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!