The areas of interaction I felt were most important were:

1. That students who are shy and may not speak up in a face-to-face class setting, open up and interact more if they are in an online class, if they feel it is is safe to do so.

2. Some topics that are sensitive in nature could be done anonymously, still providing for interaction with the class.

3. Opening activities should include the students getting to know one another

4. The course should promote achievement of learning objectives for the course

5. The course should provide an opportunity for interaction and collaboration

6. That the students receive feedback on opinions and collective learning to better fullfill their personal needs to connect to learning

This was a tall list of considerations that I felt personal about. However, it is always a challenge for course designers and instructors to meet all of these needs in a technological way. The way that the technology must support the course must fit within the parameters of the course delivery system, and if it does not, the instructor may need to look to an outside source to provide space for the desired activity level. This can present it’s own problems.

In using the criteria above, there were several responses to my posting.

Janet,

I really like how you explained that everyone needs to have active interaction within their online class but also need to have flexibility. This can become very difficult when other students are busy and so is the professor. It seems that if the professor gives sufficient time to finish the projects assigned students are able to become successful. Do you agree?

-Nicole

My response:

Yes, there should be enough time for the student to assimilate the content of the course and perform all activities. This also means that students should also practice some time management of their own. But having a clear timeline for each assignment with dates helps the student to manage their work. I know it helps me to know what is due by each date. I think this is helpful for the instructor as well to monitor the students progress.

My response was based on personal experience as a course participant, as well as what i have experienced teaching my blended course for my own students. Instructors must plan in time for the students to have a chance to participate, but remind students to manage their own time. We all run out of time and are time challenged, but students should be made responsible for some of their own learning and participation. Therefore a reasonable amount of time to participate in a part of a lesson with interactive components should be planned for.

Another comment by Melissa:

Hi Janet,

I absolutely love and agree with what you wrote on student-instructor interaction, because that is what I discovered online learners need in order to feel motivated and satisfied in an e-learning course. Additionally, students like to see prompt responses from their instructors and know that they (instructors) are experts in the field they are teaching.

-Melissa

My response:

Yes, I think all learners need to know that distance should not make you feel too isolated, that you are indeed in a class with other students and have an instructor. Yes, we all want our instructors to share their expert knowledge, that is why we look to them for the sharing of knowledge. I think it is very exciting when everyone is learning together and the experience is collaborative.

My response was about being a student. However, instructors are human too, and sometimes things happen where instructors who may have a full course load and hundreds of students may need to have time to get back to a student. Often synchronous meetings in a group where everyone can meet at the same time can help with questions students may have, and feedback they may want from classmates and instructor. Sometimes in a busy world we need to all slow down and have some patience with each other. Instructors also should have an online version of office hours maybe to help with student concerns.

Hi Janet,

You chose student interactivity as one of the criteria for a successful online class. Great job!

Technology and instructional strategies must go hand-in-hand to develop and implement a successful online class.

I like you the citation you included, especially the Quality Matters Matrix that provides/guides what good online class should look like. Also Horton’s book is good that deals with how to design e-learning program/courses.

I look forward to your final paper,

-Baek

This is an example of my instructor for this course giving me feedback about my blog posting. It makes me feel happy and that I had a chance to hear from her about what I posted. There are also some good suggestions here that I will consider for my final product.

In conclusion, the experiences in this class have been very good to help me in expanding my knowledge about online course design. Sadly my course I teach was cancelled for next year, so I cannot expand my blended learning experience for students unless I can find another teaching position that will allow me to do blended learning or develop online courses. I will use the knowledge to apply to any future course I may be able to teach.

]]> http://mcedccu.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/technology-and-education-in-africa/ Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:43:14 +0000 mcedccu http://mcedccu.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/technology-and-education-in-africa/ If your goal is to educate children in an African refugee camp, what is more important to give them:  pencils and paper, or solar-powered iPads?

Somali school in Dadaab, Kenya refugee camp source: http://www.whitehouse.gov author unknown

On the high-tech plus side:

• the appeal of gadgets attracts young people to school and keeps them there
• learning technology may enable the young people to find better jobs when they get out of school

On the down side:

• risk of theft
• lack of training and support for teachers
• compromised literacy (studies suggest that typing on a tablet is less efficient than typing on a keyboard and that, as a result, students write in shorter sentences and edit their work less)
•  potential access to inappropriate content
• the requirement of working in English

According to eLearning Africa, there is no “compelling case” in support of the use of technology in African education… yet.  Do you agree?  Are things moving too quickly in the high-tech direction before the students and teachers are ready for it?  Do you see other benefits to the use of technology in education not on this list?  Are the risks nevertheless outweighed by the potential rewards?

What do you think?

Related articles

• Beware tech firms bearing gifts? (guardian.co.uk)

Actually, I was pretty busy with work all of last week… buuuut I still had the time be bored. I was really just unmotivated. Well, here is the entry to break all the talk about being unmotivated (and lazy)! Read on, my fellow classmates!

______________________________________________________

(Questions and instructions from UPOU’s EDS 103 Theories of Learning Module 3: Motivation by Malou Juachon, PhD.)

Read the Abstract. 

The paper calls attention to two prominent views about online learners’ motivations. What are they? 

1. Motivation of online learners is based on the “personal characteristic of the learner”.

“Research from this perspective has contributed to the notion that online learners are, on the whole, intrinsically motivated.”

2. Motivation of online learners is based on the “design of online learning environments to encourage optimal learner motivation.”

What theoretical framework did they researchers use for this study. As we learned in this unit, what is the principal assumption of this theory?

 The researchers used Self-determination theory. The principal assumption of this theory is that “man has a natural basic need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.” (p.7, EDS 103 Module 3: Motivation)

Briefly describe four patterns of extrinsic motivation (p. 23). Cite examples preferably from personal experience that would elaborate each.

1. External Regulation: says that an individual is motivated based on possibility of a negative experience or the chance of getting a reward.

      Despite my being a full grown, working, well-adjusted adult,  I still have a 10pm curfew. I do not stay out much later than my curfew because I don’t want my parents to reprimand me when I get home “late”.

2. Introjection: speaks of motivation that is based on the belief that another individual or individuals expect you do something.

       Even without getting a text from my dad saying “Uwi na” (Go home), I still tell whoever I am out with that I have a curfew and have to be home preferably around 10pm.

3. Identified Regulation: talks about an individual doing something because the outcome “may have personal value” or because the activity itself is “regarded worthwhile”. Although regulation is internal, the act/task is done primarily because of the possibility of a desired outcome rather than just simply the “interest and enjoyment in the task itself”.

      Sometimes, my parents go out of the country and that means that there is no chance that they will be waiting up for me if I decide to stay out late. However, I realized that I often prefer going home around my curfew because I feel like nothing worthwhile happens after that time anyway. Maybe I’ll stay out later than 10pm, but by 11:30pm, I actually have the urge to go home.

4. Integration: this type of motivation needs the least amount of external rewards or consequences. It states that individuals engage in an activity because of its “significance to their sense of self”

     Although I still talk about how I am the only one among my peers to still have a before-midnight curfew, I feel that being “the curfew girl” makes me feel special. My friends always look forward to catching up with me and they celebrate any event wherein I am allowed to stay out past midnight! 

What research question did the authors try to address? (p. 24)

What is the nature of motivation to learn in online contexts? 

What procedure did they use and what kinds of data did they get to answer this question? (Methods p. 24) 

Procedure:

• Obtained ethical consent to undertake the study.
• Data collection:
  • online questionnaires
  • interviews
  • archived online data (including online asynchronous discussion transcripts and usage statistics)
  • achievement data
  • course resources

Consider the 1st paragraph in page 32. Reflect about motivation in microteaching circumstances.

Similarity of a task to perceptions of what succeeding tasks may be does not always make an individual any more exceptionally motivated than individuals in different circumstances. Motivation greatly varies depending on the individual and situation. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to motivation.

Consider paragraph 2 in page 32. Do you feel that your own goals and interests align with the topics in this course (EDS 103)?

Before enrolling in this course, my goal was simply to go through the school year, complete all requirements, then get my certificate. Getting my certificate was my motivation. This course actually motivated me to improve on my goal and go beyond what I need to accomplish (although that might not be reflected by my tardiness in submitting requirements hehehe) My interest definitely lines up with the topics in this course because I am greatly intrigued by anything related to psychology, behavior, and similar subject matters.

Consider paragraph 3 in page 32. Assess the range of your personal motivations for distance learning. Do you find that your motivations are also multidimensional? How so?

My motivations are indeed multidimensional. They depend mostly on my mood and the amount of work I have to do for my job. Right now, what is driving me to (finally!) work on this module is my fear that being late in submitting/posting requirements for this topic may have a domino effect of me passing the succeeding requirements late as well (extrinsic motivation).

Consider paragraph 4 in page 32. In what ways do you find the various aspects of your own motivations to have counterbalancing effects?

Well, apart from not wanting to pass any more requirements late, I actually want to learn more and understand this module. I felt that the past week has been very challenging for me, and that is why I barely had any time to work on my modules. However, my desire to learn and understand has led me to read and re-read Module 3 several times until I finally had the time to reflect and answer the guide questions.

Study the conclusion. What were the major conclusions posited by the authors? What recommendations did they make, if any? What conclusions can you make about the nature of your own personal motivations?

Major conclusion:

“While intrinsic motivation constituted an important part of students’ motivation to learn in the contexts described here, identified regulation (i.e., recognising the value and importance of the activity) was also important.”

Recommendations:

• “…practitioners need to be cognisant of the important role they play in influencing learner motivation when designing learning activities.”
• “…the relevance and value of the task (e.g., online discussions) need to be clearly identified and linked to learning objectives to help learners understand how the activity can aid in the realisation of personal goals, aspirations, and interests, both in the short and longer term.” 
• “By offer- ing meaningful choices (i.e., not just option choices) to learners that allow them to pursue topics that are of interest to them, the perceived value of the activity is further enhanced”
• “…by establishing frequent, ongoing communication with learners, where they feel able to discuss issues in an open and honest manner, practitioners are in a better position to accurately monitor and respond to situational factors that could potentially undermine learner motivation.”

My personal motivations are mostly intrinsic, for I highly doubt that I would have the same nagging drive to read a module/article over and over again if I didn’t have to. However, the instructor’s involvement in my learning experience has definitely affected my level of motivation in that instructor’s course. I am externally motivated by how I perceive the personality of my instructor to be (based on his/her interactions with his/her students in the forums/email/etc). I believe that if I see my instructor as caring to her students (giving effort to communicate, clarify, etc), I try to put more than the “just enough” effort I usually give to studying.

Sources:

Examining Motivation in Online Distance Learning Environments: Complex, Multifaceted, and Situation-Dependent by Maggie Hartnett, Alison St. George, and John Dron

EDS 103 Theories of Learning Module 3: Motivation by Malou Juachon, PhD

Vea el articulo aquí

Más información en https://www.coursera.org/

A good example of how long to hold graphics and text on the screen, even when they’re both the same element, is the opening credit sequence to Napoleon Dynamite.

Note how long the graphic elements appear before they’re removed, even the complicated ones like the production designer’s name on a tube of lip balm, and the writers’ names on pencils.

Put it into practice and show off your mad instructional design skills.  Because, as Napoleon says, “. . .girls only want boyfriends who have great skills” (something I’m sure that’s applicable no matter what your relationship status is).

Take a look at Art of the Title to see how this sequence was made.

One thing is clear. There are more case studies than last year and the case studies are mostly about real implementations, not pilots. This is a signal of the progress mLearning is making. But the numbers are not overwhelming. This is also what I read and heard elsewhere. There is a group of early adopters implementing serious mLearning projects, but a lot of companies still have many doubts, especially on security. The majority still has to follow.

One expected trend is missing TinCan (or the Xperience API). It was big last year, version one is out and I was expecting a lot from that. I could find just one presentation on TinCan.

There are a lot of sessions on tools and techniques. It looks like the tools and the methods are ready to help you create mLearning. I will check that out for you.

It is as the Mlearncon website says: “Mobile learning isn’t a question of “if,” but “when.” You need to integrate mLearning into your learning and performance mix, or risk getting left behind by the competition.”

The ‘ when’ looks like the big question.  I will attend as many sessions next week as I can to see if I can spot more trends and find more info. And I will try to blog on them. More to follow….

In a closing lecture at the EFMD entitled “Preparing Our Schools for Upcoming Challenges,” Soumitra Dutta, the Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University spoke about the challenges facing business schools today at the EFMD Annual 2013 Conference.  Issues of relevance and adherence to stakeholder interests were looked at, in mapping out the future environment for management education.

Soumitra Dutta began the lecture by building upon his experiences in India, INSEAD and Cornell University, all which has enforced Soumitra in how he views the challenges in business education and how to address them.

In a model called the ‘5 Rs,’ he outlined the five priorities for business schools to consider.  These are research, relevance, richness, reach, and resources.

The main question posed by Mr. Dutta was on how to balance impact with efficiency.

1. Research:  The main question posed by Mr. Dutta was on how to balance impact with efficiency.  Research is at the very core of a business school’s reputation and the heart of the structure’s economics.  There are two central issues in this domain: attracting and retaining the top researchers, and motivating faculty.  As Dean of Cornell, he mentioned his biggest challenge is attracting the top researchers, who are always the ones to be sought after by the same twenty schools.  Additionally, it is difficult to energize faculty, especially when as a general rule of thumb, they do not like being told what to do.  Ever-increasing tuition fees have been driven by research costs brought on by faculty, which is not very easy to monetize.  The only quantifiable way of measuring faculty research is through the classroom; yet, the top faculty typically aim to teach less and less in order to focus on their own research, a dilemma.  He then added:

“The model of research in universities is a sacred cow, but at some point we need to question this.  We need to make this discussion more open.”

2. Relevance: How can one balance academic rigor with relevance?  Having the right balance between education and business are important for our business schools; however, this is the biggest challenge and some business schools have begun to address this in different ways.  INSEAD, for example, has required its professors to conduct research and case studies in the classrooms.  At Duke, in contrast, ‘teaching’ and ‘research’ are very disconnected from each other.

Mr. Dutta brought up the linkage between a local and a global perspective.

3. Richness:  All management schools have local roots by definition, and should not hide the fact.  Yet, at the same time, there must be an effort made to disseminate knowledge throughout global campuses.  Mr. Dutta emphasized that “the fact of the matter is that most faculty are local in nature.”

“The pressure for faculty to have a global perspective is not that strong.  Teaching for one week per year in China does not do this.” One has to put in the effort and change approach towards teaching in a global context, as well as thrive from the local one.

4. Reach: How can you achieve both quality and scale? With the growth of massive open online courses (MOOCs), for instance, some universities have aimed to increase the scale in numbers, without necessarily achieving quality.  This is a definite issue for many universities.  Mr. Dutta highlighted the Cornell and Queens partnership, which is a project that is working to deliver MBAs in 27 cities.  This gives scale but also keeps a high level of quality at the same time.  This is only one model that was discussed; however, in both Asia and Africa, there is also a demand for a high quality product, but one that has an affordable price tag.

5. Resources: How is focus intertwined with engagement? For higher education institutions, this is essential for survival.  Soumitra Dutta noted that, as a Dean, although big-name institutions have a substantial stream of resources coming from alumni, it is a major challenge deciding on how to allocate your time.  Fundraising is done by the community, so universities have to emit a strong culture to strengthen links with the community.

Mr. Dutta provided several supporting examples to his thoughts on innovation.

Professor Dutta then highlighted some examples of innovation and how universities are beginning to incorporate this in their projects.  He pinpointed the evolution of the car industry, and how its most innovative period was in the first 20 years of the 20^th century.  There were 75 car companies; however, after one design got adopted, then the industry consolidated into only a few companies.  This showed the notion that innovation may not die, but may not evoke big changes in the grand scheme of things.

Schools tend to be focused in the execution today rather than on the learning side.

Schools tend to be focused in the execution today rather than on the learning side.  This, Mr. Dutta asserted, is the fundamental constraint to real change and its implementation.  Experimentation is needed in schools.  Cornell’s project in New York is working at this; it now has half of Roosevelt Island to develop a campus, its new tech center.  It aims to develop deeper integration with engineering, business schools, and businesses.  At the same time, the faculty will not have offices, so they will be interacting constantly in an open environment.

Soumitra Dutta concluded with one final point: Business schools will not look the same in twenty years, and in order to remain relevant, they must innovate and think outside the box.

Soumitra Dutta on Innovation in Education

Soumitra Dutta

Mr. Soumitra Dutta is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology, and Dean of External Relations at INSEAD. He is the faculty director of elab@INSEAD, INSEAD’s initiative in building a center of excellence in teaching and research in the digital economy in collaboration with leading international organizations such as Morgan Stanley, SAP, Cisco and Intel. Prior to joining the faculty of INSEAD in 1989, he was employed with Schlumberger in Japan and General Electric in the USA. Professor Dutta obtained his Ph.D. in computer science and his M.Sc. in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley. He has been a visiting Professor at several international universities including the Haas School of Business (Berkeley) and the Solvay Business School (Brussels). His current research is on technology strategy and innovation at both corporate and national policy levels. His latest books are “Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom” (Wiley, 2008), “Innovating at the Top” (Palgrave, 2008) and “The Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008” (Palgrave 2008). He has authored ten other books including “The Bright Stuff” (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002), “Embracing the Net” (Financial Times, 2001) and “Process Reengineering, Organizational Change and Performance Improvement” (Mc-Graw Hill, 1999). He has won several awards for research and pedagogy including awards for the European Case of the Year from the European Case Clearing House in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2002. He is actively involved in policy development at national and European levels. He is currently a member of the Advisory Committee for ICT for the Government of Qatar and has advised other national governments on ICT policy issues. He is the Chairman of the European Commission’s Europe Innova panel on Innovation in the ICT sector and a member of the Steering Committee of eBSN, the European Commission’s eBusiness Network initiative for SMEs. His research has been showcased in the international media such as CNN, CNBC, BBC and international publications. He has taught in and consulted with international corporations across the world. He has directed top management programs for several companies and is a regular contributor to in-house management programs. He is a fellow of the World Economic Forum.

See also:

Soumitra Dutta, future Dean at Cornell Univeristy, gives keynote speach at Grenoble EM

I am most grateful to Soumitra Dutta and Bill Stirling for having taken the time out last week to give excellent key note speeches at the 6th ICISTM Conference that was held at my school. The conference’s key theme was how the entrepreneurial use of technology can help us out of the current economic crisis.

EFMD Annual Conference 2013: “Executive Education & Corporate Universities” by Philip Healy & David Jestaz

Corporate universities are increasingly becoming an option for global companies to maintain and enhance the talent within their organizations to be leaders, as well as provide an incentive for their employees to acquire further skills and other advancement opportunities.  In this year’s annual EFMD conference, Philip Healy, Regional Director of the Centre for Creative Leadership (Belgium), and David Jestaz, the Director of EDF Group’s Corporate University, discussed the trend of the corporate university as a form of executive education.

EFMD Annual Conference 2013: “Reinventing Education” by Howard Lurie

This year at the EFMD Annual Conference, the trend of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCS) were highlighted and built upon by Howard Lurie, the Vice President for External Affairs for edX, a Harvard and MIT online course initiative.  The traditional model for higher education is now changing to reflect the emergence of open source content and learning online.  The advantages and disadvantages of going online were discussed, how traditional university models could work with MOOCs to their benefit, and what the next steps forward are for edX amidst all this.

EFMD Annual Conference 2013: “Efficiency and Creativity: the Impact of Management Education upon Business and Economy in Asia” by Dong-Sung Cho

Dong-Sung Cho, Professor of Strategy, International Business, Management Design, and Sustainability Management at Seoul National University, gave a lecture at the EFMD 2013 Conference titled “Efficiency and Creativity: the Impact of Management Education upon Business and Economy in Asia.” This lecture discussed themes of management education, particularly through creative channels, and their influence upon the economies in the Asian markets, especially South Korea and China.

EFMD Annual Conference 2013: “Fasten Your Seatbelts” by David A. Wilson

David Wilson, President and Chief Executive Officer of GMAC, presented a lecture at the EFMD 2013 Annual Conference titled “Fasten Your Seatbelts.” Higher education is facing an uncertain environment with differing approaches in pedagogy and turbulent markets. Wilson discussed the state of higher education now versus what it was like five years ago, and he gave his vision for higher education in the future.

EFMD Annual Conference 2013: “Does Management Education Create Impact?” by Eric Cornuel

At the opening address for the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) 2013 Annual Conference, Eric Cornuel, EFMD’s Director General and CEO, gave an inspiring introduction on the positive influence that management education has worldwide.

]]> http://fromandforkids.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/summer-brain-drain/ Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:12:30 +0000 fromandforkids http://fromandforkids.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/summer-brain-drain/ Summer brain drain is summer learning loss. your child won’t make any measurable academic gains over the summer, your child may lose / forget his learning.

Stop Summer Brain Drain With Enrichment Activities:
1, Encourage your child to read
2, Consider an academic summer camp.
3, Go on educational family vacations like zoo, camping with nature
4, Send your child to summer school.
5, Shopping with kids to increase math
6, Write postcards
7, Start a family/neighbor book club.

Tiempo vs. educación

(SIGUE)

For those of you who don’t know, Coursera is a website that allows ‘real life’ universities to offer unaccredited online courses on a range of different topics. My interest was originally piqued back when I was still expecting to do my Tolkien dissertation, and noticed a course called Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative which focusses on Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings Online, enrolling for July 2013.

Since finishing the PGDip I now have some free time at my disposal, and what better way to use it than to experiment with some online learning? With that in mind I also enrolled on Introduction to Art: Concepts & Techniques and Climate Literacy: Navigating Climate Change Conversations, both of which started at the end of May.

So why these? Partly as a palate cleanser after all those heavy Victorian novels, partly because I love learning, partly because I was curious as to how it works; my only previous experience of distance-learning was back before computers were so ubiquitous and e-learning was the new hope for mankind, so I’m interested to see how the interaction with tutors and other students compares.

I’ll try and restrain myself to reviews of the study experience on here, but if you’re interested in viewing my crimes against Art feel free to keep an eye on my craft blog ElfinPetronella.

This year at the EFMD Annual Conference, the trend of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCS) were highlighted and built upon by Howard Lurie, the Vice President for External Affairs for edX, a Harvard and MIT online course initiative.  The traditional model for higher education is now changing to reflect the emergence of open source content and learning online.  The advantages and disadvantages of going online were discussed, how traditional university models could work with MOOCs to their benefit, and what the next steps forward are for edX amidst all this. 

Mr. Lurie first began by outlining the three goals to the presentation:

1. Disperse the myths
2. Explain what edX is doing at the moment
3. Provide a roadmap for where edX is heading next

The edX not-for-profit initiative is a combined effort between Harvard and MIT to offer anybody interested in online learning a variety of courses from high quality institutions and high quality professors.  This online learning platform has two objectives: to foster an open and dynamic learning environment for its students and monitor the usefulness of technology on cross-border learning, and to gather data on students‘ learning preferences and pinpoint the ideal pedagogy for enhanced learning.

Howard Lurie mentioned the following key highlights of this initiative, which include:

• Open source platform
• Portal for learning edx.org
• Pedagogical research on learning using “big data”
• Production support to ensure high quality

Through the use of technology, edX is able to grasp how useful and efficient its platform is currently in processing the flow of education across borders, and it also is the ideal forum for educators to grasp what methods motivate their online students to learn, giving them insights into their own teaching pedagogy.  In fact, as of June 1^st, edX released a new technological development- its edX Code.  This code will include internationalization features and key research and analytical tools.  Evidently, edX is continuously working towards ensuring high technology standards in its initiative.

edX Code includes internationalization features and key research and analytical tools.

New research have also shown that, by interpolating online courses with memory tests, learning can be improved and even enhanced through this method (Szpunar, Khan & Schacter 2013).  This is one example of how online learning tools and exercises are adapting towards a refined learning model that will get better with time.  Rapid feedback was also mentioned as another tool to enhance (online) learning.

Traditional university models can start incorporating MOOCs and edX to their advantage.  The California State System has found that many people have trouble getting into university.  Admissions officers have shifted roles to become enrollment managers at the same time.  There is a new science to getting people into the university.  Universities are thus experimenting with different methods to get them into the system.  In San Jose State University, for example, a “blended” formula of both edX MOOC online courses from MIT and in-class instruction gave an increased performance amongst the 86 students enrolled.  In fact, 2012 students outperformed their 2009 counterparts, averaging between 5-10% higher on midterm exams.  Mr. Lurie then added: “in US and undergrad community colleges, the early results are astounding.” The first online course that edX offered was 6002x:Circuits and Electronics, which received 150,000+ course entrants, and effectively ended with 7,157 certified students.  That figure demonstrates the potential that one online course can reach in a short time span.  This initial development essentially “flipped the funnel” and started to pave the way forward for edX.

7,157 students passed 6002x:Circuits and Electronics course in a short time span.

Yet, the question was posed: why this and why now? It was through a combination of factors that pushed edX to start up last year.  Due to higher bandwidth usage at less cost, students are going online more often.  Online gaming is also booming, and early stage MOOCs are becoming successful models for later stage MOOCs to build upon.  As Mr. Lurie said, “the time has come for education to undergo the same changes.”

It has been only since 2012 that this project was launched, with $30 million given each by MIT and Harvard, and has almost reached 1 million edX users.  This can also be attributed towards the hype behind massive open online courses (MOOCs), which has begun to boom in 2012-parallel to the booms of other digital multi-learning channels, such as OpenLearn and iTunes (in 2007 and 2009 respectively).  However, there are other trends to take into account and respond to immediately, such as fewer students who graduate over a longer time span, employers now making ROI calculations on their hires, and corporations making increasing efforts to retrain their employees.

Boom of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has begun in 2012.

Besides Harvard and MIT, other universities are responding to these trends, and even working with edX to develop open source and online learning platforms.  EdX has a total of 27 partner schools now participating in this venture, called the X Consortium.  This collaboration is expanding to offer courses from Asian schools, which now include Tsinghua University and Peking University for example.

EdX has a total of 27 partner schools now participating in its venture.

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”

Mr. Lurie described the phenomenon of open source learning and how it essentially is “democratizing” access to higher education for the world.  Through this open source platform, edX, a community of knowledge and learning is open for anyone for contribution and collaboration.  Some known collaborators include Stanford University and UC Berkeley, who support this open source development and are aiming to improve it even further.

The vision for edX is to expand access to education for students worldwide through online learning, while reinventing campus education through blended models.  What edX is intending to do is to thus expand higher education and not destroy universities.  It aims to provide traditional university models with the tools, research, and pedagogy to succeed in a growing digital culture and face the other challenges with respect to learning and recruitment in higher education.

Howard Lurie

Vice President, External Affairs, edX

He has taught at Harvard as a professor of history and digital humanities.  Before edX, he had worked at Public Broadcasting System’s PBS LearningMedia as its Managing Director and was the Associate Director for Education at the WGBH Educational Foundation in Boston.  He has obtained his teaching degree from Columbia, and his Bachelor’s of Arts and Social Thought and Political Economy from the University of Massachusetts.  This man has had numerous experiences creating online programs, and has also worked in not-for-profits in education, such as Ourselves and Facing History.

See also:

EFMD Annual Conference 2013: “Efficiency and Creativity: the Impact of Management Education upon Business and Economy in Asia” by Dong-Sung Cho

Dong-Sung Cho, Professor of Strategy, International Business, Management Design, and Sustainability Management at Seoul National University, gave a lecture at the EFMD 2013 Conference titled “Efficiency and Creativity: the Impact of Management Education upon Business and Economy in Asia.” This lecture discussed themes of management education, particularly through creative channels, and their influence upon the economies in the Asian markets, especially South Korea and China.

EFMD Annual Conference 2013: “Fasten Your Seatbelts” by David A. Wilson

David Wilson, President and Chief Executive Officer of GMAC, presented a lecture at the EFMD 2013 Annual Conference titled “Fasten Your Seatbelts.” Higher education is facing an uncertain environment with differing approaches in pedagogy and turbulent markets. Wilson discussed the state of higher education now versus what it was like five years ago, and he gave his vision for higher education in the future.

EFMD Annual Conference 2013: “Does Management Education Create Impact?” by Eric Cornuel

At the opening address for the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) 2013 Annual Conference, Eric Cornuel, EFMD’s Director General and CEO, gave an inspiring introduction on the positive influence that management education has worldwide.

The ability to think differentiates us from all other animals. Thinking gave rise to ideas and in turn to education! Decades back stories were the only method of education & this method was evolved from the ancient man who swapped stories around fire. Story telling was learning for them and this is how they imparted their wisdom to the next generation.

Stories always sound interesting and when related to the listener they are heard and absorbed carefully.

Every story that we hear, either at bedtime or around the coffee machine is the proof that stories are the way humans share experiences and learn. Learning is an experience and this experience can be lived if narrated in the exact words that connect every student. Learning from stories is very helpful as it tickles the human anxiety to search the deeper meanings of words used by the narrator.

Stories are all around us. They are in books, daily soaps, blogs, advertisements, videos etc. They are sprinkled all over our lives but we fail to anticipate them likewise. Every person is different and so are their stories. The language, the meaning of words, voice, the climax build up equally contributes to evoke feelings and desperation in the learners.

I came across an interesting article which spoke about learning through story telling. What caught my eye was this sentence- “Teaching is most effective, I believe, when students come to feel that the subject matter is worth caring about, that it has something to do not only with the world around them, but with their own lives.”

I have a suggestion for everyone who is into teaching or training, tell stories, and encourage this mode of learning. The battle of teaching will be half won with story telling. Stories give birth to ideas; open gates of imagination, create a culture and inculcate an attitude among the learners and this gets associated with the mythology of the organization. Like the story of Apple, great companies have interesting stories about them.

What is your story?

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We found that it was important to use apps that were appropriate to the learners’ individual level of ability rather than worrying that the graphics might be too “babyish”. The learners were very supportive of each other in this respect but in a different group this could be an issue to consider.

This group found the iPads easy to use and because they are not bulky they are unobtrusive and still allow the learners to feel part of a group and focus on the teacher when necessary without being distracted by bulky screens and other equipment.

Click here to watch a video about this project and the learners’ achievements.

We have created this list of tips for other organisations and teachers who may wish to run a program similar to this. Here they are:

• Start enrolment process earlier so there is time to gather ID
• Start with a few apps and add to this each week so that learners are not overwhelmed to begin with and they have something new to engage in each week
• Spend time in each of the apps before you use them in class so that you can answer any technical questions in class
• Set up the administration part of the app before taking them into class – this can be time consuming but makes for a smoother class
• Take photos each week for evidence of engagement
• Teach students to take screen shots when they have completed tasks for evidence
• Look for apps that have a reporting mechanism
• Be mindful of American apps where the language may be different eg: money notes / bills
• If using apps with voice you may need to spend time arranging the speed of voice so that it is easily understood
• Look for apps with levels so that students can move through at their own pace
• Use a combination of apps and teaching styles in each lesson to cater for all students
• Purchase headphones so that each student can be listening to their own app
• Spend time getting to know each student

The message seems obvious to me.  Stop letting the gadgets do our playing, our imagining, and our interacting for us.  Engage with reality, in all its messiness.  Yes, it takes more work.  Yes, there’s more emotional involvement.  Yes, you might get hurt.  It’s worth it.

There’s also a direct connection to my job.  Teaching science means teaching kids to study the real world in all of its glorious complication. We teach them how to separate signal from noise, and how to build mathematical models that make valid predictions.  When the models fail, we teach them how to appreciate the subtleties and how to make more accurate models that include those subtleties.  However, as a colleague once said, no learning takes place unless a kid feels safe and appreciated.

Before the teaching can begin, the relationship has to be built.  The students give me a grace period of about a week at the beginning of the year to prove that I am actually interested in who they are as people.  I have a week, give or take, to establish a bridge of trust and respect.  If I fail in that job, they will learn perfunctorily, because they have to pass the course and move on.  If I succeed, they will learn because I am someone they are invested in, and the lesson will stick.

I think this is why teaching seems to resist going online.  Yes, there are the “massive open online courses” and there are some very helpful web sites out there, but none of those things allow the face-to-face contact that builds the relationship that facilitates the learning.  And no amount of technology is ever going to replace going out into a stream and turning rocks over to see what you find underneath.

The e-learning sessions on dementia have been developed by e-Learning for Healthcare, part of Health Education England, the new body responsible for the education and training of health and healthcare staff.  They are free of charge to those who work within the NHS.

The sessions have been designed to familiarise health and social care staff with recognising and understanding dementia and to be able to signpost appropriate support. They are written by experts in both psychiatry and medicine for the elderly.

Staff can access three 30 minute open access sessions of learning which will support them with difficult questions such as ‘I am worried about Dad’, that could be asked of anyone in contact with patients and families on a day to day basis. They also cover the importance of public health messages and addressing social stigma as essential in making a difference in caring for people with dementia. An additional ten 30 minute sessions are available which support more advanced practice in assessing and managing dementia, whilst equipping staff with the skills to provide high quality dementia care.

And remember, the Library can always help you to obtain further resources, both books and journals. Give us a call or send us an email at any time.

The subject for my doctorate in education was the impact of professional learning on the online teaching identities of higher education lecturers. It struck me some years ago during a period during which I was employed as a teacher trainer, that engaging with students online was a very different experience from teaching in a face to face environment. Not only was the teaching experience different, but job satisfaction; feelings of ‘doing a good job’ were also substantially different from those experienced in a face to face environment. Drawing on the work of Gilly Salmon and Sherry Turkle (Jaques & Salmon, 2006; Salmon, 2002; Turkle, 1994, 1999; Turkle & Papert, 1990; Wilson & Peterson, 2002), I set out to explore the ways in which online teachers were working within their online contexts and more particularly what type of development activities enhanced their online identities and role performance (see Baxter, 2011; Baxter, 2012).

The study took three years to complete (Baxter, 2011) and during this time my own online interactions increased considerably as I engaged in blogs, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn and other online applications; subsequently rejecting or increasing my use of them over time. My blog during this period juxtaposed my own online identity development with that of the online lecturers in my study, an element which proved to be very helpful in understanding the emotions engendered within online identity formation and sustenance.

The study offered a number of useful insights into the cognitive, affective and situative elements of online teaching, but one particularly useful insight was the link between participants’ social use of the internet and its contribution to their online teaching identities and confidence. This link, which proved far from incidental, revealed that individuals perceived that their online teaching identities developed and grew more rapidly depending upon the extent of their social immersion on the internet: that development for them was seen in much broader terms than the opportunities offered to them within their working contexts. 

In terms of teaching, many of those teaching face to face would say the same thing: face to face teaching identities have long been seen as a trajectory, formed from past experiences, biographical in nature and formed via a complex mix of personal and professional interactions (Connelly, 1990; Maclure, 1992; Menter, 2010). But they are also often modelled on others and the online teacher has, unless they have undertaken online study themselves, little to go on in this respect. Many established professional development opportunities for online teaching now take account of this need but, in terms of the development of salient online teaching identities and ability to articulate them in a convincing and authentic manner, there is still much to be learned from the specific ways in which online teachers model behaviours from online interactions in their social as well as professional lives.

As online learning increases and points to future paradigmatic shifts in the ways that learning is conceptualised across the educational spectrum (Clark & Berge, 2012), it becomes ever more pressing to continue to investigate what makes and motivates good online teachers: who are they and what keeps them going? Particularly when the going gets tough. 

“Online learning now depends more on the ability of educators and trainers to tutor and support learners online than on the technology itself.” Dr. Ian Heywood, 2000 World Open Learning Conference and Exhibition, Birmingham, England.

References.

Baxter, J. (Producer). (2011). An investigation into the role of professional learning on the online teaching identities of Higher Education Lecturers CREet : The Faculty of Education and Language Studies. Retrieved from http://oro.open.ac.uk/33928/

Baxter, J. (2012). The impact of professional learning on the online teaching identities of higher education lecturers:the role of resistance discourse European Journal of Open,Distance and E-Learning 1(2).

Clark, T., & Berge, Z. (2012). Virtual Schools Trends and Issues in Distance Education: International Perspectives, 97.

Connelly, M. a. C., J. (1990). Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry. Educational Researcher, 19(5 (Jun-Jul 1990)), 2-14.

Jaques, D., & Salmon, G. (2006). Learning in groups: A handbook for face-to-face and online environments: Routledge.

Maclure, M. (1992). Arguing for yourself: Identity as an organising principle in teacher’s jobs and lives. British Educational Research Journal, 19(4), 311-322.

Menter, I. (2010). Teachers – formation, training and identity Creativity Culture and Education Newcastle Upon Tyne: Creativity Culture and Education

Salmon, G. (2002). E-tivities: The key to active online learning: Routledge.

Turkle, S. (1994). Constructions and reconstructions of self in virtual reality: Playing in the MUDs. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 1(3), 158-167.

Turkle, S. (1999). Cyberspace and identity. Contemporary Sociology, 28(6), 643-648.

Turkle, S., & Papert, S. (1990). Epistemological pluralism: Styles and voices within the computer culture. Signs, 16(1), 128-157.

Wilson, S. M., & Peterson, L. C. (2002). The anthropology of online communities. Annual review of anthropology, 449-467.

Mind The Gap (Photo credit: nedrichards)

L1.724-6523: Using Technology to encourage speaking and reflection

Referent: Russell Stannard | Datum: 13. 06. 2013 – 19:00h – 20:30h

Russell Stannard: “I will demonstrate a few tools and talk about some of the search I have done to encourage students to do more oral work/refect on their lessons. The presentation will be in English but the ideas will be relevant to all language teachers and could be used for teaching any level.”

Russell Stannard:  Founder of http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com

Awarded Times Higher “Outstanding Initiative in ICT” 2008
Awarded “Excellence in teaching and learning” University of Westminster 2008
Winner of British Council ELTons award for Innovation 2010

• Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/russell/

L1.724-7123 Mind the App! [English language webinar]
Referent: Thomas Strasser | Datum: 27.06.2013 | 19:00 Uhr – 20:00 Uhr

        the advantages of simple, but highly effective Internet applications (e.g. free eLearning-tools) for the EFL classroom

        the impressive potential of educational Web 2.0 tools (i.e. educational internet tools for the PC)

        focus on methodological design (i.e. how the presented tools can be efficiently used in the EFL-lesson), not on complex technological issues

        presentation of simple 1-2-3-clicks-applications

        how the internet can be used in order to design effective EFL-Blended-Learning-sequences supporting the students’ speaking, writing, listening and reading skills

        target: enable teachers to immediately use the tools the next day in their own lessons

        Selection of tools: Wordle, Audioboo, Littelbirdtales, Storybird, Learning Apps, Cueprompter, Toondoo, Mailvu, Padlet, Flipsnack, Voki, Markup, Tricider, etc.

• Zugangslink: https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/mind_the_app_english/
  
• Info: Straight from the horse’s mouth
• Download INFO-PDF

Invitation to free webinar “What’s new in Moodle 2.5 ?” with MoodleFairy Mary Cooch 12th Sept. 2013
http://po.st/ACBGm1

Further fee webinars can be found at http://tinyurl.com/fobionline

To register just send me an email: JWagner@lpm.uni-sb.de