eLearning or Learning

Let me tell you about an exiting day I spent in the University of Hamburg.

I woke up in the morning, did the same things as every day and on the way to the University I thought “what and how am I learning here in Hamburg”. Then I met a friend and forgot the whole thought.

In the seminar I saw a short video about wikis. It explained what wikis are for and how to use them. Here is a link to the clip. It was all new for me. For me wiki used to mean Wikipedia. But now creating a wiki looked realy easy and simple: just press this button and then that one.

As I said my earlier experiences of wikis are only about Wikipedia. And my experience was that it’s a fast way to get some information, but maybe not so reliable, because sometimes there are no sources of the info written. And that’s what I’ve been saing about Wikipedia to all the pupils I have taught.

On the way back home the same thought came into my mind again. How I learned today? The video taught me how to use a wiki. My learning was behavioristic, I used the wiki to fulfill the tasks of this seminar. I know now how to write my text to the wiki.

But on the other hand the video, our discussions in the seminar and me thinking about wikis at the time of using one changed my whole understanding of a wiki. I totaly reconstructed the knowledge in my brains with the experiences I had in the seminar. I think that even my attitude changed. Not anymore I saw the wiki as a unreliable source created by someone, I see it now as an opportunity to create something together. Putting our minds together. Taking apart in creating a wiki is propably the only way to realy understand what it’s about. This was pure constructivism.

Now I’m going to read our wiki to find out what connectivism means, ciao!

Last monday we had an online session with the seminar. We were sopposed to meet at 10.15 in Skype. I was there early at 9.45 drinking coffee at home. And then suddenly my internet connection collapsed. I had no idea what was wrong with it. I just decided to go to the university, so that I will see the presentations. I could have also restarted my computer two times, because that seems to help with this problem. I didn’t know it then.

So I arrived in the seminar room a little bit late, and the others had already started. But I got some help from Anja, and fast I was taking part in the online session. After that it went all well. I didn’t have any problems, some seemed to have some, but after all I think it was a nice experience for all. When it ended I had a feeling that I realy had done something I never did before. A nice feeling!

Hi again!

I’m back in Hamburg and starting my new year with some more eLearning. I have been enjoying all the presentations that I’ve seen in the seminar, and also our presentation was fine. Now I’m going to tell you how we made it and what I would do differently next time.

In the beginning we had to find out what LMS and LCMS means. It was a mystery for us too, but it got clearer when we all did our research and then discussed about it. Next thing to decide was how to present it. We had an idea of creating the presentation of LMS with an LMS. It seemed too complicated, so we decided to focus on how we can create the presentation without sitting in the same room and still being able to communicate and create a PowerPoint show together. Ralph told us about Zoho. We decided to try Zoho Show, so we all signed in and started to work together.

In Zoho Show Cathrin created a presentation and invited me and Christine to take apart in it. The first impression was great. You can work when you want, where you want, save it and chat with each other. We shared the tasks so that Cathrin did the research for LMS, Christine for LCMS and I for the examples in both cases.

We had some problems with the Zoho Show. Sometimes it didn’t work at all, sometimes it wasn’t able to save the changes, sometimes it just made it’s own changes. It was a bigger problem for girls because they had to make more slides than I. In the beginning of the project I wasn’t so active with Zoho and I was concentrating in finding the examples. Also our communication wasn’t so active because I didn’t use Zoho first so much and when I started using it rest of the group had already finished their slides. So we used our blogs to leave comments to each others, which I think is not so handy.

Rest of the group did a nice job when searching the information and creating the slides, but I’m not so happy with my examples. It wasn’t easy. I found a page where I could try demo-versions of Moodle and Atutor. I tried other systems too but decided to choose these ones. Moodle as an example of LMS and Atutor as LCMS. I tried to focus on the difference of an LMS and LCMS. Maybe I should have just focused on the benefits and problems of these systems. Because for example Moodle is a little bit complicated, you have to make too many choices. But it’s also true that I only tried these, didn’t really use them, so the picture I got is a little bit shallow. But it seems like a lot of work.

Also the experience that the other students got listening and watching my examples is maybe not so deap. Because I tried the systems many times and decided what would be useful to show, but still I feel like I don’t know so much about them. I think you will learn it only when you really start to use it. It might take some time and some hard work, but if you choose a right Lerning management System for your needs, I’m sure it will be worth it. Here is a big list of different kind on LMS:s and LCMS:s.

One thing we forgot from our presentation is the sources. It was an accident that we will fix it soon. At the end of the project we got enough of the problems with Zoho Show and I created my slides with Powerpoint and girls finished the show with nice styling. Then we uploaded it to Slideshare for everyone to see. Here is a direkt link to our presentation. Enjoy!

Hello again!

At this time in our course we are making presentations in groups. I’m in a group with two beautiful girls,  Cathrin and Christine. Our topic is Lerning management system and Learning content management system. We are using a site called Zoho to create our presentation online and then when it’s ready you can see it in Slideshare.

We decided to share the responsibilities in our group and my task became to find examples of LMS and LCMS. I found an interesting site where you can try different “programs”, here is the adress demo.opensourcecms.com. Choose one and login with username, admin, and password, demo. There are also the examples I will show in our presentation, Moodle and Atutor.

I will let you know when the presentation is online, so that you can check it out. Ciao

The second task of the course is to find at least two definitions to eLearning and to tell what you like or dislike about them. I tried to find two different ones and here they are.

The first definition I took from a Finnish wiki, called e-Aapinen, which is the biggest continuously dated vocabulary for e-learning and information- and communication technics in Finland. I thought it would help me to understand eLearning when I have to translate it from a Finnish text too.

eLearning is using information technics as a way of learning, a way of doing or as an equipment. eLearning is learning, education or structured information which is experienced with the help of information- and communicationtechnics. The tools can be internet, intranet, computer based technology or interactive television.

eLearning is a social process and it includes interaction and cooperation with people. (source: http://www.eoppimiskeskus.fi/eaapinen/index.php/E-Oppiminen)

On the site they also describe some benefits of eLearning. I like the thought that eLearning is a social process because it’s the way a lot of children and students interact nowadays, in the internet. So it must be also important to learn about it. It can be very motivating for the pupils to learn and also for the teacher to became a better teacher. But you have to remember that it’s not just important to use eLearning, it’s more about what you learn with it. Here is a link to a story about a teacher who wanted to get better, it is called The Good Teacher.

The other definition is from a wiki called Monroe eLearning Collaborative:

“eLearning - is a broad set of applications and processes which includeweb-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms, and digital. Much of this is delivered via the Internet, intranets, audio- and videotape, satellite broadcast, interactive TV, and CD-ROM” (source: http://elearning.monroe.edu/wiki/glossary)

This definition sounds more like a list of equipment. It seems that eLearning is very limited, and I feel that it’s full of opportunities to be founded. It’s true that the technique is what makes it possible and gives the freedom of place, time and speed of studying. But this description is just not getting me exited.

I’ve been in Hamburg now for three weeks and it’s great. I have to stay in contact with my friends and family in Finland, so now I have Skype in my computer. I should have used it already last spring when I was studying a course of visual arts. On the course we worked together with some students from the U.S. and it didn’t go so well. The idea was that they make a website for children with a task and information and then we will try it and comment on it and make it better as a group. The project started badly because of the timetables were different, and even the idea was not so clear for us. We communicated with email and that was a problem I think. I didn’t feel like I knew the person I was working with and maybe I didn’t give my 100% for the project. I think we could have gotten more from the course if we had used for example Skype for communicating. I think in eLearning it’s very important that the technical equipment and the programs are well chosen and working so that you can consentrate in learning.

I have been using computers all my life, but I have never been very deep in it. I used to play some games, I’ve learned the basics of Office-programs (and forgotten everything), and when I was studing in the University of Technology I studied a course of computer-aided design (CAD). I think computers sometimes motivate you when studing, but sometimes it can be realy hard too. That’s why I’m on this course now, to learn how to use eLearning.