Unfortunately my second post is another regurgitation of information I’ve provided elsewhere, but there you go.

This one is all about where abouts on your system you can find your Articulate Presenter, Engage and Quizmaker templates, colour schemes, logos and various other bits and bobs.

This document will tell you where to find all this stuff, currently only on Windows XP and Vista (Windows 7 details to follow).

Introducción a las Plataformas e-Learning.

De afgelopen week heb ik op 3 avonden zo’n 7 presentaties op de Learning Trends 2009 conferentie bijgewoond. Over de inhoud van de presentaties heb ik eerder al geschreven, deze bijdrage gaat over de conferentie zelf. Met name over het feit dat deze 100% online was (en gratis). Een aantal bekende namen uit de e-learning wereld hebben de conferentie georganiseerd en ook een goede line-up van sprekers verzorgt. Drie dagen lang was er vanaf 8:00 uur Pacific Time (17:00 uur in Nederland) tot ongeveer 14:00/15:00 uur (dus tot middernacht in Nederland) elk uur een presentatie. In principe dus – qua tijd – ook goed in Europa te volgen. Dat heb ik dus ook gedaan.

Als virtuele classroom software werd Elluminate gebruikt. Wat mij betreft heeft de tool zijn werk gedaan. En hoewel ik niet bijzonder onder de indruk ben van de user interface, had ik wel het gevoel dat het allemaal redelijk soepel werkte. Zoals het tijdens LearnTrends werd gebruikt, had het een presentatie/whiteboard gebied, een overzicht van de deelnemers, een chat en geluid. Alle presentaties zijn ook opgenomen en opgeslagen.

• Het geluid was – zoals verwacht – het lastigste deel, hier waren uiteindelijk ook de meeste problemen mee. Overigens is het zo als je een tijdje geen geluid ontvangt het vaak zo was dat het geluid wat later kwam. Het wordt dan door Elluminate wat sneller afgespeeld (chipmunk mode ), tot je weer bij bent. Verder helemaal ok, ook als er meerdere mensen gelijk willen spreken.
• De chat heeft me het meeste verbaasd, niet zozeer qua functionaliteit, maar als ‘backchannel’ werkte het erg goed. Hierover verderop meer.
• Er handig was het ook om te zien wie er allemaal deelnamen. Ik heb vaak meegemaakt dat dit dicht wordt gezet (in het kader van de privacy of uit commercieel oogpunt), maar dat was hier niet zo. Een leuke gimmick is, dat je hier een applaus knop hebt. Dit werd ook regelmatig gebruikt aan het einde van een sessie.
• Het presentatie gebied was het minste in mijn optiek. De kwaliteit van de door de presentatoren gemaakte slideshows was duidelijk minder door de conversie van Keynote en PowerPoint naar Elluminate. Veel effecten waren weg en het was nogal gepixeld. Aan de andere kant maakte het hier beschikbare whiteboard weer veel goed.

Waar ik prettig door verrast werd, was het uitgebreide gebruik van backchannels (jawel meervoud). Een backchannel is – volgens mij – een kanaal naast de presentatie, waarin het publiek met elkaar kan communiceren over de presentatie (of over andere dingen desnoods). En dat werd ook uitgebreid gedaan. Zo ver ik kon overzien waren er 3 backchannels in gebruik:

• De chat binnen Elluminate. Deze kreeg elke deelnemer en presentator te zien. De moderatoren waren ook zeer actief op deze chat, en een aantal presentatoren ook (ze posten er bijv. live een link op naar een document of iets dergelijks). Hierdoor werd deze chat ook een zeer belangrijk onderdeel van de presentatie. Je vond hier extra inzichten van mensen en kreeg hierdoor ook een gevoel van wat andere deelnemers vonden van de presentatie(s). De vragen die op de chat werden gesteld werden in een aantal gevallen (als de vraag maar interessant genoeg was) ook door een moderator voorgelegd aan de presentator. Ook waren er een aantal presentatoren die kort pauzeerden tijdens hun presentatie om even snel te kijken of er in de chat nog dingen zaten waar ze aandacht aan wilden geven (precies zoals Olivia Mitchell dat bij Pistachio aangeeft in haar blogpost: Three stages of presenting with Twitter). Het laatste niet onbelangrijke stuk is dat het de manier is om als deelnemer te communiceren, bijvoorbeeld om aan te geven dat je geen geluid meer hebt. 
• Twitter, via de hashtag #learntrends. Ook op twitter werden veel berichtjes geplaatst over de conferentie. Doordat er door iedereen gebruik wordt gemaakt van dezelfde hashtag kun je gemakkelijk alle berichten over de conferentie bij elkaar zien en dit volgen. Twitter werd heel anders gebruikt dan de chat, veel meer om de belangrijkste punten die je in een betoog hoort nog eens te benadrukken (de ‘key take-aways’ zogezegd). Ook gebruiken veel mensen dit (ik ook) om aan te geven dat ze er bij zijn.
• Een laatste – voor mij verrassende – is Google Wave. Aangezien ik ook – sinds niet al te lange tijd – een wave account heb kon ik hieraan ook mee doen. Er werd een wave gestart door iemand (geen idee wie) en deze werd publiek gemaakt (te vinden met de hashtag #learntrends). Een wave is (wat mij betreft, misschien doe ik het wat te kort) een kruising tussen e-mail, nieuwsgroepen en een wiki. Dat wil dus zeggen dat iedereen hier iets op kan zetten, dit kan aanpassen en/of hier op kan reageren. De wave werd weer meer gebruikt voor reflectie en voor registratie. Zo heb ik van een aantal sessie gezien dat mensen aantekeningen maakten in de wave. Overigens door anderen weer aangevuld, van links en afbeeldingen voorzien etc. Zeer waardevolle informatie, ook naar de toekomst toe en zo een goed voorbeeld van collectief werken, luisteren en leren. Voor mij een helemaal nieuwe ervaring. Overigens had elke dag zijn eigen wave, omdat het anders te onoverzichtelijk werd.

• Het intensieve gebruik van backchannels. De chat en wave wordt nu gezien als een interessante toevoeging aan de presentatie, in plaats van storend geklets van deelnemers (terwijl het inhoudelijk vaak hetzelfde is). Het zorgt voor een interactieve deelname (en krijg dat maar eens voor elkaar in een zaal met 250 mensen) en voor een intensievere verwerking van de inhoud van de presentatie. De moderatoren deden hierin belangrijk werk, de presentatoren reageerden ook op de inhoud op de chat.
• Het gebruik van het whiteboard. In plaats van de hele presentatie op PowerPoint te zetten waren er een aantal presentatoren die gebruik maakten van het whiteboard, zodat er input op de slide kwam te staan van de deelnemers. Iedereen kon meedoen, iedereen kon het zien (ook hier geld weer, doe dat maar eens met > 100 mensen). Voorbeelden waar ik al eerder over schreef hiervan zijn George Siemens (helaas was ik hier zelf niet bij, maar Kristine Hoeppner schreef erover) en Janet Clarey, die ons vroeg de kernbegrippen rondom Learning Objects en Just In Time learning op te schrijven.

• Het gebruik van polls: even vragen wat iedereen er van vindt. In veel offline conferentie is de techniek hiervoor niet beschikbaar, maar het voegt net dat beetje interactiviteit toe, met name bij grotere groepen. Ik vond dat het wat weinig gebruikt werd, terwijl het gewoon beschikbaar is.
• Je kunt gemakkelijker wat anders doen als het je niet bevalt (of als de techniek je in de steek laat). Je bent niet direct niks aan het doen, je kunt gemakkelijker even koffie halen (of andere dingen doen) zonder te storen. 

• De vibe op zo’n conferentie, deze levert echt inspiratie op. Bij een online conferentie is dat een stuk minder, maar tot mijn verrassing niet helemaal (met name door de backchannels
• De ontmoeting met gelijkgestemden. Dat is toch helemaal virtueel en dat is wel jammer.
• De 100% focus op de conferentie. Zo’n gratis online conferentie doe je er toch even bij (voor Europeanen tenminste na werktijd), na het werk, onder het eten en ook je kinderen hebben nog wat aandacht nodig. Dat is niet erg, maar je wordt wat minder onder gedompeld en heb dus ook even wat tijd nodig om je te concentreren.

One of the big initiatives I’m working on with the College of Public Programs is the Spirit of Service Scholars program.  For those unfamiliar with it, check out the initiative’s website, read Dr. Debra Friedman’s op-ed in a recent edition of the Arizona Republic, and also a response to a recent article run in The Economist.

If one were to remember why I’m doing this internship, here’s a bit of the scope:

One of the aspects of [the Spirit of Service Scholars] program is to look at how public service will evolve into the twenty-first century and to use technology to clarify the role of governance in the eyes of the public. A common complaint of constituents and clients of public agencies is that these agencies are slow to adapt to new situations, including technologies. The new public servant must be creative in adapting to new situations and must be fearless in embracing emerging technologies if we are to build a strong digital infrastructure for the public sector. [source]

There have been many projects that I’ve been working on as a means to this end (many will be shared over the coming weeks), but there’s another one that’s equally as important.  If the College of Public Programs is going to leverage itself as the premier institution for teaching the next generation of public servants, then how is that institution going to teach the next generation of public servants?

One of the more prominent debates of this generation is online learning.  Is it pedagogically sound?  Is the material that one learns in an online setting as effective as that same content delivered in a traditional, face-to-face setting?  I can say from my personal experience that I’ve had more enriching experiences in face-to-face classes than in online classes.  I’m interested to see what you all have observed.

Something that the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (one of the four constituent schools in the College of Public Programs) has recently launched is a fully-online Master of Arts in Criminal Justice (MACJ).  In my internship, I support instructors as they transform their courses to the online format.  In my own experiences and also in reading the literature on online course development, instructors that take their face-to-face lecture materials and post them online are mosre likely to have an ineffective online learning experience.  Online courses are radically different from their face-to-face counterparts. (Captain Obvious at your command.)

The thing that I guess that the instructors that teach these courses and we that aid in developing them is that we need to keep reminding ourselves that there is a difference between online and face-to-face courses.

And this will be an interesting proposition…

-Edward Jensen

Συνάντησα τον παρακάτω χάρτη όπου έχει συγκεντρωθεί και κατηγοριοποιηθεί ένας μεγάλος αριθμός εργαλείων – εφαρμογών που μπορούν να αξιοποιηθούν στην εκπαιδευτική διαδικασία.

Για την παρουσίασή του χρησιμοποιήθηκε η εφαρμογή εννοιολογικής χαρτογράφησης mindmomo. Προσθέστε το στα αγαπημένα σας και όποτε χρειαστείτε να ρίξετε μια γρήγορη ματιά για κάποιο εργαλείο πολύ πιθανά να είναι μία καλή αρχή.

While colleges can be a great place to build up your knowledge of technologies of all kinds, real world experience and free learning resources on the web can do a pretty good job of showing you the ropes as well. Here are 100 free resources to help you hone your techie skills and learn more about the ever-changing world of technology.

For complete list of courses, Read More …

Computer Science and Engineering

These courses offer you a chance to learn about everything from electrical engineering to the basics of computer science.

1. Data and Processing in Computers: Learn just how computers and software work in this free course. [OpenLearn]
2. Theory of Computation: This course will help you learn some of the more advanced theories behind how computers operate. [MIT]
3. Introduction to Computer Science and Programming: Start from the beginning in your computer science education with this course. [MIT]
4. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: Take this course to learn some basic programming skills and how to work within computer systems. [MIT]
5. Signals and Systems: Here you can learn about the basics of systems and signals analysis. [MIT]
6. Topics in Theoretical Computer Science: Internet Research Problems: With so much being based around the web these days, this course will help you learn to develop systems and solve problems using the internet. [MIT]
7. Great Ideas in Theoretical Computer Science: This course offers a great introduction to the theories of computer science, from the beginnings of computer systems to the present day. [MIT]
8. Pervasive Human Centric Computing: Try out this course to learn about all kinds of computing devices in addition to the personal computer. [MIT]
9. Circuits and Electronics: Through this course, students will learn the essentials of electrical engineering. [MIT]
10. Computation Structures: Learn about engineering digital computer systems from this course. [MIT]
11. Computer System Engineering: Check out this course to get an education on the engineering of computer software and hardware systems. [MIT]
12. Microelectronic Devices and Circuits: This course offers learners the chance to expand their knowledge of modeling of microelectronic devices, basic microelectronic circuit analysis and design, physical electronics of semiconductor junction and more.
13. Videogame Theory and Analysis: Study the social and educational implications of video games in this course. [MIT]
14. Artificial Intelligence: This course will introduce students to the representation, problem solving, and learning methods of artificial intelligence.[MIT]

Computer Security

There isn’t much point in having an awesome tech setup if it’s at risk of being destroyed by hackers or digital ne’er-do-wells. These courses will help you learn to keep information and systems secure.

1. Cryptography and Cryptanalysis: This course will introduce students to public-key encryption, digital signatures, pseudo-random number generation, and basic protocols. [MIT]
2. Advanced Topics in Cryptography: Expand on your knowledge of cryptographic topics with this great free course. [MIT]
3. Network Security: Learn how to secure your networks at home and at work with this course. [OpenLearn]
4. An introduction to information security: Try out this course to learn the basics of information security. [OpenLearn]
5. Selected Topics in Cryptography: Examine special topics in cryptography in this course, like cryptographic protocols and secure voting systems. [MIT]
6. Network and Computer Security: Through this course you can learn everything from risk assessment to protecting software. [MIT]

Programming

Check out these courses to learn the basics of several different programming languages.

1. Introduction to Software Engineering in Java: Take this course to learn how to use Java to build computer programs. [MIT]
2. Building Programming Experience: If you want to expand on your existing programming knowledge, consider going through the resources offered in this course. [MIT]
3. Java Preparation: If you know little to nothing about Java, take this course to get a good foundation. [MIT]
4. Essential Coding Theory: Learn about the past and present of the theory of error-correcting codes. [MIT]
5. Programming Languages: While this course uses the Scheme + programming language, you’ll learn the fundamentals that apply to many other languages as well. [MIT]
6. Nonlinear Programming: Address some of the less straightforward problems with programming in this course. [MIT]
7. Dynamic Programming and Stochastic Control: Learn how to make decisions under uncertain conditions when programming through this course. [MIT]
8. A Gentle Introduction to Programming Using Python: This course will make learning Python painless and useful. [MIT]
9. Program Analysis: Here you’ll learn how to turn a critical eye towards several major programming issues in this course. [MIT]
10. Computer Language Engineering: Through this course you’ll learn how to implement advanced programming languages. [MIT]
11. Introduction to C++: Go through the materials offered by this course to learn how to use C ++. [MIT]

The Web

From building a website to understanding how the web works, these courses offer a great variety of learning opportunities.

1. Ethics and the Law on the Electronic Frontier: Examine the legal issues that face working on the web and protecting copyrights in the digital era. [MIT]
2. Social Visualization: This course will take you through learning how to create a visual representation of the visitors to any given websites. [MIT]
3. People-centered Design: From amusement park rides to elevators, this course will help you learn more about creating products that work for users. [OpenLearn]
4. Designing Sociable Media: Learn how the design of a website influences how people use it to interact and get a chance to build your own social media in this course. [MIT]
5. Flash: If you’ve never learned how to use Flash, this course offers a great introduction. [USU]
6. Learn and Apply HTML: Most of the web is still based around an HTML framework, so learning how to use the programming language through this course can be a big help. [USU]
7. Fundamentals of Computational Media Design: Take this course to learn about the history of 20th century art and design from the perspective of the technologist. [MIT]
8. Interactive Multimedia Production: Through this course you’ll use Flash to build online programs that users can interact with. [USU]
9. Writing on Contemporary Issues: Culture Shock! Writing, Editing, and Publishing in Cyberspace: This English course teaches students some of the challenges and advantages to publishing work online. [MIT]

Software

Learn more about the world of software engineering and design from these courses.

1. Computer Graphics: Learn how to build computer graphics in this course that teaches students about the computer graphics hardware, algorithms, and software needed. [MIT]
2. User Interface Design and Implementation: A great program isn’t particularly useful if it isn’t user friendly, and this course will focus on teaching how to build great, easy-to-navigate interfaces. [MIT]
3. The Software Business: If you’ve got a great idea for a software product, you can use this course to learn about the business side of things and how you can get your product on the market. [MIT]
4. Laboratory in Software Engineering: Through this course students will be able to learn how to build software from the ground up. [MIT]
5. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: Take this course to learn how to apply computer programming methods to solve computational problems. [MIT]
6. Foundations of Software Engineering: This introductory course is a great place to get started learning more about software engineering. [MIT]
7. Common Sense Reasoning for Interactive Applications: Take advantage of the knowledge users already process when designing user interfaces in this course. [MIT]
8. Program Analysis: Learn how to look critically at the way programs are working with a little help from this course. [MIT]
9. Designing the user interface: text, colour, images, moving images and sound: Learn about the important role all of these aspects play in engaging users. [OpenLearn]

Information Technology

Whether you want to be an IT professional or just get a better understanding of the field, these courses can help.

1. Database Systems: Here you can learn about the foundations of database systems. [MIT]
2. Information Technology I: Take this introductory course to learn about some of the essentials in information technology. [MIT]
3. Global Issues in Information Technology: Learn how culture influences how technologies are used in this course. [TWB]
4. Database, Internet, and Systems Integration Technologies: This course is billed as an intensive review of information technology topics, including software development, databases and web development. [MIT]
5. Data Structures and Programming Methodology: This course will teach you about the math used in information technology and the multiple ways information and data can be organized. [UC Berkeley]
6. Computer Networks: Through this course you’ll learn more about global networks and the principles on which they are organized. [MIT]
7. Networks: Theory and Application: Here you can learn about a variety of networking topics from social networks to applications in information networks such as the Internet. [U of Michigan]
8. Information Technology and the Labor Market: Learn how the prevalence of IT is reshaping the American labor market. [MIT]
9. Information Technology Essentials: Make sure you’ve got down the basics of what it takes to understand information technology with some guidance from this course. [MIT]
10. Practical Information Technology Management: Take this course to learn how to make sound business decisions when it comes to IT. [MIT]

Communication Technology

These courses address everything from cell phones to communication systems.

1. High Speed Communication Circuits and Systems: This course will address the important issues in circuit design in communication devices. [MIT]
2. Data Communication Networks: Learn why networks are structured the way they are and how they might change in the future in this course. [MIT]
3. Communicating in Cyberspace: Here students will learn to think critically about developing communications systems for use on the internet. [MIT]
4. Digital Communications: Take a closer look at optical fiber links in this course. [MIT]
5. Principles of Wireless Communications: This course will cover the design, analysis, and fundamental limits of wireless transmission systems.[MIT]
6. Intro to Tech Communication: While having technical knowledge is great, this course addresses how to improve communication so you can get your ideas out there. [MIT]
7. Communication Systems Engineering: Learn what goes into designing and building communications systems for aerospace, satellites, and deep space devices. [MIT]
8. Transmission of Information: This course will help you learn more about the quantitative theory of information. [MIT]
9. Communication Systems I: Split into two parts, this first course will teach students about basic analog systems. [USU]
10. Principles of Digital Communications: This course will help students gain a better understanding of how modern communication devices work. [MIT]

Technology in Education

Use these courses to get an idea of how technology is changing education.

1. Technologies for Creative Learning: Take a look at this course to consider how technology can help people learn new things in exciting ways. [MIT]
2. Computer Games and Simulations for Investigation and Education: This course will teach you how people learn from interactive computer environments and encourage students to develop their own learning systems. [MIT]
3. Educational Technologies in Learning Theories: Through this course you can learn about several different learning theories and the role technology can play in each of them. [TWB]
4. Producing Distance Education Resources: Learn how to build better resources for distance learning through this course. [USU]
5. Networks for Learning: Here you can take a course that focuses on the problem of supervised learning within the framework of Statistical Learning Theory. [MIT]
6. How to Learn (Almost) Anything: Check out this course to learn how digital technologies can be used to teach just about anything. [MIT]
7. Digital Libraries: Learn more about the future of the library through this course. [U of Michigan]
8. Technological Tools for School Reform: From cheap laptops to schools better using technology, this course offers ideas for change through a technological lens. [MIT]
9. Information and Communication Technology in Education: In this course you’ll learn why it’s so important to teach students how to use computers. [TWB]
10. Blogs, Wikis, New Media for Learning: Take a look at this course to discover what role these new technologies might play in the classroom. [USU]
11. Autism Theory and Technology: In this course you’ll learn not only about autism, but also about the role technology can play in making it easier for these kids to learn and interact with others. [MIT]

Tech Math

Make sure you understand the principles behind the technology you’re using with these great courses.

1. Introduction to Algorithms: Take a look at this course material to get a handle on the basics of algorithms. [MIT]
2. Introduction to Mathematical Programming: This course will take you through the numbers behind all the programming. [MIT]
3. Distributed Algorithms: Learn about the latest research in this field through this informative and cutting-edge course. [MIT]
4. Automata, Computability, and Complexity: Take this course to learn more about topics like finite automata and regular languages, context-free languages, Turing machines, partial recursive functions and more. [MIT]
5. Mathematics for Computer Science: Math is important to computer science, so learn how to do everything from the basics to more complex problems in this course. [MIT]
6. Probabilistic Systems Analysis and Applied Probability: We live in an uncertain world, and this course offers a chance to understand the math behind probability. [MIT]
7. Advanced Calculus for Engineers: If you’re more focused on the design side of things, this course can give you the math background you need. [MIT]
8. Topics in Theoretical Computer Science: An Algorithmist’s Toolkit: Take this course to learn about some of the geometric tools used in defining algorithms. [MIT]
9. Quantum Computation: In this course you’ll get a chance to learn about the physics of information processing, quantum logic, and quantum algorithms. [MIT]
10. Principles in Applied Mathematics: Here you’ll learn about the role math plays in coding, engineering and more. [MIT]

Technology and Society

Take these courses to learn about the cultural and social implications of technology.

1. Technology in American History: Going back to colonial times, this course will address the role in which technology has played in shaping American history. [MIT]
2. The History of Computing: Learn about computers from their infancy to the present day in this course. [MIT]
3. Technology and Nature in American History: Take this course to learn how the term “nature” has been shaped by industrial practices. [MIT]
4. Technology and Gender in American History: Technology is often considered a man’s world, but this course addresses the myriad of roles women have played and the changing relationship between the sexes and new technology. [MIT]
5. Technology in a Dangerous World: Check out this course to better understand the relationship between terrorism and technology. [MIT]
6. Technology and Culture: Here you’ll learn about the effects technology has had on culture around the world and whether or not it has changed things for the better. [MIT]
7. The Anthropology of Computing: Look at computers and their role in human society from an anthropological standpoint in this course. [MIT]
8. Introduction to the History of Technology: While you might be more interested in modern technology, understanding the roots of the gadgets you use could be useful, and this course will educate you on just that. [MIT]
9. Social and Political Implications of Technology: Take a look at how technology influences how society is organized and how people behave in this course. [MIT]
10. Cultural History of Technology: This course explains that the idea of technology is relatively new and explores the effect it has had on how people define themselves and their world. [MIT]

Thanks to: http://www.onlinecourses.org/2009/10/28/100-incredible-open-courses-for-the-ultimate-tech-geek/

Today I went to UPM to attend a Web 2.0 workshop organised by AKEPT,  Akademi Kepimpinan Pengajian Tinggi. The workshop is meant to introduce faculty members from the local universities on the tools on how to get faculty and students involved in e-learning. The morning and afternoon sessions was facilitated by Assoc. Prof. Daniel Tan, from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He talked mainly on the trials and tribulations on how e-learning took during its nascent implementation in 1998 to what it is right now. He explained about the do’s and don’ts on e-learning administration and how they arrived at the decisions that they took.

What’s most interesting is that what they went through is very similar with what I am facing with our e-learning implementation in IMU. And I am glad that the decisions that I have made mirror some of the decisions that they have made over there too.  Nevertheless, there are some differences.  They have gone full out on taking videos of the lectures, whereas we have decided to use Articulate for our lectures.
The afternoon session introduced us to John Larkin, a school teacher from Australia. He also teaches part-time in the University of Wollongong, and he introduced to us the paths he took as being an educator and teacher. Amongst the tools that he taught us to use is WordPress.

The Nanyang Technological University is a leading university in Asia that has integrated blended learning.

With the use of softwares and servers such as Blackboard and Aculearn, they have successfully integrated online tools like video and podcasting, discussion forums, online file and slide sharing etc. for their students.

For more information, I highly recommend attending a presentation by Assoc. Professor Daniel Tan to learn more about how NTU has launched edveNTUre.

Blackboard is the software that powers our elearning portal edveNTUre. Learn how to make the best use of it with the many animated Blackboard 6 movie tutorials here.

Over 30 animated movie guides to help you learn how to use Macromedia Dreamweaver (MX version and above) to create compelling web sites.

Introductory videos on using Flash MX. Using components and videos, understanding accessibility of flash content.

Create your own logon message, creating a desktop shortcut to lock computer, remove personal info from a file.

Working with Outline Pane, adding autoshapes. changing colour schemes, using soundclips… there are all here.

Matematika Biner

Pada system bilangan desimal, anda pasti akan sangat mudah menandai dan menghitung, karena memang hal ini berkenaan dengan perhitungan sehari-hari. Penulis tidak menklaim bahwa perhitungan biner itu susah, akan tetapi lebih terutama karena faktor kebiasaan saja. Sebagai contoh dari bilangan desimal, untuk angka 157:
157(10) = (1 x 100) + (5 x 10) + (7 x 1)

Perhatikan! Sekarang anda tahu mengapa bilangan desimal ini sering juga disebut basis 10 bukan? Benar. Hal ini dikarenakan perpangkatan 10 yang didapat dari 100, 101, 102, dlsb (dan lainnya saya bingung.. ☺). Untuk lebih jelasnya, penulis akan ajak anda mengetahui bagaimana penjumlahan, pengurangan, dan perkalian bilangan biner. Penulis juga akan mengajak anda semakin pusing dengan menerapkan gagasan komplemen pada konsep pengurangan biner. Dalam setiap kasus, supaya anda tidak semakin bingung, penulis juga akan menyertakan bilangan desimal diantaranya.

Mengenal Konsep Bilangan Biner dan Desimal

Perbedaan mendasar dari metoda biner dan desimal adalah berkenaan dengan basis. Jika desimal berbasis 10 (X10) berpangkatkan 10x, maka untuk bilangan biner berbasiskan 2 (X2) menggunakan perpangkatan 2x. Sederhananya anda perhatikan contoh di bawah ini!

Untuk Desimal:
14(10) = (1 x 101) + (4 x 100)
= 10 + 4
= 14
Untuk Biner:
1110(2) = (1 x 23) + (1 x 22) + (1 x 21) + (0 x 20)
= 8 + 4 + 2 + 0
= 14

Tentu saja anda masih bingung dengan konsep tersebut, akan tetapi jika anda melihat susunan dibawah ini bingung anda akan sirna. Diharapkan pada sub bagian ini anda benar-benar memahami bagaimana konsep pengubahan dari biner ke desimal sehingga nantinya anda tidak akan mengalami kesulitan pada materi selanjutnya yaitu pada proses penambahan, pengurangan, maupun perkalian.

Bentuk umum dari bilangan biner dan bilangan desimal adalah :

Sekarang kita balik lagi ke contoh soal di atas! Darimana kita dapatkan angka desimal 14(10) menjadi angka biner 1110(2)? Mari kita lihat lagi pada bentuk umumnya!

Mari kita telusuri perlahan-lahan!
• Pertama sekali, kita jumlahkan angka pada desimal sehingga menjadi 14. anda lihat angka-angka yang menghasilkan angka 14 adalah 8, 4, dan 2!
• Untuk angka-angka yang membentuk angka 14 (lihat angka yang diarsir), diberi sign biner “1”, sebaliknya diberi sign “0”.
• Sehingga kalau dibaca dari kanan, angka desimal 14 akan menjadi 00001110 (terkadang dibaca 1110) pada angka biner nya.

Mungkin untuk lebih jelas, saya akan ajak anda membahas soal-soal pengkonversian dari biner ke desimal, atau sebaliknya dari desimal ke biner.

Mengubah Angka Biner ke Desimal

Saya akan berikan 4 soal, silahkan dipelajari sehingga anda benar-benar familiar dengan bentuk dan otomatis mampu untuk mempelajari tahapan berikutnya. Perhatikan contoh!

Mengubah Angka Desimal ke Biner

Untuk mengubah angka desimal menjadi angka biner digunakan metode pembagian dengan angka 2 sambil memperhatikan sisanya. Mari kita perhatikan contohnya!

OK, sampai jumpa dulu di tulisan atau artikel selanjutnya!

Sumber : www.Ilmu komputer.com

El jueves 26 de Noviembre, a las 19:00 (GMT+1), comenzará webinar, un seminario online y gratuito sobre “Email Marketing, Marketing eficaz contra la crisis“, en el cual se tratarán los siguientes temas:

• La importancia del “Permission Marketing”
• Crear, hacer crecer y segmentar tu lista
• Establecer un estrategia enfocada al cliente-usuario
• Diseñar una buena campaña de email marketing
• Analizar correctamente las estadísticas
• Email Marketing + Blogs
• Email Marketing + Redes Sociales

El único requisito que tiene es registrarse con un nombre y una dirección de correo electrónico.

Más información sobre inscripción.

Hi there world!

now you can see “more”

Coba

My first post on my brand spanky new blog is nothing new, as I wrote a post on the University of Leeds Articulate blog with all of this information. Still, even Shakespeare had to start somewhere…

If you want to edit some text on one of your slides within a published presentation without having to republish the whole thing, you can! Very useful if you’ve spent half an hour waiting for something to publish, only to discover a typo.

Open up your content folders, and within the data folder there will be a file called presentation.xml. Open this up with Wordpad or Notepad, and you’ll find the text for all of your slides within. If you edit this and save it, then reopen your player.html then the changes will be there.

All of these methods also work for Engage interactions – just open the engage.xml file to make your changes.

REMEMBER – When making changes to your presentation.xml file, it’s always a good idea to edit the PowerPoint file also; this way the changes will still apply if you republish in future.

1. Editing Slide Titles

You can also use this method to edit the titles of your slides within the Articulate menu to the left of the presentation. Each slide’s title will appear as follows :

<!–[CDATA[Slide 1]]–>

Where [Slide 1] is the name which appears in the menu. Simply edit this and it’ll change, without having to republish.

Using ctrl+F allows you to easily find the text which you want to edit.

2. Changing colour schemes

In the “data” output folder of your published presentation, you will find a file called playerproperties.xml. This file contains information about any player template which is applied to the presentation. If you wish to apply another template to a published presentation, simply remove this file and replace it with the playerproperties.xml file for the template you wish to apply.

Similarly in published Engage output, in the engage_content folder there is a file called scheme.xml. You can use the same method as above to change the colour scheme of a published Engage interaction.

3. Swapping Engage interactions

If you have inserted an Engage interaction into a presentation, you can change it for another interaction without having to republish. In the data/swf folder of your output, there will be a folder called engage_XX, where XX is the number Articulate has given to the interaction. To switch the interaction for another, publish your second interaction as a standalone, then simply copy all the files from the published output into the engage_XX folder of your Presenter presentation.

4. Changing individual slides

You can edit slide text without republishing by changing the presentation.xml file. However, you can’t use this method to make changes to things like the slide layout, or custom animations, but there is another way. Create a one-slide presentation in PowerPoint and copy the slide you wish to change over to this new PowerPoint. Make any changes you want and then publish this presentation (don’t worry about the player template or anything like that). In the data/swf output folder, you’ll find a file called slide1.swf. Rename this file to match its slide number from your original presentation, then copy it over into the data/swf folder of the original presentation.

I believe this method can be used if you want to apply a different audio to a slide; just copy the slide onto a new presentation, import a new audio, publish and follow the rest of the steps above. (N.B. I haven’t tested it to change audios, but I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work).
You can download a Swiff Player for free which enables you to view .swf files:

5. Swapping video clips

If you have a video clip inserted into a presentation which you wish to change, you can also do this without republishing. In the data/swf folder of the published output you will find any video clips  you have inserted. All you need to do in order to swap a video clip for another is to make sure the new one has the same name as that which was inserted, and then copy the new one into the data/swf folder, overwriting the old one.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the edits you can make to Articulate projects without republishing, I’m sure there are many more applications of this technique that you can use if you need to.

Learning-Driven Factors, constructs that show the intrinsic value of the instructional materials to the end-user, have been found to be fundamental in improving a learner’s higher order cognitive skills needed to communicate technical concepts like those in Information Technology (IT).  Communicating IT concepts at the graduate level could be a difficult albeit challenging task when faced with a heterogeneous class made of students with varied backgrounds in IT.  One tool that has been identified as helping students understand complex technology concepts is multimedia instructional materials.  This research investigates the perceptions of graduate business students on improvement of their higher-level cognitive skills when they participated in a multimedia based case study that involved making a multimillion decision to implement a new POS system at the Chick-fil-A food chain.  Two groups of students participated in an experiment where they analyzed the case study and made their recommendations.  One of the groups was made of graduate business students with at least three years of work experience in the IT area. The other group was made of graduate students at a traditional university, most of whom had no previous work experience in the IT area. Two questionnaires measured their perceptions on the improvements achieved on different constructs.

Using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) procedure, the perceptions of the two groups of graduate students on the impact of the learning-driven constructs and higher order cognitive skills when using multimedia case studies were solicited. These results show that multimedia instructional materials were found to be very helpful in understanding technical issues.  In particular, they were more effective for graduate business students with no previous work experience if they included learning-driven factors such as challenging the participants, providing self-learning opportunities, making it possible to learn from others, and enhancing learning interest.

Past research has shown that females have more negative attitudes toward engineering and technology than do males. These negative attitudes may explain the decreasing number of females choosing technical careers. Past studies have shown that a change in learning environments and the methods by which learning takes place might foster a change in this situation. A multimedia case study incorporating a real-world engineering and technical problem faced by a power plant was developed in order to provide a new learning environment for engineering and business students. This research investigates whether the use of this material by female and male students led to differences in perceived higher level cognitive skills and, if so, seeks to identify the factors that cause the difference. A research model was developed to show the potential relationships between gender and higher level cognitive skill improvement with two intervening variables: the learning-driven factor and the content-driven factor. The learning-driven factor is composed of constructs that show the intrinsic value of the instructional materials to the end user.

The learning-driven factor also explains how the multimedia instructional materials were used as a tool to challenge the end user in learning difficult management and engineering topics, in connecting theories and practice, in improving students’ understanding of basic concepts, and in providing the students a platform on which to learn from one another. The content-driven factor is composed of constructs that measure the extrinsic value provided to the end-user by the use of multimedia instructional materials. The end user has no control over the design of this factor. This factor constitutes the technical quality of the multimedia instructional material, how easy it is to use and locate information contained on the instructional material, and how the design of the instructional material helped to make it easier and more feasible to complete assigned tasks in a timely manner. Two questionnaires collected information from 140 students who participated in the experiment (99 men and 41 women). A structural equations model was used to compute the coefficients of the relationship indicated in the research model. An analysis of the results from the model shows that both groups perceived an improvement in the learning-driven factor. Female students valued the learning-driven factor more highly than did their male counterparts, suggesting that it is improvements in the actual learning process triggered by the system that is more important for this group. The results suggest that when designing new learning environments, it is important for the female students to be challenged and have opportunities both to learn by themselves and to learn from others. These results have implications for teaching programs, such as the provision of opportunities for group learning, especially for female students.

Mbarika, V., Sankar, C.S., Raju, P.K. (2003). Identification of Factors that Lead to Perceived Learning Improvements for Female Students. IEEE Transactions on Education. Vol. 46, # 1, pp. 26-36.

Here are the top 100 learning tools, which are recommended by e-learning professionals worldwide. Jane has also created a powerpoint presentation of the 100 learning tools, which is hosted on Slideshare.net. I’m going to break them down by type of platform and focus on the ones I’ve used and find most useful. I hope you find my re-organization of the list to be helpful in that its organized by type of tool and function. Many thanks to Jane and the other learning professionals which put this together.

Social Networking

Twitter- micro blogging platform
Yammer- closed system micro blogging platform
Slideshare.net- like YouTube for presentations
Flickr- post and share photos
Facebook- social networking
Wikispaces-wiki and social collaboration
Wetpaint-wiki and social collaboration
PB Works previously PB Wiki-social collaboration and wiki tool
Second Life-similar to the Sims. 3D social networking
YouTube- social networking around videos
Teacher Tube-instructional video sharing site
Ning-build your own social network (free and paid options)

(see also: video vertical niche sites like 5 min, Expert Village, and Howcast)

Blogging Tools
WordPress-blogging (best in my opinion)
Posterous-blogging (fun in my opinion)
Twitter- micro blogging
Typepad-blogging (paid)

Video, Video Conferencing, and Screen Casting
Skype-video conferencing (and collaboration)
Illuminate-Web conferencing
Dim Dim-video coferencing
Screenr-Screencasting tool
Camtasia Studio- Screencasting
Articulate-Present/Engage/Quizmaker
Adobe Captivate-demo and scenario tool
(see also: My Ovoo)

Productivity Tools
Evenote-note taking
Delicious- bookmark the most relevant content
Mindmapping-Mind mapping software
Google Docs-collaborative writing and creating
Firefox-web browser
Gmail-email
diigio-social annotation
Google Calendar-social calendars

Course Management Tools
Moodle- Course Management
(see also: Sakai)

Design, Creative and Fun Tools
Prezi-create interesting powerpoints
Wordle-Word Cloud Generator
Snag It-Screen capture
Flickr-share photos
Picasa-photo organizer
Animoto-Create videos from your images (several similar platforms)
Glogster-make an interactive poster
Adobe Photoshop-Photo/image editing tools
Lectora-
Elgg-
Voice thread-collaborative slideshows (no experience with this one, but sounds cool)

RSS Reader
Google Reader-blog and RSS reader
Bloglines-blog and RSS reader

Personalized Reader
iGoogle-personalized start page
Netvibes-personalized reader and start page
Pageflakes-personalized reader and start page
(see also: Protopages and others)

Audio:
Garage Band-personal recording studio
Audacity-audio editing and recorder

Feedback and Surveys:
Survey Monkey

Twitter Tools
Twirl
Tweetdeck

Other Technology:
iTunes/iTunes U-download free podcasts
Flip Camera-portable and inexpensive video camera
iPhone/iPod Touch (includes indirectly iTunes and iPhone apps)-too long to list
Dreamweaver
Powerpoint
Keynote
Word

Search Technology
Google (including advanced search and Google Scholar)
Twitter (realtime search by subject and hashtag)

I can’t believe Alltop and Technorati didn’t make the list. To me, these tools along with Google and Twitter and incidently Amazon and incredibly important to identify the best and smartest thought leaders in a particular field of study. Just because my frequency of use of an RSS reader is high, it was likely one the five of those technologies or perhaps an industry publication or conference which enabled you to plug it into your RSS reader. I’m curious if others are using tools like Basecamp or other 37 Signals tools or perhaps Zoho. To me, I don’t understand how Gmail, Firefox, Word, Wikipedia, and Open Office don’t seem to count…although that may be the point.

Designation: BHEL Requires Diploma Holders in Engineering for Appointment on Contract Basis

Job Description:

BHEL Requires Diploma Holders in Engineering for Appointment on Contract Basis

BHEL is on the lookout for Engineering Supervisors to be engaged on Fixed Tenure Basis for a maximum period of two years for Electronics Division at Bangalore or anywhere in India at their Project Sites :
Diploma Engineers : 16 posts (UR- 06, ST-02, OBC-6, PH-2), Age : 28 years, Qualification : Diploma in Engineering in relevant discipline from an institute recognized by AICTE with 60% (50% for SC/S) marks, Experience : 01 year,  Remuneration : remuneration of Rs. 9800/- in the first year and Rs. 10500/- in the second year.

Selection by written test and inerview.

Application Fee : Crossed Account Payee Demand Draft for Rs.100/- in favour of : M/s. BHEL Electronics Division, payable at Bangalore (No fee for SC/ST/ PH candidates)

Desired Profile:

How to Apply: Applications in the prescribed format along with the self attested copies of the relevant certificates, superscribing on the envelope containing the filled-in application form “Application for Appointment as Supervisors on Fixed Tenure Basis – Position code____” so as to reach the following address on or before 11/12/2009 :

Sr. Executive (HR), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Electronics Division, P.B. No. 2606, Mysore Road, Bangalore – 560026.

Location: Bangalore

Education: BE/B.Tech, Diploma , Any Graduate

Details & application Format

[This newsletter is both in Norwegian and English language. Please scroll down to read the English version/Dette nyhetsbrevet er publisert i både norsk og engelsk versjon. Engelsk versjon er gitt lenger nede i e-posten]

— Norwegian version —
Fokus på regelverk og arbeid i høyden
I dag skjer det mye rundt standardisering og regelverk for arbeid i tau og arbeid hvor ulike taubaserte systemer og sikringsutstyr benyttes som sikring mot fall (fallsikring). Standard Norge er i løpet av høsten i ferd med å ferdigstille Norsk Standard for ”Arbeid i tau (prNS 9600)”, som vil dekke alt arbeid i tau. Standarden legger opp til et skille mellom enkle – og avanserte metoder for arbeid i tau. Blant annet vil arbeid offshore klassifiseres som avansert, men også flere oppgaver på land for blant annet energibransjen, bygg og anlegg vil komme i denne kategorien.
http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/421/1/lang,no/

OLFs kompetansekrav for arbeid med hydrokarbonførende utstyr
I forbindelse med å redusere antall gasslekkasjer i petroleumsindustrien innfører næringen nye krav til opplæring for personell som arbeider direkte med hydrokarbonførende utstyr. Fristen for sertifisering og resertifisering er utgangen av 2010.

OLFs gasslekkasjeprosjekt har som mål å redusere antall gasslekkasjer på norsk sokkel. Et av de viktigste tiltakene er å heve kompetansen til alle som opererer utstyr på hydrokarbonførende anlegg på norsk sokkel. I forbindelse med prosjektet blir det innført krav til sertifisering og re-sertifisering for hele industrien basert på læreplaner utarbeidet av gasslekkasjeprosjektet.

Foreløpig er læremateriell for flensearbeid og ventilteknikk klar for bruk.

Les mer: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/457/1/lang,no/

Anbefaler det nye HMS-grunnkurset   
Alle bedrifter skal ha høyt fokus på HMS! Industriskolens nye HMS Grunnkurs arbeidsmiljø tilfredsstiller lovens krav til HMS-opplæring for verneombud og medlemmer av AMU. Trond Mostrøm er installasjonsleder i Fabricom og er for tiden på Snorre B plattformen i Nordsjøen, han er én av de som har benyttet Industriskolens HMS-tilbud.

Les mer: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/456/72/lang,no/

Effektiv opplæring i WINDOWS 7 på Trainingportal   
Windows 7 er utviklet og forbedret ut fra brukernes tilbakemeldinger. Brukerne har bedt om en PC som er enkel å bruke, raskere, mer brukervennlig og som fungerer slik brukeren vil. Derfor har Microsoft gjort hundrevis av grunnleggende forbedringer, og et par du kanskje ikke hadde forventet deg. E-læringskurs i bruk av Windows 7 lanseres på Trainingportal i desember 2009. Dette i samarbeid med DataPower Learning.

Ta kontakt for pristilbud for din bedrift allerede i dag!
Les mer: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/451/1/lang,no/

Kampanjetilbud på kurs i gassmåling   
Vestteknikk har i samarbeid med Mintra utviklet et e-læringskurs innen gassmåling. Kurset gir en introduksjon i forståelsen av gass i utsatte arbeidssituasjoner. Det beskriver reelle farer og forteller om de mest vanlige gassene. Kurset gir kunnskap om hvordan man kan best beskytte seg selv og andre ved bruk av riktig utstyr. Målsetningen til kurset er å gi en innføring i emner som gir økt forståelse for hvorfor gassmåling er viktig, samt innblikk i hvordan en gassmåler skal brukes på en sikker og effektiv måte.

Les mer: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/446/1/lang,no/

E-læring gir redusert pris kurs hos NMU   
Med e-læring hjemme første dagen + 4 dager på sikkerhetssenteret til NMU AS – så får du et 5 dagers Grunnleggende Sikkerhetskurs til tilbudspris! I vinter har NMU et tilbud (13.990,-) til deg som tar e-læring til Grunnleggende sikkerhetskurs hjemme hos deg selv. Du trenger bare en PC med internett, litt tid og….en kopp kaffe. 
 
Les mer: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/438/1/lang,no/

Offshore og Energibransjens HMS-konferanse – Meld deg på allerede nå!   
Hva kan oljeindustrien lære av energibransjen, og hvilket forretningspotensial har denne erfaringsoverføringen? Dette er det sentrale tema når norsk offshorevirksomhet møter landets største energiforetak på Offshore og Energibransjens HMS-konferanse i Stavanger 9-10. mars 2010. Du kan allerede nå sikre deg en plass på konferansen!

Les mer: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/455/59/lang,no/

Kurs i prosjektledelse høsten 2009/våren 2010
Forskning fra Project Management Institute (PMI®) angir at nær 25% av det globale brutto nasjonalproduktet skjer gjennom prosjekter. Med de samme forholdstallene beløper dette seg til 300 milliarder kroner i Norge.  Ansatte i selskap og organisasjoner med egen Trainingportal får 30 % rabatt på et utvalg av kursene som avholdes i Stavanger 2009/2010.

Les mer: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/420/1/lang,no/

Bestill kurskatalog på!
Trainingportal er bransjeportalen for e-læringskurs i oljeindustrien.

Du kan bestille kurskatalogen kostnadsfritt ved å sende en e-post til info@trainingportal.no. Husk å oppgi navn og adresse til hvor katalogen ønskes sendt.

Les mer: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/section/4/90/lang,no/

— English version —
Focus on Regulations for Work at Height
There is a lot happening with the standardisation and regulations for vertical rope work and work using various rope-based systems and fall safety equipment.   Over the course of this autumn, Standards Norway will be completing the Norwegian standard for “Vertical Rope Work (prNS 9600)”, which will cover all vertical rope work.  The standard will differentiate between basic and advanced vertical rope work.  Offshore work will be classified as advanced, but several types of operations on land, in the energy and construction industries, for example, will also fall into that category.

Read more: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/421/1/lang,en/

Safety Representative Training via E-Learning and Workshops    
Now, you can conduct mandatory working environment training for your safety representatives internally, using e-learning combined with classroom training.  The Federation of Norwegian Industries, in collaboration with Mintra, has developed an online course covering the theoretical portion of safety representative training.  Customers who choose this solution can also choose to hold internal workshops, based on an instructional outline from Mintra.

Read more: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/448/1/lang,en/

Effective Training in Windows 7 on Trainingportal   
Windows 7 is the most recent publicly available version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs and media center PCs.

E-learning courses on Windows 7 will be launched on Trainingportal December 2009. Please contact Mintra for further information about training in your company.

Read more: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/451/1/lang,en/

Special Offer on Gas Measurement Course   
In collaboration with Vestteknikk, Mintra has developed an e-learning course on gas measurement.  This course provides an introduction to the understanding of gas in high risk work situations.  It describes real dangers and explains about the most common types of gas.  The course provides knowledge of how best to protect yourself, and others, using proper equipment.  The object of the course is to introduce participants to topics that provide an increased understanding of why gas measurement is important, as well as insight into how to use gas measurement devices safely and effectively.

Read more: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/446/1/lang,en/
 
Offshore & Energy HSE Conference 2010 – Exchanging experience between offshore & energy   
What can the oil industry learn from the energy industry, and what is the business potential of this exchange of experience?  This will be a central theme when the Norwegian offshore sector meets the nation’s largest energy companies at the Offshore and Energy HSE Conference, in Stavanger, March 9th-10th, 2010.

Read more: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/view/447/1/lang,en/

Order the Course Catalogue now!
If you would like to receive a free copy of the course catalogue, send an email to info@trainingportal.no. Remember to include you name and postal address.

Read more: http://www.trainingportal.no/content/section/4/90/lang

Image by Geekgirly

Greetings from Turku, the historical capital of Finland! I’m attending a national language teachers’ conference here. Today I gave a workshop on using web-based technologies for authentic language learning. There was a lot of discussion and I wanted to share our thoughts and the hot topics of the conference in my blog as well.

Before my workshop I attended a couple of other sessions with a message supporting my own. The first one was led by Marjatta Huhta, who is going to defend her doctoral thesis on language and communication needs for professional purposes in January. She pointed out some serious flaws in the Finnish language teaching policy: there is a profound lack of understanding in what comes to the actual working life needs in language and communication skills. She has also found out that language education has failed and fails to read the signs of time: things have changed in many ways but language education policies remain the same. We need to take action immediately if we are to have any competitive edge in the changing markets.

Marianne Renvall and Marjo Joshi from Turku University of Applied Sciences shared their experiences in a company language training project in which they have collaborated with SMEs to map their language skill needs and offer custom-designed training in language and communication skills. The experiences have also benefited the degree programmes by offering up-to-date information on working life requirements. Their studies show that the Finnish UAS graduates find that in working life they need skills they don’t think they have learned well enough during their studies. Surprisingly, these include 1) team work skills; 2) communication skills; 3) problem solving skills and 4) organization skills. Moreover, Marianne Renvall strongly emphasized that it’s our duty to teach our students online communication skills and professional use of social media. They need these skills in real life.

I don’t think many universities really understand this yet.

Just before my workshop, Anne Rongas gave an online presentation on social media tools for language learning. It was an excellent introduction to the discussion I wanted to raise with my own topic. The question is, in light of all these issues: how can we teach our students the right skills, the ones that they are really going to need in real life? Not just the right terms and grammar, but the actual working methods, real-life communication situations both online and face-to-face, team work skills, and all these things they report not to have learned well enough during their studies?

We had an interesting discussion and I’m now going to summarize the main points here, to give you an idea of what Finnish language teachers have to say about these issues.

We found it important to make a difference between the use of social media for fun and for professional purposes. The common experience was that students are familiar with many social media applications, but they lack the skills to use them professionally. They are not aware e.g. of language registers or cultural issues. Ideally these skills should be taught before higher education.

Many language teachers are skillful in using VLEs in language education. They use various tools of the VLEs, such as discussion forums, chat and wiki. However, there are not many experiences in using social media applications in language teaching yet. (Now, please, if you’re reading this and you have some experiences to share with us, please feel free to comment!)

I introduced an UAS business information systems language course concept that I have developed together with my colleague and we’re piloting it in Ning this academic year. The course is partly based on project based learning, and all online collaboration takes place in Ning. The students work in teams, starting with a real project plan, and they “form a company”, familiarize themselves with a piece of open source project management or webconferencing software and produce both written and spoken presentations on both the “company” and the software. In addition, we practice meetings and negotiations skills, job interviews, business e-mails and business terminology, as well as study information search in relevant professional blogs.

The course is still in progress, but so far the feedback has been positive. I promise I’ll post updates here!

We also talked about Second Life in language education. One of the participants had positive experiences in studying in SL. She had taken part in lectures there, and she said it had felt very real. This raised a new question: why is it that when we could do just about anything in SL, make our avatars fly or do realistic simulations of complex tasks, the teachers very often tend to create a school and make the avatars sit in a classroom or auditorium, watching a Power Point presentation? Where is out-of-the-box thinking? And, getting back to authentic learning and working life requirements, where is the workplace where the employees go sit in rows when they need to solve a problem? In this light, is it a wonder that the student report lacking team work and problem solving skills?

We also heard an example of how a traditional lecture can change and become more interactive with the help of social media applications. One of the participants told about a lecture, during which the students had used Twitter for commenting it and discussing it with each other. The teacher also followed the Twitter conversation, and the comments had a direct effect on the course of the lecture, making it truly interactive. This would not be possible in a traditional setting; you can’t just open your mouth and say you have a comment for the guy sitting next to you. Here social media helped overcome the barriers of the traditional auditorium setting.

Finally we discussed intellectual property rights and information security. A participant explained he has had a few students who refuse to use any applications that require creating a user profile. This raised a lot of discussion. Can we make our students register to services they don’t want to use? What happens when their employer requires them to use e.g. Ning for project management? If Facebook owns the rights for all the material we take there, can it be used for education? How to protect our and our students’ privacy if we wish to use it anyway?

There are lots of questions, and this post has become long and perhaps somewhat incoherent. I hope it still makes sense and helps us to further develop these ideas. All comments are more than welcome.

I’d like to conclude with a couple of questions Marianne Renvall and Marjo Joshi introduced in their presentation:

Do you think your university/school takes working life requirements into account in education? How about your own teaching?

Do you think that students have a realistic idea of what kinds of language and communication challenges they are going to face in their future work? How does it affect their motivation to study these skills?

Proyecto: Servicio de creación de contenidos e-learning
Categoria: E-Learning
Zona: ANDALUCÍA
Fecha limite: 2009-12-9
Presupuesto: 143895.69 euros
Descripcion: Servicio de creación, mantenimiento y actualización de contenidos e-learning de un curso de idiomas.
Enlace: http://www.proyectosinformaticos.biz/anuncio2.php?ID=31dec4801ee31ebb40a88190f7730817