Reading through the articles, the area of online communication that caught my attention and made me want to learn more about it was that of podcasting. Even though it is still a very new form of online communication, podcasting has gone through huge evolutionary strides over the last eight years. A Podcast, as explained by Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting), is: “a digital media file, or a related collection of such files, which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers.” The word “Podcasting” seems to have originated from the idea that Apples’ iPods were the first to have scripts developed for their media player which allowed the broadcasted “radio-like” communications over the Internet to be listened to portably, however, RSS feeds actually came about in 2000.
Although Podcasting began with broadcasting only audio files to communicate with subscribers, it did not stay that way for long. Some people still enjoy the “radio-like” communication to this day, but others have upgraded to a type of podcasting that involves more media. Some examples of these upgrades are: Videocasting, where visual and audio media meet to bring a message through syndicated feeds; and Audiocasting, where the words of a written document can be transformed to audio by a TTS (text-to-speech) engine so that you may listen to them rather than read them (great for the visually challenged/impaired).
Some of the ways that people have learnt to use this type of online communication to better their lives is by using it to: send sick children their school lessons at home, provide people with affordable audio tours to establishments, and send out public safety messages. Although it is a great way to communicate our thoughts and feelings, it no longer is specifically used for talk shows and blogging. (Wikipedia, retrieved Nov 7, 2007)
In response to the O’Reilly article, found at: http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/digitalmedia/2005/07/20/WhatIsPodcasting.html, I would like to say that I found this article to be very informative and helpful. I especially liked the idea of giving the readers suggestions of programs to use for editing and other such production tasks, as well as the types of equipment to use for gathering the best quality audio that you can. I think that the article made it very clear to its’ readers that Podcasting is not an easy task to concur…but that if you take your time with it and experiment, you could have a lot of fun creating your own podcast.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Realizations: Pros and Cons of E-Learning
Originally, I was going to write about how informative I found the "Working the Web for Learning" article to be. Going through it was a breeze and the examples were actually really cool to try out (it gave me a few ideas for cyber camps), but then I read the BBC News article, "UK and China sign E-learning deal" and some things struck me as important to turn my attention to. Not until that moment, after reading the entire article, did I realize how e-learning could impact our societies.
Pros to e-learning:
1. Many people choose to leave their homelands in order to acquire a better quality of life; however some eventually miss their original residences and want to return home. E-learning will allow these people to become educated in the curriculum of their homeland and return there with an education relevant to that country and thus making it easier for them to acquire a job there.
2. The e-learning movement may allow schools in countries where English is the second language to save money on the hiring of ESL teachers from other countries. As well, students who want to learn other languages will not necessarily have to attend special language schools or physically attend classes at a school...they will just have to sign on.
3. Doctors of other countries, such as India, have always had a hard time coming over to Canada and acquiring a job as a physician in this country because the schooling and practices in India are not compatible to our practices and schooling. With the coming of e-classes, doctors in other countries will have a better chance at getting jobs in their career field, even maybe even their exact positions prior to their move.
Cons to e-learning:
1. Producing and supplying systems for e-learning is becoming a major market economy. As stated in the BBC News article, the UK has claimed 28 billion British pounds in education exports (in Canadian dollars that works out to approximately 56 billion dollars). Although this is good for the countries that are involved in this marketing economy, it is not so great for those countries that cannot afford to produce these systems, nor is it great for those countries that cannot afford to buy these systems. Rather it is creating a larger gap between the rich and poor countries because it is allowing those better off countries the opportunity to get higher quality and more accessible education. Thus, allowing for the less wealthy countries to be left in the wealthier countries technology-laden “dust”.
2. One thing that bothered me when reading the “UK and China sign E-learning deal” article, was the statement made by Mr. Sanghrajka saying that the “best practices in one country will be applied elsewhere.” Who is to decide what the “best practices” are?? I mean, I don’t argue with the fact that it would be nice to common practice to many things, such as health care practices, in every country. But, how do we say that one thing works better than another? How can we limit people like that? The only good thing about this is that it won’t limit people to work in only one country….for those that wish to travel, it will allow them to do that work that they are familiar with and still see those places that they always dreamed of visiting.
Conclusion:
With e-learning being a fairly new thing to most countries, there will be a few kinks to work out. So long as countries are willing to work together and agree on "best practices" together, this e-learning thing looks to be very encouraging as a revolution in the education atmosphere. Now, if we could just get everyone to agree that education should be free to all....we'd make huge leaps!
Pros to e-learning:
1. Many people choose to leave their homelands in order to acquire a better quality of life; however some eventually miss their original residences and want to return home. E-learning will allow these people to become educated in the curriculum of their homeland and return there with an education relevant to that country and thus making it easier for them to acquire a job there.
2. The e-learning movement may allow schools in countries where English is the second language to save money on the hiring of ESL teachers from other countries. As well, students who want to learn other languages will not necessarily have to attend special language schools or physically attend classes at a school...they will just have to sign on.
3. Doctors of other countries, such as India, have always had a hard time coming over to Canada and acquiring a job as a physician in this country because the schooling and practices in India are not compatible to our practices and schooling. With the coming of e-classes, doctors in other countries will have a better chance at getting jobs in their career field, even maybe even their exact positions prior to their move.
Cons to e-learning:
1. Producing and supplying systems for e-learning is becoming a major market economy. As stated in the BBC News article, the UK has claimed 28 billion British pounds in education exports (in Canadian dollars that works out to approximately 56 billion dollars). Although this is good for the countries that are involved in this marketing economy, it is not so great for those countries that cannot afford to produce these systems, nor is it great for those countries that cannot afford to buy these systems. Rather it is creating a larger gap between the rich and poor countries because it is allowing those better off countries the opportunity to get higher quality and more accessible education. Thus, allowing for the less wealthy countries to be left in the wealthier countries technology-laden “dust”.
2. One thing that bothered me when reading the “UK and China sign E-learning deal” article, was the statement made by Mr. Sanghrajka saying that the “best practices in one country will be applied elsewhere.” Who is to decide what the “best practices” are?? I mean, I don’t argue with the fact that it would be nice to common practice to many things, such as health care practices, in every country. But, how do we say that one thing works better than another? How can we limit people like that? The only good thing about this is that it won’t limit people to work in only one country….for those that wish to travel, it will allow them to do that work that they are familiar with and still see those places that they always dreamed of visiting.
Conclusion:
With e-learning being a fairly new thing to most countries, there will be a few kinks to work out. So long as countries are willing to work together and agree on "best practices" together, this e-learning thing looks to be very encouraging as a revolution in the education atmosphere. Now, if we could just get everyone to agree that education should be free to all....we'd make huge leaps!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Text Processing: Affects and Impacts
There used to be a time, probably back in my great great grandmothers' schooling years, when textbooks consisted of ninety percent words on a page and the other ten percent was diagrams and drawings. Certainly, efforts were minimally made, through the written text process, to help children create visuals to better understand what they were reading.
Although, one thing is undeniable...educators back then were a little more hands on with their teaching as compared to today's educators. Teachers took students on road trips, encouraged participation in science experiments, and related teachings to personal experiences on a regular, almost daily, basis. It was a time when students could learn at their own pace.
Today, however, things have changed. With the coming of the Internet, web casts, blogging, and online education, children are being faced with an education that is less hands on and more "virtual" on, with a lot shorter time to learn things. Children are now able to watch a science experiment in a classroom across the other side of the world; they can click on a link that brings them to pronunciations for words in a foreign language; or they can skim through other students essays to get a better understand of Shakespeare’s plays.
In relation to publishing over the internet and the ability of students to process the text that they are reading, we have entered a time in education history where it has become very important for web authors to be extremely familiar with micro and macro-structures. Not only do web authors have to take these structures into consideration when writing, they also have to make sure that the sites they are creating are visually appealing and easy to navigate. What must not be forgotten by web authors is that throughout students schooling years, they are taught “shortcuts” in relation to reading. Skimming through articles and picking out the topic sentence or glancing at the paragraph headings has become a very important part of helping a student to figure out whether an article or paper is of any significance to their studies.
Students today are faced with a wealth of information being shot their way, and if web authors do not take into consideration the importance of writing a visually appealing and structurally sound article or paper, it is likely that their published material will be passed up, even if it is of great importance to a students learning process.
Although, one thing is undeniable...educators back then were a little more hands on with their teaching as compared to today's educators. Teachers took students on road trips, encouraged participation in science experiments, and related teachings to personal experiences on a regular, almost daily, basis. It was a time when students could learn at their own pace.
Today, however, things have changed. With the coming of the Internet, web casts, blogging, and online education, children are being faced with an education that is less hands on and more "virtual" on, with a lot shorter time to learn things. Children are now able to watch a science experiment in a classroom across the other side of the world; they can click on a link that brings them to pronunciations for words in a foreign language; or they can skim through other students essays to get a better understand of Shakespeare’s plays.
In relation to publishing over the internet and the ability of students to process the text that they are reading, we have entered a time in education history where it has become very important for web authors to be extremely familiar with micro and macro-structures. Not only do web authors have to take these structures into consideration when writing, they also have to make sure that the sites they are creating are visually appealing and easy to navigate. What must not be forgotten by web authors is that throughout students schooling years, they are taught “shortcuts” in relation to reading. Skimming through articles and picking out the topic sentence or glancing at the paragraph headings has become a very important part of helping a student to figure out whether an article or paper is of any significance to their studies.
Students today are faced with a wealth of information being shot their way, and if web authors do not take into consideration the importance of writing a visually appealing and structurally sound article or paper, it is likely that their published material will be passed up, even if it is of great importance to a students learning process.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Response to Song and Hill Article
Throughout elementary and middle schooling years, children are taught that that they have to start classes at a certain time, sit in certain chairs or rooms, and learn certain subjects. Then they are pushed on to high school (that is if the teacher has decided that they have memorized enough information taught to them) and are given a slight bit of freedom of choice. This freedom of choice is mostly in relation to the level of motivation and interest each individual has for each subject. After this they are put out into the world to fend for themselves…it is their responsibility to decide whether they wish to educate their brains or leave them to deteriorate. Kind of scary is it not??? For approximately 13 years of our lives we are told what to learn and how to learn it, and then the tables are quickly turned.
After careful reading of this article it has become clear to me that the acquirement of good Self Directed Learning (SDL) skills is a major support to have when encountering an online learning environment. When taking an online course, not only does an individual become faced with an environment (in this day and age) that they are still quite unfamiliar with, but also, they are faced with a situation of finding complete self-motivation and resourcefulness.
The Song and Hill article seems to be on the right path in trying to find a way to show people how to survive in this quickly changing environment. Once research provides people with an explanation as to how an online environment can provide them with many advanced opportunities, I believe that it is human nature for people to want to learn…and thus they will adapt.
After careful reading of this article it has become clear to me that the acquirement of good Self Directed Learning (SDL) skills is a major support to have when encountering an online learning environment. When taking an online course, not only does an individual become faced with an environment (in this day and age) that they are still quite unfamiliar with, but also, they are faced with a situation of finding complete self-motivation and resourcefulness.
The Song and Hill article seems to be on the right path in trying to find a way to show people how to survive in this quickly changing environment. Once research provides people with an explanation as to how an online environment can provide them with many advanced opportunities, I believe that it is human nature for people to want to learn…and thus they will adapt.
Prelude to my response to the Song and Hill Article
So, this may be a little off topic, but I'm not one to let schooling stand in the way of my education...as stated at the top of my page.
Although it has taken me a little longer to respond to this article, due to the fact that I was away on a soccer tournament with a group of women from my community (of which love to hog the computer and leave me with no privacy to write down my thoughts when I did get a chance to get online)...I am somewhat glad that I was forced to take the time to read over this article a few times. The reasoning for my joy? It provided me with the "forced" opportunity to look into this article in-depth and truly focus on what it could teach me.
Some of the thoughts that flowed through my mind while reading over this article were: "I'm not an extremely motivated person at times (although I love to learn, its more so done on my own time), this being the case, am I bound for disaster?"; and my favorite "Is Lorraine trying to send her students a message that this class is going to be harder than we all would expect?" (LOL)
After all my questions came spilling out, I came to a realization.... This article is going to motivate me to learn something from this class...whether I like it or not! And yes, this class will push me to my limits, mainly for the fact that my entire life I have been taught to learn in such a way that has enabled me not to strive to question or look outside of the box...but now is the time to open my eyes a little wider and experience a challenge.....and this, I look forward to!
Although it has taken me a little longer to respond to this article, due to the fact that I was away on a soccer tournament with a group of women from my community (of which love to hog the computer and leave me with no privacy to write down my thoughts when I did get a chance to get online)...I am somewhat glad that I was forced to take the time to read over this article a few times. The reasoning for my joy? It provided me with the "forced" opportunity to look into this article in-depth and truly focus on what it could teach me.
Some of the thoughts that flowed through my mind while reading over this article were: "I'm not an extremely motivated person at times (although I love to learn, its more so done on my own time), this being the case, am I bound for disaster?"; and my favorite "Is Lorraine trying to send her students a message that this class is going to be harder than we all would expect?" (LOL)
After all my questions came spilling out, I came to a realization.... This article is going to motivate me to learn something from this class...whether I like it or not! And yes, this class will push me to my limits, mainly for the fact that my entire life I have been taught to learn in such a way that has enabled me not to strive to question or look outside of the box...but now is the time to open my eyes a little wider and experience a challenge.....and this, I look forward to!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Using Blogs to Enhance Online Learning
When I first sat down to this assignment I thought I knew exactly what blogging was...ranting and raving about your day, keeping a journal about happy times from your past, or simply informing people of upcoming events. I mean...those were the only uses I had for a blog, and it seemed to me that anything else that did not fall into this category must have a different name.
After reading the literature in preparation for the blogging assignment, I have come to realize that blogging is not simply used only to rant, journal, or inform but rather it has so many more uses, such as providing a link to a popular political topic in the media for discussion or allowing teachers to communicate with students outside of the classroom on a more individual basis.
Although I am not in the education field, I have dedicated most of my time over the last five years to teaching children and youth about sports and recreation. Currently, I am the Senior worker at a youth centre which means that I am the one who initiates and runs the programs. I am always looking for ways to use our Community Access Program computers (CAP computers) and I believe that blogging will become a very trendy program for my kids.
Some of the ways that blogging could help the kids at the youth centre is by: providing the Inuit children and youth with an avenue to practise their English reading and writing skills; allowing them to share their culture about storytelling, traditions, and life in the North with children in southern Canada and around the world; and teaching them about other technologies that is out there (i.e. podcast).
I believe that blogging will be a very beneficial tool for the children and youth that I work with at the Youth Centre. It will help them a great deal with their online learning as well as their learning in general.
Some of the ways that blogging could help the kids at the youth centre is by: providing the Inuit children and youth with an avenue to practise their English reading and writing skills; allowing them to share their culture about storytelling, traditions, and life in the North with children in southern Canada and around the world; and teaching them about other technologies that is out there (i.e. podcast).
I believe that blogging will be a very beneficial tool for the children and youth that I work with at the Youth Centre. It will help them a great deal with their online learning as well as their learning in general.
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