elearn2lead

Videoconferencing in remote First Nations

Here is an interesting example of videoconference as a research and networking tool!

The three aboiginal regional management organizations in Northern Manitoba, Northern Ontario (K-Net) and Northern Quebec have recently formed a consortium (Northern Indigenous Communities Satellite Network-NICSN) to extend satellite based broadband and thus videoconferencing capability into a number of other remote communities in the region with long term (11 year) support from the Canadian government. See:http://meeting.knet.ca/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=3467

Three new videos highlighting the importance of videoconferencing in First Nations are now available online for your viewing pleasure (click on the following videos to watch them)

http://media.knet.ca/videocom_final Videoconferencing in Community Development
http://media.knet.ca/women_in_leadership_final Videocom - Women in Leadership Workshop
http://media.knet.ca/language_vc_final Videocom - Native Language Maintenance and Development

The March Videocom "update" is entitled - Encouraging urban organizations to

videoconference with remote and rural First Nations. This one page PDF

document is available for download at http://meeting.knet.ca/moodle/file.php/50/2008-March-Videoconferencing.pdf

Ethical Research On the Internet

“Research questions that explore an online phenomenon are strengthened through the use of a method of research that closely mirrors the natural setting under investigation” (Geiser, 2002). What are responsible and ethical practices for research conducted on the web? Here are some resources to consult:

• Ethical Decision-Making and Internet Research Recommendations adopted by the Association of Internet Researchers Ethics Working Committee in 2002 http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf

• Research ethics guidelines for Internet Research, as decided upon and approved by the National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social sciences and the Humanities (NESH), Norway, 24. September 2003 http://www.etikkom.no/Engelsk/Publications/internet03/

• Internet Communication and Qualitative Research: A Guideline for Researching Online, the Ethical and Legal Aspects of Human Subjects Research in Cyberspace from the American Association for the Advancement of Science http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/projects/intres/main.htm
• Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research on Internet Communities , Gunther Eysenbach and James Till http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/323/7321/1103
• Conducting online focus groups: a methodological discussion. In L. Burton & D. Goldsmith (Eds.), The Medium is the Message: Using online focus groups to study online learning (Vol. 2003): Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium. http://www.ctdlc.org/Evaluation/mediumpaper.pdf
• The Ethical Use of Technology and the Internet in Research and Learning http://www.homepages.dsu.edu/gearhard/CEX%20Ethics%20Paper.doc.

• Internet Research Ethics: Collection of Papers

• Ethical Issues of Online Communication Research , Rafael Capurro & Christoph Pingel http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_cap_full.html
• What is special about the ethical issues in online research?  Dag Elgesem http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_elgesem.htm
• Research Ethics in Internet-Enabled Research: Human Subjects Issues and Methodological Myopia , Joseph B. Walther http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_walther.htm

Studying the Online Classroom

Study Map: Inquiry Concerning the Asynchronous Classroom Space
http://www.borg.com/%7Erparkany/PromOriginal/ETAP778/index.htm

Rick Parkany [rparkany@borg.com] agreed to allow share his doctoral work, which focused on interactive journaling and e-portfolios in the online educational milieu.

The study was not completed and since it took place a few years ago, there are some dead links. However, the organization of the study make this a worthwhile site to explore:

From his abstract:

The purpose of the study is to investigate:

(a) how it is that portfolios generated in such electronic spaces can be assessed by appropriate standards, thereby extending such assessments from their current criterion-based methods; (

b) the nature and structure of cultural spaces in these environments;

(c) instructor and peer factors influencing the development of literate discourse in these spaces; and

(d) how the depth, breadth, and articulation of this electronic discourse can be improved.

Defining the Case:

• A naturalistic ethnographic inquiry regarding socialization across literate discourse occurring in virtual, asynchronous, cultural spaces by supplementing the case study with...
• An event & structural analysis of literate thread development in an asynchronous on-line distance learning classroom space

 
You can find links to other research projects at http://www.borg.com/~rparkany/.