Thanks Anne for your time and patience and for showing us the many elearning tools that are available. My apologies for not doing the extra work for module 3. I am involved in a building project that is depriving me of my weekends and any spare time. Take care.
Introduction: I decided to do the four hours in one go with a thirty minute break in between. There were two reasons I chose this method. Firstly the drawing tutorials involved a lot of download which would have put me over my internet download limit.Therefore I had to drive twenty minutes to work to use the internet. By completing the course in one lesson saved commuting time and costs. The second reason involves my learning style. I wanted instant knowledge. I wanted to be able to use the new learned skills immediately. If I only completed half of the course I would not have had enough skills to do what I wanted.
8.10am: When yo open the sketch-up program a po-up appears called learning centre. I followed the steps but the information provided was not beneficial. It would be a good revision tool for casual users. It did however direct learners to the tutorial and video learning tools.
8.30am: At the beginning of the tutorial it clearly stated that the tutorial has been made for the learner to interact and try the drawing tool. Clear demonstration and easy steps allowed me to get a quick understanding of the basic drawing tools.
8.50am: The Video caught my eye so I was lured away from the tutorials to watch the video. However it was not interactive so I went back to the interactive tutorials.
9.15am: After the first lesson I wanted to go back to the program and start drawing. I realised there was heaps more to learn so I continued through to lesson 2.It was great and as I expected built on existing knowledge and explored new tools.
9.25am to10.25am: Each lesson incorporated revision of basic tools while showing new tools and the power of the 3D drawing program.
10.45am to 11.25am: I went back to the video library and browsed to see if there was anything that may be of use.
11.25am to 12.00 midday: Watched a recorded lesson from a vitual classroom. The teacher demonstrated the process of drawing a small garden shed. It was interesting , however the lesson was to advanced for my limited ability. The students involved in the original class had already been using the program for a few months. This form of delivery seemed very effective for students enrolled in the course.
It allows the learning to be self-paced.
Quite learners ,that is those who do not engage in discussion in a face-to-face environment normally express their views through discussion boards.
The learning can be done anywhere,anytime,allowing flexibility that may suit learners who find it difficult to attend a college
The Technology used means that their is a lot of visual communication that can be very effective.
Their is a saving in time and commuting costs if the learning is undertaken at home.
The learning is collaborative,students share information and learn from each other.
The two articles were Palloff @ Pratt, 2001, Chapter seven, ‘Working with the Virtual Student’ and Watkins, R .2005, Preparing e-learners for online success.
The following will discuss the key issues raised in these articles. Firstly as educators we must realise that we are delivering in a different mode. We must change our delivery mode from instructors to facilitators. It is also important that students undertaking online learning for the first time are prepared and welcomed into the new environment. There are methods and strategies that facilitators must be aware of, to quickly identify struggling students. Once identified, the facilitator must act immediately to alleviate frustration. Research indicates that students have different learning styles. Educators must realise this fact, not all students will learn effectively in an online environment. Varying the activities in an online course will some what help alleviate this problem as it will reach out to all learning styles and motivate all learners. Collaboration is an important part of e-learning and all students both introverts and extroverts can flourish in discussion in an online environment. Finally the articles suggest that students who are most likely to be successful in online courses will have the following characteristics,they are voluntarily seeking further education, are self-disciplined, have high expectations and are self-motivated.
Below is a recent email I received. It is a good example of what can happen when using new technology.
Hello,As you already may be aware, on October 9, Podomatic experienced a catastrophic hardware failure affecting approximately 10% of all PodOmatic podcasts, including yours. Since then, we have been working non-stop to recover as much of your data as possible.
Our recovery process is now complete and you should see your media files have been recovered and show up on your podcast page and in the “My Podcast” tab.
If you do not see your media files on Podomatic, they may not have been recovered and will need to be uploaded and re-attached to the episodes referencing them. Comments on some episodes may also be gone. Furthermore, hidden episodes or some podcast customization settings may not have been recovered. If you need assistance re-applying customization, please let us know and we will help you out.
Your account and subscription information should be unharmed by this incident.
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My elearning experience involved learning to use a drawing program called ‘google sketchup 6′
I started the course by following the ‘learning centre’ pop-up that appears each time you open the pragram.It was vaige and I gathered that it was there as a quick revision for casual users. However it did guide me to all of the other tutorials and videos available.
I selected the self- paced tutorials. The first slide emphasised that the tutorial envolved the students interaction, just what I was hoping for! It was a step- by- step drawing with ample information and guidance on what to do. There is an introduction on basic tool use, followed by four lessons. Each new lesson extended on information from the previous lesson. It also forced you to do repetition of previously learnt tools. I thought this was very clever as repetition (especially when it is hidden) is a key to effective learning. Each lesson took me about 15 minutes.
After the introduction I was lured away to the videos to see whether they might be more effective. However I did not enjoy just watching the videos, I preferred to be engaged in the learning.
I also watched a 30 minute recorded lesson by a teacher deliverying through Virtual Classroom. I found it difficult to follow because the drawing they were undertaking was too advanced for my limited experience. The students that sat in this particular class had been using the program for some time. This lesson involved a thirty minute demonstration that was followed by the students reproducing the small shed that the teacher had drawn. The advantage they had was the teachers stayed online for the next 2 hours to answer any questions and guide the students through problems.
What are the stated course objectives and outcomes? The course aims to give the learner the ability to use the drawing program ‘sketchup’ and showcase the programs capabilities.
What Outcomes do you Expect to Achieve? I hope to be able to use the program to quickly and effectively draw 3Dimensional drawings that can be used to convey information in a visual manner.
What do you Expect the Learning experience to be like? I am hoping it will be interesting and keep me motivated throughout. I am expecting it to be frustrating at times as there will be no direct feedback from problems that might be encountered.
What Type of Support are you Expecting from the course? I am not expecting any support as it is a self-paced , self-guided tutorial.
Results from my VARK questionnaire of preferred learning styles: Visual 5, Aural 7, read/write 1, Kinesthetic 3
The result given was that my preferred learning style is Aural.
I found that some of the questions were very open. EG: If you were cooking a special meal what method would you use to choose the dish you were going to prepare. I firmly believe that this would depend on my mood at the time. I also beleive that there are many variables to every learning experience so it is difficult to pinpoint a preferred style. However as educators it is important for us to realise that people learn differently and therefore we must vary our delivery mode to reach all students.
I have found the Wikispace to be unreliable due to technology difficulties. After completing my Case study report I emailed my group to let them know so they could check it out. Group members responded by questioning why I had deleted their work. This was obviously new to me, technology had struck again. After retrieving previous editions we were able to cut and paste the deleted information back to the wikipage. This caused frustration and anxiety for group members who had other assignments due and did not need this unnecessary interruption.
Graeme Wilton delivers Cert IV in Building Resedential Via a virtual classroom. Take a look or join a class 6pm Tuesday and Wednesday http://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/building
Willo reckons the secret to his success (see case study Assignment 2 right column, under pages) is due to the structure of the lessons. Students must log on at a certain time.He believes the delivery method has not changed from his face to face methods, the only difference being virtual classroom not reality classroom.
