EILAB at the Ontario Tech University

The Journal of Educational Informatics (https://journalofeducationalinformatics.ca/index.php/JEI) and the Educational Informatics Lab (https://eilab.ca/) invite submissions to a special journal issue focused on the

Disruptive Design of Online Learning Community Environments

Submission Schedule:
Sept 25, 2023: Abstract Due (250 words)
Oct 16, 2023: Extended Abstract Due (500 words)
Feb 5, 2024: Full paper (6000 words)
Abstracts and Extended Abstracts will be reviewed by guest editors, and the full papers will be reviewed by two external reviewers + one graduate student.

More information is available at https://bit.ly/3EjQNft

Join us for the monthly EILab at Ontario Tech University meeting - Friday Jan. 27, 2023 @ 3pm ET
If you want an invitation, DM me and I'll send it to you. We meet in GMeet.
Research Meet Agenda - Friday, January 27, 2023

Welcome

Land Acknowledgement Statement

Introductions

30min. Sharing Sessions? of two of the ongoing EILab projects. Titles are tentative. Be prepared to provide constructive feedback.

Marvin Mnaymneh & Roland van Oostveen (30min.) - (Title): Face Reader and the Observer XT
Run through how it works

Conferences 2022 (see )
*graduate-student proposal call for the 14th annual Robert Macmillan Symposium in Education of the University of Western Ontario.
*https://csse-scee.ca/ # (CSSE’s 51st Annual Conference will be held from Saturday, May 27 (preconference day) to Thursday, June 1 ) *Call for Proposals for participation in OTESSA 2023 due January 31st OTESSA - Open Technology in Education, Society, and Association
*https://ciceducation.org/ (The 13th Canada International Conference on Education (CICE-2023)
*9th International Conference on Educational Technologies 2022 14 – 16 December 2022, Virtual (http://www.icedutech-conf.org/)
Experiments in Education Theory (EXET) - Anthropology, Technology, and Education: Exploring the Cracks in Technological Systems (https://www.exet.org/anthropotechnology)
*EdMedia + Innovate Learning - July 10-14, 2023 Vienna, Austria https://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/call/
*Others
*EILab Project Updates (Propose your own project or join one of these)
*Web 2 and 3 Awareness Project (Ashley, Jessie & Graham)
*OCT Article Writing (Elizabeth/Jess)
*TIF2 Project - analysis of 8 focus groups
*Discussion re. New Project Ideas (several new grad students at Masters and Doctoral levels are coming on board in the next couple of terms)
*Book possibilities - Chapters as options
*EILab Website Updates
*Reviewing content
*Volunteers for website building

News (someone to take over management of these accounts?)
*Instagram page ot_eilab
*Twitter account ( )
*Set up a Mastodon account for EILAB

New Business

EdMedia Call for Papers - AACE Call for Proposals: February 10, 2023 Submission Form For the full schedule, registered attendees should log in to AcademicExperts.org.   INVITATION EdMedia + Innovate Learning, the premier international conference in the field since 1987, spans all disciplines and  … Read more

EILab Researchers Agenda
Agenda - Friday Apr. 1/22
(If you want to join us on GMeet, drop me a DM with your email address and I'll send you a calendar invite in response.)
Welcome
Land Acknowledgement
1. Introductions
2. 30min. Sharing Sessions of two of the ongoing EILab projects. Titles are tentative. Be prepared to provide constructive feedback.
a) Andrew de Koning (30min.) - Exploring Internet Research Process and Construction Tasks as a Technological Skill Development Tool
b) Jess Trinier (30min.) - TBA
3. Conferences 2022 (see )
a) EdMedia + Innovate Learning (NYC June 20-23) Submissions due: Apr. 25/22 https://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/call/
b) 8th e-Learning Excellence Awards. Submissions are open until 18th May and the final round will be held alongside the 21stEuropean Conference on e-Learning (ECEL 2022) hosted by the University of Brighton, UK on 27-28 October2022. https://www.academic-conferences.org/conferences/ecel/
c) Others?
4. EILab Project Update (Propose your own project or choose from one of these)
a) Web 2 and 3 Awareness Project
b) OCT Project Article Writing
c) CTLES Project Article Writing
d) Updating EILab Pubs on Zotero
5. Sharing Sessions for next month - volunteers?

ECEL • Academic Conferences International ECEL Home page for the European Conference on e-Learning. Please click here to find out more about ECEL...........................

A group of Research Associates in the EILab are currently conducting a research project which seeks to gauge faculty and student awareness of web-based tools for supporting online collaborative learning. This research is particularly important to study the effectiveness of the Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) Model that is used in various programs in OntarioTechU.

This message is to invite you to review the email sent on March 9, 2022 entitled: Optional Research Study: Awareness of Web 2.0 and 3.0 Tools. The research project is open to all those (students and faculty) in fully online programs at OTU. Check your ontariotechu.net inbox.

Participation is completely voluntary, but your insights and opinions would be greatly appreciated.

If you have time, please take a look at the study requirements found within the email.

Kind regards,
Dr. Roland van Oostveen
Ashley Hope
Jessie Branch

Say hi to the newest Associate Researcher in the EILab. Jessica is rejoining the EILab, after having completed her MA in Education and Digital Technology.

Trinier, Jessica Jessica Trinier (she/they) is a graduate of the MA Education and Digital Technology program at ON Tech U.

Grad students are hard at work on a variety of projects related in some way to the Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) Model (see https://eilab.ca/fully-online-learning-community/) and others who are working with the Global Readiness Explorer (GREx) (see https://eilab.ca/global_educational_learning_observatory/).

Global Educational Learning Observatory (GELO) Project The overarching aim of the Global Educational Learning Observatory (GELO) project is to collect data-driven and scientifically informed evidence that informs evolving practices for online learning, and readiness for online learning. The GELO is a composite of a series of online tools already designe...

Lots of research underway regarding the use of GELO and GREx (https://eilab.ca/global_educational_learning_observatory/), FOLC and FOLCS (https://eilab.ca/fully-online-learning-community/), and GTCU and DCP (https://eilab.ca/general-technology-competency-use/). Check out the tools for yourself at https://grex.eilab.ca EILAB Pilot Test -->

General Technology Competency and Use The GTCU is a validated, multi-dimensional, research framework upon which the EILAB's, second-generation Digital Competency Profiler application is built.

Working on several projects related to investigating the Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) Model -

Fully Online Learning Community Model The Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) model is a framework authored by Dr. Roland van Oostveen, UOIT, Canada for conceptualizing, designing and researching, collaborative online learning in higher education.

Presented a workshop with Elizabeth Childs at OE Global 2020 on Thursday.
Title of Presentation:
GELO and GreX: A framework and dashboard to investigate technology competency and culture.
Intended Audience
Individuals and institutions interested in taking a look at fully online learning with community supports; those interested in assessment tools that speak to the readiness for participation in fully online learning environments; those involved in the creation of supports required by institutions for students and faculty.
Workshop Description
Participation in 21st century society is increasingly dependent upon competencies related to the use of digital technologies for a wide variety of purposes. A person’s competence in the use of digital technologies has implications for a wide variety of contexts and situations, including learning in physical as well as virtual spaces, career choices and employability, digital citizenship, and even democracy (Erstad, 2010). This workshop will provide an overview of the Global Educational Learning Observatory (GELO) project and invite participants to experience a variety of self-assessment tools accessed through the customizable dashboard, the Global Readiness Explorer (GREx). The GELO project attempts to provide a framework for an international network of institutions utilizing data-driven evidence to inform evolving best practices for online and mobile learning.
To achieve this, the project (i) assembles a nucleus of formal educational institutions, (ii) constructs the necessary tools to extend research on formal learning models, and (iii) reaches into the workplace as well as other more public spaces to integrate with informal learning settings. The primary source of data derives from a customizable dashboard, the Global Readiness Explorer (GREx), and the tools that can be implemented within it. These tools are designed to give individuals, organizations and institutions the means to construct complex profiles that can be used to identify gaps in competency attainment and development. Through small group activities, participants will examine and discuss the various tool suites in the GREx including the digital learning competency profiler (DCP); the fully online learning community survey instrument (FOLCS); the Personal Cultural Orientation Scale (PCOS) and others. In this workshop, participants will choose a self-assessment instrument to participate in and then discuss their experience with a focus on improving the GREx tool suite for global use. In addition, participants will examine the GREx for use with their students as a component of determining readiness to moving into fully online learning environments. The workshop will conclude with an explanation of the Global Educational Learning Observatory (GELO), and participants will be invited to join in this global research network.

Participant Engagement
Participants in small groups will discuss, and experience the DCP, the FOLCS and a variety of online tools associated within GREx, and contribute to the evolution and refinement of theoretical descriptive and predictive models of contemporary online learning.

Participant Outcomes
Participants will examine and discuss:
• what it means to be a fully online learner;
• what does it mean to be working in community online in formal educational contexts;
• ways to measure readiness;
• collaborative research (GELO) approaches and tools to examine readiness, culture, competence (confidence and frequency of use of technology) and the impact of this in fully online learning environments.
Workshop Alignment with Conference Theme- Connecting the Global Open Education Community

• OER Recommendation #1 building capacity of stakeholders to create, access, use, adapt and redistribute OER
• OER Recommendation #5 nurturing international cooperation
Workshop Process/Activities (please provide an indication of how long each activity will last)

Proposed draft agenda for the workshop:
Timing Task
-5 min Introductions & description of context (UOIT, RRU, EILab)
-15 min GELO and GREx history and tool set theoretical underpinnings and model description
-20 min Small group examination of some of the toolsets (think, pair, share, group)
• 1 min silent reflection; 3 min w elbow partner; 12 min w group of 4 breakout rooms
-20 min Individual or pair completion of the DCP; FOLCS or other tools in GreX
-10 min Small group discussion about the toolset experienced
• gap analysis regarding match/differences/ areas of question
• write gaps and edits to definitions in breakout rooms
-10 min Gallery walk of break out room work in the main room
-10 min Large group structured debrief and next steps (GELO invitation)

Just presented a paper at KBSI2020 yesterday.
Pedagogical Paradigms: Transformational Professional Online Learning
Roland vanOostveen, Cassidy Gagnon, Wendy Barber, Dawn McGuckin, OntarioTechU, Oshawa, ON
Shelly Vohra, Peel District School Board, Mississauga, ON
Elizabeth Childs, Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC
Abstract :
Online learning courses have been mandated for high school students in the province of Ontario, and in light of the COVID-19 situation, much of the K-12 moved to online learning opportunities. It is generally understood that the initial offering of courses did not meet the needs of the learners. In an effort to provide an alternate way forward, the Fully Online Learning Community model (FOLC) was offered through the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) as a transitional model for designers/teachers to produce learning environments that were more suited to learners requirements. The model integrates a Problem Based Learning (PBL) orientation which is situated within a fully online environment. The project reported upon here was conducted as a 'purposeful action
research' study following teams of instructional designers/teachers and OCT staffers as they undertook the design and implementation of Additional Qualification courses using the FOLC Model. In this article, data derived from posts in Knowledge Forum were analysed. Interactions with project participants showed their desire to transform their understanding of learning within fully online community contexts. However, their understanding of what
was required for course revision was in tension with the underlying philosophy of the FOLC model.