advice on eLearning in FE and HE

in terms of further education institutions, subject dependant, the use of eLearning is vital. the fact that one could use broadcasting software like skype and Whatsapp to broadcast lectures to those who canot make it to lectures is fantastic. if used correctly, there can be no reason to see downsides in using electronic devices in the classroom. mobile phones seemed taboo in the classroom, untill now that is, because they seem to be miniature versions of tablets and iPads.

live broadcasting:

the skype logo, representing what could be an amazing tool for FE colleges and HE institutions...used in the correct way. another good point about skype is, that with the right pluggins, the lecture can be recorded with typed notes.

another thing we as lecturers can do, is record lectures and publish the finnished product as a podcast. these can be free services to students which can be put up on the institutions VLE.
Good examples of this can be found on iTunes U. ( the education central hub of iTunes)

its not just for broadcasting though, eLearning can include wireless contact to interactive whiteboards and live forums. for sites like todaysmeet and many more.

embedding gadgets on a VLE is simple, this means, revision quizes and flashcards, calenders and reminders, message boards and notifications can be sent to the students and lecturers and keep people on cue for exams and special events.

 

Benefits of E-Learning

"Good teaching is good teaching, no matter how it's done."

'Features of E-Learning

• Learning is self-paced and gives students a chance to speed up or slow down as necessary
• Learning is self-directed, allowing students to choose content and tools appropriate to their differing interests, needs, and skill levels
• Accommodates multiple learning styles using a variety of delivery methods geared to different learners; more effective for certain learners
• Designed around the learner
• Geographical barriers are eliminated, opening up broader education options
• 24/7 accessibility makes scheduling easy and allows a greater number of people to attend classes
• On-demand access means learning can happen precisely when needed
• Travel time and associated costs (parking, fuel, vehicle maintenance) are reduced or eliminated
• Overall student costs are frequently less (tuition, residence, food, child care)
• Potentially lower costs for companies needing training, and for the providers
• Fosters greater student interaction and collaboration
• Fosters greater student/instructor contact
• Enhances computer and Internet skills
• Draws upon hundreds of years of established pedagogical principles
• Has the attention of every major university in the world, most with their own online degrees, certificates, and individual courses'

Kaplan University

Visit www.kaplan.edu

Matching School Ads

The old adage still rings true, and e-Learning brings with it new dimensions in education. Some of the unique features of e-Learning are listed below.


this quote sums up everything eLearning entails. but as stated in my essay, there are bad points.

Yes, spam. it can get its way into any website , so the best action to take is to install anti virus software in your machines.
hopefully i have covered a few things both in my blog post and my essay!

New patch for GR5 for anyone interested!

https://soundcloud.com/pensalemstudios/apache

the patch for the guitar sound i used is here


hank edge guitar rig 5 patch

hope you guys like it

Forums

as part of the VLE, I included a forum which could have been used with students on the course (wondering if i could have still done it, as i thought that the uni wouldnt have liked the idea of a forum outside of moodle)
the idea of the forum was to get students to ask questions about the course and have me answer them and also have live group chat on the VLE itself. it is powered by Google Groups so the participants would be invited by their email addresses. this will then allow them to fully interact on the site

(a screenshot of the Google Groups forum on my VLE)

technology for eLearning

so i have taken another look around the internet and realized i could revisit the Presentation aspect of lecturing,

Prezzi: one of the better alternatives to PowerPoint (which to be fair has its uses, given the right situation) is relatively interactive, meaning to say you can zoom into and pin point any given slide at any given time.

Spicy nodes:
another useful tool for presentations, similar to prezzi, the lecturer can set different spider diagrams to evolve from a central spider. the central point of each spider can be an image or embeded video.

Emaze:
this software is a wonderful alternative to powerpoint as it has an easier, more aesthetically pleasing layout

a link to the website is available here
http://www.emaze.com/

VLE information

the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is an area of either Ethernet or Internet (on or off campus) which deals with the reviewing of course details, university attendence forms, administration, coursework submissions etc.
for the design of mine at:

https://sites.google.com/site/bscmusictech23/

i took inspiration from what i thought would be a good design for a VLE, simple yet effective.
within the site, i have put a page with a list of the staff members, course locations, documents, modules and a forum designed for questions and answers which includes a Quizlet quiz based on music technology studio terminology.

this is a screenshot of what my VLE looks like (not in use at the placement because of usage restraints.)

Google Hangouts

Again, like skype, google hangouts has a lot of fantastic features to allow eLearning to come into its own. these include

Screen shots of work
emoticons
messaging
live video streaming with multiple members
file exchange

  

as you can see in the picture, Hangouts can be accessed from all devices, which is a bonus for people on the go.

skype for lecturing

in my own opinion, this would be an ideal way of conneccting with an absent learner, this is because the lecturer can call through with the seminar or similar activity with the group and the learner will not miss out on seeing and hearing the topic.
another advantage of skype is the Text typing, so during the group disscussion, the learner can formulate answers/opinions and send them in for screen display.

so for skype in education, it is a rating of 5/5

connecting with learners Pt1

i have often considered why university lectures (especially the Music technology ones!) cannot be streamed live?
for example if someone is ill on a certain day and it was an important day to attend, the student could in effect join a chat room which connects with the students or lecturer, or a webcam feed directly from the seminar or small classroom/workshop. there is absolutely no reason why this method couldnt work.

in these nexr few posts i will try and find some good examples of live streaming methods and group contact methods for live classrooms.

VLE so far

As you can see, i have linked the home page to sub categories about the modules and course documents with a brief introduction on the home page...so far! this is due to change in the near future

A Little Confession

whilst i have been keeping up with the other parts of the E-Learning assignment, i have forgotten to keep up to date with my blog, but over the next 2 weeks i will make it up, somehow. thanks for the understanding, Adam

Save the ELYSIUM theatre

guys and gals, the more signiatures i get on this, the better. we need to preserve this piece of history!

NADOLIG LLAWEN I CHI GYD

of course its the season to be as festive as possible. i feel somewhat mellow today. but still im wishing everyone an unprecedentedly festal Christmas and a Convivial New Year

Technology to the Rescue. How it has changed education

         Technology has broadned the scope of education for better, but it can have its downsides.
computers have been a mainstay in modern education because they have let the learners take control.
   With processing power increasing in mobile technology, the way that students of all ages can browse the internet, word process and do all the things i mentioned in my " The Value of Mobile Technology in Education..."   post. with ease, in safety, and with speed.


    these methods also encourage independent learning/study. as the decades have moved on, the OU (Open University) has had masses of information passed through the internet, making enrolment and studying a lot easier.


    "Most of us carry more advanced technology in the smartphone in our pocket, than Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin used to reach the moon"  - Gove, Michael, education minister.

he also stated that although technology is entering the learning environment, a victorian teacher could enter 21st century classroom, and feel completely at home. This is because the model of education hasn't changed.

     Wherever a student is in the world, he or she is in the vicinity of technology. There are now aplications on phones and tablets which make research as simple as taking a photograph. Although mainly for tourists, school pupils can take photographs and as the picture is loaded on the screen, information is beamed onto the screen as well, showing off the history of the monument, building, point of interest.

However, technology must not be used as a crutch, it must be used in a way that can help, not hinder or be of harm. Luckily, Anti virus software and security can help avoid this.


One way Education has vastly improved with technology is via Skype. this way, absent students can tap into a lecture from home. Also having an online library of TED talks can aid any research 10 fold.


In short then, technology can and will continue to help the success rate of students/pupils and workmates alike.

Barriers to Learning

There are many reasons for the learning process to be restricted by technology. this post goes through the major ones in depth.

Firstly we see what holds the learner back from achieving goals.

Not being proficient in the technology that has to be implimented, meaning to say that they have not used the impliment before, or have not wished to until now. according to the inquirer.net,
   
         "17% of people dont have internet access, Most of those people don't want it"
                    ( Page, Carly. august 8th 2013)

This is  quite the setback in modern education as most students are now dependent on technology to survive, research and aquire the knowledge they need for decent assignments etc.

The next barrier, quite the major one is Copyright, Symbolised by:

©.

any form of written text, as soon as it is written or typed, is copyrighted, in theory anyway. also, as soon as a video clip is filmed or a piece of music is recorded, it is copyrighted. If a student then tries to pass it off as his or her own work, it is classed as copyrite violation, or plagiarism.

If a student wishes to quote something, another setback/barrier is reliabillity, ergo, the way to find out if the sourced text is genuine, the learner may wish to double check the information with another
trusted source. this way,  the learner will have more chance of getting a good grade.

Faculty Proficiency With Technology:
In a nutshell, Educause Quarterly tells us that one of the reasons people find it hard to learn with technology is that the staff in the particular institution have very limited knowledge of the technology needed, or they don't know what software is needed etc. 
                                                                                        -Buttler, D L. Sellbom M. (2002). Barriers to Adopting Technology for teaching and learning. Educause Quarterly. 2 (1), 22-28
  

The Value of Mobile Technology in Education...

As education has progressed throughout the centuries,students have always looked for new ways to communicate on the go.

1801: the chalkboard was invented By James Pilans, a geography teacher in a school in Edinburgh-Scotland- when he hung a slate slab in his classroom. you could use the slate slab multiple times, if washed.
         Concordia Online states that at the end of the 18th century, classroom students everywhere were using this innovation. more recently-in the 1960s-the Chalkboard was accompanied by a more up to date version now known as a whiteboard which is written on with markers. still used in some places.
      
the personal computer age had finaly come into education in in the early 80s when the Atari desktop computer used Floppy Drive disks with very minimalist software. this enabled students (primarily primary age) to work individually in thier own way.

when computers really found thier feet was when windows 3-95 came into the school computer suites. internet access was very minimal but enabled people to navigate for information easily.

The laptop is another breakthrough, the first really useful and portable invented in '92.

the Laptop becomes digital tablet

tablets such as the iPad, Archos, Galaxy tab , Blackberry, and many more besides have various apps which enhance learning in a plethora of ways. these apps include:

EXPLAIN EVERYTHING:



if you have seen the "changing the paradigm" video, chances are that the idea for explain everything came from this, but making it a lot simpler to use. basically, while you talk about your subject, you can take notes, type, jot down images and it is all recorded in real time. even your mistakes.
So, once you have finished your lesson, or have made notes on paper, you can transfer them to explain everything in terms of animation and recorded audio.



GLOGSTER:







glogster is in efect an animated poster with links to audio files, scrolling text, youtube and other video formats, a handy way of showing work in a nifty format. basically, you choose your desired theme, possibly you could add a title as a central point and put your media around it or whichever way you want to do it.



there are signs that the children/pupils/students are becoming thier own teachers/lecturers, to achieve this, the students or pupils will have access to QR coding and speciality software called aurasma.

 AURASMA
With this software, it is possible that they-the students- can film themselves explaining whats going on in a page of text, another pupil can scan the code on the page and befor they know it, the film jumps out of the book without blanking out the text.

it is believed that the majority of students who use technology to its full potential 

BUBBL.US

this is an example of a Bubbl mindmap

https://bubbl.us/?h=23151f/4bbe47/22NB1nECeyRbw&r=503098564 (please copy and paste to address bar)

mindmapping on Bubbl is a great way of presenting work, keeping notes, revising or simply posting a hierarchy to just remind yourself where you fit in to a system.

Placement: where is it, and my first week

although a while back now, my first week in my placement was somewhat eventful.

the placement itself is the Music Technology BSc course, situated in the BBC building and Dynevor building on Alexander Road.
in the BBC building, the top 3 floors are Dedicated to the UWTSD. the course leaders  are Dr Paul Hazel and Simon Killshaw.  the course itself consists of 3 modules, each catered for by the amazing facilities found in the building. amongst these are 3 recording studios, a main hall, seminar room and PC lab.

TED talk 2: What Playing A Musical Instrument Does To Your Brain

well. who'd have thought it eh?
you play music they said, need more maths and sciences they said! but they all tie in to music, as Addison Anderson and Anita Collins explain.

NWR Tales S3 Ep.27: The Sodor Blitz

I know i still watch anything to do with Thomas etc...but i thought this would be apropriate for rememberence day. LEST WE FORGET!

Rememberence Day

i thought this would be apropriate for rememberance day :)