Google Wave Platform: Exploring the Settings for Personalized Learning

Google Wave Platform: Exploring the Settings for Personalized Learning Malinka Ivanova Technical University – Sofia, Bulgaria Javed Alam Youngstown State University, USA 3 rd Workshop on Mash-Up Personal Learning Environments (MUPPLE-10) Barcelona, Spain, September 29, 2010

Aim Exploring Google Wave characteristics for personalized learning spaces organization and development of a model for knowledge receiving

Outline Define the features of personalized learning Explore the functional characteristics of Wave in context of personalized learning Develop a model for personalized learning in Google Wave Prototype, test and its improvement during several engineering courses Evaluation of the model through students’ opinion Conclusion

Is there a difference between personalized learning and personal learning?

Personal learning non-controlled, when learner self-arranges his/her learning environment related to self-organized and life-long learners

Personalized learning controlled, when educator or institution controls the resources and learning paths

Personalized learning learning through performing activities together  collaborative learning environment

Personalized learning performing stand-alone tasks  non-collaborative learning environment

We wish: to control personalization over subject area and the right learning content to support a range of learning activities to facilitate group learning approach to maximize the use of shared spaces and knowledge

Google Wave characteristics static communication ≠dynamic communication Google Wave combines features of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management

Functional characteristics (1) Wiki functionality – The blips written within a Google Wave can be edited/commented by participants in a wave, all conversations within the platform are shared that is a cause for conversation and discussion performing; (2) Real-time communication - In the blip instances, the participants have visual feeling e.g. they can see what someone else is typing; (3) Drag-and-drop file sharing - the dragged file can be dropped inside Google Wave and every participant will have access to this file, no need for attachments; (4) Playback - Every participant can track (playback) any part of a wave to trace the information and discussion; (5) Embedding Wave in web sites - An embedded wave is a way to take a Google Wave and the conversation within it and place it on web site, in form of a chat room or other way for contacting; (6) Searching within waves – it is possible to easy move through waves

Taxonomy of a wave Wave consists of: Wavelet - includes a subset of a larger conversation (or a wave) Blip - a single, individual message that can have other blips attached to them Document - can be a part of a blip content in form of text, embed media or files Extensions (applications) - can be part of a blip in form of gadgets and robots Wave … Wavelet Blip -Text -Embed media -Links -Extensions -tags Wavelet Blip Answer Blip Blip

Google Wave Personalized Learning Settings access from web browsers and mobile platforms (iPhone, Android) flexible content organization – extensible platform through public APIs, gadgets and robots creation of special waves according to student’s needs learning in collaboration in real time, working together in a group or on a project possibility for networkng

For providing inter/intra-institutional or inter/intra-course personalized learning  Google Wave federation protocol Wave provider Wave server Wavelet store Wave Federation host Federation remote Wave client Activities Wave presentation Wave provider Wave server Wavelet store Wave Federation host Federation remote Wave client Activities Wave presentation Push Submit Push Submit Domain A Domain B

Good practices Collaborative multimedia notebook applied for lectures, laboratory practices and seminars Environment for writing and sharing documents Recording system for performed private or group communications, discussions and assessment/evaluation Forming a digital repository with curse/team materials, administrative documents Track the students’ progress via playback Better synchronous and asynchronous communication Universities Wave URL Cambridge UK https://wave.google.com/wave/?nouacheck&pli=1#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%2B7RfuBSdOA Technical University of Darmstadt https://wave.google.com/wave/?nouacheck&pli=1#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%2Br2i83OIeD MIT Wave https://wave.google.com/wave/?nouacheck&pli=1#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%2BL3MN8B6mL Education Wave URL Educators - Higher Ed (includes grad students) https://wave.google.com/wave/?nouacheck&pli=1#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%2BJFdU99wGM Educators - Teachers, K-12 https://wave.google.com/wave/?nouacheck&pli=1#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%2BJFdU99wGK Librarians Wave Directory https://wave.google.com/wave/?nouacheck&pli=1#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%2BKCuvvR4eA

What is important for personalized learning? flexible content delivery influences on students’ progression and widening participation

What is important for personalized learning? content and knowledge presentation in multiple media forms utilizing a wide range of technologies mashup media content from different sources easy embedding of components/widgets for receiving students’ opinion practicing basic-skills and assessment practicing independent work skills creating to-do list pretesting students' knowledge before each unit sharing the work of created lessons  attract the attention to learning not only of the excellent students, but also of excluded/disengaged

What is important for personalized learning? knowledge reception working on projects participating in forums and group activities informal conversation, reflexive dialogue and collaborative content generation community of practices – learning through shared experiences, problems and solutions, tools, methodologies

What is important for personalized learning? Ubiquities access of web sites and systems using of ubiquities and mobile environments  learner - at the center of unique experiences remain consistent and coherent across activities, devices, services, locations and networks

Model for personalized learning in Google Wave Google Wave Platform Knowledge receiving Delivery Access Real-time On-demand Gadgets Robots Social way Mobile Web-based Networking Revising Sharing Searching Ideas mapping Voting Collaboration Group work Commenting Discussing Tracing Content/ knowledge presentation Links Well-formatted text Multimedia Integrated web pages Pictures

Delivery methods Learning instructions, content and knowledge integrated Google Wave’s rich text editor, extensions, gadgets and robots a wave can adopt any widgets, but Wave gadgets are preferred Wave robots - can talk with participants, can provide information from outside sources, can monitor content within a wave, can share social bookmarks Model for personalized learning in Google Wave

Content/knowledge presentation Every student has his/her favorite way/tools for learning learning through following links, well-formatted text, multimedia/audio/video/images or embedded HTML code, learning by example, by finding answers to questions, by solving problems on their own In a wave all of these variants are available and students can personalize their learning using preferably media content - they have to add appropriate gadgets, robots or HTML code Model for personalized learning in Google Wave

Knowledge reception several methods by promoting collaborative work on projects small groups’ problem solving, allowing forming virtual learning network facilitating learning by others using Google Wave’s playback function sharing searching real time conversations mind mapping of ideas discussion through active commenting use of polling gadgets for voting Model for personalized learning in Google Wave

Model for personalized learning in Google Wave Methods for ubiquities access The platform of Google Wave is reachable any time, from any location, serving the personalized learning on-demand, including through mobile devices

Model for collaborative work with personal settings Google Wave Platform Wave Follow Personal Learning Network Wave Knowledge Transfer in a Collaborative Way Wave Wave Create a Wave Add contacts

What do students say? 65% - will continue to use Google Wave in the future 20% - “maybe” 15% - will not continue utilization of the platform

Will use in the future “ Google Wave didn't interest me in the beginning because I didn't understand what it is for and what it could provide. After I knew that it combines the benefits of emailing and chatting I was fascinated by this powerful tool.”

Will use in the future “ Google Wave was a complete new experience to me. The whole gadget and robots seems a little complicated at first.”

Will use in the future “ Google wave helps to revise past documents and conversations . Google wave supports many number of gadgets and robots that can be used to search for information, plotting of the graphs, maps bar charts , etc.”

Will use in the future Student’s opinion Learning methods “ Google Wave didn't interest me in the beginning because I didn't understand what it is for and what it could provide. After I knew that it combines the benefits of emailing and chatting I was fascinated by this powerful tool.” Communication “ Google Wave is very easy to learn and is a time saver for average people to different companies it aloud people to work on the same thing in real time as long as they have internet available.” Networking, collaboration “ Google Wave has been very helpful to my group. We are able to communicate clearly at different times. Many of the gadgets are fun to interact with as well. I will definitely be using this in the future!” Group working, through technology “ Google Wave was a complete new experience to me. The whole gadget and robots seems a little complicated at first.” Learning experience through technology “ Google wave helps to revise past documents and conversations. Google wave supports many number of gadgets and robots that can be used to search for information, plotting of the graphs, maps bar charts, etc.” Revising knowledge, knowledge gathering “ In the beginning I didn't like Google wave at all. Then I started spending time on that and now I feel that it is fast way of communicating. My first impression changed and now I spend few hours on it talking and discussions to my friend.” Conversation and Discussion “ Even if I were absent during my other partners were working, I can simply hit the playback button to see what actually happened during my absence. Google Wave is capable of serving both as a social networking tool and professional collaboration tool.” Knowledge tracking, social networking tool and professional collaboration tool “ It definitely needs what they call it “a wave moment” to appreciate the technology in which we accomplish something we couldn’t do with existing tools. I really liked it because it lets me know who’s editing what and where, where others attention is focused, an important feature when collaborating.” Networking, collaboration “ Whether it is for collaboration work among the group members or for sharing data, news and problems, it has proved to be very significant. There are many things that I am still learning and I should learn in order to use that tool fully.” Collaboration, Sharing

What are the motivating drives of 65% of students to continue usage of Google Wave for personalized learning? the possibility for faster real-time communication, conversation and discussion for deeper learning and clearing the problematic questions realization of connections among peers, experts and professionals and organization of expanded learning and professional network deciding problems collaborating and group working on projects in real-time integration of gadgets and robots

Google Wave supports the conversational aspect of personalized learning allowing: questions asking participating in discussions seeking help or advise on a project sharing of learning documents and other media relevant to the course topic creating a learning network following peers and educators with same interests reflecting on proposed learning

Not use in the future “ I think this is a pointless networking tool much like Facebook and MySpace. Quite frankly, I believe it was a waste of my time .”

Not use in the future “ I started a wave and have used it briefly. I don't really enjoy it that much. I don't even text. I doubt I will ever use this in my daily life.”

Maybe, will use in the future “ Google Wave was a complete new experience to me. The whole gadget and robots seems a little complicated at first. I guess it is just like anything else when you do something over and over it gets a little easier. I just don't know when I would actually use this format . I guess I could try and used it with my colleagues, but the problem is they also have to learn how to use it”.

Student’s opinion Student’s decision “ I think this is a pointless networking tool much like Facebook and MySpace. Quite frankly, I believe it was a waste of my time.” Not use in the future “ I started a wave and have used it briefly. I don't really enjoy it that much. I don't even text. I doubt I will ever use this in my daily life.” Not use in the future “ I don't know, I think the possibilities for this are great for communication. I just don't see it feasible.” Not use in the future “ Although Google wave seemed to be confusing in initial days, eventually it has somehow become familiar to use nowadays. Whether it is for collaboration work among the group members or for sharing data, news, views and problems, it has proved to be very significant. There are many things that I am still learning and I should learn in order to use that tool fully.” Maybe, will use in the future “ In the beginning I didn't like Google wave at all. I found it little bit confusing and it didn't work on IE. Then I started spending time on that and now I feel that it is fast way of communicating. My first impression changed and now I spend few hours on it talking and discussions to my friend. Some problems like it gets slow when we have more/ large waves trouble me sometime.” Maybe, will use in the future “ I feel that Google Wave is not brief enough for professional work and also complicated for entertainment. However, it is useful to communicate.” Maybe, will use in the future “ Google Wave was a complete new experience to me. The whole gadget and robots seems a little complicated at first. I guess it is just like anything else when you do something over and over it gets a little easier. I just don't know when I would actually use this format. I guess I could try and used it with my colleagues, but the problem is they also have to learn how to use it. You just don't see Google Wave catching on like Facebook and MySpace.” Maybe, will use in the future

Why student doesn't like Google Wave? imperfections of the technology such as incompatibility with different web browsers, slow loading at big waves, time for studying tools doubts about usefulness of this technology to reach effectiveness in their future professional career

Why students will not use Google Wave in the future? 15% of students – categorically will not use Google Wave platform in the future they consider participation in social networks as wasted time the wasted time is needed time for technology studying they suppose that such technology is unfeasible for usage in daily and professional life

Conclusion Google Wave technology successfully is used to assists learning according to student’ needs and learning goals of given engineering courses Different learning methods during the semester are utilized, including collaborative learning in groups, working on students’ projects via sharing, discussing and revising The Google Wave platform is flexible and extensible allowing extensive personalization and customization Its use was well liked and accepted by the students

Conclusion A model for personalized learning is created and it leads to basic understanding of the main factors impacting the personalized learning: delivery methods content/knowledge presentation knowledge receiving ubiquities access Prototype is created and evaluated

Thank you for your attention! For contacts: [email_address] [email_address]

Google Wave Platform: Exploring the Settings for Personalized Learning

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Google Wave Platform: Exploring the Settings for Personalized Learning