For the purpose of this study (my D in in ABD)

Online Learning Environment (OLE) is a set of tools designed to deliver instruction and enhance a student’s learning experience. It is the perception and use of these tools by students that concerns this study. The delivery of the OLE to the student is done through the use of Internet technologies and computers. Additional devices such as MP3 audio players and other personal devices may be used to deliver instruction. The principal components of an OLE primarily include curriculum mapping (breaking curriculum into sections that can be assigned and assessed), student tracking, online support for both teacher and student, electronic communication (e-mail, threaded discussions, chat, Web publishing), and Internet links to outside curriculum resources. Within the OLE the instructor has the ability to create or modify curriculum content and track student performance. Figure 1 shows the elements of an OLE. The tools listed on the right are a sample set of possible tools that can be included in the delivery of instruction. Other factors including student and teacher expectations and course content are assumed to influence the OLE.

Tools and Environment

I have been thinking over the past week about tools and environments for online learning. In reviewing my Purpose and Problem statements on my dissertation I find the word tool in the title:

LEARNING IN ONLINE INSTRUCTION: A QUALITATIVE
STUDY OF UNDERGRADUATE
STUDENTS’ USE OF
ONLINE TOOLS

But in all my discussion I use things like environment and interactions. In interviews students use terms like resources, communication, challenge, and other more general descriptions.

My question is what is a learning environment if it does not include the tools in the description? and can I use the term environment to describe online learning?

Changing the title to something like:

LEARNING IN ONLINE INSTRUCTION: A QUALITATIVE
STUDY OF STUDENTS’ Perceptions and use
of Online Learning
Environments

Twitter Things for My Classes.

I have made a Twitter Feed for my classes next term. I hope that this goes well you are welcome to follow this experiment at OMIS17SCU. I will post comments on how it is working on this blog.

Twitter Things

I have been looking at all the possible things that i can do with some thing like twitter and found this site with 100 other e learning people.
http://c4lpt.co.uk/socialmedia/edutwitter.html

I think this is a must!

40 Years!

Listen to this! 40 years ago the mouse was invented. This was a great show on NPR and said the one thing that I have agreed with in much of the technology debate of the last few years. First is that technology is often used in unexpected ways or even in unintended ways. Next was the bet that things like twitter and facebook are a waist of computing power (this one I am not so sure about). Perhaps they are just a waist of time... something about snowball fights online is indeed a waist of time.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97992287

iTunes Podcast

I have been listening to a few podcasts this week and found one that I like.
E-learning Insights,education.au limited

This is one of the few that is not all about the technology but actually looks at the pedagogy. try the first one and see what you think.
Let me know your thoughts using the comment section.

Audiobooks and Cognitive Load

I saw this presentation at E-Learn 2008. It was good to see something that made sense for actual teaching and had some new insight on using media for learning.
This is the abstract:
Abstract:
Cognitive load theory (CLT) has been the theoretical framework for much of the research into multimedia learning over the past fifteen years. CLT is especially useful for understanding why meaningful learning is difficult to achieve. The inherent problem of achieving meaningful learning in any field can be understood in relation to the very limited processing capacity of working memory. CLT posits that working memory capacity can be explained by three different types of processing demands: intrinsic, extrinsic and germane load. In this article, the authors propose a model for understanding how audiobook learning packages (ALPs) can be effective in maximizing working memory capacity through efficient management of the three types of cognitive load. The model proposes five potential approaches to manage cognitive load for learners: focus, convenience, scaffolding, self-regulation and active learning.

Additionally the author has posted some more information regarding the tools used in creating audiobooks.

Pitching virtual courses

I found this article worth reading. Not for the information but the underlying idea of perceptions. This selling or "pitching" is more about what the students and faculty (teachers) think about the process and their current stat of technology use.
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-county/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1227082828113940.xml&coll=3&thispage=2

The Univesity of the Future

I found this on another blog and thought it matched much of the research that I have been doing.

Maybe here is the solution to some of our large class sizes. . . . from Chronicle of Higher Education, November 28, 2008
Jeffrey R. Young, “Will Electric Professors Dream of Virtual Tenure?”

Excerpts . . . .

Last month at the NASA-Ames Research Center, a group of top scientists and business leaders gathered to plan a new university devoted to the idea that computers will soon become smarter than people.

The details of Singularity University, as the new institution will be called, are still being worked out — and so far the organizers are tight-lipped about their plans. But to hold such a discussion at all is a sign of growing acceptance that a new wave of computing technologies may be just ahead — with revolutionary implications for research and teaching.

The idea that gave the new university its name is championed by Ray Kurzweil, an inventor, entrepreneur, and futurist who argues that by 2030, a moment — the "singularity" — will be reached when computers will outthink human brains. His argument is that several technologies that now seem grossly undeveloped — including nanotechnology and artificial-intelligence software — are growing at an exponential rate and thus will mature much faster than most linear-minded people realize. Once they do, computers will take leaps forward that most people can hardly imagine today.

Computerized research assistants might even do some of the work that graduate assistants do today. Professors will be able to assign hundreds of these electronic assistants to problems without having to get grant money to pay them.
Computers will become better at teaching than most human professors are once artificial intelligence exceeds the abilities of people. . . . These new computer teachers will have more patience than any human lecturer, and they will be able to offer every student individual attention — which sure beats a 500-person lecture course.

http://chronicle.com
Section: Information Technology
Volume 55, Issue 14, Page A13