Friday, 13 March 2009
Introduction to SCORM elearning standard for non-techies
SCORM is a standard for online elearning materials for a single user – typically self-paced modules. It stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model. It’s a very technical specification that governs how the learning materials are created and delivered to learners. The basic idea is that if you create a piece of elearning that is SCORM compliant (the latest version is SCORM 2004) then it can be used in any learning management system (LMS) – so it could be used in or transferred to Moodle, Blackboard, Sakai, Blackboard WebCT, Desire2Learn, SumTotal, or any other VLE.
The first job it defines is how content should be packaged. Data is included in a document called the "imsmanifest", based on XML, which gives the LMS all the information it needs to import and launch the content automatically (without someone having to start editing bits of code). The XML describes the structure of a course both from the learner perspective and as a file structure on the server. Type and name of content is included here, for example.
The second part of the SCORM specification is about data exchange. It specifies how the content ”talks” to the LMS while it is being used. This part of the specification is about delivery and tracking of content. It means that the LMS can find and deliver the content to specific learners and exchange data such as marks and other learner-specific information.
SCORM is a standardized “plug and play” format for elearning modules that was invented by the US Department of Defense but is now acknowledged as the standard across the world. It does not define the look and feel, design or content or even the learning design of the materials in any way. It just makes them easier to use.
Full information on SCORMLabels: e-learning, elearning, learning design, online learning, SCORM, writing elearning
posted by Helen Whitehead 12:27 PM
Monday, 7 July 2008
Monday's Moodle tip: icebreaker e-tivities
One of the steps to facilitating deeper learning is to get your group of learners to "gel". Icebreakers and group work can help to get students working together and supporting each others' learning. This needs to happen in the online environment as much as in the classroom and is one of the key skills of e-moderating.
Although it certainly helps to build the group online if the students know one another from face-to-face classes, the socialisation has to happen again in each new learning space. This means it can happen in the classroom, then again in Moodle (or other VLE), and if you use something separate again like an external wiki, blogs or social networking space, the group needs to go through the group-forming stages yet again in there - it can't be avoided.
Online-only and distance learners can build a group just as well as learners on a blended programme if properly guided by the e-moderator and taken through a stepped programme designed to gradually increase interaction and collaboration.
I run online writing courses (Season of Inspiration) with learners in several different countries. My co-tutor in Australia and I didn't meet face to face for the first time until 5 years after we started working together! However we design our activities so that in the first week students familiarise themselves both with the technology (Moodle), the online environment for learning, and the group that they are part of.
Icebreakers that facilitate this kind of familiarisation and socialisation are key and should include introductions that reveal a little about each student without requiring them to reveal too much of themselves. Some examples of appropriate e-tivities include:
- If you were an animal what animal would you be and why?
- Tell us about one of your favourite websites that is typical of one of your interests.
- What can you see out of your window?
- What items do you have on your desk?
- If you were a TV or film character which one would you be and why?
Labels: e-moderating, e-tivities, icebreakers, Moodle, online learning
posted by Helen Whitehead 8:59 AM
Friday, 23 May 2008
Places available on eModerating and Online Tutoring course (online)
5 weeks - online - in MoodleStarts 4th June 2008
contact helen@reachfurther.com
I am running an eModerating and Online Tutoring course in partnership with Park Lane College in Leeds. This is an introductory course for those starting to or planning to teach online in HE, FE or even in schools. The format - 5 weeks online in Moodle - is based on successful courses I have run in the past with local, national and international participants and builds on my work with Professor Gilly Salmon at Leicester University. I'm delighted to be able to offer the course to teachers and tutors inside and outside the college as I know that a mix of participants from different institutions will, as in my previous courses, form a lively and mutually supportive community.
Although it's in Moodle, the skills taught are generic and not VLE-specific. Moodle is very easy to use :) £295 plus VAT
More information at http://reachfurther.com/?page_id=82
Contact me for more details helen@reachfurther.com
Labels: courses, e-facilitation, e-moderating, emoderating, Moodle, online learning, online tutor, online tutoring, VLE
posted by Helen Whitehead 2:18 PM
Monday, 22 October 2007
Links for week commencing 22nd October
Some interesting social software for learning:
Ecto
http://www.ectolearning.com/
Their blurb: "Ecto is a hosted, open networked Personal Learning Environment. Use Ecto to transform learning into an interactive, collaborative, and student centered activity. Ecto is the only learning management system built from the ground up on the principles and architecture of social software."
It's an online service and at the moment you can join for free although it's a commercial offering. At the moment it looks pretty vanilla - it seems to be social networking aimed at learning and teaching, nothing really new about it.
ELGG
http://elgg.org/
Elgg is an open source social platform based around choice, flexibility and openness: a system that firmly places individuals at the centre of their activities. ELGG is being used by a LOT of universities and educational organisations, but you do need a server to run it on so it's not a solution for individuals.Labels: e-learning, education sector, elearning, FE, HE, online learning, social networking, universities, VLE, web applications
posted by Helen Whitehead 9:20 AM
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
What does 'embedding' mean?
One of the "hot topics" at the HEA Pathfinder workshop in York that I attended with the University of Leicester's Adelie project was the definition of "embedding" - which was important to the description of what the Pathfinder pilots were asked to do.
How can an institution measure embedding? What does it mean - is it the provision of technology or something much more radical relating to attitudes and blends of learning opportunities?
For me: it is about embedding skills relating to learning technologies into lecturers' (and other staff's) everyday practice of designing, delivering and facilitating learning opportunities.Labels: Adelie, e-learning, elearning, embedding e-learning, HE, online learning, Pathfinder
posted by Helen Whitehead 12:19 PM
Thursday, 13 September 2007
Spaces still available on Season of Inspiration online writing course
Season of Inspiration online writing course
There are still some spaces left on our latest online writing course
Season of Inspiration
9-week online writing course. Starts 8th October 2007 for 9 weeks.
Join us in making the most of seasonal colours and scents, metaphors of the season, place and time to provide inspiration for writing that'll see you through the rest of the year. We offer support, exercises and creative bolstering. You'll experiment with and collaborate in haiku walks, visual writing, meaningful journalling and capturing the sights and sounds of the season. Dip in and rediscover your creativity. Previous students will find all-new materials, and new students are very welcome.
info@newmediawriting.com
http://www.newmediawriting.com
The techie details - we'll be using Moodle :)Labels: online courses, online learning, season of inspiration, writing, writing courses
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:33 AM
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Wikis - advantages and disadvantages
A wiki is a universally-editable website with minimal formatting. The word comes from the Hawaiian wiki-wiki which means "quick".
Advantages of using wikis in learning and teaching
- No special software needed
- Immediate posting of content
- Low graphics content - fast loading
- Simple or complex hypertext structure as required
- Can have email notification of new content
- Can track changes
- Can have associated discussions
- Can easily link to other wikis and websites
- If students do not like what they see, such as the approach taken by others, they may be more inclined to participate in order to propose an alternative approach.
- Facilitates collaborative and constructivist approaches to learning
- Students can see what they are learning
Although it is "new" technology in learning, wikis could soon move into the "Pets' Corner" or familiar area of the Media Zoo.
Disdvantages of using wikis in learning and teaching
- Students reluctant to make public unfinished working documents
- Students reluctance to let others contribute changes.
- Students very competitive about changes
- All content modifiable including pages for instructions, handouts etc.
- Simultaneous edits are allowed but not successful
- No standardised markup/spellcheck - formatting is basic
- No equations or drawing
- Institutional wikis vs external wikis: using external wikis brings problems of copyright, ownership, continuity, etc.
- Institutional IT policies: still relies on an infrastructure that enables the permissions to be set appropriately (e.g., some universities allow wikis to be editable only by those with University accounts)
- The wiki is forever evolving.
- Not really appropriate for tracking contributions or discussion, following individual students
- When new to both tutors and students lack of familiarity causes problems: can cause confusion and lack of clarity
- Staff opposition to student collaboration
- Research shows that on moving to an online environment, even groups that already know one another well face-to-face have to go through the access and socialisation stages, albeit in a more abbreviated manner, to be able to work together collaboratively in an effective manner.
(For reference list see this post)
Labels: e-learning, elearning, HE, online learning, wiki, wiki bibliography, wiki-tivities, wikis, wikitivities
posted by Helen Whitehead 9:01 AM
Saturday, 4 August 2007
E-books on online community
Useful resources, especially for beginners
Otis Online Tutoring e-Book
NCSL's e-learning facilitation toolkit and 70,000 heads are better than oneLabels: e-learning, e-moderating, e-moderation, e-moderator, ebook, elearning, emoderating, online communities, online community, online learning, online tutor, online tutoring
posted by Helen Whitehead 5:53 PM
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Motivating online students
Keller's ARCS model of motivation
Attention
Relevance
Confidence
Satisfaction
How can I offer all these elements in an online course?
Attention: make sure the activities are engaging and interesting, perhaps even a bit controversial
Relevance: meanwhile, being completely relevant to the subject of study and the context in which they are studying - which varies depending on the student - the context of a full-time undergraduate is different from that of a work-based learner on a short professional development course.
Confidence: making absolutely clear the objectives and activities in the course so that the student knows exactly what is expected of them. Good design and navigation helps here too. It is also the job of the e-moderator to be supportive of learners.
Satisfaction: provide a certificate at the end of the course which is perceived as worthwhile. Provide positive and motivational feedback from the e-moderator. In a self-study multimedia course it might be achieved via short formative quizzes reassuring the student of their learning.Labels: ARCS model, e-moderating, e-moderator, emoderating, emoderator, motivation, online learning
posted by Helen Whitehead 1:48 PM
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
A narrative-based approach to designing e-learning
So - how do you make boring subjects interesting when creating e-learning?
Mandatory training can be dry and boring so there needs to be a reason or motivation to undertake it if the learning is to be memorable and considered valuable. In a narrative-based approach, digital storytelling concepts and multimedia elements can be combined to create an innovative narrative learning structure. Extensive use is made of humour, imagination, reward, anticipation or drama; topics and themes are chosen as likely to be relevant and interesting to a clearly identified target audience. An interesting context or scenario into which the activities are placed can engage and stimulate the learner, assist the activity to have meaning and help students to contextualize content.
References
Brown and Voltz "Elements of Effective e-Learning Design" in The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 6, No 1 (2005),
Brodsky, M., May 2003. E-learning Trends, “Today and Beyond. Learning and Training Innovations”. http://www.elearningmag.com/ltimagazine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=56219
Gee (2003), What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy,
--
In their paper "Elements of Effective e-Learning Design" in The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 6, No 1 (2005), Brown and Voltz suggest Scenarios.
There needs to be a reason or motivation to undertake an educational activity if the learning is to be memorable and considered valuable. An interesting context or scenario can assist the activity to have meaning. In some situations, the context will either be evident or require little explanation, for example, in relevant workplace training situations or in situations where student motivation is known to be high. In other contexts, possibly the majority, where the learning agenda is largely institutional, students are encouraged and assisted by an interesting scenario into which the activities are placed. Scenarios are usually provided by a story, role play, or simulation, within which the activity plays a pivotal role in helping students to contextualize content (Brodsky, M., May 2003. E-learning Trends, Today and Beyond. Learning and Training Innovations. http://www.elearningmag.com/ltimagazine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=56219).
The scenario will most likely be fictional; however, there is an assumption that the learning or skill gained through the activity will be transferred to future real world situations. This transfer is assisted if the learning scenario raises issues and problems similar to those in the real world; scenarios with this real world correspondence are often referred to as being ‘authentic.’ An interesting scenario will make extensive use of humor, imagination, reward, anticipation, or drama to enhance the activity. It will have topics and themes likely to be relevant and interesting to the target audience. It will make the learning activity seem like an obvious or necessary thing to undertake, given the situation presented by the scenario. Designers of entertainment products have long understood this requirement, and the study of their techniques is of increasing interest to educators such as Gee. In his book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, Gee (2003) suggests that “learners participate in extended engagement (lots of effort and practice) ... in relation to a virtual world that they find compelling” (p. 67). For the effective design of e-learning materials, the target audience must be clearly identified in order to develop scenarios that are likely to engage and stimulate the learning.
[One caveat:] ... if a resource is too much like a game with rules unrelated to real world contexts, then teachers would avoid using it. From this feedback, it is clear that authenticity and interest are highly valued aspects of e-learning design scenarios.Labels: e-learning, instructional design, learning design, online learning, scenarios
posted by Helen Whitehead 8:45 AM
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Wayne Hodgins: Off course, on target
I've discovered a new blog from Wayne Hodgins
He discusses an excellent online learning resource about tying knots (think sailing!) and describes Pecha Kucha, the fast and furious new presentation format from Japan now sweeping America (of which more anon).Labels: blogs, e-learning, online learning, presentations
posted by Helen Whitehead 9:27 AM
