Primary Research

Within education their is (some) interest in research: getting students to formally adopt research methodologies. 

See research in teaching and learning which highlights two types of research: primary and secondary.

Here is an introduction to primary research.  It may be useful for students that are new to research.

Adobe prepares for HTML5 [?]

Adobe Edge

Chrome Notebooks - Chromebook - and the Cloud

The following article describes the benefits of cloud computing nicely:

"...
Google’s Caesar Sengupta, Product Management Director for Chrome, told Metro.co.uk: ‘What you don’t get from this is headaches. With current operating systems, you have to get anti-virus software, you have to worry about backing up your data, you have to worry about what version of the software you’re running, you have to worry about malware.’
‘The Chromebook’s a lot more no-hassle. You open it up, it just works, you don’t have to worry about viruses - it has a pretty crazy amount of security in it - and it’s very easy to share.  You just use your computer, close the lid, walk away, come back, open the lid and you’re back to where you were.’
..."

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/867328-google-chromebook-computers-go-on-sale-in-uk-hands-on#ixzz1QAl0BqM1

STA/R/S - Stars

Simplicity is good, and on that basis here's a current thought to develop...

Simple Test => Accept / Reject / Save

Develop simple tests to apply to things (anything) and then based on the result of the test choose to:
Accept,
Reject, or
Save the idea/thing (for later).

STA/R/S - Stars

Anywhere; any time?

We all know that e-learning claims to offer the student the chance to study anywhere, and to study at any time.  Don't we?

So why is there so much emphasis on live online interactions? 

Video conferencing, live seminars, live online lectures...
... they all require the student to be online at that time!

In other words, if you really believe students should be able to learn at any time then the above live activities do not help the student to do that.

To allow the student to really learn at any time e-learning providers need to get smarter and innovate.

KISS the standard Internet technologies

KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid

There are many organisations and institutions focusing on e-learning and associated technologies.  As in every other sector, there are too many.  However, that's not quite the point of this post...

There is a great deal of naval gazing involved, contemplating which technologies to develop and use for e-learning.  But consider KISSing much of that goodbye.

Here are a few reasons why you should JUST use standard Internet technologies, and not use custom or proprietary e-learning technologies.  The benefits of using standard technology for e-learning are as follows:

1. Internet businesses and open source organisations have far more expertise of Internet technologies than education establishments have.
   
2. This means they provide robust technologies that have been tested by vast numbers of users.
   
3. Good usability features that have been tested by many users.
   
4. Compatibility across many different platforms (computers, browsers, phones, etc.)
   
5. All Net literate users understand how to use these applications already - no extra technologies have to be learnt.
   
6. Consequently, staff and students can use their time efficiently to quickly focus on teaching and learning, rather than wasting time on new unnecessary technologies.
   
7. Students can use the same technologies for learning and work; and can directly apply their new skills to their work, and social life.

Why make life difficult for yourself, your colleagues and students?

Remember to KISS :-)

Harmony 5

No it's not the latest shampoo - just an article about HTML5 and how developments need to be harmonised:


http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/emerging-tech/2011/04/18/berners-lee-work-is-needed-to-harmonise-html-5-40092550/

E-Learning Template

The following example of an e-learning template pulls together recommendations from e-learning guidelines and effective information presentation:

https://sites.google.com/site/electronicacademic/processes/theories-and-models-about-learning/points-for-e-learning/example-e-learning-template

You are welcome to apply this to your learning materials. 
Note, of course, it is applicable to traditional learning too.

Maths tools - Wolfram Alpha

An excellent set of interactive tools for developing your understanding of maths:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/Math.html

Topicmarks - auto text summary

http://topicmarks.com/

"Topicmarks summarizes text documents for you electronically.
Get a smart synopsis in minutes instead of reading everything yourself."

Practice what they preach? E-learning and PDF

Here's a tip to consider...

Do experts practice what they preach? 
If not, it may mean that they don't understand the topic: they're not experts.

If you come across PDF documents on the web about e-learning, ask yourself the above question about the author.

If an author publishes Word documents then they clearly have little clue about good practice in e-learning.

Homework:  Identify at least 2 reasons why Word docs represent bad practice...

If a report sounds like waffle and jargon...

... it often means it is just waffle!

• Do you read reports that splash long, complex sounding, words everywhere?
• Do they seem to make no sense?
• Do they sound like waffle?

If you answered yes to each one of these then the author probably is waffling, and has nothing useful to say.

A useful report will have clear conclusions (and recommendations).  It demonstrates that the author is confident in that subject, and has discovered new knowledge.

Tips: 
Check the report's abstract, and if it makes sense then check the conclusions.  If the conclusions are interesting and relevant then read the report; else don't bother.

Write reports in plain english. 

Be clear about your conclusions and recommendations.

Open App Store from Mozilla

Currently, it's impractical for many indivuals and small organisations to develop e-learning apps for the wide range of mobile and web devices out there.  However, this may change all of that...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/07/mozilla_web_apps_code/

"...
Firefox daddy Mozllla has released early code in its campaign to create a completely open alternative not only to Apple's app stores but also Google's fledging Chrome web store.

...

Mozilla's Web Applications model takes development in a different direction. The open sourcers state a Web App store built using its architecture should exclusively host applications built on HTML5, CSS, Javascript, and other "widely implemented open standards in modern browsers - to avoid interoperability, portability and lock-in issues."

The idea is to be able to things like launch a Web Application with a single click or share your contacts with Web Applications using any device or browser.
..."

Quality of collaborative and individual learning in virtual learning environments

"The quality of individual learning was superior to that of collaborative learning."

... if you ever really wondered.


"In evaluating students learning processes it was found that major factors hindering such learning were tutors' lack of appropriate degree of input and directions"

... and no surprise here too.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=5708377&abstractAccess=no&userType=inst

Design Animation in Segments

Useful findings from a research study
(how often do you hear that :-)

Design solutions for novice or low prior knowledge students in animation:

1. segmented-animation was beneficial
2. allowing students to decide the segmentation in play-pause-animation does not necessarily promote better learning (though the study acknowledges that the design of the play/pause buttons may be altered to influence this finding)
3. pauses between segments allows time for students to develop more accurate mental models
4. static display during the pauses is also beneficial

Effects of segmentation of instructional animation in facilitating learning

World's largest university puts almost all of its materials online

http://reganmian.net/blog/2008/12/05/worlds-largest-university-opens-almost-all-its-materials/

But at the time of posting this the university's site was not responding.
[too popular?]

Mobile devices: SSI

 Supplementary Storage Infrastructure (SSI)

Developing an entire infrastructure for e-learning on all platforms (PC and mobile) may be a daunting challenge.  However, a supplementary storage infrastructure (SSI) could be developed.  The SSI addresses some of the needs for PC and mobile based learning.  In its simplest form the SSI hosts e-learning content and interactions.

The advantages of the SSI are as follows:

• Uses a simple, but robust, standard web server technology
• Optional content management system to simply use for content developers
• Relatively quick to install and implement
• Allows sharing of content across modules
• Access from any web device (e.g. PC or mobile)
• Supports the trend for open content

Knowledge vs. Understanding

Here's an example of the difference between knowledge and understanding:

Google (the search engine) knows more than you do - much more!

However, Google doesn't understand what it knows :-)

Good E-Learning Guidelines [?]

Here are a list of points that may be useful for e-learning:

1. Small chunks of information: When demonstrating a specific concept keep the number of items small (less than 5) and only present information that can be comprehended within one minute.
   
2. Explain the meaning of something that is to be learnt.
   
3. Elaborate the descriptions (with more small chunks of information)
   
4. An emotional stimulus helps to store memories.
   
5. Organise the information:
• order from simple to complex concepts
  
6. Engage students in interactions that require a degree of effort from them.
   
7. Space rehersals over a period of time.
   
8. Suggest the student suspends their study at certain points throughout the material (or after, say, 50 minutes of learning) and goes away to do something unrelated to the learning.
   
9. Provide simulations that deliver information in small chunks.
   
10. Try to motivate the student.
    
11. Encourage the student to reflect on their learning.
    
12. If appropriate to the group, course and task then consider using social networking / social learning.
    
13. Explicitly test the following (perhaps in separate stages):

• memory / knowledge - recall of the information taught
• understanding - applying their understanding to new scenarios

PDF - not good practice (on the web)

Because something is widely adopted it doesn't mean it's good practice.
Some things are adopted because it allows the author to be lazy; or publish existing content quickly.

PDF files...

They have the advantages of: allowing existing documents to be quickly published on the web; preserving the fomat of a document; collating all the pages in one package; and allowing the whole document to be easily printed.

They have big disadvantages for web surfing: just about all of the functionality and advantages of web browsers and surfing the web are bypassed!

Generally, no division of the content with links, no bookmarking of specific sections / pages, and most browser functionality is bypassed.

E-learning experts, or amateurs?

Does it make you laugh when you read about good practice in e-learning and the article itself demonstrates bad practice?

Today I came across such a PDF [horrible format for the web, but that's another story].  In the PDF several of the images would need to be rotated 90 degrees so that they can be viewed properly.  That's easy if you (waste paper) and print it out; but it's much harder to rotate an image when your using a web browser!  Doh!

Free CourseSites from Blackboard

https://www.coursesites.com/webapps/Bb-sites-course-creation-BBLEARN/pages/index.html

Blackboard Analytics

Data warehousing and analysis...

http://www.blackboard.com/Platforms/Analytics/Overview.aspx

Learning Analytics

Let's look at student interactions to refine our e-learning.


"Learning analytics loosely joins a variety of
data-gathering tools and analytic techniques
to study student engagement, performance,
and progress in practice, with the goal of using
what is learned to revise curricula, teaching, and
assessment in real time. Building on the kinds
of information generated by Google Analytics
and other similar tools, learning analytics aims
to mobilize the power of data-mining tools
in the service of learning, and embracing
the complexity, diversity, and abundance of
information that dynamic learning environments
can generate."

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf

Mathematics tool

The following mathematics tool - free from Microsoft - is interesting to play around with.

Microsoft Mathematics 4

It may be of interest to some students; and it may inspire e-learning developers too.

CJ: Blog

CJ: Blog: Supporting Learning and Teaching