Contribute to an online learning community, and describe how different tools are used in an online environment

Summary

These are the main areas I intend to cover in the report.

Online tools in an e-learning environment
Online learning theory
Conclusions and new objectives
Appendix and resources

Online tools in an e-learning environment

Methodology

Since July 2003 I have been using a variety of online tools as part of my Ultraversity degree course. In this section of the report I’ll outline the tools I have used so far and, where appropriate, note the positive and negative aspects of using each one. The tools I have used are:

‘Stickies’ activity
Email
Ultraversity website
Profile tool
Individual learning plan
JellyOS
World Wide Web
APU online library
Weblog
Website

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‘Stickies’ activity

This was one of the first activities I did as part of the Ultraversity course. Researchers were invited to carry out a test that revealed our personality type using a colour test activity. This activity was based on the Luscher colour test. I came out as ‘red’ in the test! This is my comment in the ‘Stickies’ conversation.

Partly true but the test has the hint of "local paper astrology" about it! "Romance is well starred" etc! Red in the seventh or eighth position means your desire for life and thirst for adventure have become less. It's a bit Mystic Meg isn't it!

We also did a test using the VARK questionnaire. This test predicts your preferred learning style(s). It was quite a while ago that we did these tests so I used the web to find online versions and re-tested myself. I used http://www.colorquiz.com/ for the colour test. The results are noted here.

I found it interesting to do the full version of the colour test and would agree with some but not all of the results. For the VARK test I used
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp. This test confirmed my preferred learning styles as Multimodal with a leaning towards Kinaesthetic and Visual. I prefer to learn using a variety of methods but also like to use visual tools.

Using ‘Stickies’ as a method of administering the tests.

I enjoyed doing the ‘Stickies’ exercise. This was one of the first introductions we had to the online learning community. There were some problems with the way the activity worked on screen. When you submitted your results, the ‘Stickies’ all tended to appear in the same place on the screen, making it difficult to find your own entry, or quickly review other researchers results. There was also no ‘delete’ feature so any mistakes couldn’t be rectified.

I also think the ‘Stickies’ activity was designed as an introduction to JellyOS. This activity encouraged researchers to begin to communicate with each other, sharing their findings and getting everyone used to working in an online learning space.

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Email was one of the first forms of communication I had with the Ultraversity. I originally expressed an interest in joining the course via the email address on the Ultralab website.

Once the July Cohort of new researchers was established, Ultraversity kept everyone up to date with the progress of the course via email. Email was also used to send out the registration documents and to advise when new information was available on the website

More recently I have used email to communicate with my Learning Facilitator I have found email to be invaluable for asking questions and sharing learning activities. A recent example is some feedback on my discussion groups and JellyOS page.

Hi Ian, I see your activity in JellyOS - great. How about linking your two discussions from the front page of the 'learning organisation' community so folk find them easier to get to. I have archived the current conversations - left them there but indicated we have moved on. In place, I have put a very general ‘things you have learned’ but it would be great to link your conversations alongside this. Feel free to do this, or ask me and I will.

I found this feedback very helpful and created a link to both discussion groups from the ‘learning organisation’ page. This resulted in an increase of contributions to both discussions.

Positive aspects of email?

Ease of communication. Many people have access to email.
A message can be sent to a group of people.
Distance is no barrier to communication.
The speed of communication can be almost instantaneous. (This can also be a negative issue if someone doesn't check his or her mail regularly).
Email can be a record of conversation for later reference.
Files can be attached to email.

Negative aspects of email?

Large amounts of incoming email can take ages to read and prioritise.
Problems with Spam (Unsolicited email). Sorting out genuine messages and deleting Spam can be time consuming.
Limited attachment size. Most email accounts only let you attach a file of 2MB or less.
Pressure to respond immediately to certain emails with little or no time for reflection.
Temptation to ignore lower priority email that requires a response. This sometimes leads to an email request being forgotten or mislaid.

On balance, email as a means of communication is a useful tool. Many researchers will be using it in their work situations. One of the things I have discovered is that a good archiving system is essential if you need to refer to conversations or retrieve useful information. I use a system of folders. This allows me to organise emails in a logical way and retrieve them quickly when I need to. Here is an example of my email filing system.

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Ultraversity Website

The Ultraversity Website is a central information point for researchers and acts as a gateway to the online learning tools. The website is divided into sections for easy access to information. The sections are:

Welcome page
http://www.ultraversity.net/,
has useful current news and announcements plus information and updates in a weekly ‘To do’ list. This is very helpful for planning time for activities and reports.

Research page, http://www.ultraversity.net/cssindex.php?path=research_areas.php,
has links explaining the type of research that we as Ultraversity researchers are carrying out and an interesting section on the wider research ambitions of the Ultraversity. I am excited by the idea that we as researchers are contributing to the learning experience of ultraversity and will be instrumental in its development throughout the course.

Resources page http://www.ultraversity.net/cssindex.php?path=resources.php,
contains information and examples of the learning activities that researchers are carrying out. I find this page very helpful, particularly the examples of report structures and advice for collecting evidence.

Personal profiling tool

http://filemaker1.ultraversity.net/home/FMPro?-db=UltraversityMembers&-lay=main&-format=login.html&-find

(Password protected)

This area contains personal information about individual researchers. It is also home to the Individual learning plan for each term. More recently an FTP upload area has been added to enable storage of reports and assessment activity work.

Community (JellyOS)

http://community.ultraversity.net/jellyos/jellyos.swf,

(Password protected)

The login area for the online community software (JellyOS).

Athens Login

http://www.athensams.net/myathens/

(Password protected)

This is an access portal allowing researchers to connect to the APU library and online subscription services.

Positive aspects of the website

The top line menu with the main sections listed provides an easy means of access to the main resource areas.

The ‘to do list’ is a useful reminder of what we need to be working on in a particular week.

Each section is clearly and logically designed with the main information on the left of the page and useful links in a box to the right.

The downloadable help files such as the PowerPoint walkthrough are very well put together.

The Athens login is helpful allowing you to log in at the start of a session and access the e-journals and databases that APU subscribes to.

Areas of the Website that could be improved

· The research area mentions the use of technology including digital photographs and video. More information on how prepare and integrate this material in reports would be helpful. I understand that enquiry is part of the learning experience of Ultraversity, but some technical information would be appreciated. This could include:

· Audio file formats – which ones are best to use and how to import them into word-processed files. I included audio files in report one, but am not sure if they are accessible in all versions of Word. I tested them in two versions, but would have appreciated some general guidance.

· Video – how to compress files to keep file sizes down.

· An update list on the welcome page would let researchers know at a glance any new files or resources added. This saves scrolling through each page to see if anything new has appeared.

My experience of using the Ultraversity website has been essentially a positive one. Overall, there is enough information for me to be able to progress through the course, although the areas I have highlighted would help me to use technology more confidently in future activities and reports.

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Profile Tool

The Ultraversity Profile Tool is a secure, central repository of information for each researcher. There is personal information about each researcher including their expectations from the course and aspirations for the future. Also included is a file cabinet. This is a File Transfer protocol (FTP) area for uploading reports, learning activities and research.

Each researcher’s Athens login details are also recorded here, as are contact details for the assigned learning facilitator and a record of communication.

The Individual learning plan is stored here and is accessible to both the researcher and the Learning Facilitator.

I think this area of the web site will become more important as we go along. It will be a place to record progression through the course and an archive of work. The Profile tool will gradually become a personal knowledge base once the Learning Facilitator posts feedback on activities and reports. Each researcher will have a record of his or her Individual learning plans as they develop and the learning outcomes for each term

The Profile tool is also an essential back-up area for storing this important information away from the researcher’s computer.

At the moment I am happy with the structure of the profile tool as some elements are still in early stages of development. Useful additions could be:

· The ability to nest folders in the file cabinet so that a simple Hierarchical structure for archiving can be built

· The ability to delete folders

· A method of storing and retrieving individual learning plans

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Individual learning plan

The Individual learning plan sets out the learning outcomes for the term and the learning activities that need to be covered. Each learning activity is structured so that it covers one ore more of the learning objectives.

The process of creating learning objectives is a collaborative one between the researcher and the Learning Facilitator. Term one activities have been set by Ultraversity to meet required learning outcomes. Researchers are encouraged to customise them where appropriate to suit their work and learning environments.

I think that term two learning outcomes and activities will be more closely related to learning objectives identified by each researcher as part of the first report. There will also be more emphasis on the researcher planning his or her own learning outcomes and activities, with guidance from the Learning Facilitator.

I find the Individual learning plan a useful way of planning and structuring learning. I carried out the first three learning activities and this gave me the outcomes I needed to produce the first report. Learning activity four, (using new technology in the learning journal), was partly addressed by producing the first report. I needed to import sound files, graphics and digital photographs into a Microsoft Word file to illustrate certain parts of the report. I investigated Microsoft Word and learned how to do this by using the online help system.

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JellyOS

JellyOS is the community software researchers use to communicate with each other, share ideas and create or contribute to discussions. When I first started using JellyOS, I found it difficult to get started. I think this was mainly due to the unfamiliar software environment and the problems with creating and linking pages. I spent some time visiting other researchers pages and a few had put up 'help' pages with instructions on how to create links and discussion groups. I found this extremely helpful and it gave me the incentive to start putting up my own pages.

I built a 'homepage' initially and linked a few photographs to it to see how it worked. The next item I added was a guestbook. This helped me to understand the linking process. Once I had mastered internal links I set up some external links to useful websites. Finally, I set up a number of discussion groups centred on my research interests. After completing the first two learning activities, I realised there were a couple of areas in the audit of my role that needed more research and training. These areas were:

Time management and
Presentation skills

I set up two further discussion groups based on these areas.

Once the homepage had been up and running for a couple of weeks, I noticed that I was getting a lot of requests for help on how to set up a discussion group. I decided on the strength of these requests to set up a help page for other researchers to follow.

The first step was to break down the instructions on creating a discussion group as much as possible. I did this by creating a new discussion group and recording each action. I then did the same for the creating the link to the home page.

I put these instructions up on my home page as a link for researchers to follow. At the end of the instructions, I asked for feedback from anyone that used them so I could amend if necessary. So far, feedback has been positive.

I decided to set up a weblog to help me share information. I linked this to the homepage and also created a help page for anyone who wanted to set up a weblog. So far, I have used the weblog to share some learning activities and reflections from my learning journal.

This is an extract from the time management discussion group. It has proved to be quite an interesting ’talking shop’, with researchers asking for help and contributing ideas. This is one of the positive aspects of having a ‘closed’ online community. People will often discuss issues on a more personal level without worrying that they might find their way into the public domain.

Time Management

“I find the time management aspect of my work particularly difficult as I work split sites between Peterborough and London. I try and make the most of the travelling time, working if I have a job that is suitable for the environment. I also manage another colleague at the London site, and that can be quite difficult remotely. Does anyone else have a similar working arrangement? Drop me a line and we can share ideas.” Ian

“I think this is a massive industry, books, self-help, courses, but I am less then convinced of the value for most of us.

So:

Some planning at the start of the day
Flexibility
A well kept diary
Don't be overambitious with what you can achieve
Cut the project to fit the time - celebrate 80% of a job done as a success.” S

“It’s all very well having your plan, but if the boss does not communicate plans often fail. Despite a certain amount of flexibility if one has to juggle work, family and study it can be difficult.” H

“H, do you have regular reviews with your boss? If not it might be worth persuading them to sit down with you once a month at least to discuss planning needs and set you some clear objectives. I do this with my graphic design colleague and in turn, my line manager does this with me. Go prepared with your own set of objectives and be prepared to meet halfway.” Ian

“Thanks for the feedback from my comment. I have had a review with my boss which I found really useful. I also found it useful to use the skills table and we had some discussion about it. We decided to sort things and take other bits out. It's proving to be a positive learning tool for me. I have only been in my post for a month, so I am having to learn my job, study, and manage a family and household. I' m finding it quite tiring. However I do enjoy a challenge and providing support is available from everyone I hope to survive.” H

Positive aspects of using JellyOS

After a faltering start, I found the software quite intuitive and easy to use. Setting up discussions and adding links became easier once I understood how the system worked.

A ‘closed community’ encourages researchers to participate and share their thoughts and concerns more freely than an open community such as a website would.

There is the potential to turn JellyOS in to quite a sophisticated learning tool. As researchers feed back issues and problems with the software, it can be fine-tuned and improved on. Within the limits of the software as it currently stands, some researchers have created quite sophisticated home pages. The Jelly Art page is good example of this. Researchers have created quite sophisticated artwork using fairly primitive box creation tools.

Negative aspects of using JellyOS and suggested improvements

There are a number of issues with JellyOS as it stands at the moment. Some of these are technical issues that are being addressed. Here is a list of the problems as I see them at the moment.

· The disappearing edit palette. I’ve just tried to replicate this problem but it appears to be fixed! I have found when editing pages for a longer period of time that the edit palette sometimes freezes. When you save changes and switch to edit mode again, the edit palette won’t reappear. This can be annoying and involves logging in and out again to make it reappear.

· The ‘last page’ button in the discussion pages doesn’t appear to work. This would be a great help to researchers navigating through large discussion groups. As it stands, there is no way of knowing how many pages need to be scrolled through before you reach the latest posts. I’ve partly overcome this by cutting my discussion groups to two pages, archiving any over two pages and starting a new discussion on the same subject.

· The long horizontal bar running under the ‘new post’ button in the discussion groups used to have an indicator bar to show how many pages were in the discussion. This is helpful for knowing when you are in the group or how many pages away the latest posts are likely to be.

· Time taken to load pages and photographs. I sometimes wait for ages for a page to load or a discussion group page to turn over. I have a high-speed broadband connection so it must be extremely frustrating for anyone using a modem dial-up account.

Suggested improvements

· There isn’t an easy way to keep track of pages visited or discussions contributed to. I’ve set up a links page from my home page to researchers I visit most often. Could we have a master links page with all researchers listed, and an indication of their research interests?

· A method of naming and numbering discussion entries that would be recognised in the ‘search’ area in the discussion groups.

· The ability to upload sound, movie and word processor documents to ‘my stuff’. Also the ability to link sound and movie files to the pages.

· Rulers and guides in edit mode to help layout pages more easily.

· More comprehensive text and layout tools, similar to a simple ‘paint’ programme.

On balance, I have enjoyed using JellyOS and I understand it is a bespoke learning tool that is still under development. I think once the technical problems are ironed out, it will be much more accessible to researchers. All the ideas for improvement from researchers need to be assessed. The most requested ones should perhaps be looked at in greater detail and implemented within the limits of the software (Flash).

I noted another researchers comment that some researchers have yet to engage in any way at all with JellyOS. This could be for a number of reasons including some of the technical issues mentioned. A possible way of encouraging people to ‘have a go’ could be to provide some linked basic templates of a homepage and discussion. This would at least ensure that the majority of researchers were able to participate in the online community. Once these template pages were up and running, Learning facilitators could encourage the users to customise them using the online tools, and then to create their own.

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World Wide Web

I use the web extensively in my work situation and also for personal research. Most recently I have been looking at websites that cover action research and reflective practice. Here is an example of an interesting site I have visited:

http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/wrp/rpwrite.html#PROC

This includes an interesting text on reflection-in-action and reflection-on –action. Reflection-in-action is:

· The thinking we do while actually teaching, presenting or working with others.

· Our on-the-spot reactions to situations.

· Analysing what we are saying as we are saying it.

Reflection-on-action is what we do after the event.

· Discuss what we did with others and incorporate their feedback

· Reflect on what we did and how we might do something differently.

· Planning to incorporate these reflections into our next presentation or teaching opportunity.

Search Engines

I have experimented with some new search engines instead of the ‘old favourite’ Google. I decided to try some cluster search engines. Cluster search engines don’t seem to pull in as many sites as Google, but do group them in a more logical way. I did a search for ‘colour vision deficiency’ in two cluster search engines to demonstrate the way they group results. The first is:

Vivisimo http://vivisimo.com/

Vivisimo is a metacrawler engine, pulling in entries from a number of sites. It takes the search criteria and groups it in to a hierarchical file structure. The first folder in the structure contains all the websites found by the search engine.

As you progress down the list, websites are grouped into folders with titles that reflect aspects of the search criteria.

The next search engine I used was

Kartoo http://www.kartoo.com

Kartoo is a metasearch engine, similar to

Vivisimo. Kartoo also displays found websites
in a hierarchical file structure, but augments
this with a linked graphic structure. This graphic
representation also shows links between sites
and displays sites that closely match the search
criteria as larger icons.

One of the most important issues to remember when using the web as a research tool is to bookmark sites of interest so you can return easily to them. I use ‘Favourites’ in Internet Explorer as a method of doing this. I set up a folder system inside the ‘Favourites’ folder so that I can access useful sites from within the web browser.

Positive aspects of using the World Wide Web

· Access to a large amount of information on a wide range of subjects

· Information is often available for download

· Search engines can quickly pull in information on a subject.

Negative aspects of using the World Wide Web

· So much information is available that sifting through and finding what you need can take a long time.

· Search engines help but often return too many websites. Cluster search engines help by grouping similar sites together.

· Information found on the web is not always from a reliable source. Sometimes a site can appear to be authoritative on a particular subject, but can turn out to be someone’s personal opinion. Sources sometimes need to be checked against other resources.

I find the World Wide Web very useful and providing you know how to search properly and can recognise genuine sites, it is an invaluable tool for any researcher.

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APU online library

The APU online library is an extremely useful resource for researchers’ to have access to. I use this resource as well as the web if I am looking for articles on a particular subject. To find an article I first log on to the online library using my Athens name and password. I usually access this via the Ultraversity webpage. The sequence of events is as follows.

· Navigate to the APU Proxy server

· Select e-journals

· Search for a journal

· Open the required journal (Open Learning)

Select article (Understanding Independent Learners’ Use of Media Technologies)
Download article

The online library gives researchers access to journals that are available to the University by subscription. The advantage of using these resources is that they are a reliable source material, from established publications and authors.

Website

Building a Website.

I decided that I needed a better way of sharing work than a weblog offered. I looked at the various options I could use to build a website. I use an Apple Macintosh computer so some of the web-building applications like Microsoft FrontPage are not available for this platform. I decided to look at two other options. These were:

Exporting HTML files from Microsoft Word
Building the site from scratch in DreamWeaver.

Initially I tried the export to HTML from Word. This seemed to be quite a good option, the HTML filter keeping most of the data intact. There were some problems with odd letter substitutions and layout problems.

I decided to try using DreamWeaver to build the site instead. This would have a number of advantages. I would be learning an industry-standard package that would be useful to me at work, and the DreamWeaver site management tool allows you to upload and administer the site from within DreamWeaver itself.

Initial thoughts on site building

I decided to map out the site first, to give me an idea of how I wanted the site to develop. I produced an icon based site map in MacroMedia FreeHand.

I spoke to a colleague at work who had used DreamWeaver a bit and he gave me some tips for creating pages and linking them to each other. He also gave me a very useful document on how to set up the site files before you start building pages. (Needless to say I ignored these notes initially being a fully paid up member of the 'let’s dive in and have a go' club)! I have since seen the error of my ways and have come to realise that a well-planned site with a proper folder hierarchy is much easier to set up and administer than a one that is thrown together.

I set up a basic framework using frames in DreamWeaver using a two column grid with a static header, I put the navigation links in the left column and the main frame with changing pages on the right. Once I was happy with this layout, I populated the main frame with pages. I then uploaded the site for the first time to test it. It seemed to work without any problems. The next stage will be adding copy and images to each section.

Icon based site map

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Here are some screenshots of the basic site as it is at the moment.

This is the homepage under development.
You can see the three basic frame elements in place

This is the learning activities page showing the links to
the content pages

The test site is available for viewing at: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ian_wilko/

Advantages of using a website

A website is a useful way to share research and information. The ability to link pages and documents makes it a non-linear way of displaying information. A website allows navigation quickly between pages using hyperlinks.

All researchers have access to the Internet so should be able to access the website.

A website is not file or computer platform dependent, so it can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection regardless of the type of computer they have.

Disadvantages of using a website

A website must be clearly and logically structured to lead the viewer to the pages they want to read. If this isn’t the case, viewers will quickly become frustrated and move on to another site.

Time must be set aside to regularly upload new files and update existing ones.

When transferring files from the online community to the website, I must be aware of the confidential nature of some of the correspondence in the discussion groups. This is also true of any discussions with colleagues at work. These files need to be altered before uploading to a publicly accessed website.

I think I will still go ahead and build a website for my Ultraversity work. For the moment I will also continue to produce work outside of the website initially and transfer it. I also need to be more confident about administering the site and adding different file formats such as sound and video. Once I have overcome these technical issues, I may decide to use the website as my main method of recording Ultraversity work.

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Online learning theory

As part of my research for this report I have visited a number of websites that discuss learning as a social activity and online learning communities.

Here are some extracts from the websites and my own reflections.

Learning as a social activity

Communities of Practice

Learning as a social System

Etienne Wenger

(Published in “Systems Thinker” June 1998)

Wenger describes a community of practice in the following way.

“Members of a community are informally bound by what they do together – from engaging in lunchtime discussions to solving difficult problems – and by what they have learned through their mutual engagement in these activities. A community of practice is thus different from a community of interest or a geographical community, neither of which implies a shared practice. A community of practice defines itself along three dimensions:”

What it is about – its joint enterprise as understood and continually renegotiated by its members.

The Ultraversity online community is structured in a similar way. Researchers are working towards fixed learning outcomes but we can customise our learning in a collaborative way with other researchers, the online tools and the Learning Facilitators.

How it functions –– mutual engagement that bind members together into a social entity

I would agree with this statement. Part of the Ultraversity experience is the social learning aspect. Researchers engage with each other and the learning facilitators on a regular basis. This ensures that the community develops and learning is a shared rather than a solitary activity.

· What capability it has produced – the shared repertoire of communal resources (routines, sensibilities, artefacts, vocabulary, styles, etc.) that members have developed over time.

As researchers begin to share research and experiences, a knowledge base will be created. This in turn will add to the body of knowledge of the Ultraversity, answering some of the current research questions and helping to frame new ones.

Online learning communities

Engagement Theory:

A framework for technology-based teaching and learning

Greg Kearsley & Ben Shneiderman

This paper is based on the authors’ experiences teaching in electronic and distance learning environments.

Kearsley and Shneiderman argue in their opening statement:

“The fundamental idea underlying engagement theory is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. While in principle, such engagement could occur without the use of technology, we believe that technology can facilitate engagement in ways which are difficult to achieve otherwise.”

They continue:

“Email is one of the most important collaborative tools and it usually serves as the communication backbone for all activities. Web conference boards or chat programs may also be important means for collaboration and sharing of results.”

This is interesting as we use email for communication to communicate with our learning facilitators and some researchers are using a Yahoo email group as a method of sharing ideas and information. I still think there are a number of drawbacks to relying on email for critical communications. I have listed the disadvantages in the ‘email’ section in ‘Tools in an online environment’

In the section ‘Project orientated learning’ Kearsley and Shneiderman suggest that the web is a resource that can be used to encourage collaborative learning.

“The web provides a tremendous resource for collaborative efforts since it is easy to quickly uncover a lot of information about any topic. A natural project for students is to produce an online textbook or encyclopaedia for their course. With a class of 10-100 students, this becomes a major effort with an editorial board to develop an outline, specify the audience, produce a style guide, manage assignments, and arrange reviews.”

“When student projects are put up on the web, this provides an incentive for them to do the best possible work, since they know that their work will be viewed by their classmates and possibly the whole world. It also provides an easily accessible source to show their work to friends, co-workers, or potential employers.”

I found this information very interesting as it mirrors some of my ideas for building a website to share information. I agree that building a website would

encourage high standards of presentation, as researchers and others would view it. I am intrigued by Kearsley and Shneiderman’s assertion that the web is an ‘easily accessible resource.’ This is something I will look at in the conclusion and new objectives in this report. There are questions to be asked about making a website accessible to as many people as possible. This includes people with disabilities such as visual impairment.

How Online Social Networks Benefit Organizations

By Lisa Kimball and Howard Rheingold

In this paper, Kimball and Rheingold talk about online social networks and how they grow from:

“conversations among people who share a common affinity (e.g., they work for the same company, department, or in the same discipline) and who differ in other ways (e.g., they are in different locations, keep different hours, specialize in different disciplines, work for different companies). When the people are distributed across time and space, then these conversations need to take place online, over an intranet or private Internet forum.”

I found this extract from the paper particularly interesting.

“Having the online space made it possible for teachers to share experiences with each other, about which new approaches were working, which were not working, and how they felt personally and professionally about the changes. Great ideas that were working in a fifth grade classroom in Texas could be used by a teacher in Illinois. As one math supervisor said, "Simply accessing information about different lesson plans and new techniques would not have been nearly as useful as hearing from a fellow teacher about something that really worked with real kids. That's where the rubber meets the road. That's what makes a teacher willing to try something new."

This is how I see JellyOS and the other online community tools developing. Researchers share their experiences through the discussion groups and location is no barrier having access to the information. Also a shared personal experience is far more useful than a prepared text. Taken in the context of reflective practice, the idea is tried, analysed, modified and passed back to the community.

Conclusions and new objectives

I have found using online tools a positive experience. I was already familiar with email and the web as invaluable tools for communication and research but have found the Ultraversity tools to be useful additions to online learning.

In the first section of this report, looking at the tools available in the online learning environment, I’ve tried to be objective in my analysis of each tool. I have pulled out the positive and negative aspects of using the tools, based on personal experience.

I would like to mention JellyOS again in particular. Although I think there are a number of issues that need resolving, the experience of using JellyOS has been, on balance a positive one. There is definitely a sense of an online community beginning to establish itself. The willingness of researchers to help each other to set up home pages and discussion groups was the start of this.

Researchers are also sharing information and experiences via other online tools including websites and weblogs.

The individual learning plan has been a great help in forward planning activities and helping to work out exactly what it is I want to research in the coming terms.

The APU online library is an invaluable tool for accessing journal articles and reports that wouldn’t otherwise be available on the web.

Since starting the Ultraversity course, I have been inspired to try new online tools including a weblog and building a website. The weblog was an interesting experiment. It helped me to share some research and experiences online. I also learned about the limitations of using this particular method of putting materials online.

Building a website will be my next big challenge. I have overcome some of the technical challenges of website building. I now have to consider what I want to include in the pages and be aware of issues like confidentiality.

Another major issue is accessibility. I work for an organisation that helps blind and partially sighted people. As part of my work-related research and ongoing development, the website should really be accessible to people with sight problems. This is another major challenge for me in the coming terms. I have already looked at the initial site design map and concluded that it will be inaccessible. I have simplified the design so that it will be more accessible and I’ll work with colleagues to ensure that it meets the necessary requirements.