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anita z boudreau

elearnspace › learning, networks, knowledge, technology, community - 0 views

  • Instead of creating central spaces of learning, our focus (and reflected in Stephen’s grsshopper software) in subsequent courses turned to encouraging students to own their own learning spaces. The course, as a result, became more about aggregating distributed interactions than about forcing learners into our spaces.
    • anita z boudreau
       
      similar to what I have been exploring in pVLS
  • If connections don’t form, learning doesn’t happen and knowledge isn’t generated.
  • in the near future, all learning will be boundary-less. All learning content will be computational, not contrived or prestructured. All learning will be granular, with coherence formed by individual learners. Contrived systems, such as teaching, curriculum, content, accreditation, will be replaced, or at minimum, by models based on complexity and emergence (with a bit of chaos thrown in for good measure)
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  • The big idea is that learning and knowledge are networked, not sequential and hierarchical. Systems that foster learning, especially in periods of complexity and continual changes to the human knowledge base, must be aligned with this networked model. In the short term, hierarchical and structured models may still succeed. In the long term, and I’m thinking in terms of a decade or so, learning systems must be modelled on the attributes of networked information, reflect end user control, take advantage of connective/collective social activity, treat technical systems as co-sensemaking agents to human cognition, make use of data in automated and guided decision making, and serve the creative and innovation needs of a society (actually, human race) facing big problems.
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    George Siemens
anita z boudreau

8 Lessons Learned from Teaching Online on Vimeo - 0 views

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    Educause
anita z boudreau

The Ultimate Student Guide to xMOOCs and cMOOCs - moocnewsandreviews.com - 0 views

  • The origin of the MOOC goes way back (all of five years), to 2008 when Canadian scholars Stephen Downes and George Siemens led an online course called Connectivism and Connective Knowledge  (CCK08). When they opened it up, for free, to anyone to participate, over 2,200 students signed up.
  • He defines a MOOC as being a course with a start and end date and that is open with no barriers to entry, neither cost nor education criteria. The courses are also online, accessed on the Web, and are massive, requiring a significant number of students to contribute to a connected learning environment.  The MOOC concept was also one of the first courses based on the premise of distributed content, where course content is accessed on the Web for free rather than from textbooks.
  • ‘c’ stands for Connectivist By Chris P Jobling via Flickr Connectivism and Connective Knowledge was about — and based on — the learning theory of connectivism, developed by one of the instructors, George Siemens. His theory is based on the idea that learning happens within a network, where learners use digital platforms such as blogs, wikis, social media platforms to make connections with content, learning communities and other learners to create and construct knowledge. Within a cMOOC, learners are encouraged (though not required) to contribute actively, using these digital platforms. Participants’ contributions in form of blog posts, tweets etc. are aggregated by course organizers and shared with all participants via daily email or newsletter
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  • MOOCs started getting a lot more attention when Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig from Stanford University opened up enrollment to their Artificial Intelligence course in 2011. They expected a few thousand students at the most to enroll, but within the first few days enrollment hit 10,000, then 100,000 and the final number of registered students was 160,000,
  • Shortly after Artificial Intelligence finished, Thrun started Udacity, a platform offering MOOCs that mostly focus on science and technology. Coursera opened soon after, followed by edX which is a joint effort between Harvard and MIT. And new platforms are still being launched, including Open2Study from Australia’s Open Universities and NovoEd from Stanford. These MOOCs offered on university-based platforms are modeled on traditional course materials, learning theories and higher education teaching methods. For example, they usually are organized around lectures and quiz-type assessment methods. Also these courses typically use little distributed content that’s available on the Web outside the platform. Most course content is prerecorded video lectures which are posted on the courses’ home page.
  • xMOOCs are not better or worse than a cMOOC, just different. xMOOCs fit the needs of many (though not all) learners looking for academic courses that meet a specific interest and need. Who and what are behind the xMOOC platforms? Another significant factor that differentiates an xMOOC from a cMOOC is who are behind them. Rather than a group of individuals building the course as in a cMOOC, an xMOOC usually has one or more higher education colleges or schools behind it, and, in some cases, a for-profit company.
  • MOOCs featured in the media are quite different from the original concept. One co-founder of the first MOOC, Stephen Downes, came up with the terms ‘xMOOC’ and ‘cMOOC’ to distinguish between classes modeled on his and the form that has become better known since then. The Coursera and edX platforms that have grabbed the spotlight recently are examples of xMOOCs.
anita z boudreau

HTML5 | Managing eLearning - 0 views

  • The Zeitgeist has shifted. Few of us lust after a sleek laptop anymore, and desktops are impossibly location-based (even if cheap and powerful): the mobile wave has broken all around us.
  • “2013 will be the year that flash developers will need to learn HTML5 as eLearning takes a huge step further into the mobile scene,
  • HTML5 will continue to be on the forefront of eLearning,” this demand will drive the development of easy-to-use templates
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  • the adoption of mLearning will continue to “lag except in markets with specific on-the-job training use cases.”  She said tablets are ideal for some very specialized use cases (such as on-the-job training for those in numerous healthcare professions), though while tablets are increasing in prevalence in the workplace, they haven’t yet gained widespread adoption
  • Even if MOOCs turn out to be a transitional technology…the concept will contribute a lot to the body of research about the internet as a tool in education,
  • MOOCs would be “hugely popular and that even higher education facilities that are traditionally class-room based will move toward more online education.”
  • If more MOOCs are developed, what will that mean for the Instructional Designer?
  • lead to an increased “need for large-scale instructional design as more universities, and other educational facilities will follow the examples of Harvard and MIT and start to create their own MOOCs
  • commonly classroom-based courses will need to be converted to something accessible online.  It may mean, that universities will have to outsource and/or hire more personne
  • An advantage of HTML5 is that it is not an all or nothing situation. Using feature detection, we can create one template that serves the advanced HTML5 features to modern browsers and Flash-based media to older browsers.
  • HTML5 introduces the audio and video tags which allow us to include media that previously required a plugin such as Flash. However, if you want to create really rich audio experience using HTML5 audio, such as within a game, sound capabilities have not matured to the level of Flash or other game development environments.
  • With the recent explosion of device development, people can be viewing eLearning content on so many different devices; compatibility issues definitely come up.
  • HTML has the upper hand compared to Flash with regards to search optimization and accessibility. Content can be structured in a way that search engines and screen readers can easily interpret.
  • It would be ideal to have consistent browser support where everyone can easily develop programs that work on everyone’s machines. That would be ideal.
  • Flash will move forward and keep improving. It still serves an important function in computer-based training. It may go into a specialized area, like perhaps for game development. HTML, JavaScript, and desktop software do application development well. In the application space, the argument can be made that Flash is unnecessary.
  • One of the reasons that we’ve been staying with Flash for highly interactive games and simulations is that the HTML5 alternative, canvas, is not universally supported
  • HTML5 brings with it the ability to display audio and video natively within a browser without plug-ins as well as dynamic rendering of 2D shapes. It also features improved accessibility, security and forms.
  • The Road to HTML5
  • HTML (mid-1991)
  • For the first time, simple text documents can be linked to and accessed easily by anyone connected to the internet from anywhere in the world.
  • HTML+ (late 1991-94
  • Tables are introduced, as is the ability to create questionnaires that can be filled in. Mathematical equations can now be created natively (though this feature is fully replaced in 1998). Large documents can be split into small modules to enable faster load times.
  • HTML 2 (1995)
  • HTML 2 marks the introduction of server side-image maps (allowing hotlinks to be created on images).
  • HTML 3.2 (January 1997)
anita z boudreau

http://www.helpedx.org/6002x.pdf - 1 views

    • anita z boudreau
       
      "Circuits and Electronics" (6.002x), which began in March 2012, was the first MOOC developed by edX, the consortium led by MIT and Harvard. Over 155,000 students initially registered for 6.002x, which was composed of video lectures, interactive problems, online laboratories, and a discussion forum. This article is interesting from an instructional design perspective.... " In contract to a residential course, we could provide means for students to actively and continuously monitor their level of mastery, to actively engage in the learning process (as opposed to passively absorbing lectures), to avoid having long-term misconceptions, to self-pace the learning process, and to have rapid feedback." All student activity data captured Coursework organized by weeks: - 2 hrs interactive content - learning sequences - consisting of 5-10 min video segments interspersed with self assessment exercises. - varied amounts essential and open tutorials w/ additional problem solving videos, interesting info [sidebars] - students complete problem set and design lab assignment using web simulator - mid term after wk 7 + final COURSE FORMAT: semi synchronous - can watch and do learning sequence nay time but each week's work has a specific deadline. Studs can earn point to receive MITx honor code certificate RESULTS: broad backgrounds but slanted towards adult learners [14-74 mean 30]. split US-International IMPROVEMENTS OVER TRADITIONAL COURSE A. Learning Sequences promote Active Learning - videos punctuated by both checked and unchecked questions [Socratic] vs lectures B. Instant Feedback in Assessments - problems infinite attempts - sufficiently open ended questions [so students cant guess] C. Tutoring-Style Videos - modeled on Khan, both student & instructor look at common 'paper' hand written style vs computer -students do much of work themselves vs watching D. Self-Paced Learning E. Instant Question &
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    Teaching Electronic Circuits Online: Lessons from MITx's 6.002x on edX
anita z boudreau

Colleges Adapt Online Courses to Ease Burden - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • To address both problems and keep students on track to graduation, universities are beginning to experiment with adding the new “massive open online courses,” created to deliver elite college instruction to anyone with an Internet connection, to their offerings.
    • anita z boudreau
       
      moocs=elite instruction? are moocs more cost effective? are moocs the right instructional model for low end learners?
    • anita z boudreau
       
      an argument for differentiated instruction? e.g. educators develop supplementary online resources to support the low [what you should know to be successful in this course] - high end [what you can do to deepen you knowledge] students and then focus on the middle in the course?
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  • Nearly half of all undergraduates in the United States arrive on campus needing remedial work before they can begin regular credit-bearing classe
  • While the courses, known as MOOCs, have enrolled millions of students around the world, most who enroll never start a single assignment, and very few complete the courses. So to reach students who are not ready for college-level work, or struggling with introductory courses, universities are beginning to add extra supports to the online materials, in hopes of improving success rates.
  • In one pilot program, the university is working with Udacity, a company co-founded by a Stanford professor, to see whether round-the-clock online mentors, hired and trained by the company, can help more students make their way through three fully online basic math courses. The tiny for-credit pilot courses, open to both San Jose State students and local high school and community college students, began in January, so it is too early to draw any conclusions. But early signs are promising, so this summer, Udacity and San Jose State are expanding those classes to 1,000 students, and adding new courses in psychology and computer programming, with tuition of only $150 a course.
    • anita z boudreau
       
      providing pre prep courses to ensure students succeed in the university level courses. could think about providing a similar type resource for low level writers who need to get up to speed before starting coursework
  • Usually, two of every five students earn a grade below C and must retake the course or change career plans. So last spring, Ellen Junn, the provost, visited Anant Agarwal, an M.I.T. professor who taught a free online version of the circuits class, to ask whether San Jose State could become a living lab for his course, the first offering from edX, an online collaboration of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
    • anita z boudreau
       
      use of blended model to provide extra supports - reinforce concepts introduced in the f2f class?
  • Until now, there has been little data on how well the massive online courses work, and for which kinds of students. Blended courses provide valuable research data because outcomes can easily be compared with those from a traditional class.
  • “For us, 2012 was all about trying to tilt some of the MOOC attention toward the more novice learner, the low-income and first-generation students,” he said. “And 2013 is about blending MOOCs into college courses where there is additional support, and students can get credit.
  • Dr. Qayoumi favors the blended model for upper-level courses, but fully online courses like Udacity’s for lower-level classes, which could be expanded to serve many more students at low cost. Traditional teaching will be disappearing in five to seven years, he predicts, as more professors come to realize that lectures are not the best route to student engagement, and cash-strapped universities continue to seek cheaper instruction.
  • “There may still be face-to-face classes, but they would not be in lecture halls,” he said. “And they will have not only course material developed by the instructor, but MOOC materials and labs, and content from public broadcasting or corporate sources. But just as faculty currently decide what textbook to use, they will still have the autonomy to choose what materials to include.”
    • anita z boudreau
       
      the future of teaching? f2f = interaction on small group or individual basis?
    • anita z boudreau
       
      shift -> educators no longer instructional designers?
  • Any wholesale online expansion raises the specter of professors being laid off, turned into glorified teaching assistants or relegated to second-tier status, with only academic stars giving the lectures. Indeed, the faculty unions at all three California higher education systems oppose the legislation requiring credit for MOOCs for students shut out of on-campus classes. The state, they say, should restore state financing for public universities, rather than turning to unaccredited private vendors.
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