Trailblazing and Annotation Systems: Documenting Connectivity through

Hyperlinking

Laura Gogia - @GoogleguacamoleVirginia Commonwealth University

Academic Learning Transformation Lab

ConnectivityState of being able to recognize, understand, and act on connections made across content, people,

space, and time.

Concepts People

Space & Time Connectivity

SynthesisCombining in composition

Collaboration Working together

towards common goal

ReflectionConnecting new

experience to previous understanding Connectivity

Connectivity

ExperientialDewey

MontessoriPapert

SocialVygotskyWengerBruner

Digital Connected LearningNetworked Learning

Open Education Connectivity

Connectivity

Connectivity is central to theVirginia Commonwealth University

Quality Enhancement Plan.

Photo Credit: http://graduate.admissions.vcu.edu/why/

VCU aims to facilitate education that has substantial and lasting impact beyond any

course, major, or degree. It aims to promote learning that matters.

-- VCU Quality Enhancement Plan, 2014

Opportunities(beyond convincing faculty and students to work in public)

Documenting connectivity

Conversations with faculty & students about the concept of connectivity

Triggering acts of connectivity

Course Evaluation – Student Assessment

If connectivity is to be supported and studied in higher education settings, it is essential that we find

appropriate ways to document it.

Documentation is key.

Project PurposeTo develop an assessment toolbox, a collection of

digital strategies for documenting student progress towards connectivity-related learning objectives.

Feasible – Scalable – Integrated – Sustainable

• Learners communicate ideas and information effectively and intentionally within the course.

• Learners recognize and relate connected ideas across courses, contexts, and time.

What do I want to document?

• Learners engage in dialogue with others to negotiate a shared meaning around processes and products.

• Learners use networking strategies to amplify their personal signal: researching, cultivating, and engaging people productively.

Are there ways to take advantage of the uniquely digital aspects of microblogging and

blogging processes and spaces?

Annotation Systems(symbols, abbreviations, & phrases that are distinct from but included within the communication, meant to demonstrate

communicative intent)

Hyperlinks – Mentions – Retweets – Hashtags

How do students use

HYPERLINKSin course-related

blogging?

8 weeks4 courses

300+ participants60 credit-earning VCU students

1618 posts5343 tweets

Basic Numbers

UNDERGRADUATE (n = 3): graduate (n = 1)

Class Sizes: 6-26 Students

Courses with formal open participants: 1

special topicsRESEARCH ELECTIVES

G e n e r a l E d u c a t i o n Discipline-based

FOUNDATIONS

496 STUDENT POSTS

TYPESSOURCES

PURPOSEDIGITAL GRAMMAR

1189 Hyperlinks

A typology emerged.

Types & SourcesNews and PeriodicalsScholarly JournalsGovernment & Organizational FactsheetsWikipedia You TubeCourse Website or Materials

Connections to the Course

To provide context for assumed audience

To connect to learning products

Connections to Themselves

To create a narrative across assignments

To link to previous work done in other settings

Connections to Concepts

To define & provide additional information

To provide examples & illustration

To cite or provide a reference

Connections to Images

When students used images or videos they made themselves, something creative and connected always happened. Students were more likely to do this when taught.

Students always gave videos a context. Not so for photos.

Does “affordances of the web” translate to pretty pictures?

Posts that demonstrated high levels of connectivity also demonstrated variety in

hyperlinks.

Contexts Time Concepts

Description – Illustration – Examples – Citation – Personal Connections – Course Connections

Connections to each other.Digital grammar (particularly in undergraduates).

What Was Missing

Modeling, explicit expectations, pointed feedback seemed to make a difference.

And for Faculty?

Hyperlinks create opportunities for students to practice connectivity in a variety of ways not supported by traditional

style formats.

Images and videos are most powerful when students know how to make them themselves and are encouraged to do so.

It is important for instructors to talk about hyperlinking with students if it is going to be used as a pedagogical exercise.

Potential area for assessments.

Take Home Points