Closing thoughts on EDTEC 572.

Well...

Class ended on Thursday evening. It was an interesting semester in my EDTEC 572, Technologies for Course Delivery, class. I learned much about various tools that can be used. Actually, I feel like I only started learning a few things. The little I have learned so far has greatly increased my interest in learning even more. I am starting to think perhaps I have at least a major direction in mind for continuing research. I am interested in learning more about:

• the various tools that can be used in a learning program,
• how those tools can be incorporated into and work together in an effective learning program, and
• how the tools and associated learning programs are received by various cultures.

I get the impression that these are no small areas for research; they may indeed constitute far too broad a scope. Nevertheless, perhaps my interests are beginning to take shape into a cohesive research direction. I also reserve the right to change my mind - to change the direction I want to take in my continuing research. After all, I am still in the early stages of my MA program.

I hasten to add one more very important point. I was speaking to some friends yesterday about learning technology, specifically as it can be applied in distance education. I made the point that the tools are not the most important part of a learning program; far from it. This is equally true in a face to face learning environment and in a distance learning environment. It is easy to think that the tools are most important in a distance learning environment. They are indeed necessary. However, content is far more important than the tools used to present the content. If you have no good content, presented with appropriate educational techniques, you have no learning program. Content, therefore, is king. Educational technology tools should only be used when needed to enable or enhance the delivery of the content.

That's enough for now. Thanks for reading. Check back often.

More on learning objects

Below is a copy of my last post to my EDTEC 572 class blog.

In my continued research (hopefully soon ending, at least for my course project) for information about learning objects and SCORM, I found another interesting web site with much good information and links to many other sites of interest. The site is for a Learning Objects Discovery Workshop. In particular, I was interested in the Analysis section since that is what my portion of our project focuses on. Although several of the links do not work, many of them still do. One of the working links is to a tutorial for learning objects. The Learning Object Tutorial web site has several pages of information including some related specifically to SCORM. It also contains links to several more useful sites. Another link will take you to the standards area of the Learnativity.com web site. Once there you will find an interesting article about Learning Objects and Learning Standards that discusses much of the history behind learning objects. The article is somewhat dated (Fall 2000) yet still contains good information. The site also has useful information about learning object resources, acronyms and more. I only had time to look at several of the many links. Nevertheless, the site contains many more useful resources I hope to get to soon. If there were only 48 hours in a day…

International Learning Technology

Here is a copy of a post I wrote for my 572 class blog. I am particularly interested in learning technology can be applied internationally.

I took a break this evening from working on my project and spent a short time looking through a few of the educational technology journals I have bookmarked. I found some very interesting information in a journal I had not looked at in several months, Educational Technology and Society, published on-line by the International Forum of Educational Technology and Society. Their April 2004 Edition includes a section of special articles dedicated to “Technology - Enhanced Learning”. There are eight papers in the section plus a beginning article that summarizes the other papers. According to the authors of the summary article, four of the other papers focus on learners and four focus on systems. Two of the papers focusing on systems – linked here and here – discuss learning objects. The third systems related paper discusses systems used to foster on-line collaboration. The fourth systems related paper describes a system used to promote learning communities. I have only had an opportunity to read the summary article and to briefly scan the four systems articles. Nevertheless, all the articles should provide a good view of some of the work the international community is doing regarding educational technology. I am interested in them because I enjoy learning about educational technology from an international perspective. Since learning objects and on-line communities are two topics relevant to our Technologies for Course Delivery course, I wanted to share them with you all. Happy reading.

Another Learning Objects Paper

copy of 572 post

I read an interesting paper about Learning Objects today. The paper, Technology and Human Issues in Reusing Learning Objects, was written by two individuals at The University of Twente in The Netherlands. It discusses how learning objects are used in three different contexts: the university, the corporate world, and the military. It also presents what the authors refer to as the life cycle of learning objects. Sections 4.8, 5, and 6 in particular present many ongoing issues with learning objects; several of these have been mentioned by others on this blog site. Nevertheless, I found the article a worthwhile read and wanted to share it with those of you who are also interested in learning objects.

Learning Objects Info

You guessed it...another copy of a 572 post.

I wanted to post a more serious note about learning objects. Someone posted the link to MERLOT earlier. It has many great links to learning objects. Another site I found, which also links to MERLOT, is Distributed Learning Object Repository Network (DLORN). I have only looked at several of the links so I can not testify to how good most of them are. However, if only a few of the many links are good, visiting the site could be very worthwhile.

A Sideways Look at Learning Objects

Another copy of a 572 post.

I thought I would weigh in with some comments about Learning Objects. I agree for the most part with what others have posted that Learning Objects currently are used mostly in organizational environments. It will be much longer before their more wide-spread use occurs. Nevertheless, something I read made me think this is not necessarily so. It is common to think of learning objects as some new technology. Although their use in e-learning is new, their use in general is not. Many of us have been using, and reusing, learning objects for a very long time. I remember going to Sunday school as a young child. The teacher would frequently use flannel graphs to illustrate a lesson. (Does anyone else remember flannel graphs?) The characters she used were used over and over again, year after year. In elementary school for most classes we used books which had been used many times in previous years by other students. The same titles we used were used by many other schools across the country. Are not both of these examples of reusable learning objects? And in the schoolbook example their use was widespread. Let’s go even further back. How about Plato? He must have regularly used documents which he surely had used previously with which to teach. Could these also be considered as reusable learning objects? And if so then why don’t we go even further back. Ancient gave dwellers painted pictures on their caves. My guess is that they used these over and over again to help teach new generations. Hmmm. Reusable learning objects several thousand years old. Very cool.

Another look at technology tools for distance education

Another post from the 572 blog.

I thought I would write about two of the tools I use for developing distance education. Where I work we use both Macromedia Breeze and Microsoft PowerPoint Producer for developing asynchronous presentations. These are both essentially plug-ins for PowerPoint. Breeze used to be called Presidia before Macromedia bought the company. Although Macromedia has added much functionality to the program, we still just use it to add audio to our Powerpoint presentations. After we sequence the slides to the audio we publish the presentation to the Breeze site. They provide us back a presentation in an easy to navigate interface that we can then publish on our intranet. For an example of a Breeze presentation for training and education visit the Macromedia web site. We have been using Microsoft Producer for a much shorter time. However, we actually use more features in Producer. It allows us to incorporate both audio and video into our PowerPoint presentations. So far we only offer the presentations we do in Producer via CD-ROM. Nevertheless, Producer seems an effective method to liven up an otherwise much less compelling PowerPoint presentation. See the Microsoft Producer overview web site for more information about Producer.

Comment about technologies for distance education

Below is a comment to another student's post about technologies for distance education.

"As far as adding audio to Powerpoint I know of a couple good options. We use both Macromedia Breeze and Microsoft PowerPoint Producer where I work. Producer allows users to incorporate audio and video into presentations. We only use audio with Breeze; however, I believe a recent update to it also allows for the use of video."

Note: Since writing this post I have verified that Breeze offers excellent audio and video capability.

Blog on Blogging

I came across this article by Liz Lawley about research done for blogging. It provides "five different approaches to studying blogs..." My guess is those of us interested in using the most effective educational tools will most likely want to make sure the tools and methods we use are backed up by research. This article seems to be a good starting point for helping us think about what research can and should be done for blogs and blogging.

Somewhat random (but hopefully relevant) information

Something I have to constantly struggle with is that the media is not nearly as important as the instructional methods. I like the "tools". I like the "newest, latest, greatest." It's easy for me to become so mesmerized by the tools that I forget about the methods. For this reason, I appreciated the article by Susan Ambrose and Joel Smith about using new media for instructional purposes. The authors discussed the lens Carnegie Mellon uses to view new advances in media. The bottom line is that the media must positively impact learning transfer. That is what I need to always remember. This afternoon I also found another interesting site with information about educational technology as it is practiced in other countries. Ferl, (Further Education Resources for Learning), is a UK based organization managed by BECTA. It "is an information service for all staff working within the Post-Compulsory Education sector." It includes three main sections: Teaching and Learning, Policies and Strategies, and Technology for E-Learning. Both the Teaching and Learning and the Technology for E-Learning sections have a link to a Teaching and Learning resources bank containing links to over 2800 teaching resources. The resources bank includes quite a range of topics. Today (June 24th, 2004) the first page listed a link to two reports about learning styles and a link to the British Meat Education Service. The many other resources available through this site should help keep me busy for some time.

Information about Social Software

Since I am from a generation that did not grow up with computers (certainly not with Blogs, Wikis, or Moodle) I decided to search the web for information about social software. Although our interest is specific to using social software for educational purposes, I thought it might be useful to get a broader idea of what social software is and how it is used for any purpose, educational or otherwise. In so doing I found many interesting links to much information. One of the first places I ended up was the Internet Time Blog. It contains much information about a number of topics including social software. It also has many references to a great many other sites. Next I read a two-article series about social software in ASTD Learning Circuits. The first, We Learning: Social Software and E-Learning, gives a good definition for social software and lists some types that are "just around the corner". The second article, We Learning: Social Software and E-Learning, Part II, discusses social software tools that are either little used for educational purposes or could be used in the near future. These articles provided me a good starting point to learn more about social software.

Learning Objects Information

Here is another 572 post.

Earlier this week I found some interesting sites with information about learning objects. One site that has much good information is New Media Consortium (NMC) Learning Objects Initiative web site. In addition to the information listed directly on the site, it has links to other information such as the Traveler's Guide to the Learning Object Landscape. For someone with little knowledge of Learning Objects, such as me, this is a good reference. There are also many more links to other articles and white papers. The NMC web site also lists several other initiatives. Looks like I have yet more reading to do.

m-Blogging

Here is another copy of a post to my EDTEC 572 class blog.

I read something last semester about mobile blogging, also known as m-Blogging. There are some companies in Japan that market educational programs to cellular subscribers. It is a good method for language (Kanji) instruction. See this link for article describing m-Blogging usage in Japan. Does anyone know of companies here in the US, or elsewhere, that use m-Blogging for training or educational purposes? How could m-Blogging be used? Comments? Yes Minjuan - I like technology tools and learning how to use them.

More about technology tools

The following two paragraphs comprise a copy of a post I made to the EDTEC572 blog site. I am really enjoying learning about different tools to use for educational purposes. This is great.

Late this evening I found a few more educational technology resources. The first is the e-Learning Centre’s Guide to e-Learning. It has a great section on Blogging and RSS. From there I located How to use weblogs to create engaging learning experiences. From that article I went to the Australian Flexible Learning Community web site. These sites appear to offer much good information about using technological tools for education. The e-Learning site, as the name indicates, is dedicated to e-Learning; nevertheless, many of the tools and principals it showcases can also be used in F2F classes.

One reason I like these sites is because they both offer an international perspective on educational technology. In his article about creating engaging learning experiences Maish Nichani states, “…if you want to get up-to-speed in your field, just subscribe to the weblogs in your domain and read them everyday for at least six months.” I intend to read these sites regularly and to gain from them as much knowledge as possible.

john s.

Response to comment about Social Software

Below is a comment I wrote to another student's writing in my 572 class.

You wrote, “I understand that it is a course management system, open source, and a package designed to help educators create quality online courses. But I still don't understand how it is used. Can anyone give me a simple explanation or have a site where I can go to learn about it--in simple terms!” I had never heard of Moodle before this class. I was intrigued to learn what it was and how it could be used. I looked at the EDTEC 296 web page but still couldn’t make out what Moodle was or what it was used for. Then I did some searches for Moodle and came up with a few good sources. First off I went to the Moodle web site. Then I looked at probably about 20 of the Moodle sites it recommends. (It actually recommends nearly 2000 sites.) From what was written on the Moodle site and from what I observed in the several sites I visited, I developed the following opinion about Moodle. Moodle is basically like Blackboard, but free. Many of the sites listed in the United States belong to non-profit organizations. They want to have many features of a Learning Management System (LMS) but can’t afford one. So, they download Moodle for free and effectively set up their own LMS system. Very cool. (What do “cool” people say now days instead of cool? I hate to keep dating myself.) So as a teacher you could download Moodle and set up your own course management system exclusively for the classes you teach. Each student could have a login and password. You could also assign each student a “key” so they could only access the classes they were signed up for. They could all use the site to collaborate on their coursework. I like it a lot. OK. So I still don’t know much about Moodle. I hope to read much more about it in the coming weeks though. I truly see some important applications for it. I definitely want to add it to my EDTEC tool box.

Moodle

I had never heard of Moodle before this class - my EDTEC 572 class. I was intrigued to learn what it was and how it could be used.

I looked at the EDTEC 296 web page which had been mentioned as an example of Moodle but still couldn’t make out what Moodle was or what it was used for. Then I did some searches for Moodle and came up with a few good sources. First off I went to the Moodle web site. Then I looked at probably about 20 of the Moodle sites it recommends. (It actually recommends nearly 2000 sites.) From what was written on the Moodle site, and from what I observed in the several sites I visited, I developed the following opinion about Moodle. Moodle is basically like Blackboard, but free. Many of the sites listed in the United States belong to non-profit organizations. My guess is they want to have many features of a Learning Management System (LMS) but can’t afford one. So, they download Moodle for free and effectively set up their own LMS system.

Very cool. (What do “cool” people say now days instead of cool? I hate to keep dating myself.) So as a teacher you could download Moodle and set up your own course management system exclusively for the classes you teach. Each student could have a login and password. You could also assign each student a “key” so they could only access the classes they were signed up for. They could all use the site to collaborate on their coursework.

I like it a lot.

OK. So I still don’t know much about Moodle. I hope to read much more about it in the coming weeks though. I truly see some important applications for it. I definitely want to add it to my EDTEC tool box.

Wiki and Blog

I found a number of other sites with information about wikis today. Athabasca University’s International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL) web site contains a wealth of information. I really enjoyed reading the article about Educational Wikis. I made sure to bookmark the IRRODL web site, especially since distance education is one of my primary interests in educational technology.

I like the flexibility wikis offer. Being able to use them as “knowledge repositories” seems a great tool to use in any course. Their functionality as tools to help create communities of practice is another key benefit. The fact that anyone can edit any page on a wiki has been a deterrent to their more rapid adoption; nevertheless, being able to password protect pages should overcome this obstacle. Although there are other significant challenges, such as issues related to formatting and attributing credit for postings, the benefits offered by wikis seem to make them a worthwhile tool to include in any educational technologist’s repertoire.

I also read an interesting article on using blogs as project management tools. The Virtues of Chitchat discusses how many IT organizations in particular are blogging to track implementation of various projects. It even gives another name to it – plog – standing for project log. One big caution the article mentioned I need to be careful of. “Yes, ‘blogorrhea’—the unedited stream-of-consciousness blather that afflicts so many bloggers—is a genuine risk.” I hope I do not fall into that pattern in my admittedly somewhat long posts. I’ll let you be the judge of that.

One more short note.

Someone recently referred me to a tool to use for off-line blogging. Apparently it allows users to write their blogs off-line. They can connect to the internet at a later time and upload their blogs. It works with Blogger, Moveable Type, and several others. For more information go to the Blogjet web site.

More about social software

Saw a very interesting looking paper this morning about social software. The paper, Distributed Social Software, discussed many of the limitations with much of the current "service-centric" software.

Oh no! I am only just starting to learn about social software and how it can benefit my training design and delivery. Already I am reading there are problems with it. Not to worry. Being aware of the problems is good; by knowing what some of the problems are I can take steps to mitigate them. The key is to not be incapacitated by the problems.

I also came across a new blog intended to describe RSS in some detail. It is by Dave Winer, one of the pioneers of blogging and RSS. It's titled Really Simple Syndication. Although I only saw a few posts Dave should know what he is talking about so it should be worthwhile to check for updates.

I also found an interesting blog site with more information about educational technology. It is Kim Cavanaugh's Brain Frieze. If nothing else you gotta' like the name of the site.

Emerging Technologies

I read several articles today about emerging technologies being used in education. Many of these were links from my EDTEC572 class, Technologies for Course Delivery. I also viewed a Breeze presentation referenced in one of the articles. The presentation is "Connecting Learning Objects with RSS, Trackback and Weblogs" by Alan Levine, Brian Lamb and D'Arcy Norman. It is available at: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/show.nmc103/. This was a great introduction for me to the world of RSS, something I previously knew next to nothing about. As a result I think my next big project for my site - either my web site or my blog site - will be to add RSS feeds from several sites I am interested in. Stay tuned.

I also learned much more today about wikis including where the word came from. "Wiki wiki" meaning quick in Hawaiian. More importantly I learned more about how a wiki can be used to foster collaborative learning. It is also a useful means to foster a sense of community among any group. I can think of many applications for wikis.

I need to take more time to digest what else I read today before I discuss much of it.

Memorial Day Post

I made some further updates to the template I use for my Blogger layout. I think it will work now. The picture at the top is a Photoshop adaptation of a picture I took of a college in Belgium.

I am having trouble getting on Blackboard today. Actually I can log on but when I click on one of my classes I get an internal server error. This is not what I had hoped. Nevertheless, it does not spell the end to my EDTEC efforts for the day. I can still get on to my class blog site and participate there. I can also catch up on some of the reading for the class and get a head start on some of the other class tasks I have to do.

Of course, since it is Memorial Day I just might take some time and do other things. It's a holiday, so I think I will take it. I'll get back to my EDTEC work tomorrow.

Answers for your questions

Below is a copy of a response to another student question from my 572 class.

His question: "One big question I have about participating in an online course/program is how do you emulate the dynamic of an engaged teacher and engaged students in a physical classroom? Is this possible? Can social software like blogs help...I hope to find out."

My response: "I can tell you from much on-line experience (over a dozen courses completed and counting) that having an engaged instructor and fellow students is possible. It does take a great amount of effort though, much more than most give in a traditional F2F class. It is certainly difficult to truly emulate a F2F class on-line. However, things like video conferencing, bulletin boards, and blogs (which I am just starting to learn about) greatly increase the richness of on-line delivery."

My expectations (copy of 572 post)

Below is a copy of a post I made to the EDTEC572 class blog site. I will copy all such posts here.

"Hmmm.

When I first signed up for the course I thought it would concentrate on how to use various technologies to design e-Learning courses, or simulations, or even virtual reality representations. I was a little disappointed when I found the focus of the course was instructor-led training. However, after giving it a small amount of thought I realized how very practical (and worthwhile) a class focusing on using technology to improve instructor-led training is. Considering that well over half of all training conducted in 2004 is still instructor-led, learning how to use technology in those classes is surely an important pursuit.

Therefore, I suppose I hope to learn more about how to incorporate various technologies into instructor-led classes that I design and develop. I want to learn how to make better use of audio, video, blogging, and various other blended-learning techniques to improve, enhance, and strengthen the educational outcomes of all classes I am involved with.

If we design some type of Computer Based Training we expect to use many technologies to enrich the class. However, we limit ourselves if we choose to not use many of the same technologies in an instructor-led class. I hope to learn how to overcome those limitations in this class."

Getting Started

Today was the first official day of my new class - EDTEC 572, Technologies for Course Delivery. I am looking forward to it. There are two required books for the class. One is Charting Your Course: How to Prepare to Teach More Effectively by Richard Pregent. The other is A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives by Lorin W. Anderson, et al. Although I have only taken a cursory look at both books I think they will both be good sources of information.

I am taking this class, like a great many of my previous classes, on-line. This will be my fourth class in the MA program at SDSU. I feel like I am starting to learn a few things about Educational Technology. However, two of the biggest things I am learning are how little I know and how much more there is to learn. Even if I could dedicate several years exclusively to my studies I think I would only be able to make a start at learning what I want to learn.

Oh well. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And...the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So......let's get started.

Blog Problems

Well I got my Blog up and running the other day. Today I got my blog attached to my web site. I managed to get most things working on my web site. I tried to edit the template for my blog site with some, but not total, success.

I added a couple of pictures to the top to try and personalize my blog page. However, in so doing I covered up the title and part of the description. I guess I need to learn more about HTML to make everything look like I want it to.

Oh well that will have to wait for another day.

First Blog

Well I finally did it. I started blogging. I only learned about blogging yesterday. Or perhaps it was a day or two ago, or last week, or a few months ago. I still know next to nothing about it. Nevertheless, I decided to try it. We'll see how it goes.

It is getting late and I have a big day tomorrow so I can't post much for now. I imagine it will take at least several days to get into any kind of rhythm. At least I have made a start.

A journey of a thousand bloggs begins with a single post.