Annotated Bibliography on transparency in online education

Annotated Bibliography on transparency in online education

The aim of this AB is to set a definition of transparency in online education and to understand its implications. The first article answers both objectives. In each article a particular dimension of transparency is further explored. It was important to distinguish between levels of aggregation of learners - groups and networks - and to justify the importance of the latter. Finally, we visualize an experience of real transparency.

1- Dalsgaard, C., & Paulsen, M. F. (2009). Transparency in Cooperative Online Education. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 10 (3). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/671/1301

Annotation
In this article the authors explore the potential of social networking within cooperative online education. They argue that social networking does not necessarily involve communication, dialogue, or collaboration but it rather reveals a unique characteristic: transparency facilitation. We are reminded of professor Paulsen’s theory of cooperative learning which seeks to develop a virtual learning environment that allows students to have the most favorable individual freedom within online learning communities. The authors state and demonstrate how cooperative learning can be supported by transparency. Several surveys and experiences (e.g. the CLIP - cooperative learner information profile) done at NKI exemplify cooperative learning can be supported by transparency.
Relevance
The importance of this article lies in the fact that it presents the authors’ definition of the topic of this unit “transparency”. Surely there are other ways of facing the topic, but here we get a focused definition of transparency as students’ and teachers’ insight into each other’s activities and resources in the sense that you and your doings are visible to fellow students and teachers within a learning environment. I point out the statement that transparency is a special kind of communication. In opposition to discussion forums, which are characterized by sharing messages or documents, social networking is individual or personal, being initiated by a personal page or profile. 

2 - Dalsgaard, C. (2009). Supporting Transparency Between Students. The International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace 2009. Retrieved from http://person.au.dk/fil/16581515/Dalsgaard_Supporting_Transparency.pdf

Annotation
This paper presents the results of a case study that explores the potentials of weblogs and social bookmarking to support transparency in a university course. The objective of the case was to empower students by providing them with tools that would be visible to the other students in the course, thus, making students’ ideas, thoughts and questions visible to the other students in the course. The paper concludes that the use of digital media for transparency can support empowerment of students and inspiration among students in a course, but it adds a challenge: to create a balance between personal tools and tools for collaborative group work that are also suitable for transparency between students.
Relevance
In this paper transparency is also considered students’ and teachers’ insight into each other’s work, thoughts and ideas. It explores the learning potentials of social media as a way of supporting transparency, which is studied within an interesting angle: the way it promotes students’ empowerment. The assumption is that students are empowered when they become more present and visible in a course. Thus, transparency serves the purpose of supporting and encouraging participation.


3- Dalsgaard, C. (2008). Social networking sites: Transparency in online education. Retrieved from http://eunis.dk/papers/p41.pdf

Annotation
The aim of this paper is to address pedagogical potentials of social networking sites. Instead of the commonly accounted aspects of collaboration and user-generated content, the author explores another characteristic seen as the combination of personalization and socialization, supposedly present in networks such as Facebook, Myspace, Bebo and Ning. This combination has a potential to facilitate transparency between students, which in turn gives students insight into each other’s work. The article explores the ways social networking can be used by university students to share information and resources initially created/developed for themselves, and then available to others, e.g. bookmarks, references, links, and notes.
Relevance
In the context of e-learning studies, reading this paper further enhances the pedagogical potentials of social networking. We find, as in the other cited articles, a distinction between social networks and discussion forums. The starting point of the first one is the individual or personal with a profile or personal page while the second kind of social interaction always takes place in a shared forum. An aspect that should be highlighted, and from which we can learn, is the concern in defining the scope of the study: in here the subjects are university students.


4- Anderson, T. (2008). Networks vs. groups in higher education. [blog post] Retrieved from http://terrya.edublogs.org/2008/03/17/networks-versus-groups-in-higher-education/

Annotation
As the author of the blog Virtual Canuck, Terry Anderson, puts it, this text is “a rather long scholarly type post arguing for the use of Networks in addition to groups commonly employed in formal campus and in distance education”. The author starts   

by explaining the model he co-developed for network learning that centers on the three levels of aggregation of learners or “aggregations of the many”: the group, the network (which connects distributed individuals) and collectives (machine-aggregated representations of the activities of large number of individuals). As the group can be a problematic form of organization (in higher education) it needs to be supplemented by other models and the network is seen as a solution. Three arguments are presented to justify the inclusion of networks: the value of weak connections; increases in social capital and the development of lifelong learning skills. Aspects like the networking tools, privacy, learning activities and disruptive networks are also mentioned.
Relevance
The author believes networks offer increased opportunities in social and educational areas, so this power, present in tools and learning activities, motivates higher education institutions (and we could say e-learning institutions in general) to use it as an alternative to groups. This work contributes to a better understanding of the difference between levels of aggregation of learners.

5- Siemens, G. (2009). Teaching as Transparent Learning. [blog post] Retrieved from http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122

Annotation
This is a blog post, expressing a personal account of how the author has gained (knowledge) being a transparent learner. Examples of prominent and transparent learners are given (Will Richardson, Terry Anderson, Stephen Downes, Grainne Conole). There are complex statements like: “Watching others learn is an act of learning” – meaning that those who share their thoughts and ideas in a transparent manner, through social technology, become teachers to those who are observing. Here lies the sense of the title which seems puzzling (teaching as transparent learning). The argument becomes clearer when the author declares that when we make our learning transparent, we become teachers.
Relevance
The post constitutes a personal insight of the theory of connectivism. Its essence is interestingly present in statements like: “The real value of the course [CCK08] was in fostering connections between learners and concepts.”  Although it takes some effort to understand the author's reasoning, the idea of transparent learning becomes a consolidated concept. Teaching is also or first of all being a transparent learner. We can conclude that building networks of information, contacts, and resources is not just learning, it is “transparent learning”.

 

6- Fernandes, T., Freitas, M., & Martins, M. L. (2009) Keeping up the pace: transparency and visibility. [Youtube video] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRgTPKhule8

Annotation
This video, a learning object, shows how transparency supported some learning activities of a class while on a seminar on pedagogical processes of e-learning at Universidade Aberta. In a moodle platform, students create their own profile with links to their personal webpage and networks, for ex., twitter. The discussions in the forums lead to work published elsewhere on the web accessible to colleagues (and everyone else) and which undergoes peer-reviewing. The authors argue that the profile/personal page and individual work, while promoting visibility and transparency, facilitate the choice of a partner to work with, thus helping students to keep up the pace.    
Relevance
This is an interesting way of visualizing an experience of real transparency.