Google Wave Platform. Exploring the Settings for Personalized Learning

Google Wave Platform: Exploring the Settings for Personalized

Learning

Malinka IvanovaTechnical University – Sofia, BulgariaJaved AlamYoungstown State University, USA

3rd 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


• learning through performing activities together collaborative learning environment


• 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

…

Wavelet

Blip-Text-Embed media-Links-Extensions-tags

Wavelet

Blip

Answer

Blip

Blip

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 themDocument - can be a part of a blip content in form of text, embed media or filesExtensions (applications) - can be part of a blip in form of gadgets and robots

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 providerWave providerWave providerWave provider

Wave serverWave server

Wavelet storeWavelet store

Wave

Federation hostFederation host

Federation remoteFederation remote

Wave client

Activities

Wave presentation

Wave providerWave providerWave providerWave provider

Wave serverWave server

Wavelet storeWavelet store

Wave

Federation hostFederation host

Federation remoteFederation remote

Wave client

Activities

Wave presentation

Push Submit PushSubmit

Domain A

Domain B

Good practices(1) Collaborative multimedia

notebook applied for lectures, laboratory practices and seminars

(2) Environment for writing and sharing documents

(3) Recording system for performed private or group communications, discussions and assessment/evaluation

(4) Forming a digital repository with curse/team materials, administrative documents

(5) Track the students’ progress via playback

(6) 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

https://wave.google.com/wave/?nouacheck&pli=1
















What is important for personalized learning?

• flexible content delivery– influences on students’ progression and widening

participation


• 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


• 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


• 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 receivingDelivery

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


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


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



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 PlatformGoogle Wave Platform

WaveFollow

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.”


• “Google Wave was a complete new experience to me. The whole gadget and robots seems a little complicated at first.”


• “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 futureStudent’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.”


• “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.”


“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.”


“I don't know, I think the possibilities for this are great for communication. I just don't see it feasible.”


“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.”


“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.”


“I feel that Google Wave is not brief enough for professional work and also complicated for entertainment. However, it is useful to communicate.”


“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.”


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

Students’ opinion

Prototype

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 protected]@gmail.com

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Google Wave Platform. Exploring the Settings for Personalized Learning

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