Reading-Post 1

Action Research Project Literature Review

Through EBSCO Host’s peer reviewed articles, this writer has been able to find a multitude of resources dealing with andragogy and student motivation in higher education. Below are listed four (4) of these articles.

Brown, K. M. (2006). Leadership for social justice and equity: Evaluating a
transformative framework and andragogy. Educational administrative
quarterly, 42(5), 700-745. doi: 10.1177/0013161X06290650

This article relates a study analyzing the concept of combining the theory of andragogy with strategies for social awareness. Findings from this study may prove beneficial to the AR project this writer is preparing.

Pew, S. (2009). Andragogy and pedagogy as foundational for student
motivation in higher education. InSight: A collection of faculty scholarship, 2, 14-25. Retrieved from
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ86274.pdf

In assembling ideas for the AR Project, this writer plans on conducting research with adult learners at the college level. Consequently, it is crucial to understand and apply the theory of andragogy. This article appears to approach pedagogical research from an educator’s point of view when dealing with the adult learners in higher education.

Reggy-Mamo, M.A. (2008). An experiential approach to intercultural
education. 7(2), 110-122. doi: 10.1080/15363750600586431

The population for this writer’s AR project will very likely be minority race oriented. This article appears to contain important insight for actively engaging all students. It may very well come in handy for developing a functional tutorial that will aid all students in their orientation process at this college.

Yoshimoto, K., Inenaga, Y., & Yamada, H. (2007). Pedagogy and
andragogy in higher education: A comparison between germany,
the uk and japan. 42(1), 75-98. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-3435.2007.00289.x

This article contains charts and graphs comparing three countries and
the impact teaching adult learners while integrating the theory of
androgagy has on their learning outcome. It may be a very useful set
of information for analyzing the relevance of this writer’s intended
AR study.

BP Diigo Group

                              

Figure #1 - Diigo Groups Screenshot

Figure #1 above is a screenshot of this author's "My Groups-Mary-Ann Ferree's Action Research Project" page from Diigo.  As indicated, this is the writer's own Action Research group and also includes membership in the "Ripples" Group.  Invitations have been sent from the Diigo site to start populating the Critical Friends portion for the AR project.  One friend has accepted and the writer is awaiting response from the remaining invitations sent.

BP2_iGoogle Screenshots

 

Screenshot #1-iGoogle Home Page

Screenshot #1 represents this writer's iGoogle Home Page. The pull down menu on the left contains links to locations on the Web via the following: a Facebook gadget, a Twitter gadget, and the To Do list.  Additionally, this menu contains links for YouTube, the Date & Time, Weather (for a specific location), Gmail, Google Reader, LinkedIn, Box of Links and the My Listy link.  

Screenshot #2-iGoogle FSO 

Screenshot #2 depicts this writer's FSO tab.  On it, one sees links to the following:  this writer's LinkedIn account, and this writer's Box of Links.  The FSO tab on the left has been pulled down to reveal the LinkedIn and Box of Links tabs.  In this particular Box of Links, there are key words indicating the locations linked to particular 'boxes' of the link.  These links are:  FSO (Full Sail Online), WIMBA EMDT ETC classroom, Full Sail Email, and another MyListy - a location to put pertinent information regarding important dates, meetings, etc.   

Screenshot #3-iGoogle AR/CBL

Screenshot #3 contains the pulled down tab (on the left) for this writer's AR/CBL project.  Under the tab, one sees the following links:  Action Research Links (a Box of Links containing quick access to: My AR iWeb,  apastyle.org,  Purdue Online,  EMDT AR Site,  Dr. Bedard's Example Site, and the APA Style Guide).  Additionally, this tab contains another My Listy link, a diigo search link, and another Box of Links for further one-click access to locations while on this page of the iWeb.

Screenshot #4-iGoogle ETC

Screenshot #4 contains this writer's ETC tab.  Once expanded, the tab reveals the following items: Blogger, Box of Links, My Listy, Google Reader, Flickr, Google Docs.  Located in the Box of Links are the following:  Go2Web20, Most Useful Web Tools, ETC Wiki, ETC Viddler Account, ETC Flickr Group, and FSO Online. 

EXTRA - Diigo Account Activation

Diigo is a tool that will be extremely useful!  This tool appears to have great organizing capability - especially for the person on the go that needs to find web sources encountered at a prior time.   Bookmarking a web site can get tedious.  Diigo features enable the user to highlight text in a selection of colors and use conventional 'sticky notes' to label key areas on web sites.  Activating an account is relatively easy.  Below is a screen shot of this writer's recently activated Diigo account:

BP1-RSS_Feeds

The Hybrid or Blended Learning feed contains articles regarding the integration of technology and online learning.  A portion of the Action Research project this writer is hoping to put together deals with engaging students through use of today's technology and it appears there are articles relating to this as well.

 Figure 1:  Creative Commons Image of Blended Learning Model

The Educause News feed contains a scholarly set of cutting edge articles for today's educators. As the Action Research project this writer is contemplating pertains to engaging today's educators, this series of feeds will be an invaluable resource.

Figure 2:  Creative Commons image of Educause Logo

The eLearning Technology feed appears to contain learning trends, useful ideas, and new tools.  Again, a current set of information regarding today's learners and the ever-changing trends and advances in technology that will engage learners.

Figure 3:  Creative Commons image of e-Learning model

The Social Media for Working & Learning feed chosen will serve to offer information on 'free and accessible' tools.  When dealing with today's economy and school budgets, it is crucial to have this type of information handy to pass along.  This feed should prove very useful.

Figure 4: Creative Commons images of Social Media

The Teachnology blog chosen appears to pull together what teachers are asking for in their real, classroom situations and how technology can fill that need.  Again, very useful for the topic of this writer's intended Action Research project.

  Figure 5: Creative Commons image of Learning Outcomes using Technology in Teaching

BP1_Google Reader

Day 2 working on assignments for the EMDTC program.  If one is unfamiliar with Google Reader, (case in point - here!), it may seem daunting at first, but it can really make one's life a lot easier.   One simply has to search out a topic of interest, such as "Technology in Education", and a world of information becomes available online.  The challenge now is to filter through the information and hone in on what is relevant.  Google Reader makes receiving RSS feeds quite easy.  After googling the topic and clicking the RSS feed button, (shown below),

(indicates RSS FEED capability)
Figure 1:  Creative Commons image

the screen that opens contains articles of interest.  Now it is just a matter of copying the URL and pasting it into Google Reader.  Below is a screen capture illustrating the location on the Google Reader indicating "Add a subscription" (as seen below).

When clicked, a pull down menu opens, and the URL copied is easily pasted.  Clicking "Add" ensures that your RSS feeds begin coming.  

An example of a site that contains an RSS feed is the Educause site.  In their own words, Educause is:
"A nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology." (http://www.educause.edu).

Reference:
Educause. (1999-2010). What is educause? The Educause site contains scholarly information referencing educational advances using technology.  Retrieved September 1, 2010 from http://www.educause.edu/


         

EXTRA-iGoogle Screenshots

iGoogle on the Web is a customizable web site home page. One can put a variety of information directly on the iGoogle home page - surprisingly quickly!  The various pieces of information on the iGoogle homepage are known as mashup gadgets.  Screenshots allow users to quickly see information at a glance.   Taking a screenshot is easily accomplished with a MacBook Pro.  For the entire page, sequentially press and hold the following keys:  Command, Shift, 3.  Upon release of these three keys, a screen shot is placed on the MacBook Pro desktop.  The default format for this save is a .png.  Merely clicking the .png will appear as follows in one's blog:

file:///Users/mary-annferree/Desktop/Screen%20shot%202010-09-01%20at%204.44.40%20PM.png

which isn't of much use to the blog viewer who does not have access to the MacBook Pro desktop where the screenshot is saved.  Instead, using the link to import a photo on the blog's upper menu bar brings in the .png as seen below.

Figure 1. View of the home page when an iGoogle account is set up