As a requirement to work on my course, cyberculture and creating digital graphics, i needed to create a blog on the blogger google sothat all my course work activities will be posted to the blog Cyberculture Workshop 2012 only. Therefore, i would be happy to get your comments and positive criticism on my final video presentation.
A course dedicated Blog
Checking an online questionnaire
I am checking preparation of an online questionnaire using google docs, amazing. Take a good look of goole. It has the application to transcribe the world into digital environments. Thanks google.
Screen casting with camtasia
Recently, I have been engaged looking for tools that can help to produce multimedia learning contents for educational purpose. Hence, with an intention to make screen casting, i found camtasia so friendly, with a lot of features to manipulate your production and highly useful to produce attractive and fully featured learning material. The tool is also simple to work on, easy to integrate sorts of information, fast way to link to repository with various social networking possibility to share the materials to your learners. It gives you tools to record for your demonstration or PowerPoint presentation, to explain in audio or video in contextualized and customized way you prefer to be display to your learners/trainees.
I have started using this tool during my internship work and have been trying to produce materials to my project work (production of multimedia learning contents for professional development/training purpose) in Mekelle University. As an example, watch the video i produced using this tool for how to login to Mekelle university Moodle portal.
Back from internship
I have been to Katholikien University of Leuven, Belgium. I have been working in the university, in the Media and Learning unit. The unit is responsible to support the teaching and learning context of the university by integrating audiovisual and new educational technologies for most of the colleges. The help teachers to design, produce and manage digital materials for teaching purpose. Therefore, they give training on how to produce, borrow audiovisual tools, and guide on how to store and distribute the materials.
It has been an opportunity to be in the unit, exposing myself with the staffs, learning materials, and working time. They were all helpful and supporting during my stay in the unit. Watch the video i produced during my MLU stay.
My course production progress from Tsegay Girmay on Vimeo.
Brainstorming ideas for blended learning
While preparing my internship project on the transformation of classical institutional training approach into blended approach, i have been browsing sites, navigating among links, and brainstorming on the conceptual understanding of blended learning, hence the following reveiw will be a summary i extracted from my reading.
Blended learning was defined in many ways by many practitioners. Most of them describe blended learning on the basis of their practical experience in designing, implementation, learning material distribution and so on. Educators like (Watso, n.d.), who is concerned on the diversified definition of blended learning provides his definition as, blended learning range from some so broad that practically any learning experience that integrates some use of educational technology might qualify, to others that focus on a specific percentage combination of online curriculum and instruction in a face-to-face setting.
Similarly, a page on wiki review on the timely emerging uses and definitions of blended learning,
“Blended Learning has been around for many years, but the name has changed as the uses and recognition have increased. Many people may be using a form of blended learning in lessons and teaching, but may not realize it or be able to give it an actual name. Blended learning is something that is used in the world of education as well as the world of business. Blended learning is not a new concept, but may be a new term to many users. Below is a list of just a few of the more common, but older, names of blended learning.”You may hear blended learning described as “integrative learning”, “hybrid learning”, “multi-method learning” (Node, 2001). “The term “blended learning” is being used with increasing frequency in both academic and corporate circles. In 2003, the American Society for Training and Development identified blended learning as one of the top ten trends to emerge in the knowledge delivery industry” (cited in Rooney, 2003) (wiki, 2012).”
Definitions from here and other indicate the integration of two learning environments, between face to face and online. However, the portion of time percentage for each of learning methods were also left to individual program context preferences. I have been looking literatures that can show a justification for time breakdown between face to face and online while designing blended learning, but seems more of context wise and designing purpose. An example indicated in wiki states, “consider a traditional class meeting schedule. Say that the course would normally meet MWF, from 1-3 PM. If the institution were to apply a blended learning approach, the course may change so that it meets once per week instead of the usual three-session format. Learning activities that otherwise would have taken place during classroom time can be moved online (wiki, 2012)”.
Therefore, being a current developing concept of blended learning approach and practical initiatives in different parts of the world made it to be defined variously depending the practical process and contextual convenience for different parties. Moreover, literature on the time scheduling division between face to face and online learning is also inadequately available for research or knowledge conception.
Hoping to hear your ideas,
Cheers
Reference:
- Watso, J. (n.d.). Blended Learning : The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education. Online.
- Wiki, 2012. Blended learning. [internet] available from:a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blended_learning#Mixing_synchronous_learning_and_asynchronous_learning”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blended_learning#Mixing_synchronous_le…> [Accessed on March 01 2012]
A slidshare integrates quality voiceover
While i was in need of authoring tools that can help to produce learning content featured with multimedia(text, image, video and audio), the new post of friends blog came out with the new tool that can put real speech like voice to your presentation slides. Here is more of the software description by Jaimeblog
It allows you to upload a presentation, type the speech (instead of recording it), and play it using a synthesized (but quite realistic) voice. Also, you can effortlessly make your talks available up to 20 languages. The tool is called helloslide.
Currently the service is available FREE for up to 50 presentations. Additional features are available in their premium services, but the free version is definitely enough to give you an idea what it’s all about. Simply upload your presentation (as a .PDF), add your text and press translate.
look my how to guide presentation trail, Finding ur course
isn’t it awesome?
Enjoy
Learning with Game and creativity
What We’ve Learned About Games and Learning: An Interview with Kurt Squire (Part One)
This is a three-part interview (Part One, Part Two, Part Three) with Kurt Squire on games in learning. It’s not the easiest read – Jenkins comes across as gushing, while Squire writes in an awkward and stilted style (the video in part two shows he speaks that way too). But the three parts offer numerous insights and nuggets worth mining – the way education privileges certain kinds of questions, the way games for you into systems thinking and push you beyond looking for simple explanations, the use of games to foster reflection, the use of games to foster social skills, collaboration skills and organization skills. And a lot more. It’s good thinking even if the presentation is really really awkward.
(posted from the blog of Henry Jenkins)
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson will ask how do we make change happen in education and how do we make it last?
(Uploaded by theRSAorg)
Transforming traditional training into blended
I am in the first half of my second month in Katholieken University of leuven, Media and learning unit for internship. Being a Master student in Communication and Learning in Digital Society, i have to make an internship as a fulfillment to my study, an opportunity to apply what i have been studying for the last a year and half. For this reason, i have got the inter university cooperation to work for my internship between Alcala university of Spain and KULeuven of Belgium. Therefore, one of my ideas was to make a sort of change on the highly inefficient and ineffective traditional higher education staff professional training by integrating possible educational technologies (ICT) .To base my ideas from the practical context of my university, i have to collect all the experience (the success and challenging stories) we had in implementing E-learning pilot project since 2009, with the fund from Spanish Agency for international cooperation. Though this project had its own dynamic challenges, it had also a worthwhile effect on the opportunities and exposures it had created in the academic staffs of Mekelle University (MU elearning). Different stakeholders of the university, from top to down, have been involved in the small scale intervention in playing a role as facilitator(IPS), technical supporter (ICT), ADRC, management and some medicine and engineering faculty staffs
The initiation and exposure of this project has lit the thinking and recognition to the idea of integrating technological concepts and approaches into the university’s teaching and learning context. Some modestly qualified and contextually customized sort of online courses were produced and made available for students from the pilot faculties (engineering and health courses). Moreover, the technological infrastructures, softwares or hardwares, with additional donation from the pilot project were made almost optimal to run e-learning environment in a small scale. Read the rest of this entry »
Embodding most human sense to technology
Embodiment: The Teleology of Interface Design
“‘If the body is the fundamental communication hardware, a simulator for a mind, what is its relationship to media made of steel, plastic, or silicon? Instead of pulsing blood, pulses of electrons and light animate these media. McLuhan long ago pointed out that modern communication interfaces attach themselves to the body. In the words of McLuhan, “media are extensions of the senses.”
The relationship of a human to an interface can be one of a body to an environment, or of one brain to another through a kind of conversation. The hope is that, in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled very tightly, and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today”‘(Licklider, 1960, p. 4)
I would like to thank for those dedicated to work on incredibly innovation work on Technological devices for human communication. Enjoy the video produced by TED.
Video Game Design session
Our todays class was on Video Game,historical background, theories .designing, and production. This course is being run by Jesus Fabriccio and he is also game creator look his site and we were talking about the use of game for various descriptions. It could be for historical narration, educational, political, cultural, and so on.
The discussion has also included the theories and functions of Video game in peoples daily lifes. As it’s stated in most sites including wiki, for video game was contemplated in various multidimensional way.
When he present the various game types being produced, we all interrupt Jesus on the violent game types and thinking of their influence on young school children. The disicussion on this issue has continued for some long minutes. More attentively, I was very surprised when Serjio showed me one of the game on how to make ship pirating and negotiating with concerned bodies. I think everybody can guess the most know place/ocean where pirating is usually undertaken, Somalia around gulf of Aden, next to my country. They call the game as Cutthroat Capitalism. Take a look the game. What do you think of this game? If yound people used it what is the consequence? I will be happy to share your ideas
When it comes to practical demonstration, we have seen and made a simple game using the Kodu’s user friendly tools which enable you to build your our game world and use it for any purpose. For beginner video creators, i suggest to start with Kodu as it’s so simple and no need for complicated arthritic coding process. you can just select and drop any action required by your story, also visit the site from here kodu. This is goin to be my practical experiment for the coming days.
Hoping to get your similar ideas.
