the semester has almost come to an end. amidst the frenzy of rushing to meet deadlines and settling down into "exam mode" i feel that this last post should be a reflection of my personal experience taking nm3204.
in the beginning i assumed a very narrow and myopic view of e-learning and its perspectives. to me, e-learning was merely a mirror of its literal translation: learning through the use of electronic mediums using the internet, flash and other interactive web 2.0 components.
however, throughout the course i have learned that there are more facets of e-learning which are not immediately apparent. the focus of this course is more slanted towards the perspective of the teacher, as opposed to the popular viewpoint of the learner.
the 3 theories of behaviourism, cognitivism and socioculturalism provide educators with a breakdown of different learning styles and give teachers a platform to better design their learning programmes based on either or all of these theories.
organisation, linking and elaboration are popular ways of memory retention and fact learning. educators who combine these methods of recall with the above mentioned theories would allow their learners to benefit greatly from the learning outcomes provided these educators accurately plan out their lessons based on different students' abilities. educators can make use of the rubric's evaluation to accurately assess and grade their student's effort.
next, needs assessment allow educators to recognise, evaluate or rectify any loopholes in the learning process and provide a clear outline for deciding and improving on the final learning outcome. this concept is in turn linked to learning designs, which require the specification of tasks, resources and support to aid in fulfilling the respective learning outcomes.
lastly, web quests allow educators to disseminate their tasks, processes and learning outcomes in a clear and concise "one stop" web site for students to access.
all these points emphasise the fact that e-learning is not merely about the learners. rather, educators themselves play an important role in determining the success of the learning outcome. this in turn greatly depends on how well educators are able to execute the various strategies as mentioned above.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
week 10
web quest software is very helpful in guiding and setting up frameworks for the development of lesson plans. i feel it encapsulates the true "essence" of e-learning as it caters to primarily web-centric resources of information and does not require any prior knowledge of web authoring software which many websites require today.
the definition given in class describes web quest as " an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web"
a typical web quest is made up of:
an introduction stating the rationale/background for choosing a certain topic and includes newspaper articles or case studies
tasks which specifically state the required learning activities and may also include various tasks such as design, analysis, creative, decision and prediction tasks
resources which tell students where to find information about the topic (books, journals etc.)
process which explains how to attain the resources listed (go to the library, useful links etc.)
evaluation which provides a checklist (like the rubric's cube, for example) for assessing the students' effort
conclusion which summarises the main learning tasks and expected outcomes and may also consist of instructor led reflections either face to face or via forums or social networking sites
a teacher's page which acts as a helpful resource for educators to review the lesson plan and
states the purpose of the web quest, goals and objectives, its target audience and credits.
breaking down learning activities into such categories provides a useful step by step guideline for both educators and students to follow. web quests provide a form of scaffolding for students to follow and leads them to desired learning outcomes. web quests are especially useful for complex topics which require much effort on the part of students. breaking down the topic into the categories as mentioned above allows students to mentally strike off their required inputs one by one. it provides them with a "starting point" for their task and hence reduces the likelihood of them from being overwhelmed which could adversely affect their performance as a result.
the definition given in class describes web quest as " an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web"
a typical web quest is made up of:
an introduction stating the rationale/background for choosing a certain topic and includes newspaper articles or case studies
tasks which specifically state the required learning activities and may also include various tasks such as design, analysis, creative, decision and prediction tasks
resources which tell students where to find information about the topic (books, journals etc.)
process which explains how to attain the resources listed (go to the library, useful links etc.)
evaluation which provides a checklist (like the rubric's cube, for example) for assessing the students' effort
conclusion which summarises the main learning tasks and expected outcomes and may also consist of instructor led reflections either face to face or via forums or social networking sites
a teacher's page which acts as a helpful resource for educators to review the lesson plan and
states the purpose of the web quest, goals and objectives, its target audience and credits.
breaking down learning activities into such categories provides a useful step by step guideline for both educators and students to follow. web quests provide a form of scaffolding for students to follow and leads them to desired learning outcomes. web quests are especially useful for complex topics which require much effort on the part of students. breaking down the topic into the categories as mentioned above allows students to mentally strike off their required inputs one by one. it provides them with a "starting point" for their task and hence reduces the likelihood of them from being overwhelmed which could adversely affect their performance as a result.
Monday, March 23, 2009
week 8
instructional strategies for fact learning popularly include organisation, linking and elaboration.
i feel that organisation is the most popular form of learning for most of the information we attain today. in organisation, learners arrange information gleaned in a way that is meaningful to them, hence aiding in memory retention. an example of organising would be trying to remember the characteristics of a lion as being part of certain concepts such as the cat family, a mammal and a carnivore. a sub-set of organisation is chunking, where individuals group or "chunk" information together. an example of this would be attempting to recall the following numbers: 19855552009. different learners chunk information in different ways. so for me, i would remember this number better if i chunk it as such: 1985 (the year i was born), 555 (triple five) and 2009 (the current year).
linking refers to the use of mnemonics in enhancing recall and memory. jingles, rhymes and acronyms all offer examples of memory by linking. fast food delivery numbers usually make use of both chunking and jingles in helping their customers better recall their number over their competitors. hearing the familiar tune of the pizza hut jingle instantly allows us to remember its hot line and gives way to images of scrumptious, piping hot pizzas.
lastly, elaboration is perhaps the most traditional form of recall and memory. learners try to understand certain information and apply their relatedness in their daily lives. elaboration requires a fair amount of analysis and critical thinking and is usually the learning method commonly used in higher education. it involves not merely remembering and spilling out information but rather understanding the whys and hows of particular phenomenon. however, i feel that elaboration is one of the most challenging, but effective ways of memory: once we understand why a certain issue occurs, we are less likely to forget about it.
with the vast amount of information we are bombarded with everyday, is it impossible and unnecessary to make sense of and elaborate every piece of information we encounter. elaboration is best used for very abstract issues, linking for basic factual information and organisation for everything else is between.
i feel that organisation is the most popular form of learning for most of the information we attain today. in organisation, learners arrange information gleaned in a way that is meaningful to them, hence aiding in memory retention. an example of organising would be trying to remember the characteristics of a lion as being part of certain concepts such as the cat family, a mammal and a carnivore. a sub-set of organisation is chunking, where individuals group or "chunk" information together. an example of this would be attempting to recall the following numbers: 19855552009. different learners chunk information in different ways. so for me, i would remember this number better if i chunk it as such: 1985 (the year i was born), 555 (triple five) and 2009 (the current year).
linking refers to the use of mnemonics in enhancing recall and memory. jingles, rhymes and acronyms all offer examples of memory by linking. fast food delivery numbers usually make use of both chunking and jingles in helping their customers better recall their number over their competitors. hearing the familiar tune of the pizza hut jingle instantly allows us to remember its hot line and gives way to images of scrumptious, piping hot pizzas.
lastly, elaboration is perhaps the most traditional form of recall and memory. learners try to understand certain information and apply their relatedness in their daily lives. elaboration requires a fair amount of analysis and critical thinking and is usually the learning method commonly used in higher education. it involves not merely remembering and spilling out information but rather understanding the whys and hows of particular phenomenon. however, i feel that elaboration is one of the most challenging, but effective ways of memory: once we understand why a certain issue occurs, we are less likely to forget about it.
with the vast amount of information we are bombarded with everyday, is it impossible and unnecessary to make sense of and elaborate every piece of information we encounter. elaboration is best used for very abstract issues, linking for basic factual information and organisation for everything else is between.
Monday, March 2, 2009
week 7
the past few weeks have acquainted me with a myriad of different theories primarily focusing their efforts on providing a substantial and comprehensive framework for successful e-learning activities to take place. although i feel that, and i have mentioned this is my other post, e-learning frameworks and concept maps aid greatly in establishing a clear visual for the learning process, too much emphasis is placed on developing numerous theories of learning and not much is said about the role trainers, adopters and learners of e-learning tools are expected to play.
take for example, the adopting of e-learning tools in an educational setting - most learning programmes are either too simplistic and childish or too advanced and boring to garner and sustain interest among students. moreover, many e-learning programmes (at least, the ones i have come in contact with so far) strive to be all encompassing and comprehensive. unfortunately, such guides often come off as too complex to follow with vague instructions.
moreover, many educators treat e-learning tools as secondary to their primary education methods. as a result, such e-learning activities tend to be regarded as supplementary material to "tinker around" with. this mindset seriously undermines the full capacity of e-learning programmes in providing a practical viewpoint to learned theory.
much time and effort is invested in developing e-learning tools that can aid and enhance the learning process. however, if its users and adopters do not embrace these tools with the right mindset and continue to treat e-learning as a supplementary but not necessary aspect to learning, developers would ultimately fail in their mission to revolutionise learning in this digital age, and e-learning may never blossom into anything more than a academic past time loosely tied to syllabus.
take for example, the adopting of e-learning tools in an educational setting - most learning programmes are either too simplistic and childish or too advanced and boring to garner and sustain interest among students. moreover, many e-learning programmes (at least, the ones i have come in contact with so far) strive to be all encompassing and comprehensive. unfortunately, such guides often come off as too complex to follow with vague instructions.
moreover, many educators treat e-learning tools as secondary to their primary education methods. as a result, such e-learning activities tend to be regarded as supplementary material to "tinker around" with. this mindset seriously undermines the full capacity of e-learning programmes in providing a practical viewpoint to learned theory.
much time and effort is invested in developing e-learning tools that can aid and enhance the learning process. however, if its users and adopters do not embrace these tools with the right mindset and continue to treat e-learning as a supplementary but not necessary aspect to learning, developers would ultimately fail in their mission to revolutionise learning in this digital age, and e-learning may never blossom into anything more than a academic past time loosely tied to syllabus.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
week 6
learning design poses an effective tool for planning and implementing teaching methods both in and out of the classroom. the plan comprises a mapped network with specific tasks and learning objectives, as well as the establishment of support (affiliated websites, FAQs, forum etc.) and resources (interaction via blogs, chat, worksheets etc.) which would aid in meeting the desired outcomes.
i feel that learning design plans should be drawn up clearly and effectively before the onset of any learning activity because it provides a clear visual for the learning pattern and allows trainers to recognise any possible loopholes or disparities that could arise. this saves much time and effort as mistakes are realised early and not halfway through the learning process.
however, learning design plans are not without their cons. the concise planning of a comprehensive and foolproof learning design which successfully covers all possible areas of learning requires a heavy investment of time, effort and critical thinking. also, learning design are expensive to reproduce and once finalised, pose the problem of inflexibility for future alterations. nevertheless, i feel that it is a good way for trainers, especially novices, to visualise their teaching modes and put it on paper which results in a systematic and transparent approach to learning.
below is an example of a learning design my group and i concepted, on the topic of learning basic photoshop skills.
i feel that learning design plans should be drawn up clearly and effectively before the onset of any learning activity because it provides a clear visual for the learning pattern and allows trainers to recognise any possible loopholes or disparities that could arise. this saves much time and effort as mistakes are realised early and not halfway through the learning process.
however, learning design plans are not without their cons. the concise planning of a comprehensive and foolproof learning design which successfully covers all possible areas of learning requires a heavy investment of time, effort and critical thinking. also, learning design are expensive to reproduce and once finalised, pose the problem of inflexibility for future alterations. nevertheless, i feel that it is a good way for trainers, especially novices, to visualise their teaching modes and put it on paper which results in a systematic and transparent approach to learning.
below is an example of a learning design my group and i concepted, on the topic of learning basic photoshop skills.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
week 6
the concept of instructional analysis is a relatively new one, i feel. with the advent of the internet and increased focus on multimedia and other forms of electronic learning technology, organisations are forced to adopt a more "hands on" approach to learning and development, instead of leaning towards bureaucratic and hierarchical methods of information dissemination popularised in the past. today's organisations and multi national corporations are becoming more flexible and opening up horizontal in their day to day interactions.
needs assessment, whereby managers evaluate the effectiveness of their learning and organisational tools, are seeking the feedback of employees, stakeholders and shareholders before making any major implementations to the organisational structure. this is indeed a welcome break from traditional methods of strategy development in the past where focus their ideas towards the higher ups for approval.
however, all these represent idealistic outcomes of needs assessment. in reality, few companies take the time and effort to develop viable and feasible implementations during the stage of front end analysis. fearing competition and backlash from other companies, many organisations invest much time and money on advertising, packaging and "state of the art" technology (or so they would like to believe) without properly assessing the actual needs of the company. the result is a substantial loss in revenue and diminished confidence in developing a learning tool, which could very well revolutionise the industry given proper planning, in the future.
needs assessment can be conduct via 3 main ways:
problem based assessments which start of with problem recognition. this leads to the development of a correlation between the problem and learner's knowledge which would lead to the development of a suitable solution.
innovation based models look at the degree to which an innovation is able to facilitate learning, and the need to alter the technology should optimal learning objectives fail to be reached. it also emphasis external conditions such as learning environments and curriculum type as well as other factors relating to society at large, which may impede the learning process.
discrepancy based models are perhaps the most complex of the 3, with needs assessment accomplished through a five step process of 1) a description of the learning goals in an organisational system 2) the evaluation of current goals 3) identify the gaps between desired and ideal outcomes 4) establish priorities for action and 5) determine the instructional needs.
needs assessment, whereby managers evaluate the effectiveness of their learning and organisational tools, are seeking the feedback of employees, stakeholders and shareholders before making any major implementations to the organisational structure. this is indeed a welcome break from traditional methods of strategy development in the past where focus their ideas towards the higher ups for approval.
however, all these represent idealistic outcomes of needs assessment. in reality, few companies take the time and effort to develop viable and feasible implementations during the stage of front end analysis. fearing competition and backlash from other companies, many organisations invest much time and money on advertising, packaging and "state of the art" technology (or so they would like to believe) without properly assessing the actual needs of the company. the result is a substantial loss in revenue and diminished confidence in developing a learning tool, which could very well revolutionise the industry given proper planning, in the future.
needs assessment can be conduct via 3 main ways:
problem based assessments which start of with problem recognition. this leads to the development of a correlation between the problem and learner's knowledge which would lead to the development of a suitable solution.
innovation based models look at the degree to which an innovation is able to facilitate learning, and the need to alter the technology should optimal learning objectives fail to be reached. it also emphasis external conditions such as learning environments and curriculum type as well as other factors relating to society at large, which may impede the learning process.
discrepancy based models are perhaps the most complex of the 3, with needs assessment accomplished through a five step process of 1) a description of the learning goals in an organisational system 2) the evaluation of current goals 3) identify the gaps between desired and ideal outcomes 4) establish priorities for action and 5) determine the instructional needs.
Monday, February 16, 2009
week 6
Behaviourism
behaviorism deals with the system of stimulus response. the response to a particular stimuli can be controlled via the use of positive (rewards, compliments) or negative (punishments) reinforcements which would result in the conditioning of desired behaviour. punishment is sometimes believed to be more effective in eliminating or reducing undesirable behaviour. behaviourism is more concerned whether the correct response is attained compared to the knowledge learned. the subject to be studied in behaviourism is usually placed under experimental conditions and does not require a large amount of processing ability to understand the stimulus. memorization using consistent practice and rote are principle methods of learning through behaviourism. Pavlov's Dog experiment is perhaps the most popular application of behaviourist theory. in his experiment, dogs were conditioned to start salivating in anticipation of food the when exposed to a series of different cues such as a flashing light bulb and the sounding of a bell.
Cognitivism
cognitivism views the learner as in "information processor" whose mind is a "black box" which should be unraveled and studied in order to better understand the learning ability of man. the theory replaced behaviorism in 1960s as a dominant paradigm. mental processes such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving are commonly explored and studied. according to cognitivism, knowledge is seen as a type of schema or mental representation and learning is defined as a change in the symbolic construction of schemata.
contrary to behaviorism, cognitivism argues that people are not passive in their learning but instead rational beings who think and act according to what they have learnt. behavioural changes are not merely a result of stimulus response but rather an outcome of learning and interpretation. cognitivism uses the metaphor of the mind being a computer where information is input, is processed, and results in output. cognitivism would explain why people behave differently despite being in similar situations.
Socioculturalism
socioculturalism emphasises the role of society in learning through social interaction. it not only deals with a teacher-student relationship but rather includes society at large as an effective learning tool through communication and collaboration. socioculturalism eliminates hierarchy where everyone plays the role of both educator and learner in fostering a learning system maintained through effective input and output
overall, i feel that there is no ONE theory which effectively caters to the concept of learning and retention. each of the 3 camps described above portray their viewpoints according to the schools of thought they believe in. however in essence, i feel that learning is a complex multi dimensional aspect of living things and categorizing this phenomenon into either-or situations would fail to do justice to its vast nature. behaviourism, cognitivism and socioculturalism should be interwoven with one another to provide a more comprehensive view of learning.
the 3 blogs i viewed are:
http://murderdoll-nm3204.blogspot.com/
http://e-joanna.blogspot.com/
http://www.leeweiting.blogspot.com/
and the one i commented on:
http://3204muse.blogspot.com/
behaviorism deals with the system of stimulus response. the response to a particular stimuli can be controlled via the use of positive (rewards, compliments) or negative (punishments) reinforcements which would result in the conditioning of desired behaviour. punishment is sometimes believed to be more effective in eliminating or reducing undesirable behaviour. behaviourism is more concerned whether the correct response is attained compared to the knowledge learned. the subject to be studied in behaviourism is usually placed under experimental conditions and does not require a large amount of processing ability to understand the stimulus. memorization using consistent practice and rote are principle methods of learning through behaviourism. Pavlov's Dog experiment is perhaps the most popular application of behaviourist theory. in his experiment, dogs were conditioned to start salivating in anticipation of food the when exposed to a series of different cues such as a flashing light bulb and the sounding of a bell.
Cognitivism
cognitivism views the learner as in "information processor" whose mind is a "black box" which should be unraveled and studied in order to better understand the learning ability of man. the theory replaced behaviorism in 1960s as a dominant paradigm. mental processes such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving are commonly explored and studied. according to cognitivism, knowledge is seen as a type of schema or mental representation and learning is defined as a change in the symbolic construction of schemata.
contrary to behaviorism, cognitivism argues that people are not passive in their learning but instead rational beings who think and act according to what they have learnt. behavioural changes are not merely a result of stimulus response but rather an outcome of learning and interpretation. cognitivism uses the metaphor of the mind being a computer where information is input, is processed, and results in output. cognitivism would explain why people behave differently despite being in similar situations.
Socioculturalism
socioculturalism emphasises the role of society in learning through social interaction. it not only deals with a teacher-student relationship but rather includes society at large as an effective learning tool through communication and collaboration. socioculturalism eliminates hierarchy where everyone plays the role of both educator and learner in fostering a learning system maintained through effective input and output
overall, i feel that there is no ONE theory which effectively caters to the concept of learning and retention. each of the 3 camps described above portray their viewpoints according to the schools of thought they believe in. however in essence, i feel that learning is a complex multi dimensional aspect of living things and categorizing this phenomenon into either-or situations would fail to do justice to its vast nature. behaviourism, cognitivism and socioculturalism should be interwoven with one another to provide a more comprehensive view of learning.
the 3 blogs i viewed are:
http://murderdoll-nm3204.blogspot.com/
http://e-joanna.blogspot.com/
http://www.leeweiting.blogspot.com/
and the one i commented on:
http://3204muse.blogspot.com/
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