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Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Integration of New Technology into E-Learning


As technology advances and becomes more accessible it’s understandable that these advances will affect how students will learn in the new age.  These changes are opening the doors for companies to develop user friendly applications creating newer generations of Web tools, providing new learning opportunities for students (Beldarrain, 2006).  
By creating a strategy plan that encompasses the special needs of the learning environment, customer’s expectation, the desired learning goals, and learning principles, an instructional designer can create effective online learning experience for students (Beldarrain, 2006). 

Based on the information detailed in each of the following examples, I recommend the following Web 2. Tool solutions:

Example 2: Interactive Tours - “A high school history teacher, located on the west coast of the United States, wants to showcase to her students new exhibits being held at two prominent New York City museums. The teacher wants her students to take a "tour" of the museums and be able to interact with the museum curators, as well as see the art work on display. Afterward, the teacher would like to choose two pieces of artwork from each exhibit and have the students participate in a group critique of the individual work of art”.  

Recommend:

Video Podcast - offers students a method in which to receive information that connects them to the learning environment (Beldarrain, 2006).  

The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. uses video and lecture podcasts to provide students with a learning experience full of information connecting them to the world of art.

Browser Plug Ins – ADOBE Shockwave player and ADOBE Flash player provides designers the tools to develop interactive learning environments for students.  These created learning environments allow students the ability to engage in learning activities to re-enforce student learning.

The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. uses browser plug-ins to create online interactive learning environments for children of all ages.  The Art Zone has a host of activities that fosters and re-enforces learning.  These activities allow students to apply their knowledge of art by creating their own art.


Example 3: Asynchronous Training – In an effort to improve its poor safety record, a biodiesel manufacturing plant needs a series of safety training modules. These stand-alone modules must illustrate best practices on how to safely operate the many pieces of heavy machinery on the plant floor. The modules should involve step-by-step processes and the method of delivery needs to be available to all shifts at the plant. As well, the shift supervisors want to be sure the employees are engaged and can demonstrate their learning from the modules”.

Recommend:

YouTube Video – Allows educator to create quick instructional video guides that can be tailored to a specific topic that can be integrate onto the web or into a web based training product.  YouTube video applications offer mobile training thru apps that allow students to receive the information on the go thru their Smart phones, iPhones, Android phones, or Blackberries, (Shoaf, J., 2009).


The above recommended Web tools all provide a form of collaboration, allowing students the means to activity participate in their learning.  

Reference:

National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Copyright © 2011

Shoaf, J. (2009). 3 Benefits to using YouTube in E-Learning, Integrated Learning Service. Retrieved September 25, 2011 from http://blog.integratedlearningservices.com/2009/12/3-benefits-to-using-youtube-in-your-e.html

Safety Videos Shop (2009). 10 Commandments of Workplace Safety (2009), Retrieved September 25, 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C6js5JtCIQ

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Distance Learning What It Means to Me







My Personal Definition of Distance Learning:

     My first exposure to distance learning formed the following impression and stuck with me until today.  When I hear the words "distance learning" or "online course",  I automatically think back to my first exposure, a PowerPoint without a teacher, a promise of a quick class and a mandatory requirement.  Never fully focused on the material just focused enough to follow the directions, clicking and clicking through slide, praying for these slides to come to an end but fearful that my finial click would lead me to a quiz, with a consequence of no certificate of completion of the course due to my lack of ability to recall the information to answer the questions.  This narrow thinking was support time and time again and held true over years.  Lending me to the same question each time "did anyone important take this class and if so, "why didn't they authorize someone to fix it or I hope we didn't pay full price for the development of this course", why did I have to take this course again?

My MindMap:

http://www.webspirationpro.com/view/982686a18c07

     I created my MindMap to represent my thoughts, of what the words distance learning means to me.   As me in the center,  I branched off into two different directions, first with the definition and the second with my vision of the future for this type of learning.  Although I feel distance learning has come a long way, I feel it still has more to go and will continue to evolve as time goes by.  I agree with the statement made by Dr.  Simons in this week's reading, that distance learning will never fully replace traditional learning methods.  Instead distance learning will work together acting as a bridge to bring together other thoughts and ideas that due to distance would never cross paths other wise.

    Reading through this weeks resources, I feel like someone has turned on a light, exposing me to the fact that I was in the dark about distance learning.  I didn't realize that distance learning had been around since 1833's and then was called mail correspondence.  Its hard for me to picture that this type of learning was effective back then but I can see how it was born from an idea to for fill a need and a desire to learn.
   
     As this need grew, history soon shows that others feel this type of learning had value and a purpose. Marking history with the University Chicago becoming the first to offer mail correspondence.  Distance learning's history continues through the year as technology starts to advance.  It seems that the two became partners during this evolution of discovery.  Mr. Evert Roger developed the "Diffusion of Innovation Theory, S Shape Curve",  pinpointing the need for change agents and acceptance, and with time no longer looked upon as a new idea but instead become the norm.   All contributed to defining the terminology which represents what distance learning has become, a method of learning that bridges resources, students, and teacher from distant places, all coming together to share new ideas, learning from each other verse learning from the teacher only.

     In summary, I feel more jobs will be opened and filled with trained personnel skilled in this method of learning.  All working together to design, meaningful, interactive, stimulating and purposeful training  courses that serve the needs of many, who other wise would not be able to receive the training.  Meeting the needs of students that traditional learning institution can't provide.  Although I feel distance learning needs will grow and evolve into possibly different meanings,  it wont fully replace traditional learning but instead work with traditional learning methods to provide everyone with the opportunity to learn.


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Welcome To My Blog






Its the start of a new adventure and I can't wait to get started.  Learning and sharing with all of you my thoughts on distance learning but most of all I can't wait to read all of your thoughts on the subject.  I look forward to blogging with all of you soon.

Sandra