In general, I'd like to gain a better understanding which technologies are having the greatest impact on online education and then, of course, I would like to understand how to best utilize those technologies in the classroom (without getting too technical).
What are the most important technologies?
September 29th, 2007 Keith Bourne
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- by Keith Bourne
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Asynchonous voice tools
I think it is also helpful to consider simple tools and applications that provide the means to make online classes more engaging and dynamic while removing the technical barriers for faculty and students.
We're using asynchronous voice tools from Wimba to enhance the online experience with audio. Wimba tools provide voice discussion boards, easy to create podcasting with one-click subscription to ITunes, voice email, and easy voice recording, and it is all integrated in our LMS, so faculty and students don't have to learn how to build feeds or jump around to multiple applications or interfaces to teach or study.
Chuck
Charles Kilfoye
Associate Director of Distance Learning
Northeastern University
Boston, MA
Asynchronous and Synchronous
For distance education, asynchronous is a great tool. This allows students to really review the topic and provide Critical Thinking to their response. For my online courses, You Tube videos are provided as well as links to other tutorials online with questions as to why or why not these work. Adding voice to discussion threads is always a fun thing to do s well as capturing the computer application process with Camtasia or Tegrity.
There are still, and probably will always be, those who need that synchronous touch. For these persons, many applications are used…Skype; Second Life; Elluminate; Google Talk; etc.
I am realitively new at this
I am realitively new at this and I teach everything asynchronous using You Tube videos with other web sites. I agree having the time for the students to be able to think about the topic does facilitate critical thinking.
RE: Asynchronous voice tools
I agree completely that the addition of asynchronous voice tools can make a tremendous difference in a course. In addition to the Wimba tools you suggest, the use of the voice commenting tool in Acrobat is a great way to communicate with students. I have been using this method for providing feedback on student papers now for over 3 years. The results have been highly positive.
http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/v11n2/v11n2_ice.asp
The above article was published in the July issue of JALN. I'm also going to be presenting findings from a large scale multi-institutional study on the use of audio feedback at Carefree.
Thanks Phil!
I never knew that Acrobat had voice comments. I tested it, and it worked great. I've already sent out an email to my professors showing them how to use it.
Amy Pate
Faculty Liaison
Global MBA Distance Learning
Thunderbird, The School of Global Managment
Most important technology
My two cents: XML. This is the underlying technology behind most of the social networking tools because through XML, we get RSS--the ability to feed/draw data to/from multiple applications. Through XML, we get the ability to create podcast wrappers for subscriptions; we also get the ability to dynamically import content into Flash (content presentation). I'm not sure I can see the compelling need for an educational XML language (see http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Educational_modeling_language) but it's an interesting direction that's being pursued primarily in Europe.
As far as classroom use, use a feed aggregator to bring multiple sources of blog and other RSS-enabled content into an online or F2F class--quite a bit more timely than the textbook which is at least a year out of date. Use podcasts (not necessarily the Apple version--I prefer mp3's) to being world class lectures into an online or F2F class--guest speakers but without breaking the department budget. Use delicious and flickr to allow students to construct meaningful original responses (we've been talking about this since Dewey--and now the tools are available). Use social networking to connect students for asynchronous and synchronous group problem-solving. The possibilities seem endless--and structuring the data as XML (separating content from presentation) is the key place to start.