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...