Oh blimey...yet another technology to take up my time!!! Well I've tried to avoid it but as part of H800 I have to get myself an account which I have dutifully done. I've decided not to use my phone but just stick to using it on the web.I was surprised that there were people I could follow who were linked to Elluminate, blogs, elearning etc and that some of them decided to follow me. I'm being quite picky about who I allow to follow me...had to block a couple of very dubious people already!!!! Not sure what, if any, value I'm going to get from this in the long run but for the moment its given me a couple of links to some helpful websites.With regard TMA03/ECA I seem to have fathomed something out thanks to my tutor...designing an intro to Elluminate for European students...well something along those lines!!
TMA 03 is due in next week and I need to decide on the 2 technologies to discuss. At the moment it looks like I 'll focus on Blogs and Elluminate but that could well change. I also have to come up with a designing a learning activity, or creating a specification for a course or training package, that uses this technology!!! Going to go back over E123/4 course material and see if there is a way of designing an activity that could be used in Elluminate/Blog.........
Activity 5 cont
In reading the chapter in Activity 4, and doing the searching in Activity 5,
- what evidence have you found that mobile practices are blurring the distinction between formal and informal learning? I think the previous post demonstrates this in a small way but I think it will depend on how reliant the courses are on the mobile technology (ies) to support the learning. I'll wait until the Elluminate tutorial tomorrow and see what others in the group post about it.
- Is the ‘ownership’ of learning changing? Yes, students can access information anytime, anyplace, anywhere through mobile technologies.
Activity 5
So this week the focus is mobile technologies. Have to say that when I first started reading into this I was dubious. I already mentioned in the last post, I don't really use any. My students are unlikely to use any either. I then found this piece which In used for the tutorial...
......In 2007, students were given T-Mobile MDA Varios for mobile learning and assessments during work placements. Tutors were able to upload assessments to the device for students to fill in while they were taking part in work placements. Each assessment could be customised to individuals, so that they were relevant to course and learning style. Using T-Mobile’s Web’n’walk service, students could also use the mobile to access learning resources from a central virtual learning repository and reflect on their work experience on a blog built into the assessment programme. Assessors used the system to log in to a secure area, connected to the university’s virtual learning environment teaching and business systems, to record and store the student’s assessment. This is possibly the next step on from using eportfolio's in NVQ assessments. In H808 I had looked at Health and Social Care students using eportfolio's as part of assessment. This still needed Internet access, not always easily available in care homes etc, as well as a lap top. Using a mobile phone would make the assessment far more accessible to students and assessors as wella as examining boards.
Success will depend upon mobile phones fitting the purpose, care being taken not to overwhelm students/tutors and meeting the needs of the student. Awareness of the devices limitations is desirable. Students need to know how to use the mobile and access the support on offer.....can’t be assumed. However as more students are likely to own a mobile over any other technology they are likely to have more awareness of how to use it. Many schools and Colleges/Uni’s already use SMS (short message service) for sending information e.g. exam results to students.
Armatas, Holt and Rice (ascilite 2005)
Williams (2007) http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2192952/apls-mobile-learning
I can see now how mobile phone alerts to my students would be really beneficial. OU could send them to let students know TMA hand in dates, tutorial reminders etc. The majority of my students have mobile phones so would probably welcome these alerts.
I discussed this in a recent Elluminate session with my tutor and one other student attending. This session worked well for me....probably due to the small number of people which made it more relaxed. Tried to paste the above info on mobile technologies to the white board but it was having none of it. Obviously I was doing something wrong but there was no time to fathom it out....still have no idea how to paste to the damn board lol!! Any way I managed to paste the URL into Chat so everyone was able to access the site. The sound had problems this time too....feedback if more than one microphone on at a time and I pretty sure when the others were speaking their voices got higher almost like they were inhaling helium!!
Blimey I am sooo far behind and we're now starting week 19!!!
Have just spent the last couple of weeks marking and verifying over 100 ECA's...first time marking so took a while to get into the swing.
Had a quick look through week 18...definitely need to go back and do some reading. But I have looked at Google Reader......hmm......may use it may not.....not sure yet.
There are not enough minutes left in my day to start using Twitter.....its a bit frustrating that you just get a snippet...don't think this ones for me at all. Mind you I do say this about most technologies and then I seem to love them lol!!
In terms of social networking I've used social networking via the University of Manitoba which has worked well but I have to admit that I still tend to visit the blogs and websites and not rely on RSS feeds/Google Reader or Twitter.
In terms of personal use as I'm moving to Ontario I've used two social networking sites for research
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=33 and
http://www.mymuchmor.com/home.php .....I'm 'Northernlass1'on both.
Have had a look at TMA 03 and the ECA....have a few ideas which are waiting to be ok'd by my tutor.
Off to check through the course work and make sure I can catch up this week.
After the busiest week I managed to submit TMA 02 early, changing one of the activities at the last minute which is pretty normal for me!! Then it was off to Milton Keynes for an ECA markers meeting. Spent the lovely sunny weekend in the car on the M1 and then in the OU building...but the food was good. Also the overnight stay at the Hilton was clean, no kids, tv to myself, peace and quiet...bliss!!
I've had a look at week 16 activities/quiz. As far as changes to TMA 02 are concerned I would have suggested doing part 1 as a collaborative activity within small groups. I'm now looking at TMA03 and the ECA. Have an idea about what I'd like to do but need to run it by my tutor. About to start some work on Elluminate for OU in the North with a view to exploring its uses for tutors who have European learners so may use this.
Have just received 104 ECA's to mark over the next 2 weeks so it will be busy but at least there's no big TMA to write for H800. Have also been asked to do some work for an Early Years project but will have to turn it down as I've too much on.
I've added a new gadget...a countdown to ECA submission. As this is my final course on the MAODE its great to see that I'm really near completion. However I have no idea how I'll cope without anything to study as its been my life for the last 2 years!!!!
