May 26, 2008

The New Language of Learning

On May 22, I had the opportunity to go to the e-learning conference at Normandale Community College and was able to learn a lot about the new trends in web based learning. The conference was a great experience, and provided me with a lot of new ideas, but one thing that really caught my eye (or ears!) was the newly emerging language of education.

It appears that many of our students already know this language, but us administrators and instructors are a bit behind the times. I would hear words such as “twitter”, “widgets”, and “avatar” and realize that an entirely new vocabulary was forming in the education environment! All levels of education are now using these words. No elementary, middle school, high school, or higher education school is excluded.

I would like to present you with the new vocabulary of e-learning in the year 2008! Not all of these products, web pages, or words are used in all e-learning environments, but as time goes on, it will become important to at least have a working knowledge of what these words mean. You may already know some of these words and not know others. Either way, I hope this list provides you with a good working knowledge of the new e-learning vocabulary. Enjoy!

• Avatar: A computer user's representation of himself or herself by using a picture or an object. For example, when you see that someone has put a picture of Bart Simpson next to their name, that is their Avatar.
• Blog: A website maintained by an individual with commentaries. You are currently reading my blog!
• Del.icio.us: A social bookmarking website. Allows users to tag web sites with keywords so that popular websites can be found simply by entering a key word. Check out the web site
• Digg: Websites are submitted to digg.com by users, and the users vote on the websites they like best…essentially “digging” the good websites to the top of the list!
• Jott: A free web page where you can call in a voice message and have it converted to text and sent to an e-mail address or to a text message account. Messages can be sent to individuals or groups of people.
• Learning Management System: The software system used to facilitate online learning. GU/MSB uses Blackboard as our Learning Management System.
• Learning Objects: Small chunks of learning units that provide students with opportunities to practice what they have learned. Often times are electronic and interactive. University of Wisconsin and MERLOT have free learning objects available for educators to use.
• Personalized Start Page: A personalized web page that is organized into tabs, with each tab containing user-defined modules. Modules could include RSS Feeds, local weather forecasts, a calendar, bookmarks, notes, to-do lists, web mail, social networking sites, etc. Examples of start pages include netvibes, Pageflakes, My Yahoo!, and iGoogle.
• Podcast: Audio information or video information that is delivered via the internet.
• RSS Feed: A way to filter information from several web sites into one spot. For example, if you like to check the news from various entertainment web sites you can have them all filter into one spot so that you only have to go to one page to check several different sites.
• Second Life: A virtual world created by its own residents. I encourage you to play around on the Second Life website!
• Social Networking: Online networks or communities of people who share similar interests or activities. Examples are My Space and Face Book
• Twitter: Small updates to a social networking page (up to 140 characters). Check out the twitter.com website!
• Web2.0: A term used to describe the trend of more creativity and interactivity on the Internet. Rather then flat web pages and no interaction, we are moving to 3-D technology and social networking.
• Widget: Anything that can be embedded into a web page. It adds content that is not static such as the weather or a clock.
• Wiki: Used to create collaborative websites and community web sites. All users can contribute to the information on a wiki page.
• You Tube: Video sharing website where users can upload their own videos

These definitions are quite simplistic so to learn more be sure to check my future blogs for more in-depth definitions. I will also be discussing possible ways they can be used in e-education!

May 19th, 2008

As we narrow in on the 25% completion deadline all of you should have received your textbooks by now. If you have not received your textbook please let me know and we will contact the publisher to see where it is at in the shipping process.

Now is about the time that you are likely thinking about assignments for the courses you are developing. I would like to encourage you to create rubrics for any assignments that you develop.

A rubric is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a student's performance based on the sum of a full range of criteria rather than a single numerical score. Many experts believe that rubrics improve students' end products and therefore increase learning. Here is a link to several articles that describe what rubrics are and uses a "chocolate chip cookie" to help give an example. Being as chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorites, I thought this article was a good one to pass along :-)
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/teaching-methods-and-management/rubrics/4522.html

Additionally, a couple of weeks ago Kelly Schmidt sent out this link as a great tool that helps create grading rubrics: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

The website offers specific examples for assignments in a variety of disciplines and also helps you design original rubrics based on the course and assignment type.

Happy Developing!

May 12, 2008

Good Morning Developers,

You are all starting to get your developments underway and your textbooks should be arriving soon! At this time you are likely thinking about what new and exciting things you can bring into your developments. Might I suggest blogging as an option for a new way to integrate technology into online learning! Here is the link to the Wikipedia site that explains blogging very thoroughly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

More and more instructors have been working blogs into their online courses and I would like to suggest an article from Online Classroom that talks about 13 ways to integrate blogging into the Web 2.0 classroom. Remember, to log into Online Classroom by going to www.magnapubs.com/licenses/suscribe.html Enter your individual email address and password as well as the other required information. Enter the following Voucher Code and PIN number where prompted:

• Voucher Code: MSB
• PIN: 1010

Lastly, here is a link to the Top 100 Education Blogs that might be of interest to you: http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs

Happy Blogging!

Just a few housekeeping reminders:

• Your 25% completion date is June 2nd
• Please remember to save any document that you attach to your courses as a Word 97 - 2003 document. Not all students have upgraded their computers so they won't be able to open the file if it is saved in a different format
• If you would like to add audio to your courses but don't feel comfortable recording it yourself, simply send me a script and tell me where to put the audio, and I would be happy to record it for you!

Have a great week!

May 5th, 2008

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

We are now beginning the online development cycle for courses that will be available to be offered for Fall Quarter, 2008. Those of you that are developing this cycle have all developed courses before and feel comfotable with the development process. I would like to take this time just to send out a few reminders about online development to refresh your memories:

• Please review the Online Development User's Guide. This guide contains best practices guidelines and provides great web links to give you development ideas.
• It is important to have external links in every unit. Students benefit greatly from being able to go to the web to get additional information on the topic that they are learning in a particular unit.
• A discussion board is required for every unit - even units 6 and 12.
• Have fun with your development! Because all of you have done online development before, really try and stretch yourself to be creative and implement some new ideas. Blogs, group work, and fun outside projects are great ways to keep a course fresh and interesting.

All of you should be getting your textbooks fairly soon. If you don't have your textbook by next week please let me know and I will contact the publisher for you. Additionally, if you have not yet returned your contracts please send them to me ASAP.

And now for an update regarding the popularity of online courses. As Globe University/Minnesota School of Business continues to work on getting more and more classes available through the online medium, I am happy to report that it looks like we are right on track. Here is a link to a press release from April 22 that states that the demand for online learning opportunities is growing by leaps and bounds!

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2008/4/prweb881074.htm

Have a great week!