ZZ+Chats+from+Meetings

Chat additional to verbal conversation on Skype calls - added by Roz

NOTE: I have included who was [writing] the chat at the time in case there are further questions/comments...

=Tues 11 May= Everyone** References appear on each individual page as well as combined together on full references page References also appear on the Solutions page for each options Edit their own individual pages and notate names on the page - aim for 500 words English as 2nd language page can GO Add your 'solutions' to the solutions page (with references)
 * Tasks revisited

Wiki contains full details of our 'agruments' Home Page = ?? Intro/Context Prezi (summary of our main investigations) and included with Issues but not Solutions Each problem page for each person Solutions page References (all)
 * Idea for Wiki arrangement**

Do a little bit of work on 'Design' Write a conversational script for screen shots Maintenance/housekeeping of Wiki - let Shelley know when your page finished (by Thurs 13 May)
 * Shelley**

Record voiceover on screen shots from Shelley's script and put together package as one clip that needs to be viewable on Mac's as well. Suggested that use MPEG files (good for video as well) Fined mobile devices references for the solutions Fix her references
 * Heather**

Prepare Prezi from everyone's precise of points and video - please get this to Yan by approx 5pm Thurs 13 May Prezi in same order as pages
 * Yan**

Context page needs heavy editing - combine summary of what Mandy's answers to Roz's questions + precise of what already exists Grammar, style, coherence checking =** Thurs 5 May **=
 * Roz**
 * Tasks revisited

Everyone** =Chat= [Shelley] Life of the internet colleges - put up by heather - students don't see online learning as valued as highly as face to face Chinese students don't see online courses as prestigous because they're easier to get into. This could spill into this accreditation. Different reason for lower profile of eLearning as compared to Australia.
 * make certain to add all references even if already referenced by someone else (shows our collaboration)
 * give precise of your '500 words' + some visual material to Yan for Prezi
 * add 'your' solutions for Mandy to collate
 * must use JPG format to load images onto Wiki
 * use **History** to check changes made by Shelley/Roz
 * continue with current writing (editing, refinement, additions)
 * Shelley**
 * write some casual notes against Yan's stuff to assist with perspective
 * general editing and making sure context fits
 * double check referencing
 * general appearance of the wiki
 * Heather**
 * co-ordinate screen shots of actual online environment that Mandy will record (Mandy and Heather work together)
 * add some info re digital literacy, etc??
 * Roz**
 * find what resource talking about making role plays 'real' to culture and tranferring an Australian course to another culture
 * doing grammar, style, coherence checking
 * Mandy**
 * no language; more on learning design
 * collate solutions into cohesive arguement
 * Yan**
 * add contextual ideas to Transfer Knowledge
 * collect ideas and put together Prezi

[Roz] Can see a sense of their voice online and this can be exhibited in their written essays

[Yan] US and Chinese Cultural Beliefs about Learning.pdf (for Roz). It's kinda interesting - it says that chinese students place less emphasis on social learning

[Shelley] I'm suspect that the internet issue is going to be around internet access at work.

[Roz] Interesting about logging on at work to study - as you said, Mandy, could explain a little about the small amount of online discussion Would it be worth considering the time difference?

[Shelley] Time difference less of an issue than internet access at work only. Moderator feedback, does this have a bearing? Sounds as though telling people what they think in English is the problem. Maybe it's the 'what do you think' that is causing issue. Yan's issue: encoding western knowledge and delivering it in significantly different - wrote about that topic 'Real plays' not role plays - issues that are focused on their real life Concept of coaching alien to Chinese culture because it's about asking what they think, not paternal like Confucianism

[Yan] .....and not authoritarian and doesn't fit the power distance dimension

[Shelley] Decentralising authority - I think that the survey was Liddell?

[Yan] The survey showed that they enjoyed the freedom of the autonomy. They prefer the autoritarian management so they knew where they were going.

[Shelley] Is digital literacy a technical issue?

[Roz] Just found something - 'Chinese culture is collectivist and often depends upon informal chains of communications. Therefore open discussion albert in forums of web casts could see an infringement of cultural values'. (paper from Tim Friesner //Free e-learning for the Greater China Region: a cultural analysis of the Marketing Teacher experience//).

[Shelley] What about the moderator/teacher issue as separate from a learning design issue? So connective part of digital literacy takes longer to develop than what the course allows for perhaps?

[Roz] Mandy, what I think you just said is the 'key' - taking an Australian designed course and plonking it directly into another culture

[Heather] How cultural values shape Chinese students online learning experience... this was research done by an Asian student who was studying in the US, there are concepts there that might help us.

[Shelley] I think this is our key point at the introduction - what Roz is saying. It really is what our whole assignment is about when we are discussing this. So if we're being clear in the reflection, etc I think we can put that into learning design. So that's something that fits with learning design too - the content, who it's written by. It's the message and ability to see familiarity with the content (Vygotsky). Prestiage of education: China is important

[Roz] This is the video I was talking about [] Cultural sensitivity; element of prestige

[Shelley] I think this conversation is about the learning design. It's around how we ask them to engage with the curriculum. Elgg is a 'sexier' version of Ning for arguement's sake Page design is an issue? Colours are difference. Because we read left to right and have different colour preferences, is our visual hierarchy too Western? Does it work in China?

[Yan] Example of China website to check design ([|http://www.sina.com.cn]?) This is popular with Chinese and expats

[Roz] Layout isn't an issue. Design still could be ie Design = learning design. Terms of technology - include digital literacy and how comfortable people are about communicating online

[Shelley] Blackall is a good resource for digital literacy Digital literacy doesn't equal education; it equals what sort of things you do online. Check out this link - http://networkedlearning.wikispaces.com/digital+literacy+and+how+it+affects+teaching+and+learning+practices

[Heather[ What format for Prezi is best?

[Yan] Most images and videos - check out www.prezi.com

[Roz] Chat again on Tues at 8pm (Mandy may not be able to join in as in Hong Kong)

=Thurs 29 April=

[Shelley] Form some context around this at the background: it is an online community which run before and after a face to face course. It has a moderator (encourager/technoloty support), and a teacher type who is the subject matter expert. The moderator is the main player in the online part, the teacher just drops in to say hello and is the face to face person. Culture as a mediator? Sorry, technology as a cultural mediator? There's a wave 4 report - talks about statistics for different countries in terms of online use. I will add it to our group resources. I think that might be cultural? So high ... are the words avoidance? There's a cultural dimension for this... it's not high/low context; it's something else I think.

[Mandy] Hi/low context, according to Hall? If you are Chinese, this is a generalisation...high context cultures things are not so explicit... low context, things more obvious. Germany, Aust up there - we blurt it out... considered rude/taboo in other cultures. See Hall article for further explanation.

[Shelley] That's a good idea Heather - in terms of what the moderator does, it is one of their tasks to get people comfortable communicating. Maybe the internet is a privilege not a right.

[Mandy] What access to internet do they have in Shanghai? (question to be put in survey for participants using Survey Monkey).

[Shelley] Understanding for requirements for assessment - 500 per person, the 1000 as total solution? and also an intro/context of ?? words? the story is the precursor. Words and Prezi tool as Yan suggested. Give the context as a video. A wiki can be a report.

[Mandy] Problematise role of moderator - how does it work culturally? Role of teacher vs role of moderator (facilitator is held in high regard, but is not online).... power/distance issue.

[Shelley] Heather raised point ....and it's a good thing if they don't see them too clearly, it shows they're working well together ie the teacher and the facilitator and the moderator. It is important from a theoretial standpoint or us, but not so much for the student but there is a relationship! It's an online one.

[Roz] Just a thought - could that 3 day face-to-face opportunity with the teacher have enough impact on them cos they don't feel they 'know' the moderator.

[Shelley] So they're seen culturally as different? Problems to do with culture within the case study eg language difficulties, role of teacher, etc.

[Mandy] Overview of problems: 1. Language issues 2. Moderator vs facilitator includes power differences 3. What is knowledge in Chinese context 4. Internet access issue home vs cafe vs work access? 5. Does the collectivist culture treat learning differently?

[Shelley] There's a constructivist and behaviourist perspective behaviourist = older (Hofstede, Hall, etc). Constructivist = Vygotsky

[Mandy] Culture definition from Useem & Useem 1963: The learned and shared behaviour of a community of interacting human beings" from Wang, 2006.

[Heather] I cam across this definition: "Culture is not merely a factor in, but it is fundamental to, what people see, how they make sense of what they see and how they express themselves" - 1997 Dupraw & Axner.

[Mandy] Anne Hewling, 2005, looking beyond nationality based frames.

[Shelley] I was thinking we try to do our work by Sunday night as in the 500 words then we work on the 1000 words the week later. It would be helpful to have a visual of what we're talking about - Yan to put into Prezi. Some points to talk to in Prezi when we need to talk so we'll be the voiceover for the Prezi in the classroom.

[Roz] .....as suggested, I'm still happy to do some stuff re learning styles as in tranferring an Australian course ot Shanghai.

[Mandy] Write 500 words by Thurs (one week from today) and then we'll be meeting online next Thurs night.