"Wikis for Critical Thinking and Contextual Application."

The below blog post is a continuation from last weeks course plan for the Amphibious Warfare class I taught as a Naval ROTC instructor. This week's post shows the handout I would give the class outlining the details of the wiki project assignment. This is an exercise in critical thinking that challenges the student to think about amphibious warfare in more then just a historical context. It makes them analyze and evaluate strategies and tactics learned in the class and how they effect the tide of battle.

 

Wiki project handout

Ladies and gentlemen of AW141, this handout includes the detailed information needed to complete the course wiki project. The four groups (already assigned) will each choose one major battle during their era to break out from the group and create a “what if” scenario as to what would have happened had one deciding factor or strategy been different.

Example: If choosing the battle of Tarawa Atoll of WWII pacific theater, you could have chosen one of the following deciding factors to change to “what if”;

   - Air campaign: what if the carrier strike group had given the ground commander the    

     fully requested 3 days of pre-bombardment vice the 3 hours given?

 

            - Would the majority of defenders have survived to defend the atoll?

            - Would the emplaced guns have survived the bombing?

            - Would the ground campaign have been as long and bloody?

   - What if the tide had been at the level predicted or the reef as deep as predicted?

            - Would the landing ships have been able to reach shore on both sides of the atoll?

            - Would the initial wave have been able to secure a larger beachhead ?

            - If more heavy machine guns had made it to shore on the first wave, would the  

              number of American casualties been as high? 

Purpose

The purpose of the wiki project is to look at the “what if” scenario and predict what could have happened had a deciding factor or strategy been different in a major battle. This is an exercise in critical thinking that is designed to make you think about the strategies used in amphibious warfare and how single variables can often change the tide of war. The group will develop an in-depth analysis of the battle post-event and tie it in to any outcomes or innovations that resulted from the battle and further examine what impacts it would have had on future battles and the period in general.

 

i.e. In the Tarawa scenario, if the tide had been a little higher and the landing craft could have gotten all the way to shore, the first wave would have most likely developed a longer and deeper beachhead to land more equipment and personnel. The ensuing battle would have been much shorter and more decisive (this is a simple description; your scenario will need to be well developed and supported by historical examples and in-depth research).  

   - The Marine Corps developed a new landing craft, new tactics on securing the beachhead and new

     naval gunfire and air support procedures after the heavy losses in the battle on Tarawa – those

     innovations were deciding factors in future battles and on the war.

Frame

Home page: The Home page will contain a detailed account of the chosen battle and hyperlink to the “what if” scenario and detailed analysis.

Scenario page – the scenario page will have the detailed account of assumed actions and outcomes after taking into account the “what if” event. The page will also go into detail on assumptions of lost or altered innovations or strategies that resulted from the battle. The last section will have details on future battles and the time period/area covered (i.e. for Tarawa, how would the change have effected all the battles that occurred afterwards and the rest of the war in the pacific theater).

Management timeline

- The decision on which battle and the home page detailing the overall battle is due at the end of

  week 6.

- The “what-if” scenario must be approved by me before the mid-term break.

- The scenario page is due by the end of week 12.

- Discussion topics for posting on the other group’s scenarios will be will be outlined in class during 

  week 13 and due during week 14.

- The "what-if" scenarios will be presented in class for guided discussion during week 15.

"Wikis for Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Construction"

The below course plan is from a course I taught while I was teaching the Naval ROTC at Vanderbilt University. The course was open to the general student population but was setup and focused on midshipmen students who will enter the Marine Corps as Officers upon graduation. I would have normally assigned a group project consisting of multiple battle study presentations during the major conflicts of each period. Utilizing the wiki as a method for student collaboration and knowledge building seems like a very innovative way for the groups to collaborate, learn and share that knowledge with the class.

Course Title: Amphibious Warfare

Target Audience: Naval ROTC students commissioning into the Marine Corps

Course Learning Objectives:

1.  Know the significant events of history relating to amphibious operations.  Comprehend their impact on the evolution of amphibious warfare doctrine.

2.  Comprehend the problems and advantages relative to employment of amphibious forces in the modern era, including the impact of nuclear warfare on amphibious tactics and amphibious operations.
 

Materials Needed (Student texts):

1. Bartlett, M.L., Assault From the Sea (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1983), pp. 331-333, 386-395.

2. Clifford, K.J., Progress and Purpose: A Developmental History of the United States Marine Corps 1900-1970, pp. 65-71.

3. Isely and Crowl, U.S. Marines and Amphibious War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1951), pp. 580-590 (student resource textbook, 3-5 per

 

Course Outline

Module I: Fundamental Concepts, Theories, Themes, and Terms

* I 1 Introduction and Syllabus I-1-1

* I 2 Warfighting and the POW I-2-1
* I 3 Offense and Defense in Amphibious Ops I-3-1
* I 4 Themes and Types of Amphibious Ops I-4-1
   I 5 Tactical Decision Games (TDG) (Optional) I-5-1

 Module II: Historical Amphibious Operations, Case Studies

* II 1 Marathon, 490 B.C. II-1-1

   II 2 Caesar's Invasion of Britain, 55-54 B.C. II-2-1
   II 3 Hastings, 1066 II-3-1
* II 4 Vera Cruz, 1847 II-4-1
   II 5 Invasion of the Crimea, 1854 II-5-1
   II 6 Roanoke Island, 1862 II-6-1
   II 7 Fort Fisher Campaigns, 1864-65 II-7-1
   II 8 Tanga, 1914 II-8-1
* II 9 Gallipoli, 1915 II-9-1
   II 10 Zeebrugge, 1918 II-10-1
* II 11 The Interwar Years: Developing a Doctrine II-11-1
   II 12 European Strategy and North Africa, 1942 II-12-1
   II 13 Sicily, 1943 II-13-1

   II 14 Salerno, 1943 II-14-1

   II 15 Anzio, 1944 II-15-1
* II 16 Normandy, 1944 II-16-1
   II 17 Pacific Strategy and Guadalcanal, 1942 II-17-1
* II 18 Tarawa, 1943 II-18-1
   II 19 The Marianas, 1944 II-19-1
* II 20 Iwo Jima, 1945 II-20-1
* II 21 Okinawa, 1945 II-21-1
   II 22 Lessons of World War II II-22-1
* II 23 Inchon, 1950 II-23-1
* II 24 Vietnam, 1965 II-24-1
   II 25 The Falklands, 1982 II-25-1
   II 26 Grenada, 1983 II-26-1
   II 27 Mogadishu, Somalia, 1991 II-27-1

Module III: Amphibious Operations, Today and Tomorrow

* III 1 Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) III-1-1

* III 2 Expeditionary Operations III-2-1
* III 3 Maritime Prepositioned Forces (MPF) III-3-1
* III 4 Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare III-4-1
   III 5 Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) (Optional) III-5-1

* Focal Lessons 

Instruction procedure/Learning procedure

A. Instructional method options in recommended order

    1. Seminar discussion

    2. Lecture and discussion

    3. Lecture 

B. Learning Activities

    1. Tactical Decision Games (TDG)

TDGs provide the student with an opportunity to develop decision-making skills based on the lessons they learned in the classroom. TDGs can use sand tables, topographical maps, or basic drawings. The instructor must keep in mind that many of the students may not possess the skills necessary to participate in such exercises. Therefore, it is imperative that the instructor understand his/her students’ capabilities and make time to teach the fundamentals of TDG, which may include unit formation, weapons capabilities, symbology, map reading, etc.

    2. Wiki group projects

During Module II, the class will be divided into four groups (3-5 students per group) to cover the following selected time periods:

*Pre WWII

*WW II – European Theater

*WW II – Pacific Theater

*Post WWII

Each group will construct a wiki covering the selected periods in order to produce a consolidated, informative and innovative way of presenting the selected time period to the rest of the class. The wikis must cover the major battles of the time period as introduced in the first class introducing the course and as noted in the course syllabus. The Wiki should focus on the major strategies used during the period (noting which ones worked and which one did not), political and geographic considerations, major military figures and any outcomes or innovations that resulted from the period.

Evaluation

 

1. Class Participation - 15 pts

Class participation covers all aspects of classroom participation and preparedness; i.e. being in class and on-time, reading all assigned material prior to class, participating in discussions, TDG’s, etc.

2. Module tests - 60 pts (3 x 20 pts)

3. Wiki Project  - 25 pts

The wiki project will be due 1 week prior to the end of module II so that each group can present their wiki to the class and we can discuss prior to the Module two test. The wiki will be graded on content, presentation, group collaboration and participation (the students will grade each other on collaboration and participation in the project, with 10 of the 25 points coming from that assessment)

"Wikis: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners."

Another week and another question posed by our professor: what are the pros and cons that you think Wiki may bring to enriching adult learners' learning experience?

To begin with, I have never created my own Wiki but I have worked with Wikis in an education setting. My last position in the military before retiring was as a Marine Officer Instructor (MOI) at a university ROTC. There are approximately 60 MOI’s at major universities across the country and we all teach the same three classes (two history and one leadership) and well as prepare student midshipmen (lots of short classes on orders, land navigation, basic military skills, etc.) for Officer Candidate School and The Basic School. As a course coordinator for one of the history classes (Evolution of Warfare), I needed to be able to collaborate with all of the other instructors across the country on the course curriculum, content and changes, etc. We used a Wiki (set up by my predecessor) to share documents, class presentations, articles, media, test question bank as well as a host of other documents and orders that we needed to have access to to be able to do our job. We used a pay Wiki source since we wanted extra space and security; the Wiki was setup to allow four (the three course coordinators and one administrator) of us complete access to the site as well as the ability to grant access to new members. The main areas of the site were accessible by everyone with a password and certain parts of the site were read only (to ensure no important documents were changed, deleted or access granted to unauthorized people.

In the Professor’s Guide to Taming Technology (King and Cox, 2011), it talks about the “use of wikis in group work and collaboration assists in sharing knowledge and increases knowledge and expertise among the community of practice.” I whole heartedly agree; when the MOIs shared their class presentations and lessons learned on the wiki for everyone to use/edit/cut, we increased our collective knowledge and expertise by drawing from the talent and experience of 60 different Marine officers who were all working towards the same goal – teaching quality courses and helping to make future Marine Officers. When it came time to graduate and commission our students, the MOIs all had to turn in the same commissioning documents for our students to Headquarters Marine Corps; we would put one source document on the wiki site that everyone edited till we had a final version we could all use (saved so much time vs. the typical email train). The ability to share our experience and “stuff” (documents, instructions, orders, media, classes, best practices, lessons learned, etc.) made us better and more efficient Instructors. Our shared MOI wiki site, without doubt, made us better learners and educators.

With all that said, let’s get to the pros and cons:

Pros

- Ease of Collaboration (read/write/edit a project in real time)

- Sharing experience, media, documents, etc.

- Easy to learn and use (at least the basics)

- Knowledge building

 

Cons

- Unless protected (usually pay service), anyone can write/edit

- Other security concerns of an open source site

- Possible collective/group bias (King and Cox, 2009)

- Free hosting sites will likely have advertising on the wiki page

 

 

I highlighted what I thought the major pro and con were. In my opinion, when you have a colaborative or group project to work on, a wiki is the way to go.

 

King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The Professor’s Guide to Taming Technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

“Blogging: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners”

For this week’s blogging assignment, we were asked two questions:

Is blogging the same as discussion board activity?

I do not believe blogging is the same thing as discussion board activity for one main reason – ownership. Blogging is creating your own original content; it is your design, structure and rules and is basically only limited by your imagination and skill. Discussion board activity (usually attached to a main website) is more like adding your thoughts or ideas onto someone else’s property, within the confines of their board. Discussion boards often limit what content you can add to a post as well as what font and colors, etc. you can use. Blogging lets you express yourself with unlimited backgrounds, visuals, media, add-ons, etc.

What pros and cons do you think blogging brings to adult learners?

Pros – One of the first pros I see is introducing a new technology into the classroom, “A supplement to the traditional method of teaching” (Santos, 2011). King (2011) and Oravec (2002) also describe blogging as a reflective practice and another way to help develop your writing and critical thinking skills. Blogging also lets you create and feel a sense of community with fellow bloggers and peers.

 

Cons – When using blogging in the classroom, King (2011) noted that it can be a tough task to try and read all the blogs and comment and keep the class on track; time management will be a critical factor if you do assign blogging as an assignment. The blogs are also open to the whole world (be careful with personal information); I can easily imagine a stray comment leading the blogger down a different path then the instructor had intended.

 

Overall, I see the pros vastly outweighing the cons

and I think blogging is a great educational tool for the adult learner.

 

References:

Santos, A. N. E. (2011). Blogs as a learning space: Creating text of talks. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 4(6), 15-20.

 

King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The Professor’s Guide to Taming Technology. Charlotte, NC:
Information Age Publishing.

Oravec, J. A. (2002). Bookmarking the world: Weblog applications in education. Journal of Adolescent &Adult Literacy, 45, 616-621.

What's this Blog for?

I guess I should start with a post about why I created this blog and what is for. This blog is for a graduate class about integrating technology into the curriculum of adult education. I didn't want to leave the millions of soon-to-be readers out there in the dark trying to figure this blog out without a good starting point; I know I hate picking up in the middle of a book or a thought.