To continue my musings (while I still have the "Runners HIGH") from my earlier post ...I got to thinking what is it really that is allowing the rapid development of Innovations in Distance Learning communities? We've been talking about iPODS, educational multimedia videos and Avatars. These are a lot of Tools... great for learning...but why do they work so well and why are little machines like iPODS and the information in them so easily consumable by us? Well, we are social animals and most of us have an instinctual need to stay connected with our tribe.
What set the stage for all of these cool devices and what relationship do they have to Distance Learning? Could it be Web 2.0? What is Web 2.0? If you are not really sure and have never seen this now classic video called "The Machine is Us/ing Us", please click here...then come back and (if you want to) finish reading my blog.
It is Web 2.0 applications which have set the stage for Distance Learning to grow at such a rapid pace. Web 2.0 has changed the way we communicate, forever! The World Wide Web seems to have evolved from a one-directional Cyberplace (my word)-- for example, the Library of Congress online, where you used go to get information about American History, (read it, download it and use the information to write a school assignment, then hand in the hard copy to your teacher, etc.)--- into a globally interconnected system/network of people participating in a multi-party Dialogue (talking, laughing, dancing, if you like, in real time).
Think about it...all the free Social-sharing and networking applications which have evolved during the past decade, such as Flickr; My Space; Google Blogs, Wordpress, Wikis and others have provided a platform on which everyone can play a Dynamic role (imagine a huge broadway Stage circling the planet and we are talking, laughing and dancing). We now share photos, videos, and Blogs which are supported by RSS (Real Simple Syndication). RSS makes it easy to send my own content to a chosen network of friends or others.
The relatively small Social networking system that was once only used by social anarchists to rail against the system or the hermit-like technophiles, happily working out their networking schemes, is the same network (now a considerably larger animal) being used to Spread Learning by your more conservative K-12 schools and Institutions of Higher Learning. All of the Web 2.0 applications and online anarchist and geeky communities have evolved into our newer Distance Learning Communities. Distance Learning is headed into the future at Warp Speed with no turning back...
It does make me wonder...what will those societal anarchists and cave-dwelling tektites work on now---Teleportation??
Diane
Monday, March 16, 2009
Rain, Running & the National Repository of Online Courses
While on my morning run in the Georgia rain today, I got thinking about how innovations in distance education are realized. I wondered about the many and various types of resources available to support instructors in creating courses. Creating courses is time consuming and challenging. I got thinking about Deni's 2nd post where she discussed the University of Georgia's Learning Repository.
Deni discussed how this repository allows Georgia University instructors to multimedia content lessons and save them in the repository for other instructors to use. This is certainly a time-saving resource very much welcomed by over-tasked online instructors!
So, after returning home from my run, I sat down at my desktop and did some searching. I wanted to learn more about my own Alma mater (the University of West Georgia) and what other innovative resources might be available to online instructors.
I opened up my WebCT, went to my Online Learning at UWG page and opened Faculty Resources. I opened the link to the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC).
This repository provides free resources through (OER), Open Educational Resource.
As well as the free resources available, NROC also offers memberships (for a fee) to institutions. For $3000 - $100,000 annual fee, online teachers can have access to custom content (learning object), webinars, white papers, iPod downloadable versions of course content, participation in content development projects and campus ownership of collaboratively developed content.
(The fees seem a bit steep, but could be worth the cost, depending on the budget and needs of the individual institutions).
I would be curious to know how many institutions have paid memberships and how satisfied they are with NROC. Georgia's Learning Repository is free, but I wonder whether the NROC resources (e.g. the podcasts), would be cost effective for the University of Georgia's system to consider?
Thank you for reading,
Diane (almost dry...)
Deni discussed how this repository allows Georgia University instructors to multimedia content lessons and save them in the repository for other instructors to use. This is certainly a time-saving resource very much welcomed by over-tasked online instructors!
So, after returning home from my run, I sat down at my desktop and did some searching. I wanted to learn more about my own Alma mater (the University of West Georgia) and what other innovative resources might be available to online instructors.
I opened up my WebCT, went to my Online Learning at UWG page and opened Faculty Resources. I opened the link to the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC).
This repository provides free resources through (OER), Open Educational Resource.
As well as the free resources available, NROC also offers memberships (for a fee) to institutions. For $3000 - $100,000 annual fee, online teachers can have access to custom content (learning object), webinars, white papers, iPod downloadable versions of course content, participation in content development projects and campus ownership of collaboratively developed content.
(The fees seem a bit steep, but could be worth the cost, depending on the budget and needs of the individual institutions).
I would be curious to know how many institutions have paid memberships and how satisfied they are with NROC. Georgia's Learning Repository is free, but I wonder whether the NROC resources (e.g. the podcasts), would be cost effective for the University of Georgia's system to consider?
Thank you for reading,
Diane (almost dry...)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
MAKING TEACHING FUN!
WELCOME BACK!
To play my video just press the play button (arrow)!! You will need to make sure that you have Shockwave Flash player installed on your computer for the video to play. It's a free download.
I've been having so much fun the past few days! In searching for institutions utilizing innovative technology for distance education communities, I found a wonderful site from a primary school in Australia. Leopold Primary School has a fantastic weblog site and their teachers have been busy promoting e-learning for their students and fellow educators. If you are in need of some inspiration from teachers who are very creative, please check out their blog!
On this blog, you will see an avatar created by one of the students. I decided to create a Diane-Avatar, which is the animated video you can listen to above. I recorded my voice using my home microphone (plugged into a USB port on my computer). If you'd like to make your own avatar character, this is the link: voki
Isn't this a great idea for integrating multimedia into an elementary curriculum? I'm going to search for similar types of multimedia integration for high school and college level instruction, and will post it in my next blog submission!
Thanks, as always, for reading!
Best to you!
Diane
To play my video just press the play button (arrow)!! You will need to make sure that you have Shockwave Flash player installed on your computer for the video to play. It's a free download.
I've been having so much fun the past few days! In searching for institutions utilizing innovative technology for distance education communities, I found a wonderful site from a primary school in Australia. Leopold Primary School has a fantastic weblog site and their teachers have been busy promoting e-learning for their students and fellow educators. If you are in need of some inspiration from teachers who are very creative, please check out their blog!
On this blog, you will see an avatar created by one of the students. I decided to create a Diane-Avatar, which is the animated video you can listen to above. I recorded my voice using my home microphone (plugged into a USB port on my computer). If you'd like to make your own avatar character, this is the link: voki
Isn't this a great idea for integrating multimedia into an elementary curriculum? I'm going to search for similar types of multimedia integration for high school and college level instruction, and will post it in my next blog submission!
Thanks, as always, for reading!
Best to you!
Diane
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Surgery Live! at Penn State Hersey
Hello and welcome back to my blog!
After reading Sheri's most recent blog post, http://healthcaredistancelearning.blogspot.com/
I must admit that she inspired me to look for other institutions that are providing innovative health and medical distance learning programs .
As a science educator, I wondered how other colleges and universities were doing in this arena. The best one I've found so far is Penn State's Surgery Live!.
On March 5, 2009, the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts and Penn State Medical Center announced the launch of an innovative partnership designed to stimulate the interest of high school students in health care careers. The Science Center will make it possible for students with aptitude and interest to "enter the operating rooms" of Penn State Hersey Medical center through interactive high definition videoconferencing technology.
As Sheri discussed in her post a physician shortage is anticipated and action has to be taken to insure that there are enough doctors available in our futures, as the population ages.
Surgery Live! gives high school students a closer and more intimate insight into the life and career of a physician by providing audio/video exchanges and discussions with a real time surgical team of professionals. The goal is to inspire young people to pursue medical careers.
I know that as a high school student, I would have devoured this opportunity, even if I did not go on to pursue a career as a physician, I think I would have been inspired to pursue a career in health care!
After reading Sheri's most recent blog post, http://healthcaredistancelearning.blogspot.com/
I must admit that she inspired me to look for other institutions that are providing innovative health and medical distance learning programs .
As a science educator, I wondered how other colleges and universities were doing in this arena. The best one I've found so far is Penn State's Surgery Live!.
On March 5, 2009, the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts and Penn State Medical Center announced the launch of an innovative partnership designed to stimulate the interest of high school students in health care careers. The Science Center will make it possible for students with aptitude and interest to "enter the operating rooms" of Penn State Hersey Medical center through interactive high definition videoconferencing technology.
As Sheri discussed in her post a physician shortage is anticipated and action has to be taken to insure that there are enough doctors available in our futures, as the population ages.
Surgery Live! gives high school students a closer and more intimate insight into the life and career of a physician by providing audio/video exchanges and discussions with a real time surgical team of professionals. The goal is to inspire young people to pursue medical careers.
I know that as a high school student, I would have devoured this opportunity, even if I did not go on to pursue a career as a physician, I think I would have been inspired to pursue a career in health care!
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