Digital Dialogues

Blogging to Learn, Learning to Blog

** This is next week ** REGISTER NOW!!! **

Wed 9th February, 2005

Time: 3.30pm - 4.30pm (Sydney time)

Repeat session due to popular demand

Blogging to Learn, Learning to Blog

If you were unable to attend in December, then join us in February.

Register at the LTUG site

This session is the first in a series we are developing on the use of weblogs in education and will be followed by workshops that take you into the technologies and assist you with the setting up of blogs - both on an individual and class or group basis.

January Overview

Can you believe January is already over??  I know, I know the e-Zine is late...it's summer...what can I say? 

For many educators, January is a month for reflection and preparation for the year ahead. So what will 2005 hold for education, learning and technology?

I was pondering this question as I reviewed my subjects for the start of the new university year - so much of the content seemed tired and old - yet many of the articles were circa 2001 - 2003! Have things changed so much?

Well - yes, and of course, no!

Technology has changed rapidly - we have so many new and exciting options - readily accessible!

Has e-Learning practice changed in organisations? Hmmm - that's an interesting one...there are certainly more organisations embedding e-Learning into their overall strategic approach. Is it effective? Well, we might leave that debate for another time...

Have the learners changed? Absolutely! Learners now expect, and yes, they demand some form of technology-supported learning - in all educational settings. And keep an eye on those young ones - their use of technology will be shaping some of our future decisions - but more on that later in the year!

Has the use of technology changed in educational institutions? Yes - but is it enough? Have you noticed how much academic discourse there is, still questioning if technology can enhance learning? Why is that?

This year I've decided to leave that debate to the disbelievers - it's time to move forward and redirect my energies into exploring the new technologies and determining their educational value and providing others with the opportunities to collaborate and share our practices! So join me - this year is going to be HUGE with lots of LTUG opportunities for engaging exchanges and debates.

Watch out for our calendar of events - we're just locking in dates and presenters and we'll publish that progressively as events are confirmed!

Some snippets to look forward to...podcasting (and no, it's nothing to do with gardening!), wikis, more on blogs, RSS, and so much more from the technical perspective.

Plus, remember those Learning Technology Award winners from the LT2004 conference last year? Well, we're hoping to get them to present their innovative uses of technology in a webinar series and share some their wins, and some of their challenges...

It's going to be a HUGE year!

Scenario-based Questions

What's the best way to measure learning with scenario-based questions?

From Questionmark 

Scenario-based questions present learners with realistic situations and ask them to make decisions appropriate for those situations. These questions, sometimes called simulation-like questions, are much more effective than traditional knowledge-based questions because they prepare learners to remember what to do. Scenario-based questions can also be used as tools for assessing learning.

Suppose you're running a 3-day workshop. Which of the following methods would provide the best measure of how likely it is that learners could remember what they learned as they perform their jobs?

• Provide scenario-based questions at the end of the workshop's final day.
• Provide scenario-based questions four days after the end of the workshop.
• Provide traditional knowledge-based questions at the workshop's end and four days afterward.

Answering this question from Work-Learning Research will give you comprehensive feedback about the effective use of pre-questions:

http://www.questionmark.com/go/question13.htm

Usability in e-Learning

From the latest edition of Learning Circuits - ASTDs online e-zine is a valuable article on usability. FOr anyone developing their own products - this is an essential part of the process BEFORE you launch it on a large scale! For practitioners buying products off-the-shelf - this is equally essential to the success of the launch - I'd even be asking vendors if you can conduct a small pilot test (at a special rate) before you commit to a large scale purchase of licensing!

Usability in E-Learning By Michael J. Miller
While a large number of organizations have adopted e-learning programs, far fewer have addressed the usability of their learning applications. More attention should be devoted to assuring the usability of e-learning applications if organizations are to fully benefit from their investments.

SCOTTeVest

This has got to be part of my wardrobe!!!

Recently written up in the Australian IT section as a must have have all those portable devices we carry, I googled it and found an interactive version of the cyber-teachers uniform!!!

Or visit the website for details of the features of a SCOTTeVest!

It even has a personal area network....wow!

For those that just can't see themselves in the jacket - there is the baseball cap version that obviously doesn't hold as many gadgets!!!
The hat is only US$12 and the jackets start at around US$60....just love it!