Cosmin’s Blog

We’re coming to an end, so I’m trying a short X-Ray of the e-Learning course.

First, it was a new experience for myself. A total new paradigm of learning that I was used with. I graduated a system that is not based on this type of courses. Since then, I intersected many times with e-Learning, in different forms, starting with training DVD’s or online tutorials, but never in a more evolved manner. In other words, e-learning was an important part of developing my work, even though I didn’t realize that.

When I decided to follow this course I had low expectations. I thought it’s not a big deal and I didn’t see how this was supposed to help me. About a month before I started this course I was asked to analyze the developing of a website and come with solutions. That website contained an e-Learning as well, so I realized that I have to find out more… I never planned to become an e-learning course designer, since I’m not much involved in educational projects. We don’t have many specialists in this field, and our Universities don’t cover this area, as far as I know. Because of that I didn’t treat this course as someone who wants to continue doing this in the future. When I developed my contract, my goal was to be able to understand the principles of e-Learning, to be able to analyze and evaluate such a course and even to develop one if needed.

I scanned the other groups courses and evaluations and I found them interesting. They covered different topics and it’s obvious that there is no limit in covering all possible subjects. From how to use blogs in e-learning, to the football knowledge and techniques; from environmental and ecology issues to social issues related to the use of technology; from the teamwork principles to photograph, powerpoint use, animals farm, or collaborative tools. They covered a large area of interest, some are more developed then others, focused on children or students, these courses proved to be valuable exercises.

My artistic eye found a common characteristic of these courses: the lack of visual expression and the way the information is organized so it can be easily identified on the page. The Internet today is a great tool for e-learning and it’s more about content then graphics. That is very true and we’re on a right track. I don’t know how others are, but for me, the first look is crucial. If I don’t see what’s important in a first look, it is very probably to click away. More attention to details will make a difference in the future. This is where creative people interfere as part of the teamwork. This was the place I was supposed to get involved more, but my communications skills in such an heterogeneous group seemed to be very poor.

If I am to draw the line, these e-learning course was a benefit for me. I didn’t take the best out of it, all the benefits, but at least, I reached my goal. I know that if I will ever work in this field, I need to dig deeper, but at least I can say that I have a foundation. The understanding of what is behind is very important for me. It opens my eyes to see the benefits of this type of education, different from what I knew and up to date in a world of technology and web 2.0 in a continuous developing. I can say that I’m able to analyze and evaluate such a course and if needed, I can help designing one. I still have to work to my “Lonely Ranger” syndrom, but this course helped me a lot.

The use of collaborative tools, esspecially blogs, feeds, wikis helped me a lot in my everyday work. I can’t say that for other iCamp tools.

Thanks

I’m getting more and more confused about what we actually have to do, individually and in our group. Any enlightenment is very welcomed :) Thanks  

From the perspective of my tasks in our workgroup, what did I learn from theoretical materials, how to make/use the course materials/activities/assessment/tools?

I read some of the theoretical materials and I was surprised to see how much is written on this subject. E-learning is still something new for Romania and it still has to fight with the old mentalities. We have a lack of qualified people I guess.

I personally believe that these materials helped me to clarify my image about e-learning. It is a much bigger concept that I believed. I didn’t take advantage of the tools, except the blogs and maybe the wiki, the other I considered less important and probably I’ll never use them.

Objectives: (Why I wish to learn/do something, what is meaningful for me/for my group as part of the assignment I am responsible of?)E-learning is something I know about but do not use. This course can bring me more discipline in my relation to the world of information and acquiring knowledge. More than passing a course, but setting some foundation at the bottom of my work. I don’t intend to organize online courses but I want to be able to do it. 

Resources: (What software tools and resources I am going to use? Resources can be people, different artifacts, materials.)

• As part of a group, I’m not the kind of planner, so I need to have someone who can clearly outline the tasks, so I can understand my role in the group and others.
• A small group
• Links, readings…
• The dedicated software for text and image processing, calendar, e-mail manager, project management tool.

Strategy: (What is my strategy to achieve my objectives? What is the order of my actions? How will I use different resources in my actions?)

• Brief planning
• Documentation - readings, materials
• Communicate with my group regarding the tasks
• Do my part…

Evaluation: (How do I know that I was successful? Develop measurable criteria to evaluate your activities in respect of your objectives.)Besides the feedback from the others, I expect some long terms effects. Not only for this course but for my daily work. The ability to filter the world of information and knowledge and being able to transmit it in a coherent way. I cannot measure the success, but I will know, and that will be reflected in my work…  

Self-reflection: (Did I achieve my objectives? Use the criteria what you developed to assess how well did you work. Reflect, what worked and what did not?)We’ll see! Ideal is to stop from time to time and update your evaluation.

What are the best ways of finding a social network of your interests? First of all, you need to define your interests. Then to search for something that suits them. The Internet is invaded with social networking possibilities like facebook, myspace, secondlife, hi5, youtube…

All of them offer several services, to put it this way, like friends lists, photo sharing, video sharing, blogs, groups, music, tags…The best way in my opinion is to focus on some and ignore the rest…

How can a conversational personal contract improve self-directed learning?Not much. The benefit of it is that you have to take time to think, to plan in advance and to set your objectives regarding the course. What you want to learn from it, how you will do it and what you will use to accomplish your goals.I have to admit that I’m not good at this.

Unfortunately, sometimes all my planning resumes to the basics so I can improvise then if needed. What drives me is not the contract, but the determination… I don’t say this is the best way, but it just me. Sometimes I’d like to be different.

Explain, what are the components of course design!In my opinion, the first scheme needs to be as simple as possible, and then to develop it. So, here are the components as I logically understand them:

1. Curriculum development - Learner characteristics, course content and time needed to complete it. 
2. Syllabus - a more detailed description of the course, calendars, textbooks or other materials, informations about instructors, attendance and grading policies. 
3. Learning Plan Components - goals and objectives, content modules, assignments, resources, collaborative work, integration of materials, use of multimedia… 
4. Integration of Technology Components - the use of an effective WebCT which can include a bulletin board, chat room, whiteboard, email, student presentation area, grade book, quizzing tools, interactive calendar, and tools for incorporating and linking content. 
5. Communication - very important! The way students and instructors communicate. This can include all forms of electronic communication, chats, bulletin boards,  emails, discussions… 
6. Evaluation - is linked to objectives and goals of the course and addresses multiple ways of assessing students… 
7. Feedback - this can be provided by the instructor, and also he facilitates communication electronically through required discussions, chat or email between students. The course may contain an online course evaluation to provide student feedback and opportunities for course improvement. 

Which principles of groupwork, communities of practice and collaborative learning should a distributed group consider, when planning the design of an e-learning course?Communication comes in the first place in my opinion. Especially when it’s about collaborative work. This seems to be the hardest part, at least for myself.

Maybe sounds old fashioned, but for myself, what comes in my e-mail inbox stays there and it’s easy to organize. So, I think the feeds from blogs and e-mail groups like google groups are perfect tools. I don’t exclude calendars (like google calendar) and wikis (they came in the last place for me)The idea is to post the information (notes, ideas, links, media), distribute it to your group and then receiving comments. There are a lot of dedicated software out there (Ex. Basecamp…)

 What are the trends in e-learning and how do they influence online course design? 

E-learning is strong related to Wb 2.0. I’m almost 30 and until now I didn’t realized how big was the influence of a teacher-centered system in my life. This is how I was educated. I considered myself young and opened enough to keep up with all these changes. I did it but I was very selective, taking only what I really need out of this Web 2.0 philosophy. 

I’m a good observer anyway, so I have to admit that the E-learning 1.0 based on a teacher-centered learning system evolved in the actual learning system. Not a rigid one, but very flexible. The key word is the information. Where does it come from? Not from a single source but from many sources. Collaborative sites, wikis, blogs, bookmarking, social networking. The issue is not if you have access to the information, but how to filter it, organize it… 

It sounds a bit confusing at the beginning. Can we rely on all this trends? Can we build our knowledge on this? I thinks this system brings a lot of responsibility in designing an online course. We have the freedom of choosing and the freedom of personalizing which is not always easy. 

Remember the Bold phrase: The information comes from many sources. We need to know how to filter it, organize it and this brings a lot of responsibility in designing an online course. :) 

Learning at distance is really an issue for some of us. I have to admit that I studied in a totally different environment and it’s a real challenge to set my mind on a different paradigm. I became more like a “lonely ranger” even thou I’m part of a team in my everyday work. I’m getting better anyway, I am able to understand the principles behind eLearning and the value of it. I am using feeds from bogs, video podcasts and tutorials in my daily work so I can keep up with the technology or to learn new things, techniques…

The hardest part of this course seems to be the team work. I don’t want to criticize it because I have to start with me. As we know, we’re only eight people in our group and it’s still hard to get together all the time. The google groups was a good idea so far and it’s working for me. I receive all the feeds and group mails on my mail client so, they are all together and organized. Someone mentioned the roles. I’m not quite sure what we all have to do, so I acted like an observer, reading all your comments but not being sure where to interfere. For example, I quickly reacted to Sami’s idea to have a group logo to put it on the group page, because this is what I’m good at, and I can support the team, not because I was asked to do that. Here’s a funny clip about roles in team work.

I understand that we’re still in the brainstorming period when we come up with the ideas. The next step is to draw the line, see what we have and take a decision to follow. Then, we should delegate responsibilities, tasks to each member specifically. This is what would help me, and the team as well. Regarding the topics suggested, I like the idea of How to use blogs in eLearning, considering the possibility of using text, pictures and videos in every blog.