Transparency

http://www.vickcopy.com/images/Transparency.jpg

By Sónia Valente e Telma Jesus

Janeiro 2010


Transparency in Online Education 2010

“I’ve gained much from being a transparent

learner. Over the last nine years – on

blogs, wikis, and recently Twitter – I’ve

expressed half-formed ideas and received

the benefit of constructive (and critical

feedback). I generally focus on what I’ve

gained, but I suspect readers of my sites

and articles have gained something from

the experience as well.”

(http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122)

http://coachaljohnson.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/transparency.jpg

Keywords: transparency, cooperative learning, social networking,

communication

Sónia Valente e Telma Jesus 2


http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122


Transparency

“Jones uses the concept of networked learning and draws a direct

line between networking and learning. He stresses the importance of

facilitating “connections between learners, learners and tutors, and

between learners and the resources they make use of in their

learning” (in Dalsgaard). These connections can provide a

cooperative learning. Paulsen argues that “transparency is a

prerequisite for distance students to work cooperatively”.

“Transparency means that students are visible to each other as

potential partners and resources”; teachers can monitor the process

and progress of their students and be part of it. Transparency can

be considered as a strategy that reach, catch, hold, motivate, and

inspire students.

“Transparency means that you and your doings are visible to fellow

students and teachers within a learning environment. (…) students

and teachers are made aware of and

have access to each other’s interests,

thoughts, concerns, ideas, writings,

references, and assignments. The

purpose of transparency is to enable

students and teachers to see and

follow the work of fellow students and

teachers within a learning

environment and in that sense to

make participants available to each

other as resources for their learning

activities”. (Dalsgaard & Paulsen, 2009) http://ttoes.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/school-transparency.jpg


http://ttoes.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/school-transparency.jpg


“Transparency is also an important driver for improved quality. It has

the following three positive effects on quality:

Preventive quality improvement - We are prone to provide better

quality when we know that others have access to the information

and contributions we provide.

Constructive quality improvement - We may learn from others when

we have access to their data and contributions.

Reactive quality improvement - We may receive feedback from

others when they have access to our data and contributions.”

(Dalsgaard & Paulsen, 2009).

( http://toonlet.com/archive?i=11247)

"Transparency may reduce the number of low quality contributions

and may make high quality work more accessible as paragons for

others. In transparent online learning environments, poor

contributions from teachers and course designers cannot be hidden

easily behind closed doors. It is important to realize that

transparency must be handled carefully with regard to privacy

issues. The users must be confident that their privacy is assured.

They should be able to choose their preferred privacy level and

understand how this choice controls how much of their personal

data and contributions will be available to others." (Paulsen and

Dalsgaard, June 2009)


http://toonlet.com/archive?i=11247


In this way Jones concept of networked learning is present in

transparency concept. We can consider transparency between

students and between tutors (as colleagues and as members of a

Education Institution), between learners and tutors, and between

learners and the resources - as users and creators (in this point

share that resources and tools is part of transparency). This

exchange and sharing is considered to be the basis that develops

cooperation.



Transparency between students in online education

“Transparency between students means that they have insight into

each other’s work, thoughts, and productions” (Dalsgaard). All the

process is important to colleagues:

research, notes, tools, conclusions, links,

bibliography; they can find inspiration and

motivation for their own work, task or self-

education process and provide a source of

inspiration for each other. “Transparency

should serve the purpose of supporting and

encouraging participation by making

student opinions and thoughts available.”

(Dalsgaard, 2009)

(http://conversamos.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dearpaper.jpg)

Exists a voluntary cooperation between students into online

community, but in a social networking site each student has a

personal page (with their personal information), which they own

develops, modifies and publishes. “online students serve as mutual

resources without being dependent on each other” (Dalsgaard &

Paulsen, 2009). This learning process does not claim direct

communication or collaboration. “This creates a kind of indirect or

“passive” form of communication and sharing (…) that

communication within social networking sites is a matter of


http://conversamos.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dearpaper.jpg


awareness and transparency. The principle is that you communicate

by editing, developing or updating personal services.” (Dalsgaard)

For students beginning the transparency process there’s 4 steps to

follow used in NKI’s learning partner experience (Paulsen, 2009):

Make a personal presentation (with several information about

themselves, pictures, previous educational and professional

experiences, interests, hobbies. In this point is important define

transparency level) ; decide who may access it (define the privacy of

information, who can see the personal information’s? colleagues,

teachers, friends, everybody?); search for potential learning partners

(see the others presentations, look for affinity and commons

interest) and invite someone to become your learning partner (and

start the transparency adventure of learning cooperation).

(http://toonlet.com/archive?i=11245)

“Transparency enables students to be visible to each other as

potential partners and resources an important objective is to support

an individual’s consciousness and awareness of the activities of

others. This can be achieved by making a variety of information




transparent, for instance by developing student catalogues and

learner profiles, by encouraging learners to become partners, and by

sharing personal learning tools. Whereas discussion forums and

other tools for direct communication and collaboration focus on

direct sharing, social networking can support students’ indirect

sharing of resources, thoughts, ideas, productions, writings, notes,

etc.

The pedagogical potential lies within developing social networks in

which students’ activities are visible to other students. The potential

is to support transparency through a combination of personalization

and socialization and through sharing personal information and tools

within social networks (Dalsgaard 2006)".

Paulsen and Dalsgaard (2009) considered that "Student catalogues

are important tools for showing students that they have access to a

learning community. A comprehensive catalogue that provides

relevant information about students is crucial to students acquiring

an overview of the learning community. Student catalogues usually

provide information about all students enrolled in a course; however,

if students can access information about the students enrolled in

other courses offered by the institution, they may benefit from taking

part in a larger learning community.

Moreover, a catalog that includes alumni could be of interest to

students who seek advice on courses they are considering or on

future employment. To facilitate cooperation, a student catalogue

should include information that makes it easy to initiate and maintain

communication, such as e-mail addresses, telephone numbers,

chatting identities, etc. It may also include information on



geographical location (e.g., zip codes) to facilitate identification of

potential partners for occasional face-to-face meetings. Similarly, it

may include progress plan information so that students can identify

peers who are working with the same study unit. Finally, one may

argue that student catalogues should include CV-type information to

make it possible to search for peers who have special

competencies.”

“The basis for social interaction in social networking sites is a

personal profile, which often consists of a personal webpage on the

networking site. “A personal profile/webpage provides an opportunity

for the user to create his/her own page with content such as

pictures, videos, links, texts, etc. “The personal profile can be seen

as a space for individual creation and expression”. (Dalsgaard) Each

student have the opportunity to be the author of his process and

give his contribution for development of his studding area “(…)hard-

working and successful students are willing to share achievements

and experiences in an open, online catalogue is valuable for the field

of online education. At the same time they can improve their

knowledge whit the partner’s contributions” (Paulsen, 2008).

The discussion forums are the opposite of this type of personal page

and are a place where students send comments, posts, messages

or documents in order to communicate or share. Having a personal

page (weblog or other...) is a form of socialization since it is

connected to other personal pages and the individual is notified

whenever a page is modified. In general it is built a network of

personal relations. This is what is happening with us in this master.

We are able to follow the work of our colleagues and be aware of



the activities they are developing

and even make use of the

information that we consider

important. Everyone should be

voluntary engaged to a network and

contribute to the learning

community. A commitment should

be established so that the individual

can serve as a resource for all the

learning community.

http://images.google.pt/imgres?imgurl=http://www.diseno-art.com/images/transparent-canoe-kayak.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/strange_vehicles/transparent_canoe-kayak.html&usg=__Twxc_O0CM4JiPSwJEvgW-_go5Rs=&h=343&w=400&sz=68&hl=pt-

PT&start=3&um=1&tbnid=M2H3Qf98gnS4KM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtransparen%2Bkiak%26hl%3Dpt-PT%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

What is the potential of social networking within cooperative online education?

“As a passive form of communication and sharing, the Social

networking does not necessarily involve communication, dialogue,

or collaboration”. (Paulsen and Dalsgaard, June 2009).The Social

networking services are most important example of transparency.

People can see what other’s do, their actions and have freedom to

read and to use other’s work as a form of cooperative work. As a

consequence people have a more careful attitude in doing their work

once they notice that other’s will be able to see it.

“When someone decides to share their thoughts and ideas in a

transparent manner, they become a teacher to those who are

observing. Social technology – such as Twitter, blogs, Facebook –

opens the door to sharing the process of learning, not only the final

product” (http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122).




(http://zackhayhurst.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/social_networking_sites1.jpg)

Students can find contributions and engage knowledge reading

other’s contributions; it is in the communication (direct or indirect)

and in the sharing point of view that you can construct new

knowledge and find innovation. Transparency in online education

brings us a new possibility to discuss and build knowledge with

partners around the world (with different experience, point of view,

cultural issues, and education characteristics).

Transparency between Tutors in online education

We considered that the transparency between tutors has two

important points for analysis: transparency between tutors and

transparency between tutor’s institutions.

The transparency between tutors is similar to transparency between

students; and has similar goals. As Paulsen and Dalsgaard say

(2009) “The pedagogical potential of social networking lies within

transparency and the ability to create awareness among students

[and we say that tutors are students too in a lifelong learning](...).

The basic assumption is that transparency is important to


http://zackhayhurst.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/social_networking_sites1.jpg


cooperative online education. People can cooperate only if they

know about each other and have access to some common

information and services."

The educational institutions have too many interests that their tutors

learn and have more tools and

resources to increase the quality of the

institution. Share is an effective method

(research’s, documents, reports, all kind

of knowledge) and cheaper.

http://www.coneinc.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/0/f8d7f4d84684529a183e6be275b32918/misc/transparent_globe_in_hand.jpg

Transparency between Learners and Tutors in online educationTransparency in a pedagogical relationship provides a shared vision

about the effort and development of the learner. The tutor can

provide ongoing assessment, (re)oriented student work, help to

correct errors and motivate. Is a constantly and effective work.

Students felt being followed in process and motivated to improve

and share their efforts.

(http://portalamazonia.locaweb.com.br/sites/amazonsateducacao/img/upload/elearning2a.jpg


http://portalamazonia.locaweb.com.br/sites/amazonsateducacao/img/upload/elearning2a.jpg



In transparency within cooperative online learning a central

challenge for tutor “is to enable students to follow the work of their

colleagues.” (Dalsgaard & Paulsen, 2009)

"This transparent information may include personal information

about the users and statistics related to the users’ deployment of the

online tools. It may further include work students and teachers

provide in online notebooks, blogs, and discussion forums as well as

results from quizzes, surveys, and assignments." (Paulsen and

Dalsgaard, June 2009). But the authors also say that “Student

catalogues must address privacy issues appropriately. Some

information in student catalogues may be regarded as sensitive and

may require student consent. Some students may also be opposed

to inclusion in a student catalogue."

We can analyze some questions: how is created that relationship

between tutors and learners? When each individual creates a

personal profile in a social network site, he has to think who can see

that information, because it can define the relationships within the

learning community. Has to think: How the personal information’s

about me (learner) can influence the teacher’s objectivity? or How

the personal information’s about me (teacher) can influence the way

learners see my competence?

So we can ask: Can a teacher be student friend in a social

networking? What are the boundaries? How much information can

or want to share with he’s students? How can this influence the

pedagogical relationship?



Transparency by Design

(http://www.wordsellinc.com/wp-content/uploads/word-sell-sales-transparency.jpg)

"One of the requirements for implementing Transparency by Design

is the development of a new set of best practices for participating

institutions. “You want to make sure things are in place at the

institutional level”, says Merle Harris, president of Charter Oaks

State College, who has been instrumental in developing just such

standards.”(Hill, October 2009) “Collectively we went back and we

looked at best practices that have been put out by other

organizations for online learning and then we developed our set

based on those" she says.

"Most important, Transparency by Design reports includes outcomes

at the program specialization level, allowing prospective students to

assess how well a program will prepare them for their professional

pursuits."(Hill, October 2009)


http://www.wordsellinc.com/wp-content/uploads/word-sell-sales-transparency.jpg


Christopher Hill discusses issues like: What are the benefits of every

online student be well-informed." A key focus of the plan is providing

program-specific outcomes data that allows students to make

informed decisions about their education investment"(Hill, October

2009) and the benefits for everyone.

“To meet the education needs of adult students, we must provide

them with trustworthy and transparent ways to choose among many

available options and to gauge the potential of each one to further

their careers”(Hill, October 2009).The goal of the program is “to lead

universities and colleges toward greater accountability and

transparency.”, said Michael Offerman, president of Capella

University.

All types of transparency in Online Education are very important,

aspects like student demographics, completion rates, costs, student

engagement, and knowledge and

skills learned are essential

information for students. This kind of

data can be viewed in institutional

annual reports.

http://www.ecampus.lhup.edu/images/keyboard_transparent.jpg

“Harris and her associates concluded that there were a few basic

principles for institutions that really want to be transparent:

1 - Make distance education a central element of your mission:

Distance learning really has to be central to what the institution is

doing. If it is viewed as an add-on and not part of the central mission




then very often it doesn’t get the resources that are needed to carry

out a quality program.

2 - Accountability to stakeholders: Who are the primary stakeholders

in a transparent institution? The prospective student and the

enrolled student. “One of the reasons we feel it’s important to have

accountability measures and to report on those regularly is because

prospective students who are making a decision about where they

want to go to school, where they want to take courses should have

information,” Harris says.

Accountability to prospective students includes providing adequate

information about the program, what it contains, and who’s teaching

it. But it also includes measuring what happens to students who go

through the program. Harris’ group looks at things like graduation

rates, retention rates, what alumni say about the program, and

measures of student engagement, with the aim of making this

information readily available to prospective students.

3 - Responsiveness: In practice this means nothing more or less

than good customer service, so that when there are issues and

questions students can get quick answers. Responsiveness in the

academic process means that faculty respond quickly to a student,

so that a student who’s learning online can get an answer to a

question or feedback on an assignment within 24 to 48 hours,

depending on the institution’s policy. Administratively,

responsiveness means that if there are questions about grades

going out, about registration, about fees being paid the student will

get very quick response either by email or by telephone.



4 - Faculty competence: First, and most

basic, the faculty that are going to be

teaching online must have the content

background. But beyond that they have to

get the appropriate training to teach online.

They have to understand online pedagogy

and they have to understand the

technology they’re using. You need to be

able to certify that the faculty have the appropriate skills. Then you

need to constantly update the faculty on those skills. Finally you

need to have a faculty evaluation system and use that information to

feed back into the courses.

http://viu1.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/online-education-diploma-thumb3091362.jpg

5 - Institutional integrity: Again, starting with basics, the institution

must be accredited. Regional accrediting agencies are your allies in

ensuring institutional integrity. They will help you look at what you

say you’re going to deliver and what you’re actually delivering and

help you make sure they match. Institutions must be rigorous in

establishing outcomes for programs and courses and measuring

their effectiveness—are you achieving those outcomes?”

“You say you’re going to do something and you show that you’re

actually doing it,” says Merle Harris, president of Charter Oaks State

College. Here, too, a key point is to make this information easily

accessible to students. “You have to be upfront about it and make

sure that people know that you are going to be upfront about it,”

Harris says.




6 - Excellence in student services: The guiding principle is that you

have to recreate online all the services that are offered on the

ground. You have to be sure that students can get online advice and

counseling. You have to make sure they can get complete

information about their courses in advance. The online registration

process has to be efficient. Students must have access to library

services online. Online tutoring services should be available. You

have to be able to accomplish financial aid transactions at a

distance. Since the students are using technology they have to have

a help desk. Not only must you recreate the services that students

could walk to on campus—in most cases you actually have to do a

better job because often enough students have a difficult time

connecting with services on-campus.

7 - Integrity in marketing: Make sure you’re giving a clear and

accurate message about what you actually can and do deliver, so

that you’re not making promises that can’t be fulfilled. As with other

aspects of transparency, integrity in marketing has to do with

providing relevant information on your website—what the graduation

rate is, what the alumni say about the program, etc.

8 - Curricular quality: “We have to make sure that there is quality in

the content,” Harris says. For example at my institution courses are

reviewed by other faculty members both before the course is

offered, and the first time it’s offered, and then it comes up for

review again within at the most five years—it could be earlier.” This

periodical review is necessary to be sure that outcomes are clearly

stated and that the students are achieving those outcomes.”(Hill,

October 2009)



“The keys are disclosure, transparency, the ability to interact with

students easily and the quality of the curriculum. So that we know

what we’re trying to achieve and we regularly measure it.” (Hill,

October 2009)

http://www.cognitivedesignsolutions.com/images/elearning_TreeOfKnowledge.jpg

ConclusionIs important remember that one of the problems of transparency is

the level of transparency. Students and tutors have to find balance

between transparency and privacy, and this balance depends of

each person and those personal and social characteristics.



The more transparency in all its aspects, the more cooperative work

will be done by all those individuals involved in the online learning

process.

Transparency means open learning process, fellow students can

see and follow work, researches, tools, reports, assignments of

others. Each one can provide important learning opportunities for

others.

"I learn so much from my fellow students. Everyone brings in a

different perspective and experience. Being in the Masters of Non-

Profit Management program, it's great to network with other non-

profit leaders across the country." – Brian Laskey.

Transparency brings the opportunity to improve knowledge quality

with less effort, because exist many people to work and sharing for

the same goal: learn more, learn better, in less time!



Bibliography

http://www.masternewmedia.org/images/media_literacy_digest_georgesiemens_irrodl_new_issue_id34856591.jpg

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transparent learning. In http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=122

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Students in

http://person.au.dk/fil/16581515/Dalsgaard_Supporting_Transparen

cy.pdf

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learning/online-course-design-should-consider-learner-

characteristics/

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http://www.connectivism.ca/



- Dalsgaard, Christian & Paulsen, Morton (2009): Transparency in

Cooperative Online Education. In

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/671/1267

- Linder, Kathryn (2009): Students and Social Networking: Should You ‘Friend’ Your Students? In

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/trends-in-higher-education/students-and-social-networking-should-you-friend-your-students

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Conference of Open & Distance Education. in

http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/2340

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http://www.eden-online.org/blog/2008/10/01/profiling-online-students

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Paulsen: Transparency in Online Education. in

http://www.educationnews.org/michael-f-shaughnessy/8076.html

Images





http://conversamos.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dearpaper.jpg)




http://conversamos.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dearpaper.jpg





http://www.educationnews.org/michael-f-shaughnessy/8076.html

http://www.eden-online.org/blog/2008/10/01/profiling-online-students

http://www.eden-online.org/blog/2008/10/01/profiling-online-students/

http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/2340




http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/trends-in-higher-education/students-and-social-networking-should-you-friend-your-students/

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/trends-in-higher-education/students-and-social-networking-should-you-friend-your-students/

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/671/1267


http://images.google.pt/imgres?imgurl=http://www.diseno-art.com/images/transparent-canoe-kayak.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/strange_vehicles/transparent_canoe-kayak.html&usg=__Twxc_O0CM4JiPSwJEvgW-_go5Rs=&h=343&w=400&sz=68&hl=pt-PT&start=3&um=1&tbnid=M2H3Qf98gnS4KM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtransparen%2Bkiak%26hl%3Dpt-PT%26sa%3DN%26um%3D



http://portalamazonia.locaweb.com.br/sites/amazonsateducacao/

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