Posted 6:56 PM by George Siemens
Technology adoption - at the instructor level - is the key to elearning's growth. Yet often, instructors are under served in the development and planning process. I've heard numerous accounts of instructors teaching their first online course...without a clue of what the environment is all about. The assumption seems to be: a good classroom instructor = a good online instructor. This is wrong. Success in elearning is linked to proper preparation, planning, and student focus...not to skills acquired in a classroom.

A few guidelines for instructors new to the online world:

• Take an online course. This is a must.
  
• Evaluate your perceptions of what it means to teach. Is it lecturing? Is it guiding/facilitating? How can you tell if you are succeeding?
  
• Join a users group. Talk to other online instructors (if not face-to-face, then digitally). What works for them? What doesn't?
  
• Start small...but start somewhere. Grow your confidence/skill level with the technology. Don't get over your head with too many new tools. Email works fine for elearning.
  
• Expand your knowledge base...take a few technology courses...learn Dreamweaver, Flash...or whatever.
  
• Document your experiences in moving online...journal/blog - anything that allows you the opportunity to reflect on your experiences.
  

Posted 6:39 PM by George Siemens
Virtual Teleportation? Next Generation Internet is Coming to a Cubicle Near You
Quotes: "There is a new Internet already operating at 100 times the speed of the Internet most people are used to. Called Internet2 in North America, Geant in Europe and Next Generation Internet (NGI) generally, it is being developed and deployed by universities and research centres globally...NGI provides ubiquitous connectivity at such high rates of speed that entirely new forms of work are possible. This promises to change how people will learn, interact and collaborate via networks."

Posted 9:28 AM by George Siemens
Metaphors for Social Computing
Quote: "In fact, when told about new software for communications and collaboration most people respond with the classic examples --- chat rooms, instant messaging, whiteboards, etc. But our metaphors for social computing are under-developed. The common examples on the Internet today lack depth and creativity, and reflect the fact that real-time computing is essentially a new, uncharted world."

Posted 8:44 AM by George Siemens
Knowledge Management Definitions via McGee's Musings

Posted 8:39 AM by George Siemens
E-Learning on the College Campus
Quote: "While the potential rewards and benefits of distance learning are exciting, many question if college students are really benefiting from online courses. Many of these fears aren’t even focused on the end result but on students’ expectations before they take their first online course. For example, do students view online courses as an easy way to obtain credit? Do they believe that less work will be required of them? Will they be able to hide behind their monitors and not have to participate actively as they would in a traditional course?"
Comment: Basic attempt to evaluate classroom vs. online learning...end result (according to the author): marks were similar between the two groups. Here's my cynicism: conclusions in this study communicate nothing. No indication of how learning was evaluated...or the greater effect of learning - changed behaviour.

Posted 7:36 AM by George Siemens
Electronic Student Portfolios/ Webfolios
Quote: "Student portfolios are recognised as formative reflections of progress, and also play an increasingly important role in summative assessment procedures.
The systematic compilation and presentation of teachers' observations and student artefacts across the gamut of media ensures a high degree of student involvement and invokes a more richly textured portrayal of individual student achievement than that available through more traditional forms of assessment."
Comment: I took a course this last summer on assessment and evaluation. The emphasis was heavily on utilizing alternative forms of assessment (authentic). While the course was directed to classroom instructors, I found that the concept of authenticity in evaluation transferred nicely to the online environment. Plagiarism is a significant concern in elearning...and much of it could be prevented/discouraged through effective evaluation techniques...like webfolios...

Posted 7:25 AM by George Siemens
Here's a link to information forwarded by Larry Danielson: Teaching Learners to be Self-Directed...looks good!

Posted 4:59 AM by George Siemens
Information architecture
Quote: "One of the most important decisions you will make is deciding on the classification options you require. Remember, the beauty of web-based classification is that you can multiple-classify. This allows the reader a variety of navigation options so that they can find the content they need just the way they want to find it."
Comment: As I stated several weeks ago...information architecture and content management will become significant concerns in elearning. Specifically content management - our department has an incredible amount of digital resources...but the organization (and retrieval) is ineffective.

Posted 4:50 AM by George Siemens
No Significant Difference
Quote: "There are many ways we can examine differences between distance education and face-to-face instruction, but using the idea of no significant difference is probably a mis-directed approach...It is not whether we can meet the same learning outcomes with technology, but how do we use the technologies to enrich the experience, to go beyond what can be done in the face-to-face or other delivery environment."

Posted 4:36 AM by George Siemens
Moving the Camera
Quote: "The evolution of the film industry is worth noting because parallels can be drawn between the moving pictures of the early 1900s and e-learning. For many years, the camera remained fixed while the actors, speakers, and scenes moved in front of it. People were used to watching theater actors move about before them while they sat motionless in their seats. When the new medium appeared, what did everyone do? They took the old ideas they were accustomed to and put a camera in front of them. Only years later did some imaginative individual think, “Hey, let’s try moving the camera as well!” Wow, what a concept."
Comment: This is a good article, simply because it highlights a critical concern in elearning resources development - the desire to squeeze a new medium into an existing medium. Resources cannot simply be transferred...they must be transformed. A course that builds on the unique strengths of the Internet is far more effective than one that duplicates classroom content and activities.