Open Network Instructional Strategies

Teachers and instructional designers can integrate these open network instructional strategies into their project in additional to Constructivist Instructional Strategies. Both (constructive and open network strategies) complement each other to guide you to design and to plan your interactive learning activities.

Some strategies are social learning oriented while some are more technical oriented. In addition, some are broader while some are more specific in design. Previous students found these strategies more relevant and effective to their teaching:

• Participatory web
• Use-Generated Content (UGC)
• Gaming
• Mobile Learning
• Social Networking
• Mixed (Augmented/Virtual) Reality
• Social Content Sharing,

Additional ones but not necessary ineffective.

• Community-Community Interaction
• Social Tagging
• Information Visualization
• Cloud Computing (p. 36)
• Aggregation/Aggregator
• Mashup
• Remix
• RSS

More explanations and resources to understand each strategy. Conduct further online research to earn the strategies that you are interested in.

Participatory Web

• Learners are engaged in contributing online content and/or web pages etc.
• Q: Is online discussion considered as participatory web?
• A: Generally, we do not consider online discussion board as participatory web since online discussion postings are in loose-organized content. In open network learning context, participatory web is integrated with UGC or even Community-Community interaction to become more interactive.
• Example:
  • Students can create web content and pages on course wiki, blog etc.
  • Team blog: Learners can comment others' wiki page or blog postings etc.

UGC: User Generated Content

• Students are empowered to create learning content for peers to learn rather than instructors. Frequently, we integrate UGC with participatory web to enhance learning.
• Q: Is it considered as UGC, if I ask students to use wiki to create their assignments and share with other students?
• A: Yes & No. UGC requires students to generate "learning content," "share with other students," and "other students must read learning content as activity requirements. If simply sharing students' wiki content, it is just learning resources.
• Q: Is online discussion considered as UGC?
• A: No completely. UGC generally requires more substantial content creation. If we view online discussion as UGC, the discussion content is not well organized and hard to follow. Content generally require better organization.

Gaming (p.38)

• Game-based learning: is a branch of serious games that deals with applications that have defined learning outcomes. Generally they are designed in order to balance the subject matter with the gameplay and the ability of the player to retain and apply said subject matter to the real world but it is not limited serious game only.
• Gamification is considered GBL as well. Gamifying learning content is considered an effective way to enhance learning engagement.
  • 7 Things You Should Know About Digital Badges
• Example:
  • Learners earn different status/points/badges by answering classmates' questions.

Mobile Learning; Ubiquitous Learning

• Engage learners in mobile learning on mobile devices etc.

Network: Social networking

• Learners are required to network with others, such as Friends, Fans, and Following etc.

Mixed (Augmented/Virtual) Reality (p.46)

• Augmented reality, a capability that has been around for decades, is shifting from what was once seen as a gimmick to a bonafide game-changer. The layering of information over 3D space produces a new experience of the world, sometimes referred to as “blended reality,” and is fueling the broader migration of computing from the desktop to the mobile device, bringing with it new expectations regarding access to information and new opportunities for learning.
• 7 Things You Should Know About AR/VR/MR
• Example:
  • Using smartphone AR apps to learn Spanish at street corner.

Community-Community Interaction

• Community interaction go beyond within the same semester. Upcoming community earners are able to interact with previous community learners.
• In ONLE context, Community-Community should be seen as cross communities/courses/semesters/schools etc. Within the same course, generally we do not consider it as Community-Community interaction.

Social content sharing

• Learners are engaged in online sharing learning resources and content etc.
• Social content sharing is another level of online student publishing. Simply posting any content/assignments online is not considered as social content sharing because it requires others to locate/search the shared content. Social content sharing has two-step process: 1. Locate/create content. 2. Social & Sharing the content: Generally many web pages have the sharing features by applying different web 2.0 tools, such as sharing the web pages on Facebook, Twitter with our networked friends and/or followers.

Folksonomy, social tagging

• Learners are engaged in systemic tagging to organize and to share online resources.
• Simply asking learners to tag online resources to share is not considered as effective design because learners may use different tags and tag formats to tag the resources. It is necessary to design a social tagging architecture to guide learners to apply effective tagging methods to share.

InfoViz: Information Visualization

• Learners are required to apply digital visual learning tools to support learning.
• Example:
  • Students apply "Wordle" to examine their group assignment 1o ensure their content reflect their ideas well.

Cloud Computing (p.36)

• Engage learners utilizing distant network servers for web applications, data storage and management on Internet browser rather than on were traditionally done with software installed on an individual computer.
• Example:
  • Google Docs: students use Google Docs to create, edit, and share work processor, spreadsheet, and presentation documents on the browser. All documents are saved on Google's servers (clouds).

GEO/LBL: Geolocation-based learning; Location-based learning

• Location-based learning takes advantage of the ability of mobile devices to know where they are located and deliver information that is time- and place-relevant.
• Example:
  • Guided historical tours to more complex applications for mapping, fieldwork, and immersive activities, location-based learning holds promise for just- in-time learning tied to a student’s physical location.

Remix: Allow remix online contents

• Learners should be encouraged to remix learning content accessed from social network.

RSS: Real Simple Syndication

• Create online content with RSS feed feature; Engage learners in RSS activities.

Aggregation; Aggregator

• Learners are engaged in aggregating process to get updated on information, such as news or announcements etc.

Mashup

• Learners are engaged web development that learners combines online content or online resources from two or many more external sources to support learning.