Blending F2F and Online Learning with Web 2.0 and Project Based Learning

Last Tuesday, for lunch, I was fortunate enough to get to sit down with Steve Hargadon, and about over 100 other education peeps, and listen to a presentation by Michael Wesch. Mr. Wesch is a cultural anthropologist out of Kansas State University ( http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/) who studies the impact of new media on society and culture. You may be familiar with him through his YouTube videos. One particular video you may have seen is: The Machine Is Us/ing Us.



On this particular episode of Steve's LearnCentral he turns over the spotlight to Mr. Wesch. Mr. Wesch's description of his latest course design is a textbook example of a blended face-to-face and online learning environment that uses both Web 2.0 and project based learning. He obviously is a tech geek in addition to an anthropologist. However, by default, aren't all anthropologist geeks anyways? ... I wish I could describe him as a non-techie, but that probably would not be fair. Rather than describe it in my own words, I'll just share what I lifted from the archived presentation on Steve's site. If you like the full presentation is here (http://www.learncentral.org/node/4016), but my edits just cut to the juicy parts.


Mr. Wesch's Purpose-Driven Course

• exploration stage
• guided introduction to the field
• self-guided research
• publish research paper
• share with world (video, website, etc.)

First clip: (Introduction of Course LMS and Exploration) Mr. Wesch talks about his learning management system developed by combining freely available web applications.

Resources Used:
NetVibes - http://www.netvibes.com
Diigo - http://www.diigo.com/
WetPaint Wiki - http://www.wetpaint.com/
(Yahoo's) Pipes - http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/
Blogger - http://www.blogger.com
Sony Vegas - Windows (PC) Video Editing Software - http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegaspro
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com

Second clip: (Exploration) Research Proposals and Video Trailers

Resources Used:
Zoho Creator - http://creator.zoho.com/ (used to create the web form for students submit their proposals)

Third Clip: (Guided Introduction and Self-Guided Research) Collaborative research proposal as culminating activity.

Resources Used:
WetPaint Wiki - http://www.wetpaint.com
Blogger - http://www.blogger.com



Fourth Clip: Nice example of using the LiveScribe gadget to assess student presentations. (This example almost makes me want to buy one! Almost.)

Resources Used:
LiveScribe - http://www.livescribe.com/



Fifth Clip: (Publish Research Paper) The KYHOI (Knock Your Head Off Idea) ...great new word!

Resources Used:
GoogleDocs - http://docs.google.com



Sixth Clip: Mr. Wesch responds to a question about what he does to help teach all these tools he uses in class with his students...gotta love the answer :-)




The last part of Mr. Wesch's outline is "share with the world." They are primarily doing this through YouTube and web sites. His YouTube channel is: http://www.youtube.com/user/mwesch.

Thanks for the great examples Mr. Wesch!