Following the CCK08 Massive Open Online Course (Sept to Dec 2008), we are keen to further explore and research participants’ preferences for interacting in blogs or forums or both.

 

We warmly invite you to participate in this research. By filling in this survey or agreeing to participate in follow-up interviews, you are giving us permission to use this data for research purposes. We take full responsibility for using the data ethically and in a way that conforms with the UK Data Protection Act. You are free to withdraw from the research at any time. We can assure you that all information will be fully confidential and that you will not be named or identified. No report, written or otherwise, will allow for an individual to be identified, unless we have specifically gained your permission to do so. Our research will use an iterative methodology and be participatory in that we undertake to feed back findings from the research to theCCK08 community on the Ning site - http://connectivismeducationlearning.ning.com/

 

The questionnaire is in four sections which will need to be completed separately. Section A briefly seeks an overview of participants who interacted in the blogs and forums. The focus of Section B is on experiences of blogs in the CCK08 course. The focus of the Section C is on experiences of the Moodle forums in the CCK08 course. Section D asks a brief question about learning styles and seeks demographic data to inform our research. Sections A and D are very short and will only take a few minutes. Sections B and C will take longer.

 

We look forward to receiving your responses.

Jenny Mackness, Sui Fai John Mak, Matthias Melcher and Roy Williams (Course participants Sept - December 2008)

 

 

Section A

On theCCK08 course

 

1.Did you post to a blog?

___Yes ___No

2. Did you run your own blog?

                ___ Yes___No

3. Did you post to other people's blogs? 

               ___Yes ___No

4. Did you post to the Moodle forums?

___Yes ___No

5. Which method of communication did you prefer during the CCKO8 course?

___Blogging

___Moodle discussion forums

___No preference between blogging and Moodle discussion forums

___Other

6.  Please specify the 'other' item you entered above. __________

7.  Were you a credit participant?  

____Yes ____ No 

 

  

Section B

Below are a set of statements about the experience of interacting in blogs on the CCK08 course. These statements are applicable to anyone and everyone who posted to a blog during the CCK08 experience, however infrequently.

 

 

Please rate the statements according to how strongly you disagree or agree with them, along a scale of 1 to 5. (1-5 scale in this way seems to be the majority vote)

1= Strongly Disagree

3 = Neutral, neither agree nor disagree

5 = Strongly Agree.

 

 

Please select N/A if you feel the statement is not applicable to your experience.

At the end of the section we have provided a comment box. Please add any additional comments that you think would help us with our research.

 

On theCCK08 course I read or communicated in the blogs because:

 

·       I was already familiar with blogging(T001a)

·       The blogging community was more friendly than the Moodle forum community(P006)

·       There was less posturing and pontificating in the blogs than in the forums (P012)

·       There was greater mutual respect between bloggers than between forum participants(P007)

·       It is possible to find out more about the author of posts in a blog(C007a)

·       There was a greater sense of community in the blogs(P002a)

·       Posting to the forums created feelings of anxiety(P008a)

·       I was unable to make personal connections in the forums(P003)

·       The blogs were not teacher-controlled(L003b)

·       Blogs enable personal sense-making(BO.1, 1d)

·       Blogs enable self-expression(BO.1, 1d)

·       Blogs allow for the creation of an attractive layout in which to express ideas(B0.2, 1d)

·       In blogs you can establisha personal presence(B5b, 1d)

·       In blogs you can establish a personal voice(B1, 1a)

·       Blogs enable the development of personal connections, beyond the immediate task(B2, 1a)

·       In blogs you have more control over who to enter into discussion with(B3, 1b)

·       In blogs the ‘tone’ of discussions meets implicitly accepted protocols(B3a, 1b1)

·       Blogs foster quiet, slow, reflection(B4, 2e)

·       Blogs enable  ‘ownership’ of the publishing space(B5a)

·       Bloggers can control the pace of discussion on their blogs(B5c)

·       Blogs provide a protectedspace(B5d, 1d) & (B6, 1b, 1d)

·       Bloggers can build and protect their self-esteem in a blog(B7, 1d)

·       Bloggers can individually develop ideas(B8a)

·       Blogs enable intensive personal learning(B8b, 2a, 2c, 3a)

·       In blogs you can make explicit connections between fewer and more distant concepts(B9, 3d) B10)

·       Bloggers can focus on the development of side branches in their own space and time(B10)

·       Bloggers can develop thoughtful, long-term relationships and networks(BR1, 1a)

·       Bloggers can rapidly track parallel blogs and other bloggers.(BR3)

·       In blogs you can develop ties which are initially weak but then strengthen.(BR4, 1c)

·       Blogs enable you to develop deep relationships with other bloggers(P004c?)

·       Blogs allow for personal freedom(L005d)

 

Additional comments:

 

Section C

Below are a set of statements about the experience of communicating in the Moodle forums on the CCK08 course. These statements are applicable to anyone and everyone who posted to a forum during the CCK08 experience, however infrequently.

 

 

Please rate the statements according to how strongly you disagree or agree with them, along a scale of 1 to 5

1= Strongly Disagree

3 = Neutral, neither agree nor disagree

5 = Strongly Agree.

 

 

Please select N/A if you feel the statement is not applicable to your experience.

At the end of the section we have provided a comment box. Please add any additional comments that you think would help us with our research

 

 

1. If at any stage I chose to cease participation in the forums it was because of:

 

·         the lack of forum facilitation

·         the forceful intellectual sparring

·         the compulsory email updates on postings  (May I suggest to drop the reason that relate to specific person? How about an "I" statement:  the feelings of forced participation).  We want to know the reason from the respondent, not to blame a particular person, and if respondents want to point it out, they will do so.

·         other 

 

Please specify the ‘other’ item you entered above ____________

 

2. If at any stage I chose to shift the focus of my participation on the course into blogs, it was because of 

 

• The lack of forum facilitation

• The forceful intellectual 'sparring'
• The compulsory email updates on postings (May I suggest to drop the reason that relate to specific person? How about an "I" statement: the feelings of forced participation).  We want to know the reason from the respondent, not to blame a particular person, and if respondents want to point it out, they will do so.
• Other

 

Please specify the ‘other’ item you entered above ____________

 

 On theCCK08 course I read or communicated in the Moodle forums because:

 

·       I was already familiar with posting to discussion forums(T001b)

·       Posting to the forums required less effort than posting to a blog(T002)

·       The forum discussions were more easily accessible than the blogs(T004)

·       It was easier to make connections with other course participants in the forums(P001)

·       There was a greater sense of community in the forums than in the blogs(P002a)

·       The forum discussions were more academically challenging(P014a)

·       There was more lively debate in the forums(P015)

·       Posting to the forums generated greater feelings of excitement than posting to a blog(P016)

·       In the forums all the ideas being discussed were located in one place(C001a)

·       Discussion in the forums was more related to the course topic than in the blogs(C005)

·       The forums were more teacher-centric than the blogs(L003a)

·       The forums facilitated co-operative peer learning(F0)

·       There was an immediate sense of close community in the forums(F1, 1b) (F6, 1d)

·       There were more people to interact with in the forums(F3, 1b)

·       In the forums, people felt physically closer to each other

·       There was more ‘jostling’ with other people in the forums

·       There was more ‘stepping on each other’s toes’ in the forums

·       The ‘tone’ of discussion in the forums was academicMSOF3 (F4, 1b1) 

·       There was a greater sense of being in a group in the forums(F5, 1c)

·       There were medium-strong connections in the forums(F5, 1c)

·       The pace of discussion was fast in the forums(F7a, 1d, 3a)

·       Discussion in the forums was provisional and exploratory(F7b, 1d, 3a)

·       Discussion in the forums was focussed on knowledge formation(F7b, 1d, 3a)

·       There was intensive cooperative learning in the forums(F8, Id, 2a, 2c)   

·       In the forums there was an emphasis on conceptual connections between ideas(F9, 3d) (Two other F9 3d statements deleted)

·       Forums allowed for big picture discussions with digressions and disparate topics

     (F10, 3f)

·       There was robust and forceful 'sparring' in the forums (MSOF 0.1)

·       The forums were like a ‘free-for-all’ marketplace without a regulator(MSOF 0.2, 1b)

·       There was fast-paced asynchronous interaction in the forums(MSOF 1, 1b)  

·       Relationships in the forums were developed on the basis of ideas(MSOF 2, 1b)

·       There was no restriction on the ‘tone’ of discussion in the forums(MSOF 3, 1b1)

·       The tone of discussion in the forums was ‘self-correcting’(MSOF 3, 1b1)

·       Forums ensured a greater number of readers of your posts(T007)

·       Forums ensured a greater number of responses to your posts(T009)

·       It was easier to track back through discussions in the forums(C003)

·       In the forums you could avoid the distraction of numerous hyperlinks(3f or C006a/b)

 

Additional Comments:

 

Section D

 

Which of the following best describes you? 

 

____ Activist                       ('here and now', gregarious, seek challenge and immediate  experience, open-minded, bored with implementation)

____ Reflector                   ('stand back', gather data, ponder and analyse, delay reaching conclusions, listen before speaking, thoughtful)

____ Theorist                     (think things through in logical steps, assimilate disparate facts into coherent theories, rationally objective, reject subjectivity

                                                  and flippancy

 ____ Pragmatist               (seek and try out new ideas, practical, down-to-earth, enjoy problem solving and decision-making quickly,  bored with                                                             long discussions)

 

 

 

Please provide us with the following demographic information. This is for follow up purposes only. The anonymity of your responses will be preserved.

 

 

Name:

Country:

Email:

Skype ID:

 

 

 

 

 

Follow up to this survey

We hope that the information you give us will enable us to frame some questions for follow up interviews, where we could explore your experiences in more depth. Please let us know whether you would be willing to be interviewed sometime in May 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks for your participation in this survey.

 

 

Jenny, John, Matthias and Roy

 

 

 

I would be willing to take part in a Skype or email interview in May 2009.

____Yes ____ No 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

___Yes ___No