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Intelligent organization
No full textModern, intelligent organizations use the full power of information to reach excellent performance. Intelligence is not just about smart decisions, but also about the ability to obtain, model and understand information and processes, the power to adapt to new situations and events in the networked economy, the ability to learn, the capability to analyze, discover and manage knowledge, and the ability to perform effectively according to rules and policies in order to innovate and create value. Jan VanthienenJan Vanthienen is professor of information systems and management at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculty of Business and Economics (Belgium) where he is teaching on business intelligence, systems analysis, and information management. His current research interests include information and knowledge management, business rules & processes, business intelligence, e-learning and information productivity. He is a founding member of the Leuven Institute for Research in Information Systems (LIRIS), and president-elect of the Benelux Association for Information Systems (BENAIS). He is chairholder of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Chair on E-Business at K.U.Leuven and co-chairholder of the Microsoft Research Chair on Intelligent Environments.Orkand Chair
University of Maryland
University College
The Intelligent Organization
November 2, 2009 | Adelphi, MD
Prof. dr. Jan Vanthienen
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
Leuven Institute for Research in Information Systems
[email protected]
Who?3
The world is changing…
•
How about our enterprises, governments, organizations?
–
Information Technology and Systems fundamentally change(d) our organizations
•
How do we handle the change?
–
We love it, as long as we can keep doing things in the same way and there are no big differences
•
Do we handle change in an intelligent way?
–
How to become an intelligent organization?
–
And what is an intelligent organization anyway?4
Some examples from our organizations…
•
Creating information
•
Capturing information
•
Finding information
•
Validating information
•
Classifying information
•
Integrating information
•
Distributing information
•
Understanding information
•
Processing information
•
Using information5
Some examples from our organizations…
•
Creating informationwriting documents -> typing documents
•
Capturing informationpaper forms -> web forms
•
Finding informationlibrary -> search, Google
•
Validating informationprinting and comparing
•
Classifying informationbook shelves -> folders
•
Integrating informationhardly
•
Distributing informationletter -> e-mail
•
Understanding informationreading reports -> electronic paper
•
Processing informationmanual processes -> workflow
•
Using informationmanually
We basically do it in the same way, but using electronic means6
Jan’s e-mail
Not including: spam, publicity, newsletters
Will this be solved by
-
Facebook
-
Twitter
-
LinkedIn
-
Unified Comm
-
???7
•
Megabyte: 1,000,000 or 106bytes
–
5 megabytes: Complete works of Shakespeare
•
Gigabyte: 1,000,000,000 or 109bytes
–
1 gigabyte: Pickup truck filled with paper
•
Terabyte [ 1,000,000,000,000 bytes OR 1012bytes]
–
2 Terabytes: An academic research library
–
10 Terabytes: The printed collection of the Library of Congress
–
200 Terabytes: Worldwide production of office documents (printer/copier);400 million trees (annually)
–
900 Terabytes: Therequired storage space for email (annual)
•
Petabyte [ 1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes OR 1015bytes]
–
2 Petabytes: All US academic research libraries
–
8 Petabytes: All information available on the Web
•
Exabyte [ 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes OR 1018bytes]
–
2 Exabytes: Total volume of information generated worldwide annually
(Lyman, Peter and Hal R. Varian, "How Much Information", 2003.
Retrieved from http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/how-much-info-2003)
The Information Tsunami8
Maybe we have to make some changes …9
Adding
a little
intelligence10
Intelligence?11
Main Entry: in·tel·li·gencePronunciation: in-'te-l&-j&n(t)sEtymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin intelligentia, from intelligent-, intelligens intelligent
1 a :INFORMATION:the ability or agency to obtain the necessary information;
1 b : COMPREHENSION: the act of understandingand abstraction;
1 c : COMMUNICATION: the capacity to communicate accurately,
2 :ADAPTABILITY: the power to adapt to the environment, also: CHANGE, INNOVATION;
3 a : LEARNING: the capability to learn;
3 b : REASONING:the ability to reason;;
4 :EFFECTIVENESSthe aptitude to perform functions;
Intelligence12
1 a :INFORMATION:the ability or agency to obtain and process the necessary information;
1 b : COMPREHENSION: the act of understandingand abstraction; handling concepts and models;
1 c : COMMUNICATION: the capacity to communicate accurately, based on meaning and semantics;
2 :ADAPTABILITY: the power to adapt to the environment, reacting to new situations and events, also: CHANGE, INNOVATION:changing the environment or finding an entirely new one;
3 a : LEARNING: the capability to learn from examples or experience; mining data, rules and processes;
3 b : REASONING:the ability to reason; also:the ability to apply knowledge to one's environment for making smartdecisions;
4 :EFFECTIVENESSthe aptitude to perform information functions, according to the business goals and compliantwith policies and rules;
Intelligence (in the organization)13
The Intelligent Organization
•
Information and Comprehension
•
Communication and Semantics
•
Adaptability and Change
•
Learning and Reasoning
•
Effectiveness
Information Ecology, Awareness, Literacy14
Perceived Computer Literacy
(Perceived Computer Literacy Among Different Types Of (Under)graduate Students: Findings Of A Survey, Poelmans S., Truyen F., Deslé R., 2009)15
60 Technology Skills We Should Be Teaching in College …
Basic Web Stuff1. Basics of HTML (bold, underline, italics, special characters)
10. How (and when) to use collaborative documents or spreadsheets
Organization13. How to set up a web-based calendar and use it to manage your time15. How to find a common meeting time (e.g. Doodle)
Communication22. How to summarize your thoughts in 140 characters or less24. How to determine whether you should share it in a public forum
Finding and Managing Information28. How to use web-based bookmarks32. Who writes Wikipedia articles and when can they be trusted?34. When can you trust the information you find?35. How to use article citations to find better references
Privacy, Security, and the Law40. What should you share and how does that change for different audiences?41. How to manage usernames & passwords42. How to find and tweak the privacy settings in common social networking sites
Presentation45. How to determine the audience and appropriate length for your presentation46. Good presentation design principles48. How to share a set of slides on the Internet51. How to find high-quality images that can be used in presentations (with appropriate copyrights)
Ways to Learn56. How to build an interactive mindmap to organize ideas58. How to find good sites, blogs, and other online publications for the topic you are learning about
(Maria H. Andersen, http://teachingcollegemath.com/?p=1498)16
Our information policy17
Key message: Information Attitude
•
We need (and have) good tools, techniques, architectures, …
•
We need digital literacy and computer skills,
•
But this will not solve the quality and productivity issuesif there is no sound information attitude
•
The attitude means:
–
a single version of the truth
–
avoid double work, re-work, creating useless work
–
rethink processes and procedures
–
do not copy the manual procedures
–
understand the difference between push and pull information
–
maintenance and consistency
–
know what can go wrong
–
manage data, information & knowledge
–
separate the know, the flow, the show
A little intelligence will do …18
‘Work smarter, not harder’
(Christopher Thomas)19
Real change: e.g. in e-government
Value
Information,
Interaction
Integration
Transaction
Transformation
Downloadforms
Electronic
forms
Integrated
forms
No more
forms20
The Intelligent Organization
•
Information and Comprehension
•
Communication and Semantics
•
Adaptability and Change
•
Learning and Reasoning
Business-IT Alliance
•
Effectiveness21
‘It’s not what you say,it’s what they hear!’
(Red Auerbach)22
Engineering the Business
Business Strategy… Information Systems
Business Processes
Business Rules
Business
Vocabulary
The 3 musketeers
One for all,
all for one23
System 1
Core Business Rules
Operational Business Rules & Constraints
Work practice Rules
System 1 (new)
Rules are valid across systems
System 3 (outsourced)
System 5 (interorganizational)
System 2 (Web)
System 4 (manual)
•
bringing business rules out of obscurity.
•
bringing business rules out of implementation
•
bringing business rules out of code
•
and into the business management side24
Kim Clijsters' Tennis Ranking
“Clijsters becomes the world's number one if she reaches the final, or If Davenport doesn't reach the final, or Mauresmo doesn't win the tournament.
Lindsay Davenport stays number one if she wins the tournament and Clijsters doesn't reach the final, or she looses the final (against another player than Mauresmo) and Clijsters looses in the semi-finals.
Amélie Mauresmo becomes number one if she wins the tournament and Clijsters looses in the quarter-finals. ”
(translated from www.sporza.be)
(Example provided by Christophe Mues)25
Tennis Ranking26
The Intelligent Organization
•
Information and Comprehension
•
Communication and Semantics
•
Adaptability and Change
•
Learning and Reasoning
Flexibility and Compliance
•
Effectiveness27
Business Agility & Compliance
•
Agilityis the ability of a business to sense changes in its environment and to react (change) effectively on the level of strategy, policy as well as operations
•
Complianceis the ability of a business to prove that its operations are conducted according to applicable regulations, business policy and rules.
•
Solving the trade-off
Business Process Management (BPM) makes us flexible and efficient
Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) allow to realize this
Business Rules Management(BRM) makes us agile and compliant
Enterprise Decision Management (EDM) makes us smarter28
Agile processes
(BPMN 1.0: OMG Final Adopted Specification, 2006)
but also:
•
Timing rules
•
Workflow rules
•
Access rules
•
Audit rules
•
…
Decision rules
Discount rules
Implicit(hard-coded) rule:noadvancepaymentnecessary
Whatifthe rulechanges??29
Cell Phone Bill Payment
Kathy A. Long, "The KISS Approach to Process," Business Rules Journal, Vol. 10, No.1 (Jan.2009)
This is not a process.
Finance
Admin
Manager
Phone Co
Accounting30
When is this rule applied?
–When a customer submits an new order
–When a customer changes an existing order (adds items,changesquantities, substitutes products)
–When a customer’s credit limit is changed
–When product prices are changed (unless prices are frozen at order time)
–… and for any other relevant events the system recognizes
Business Rules influence the Process
“The total value of a customer’s unpaid orders must never exceed his credit limit”
Businessevent
Somethinghappens
process
Businessrule
The total value of a customer’s unpaid orders must never exceed his credit limit
Do something
process
(adapted from: Ron Ross)31
Two sides of the same coin
Business Process Management
–
BP Modelling
•
Analysis
•
Quality/Maintenance
•
Improvement
–
BP Enactment
–
BAM -Business Activity Monitoring
–
Execution
–
BP Maturity
Business Rules Management
–
BR Modelling
•
Analysis
•
Quality/Maintenance
•
Improvement
–
BR Enactment
–
RAM -Rule Activity Monitoring
–
Execution
–
BR Maturity
Rules are from Mars and Processes are from Venus32
The Intelligent Organization
•
Information and Comprehension
•
Communication and Semantics
•
Adaptability and Change
•
Learning and Reasoning
Smart systems
•
Effectiveness33
‘An organization’s ability to learn,and translate that learning into action rapidly,is the ultimate competitive advantage.’
Jack WelchChairman, General Electric34
KNOWLEDGE
INFORMATION
ORGANIZE
ANALYZE
DATA35
•
What do I want to happen?
–
Optimization, Planning
•
What will happen?
–
Forecasting & Prediction
•
Why is it happening?
–
Why have sales gone down?
•
What is happening?
–
Are sales going up or down, trend analysis
•
What happened?
–
What were total sales this month?
(based on: Bill Baker, Microsoft)
Business Intelligence
AnalyticsModeling
AnalysisAlerts
ReportingAccess36
Knowledge Discovery
From data to action
Descriptive
Predictive
Quality
Data, rules &processes
Data
Information
Knowledge
Action
Collection
Decisions
Integration
Analysis37
Knowledge Discovery
Associations, Sequences and Clustering
Cross-selling
Segmentation
Web usage mining
Text clustering
Risk profiles
From data to action
Descriptive
Predictive
Quality
Data, rules &processes38
Knowledge Discovery
Looking forward is important !!!
From data to action
Descriptive
Predictive
Quality
Data, rules &processes39
Knowledge Discovery
Predictive: Classification and Regression
Customer retention
Response Modeling
Bankruptcy
Credit scoring
From data to action
Descriptive
Predictive
Quality
Data, rules &processes
•
Baesens B., Setiono R., Mues C., Vanthienen J., Using Neural Network Rule Extraction and Decision Tables for Credit-Risk Evaluation, Management Science, Volume 49, Number 3, pp. 312-329, March 2003.40
Knowledge Discovery
Comprehensibility
•
Mues C., Huysmans J., Baesens B., Vanthienen J., An empirical investigation into the interpretability of data mining models based on decision trees, tables and rules, 22nd European Conference on Operational Research, Prague, July 8-11, 2007.
•
Martens D., De Backer M., Haesen R., Vanthienen J., Snoeck M., Baesens B., Classification with Ant Colony Optimization, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, Vol. 11, No. 5, pp. 651-665, 2007.
Consistency
•
Huysmans J., Baesens B., Vanthienen J., A new approach for measuring rule set consistency, Data & Knowledge Engineering, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 167-182, 2007.
In line with domain knowledge
•
Martens, D., Baesens, B., Van Gestel, T., Vanthienen, J. (2007). Comprehensible credit scoring models using rule extraction from support vector machines, European journal of operational research, 183(3), 1466-1476.
From data to action
Descriptive
Predictive
Quality
Data, rules &processes41
Knowledge Discovery
Process mining
From data to action
Descriptive
Predictive
Quality
Data, rules &processes
•
Goedertier, S., Martens, D., Vanthienen, J., Baesens, B. (2009), Robust process discovery with artificial negative events, accepted for Journal of Machine Learning Research.42
The Intelligent Organization
•
Information and Comprehension
•
Communication and Semantics
•
Adaptability and Change
•
Learning and Reasoning
Business value
•
Effectiveness43
Different kinds of decisions
High-value, low-volume decisions
Medium-value, medium-volume decisions
Low-value, high-volume decisions
Low High
High
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INDIVIDUAL DECISION
Low
DECISION VOLUME44
Smart decisions
EDM (Enterprise decision management)
–
Modelling, managing and executing the business decisions
–
Descriptive Analytics, BI
–
Predictive Analytics
–
CEP (Complex Event Processing)45
Business Decision Value
Business event
Action Time
Capturing
Reporting
Decision latency
Business Value
Analysis completed
Action taken
(basedon:RichardHackathorn,BolderTechnology,Inc)
Information delivered
Data captured
Analysis
latency46
Thankyo
Application of Blogs to Support Reflective Learning Journals - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Application of Blogs to Support Reflective Learning Journals
Les Pang
Graduate School of Management and Technology
Published: May-June 2009
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies
What are Reflective Learning Journals?
A reflective journal is a piece of writing that allows students to record thoughts and insights about their
own learning experience. This journal encourages students to review and consolidate learning, evaluate
performance, and plan future learning based on past learning experience. Students become capable of
taking charge of their own learning, and they eventually develop into independent lifelong learners.
Here is an example of one posting in a reflective journal. Note the boldfaced text where information can
be valuable as feedback to the instructor:
Watched a video entitled "Interviewing Do's and Don'ts" in class today. I was amazed at what the data
showed in terms of how few people really follow the basic principles of interviewing. Like other students in
the class, I didn't know that 9 out of 10 people are not prepared properly when they go for a job
interview. This certainly gives the person who does prepare well a definite competitive advantage by being
in the 10 percent who are prepared. The book "Sweaty Palms" that Dr. Seilheimer referred to sounds
interesting. I think I'll ask him if I can take a look at it.
Although the people in the video seemed corny and camp it did illustrate the basic sequence of events
that take place in interviews and humorously pointed out some of the important do's and don'ts of
interviewing. I see more value now than I did at the beginning of class for the assignment to interview a
working professional to get a few tips on how to compete for jobs in their field. The class discussion was
very lively today. I think the subject challenged some of our deep fears about rejection and it made many
of us a little uncomfortable. I enjoyed class though and I think I will keep some of the ideas Dr.
Seilheimer put out on how to confront, accept and manage fear in mind as I prepare for interviews
someday. (Seilheimer, n.d.)
Traditionally, a reflective learning journal was documented on paper—typically in a bound
notebook. This notebook would be turned in at the end of the semester for the instructor to review.
What are Blogs?
A blog, the contraction of the term "weblog," is a type of Web page made up of usually short,
frequently updated posts arranged in reverse chronological order. Blogs (along with wikis, social
networks, collaborative tagging, AJAX, RSS feeds and XML) are Web 2.0 tools—those technologies
which let users publish, collaborate, and share information and content over the Internet (O'Reilly,
2005; Graham, 2005). Popular blog publishing sites include Blogger, WordPress, Blog.com, and
LiveJournal. These sites serve as hosts to a variety of different types of blogs.
Blogs can contain many different types of content, including:
Commentary/news
Ideas
Photos
Poetry
Mini-essays
Project updates
Application of Blogs to Support Reflective Learning Journals - DE Oracle
Fiction
Media
Education
Blogs are often a creative outlet for many individuals and serve as a means to reflect on their lives.
Using Blogs as Reflective Learning Journals
Blogs can enhance the educational experience of students who use them as reflective learning
journals. Because of a blog's presence on the Web, global reach is achieved. A blog is typically text
based but can be enhanced by including graphics and videos, links, and formatting via templates.
For the past few semesters, I asked students in my ITEC 610 Information Technology Foundations
class to use the Blogger hosting site to create their own personal blogs for various assignments. For the
first week of class, students were given the assignment of building the blog (which, incidentally, is
easier than building a Web page) and introducing themselves as a blog posting. During subsequent
weeks, students submitted weekly class reflections in their blogs in which they addressed the following
three questions:
What did you learn in the preceding week? (Not a list of facts, but rather, what can you take from the
lesson, what has value to you?)
1.
How do you connect what you learned this week with your personal experience or what you already
knew?
2.
3. How could/would you apply your new knowledge?
In the final week, students were asked to look back on entire semester, provide an overall reflection of
the class, and share their outlook for the future.
Excerpts from Student Learning Journals
Blogs created by ITEC 610 students can be found at:
Mike's Grey Matter (http://mikesgreymatter.blogspot.com/) (http://mikesgreymatter.blogspot.com/)
CSMN601 Blog (http://ingudam-csmn601.blogspot.com/) (http://ingudam-csmn601.blogspot.com/)
Dettegirl Blog (http://dettegirl01.blogspot.com/) (http://dettegirl01.blogspot.com/)
Desha's Weekly Journal CSMN 601 (http://daebutler-csmn601.blogspot.com/) (http://daebutler-csmn601.
blogspot.com)
The table below identifies some common student emotions and associated excerpts from past student
reflective journals.
Initial Class Anxiety:
"So here we are just a few days from the start of class! This should be very interesting since I have not
been back to school since graduating 11 years ago :-0 "Enlightenment: "The reading for the course has
been interesting - making me see things in a different light or maybe because my grey matter has not
been exercised enough lately."
Relief:
"Whewwwwwww!!!! Session entries complete, and my research paper submitted - only one hurdle left:
The Final!!!! Wow, is it just me or did the last discussion questions make us recount all that we covered
this term? ;-) IT'S OFFICIALLY FESTIVUS!!!"
Enjoyment:
"I enjoyed the discussions about teleworking and got to impart my knowlege about compliance
management - thanks to my SOX research -into my reply posting :-P "
Application of Blogs to Support Reflective Learning Journals - DE Oracle
Stimulation:
"It was interesting seeing what everyone had to say about standards and outsourcing. The outsourcing
question was one of the best discussions we had as a class so far - just my humble opinion :-)
Appreciation:
"The DB chapter was interesting - it has been a long time since I have touched upon DBs. I understand
it a lot better now than before. It has also given me a better appreciation for the design and
implementation of websites such as Zillow."
Excitement:
"Finally the much awaited end of semester is coming. The course went really fast with the very exciting
well planned group project, research paper and weekly discussion conference, mini project and blog,
not to forget the weekly news buzzing around."
Preferences:
"The best thing I liked about this course is the active interaction and participation of the class keeping
all of us up to date of assignment due deadline and helping us to deliver on time and not missing any
assignments. Also the topics chosen stimulated in thinking and analyzing usage and application of
technology in real life and organization, making the assignment very interesting."
Thankfulness:
"Thanks to Professor Leslie and all my class mates for the wonderful interactive learning experience
this semester . Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2007."
Course Anxiety and Relief:
"This week was really hectic with too many course related activities happening. I had to give exam for
the other course (Program and Project Management) and complete the assignment for this course. Not
to mention, I hadn't anticipated the unplanned happy hour and parties at work place. This made me
realize that I need to add more buffer time in my plan for such unexpected last minute plans. All in all,
everything went on quite well :)"
Interest:
"The discussion for this week was interesting, especially the discussion on delaying IT investments to
cut costs. The thread on the critique on Nicholas Carr's article "IT Doesn't Matter" was really interesting
to read with many of my classmate commenting bluntly."
Students also had full access to the instructor's blog (http://itec610summer08.blogspot.com/) . Below are
some reflections and associated excerpts from the instructor's reflective journals:
Surprise:
"I was surprised at the backlash against social networking sites. A handful of students found it novel,
fun and interesting however most saw it as a total waste of time and/or a serious security vulnerability.
Although I respect the latter's opinion, I must say that these sites have gained tremondous popularity
during the last few years and they are being accepted into the corporate environment." LinkedIn
(http://www.linkedin.com/) is one such site that is widely used among business professionals.
Pleased:
"Again, a nice healthy discussions in our conferences! I love them! Nothing better to get opinions out
because in the real world you need to have open conversations when an issue appears. There is no pat
answer to problems. It is dangerous to have a knee-jerk reaction to a problem. We need to think things
Application of Blogs to Support Reflective Learning Journals - DE Oracle
through!
Clarification:
"I am sure students now understand why we academics do not like students to cite Wikipedia as a
reference. As part of the mini-project, many of the student edited the SDLC article. During the course
of Monday evening when student were feverishly entering revisions to the article, it was vandalized
twice in a single night! It shows how easy it is to change the content. It is also very easy to insert
unreliable information and opinions. In your research papers, expect a deduction if you cite Wikipedia."
Concern:
"We are heading closer and closer to the final! I sense perhaps that some students are running out of
gas? A few students did not complete the Session 12 mini-projects and I am a bit concerned. Please
e-mail me if you have personal issues and/or conflicts so we can work things out!"
Disappointment:
"I realized that a handful of students found the Session 8 mini-project assignment (come up with a
unique e-business) to be very frustrating. (Now, who egged and tepeed my house?) Although most of
you were up for the challenge, some folks did not even attempt an idea or gave up after the first try. In
a way, this challenging assignment was like your midterm exam. As mentioned before, imagination is
more important than knowledge."
Advantages and Disadvantages
Blogs have several advantages:
Blogs provide an opportunity for an instructor to gain rapport with the students and understand their
needs and backgrounds.
Blogs allow for monitoring of student progress so that the instructor can step in if the student is falling
behind. A blog provides for continuous student feedback as opposed to waiting until the end of the
semester for student feedback—which may be too late for corrective action.
The instructor can identify issues and challenges faced by students by reading about their experiences
with the assignments in their blogs.
For an information technology course, students can learn and understand about a blog itself—both the
concept and the technology.
Students modify their behavior in reaction to the content contained in the instructor's blog.
While blogs have great potential, they do have some drawbacks associated with them:
Getting buy-in from the students on the concept may not be easy. Some students may not understand
the purpose and value of reflective journals.
Some students are technically challenged and may experience difficulty in creating and maintaining a
blog.
Certain students do a minimal effort because of other priorities or interest.
Some students get carried away with their blogs and include non-academic related writings, videos,
graphics, and other objects.
Instructors may find it difficult to grade blogs; these journals are very subjective to grading unless
precise rubrics are defined.
Instructors may find that it takes excessive time to read and respond to all of the student blogs.
The contents of the student blogs may include disputes with other students, politically sensitive
information, personal data, and other sensitive information.
The instructor may find that adding a weekly blogging assignment is difficult if the course already has a
full slate of requirements.
Application of Blogs to Support Reflective Learning Journals - DE Oracle
Lessons Learned
Here is a list of lessons learned based on my experience with blogs:
The instructor should maintain a blog to share his/her own reflection of the course. Students read and
respond to the instructor's blog, often in a positive manner. The instructor blog can also be used to
reinforce key learning concepts.
Create an index of instructor and student blogs to improve accessibility. I personally believe in the
philosophy of allowing students to view each other's blogs.
Require weekly blog postings and have the instructor assess them and provide feedback via the blog's
"post comment" feature.
Establish minimum requirements regarding structure, length, what to include, and what not to include.
Emphasize the need to add visual elements and allow creativity and fun.
Conclusions
Blogs offer an effective way for a student to express his or herself individually and maintain a
one-to-one relationship with his or her instructor. This important vehicle for self expression allows one
to have closure and reflection after each lesson and at the end of each course.
What's next for blogs and reflective learning? One possibility is a combination of Web 2.0 technologies
that will take them to the next level. A potential combination could be to create a class blog contained
in a wiki. This would be an opportunity for the entire class to work together to summarize the key
points at the end of teaching session. Another idea would be to have a weekly course evaluation in a
wiki-blog to gain class consensus on feedback to the instructor. Still another idea is to incorporate the
concept of social networking into a blog and wiki to expand the number of people involved beyond the
classroom.
Other considerations include audio- or video-based reflective learning journals using podcast
technologies such as PodOMatic and iTunes. One can globally share video blogs consisting of reflective
learning journals using YouTube, Google Video, or other video sharing sites.
In conclusion, a blog-based journal enhances the learning experience of an online student by
reinforcing key ideas and concepts and allows one to make connections with the real world. The value
of this reflective learning tool should not be underestimated.
References
Graham, P. (2005). Web 2.0 Retrieved on March 1, 2009 from http://www.paulgraham.com
/web20.html (http://www.paulgraham.com/web20.html) .
O'Reilly, T. (2005) What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation of
software. Retrieved March 1, 2009, from http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news
/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-
web-20.html) .
Seilheimer, J. (n.d.). Reflective learning journal. Retrieved March 1, 2009, from
http://csm.colostate-pueblo.edu/biology/jack/371journal.html (http://csm.colostate-pueblo.edu
/biology/jack/371journal.html) .
About the Author(s)
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Application of Blogs to Support Reflective Learning Journals - DE Oracle
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Comments
Gila Kurtz -- Jun 8th 2009
Thank you for your article. My question relates to the "emotions List" you provided.
Not sure I understand how they can help you as instructor to evaluate students' work.
thanks, Gila
Les Pang -- Jun 10th 2009
Gila,
The principal aim of a learning journal is to enhance the student's learning experience
through reflection. You can see from the emotions list that it serves as a forum for
them to express themselves and reinforce key concepts from the class. A secondary
benefit is for you as the instructor to leverage this information so you can improve
the quality of the course. I would not use the journal to evaluate their work.
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Applying Cloud Computing in the Classroom - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Applying Cloud Computing in the Classroom
Les Pang
Graduate School of Management and Technology
Published: September-October 2009
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing promises novel and valuable capabilities for computer users. This article examines its
relevance for the instructor within a face-to-face teaching environment. The technology was
implemented in ITEC 610, Information Technology Foundations, a graduate-level class at UMUC.
Cloud computing is an approach to “increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in
new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses
any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT's existing
capabilities” (Knorr & Gruman, 2007, ¶ 3). Gartner, Inc. further defines cloud computing as “as a style
of computing where massively scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service to external
customers using Internet technologies” (Desisto, et al., 2008, Analysis section, ¶ 3). The reference to a
cloud is actually a metaphor for the Internet.
Cloud computing uses remote IT resources such as servers and storage to provide services to users—
whereas in the past, these services were delivered using local resources. This “off premises” computing
approach involves services residing on hardware not owned by the user. The user has individual access
to the services unless he or she decides to work collaboratively and share the services (Natis, et al.,
2008).
Clearly, cloud computing involves a new way of thinking when it comes to managing computing
resources. Traditionally, computing resources such as software or storage are considered physical
products than can be acquired from a store. Instead, cloud computing views computing resources as
being provided as fully online services. In addition, the data generated or acquired by the user also
resides online, and the user has sole access to that data unless he or she decides to share it. This
approach represents part of the evolution of the client-server model.
One of the first implementations of cloud computing was Salesforce.com. It used the concept of
software-as-a-service to provide customer relationship management functionalities to clients using the
Internet without the use of on-site applications.
Various other examples of cloud computing applications include storage applications, spam filters, and
mapping services. Online office suites, another cloud computing tool, are the focus of this article.
Online Office Suites: An Introduction
Online office suites typically include word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation functionalities
which users can utilize to create and edit documents completely online. In addition, they have
collaboration capabilities which would allow multiple users to review and edit each others’ online
documents. While this type of software is completely online, documents can be downloaded to be
printed or converted to another format such as DOC or XLS so that they can be read by another
application. Examples of this type of tool include Google Docs, Microsoft Office Live Workspace, and
Applying Cloud Computing in the Classroom - DE Oracle
Zoho Office Suite.
Adams (2008) notes that Google Docs has been used in high schools to support Advanced Placement
program students. Those students with no access to Microsoft Office applications and/or those who
could not install free open-source office suites from the Internet found that the online office suite met
their needs. For one project, geographically dispersed students used Google Docs' collaborative
features to produce a 12-page document in less than 24 hours. Students found its high accessibility
and the ability to store files online to be positive features.
Instructors found the posting of read-only versions of project instructions and rubrics in the suite to be
handy. They discovered that it is easy to move files among the classroom, their academic office, and
their home office. It allowed instructors to collaborate with colleagues on projects such as scholarly
papers (Young, 2008).
Classroom Experience with Google Docs
To try out the use of an online office suite for instructional purposes, Google Docs was used in a
face-to-face class for online document creating and editing as well as collaboration, sharing, and
displaying of documents. The class was conducted in a computer lab where each student had his/her
own computer. All students were required to create Google accounts and all assignments were to be
shared by everyone in class. Student documents were also made visible to the entire class by having
the instructor gain access to the document and displaying it via the instructor’s podium computer and
the overhead projection system. This arrangement facilitated student presentations and classroom
discussions of the documents.
The following is a sample list of the actual class assignments using Google Docs:
Post your choices for research topics in Google Docs’ Spreadsheet application (which is similar to
Excel). If there is an identical choice, contact the other person and negotiate a change. Feedback will
be posted in the spreadsheet and approved topics will be highlighted in yellow.
List the competencies needed for the position of Information Systems Manager within the following
three categories: technical, business, and behavioral. Use Google Docs’ Document application (similar
to Word).
Select a particular business sector (financial, health, automotive, government, military, etc.). Next,
imagine that we are 20 years into the future. Your team is required to prepare a short, 10-minute
management briefing on the then-emerging technologies that will help your business sector and explain
why. Use Google Docs’ Presentation application (similar to PowerPoint).
Students found that the Google Docs suite was highly accessible for anyone who had an Internet
connection. There was no need for flash drives, e-mail, or network drives to move files among each
student and to the instructor’s computing podium. They appreciated the collaborative nature of the
applications. However, several students were not familiar with the Google interface and its subtle
differences with Microsoft Office. For example, some students experienced difficulty in loading images
into the Presentation application due to its differences with PowerPoint.
As the instructor, I found that the use of Google Docs was useful as an illustrative example of cloud
computing—a key concept covered in this particular class. I found other uses for the software suite,
such as using the spreadsheet application to collect notes about student performance gathered at
various times and locations away from my personal computer. Other advantages and disadvantages
are discussed in a later section.
Here's an example of the use of Google Docs in ITEC 610 (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=phmY-AW8MrkIvbJojPzP0bw)
for collecting, approving, and managing research topics.
Potential Classroom Applications
Applying Cloud Computing in the Classroom - DE Oracle
Online office suites have many potential applications for classroom use. For students, these tools can
be used for:
Creating signup lists
Group research projects
Group essays
Group presentations
Peer editing
Publishing announcements about upcoming assignments
Brainstorming
On the faculty end, these tools can be used for tasks such as:
Course development among multiple instructors
Gathering data from faculty members
Recording grades and student feedback anytime, anyplace as long as an Internet connection is
available.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Google Docs
The following advantages of Google Docs in the classroom were noted:
Easy to access and collaborate
Less computing resources required
Low learning curve (interface somewhat similar to Microsoft Office)
Can be used to teach technology using technology
Can access via any machine that is linked to the Internet
Revision history—the ability to revert to a previous version and determine ownership of past revisions
Compatibility with different operating systems
Provided at no cost
Google Docs did have a few disadvantages:
Software lacks advanced capabilities such as mail merging, macros, speech recognition, and multiple
toolbars (some online applications such as Zoho appear to have more features than others).
The potential for editing conflicts among different collaborators was persistent.
Formatting was sometimes difficult, such as when trying to create APA-compliant reference lists.
Multiple instances of the same document may create concurrency problems.
Some students found it difficult to navigate because buttons and links were placed in unfamiliar
locations.
Certain shared applications are more conducive on paper such as a detailed sketch.
Software is unavailable when the site is down or Internet connectivity cannot be achieved.
Cut, copy, and paste commands did not always work properly.
Sometimes formatting would "spill over" to other text—for example, when underlining some text, the
rest of the document would become underlined as well.
Students with limited bandwidth felt that there were delays in having editing changes appear in the
document.
E-mail notifications are generated when changes are made. If there are numerous changes, there are
numerous e-mail messages
There are concerns over security and privacy of the documents against unauthorized visitors and
vandals.
Lessons Learned
Based on my experience with Google Docs, here are some of the lessons I learned along the way:
Applying Cloud Computing in the Classroom - DE Oracle
Establish ground rules for entry and editing to avoid editing conflicts.
Provide basic training in using the software and note its similarities and differences with Microsoft Office
products.
A locking mechanism may be needed to prevent concurrency problems.
Users may need to develop workarounds such as saving specially formatted text as an image and
pasting the image into the document.
Be careful not to post confidential/sensitive information in Google Docs, particularly when in
collaborative mode.
Based on recent trends, online office tools will be the standard in the future. Major technology
companies such as Microsoft (with its Office Live Workspace product) appear to be moving in that
direction. It is imperative that instructors become proficient in such tools as the industry transitions
toward the new cloud computing platform.
Conclusions
As described above, Google Docs was used successfully in a face-to-face class. The software was
recently used in an online class (Summer 2009 semester) for managing group project documents. One
student commented: “I'm starting to see more and more how powerful Google Docs can be as a
collaborative tool between geographically separated users.” They also noticed how it can help in
controlling various versions of the same document.
Cloud computing may just be a buzzword today, but through this classroom experience, it was shown
that it offers a new and better tool for teaching and collaboration.
References
Adams, D. (2008). Gaga for Google in the twenty-first century advanced placement language
classroom. The Clearing House, 82(2), 96-100.
Desisto, R., Plummer, D., & Smith, D.M. (2008, April 7). Tutorial for understanding the relationship
between cloud computing and SaaS. Retrieved March 1, 2009, from Gartner database.
Knorr, E., & Gruman, G. (2008). What cloud computing really means. InfoWorld. Retrieved August 28,
2008, from http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/07/15FE-cloud-computing-reality_
1.html (http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/07/15FE-cloud-computing-reality_1.html)
Natis, Y., Gall, N., Cearley, D., Leong, L., Desisto, R., Lheureux, B., Smith, D. M., & Plummer, D.
(2008). Cloud, SaaS, hosting and other off-premises computing models. Retrieved March 1, 2009, from
Gartner database.
Young, J. (2008). 3 ways that web-based computing will change colleges—and challenge them. The
Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(10), A16.
About the Author(s)
Les is currently a Program Director and Collegiate Professor in UMUC's Graduate School of Management and Technology,
Information and Technology Systems. He was the 2004 recipient of the Stanley J. Drazek Teaching Excellence Award.
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Applying Cloud Computing in the Classroom - DE Oracl
Project-Based Learning for the Online Classroom - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Project-Based Learning for the Online Classroom
Linda Smelser
Instructional Support Specialist
Non UMUC
Published: July-August 2009
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies
Engaging students is a challenge whether teaching online or face-to-face. In online classes that tend to
be text-heavy, this task can be especially difficult. One way to overcome this hurdle is to design
project-based learning (PBL) assignments. This article discusses the advantages of PBL assignments,
best practices for designing and implementing them, and examples and resources that can help
generate assignment ideas.
What is PBL?
According to PBL-Online (http://pbl-online.org/) (http://pbl-online.org/) , the PBL model was built upon
authentic learning activities that are designed to provide students with real-world relevance, complex
tasks, and creative outcomes. It is an approach that emphasizes meaningful learning activities that are
long-term, interdisciplinary, and student-centered. PBL activities place the onus on students to learn
course content and master course objectives, particularly when they are allowed to choose their own
topics or activities for an assignment.
Project-based assignments can be designed for individuals or groups. From a social learning aspect,
collaborative group projects encourage students to interact with and learn from others, learn
to negotiate in a group dynamic, and use new resources that peers bring to the project—all of which
occur regularly in the workplace. For those students who feel isolated in the online environment,
group-based PBL assignments can assist in helping them feel better connected to the classroom and to
their peers.
Benefits of PBL Assignments
Research has shown a number of advantages to using PBL assignments in the classrom:
Students tend to take a greater interest, responsibility, and ownership of their work when
engaged in PBL activities. PBL activities allow students to engage in creative ways to help them
relate to course content. By providing choices for projects, a well-orchestrated PBL activity encourages
students to take ownership and initiative for project outcomes. When students are asked to view and
critique peer projects, they are more inclined to improve their own performance (Buck Institute of
Education, 2007).
Students learn course content and new learning strategies through the collaborative process
of meeting PBL goals. According to Grant (2002), PBL caters to students' diverse interests, abilities,
skills, and learning styles. Students can use a broad range of skills through PBL, which provides a
multi-level approach to learning content. When students participate in PBL activities, they gain new
learning and processing strategies using their own past experience, peer experience, teamwork
processes, and instructor feedback. In addition, working collaboratively helps students acquire more
understanding of the content when viewed from a variety of perspectives.
PBL encourages all the components that we strive to achieve in our face-to-face and online
classrooms at UMUC. PBL creates positive communication and collaborative relationships among
Project-Based Learning for the Online Classroom - DE Oracle
diverse groups of students by encouraging them to participate together in critical thinking, problem
solving, practical skill building, accountability, and goal setting. Within the PBL framework, students
collaborate to make sense of what is going on in the assigned task(s) and required outcome(s) (Buck
Institute of Education, 2007).
Depending on the scope of the project, students may be able to add their PBL projects to
their resumes. Students who engage in meaningful, relevant assignments or who have been allowed
to choose their own projects can use the opportunity for professional advancement.
A well-designed PBL activity encourages students to collaborate creatively to assist one
another with responsibilities and divide the workload. By providing students with the framework
for designing the project outcomes and deliverables to reflect the course objectives, students can
engage with the content both individually and collectively. They can assign certain project tasks to
those who excel in them or to those who wish to broaden their skills in a particular area while also
bringing everything together into a coherent whole.
PBL Best Practices
When designing PBL assignments, it is important to provide instructions and processes that encourage
students to develop and demonstrate newly acquired skills and knowledge. A PBL assignment can be
used as a final project and/or several shorter activities throughout the semester as a way to evaluate
students' subject matter competence. Pearlman (n.d.) has identified the following best practices from
the Autodesk Foundation for designing meaningful PBL activities:
Build on student interests whenever possible.
Provide a number of subjects of interest that relate to course content along with a variety of projects
from which students can choose.
Provide students with meaningful, authentic real-world problems without a pre-determined solution.
Allow students to take the lead, making critical choices and decisions.
Connect students with community resources and experts.
Draw on multiple disciplines to solve problems and deepen understanding.
Build in opportunities for reflection and self-assessment.
Ensure that outcomes and results are something useful that demonstrate to students and instructor
what they have learned.
Culminate in exhibitions or presentations to an authentic audience.
Sample PBL Activities
The sample PBL activity designs clisted below an be expanded and customized for groups or individuals.
Model/Activity Goals/Deliverables Instructions
Presentation The individual or group will
research a topic, develop a
presentation and at least two
activities (questions or tasks),
and facilitate a conference based
on their deliverables.
Evaluation options: For a group
project, team members provide
feedback to the instructor on their
peers’ work and/or students
critique each other’s presentations
and provide feedback to their
peers.
The instructor provides students
with the problem and outcomes,
at least three topics from which to
choose that relate to course
content, a choice of activities,
selected resources (or have
students find a specific number of
resources), and deliverables and
deadlines.
Students submit the presentation
and activities to the instructor
beforehand for editing.
The instructor asks students how
they plan to facilitate the
conference (if facilitation is part of
the project).
Project-Based Learning for the Online Classroom - DE Oracle
Contact Site Manager
The Houghton-Mifflin Project-Based Learning Space (http://college.cengage.com/education/pbl/project
/project.html) includes a small collection of PBL classroom assignments that you might also find useful.
PBL Resources
PBL resources are plentiful on the Web. The following resources are good beginnings for helping you
learn how to build your own PBL activities. When looking for additional resources, also try “inquiry-based”
or “problem-based” learning as your search terms.
Design your own PBL activity (http://pbl-online.org/pathway2.html)
PBL activity design for online courses (http://www.pbl-online.org/online_courses.htm)
Create rubrics for PBL activities (http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php)
Overview on designing PBL activities (http://college.cengage.com/education/pbl/background.html)
Best practices and strategies in PBL (http://www.bobpearlman.org/BestPractices/PBL.htm)
References
Buck Institute of Education. (2007). Handbook: Introduction to project based learning. Retrieved
from http://www.bie.org/index.php/site/PBL/pbl_handbook_introduction (http://www.bie.org
/index.php/site/PBL/pbl_handbook_introduction)
Grant, M. (2002, Winter). Getting a grip on project-based learning: Theory, cases and
recommendations. Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal, 5(1). Retrieved
from http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/win2002/514/index.html (http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian
/win2002/514/index.html)
Pearlman, B. (n.d.). Project-based learning on the net. What is PBL? Definition from the Autodesk
Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.bobpearlman.org/BestPractices
/ProjectsontheNET.htm#Definition (http://www.bobpearlman.org/BestPractices/ProjectsontheNET.htm#Definition)
About the Author(s)
Linda Smelser has been an instructional support specialist in the Center for Support of Instruction (CSI) since September
2006. She enjoys working in a team environment and is excited that "there's so much to learn and do with the variety of
projects CSI handles." Linda is also an adjunct faculty for UMUC and an instructor at the Center for Teaching and Learning.
From 2002-2004 she was an academic advisor for UMUC's School of Undergraduate Studies. In her spare time, Linda enjoys
mountain biking, hiking, yoga, and traveling to California and Philadelphia to visit her children and grandchildren.
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