Di’s E-learning Experience

End of semester is drawing near.  The pressure is on to complete assignments. Where has all the fun gone!! Now I have to focus on my final assignment! No more flicking from one web page to another trying to take in as much information as I can.

My focus for my final assignment is on developing an evaluation criteria which can be used to assess the effective of an online course.  Where do I begin??  In the recent experience of doing a short online course I have come to realise there are a many issues that need to be considered.  It is a little overwhelming trying to think where I should start.  I then realised that a good starting point was to look at what I expected to gain from the course and move on from that point.  I have started of with a short list of issues that I think are important in assessing the value of an online course.  They are:

•  course design, structure and resources
•  technical support
• technical skills
• resources
• Language
• interactivity and feedback.

I think this is a pretty good starting point.  Lets see how it develops.

Semester is drawing to a close, assignments to write, exams to study for!!! no time for fun. Just have to hang in there for another week.

Yesterday I did manage to take some time out to explore the Second Life site.  I logged in, and yes I managed to enter the imaginary world again.  I reflected, it is a little like being on site for the production of a Shrek movie. (Don’t get me wrong, I love Shrek). The graphics are amazing, (think I have said that before).  Today I made the bold step of actually communicating with a couple of the other avatars.  (just a quick wave and hello, can’t be too friendly on the first meeting.)   To my amazement, one of the other avatars did the whole flex the muscle macho bit!!! and then ran away.  It cracked me up!!!

I then thought I should explore some of the options that Second Life had to offer and discovered their Education Grid.  Very Interesting!

After reading through the extensive information provided on this site, and joining their education mailing list, I am beginning to see the value of using Second Life in virtual education. 

As the Web page states, it creates:

“ a safe environment to enhance experiential learning, allowing individuals to practice skills, try new ideas, and learn from their mistakes. Prepare your students or employees for real-world experiences by using Second Life as a simulation”

The Site features a variety of mailing lists to keep you in touch with new developments in many fields of education, opportunities to share information on Second Life wiki  and information about  the Education Campus on Second Life.

I am now looking forward to the end of next week, when all my assignments and exams are over and I will have time to explore this a little more.  I will keep you posted.

This afternoon while flicking from one site to another I came across an article on Jane Hart’s blog, Jane’s e-learning pick of the day that really interested me.

The article talks about a different approach to learning. A collaborative approach in which you share your learning goals on an on-line site and use this site to develop a resource network with others who share your interests and goals.  The site uses a combination of social bookmarking and shared learning goals in a collaborative elearning environment.

The site is called Two Brains, click on this link and you can register. 

I find the concept of this site very logical and straightforward and I think this is an obvious step for future collaborative learning.  I have signed up and am looking foward to sharing and discussing my learning goals with others.  I look forward to reflecting on this site in a few weeks time.

After two weeks we were back in class today and moving onto our third and final module of the course which involves doing a short online course and reflecting on the experience. 

Our reading today was

Lessons from Cyberspace reading
Palloff, Rena & Pratt, Keith, 2001, Working with the Virtual Student in Lessons from Cyberspace, Jossey-Bass.

http://drr.lib.uts.edu.au/file/17282/013966_palloffworking.pdf

I must say I found this a very good article and very relevant to the issues we have been discussing in this course.  The article discusses the attributes of a successful learner in the e-learning environment and addresses the different styles of learners.

However the section I found most interesting was on ways to recognise signs when a student is struggling  and experiencing difficulties with the online course.

Some of these signs were: a change in their level of on-line participation, difficulty in actually getting started, gap in technical skills, outbursts of frustration or anger at the course.  In general,  it was agreed that the best the response to these signs was that the facilitator needed to address them quickly before the problems escalated and the online experience became a negative one.

We also discussed what were the appropriate actions for a instructor when they came across a student displays disruptive behaviour on-line.  Some members of the class had experienced this to a level when this behaviour had escalated in a very short time to a very serious issue. It was felt that it was much easier to deal with this behaviour in a face to face situation as you had the advantage of observing other signs of frustration such as body language etc. 

 Some suggestions to help avoid this situation were to make sure there was some face to face time with the students, set some ground rules at the commencement of the online course, to encourage a supportive class environment where students provide support and feedback and to make sure the instructor keep the lines of communication open.

In summary it was pointed out that online learning is just one form of education and should be used with other styles of learning to form a balanced program.
 

In many of the articles that I have read on collaborative elearning the writers have identified many of the advantages.  Some of the advantages that have been discussed are:

• improves practical problem solving skills
• enhances the development of personal traits (such as self management and self directed learning) that of benefit for future learning
• allows sharing of knowledge and learning methods
• learners are able to engage with their peers
• some students are more willing to share their thoughts and ideas on-line than in the face-to-face environment of a classroom.
• learners are more likely to debate on-line than in the class room
• encourages learners to think for themselves
• provides an alternative model of learning for students
• fosters cognitive skills, critical thinking and problem solving and a commitment to continuous learning

 However, we have to remember to look at some of the issues related to collaborative elearning.  Without an understanding of these issues online collaborative learning programs are doomed.  These issues include:

For Students:

• resistance to online programs
• resistance or lack of familiarity to collaborative learning techniques
• gaps in technical skills
• unwillingness to work as part of at team
• lack of peer contact
• insufficient and/or inefficient resources.

For Teachers: 

• lack of teacher training in collaborative teaching methods
• loss of control in the classroom
• teacher’s egos
• lack of confidence in technical support
• how do they assess collaborative projects
• Difficulty in evaluating learners progress
• insufficient and/or inefficient resources
• may need to spend more time providing feedback and support for learners than they do in a classroom situation.

I am sure that these points are only some of the issues that need to be considered when introducing an online collaborative learning program and as more programs are initiated and developed other problems will arise.  I think for a program to reach its full potential, careful planning and consideration needs to take place in the early developmental stages.

Over the last week or so I have been reading quite a few articles on collaborative learning and the emergence of online collaborative learning.  As I understand it, collaborative learning involves the following features.

• creation of knowledge through joint collaboration with others
• emphasis on working together to create an understanding of a topic
• sharing of knowledge between peers
• sharing of resources
• focus on student-centered learning and development of lifelong transferable learing skills
• learners work in groups and play a significant part in each others learning, with sharing of knowledge, provision of feedback and the development of an understanding of the topic to a level that wouldn’t be reached by the individual learner
• the role of the teacher moves to that of a facilitator who helps guides the learners through their learning process.

In today’s globalized world collaborative e-learning seems to be the next logical step in education.  However I think before we jump into this one needs to take a step back and look at all aspects related to collaborative learning.  Collaborative Learning requires a lot of planning, organizing of teams, communication systems, setting of goals, teachers with appropriate skills and motivated learners. 

Over the weekend I have been researching articles on Learner Readiness and barriers that effect a learners uptake of new technology, ideas and expectations.  Some of the issues that the authors identify are: 

•  negative attitude towards computers,
• cost and inadequate technology
• lack of technical skills
• poorly designed programmes
• previous negative learning experience
• need for some face to face teaching
• need for on the spot feed back
• computer anxiety

And the list goes on!!!   Quite an long list I thought, but surely I can overcome these issues and move on with my e-learning.  I sat down at my computer and began to put my thoughts down on-line.  Well, it became quite a chore, I couldn’t access a number of the sites, my wireless signal kept dropping out and I would lose what I had written. Then when I finally managed to finish off a post for my blog page I couldn’t get the file to download!!!

I was on my own, who could give me some feedback on what I was doing wrong??? Should I kick the machine????  I am sure many e-learners can relate to this story. However the story does have a good ending. I packed up my folders and went to the internet cafe down the road, and started all over again, finally managing to make it all work. 

This experience did bring home to me the importance of recognising the different barriers  and frustrations that learners face with e-learning. I think that for successful e-learning to take place it is important support learners through these frustrations so they can move on to the rewarding world of on-line learning.

Here is a quick summary of issues discussed in yesterday’s class.

What is e-learning?
Some of the elements of e-learning mentioned were:

• being able to download of information,
• sharing information and help sections,
• information that was highly accessible, interesting,vast range and uptodate,
• the availability of a  lot of resources,
• can be used at anytime,
• simulating and can be shared,
•  easy to collect resources and to organised information.

 What are features of Edublog?
edublogs  is a way :

• to share information, facilitate collaboration, discussion and conversation,
• the information is distributed to wide audience,
• there is a record of information, and it can be organised.

Summary

• e-learning still in formation, new technology is being developed all the time,
•  rapidly changing situation,
• there is the need for regular practise, adaption,
• pressure to act and know new things. 
•  Life long learning – opportnity to learn for the rest of your lives
• change in workforce, need for flexibity and adaption to change.