Post 4 Assignments PART TWO

First of, This was hard for me. I was trying to get too fancy and add links etc., that I would forget how to do it and it took me FOREVER to remember and add them for my classmates. Hopefully you were able to open everything up okay and bare with me, I WILL GET BETTER AT THIS 🙂

Citation 1:
Moonen, J. (1997). The Efficiency of Telelearning. JALN Volume 1, Issue 2 August 1997

Click the website to go directly to the article page: http://sloanconsortium.org/jaln/v1n2/efficiency-telelearning

Click the link to view the full article: 1

Summary:

The article was speaking in terms of what were the efficiencies of using telelearning. It was broken down by:
• Efficiency and effectiveness
• The efficiency of an educational/training system
• How to operationalise efficiency
• Different kinds of efficiency analyses
• Telelearning and efficiency
• The effects of telelearning
• The cost of telelearning
• Telelearning and (higher) education
• And Telelearning and training

What really caught my eye when I read “A variable often neglected in media research is the time involvement of the student” in this article. It was the mention of how the student is never considered when designing online courses. There always seems to be this assumption that students are enthusiastic about an online course, they don’t have to go anywhere. And of course the online class is made boring not taking into consideration that the student has to put in more hours into an online course than a face-to-face class.

Efficiency is always something to remember when planning an on line course. Thinking of cost, thinking of how much a student has to spend on work, and thinking of how easily it can be accessed because it is an elearning class and sometimes you don’t get that rapid response if you where face-to-face with the instructor.

Review:

This article reminded me of the chapters we read this week. Why? Well because it was just so long and was somewhat repetitive. I would have gotten more out of the article if it was short and sweet. Short and sweet often gets the points across. It is interesting, I also got the vibe that they were trying to defend elearning so much when it needs no defending. It is up to the instructor to design a meaningful class that can be done from anywhere in the world and comprehension can still occur.

Citation 2:
Russell, M., Carey, R., Kleiman, G., Venable, J.D. (2009) Face-to-Face and online professional development for mathematics teachers: a comparative study. Boston College 2009.

Click the website to go directly to the article page: http://sloanconsortium.org/jaln/v13n2/face-face-and-online-professional-development-mathematics-teachers-comparative-study

Click the link to view the full article: 2

Summary:

The article gives background information as well as previous research that has been done on online courses and face-to-face classes. It was centered on past research and studies which was an interesting perspective. It was basing information done in the past rather than presently so it would be interesting to raise this issue again to see if there is a major difference in past studies and more recent studies.

An outcome list was mentioned in the article and they mention the following:
These outcomes included the following:
• Increased understanding of number sense.
• Increased ability to identify misconceptions and errors that students apply when working on problems specific to number sense.
• Increased ability to identify and apply instructional strategies that hold potential to help improve student understanding of these concepts.
• Increased use of instructional methods that allow students to develop their thinking, share their understandings, and discuss their classmates’ problem-solving strategies.

Review:

I enjoyed this article because there was no really clear winner when it came to online classes versus face-to-face classes. I found that enjoyable because before, nobody wanted an online course now it’s so close that it cannot really be a clear winner on who wins for best class format.

The outcomes mentioned in the article and above, where exciting to me because these outcomes where for both face-to-face classes and online classes. I felt like I was taking the easy way out by taking an online class because I was still very cautionary about wanting to be around a lot of people. I felt I would be cheating myself out of a learning experience but the learning experience is very similar to a face-to-face course. I am glad my doubts were somewhat put to rest with this article.

Citation 3:
McCrea, B. (2012). 5 K-12 E-Learning Trends

Click the link to be taken to the article:

http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/02/02/5-k12-e-learning-trends.aspx

Summary:

There are mentions of tablets in the classroom. If I were reading this when I was in the elementary level I would have thought you were crazy for thinking that a low-income school district would be able to afford such a luxury.

There was this quote that got me more and more interested in the topic of e-learning:
“This strong interest in leveraging the power of online learning through self-study online courses, teacher-led online classes, as well as blended/hybrid learning environments,” Evans said, “has translated into more online learning experiences than ever before for middle and high school students.” It is interesting to see how the educational system is ever changing because had we had this conversation a few decades ago, everyone mentioning e-learning would have been perceived as crazy or delusional for thinking that low-income schools could afford such a system.

Review:

I never really made the connection of E-Learning with the K-12 educational system so the title alone got me interested in the subject. Usually I think of e-learning classes/tools intended more towards the university level not in the level that I intend in teaching in. Another thing that caught my attention was the mention of tablets in the classroom. More and more districts are bringing in these new technologies into the classroom. There was a recent event in the school district (low-income mind you) that all students at the high school level were receiving a FREE Ipad to use in the classroom. I was so astonished, and a little jealous, that the students of now will be able to have access to something that I am barely getting access to.

There was a section on social awareness (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) this is something that I would actually not advocate to a K-12 school system. I, at 26 years of age, refuse to have such things because I do not want personal life on the web. This is my first blog EVER and I am still very cautious about what I put on here. Kids nowadays have no idea that a picture taken when they are in high school can haunt them in their future careers. But that just may be my paranoid side speaking. 

Citation 4:
Malamed, C. (2012) Learning Technology Trends to watch in 2012. The elearning coach: tips and reviews for success with online and mobile learning.

Click the link to be taken directly to the article:

http://theelearningcoach.com/elearning2-0/learning-technology-trends-for-2012/

Summary:

This was something unique that still has me scratching my head. The article mentioned the follow items for developing a cloud (I have no idea what a cloud is  but the description got me liking this “cloud”)
• Composica: An online platform for building courses in a collaborative environment so team members can communicate during the process.
• eXe: A well-regarded open source authoring tool for creating and publishing web content.
• Interaction Builder: In a category by itself, this tool from the eLearning Brothers provides an online service for creating interactions, which are then downloaded and incorporated into an online course. To build interactions, you choose a template and add text, images and audio. Interactions publish to a single flash file.
• My Brainshark: A web-based subscription service for creating and hosting on-demand multimedia presentations. My Brainshark is free; My Brainshark Pro has advanced features. Also see Brainshark for a paid enterprise version.
• Lectora Online: A collaborative online version of the Lectora authoring tool, it lets team members share and modify course content. Lectora Online has lots of templates for publishing to tablets.
• Ruzuku: An online platform that allows you to easily create scheduled or on-demand online courses as well as learning communities.
• Udutu: One of the earlier online course building and deployment platforms, Udutu provides a free online course authoring tool with paid hosting services.

Flipped learning was also a new term for me. In the article it mentions: “Jane Hart writes about the Flipped or Social Webinar she facilitated in which participants were asked to read and reflect on an assigned article prior to the event. Then rather than saving their questions for the end of the webinar, participants were able to spend the webinar time in discussion, asking questions and applying knowledge. Imagine the possibilities when learners are thinking and interacting rather than watching a “sage on the stage.”” Again, I should have tapped my reaction after reading such a statement.

Review:

Again, I am starting to think I was drop here in 2013 from the year 1940 because all these elearning tools/programs have me so baffled and wondering, am I computer literate? Of course I am. I am on here (somehow ) I never really knew how many programs where out there in order to create such a friendly online environment. I usually hear of all the negatives aka. Twitter/Facebook/etc. I say negative because of all the bullying cases out there and the over exposure of all these so called celebrities. But who knew (not me) what good the internet, collaborative sites, blogs, and elearning could be.

Flipped learning was something rather new and unique that I have never come across before. Or I have but it is so small that I am unable to see it. Basically it is the idea that students have access to the information before something takes place so they can be a part of the learning process rather than just sitting there looking at the teacher. It is an interesting concept but it got me thinking, in reality, how many students will actually do this?

Citation 5:
Nagel, D. (2010). The Future of E-Learning is More Growth. Campus Technology

Click the link to be taken to the article:

http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/03/03/the-future-of-e-learning-is-more-growth.aspx

Summary:

“Electronic learning, by dollar volume, reached $27.1 billion in 2009 and predicting this figure will nearly double that by 2014, with academic institutions leading the way.” What a statement to be reading and be caught off guard if you were someone that really did not think e-learning was such a huge commodity. “The largest expenditures for packaged content in 2009 were made by the PreK-12 and higher education buyers, which accounted for 43 percent of all North American purchases.” Again, where have I been that the PreK-12 schools are such a huge part of this expenditure?

Review:

I think I was just living under a rock because I had no clue, and I mean NO CLUE that elearning was such a huge thing. I just thought of it as just any other thing, most likely just something that will go away. I have been running away from most new technologies because I did not want my privacy invaded. Believe me, after what I have been through; I am a bit more paranoid than ever. The more and more I have read different articles about elearning, the more I am starting to believe that I was delusional for thinking I could get away from these types of systems. Again, the paranoia kicks in because there is no more traditional ways of doing, we are being overrun by technology.

EVERYONE, I DID IT!!! I hope everything was A-OKAY and you were able to see everything.