Irina’s blog

Important things I learned during this weeks were:

Internet-based instruction does not automatically guarantee a rich learning environment. WWW is a resource-rich multimedia environment with great potential to serve large numbers of widely dispersed students at low cost.

The majority of the online courses are text, converted to electronic form and placed on the web or esend by mail to students to read.

The advantage is the immediate access to the material and the ease of editing it.

The criticism of this kind of courses is that they do not use the multi-modal instructional means available online. Even if such a course is accompanied by a forum or chat, it is like an artificial embellishment and is not very useful.

The effective text in online courses needs to be short and distributed among other multimedia components.

These multimedia components might be referred as learning objects — they include text, electronic mail, discussion boards, chat utilities, voice over internet protocol, instant messaging, synchronous audio, video clips, interactive activities, simulations, and games., self-grading exercises, quizzes, examinations and web sites.

I explored the http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids course. It is truly great - so active and versatile, well suited for the age group and full of activities.

This is probably the future, but there is definitely a barrier. The producers of such a course is a corporation. E-learning needs to be within the ability of a teacher - of the content provider. There is a niche to be filled of software which can be visually programmed for different activities, and games, being at the same time compatible with elearning standards and course editors.

It is a huge challenge - to make technology accessible to the content provider.

2. What was particularly interesting/boring in this week?

Useful common documents in an online course:

These documents could include

• a personalized letter of welcome for each new student.

• general information about online learning, technology requirements, and the resources available to students for technical help and for obtaining the proper software and Internet services required for the course.

• information about how to access the course on the Web, and how to navigate it it successfully.

• student log-in and password information for course Web site.

• rules, procedures, and help for use of the interactive tools.

• a course syllabus—preferably on public pages so that prospective students can see what they are getting into in advance—including instructor or tutor contact information; a course overview; a course schedule; a list of required text and materials (if applicable); clearly defined academic and computer skills prerequisites; clear communication about expectations; instructions about activities, assignments, and deadlines; faculty contact information and office hours; and student support contact information.

• administrative regulations, including guidelines on plagiarism, privacy, academic appeal procedures, library facilities, and access to counseling and advisory services

Good practice in undergraduate education:

1. Encourages contacts between students and faculty.

2. Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students.

3. Uses active learning techniques.

4. Gives prompt feedback.

5. Emphasizes time on task.

6. Communicates high expectations.

7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html

• Develop tolerance for ambiguity (recognize that there may be no “right” answer to a given question, emphasize cognitive flexibility).

• Use scaffolding principles (create material that is slightly too difficult for the student, to encourage cognitive “stretch”).

• Use problems that require students to understand and manipulate course content.

• Create opportunities for high levels of interaction, both student-student and instructor-student.

• Integrate formative assessment throughout the course.

3. Was there something you didn’t quite understand and want to know more
about it?

4. What kind of questions/ideas/experiences this week’s activities raised for you?

Requirements for web designer:

Below is a partial list of the types of applications that programmers typically work with in a Web-based course.

Open-source code-based programming languages include

• Hypertext markup language (HTML)

• Java

• Javascript

• Perl

• Extensible markup language (XML)

• PHP

• MySQL

Proprietary GUI Web-development software packages include

• Macromedia Dreamweaver^®, Flash^®, Director^®, Authorware^®

• Microsoft .NET^®, Visual Basic^®

• Adobe GoLive^®, Photoshop^®, Illustrator^®