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Title & Description
Exploring the Merits of Social Networking in Management Education.
Event: SoB Teaching Better Seminar
MANT 339, is a third year course that aims to build the students' understanding of the area of Human Resources Development. Students have to complete a group project that aims to develop their knowledge and skills in analysing training needs and developing relevant training interventions. The course is built on the principles of adult learning - encouraging collaborative learning and students taking control of their own learning. A research project was set up in collaboration with HEDC to examine a prototype of a Networked Learning Environment to try and encourage students to engage in collaborative learning around the group project and to facilitate ongoing contact between lecturer and students. This presentation will discuss what we did and present our findings on how both the lecturer and the students responded to and utilised the Networked Learning site. We will also discuss the implications for further use of networked learning in the university learning environment.
Exploring the Merits of Social Networking in Management Education
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Vicky BrowningManagement
Russell ButsonHigher Education Development Centre (HEDC)
School of Business
Teaching Better Seminar
Acknowledgements: Carla Thomson, Assistant Research Fellow, Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC),
• Project Rationale• Vicky’s Perspective
• Research Project
• Participants• Research Approach• Site – Architecture & Structure• Findings so far
• Vicky’s Experience
• Research Findings
• Where to from here
Contents
Project Rationale
MANT 339 HRD
• Aims to:– Build students’
understanding of current thinking and practice in Human Resources Development (HRD).
– Develop skills in analysing training needs & developing training interventions
• Group project
Purpose of the Networked Learning environment
• To encourage collaborative study
• To encourage students to take a greater degree of control over their learning
• To encourage interaction out of contact/teaching time.
We are interested in the changes that result from interacting events of individuals/groups within a sociotechnical context over time.
Specifically..
• the student’s intellectual functioning as mediated by the contexts and goals we have imposed.
• the student’s use of the tools, materials and people to meet their collective goals.
Background/Focus - Researchers
Participants
• Management – Mant339• 75 - 3rd year students• 1 – Teaching staff
• Physiology• 50 - 3rd year students• 2 – Teaching staff
Participants
Students Computer Experience – 1 as at the 25/09 - 29 respondents
Students Computer Experience – 2 as at the 25/09 - 29 respondents
Top 5 sites students visit (self-report)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
University of Otago
Gmail
Hotmail
Top 5 programs students use for academic work (self-reports)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Wikipedia
Pow erpoint
Excel
Word
...as at the 25/09 - 29 respondents
Research Approach
Our Research Position/Influences
Theoretical Framework
Social Constructivism
Investigative Perspectives
Sociotechnical Approach
Actor-Network Theory
Emergent Design-based Approach
Intervention + Interaction with students / staff
Virtual EnvironmentA Complex Semi-Structured Work Environment
Students were informed that the site required them to be active at networking, uploading and producing
Findings so Far...
My experience
Emotions/Perceptions
Time (July – mid October)
Excitement/Anticipation
Discomfort in ‘their world’
‘Reality’QuestioningDeflation
Realistic expectationsManage the process
+
-
Benefits
• Eye opener for me• Transparency
– Idea of where students were – group projects
– Manage out of contact time better
• Communication with students
• Providing resources • Ideas on the way
forward
Challenges
• Re defining my role – Stand back– ‘Being but not being
there’– Trying not to be ‘too cool’– Project management – Encouragement
• Managing the use of the site – Time– Resources
Research Findings - emerging
Use of Tools
Group Members Hits Posts % Status
Tues-12-01 7/25.5 5 824 26 3% Active Producers
Tues-03-01 1/28 5 788 29 4% Active Producers
Mon-03-03 4/26.5 5 265 6 2% Passive Viewers
Tues-03-03 8/25 4 246 7 3% Passive Viewers
Tues-12-04 5 185 10 5% Passive Viewers
Tues-03-02 5/26 5 181 7 4% Passive Viewers
Tues-03-04 2-28 5 162 4 2% Passive Viewers
Mon-03-01 4 125 2 2% Low Use
Mon-03-05 6/25.5 3 83 4 5% Low Use
Mon-03-04 5 73 2 3% Low Use
Tues-03-05 3/28 2 52 1 2% Low Use
Mon-03-02 2 49 2 4% Low Use
Tues-12-05 5 47 2 4% Low Use
Mon-11-03 2 39 0 0% Low Use
Tues-12-02 4 30 1 3% Low Use
Mon-11-02 1 26 1 4% Low Use
Tues-12-03 3 25 1 4% Low Use
Marks - Top 8 groups [range 25-32]
Discussions: Arrangement of meeting – 2 week period - This process was repeated by every group
Fri p.m..A. Hey guys - can we get together next week to work on our presentation?
I can meet Mon at 11, all day Tues and after 3 on Wed.
Mon a.m B. Yeah, for sure – can’t do today but otha times suit me
Mon p.m C. 2mr I can only do 9-10 a.m – but Wed all gd
Tues a.m A. O.K. I’ll book lib rm for 2mr at 3
Tues a.m C. cool thanks– c u there
Tues p.m D. sori guys can’t do meeting tomorrow – I’ve got Maori at that time
Wed a.m E. neitha – just checked site- got flu- sori
Thurs p.mB. Sori yea, flu got me too – so meeting didn’t happen – thanks for txt A.
Let’s try for da weekend sometime?
Thurs p.m.A. Hey guys -yeah we’ve really got to get our presentation sorted soon
What about meeting Sat sometime between 12 and 3?
Fri a.m. D. Yup – Sat avo suits me.
Fri a.m.C. Hey – I’m really sorry I’ve got work Sat avo- would Sun avo suit everyone – I can do anytime.
Fri p.m. A. Ok - shall we try for Sun at 1? I’ll book the rm
E. I’ll be there
Sat a.m. D. Hi Sorry – I can’t do 2mr’s meeting – I’ve got soccer practice. Later any gd? Say after 3?
Sat a.m. B. hey guys 1 on Sun no good for me either-I can do 10-12 or after4 on Sun
Discussions: Arrangement of meeting – 2 week period - This process was repeated by every group
Fri p.m..A. Hey guys - can we get together next week to work on our presentation?
I can meet Mon at 11, all day Tues and after 3 on Wed.
Mon a.m B. Yeah, for sure – can’t do today but otha times suit me
Mon p.m C. 2mr I can only do 9-10 a.m – but Wed all gd
Tues a.m A. O.K. I’ll book lib rm for 2mr at 3
Tues a.m C. cool thanks– c u there
Tues p.m D. sori guys can’t do meeting tomorrow – I’ve got Maori at that time
Wed a.m E. neitha – just checked site- got flu- sori
Thurs p.mB. Sori yea, flu got me too – so meeting didn’t happen – thanks for txt A.
Let’s try for da weekend sometime?
Thurs p.m.A. Hey guys -yeah we’ve really got to get our presentation sorted soon
What about meeting Sat sometime between 12 and 3?
Fri a.m. D. Yup – Sat avo suits me.
Fri a.m.C. Hey – I’m really sorry I’ve got work Sat avo- would Sun avo suit everyone – I can do anytime.
Fri p.m. A. Ok - shall we try for Sun at 1? I’ll book the rm
E. I’ll be there
Sat a.m. D. Hi Sorry – I can’t do 2mr’s meeting – I’ve got soccer practice. Later any gd? Say after 3?
Sat a.m. B. hey guys 1 on Sun no good for me either-I can do 10-12 or after4 on Sun
Calendar
Collective construction of knowledge & the development of a collective – only found in 4 groups
Tool Idea Response
WikiA: Hey, this is what I’ve found for our research so far …, are you finding the same idea
B: Hey guys. The vast majority of what I’ve found correlates with what A’s finding … What do you think?
Blog
A: Hi guys – some of us managed to meet and create an outline for our presentation … See what you think? I’ve just put general points we decided on up so feel free to change it anyone. PS. There is a link to the outline below this post
B: Looks good. For my part of the topic I’m going to … Hope this helps.C: Thanks. Might be good if we all shared our ideas here. For my part, I plan to … D: I’ve made some changes to my part - have placed my ideas in the documents library on group page if you want to have a look
File
A: this is the thing we were looking at during the meeting tonight … it outlines the things we need to make sure we consider. Do have a look through guys and see what else you think we need
B: This is my suggestion for what else we need in the overview –what do you think?C: This is the updated overview – think we’ve got it pretty sorted now. Any ideas about specific research direction? B: I don’t know how much of the theory we’re going to use, but here it is – probably need a bit of compressingA. Here are my ideas about what the most important things are to pinpoint in the theory – be good to get you guys feedback
DiscussionA: I’ve posted my research on the wiki. Give it a go – add whatever you want
B: Thanks. Looks good. Just wondering if we need to re-direct some our research …C: I think for our research we need to keep in mind these guidelines: …A: O.K. I’ve posted my updated research …
• Hey guys … we should all check out that milestone page [lecturer]'s put up...next milestone is preliminary research .... we have to submit a plan of our talk by Aug 4th. so shall we meet up next week sometime to gather our thoughts on what to do?
• Hey guys, I've put up a couple of the better articles I found in the "Resource Articles" folder found in the "Documents" folder. … I found a lot of information on … Anyway we should maybe have a meeting soonish so we can talk over things (i'm a bit hopeless with this site)
FILE THE original paper!!! READ!!!!
Hey guys i just skimmed through the paper but i think the paper emphasises … but do look through if you guys think there isnt much on …, we can always choose other papers which i have uploaded .. so please be bothered to go through them! So we can all contribute on friday Thanks!! :)
Attempts to engage in collaborative working processes
Attempts to engage in collaborative working processes
Aug 8, 2008 5:16 pm
A: hey guys, i just did a brain dump onto paper of some interview questions for the committee members. I've attached it. feel free to add!
Aug 12, 2008 2:37 pm
B: Hi everyone. I have added a few questions onto A’s list. Some I'm not sure are relevant, i might run them past X tomorrow at work.
Aug 15, 2008 2:43 pm
A: Hi guys. Following our meeting with X today, I've added 3 new questions to the questionnaire
Aug 18, 2008 10:16 am
B: Hi guys. I can't make the scheduled meeting tomorrow …Regarding postings:Please post group stuff on this site not student webmail. Also I’m finding our ‘non-meetings’ problematic. I think we should just post/discuss our progress on this site…
Aug 18, 2008 10:39 am
C: i agree with B, sorry for the hassle D. but lets just do it all on here, but lets have all the gathered info on this site by tomorrow at 5pm…
Aug 18, 2008 3:01 pm
D: Fair enough, I suppose that’s exactly what this site is for anyway. So I take it we'll just attach relevant papers we've found with a summary of our initial findings in our own words? That saves everyone a significant amount of effort - we won't have to read everything, and we don't have to worry about finding a time to meet that suits everyone to meet up either.
Feedback: Collaborative professional processes
Sep 17, 2008 5:49 pm Lecturer: You clearly outlined the methods of data collection you used and the purpose for the HRDNI of each of these
methods. It would have assisted our learning if you had written on the board our feedback from the learning exercise. We could then see the link to the points you suggested.
Sep 20, 2008 2:10 pmI thought your presentation was really good. I thought you structured it well in that you built up to the class interaction so we knew exactly why you were doing this form of exercise and then you expanded further afterwards. I felt doing the class interaction gave me more knowledge about why focusing on teaching tacit knowledge was important …
Sep 21, 2008 12:22 pmOverall i thought this was a good presentation ... But i felt there was a bit too much theory for the presentation because if you were actually presenting to a company they would be more interested in your findings and recommendations. I also felt that you should of paid a little more attention to your intervention and explained it a little more because there was a little confusion. But … the slides were set out clearly and were easy to understand.
….Sep 28, 2008 7:40 pm
Thanks for all the feedback on our presentation Dealing with the content of our PowerPoint-presentation, we tried to balance it as good as we could. We tried not to have many details on our slides, but just to have enough so people would not lose interest during the presentation. I think what worked well for our group, was that the structure were quite good all the way through our presentation. This helped us a lot when we were delivering the content. I can clearly see though what you guys mean about to much theory in relation to presenting to the company. Our HRD intervention on tacit knowledge was a bit more difficult to perform in class than we had expected. If we were to do that again we would most likely use more time on this intervention. Using more time on the HRD intervention would have enabled us for example to use more time on presenting the workshop lesson plan (e.g. using the overhead projector actively), considering transfers of learning more thoroughly (how the delegates are assisted into carrying what they learnt at the session back to the workplace) and finally evaluating the whole session. Hopefully this feedback can be useful for others.Best regards
Sep 30, 2008 12:10 amHi everybody, I will also on the behalf of my group say thanks for all the useful feedback we have received. … I found our presentation quite good. I think we had a good structure in our presentation and I think we managed to deliver the content in a way that satisfied all of us. … I think we did pretty well. However, we could have used more energy on the intervention - but we didn’t really know how to prioritize the time that we were given. I think we came up with a really interesting intervention that explained the theory about tacit knowledge in a good way ...
• Students are unfamiliar with many of the web services (tools) and how to use them.
• Students appeared to struggle with the research/project paradigm ...to be proactive producers rather than passive viewers.
• Students struggled with the idea of the site being a collective. Individual viewing of content was dominant while collaborative working processes were minimal.
• Students struggled with the process involved in collaborative projects– Group identity
– Information management
– Process management (workflows)
– Co-authoring
• Students resisted working online....the site was primarily used to arrange F2F meetings
What is emerging...
Would we have seen a difference if the participants were 1st years?
Would we have seen a difference if the participants were 1st years?
We don’t believe so
reason...
Development of graduate attributes
Development of graduate attributes ?
University of Otago Graduate Attributes – A selection relevant to this project
COMMUNICATION: the ability to communicate information, arguments and analyses effectively
CRITICAL THINKING: the ability to analyse issues logically, consider different options and viewpoints, and make informed decisions .
INFORMATION LITERACY: a basic understanding of information literacy and specific skills in acquiring, organising and presenting information, in particular through computer-based activity
LIFELONG LEARNING: a commitment to lifelong learning, with the ability to apply knowledge, develop existing skills, adapt to a changing environment, and acquire new skills
RESEARCH: the ability to conduct research by recognising when information is needed, and locating, retrieving, evaluating and using it effectively
SCHOLARSHIP: a commitment to the fundamental importance of the acquisition and development of knowledge and understanding
SELF-MOTIVATION: the capacity for self-directed activity and the ability to work independently
TEAMWORK: the ability to work effectively as both a team leader and a team member
WORKPLACE-RELATED SKILLS: enterprise, self-confidence and a sense of personal responsibility within the workplace and community
(Adopted by Senate March 2003)
Where to from here...
Creating this
The more toward an academic/professional paradigm rather than a schooling paradigm
Thank you
