e-Learning advice from Dr Steve Walsh

Happy (Football) Friday to all!

Will it be forward to suggest that most of us will support Spain on Sunday?

I just received an e-mail from a colleague of ours at Stellenbosch University, Dept Internal Medicine, Dr Steve Walsh, that I think is so valuable, I want to share it with the group.

In the e-mail he mentions a seminal e-learning article related to Medical education by Ruiz, Mintzer & Leipzig (Academic Medicine Vol 81:207-212, 2006) "The impact of e-learning in medical education" of which the last sentence (among others) of the abstract reads:

"The integration of e-learning into medical education can catalyze the shift toward applying adult learning theory, where educators will no longer serve mainly as the distributors of content, but will become more involved as facilitators of learning and assessors of competency."

The article is very useful and contains aspects such as definitions, components of e-learning, the evidence for effective and efficient e-learning, availability of e-learning resources, evaluating e-learning processes and outcomes, e-learninig as academic scholarship, integrating e-learning into medical education, directions for the future and a summary.

Please read the article and comment on what you think about it. Remember if you want to comment, to click on the "comment" link below the post and then add your comment (easiest to comment with your Google account).

In the e-mail he also mentions four excellent websites for medical e-learning resources. Steve mentions that some of them require registration/ log in, but that all of them are free.
The sites are: 

• http://www.healcentral.org/ 
• http://services.aamc.org/30/mededportal/servlet/segment/mededportal/information/ 
•  http://healthsciences.merlot.org/ 
•  http://medpics.ucsd.edu/

What do you think? Are they useful? Maybe create a link to this post on your own blog for your own future reference, as part of you using your blog as a personal learning environment?

Lastly ... With blogs you will have to find a way of getting the updated blogposts without necessarily having to go to the blogs themselves everyday. That is why one has to get a blog reader (like Google Reader or Microsoft Outlook 2007) where you can subscribe to a blog's RSS feed. There already is a post on this on this blog. Please refer to the blogposting called RSS in plain English and make sure you feed this central blog, as well as other students' blogpostings to your e-mail (Outlook 2007/ Thunderbird/ Gmail) or preferred blogreader (like Google reader).
This way we do  not have to send out e-mails to make sure everybody gets the newest information.

Have a wonderful Worldcup Final, and weekend! And remember to decide on your projects by today, or the latest by Monday.

What to do this week

Welcome all 2010 2nd year Mphil e-Learning module 12 participants. The journey has started! This exciting module will run from 5-30 July and the Assignment has to be finalised and submitted by 10 August. Please note the following important points to make a strong start (which will ensure a strong finish):

1. Remember that the module runs on a central blog, as well as each of your personal blogs (on blogger.com). The address for the course blog is: http://mphilhse.blogspot.com.
2. For today - 5 July: Please make at least one posting on your own personal blog in which you start reflecting on the module (what you want to achieve, fears, excitement etc). If you forgot your blog address - go to the cetnral blog (http://mphilhse.blogspot.com) where you will find links to all your blogs on the right hand side under "Blogs I read". This is also a good way of monitoring the module activities, seeing who is posting, and (very importantly) finding interesting posts to comment on.
3. About the assessment of the module: Remember you will be assessed on two aspects: Firstly (and this counts 30% of your final grade for the module), you will have to post regularly (and meaningfully) on your blog, comment on the central blog, as well as commenting on your fellow-students' blog postings. The blog is about your reflection on your assignment. The focus should be how you use, understand and implement the ADDIE model and how you struggle, make breakthroughs and learn in the process of getting to grips with e-Learning in HSE. Secondly you have to submit an assignment (70% of your grade). This is done on or before 10 August on Webstudies and should include the description and critical engagement with your chosen e-learning project according to the ADDIE model. Together with the written piece of work you also have to submit your project/ e-learning intervention (a finished product would be great, but a partially finished one, or just a theoretical planning/ description of the model in terms of ADDIE would also suffice). All of this is of course in the module framework :).
4. Your project: Before the end of the week - try and finalise your project/ e-learning intervention otherwise you will fall behind and find it extremely difficult to catch up.
5. Good luck and enjoy the process! Please let us know how we can help. We will meet each other virtually on the central blog and your own blog spaces.

JP Bosman (jpbosman@sun.ac.za) and Bob Mash (rm@sun.ac.za)

Sometimes the negative teaches us more!

Michael Trucano wrote a very meaningful blogpost for the World bank on the "Worst practice in ICT use in Education". Sometimes the best way to understand something is to look at how it can go wrong.
From my experience, I can only say that all 9 of the points he mentions is true. That being said, I also liked the first comment that pleads for a bit more nuanced way of looking at the situation. Sometimes a project just develops in a certain way, and there is not much one can do about it.

For our ADDIE model, it is clear that:

1. We NEED a model before we do anything e-Learning wise. Although the blog focuses more on hardware type projects, it is also relevant to the design and implementation of e-Learning courses. It does not help we design something that works only on e.g. iPad computers (that nobody in SA has)!
2. The "E" = Evaluation part of ADDIE is the most important one. One must evaluate your design.

Thought to share it with you. Quite interesting stuff. Please read all the comments. The 7th one is from a UWC colleague, Michael Rowe, who is a great guy and deep thinker and practitioner w.r.t. e-Learning.

Free online course: Future(s) in education

George Siemens and Co are hosting a new free online course called Future(s) in Eduation.

Etherpad - can it be so easy?

I had a good e-learning experience today!
Everybody always asks one - how does e-Learning make one's life easier?
Well Etherpad (www.etherpad.com) did the trick today.

A lecturer (1st year Chemisty) asked me on e-mail what technology I would suggest for getting students to work collaboratively in groups, planning a research project on Sterling water. At first my usual reactions came out: do it on a forum. But then I remembered a little programme I explored a year or so ago - Etherpad.
I suggested a plan to the lecturer, who subsequently invited me to his class later in the day to share my "big plan" with his students. A few words on working collaboratively in groups, how Etherpad can help, and a short demonstration, even I was amazed at the potential of this technology. The recipe I suggested was as follows:

1. After dividing into groups, one group member goes to www.etherpad.com and creates a public pad.
2. Then goes to Webstudies (the LMS) and in a pre-setup discussion forum - he/she published the webaddress of the public pad.
3. All the group members find the address there and make their way to the Pad.
4. They can then write and collaborate in "really" real time and work on their proposal.
5. When finished, they can export the document to Word or PDF and use it for their presentation.

I also told them about Google docs (http://docs.google.com) that can do the same, but with a little more effort (and not such immediate immediacy) than Etherpad. Images are better dealt with in Googledocs - but for now I want Etherpad to bask in its glory.

The best way it to test it out. Go to www.etherpad.com, create your own public pad and invite someone to write with you (literally).

Roadmaps and e-Learning (or stop and ask for directions!)

I do like Thom Kuhlman's Rapid e-Learning Blog very much. He teaches e-Learning from a very solid kiss (keep it simple "stupid") perspective. His views are simple but powerful, easy but with flair. Judging from the comments on almost all his posts, his advice to the rapid e-Learning community is acknowledged and appreciated.

In his newest post "A roadmap for building an E-Learning course, he is at his best talking about a three stage "design" process. Since we are incorporating the Addie model, I find it useful to also look at other perspectives that might also enhance your understanding of the design process. In this model he breaks the course into three chunks (Kuhlman Feb 2010):

• Visual design: determine the look and feel of the course
• Information design: determine what content belongs in the course
• Activity design: how the learner applies or interacts with the course content

 In one comment a reader asked about Assessment design (from a more educational perspective) as a possible fourth chunk.

What do you think? Is this way more helpful to getting started on your own e-Learning project? Have you tried it? Please let us know how you think it could be relevant to HSE e-Learning.

Hello 2010 2nd years!

Please "comment" on this post, and tell us your name, as well as the webaddress of your blog.

Module orientation today

I must say, I really look forward to the contact session later today with the Mphil Year 2 students. Busy preparing the hand-outs and flow of the session.
The thing with e-learning is that one can get carried away by it so quickly!
So many new and wonderful tools and educational ideas as technology grows and matures.

In anticipation of ADDIE (and 2010)

2010 is upon us!
This means the second iteration of the Mphil HSE e-learning module is around the corner.
Busy browsing the internet and came across another nice site which explains learning theories as well as the Addie model (that we build on in the e-learning module).
Happy hunting (and goal scoring).

What is a mark?

Dear Mphil e-Learners - your marks with comments are now available on Webstudies.
We hope you all had fun, and could use some of the skills (and theory) to implement in your own teaching.

Round number ...? e-Learning and passion.

The blogs are now silent ...

Maybe something to liven up your e-Learning spirits is an old blog post: Crash course in learning theory (from Creating Passionate Users). It is fun and useful - but only supplementary to your current reading material.

I would (and I trust Antoinette will agree) like all participants to comment at least once on each others' blog postings. To do that there should be some action on all of your blogs (for there to be comment). Could we try in the last week of official e-Learning "moduling" to get a sense and experience of what the collaboration and social networking power of blogs can be.

You are by now hopefully starting to write up your main (70%) document describing your project in terms of the ADDIE model for submission on or before 11 August (on Webstudies). Remember that the 30% reflection on your and the others' ideas and projects happen on the blogs.

Hope all have had some rest over the weekend and are now ready for the final stretch.

Round number 2

Welcome to week 3 of the e-Learning module!
Apart from some technical slow-starts, it seems that all of you are now up and running with your blogs and know more or less what you want to do.

In the coming week, we would like you to now start doing the following:
1. Refine your project: Especially the formulation of your learning outcomes is crucial. Also remember to not take on too big a project (try and calculate how many hours of e-learning you want to create). And then - remember that e-Learning makes activities possible that are not possible on paper, or face-to-face. Interaction, collaboration, formative assessment and rich media are some of the great reasons to use e-learning. We want to engage students, and that sometimes means to cut out a lot of the information (that one could actually refer to in a text book or a hand-out).
2. Remember the ADDIE model: The structure of the ADDIE model really helps one to focus and get started. It is also the model we actively promote as it is relatively easy and well respected. You should be reflecting academically on your project using the ADDIE model. You are not forced to use ADDIE, but if you use another model, you have to indicate which one you are using and again - reflect on the process of using that model. This is an important part of the assessment.
3. We have created an Assignment in Webstudies where you can upload/submit some materials. Maybe your final project outline/ planning, or your storyboard, or some final indication of how your e-learning activity/ programme will work. Incorporating the learning outcomes, activities and plans for assessment and interaction is crucial.
4. Your blog still stays crucial: Please remember to use the blog (e-Learning is learnt by doing!) as an instrument to capture your mind. It is not called a blog (i.e. Web Log) for nothing. Also please comment on each others' ideas and projects. I have heard from all of you personally that would like to have more comments from each other. This collaboration and networking that Siemens talks about can only be experienced, and we all have a chance to do just that! I am glad to hear that some of you actually plan using a blog as their own e-Learning project/ teaching.

Good luck for your wEEk!
JP

Good luck for the weekend!

Just wanted to say "Good luck for the weekend, and the rest of the module!" (Thanks to Megan for the Pic)

Activity design template - just start

It is sometimes hard to get started on a project like an e-learning activity/ course. Everything feels chaotic and especially if one is trying to integrate good learning and instructional design theory with technical skills and it forms part of a Master's program then one can quickly become paralysed.
This is completely normal, and part of the creative process (except the Mphil part of course :)) and should be embraced. The skill is to just start doing something, get into motion and the rest will follow.
That is indeed why we have something like the ADDIE model! It gives us structure to start somewhere and cover all the important bases. Just starting with the "A" Analyses already gets our minds in gear. Try and think of a very specific group of potential learners and especially what their specific learning needs are. Here Wilhelm is giving us a good example of describing the Registrars and the particular teaching and learning needs that he became aware of. How to solve the need now becomes writing learning outcomes and objectives. Once one has the outcomes, then follows the design of learning activities that will meet those outcome needs, after which development and implementation follows.
|For this module one should may not think so big (i.e. a whole semester course of 60 credits!) but rather a small Activity (also called e-tivities in some literature) that you can easily think through and also take through the 5 processes of ADDIE. The more specific the learning objective - the easier to design it and reflect on it in the process.

Here is another (maybe simpler) way of structuring an activity (taken from "Fascilitating online: A course leader's guide"[*1]):

Activity title

• Give your activity a clear and relevant title.

Learning outcome(s)

• Decide what you want participants to learn by doing this activity. Take into account participants' prior knowledge and experience and their current contexts.

Purpose

• Identify the purpose of the activity. State the purpose clearly and concisely.

Task

• Outline the task that participants will be requuired to do. The task should be short enough to enable most participants to complete the task with ease in the given time period.
• Provide clear instructions.
• State whether students will be required to work individually or in groups.
  

Tools

• Identify the tools that participants will require to perform the task (e.g. chat, discussion, forums, email, wiki).

Time

• Provide guidelines on when the task should be completed and how much time will be required bu the participants.

[*1] Carr, Jaffer & Smuts 2009. Fascilitating online: A course leader's guide. Centre for educational Technology Sries Number 3. Cape Town: Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town. Download at webaddress: http://www.cet.uct.ac.za/FascilitatingOnline.

Connectivism - are we taking it seriously?

Just watching the slideshow (Social Networking Technologies for teaching and learning transformation) embedded below by the well known George Siemens from Manitoba University in Canada. He gave the talk at the e-Learning Africa conference in Dakar in May 2009. The show hints at very big issues surrounding teaching and learning, and I don't know if we are ready for the implications of being connected to networked learning ourselves, and servicing learners who have to become wayfinders, sensemakers and connectors in an abundance of information.

The quote on slide 25 is powerful:

"What we have here is a transition from a stable, settled world of knowledge produced by authority/authors, to a world of instability, flux, of knowledge produced by the individual" (Insitute of Education, London 2007).

Also draws in a lot of e-Learning theory and how it now evolves into news traditions of learning. Great stuff!

Day2 Elearning Africa

View more documents from gsiemens.

Storyboards and tips on livelier e-learning

As part of the module, we will be giving tips and tricks on how to further your skills as e-Teacher.

Here are two categories of help:

1. Create storyboards for your e-learing courses:
Resource 1
Resource 2
Resource 3

2. Creating livelier e-Learning
View this classic Slideshare presentation by Cathy Moore called: Dump the drone: Livelier Elearning.

3. Use this online learning objectives builder (using Bloom's taxonomy levels):
Interesting online tool (from Radio James) that helps one write objectives and learning outcomes called Objectives Builder.

Official start of the 2009 e-Learning module

It is 6 July 2009 and the module is now officially underway.

Please spend today posting about your projects as well as sorting out your RSS feeds (or your own way of keeping track of all the blog postings – we use Outlook 2007).

We wish you the best of luck with your module. Please do not hesitate to contact JP (jpbosman(at)sun.ac.za) or Antoinette (advdm(at)sun.ac.za) with any problems, queries or suggestions. If your query is something potentially useful to all participants – feel free to post it as a comment on this blogsite. Or on your own site.

RSS feeds in plain English

To answer Bronwen (in one of her comments) - I think understanding and using RSS feeds is quite important for the success of our module. You can subscribe all of our blogs (i.e. this blog, Wilhelm, Estelle, Bronwen) so that you get the updates and new posts and comments automatically.

To do this you can use Outlook 2007 (it has a RSS subscription function - the new feeds come right into your e-mail unread messages inbox!), or you can use Google reader (you already have a Google account - you might as well use that to sign in to the Google Reader service).

To help all of us understand RSS feeds, I suggest watching the following embedded Youtube movie from leefever of Common Craft! RSS in plain English - enjoy!

Let me know if you could add this blog and the others to your own RSS reader.

The magic of motivation

One of my regular "Blogs I read" is the Rapid e-Learning blog by Thomas Kuhlmann. His last post made me stumble on two wonderful short ideos about learning. The one is the fascinating Ted talk by Sugata Mitra on his "Hole-in-the-wall" experiments with technology in the poorest and remotest parts of India (children self-organise and teach themselves through technology). The other is the importance of motivation in the learning process, with a quick link to a short overviewby Kevin Kruse on Keller's ARCS Model for Motivation: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction.

Theories of instructional design

I found this wonderful overview of the aspects of Instructional Design theory on Slideshare.
Click here to view.