variety of subjects involved.  This diversity could be accentuated in a positive way by encouraging staff members to share in an online forum their successes, trials and challenges of incorporating discussion tools enhanced by technology into their subject specific courses.

References

Bonk, C., Cummings, J., & Jacobs, R. (1999). Twety first century syllabi: Dynamic tools for promoting interactivity, unpublished manuscript Center for Research on Learning and Technology Report. Bloomington: Indiana University.

Coomey, M., & Stephenson, J. (2001). Online learning: It is all about dialogue, involvement, support and control - according to research. In J. Stephenson (Ed.), Teaching and learning online: Pedagogies for new technologies (pp. 37-52). London: Kogan Page.

Funaro, G. M. (1999). Pedagogical roles and implementation guidelines for online communication tools. ALN Magazine, 3(2).

Stacey, E. (2002). Learning links online: Establishing constructivist and collaborative learning environments. Paper presented at the Untangling the Web: Establishing Learning Links, Melbourne. http://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30004665/stacey-learninglinksonline-2002.pdf

Wilson, G., & Stacey, E. (2004). Online interaction impacts on learning: Teaching the teachers to teach online. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(1), 33-48.

I recently read McLoughlin and Lee’s article, The Three P’s of Pedagogy for the Networked Society: Personalization, Participation, and Productivity (McLoughlin, 2008), which highlights the need to rethink pedagogy, our model for teaching and learning, in order to replace the learner as consumer and move towards learners as ‘prosumers’.  A ‘prosumer’ refers to learners that produce and consume information. Knowledge is not valuable in a static form, but is valuable when it is shared.  Today, knowledge and information are in constant movement as people consume and produce information in increasingly technologically, collaborative and mobile ways.  The openness of Web 2.0 implies an ‘architecture of participation’ (McLoughlin, 2008; O'Reilly, 2007) which realizes that communities are more valuable and productive when there is a sharing of ideas and cooperation in work, when members consume and produce collectively. Although the 3 P’s of Pedagogy was written in reference to tertiary education, I have applied the concepts discussed to virtual workplace learning communities.

The 3 P’s of Pedagogy refer to a need for models of learning to include three essential elements: personalization, participation and productivity (McLoughlin, 2008). It implies that pedagogy today needs to engage learners in social processes of knowledge creation.

Personalized learning refers to a learner-centered environment.  This has been a difficult issue to overcome in education as the control culture of education prevails in pre-packaged content and curriculum.  This is also a challenge in business environments today that often uses a top-down approach in managing workplace environments. Personalized learning enables choice and allows learners to make decisions about how to best meet their goals (McLoughlin, 2008).  It includes how information is gathered and consumed, as well as, the flexibility in how knowledge is expressed.  Web 2.0 is allowing for a variety of media forms to be used in consuming and expressing knowledge.

Participative learning increases the level of socialization and collaboration among experts, community, and peer groups fostering connections that are often global in reach (McLoughlin, 2008).  The development of these networked communities are essential in effective workplace virtual communities. O’Reilly (2007) asserts that hyperlinking is the foundation of the Web.  As users add new content and link to new sites the associations become stronger through repetition and intensity much like the formation of synapses in the brain.  Connections grow as an output of collective activity of all web users.  In today’s competitive and changing business environment, it is essential to tap into this growing collective activity by becoming a ‘prosumer’ within the network.

Productivity in the Web 2.0 realm assumes that learners are capable of creating and generating ideas, concepts, and knowledge and, therefore, it is important to enable this type of learning (McLoughlin, 2008). O’Reilly (2007) insists that the effective use of Web 2.0 tools within workplace environments implies that users are trusted to be co-developers. Encouragement of creativity and innovation is essential to encourage productivity as part of a learning culture in any business environment.

As emphasized by McLoughlin and Lee (2008), there are continual transformational shifts occurring in instructing and learning practices that are providing opportunities for greater variety and accessibility of interactions and exchanges.  Personalization, participation, and productivity integrated into technological advancements allow for greater socialization, networking and collaborating within a learning culture. These changes impact on the need for effective pedagogy that will be used in learning communities that are shifting towards a knowledge age where creativity and originality are highly valued.

References

McLoughlin, C., & Lee, M. J. W. (2008). The three P's of pedagogy for the networked society: Personalization, participation, and productivity. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 20(1), 10-27.

O'Reilly, T. (2007). What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software. MPRA. Retrieved from http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/4578/1/MPRA_paper_4578.pdf

E-learning is an Evolutionary Change

The adoption of e-learning implies a modification to my teaching. I have not had the fortunate opportunity to work in a school recently that I had access to enough working technology to incorporate e-learning into teaching practice.  As a relieving teacher in the last school, I was not provided with a laptop, the computer room in the mathematics block was locked and the computers were not working, and many students did not have internet connection at home. The computer access that I had was four shared computers in the staff room. This being said, the past two years I have done a lot of learning, e-learning one could say, as I have embraced the tools, resources and communities that are increasingly becoming more available.  

Most significantly, the evolution of e-learning for me has been the blending and merging of the roll of ‘teacher’ and ‘student’ in web communities that I have participated in.  Is this completely different than my classroom absent of technology?  No, it is similar.  My classroom has always been a place where learning is a social and collaborative process drawing from recent knowledge and experience to expand understanding.   Teaching secondary mathematics I often use small student learning groups to encourage social learning.  My favorite experience recently was a Year 11 NCEA mathematics class of 25 students that included exchange students from France, Germany, China, Korea, and Brazil.  Students learned in small groups and in each group there was one to two exchange students.  The classroom was noisy at times but there was a lot of math that was learned, as well as, language, culture and inter-personal skills.  The mathematical content moved to the background and the learning came to the foreground. (Pratt & Associates, 1998)

From Producers and Consumers to ‘Prosumers’

In teaching I often use the same technique that student peer (2012, 11 March) in a recent online discussion shared,  “as a teacher, I am constantly trying to relate new concepts to prior knowledge that students already have. I do this by asking questions.”   In the math’s classroom I circulated the room, almost as if I was the inquisitor.  As a mathematics teacher I tried to challenge learners conceptions to help them move to more sophisticated levels of thinking and reasoning. (Pratt & Associates, 1998) Before long I was wandering the room watching and listening to students asking others questions, and finding ways to connect new knowledge to what they already knew. They were learning from each other and connecting their knowledge to what they knew.  These students were becoming ‘prosumers’ of knowledge being both producers and consumers. (McLoughlin, 2010)

E-learning has prompted a change in how I teach and how I learn.  I consider this a significant evolutionary change but not an extreme change.  Predominantly, the reason I consider this an evolutionary change is that I am still using the pedagogies and the perspectives that I used in teaching without technology, but now the significant evolutionary change is that those pedagogies and perspectives are influencing both my teaching and learning as I interact in online environments.  The biggest evolutionary change that I have experienced in the past two years is that the line that separates teacher and student continues to be more blurred.

References

Student Peer (2012, 11 March). Butterflies - connecting prior knowledge with new knowledge [Online forum comment].  Retrieved from http://stream.massey.ac.nz/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=266074

McLoughlin, C., & Lee, M. J. W. (2010). Personalised and self regulated learning in the Web 2.0 era: International exemplars of innovative pedagogy using social software. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(1), 28-43.

Pratt, D., & Associates. (1998). Alternative frames of understanding. Five perspectives on teaching in adult and higher education (pp. 33-53). Malabar, FL: Kreiger.