last session we had an online seminar. Actually, it was a lot of fun. Unfortunatelly it was more about technics working or not working than about content.

First, we started chatting via skype. It was the “welcoming part”. The technic worked out well.

Then, we had a telephone conference via skype. The technic worked but communication was more complicated as I didn’t know who was there and sometimes it was hard to distinguish who was talking.

Third, we tried another web site/program (can anyone give me a hint how to get to this program?) where we could see the skype chat, a “white board” and the teacher via camera and hear the teacher’s voice. Unfortunatelly, most of the time we could not hear the person speaking. The teacher tried to explain something but I could not follow it.

Last we watched a video on You tube and then went back to chat.

Well, summed up, it was an interesting experience. We had a lot of fun and it was my first time using internet for a class. I want to give a short comment on what could be improved.

Most problems arised with the technic. Skype (chatting and calling) basically worked well. The sound of the new program was a major problem and therefore it was not effective. The program itself offers various possibilities and it therefore is highly recommendable to be developed.

Preparing an online session it would be effective if there was a clear goal set, like an exercise that has to be handed in at the end of the session. Then, you could use the communication choices more targeted. Chatting is important and mostly used for relationship building and fun. As a teacher it should be a goal to use the communication tools to communicate about topics you want students to discuss.

That’s it for now. Thanks to the people who made it possible and who spent there time for offering this session.

Juliane

I thought I take some time to check out what other people did so far and I found something interesting. Selma mentioned on her blog http://levke.edublogs.org/2008/05/06/other-blogs/ that she checked out two other Blogs of experts on E-learning. The first one is Downes and the other one Siemens.

Downes wrote ten things you really need to learn, like How to predict consequences, How to read, How to distinguish truth from fiction, How to empathize, How to be creative, How to communicate clearly, How to Learn, How to stay healthy, How to value yourself, How to live meaningfully which he considers as to be taught in school. Furthermore, he summed up nine rules for good technology like Good technology is always available, Good technology is always on, Good technology is standardized and so on. Check out: http://www.downes.ca/ for more details.

On Siemens blog I found a link to Tery Andersons book: “The theory and practice of online learning”. There I consider the part of design and development of online courses as interesting for future work.  I might want to check out more on: http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/ later.

Selma also mentioned that Siemens developed the learning theory of connectivism which I never heard of. I ve heard of constructivism, behaviorism and cognitivism. Connectivism seems to be close to constructivism. This theory (as I remember it from my paper on webquests) says that every individual “designs” or “constructs” its own reality and tries to make new information fit into existing patterns. Learning takes place as soon as these patterns have to be changed. Selma wrote on connectivism: According to this theory (connectivism) is learning a network-building process. New knowledge is constantly combined with existing knowledge and experiences. Learning becomes a process, in which different information sources and networking joints are constantly combined.

I guess I’ll come back to this later…

Juliane

I’d like to take you to my favorite learning places.

Most of the time you’ll find me sitting at my desk.

The advantages of studying at home outweigh the disadvantages. I do have a very good and fast wireless internet connection, a fast and quite printer and a lot of space on my desk. I can listen to music whenever I want to and I can turn it off if I need to concentrate. I do have all my documents close to my working area and it’s all as well organized as I need it. Furthermore, I can go and get me a free coffee and free food whenever I want to. The only disadvantage I see is that I have to sleep in the same room and studying till late I sometimes can’t fall asleep. So, I need to see something different.

That’s what my second favorite place is for! I like to study in coffee places as well. Unfortunatelly, there I don’t have my home working atmosphere (no internet, no printer and only a part of my documents) but it’s a different ambiance, I get to see people and I get a yummy coffee with steamed milk. The disadvantage is that I usually don’t have much space in coffee places, I spend more money and it’s noisy. But sometimes it’s necessary for my well-being anyway. I sometimes need people around.

That’s it for now. Hope you liked my little insight..

Talk to you later..

Juliane

we had an interesting seminar on micro and mobile learning yesterday. In these forms of learning the content gets divided into very small learning units (usually 2 or 3 minutes). The form of these units could be short questions, text writing exercises, listening comprehensions, word quizzes, either online or via mobile phone. The learner gets the learning units step by step offered in small chunks. The advantage is that it does not take much time. Learning is easily integrated into the learner’s day. Learning happens continuously. Micro and mobile learning is used for changes in behaviour, communication training, sales training, management training or time and self management.

My idea was to use it especially for in-firm training for people who work with a computer. It might be a supplement to a training session. One example could be healthy living at the work place. There an individual training plan could be integrated into daily work. The employee gets suggestions to do easy exercises to prevent visual defects, a decrease in concentration or back or neck pain depending on the person’s health and goals.

Additionally, micro learning could be used for language learning. Short vocabulary learning units and quizzes would be offered bit by bit. Wouldn’t it be amazing to learn 3 new words a day in with hardly any extra work?

In my opinion, micro learning is a good supplement to many forms of learning. But it usually should not stand alone. The exercises need to be explained in advance, the person’s motivation has to be checked and the goals have to be settled. Plus, it does not help you to know new words if you never use them in a situation. Some longer learning units might also be necessary after a few micro units.

I still doubt that teachers at state schools will send text messages to there students soon. I also doubt that micro learning is useful for in class teaching because it might be very distracting. To integrate micro learning to a class’s private computer use also seems complicated to me. You need to know a lot about your class’s computer usage and the behaviour of the participants needs to be very similar. This seems to be far-off reality.

But I really, really like the idea of micro learning and would definitly recommend it where it is useful.

Juliane

as I promised lately I want to write some comments on LMS and LCMS first.

Well, I never heard of these terms before but after a little research I found out that I already used some of these. LMS and LCMS seem to be the terms for a learning platform where learning content can be stored, managed and saved. But it even seems to be more than that. Also the learning itself can be managed.. The complete learning environment… grades, feedback, material, interactions with students and teachers and so on.

All right, from my own experiences I worked with “Edu Commsy”. This was mostly used for managing learning material and informing students about news. But people could interact via email as well. I think I only did it once. I used some more platforms but I forgot their names. The platform that was used at my US college was “Blackboard”. They describe it as: Hamline’s online learning software which includes course work and online courses. But I never had to use it. I also heard of “Moodle” in another seminar.

But what about Systems like Stine or Piperline (the one I also know from the US)? Are these maybe LMS and the others are LCMS???? Because they don’t offer content. Stine includes things such as register classes and grades. Piperline includes e.g. access course schedules, register, check class rosters, account balances, feedback and more.

That’s it about my experiences with LMS and LCMS so far.

One last comment on the group work. We met in person and not online. One group member was missing… Where are you???

In the last session unfortunatelly none of my group members appeared. I realized that I understood the presentation a little wrong. We are supposed to PRODUCE a LEARNING UNIT about the topic. I gotta inform my group about this and I guess we have to change plans a bit.

That’s it for now…

I’m pleased about comments…. Juliane

I am back! It´s been a while but I was NOT lazy..just I didn´t mention it here…

Since two weeks we are working on a group project. We are intending to make a presentation on LMS (Learning Management System) ans LCMS (Learning Content Management System).

To get this topic I selected the attached lovely picture…

To watch the group work progress you might want to check out our Wiki:

http://wiki.loveitorchangeit.com/tiki-index.php?page=Nature-group

It is my first Wiki and I think I could like it. We collect our ideas there and try to note the progress of our group work.

That´s all for now. I´ll be back later to write something more about the group work and my experiences with LMS and LCMS and the group work.

Juliane