Transparency in Online Education

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This Learning Object is based on the readings I did and commented about Transparency in Online Education.

Reviews Carla Elias annotated bibliography - Transparency in Online Education

I considered the AB elaborated by Carla Elias very interesting. Although the format of the AB was different from the usual it was no less rewarding. The colleague did an annotated "videowebgraphy", followed by fifteen Principles of Good Practice for Educating Adults at a Distance and a list of 21 questions that will help adult learners choose the degree program that is right for them, which I considered very important.
I think this form of presentation reinforces the understanding of the subject under study.
First she presented two videos created by former MPEL colleagues. This fact shows that we can learn from other students, we can learn by observing the work of others in order to improve our own work, thus increasing quality - Transparency for Quality.
Carla Elias presented a short video by Paulsen Morten Flate that shows the importance of transparency in online education, like the individual profiles of students for his recognition in this type of education.
Afterwards she presented a set of three videos about Transparency by Design. Transparency by Design is an initiative dedicated to assist adult learners in becoming educated consumers of distance education. This initiative aims to provide the most detailed information possible about each course of study, completion rates, costs, student engagement, and knowledge and skills learned.
The fifteen Principles of Good Practice, that she presented, are from a membership cooperative of institutions and organizations dedicated to advancing access and excellence in higher education through the innovative use of technology.
The Principles of Good Practice for Higher Education Institutions Serving Adults at a Distance were developed to ensure that higher education courses and programs for adults learning at a distance are of high quality and readily accessible. Distance programs are those that enable the student to learn at any time and in any place and serve adult learners at a distance, including learners who have traditional options but find online delivery more convenient.
The Principles promote transparency of higher education institutions delivering distance learning programs and foster dialogue to strengthen and improve the quality of programs and services.
http://elearninghoje.blogspot.com/

Transparency in Online Education

From the study that I did about Transparency in Online Education, I considered the cartoons from Morten Flate Paulsen about Transparency for Quality and Transparency for Cooperation very interesting and useful for the understanding of these issues.

Transparency for Quality by Morten F.P.

Retrieved on May 19, 2010 from Http://toonlet.com/archive?m=s&i=11247

Transparency for Cooperation by Morten F.P.

Retrieved on May 19, 2010 from Http://toonlet.com/archive?m=s&i=11245

The approach of the Transparency for Quality and Transparency for Cooperation in these cartoons is clear and objective. The first cartoon talks about the importance of transparency in improving the quality of online education, pointing out that the quality of work increases when we see the work of others and when they see ours and give constructive feedback. The second cartoon is about the importance of transparency in the cooperation between the students of this kind of education. However, it also addresses the importance of students’ privacy and whether they are free to choose the level of transparency they want in order to protect their privacy.

It is also very instructive the observation of Visualizing Students’ Profiles through NKI's Online Catalogue and Student Network, from Morten Flate Paulsen.

Visualizing Student Profiles through NKI's Online Catalogue and Student Network

View more presentations from Morten Flate Paulsen.

Retrieved on May 19, 2010 from http://www.slideshare.net/MortenFP/visualizing-student-profiles-through-nkis-online-catalogue-and-student-network

The slide reveals the importance of the NKI Distance Education allowing students the opportunity to share information. Transparency in information facilitates cooperation among students. Some students share information about their online course activities with other people, others use the presentation as an online CV. This slide still addresses the risks inherent in transparency, for example, inappropriate content, the rights of authors, unsatisfied students remarks and students who expose too much personal information.

The blog about Teaching as Transparent Learning ( Siemmens, G. 2009) is also very important.

Retrieved on May 19, 2010 from http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122

This blog is a personal report about the experience of being a transparent student. This blog discusses the importance of seeing others learn, emphasizing the fact that when we observe others learning, we learn from them, and when we share information in a transparent way, we also teach others.

To explore this theme I considered useful to read the following documents.

Dalsgaard, C., & Paulsen, M. F. (2009). Transparency in Cooperative Online Education. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 10 (3). Retrieved on May 19, 2010 from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/671/1301

Dalsgaard, C. (2009). Supporting Transparency Between Students. The International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace 2009. Retrieved on May 19, 2010 from http://person.au.dk/fil/16581515/Dalsgaard_Supporting_Transparency.pdf

Dalsgaard, C. (2008). Social networking sites: Transparency in online education. Retrieved on May 19, 2010 from http://eunis.dk/papers/p41.pdf

The first document has got twenty two pages and talks about Transparency in Cooperative Online Education. In this document the authors, Christian Dalsgaard and Morten Flate Paulsen, explore the potential of social networking within cooperative online education. The authors say that a social networking does not necessarily involve communication, dialogue, or collaboration. They argue that transparency is an exceptional feature of social networking services. Christian Dalsgaard and Morten Flate Paulsen show how cooperative learning can be supported by transparency with examples. The document discusses what resources social networking and transparency can use within cooperative online education. The pedagogical potential of social networking is supported by transparency that facilitates the production of knowledge between students.


The second document contains four pages and talks about the Transparency Between Supporting Students. In this document the author, Christian Dalsgaard, presents the results of a case study that explores the potential of weblogs and social bookmarking to sustain transparency in a university course. The objective of the case was to empower students by providing them with tools that would be evident to the other students in the course, thus, making students’ ideas, thoughts and questions perceptible to the other students in the course. The document concludes that the use of digital media for transparency can sustain empowerment of students and motivation between students in a course, but that the challenge is to create an equilibrium among personal tools and tools for collaborative group work that are also proper for transparency between students.

The third document contains six pages and talks about the pedagogical potential of social networking sites. In this document, the collaboration and users created content are, frequently, appointed as major potentials of Web 2.0 technologies. The author, Christian Dalsgaard, says that a central characteristic of social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Ning is a combination between personalization and socialization that facilitates the transparency between students. The transparency is a dominating feature that allows the students to see each other work. The social networking sites do not necessarily involve communication, dialogue or collaboration. This document argues how social networking can be used in university education by students to share information and resources developed for themselves, but made accessible to others. The communication on forums always takes place in a shared forum and in social networking sites the social interaction is originates in one person.

Educação e Sociedade em Rede - Actividade 4

A Autenticidade e a Transparência na Rede são dois conceitos fundamentais na virtualização das relações sociais. O ciberespaço permitiu relações sociais simultâneas com acesso imediato a qualquer parte do mundo, desencadeando uma nova percepção de espaço, de tempo e de relações sociais. Quem somos nós na rede? Quem são os outros na rede? A virtualização permitiu-nos uma nova modalidade de ser, o virtual. O ciberespaço permitiu, inclusivamente, a construção de múltiplas identidades digitais de uma mesma pessoa.

Contudo, a nossa identidade digital não é mais do que uma parte da nossa identidade pessoal, da qual também fazem parte a nossa identidade pública familiar, profissional, social, etc. Identidades que assumimos de acordo com o contexto em nos encontramos. Neste sentido, a nossa identidade virtual, apesar de ser uma construção própria e constituir uma alternativa da nossa identidade pública, não deixa de ser um prolongamento da nossa identidade pessoal.

O problema que se coloca é quando essa identidade digital é usada para fins menos próprios, camuflando a verdadeira realidade. Como é o caso da criação de uma identidade digital para se fazer passar por outra pessoa, com o objectivo de ganhar algo com isso, aproveitando a inocência dos outros ou denegrindo a imagem de alguém.

No entanto, a Autenticidade e a Transparência na Rede são inevitáveis em determinadas situações. No ensino à distância online, a autenticidade e a transparência são mesmo fundamentais para a criação de um ambiente adequado à aprendizagem, pois facilitam a comunicação, o diálogo e a cooperação entre os membros pertencentes a uma rede. A autenticidade e a transparência, entre os elementos dessa rede, apoiam e orientam inclusivamente os alunos à participação, uma vez que os conhecimentos uns dos outros são visíveis a todos. A troca de informações, de conhecimentos e de recursos desta forma é muito importante, visto que permite os membros dessa comunidade aprenderem.

No que concerne à fiabilidade da informação da rede essa é tão confiável como qualquer outra informação partilhada noutro local. Todavia, actualmente, graças às novas tecnologias, a velocidade com que se circula informação e se produz informação é tão grande que se torna difícil saber qual a sua origem e qual a sua idoneidade. O conhecimento está constantemente a ser revisto e modificado. Por outro lado, o que hoje é verdade amanhã pode não o ser, encontramo-nos num mundo em evolução constante.

É verdade que, o aparecimento da internet aumentou a possibilidade da fraude, porque o acesso à informação se tornou mais fácil e mais rápido, no entanto esta sempre existiu. Sempre houve informações pouco confiáveis. O importante é saber onde procurar. Há locais mais fidedignos que outros, mesmo na internet, que é um recurso fantástico, uma vez que facilita essa pesquisa. Tudo depende do estudo efectuado e das fontes utilizadas. O fundamental é fazermos uma boa análise, sermos críticos e cruzarmos informações.

Porém, num mundo onde todos os intervenientes são autores, a questão da autenticidade e transparência da informação tem-se tornado um assunto cada vez mais, inquietante, suscitando a necessidade da existência de uma entidade responsável pelo controlo da mesma. Uma entidade que garanta a autenticidade e a transparência das informações, bem como a sua qualidade e o conhecimento inerente às mesmas.

Mas, apesar de, actualmente existir alguma tecnologia que permite efectuar parte desse controlo, esse processo é muito complexo, devido às características inerentes à própria rede. No entanto, embora esse controlo permita a segurança da mesma, este deve ser efectuado de forma imparcial, por uma ou várias entidades, de modo a não limitar a liberdade de expressão dos indivíduos. Contudo, a preocupação principal devia ser a da educação de todos os membros da rede, de acordo com determinado valores éticos, de forma a permitir um uso correcto e responsável da mesma.