Terence Armentano - eResume & ePortfolio » elearning

The New Learning Landscape; The Future of Education

Terence Armentano — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:56:00 +0000

I highly recommend all teachers watch this video of Michael Wesch at the University of Manitoba on the Future of Education. In addition, you should show this to to your students and have some solid discussion about it. If you teach online, simply post it on a discussion forum and have at it.

Michael does a good job of giving you the BIG picture regarding the current state of education and technology and what he is doing with his class to improve the learning landscape. This video is a very good companion to my University 2.0 blog post. At the core we find that the collective body of knowledge is all around us in the air via the internet so why are we still emphasizing memorization as the primary form of education. Almost any question that can be asked on a test can be looked up in minutes, even seconds on a phone, so how is our educational system adapting? How are they preparing students to think critically, creatively, collaboratively, and communicate digitally? The Internet and specifically the more evolved web 2.0, is moving culture and education from an authoritarian one-way download of information to a collaborative upload/download/interactive experience. Because so much information is readily available, teaching students how to ask good questions, critique ideas, and disseminate quality information from bunk is quite central to the new learning landscape.

University of Manitoba: Information Services and Technology - Michael Wesch and the Future of Education

During his presentation, the Kansas State University professor breaks down his attempts to integrate Facebook, Netvibes, Diigo, Google Apps, Jott, Twitter, and other emerging technologies to create an education portal of the future.

Distance learning and gas prices

Terence Armentano — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:24:00 +0000

I thought the results for a Google search I performed on “distance learning + gas prices” was pretty interesting. What do you think? Since most subjects can be taught online effectively and driving to class is becoming more $$$ for students and teachers, people are looking for online options. I have always said that online courses and programs add immense value to the traditional brick and mortar university (See University 2.0) and this is just another example. Online courses can be flexible, accessible, engaging, interactive, and very personal. As students continue to discover both the monetary and educational benefits of online learning, they will continue to look for the option as they hunt for the right university. Those universities that are paying attention to the needs of modern day students will benefit. BGSU, my university, which has been around since 1910, seems to get it as they have been adding more online courses every year since 2000. Check out our online degrees

A Bridge Between Blackboard and Open Source?

Terence Armentano — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:10:00 +0000

As the competition heats up in the land of Learning Management Systems (LMS), Blackboard is offering to partner with Syracuse to develop an open source plugin that will send data back and forth between Sakai and Blackboard. Some see this as Blackboard’s way of trying to put everything under 1 roof (their roof). Others see it as being good for the community at large as one might be able to choose which technology to use for various scenarios. For example, a school might have blackboard as their portal and LMS, but maybe they would like to use Moodle as the LMS and keep Blackboard as the portal. It sounds like this plugin may offer that solution. Personally, I think most major Learning Management Systems are capable of performing quite similar functions these days, so one must accurately count the cost of each system at their institution. I think more and more of the LMS market is moving open source because of its high quality, low cost, and intelligent community, which might be frightening if one is trying to sell a product that others are giving away for free. Just my take. What is yours?

A Bridge Between Blackboard and Open Source? :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, Views and Jobs

A Bridge Between Blackboard and Open Source?

Blackboard, the dominant player in course management software, has the ability to inspire devotion and, for the more fervid open-source adherents, not a little contempt. So today’s announcement may cause a stir among those more apt to liken Blackboard to the devil than a gentle giant: The company is partnering with Syracuse University to develop a way to integrate Blackboard with Sakai, one of the primary open-source alternatives.

How to integrate Small Worlds into Blackboard and other LMS’s

Terence Armentano — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:08:00 +0000

Check out my Jing Video Here to see how I integrated Small Worlds right into my Blackboard Learning Management System. It’s nice that Small Worlds provides a unique URL for each account. Usually stuff built in flash doesn’t have unique URL’s. Very web 2.0! I could use the same technique with other LMS’s too, I assume.

Voices of Learning Video

Terence Armentano — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:50:00 +0000

This is video from some of the “voices of learning” at the Learning events in Orlando, and contains some solid nuggets of information regarding the application of technology to enhance learning, retention, and production.

Why google and educators are excited about Android - the first complete, open, and free mobile platform

Terence Armentano — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:30:00 +0000

The Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies, is developing Android: the first complete, open, and free mobile platform. To help developers get started developing new applications, Google is offering an early look at the Android Software Development Kit.

So what makes Android so special? Why not just get an iphone?

It is Open - Android allows you to access core mobile device functionality through standard API calls.
It is Breaking down boundaries - Combine information from the web with data on the phone — such as contacts or geographic location — to create new user experiences.
All applications are equal - Android does not differentiate between the phone’s basic and third-party applications — even the dialer or home screen can be replaced.
Fast & easy development - The SDK contains what you need to build and run Android applications, including a true device emulator and advanced debugging tools.

Google is giving away $10,000,000 to developers that come up with the coolest applications for the mobile phone technology. This is a great way to spur on innovation and get some really cool apps developed for the phone. Here is a video from one of the winners of round 1 in the development contest. This application does some pretty amazing things with bar code information.

There is no Google phone, however, Android is an open platform that will be able to run on many mobile phones similarly to how an operating system can be installed on many different kinds of computers.

This technology could make some really significant advances in providing education to people worldwide. In a blog post I wrote back in 2006, I posted some research from MIT, which indicated that “cellphone usage in Africa is growing almost twice as fast as any other region and jumped from 63 million users two years ago to 152 million today. According to the the MIT website, “Africa is well-suited as a testbed for the development of a mobile phone programming curriculum. Given their massive adoption and widespread use, as well as the recent technological advances in their computational power, mobile phones are ideal substitutes for the personal computer throughout the continent.”

Excellent example of visual communication online

Terence Armentano — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:06:00 +0000

When designing online courses for the education environment, we are always asking ourselves how we can best communicate a message online and capture the emotion and humanness within the digital medium. The human element is crucial to a good learning environment. I found this example from the NY Times Online to be an excellent model for conveying a message using multiple forms of media to enrich our understanding. In this example, they use text, audio, video, and images within the digital medium to convey a human element through stories that impact our understanding of the situation in Iraq. As someone who reads the NY Times daily I find that more stories than not, focus on the negative aspects of the war and how much has gone wrong, so it is encouraging to see the other side presented in such a rich way and that progress is being made. If this example were incorporated into an online course, it might be followed up with discussion in the forums or an individual or class blog contribution. Those that are interested in designing online courses at universities should consider these examples and share them with your multimedia and instructional design team on your campus. View example

Predicting the future of online learning

Terence Armentano — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:26:00 +0000

Predicting the future is tough business because often times unpredictable things happen, which change the course of life. [i.e. Movable Type, The Internet, Google (the search), etc.].

So the question is: What is the future of online learning?

The following are ideas that surfaced at the Sloan-C Conference from a presentation on this topic. I don’t endorse all these ideas, however many of them make sense and are worthy of discussion. What are your thoughts?

More mobile
More modular
Student expectations will rise
More inter-insitutional collaboration
Expansion of informal learning context
Faculty development will be on demand
People will aggregate there own learning spaces
People will learn through YouTube (and other video web-sites)
Re-evaluation about what it means to be an expert
The rise of open source learning
More visualization
Everyone will be teaching with tech
Learning will be more ad-hoc
More fantasy-based learning
Things will be more un-bundled just like in banking, publishing, music, dvd’s.

More terms associated with the future of online learning (some were repeated)

modular
synchronous
asynchronous
collaborative
consumer driven
media rich
competency based
visual
networked
accountable
flexible
audio enabled
learning on the go
gaming
social networking
student-created content
blogs
podcasting
cross platform learning
bricolage
diverse organization and delivery
just in time learning
external certification
more faculty issues
second life

Teaching Online - What to Expect

Terence Armentano — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:12:00 +0000

What to expect from an Online Course – A Teacher’s Perspective
Since I have both assisted college faculty with course design as an Instructional Designer and have taught Masters level online courses, I have come to learn first- hand what teachers can expect from an online course. Depending on how well an instructor prepares an online course, facilitating one can be a great adventure full of exciting discussion and engaging assessments resulting in a rich learning community, or it could be a confusing information dump with little interaction resulting in bitter students and low or no future enrollment. So to answer the question of what an instructor can expect in teaching an online course, I would say that you can expect to get out of it what you put into it. Faculty teaching online at BGSU have the opportunity to work with the IDEAL Group, Instructional Designers, Multimedia Developers, and e-Learning Specialists, to ensure the highest quality online courses.

It’s Like Planning a Wedding
I will have been married for 3 years in October, and I remember the kind of planning and preparation that went into the wedding to make that day run smoothly. Well I should say I learned a lot by watching my wife, but anyhow, I noticed a similarity between planning a wedding and planning for teaching an online course for the first time. There are a lot of decisions that need to be made up front so that when the day comes, you can thoroughly enjoy it. You can spend more time talking with your guests and sharing stories rather than having to worry about baking a cake the day of the wedding, or trying to get a limo to take you to the reception. Similarly, the more time you spend preparing your course, the fewer snags you will have throughout the course and the more time you will have to interact with the students, facilitate meaningful discussion, and effectively facilitate the course! Hopefully this article will help you better prepare for teaching online.

Preparation Phase: At least 3 months before start date

During the preparation phase, teachers will set up the course by creating their course modules in the LMS (Learning Management System). A module is like a lesson on a topic which includes all reading material, assignments, quizzes, etc. Instructors have the option to work with Instructional Designers from IDEAL who specialize in online delivery. The following might be included in a module:
- Required Readings
  - Textbook
  - Websites
  - Journals
- Lecture Materials

Communication and Collaboration Opportunities

Discussion Forums

E-mail

Live Chat (Text, audio, video)
Online Document sharing
Wikis
Blogs

Module Assignments
- Case study (i.e. turn in paper and/or discuss the case at the discussion board)
- Essay
- Research Papers
- Quantitative and Qualitative Assessments
- Journal

It is very important that students know exactly what is expected of them at all times so a detailed syllabus should be created to set student expectations such as reading materials, assignments, tests, participation requirements, and all due dates.
Once you have all of your modules built and the preparation phase is complete, you will enjoy the fruits of your labor and can focus on interaction and feedback during the delivery of the course.

2 Weeks before the start of class

E-mail your students the course syllabus, introduce yourself, set student expectations, and give them access to the course so they can look around and explore the online classroom before the official start date.

Facilitation Phase – These are common activities during my facilitation phase

Once class has begun, I include a welcome announcement in the LMS (Learning Management System) explaining all facets of the classroom and setting my students’ expectations again. Repetition of information is a key in online facilitation.
Throughout facilitation, you can expect many questions from students. For this reason, I created a “Questions for the Instructor” forum in the Discussion Board so that all questions are streamlined to a central location for all students to see and learn from. I let them know about this in my welcome announcement on Day 1.
If you have a weekly classroom discussion at the Discussion Board (which I highly recommend) you can expect to spend a few hours per week adding your personal insight and expertise to the discussion and helping coach students to critically think and explore the topic further. I outline the student discussion board participation expectations in the syllabus, welcome announcement, and at the discussion board. Again, with the repetition.
Every week I communicate updates, changes, summary of weekly lessons learned, and other major announcements.
Try to update grades and provide feedback every week to help the online students stay on task and motivated.

The result of a teacher who takes adequate time to design and prepare their online course will enjoy facilitating the course for many years.

Web 2.0 and Your Own Learning and Development

Terence Armentano — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 03:42:00 +0000

Here is a good informational video by my friend, Stephen Downes, about how Web 2.0 supports interaction, usability and relevance in online learning. After watching the video, go to the discussion board for discussion. Discuss Web 2.0 and Your Own Learning and Development